Teaching in Higher Ed

Robert Bjork on using cognitive psychology to enhance learning.   PODCAST NOTES Guest: Dr. Robert Bjork Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UCLA Learning and memory; the science of learning in the practice of teaching. The Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab Common misperceptions Belief that we work something like a man made recording device. In almost every critical way, we differ from any such device.” – Robert Bjork How can it be that we have all these years of learning things and formal education and then end up really not understanding the process? You might just think by sheer trial and error during all of our educational experiences we would come to understand ourselves better than we apparently do.” – Robert Bjork We found all these different situations where the very same thing that produces forgetting then enhances learning if the material is re-studied again. Forgetting is a friend of learning.” – Robert Bjork The spacing effect Delay in re-studying information The environmental context If you study it again, then you’re better off to study it in a different place. This is counter to the advice to study in a single place. Retrieval practice When you recall something, it does far more to reveal that you did indeed have it in your memory. “Using our memories shapes our memory.”- Robert Bjork As we use our memories, the things we recall become more recallable. Things in competition with the memories become less recallable.”- Robert Bjork We should input less and output more.”- Robert Bjork Test yourself; retrieval practice Low-stakes or no-stakes testing is key to optimizing learning.”- Robert Bjork “When I say they become inaccessible, they are absolutely not gone.”- Robert Bjork Interleaving “In all those real-world situation where there’s several related tasks or components to be learned, the tendency is to provide instruction in a block test. It seems to make sense to work on one thing at a time.”- Robert Bjork “We are finding that interleaving leads to much better long-term retention. It slows the gain in performance during the training process but, then leads to much better long-term performance.”- Robert Bjork “Forgetting is not entirely a negative process. There are a number of senses in which forgetting can be a good thing.”- Robert Bjork “The very same people who just performed better, substantially, with interleaving, almost uniformly said that blocking helped them learn better.”- Robert Bjork Desirable difficulties They’re difficulties in the sense that they pose challenges (increased frequency of errors) but they’re desirable in that they foster the very goals of instruction (long-term retention and transfer of knowledge into new situations). Interleaving vs blocking Varying the conditions of learning and the examples you provide rather than keeping them constant Spacing vs massing (cramming) “The word desirable is key. There’s a lot of ways to make things difficult that are bad.”- Robert Bjork The generation effect Any time you can take advantage of what your students already know and give them certain cues so that they produce an answer, rather than you giving them an answer, you greatly enhance their long-term retention.”- Robert Bjork Incorporating generation is a desirable difficulty but people have to succeed at the generation. If they fail, it is no longer a desirable difficulty.”- Robert Bjork Errors are a key component of effective learning.”- Robert Bjork Successful forgetting Memory relies on being in the same situation Present it in a different context, produces longer-term learning Encode the information differently; encoding variability Retrieval is powerful, but depends on success to make it so Many things are involved in remembering people’s names.” – Robert Bjork Self regulated learning The key is for us all to learn how to learn more effectively.”- Robert Bjork As a consequence of our complex and rapidly changing world and also changes in technology and educational environments, more and more learning is happening outside any formal classroom setting. It’s in our own hands.” Across a lifetime Recommendations Bonni recommends: GoCognitive’s Robert Bjork videos on YouTube Bob recommends: Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning Several books on research on learning Make it stick: the science of successful learning   How we learn: The surprising truth about when, where, and why it happens What if everything you knew about education was wrong? Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show.

Derek Bruff gives his unique take on the flipped classroom… what to have the students do before they enter the classroom and what to do once they get there. PODCAST NOTES Guest: Dr. Derek Bruff On Twitter His blog Ph.D., Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, 2003 Director, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, November 2011 to present Bruff, D. (2015). An indirect journey to indirect impact: From math major to teaching center director. In Rogers, K., & Croxall, B. (Eds.), #Alt-Academy. Online: MediaCommons The flipped classroom Shin, H. (2015) ‘Flipping the Flipped Classroom: The Beauty of Spontaneous and Instantaneous Close Reading’, The National Teaching & Learning Forum, 24(4), pp. 1–4. doi: 10.1002/ntlf.30027. What are the experiences and activities we want to have our students engage in that will help them make sense of this material and have them do something interesting with it?” – Derek Bruff Eric Mazur – learning as a 2 stage process Transfer of information (during class) Assimilation of that information by the students (outside the classroom) A definition A shift in time to that process Class time spent on the assimilation process The classic flipped classroom Students encounter the info before class Come to class already having exposure Practice and feedback Flipped Classroom resources Vanderbilt flipping the classroom FlippedClassroom.org The Learning process If students aren’t doing the pre-work before they come to class, the time together isn’t going to be well-served.” – Derek Bruff Concerns that the flipped classroom is doubling the work for the students. First exposure Effective Grading, by Barbara Walvoord Schwartz, Daniel L. and Bransford, John D.(1998)’A Time For Telling’,Cognition and Instruction,16:4,475 — 522 Diet coke and Mentos experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2vG1o7Op4 This video is just an example of the Mentos/Diet Coke experiment; it isn’t Derek’s daughter Creating times for telling Students first need to encounter a problem, or a challenge, or something mysterious… and then that provides motivation to hear the 15 minute [explanation].” – Derek Bruff Linear algebra course Look at the board game Monopoly. What are the best places to buy on the board? Markov chain modeling Classes should do hands-on exercises before reading and video, Stanford researchers say. (2013, July 16). Retrieved 21 October 2015, from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/july/flipped-learning-model-071613.html Even when you have defaults [in your teaching], you want to have good defaults…” – Derek Bruff Peter Newbury on Teaching in Higher Ed talks about Peer Instruction RECOMMENDATIONS Bonni recommends: Pictures as a means for reminders Derek recommends: The adventures of Babage and Lovelace

Amy Collier joins me to talk about not yet-ness, geekiness, Jazzercise, Stevie Ray Vaughan, teaching, and learning. Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Amy Collier Amy’s blog Connect with Amy on Twitter Amy admits to some shenanigans Stevie Ray Vaughan sings Mary Had a Little Lamb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cGphy7XeZk The great thing about Lego is that it gives kids these tools and they don’t have to be built a certain way.” – Amy Collier Vaughn builds Lego with instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=nMohv6GQBHc Vaughn builds Lego without instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRXtAcHIGq4 Thoughts on education and teaching You can work with students to do something related to what you’re talking about in class, but they can find creative ways to do things you might not have predicted.” – Amy Collier …finding out what drives them, keeps them coming back, and helping them find their own voice – that’s what education is about. That’s where I find the most joy.” Not Yet-Ness Amy’s post on Not Yet-Ness Jen Ross Creating conditions for emergence Living in that not yet-ness… When you embrace not yet-ness, you are creating space for things to continue to evolve.” – Amy Collier By not creating space for those things, we end up creating a more mechanistic approach to education, rather than something that feels more human and more responsive to our humanity.” – Amy Collier Multidisciplinary examples Domain of One’s Own They have this flexible interface while also connecting to a community Messiness How do we evolve the ways in which we understand what learning is?” – Amy Collier More conversation is needed Amy invites us to consider for which students not yet-ness works best and for which students might it cause some kind of disequilibrium that will cause them not to be successful in their educational experience? More on not yet-ness Audrey Watters: Privileged Voices in Education Embodiment Recommendations Bonni recommends: Doug McKee’s advice: “Your job is to move them one step along a path. You can do that job no matter where they are when they enter your class.” Amy recommends: Anne Lammot “These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced.” – Anne Lammot We are human and our dance is one of the things that we bring to a human interaction.” – Amy Collier Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Meg Urry shares approaches we can use to help our students correct inaccurate mental models and grasp complex information.   PODCAST NOTES: Correcting inaccurate mental models Guest: Dr. Meg Urry Connect with Meg on Twitter Interest in science At some moment it clicked and I understood what it meant. Not only was that the moment that I started to like physics, but also the moment I realized everybody can learn physics if they get this key that unlocks the door. You don’t want to leave them in the same state that I was in… of wondering why the heck we’re doing this… You want people to get over that hump and suddenly see that this is really simple, straightforward, beautiful, and useful.” – Meg Urry Gender discrimination in the sciences “It was very typical for me to be one of the only women in the class and the guys just sort of took over.” – Meg Urry “I always assumed that if someone claimed authority about something, that they must, indeed, know about it. It turns out lots of people do that all the time.” – Meg Urry “When I entered graduate school in 1977 at John Hopkins university, it had allowed women in as undergraduates only since 1970.” – Meg Urry It hasn’t been easy [for women].” – Meg Urry People who feel different than the norm (who feel outside the tribe) have a harder time learning.” – Meg Urry Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students Moss-Racusin, C. A., Dovidio, J. F., Brescoll, V. L., Graham, M. J. and Handelsman, J. (2012) ‘Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(41), p. 16474. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1211286109. (Moss-Racusin et al., 2012) Despite efforts to recruit and retain more women, a stark gender disparity persists within academic science. Abundant research has demonstrated gender bias in many demographic groups, but has yet to experimentally investigate whether science faculty exhibit a bias against female students that could contribute to the gender disparity in academic science. In a randomized double-blind study (n = 127), science faculty from research-intensive universities rated the application materials of a student—who was randomly assigned either a male or female name—for a laboratory manager position. Faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent and hireable than the (identical) female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. The gender of the faculty participants did not affect responses, such that female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. Mediation analyses indicated that the female student was less likely to be hired because she was viewed as less competent. We also assessed faculty participants’ preexisting subtle bias against women using a standard instrument and found that preexisting subtle bias against women played a moderating role, such that subtle bias against women was associated with less support for the female student, but was unrelated to reactions to the male student. These results suggest that interventions addressing faculty gender bias might advance the goal of increasing the participation of women in science.”(Moss-Racusin et al., 2012) “Both the women and the men made this gender-biased judgment.” – Meg Urry Early lessons in teaching “I didn’t realize how hard these students were working.” – Meg Urry The first year, I did straight lecture intro to physics, but, I realized something was missing.” – Meg Urry Video of Eric Mazur sharing his teaching approaches Article about Eric Mazur: Twilight of the lecture Mazur Group Making large classes interactive with Dr. Chrissy Spencer “You listen to what the groups are saying and you can tell from that what their misperceptions are…” – Meg Urry What they need to do is to explain it to someone else, because that is how they will come to understand it better.” – Meg Urry Learning catalytics More ways to teach complexity They’re not going to get there by you talking at them. It just doesn’t work.” – Meg Urry Real learning takes time. We often don’t allow students the time they need to get there.” – Meg Urry “You can only get them to understand stuff when they have had to think about it and reject some possible alternatives.” – Meg Urry Bonni’s blog about showing the “not” in the learning Trying to tell students things, before they were in a state to listen. “You have to make them care about what you’re saying before you say it, or they’re not going to hear you.” – Meg Urry That moment when they don’t know what to do is a perfect teaching moment.” – Meg Urry Tool: How to solve problems Meg’s prescriptive checklist for solving problems Always share a picture of what you’re trying

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak share about ways to reduce the potential for introducing bias while grading exams. PODCAST NOTES Grading exams with Integrity In today’s episode, Dave Stachowiak and I share about ways to reduce the potential for introducing bias while grading exams. Risks of bias in grading exams Halo effect Exam-based halo effect Inflating favorite students’ grades Vikram David Amar calls “expectations effect” Exhaustion factor Techniques to reduce potential bias Blind grading (sticky notes, LMS-based, etc.) Grade by question, not exam Inner-rater reliability practices Block time for grading during peak energy hours Be transparent and over-communicate your practices and rationale *** Re-grade the earlier exams, to avoid what Dave spoke about… Recommendations Bonni recommends: Asking your students what they want to listen to before class Coming Home, by Leon Bridges Dave recommends: Coaching for Leaders episode #211: How to be productive and present Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak revisit the topic of personal knowledge management and discuss how our processes have evolved. Podcast notes Personal knowledge management revisited James Lang’s article in The Chronicle about Teaching in Higher Ed Harold Jarche PKM is a set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world, work more effectively, and contribute to society. PKM means taking control of your professional development, and staying connected in the network era, whether you are an employee, self-employed, or between jobs. Seek Twitter Peter Newbury on episode #053 Still Feedly and Newsify Sense Pinboard Newsify to Pinboard Email to Pinboard PushPin app Evernote lists (list of potential podcast guests, blog topics, conferences, journals) Getting real about Pocket Instapaper Share BufferApp Canva Deposit photos Copyright video Recommendations Bonni recommends: Mid-exam stretch break Dave recommends: TimeTrade Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Ainissa Ramirez shares about how and why to make challenging subjects fun. Making challenging subjects fun Guest: Dr. Ainissa Ramirez http://www.ainissaramirez.com/bio.html https://youtu.be/H5TNkGC4p3Q “I learned that this thing of investigating and being curious around the world was the thing that people called science.” -Ainissa Ramirez Early influences The television show 321 contact https://youtu.be/-4273oOYy7s   “By seeing my reflection in this young [African American] lady on television doing science, it gave me permission to say, ‘maybe I should be doing this.’”. -Ainissa Ramirez Teachers as a big influence Making learning fun “When it comes to teaching, I try to come across as approachable.” – Ainissa Ramirez “I don’t think I have the luxury to come off as extremely heady, because there’s so much stuff that’s going to prevent communication from [happening].” – Ainissa Ramirez Service-oriented teaching approach “I feel like it’s my job to get you there. I can’t get you there completely, but I can at least figure out where the gaps are and tell you where to head.” – Ainissa Ramirez More approaches for making learning fun The importance of a hook Experimentation vs memorization Failure as data collection “If we think of failures as data collection, they lose their sting.” – Ainissa Ramirez Materials research society DemoWorks (a cook book for materials science experimentation with items you can buy at a local hardware store) “It’s the messy stuff where you learn.” – Ainissa Ramirez A call to get musicians involved in the call to make science fun Adventures in giving a TED talk Ainissa’s TED talk STEM education advocate via TED blog “It’s vulnerability that people really resonate with… If you’re willing to be vulnerable, it is a position of power, because you’ll connect with many more people.” – Ainissa Ramirez Great videos of Ainissa in action, getting people excited about science Gina Barnett – Play the Part: Master Body Signals to Connect and Communicate for Business Success (helps you get out of your way) Importance of having passion in our teaching “Get back in touch with that thing that made you excited and then share that with other people. Be a beacon for that.” – Ainissa Ramirez Recommendations: Bonni recommends: Making invitations to learn (my experimentation with extending Remind this semester)… Ainissa recommends: Learn from Einstein – “If you can’t explain it to your Grandmother, you don’t understand it.”

Josh Eyler, and Bonni Stachowiak talk about lessons in teaching from Pixar.   PODCAST NOTES #065: Teaching lessons from Pixar Guest: Dr. Joshua Eyler, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University Former guest on episode #016, Biology, the Brain, and Learning Josh Eyler’s Blog Josh Eyler on Twitter Josh’s Pixar course The hero’s journey Loss in children’s media WallE – environmental messages, religious messages/themes Student-taught teaching, supported by Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence Heard on Twitter: Pixar favorites Brian Croxall – Toy Story 2 https://twitter.com/briancroxall/status/641298742843441152 Shyama – Finding Nemo and The Incredibles https://twitter.com/MedievalPhDemon/status/641254627082641408 Edna Mode https://twitter.com/MedievalPhDemon/status/641258572383428608 Sandie Morgan Monsters Inc. https://twitter.com/sandiemorgan/status/641327082807672833 Cautionary note Funny episode of Very Bad Wizards where they discuss the criticisms of the Inside Out movie, when it should have been clear to everyone that the movie wasn’t intended to actually represent how the brain works… Opportunities to learn from our students are abundant Finding Nemo “If we only focus on [our role of imparting wisdom], we miss out on those moments when students can share something with us that opens our eyes to the material in a way we have never seen it before.” – Josh Eyler Bonni shared about making assumptions on episode 63 Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject Ratatouille Great teaching begins with a boundless passion for our subject “Passion is sometimes an underrated part of what we do as teachers that can be really effective in reaching our students.” – Josh Eyler Gradually reducing coaching helps students learn Finding Nemo David Merrill’s advice on instructional design: Instructional guidance should be gradually reduced “In order to learn anything, we need to confront the failure of faulty knowledge, of faulty mental models. Students aren’t given enough opportunity to do that and when they are, the stakes are way too high for them.” – Josh Eyler Mindset matters and so does proximal development Toy Story Mindset on episode #062 with Rebecca Campbell James Lang on Mindset in The Chronicle More than mindset: Josh’s writing on Vygotsky “Understanding our intellectual development in more complex terms can help students wrap their minds around the learning process.” – Josh Eyler The pursuit of knowledge can be heightened through curiosity Constructivism “Curiosity is one of our most deeply rooted mechanisms by which human beings learn.” – Josh Eyler “It’s that curiosity – that desire to know – that we need to be cultivating in our classrooms.” Josh Eyler The knife that solves the butter problem Learning happens everywhere Up “The reality is that learning is a very big idea and it happens everywhere.” – Josh Eyler “My wife has been very sick for the last year and I’ve learned quite a bit about courage from her. I learn so much from my three year-old daughter about how to tackle life with a toddler’s zeal.” – Josh Eyler RECOMMENDATIONS Bonni recommends: Josh’s essays: The Grief of Pain (mentioned on Vulnerability in Our Teaching) Just Keep Swimming: A Semester of Teaching Pixar Josh recommends: The Pixar Theory The Pixar Theory book Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Bonni Stachowiak shares how she improves her productivity through a structured, weekly review. Podcast notes The Weekly Review Getting Things Done, by David Allen Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. – David Allen Having a system you trust GTD Methodology Guides LifeHacker’s guide to the weekly review GET CLEAR Scannable Inbox zero for all inboxes (physical and electronic) Drafts app Brain dump / sweep GET CURRENT Review task manager (I use OmniFocus) Review calendar (last week, next 2 weeks) Review Waiting Review Project Lists Review Checklists GET CREATIVE Review someday/Maybe List Add new projects Refine system Recommendations Bonni recommends: Give a weekly review a try for one month… and share how it goes… Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Bonni Stachowiak shares about the triumphs and failures in her first day of teaching this semester. Podcast notes Triumphs and failures of day 1 Thanks for the encouragement on the Terrors of Teaching episode #059 Mac Power Users episode on emergency preparedness Content warnings Rick rolls You are an idiot Failures Treyvon trip up Race is on my mind Stephen Brookfield – The Skillful Teacher – micro-agressions Peter Newbury on episode #053 Forgotten supplies Planbook Triumphs Mostly kept pace between three sections of the same class Kept my stuff together – cords, etc. Grid it system worked like a champ Experience what my teaching is like, versus me talking about it (while still explaining while we go) Continually working on just-in-time learning/demonstrations, when possible (tapes, SnagIt) Recommendations Bonni recommends: [reminder] Share your own failures and triumphs [/reminder] Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.  

Rebecca Campbell shares about the power of mindset. Podcast notes Mindset Guest: Dr. Rebecca Campbell Recommended by Michelle Miller, from episode #026. Associate Professor of Education and the Director and Department Chair for Academic Transition Programs at Northern Arizona University. Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. – Christopher Robin Background on mindset Early introductions Dissertation work on a piece: epistemological beliefs – where knowledge comes from. “You either get it or you don’t.” Growth vs fixed mindset Isn’t about teaching differently, but about framing the conversation differently. – Rebecca Campbell Performance barriers A better way of describing those things holding students back from academic achievement How to help students achieve more of a growth mindset Normalize help-seeking behavior: supplemental instruction, tutoring, writing centers, office hours, peers Help seeking behavior is a big deal The shift between high school and college is pretty big. – Rebecca Campbell … students come and arrive with lots of incoming characteristics. None of these things have to be overcome, in order for them to be successful. How they engage in learning. How they leverage help-seeking behaviors. << That’s what defines student success. These processes can be guided, coached, mentored and taught. – Rebecca Campbell When we make the processes explicit, we make effort explicit and we are saying everyone can grow if you engage in the right processes. – Rebecca Campbell We can guide students about the process of learning. Recommendations Bonni recommends: TED Talk | Brain Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice Rebecca will be using his book for the freshman reading group this year: Just Mercy, by Brian Stevenson Chronicle blog post about the freshmen reading groups Rebecca recommends: Be kind to students. Don’t make assumptions. – Rebecca Campbell More on performance barriers Reframing the conversation Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.  

Lee Skallerup Bessette joins me to talk about how to deal with and manage when stuff get’s out of control in our lives, as well as how to address those situations when it happens to our students.   Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Lee Skallerup Bessette Faculty Instructional Consultant at the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching at the University of Kentucky Dr. Skallerup on Twitter: @readywriting Dr. Skallerup on Inside Higher Ed Digital humanities … the intersection between technology and what technology can help us do in the humanities. – Lee Skallerup Bessette Big data, distance reading, social networking and network graphs Digitization and archives Making research, primary sources more available Computational linguistics and mapping Media studies Digital pedagogy We have unprecedented access to tools, to information, to interfaces, and the question that digital pedagogy attempts to answer is: ‘So what? What do we do with them?’ – Lee Skallerup Bessette EdTech versus digital pedagogy Often educational technology are almost commercially based, not to say that all of them are. – Lee Skallerup Bessette Assignment to define digital pedagogy in 121 characters, an assignment for the Humanities Intensive Learning and Teaching 2015 Storify of the Humanities Intensive Learning and Teaching 2015 by Lee Lee’s digital pedagogy definition “Making, bending, and breaking. #hilt2015” #hilt2015 Digital Pedagogy – Making, Bending, Breaking https://t.co/hBI5JSGQOB — Lee Skallerup (@readywriting) July 27, 2015 Blogs at College Ready Writing on Insidehighered.com Doing it Wrong On Not Swimming Reflections from a New Faculty Developer Losing control during a course Decided how to make this work, but learned some lessons along the way Too much focus on “covering” the content Disappointing results in students’ un-essay projects [When things happen outside your control], sometimes you’ve got to let go of some of the coverage [of course content] in order to accomplish the learning goals. – Lee Skallerup Bassette Finding balance Tends to happen in stages/seasons (especially regarding the kid’s ages) Husband just got tenure and those demands also needed to be taken into consideration Blogging was one of the things that I used to try to maintain some sort of balance. It was something I did for me and my own sanity. – Lee Skallerup Bassette Students losing control Worked at diverse institutions Had students research the resources available on campus to them during times of struggle Cultural aspects to a death in the family I saw my role as listening, so that they felt heard, and then guiding them to a place where they could be more effectively helped. – Lee Skallerup Bessette Final advice Sometimes it’s ok to let go of some of the content. – Lee Skallerup Bessette Recommendations Lee recommends: Cathy Davidson’s blog post – Handicapped by being underimpaired: Teaching with Equality at the Core . Note: Cathy was a Teaching in Higher Ed guest on episode #028 Perhaps the worst people to teach writing are the best writers. – Lee Skallerup Bessette Bonni recommends: Critical Digital Pedagogy Resources and Tools by Andrea Rehn Lee inspires us for the start to the academic year: Be hopeful. Be optimistic. And give your students the benefit of the doubt right from the start. – Lee Skallerup Bessette Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Edward Oneill joins me to talk about practical instructional design. Podcast notes Practical instructional design Guest Edward Oneill, Senior instructional designer at Yale. Teach Better Podcast I know a little bit about a lot of things. – Edward Oneill (and also Diana Krall, etc.) What Edward’s clients often need intuitively-appealing ways of conceptualizing the learning process a survey of the relevant tools & which fit their needs & capacities Edward’s special skill …finding the points in the learning process where assessment and evaluation can be woven in seamlessly Design approach of Edward’s early courses Successes Made sure students had to do something every week Ensured consistent deadlines Weekly messages, creatively introducing them to that week Failures Disconnected topics, no second chances You don’t learn anything by doing it once. – Edward Oneill Not opportunities for practice I wanted to see it as the students’ fault. It’s so hard to get out of that [mindset]. – Edward Oneill Biggest challenges in our teaching We know our content, but we don’t realize how tightly packed our knowledge is… Edward’s blog post about the Five stages of teaching Peter Newbury – prior Teaching in Higher Ed guest on episode #053 shared about recall / connections Rehearsal and elaboration It’s about stepping away from the center and helping [students] communicate with each other. – Edward Oneill Methods for incorporating assessment and evaluation into the design of courses Have shorter/smaller forms of assessment that aren’t necessarily graded 100% of the time Use their performance as your own assessment Bonni shares about teaching with Ellen’s Heads Up iPad game Jeopardy game as form of reinforcement Recommendations Bonni recommends: Parker Palmer quote I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illumined by the lightning-life of the mind—then teaching is the finest work I know. – Parker Palmer Edward comments: There is a special privilege in people letting you help them grow and change. – Edward Oneill Edward recommends: On Becoming a Person, by Carl Rogers As a teacher, I need to see you as a unique learner. If I really try to understand you and try to help you grow, it is not so much about information transfer; it is a more humane kind of relationship. – Edward Oneill When you’re passionate about teaching and you focus on it and you try to improve – you do. – Edward Oneill Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Bonni Stachowiak shares some of her fears about teaching and ways that she often attempts to resolve them. Podcast Notes The Skillful Teacher, by Stephen Brookfield Common fears Quantity over quality Confusion Lacking balance Being inadequate Attempts to resolve fears Carve out time for deeper connections Use checklists and leverage Remind more Ideal week template | Outsource (virtual assistants)/insource and say no more often Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less, by Greg McKeown Have evidence to the contrary (letters, emails, etc.) Recommendations Tommy Emmanuel’s Tall Fidler Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.  

Mark Hofer shares how he implements Universal Design for Learning in his teaching, so that all students have the opportunity to learn. Podcast notes Guest: Mark Hofer Universal design for learning Student, Tony, who helped Mark identify the need for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) …gives all individuals equal opportunities to learn. – National Center on Universal Design for Learning National Center on Universal Design for Learning UDL on Campus Interactive version of UDL guidelines Printable version of UDL guidelines Universal design in architecture If you think about [the UDL] components as you’re designing your course, you’re going to wind up with better learning experiences for all your students. – Mark Hofer Addressing concerns about UDL We inadvertently put up barriers for our students in their learning. Mark’s compare and contrast example Get started incorporating UDL into a course Step 1: What do I know that students struggle with related to this [topic or competency]? Step 2: What kind of options could I include to help them with [those common challenges]? It does take students some time to get used to the idea that there may be more than one way to [accomplish] something. – Mark Hofer Guidelines Engagement – Mark is building his course around badges and experiences (through gamification and choice) …goal is to try to make the learning as relevant and interesting to the learning, not just initially, but to sustain their interest in the learning… – Mark Hofer Representation – pulling together readings, videos, interactives, where you can choose the way to learn Action and expression – Mark is creating, for each project, 3 different options, all measured by the same rubric While it is more [work] to select the various kinds of resources, it’s paid back when in class the students are more prepared and we can go into further depth. -Mark Hofer Getting started with UDL Peter Newbury describes getting started with peer instruction on episode #053 Don’t try to do [UDL] for every lesson, every day; it’s a recipe for burnout. – Mark Hofer Make sure all assignments aren’t of the same type, over the course of a semester “Pick a topic / concept that you know that students struggle with and try to find a range of different materials and see if it makes a difference.” – Mark Hofer Common misconception about UDL While technology can help you implement UDL, it isn’t dependent on using it… UDL is an instructional approach and does not require technology In relation to universal design If you apply good accessibility practices to [course content], it will really benefit multiple learners in the process. – Mark Hofer Recommendations Bonni recommends: Listen to Mac Power Users 265 on Apple Music Mark recommends: UDLcenter.org Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.  

Jesse Stommel, shares about how he enhances his teaching with Twitter. Podcast notes Teaching with Twitter Guest: Jesse Stommel About Hybrid Pedagogy Twitter basics Getting started with Twitter Jesse’s blog post: Teaching with Twitter Twitter Pedagogy: An educator down the Twitter rabbit hole, by Kelsey Schmitz The rules of Twitter, by Dorothy Kim Jesse’s background When I grew up, I always wanted to have my own school… [Hybrid Pedagogy] is not really as much a repository for articles, but a space for community and for engaging. – Jesse Stommel Was recently in Canada for the Digital Humanities Summer Institute, where he broke his ankle On kindness Kindness is what drives my pedagogy. It’s about seeing people for who they really are and engaging with their full selves. – Jesse Stommel Part of [kindness] is also about bringing your full self to the relationship you have with your coworkers, your students, and [other collaborators] that you use as a guiding ethic. – Jesse Stommel What the 140 limitation does The constraints of Twitter are also its affordances. Being asked to take an idea and put it in this constrained linguistic space of 140 characters forces us to think about and question our thinking in ways we wouldn’t otherwise. – Jesse Stommel Twitter allows for improvisation within a framework What students should know Twitter lets us play out our ideas Twitter is a space for trying out ideas. It encourages us to iterate… – Jesse Stommel [Twitter] is like a tool in the way that a pencil is a tool. A tool that lots of people can use for lots of different reasons. It becomes this platform that you can use in different ways and environments. – Jesse Stommel Conversation with Steve Wheeler re: digital natives on episode 38 Literacies Each person has to find a different relationship to these tools and build their own self inside of the network. – Jesse Stommel Privacy literacy Anyone who imagines that they can become private just with the flip of a switch is not really understanding how these networks work. – Jesse Stommel Reflections on Teaching in Higher Ed episode 31 on the social network Yik Yak Creative ways to teach with Twitter Twitter vs Zombies Pete Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel share about Twitter vs Zombies with GamifiED OOC The Twitter essay, by Jesse Stommel 12 Steps for designing an assignment, by Jesse Stommel (slide show that addresses some of the questions around how to grade these types of assignments) Some things need to be public. – Jesse Stommel Canvassers study in episode #555 of This American Life has been retracted He was peer-reviewing my tweets before I sent each one out [at our wedding]… – Jesse Stommel Today I’m live-tweeting my wedding to Joshua Lee. Because some things need to be public. — Jesse Stommel (@Jessifer) June 13, 2014 I want my students to know someone in a place that is so different than the place that they are in. – Jesse Stommel Maha Bali in Egypt on Twitter Tweetdeck Net Smart by Howard Rheingold Recommendations Bonni recommends: Teaching with Twitter class, via Hybrid Pedagogy, taught by Jesse Jesse recommends: Net Smart by Howard Rheingold Jesse on Twitter Hybrid Pedagogy Closing notes Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.  

Managing email using the Inbox Zero approach. Podcast notes Getting to zero inbox Be strategic about what times you check email Use email like a real mailbox with physical mail Leverage a to do list / task manager Make use of snippets for commonly-asked questions (TextExpander or Breevy) Schedule meetings with doodle or the best day Create a hub for committees and other collaboration Merlin Mann’s video on Inbox Zero Recommendations Bonni recommends: Tim Stringer’s Learn OmniFocus calendar webinar (OmniFocus users)  

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak talk calendar management. Podcast notes Guest: Dave Stachowiak Dave shared about his “Wayne’s World” moment, coming back as a guest on the show. Chart on Twitter about service hours invested by gender/race: hrs/wk assoc. profs spend on service by race/gender pic.twitter.com/vf4EA7xL6L — Tressie Mc (@tressiemcphd) June 28, 2015 Keep the calendar’s purpose central Exceptions to only having items calendared that have to happen at a particular time Grading, as a means of budgeting time See the big picture My/our set up Mac Calendar (BusyCal) Exchange / Outlook Planbook RSS Calendar Subscriptions Preschool TIHE from Asana US holidays Make it easy for your students and other stakeholders TimeTrade for office hours and podcasting appointments Time blocks Support collaboration through scheduling tools Doodle The Best Day Review and reflect Weekly review – each of us goes through a review each week to help us reflect on priorities and commitments Look back to last week Look forward next two weeks Monthly review – the monthly review allows for a bigger picture view of how we are tracking toward goals Look at next month Recommendations Bonni recommends: Sunrise Meet Review on FastCompany Overview on The Chronicle Dave recommends: Fantastical

Jonathan Malesic on finding meaning in our work. PODCAST NOTES Guest: Jonathan Malesic His blog Jon on Twitter What typically doesn’t show up on Jon’s bio: The Parking Lot Movie I learned a lot working as a parking lot attendant. I think it’s made me a better worker and a better person. – Jonathan Malesic Don’t search for “purpose.” You will fail. by Jonathan Malesic in The New Republic. Pursuing “purpose” Find your purpose! pic.twitter.com/m3WKV2tWAa — Jon Malesic (@JonMalesic) May 23, 2015 The components of finding “purpose” You love it The world needs it You are paid for it You are great at it The intersections 1/2 = Mission (you love it and the world needs it) 2/3 = Vocation (the world needs it and you are paid for it) 3/4 = Profession (you are paid for it and you are great at it) 4/1 = Passion (you are great at it and you love it) The often unlabeled overlaps in the Venn diagram Please don’t be a physician (you love it; the world needs it) Burnout (the world needs it; you can be paid for it) Kardashian (you can be paid for it; you are good at it) Exploitation (you are good at it; you love it) Pursuing “success” The best productivity tool we have as faculty is not a technology; it’s our personal self-investment in our work. It’s our commitment to students. It’s our commitment to research. It’s our commitment to our institutions. – Jonathan Malesic We can be so committed to our work that we eventually start to hate it. We have identified ourselves so strongly with it that it becomes too much of a burden for our work. – Jonathan Malesic Students’ evaluation of us and student learning doesn’t necessarily match up very well with our evaluation of ourselves. – Jonathan Malesic That’s still something worth hoping for… But, it’s important to tell students that [the center piece] isn’t always attainable. There’s a lot of meaning to be had in our work, even if we don’t hit that “sweet spot.” – Jonathan Malesic Article: Job, career, vocation, life by Charles Matthews in Inside HigherEd Other articles suggested by Jon on this topic In the Name of Love, by Miya Tokumitsu A Life Beyond Do What You Love, by Gordon Marino No Time: How Did We Get so Busy?, by Elizabeth Kolbert Recommendations Bonni recommends: The movie Inside Out Jon recommends: Series of essays published on Chronicle Vitae by Melanie Nelson Her website also has a ton of great ideas, advice, and resources Refuse to Choose! by Barbara Sher  

Peter Newbury joins me to talk about peer instruction and using clickers in the higher ed classroom. Early experiences with clickers The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative Achieving the most effective, evidence-based science education (effective science education, backed by evidence) The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) is a multi-year project at The University of British Columbia aimed at dramatically improving undergraduate science education. The CWSEI helps departments take a four-step, scientific approach to teaching: Establish what students should learn Scientifically measure what students are actually learning Adapt instructional methods and curriculum and incorporate effective use of technology and pedagogical research to achieve desired learning outcomes Disseminate and adopt what works The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative resources on general teaching, clickers, and peer instruction Today’s use of clickers and other audience response systems iClicker 2 radio clickers Colleagues use cards: A, B, C, D… Plickers… Bonni has a set of Turning Technologies RF clickers Whether we are using physical devices, such as clickers, or we are using more of a bring your own device / smart phone /tablet option, it’s really just a tool. “I certainly don’t want to say that in order to use peer instruction, you have to have this piece of technology. It’s not about the clicker.” #peerinstruction “Peer instruction is not a shiny thing that comes with clickers. Clickers are one tool you can use to facilitate peer learning.” Peer Instruction foundations Peer Instruction Fundamentals How People Learn (free ebook) states that experts must: Have a deep foundation of factual knowledge Understand those facts and concepts in a conceptual framework Organize the knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application More on peer instruction basics: “If I’m not making your brains work, then I’m not teaching hard enough.” “We need to schedule time into the class where students can stop and think, and start to learn.” “Just stop talking for a while and let the students start to think.”   Effective Peer Instruction Questions Peter’s post on what makes for good peer instruction questions? And what makes bad ones? “If I can just ask Siri the answer to the question, that’s [not a good one for peer instruction].” Removing barriers to learning, such as high stakes questions/exercises “…not about getting the right answer, but about practicing how to think.” Homework question will have the opportunity to assess for correctness. Experts vs novices “The expert has the same content as the novice, but it’s organized [and more easily retrieved]…” Recommendations Bonni recommends: Visual note taking tools site Peter recommends: Get yourself into a learning community. Get on Twitter. Bonni mentioned Peter’s Twitter list of Teaching / Learning Centers  

Kevin Gannon shares ways how to respect our students in our teaching.   Podcast notes Guest: Kevin Gannon Kevin shares the “behind the scenes” backdrop of the photo with the alligator (above and on his blog-about page). Book mocking college students that Kevin mentions has been retitled, it appears. Ignorance is Blitz: Mangled Moments of History from Actual College Students Kevin quotes Maslow: If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. – Abraham Maslow On our perceptions of students Our students are our allies, not our adversaries in higher ed. – Kevin Gannon Movie dance compilation video (mentioned by Bonni): Shut Up and Dance I didn’t go to grad school to be the behavior police. – Kevin Gannon Daniel Goleman – Social Intelligence “Dear students” blogs on The Chronicle Jesse Strommel’s response http://www.jessestommel.com/blog/files/dear-chronicle.html Everyone that comes into even casual contact with Vitae’s “Dear Student” series is immediately tarnished by the same kind of anti-intellectual, uncompassionate, illogical nonsense currently threatening to take down the higher education system in the state of Wisconsin… Giggling at the water cooler about students is one abhorrent thing. Publishing that derisive giggling as “work” in a venue read by tens of thousands is quite another. Of course, teachers need a safe place to vent. We all do. That safe place is not shared faculty offices, not the teacher’s lounge, not the library, not a local (public) watering hole. And it is certainly not on the pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education, especially in Vitae, the publication devoted to job seekers, including current students and future teachers. – Jesse Strommel Kevin’s revised “Dear student” post: Dear Student: You’ll get better at this. So will we. Faculty (a.k.a. former students) Recommendations Bonni recommends: Kevin’s Blog, including these posts: On student shaming: Punching down My cell phone policy is to have no cell phone policy Kevin recommends: Learner-Centered teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice, Maryellen Weimer Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms, Stephen Brookfield and Stephen Preskill (Bonni suggests/adds): Stephen Brookfield on Episode #015 of Teaching in Higher Ed The Skillful Teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom, Stephen Brookfield  

Sandie Morgan and Bonni Stachowiak talk about how vulnerability shows up in our teaching. A former guest on Teaching in Higher Ed, Josh Eyler, gets me thinking about vulnerability in our teaching… Podcast notes Guest: Sandie Morgan Luke bringing me a broken egg yesterday. What’s this, Mommy? What was inside, Mommy? With vulnerability comes a lot of poop. Josh Eyler talking about how vulnerable our students need to be on episode 16 Wrote a powerful post about his wife’s health challenges and his vulnerability this past semester. And so, like Carl, we are working together to turn a new page, to imagine a new life for our family—one in which we do not ignore the reality of Kariann’s illness but at the same time do not let it define our future. This is much easier to say than it is to do. How do we begin then? We are trying to make each day as good as it can possibly be without thinking too much about the bigger picture just yet. From there, I think we just keep swimming. – Josh Eyler Questions to consider: How do we need to be vulnerable in our teaching? Are there boundaries on both ends? What kind of vulnerability do you see being required when asking for and processing feedback from students? When deciding whether to take the risk: Is it related to the course? Does it help model for my students the importance of failure in shaping our learning and our lives? What does it look like to integrate my experience in a way that brings real life Can I share it and still model resilience in our professional roles? What do I anticipate that the students’ responses to it might be? Will it help me be more approachable to my students? Recommendations Evernote chat (Bonni) Countable app (Sandie)

Past guests and listeners celebrate significant learning from 50 episodes of Teaching in Higher Ed. Many also share their recommendations to the listening community, too. Episode 50 Podcast Notes *** Dr. David Yates, Director Southeastern University Center for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching A Department of the School of Extended Education Cameron Hunt-McNabb on episode #24, shared how to cultivate creative assignments. David mentioned: Ken Bain on episode #36 Stephen Brookfield on episode #15 *** Christine The biggest and best take away for me is the knowledge that I’m not alone in my efforts to actively engage students with activities/tasks/projects/problems during class. Thank you! Also, though I’ve used Remind for several years, I didn’t know the features of the app until you told me last night on my way to teach folks how to train their dogs! *** Scott Self, who was on episode #48 *** Melissa from Columbia College I am thoroughly enjoying your podcast episodes and have shared them with many of my colleagues already. I believe what I have taken away from the shows is your ease of describing the technology and pedagogical challenges, the show format with the notes and the wide variety of topics that are so pertinent to me and many of my colleagues. I am just so thirsty for knowledge and application to help revitalize our faculty at the college and get them more excited about technology in education. We are also very involved with the CA Online Education Initiative, piloting online tutoring at this time so this is also very timely to have come across your podcast series. You have a very unique, gentle and fun-loving attitude toward technology topics and with your guests. I am in the process of developing a new course, Universal Design in Online Course Development, and was wondering if you would be, or have already covered universal design in one of your podcasts. I would also be interested in hearing more about instructional design. Although you may have already covered some of these topics, I will eventually hear them all. *** Missy McCormick Lab ideas? Gradebook strategies, including in-progress grading… Final grades. Critiquing student work. Missy mentioned: Recalibrating our teaching with Aaron Daniel Annas (#45) *** Recommendation Amanda Bayer’s website: Diversifying Economic Quality: A wiki for instructors and departments Recommended by Doug McKee on his blog post  

Bonni Stachowiak provides an update on some of the edtech tools she experimented with in Spring 2015. Podcast Notes Slack Team communication for the 21st century. Imagine all your team communication in one pace, instantly searchable, available wherever you go. Create channels, which include messages, files, and comments, inline images and video, rich line summaries, and integration with services you use every day, like Twitter, Dropbox and Google drive. How did we use it? Has default channels: #general, #random… added ones for #movienights at our house (address, carpooling, etc.), and for each of the research/service learning projects. Can do private ones that no one else sees, which we did for the business ethics competition, so competitors wouldn’t be able to see the cases we were considering, etc. Students’ feedback Really liked it. Searchability. Ease of use. What they didn’t like was just the number of places they have to remember to check, assuming they weren’t on the web app. Empathy for our students A veteran teacher turned coach shadows 2 students for 2 days – a sobering lesson learned Piazza Recommended by Doug on episode #035 Watch a video that shows the power of Piazza Primarily will want to have students use their .edu address to sign up for Piazza There are also integration options for LMSs, etc. TextExpander snippet for students who ask a question directly to me, instead of on Piazza OmniFocus https://pinboard.in/u:bonni208/t:omnifocus http://learnomnifocus.com/videos/ Project templates Tim Stringer at Learn Omnifocus.com (http://learnomnifocus.com/about-tim-stringer/) Recommendations 1 password https://agilebits.com/onepassword

Scott Self and Bonni Stachowiak share how they each integrate Evernote into their classes and workflows. Even if you aren’t an Evernote user, you’re bound to pick up a few tips. Podcast notes Guest: Scott Self Director, University Access Programs, Abilene Christian University Productive Nerd Blog The landscape of options for notebook-type applications Microsoft OneNote Writing-specific applications, such as Ulysses or Scrivener Circus Ponies Notebook Guidance on maximizing the value of course assets Linking smart post LMS – keep the course assets out of it Creating collaborative learning environments with Evernote Use it in a uni-directional way, not necessarily a conversational tool… Classroom becomes a kind of conversation around learning Scott gives students the unique, Evernote email address to send notes to the class-specific evernote notebook He sets permissions up so that he’s the only one who can edit the notes in the notebook – read-only Getting started with Evernote Scott’s posts Evernote in Higher Ed Introduction Evernote in the classroom We both recommend Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials eBook Big advantages of Evernote Easy capture On iOS – text, audio, sticky notes, documents (auto-size), photo Web clipper Drafts – iOS app – start typing Email – lots of tricks to organize when you send Search capabilities Integration with other apps and services Keeps one’s course out of the LMS environment – the instructor should own the material, not the LMS Our advice Grow with it (start with the basics and go from there) Keep folder structure simple Bonni uses just reference, work, and personal, along with a shared notebook and a couple required ones that store my LiveScribe pencasts Scott has only a few notebooks. I do have one for each section of a course that I teach so that I can share lecture notes, resources, and “FYIs” with my students. As a “Premium” user, we have access to the “Presenter” view. Scott says: Students see my lecture notes in a clear and uncluttered presentation, and have access to the information in the shared notes. I prefer that students take notes about the lecture – rather than copying down what’s on the screen. Use tags when you would have normally used a folder. Scott says: Yes! The search function is so powerful, it is often faster to search for a note than to navigate through a tree of folders Capture whiteboard brainstorms in meetings (will recognize your handwritten text). Scott says: My students with disabilities have become infamous on campus for snapping pictures of whiteboards. This saves time (and frustration for the students with learning disabilities), and the snaps can be annotated. Use the inbox for quick capturing and have an action in your task management system to process it however regularly you need to… Scott says: This can be done very quickly, since you can select a number of notes and bulk process them (tagging, merging, or sending to a notebook) When you get really geeky with Evernote Automate agendas in Evernote Use Drafts app to prepend / append notes on a given topic (our kids’ “firsts” notes, research ideas) Use TaskClone to capture and sync to dos with your task manager Katie Floyd’s Article on Evernote and Hazel Save Kindle highlights into Evernote Recommendations Scott recommends Taskclone Chungwasoft Scannable Bonni recommends The Checklist Manifesto Closing credits Celebrate episode 50 with us! Please call 949-38-LEARN and leave a message with a take-away you’ve had from listening to Teaching in Higher Ed, and a recommendation.

Todd Zakrajsek speaks about developing metacognition skills in our students. Podcast notes Todd Zakrajsek, Ph.D. Todd speaks at TEDxUNC Metacognition Todd’s two unusually low grades in college Our brain as a smart phone Working out our brains Multitasking Music, sleep, and exercise Defining terms Tools Asleep app on iOS Android white noise app Logitech wireless presenter Help students draw less cognitive energy on exams by giving them a preview of what it will be like to take a test in your class Anytime you’re surprised, stop and think about why you were surprised and what just happened. Next steps Attend one of the Lilly Conferences Read one of Todd’s books The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony with Your Brain Learner-centered Teaching: Putting the Research on Learning into Practice Todd agrees to come back to Teaching in Higher Ed later this year to share about his new book: Teaching for Learning: 101 Intentionally Designed Education Activities to Put Students on the Path to Success Recommendations Bonni recommends: Dropbox’s new commenting feature Todd recommends: f.lux Forest app  

Bonni Stachowiak suggests strategies for ending well. Podcast notes Ending well Guard against student fatigue Sleep deprived Focused on the short term Challenged by their context Thinking a lot about context, especially after speaking with Steve Wheeler on episode #038) Beware the temptation to vent Josh Eyler reminded us of this on episode #016 Research shows it doesn’t help There was that research that said cursing helps, though Recognize their achievements Demonstrate how the learning objectives have been attained Have them articulate the value they have received Administer the course evaluations professionally All sorts of concerns over evaluations Students don’t realize the gaps that occur in the evaluation process in higher ed We wonder if they are in a position to properly evaluate our teaching (recent thread on the POD listserv re: what even to call course evaluations; student experience of teaching (Debra Gilchrist from Pierce College in Lakewood WA, Ed Nuhfer wrote about the importance of separating assessment (various ways to assess student learning) from evaluations of people who strive to facilitate learning. Take more breaks Apple Watch – standing alert Penn state experimenting w/ Apple Watch to measure student learning this Fall Frasier Spiers on presenting with an Apple Watch Set timers Natalie Houston spoke about this on episode #034 Recommendations Bonni recommends: We all love Ella: Celebrating the first lady of song In particular: You are the sunshine of my life: duet with Stevie Wonder… [ ] Contribute to episode 50 of Teaching in Higher Ed Call and leave a message with a take-away you have from listening to the show and a recommendation for the community. 949-38-LEARN

Aaron Daniel Annas and I converse about how we have calibrated our teaching over time. Podcast Notes Calibrating our Teaching Aaron Daniel Annas Assistant professor of cinema arts Faculty Director of the Vanguard Sundance Program Reflections on year one Bonni reflects on her first year Taking things personally (a good lesson on how to avoid this is to hear Cheating Lessons author, James Lang, on episode #043) Aaron Daniel reflects on his first few semesters You’re not giving someone a grade; they’re earning a grade. Calibrating your teaching Importance of setting expectations Stressing the whys as you raise the level of challenge Realize they aren’t likely to thank you during the process of being challenged Bonni’s post: The Dip Atherton J.S.’s post: Course of a course Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less, by Greg McKeown Determining what hours to have direct contact with students should be allowed TextExpander (Mac) | Breevy (Windows) Recommendations Aaron Daniel recommends Kindle First, for Amazon prime members Kindle first newsletter for amazon prime members. One free book from their editor pics each month Get in touch with Aaron Daniel on Twitter Closing credits Please consider writing a review or rating the show, to help others discover Teaching in Higher Ed Teaching in Higher ed: on iTunes and on Stitcher Give topic or guest ideas to help strengthen the value of the podcast  

Bonni Stachowiak explores how to care for grieving students. PODCAST NOTES How to care for grieving students Respect confidentiality… to a point Point them toward their resources Avoid assumptions… if you can Be human Don’t lower course requirements; let them earn their degree, not receive it through pity Recognize the pain of the neutral zone (coined by Bridges in his book: Transitions: Making sense of life’s changes) Avoid personalizing dishonesty RECOMMENDATIONS Process your own grief One wonderful book for processing one’s grief and going through transitions is William Bridges’ The Way of Transition: Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments. We resist transition not because we can’t accept the change, but because we can’t accept letting go of that piece of ourselves that we have to give up when and because the situation has changed. – William Bridges

Aaron Daniel Annas joins me to talk storytelling on this episode of Teaching in Higher Ed. Podcast Notes Aaron Daniel Annas Assistant professor of cinema arts Faculty Director of the Vanguard Sundance Program Storytelling Who are stories for? How do you distinguish between entertaining our students and educating them? What makes for a good story? What do we do if we aren’t good at telling stories? How do we know if we are good at telling stories? Importance of the relevance to a course Bringing in story in to a class without us necessarily having to be the storyteller Bonni’s storytelling bookmarks on Pinboard Recommendations Bonni recommends: Biola math professor Matthew Weathers’ video of April Fool’s joke Aaron Daniel recommends: Amazon Echo  

Bonni Stachowiak shares some ideas about mixing it up in our teaching. Podcast notes Teaching classes repeatedly Advantage of knowing where students typically get stuck Dr. Chrissy Spencer spoke about this when describing her broken-up cases in episode 25, when she just “happens” to have a slide that clarifies a student’s question Reinforcing a difficult concept Advertising response function in my Principles of Marketing class Not all understand the idea of the law of diminishing returns by the time they get to the course Would be the ideal situation for an interactive online module something like the scenario manager in Excel (under data, what-if, scenario manager) Did the typical think-pair-share Two truths and a tie exercise Using the Attendance2 app to facilitate the random calling on of students Applying learning to something students know well Lessons in PR from our university Standard 2.2 from accreditor (whole must be greater than the parts) Going outside Self assessment on theory X and theory Y What things do you see that I do that are theory X Steps to avoid cheating on exams Latecomers need to call to be marked present for the day What things do you see that I do that are theory Y Self-directed learning during the week Bulls and bears game PollEverywhere quizzes via cell phones in class No anonymity any longer However, I was then able to give them the opportunity to indicate how they would like to be treated as an employee Recommendation Remind app – now has text chat, but with office hours

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak discuss what to do before you act on all you’ve captured. 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: Clarify – process what it means 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

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak discuss what to do before you act on all you’ve captured. 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: Clarify – process what it means 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

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 David Pecoraro from the Student Caring podcast Heading to Fresno for son’s swim meet Reading: Building social business, by Mohammed Yunus Christine – teaches part time. Fighting with insurance companies over the break. Dealing with snow days. 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.” 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) 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

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. 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 Doodle The Best Day Time Trade Google forms Grading Mac Power Users episode 240 TurnItIn iPad app Answering student questions Forum set up just for Q&A (invite students to post questions there) Screenshots (SnagIt) Screencast (Tapes app – beware the 60 minute monthly limit, SnagIt, Screenflow or Camtasia) 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 joins me to share about Learning with ‘e’s… 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 Jim Groom (edupunk) (on Twitter) George Siemens (on Twitter) Steven Anderson’s blog – web 2.0 classroom (on Twitter) Sherry Terrell (on Twitter). Amy Burvall Hawaii History Teachers channel Audrey Watters Alan Levine (on Twitter) UK Martin Weller (on Twitter) David Hopkins‘ blog Don’t waste your time (on Twitter) Helen Keegan (on Twitter) 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. Makey Makey Arduino Rasberry Pi 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  

Tine Reimers helps us define the term critical thinking and truly start developing our students’ skills. 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 Michelson’s Team Based Learning – team task design – good for any discipline that you can do… Chrissy Spencer talking on Teaching in Higher Ed about teaching large classes Team based learning list serve Team based learning site RECOMMENDATIONS From Tine: On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins Reality is Broken, Jane McGonnigal  

Ken Bain describes What the Best College Teachers Do… PODCAST NOTES Guest: Ken Bain President, Best Teachers Institute, Ken Bain (Twitter: @kenbain1) “Internationally recognized for his insights into teaching and learning and for a fifteen-year study of what the best educators do” “His now classic book What the Best College Teachers Do. (Harvard University Press, 2004) won the 2004 Virginia and Warren Stone Prize for an outstanding book on education and society, and has been one of the top selling books on higher education. It has been translated into twelve languages and was the subject of an award-winning television documentary series in 2007.” He was the founding director of four major teaching and learning centers. WHAT THE BEST COLLEGE TEACHERS DO Many will be familiar with What the Best College Teachers Do… If not, press stop, and get your hands on it. What’s still the same, in the >10 years since the book was published? “Ask engaging questions that spark people’s curiosity and fascination that people find intriguing…” What’s changed, if anything? More definition around the natural critical learning environment Started with 4-5 basic elements Since then, they have identified 15 different elements… Deep approach to learning; deep achievement in learning [Good teaching] is about having students answer questions or solving problems that they find intriguing, interesting, or beautiful. (Ken Bain) Learner isn’t in charge of the questions. Teacher can raise questions that the learner will never invent on their own. Need to give learners the same kind of learning condition and environment that we expect as advanced learners. [As an advanced learner, asking for input from colleagues]… I would expect an environment in which I would try, fail, receive feedback… and do that in advance of and separate from anybody’s judgment or anyone’s grading of my work. (Ken Bain) Bonni’s introduction to business students are listening to the StartUp Podcast and making recommendations to the founders in the form of a business plan The tone that you set in the classroom matters We often teach as if we are God. (Craig Nelson) Need to recognize the contingency in our own knowledge. As advanced learners in our respective fields, we are interested in certain questions, because we were once interested in another question. (Ken Bain) Another important study by Richard Light at Harvard asked: What are the qualities of those courses at Harvard that students find most intellectually rewarding? When he published his initial results: High, but meaningful standards… important to the students beyond the scope of the class. Plenty of opportunity to try, fail, receive feedback… try again… all in advance of an separate from any grading of their work As a historian, could begin with: “What do you think it means to think like a good historian.” Think, pair, square, share… Would then have an article on hand that someone else had written on the topic. Ask them to look at that article to compare their own thinking with that. Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge, by Kenneth Bruffee What people are doing when they learn something is joining a community of knowledgeable peers. (Kenneth Bruffee) Essential to this whole process is engagement Harvard Professor: Eric Mazure, winner of the $500k Minerva Prize Peer instruction RECOMMENDATIONS Think, pair, share (Bonni) The girl who saved the king of Sweeden, by Jonas Jonason (Ken) @kenbain1 bestteachersinstitute.org kenbain [at] usa [dot] com  

Doug McKee talks about eliciting and using feedback from students. PODCAST NOTES Guest: Dr. Doug McKee [ CV ] [ BLOG ] WORKING OUT LOUD John Stepper’s book about Working Out Loud Studied his own teaching and determined that those who came to class and those who watched via video did equally well in the class I feel like I’m just breaking through now. I remember what it was like at the beginning. ELICITING FEEDBACK Waiting until the end of the semester to get input from our students is too late Evaluations are valuable; but it only helps you the next time you teach the class The Hawthorne Effect Formal, anonymous surveys * Customized end of semester surveys * mid-semester surveys * discussion boards https://piazza.com * in person: * talking to students after class * office hours * regular lunches with students * Reporting back about what you learned what your changing to respond http://ictevangelist.com * Department-wide early warning systems—We’re trying this this year to give students in all our classes a chance to air concerns to the department early enough so we can do something about them. RECOMMENDATIONS SpeedDial2; ultimate tab page for Google Chrome (Bonni) Piazza (Doug) Forgetmenot (Doug) Finn Family Moomintroll, by Tove Jansson (Doug) Doug’s blog: teachbetter.co

Natalie Houston discusses practical productivity in academia. Podcast Notes Guest: Dr. Natalie Houston Twitter Blog ProfHacker posts Opposition to the term productivity Productivity defined Productivity, to me, is not about doing more things faster. It is about doing the things that are most important to me and creating the kind of life I want to have… To do something with ease is to bring a kind of comfort and grace to the task. It can also be more room [in your life]… Living a life with more ease… Challenges and approaches for faculty Blurring between work and non-work time Protect quality time for your most important work/projects Creating appropriate boundaries Schedule blocks of time to let Commit to avoiding digital devices before bed Establish a bedtime for ourselves Articulate an ideal weekend/Saturday Enlist partner’s support in fulfilling that ideal day The idea of a sabbath day in many spiritual traditions is to set aside a day for rest. Create transition rituals to help acknowledge the move between work and personal time Don’t force yourself to use digital tools, if analog work better; perhaps a hybrid system might work well, in some cases Todoist Email Multiple touch points Challenge with accessing email on our phones Taking breaks Set an alarm A timer is my most important productivity tool. You can use a timer in so many parts of your day. Timing a break enhances the relaxation of that break. Recommendations How to manage references with Zotero, by Catherine Pope (Bonni) IDoneThis.com (Natalie) The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance, by Stephen Kotler  

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak talk about how to make your PowerPoint (or other) slides more effective. Podcast notes 2010 headlines: “US Army makes the world’s worst PowerPoint slide” “We have met the enemy and he is PowerPoint.” Conflict in Afghanistan: Why developing a clear strategy was challenging. PPT in the crosshairs Edward Tufte (2006 publication) The cognitive style of ppt: There’s no bullet list like Stalin’s bullet list. Can create bad PPT on tools besides PPT Problems in higher ed In the classroom In online modules (flipped classroom) At academic conferences In the online magazine, Slate, Schuman expressed her views on just how bad it has become with PowerPoint use in education in an article called PowerPointless. She writes, “Digital slideshows are the scourge of education.” “For class today I’ll be reading the PowerPoint word for word.” –every professor, everywhere. @collegegrlhumor “College basically consist of you spending thousands of dollars for a professor to point at a PowerPoint and read the bullets.” @deliNeli “Being a college professor would be easy. Read off a PowerPoint you made 10 years ago and give online quizzes with questions you googled.” –blazik “srsly sick of all these power points. anyone can be a professor. all u need to know is how to run a power point.” @ChrisraMae17 “Y’all ever sat in a class, copied every word down of the power point, and still not kno a damn thing the professor said?” @BlkSuperMan Richard Mayer’s research shows if students w/out visuals 75% vs 89% re: bike pump PowerPoint Slide Recommendations Use PowerPoint slides for their intended purpose: to enhance your presentation, not deliver it. Put less on your slides and use relevant visuals Change your media focus at regular intervals B key Caffeine (for the Mac) Caffeine alternatives (for PC/Windows) Employ a non-linear slide structure Choose your own adventure (episode 25 re: large classes w/ Chrissy Spencer) Today’s meet (requires laptops/smart devices) Recommendations Slack (Bonni) Tapes | Screenflow | SnagIt (Dave)

Bonni and Dave Stachowiak talk about how to capture it all, so we can have lower stress and not have things fall through the cracks. Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Dave Stachowiak What is capture? David Allen’s Getting Things Done Why capture? Other-generated capture Inboxes Have as many as necessary and no more Academics inboxes Email Phone- office line Phone-other Inbox office Inbox home Inbox bag Students after class Tools Drafts Evernote Soundever Scannable Zero inbox David Allen’s folders Self generated capture Roles Projects Tools David Allen’s templates OmniFocus RTM Post its plus Mindnode Recommendations Paprika recipe manager app (Bonni) Amazon Fresh (Dave)

On today’s episode, I talk about all that cannot be seen. Photo by Jim Frazee of Southwest Search Dogs. Used with permission (he’s my Dad).   Podcast notes Mystery commercial that I really hope someone can find and send to me Augmented reality How Stuff Works explains augmented reality Mashable’s augmented reality stories Yik yak chat service (For reasons explained in the podcast, I would rather not link to this particular app/service) [EDIT: 1/15/15/ at 10:20 am]: Right after recording this episode, I listened to episode 9 the Reply All podcast by Gimlet Media. I have even less certainty now about whether or not we should stay far away from Yik Yak, or get in there and spread some positivity and make our presence known. I welcome your thoughts either privately, or in the comments, below. Southwest Search Dogs Online forum introductions Our perceptions really do matter Our expectations can shape outcomes in others… This American Life previewed Invisiblia on an episode called: Batman Especially the beginning re mindset on This American Life NPR Science reporters Alix Spiegel and Lulu Miller explain to Ira Glass how they smuggled a rat into NPR headquarters in Washington, and ran an unscientific version of a famous experiment first done by Psychology Professor Robert Rosenthal. It showed how people’s thoughts about rats could affect their behavior. Another scientist, Carol Dweck, explains that it’s true for people too: expectations affect students, children, soldiers, in measurable ways. (6 minutes) Invisibilia Invisibilia is a series about the invisible forces that shape human behavior. The show interweaves personal stories with scientific research that will make you see your own life differently. Assume the best… and talk through the gaps… Episode 14 on Dealing with Difficult Students in Higher Ed Our diverse students Recommendation Coach.me

It is easy to want to cover up in some way as professors… In today’s episode, President Jose Antonio Bowen encourages us to become good at “Teaching Naked.” Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Jose Antonio Bowen, President, Goucher College Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning Recommendations (part 1) This episode, we start with Bonni’s recommendation and ask Dr. Bowen questions from Storycorps. Storycorps About Storycorps Storycorps’s Great questions Danny and Annie’s animated story Ask your colleagues the questions related to working from Storycorps Teaching Naked The thing that teachers do best in the classroom is to be human beings, and to get to know their students as human beings, and to make that connection between what matters to their students and what matters to them. (Jose Bowen) Start with what matters to your students Used to have the advantage, based on knowledge Use class time to make genuine connections and not simply for providing information Technology works great outside the classroom for quizzing, communication, etc. We know more about teaching than we did when we were in school Pedagogy needs to be our central focus, and most of us weren’t trained in it A teaching failure Bonni admits to one of her bigger failures in teaching in the past few years Driving the stick shift car and not always having it turn out the way we want it to Overcoming the failures – Jose gives advice We are opaque as to our own intellectual accent. Everybody has an accent in the way they speak, but they also have an accent in the way they think. Academics, in particular, are bad examples of learning, because we learned in spite of the system. We’re the odd balls. We’re the weirdos. We’re the people who liked school so much that we’re still here. Most students don’t learn that way. Failure is simply part of the game. Disconnect is just part of what happens. (Dr. Jose Bowen) Embrace mistakes Admit when things go wrong Describe why you tried what you did Model change (“I changed my mind.”) The end of the story The Naked Classroom Furniture moves around; no rows No technology / screen Index cards Noisy Laptops aren’t typically necessary Nobody uses a laptop while doing yoga or playing tennis (Jose Bowen) I believe in noisy and messy classrooms. Complexity. Lots of failures. People having to confront real problems. Confront each other. Confront me… (Jose Bowen) For beginners… need to set the stage and expectations… after that, they know how the game works. Twitter Jose on Twitter Bonni on Twitter Michael Hyatt’s beginners’ guide to Twitter Bonni’s resources to help you learn Twitter Recommendations (part 2) Jose closes the podcast episode with his recommendations. Merlot II: Multimedia educational resource for learning and online teaching SmashFact: Create custom study apps for your students’ devices Change is hard. It’s hard for you and it’s hard for your students… Keep asking your students what’s working. Expect some failure. It’s not a linear process. That’s the process of learning and we’re all learning how to do something new: And that’s how to be better, more engaged teachers. (Jose Bowen) Closing credits Subscribe to the weekly update and receive the Educational Technology Essentials Guide Give feedback on the podcast or ideas for future topics/guests  

There’s something wrong with the way we’re grading that isn’t being talked about nearly enough. On today’s show, Dr. Linda Nilson shares about a whole new way of thinking about assessing students’ work and making grades mean more. Podcast Notes Dr. Linda B. Nilson Director of the Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation at Clemson University Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors The Graphic Syllabus and the Outcomes Map: Communicating Your Course Creating Self-Regulated Learners: Strategies to Strengthen Students’ Self-Awareness and Learning Skills Specifications Grading: Restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time Specifications grading Advocating a new way of grading from University of Pittsburgh University Times The problem with “traditional” grading Academic and Occupational Performance: A Quantitative Synthesis (Samson, Graue, Weinstein & Walberg) .155 correlation meta analysis done by Sampson 2.4% of the variance in career success 2006 study by the American Institutes for Research Fewer than 1/2 of four year college graduates Fewer than 3/4 of two year college graduates Demonstrate literary proficiency Explanation of specifications grading Bundles Virtual tokens Robert Talbert blog Casting out nines How specifications grading came to be Benefits Concerns Recommendations Bonni: PollEverywhere (new features) Linda: Cultivate your courage by trying out things you’re afraid of…

Fears and concerns over changes in higher education persist. Whether it is our disdain for lecturing to a bunch of disconnected, texting and Facebooking students, or their boredom at being put to sleep by a droning professor reading from his powerpoint, something’s got to give… In today’s episode, Dr. Cathy Davidson joins us to talk about finding the right practice, and the right tools, and being able to see what we’ve been missing in higher ed. Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Cathy Davidson Cathy on Twitter Attention The gorilla experiment Selective attention test video by Simons and Chabris (1999) We have a capacity for learning constantly. -Cathy Davidson Patients as co-learners with their physicians in the healing process Examples of facilitation of learning, unlearning, and relearning Students write a class constitution What happens if you take responsibility for your own learning? – Cathy Davidson Alvin Toffler’s term: unlearning Alvin Toffler has said that, “…in the rapidly changing world of the twenty-first century, the most important skill anyone can have is the ability to stop in ones tracks, see what isn’t working, and then find ways to unlearn old patterns and relearn how to learn. This requires all of the other skills in this program but is perhaps the most important single skill we will teach.” …Sadly, we all find gorillas in our lives. They usually come through tragedy… We have all had those moments when there’s a before and an after in your life when the world looks different. The world was not different. What changed was your ability to see a world that you didn’t have to see when you were priviledged not to… when you thought the world only had basketball tosses in it. It wasn’t that the gorilla didn’t exist; it was that you didn’t see it. -Cathy Davidson Multitasking Fears about the calculator Debates in state legislatures and in the senate when Motorola wanted to put a radio in the car Radio actually helped save lives, especially in night driving, to combat the issue of falling asleep at the wheel Brain is constantly multitasking; we just don’t realize it Flow tasks (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) Brain surgery, playing chess, dancing to rock music, video game playing Reading a book is not considered a flow task – people go off the page in 2-3 minutes; we think we are concentrating, when we are not Unitasking Howard Rheingold on Attention Literacy There’s always something we are missing Index cards: Write down three things we’ve missed and we haven’t talked about… Tools, methods, and partners are needed to fight attention blindness Recommendations Field Notes for 21st Century Literacies Social Media Literacy article by Rheingold on Educause HASTAC is an alliance of more than 13,000 humanists, artists, social scientists, scientists and technologists working together to transform the future of learning. The Futures Initiatives on HASTAC Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely NetSmart by Howard Rheingold Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman It’s Complicated by Dana Boyd Closing Credits Subscribe to the weekly update and receive the Educational Technology Essentials Guide Give feedback on the podcast or ideas for future topics/guests

Getting students engaged in research is one of the ways we can make their learning experiences more tangible and more profound. In today’s episode, Dr. Bethany Usher joins us to talk about what happens when we turn students into scholars. Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Bethany M. Usher Bethany’s TEDx talk: Preparing Students for the World Through Undergraduate Research Bethany on Twitter Students as Scholars at George Mason Assessment resources from Students as Scholars Students as Scholars blog with each student writing about his or her research Challenges of getting student research to work Recognizing that research can happen in any discipline Getting faculty to recognize that students can make a contribution Helping students see that research is something they can do Setting expectations for students Examples of this kind of research Rebecca Nelson (now a grad student at University of Connecticut) textile exhibit; band of knitted heads Discovered a new knotting technique and how the piece had been repaired along the way Currently living in Guatemala, studying textile production Rebecca’s blog Student did research on a skeleton population and was the winner of the student researcher award at Mason Authentic research When the faculty member and the student don’t know the answer when they begin Other guidance Determine where to place the research in the curriculum Continuum between classroom-based research and individual research Both challenges and benefits to getting classroom-based research to occur Changwoo Ahn’s Wetlands Ecology class Council on Undergraduate Research – national organization that publishes a quarterly journal with lots of resources of what works in different environments Set out a protocol for what you expect a student to be able to do Rubric on their website on research expectations Recommendations 7 Tips to Beautiful PowerPoint: Visual Slide Show to inspire us to simplify our presentations (Bonni) National Conference on Undergraduate Research; have your students attend and present at it (Bethany) Engaging Ideas by John C. Bean (Bethany) Closing credits Subscribe to the weekly update and get the EdTech Essentials Guide Give feedback on guests or topics for the 2015 episodes of Teaching in Higher Ed  

Educational technology that is designed “with the brain in mind” can be a catalyst in facilitating learning. On today’s episode, Dr. Michelle Miller draws from her research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology and shows us how to facilitate learning for minds online. Podcast notes Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology How do we use our memory resources to process information Study of human cognition and thought processes What College Teachers Should Know About Memory: A Perspective from Cognitive Psychology (June, 2011) Journal of College Teaching For the Internet generation, educational technology designed with the brain in mind offers a natural pathway to the pleasures and rewards of deep learning. Drawing on neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Michelle Miller shows how attention, memory, critical thinking, and analytical reasoning can be enhanced through technology-aided approaches. (Book description) Effective teaching Becoming an expert in a discipline, that journey from novice to expert… (Dr. Miller) Not just facts; rich, interconnected network of knowledge Skill acquisition Motivation: Can’t separate motivation, emotion, and cognition Technology in education Avoid the gadget-based approach Interleaved learning: Mix-up the topics you’re assessing… Applied memory findings The testing effect The interleaving effect The spacing effect Minds Online We made the internet to satisfy our needs and desires… The myth of the tech savvy student Students differentiate technology use Skills and abilities from one domain don’t always transfer over to another domain very well Emphasizing why we are using a particular technology tool Memory in the Internet age Expertise and knowledge cannot be fully separated Needed for problem solving Speed necessity Ability to perceive the connections Motivating online students Face-to-face context builds our skills and approaches to heighten motivation These techniques are missing in the online environment Procrastination is an even bigger factor Distractions abound [Motivation] is not all about the points [in the online environment]. (Dr. Miller) Recommendations Bonni recommended Dr. Miller’s book (Minds Online) and ClassTools.net’s Fakebook tool to create a fake Facebook page/timeline… Going to teach business ethics next semester and have students create one for the Enron crisis. Michelle recommended the following books: Smarter than you think The Invisible Gorilla James Lang’s Cheating Lessons and other books Scarcity Closing credits Subscribe to the weekly update Give feedback on the podcast Write a review or give a rating

It seems that the larger classes get, the more distant our students can seem. On today’s episode, Dr. Chrissy Spencer helps us discover how to make large classes interactive. Even if you teach classes of 20, the resources she uses in her classes as large as 200+ will be of benefit. Podcast notes Guest: Dr. Chrissy Spencer, teaches at Georgia Tech Ph.D., Genetics, University of Georgia Active learning video: Turning students into chili peppers The interactive classroom Learning Catalytics Prepared in advance a few slides that help clarify commonly misunderstood concepts Allowing students to fail or struggle with an answer Interrupted case studies Traditionally a set of materials where there are specific stopping points built in Powerful, because students need to have their progress monitored and milestones achieved Bonni’s case studies rubric Forming groups Catme team maker Team-based, low stakes assessments Georgia Tech Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning workshop on team based learning Don’t try team based learning half way Start small Switching from clickers to Learning Catalytics Pearson’s Learning Catalytics Strength in the types of questions that can be asked Bonni uses PollEverywhere Flipped classroom Khan Academy Reinforce that reading ahead and reading in a particular way is important to making the class time in interesting ways Process called team based learning Lesson learned/ ignored: “start small and do things in a small and measured way” Evernote TopHat audience response system Service learning The way that students could apply learning from a content area in the real world and also give back to the community in some way (Chrissy) Identified project partners that met certain criteria Outside in the field CATME tool helped to determine who had cars Recommendations The Dip (Bonni) Find something that you love and bring it in to the classroom (Chrissy) Closing Credits Subscribe Feedback

When we get creative with what we assign students, we open up a whole new set of possibilities for student engagement and learning. On today’s episode, Dr. Cameron Hunt McNabb helps us discover how to craft creative assignments that facilitate learning well. Podcast Notes Guest Dr. Cameron Hunt McNabb Her bio and university web page Recommended as a guest by past Teaching in Higher Ed guest: Dr. Josh Eyler Cameron’s students contributed to the Medieval Disability Glossary by including their research on the word ‘lame‘ Teaching philosophy …to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar… The truth about internet slang; it goes way back (in Salon Magazine) Cameron’s teaching philosophy from her website Creative assignments Must meet a specific goal and be measurable Backwards design Understanding by Design Identify goals first What evidence would exhibit those goals Explore options for assignments that would provide that evidence ** Write a paragraph in “future English” Authentic pedagogy Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. – B.F. Skinner, The New Scientist, May 21, 1964 About authentic pedagogy Places an emphasis on learning that is a construction of prior knowledge and a high value on knowledge that extends beyond the classroom. ** “Real world” is not just vocational, but for every aspect of life… Active learning About active learning ** Intro to Shakespeare class; hired actors to come in and had students come with annotated script and then were asked to co-direct the scenes A veteran teacher takes on the role of a student (from Wiggins’ blog) Other ideas for creative assignments Undergraduate research: Morgan Library in New York Louis C.K.’s Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy routine The role of education: equipping us to think Arthur Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College Recommendations Bonni recommends Lines from The Princess Bride that could double as comments on Freshmen composition papers via McSweeney’s.net Episode 3: Lessons in Teaching from The Princess Bride Cameron recommends that we follow Tina Fey’s advice to “Say yes” (in her memoir Bossy Pants) Closing credits Subscribe to the weekly update Give feedback on the show