Category: Hot Topics – Prior Weeks

As my first foray into blogging, I apologize in advance for my lack of writing skills. As someone who sits in the STEM field (Mathematics to be precise), it is critical to practice communication skills. However at first, my writing is going to suck. Watching the TEDx Talk by Wesch, I have to acknowledge that failure is a part of learning.

By taking this course in Contemporary Pedagogy, I am placing myself outside of my comfort zone. When I talk about what this course to my peers in my department, I always get a confused look. Integrals, Analysis, Computation, most of my peers only focus on the math. Blogging, group activities, portfolios, what do these have to do with a math class? Can there really be another way to teach definitions and theorems? I’m not sure. By taking this course, I hope to expand my perspectives. Perhaps there’s a way to change how we teach both math classes focused on rote exercise memorization and classes focused on definitions and theorems.

This week was labeled “Networked Learning”. Specifically, our readings focused on the power of using the internet to connect those who seek to learn. Specifically, one online tool that enhances academic research is blogging. I feel that it is pretty clear that blogging has many benefits for the humanities and the social sciences. The previous link referenced many blogs of that type. But can blogs be a useful tool for mathematicians as well? Why, yes! The creator of the ubiquitous programming language, MATLAB, has a regularly updated blog about numerical programming. It’s easy to think some practices only work well in one field or another. I say, that’s just being too lazy to figure out how to adapt practices in a novel way.

My last thoughts for this week comes from the article about networked learning. What struck me specifically was the idea that the library is one massive example of networked learning. We’ve been doing this ever since the creation of the written word. The point is though, the tools that we use to connect to each other are changing. The printing press changed the way people learned in the past. Today’s “printing press” is the internet. And so, it is so very critical to learn how to use networked learning to further our knowledge.

Again, I always try to think about how networked learning applies to my field, mathematics. This one is surprisingly easy. Stack Exchange is a huge platform for users to ask questions, and answer them as well. You see questions about first year calculus, and programming logic, all the way to graduate level information is some obscure mathematical field. Personally, it’s amazing to witness such a massive example of networked learning. Perhaps it’s not a stretch to see how Contemporary Pedagogy applies to mathematics.

The concept of ‘learning’ is talked about extremely often in the college environment, but Dr. Wesch stated well in his Ted Talk in how we have looked at learning as just dumping information into peoples’ heads. He continues to talk about students sneaking right passed the education just trying to get through the class with the needed grade to move on to the next one. At times during both my undergraduate/graduate experiences, I have felt like that student just trying to go through the motions to get the grade and move on to the next class as quickly as possible. However, my experiences outside of the classroom was ultimately where I found the ‘real learning’ he discussed. I wrestled with the questions of ‘who am I, what am I going to do, am I going to make it’ and didn’t really ever talk with someone about those until the start of my senior year, almost too late to adjust anything about my experience. I had to make the decision to stop being ‘comfortable’ in the position I was in, and take a chance on a new/different career and type of work. In undergraduate I was definitely with lots of other students focusing “more on careers and ‘competencies’ and less about inquiry, meaning-making, and broadly humane view of human capacity” (Networked Learning as Experimental Learning). That quote from Campbell outlines the change of focus I had to make entering graduate school or else I was not going to be able to get anything out of the program.

The idea of ‘networked learning’ I first think about social media and how the world is utilizing that to network with each other, but the learning part is usually not there. Godin talks about the humility needed for blogging and how you are having to explain yourself with the post. Humility is something usually lost in most posts in social media, and blogging has the edge when it comes to most of the posts being impactful on others based on someone opening up and sharing their organized (or sometimes not) thoughts. Social media is a beast and I could rant about its negative impact on college students in relation to ‘networked learning,’ but I will focus on how as college administrators, we are responsible for helping in students finding that transformation needed to learn from their experiences. As Dr. Wesch talked about all of the stories, all it took was reaching out to the student and finding what they needed to succeed or at least listen to their unique story. Some students need a lot of help and support, while others just need someone to listen to kick start their learning. We need to work to (or continue to) focus on helping students learn how to build a life worth living, and not just how to make a living.

I must admit, I am incredibly apprehensive about blogging. I have tried it before, with little investment in the outcome. Doing something for class credit without fully understanding the scope and importance of the task makes it difficult to immerse yourself into the activity. This is without a doubt my own experience with my first blog. It felt forced. As if I needed to check the boxes and just “get it over with”. Despite my lack of desire to engage in the blogging assignment, I attempted to at least passionately write my thoughts about the topic at hand. It became easier as time went on, and I did enjoy having a space to share these thoughts.

My thoughts on random topics, however, felt akin to the times when LiveJournal was popular. A digital space to share your thoughts, it became more like a diary that was shared with the whole world. Clearly, professional blogging is much different than the LiveJournal diary spelling out the details of a scorned relationship. This is where I struggle with the benefits of blogging. Tom Peters, author and management visionary, raves about blogging, claiming nothing  has been important in his life than blogging. Tim Hitchcock, Professor of Digital History at the University of Sussex, similarly encourages professionals to engage in blogging. In academia, this practice seems to be an opportunity to take part in a larger public discussion on the topics at hand.

Still, despite the growing trend of blogging professionals, I am not sold on the benefit for me. Sure, there are many in my field (marriage and family therapy) that participate in regular blogging. And certainly many academics participate in various digital ways via Twitter and Facebook. But, what do I have to say? Who would listen? Who would care? Is this yet another sign indicative of my imposter syndrome?

Do the answers to any of these questions really matter in the long run? Seth Godin has said that it doesn’t matter if anyone reads your posts. Instead, what matters is the process- engaging in humility and metacognition of your ideas. I certainly would benefit from strengthening these skills in order to better communication my thoughts (and writing) on my research and profession. Perhaps the time has come to finally invest in an official blog- outside of the classroom.

 

References:

Hitchcock, T. (2014, July 28). Twitter and blogs are not just add-ons to academic research, but a simple reflection of the passion underpinning it [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/07/28/twitter-and-blogs-academic-public-sphere/

[innerpreneur]. (2009, April 18). Seth Godin & Tom Peters on blogging [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=livzJTIWlmY&feature=youtu.be

 

 

In Composition Pedagogy, a pedagogy class I took as part of my M.A. in English here at Virginia Tech, our class often discussed how teachers might develop projects that gave student writing a meaningful, real-world audience.

While teaching writing I often had students write Letters to the Editor. But just changing the genre of an assignment — from persuasive essay to Letter to the Editor — doesn’t automatically give students a real-world audience or experience. I would frequently require students submit their letter to a local newspaper, making the assignment something that existed outside the classroom bubble.

A blog could offer the same kind of opportunity, but unless students can identify a real-world audience the blog would continue to be just another assignment. After all, just because a blog exists on the internet does not mean it will be read.

So how can a class assignment become a real-world blog for undergraduates? Students automatically have an audience of their peers and friends via social media, but I don’t expect students to share a school assignment unless it is something they are both passionate about and proud of. So, my question becomes: How can students become passionate about blogging? I’ve taught 200-level and 300-level literature courses. Generally, students in those courses are already excited about what we are learning. But can teachers help students get excited about introductory or required courses? Within the context of what we cover in the course, there must be enough freedom for students to find something that sparks their interest, and how they are directed to respond to the content must be permissive enough not to restrict their interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP7dbl0rJS0&feature=youtu.be

I just watched Michael Wesch’s TedTalk about his baby and the learning curve one goes through when not being afraid to fail.  It is completely different when the age of innocence has been lost and we as a society are forced into boxes of performance milestones which when not successfully passed means some students are literally left behind.  As a future professor these are topics I address quite a bit in my blog (amongst other things), but, most importantly I challenge archaic methods of teaching.  I’m so pleased to see that Mr. Wesch can verbalize with character depictions some thoughts that I’ve had locked away in my head.

Some professors in PhD programs are so stuck in how “they progressed” through a program of study that they aren’t willing to allow new generations, albeit the future generation of professors, to explore innovative ways of doing things.  So many are living the “if I had to suffer then you do as well” mentality.   Sorry Charlie, we will not allow you to continue the destructive nature of repeating an inept cycle.  Some of us did come from challenging life experiences as stated in Mr. Wesch’s video and we know dysfunction when we see it.   Let alone the complete disinterest that undergraduates are subjected to when taking a course from a “brilliant researcher” who has zero capacity to express empathy.  We must continue to have valid and relevant conversations addressing these concerns.  As a top educational facility we are shaping the next generation of this country and we owe it to society to think outside the box and allow all forms of expression which result in real leaning, not just the checking off of milestones.

Thanks!

Cheers, Lehi

Being overwhelmed by the amount of useless information that I was bombarded with and the unnecessary details shared about personal lives, I abandoned the realm of social media. Despite recognizing the trend to introduce social media as tools for education, I always looked at them with a degree of suspicion. With the development of social media, a new culture and language have come into existence. The current social media culture provides the space and opportunity for sharing for everyone with the price of eliminating the concern for credibility. The diverse but shallow nature of the content shared through social media makes it more an addictive and distractive place for entertainment rather than a place where meaningful connections and communities are formed for learning. Also, the constant exposure to the stream of relevant and irrelevant, reliable and untrustworthy information keeps us from the quiet and reflective time which is the birthplace of ideas and inspiration. Given the current dominant culture of social media, and the well-known quote from McCluhan: “the medium is the message”, the preceding step prior to introducing these media as educational tools should be to reform the manifested culture.

Interesting reads this week for our blog post.  One of the comments I thought most interesting was taken from Tim Hitchcock’s article about twitter and blogs (http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/07/28/twitter-and-blogs-academic-public-sphere/).  He said:

“One of my favourite blogging experiences involves embedding blogs in undergraduate assessment.  By forcing students to write ‘publicly’, their writing rapidly improves.  From being characterized by the worst kind of bad academic prose – all passive voice pomposity – undergraduate writing in blogs is frequently transformed in to something more engaging, simply written, and to the point.  From writing for the eyes of an academic or two,  students are forced to imagine (or actually confront) a real audience.  Blogging has the same effect on more professional academic writers – many of whom assume that if the content is good, the writing somehow doesn’t matter.”

I thought that was an interesting comment on the how and why of involving students in networked learning and public discussion.  We teach students to work on homework assignments, tests, essays, etc. that will only be seen by the students themselves, their teacher, and maybe by a limited handful of classmates.  Particularly given the public nature of professional practice, teaching students to effectively communicate to broader and more diverse audiences can’t help but have a positive effect on their future success.  I think too, as he mentioned, that blogging can be beneficial to us as well because it forces us to evaluate our confidence in our own findings, practices, and approaches and determine how to represent those to others.  I worked in engineering practice for several years before coming back to school and I saw the positive impact that community of practice forums could have on my practice and on the community in general.  When we practice, study, research, or otherwise act in a vacuum, we often find (or don’t) ourselves re-treading wrong paths or stagnating in our development.  When we become more comfortable tossing ideas out there and bouncing them off others, I think, in spite of the potential for exposing our mistakes or maybe looking foolish on occasion, we end up learning far more and improving our work far more quickly than working in more secure, isolated conditions.