Productivity

I received the following question from a listener and had more than a quick response…

I’m coming back to teaching after a semester off, and even though I’m teaching courses I’ve done before, just finding all the right documents is a challenge.

I have to check the LMS, supporting websites, my lesson plans, my post-class reflections, the syllabus, assignment documents, and potential readings in Evernote, just to figure out where I need to update dates and materials.

I inevitably make mistakes or have things out of sync. I’ve made life harder on myself by adopting different tools over the years. Are there models for managing everything, and for building courses in more modular ways, so I don’t feel like I’m always rebuilding them each semester.”

– Teaching in Higher Ed Listener

I have done this the hard way and I have done this the easy way.

The hard way, as you describe, winds up being a hodgepodge of information. I can sometimes navigate around my own “systems,” but if I ever want to share with another colleague, they often can’t make heads or tails of what I have done when teaching a class.

The easy way sometimes takes a bit more thought from the start, but pays off in spades over many years… Here is my advice on how to stay organized.

Think in Terms of Course Assets

In my 15 years of teaching in higher ed, I have gone through many-a-learning management system (LMS). That has made me tend to want to consider my computer’s data (or, in my case, the stuff I save on my preferred cloud service – Dropbox) as the primary assets for all my courses.

Then, I think of just linking to these assets from the LMS. Then, when things inevitably change, the LMS files don’t need to be updated. Since the LMS only links to the files, when the files change on my computer – anyone accessing them from the LMS from that point forward always has the latest version.

Having a mindset of course assets also helps when the duration of a course changes, as can sometimes happen at my institution. Colleagues who have to modify a 15-week course to an 8-week course have a lot easier time, if they are looking at it through a lens of re-arranging a series of course assets instead of completely reinventing the wheel.

Syllabus Example

A basic example of a course asset involves how I handle syllabi. Instead of uploading each semester’s syllabi on the LMS, I have links that go to a PDF file that is always the most current syllabus for a given course.

I explain this practice on a blog post and short video from 2013 – and am still using this approach today. This technique means that when a former student emails me to ask for a syllabus from the Spring of 2014, I can easily send the exact syllabus that I used on a specific semester, but when I copy a course shell over on our LMS into a new semester, I never have to spend time updating the syllabus file for that semester in the LMS.

PowerPoint Example

When a colleague was going to be teaching Consumer Behavior this semester and wanted to know if he could use my PowerPoint slides, I happily sent him a single link to my Dropbox folder that contains all the PPTs. To produce that link, I only had to right-click on that folder on my computer and choose copy-dropbox-link. I don’t have to go to the web or otherwise be logged into Dropbox. That option of right-clicking is always available for sharing.

I will often use the same approach for students. Depending on the class, I will either have all the PowerPoints linked to in one folder, as described in the last paragraph, or I will individually link to specific PowerPoints.

In our LMS (Canvas), I create calendar items for each of our class meeting times. There’s an option to create repeating calendar items in Canvas. Once I create all the repeating calendar items with our class meeting times, I can then go in and customize each class meeting time.

Here’s an example of a portion of the first night's schedule of this semester’s Business Ethics class in the Canvas calendar.

I can link to PPTs, or handouts, or other course assets, using this right-click Dropbox feature.

Other cloud-based services like Office 365 – OneDrive have the option to link to files and folders, but they don’t always make it as easy as Dropbox has for me.

Digital Notebook Example

Many of us also make use of some kind of a digital notebook in our teaching. Scott Self was on episode 48 and really got me thinking about how to use Evernote (but the same is true for Google Keep (which Robert Talbert is a fan of), OneNote, Bear (which Doug McKee recently raved about on Twitter), etc.) in my teaching.

Scott Self really turns Evernote into his LMS, using the actual LMS primarily for linking to Evernote and then for grading. I haven’t gone that far, but do sometimes wonder if it isn’t better than my structure.

I do use Evernote for assignment instructions often, however. Especially when I am teaching a class for the first time, or doing a significant rewrite to a class, I wind up having a lot to think about in terms of assignments. Having the instructions for an assignment in Evernote means I can keep tweaking them, without always having to login to the LMS and changing them there. Inside the assignment description on the LMS, I link over to the Evernote note that has the assignment instructions in it.

Keep Folder Structures Organized

The other approach I take that has really helped me is staying consistent with my folder structure and file name conventions. I share about this technique in the post: Keep Course Files Organized.

Simplify Your Tools

As you mentioned in your question, it is also good practice to minimize the number of educational technology tools that we have in our rotation. While that is better for students, it is also a way that we can somewhat minimize the number of possible places that our course content might reside.

I suspect this is somewhat of a relative thing, though. My idea of keeping it simple may prove to be way too many possibilities for others.

The services that I have been using quite often include:

• Quizlet – Flashcards service that is a perfect way to do some retrieval practice
• FlipGrid – Video service – the edtech world's answer to everything that's wrong with traditional discussion boards
• Remind – For when I really need to quickly text everyone in my class, but don't necessarily want them replying to everyone, or having my cell number
• Glisser – Mostly use for keynote talks, not as much in class. Wonderful polling service and then some.
• PollEverywhere – Free account has a max of 40, so I only use in classes under 40. Terrific for peer instruction.
• Kahoot – Mostly use for large faculty development events, not as much in class. Playful, game show format.

Avoid Mentioning Specific Dates

Whenever possible, avoid mentioning specific dates within the LMS. This may be obvious to most of you, but I encounter enough faculty who will create a quiz, for example, and have in the name or description of the quiz that it is due on November 1. The next time they go to teach the class, they have to rename their quizzes and wherever else they mentioned dates or times in the class.

The two LMS that I use with any regularity (Canvas and Blackboard) both have options for adjusting course dates to fit a new time period. When the new semester comes around, when importing the old course, you have the option to have all due dates adjusted, relatively. If something happened during week 2 of the class, it will adjust to week 2 of the new semester. It is well worth exploring this option with whoever helps you learn your LMS, as it really saves a bunch of time.

Your Turn

What advice do you have for keeping all the “stuff” for our courses more organized?

Our university is embarking on a prioritization initiative, based off of Dickeson’s (2010) Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services: Reallocating Resources to Achieve Strategic Balance. For those who have not participated in an undertaking like this, to say it is time-intensive would be an understatement…

I have been asked to be a part of the team that evaluates the administrative programs and services. While I will confess to being a bit disappointed to see some of the priorities I have been working on be put on the back burner for a season, I am pleased to be collaborating with such a competent and dedicated group of people.

Importance of a Current Projects List

As we begin this process, I am more thankful than usual that I have a continually updated list of projects that I am working on. In Getting Things Done (2015), Allen considers a project anything that takes more than one action to bring about a desired outcome.

Here are just a few of the reasons I have found that a current projects list can be useful:

• An unexpected commitment (like my recent involvement with the prioritization initiative at my institution) can be viewed in context with other projects
• When formulating goals, projects can be used as a starting point for reflecting on desired outcomes (Robert Talbert’s post on The Trimesterly Review is worth referencing regarding goal setting, as well)
• The weekly review can be enhanced by having a current list of projects, or even to nudge us in realizing that our list is out of date (Reference Robert Talbert’s post on planning)
• Each project can be brought that much closer to reaching the desired outcome by reflecting on what the next action is to get it to that point

It really makes a tremendous different to have a list of projects that is always being worked on to remain current.

Structure of the Current Projects List

I use a Mac app called OmniFocus for my project and task management. It is a good tool for those people who really want to dig into the possibilities for what a task manager can do, but not for those who do not enjoy that kind of exploration.

As you will see from my current projects list, I have two types of lists I keep:

Admin lists (1): Those tasks that only have one step to complete and are associated with the various roles I play in my life (mother, professor, Director of Teaching Excellence and Digital Pedagogy, etc.)

An example of a task I would put on my family-admin (2) task list would be to set a doctor’s appointment for our daughter. Please pause for a moment while my husband laughs out loud, since he is unable to remember a time when I have ever done that. Let’s just say he is the one who typically makes appointments like that for our kids, but I was working on an easy example of what goes on admin lists.

Project lists (3): Anything that requires more than one step to complete ideally becomes a project.

My family member with dementia now needs to be transitioned over to a new facility, since she has faced a significant health decline this past month. At first, I needed to make contact with the placement person who helped us the last time around went in my Family-admin (2) list. However, as I realized that we would need to (at a bare minimum):

• Contact the placement person
• Receive recommendations of possible facilities
• Schedule tours of facilities
• Decide on a place and put down a deposit
• Give 30 days notice at the current facility
• Pack her things
• Arrange for disposal or donation of items not moving to the new place

You get the idea (and now, so do I, since I had not yet started to write some of this stuff down). All of those tasks being listed under the general Family-admin (2) list would have started to get bogged down in there, mixed in with a bunch of other unrelated tasks.

OmniFocus does allow me to assign contexts to each task, so that all the calls that I need to make come up in a single list, even if they are otherwise unrelated. If I went to my @phone context, it shows me every task that can only be completed if I have a phone with me and am in a place where I can use it.

Projects can also be deferred (put off) until a future date in OmniFocus. The list of projects you see in the image are not reflective of all the projects I have identified. In fact, I know that with the addition of the prioritization work to my responsibilities, I need to go in and refine my current list of projects to have them represent ones I can realistically move forward in some way in the next 3-4 months.

Tips for Making a Current Projects List Most Useful

When creating a list of current projects, it can be helpful to structure them in such a way as to be able to quickly discern the kind of list being referenced and the desired outcome.

To that end, the following are tips for making your current projects list most useful:

• Name [admin lists] (single item tasks) (4) with square brackets, in order to quickly distinguish them from multi-step projects.
• Start all other project names with the verb that best describe your desired outcome for that item.

I have a project called Rollout: arc media (5). Once arc media is introduced to our faculty, they have had training on it, and we have transitioned over to regular maintenance and help desk support, we will have successfully rolled it out and this project will be marked complete.

Recruit: More faculty to use Canvas (6) – is a project that aims to have 95% of our faculty using Canvas in their classes. Once we achieve that aim, the project will be checked off.

• Keep projects on the list until every task associated with them has reached completion.

I recently attended the Digital Media and Learning (DML) (7) and OpenEd2017 (8) conferences. While the “attending” part of the project is over (which was my main goal for the project), I am still waiting to be reimbursed for the registration fees and other expenses. Once I receive those checks, each of these projects will be considered done.

• Include dates for items that have firm completion dates in parenthesis.

I did quite a bit of keynote speaking and workshop facilitation this Fall. Some of the events have already been marked as complete and do not show up on this current list of projects. As I was preparing for the talks and otherwise engaging with collaborators, it started to get really confusing as to when different conferences were taking place.

While the events were entered in my calendar, I then had to switch over to my calendar each time I was looking at dates for each of the tasks associated with these events. It made it much easier once I included all the dates in with the conferences and rearranged them in chronological order.

Get Started

If you do not have a current list of projects, but would like to experience some of the benefits described above, just start. Spend some time getting a list of projects together that you are aware of and reference it regularly over the next week or two, as you discover more multi-step projects that you are responsible for. Reflect on what the end goal is for each of the projects and name them using a verb that represents that desired outcome.

Your Turn

How do you manage your projects and tasks? What tools do you find most useful in these endeavors?

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.

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?

As I share about in episode #145 (which airs on March 23, 2017), things have been more than a little hectic for me in recent weeks.

We're having a bit of a crisis with a family member who is experiencing cognitive decline. I've had some changes at work, but am still committed to my current teaching load for the remainder of the semester. And I've got a new writing opportunity that I'm plugging along on…

In this post, I'll share some tools that are helping me manage during a stressful season.

Reviews

This past Monday, I was having a really tough go of it. One of the people who cares for our children during the week had been unable to come for a couple of days during the prior week, because she was sick. I was unable to play catch up over the weekend, because of needing to attend to some urgent matters with the family member who is having mental health challenges. I arrived at work and felt all the stress of being so far behind on everything.

Initially, I made the mistake of opening my email (like it wasn't bad enough with all the stuff in my mind that I knew needed doing). 40-some odd emails flowed into my inbox and I started scanning the subject lines. My caffeine hit from the iced tea hadn't hit quite yet and I started feeling a bad combination of drowsiness and dread.

Then, I suddenly felt some sense coming to me. I quickly closed my email and opened up my task manger (OmniFocus). In it, I have a prescription of all the things I do each week to review where I stand. David Allen in Getting Things Done calls this the Weekly Review.

• Read Robert Talbert's post on The Chronicle of Higher Ed on his weekly review process
• Listen to me describe my weekly review process on Teaching in Higher Ed Episode #64
• Listen to Robert Talbert and I discuss the weekly review and provide an overview of Getting Things Done on episode #120
• Read Robert Talbert's post on GTD for Academics: Planning

I felt entirely different, once I had completed my weekly review. There was still a lot to do, I knew, but I was able to discern what most needed my attention that morning and what could wait until later in the day. I was able to capture all the worry I had in my head and translate it into actionable steps that could be attended to at the right time. The weekly review came through for me, once again, and I was ready to teach my class that morning with greater focus and sense of purpose.

Progress Trackers

Since we had missed two days of child care during a week that was supposed to be fairly writing-intensive for me (it was Spring break at our institution), I was behind on my writing project. Thanks to a new tool I had found called Pacemaker, I was able to regroup this week and modify my writing plan to accommodate those missed days.

As you read this post, you can see where I am in meeting my writing goals.

It's a flexible tool, which I've grown to appreciate. I have experienced so many regular reminders of just how many unexpected events can occur in our lives, after we have made the best laid plans. I have Pacemaker configured to avoid having me write on the weekend, to write more words on my non-teaching days, and to keep up a steady pace until I achieve my final word count destination in the summer.

Another tracker I've been enjoying is the Productive app, which I recommended on episode #139 with Stephanie Lancaster. I still only have one habit that I'm tracking: stretching. But, the daily reminder to take some time to stretch has been incredibly helpful in managing my stress levels.

Updates

One positive thing that happened during the last couple of weeks is that my new role was announced at my institution. I'll be serving as our Director of Teaching Excellence and Digital Pedagogy, another topic I share more about on episode #145. It felt good to have concluded the process of recommending the modified role (the job description for the position did not initially have a focus on teaching excellence, but I made a case for coupling that function with the emphasis on technology), being interviewed by a search committee, and negotiating some aspects of the position.

I'm also looking forward to celebrating 150 episodes of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast in April. Please consider being a part of episode #150, which will be made up entirely of recommendations from the Teaching in Higher Ed community.

• You can leave a message via this webpage from your computer, or record your own audio recording and send it to me. Your message might sound something like, “Congratulations on 150 episodes, Bonni. I'm recommending ___ today, which I think will help people ______.”

If you've been listening to the show for a while, now, you'll know that these recommendations can be anything. Books, music, movies, slow cookers, technology, or even just a general recommendation about life.

Final Thoughts

As I reflect on this stressful season, two final thoughts come to mind.

First, when things inevitably go wrong, we can decide to fix them, or decide that it just isn't worth it to invest the time. I discovered that last week's email newsletter went out with a boatload of broken links. I was going to resend the email, but didn't want to fill people's inboxes with an additional email.

• Please consider taking another look at last week's post: Podcast greats for 2017 (this time, with working links)

Finally, when things inevitably go wrong, we can decide to make the best of it. In the case of our kids' care giver calling in sick, I decided that it must be a sign that we were supposed to head to LEGOLAND that day. Instead of spending my entire Spring break trying to play catch up, “life” decided that we were going to get some unplanned adventures out of the whole deal. As you can hopefully tell, we all enjoyed this change of plans.