tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.comments2018-02-28T07:06:38.115-05:00Grazing: Steve EhrmannSteve Ehrmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16960072471169560307noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-79588410282018849632016-07-13T20:52:14.519-04:002016-07-13T20:52:14.519-04:00Thanks Tom!Thanks Tom!Steve Ehrmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16960072471169560307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-45983239393229630962016-07-13T09:45:44.653-04:002016-07-13T09:45:44.653-04:00I think one of the assumptions holding us back is ...I think one of the assumptions holding us back is our view of teaching as a craft guild rather than a knowledge profession.<br /><br />Some of the implications of this are obvious, in particular the way we shortchange ourselves on the exemplary resources and practices from our professional teaching communities, the promising innovations from leading-edge colleagues and the evidence from research.<br /><br />But I think there are other implications which are harder to detect. For instance, our lack of professionalism in higher ed teaching robs us of the opportunity to serve as models for our students as to how professionals engage with knowledge and innovation. For first-generation college students, whose networks of family and friends may not include effective role models for professional knowledge work, this strikes me as an critical loss.Thos Careyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12156203678339080383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-40306927601224360072016-07-13T09:40:27.596-04:002016-07-13T09:40:27.596-04:00Steve, you might want to follow the work of the Ac...Steve, you might want to follow the work of the Accelerating Systemic Change Network, http://serc.carleton.edu/ASCN/about.html . This isn't about the nature of academic transformation as much as how we go about it - but as you will know there is a pretty strong relationship between these two topics :)Thos Careyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12156203678339080383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-32561985442811120512015-03-24T16:55:01.837-04:002015-03-24T16:55:01.837-04:00Steve, you make a good case for the impact of libe...Steve, you make a good case for the impact of liberal education on readiness to engage with innovation. We would have an even stronger case if our own faculty champions for liberal education were in more obviously in the forefront in adopting innovations in our teaching and learning environment. Hard to convince students about this aspect of the value of liberal education if they don't perceive us as practicing what we preach...?Thos Careyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12156203678339080383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-29982387954299659432015-03-09T20:21:49.606-04:002015-03-09T20:21:49.606-04:00Steve, I've written a few blog postings about ...Steve, I've written a few blog postings about general education over the past few years. One seems to hit at what you are saying. It looks at two 20th century innovators: Robert Maynard Hutchins and John Dewey. Here is a link: http://garyemiller.blogspot.com/2013/05/hutchins-and-dewey-lessons-for.htmlGary Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462662265684250950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-69149814448935663612015-03-09T20:20:11.035-04:002015-03-09T20:20:11.035-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Gary Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462662265684250950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-43108252199436704912014-10-05T18:01:48.066-04:002014-10-05T18:01:48.066-04:00I agree! You are an excellent addition. I'm am...I agree! You are an excellent addition. I'm am thrilled for you!IT Prephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782623092991313473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-67526007717468197342014-09-09T14:51:02.075-04:002014-09-09T14:51:02.075-04:00Congratulations, Steve. UMS is lucky to have you...Congratulations, Steve. UMS is lucky to have you on their team.Gary Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462662265684250950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-16607284731877357932013-12-05T23:17:05.826-05:002013-12-05T23:17:05.826-05:00I don't think GW is helping engineering studen...I don't think GW is helping engineering students to find an internship. It's really ironic. We are at the heart of the Nation's Capital, there are hundreds of engineering companies, and we don't do anything to help our students. Even if make an agreement with middle size and big companies to send a single student every summer, we would be able to provide an internship opportunity to every engineering student.<br />What I understood in 2.5 years at GW, people talk about good things but they just talk. They do nothing to change anything.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-10395252699281738882013-12-02T23:19:00.721-05:002013-12-02T23:19:00.721-05:00Steve - nice post. The work we did with you back t...Steve - nice post. The work we did with you back then is still valid. The bottom line, as you stated, is the time available, context and personal preference. There is no doubt that developing new curriculum and designing for new delivery modes takes additional time - it's delivery time that levels out in most cases. Thanks for sharing this work. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-26065761270591885302013-11-18T06:58:56.980-05:002013-11-18T06:58:56.980-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-71167556154483446112013-10-02T04:02:00.665-04:002013-10-02T04:02:00.665-04:00First, my perspective is that of someone who has b...First, my perspective is that of someone who has been working in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 30 years, a considerable part of that time in executive roles; I suspect that I am not much different than someone working in any sector for that long. <br /><br />It amuses me to see that employers want recent graduates, whose relatively lower salaries they want to pay, to have the abilities which only years of real work experience can bring. It is in line with the fact that, in advertising positions, the level of experience which will be paid is 2-3 years and the quality of experience which is wanted is 10 - 20 years. <br /><br />Get students the tools and orientation they need while they are in the university and do that as efficiently as possible. Then get them out of there and let them use the tools, throw them into the work world and get them the best coaching available (which also might not be ideal) and let them truly develop. Apprenticeships and work-study programs are some possibilities, but there might be more. <br /><br />Keep in mind that at the university the students are paying to get the tools. In industry the employees are being paid to apply those tools. The free market does work in this situation, but unfortunately with too great a delay - those who are in the lag will suffer. Industry liaison offices and exposure of decision making and classroom educators to the work environment might help here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-6074214619065328582013-10-01T17:18:07.976-04:002013-10-01T17:18:07.976-04:00But this analysis omits a critical component: stud...But this analysis omits a critical component: student motivation. Students want a credential rather than an education, and perhaps we foster that by creating every more specialized "majors" and by stressing the financial benefit of any given credential. We also probably contribute to that by treating general education as what a colleague once referred to as a "speed bump," as something to "get out of the way." And, though we're getting better, higher ed in general (with some exemplary exceptions like nursing) is terrible at defining learning outcomes. <br /><br />But to get back to the students. As a teacher of first-year writing many years ago, I endeavored to demonstrate the value of writing in other disciplines. So I had faculty from other departments come speak to my class once each term. And what happened? The students ARGUED with those other faculty. "Why should you care?" they asked. <br /><br />Maybe we need employers to give talks at freshman orientation or in first year seminars to help students value the skills employers need. To a certain extent, it doesn't matter what employers value or how closely they work with educators or even how we construct our curricula, if our STUDENTS (and their parents) don't value those skills and ways of learning. We lead 'em to the water but it's much more difficult to make 'em drink!Peg Wherryhttp://eu.montana.edu/onlinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-64625831395243817252013-08-05T11:20:09.514-04:002013-08-05T11:20:09.514-04:00You should consider the aspects of a successful M...You should consider the aspects of a successful MOOC type degree... and should think of it as a degree approach....<br /><br />First... we have online courses now... and CLEP type challenge courses... How is a MOOC different?<br /><br />Second... Student DEBT is crushing...!!! if is wrecking a whole generation of college graduates... lots of ways that this is happening - but it's killing off post college aspirations for huge numbers of people - and crushing them with perhaps a "lifetime" of debt... If there is a choice, then people should consider it. <br /><br />Third.. What makes a successful class? Great presentation and content? That's in the MOOC... measured testing? can be done in test centers located everywhere - as clep and standards testing courses do now... Tutoring? Little of that happens now in real colleges.. but it can happen both in software (as does in navigation programs) and by contract tutoring - via Skype, etc.)<br /><br />all of the things necessary for effective courses are in place now... the CRITICAL element is degree certification.... It is not so different from an online MBA, after all....JRobinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12029085363602418898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-15412356966423407632013-03-27T10:50:10.603-04:002013-03-27T10:50:10.603-04:00MOOCs offer an empty and hollow promise to those w...MOOCs offer an empty and hollow promise to those who think they offer education at all. I recently watched an infomercial on television in which the spokesperson indicated she had lost over a hundred pounds on a particular diet. I assume she was not lying as she had pictures of her former fat self. I wonder how many customers signed up for the miracle diet she was shilling. I wonder how many have lost weight trying to follow that plan and how many more have simply lost money, hope, and self worth. MOOCs ultimately separate us even further into two distinct classes, just as money has done in America in the last fifty years. There will be those who have an education (see: 'The Rich Few') and the rest. MOOCs have the potential to fulfill the ultimate capitalist dream: create a class of workers skilled enough to keep the machines running but unable to take control of their own lives. Community Colleges were invented to help workers get skills, not, despite their hallowed and hollow vision statements, to create well rounded intellectually stimulated citizens of the modern world. MOOCs are just another, cheaper way to keep that system running by allowing as few crumbs as possible to fall from the feast table into the mouths of the great unwashed.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10671552836850722354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-9556569140777917352013-02-27T13:40:08.250-05:002013-02-27T13:40:08.250-05:00I believe that it determined person can reach ever...I believe that it determined person can reach everything. Moreover, there exist so many opportunities for self-development. Being a student, I always thought that it was a sin not to study in such libraries:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.admission-essays.org/university-libraries/" rel="nofollow">university libraries</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16847182725209150356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-7427996463855855632013-01-06T15:32:40.770-05:002013-01-06T15:32:40.770-05:00I suspect that MOOCs may appear to be disruptive i...I suspect that MOOCs may appear to be disruptive in the same way that the open classroom appeared to be in the 1970s. In fact, however, they are simply another facet of how our institutions are adapting to a new technological and social environment. I suggested some possible applications for land grant universities in a recent posting on my Education and Society blog: http://garyemiller.blogspot.com/2012/12/moocs-and-land-grant-mission.html<br />Gary Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462662265684250950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-16655197997004436432013-01-06T13:49:31.443-05:002013-01-06T13:49:31.443-05:00For me it all hinges on the learning outcomes (wha...For me it all hinges on the learning outcomes (what they are, who decides if they are important, how robustly they are assessed) and what form of credential can be earned by passing the course assessments. From what I've seen, MOOCs don't have either high quality learning outcomes or a mechanism (traditional or not) for credentialling. Therefore they don't meet key needs of students.<br /><br />So I agree by different arguments, MOOCs are not disruptive in Christiansen's definition.Nils Petersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05935222124500061956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-82314866454616110162012-11-08T16:27:02.561-05:002012-11-08T16:27:02.561-05:00We completed the essay and it's been published...We completed the essay and it's been published. If your institution subscribes, you can read it free online. If not, here's one way to read it: <br />http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2664469171.htmlSteve Ehrmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16960072471169560307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-45335640337477543972012-06-05T20:59:37.693-04:002012-06-05T20:59:37.693-04:00A well-timed clicker poll (1-2 questions) to revie...A well-timed clicker poll (1-2 questions) to review student comprehension before introducing new material could work well. It gives both instructor and students a chance to see if everyone "gets" it.. and for teacher especially, the ability to adjust delivery rate. Slow down, speed up, repeat, etc. Derek Bruff, author of Teaching with Classroom Response Systems, offers some suggestions in a summary post from a recent NERCOMP meeting on the topic of active learning and student response systems. http://derekbruff.org/?p=2155Ben Harwoodhttp://harwoodben.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-13509121965213825872012-01-03T07:14:08.054-05:002012-01-03T07:14:08.054-05:00Good post Steve. Comparability is dangerous as a m...Good post Steve. Comparability is dangerous as a metric in most circumstances. You've identified several of the concerns - failure to recognize the potential that emerging technologies afford to do things differently, opportunities to provide much more granular information on what students are doing with the learning materials, how they are interacting with each other and their mentors/instructors, etc. The reality is we should actually set more aspirational goals for all our courses, online, hybrid and face to face.<br /><br />Cheers!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-16278443054338166192011-07-24T16:09:24.922-04:002011-07-24T16:09:24.922-04:00Encouraging leadership and independence: in a hybr...Encouraging leadership and independence: in a hybrid format with more than 50% of f2f instruction being replaced with online learning activities, good learning strategies become even more critical in managing one's learning. Encouraging and guiding students to take more responsibility for their own learning - the need is more "visible" in a hybrid or online program - has the potential for a more lasting positive impact on an individual learner.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05299997277408251144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639534124365545851.post-74710094085267468372011-02-21T16:15:23.228-05:002011-02-21T16:15:23.228-05:00Here are two links on podcasting that I've fou...Here are two links on podcasting that I've found valuable:<br /><br />David Miller's Intro to General Psychology (be sure to listen to his "Precasts")<br />http://icube.uconn.edu/iCube/Welcome_to_iCube.html<br /><br />U Buffalo's School of Social Work<br />http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/03/24/producing-a-podcast-lessons-from-u-buffalo-school-of-social-work.aspx<br /><br />Also, re: lecture capture - what I've read is that students generally don't watch a lecture video from beginning to end. They prefer to jump to the section they're interested in or jump around. I recommend editing the video into short segments by topic or providing a "table of contents" so students can find what they're looking for quickly.Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13756468878062896666noreply@blogger.com