Curious David Redux

Musings about Introducing Global Issues Into My Classroom.

Just finished a Skype session with a former student now in Nicaragua. Though I had (from time to time) been following his blog, it was nice to hear his familiar voice (and would have been even nicer if our cameras were working). How egocentric of me to assume that he had the same technological resources as I.

The world is open. I've been thinking about how to make our campus and curriculum more global. Here are some incipient thoughts about how that might de done. I'd welcome your thoughts.

• Increase awareness and use of media such as BBC News, Google News, and Newsvine.
• Incorporate Kiva into the classroom.
• Explore global views of religion, spirituality, and being.
• Tap into high quality online  or "portable" courses.
• Explore other languages.
• Capitalize on cultural universals such as music, cusine, sports, and literature.
• Reading: Let's encourage our faculty, staff, and students to read, discuss, and discover world literature. Though no substitute for reading, excellent recordings exist of introductions to world literature, world history, world religions, etc.

What suggestions do you have that are simple and cost effective?

First Day of Classes (Professor's Perspective)

Even after all my years of teaching, the first day of class is anxiety-arousing, pressured, critical, and rewarding. As a youth, I was so anxious about giving oral presentations that I fainted when I gave my first high school debate. I had a similar melt-down during the oral component of my graduate school general qualifying examinations in Social Psychology at Ohio State. With experience and a few set backs I've learned to overlearn and to reframe (attribute) the anxiety I inevitably feel from negative feelings into excitement.

The pressures I feel are primarily situational nuisances : making sure that syllabi and handouts are up-to-date, proof-read, sufficient in number; visiting the classrooms ahead of time to better guarantee that there are enough seats, that the equipment works; thinking through how to handle disruptive classroom situations in that particular environment; and of course responding in timely fashion to the myriad course-related emails and missives. [Note the irony that I just now am posting this due to first-semester busyness!].

For me the first class meetings are critical for getting to know my students, for creating shared and appropriate expectations, and for establishing standards. This semester I am teaching my "usual" three courses yet, as in the previous three decades, each has features unique to it from previous semesters.

Based on 1) student evaluations, 2) what my students demonstrate that they can do at semester's end, and 3) how I feel every time I teach it, my "Statistics and Experimental Design " is without doubt my best course. Among the challenges in teaching such a class successfully are the attitudes that some students bring ("I hate math"; "I don't do well in math"; "I'm afraid"), weaknesses in students' fundamental computational skills, and their inexperience with my strongly believed outlook that statistics and data analysis is a tool, a language and a way of thinking.

With considerable trepidation I'm teaching my "Introductory Psychology" course in an entirely different way, pioneering how it will be taught to all our students starting next semester. Instead of the traditional survey course (as I have taught it since 1974), the focus will be on developing students' capacity for clear thinking and a better appreciation and understanding of evidence-based, scientific approaches to answering questions addressed by psychology. Here is what the syllabus presently looks like Download PSY_101B-D._SimpsonSpring2011. I hope to involve the students considerably in developing the course by introducing them to a number of tools such as Diigo , so I hope that I have a much enriched syllabus by the end of the semester.

The third course I am teaching this semester, "Psychological Testing and Assessment" inexplicably has only 7 students enrolled (usually I have more like 20). Given its small size and the fact that I know well 6 of the seven students, I may well be able with them to actually do something I've long hoped to do--- build a psychological test from scratch or improve an extant instrument. I'm also hoping to bring into the classroom a number of professionals (including former students) who in many different ways use psychological tests in their work.

Let the semester begin!

 

 

 

Paean: Reflections on My First 32 Years of Teaching at Carroll

No longer can I ignore the emails from campus indicating that Fall semester will soon begin. Nor can I put off too much longer that manuscript review which is due September 3. Time to doff my invisibility cloak and return to campus rejuvenated, reinvigorated, enriched by extensive reading, and with a clear (closely guarded) plan of what I want to accomplish over the next five years. Invite me to coffee if you'd like to trade closely guarded secrets!

I did an unusually large amount of reading this summer---at least 20 novels including Stieg Larson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Richard Russo's Straight Man and his Empire Falls, Rebecca Newberg Goldstein's 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, David Lodge's Thinks; Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, Lesley Kagen's Whistling in the Dark, Benjamin Taylor's The Book of Getting Even, and Brady Udall's magnificent The Lonely Polygamist. Among the nonfiction books I found especially interesting, provocative, or intellectully stimulating were Chris Anderson's Free: The Future of A Radical Price, Nicoholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, and two books by social psychologist Ellen Langer, The Power of Mindful Learning and Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. More about each of these good reads can be found elsewhere. What else should I read?

The other day I decided to read cover-to-cover and, yes, word-by word the official 2010 - 2011 Carroll University catalog. How things have changed since I joined the Carroll community! I wonder if I have changed to the same degree (but please don't send me photos of me from 1977).

Of the 120 individuals listed as Carroll faculty for 2010 - 2011 (included are administrators and librarians with "faculty status") I am now seventh-most senior in years of continuous service. Three of those faculty listed who are more senior than I plan to make 2010 - 2011 their last year here (or so I have been told). Almost half the faculty and most administrators have only been at Carroll since 2006. 

It might make an interesting exercise in my statistics class to use this data (faculty colleague, academic degrees earned, institutions from which degrees were earned, years of continuous service, academic rank) to better see who we are and how we have changed. Hmm, carpe diem (seize the the teaching moment)---I think I may have developed the content of my first Lab in PSY205 "Statistics and Experimental Design" on September 1.

What are the responsibilities of a senior faculty, such as I, who is such an increasingly scarce commodity? I've seen far too many former colleagues across these 32 years at my stage of faculty development become bitter, angry, despondent, frustrated or exhausted, as they tried to do too much (serving on every committee and task force and accreditation visit) or resisted institutional change they found inappropriate. How can one protect the integrity of an institution one has grown to love, preserve traditions deserving of being kept, and be guided and anchored by the collective wisdom and core values of Carroll's founders---and yet be open to new ideas and supportive of younger colleagues who need the opportunity to make mistakes and to have the same growth opportunities as did I?

In a week I'll have an opportunity to have lunch with members of Carroll's 25-year Club (faculty, staff, and emeriti) who have served Carroll for at least 25 years. I enjoy that annual celebration with these campus colleagues, faculty and non-faculty, who have been mentors, friends, teachers and role models to me.  How many lives these dedicated individuals have affected---and continue to do so as they've shaped and lived core institutional values across the years and have produced a rich collective legacy of traditions, successes, failures, and reasons for celebration. How they have enriched my life and inspired me.

To Twit or not to Twit?... That is not really the question.

When I was Carroll's Director of Institutional Research I recall being amazed and amused that the format and substance of many institutional reports was dictated by 1) to what degree the secretary could fit the information on a page and 2) how she had done it in the past---rather than by using the latest technology and the latest thinking about how best to present the most informative data. I have continued to be hesitant to use Twitter extensively out of a resistance to trying to force my thoughts, ideas, and communication into 140 characters or less (thought bytes) and to my trying to decrease and slow down my communication and information acquisition activities (leaving me time to reflect, to read, to assimilate, and to create). Though I've graduated from a rotary phone, I still refuse to use my cell phone except for emergency calls!

Jane Hart's recent thoughtful,reasoned exposition of how to use Twitter, however, has caused me to consider seriously adding Twitter to my aramentarium of communication/learning/teaching tools. It also motivated me to revisit her list of 100 learning professionals she suggests that one might wish to follow.

But do I REALLY need that medium to keep up to date? I think not---I do just reasonably well with the learning tools I presently use without being overloaded.  Do I want or need to follow others---or to be followed? Though I admire very much what these learning professionals are doing, I don't want my energies or my focus drowned or diluted  by the deluge of additional information flow they provide.

"To Twit or not to Twit?" for me is not the question. Rather, the questions for me are:

• Under what circumstances might Twitter be useful to me for successful teaching?
•  Does Twitter add to my ability to find answers to questions I am investigating?
• What are the costs to me (time away from other things; wheat to chaff ratio) of my using Twitter?

.Time to curl up with a novel.

What is the Role of a Faculty Adviser?

I've been reflecting lately on my role as faculty adviser to undergraduates here at Carroll and about those faculty who played such a crucial role in that capacity for me, shaping how and why I relate to students and former students. At Oberlin College my most influential adviser was Ralph H. Turner. Ralph, the first faculty member to invite me to address him by his first name,somehow was able to provide the right balance of challenge and support I most assuredly needed both inside and outside the classroom. I fondly and respectfully remember him as intellectually curious, patient, playful, generous in his time with me, kind, and willing to stay in touch with me even across the years that I was continuing my education at The Ohio State University.  

I was blessed with a similar and even deeper rich and enduring relationship at Ohio State with Tom Ostrom, adviser, research collaborator, mentor, friend, and role model until the day of his untimely death. Tom provided emotional support for me while I struggled with the likelihood of being pulled out of graduate school to be sent to Vietnam, listened to me as I sorted out my thoughts about getting married, wrote me a teasing letter about a study I should do if I ended up in jail, guided me in the transition from the intense research world of Ohio State to my current home at Carroll and inspired me to share with others my love of learning. His wisdom, lust for life, optimism, sense of humor, firmness, and candor still guide and humble me.

As I've written elsewhere,  both individuals so impacted my life in so many ways. I draw upon their wisdom each time I am interacting with a student in an advising capacity. Advising is much more than helping students make the transition from high school, providing advice in course selection, or giviing guidance in deciding whether there is an afterlife after graduating from Carroll. The lessons taught me by Ralph and Tom and the wisdom shared with me by alumni aren't and can't be learned from adviser training workshops! 

Going Global

I'm still reflecting on some interesting ideas that emerged in a "listening session" I attended today with two other faculty colleagues concerning a proposed change in our general education program for students at Carroll. I left quite confused, but that is not atypical for me.

What is the appropriate foundation for general education in the 21rst century? Are we faculty appropriately educated for teaching in the 21rst century? What skill sets, traditions, and knowledge are as vital today as when this academic institution was founded? Can we change our general education program without intentionally changing our institutional mission? How do we avoid throwing out the baby with the bath water?

Should part of a general education be mastery of another language? If so, how does one define mastery---knowing the right phrases to allow one to travel within another country? Or should one be fluent in another culture's history, customs, idioms, national concerns, and language? Can this be achieved within the traditional four years of a college education and still allow students a traditional major? If we are interested in being more global, shouldn't we append USA to all our institutional publications?

Can internationalization be achieved through the 21rst century equivalence of international pen pals using Skype or VoiceThread? Can "mastery" be achieved through online tools alone such as Ella or Rosetta Stone?  Through BBC language acquisition in 12 weeks courses? Or by other such (free) online language learning resources?

What does is mean to globalize or internationalize a campus? How can that best be achieved? Is the best way to do so to bring international students and faculty to campus? To send our students and faculty abroad? To create communication opportunities world-wide through Internet means? To expand faculty and students' knowledge of history, cultures, international economics, and international relations? To conduct collaborative international research and learning projects? The simple answer is, "yes"

I just received an invitation to join Division 52, the Division of International Psychology. Should I join it or join the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology? 

Which organizations do I drop out of to allow time and money for these new ones?

Ayuda me. I'm going global.

CD

Reading Recommendations

Note: This is a cross-post of a blog I published on the experimental Pioneer Place Ning that I am developing.

One of the first impressions visitors to my office comment upon is the number of books I have---and one of the first questions is, have you really read them all? Most I have read. Some are from my childhood!

Just finished removing all the books from the six floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in my study at North Lake in order to dust the shelves. Discovered in the process of putting them back a number of reading pleasures I'd forgotten experiencing.

We are in the process of moving father-in-law Walter Schmidits's books from Kaukauna to the hotel structure next to our home and creating a library there. Among the books are some he treasured when he was an English major at Carroll. Yearbooks; literature; treasures.

I've always loved reading and choose to protect some time for pleasure reading daily. Here are three books I have recently read (or am completing).

1. Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw---and other Adventures. I have enjoyed the three prior books by Gladwell (The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers). I think he writes well and creatively sees links that others do not. This book was somewhat disappointing in that it consisted entirely of pieces that he had previously published in the New Yorker, to which I subscribe both in paper and electronic form. Perhaps it was the book's title that led me to purchase it!

1. Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius's Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. I probably chose to read this book in part because it reflects some of the research interests of my colleague Chris May. Also, I am interested in ways to control my blood pressure and manage stress. Maybe I should consult my dog friends for advise:

2. 

3. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's novel, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. I've always found it amusing and edifying to read novels exposing the foibles and pretense of academics.

   
   

What do you recommend that I read?
Why?
Maybe we need a Pioneer Place Reading/Discussion Group.

Separating Wheat from Chaff

Soon it will be time to (re)turn my attention to grading those exams I gave last Monday. I also need to proofread the exam I am giving tomorrow lest I become a candidate for a pullet prize. I really do want to start doing my taxes and finish that last group of requests for letters of recommendation. I need to respond to that batch of emails I winnowed from 400 to 50. Oops, I see that it has grown again to 75. And, oh yes, I really should sort through that backlog amassed from those four RSS feeds for those choice articles most worth reading. So much winnowing, so much separating the wheat from the chaff and trying to figure out what is "signal" and "signature" and what is "noise".

Is the resolution to this bottleneck of time demands to download yet another personal productivity tool? The thought makes me smile. Maybe I should reduce all my teaching, writing, and learning experiences to to 140 characters or less:) Nah--that would be a "bit"ter solution. 

Perhaps I should succomb to all the sleep learning come-ons?  OOOH---Google just gagged a gaggle of sources. So much chaff it makes me both laugh and cry. Hopefully I am making some headway in teaching my students the habits epitomized by Scott Lillenfeld's 10 commandments for helping students distinguish between science and pseudoscience. 

Maybe sleeping  (more or less?) is the solution? Or maybe I am a prisoner of my own multifaceted learning styles (or my MBTI type). Puzzling.

Just finished reading a blog on "information overload." Interesting that it is a "recycled"/ "repackaged"  article from 2006. I'm unconvinced that the solution to my overload problem is technological (e.g. mail filters). A large part of my "problem" ---if it is a problem---is wide-ranging intellectual curiosity and interests, a lack of self-discipline, and my using the former as a rationalization for the latter! Sometimes a tracking tool such I recently learned about is a useful eye-opener to document paths I've meandered. Still, I don't think that I need (or should have to download) freedom to liberate my ability to focus on the tasks at hand. Free will should need no such crutch.

Time to play with the dog.

Just Another (Extra) Ordinary First Week of Teaching

Up at 5:30 a.m. I admire a beautiful moonrise with Freud, my first morning canine companion. Then I take a glance at my iGoogle web page to monitor my RSS feeds and Google mail. IDEA: I think I'll start aggregating all email from alumni here. IDEA: Maybe I should create a course teaching Google apps. IDEA: Maybe I should apply for a Google grant. IDEA: Maybe I should make time to consummate some of these IDEAS.

I read a Profhacker post that I like. I make the time to commend the author and contribute my own thoughts. I take a quick look at Makeuseof and and learn a little about Site Specific Browsers (in particular Fluid for the Mac) to satisfy my geek needs. I surely wish the authors of this particular blog knew some other adjectives than COOL and AWESOME---but the stuff they play with is, well,  cool and awesome!!!!!!! I add another resource gem (though in need of polishing) to my teaching tool box.

My classes are going reasonably well though I still need better to master students' names and faces. I invited each to email me a brief autobiography, and I've linked these very interesting self-descriptions to digital photos of them. IDEA: It might be interesting next year to have each student make a brief video screencast in which they introduce themselves and thereby help me improve my pronunciation of names.

Some of my Introductory Psychology students are already demonstrating very good thinking in our Friday discussions of Psychological Mythunderstandings. Students in Statistics are already demonstrating increased confidence and competence in the use of SPSS. Students in Psychological Testing (all of whom I know already) by now realize that I am not kidding in my insistence that they USE things I taught them in a prior course. In another week I'll be giving my first exam in each of these three classes.

I had an interesting conversations with two fellow Carroll community members from our Advancement/ Alumni Office this week who came to my office interested in sharing, comparing, and soliciting ideas about alumni engagement. I genuinely enjoy interactions with alumni (some of whom I have never even had as students). Within the past 10 days I've been in contact with 15 different alumni via Facebook, Linked-in, Skype, this blog, email, telephone, and letters. I'm looking for additional ways to constructively connect, communicate, teach, and learn together with them. Send me your ideas.

I've had an unusually large number of students come to my office to see me already this semester. The concept of office hours has surely changed since I first began teaching. In 1977 "office hours" were the primary time expected that a professor would be present and available for visitation, assistance, and advice. Today in 2010 though I am present and available at my appointed times (and enjoy and prefer meeting with students in person) there now is more of an expectation of my 24/7 availability. I'm unconvinced that virtual office hours are a good thing though I do spend an increasing amount of my work time online.

Here's an example of how teaching and learning is never done as I experiment with screencasting software as I continue to try and leapfrog.

Exploring Diigo in the Higher Education Classroom

I am a slow learner---reluctant to innovate my teaching methods for innovation's sake. I've become convinced, however, that it is time for me to cascade into the Carroll classrooms some of the elearning tools I began investigating with my freshman seminar 18 months ago. Last semester I investigated having students respond to some of my blogs. This semester I elected to introduce "social bookmarking tools."

Which social bookmarking tool should I share with them---there are so many and they serve many different functions. Is there value in introducing such a tool to my students? I'm beginning to have some answers. As Carroll's President is fond of saying, "stay tuned."

In the first week of two of my classes, "Introductory Psychology" (which has many freshmen among the 26 students) and "Psychological Testing and Assessment" (which is primarily juniors and graduating seniors among its 18 members) I have introduced students to one of the many "social bookmarking tools" which I have personally explored in the last 18 months, Diigo.

I chose Diigo over Zotero, Icyte and Delicious in part because Diigo is aggressively seeking out users in Education---providing special accounts for students.

I continue to be blessed with bright, hard-working research assistants. Though only a freshman, my present student research assistant quickly mastered how to use the tool and encouraged my introducing it into my classes. We made sure that all computers where we we demonstrate Diigo had a Firefox Browser with the Diigo toolbar installed. I'll write about their experiences (or have them do so here in the near future).

Gotta pursue investigating psychological "mythunderstandings."

Share with me any experiences you have using Diigo or social bookmarking tools.

--CD