Boundaries in Academia: Personal, Professional, Political, Spiritual? [with <1 minute of audio]

What are the ideal “boundaries” that should exist between “the professional,” “the personal,” “the political,” and "the spiritual"?
How can academics best integrate [or separate] their professional, personal, political, and spiritual lives?
In particular, is it possible for faculty who teach in ANY discipline to engage with their students beyond the narrowest definition of the purpose and content of a single course? Should they? Can they avoid doing so?
Is it only those who teach in the humanities who should expect to influence students’ lives beyond the classroom?
How does the changing role of information technology make any difference?

In the attached MP3 audio clip, Paul Lacey, Emeritus of Earlham College laceypa@earlham.edu, responds briefly to the first questions.

For more info, questions for discussion, etc., from our beginning exploration of these boundaries see: http://www.tltgroup.org/ClothingTheEmperor/PersonalProfessionalPoliticalSpiritualBoundaries.htm

The most specific question emerging from my work in this area with Whitman College is:
“Can we establish a policy that students who send email to faculty between midnight and 6AM may not expect responses during that period?”
Email can easily pierce the veil between home and office. At Whitman and other colleges/universities where there is a longstanding commitment to encouraging frequent and significant communication between students and faculty, this can be a very mixed blessing.

From Earlham College Website <http://www.earlham.edu/graduateprograms/content/mat/>: "It is worth acknowledging, in all humility, that, though there are many great, beautiful, noble callings for human beings — ministry, healing, protecting the powerless through the law, making art, music and literature, the most wonderful things that human beings are privileged to do — none of them is more valuable to the human race, to the future of the planet, or to our own souls, than the work of teaching."— Dr. Paul Lacey, Professor Emeritus of English, Earlham College

Shared Governance - Making Respectful Trade-offs [with 3.3 minutes of audio]

"Overload, Shared Governance & Productive Assessment
- New Paradoxes (and Paradigms?)"
Do you see a shift away from older patterns of shared governance when lines could be drawn more clearly and easily between different parts of an educational institution? … What if anything could be done to help faculty and others to be involved more comfortably and constructively in these trade-off kinds of decisions?

Here are excerpts from “Clothing the Emperor” series online interview of Richard A. Detweiler (Rick), President, Great Lakes Colleges Association, December 7, 2005, by Steven W. Gilbert, President, The TLT Group. In the attached MP3 file, you will here the complete versions of Gilbert’s final question about the changing patterns of shared governance and Detweiler’s insightful, helpful answer.

EXCERPT FROM GILBERT’S FINAL INTERVIEW QUESTION AND COMMENTS FOR DETWEILER 12/7/2005:
Do you see a shift away from older patterns of shared governance when lines could be drawn more clearly and easily between different parts of an educational institution? When making trade-offs across those lines was usually unnecessary? What if anything could be done to help faculty and others to be involved more comfortably and constructively in these trade-off kinds of decisions?

Additional comments from Gilbert:I believe that significant educational decisions for colleges and universities now often require new kinds of trade-offs, and that makes old patterns of shared governance much harder to sustain. Within any college or university the professional success of people from different academic departments and offices has depended on their mastery of very different kinds of reasoning, proof, and argument. It can be hard for people who are so committed to different ways of thinking to reach reasonable conclusions together. The training that most faculty members have for their professional roles has not prepared them well for making decisions that require weighing the needs and goals of other groups. Your career has taken you through many roles (faculty member, administrator, president, board member…), so your insights on this topic would be especially valuable.

Other Related Resources
Full Interview Archive [Open in Internet Explorer Only]
Related TLT Group Resources
Online Institute Home Page
Faculty/Professional Development
Dangerous Discussions
Clothing the Emperor

"26 Days!" [1.5 Mins. Audio - Cajun Academic Humor]

Another Boudreaux story "26 Days!" is now available

For more Boudreaux stories – Cajun Academic Humor - go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html
I hope you enjoy them!

Steve Gilbert
NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerges from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories have provided welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and helped us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

What if students learn better in a course they don't like?

What if the following are BOTH true for a particular course at the same time?
A. Some kind of learning outcomes assessment conducted on all students who just completed the course clearly demonstrates superior student learning when compared with similar assessments of similar courses.
AND
B. Some kind of student ratings collected for the same course clearly demonstrate that the students are more dissatisfied with this course than with similar courses.

Or vice versa.

For an annotated, linked table of contents to an ongoing discussion of this topic – which emerged from The TLT Group’s most recent online workshop about Student Course Evaluations/Ratings/Assessments, see:
http://www.tltgroup.org/studentcourseeval/BusTestvOtherTest.htm
Which offers links to the blog where you can read others’ thoughtful, edited responses and add your own comments, etc..

Use Blogs, Wikis, etc. for Teaching/Learning? Pro/Con

How would you convince a colleague that it is/isn't worthwhile to learn to use blogs (etc.) for teaching/learning? Provide at least one argument likely to convince a faculty colleague to try to do so. Provide at least one argument likely to convince a faculty colleague NOT to try to do so. [If you prefer, provide the arguments for an "academic administrator" or "student" or "instructional designer" instead of a faculty member.]

For more "Dangerous Discussions" issues related to educational uses of blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc., see:
http://www.tltgroup.org/ProFacDev/DangerousDiscussions/Issues/blogs.htm

This is for participants in the TLT Group's Online Institute Workshop:Blogs, Wikis, and NewsfeedsNew Web Tools for Teaching/Learning?June 6, 13, 20 at 1 pm EST

Please provide your arguments as suggested above by adding one comment to this posting. Please give your name and institution.

Student Engagement, Learning Communities at Johnson C. Smith University

Telephone interview with Phyllis Dawkins, Dir. Faculty Development, Johnson C. Smith U. about student engagement, learning communities, assessment, related practices and resources; more detail in recording attached (7.5 minutes MP3 - also avail. as TLT-SWG podcast episode).

SKELETAL TEXT SUMMARY [Questions from Steven W. Gilbert = "SWG"
Responses from Phyllis Dawkins = "PWD"]

SWG: What is JCSU doing to develop Student Engagement?
PWD: Trying to find activities that promote social and academic engagement. Using active and collaborative learning; problem-based learning, assignment-based useful activities that result in "artifacts" for ePortfolios.


SWG: How do you know these activities are working?
PWD: In Learning Community program, collaborative/cooperative learning, including service learning and co-curricular activities, have made a difference in terms of student learning and persistence (more high grades, fewer failing grades, fewer on academic probation, fewer judiciary incidents, less negative behavior) .

SWG: What are "Learning Communities" at JCSU?
PWD: Freshman learning communities (cohorts); all 400+ freshmen in learning communities cohorts of 20-30 for 15+ hours per week; each cohort works on a block/theme.

SWG: What about SACS (re)accreditation coming up?
PWD: Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) focuses on Student Engagement and the role of technology.

SWG: What do you recommend most for getting started in this direction?
PWD: Learning Communities National Resource Center [at Washington Center, Evergreen College]
http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/project.asp?pid=73

Phyllis Worthy Dawkins
Director of Faculty Development
Dean of the College of Professional Studies
Johnson C. Smith University

NOTE: "Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins (Johnson C. Smith University '75), dean of the College of Professional Studies, was named the 2006 recipient of the top award given to an individual who upholds the high professional standards of Dr. Edwin Bancroft HeE. B.son. The E.B. Henderson Award from the Ad Hoc Ethnic Minorities Council of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) was presented to Dawkins in Salt Lake City, Utah in April. While at the AAHPERD conference, she also delivered a presentation on “Using Active Learning Strategies in the Classroom to Promote Learning."

Boudreaux - Paris Story [Cajun Academic Humor]

My favorite Boudreaux story - the classic - "Boudreaux Goes to Paris"; attached (1.5 minute MP3 - also avail. from TLT-SWG podcast).

Moral of the Story: Choose A or B

A. You can't always rely on technology...

B. If the learner doesn't understand the purpose of instructional technology being used, everyone's time can be wasted.

Hope you enjoy it!
Steve Gilbert
PS: For more Boudreaux stories, go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html



NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerges from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories have provided welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and helped us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

Pls add Useful Resource(s) for Participants in Blogs etc. Workshop

This is for participants in the TLT Group's Online Institute Workshop:
Blogs, Wikis, and Newsfeeds
New Web Tools for Teaching/Learning?
June 6, 13, 20 at 1 pm EST

Please add a comment to this posting in which you identify yourself, and provide info about one or two resources likely to be useful to participants in this workshop.
Minimum: One sentence description and one URL.
For example:
Steven Bell has prepared a nice intro - mostly text and screen shots - to using RSS feeds and news aggregators. His first section provides a valuable, clear intro to using Bloglines (a Web-based free news aggregator ): http://staff.philau.edu/bells/rss.htm

Sex, drugs, etc. vs. iPods, Facebook, blogs?

For years I was confident that sex, drugs, rock and roll, and athletics would always account for more discretionary time among traditional-aged undergraduates than any activities involving computers and telecommunications. Maybe I was wrong. See below for excerpts from “iPods knock over beer mugs” which imply that we should find ways of using new portable devices and online services to improve teaching and learning.

I’ve also been hearing lately about many respected faculty members and other academic leaders who completely reject blogging, wikis, FaceBook - the new Web-based social networking and collaborative work tools - as utterly lacking intellectual content or educational potential. An unnecessary conflict is growing as more students bring portable devices with Web-browsing capabilities and many other functions into the classroom (and everywhere else they go). Since no one can prevent learners from using these new devices and online services, it might be better to invent more ways to use them within courses – even if not in classrooms.


“iPods knock over beer mugs” By Mike Snider, USA TODAY, in print p. 9D, 6/8/2006;

[Online Updated 6/7/2006 11:20 PM ET]



Excerpts from article responding to Student Monitor's proprietary “Lifestyle & Media Study”:

[NOTE: Student Monitor is a research firm that does proprietary college student market research.

See: http://studentmonitor.ecnext.com/]

“Among the findings:

•iPods were the No. 1 "in" thing on campuses; 73% of students mentioned it….

•Drinking beer tied with the college networking site Facebook.com (71%).

[NOTE THAT FaceBook WAS NOT EVEN LISTED AS AN OPTION IN THE 2005 SURVEY!]

•Nos. 4 to 10 were drinking other alcohol (67%), text messaging (66%), downloading music (66%), going to clubs (65%), instant messaging (63%), working out (62%) and coffee (60%).”

For full text of Snider’s article, see:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-06-07-ipod-tops-beer_x.htm

Online Workshop Participants - Pls Describe Your First Blog

This is for participants in the TLT Group's Online Institute Workshop:
Blogs, Wikis, and Newsfeeds
New Web Tools for Teaching/Learning?
June 6, 13, 20 at 1 pm EST
http://www.tltgroup.org/blogworkshop/OLIworkshop6-2006.htm
Please add a comment to this posting in which you identify yourself, describe your first blog (purpose, name, anything you want to say about how easy/difficult it was to create, suggestions for others...., URL if you wish colleagues to visit your blog).