Steve Gilbert’s Sample Video Self-Intro using “Fundamental Questions”: Transform AND Preserve! [New addition!]

1. What do you most want to gain?
2. What do you most cherish and want not to lose?

3. What are the "dealbreakers"? ... Added September, 2011

YouTube Video Steven W. Gilbert introducing self via Fundamental Questions 3 minutes Updated a little 20111011.
For more on institutional change, innovation, use of Fundamental Questions, join us online Oct. 14, 2PM ET for this week's FridayLive! "Change IS Possible Despite Politics and Counterimplementation Tactics; Counter-Counterimplementation (CCI) Strategies and the TLT Group’s Fundamental Questions."

“Word-Processing Causes Cancer!” Only research finding that could’ve stopped WYSIWYG Word-Processing in late 1980s?

No, word-processing probably doesn't cause cancer.  But the simplest way to explain the dwindling  research about the educational impact of word-processing in the late 1980s (after MacWrite arrived) was:

 "No one is going to give up word-processing unless you can prove it causes brain cancer." 

When people find a new tool so "insanely" more pleasant and efficient than its predecessors, the need for conclusive research results about its educational benefits/detriments disappears.  And that is what happened following the introduction of the first widely available WYSIWYG [What you see is what you get] word-processor - Apple's MacWrite.  There was no research that definitively demonstrated that word-processing itself significantly helped or harmed students' writing skills or other educational achievements, but the interest in such proof evaporated.

For more on institutional change, innovation, and the role of "rational" data, including research findings, join us online   Oct. 14, 2PM ET for this week's  FridayLive! "Change IS Possible Despite Politics and Counterimplementation Tactics;  Counter-Counterimplementation (CCI) Strategies and the TLT Group’s Fundamental Questions."

Of course, it was still useful in the 1980s - and it's still useful today - to learn more through careful research, informal observation, and thoughtful analysis about which KINDS of word-processing are more useful/harmful for which PURPOSES for which kinds of USERS for education-related and other activities.

More about evolution and role of "word-processing":

"Local Facilitation" - Better Term for Home-Campus Support of Students Taking Distant, Online Courses? Examples?

"Support provided by a faculty member or other academic professional at the home college/university for students who are taking courses in which the lead faculty member is based on a distant campus - too distant for the students to participate in face-to-face course meetings"

I've been referring to this support as "local facilitation", but I welcome suggestions for a label that gets this idea across more simply, or a term that is already being used to refer to this kind of support.
Please recommend a better term.
I'm also looking for examples of different ways of providing "local facilitation" - face-to-face, online, synchronous, asynchronous, provided by peer students, specially trained and assigned staff, ....

Juncture vs. Crossroads - Optimism vs. Pessimism

Are the waters rising or receding?

What do you most want to gain? 

What do you most cherish and want not to lose?  

Where are we now? 

Where are we going? 

Where have we been?

 - from Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations: Transform? Preserve?, Steven W. Gilbert, TLT-SWG Blog August 1, 2011

"We still stand at the juncture of many possible futures." - from "Loss and Hope - As a nation, we can work to retrieve the compassion that surged after 9/11." New York Times editorial September 11, 2011.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." - from "My Speech to the Graduates," Woody Allen, New York Times, August 10, 1979

You don't REALLY want another collection of good stuff, do you?

How to share overabundant good teaching/learning resources? 9/9 2pm ET Online
Join us for our first free online FridayLive! session of 2011-2012. September 9 at 2pm Eastern. Working title:
“You are not alone!” and “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Finding, Browsing, and Drowning in Overabundance
Interview of Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services, Temple U. and ACRL vice-president/president-elect.
AND

Recap, Extension of TLT Group’s Online Symposium 2011 (4th Annual) "Frugal Innovation thru Small Group Collaboration "

'Faculty have the best job in the world and the right to complain about it.'

- Katie King of Elon U., responding to my question about her busy summer yesterday.  

You can complain... or see book:
Engaging Student Voices
 in the Study of Teaching and Learning

We were talking about her plans for our Symposium session next Thurs Aug 11.  She and some colleagues (probably including a student) from Elon U. will be describing how they have been forming and supporting small mixed group collaboration (faculty, student, et al.) to improve specific undergrad courses... in response to faculty requests.
She will also introduce her new work on mixed inquiry collaborations.  




Join us Aug 9, 11 1-2PM EDT for the TLT Group's 4th Annual Online Symposium  "You are not alone!" Queries and Strategies for Frugal Innovation and Collaborative Change 
[If you missed the first session Aug 3, you can still find a full recording and lots of other info at tlt.gs/1sym2011]
Free registration for TLT Group Members; Fee for non-members.

You are not alone!

More about the Symposium:

Fundamental Questions for Frugl Inovtns: Transform? Preserve?

What do you most want to gain?

Cherish and want not to lose?  See below for more specific Fundamental Questions 

Encourage, Enable, Engage = A Vision Worth Working Toward (VWWT)
A "Vision Worth Working Toward" is more than an expectation and less than a prediction. It must be an inspiring but plausible goal that we can work toward and make visible progress - soon. More...

Information technology can be the excuse and the means to make almost any kinds of change in education and elsewhere. As you consider the following questions, think about the kinds of change that might happen to your students, your colleagues, your institution, and yourself. What should be transformed? What should be preserved?

These Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations are sequenced to invite you to begin thinking broadly and then to narrow your focus to specific "low-threshold" improvements in teaching and learning that can begin soon. These improvements should be worthwhile, easy to begin, and easy to share.

Additional, More Specific Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovation  

OVERVIEW OF OBSERVATIONS FROM Y2K - Apply in 2011!?

Accelerating Change, Demand, Access, and Challenge  tlt.gs/accelchange

The demand for higher education is increasing – for more of it, and for more kinds of it.  More colleges and universities are breaking ground for new buildings than are closing.  New technology applications, that appear to have great educational potential, arrive from industry at an accelerating pace.  While distance education isn’t catching on nearly as fast, widely, or cost-effectively as the zealots claimed and the technophobes feared, the majority of faculty, students, and administrators are rapidly embracing fundamental technology tools for communication and information management.  An unprecedented foundation for educational change is being laid, but with no clear picture of the edifice that will arise from it. 

Meanwhile, the “digital divide” is widening.  Children of the poor have dramatically less access to computers and new information resources in their schools or colleges than the wealthy – just when more careers require information technology skills.  Dozens [hundreds?  thousands?] of colleges are now requiring or providing computers for all students, faculty, and staff;  and these institutions are exploring the educational potential of “ubiquitous computing.”  However, on many other college and university campuses, the information technology resources available to faculty and students vary markedly between departments or divisions (with schools of education often among those with the smallest budgets per student for these tools).  Many undergraduates who cannot afford their own computers have family and job obligations that make it inconvenient to use publicly available labs.  Even with borrowing computers from friends and getting permission to use computers in the workplace for educational purposes, students who may need it most have less frequent, less comfortable access.

The economics of higher education are shifting in unpredictable ways.  The clear old line between students’ paying tuition for courses and paying fees for course-related learning materials (books, etc.) is rapidly blurring.  More faculty members are assigning instructional materials that students can find on the Web, more students resist buying required textbooks, and more students are comfortable going to the Web instead of to the library for reserved readings.  Consequently, new financial relationships are developing among students, faculty, publishers, bookstores, libraries, and colleges.  The publishers and bookstore managers are especially eager to understand or create viable new business models.  Some of these might give a more significant role to faculty members who develop course-related “online” materials and find new ways of collecting fees from students or their colleges/universities.

Why Frugal Innovations? CHURNING

We churn.  We are churned.  We live in churning.  


Too many demands for our time, energy, attention.

Most churning advances nothing we care about.

Much churning advances nothing at all.

Most of us still care deeply about improving teaching and learning.

But only in ways that can preserve or enhance what we value most - professionally and personally.

We are too often overwhelmed by the gap between what we hope and what we can do.


That's why we need Frugal Innovations.  Now.

What to do?  Keep Trying.  Keep asking:  

"What are a few good things we can do soon?"

Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations

Adapt and use our Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations to help sharpen your Vision Worth Working Toward and focus your efforts on a few  "low-threshold" improvements in teaching and learning that are worthwhile, easy to begin, and easy to share.


See also:  TMI/TMO/TLT/TL$   and the OVERLOADITORIUM 


IMAGE:  "This satellite image of Hurricane Alberto churning across the northern Atlantic Ocean was captured by the OrbView-2 satellite on August 21, 2000. NASA's QuikScat and TRMM missions are beginning to show scientists what's underneath the obscuring clouds of these great storms."
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Alberto_2000.jpg
By User Juan andrés on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

"There Are No Technology Shortcuts to Good Education" -KENTARO TOYAMA

#lilly11 "The history of electronic technologies in schools is fraught with failures."

"Technology at best only amplifies the pedagogical capacity of educational systems; it can make good schools better, but it makes bad schools worse."

All excerpts in this posting from:

https://edutechdebate.org/ict-in-schools/there-are-no-technology-shortcuts-to-good-education/
Offered as quote, ref in "Mindful Technology" Ben McFadyen  - Lilly DC Conf Session 2011 3pm 20110604"

"There are no technology shortcuts to good education. For primary and secondary schools that are underperforming or limited in resources, efforts to improve education should focus almost exclusively on better teachers and stronger administrations. Information technology, if used at all, should be targeted for certain, specific uses or limited to well-funded schools whose fundamentals are not in question.

"(Caveat: Because this article was written for an audience most interested in government-funded primary and secondary education in developing countries, words like “wealthy,” “average,” and “typical” should be read with that context in mind. But, the conclusions are relevant for a broad class of primary and secondary schools in developed countries, as well.)

"To back these assertions, I’ll draw on four different lines of evidence.
1.  The history of electronic technologies in schools is fraught with failures.
2.  Computers are no exception, and rigorous studies show that it is incredibly difficult to have positive educational impact with computers. Technology at best only amplifies the pedagogical capacity of educational systems; it can make good schools better, but it makes bad schools worse.

3.Technology has a huge opportunity cost in the form of more effective non-technology interventions.
4.  Many good school systems excel without much technology."

Who is we?

"We continue to try to move faculty along...
"So we need to think about how to reengineer the classroom to really engage students."
"The fundamental challenge of mobility to education, especially higher education, is the always-present ability of students to get to the world of information in just a moment, both in and out of the classroom."
Excerpts from "The Digital Swiss Army Knife" - interview of Scott Perkins, Abilene Christian U., at EDUCAUSE October 2010 conducted by Gerry Bayne - click here for text, below for 4 minute YouTube video.

Videorecording Lectures - Changes Teaching?

Student (re)watching class improves learning? 
Teacher watching own class improves teaching?

"Professor Shankar is working on his second semester of recorded videos, and says that the experience has improved his teaching. This time around, he is trying to liven up his lectures.... 'since any mistake would affect larger numbers of students listening online,' he says, he thinks harder about every topic he teaches in the classroom." Higher Education Reimagined With Online Courseware - Education Life - NYTimes.com: By KATIE HAFNER, Published: April 16, 2010

Not clickable - link from image in NYT article

Session 1 - Course Introduction and Newtonian Mechanics — Open Yale Courses  2010? PHYS 200: Fundamentals of Physics, Ramamurti Shankar, John Randolph Huffman Professor of Physics, Yale University

CRISIS, LURCH, CRISIS, LURCH, CRISIS, LURCH - Slow Revolution - 12 Still Valid Recommendations from 1996

“most common institutional strategy for integrating information technology into teaching and learning is CRISIS, LURCH, CRISIS, LURCH, CRISIS, LURCH.

“Education can provide the excuse and the means for transforming society...for better or worse.

“Information technology can provide the excuse and the means for transforming education...for better or worse.”

I'm both disappointed and pleased that so much of what I wrote in “Making the Most of a Slow Revolution” in March/April 1996 Change Magazine, seems so appropriate today - 15 years later.

And I still believe “that the next decade-not the next 18 to 24 months-will be critical.”

Here are a few more UNREVISED excerpts, including a dozen recommendations for avoiding CRISIS, LURCH while improving teaching and learning with technology. The full article begins with a description of conditions that engender unrealistic expectations; identifies 11 significant obstacles; offers specifics for each of the 12 recommendations; and concludes with guidelines for local Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtables.

"Education is being transformed, but the inertia of the system is enormous, and the costs associated with widespread, 'deep' integration of information technology into teaching and learning are significant. In order for institutions to make difficult choices among strategies for change in the absence of conclusive data, each college and university must get the best advice it can from those within its own community who have relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and insights about teaching, learning, and technology. Implementing the best strategies requires institution-wide collaboration involving all key stakeholders. The cumulative impact will be 'revolutionary,' changing how people teach and learn, and what is taught and learned.
“So now I believe that the next decade-not the next 18 to 24 months-will be critical. There seems to be rapidly growing acceptance that the ways in which information technology is used for teaching and learning will be a significant part of this transformation. What can colleges and universities do to prepare for this slow revolution? Can We learn how to participate comfortably and effectively in it--and even to direct it?
“Unfortunately, the most common institutional strategy for integrating information technology into teaching and learning is CRISIS, LURCH, CRISIS, LURCH, CRISIS, LURCH.

“What follows are 12 recommendations for avoiding this pattern while improving teaching and learning through more effective use of information technology.

1. Fundamental QuestionsKeep asking fundamental questions.

2. Future VisionObserve trends; shape the future; build a vision.

3. Permanent ChangeAdjust to new pace and depth of change.

4. Judgment, Reductionism, TrustUse judgment; resist reductionism; trust faculty and students

5. Dichotomies; CombinationsReject dichotomies; find good combinations.

6. Intellectual Property, Fair UseUnderstand intellectual property help keep “fair use.”

7. Guidelines, PoliciesDevelop new guidelines quickly; develop new policies slowly.

8. Support-Service CrisisPrepare for your support-service crisis.

9. Student RolesExtend student roles as assistants, learning colleagues; form Faculty

Student Support Service Teams (FSSSTS) and learning communities. 10. Portfolio of Change StrategiesDevelop a portfolio of change strategies.

11. Realistic Expectations: More Time, MoneyInvest more time and money.

12. Institutionwide CollaborationDevelop institutionwide collaboration to improve teaching and learning.

Full article by Steven W. Gilbert, Change Magazine, March-April 1996 pp. 10-23

tlt.gs/slowrevolution

What do you cherish and want not to lose?

Transform AND Preserve:  Teaching and Learning with Technology tlt.gs/support

As this difficult year ends, please support the TLT Group with a donation if you can and reflect on these “Fundamental Questions” at the heart of our work.  
Think about the kinds of change that might happen to your students, your colleagues, your institution, and yourself.    What should be transformed?  What should be preserved?  How?

For the 1990s:
1.  What do you most want to gain?
2.  What do you most cherish and want not to lose?

For the 2010s:  
3.  What are some worthwhile improvements we can make quickly and easily?  
[Small steps]

4.   How can we share more widely improvements that work well enough?   How can we support collegial sharing?

5.   How can we ensure additional improvements after these?  
And after those?  And so on...?

6.  How can we help more people take advantage more easily and more often of resources to which they are already entitled?

How can we reclothe the emperor?   e.g., not only expose new misleading claims about online education as panacea, but also offer practical guidance?  More...

You can become a member of the TLT Group, make a donation, or encourage your institution to subscribe.   More...

MEMBERSHIP:  $95 for an annual membership entitles you to members only resources and online sessions.    tlt.gs/membership
DONATION:  Send us a donation.  We’re a 501c3 and your contribution is tax deductible.
tlt.gs/donation
SUBSCRIPTION:  If your institution is not a subscriber yet, change that!  List of subscribers:    tlt.gs/subscribers

Thanks, and we look forward to working with you even more in 2011!
Steve Gilbert

Futuristic view of education - plus ca change...

As some of you will realize and many of you know, I am a devoted, long time reader of science fiction.   It is often the case that science fiction writers glom onto issues and perspectives before the rest of us.  They also often illuminate those issues.  Reading  Pat Cadigan's story - quotes below - sent me on a trail.  First the questions, then the observation, then a poke at all of us as we overlook how little we notice and how little somethings change. 


 Will "cutting edge" technology applications, e.g., artificial reality, be used most to replicate current educational practices - complete with their limitations - for years to come? Or to change teaching and learning in fundamental ways? It usually takes human beings much longer to devise new ways of USING new technologies effectively to meet fundamental essential human needs than the most zealous advocates expect or hope. Science fiction authors often embed their own beliefs about how mundane, fundamental aspects of society are likley to change in the near or far future - and some of them believe that we will long remain bounded by our inability to reconceive teaching and learning, and by the very slow changing essential predilections of humans as learners. 

 

"Exhaustive studies have proven conclusively that orientation is best accomplished in very familiar and mundane surroundings that don't distract from the essential information to be imparted."

Ten million years of evolution and technology and the best anyone can come up with in artificial reality --where anything is possible -- is a standard office situation."

Pat Cadigan  Tea from an Empty Cup: Issue 1 - Page 108 Pat Cadigan - 1999 - 256 pages - Preview

Fundamental Question for Massive, Sudden Transition to Online Teaching/Learning

Today, Oct 16 2pm EDT Home base Web Page     Login
Suppose you are a faculty member teaching an on-campus course that has already begun and suddenly find that you cannot meet with your students for the next 3 weeks. What can you do online that would be better than this "generic assignment"?

Generic Assignment
For the next 3 weeks, read, watch, reflect/do, and write a paper - based on the syllabus you have already received for this course.

• Read: Specific selections of text - in books, other printed format, or available on the Web;
• Watch: Videos or other media available on the Web or television;
• Reflect/Do: Answer these questions or do these problems; 
• Write: A paper or report on a topic covered by the readings & media. 

What 3 things could most faculty members learn easily and quickly so they and their students: 

1. Use online options that most experience as worthwhile improvements on the generic assignment described above?
2. Worry less about being embarrassed by their first efforts to teach/learn online under these conditions?

NOTE: These "3 things" would be helpful for almost any efforts to enable and encourage more faculty members to try teaching online for the first time. Even just trying one or two online additions to a course they already teach on campus.

"Connectedness" - Recommended Reading

"What is connectedness? It is a sense of being a part of something larger than oneself. It is a sense of belonging, or a sense of accompaniment. It is that feeling in your bones that you are not alone. It is a sense that no matter how scary things may become, there is a hand for you in the dark. While ambition drives us to achieve, connectedness is my word for the force that urges us to ally, to affiliate, to enter into mutual relationships, to take strength and to grow through cooperative behavior."  Excerpt from Ned Hallowell's essay "Connectedness" - see citation below.

That's what first came to mind when I read a request for recommended readings to be offered in Centers for improving Teaching/Learning.

I did a quick Internet search and found the full text of Hallowell's essay, along with some other comments and quotations, in the last posting of 1995 that I wrote for the AAHESGIT Listserv
Here are some excerpts from my own comments:

"Education can provide the excuse and the means for transforming society...for better or worse; and

Information technology can provide the excuse and the means for transforming education...for better or worse.

"As enthusiasm and opportunities increase for using information technology to change the core processes of education -- teaching and learning -- more people are afraid of losing important elements, of having cherished values dismissed.

Those of us committed to using information technology to improve education need to be sure that we are advancing fundamental human values and a better quality of life -- and not only for a few of our closest friends.

Sadly, we are still

"...unraveling the fabric of trust, loyalty, and connectedness that holds us together as a nation, as communities, and as organizations.

"...pushing more people out of economic security, out of having a fixed "place" in society. ... rushing to reduce support services and subsidized essential resources for all those least able to provide them for themselves.

Too many seem to be ignoring the:

* cumulative value of long-term mutual commitment to common goals;

* pain of those unable to earn livable wages and secure minimally livable levels of healthcare, education, food and housing;

* increasing difficulty of sustaining viable communities;

* growing gulf between those who can amass wealth and those who cannot.

Full text:  http://www.wpunj.edu/aahe/si97/6parts.html

Includes "Connectedness" by Edward Hallowell - last chapter in the book:

Finding the Heart of the Child: Essays on Children, Families, and Schools by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D.

Published by National Association of Independent Schools (December 1997) ISBN-10: 0934338922 ISBN-13: 978-0934338929

This chapter reproduction and distribution via AAHESGIT on the Internet was authorized by Richard Barbieri, Executive Director, Association of Independent Schools in New England.

Priorities for TLTG Online Symposium 2009 - Fac/Pro Dev/Support

Priorities for Faculty/Professional Development/Support Online Symposium

August, Sept, 2009, the TLT Group, Inc.
Frugal Innovations: Faculty Roles and Programmatic Support
What should we focus on first, next?

---

Include Exclude 1st results from similar online poll 8/4

This Web Page: http://preview.tinyurl.com/TLTG-FrugalPriorities09

---

---

Try to Include topics, issues, questions, activities, challenges, strategies - In what order?

We seek participants' input for determining the
order in which we address some of the following in this 2009 Symposium. We will also welcome
polite responses to "How could you have been so stupid as to omit
XXXYYYZZZZZ, which should be one of the top priorities for this
series?"

• Cope with $ Cuts
  How to cope with current budget cuts just for now? or forever? Planning/hoping for return to "normalcy"?

• Info for Decisions
  What kinds of information or data will really effect related decisions (by whom?) in the next 12 months?

• Nanovation, Extermissions, & Milli-Everetts
  See also: "Milli-Everetts - Smallest Essential Steps for Incremental Exponential Education Revolution: Nanovation?"
  Nanovation = Intentional use of new resources for "sharing forward" improvements
  and innovations in ways that multiply impact (like "viral marketing,"
  - morally and intellectually responsible version of "Ponzi
  scheme"/Pyramid/Chain Letter; Extermission = Intentional, informal outreach - used during TLT Group's online
  sessions about Twitter in July, 2009.
  Milli-Everett = The smallest effort required to enable and encourage at least one teacher to at least:
  

• Make one improvement in one course,
  
• Get a little feedback and improve that improvement,
  
• Help two at least colleagues each make similar improvements - and each help at least two more colleagues ....

• Mid-Level Roles
  Role of mid-level academic professionals (dept
  chairs, division leaders, deans, …)in success/failure of dissemination, innovation, ...
• Gmail Decision
  Tools that appear to have great potential for
  teaching/learning and become even more accessible when all students and
  others have Gmail accounts - implications for budget, policy, operations, teaching/learning
  
• Using Un-Owned Resources
  Web 2.0 -
  the difference between "free beer and a free puppy"; who is
  responsible for what kind of support and usage policies, standards when
  the college or university cannot own or control the resource? - implications for budget, policy, operations, teaching/learning
• Handheld Devices
  Love em or leave em? Use in courses or forbid in classroom? Clickers, PDAs, smart phones, netbooks, audio & video recorders - - implications for budget, policy, operations, teaching/learning
• Back-Channel Communication
  Constructive "back-channel" communication - anonymous or not,
  sanctioned or not!
  
• Brief Hybrids
  Taking advantage of these compact combinations of plans, media, activities, references, to make small low-risk, low-cost course improvements: Dipping a toe in the shallow, quiet end of the raging technology sea!
• Textbooks: Evolution or Extinction?
  Emerging alternatives and variations. How
  changes in technology are both impeding and facilitating the
  opportunities for students to take their own notes and engage actively
  with readings and other learning resources.
  The myth of standardized resources for independent learning.

• Fundamental Paradox of Faculty Development
  Recognize and try to reconcile these two approaches:
  A. Rational: emphasizes data, assessment, "scalable" strategies
  B. Personal: emphasizes trust, individual differences, relationships and growth
  
  Address these provocative-but-useful questions:
  Why is Faculty Development a low institutional priority?
  
  
  

  Why are so many
  faculty members still, in 2009, ''assessment-phobic'' and ''rubric-ignorant''? [Maybe we need to
  find Latin or Greek terms for ''assessment-phobic'' and ''rubric-ignorant' -
  ha! ha??]

  
  
  What could be done to avoid or reduce disproportionately large budget cuts for faculty development? So that when we return to better economic times, a larger portion of institutional resources will be committed to faculty development?
  
• Collection & Dissemination Challenge
  Agree/disagree/deal with: Most conscientious and valuable efforts to collect, assemble, publish, and get others to use valuable practices, policies, and ideas for improving teaching and learning in higher education fail to reach more than a few percent of all faculty - ever, certainly not in a year or two. Its getting even more difficult to get anyone to pay attention to any message or information - even about resources they need and are already entitled to!
  How can we enable and encourage effective exchange of information and innovations among Symposium participants, their own Institutions, even more widely!
  
• Faculty Learning Communities - Communities of Practice
  
  

• Even More Important!
  "How could you have been so stupid as to omit
  XXXYYYZZZZZ, which is the one that REALLY important to me? It should be one of the top priorities for this
  series!"
  

Return to Top

---

Try to Exclude the Seductively Plausible and Unrealistically Contingent:
topics, issues, activities, challenges, strategies

We'll try to exclude from our discussions topics, etc. that are

Seductively Plausible but we already know they just don't work or they're unlikely to be
accomplished in a short time with scarce resources

Unrealistically Contingent on
major changes in campus culture that are still not within reach (e.g., changing the promotion/tenure system)

Return to Top

Challenging faculty assumptions (and your own)

I was recently asked for ideas for a workshop for faculty who believe strongly in the power of lectures and textbooks alone to educate their students. This is what I wrote in reply:

"You might try showing all of (or clips from) "Minds of our Own," an amazing video series (3 hours in all) from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center (producers of the earlier, brilliant "A Private Universe." Both MOOO and PU are available in streaming form, free, at http://www.learner.org. Or you can buy the DVDs, I believe.

"In these videos, there are many sequences of graduating Harvard and MIT seniors, in graduation robes (and some of them graduating with majors in science or engineering) confidently misunderstanding fundamental ideas in science that are taught in junior high. The sequence on using a battery and a piece of wire to light a light bulb is particularly rich. It begins by showing the misconceptions of graduating seniors (one mechanical engineering grad from MIT who thinks she can light the bulb and then fails laughs and attributes the problem to "operator error." The scene then shifts to a public school. A bright girl is defeated by her misconceptions, even after a very clear lecture and what looks like a very good, thorough lab on batteries and bulbs. In fact, even when an interviewer later puts her in a situation when she can reason her way to the correct answer (which she then draws on an easel), she refuses to believe her reasoning over her preconception. Not until her easel solution lights the bulb does she see it. And hen she immediately flips to recommending that other students be taught in a way that we recognize as the way that she was taught in the first place: the way that failed.

"Several faculty have told me over the years that they have shown clips like these to their students (in one case, a course in classical music) and found that they triggered valuable discussions about the nature of teaching and learning. And I use them in workshops with faculty.

"Having said that, note that any teacher (including me) has strong preconceptions about how things work in a course or workshops, just like that girl had her preconceptions about how to light a bulb. Watch the whole three hours, and "A Private Universe" (22 minutes), thinking about those faculty you want to teach as the 'students.' The single most important lesson of both videos: if you don't know what your students already believe, and why they believe it, you're already 3/4 of the way down the toilet. And your 'students' almost certainly don't all believe the same things."


What do you think? Would you agree to lead such a workshop to help faculty become conscious of, and question, assumptions that have provided a foundation for their teaching? How would you organize it?

On Pedagogy 15 Minute (Non?)Workshop

Lowest-Threshold Intro to Pedagogy for Higher Education
Apologies for Over-Simplification

I. How views of society and education shape each other

• John Dewey: Democratic society needs well-educated citizens who can think critically and solve problems. Memorization is not enough.
• Paolo Freire, et al., Critical Pedagogy: "...go beneath surface of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience,
  text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse."
  
  

II. How views of human nature can/should influence decisions about teaching and learning

• Authentic Teaching: Spirituality, Humanity, Existentialism: Parker Palmer, Art Chickering, et al.
  
• Constructivism: "1. Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the environment. and 2. Coming to know is a process of adaptation based on and constantly modified by a learner's experience of the world." - Excerpts from "Constructivism and Teaching...," Barbara Jaworski, available as of 7/9/2007 at: http://www.grout.demon.co.uk/Barbara/chreods.htm

III. How to structure teaching and learning - for large numbers of teachers, learners

• Bloom's Taxonomy: A hierarchical classification of different objectives and skills that educators set for students (learning objectives) in three "Domains": Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive.

• Instructional Design & Learning Objects
• Assessment
  
  

IV. How to use findings from some sciences and educational research

• Educational Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences [e.g., Bransford]
• Multiple Intelligences: "human beings have ... different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile." - Howard Gardner
• Findings from educational research - Ehrmann
  

V. How to improve "classroom" teaching [without much theory]

• "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education": Teachers can learn specific instructional principles and related techniques to guide the incremental improvement of their own teaching and their students' learning. [See also Cooperative and Collaborative Learning; Team-Learning/Teaching/Work: Barbara Millis, et al.]

• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs): Teachers elicit feedback from students 'during a class meeting that can be used by the teacher to improve teaching and learning

• Low-Threshold Applications/Activities (LTAs): Enable faculty members to begin using some new ways of improving teaching and learning with low anxiety, quick and easy initial mastery, and high expectations of success.

• "3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters": Offer the information in three different ways to get some information through to at least 75% of a group

• POD, NISOD

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Guidelines for 15 Minute Modules	Content Outline for this 15-Min Pedagogy Workshop	Script for this 15-Min Pedagogy Workshop	Technology to be used in this 15-Min Pedagogy Workshop
Setting Expectations Presentation Intro 5-Minute eClip Interaction Assessment Follow-Through Optional: Play "Father Guido Sarducci's Five Minute University" - Just under 5 minutes More...	Why I care, why you care Main Pedagogical Theories Before, during, after class meeting Tools and technology built into classrooms Tools and technology brought into classroom by faculty, students Tools and technology used within classroom that are located elsewhere (e.g., online) More...	Hand-Out - 1-Pager with URL for this Google Doc and possibly a Web page - includes acknowledgement of list of References and Resources included here (below) Speak1 Intro, orientation, why I care, why you should care, how this is only a bare-bones, minimal intro with options for learning more if and when you're ready; working definition of "pedagogy"; why focus on theories here (instead of techniques, technologies) Play eClip - 5-Minute Course on Theories of Education Activity dkdkdkd Assessment dkdkdkdkd Follow-Through dkdkdkdk To be done...	Desk arrangement SmartBoard + Speakers YouTube 5-Minute eClips PowerPoint Microphone LecShare Pro Brief Hybrid Workshops Flashlight Online FridayLive! Adobe Connect Google Docs Google Pages Google Labs Google Page Creator: Start Google Page Account Steve Gilbert Google Home Page Thumb drive [$19 for 2 gigabytes with key ring 7/6/07] More...

Pedagogy: Educational Theories, Models, Ideas

Introduction
Many faculty members and academic support professionals find that teaching and learning can be improved significantly by using some of the following ideas. However, teaching or learning well does not depend on understanding or accepting any one of these theories - consciously or explicitly. Many highly regarded teachers use them - sometimes brilliantly - without conscious effort or awareness. And a few other faculty members seem highly successful in ways that don't fit well in any of these categories.

Here are brief introductions (perhaps oversimplifications) of some of the best known educational theories, models.

Each of these theories or models seems helpful to some faculty members and to some who support faculty members' instructional work. It is beyond the scope of this brief introduction to offer these in any particular order or with any great clarify about when and for whom they might be most useful. No one has proven that any one of these theories or models is superior to most others for most purposes in most situations. No one who embraces one of these has convinced many proponents of the other theories to change their minds. In fact, it often seems that the advocates of any one of the following are either unaware of the others or don't take them very seriously.

One view is to place these theories/models on a very crude scale that runs from delivery to engagement. Delivery models reflect beliefs that the essential activity of education in some areas is to move information from one person to others. Engagement models reflect beliefs that the essential activity of education in some areas is to establish meaningful relationships among teachers, learners, and whatever is to be taught and learned.

There are two valid reasons for ignoring all of these pedagogies entirely:
1. You are so overloaded with other work that you cannot spare the time to learn about these ideas and the techniques and technologies that are available to implement them.
2. You are one of the few truly gifted teachers - having a rare combination of skills, personality, and depth of knowledge about your subject that fits remarkably well with the nature of your institution and the characteristics of your students.

Otherwise, you might benefit from learning more about some of the following pedagogies that seem best-suited to your own views about teaching and learning, about human nature, about the needs and goals of your students, and about the kinds of resources available to you and your colleagues.

Specific Educational Theories, Models [Pedagogies]
(Some have a flavor of faith in a particular view of human nature, of values, of the universe... Psychology? Anthropology? Cosmology? Theology?)

Low (Not Lowest) Threshold Intro to Pedagogy for Higher Education

John Dewey "...greater emphasis should be placed on the broadening of intellect and development of problem solving and critical thinking skills, rather than simply on the memorization of lessons" - from Wikipedia entry (see below). "...one's present experience is a function of the interaction between one's past experiences and the present situation. For example, my experience of a lesson, will depend on how the teacher arranges and facilitates the lesson, as well my past experience of similar lessons and teachers." - from "500 Word Summary of Dewey’s 'Experience & Education'" - See ref below. by James Thomas Neill, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Dewey's ideas of progressive education and democracy: When establishing, confirming or revising institutional mission; reviewing and revising general education requirements and curricula.

Faculty Development: "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," Classroom Assessment Techniques, LTAs (Low-Threshold Applications and Activities), and "3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters"
"Seven Principles" was the best-known, most widely respected meta-study of educational research in the past three decades. The results offered seven principles for improving the kind of teaching and learning that moves beyond traditional lecture/delivery. From the original article (see below for ref.), here are the "Seven Principles:

"Good practice in undergraduate education:

1. encourages contact between students and faculty,
2. develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
3. encourages active learning,
4. gives prompt feedback,
5. emphasizes time on task,
6. communicates high expectations, and
7. respects diverse talents and ways of learning."

"Classroom Assessment Techniques" are among the best-known and widely respected collections of very specific activities designed for use by teachers in a wide variety of courses - especially to elicit feedback from students 'during a class meeting that can be used by the teacher to improve teaching and learning almost immediately and quite visibly. See reference below to work of Cross & Angelo.
The POD Network and NISOD are two well-known professional organizations for academic support professionals and faculty members who help faculty colleagues improve their teaching and their students' learning. POD focuses more on 4-year colleges and universities while NISOD focuses more community colleges.

Low-Threshold Applications and Activities (LTAs) is both an approach and a growing collection of resources designed to enable faculty members to begin using some new ways of improving teaching and learning with low anxiety, quick and easy initial mastery, and high expectations of success. The LTA approach is intended to help those who work with overloaded faculty members who are on the threshold of first-time use of some new approach to teaching and learning. Those thresholds often appear formidable - too time-consuming and risky. The LTA approach identifies specific small improvements that have low incremental cost in money, time, and stress. Developed originally by Steven W. Gilbert of the TLT Group.

"3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters" - Given current conditions of too much information, too many options, and too little time (TMI/TMO/TLT), if a trainer, leader, teacher, or communicator needs to get some information through to at least 75% of a group, then it is a good idea to offer the information in three different ways. [Under construction July, 2007: Todd Zakrajsek of Central Michigan University and Steven W. Gilbert of the TLT Group]

So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," Classroom Assessment Techniques, LTAs (Low-Threshold Applications and Activities), and "3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters": When helping new or experienced teachers who want to make some improvements but who are not yet interested in more nuanced or elaborate theories to go along with new teaching practices. When helping experienced teachers who are ready to build on their lecture/presentation skills to improve their students' learning and engagement.

Bloom's Taxonomy, is a hierarchical classification of different objectives and skills that educators set for students (learning objectives). 3 "Domains": Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. Implies both a holistic approach (include all 3 domains) and very structured ordering of learning activities - building on "lower level" prerequisites. Related to developmental views that some kinds of human learning depend on the learner having already achieved a certain stage of development (see, e.g., work of Piaget).
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Bloom's Taxonomy and developmental approaches:
Clarify goals for learners on 3 dimensions (affective, psychomotor, cognitive). Structure information and activities so that learners will master pre-requisite lower level activities before encountering higher level ones. Views differ on whether or not learners must progress through developmental stages in order and which kinds of development might be accelerated or slowed by educational activities.

Instructional Design & Learning Objects. Instructional Design is the practice of developing and arranging media to facilitate the delivery of knowledge most effectively: determining the current state of learner understanding, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some media-based "intervention" to assist. "Learning Objects" are characteristic of an approach that believes that small chunks of instructional resources can be developed, cataloged, and made available for effective re-use - perhaps with some adaptation - by other teachers and learners under somewhat similar circumstances. Very little attention to possible differences among teachers or learners other than narrowly intellectual. Also see "First Exposure" approach by Tom Laughner of Smith College and Barbara Walvoord- (both formerly of Notre Dame University)
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Instructional Design & Learning Objects:

Educators and publishers who focus on developing and promoting the use of instructional materials that take advantage of various interactive media options beyond books and that can be shared among and used by a wide variety of teachers and a wide variety of students.


Educational Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences - Applying research about how humans learn individually or in groups - including classrooms - to planning, developing, and using instructional resources and strategies. See below for reference to Bransford book that attempts to bring many research strands together and draw some inferences for guiding future educational activities.
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Educational Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences:

Critical Pedagogy "Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional clichés, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse." (Ira Shor, Empowering Education, 1992, p. 129) - also see work of Paolo Freire
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Critical Pedagogy:

Multiple Intelligences - "human beings have ... different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile." - Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner

recognizes many different kinds of intelligences.

Dr. Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor of neuroscience from Harvard University, developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) in 1983. The theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science. Unlike the established understanding of intelligence -- people are born with a uniform cognitive capacity that can be easily measured by short-answer tests -- MI reconsiders our educational practice of the last century and provides an alternative.

According to Howard Gardner, :

"human beings have ... different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile."Although we each have all nine intelligences, no two individuals have them in the same exact configuration -- similar to our fingerprints. To read about the benefits of MI and for tips on implementing MI in your classroom, visit the Tips section. For additional MI resources, visit the Resources section.

Above from "Great Performances, Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory"

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html

So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on fkjfkldsljkfdjkld:

Constructivism
"The constructivist view involves two principles:

1. Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the environment.

2. Coming to know is a process of adaptation based on and constantly modified by a learner's experience of the world." "… constructivism is not about teaching at all. It is about knowledge and learning. So I believe it makes sense to talk about a constructivist view of learning. And we might ask about the teaching which results from such a view of learning. …" Excerpts from "Constructivism and Teaching - The socio-cultural context," Barbara Jaworski, available as of 7/9/2007 at: http://www.grout.demon.co.uk/Barbara/chreods.htm

So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Constructivism:

Authentic Teaching: Spirituality, Humanity, Existentialism - Focus on deeper values, deeper connections among teachers and learners, more profound goals for individuals, courses, and educational institution. Parker Palmer, Art Chickering, ....
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Authentic Teaching: Spirituality, Humanity, Existentialism approaches:

Script - Detail

Resources, References

1. Constructivism
   Constructivism Web site: Martin Ryder, University of Colorado at Denver, School of Education, see:
   http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc/constructivism.html
   http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/reflect/constructivism.html
   "Social Constructivists embrace a distributed view of knowledge. Knowledge is located neither in the mind nor in any representation of the mind. All of our understandings are situated in complex webs of experience, action, and interaction. Knowledge is a dynamic, evolving phenomenon, a fabric of relations in which one individual is fundamentally entwined with all others in a community. This [Web] page illustrates that woven fabric of knowledge. Each of the following sites links to the Constructivism site here at U.C. Denver. The UCD page serves, not as a hub, presuming some privileged position within the discourse, but as a conductive thread, one of many fibers which transforms a collection of unique sites into a common woven text. This Corollary page returns a thread to each of the common sites, strengthening possibilities for subsequent queries within this collective fabric.
2. Seven Principles & Classroom Assessment Techniques & POD Network & NISOD
   "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson (1986); original article and related resources from the TLT Group.
   Classroom Assessment Techniques, by Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. Click here for excerpts
   Low-Threshold Activities and Applications (LTAs), http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/Home.htm
3. Cognitive Science Applied
   How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors; With additional materials from The Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice, M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino, editors; Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council; National Academy Press, 2000, ISBN: 0-309-07036-8 - Informative summary/review from New Horizons for Learning
4. Bloom's Taxonomy
   Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. ;
   Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.;
   Also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
5. Technology and Teaching - Learners'' First Encounters with Content, Focus on Assignments
   "Teaching Well Using Technology: A Faculty Member’s Guide to Time-Efficient Choices That Enhance Learning," Created by: Barbara Walvoord, Kevin Barry, Assistant Director and Thomas Laughner, The John A. Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, University of Notre Dame ca. 2004
6. Dewey: Progressivism, Pragmatism, Democracy
   "500 Word Summary of Dewey’s 'Experience & Education'", James Thomas Neill, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra;
   John Dewey, Experience and Education, 1938; also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/07/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
7. Instructional Design - Wikipedia Entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_design
8. Encouraging Authenticity & Spirituality in Higher Education, by Art Chickering et al. - same Chickering as developed 7 Principles
   Parker Palmer, various books.

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Script - Detail

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Resources, References

1. "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson (1986); original article and related resources from the TLT Group.
   
2. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors; With additional materials from The Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice, M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino, editors; Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council; National Academy Press, 2000, ISBN: 0-309-07036-8 - Informative summary/review from New Horizons for Learning
3. Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.
4. Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.
5. "Teaching Well Using Technology: A Faculty Member’s Guide to Time-Efficient Choices That Enhance Learning," Created by: Barbara Walvoord, Kevin Barry, Assistant Director and Thomas Laughner, The John A. Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, University of Notre Dame ca. 2004
   
6. Also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
7. "500 Word Summary of Dewey’s 'Experience & Education'", James Thomas Neill, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra
8. John Dewey, Experience and Education, 1938; also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/07/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
9. Instructional Design - Wikipedia Entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_design
10. "Constructivism" Web site, University of Colorado at Denver, School of Education, On this page: "All links verified July 02, 2007"
    http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/reflect/constructivism.html