I wonder how a lot of the strategies and activities that we learned in this class will fare as distance learning becomes more poplar. I’ve had classmates who “sat in” during class via skype, and I’ve been in hybrid classes where more than half of the students were not in the room. Discussion was still possible, but the instructor had to do a lot more moderating than in classes where everyone was in the room, and we didn’t do group work.
Author: Jonathan Harding
Comment on Free Food Anyone? by Jonathan Harding
I like the question about could we be more mindful of which notifications we allow to pop up on our devices. I think social media is addicting, and sometimes it is hard to pull ourselves away from it. Once we manage to divert our eyes from our device having constant banners appear on the screen reminding us of what we are missing causes a sort of anxiety; we get withdrawls; we get twitchy trying to resist the notification that will lead us back to facebook. If that banner didn’t pop up, maybe the urge to get back on social media wouldn’t be so strong.
Comment on Avoid Distraction from Electric Devices by Jonathan Harding
Like you said, laptops are a great tool in the classroom, but also can be a distraction. I think your example of the professor that would ask students to put away the laptop when they are not using it for a classroom activity is a way to find a bit a balance. Though, like Sneha said above, putting the laptops away isn’t going to ensure that they are actually paying attention. Maybe they’re just dreaming of all the memes they are missing, or the facebook posts they could be catching up on.
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Comment on Who Knows How to Use a Screw Driver? by Jonathan Harding
I like the cooking metaphor for critical pedagogy. I’ve heard many times that it is better to learn techniques to improve your cooking, rather than learning recipes. Once you learn the technique you can apply it to different foods rather than looking up a new recipe for every time you try to cook something. Also cooking is often just experimentation, and learning from experience. Teaching students the skills to think critically, and giving them a chance to experiment is very important.
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Comment on The unnoticed assumption by Jonathan Harding
Your post reminded me of a quote from Mark Twain, “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” We might not have the chance to travel the world and get to know each culture intimately. However, as you demonstrated, there are ways to experience different cultures meet new people without having to travel. We just need to be mindful in taking advantage of the opportunities to do so.
Comment on Encouraging Discussion. Emphasizing Gracefulness. by Jonathan Harding
Like Grace I like the line “often, we aim to win, not learn.” Personally, I think this is a cultural norm. If you look at the rhetoric is that surrounds debates it’s often violent and militaristic, especially on social media. Head lines such as “2Chainz destroys Nancy Grace” “Nancy Grace Demolished in Pot Debate” “Donald Trump killed Hillary in 2nd debate” are not uncommon sights in my news feed. Even the toned down versions focus on who won and who lost, and who gained an “epic victory.” I think part of opening discussion is to create a culture of, like you said, “listening and explaining” within the classroom. I’m not sure how to facilitate that, but I’m sure it takes practice both on the instructor’s part and the students’.
Comment on I am me and I can be no one else. by Jonathan Harding
Thank you for this post. I really enjoyed reading it. So many times when I’m talking to experienced teachers or reading some pedagogy text people seem to have found one way to do things and that’s the way they are going to do them, and many times they think that’s the way you should too. Or they sound ‘wishy-washy’ and like there’s no answer. You sound so confident in your methods and your teaching personality while stressing the importance of being open to change and being flexible. I think the combination of those qualities is awesome, and I feel like your students are very lucky.
Comment on Group Work and Assessment by Jonathan Harding
Peer assessment has worked out great in my classroom. For our individual presentations last semester half of the student’s grade was determined by their classmates. It gave the listeners a task while the presenter was presenting, rather than just sitting there, and it really changed the audience for the presenter. The presenter was no longer presenting only to me for their grade, but to everyone. It is something I will continue to do, and incorporate into group work as well.
Comment on Grades shutting down student interests by Jonathan Harding
This is the very reason I hate Ratemyprofessor. Going through the profiles of many of my undergrad professors I noticed that all the professors that gave easy As had the highest overall scores. Most of these easy A professors were also the professors I learned the least from. Many of the professors that graded harder and required more from you as a student had way worse scores.
Though, it wasn’t only on Ratemyprofessor I heard this. Many of my classmates would talk so much shit about the professors who didn’t give them easy As. They would brag about what poor scores they would give teachers on the student evaluations and all the things they complained about.
I’m not sure if these poor evaluations lowered the quality of their specific classes. But I can see how it would for a newer instructor, or a GTA who is at least semi relying on student evals for their resume.
Comment on Let’s reassess how we assess by Jonathan Harding
The brain dump. Lean it for the test, and dump it to make room for the information that will allow you to pass the next text. I have definitely used this strategy in more classes than I haven’t.
Like you, grades do motivate me, and I work hard for them. But the classes that I’ve learned the most from I’ve gotten the lowest grades. I think it’s mostly due to the quality and expectations of the teacher. A great teacher can make you care a little more, whether it’s a subject you’re really interested in or not., and higher expectations can add a challenge that’s not present in other classes.
