Teaching in Higher Ed

Engaging difficult students in higher ed

with Dave Stachowiak

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Dave and I talk about how to deal with students that we perceive as difficult, engaging them in the learning experiences in higher ed.

Podcast notes

Engaging difficult students in higher ed

Guest: Dave Stachowiak

Dave and I talk about how to engage students that we perceive as difficult. We start by describing the dangers in labeling people as difficult.

Be cautious about focusing on the more challenging students, at the expense of the learner who is engaged and desiring to learn.

Dave tells a story about how his chemistry teacher created a memorable experience for his students.

Distinguishing students who don't want to be there, but aren't distracting other students from learning, and those who are barriers to others' learning.

Help students save face, when possible.

Attempt to keep conversations one-on-one, unless there's a compelling reason that the dialog needs to happen in the classroom community.

Recommendations

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Shelia Heen

Hear Shelia Heen talk on Dave's Coaching for Leader's podcast about her latest book about feedback

The End

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[reminder]What do you think about when you're driving down the road? How do you try to engage your more difficult students?[/reminder]

Engaging millennials in the learning process

with Chip Espinoza

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Help classrooms become worthy of human habitation… a dialog with Chip Espinoza on generational cohorts, specifically millennials.

Podcast notes

Generations

“We aren't saying that all these people are the same, just because they are the same age.”

“My desire is not to have a conversation about millennials, but have a conversation with millennials. I don't want to have a conversation about professors; I want to have a conversation with professors.”

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

Millennials

The “before” and “after” of teaching in the early 90s and today

In the 90s – no one would look at a syllabus

In the 2000s – more legalistic view of the syllabus

  • Can tend to perceive that quantity and quality are equal
  • Think that everything is negotiable (the most effective leaders and teachers of this generation enjoy the collaboration)

Frustrations of working with this generation

Teaching multi-generational audience: Baby boomers, GenX, and Millennials

What did you think about the book you were assigned (Chip's book)?

“What's your theoretical framework for saying it's hogwash?”

Characteristics

Access to information – where subject matter experts come in

Sage on the stage >> Allison King 1990s article to Guide on the side >> to Learning with…

KickStarter campaign for getting Chip's book into the hands of millennials

Importance of immediate feedback

Recommendations

Managing the Millennials

managing-the-millennials

Millennials at Work

Take the quiz

millennials-at-work

iRobot Roomba

How to get better at learning names

with Dave Stachowiak

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It that season again: A lot of new faces and a lot of new names. How to get better at learning students' names.   learning-names

Podcast notes

How to get better at learning names

Dave and I talk about the approaches we use to learn students' names.

Attendance2 iphone app on iTunes (iOS) There is an iPad app, in addition to the iPhone app, but they don't sync/connect with each other. It is best to choose the device that you'll have with you during each class session, to make the process of attendance tracking easier.

SoundEver app on iTunes – saves audio recordings into Evernote

Recommendations

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie  (Dave)

Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other by Sherry Turkle  (Bonni references this book, in relation to Dave's recommendation)

Visual thinking talk by Giulia Forsythe – her bio on Twitter is great: “I work at a university supporting teaching & lifelong learning. I think in pictures. Doodling helps me be a better listener, problem solver and communicator.”

Article: A learning secret: Don't take notes with a laptop from Scientific American Counter-point article: Study proves why we need digital literacy education

Pencast example from Bonni on marketing (created with a LiveScribe smartpen)

Doodle breaks My visual notes from Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipine

The End

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We have not been paid for any of the recommendations we made on this post, or received any free products. However, many of my students have commented that the people over at LiveScribe should give me a free smartpen, given how many times I've talked about them in my classes. As of now, they've got me hooked, buying my own…

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Back to school prep

with Sandie Morgan

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It can be stressful to head back into another year of teaching in higher ed. However, there certainly are actions we can take to make our experience more peaceful and be more present for our students as we get our new academic year underway.

sandie_morgan_vu

Our foci for the Fall

Sandie and I share about where we are focused for the start to our academic year. We both have very different roles at the university, but share a desire for continually wanting to improve our students' learning experiences in our classes. We talk about the technology tools we will be using to support our work this year, along with other ways we will seek to facilitate learning more effectively.

Updates to classes

Technology-using professors on LinkedIn

Cheating Lessons, by James Lang

Attendance 2 iPhone app

Remind

Check list for class planning

Grant Wiggin's checklist resources

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Getting Things Done by David Allen

Asana

Recommendations

Camscanner app, which connects with Evernote (Sandie)

Evernote‘s use in giving students feedback on their resumes (Bonni)

The End

Ending Human Trafficking podcast

Free ebook: Educational Technology Essentials

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Developing 21st Century skills

with Jeff Hittenberger

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It is going to take creative collaboration to better equip college students to develop 21st century skills. My guest, Jeff Hittenberger, has worked in higher ed, K-12; in the U.S. and abroad; and as a teacher and as an administrator. His unique perspective helps us think about how to prepare our students in higher ed for tomorrow's challenges and opportunities.

Inspiration from childhood in Haiti

Learned from experiences growing up in Haiti.
Most common response to the question: “What's up?”
“I'm on fire.”
Regardless of what kind of adversity you are facing, you are alive, and you have something to say.

21st Century Skills

What does higher education have to learn from what's happening in K-12, as we all work to develop 21st century skills?

Disconnect between higher ed and K-12

Communication that one might anticipate happening between these educational bodies doesn't happen. Can lead to gaps in students' educational experiences. 21st century skills gives us one way to talk about what we have in common.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Resources for educators

4 competency areas, referred to as the 4Cs

PIMCO partnership

Carnegie hour

Lipscombe – competency-based higher education

Critical thinking and problem solving

Important for faculty to discover where there are differences in how they gauge critical thinking and develop ways to assess it in similar ways

Creativity

SmartBoards being used to teach physics

“He who opens a school door closes a prison.” – Victor Hugo

The maker movement

TED Talk: Thomas Suarez – 12-year-old app developer

Communication

How can we tap into the passions of our students and engage them?

Why Do Americans Stink At Math by Elizabeth Green in the New York Times

Collaboration

How the increase in technological capabilities is changing our ability to collaborate

Character

As parents of a college-age daughter, Jeff and his wife care more about who their daughter becomes as a person, in terms of her character, than they do about the knowledge she is gaining. Answering: “Who am I? Who am I becoming? What am I contributing to the world?”

Recommendations

Cheating Lessons, by James Lang (Bonni)

21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel (Jeff)

Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century, by The Committee on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills (Jeff)