-
Reinventing Dissertation Writing for Sharing
On June 10, 2013, I successfully defended my dissertation and officially graduated from a doctoral program in instructional design, development and evaluation. I had grand visions (delusions?) of staging it as a play. Even as I was writing it, I had considered writing it as a play. My advisor finally let me organize it as different acts/scenes in a play but it wasn’t written like a play script or in a dialogue format. She asked me if I was ready to be non-conventional. I didn’t know what to think at…
-
Blogging is Not a To-Do List Item
Sometimes we don’t know how good we have it until it is gone. The Blizzard of 2015 in New York sent some cross-continental friends whatsapp-ing me two days ago to check if I was out of harm’s way. Some of them think I’m still in New York state. It brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. My dad used to worry about things like these. It is a blessing to be a child of someone. To have someone worry about you; enough to call and wonder…
-
Faculty & Student Perceptions of Teaching Resource Use
A comparison of VCU student (n=337) and faculty responses (n=323) in the 2014 ECAR Surveys regarding tools/resources they wish their instructors would use MORE of (rated 5 on a scale of 1-5) and those that faculty MOST wish to be skillful at (click on image to enlarge): Ranking of faculty and student perceptions of resources students want more use of and faculty want to be more skillful at. A comparison of VCU student and faculty responses in the 2014 ECAR Surveys regarding tools/resources they wish their instructors would use LESS of (rated…
-
Youth Wants to be Digitally Connected
I finally ran the ECAR student survey data using SPSS. A dear friend suggested I use Excel’s pivot tables and charts. I tried and felt more comfortable with SPSS (version 22 now! Wow!). I regret not doing it earlier. Even though I was discouraged against doing it by someone else, I’ve learned to listen to my heart and act on my intuition. There are a few other furious regrets I have about this project. I will keep them close to my heart and shake off things that don’t matter to…
-
Speaking and Not Understanding
After 2 weeks of redoing a web presentation of VCU’s ECAR findings, I’m at Round 3 (or more, I forget, after trying to push some data up quickly by redoing charts over and over) — figuring out what is at the heart of this project, and what we want to show from these findings. I hear a number of words repeated over and over. Here’s my depiction of that situation. The problem is that the mental model I have about research and dissemination of research findings is sloshing around in the whirlpool…
-
Photowalks
The above two photos were taken on July 30, 2014, on my first photo safari with my colleagues. The next 4 were taken on January 16, 2015 with my new colleagues, Emma and Max, with Tom leading. All photos were taken using my Samsung Galaxy phone. I find this throne-like chair that is blocking the doorway curious. I have a penchant for snapping pictures of trees — blooming, withered, snarling. They are easily symbols of life and death. Architecture is another fave subject. “Don’t they all look the same after…
-
Awesome Excel Chart Quick Tips for Web Display
Last week, my colleagues and I created 3 Excel spreadsheets in an effort to highlight some of VCU participants’ responses to the EDUCAUSE ECAR Undergraduate Student and Faculty Technology Research Studies Surveys. This division of labor resulted in an unfortunate consequence. Different machines, different data, and different perspectives resulted in different data presentation styles. To standardize the look of the charts, I offered to be the general editor. One set of eyes working on one machine is likely the best way to make the look and language of the charts…
-
Olé Days 2 & 3
Days 2 and 3 of OLE offered participants more new ideas to refresh pedagogical perspectives and work on their course sites. 1. Moving Images (In both sense of the word “moving”) Collage of video stills from course trailers of 4 VCU professors Molly Ransome shared with the participants course trailers of Ryan Cales, Jason Coats, Dianne Jennings, Gardner Campbell and a few other instructors. The trailers were each fabulous in their own ways. Gardner’s trailer is a self-made one that made us chuckle (and I’m not saying this because he…
-
Olé, Olé, Olé
According to Wikipedia (Oops! The mention of this word might start a friendly argument!), the word “olé” might refer to several things, including a football chant, with the star footballer’s name added to the end. In my case, I refer to both a rah-rah cheer (Go! VCU OLE!) and a program the ALT Lab is running.Today was Day 1 of the Institute and has been a pretty intense time with lots of ideas presented to participants. We are all going to spend some time tonight doing HW, yup, Home Work!…
-
My First Storify Experiment on Understanding #fedwikihappening
[View the story “Understanding #fedwikihappening” on Storify]
-
Online Icebreaker: Songs My Mother Taught Me
[Note: This post began as a draft in June 2014 after I heard this tune on a plane. Video description: Antonin Dvorak’s musical composition, Songs My Mother Taught Me, performed by Itzhak Perlman]Different metaphors have been used to describe the learning process; learning is like a game, a conversation, combustion system, an ecosystem … What if learning is like music-making or an inspiration of song? This idea came about when I heard Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma play Dvorak’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me.” How about using this as an online icebreaker…
-
Assessing Student Learning in Online Education Part 1
Assessment types. Besides learning engagement, assessing student learning is one of the top concerns (top 3?) of teachers. This burden is no less lighter for online teachers. Much as teachers might like to banish this bane of teaching from their jobs, assessment (evaluation, retention, accreditation, and all related concerns) won’t go away because “measuring” learning and giving a score/grade to course completion is a deeply embedded element of the institutional culture of formal education. How to give a grade meaningfully is a priority of mine. Recently, the role of rubrics…
