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September 16, 2009, 11:00 am
What’s on your mind?
How’s your semester going?
Do you need advice or feedback about something related to life and work in higher ed?
Do you have advice or feedback to share about something related to life and work in higher ed?
What would you like to see covered at ProfHacker?
Let us hear from you in the comments!
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16 Responses to Open Thread Wednesday!
Dan Russell - September 16, 2009 at 11:15 am
Instead of using the school’s bulky, crap interface LMS, my professor for my grad class this semester provided us with this link for course materials: http://www.rpi.edu/~petela/. KISS > LMS.
Kathy - September 16, 2009 at 12:17 pm
We’re only into week 4 in my TechnoRomantics class and it’s overwhelming. The technology that is. I’m using Moodle for discussion forum and blog posts. A website with all of the course documents & relevant info. Google Docs for two assignments. Page Creator for another (the penultimate one). PDFs for documents.
By the time we’re finished with all of the log-ins, the students are just pissed. Plus, thanks to budget cuts, I have some who just want to be warm bodies — they took the class only because they desperately needed something even though these are all English majors. So, our transitions between the online tools and the literary discussions are languishing. The last time I taught this class, the students were inspired and inspiring. They came engaged with the material and hungry, really hungry to learn. After 6 weeks, I didn’t have to lecture at all and let them ask questions instead to guide the discussion. (Granted, last time was the first I taught TechnoRomantics; I’m finding that the first time is always fantastic and the 2nd time is always disappointing.)
I know PBwiki might have been a better LMS but we have Moodle. I hate that Moodle is pw-protected, though. Plus, it’s clunky. Wish our uni would do WordPress & let a technologist work with me on it. But, there again, budget cuts: Our great instructional designer left for greener pastures and they’re not filling the position.
Kvetching aside, how do I rescue this semester for the TechnoRomantics? My usual antics of having them write about the material for discussion use is not working. They’re not jiving on Teamspot/Tidebreak (a multi-user sharing software whereby they get to take over the 3 front screens from their laptops). They all have laptops during class but I have to ask them to close them during discussion because they’re emailing, etc — worse than even the frosh comp students last semester.
Any tips from digerati about the transitioning?
Side Note: 2 came up after class to ask me about the 1818 version of Frankenstein & if it ushered in the Romantic’s notion of “intuition.” Great question!! But, why not ask during class?
2nd Side Note: I’m usually scary & cultivate that to week out slackers. But with furloughs & budget cuts, there’s no time for facades. I just want to help them all.
3rd Side Note: There are those who took great pride in excoriating me in public online fora for bad teaching practices that occurred 4 years ago….I learned from those experiences and have moved on, so please no snarky comments about being a bad teacher.
Derek - September 16, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I’ve heard a lot about what to do (e.g. teach online) if classes are canceled due to flu outbreaks. I’d be interested in hearing what ProfHacker contributors and readers do when classes are still in session but they are the ones sick. Do you find a sub? Cancel a class or two? Show up even if you’re feeling awful? Replace in-class activities with online ones?
Julie Meloni - September 16, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I think 4 weeks in is still rescue-able, especially since week 1 was probably all full of shifting and other sorts of budget-related administrative crap and you’re devoted to stopping for a moment, readjusting everyone, then moving on.
Can you give us more info, like: was the class pitched as a techno course or a Romantics course? [setting aside the warm bodies factor for a sec]
Also: when you did this class last time, did you have a similar wide range of tools in play?
Also: is there a difference in people’s in-class responses at week 4 this time vs week 4 last time? [you said by week 6 last time ppl were ok but it's not week 6 yet -- wondering if the technology issues you are describing are clouding any positives]
The reason I ask about how it was pitched is because what you described seems like an awful lot of different technologies all at once — I know that it’s part of cobbling together something more workable than the uni LMS, but still, I don’t know that I would have tackled all those different things as hands-on tools unless it was pitched as a really technical course with some minimum competencies before registration (which again, I know you can’t check).
The first thing I’d look at is where you can perhaps back out some of the locked-down content and interactions into an open area, or an area in which they already have an account. Here I’m thinking about leveraging Google tools, especially if you’ve made them already get a Google account for use with Docs, how about throwing things up into Sites and Groups? That could be a one-stop document retrieval, creation, and discussion place all under one account (and still lockable to the outside). I’m not saying the Google suite is all the best, but if you’re trying to do a bunch of different things and people are balking at having to go to a bunch of different places, this would be one way to alleviate it.
Also: are there any tools/projects you are willing to take off the schedule in the hopes of making the ones that remain all the better?
Paul - September 16, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Here’s a suggestion: I’m finding that productivity depends a lot on what space I’m in — and how that space changes with time. Perhaps that’s too abstract of way of saying that: I can only get work done in my office in the morning, then need to relocate elsewhere to refocus. But relocating is so often hindered by lugging books and and papers and computers, or finding the right networked, power-supplied place. I guess I’m wondering what suggestions you might have for changing spaces, for working on the go, for maintaining focus, that kind of thing. Maybe this is too general, but it if makes sense for somewhere there to share their perspectives, I’d appreciate reading about them. Thanks!
Nels P. Highberg - September 16, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I’d like to hear about any tools people have for annotating PDFs. I am a big highlighter and often write things in the margins when I read, so I have always used paper copies. I have started to scan my paper files to reduce the space they take up. I can print out what I need for notes, and then scan those notes when I’m done with the project, but that is a bit much. Yes, there is Adobe Acrobat, but that is damn expensive. If there are any low-cost or free programs or websites where we can annotate PDFs, I’d like to know more about them.
joanna - September 16, 2009 at 1:41 pm
If I’m unexpectedly out sick, I use online programs, including email, to teach the class. Because our college wants our F2F classes met (instead of cancelled), I try to get a sub, who , essentially, gives the class an online assignment with a due -by- email- date. If I can’t find a sub, then I leave the assignment to be posted on the door by the department admin. assistant. In both cases, I also post the information to the class website. I think of, but haven’t done yet, creating a cellphone list to contact the students (all commuters) before they leave home.
joanna - September 16, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I tend to divide things by task and energy–and I save things on line as often as I can–either Googledocs or via email, so that I can cut down on the kind of lugging that wears me out.
I’ve also become more realistic about what I can do in a space of time–grade quizzes, read for the next day, at night; develop assignments or grade papers, on Tuesday, Thursday mornings, etc. Other times are for planning, teaching, meetings and so forth. Sometimes I use my Blackberry voice recording for ideas that I want to develop at a later time, or send myself an email.
Rohan Maitzen - September 16, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I’m trying and liking Microsoft OneNote, which replaces the physical notebooks I used to lug around–if you’re already carrying a laptop or netbook, you don’t need much else, especially if you already have your PDFs and class notes and so forth all on the machine. It also offers a work-around for the question about PDFs (though fortunately my university has a licensed cheaper version of Acrobat, which does all those good things): you can put documents in “as printouts” and then mark them up using the drawing tools–or since you can type anywhere on the page, you can create boxes of annotations anywhere you want.
Natalie - September 16, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I use NitroPDF — although I have the pro-level software (which is more expensive than it used to be but still cheaper than Acrobat) they have an entry-level program, and also a number of free tools, including an online PDF editor, a Firefox addon, and various converters.
Courtney - September 16, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Let’s hack furloughs! Tomorrow is my first of 6 this academic year. Even worse, our furloughs are to be taken in 4 hour blocks instead of full days, and I must take them without canceling class meetings or office hours. My president wants me to “do more with less.” What are some ideas for making the most of furloughs?
christa - September 16, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Some of us at Rowan U who are also having to take mandatory furloughs were talking about putting together a furlough blog–we’d each detail how we spent our time during furlough day. Perhaps ProfHacker could have a standing “furlough day” link where all of us could chime in on our given furlough days. Proof that professorial productivity doesn’t come to a stop on mandatory furlough days?
Jason B. Jones - September 17, 2009 at 12:16 am
Love this. I need to think a bit about the format–as the chapter president of my campus’s faculty union, I need to be a little careful about the frame, but there’s definitely good work to do on the furlough issue / professorial productivity front. Look for a post about this on Tuesday.
Nels P. Highberg - September 17, 2009 at 4:07 pm
A colleague stopped me today to ask about Google Jockeying, which I don’t do, but it might be worth exploring. Anyone done it?
http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutGoogl/156817
Kathy - September 17, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Ok, problem solved, partially today. By attrition, only the most interested 17 are showing up to class on a regular basis. Also, I think we were missing a classroom culture that’s integral to this project. We are over the hump of creating our most technical assignment: the timeline (thanks to Brian Croxall’s timeline tutorial).
Since we’re in a room with portable furniture, every class session has been an experiment in organizing their desks. Today, I asked them to arrange themselves in groups according to who has what chapter in Frankenstein, a novel which is tidily divided into Volumes & a series of letters at the beginning. They will work in these groups for the remainder of the semester and will get to know a certain set of people. Also, they will be responsible for each other, and they can get to know one another better (even those absent) via their profiles on Moodle.
I also took a moment to take them through the major elements of our course website — my HTML website. I pointed out that a techno-savvy student was strategically placed in each group so they could help each other during Digital Workshop or other times.
We also briefly discussed how fantastic the timeline is — they oohed and aahed. But, this is where it got better. We use Tidebreak’s ClassSpot to allow anyone on a laptop to take over the screens at the front. Today, we discussed botany (Darwin) and education (Wollstonecraft). I could see them diddling their laptops, so I asked them to share. What I got was:
1) looking up proper names in the OED database (Frank + Stein)
2) YouTube video of Grease 2 “Reproduction” discussing the unwieldy reproductive passion of flowers
3) YouTube video of V for Vendetta tv speech about government should fear its people, not vice versa
4) Tom Lehr’s Chemistry elements song
Fabulous!! I encouraged them to keep track of these cool things as we move through the semester. Though ClassSpot kept failing (because of the wireless in the room), I put the URLs for all of this on our course website online schedule. I also initiated the group relationships by asking them to discuss a given chapter in their groups and then leave notes on Moodle in the discussion area. We will return to these raw notes next week to add to them or use them further as we discuss dreams, mistakes, nightmares & Frankenstein.
I hesitate, at this point, to change the syllabus around by cutting readings or assignments (plus, we’re on a point system for the assignments so cutting one means gifting them 10pts) or even removing a piece of technology. Much more movement around may not help them.
We are also dealing with some pretty severe class schedule cuts for Spring & Fall so I try to initiate conversation in every class about how to make the most of their education even in these times. That seems to bring them together as well.
And, you know what, Professor Hacker people? All of these changes are due to my training in composition. These are all writing-across-the-curriculum and collaborative learning strategies that were ingrained by my years at the Expository Writing Program at NYU. No matter how much we all hate teaching lots and lots of sections of frosh composition, it’s true that composition forces instructors to be spontaneous, student-centered, collaborative and pedagogically-minded. Letting them make it their own class was the best advice that anyone ever gave me. I’m reminded of that with this class.
Thanks for Julie for also making some very sage suggestions about the technology & just waiting it out.
christa - September 17, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Jason: Yes, you’re right that it would need to be framed appropriately. I’ve heard (perhaps only rumor?) that some folks are actually being reprimanded by administration for DOING WORK on furlough days–even if it’s work at home or at a coffee shop. Begs the question: what counts as “work” and when does the academic “work day” even really end?