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]
It's official. I'm on summer break. I'm also healthy enough to be back to exercising and hanging out with the kids.
My mind is full of all the things I would like to do during the break to make the 2015-2016 academic year better than this past one. I had a good time teaching, but just felt like I was running to keep up the entire time. People say that's normal with two small children at home, but I yearn for a bit more preparation to occur before diving back in again.
In the meantime, I do want to recharge my batteries and capitalize on the opportunities to try and learn new things. Here are a few actions I've taken in the past to try to turbo-charge my summer that have worked well:
One of the many things I'm grateful for about getting to do the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast is all of the experts I get to talk to in such different disciplines than mine. At first, I was incredibly intimidated to speak with some who I only had the most shallow understanding of what they teach. However, I'm glad I pressed on, as I've found I'm learning far more than I bargained for when the podcast began.
If you're not able to get together for lunch or dinner, perhaps try the next best thing.
Doug McKee recommended the Very Bad Wizards podcast to me a few months ago. It is a dialog between Tamler Sommers (a philosopher) and David Pizarro (a psychologist). They describe themselves as people who “share a love for ethics, pop culture, and cognitive science.” They also are quite funny and crass (in the best way possible).
I've enjoyed being challenged by the few episodes I've listened to so far. One recommendation I would have for those of you who really want to maximize your learning is to review the show notes for an episode before you listen to it and read the articles they post before listening.
As I mentioned on episode #049, I spent another week in May with a cold. There's something seriously wrong when you can't keep yourself healthier than the people who stick things they find on the ground in their mouths on a regular basis. One upside to being ill was the excuse to binge watch House of Cards, a Netflix original series.
Now I'm going to want to listen to some of Slate's podcasts about House of Cards, as I understand they have some experts come and and compare real-world politics with the fictitious politics in House of Cards.
[reminder]How will you be maximizing any time off you have to turbo-charge your summer? [/reminder]
I'm preparing to record episode 50 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast and I need your help.
Please call our podcast voicemail line and leave a message for the show. Share a take-away you've had from any of the episodes this past year and give one recommendation you have for other members of the Teaching in Higher Ed community.
1-949-385-3276
I will use as many of your messages as I can on episode 50 and we can all look forward to rediscovering some of the lessons from the show so far.
(as of 4/14/15; the download counts fluctuate greatly, as new people discover the show)
[reminder]If you prefer not to leave a voicemail, please consider adding a comment with your take-away and recommendation.[/reminder]
A few episodes ago, I recommended the podcast called Serial.
It is the first podcast that I have heard described as one you're going to want to binge-watch. The good news is that there haven't been that many episodes released yet, so you have plenty of time to catch up with the rest of us obsessed fans.
Lest you think that there's no practical value to listening as a professor, there are plenty of lessons in there about effective storytelling.
If you are just checking out the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast and blog, you won't likely experience quite as much suspense as you will if you listen to Serial. However, we have had some great guests agree to come on the show and share their wisdom.
While the following blog posts aren't necessarily ranked via objective criteria, such as hits, they stand out as essential reads to those looking to better their teaching:
If you have just joined the community, the resources listed above are a great place to start. I hope you'll join the conversation happening in the comments section of each episode and blog post.
Advising season just ended at our institution.
We are fortunate in that we have a dedicated advisor for our major, so I don't wind up investing too much time in the process of helping students map out their classes.
Conversations during these two weeks tend to focus on careers and the selection of a major.
Students often have stress around this process because they don't know what they want to do. This lack of vocational clarity is a source of concern, despite the number of times we stress that most people don't wind up doing what they majored in during college.
One question I've started asking students is:
What are times that you have felt the most alive in the last few weeks?
My intention is to help them identify times that they have been in a state of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls flow. He coined the term and describes it as:
…being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost.
Csikszentmihalyi's book Flow was recommended by Dr. James Lang on episode 19 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
LifeHacker has some other good advice for students on how to discover their career path. There are even some who are trying to make finding a career more like playing a video game.
The other area I strive to get students thinking about is developing competencies versus identifying specific desired jobs.
One resource is the labor department's o*net website. They map specific jobs to the skills that are needed to perform well in that type of a role. They also identify what kinds of experience and education people typically have in a given position.
There's also something to be said for learning how to cultivate one's own happiness. For this quest, we can turn to quite a young source. Logan LaPlante is 13 years old and says he wants to be happy when he grows. up.
All of these questions can be tough and I don't pretend to have any easy answers. Even this New York Times best selling author was unable to get a job at The Container Store, despite her love for organization and excitement at the prospect of greeting others with a similar passion (and her desperate need for health benefits, as she fights breast cancer).
Instead of having the answers, maybe our job is to ask more questions?
[reminder]How do you help your students answer the question of what they're going to do after college?[/reminder]