Teaching in Higher Ed

What to do before you act on all you've captured

with Dave Stachowiak

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Bonni and Dave Stachowiak discuss what to do before you act on all you’ve captured.

act

PODCAST NOTES:

Episode #32 talked about capture. All the places where we capture what it is we need to do (either because of others’ demands, or freeing up our mind of the “clutter” of stuff that needs doing).

Clarify and organize

Before we do any of it… we need to:

  1. Clarify – process what it means
  2. Organize – put it where it belongs

For each item we have captured, we ask:

What action needs to take place?

Follow this GTD guide

If it isn’t actionable, are you going to need it in the future for reference?

Avoid becoming a digital hoarder

How I store files related to class content and specific classes

Don’t get carried away with folders, especially email, because as we read more on our mobile devices, pretty long to scroll through.

Dropbox debuts file commenting; rolls out “badge” for collaborating on Microsoft documents

Evernote/OneNote: another place not to get carried away with folders. Work, personal, reference + any shared notebooks (i.e. bondbox)

Actionable tasks

Put it into a trusted system, so you can consider it in relation to all your other priorities.

goodreads

IMDB

Dave's Coaching for Leaders episode #180: Do this for a productive week

Only set due dates for things that actually have due dates

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Bonni recommends:

Read/re-read the revised Getting Things Done, by David Allen
Buy a set of their guides
Check out Scannable app

Dave recommends:

Ulysses app

How to take a break

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Five faculty members share how they are spending their breaks and what recommendations they have for how to take a break…

Podcast notes

Ten things to do instead of checking email, by Natalie Houston (guest on episode #034)

How to take a break

  1. David Pecoraro from the Student Caring podcast
    Heading to Fresno for son's swim meet
    Reading: Building social business, by Mohammed Yunus
  2. Christine – teaches part time. Fighting with insurance companies over the break. Dealing with snow days.
  3. Nicholas – teaches in Doha, Qatar  (pronunciation of Likert scale)
    “My spring break is already over, but I spent it learning how to use ScreenFlow so I can help my MA students learn to use Zotero better.”
  4. Doug McKee from the Teach Better podcast
    Two week break from teaching at Yale
    Microsoft Word in review mode
    PDF expert 5 on the iPad
    Screencasting with Quicktime on the Mac (record screen and do light editing)
  5. Sandie Morgan from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast
    Engaging with others in diverse communities to combat human trafficking
    Expand circles of influence
    Connect app

Recommendations

BusyContacts

David Allen on the Coaching in Higher Ed podcast

Closing credits

Please consider rating or reviewing the podcast via your preferred podcast directory. It is the best way to help others discover the show (gotta love algorithms).

https://teachinginhighered.com/itunes

https://teachinginhighered.com/stitcher

Spring break recharge

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Bonni Stachowiak shares about a few things she's doing over Spring break to recharge. Spoiler alert: It is mostly all about getting caught up and staying caught up for me.

spring break

Podcast notes

Differing perspectives on Spring break

a) give assignments for students to work on over the break
b) grade student work
c) recharge/refresh for the rest of the semester

Efficiency

Sign ups

Grading

Answering student questions

What about you?

Recharge, refresh for Spring break?

Leave a message at: 949-38-learn.

Recommendations

Recharge – Kindle Voyage

Closing credits

Please call 949-38-LEARN to record a message about your Spring break recommendations and / or ideas beyond what I spoke about on this episode.

Steve Wheeler talks Learning with ‘e’s

with Steve Wheeler

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Steve Wheeler joins me to share about Learning with ‘e’s…

steve-wheeler

PODCAST NOTES

Steve Wheeler

Bio

Learning with ‘e's

Origins of Learning with ‘e's

  • 2007 started blogging
  • Learning using digital technologies…
  • Incorporates comments from people into the book

 eLearning 3.0

If Web 1.0 was the ‘Write Web' and Web 2.0 is the ‘Read/Write Web', then Web 3.0 will be the ‘Read/Write/Collaborate Web'.

  • Coined by Tim Reilly of O'Reilly media – progression or evolution of the web
  • Web 1.0 – the sticky web
  • Web 2.0 – the participatory web
  • Web 3.0 – the read/write/collaborative web

Digital natives/immigrants vs residents/visitors

Mark Frensky – coined the phrases digital natives and digital immigrants in 2000 / 2001 – The Horizon

  • Digital natives
  • Digital immigrants
  • Net Generation

It's not about age; it's about context. -Steve Wheeler

Residents and visitors – coined by David S. White and Alison Le Cornu

Challenging to find a universal digital literacy tool

Every individual’s context is unique. -Steve Wheeler

I know what I need to do with the tools that are available to me and so do my students. -Steve Wheeler

We learn best when we are curious. We become curious when we don't know the answer to something. And we don't know the answer to something when we get challenged. Problem based learning is probably the most powerful method you could possibly use. -Steve Wheeler

Twitter

Initially got interested in the backchannel chatter happening at a conference.

@stevewheeler account – started with that, though his more popular account to follow is…

@timbuckteeth – avatar – Dave, the astronaut on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey

Twitter for me is probably for me the most powerful tool for communicating I've ever used. -Steve Wheeler

Lack persistence – You need to give it time.

[Twitter] is not about the content; it’s about the conversation. -Steve Wheeler

The practice of blogging

If [professors don't blog], how else are they going to express themselves? -Steve Wheeler

Professors normally express themselves through closed, academic journals. The academic capital that most universities currently subscribe to… That's going to change.

Why Steve knows that blogging is much more effective:

Wrote an article in 2005: wasn’t published for nearly three years; revised. 36 academic citations.

At the same time, wrote another article, sent it in to an open-access journal; five people instead of two… Not only did they publish it within six weeks. The way forward for disseminating… 550k views; Almost 1,000 citations.

Blogging. People are actually reading it. Could be much harsher in their criticism. Reflect on practice more deeply. 3,000 views in a day. Don’t know how he could possibly get that kind of exposure through traditional academic journals.

US

UK

Privacy

Audrey Watters on Teaching in Higher Ed podcast

Death of privacy – all surveilled; all followed; difficult to be a private citizen

The death of privacy has happened. It's very difficult to be a private citizen these days. -Steve Wheeler

  • The law is running to catch up
  • Difficult question to answer
  • School systems differ; social contexts differ; social norms differ

Steve's addition

How the maker movement is moving into classrooms

Taupaki School in Aukland – principal of the school, Stephen Lethbridge (on Twitter)- primary plus school. 5-13… through making things. Papert's Constructionist theories. Learning the curriculum subjects in a fun, challenging, exciting way.

Recommendations

Bonni recommends:

Doug McKee's kids' books recommendations

Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus
A story about a catepillar

…partly about life, partly about revolution and lots about hope – for adults and others including caterpillars who can read.

Steve recommends:

Don't Change the Light Bulbs: A compendium of expertise from the UK's most switched-on educators

 

Developing critical thinking skills

with Tine Reimers

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Tine Reimers helps us define the term critical thinking and truly start developing our students' skills.

critical-thinking

PODCAST NOTES

[GUEST ]

Tine Reimers

Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist
Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning
Vancouver Island University

Critical Thinking

Defining critical thinking (and the inherent challenges when we want to improve critical thinking in our students, without actually agreeing, collectively, on what we mean)

Different disciplines define critical thinking differently than each other

Difficulty in the concrete way in how to get students to think critically in the discipline-specific way that I'm trying to develop…

HANDOUT: Taxonomy of [some] critical thinking theories

* Developmental
– what gets emphasized?
– a few of the thinkers/researchers who posit this theory

* Learning styles / bio-neurological models of thought
Article from Wired: All you need to know about learning styles…
– what gets emphasized?
– a few of the thinkers/researchers who posit this theory

* Categories of cognitive skills
– what gets emphasized?
– a few of the thinkers/researchers who posit this theory

* Processes of self (in culture and society)
– what gets emphasized?
– a few of the thinkers/researchers who posit this theory

Episode with stephenbrookfield/15

Suggestions to grow critical thinking

  • Invert the classroom intellectually
  • Give the students practice in situations of ambiguity and complexity

[Correction: I said I was listening to the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, but I meant that I was listening to the Inside Higher Ed podcast on competency-based programs]

  • Each team gets a significant problem to work on
  • Give the same problem to all the groups in the class
  • Limited set of choices as right answers
  • Which is the best answer to this problem
  • Simultaneous report in the classroom
  • Clickers or cards in class
  • Why did you say D?

Next steps

Flip the classroom – all of class period is around problem solving and sticking to your guns

Rabbit holes are a way of thinking… and we don't give our students enough chances to do that type of thinking in foundational classes.

ARTICLE: First day questions for learner-centered classrooms, by Gary Smith, University of New Mexico

Michelson and Fink’s team based learning approach

RECOMMENDATIONS

From Tine: