Teaching in Higher Ed

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

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The scholarship of teaching and learning

Since I first heard about the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), I’ve been intrigued by this area of research.

I was copied on a Tweet this week from Nick Byrd, asking about where to find empirical studies and experiments about education practices/outcomes.

Tweet from Nick Byrd regarding his search for empirical studies and experiments about education practices/outcomes.

Someone replied to his request with this article from The Association for Psychological Science, which seems like a helpful resource.

However, I had a much longer reply that has been formulating in my mind since he first inquired. In this post, I’ll explore the broad area of study surrounding the effectiveness of education, as well as some of the subdomains under the broader research area that I find particularly interesting.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The broad area of this kind of research tends to fit under the domain of The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (or #SoTL on Twitter).

In researching items for this blog post, it would seem that #SoTL also has something to do with cigars (unrelated to our discussion of #SoTL). It can be unfortunate when a hashtag gets some overlap like that, but it was easy enough to skip over to focus on items of particular interest to me. To skip over any cigar references, the newly-established #SoTLchat hashtag is solely focused on conversations around the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Anyone interested in pursuing this research area may benefit from this article with “Advice for New SoTL Researchers” from the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). Another good starting point is this related discussion on Good Practices in SoTL.

Getting a background on the ethics involved in conducting this form of research is also important. The University of Calgary provided this overview of their ethical review of their research on teaching and learning.

In attempting to answer Nick’s question, I knew that I would be insufficient to address the wide-ranging areas that this body of research explores.

I’m going to discuss some of the parts of the scholarship of teaching and learning that I’ve read the most about. I also encourage you to browse the current and past issues of the Journal of Teaching and Learning Inquiry to find those topics that provide the most interest for you.

Research on Learning

At the risk of oversimplification, most of us want to know whether or not what we are attempting to do in our teaching is actually going to work. Or, if we’re already convinced of the benefits to our experimentation, we may come across skeptics who want to know the efficacy of our recommendations.

Past episodes of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast that most relate to these questions are:

  1. Episode #094 with Pooja Agarwal on retrieval practice. “When we think about learning, we typically focus on getting information into students’ heads. What if, instead, we focus on getting information out of students’ heads?” The Retrieval Practice website is full of resources for exploring the research behind this approach to teaching.
  2. Episode #072 with Robert Bjork on cognitive psychology also emphasizes retrieval practice, as well as the role that forgetting plays in our learning.
  3. Episode #132 with Saundra McGuire on how to teach students how to learn. Her background as a chemistry professor had her continually seeking ways to support her students in their learning. Her interview with ACUE helps us understand “what changed the trajectory of her research and scholarship.”
  4. Episode #069 with Meg Urry on correcting mental models shares approaches we can use to help our students grasp complex information. As a professor of physics and astronomy, she recognizes that “real learning takes time,” and offers a prescriptive checklist for solving problems to help students think more critically.
  5. Episode #135 with Sarah Rose Cavanagh on her book, The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion discusses the role that emotions play in learning.
  6. Episode #062 with Rebecca Campbell on the power of mindset. She shares on the episode, “It isn’t about teaching differently, but about framing the conversation differently.” She also describes ways to help students achieve more of a growth mindset, based on the research.
  7. Episode #047 with Todd Zakrajsek provides similar information as the episode with Rebecca, only this time regarding metacognition. He describes it as “thinking about thinking; knowing when you know.”
  8. Espidoes #037 with Tine Reimers did a deep dive on the research that explores approaches to developing critical thinking skills. The show notes include Tine’s taxonomy of some of the critical thinking theories and suggestions for how to grow critical thinking in our students.
  9. Episode #016 with Josh Eyler looks at biology, the brain, and learning. On the episode, he provide a framework for a biological basis of learning and recommends resources from Harvard’s graduate school of education on the mind, the brain, and education.

Books Worth Reading on Related Topics

In addition to the books that were highlighted in the episodes, above, I also must mention two of my favorite reads related to teaching and learning.

While both books are written in a less-formal tone than an academic journal article would be, they are based on extensive research on teaching and learning and have references to their primary sources, should you want to dive deeper than they do on any approach.

Your Turn

I know I have just skimmed the surface with this post, but it is time to get back to the writing I’m doing on my book. Now you probably know why I didn’t feel I could tackle this in 140 characters on Twitter, though.

What are others exploring about the scholarship of teaching and learning? How do you address those who are skeptical as to the effectiveness of some of our teaching methods? What resources did I miss that can help Nick familiarize himself more with this body of research?

Four Fruitful Distractions

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As I've written about previously, I am writing a book this summer. It's my first book. I've written a dissertation, before, and there are certainly parallels. But, it's my first time having such a strict timeline to get it done, and to have my work be a part of a series of books.

Our academic year is over, and I'm officially into summer. While I find such joy in teaching, it is always a relief to have a break and be renewed for the next season of teaching.

In my process of conducting a monthly review, I always select a theme for the coming month. In May, it was writing. For June, I had also selected writing.

However, I am reconsidering.

As overused as the concept is, I'm starting to think that my theme should be balance. Yes, I need to write a book. And I want to write a book. But, I also realize this is a precious season for our children and I am fortunate to be able to spend a bit more time with them during the summer than I can during the academic year.

I write all of this to explain why I am working at not feeling guilty when I get distracted by something fun. I don't have to be constantly focused in order to achieve my goals for this season. The pace of my days doesn't have to be as relentless as it can often be during the academic year.

To that end, here are some wonderful distractions I've been experiencing in recent weeks. When I wasn't writing, of course…

Doodling for Academics

All the way back on Episode 17, Janine Utell recommended a wonderful book called a Dear Committee Members: A Novel, by Julie Schumacher. I devoured it right away and have since bought copies for multiple colleagues who I thought could use a more humorous look at parts of our work.

It made me all that much more excited that the author was coming out with an adult coloring book. Doodling for Academics: A Coloring and Activity Book allows Julie Schumacher to continue to keep us laughing and not taking ourselves too seriously. My mom bought me a copy and I have been enjoying leafing through the pages and chuckling over the common dysfunctional ways of our own institutions and of higher ed, in general.

HubSpot’s HTML Email Signature Creator

Another recent find involves less laughter and more beautiful design. I found HubSpot, a website that allows you to build a gorgeous HTML signature for your email for free. There are some paid services that do this for you, but I'm reluctant to pay a monthly subscription fee for something like this.

I wanted a signature that could live inside my email client and not on someone else's servers. One of the important questions to ask whenever something is supposedly free, is what am I giving up and exchange for this benefit I'm looking to receive.

I was asked to give up some demographic information and my email address in exchange for my new signatures. The company sells website and marketing services and I know I am potentially going to be marketed to in the future. They have sent one email over the course of the last few days with a link to a white paper. They do provide an easy way to unsubscribe from their emails and seem to comply with the Can-Spam Act properly.

If you have some basic HTML skills, you can make modifications to their code in your email client. In fact, you may be able to achieve the desired result us by typing directly in to the signatures text editor of your email client, after you copy and paste your signature.

Using a Different Email Client: In My Case – AirMail 3

When it comes to email, most people either stick with whatever email client their institution uses (such as Microsoft Outlook), or whichever one is the default on their computer (such as mail, on the Mac).

After listening to Katie Floyd and David Sparks talk about alternatives to email clients on Episode #303 of the Mac Power Users, I decided to finally take the plunge. I read a lot of articles, and finally landed on that using Airmail on both my Mac and on my iOS devices.

Forbes’ Anthony Karcz makes the case for why Mac users should consider using Airmail 3 as our email client of choice. I’ve been delighted at the gorgeous user interface and some of the small touches, like being able to send an email later (only works on certain email services, like gmail or Office 365), and the integration with my task manager of choice: OmniFocus.

NPR's Wow in the World Podcast

Dave (my husband) and I frequently joke that our kids are going to grow up thinking that every adult in the world has a podcast.

While the kids do get to listen to their fair share of music in the car, until now, they never knew of the existence of a kid-oriented podcast.

NPR launched their Wow in the World podcast about a month ago. It is entertaining for kids and adults and is a big hit for our family. They describe Wow in the world as:

…a new way for families to connect, look up and discover the wonders in the world around them. Every episode, hosts Mindy and Guy guide curious kids and their grown-ups away from their screens and on a journey. Through a combination of careful scientific research and fun, we'll go inside our brains, out into space, and deep into the coolest new stories in science and technology.” -NPR

Here is our son’s review of the Wow in the World podcast, in his own words:

He sounds like he is making a paid endorsement for Wow in the World. Trust me. NPR doesn't know we're doing this and with how good it is, they don't need our help.

Thanks for reviewing the Wow in the World Podcast for Teaching in Higher Ed, Luke

Your Turn

What have been some fruitful distractions for you, as we head into summer? 

The Trouble with Summer

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We finished our Spring semester a little over a week ago.  Graduation came and went… We had our final, full faculty meeting of the academic year. Grades were submitted.

Summer is Here (Sort of)

My mind and body haven't made the shift over to summertime yet. Part of that is because I still have some work-related commitments to attend to… An academic retreat, some departmental hiring decisions meetings, and participation in a visit from an external reviewer.

Part of my not being entirely sure what season I'm in is because it can be difficult to shift into an entirely new way of working.

I'm writing a book this summer. My time is being steered by Pacemaker, a writing word-count web service, as well as a time tracker called Timing that watches what I do on the computer (and even when I leave the computer's side) and asks me to account for that time. But, I haven't quite gotten in a groove yet that has me at my most productive. I find myself looking at clutter that didn't bother me during the academic year, but has me convinced that I ought to overhaul our pantry, or perhaps re-organize my entire home office.

Timing App gives an overview of how my time is spent on and off the computer.

By no means am I complaining. I find such joy in teaching and am already missing the pace of the semester. Sometimes.

After bawling through John Warner's post on his “Last” Class in The Chronicle, I was all that much more aware of the joy that I find in having a tenured position at a university. It wasn't like John just gave up all of the sudden, but has chronicled his difficulties in the past. It was strange to experience that kind of sadness over someone whose class I never sat in, or ever even met.

Another recent post that brought me to tears was Sean Michael Morris' writing about what his Dad taught him about teaching. He writes:

To teach, we must believe in the potential of each person in the room. Unwaveringly. This is not to say we don’t get to have our bad days, our off days, the days when we really can’t stand to talk to another student or plan another lesson. But it does mean that we teach for a reason, and that reason lies in what lies in the heart of a student. What lay in our hearts when we were students. Hope despair melancholy desire passion hunger confusion. All the things it takes to learn to walk. All the things it takes to learn to do anything. All the things it takes to live in Los Angeles, or to love someone who is hard to love.” – Sean Michael Morris

I started reading Stephen Brookfield's book: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. Brookfield asserts that if we commit ourselves to critical reflection, we will receive the following benefits:

  • Align your teaching with desired student outcomes
  • See your practice from new perspectives
  • Engage learners via multiple teaching formats
  • Understand and manage classroom power dynamics
  • Model critical thinking for your students
  • Manage the complex rhythms of diverse classrooms

It wouldn't be a book that I would recommend as a starting point for someone in their first year or two of teaching. However, after 14 years of teaching, and me having read only 20% of the book, I'm already being challenged in important ways.

The other trouble with summer is that there's always so much I want to do that it is easy to become stuck in the thinking of the possibilities phase. I'm still contemplating if I'll open an account on Patreon to try to find supporters of the podcast to cover some of the associated expenses for producing the show (web and podcast hosting, editing and production costs).

There have also been inquiries about transcripts over the years. If I could get enough supporters to cover some of the foundational costs of the podcast, it would be a good time to start including transcripts with each episode. That would only be if there was an expressed need for them that was compelling enough that people would want to give, financially, to support that effort.

I experimented this week with an automated transcription service called Trint that was promising. Here's what the episode #150 text output looks like, after exporting the basic transcript.

The transcripts can also be produced as something richer than plain text. I then used Camtasia to add a graphic of the logo, along with the audio file, together into a single .MP4 file and uploaded it to YouTube. Trint allows you to export a transcript in what is called .SRT format, which is one of the ways to import closed captioning into YouTube. If you view episode #150 on YouTube and click the button to view the CC (closed captioning), you'll see the transcript is included there, and has the correct timing settings without me having to do anything. It was pretty remarkable.

What are your plans for summer, or do you even get to take a break at all during this season?

As a small step, consider taking advantage of this free online subscription to the Washington Post (for those with .edu email addresses). Or, think through some aspects of your digital literacy, using this post from Catherine Cronin. If all that sounds like too much, maybe you just want to do some coloring in Julie Schumacher's Doodling for Academics?

Poster Sessions Experimentation Continues

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I tried doing poster sessions for the first time a year ago. Doug McKee had inspired me, though he was skeptical that my analog approach would be successful.

2017 Spring Consumer Behavior Poster Session Event

This semester, I decided to experiment more with poster sessions in my consumer behavior classes, with a few key differences:

  • Larger/outdoor venue: I was teaching two sections of the course and needed to find a venue to fit 50+ students, along with business professionals, students, alumni, faculty, and staff. We settled on an outdoor courtyard, with accommodated us well.
  • External audience: Inspired by public sphere pedagogy, I wanted to invite business professionals, professors, and alumni to attend.
  • Live event streaming: We experimented with Facebook Live, in an attempt to capture an even larger, external audience.
  • Give-aways and food: We decided to involve our guests and invited them to vote for their favorite posters with tickets. I had contemplated using some kind of technology (a colleague had used Mentimeter in the past to vote on student films), but in the end, we went low-tech and did a raffle. I like that everyone had a chance to win and the way the tickets re-engaged the guests with the people at the various booths, as they went back to award their favorite posters, by handing them tickets.
  • Professional photography: We were fortunate to have Taylor Gonzalez from TayJoy Photography in the class, so we could have all these wonderful photographs from the event.

I am thankful to have had a wonderful teaching assistant this semester, Jamie Jacob, who was instrumental in getting business professionals to attend and in locating some prizes for the raffle.

Emma McKay was our event planner and kept us on track with all the tasks that needed doing to make the event a success.

Emma McKay's LinkedIn Profile

Emma's LinkedIn profile says that she's an aspiring event planner, but I think it is more than safe to change that wording to present tense at this point. Read Emma's reflections on the poster sessions event on LinkedIn.

One of the students in the course who was scheduled to be a Facebook Live co-host came down with something awful right at the last minute. While it was disappointing to not have Adam Tyler there at the event, it is fun to get to share his reflections on the event with you now.

Consumer Behavior Poster Sessions, by Adam Tyler

The Consumer Behavior Class at Vanguard University, taught by the o-so-talented Dr. Bonni Stachowiak, put on an incredible poster session event Wednesday, April 19th. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this event due to a horrid stomach flu that had me bed ridden for four days.

However, thanks to the incredible innovation of Facebook live, I was able to go back and watch all of the posters and the interviews that went along with them. Cathryn Lynch did an incredible job recording and interviewing, and now I will talk about some of the posters that stood out to me the most.

Consumers at Disneyland

The Disneyland poster was the first one of the night. It was very organized neat, colorful, and the Disneyland sign across the top represented exactly what the sign looks like at the Park. The Disneyland poster caught my attention just like they try to to do to you in the park with the sights, smells and sounds. Cathryn asked the question of how would a consumer misbehave at Disney, and the answer was that a lot of pass-holders let their friends borrow their pass and they dress to look just like them.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

The entire baseball poster, representing the Los Angeles Dodgers, was made to look like a large baseball field. It was neat, organized, and definitely sporty. Misbehavior at a baseball game could include fans being rowdy, drunk, and loud. For promotions at baseball games, teams give out give-aways such as selfie sticks, towels, etc to attract fans. Baseball does a great job of advertising as well.

M&M Consumption

The M&M poster consisted of a large blowup of the main M&M characters as the background. The poster also included the stat that 100 million are eaten every day! They use the significance norm to describe the importance of M&M’s to consumers.

NCAA March Madness

This poster was done to simplicity as it was just black and blue, but had a lot of great information on it as well as a visual of a mini basketball hoop. The influences at a NCAA basketball game includes situational factors and hereditary influences.

Changes in Music Consumption

The music poster was set up very organized, colorful, and attractive. Some main points included how popular music streaming has become with Apple music, Amazon music, Pandora, etc. A misbehavior of music would be illegally downloading music or sharing passwords and services.

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl Poster was very green, big and eye catching. Some main points of this poster included how everything during the Super Bowl is amped up to a whole new levels including the game, advertisements and food. Marketing is so important to consumers and they fall completely in the trap during the Super Bowl. A misbehavior of Super Bowl could be the inappropriate commercials or ones that do not support fair trade.

Consuming Movies

The movie poster looked as if someone was actually going to the movies. It was dark and black with few lighting around the outside. People go to the movies for hedonic value. Friends, family and peers also have influence on what movies people see. A situational influence could be the smell of popcorn in the theatre or the advertisements of coke.

Social Media Poster

The social media poster had a black background with colorful writings and designs. Social Media has so much power over everything, especially marketing. Instagram uses its platform for celebrity marketing, and Facebook uses all kinds of marketing to pull the consumer right in. Social Media knows how to market to your area, what you like, and what you might buy. It’s a great business!

American Spending on Dogs

This poster was bright and white, and consisted of pictures of dogs and bones throughout the poster. Americans spend the most money on their dog of anyone. Americans are in the need for companionship, and there is no better answer than a dog. They are cute, cuddly, and Americans want to make their pet as happy as possible, which means spending money. Dog supplies are not cheap either!

Consumer Health Trends

The consumer health board was light, trendy and eye catching and almost looked as if I was dieting by staring at the poster. Some trends today include vegan, vegetarian, non-gmo, gluten free, paleo diet and more. A lot of eating trends that people develop are from celebrities, and people abuse this trend by developing eating disorders and anorexia.

Tailgating Poster

The tailgating crew had on music, food, and a good time for anyone to stop by. The vast majority of Americans who go to football games tailgate. In fact, some only go to the games to experience tailgating. Tailgating includes buying food, grilling food, having drinks, and having games. Tailgating is very influential among the sports community.

Social Entrepreneurship Resonates with Consumers

This poster was very neat, clean and white! It consisted of a bunch of facts, charts, and socio-responsible companies. Some included 31 bits, Krochet Kids, Warby Parker, Toms, and more! Toms and Warby Parker are a glasses and shoe company and both donate pairs to charity for example. Consumers are always looking to give or in this case invest in products with a purpose.

Conclusion

The poster session event looked like such a big hit to the Vanguard Community. There was a good amount of people not even in the class who attended this event. Everyone was having fun enjoying each others posters and enjoying some good consumer information.

Once again, it was such a bummer that I could not attend this incredible event put on by Dr. Stachowiak, but thank you technology for allowing me to experience so many wonderful posters in the comfort of my bed.

Using Facebook Live in Higher Ed Teaching

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This has been one of those extraordinary weeks in teaching. I have been edified by what I've observed about my students' experiences in my classes this semester. This week, my consumer behavior classes showed off our learning through a poster sessions event (originally inspired by Doug McKee’s experiences in his economics courses).

I’ll be writing more about the poster sessions event, overall, once the pictures are in from the photographer we used. In the meantime, I thought I would share about my first experience using Facebook Live, in conjunction with the poster sessions.

Facebook Live Successes

I’ll admit to being somewhat reluctant to try out Facebook Live. There was this feeling of trepidation (based on fears like: What is no one shows up? What if it doesn’t work “right”? What if (in this case) people are uncomfortable sharing in this venue?).

sample Facebook Live videos

It’s hard to look at these sample Facebook Live videos of Jane Goodall, Martha Stewart, Seth Myers, Adam Grant, and Amy Cuddy and not think that maybe this stuff is best left to the professionals.

But, I do enjoy experimentation and live video is becoming so widely used in education and in business, I decided to give it a try.

Here are some of my successes:

Selected a Great Host

Since I knew I would be busy facilitating the poster sessions event, I had found a couple of students who were dynamic and articulate.

Sadly, one of them got sick at the last minute, so we wound up with only one host. She was absolutely fantastic, though, and also had previously recommended a smart phone accessory that made needing a second host a bit less essential.

Purchased a Hand-held Stabilizer Accessory for My Phone

Our Facebook Live event host had suggested that I purchase a stabilizer for my iPhone. She found this one on Amazon for only $15 (at the time of purchase) and I didn’t hesitate.

It serves two purposes. You can hold it in what they call “pistol” fashion, so you can aim your phone in different directions, without having the wobbly, hand-held effect on the video. Or, you can separate the top section and turn it in to a small tripod.

I have an iPhone 7 Plus, which has some built-in stabilization. There didn’t seem to be anything on the accessory that was stabilizing the camera, but maybe this is just my not understanding how these kinds of accessories work.

Smartphone accessory for Facebook Live videos
This accessory was a lifesaver for our Facebook Live experimentation

All I can say is that this is the best $15 I’ve spent on a phone accessory in a long while and I would highly recommend it for anyone planning on doing some kind of Facebook live recording at a fair-type event, where you’ll be needing to walk around a bunch during your filming.

This video with all sorts of options for mobile LIVE streaming gear makes me think that I could just be getting started with my accessories for this sort of thing.

Just Went for It

Finally, I’m glad I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. As you’ll see below, it wasn’t all roses and unicorns. However, I followed my teaching philosophy of experimenting and taking risks…

Facebook Live Failures

Despite finding a terrific host, having solid equipment, and being willing to experiment, I did make some pretty big mistakes for my first Facebook Live experience. I didn’t notice most of them until after I was done recording, which is kind of disappointing, since they were all correctable.

This post from Mashable with 15 tips for using Facebook Live would have been helpful for me to read before my first experiment, but has been now bookmarked for future reference.

Here are some of my Facebook Live failures:

Camera Orientation was Locked and Caused a Sideways Video

This was the biggest technical hurdle I experienced (and didn’t realize until about 75% through the event, when someone pulled up my Facebook account on their phone and showed me that the video was sideways).

Facebook Live in Higher Education Teaching
When your camera orientation is all wrong when using Facebook Live

It turns out that with an iPhone, as long as we start our Facebook live recording in landscape, it should theoretically work correctly. However, I had my lock orientation activated on my iPhone, which then meant it didn’t matter how we started the recording. I still wound up with a sideways view of the entire event.

I found this quick video super helpful in providing the answer to Why your Facebook LIVE videos are sideways and what to do about it.

Text Orientation was Reversed, Making All the Poster Sessions Unreadable

The other big technical issue that arose was that all the text was backwards to us, the viewer. There’s a way to fix this as you’re recording, but I wasn’t even aware that it was happening, so didn’t know that things were amiss until almost to the end of the event.

Facebook Live in Higher Education Teaching
Another Facebook Live Rookie Mistake: Text Was Backwards

The quick way to correct backwards text in your Facebook Live videos is shared on this post: Horizontally Flip the Camera to Avoid Backwards Text. If you go back and forth between your front camera and your main camera, you may have to switch this setting multiple times.

My Biggest Suggestion

You probably saw this coming, but my biggest suggestion to you, in terms of Facebook Live, is to give it a try. You can test it out by changing the privacy settings on your stream, which lets you keep your broadcasting to yourself, as you work out any kinks.

Let me know if you have started experimenting with live video in your teaching, yet, and how it has been helpful to you. If you have any stories of failure to share, as well, we can all contribute to others not having to go down the same paths we did.