Curious David Redux

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!

 

 

 

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

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.

Tempus Fugit

I've been thinking a lot about time lately. Precious moments with grand-nephews and great-grandmas, sisters and brothers, former students. Memories of Mrs. Bode my Latin Teacher of 45 years ago. As Fate would have it, she introduced me to the Moraie. And she taught me that "Ars longa; Vita brevis." Or as she playfully punned , "Tempus fidgets."

Lyrics | The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season) lyrics

As I write this friends and colleagues across the world are in many different time zones. I can use tools such as this to establish what time it is where they are. But where are they psychologically in terms of time?

How is time perception different as a function of age? As a function of psychological state? Are there (cross) cultural differences? Cross-generational differences?

Walt and I used to talk about perceptions of the passage of time. He was indeed a giant of a person. Father Time. Photos can freeze time. I wonder what he was listening to on the radio? I'm sure he's listening right now surrounded by dogs. 

Who knows where the time goes?

Puzzled

I'm puzzled. I just opened up today's mail and read with interest a special issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest. This issue's special topic deals with  "Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence."

The relatively short but lucidly written article by Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork thoughtfully and fairly examines the empirical evidence addressing the proposal that instructional methods should be aligned with students' learning style in order to maximize student learning. The authors provide an overview of learning styles doctrines and industies, address the question of how learning styles approaches became embedded in education, propose the kinds of evidence needed to validate interventions based on learning styles, and evaluate the learning styles literature. They conclude that there is a paucity and poverty of strong evidence adequate for applying learning style assessments in school settings.

For visual learners, here is a report with similar conclusions.

And here the same psychological scientist's views on "brain-based" education.

What puzzles me are two things:

1) Why did I receive today January 7, 2010, the Volume 9 Number 3 December 2008 of Psychological Science in the Public Interest?!

2) Why is there such a disconnect between what is taught to teachers and what empirical evidence shows?

Curious. I welcome your thoughts.

Thinking Critically

One of the reasons that I enjoy teaching is that I am encouraged to think. I would argue that one of the missions of higher education is to develop thinking capabilities---and the joy of thinking --- in students. This can be done in a number of ways and it can be overdone. Similarly emphasizing "learning objectives" can be overdone---ironically resulting in the diminishing of the joy of teaching and of learning.

I find the term "critical thinking" over-used with users of the term very often having very different private definitions. I want my students (and me!) to be able to think deeply and to be perspicacious, to understand nuances and to recognize the quality of arguments, to know when it is appropriate to take something at face value or to trust one's intuition and when it is prudent to challenge what seems commonsensical or nonsensical.  And then there is the conundrum of how to measure this quality of thinking!

A book I recently read shows promise for how I might better develop clearer thinking of my students---at least about popularized "findings" in psychology.  In 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior, authors Scott Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio and Barry L. Beyerstein suggest that there are 10 major ways in which we are fooled by plausible sounding but specious claims:

• Repetition of the (false) claim across a wide variety of sources
• Our desire for easy, quick answers
• Our selective perception and memory
• Our predisposition to infer causation from correlation
• Our tendency to think that if one event follows another, it has been caused by it
• Exposure to biased samples
• Misuse of mental shortcuts
• Misleading media portrayals
• Exaggerations of kernels of truth
• Terminological confusion

The authors do an admirable example of thoughtful, careful examination of of fifty widely held "myths" in psychology  (e.g. most people use only 10% of their brain power). They spell out where possible the myth's origins, how the idea has been or can be tested, why the myth persists, and how one can better develop ways of reducing one's susceptibility to such faulty thinking. I'm impressed enough by the book that I intend to incorporate it into my Introductory Psychology class---though, as the authors suggest, the book should be required reading for all educators or journalists who attempt to popularize ideas and findings of psychology. The book provides much to think about.

Is it time to fold my tent? Preliminary thoughts about phasing out my teaching

                            Sometimes it seems that I have been at Carroll forever. That's a mixed blessing especially as I think through more seriously the formal date of my departure, and what I would like to accomplish before I leave. I hope to leave healthy and at a high point in my teaching career, feeling good about my extended Carroll family and the institution.

I've begun cleaning out my office. I've gotten into better habits of eating my lunch this academic year so I found no infamous collection of uneaten sandwiches. The very act of office cleaning itself is a several years' project since I have been such a hoarder of reports, student records, course development materials, committee work, articles written and articles read, books I meant to write, and articles I yet intend to read. It's fun and instructive to rediscover where I and the institution have been. Such thoughtful examination gives a historical context for assessing the directions we as an institution seem to be heading. And it's hilarious to be able to pass on to a former student (or parent who was a former student) a paper they once wrote thirty-years ago with the quip "I really SHOULD clean my office more often!"

I've begun to part with some of my books---especially current fiction. Books have given me so much pleasure across the course of my life. I, as I have documented in a number of earlier blogs, struggle with how technology may be affecting the nature and pleasure of the acts of thoughtful reading, critical thinking and reflective writing. I'm delighted to be a participant in the present book donation drive coordinated by the Carroll Harry Potter Club this year. I urge any readers also to support this endeavor and to visit the downtown Waukesha merchants who are also involved.

Two summers ago I was humbled at how much I have yet to learn about teaching and about learning as a friend Mary directed her, devoted blind Newfoundland dog Ernie to "rescue" me by swimming out to a rowboat (where I feigned being in distress) and towing me back to the shore.

Dogs continue to teach me so much! Some day soon I hope to be their full-time student.

I have been teaching Introductory Psychology since 1974 when I taught it for the first time at The Ohio State University. I often wonder whether that is a good use of my time---good for me, good for our psychology major students, and good for the institution. There is such a great risk that in my teaching it every semester as I have with a few exceptions since 1978, I'll get lazy in my preparation, that I'll get bored with the content (and communicate that boredom to my students) or that I'll get frustrated at my having to oversimplify things I have studies most of my life.

Should I not instead be teaching an additional upper-level course such as advanced statistical procedures  or the development of web-based surveys? Should I not be creating a new course as I did when I created a course on "Happiness" or my course on "Why War?" or my "Pioneering Web 2.0 Internet Tools"? I'd love to create a course on "Kindness." I'd welcome the opportunity to teach or to team-teach an interdisciplinary course, but in each of these instances to do so I must either teach an overload (which Carroll has discouraged) or NOT teach a course I usually teach. The introductory psychology class then becomes the "expendable" one under the rationale that "anyone" or "many" can teach it.

This semester for reasons that I don't fully understand I am especially enjoying teaching PSY101, Introductory Psychology. Is my enjoyment a random event? Caused by student self-selection bias? Due to time of day (noon)? Proof of the normal curve? Delusional on my part? Attributable to most of the students being upper classmen? A dream? A SIGN that it is time to fold my tent and to move on? A spell cast by the President of the campus Harry Potter Club who sits up front smiling?  Has my classroom been bewitched by Robin the Newf who so often enchants me?

I'm so CURIOUS that I've invited students in the class to comment and share their opinions.

 

Unfinished Business - The Zeigarnik Effect Revisited

I was first introduced to the Zeigarnik effect (people typically recalling interrupted tasks better than their recalling completed ones) by my first Oberlin College Introductory Psychology professor, Celeste McCollough. My participation in her visual perception studies of the "McCollough effect" formally introduced me to the science of psychology. I remember being both amused and fascinated by Professor McCollough's sharing an anecdote that she intentionally used the Zeigarnik phenomenon as a motivator for her to resume working on manuscripts that she was writing for publication.

I find it curious how a phenomenon such as the Zeigarnik effect can be discovered, experimentally investigated, popularized, misrepresented, forgotten, and rediscovered. Try conducting a "scholarly literature review" (e.g with, say PsycINFO) on this concept--now try the same with say, Google Scholar or some other such Internet learning tool.  How can one ascertain quality control of information when anyone (including yours truly) can through the Internet purport or imply that (s)he is an expert?

As I am winding up---or is it winding down---my academic career I find that there is so much unfinished business and so many interrupted tasks in need of completion. This Zeigarnik tension need not be aversive. Still, there so much to learn and I am fascinated by the many new ways of learning. I welcome any readers who'd like to join and assist me in exploring ideas through this blog---especially focusing on the top 21rst century learning tools categorized by Jane Hart.

Curious David Finds a New Home

It's been a semester now since I blogged for JSOnline as "Curious David." Much has happened since then. Carroll College has been renamed Carroll University (I still fail to find compelling reasons why the change was made). I've taught Web 2.0 Tools in a Freshman Seminar, and I'm giving serious consideration to retiring from College teaching.

I've given a lot of thought to which blog authoring tool I want to use. I've heard good things about WordPress (endorsed by Jane Hart) and Blogger (which I taught my freshmen)---both of which are free. However, partly out of the high respect I hold Jane Hart in I've decided to freelance using the basic version of the software she uses, Typepad. I like the "look" of it and its ease of use.

It is very important that I be able to blog easily across operating systems. Tonight I am writing this on my Mac. When next I sit down I'll try writing something from my PC. I also was attracted to the ease with which TypePad "ports" blogs to Face book since an increasing number of alumni are using that social network---sometimes to monitor their children!