June 2, 2009
Ode to the 20th Century
I read a quick edictorial on “…the passing of the working class masculanity” that makes me feel nostalgic…about the good ole 20th century. I was thinking last night that my father and grandfather were part of this absolutely extraordinary time in human history. Even though that 100 years might seem brief in geological terms, all those human efforts and inventiveness as a whole created such a razz matazz of change in such a short time that it will stay precedence in any history before it and all of the history to come. I mean our information age is of course fascinating and unpredictable, but it is not as intense, physical, and almost brutally majestic as the changes incurred in the world during the 20th century. I am compelled to drive that point home when I get a chance to write again.
May 15, 2009
The Somewhat Blind Guiding Sense of Open Education
I guess I do not like the word “studio” for a classroom because it takes away from the seriousness of the value in education. I have practiced experiential learning in my instruction for 20 years, so I understand the advantages that Web 2.0 brings to the dynamics of driving the learning environment. I just wonder if we are rushing away from some of the tried and true instructional pieces that might be worthwhile to hang on to and/or adapt. Our quick shifting here and there because of technology is making the past phenomenal efforts in education seem trivial, unappreciated, and almost repulsive. Yet, it occurs to me that educators today were born out of that system, in that, they actually represent the quality choices “traditional” teachers made in helping my generation form our values, learning strengths, personal productive initiatives, and abilities to grow as an enlightened driven generation. Why do I see so many of my peers bashing our past for their own personal gains?
Another point about this supposed new “collectiveness and cooperation” through Web 2.0 bothers me. Yes, bring us together on the internet and on the Web. Never the less, this also leads to a type of social isolation and loss of physical identity. Not only that, but it defines a different kind of class system making even more of a distinction between the “haves” and the “have nots”. I personally feel, as usual, the “haves” are gaining and, in their inequities of thought, they are forcing to isolate the “have nots” who are becoming a much larger class. This is historically the way innovation works. Even still, if we are advocating that technology and changes in open education are bringing us ALL together in some special way, I think we are blinding ourselves to the fact that, in general, only a small majority of the world’s population have been able to stay up with us and therein lies the lack of social contract, not the birth of it.
November 4, 2008
Salty Fall
I have been through Indian Summers, Blooms in Spring, and the Dead of Winter, but this is a Salty Fall….,
September 26, 2008
Rag Cloud, discovering alittlebit of ness
In this poem, I just thought about the hurricane victims that most media is ignoring
as the great debate in money rages on.
I thought about a rag cloud- its an old term naming those small clouds left over from a gigantic deluge. They, themselves, turn mad and become a hurricane. When I wrote it tonight, I started out with my environment, which helped because I could connect almost everything to a rag cloud.
For example, my sympathy for hurricane victims that media is brushing over, politics, one individual I met recently and one individual from my past, even my children, and the strange day I had with my boss….I’m pretty sure they all are in the rag cloud…yeah.
Rag Cloud
Small and sync
Low, yet high enough
To see me blink up
At it
Might run for cover
But I can’t…
Want to watch what happens
awake
in that firmament
yeah…
pretty sure
its got strength
believes its not
far behind
so it moves slow and alluring
going to find
all the vigor
to collect
and arrest the day…
gathering others
it assumes as itself
that way
until it considers
to be done
in blasts of nature
still I peer
way up there
secured by
watching its approach
…seeing it move
make out
shapes it tries in anger
to be
as it pours down on
me…
just like
its mother
…fucking
weather
September 13, 2008
Just Finished
Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines by D. Randy Garrison and Norman D. Vaughan (2007).
The title is appealing, but its substance lacks. Almost 2/3 of the content focuses on the framework, Community of Inquiry (CoI, 2000, Garrison), which uses both the constructivist and social cognitivist perspectives to explain best practice for blended learning classrooms.
If that is what you really wanted to get out of this book, a base philosophy, perfect, it can probably make you reflexive of your own teaching beliefs especially if you are moving from a 100 percent F2F classroom to a hybrid classroom environment. If you are looking for concrete ideas and strategies there are only a few, explained in detail, BUT very basic.
I visited the Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) website, http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/
that the book recommends, where institutes can join for free and have access to an extensive writing prompt library that takes students through a quality writing experience and a process for a calibrated peer review. An instructor can build their own writing assessments according to their context, without using the library, if they choose. I think that this site does offer quite a collection of convenient high quality writing assessment assignments.
I took a field trip through bits and pieces, most of the titles are probably not conducive to a technical college unless the instructors make their own, which might seem time consuming to some. I am going to spend time contacting a few of the community colleges that use it to hear what they have to say.
Some of the suggestions were good enough to prompt me into making a list of traits that I can use to remind instructors of best practice when I meet with them to support their elearning instruction. One of the metacognitive strategies mentioned for online discussion is to have the students look back at their own contributions and reflect on a scoring guide to judge the success of their personal participation. They can cut and paste examples from their contributions as evidence into the scoring guide. I am going to really push this as a great idea with instructors that are using threaded discussions in their online classes
COMPETENCIES
MASTERY-posts indicate careful reading and critical reflection. Offers interpretations, supports opinions with evidence, comments on others’ posts, responds to comments on own post, has clear ideas, and attends to spelling and grammar.
PROFICIENT-posts indicate basic understanding of the readings, supports opinions with evidence, occasionally comments on others’ posts and consistently responds to comments made on own post. Ideas are sometimes muddy, and there are occasional spelling and grammar errors.
PARTIALLY PROFICEINT-posts indicate incomplete reading. There are little or no opinions in posts, and few comments on others’ posts nor responses to comments made to their own posts. The spelling and grammar errors are frequent.
(adapted, Garrision and Vaughan, 2007)
There is also a decent assessment rubric for an e-portfolio assignment in Appendix 11 on page 219.
September 6, 2008
lithesome tag
Lithesome Tag
No one locates it deep inside
It’s just yours
They can’t find it
Even if they look
Yet, it’s pliant
Then one day some
Bee’s wondering ways
come round
Old in town
Knows where to
Shake it up
Bring you out
Find the spot that
Seems to hide
Just enough
To keep you
Confiding
in your place
Your mark
There he flies
Bending
For you
Saying the words that
Connect
In the dark
With your eyes
Closed
And he doesn’t even have wings
Yeah…
No moon light to
Show you
Anything
Just wringing round
Hearing sounds like
uh uh
Finding peaks half way
Finding buttons
Down rays
Of sparkling dark
night
Lithesome tag
He realizes it
And he’s got you twirling
round and round
His life
Right now
To surreptitious
Unshared
Yet, with Bee you
Bare
Everything
Even though it’s still dim
You covet him
Down there
With your lips
You have no wings either
But, delicious
He likes your
Comfort
For now yet, only hours
Have knowledge
of this place
and no friends can
find any space
to save you
iniquity
to some
who would not
dare to come
to this hint
you have argued before
that a tag
is for sure
an open door
and now you know
it
Bee, he’s not through
With you
Just building lag
For your embodiment
When he’s done
When you’ve quit
Are you sure he won’t
Come back
Steal this
Next time
hush-hush
its just a lithesome tag
and you wanted Bee
to find it…
August 29, 2008
Learner Centered Education Could Save the Day Professor Bauerlein
The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30) by Mark Bauerlein
Bauerlein shakes his fingers at the Baby Boomers arguing we sent such anti establishment messages in our own counter politics that this new generation doesn’t fight establishment, it merely ignores it. He says we hampered them more by pushing for learner centered education where self esteem was placated first before skill instruction and declarative knowledge and suggests because of their new found self confidence, the “under thirties” don’t think they need us adults, or any establishment to mentor them, instead, they prefer to stick to their peers, figure it out for themselves, a type of “horizontal modeling” and us baby boomers, we brought it on ourselves.
He can scare the reader, especially, when he taunts that 30 percent of all web users are low in literacy skills. Those are the people with potential to remain useless in supporting democratic values, and justices. He declares, those 30 percent are just a drop in the bucket to the amount of young individuals that have skills, but could care less. You can see the insurmountable dilemma he has created for us…basically there is nothing we can do for this LOST “under thirties” generation; this problem is just a runaway train.
BUT, I found his argument against education offensive. Let’s take for example, his blatant dislike for learner centered education; his speak embattles me. He says there’s evidence to show it actually alienates the situation because instructor-student relationships are replaced with more peer to peer interaction. I am sure we really did pat a lot of children on the back through the 90’s, gave everyone a prize whether they won or not, and let each kid feel like they succeeded because we presented little risk and little room to fail, yet I am just not sure, Professor Baurlein, this is the gist of the philosophy behind student centered classrooms and teachers that design them. I blame these pampering techniques, instead, on middle class coddling made possible by economic success, and a need to spear head social causes so they didn’t feel guilty about their new found wealth with plenty of time on their hands. Okay, okay there are some of his points I have to concede. In fact, I actually believe his overall picture, I’m just a little defensive when everyone turns on education as a consonant culprit in society for most of its problems.
One of his most interesting points is that undergraduates in 2006 rated 30 percent higher than their 1982 counterparts on a narcissism scale. Fascinating! So our current “under thirties” love themselves. Not a new concept when it comes to youth, but the fact that they love themselves even more probably is the baby boomers’ fault. I don’t think it’s the loss of mentors, per say, that has created the whole thing. In fact, I think there are plenty of those around. I believe, again, middle class values towards money and leisure time also acted as catalyst in breeding this ego trip. The time and money to pamper themselves with affordable technology, fashion garnishment, parties, two working parents, and social entertainment that morphed quite easily to myspace, Facebook, Flickr and other free social network services. This makes it even affordable for the lower income youth. How can they not be overcome with themselves, they are famous, popular, and it is free.
I believe the Iraq War was quite an eye opener to those volunteer soldiers and the narrssasstic views they brought with them to a dusty third world. With their eyes wide open and their egos in tact, they have spurred on a massive AWOL movement, which is the worst it has been since Vietnam. Haven’t you heard it’s an all volunteer army…well yes, but I also have to guess that that learner centered education actually worked, Professor Bauerlein, they have a better grasp of history than our DOD expected and a few more reasons from anti establishment history to question the United States intent in the war once they find their butts in the middle of it ( I have 2 serving and about to have 2 more). A few more years of this tragedy and we may have more activists on our hands, Professor Baurlein, than we can handle!
So one of his over all emphasis is that a generation that skips the traditional self criticism found after carefully absorbing the past in literature, politics and art skips the natural self criticism for the over emphasis on self. I want to agree, I can see how his logic leads to that point and I admit it is a scary thought. I just don’t want to all the doom and gloom. I know revolutions are equivalent to many paradigm shifts happening coincidently at the same time and creating chaos and fears of instability, but what if we actually approached it through learner centered education, another words, actually teach this generation to take a good look at themselves through active engagement in their problem…in their wake of civic inaction coupled with the issues it can cause later on and let them problem solve to their own destiny. This could work, most of the millennials are still young, the oldest are only 28. Let’s try that instead of touting it’s the worst that could happen, Professor Bauerlein.
August 28, 2008
CAUTION perspective in use, narrow road ahead
Bauerlein makes interesting points when defending his ideas about the unawareness of this new “under thirty” generation. Yet as a reader, I think it’s important to take caution that though he backs up his beliefs with statistics from reliable sources like standardized test scores and NAEP, his personal perspective flows from the ebb of a liberal arts intellectual eye and this stance maybe considered liberal, but it may also leave out the perspectives of say, science and engineering lovers, who might see the “under thirties” with a little more promise.
Lesleyann-inside-out 