Year: 2018

There is all kinds of science to support the notion that New Year’s Resolutions don’t really work. Most don’t make it more than 3 days, but for those that do, less than 1% reach February. So maybe we should all consider a pact or an accord, instead of personal resolutions. It doesn’t seem like any kind of resolution, especially from a single person at an institution, will make much of an impact. That is even more true if most resolutions go by the wayside so fast. So here are a few ideas for various institutional stakeholders. If you find one you like, pass it around to your peers and see if you can’t find a way to make an agreement. Maybe we can do some good as a collective in 2019… Faculty – as a group, let’s agree to stop using PowerPoint. The tool isn’t “evil” or anything, but it has been so misused and abused, acting like a hammer to punch information into the heads of students, that we should just take a break. One natural offspring of that decision may include less lecturing, which we all know has been shown over and over and over and over again to be highly inferior to other methodologies. Need a way to fill the void? After all, cigarette smokers are told to replace the hand feel with fidget spinners or the mouth feel with gum to ween off of their addiction to nicotine. Addiction to lecture might be just as powerful. So here is an idea. Pick up a white-boarding tool (like you can find with MeTL). The science is clear. Instead of finding the best, high-fidelity, highly labeled graphics, let your students draw them during the conversation. Your knowledge of the subject matter will not only shine as you ebb and flow in and out of the materials and the natural tangents students try to find, but the students will learn faster, deeper, and better. IT – Read some non-IT, educational works. There was an interesting article in the Educause Review about IT leaders being relegated to plumbers and not architects. The points made were very strong and make sense – IT should have a seat at the strategy table. So do yourselves a favor and brush up on what success means and looks like. Don’t leave it all to the Vice President of X. Come to the table with background other than IT, showing your credibility and research into other parts of the organization. For example, read up on the power of mindset, connection, motivation, grit, socialness, and more as they relate to learning and academic success. From Dweck to Lieberman to Duckworth to Pink, there are some great reads out there which curate all of the most important research on those subjects and synthesize them into one volume. This will also show you something important. Not all technology needs, specific to both success and learning, need to take place in the classroom. While you’re researching, note how many… Read More

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Higher EdThe halls were all quiet, people Tweeting instead The students weren’t nestled in dorms nor bedsThey were dancing, bar-hopping, or hanging out with friends When a story in the Chronicle created such a clatterPhones started buzzing, Facebook started to chatter A new research experiment, implanting learning with a chipWould make college unnecessary, students wouldn’t make the trip No Harvard, no Stanford, Not Amherst or Reed, No Baylor or Xavier, Not even MIT When what to my wondering eyes did appear?But a miniature sleigh, starting to veer It was coming towards me, this man dressed as Saint NickAnd he winked and he smiled, then my nose did he flick! Don’t be crazy professor! No chip equals learningThat story is from the Onion, despite neuroscience yearning Learning is hard, needing purpose and thoughtLearning needs outcomes to say its been taught But learning is far more than an academic pursuitIt also needs mindset and affection to boot Students are people, not widgets or banksJust waiting to be filled and then giving thanks Students need context, Students need whyActive learning, support, and encouragement to try Educators must put down their PowerPoint decksWhile leveraging research from Lieberman, and Dweck Connecting students to everything from people to toolsMakes the experience “sticky”, successful, even cool And then just as fast, Santa turned aroundHeaded toward the chimney and upward he bound To his team gave a whistle, to me gave a winkHad I really seen this, or was this just from drink? But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sightWake up man, you’re dreaming! Stop eating sushi right before bed. You’re almost 50 years old. Act like an adult for once in your life…

Sorry. This blog is going to be meaty. I know it’s 8 days before Christmas and for the 1% of people combing through edu-blogs this will not be a fun, year in review, prediction, or otherwise mental-gymnastics kind of blog. Instead, I am going to talk through a jumble of problematic, controversial, in-need-of-systems-thinking issues for all of higher education. From confirmation bias to end-of-course evaluation problems to politics on campus to a serious lack of understanding regarding learning, this blog will cover a lot. Buckle up. (And come back next week for my ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas remix…yes, seriously.) I was doing my daily intake of higher education reading when I got to Nancy Bunge’s article published a few weeks ago titled, “Students Evaluating Teachers Doesn’t Just Hurt Teachers. It Hurts Students.“ As we head into 2019, it frustrates and annoys me that we still haven’t figured out how to evaluate instructors, instruction, learning, and more. I don’t think it is controversial to point out that, on the whole, higher education stinks at course and instructor evaluation. I’ve blogged about this on and off every year for a decade or more. I hearken back to Fall of my Senior year in college. We had a professor that was profoundly bad, in every sense of the word. Her grading appeared quite subjective, she could not relate to students in meaningful ways, she was so scattered that nobody was sure what was due, when it was due, or what was expected, and on and on. She was one of the worst professors I have ever had in my K-20 experience. Near the end of the class, she left the room as the Department’s grad assistant administered the end of course surveys. But the class of communication majors did something I had never seen done before. (Neither had the grad student as she allowed it.) We all huddled together and formed a web of argumentation, collective anecdotes, and frustration. We gave pertinent examples of bad instruction. We gave relevant examples of inconsistent and poor grading. After all was said and done, 27 out of 27 students finished their reviews by pleading with the administration to never let this professor back in front of students. The following Spring, guess what happened? Nothing. That same professor taught all of the same classes. In fact, as I attended that same University for grad school, I can report that she taught the same classes throughout. As a Grad Assistant in the department, I know from dozens of personal conversations with her students over those two years that nothing changed. Yet she continued teaching, even being promoted before I left. The Bunge article, however, paints a very different picture. She offhandedly remarks that, “many institutions of higher learning use these surveys to determine whether faculty keep their jobs or get raises.“ Is that true? It certainly did not feel true as a student. Nor was it my experience as an administrator at 3 different institutions. In fact,… Read More