Teaching in Higher Ed

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Help me help you

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My apologies to those of you who prefer a bit more sophisticated reference to the movie Jerry Maguire… I'm coming off of more than a week with a nasty virus and may not be able to manage much more than this.

At 1:15 in the clip, Jerry says, “Help me, help you.”

That's what I'm asking you for today…

I've been airing Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts weekly since June 2014.

As I start thinking about summer of 2016, I wonder if I should keep going with the same pattern that I have been on, or perhaps modify my approach a bit during those months.

Help me, help you

Please consider getting in touch through the comments section, below, or if you receive this via email, you can just reply with answers to any of the following questions:

  1. How could Teaching in Higher Ed best support your professional development over the summer?
  2. How regularly will you be listening to podcasts over the summer?
  3. What have been 1-2 of the episodes that we have aired so far that have changed your teaching in some way and how did they impact that change?
  4. What's one area in your teaching or personal productivity that you are struggling with right now?

[reminder]Thank you for considering providing input as I consider how to approach summertime with Teaching in Higher Ed. [/reminder]

I know that many of you teach year round and appreciate hearing from you, as well, about your listening habits and episodes that have transformed  your teaching… 

A rewarding week…

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A rewarding week...

This past week was definitely rewarding.

It is so energizing to get to connect with people who are so committed to teaching and learning. I'm excited to think about what this next year in podcasting will bring.

If you have gotten something out of Teaching in Higher Ed, would you consider helping others discover the show by:

  1. Forwarding James Lang's article about Teaching in Higher Ed to others who have a passion for teaching
  2. Commenting on the article James Lang wrote with what has been your favorite episode of Teaching in Higher Ed, so that it might get additional exposure with those who read The Chronicle
  3. Rating or ranking the show (https://teachinginhighered.com/itunes – it will take you into iTunes, where you can rate/rank it, or via whatever app/service you usually use to listen)

Thanks for being a part of the Teaching in Higher Ed community.

 

My back-to-school purchase

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back-to-school-purchase

I was one of those kids: So excited for the start to school, especially the purchase of all the school supplies.

I don't go quite as crazy for the start of school these days, but every year does tend to bring with it one fun new thing to add to my collection of teaching tools.

The problem

Let me start by sharing one of my biggest challenges to finishing a class.

There's often a line of about ten students waiting to ask me something. There's another professor waiting to set up his/her class, which starts in 10 minutes. I need to get to a different classroom and setup and test my laptop. And the clock keeps ticking…

More times than I care to admit, something gets lost in the shuffle. In the past, I've left behind my cell phone, my laptop power cord, a water bottle, or the cord I use to connect my laptop to the projector.

These are not inexpensive things to replace, as you can imagine.

The potential solution

I'm hoping that the back-to-school purchase that I made is going to make a difference.

gridit

I purchased a Grid It bag organizer, in the hopes that I'll stop leaving things behind in the classroom.

This organizer is extremely flexible and allows you to find the perfect spot to store key essentials for your teaching (electronics, or otherwise).

griditwithtxt 3

I've got my Grid It mostly packed now, with:

  • VGA to projector cord
  • Mobile device power cord
  • Binder clips
  • Tape
  • Writing implements
  • Powerpoint remote clicker
  • Macbook power cord
  • USB to Cat5 cord

The final essential item to be packed is a container of mints. When I was searching on Amazon, they seemed awfully expensive, but perhaps it has just been a while since I purchased mints.

The plan

My plan is to remove this Grid It from my bag as I'm setting up for class. Then, when I'm done teaching, I'll put any items that I removed back into the Grid It and will place it back in my teaching bag.

My hope is that I'll notice an empty spot in the grid, if something is missing, which will prompt me to look around and replace the item. This won't help me if I leave my phone behind, since I tend to keep my phone in my purse and not in my teaching bag.

I use my phone a lot when I'm teaching, especially for the Attendance2 app. That's the app that helps me call on students randomly, or place them into random groups. I use it at least a few times during each and every class.

I suspect that if I could just get in the habit of only placing the phone down on the same table where my laptop is, I wouldn't have as much of an issue. However, I'm not as confident in that “fix” as I am in the Grid It's potential for helping me not leave other stuff behind.

[reminder]Do you have any back-to-school purchases that you've made to help your year of teaching go better?[/reminder]

 

Guest on Luminaris Podcast

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Click to access the podcast on the Luminaris site.
Click to access the podcast on the Luminaris site.

I was honored to be asked to be a guest on episode 07 of the Luminaris Podcast, hosted by Mark Hofer.

We spoke about the opportunities for “Connecting with others around teaching and learning,” through 50 podcast interviews on Teaching in Higher Ed.

markThe Luminaris Podcast host, Mark Hofer, is an Associate Professor of Education at William and Mary. We both listen to each others' podcasts, so it felt like we already knew each other as we had our dialog. Mark is a great interviewer, though I'm also looking forward to switching roles in the future. He's already agreed to be on an upcoming episode of Teaching in Higher Ed.

If you haven't been listening to the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast for too long, I speak with Mark about some of my favorite episodes on his podcast. He includes links in his post for the episode, in case you want to go back and catch some of the older shows.

Mark is also active on Twitter and worth following.

New tools page added

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I added a new page to the Teaching in Higher Ed site. My hope is that the tools page is constantly changing, as I have new productivity or educational technology tools that I add into the mix.

In the meantime, check out the newly-added tools page.

[reminder]What are some of the essential tools that you use in your teaching or personal productivity?[/reminder]