Author: oumoule7

Nowadays, it looks like that people are paying more attention on the way higher education is handled than just a few years ago. Why is that? To me the main reasons are the continuing decrease in students’ performances and the lack of enthusiasm of some educators (no more dedication as seen in earlier times). These are some of the complaints that we often times hear from parents but mostly from old instructors. There is also the reliability on new technologies which drag much more attention for learners. I think these reasons in addition to many others have brought people such as scientists, philosophers, and psychiatrists to come up with too many theories in order to reform higher education. Therefore, there are many theories out there; it is almost like everybody is expert in higher education. Books and articles are being published every day, seminars, conferences and workshops are being held like never before.

I like the way teaching is being done in the US. It is different compared to the way it is most of the time (because not always) being handled in some African countries. For example, I feel in the United States, teaching and learning processes are more student-centered; there are more interactions between students and educators which is different from what students are experiencing in certain African places. And one can see that these student-centered learning processes are gaining more and more power and more ground as the younger instructors are the ones more interested in this way of teaching and they are integrating academia every day.

But is all this really helpful?

To me, I think not completely, because of the student underperformance that is being pointed out as I have mentioned earlier. Another reason, instructors can only use the material or education theories which they are aware of, or which is most accessible to them. It can be helpful or not. Some educators might even want to innovate but end up confusing their students. Finally, regarding the students, they might be used to certain activities or problem solving strategies and once they face other circumstances they become less efficient or less productive.

Wouldn`t it be better if the different actors of higher education come up with some standard that would make things work differently?

One thing that I believe should change in higher education is the huge amount of education theories that are used in this field. They may not always give good results. I think it would be great if everybody could follow the same procedure everywhere as food scientists do it in food processing. Some organizations, such as the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Codex Alimentarius have set standards that all food producers have to follow. For instance, you have the Good Manufacturing Practice regulations that are promulgated by the FDA, you can find HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) and many others.

In some African countries, I think the shift would be to try to incorporate more student-centered activities because such practices even though having some limits seem to be a better way of getting students more ready for future careers such teaching, working as engineers, lawyers, etc. I am saying this because I think, readiness for teaching in universities for example is more needed in underdeveloped countries where ineffective educational systems are the main factor that undermines economic development. Likewise, greater efficiency of engineers in place is needed because it can help limit the reliance on international expertise. Integrating graduate seminars and workshops where people interact in their program would reinforce such approaches as these are places where students gain skills and knowledge that would not be acquired in the normal lectures of their specific field of study.

Last time, for the purpose of our Graduate Teaching Scholar program, we covered the book Culturally Responsive Teaching and Reflection in Higher Education: Promising Practices from the Cultural Literacy Curriculum Institute. While reading the chapter Embracing My Social Class Transition a Journey to More Effective Teaching, I learned about the story of one woman who now has a position in higher education. The chapter covers parts such as: If I belong here, will I lose my roots? If I belong here, am I a traitor to my upbringing? If I belong here, am I rejecting all that I hold dear?

The author explains some the hurdles she experienced before becoming a faculty member. From many of my previous readings and what I have learned from debate and shows in the news media, almost all hurdles were color related issues.  Then after reading this text, I realized that not only people of color experience some difficulties while transitioning, even though being member of a privileged group may have advantages.  There are different scenarios: while some struggle because of race related issues, others struggle because of socio-economic issues, such as first generation to go to college, social class related issues (working classes versus non-working classes), but also student debt resulting from loans, etc. And in all cases, how people manage to overcome hurdles is strongly connected to personal values, as can be seen in many reports where people explain how they dealt with such problems.  I found values to be a broad term as while thinking about it many things came to my mind. I did look at google and I was very satisfied with the first definition I found as it kind of synthetizes the ideas I have in a more professional manner which is “Important and lasting beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable. Values have major influence on a person’s behavior and attitude and serve as broad guidelines in all situations. Some common business values are fairness, innovation and community involvement”. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/values.html.

I find this exact and that is why I was little shocked when at one moment in the same chapter of the book, the author mentioned this sentence in the text “The message is that you have to “give up” where you have been and “take on” the values of the higher social class” that she considers as her take on what Zandy has said in the book, Liberating Memory: Our Work and Our Working Class Consciousness. I did not read Zandy`s book, but would love to (just for more details on what led to such considerations), because I do not agree with this way of thinking. To my opinion, they find the perfect term to describe this approach: “class amnesia”. By just imagining somebody doing so is disgusting. I cannot believe that somebody will be okay by doing so while integrating other places. I think that would be destroying for me; I would not feel my existence anymore. And to the quote: “I have come to believe that my personal history as well as circumstances at the time influenced my choices and had the potential to either limit or amplify the effectiveness of my teaching.”, I agree with the author even though I am more convinced about the amplifying effect of conserving our roots than their limiting aspect. I truly believe that being authentic, staying deeply rooted in our values constitute the best way that can to help overcome challenges and lead to more success in whatever we do in life.

Like many other graduate or even undergraduate students, I am very excited whenever I think about finishing school. And often times when we think just about our future plans, we only focus on the positive aspects, such not having to deal with stressful assignment anymore but most importantly, about getting a job that can allow us to fulfil dreams, helping others in need, etc. It was just after reading some books while taking ethic and leadership related courses, that I have realized that work places are not “paradise”, as future employees often think of them, but real social spaces. Spaces with bosses and coworkers with different backgrounds and cultures that affect (positively or negatively) the way the organization functions, but also the individuals’ daily life and society in general. Since then, I sometimes think about these sentences from Talula Cartwright in her book Managing conflict with Peers:

“When professional peers work as independent contributors, or together as teams in an organization, conflicts are bound to occur”.

“Inevitable, though, no matter how harmonious the group or how structured the organization, conflicts are bound to occur”.

These are facts but at the same time, they may scare young people who have never experienced such situations. Of course, people survive problems at work places. Furthermore, there are many theories regarding conflict management like the ones described in one of the chapters of the book I have mentioned above, but still the fear reminds. It reminds because of many unknown factors. Where will I be hired? Who will I have to deal with? Will they care about my values? Are they aware of conflict management approaches that might help avoid issues that can lead to a hostile environment? These are some of the questions that many students keep asking themselves. And unfortunately, taking ethics courses or reading thousands of stories regarding this matter cannot guarantee what the future will be. Being aware of what work places would look like (in theory) helps, even though it is still a little scaring, but at least you are aware of what might happen, and this awareness can lessen the shock once you face such problems. Somebody who is aware of none of these things might react differently either in good or bad way. That is why by just thinking about the way fresh employees will behave when facing worrying situation for the first time, I have chilling feelings. I sincerely wish that all students could take these courses before graduating. This is a big concern, and has brought me to be giving and recommending to friends who did not attend the kinds of courses I attended some books like the Young Professional Survivor Guide, etc. These are helpful tools that can guide young professionals; to me, the most important gift in life is the one that can provide someone with knowledge that can help forever.

For the purpose of this GRAD 5104 Preparing Future Professoriate assignment that requires to find an infographic or article about how faculty (higher education) are using and/or reacting to social media, MOOCs, and/or other “disruptive” technologies, I have chosen a so illustrative infographic of two different point of view of two instructors.

People have diverse views on all phenomenon and activities that go with our daily life and to my view point social media usage in higher education is the most controversial one. I think this is normal as some instructors prefer in class interaction with students as they think it is more productive, hence the less efficiency raised by the instructor who is not for social media in teaching. Another reason for those who are not for changes in teaching style also is that the usage of social media in education is something new to them. This fact makes conservative people more skeptical. I am sure in a few years this group will be narrowed as parents are being more and more concerned about finances. Some of them prefer online courses for their children as sometime the tuition is more affordable but also the schedule can be more flexible and for international student this really a good option. For sure we will always have in class courses and activities but social media will keep rising as like parents, younger people are being more and more interested in online interaction too. They can work in group while staying home and even while doing other activities.

I find infographic as good tools to spread out information as they display them visually and in a succinct manner. This infographic shows the two instructors different position on social media and higher education that some authors would talk about while using thousands of words that can go up to five or more pages just to explain the subject.

samehttps://www.pinterest.com/pin/240168592608306501

This blog topic is dedicated to pen access journal in our discipline, I have chosen the journal PLOS ONE, which I did not really paid attention to much before this assignment.  I found this abnormal but thanks to this assignment I have managed to learn more about this awesome Journal which is qualified as: “The world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal” which I will definitely be paying more attention and benefit from.

PLOS ONE is a nonprofit organization which has its headquarters in San Francisco, California, United States of America. It is funded in October 2000, by Michael Eisen, Harold E. Varmus, Patrick O. Brown.

What are the purpose, goals, scope, etc. of the journal?

For the purpose, I did not find a specific section titled as such but I found this statements illustrative enough for what can be considered as a purpose: “PLOS ONE helped ignite change by publishing all rigorous science and providing an expansive scope for researchers’ work, making it the largest scientific journal in the world”. I have also read one part that is a kind of an illustrating of their goal which is to provide scientists with high-quality peer-reviewing of papers but also a fast and free publication. I think this is really helpful some individuals who are not in institutions or do not have enough money to buy articles.  PLOS ONE ‘scope in contrast is well illustrated in these terms: “PLOS ONE features reports of original research from the natural sciences, medical research, engineering, as well as the related social sciences and humanities that will contribute to the base of scientific knowledge. By not excluding research on the basis of subject area, PLOS ONE facilitates the discovery of connections between research whether within or between disciplines”.

While proceeding this way they have set some specific requirement that they expect interested scientists to fulfill before being able to publish works such as Systematic reviews, Qualitative research, Submissions describing methods, software, databases, or other tools.

The journal did address open access and explain it in this manner: PLOS ONE ensures the highest standards of quality and openness for the content it publishes and boosts speed to publication by eliminating subjective assessments of significance or scope to focus on technical, ethical and scientific rigor. The journal publishes original research in all scientific disciplines, including interdisciplinary research, negative results and replication studies—all vital parts of the scientific record”.

I was curious to see how they handle blogging and I Looking at the journal parts that talk about blogging, I have noticed that they have two different types of blogs: the PLOS staff-written and edited blogs and the Independent blogs hosted by PLOS. I found very interesting the community guidelines set for Plos blogs network posts and comments. It lays out some standards that promote respect and professionalism for contributors. Likewise, for Reuse of PLOS BLOGS Network Content, Plos allows that and the requirements are well specified. It is very helpful for readers who sometimes find some blog posts so interesting insightful and informative enough that they just wish that more people would have access to those blogs.

https://www.plos.org/which-journal-is-right-for-me

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/static/publish

https://www.plos.org/who-we-are

http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/

http://blogs.plos.org/about/