Frankly speaking, I haven’t taken web-based resources and communications like blogging, Twitter, or YouTube seriously as academic resources until last Wednesday. It was due to my lack of pedagogic experiences and knowledge as well as technology, and partly cultural differences from my country, I guess. Although one of my course, which was online, used the blogging activities every week, with just almost same way as the GEDI, I just thought it was because of the limits of the online course.
So, I not only read and watch the materials this week, but also explored what networked learning is, and why it has been emerging as critical teaching and learning methods. I really enjoyed the TED talk particularly, assuming most of you might be the same.
Anyway, they were totally new fields of discipline for me, but I found the fundamental values under the practice would be what I pursue through my research and teaching. I am all for the ideas of sharing and interacting knowledge, information, and materials through open and public channels, so that students can get themselves engaged in the learning activities, and also diverse kind of people are able to access to them. I believe the exclusive access to privileged knowledge would harm social dynamics as well as its quantitative and qualitative development.
In this writing, I would like to pose a possible issue of networked learning that we could face and might already happen. The first one is how that web-based informal information could be integrated into academic environments. For example, so far as I know, universities or scholarly journals might not be allowed for students to use the information and data borrowed from the blogs or YouTube. I’d like to share the blogging, titled “The legitimacy and usefulness of academic blogging will shape how intellectualism develops”. She provides pros and cons of citing blogs as formal academic resources.
1) It can be difficult to take a first step, but once you
form a habit, you can do so much more than you believe you’re capable of doing.
2) Dr. E. Scott Geller’s Intro Psych lecture on why pop
psychology exists and why psychological scientists must do better—and how they
can.
3) From competition to collaboration—embracing group work
Alright, starting from the beginning (a very good place to
start). I have always had some difficulty taking the first step in adding some
new practice to my life or beginning a long project—even if (really, especially
if) the practice or project is important to my goals. For example, I have been
distressed at how out of shape I have been since college. However, even though
I have had a gym membership since coming to Virginia Tech due to the
recreational sports fee included in the tuition and fees, I never went during
my first year. I could not motivate myself to add regular exercise to my schedule,
even though I knew it would increase my energy and body positivity. I had decided
I was too busy. However, despite graduate school’s requirements being such that
everyone is very busy, no one is too busy to do things that they prioritize. I
was making an excuse to not go to the gym. Similarly in completing research, I’m
very slow to come up with new ideas for projects. This is partially because I
prioritize what is easier for me—completing class work, grading coursework for
my assistantship, etc. Why am I putting off these important things? Following
lots of introspection (and lots of watching baby George fall down trying to
learn to walk down the steps), I know a lot of it is because I fear failure.
I wish I could pinpoint exactly where this fear of failure
began, but I cannot. However, I know I used to be like George when I was a
child—I would do anything for learning, regardless of inevitable failure. If I “fell
down,” like when I could not complete the necessary number of math problems in
5 minutes, I had my parents get me a book to help with my math skills because I
was excited about the possibilities of what I could do with a solid understanding
of mathematics. I smiled, like George, at the possibility of picking myself up
and trying again until I understood. Eventually, because of putting in so much
work for learning, my school work began to reflect it. I think this is when my
fear of failure began. I was good at something, and being recognized for it, by
my parents, teachers, and peers—I was a “smart kid,” and eventually entered “Gifted
& Talented” programs. Now I had a persona to live up to that was honestly
separate from my learning—I had to “learn,” but really I just had to be good at
knowing how to operate in the school system. Because as Dr. Michael Wesch
points out in his TEDx talk, the kind of “learning” we do in the classroom is defined
in a very narrow way. Regardless, being forced to conceptualize learning
through traditional classroom success with a huge focus on achievement, I lost
my love for it. I stopped going beyond the narrow scope of my assignments, I rather
just focused on perfecting the work that had to be done, without giving the material
the opportunity to interest me and expand my worldview.
Part of that is on me, certainly. But part of it is also on
my teachers. One teacher did take the time for me in high school to expand my learning
outside of the classroom. She knew I could memorize the historical facts
necessary to pass her American History class, but she could tell by my essay
responses there were greater connections I was seeking. She loaned me some
books, met with me once a week after school to discuss, and helped me make the connections
between history, the arts, and my life that I was seeking. Maybe as teachers we
cannot give that level of attention to every student, but maybe we can do
better about getting them to take the first step towards taking charge of their
learning—we can help them smile and get up when they “fail.” Because it is all
about that first step—back to my personal anecdotes—all I had to do was go to
the gym for the first time this semester, and I have gone every day since. All I
had to do was pitch the idea for my Master’s thesis, and now I am organizing
the writing of two different publications from it. I don’t know how yet to
inspire that first step in students, but I hope to explore that idea further
this semester and throughout my teaching career. Hopefully it will be as easy
as in this song from a classic Christmas movie I hum to myself sometimes to get
me going:
This taking the first step relates to points 2 and 3 that I
wanted to discuss (much more briefly). For point 2, I mention a lecture Dr. E.
Scott Geller. I was his TA for Introduction to Psychology for two semesters. In
both, he would discuss that pop psychology has such influence. Included in the
lecture is this slide:
He states that pop psychologists are like consultants; their
mastery is in dissemination of information. As researcher’s, we often
disseminate our research to the places with the most prestige (academic
research journals), which are not accessible nor comprehensible to the majority
of the public or those outside of our specific field. So, if all the public
hears is pop psychology because those who create it know how to reach and
convince large swaths of the public, then that is what the public will believe about
psychology. Because of this, Dr. Geller pushes his students and colleagues to
be better disseminators of research. Tim Hitchcock suggests in his blog post I
mention above that blogs and twitter may be a way to do this. While he focuses
on these as a way to connect more to others in your field and share ideas, get
feedback, and increase interest before publication, blogs and Twitter are a way
to connect to the general public and accomplish the goal of better
dissemination of actual research. Starting this blog for this class is my first
step in being a part of that change in dissemination practices for the field of
psychology. While I have an account with Open Science Framework because I believe
in the concepts of open science, we, as scientists, should not just be open
amongst ourselves for the purpose of improving the quality of science—we should
be open to all, because our work isn’t just for the intellectual elite.
This leads me to my last point about moving from competition
to collaboration. Too often in school and even “the real world,” the focus is
on competition. Grades are a competition. Publishing an idea before someone else
does is a competition. Just having more publications is a competition. Or, outside
of academia, getting a promotion is a competition. While trying to reach the
top of these hierarchies can be motivating, reaching the top isn’t always
rewarding. Always getting a 4.0 gave me recognition, but did not increase my
level or love of learning. Watching the animation from Dr. Wesch’s TEDx talk
where all students helped each other reach the top of the mountain that was his
course and finding they were the final project—that was inspiring though.
Because that’s what I’ve wanted form courses and learning for myself and others—the
betterment of ourselves as the inherently curious and social creatures we are.
I never embraced group work as a student. I, in fact, HATED it. Because the
focus of the course was the grade, and I felt I couldn’t count on anyone else
to do their part to a sufficient quality (by my standards). But what if group
work wasn’t about the final product produced, but about the learning of each
group member? I think then all students would be willing to help their partner
get on the same page. I’m teaching a lab in psychometrics this semester for my
assistantship that involves group work. I’m hoping that I can find a way to
make their final project about the learning of each group member, rather than
the final product, because everyone should know that the mountain to climb
should be exciting, rather than daunting, because even if you can’t pick yourself
up with a smile, you have a community of learners to help you make it up.
t involves grou
As someone else noted, the most notable takeaway from this week’s materials on ‘Networked Learning”– those connections maintained and transfered in a near reciprocal level between educator and student on and via networked platforms –there are immeditae concerns raised when entertaing such a concept; perhaps its just me (?). Before digging into the materials I feel I was definitely conflicted if anything. On one hand, having just taken GRAD 5004: Preparing Future Professoriate (Fall 18), I am more sensitive of the responsibilities that young academic instructors (us) have in being the intellectual and developmental role models for undergraduates. As Dean DePauw mentioned to us last semester, in an age where more emphasis (at least in US) is placed on entry-level academics to not teach but rather achieve and produce ‘deliverables’–tangible proof of one’s worth in research, publication, and, arguably more measured in corporate academic models, grant money–maintaining and honoring the position we have as college instructors is, while maybe at times less under scrutiny from universities, more important than ever. As Dr. Nelson discussed, along with many of us after her, the use of these “innovative” technological platforms for learning are increasingly flawed in their presumptive algorithems aimed at gathering quantitative data in aggregate to model not student -intructor experience, learning, and development, but instead ‘bottom-dollar’ stats for admins in deciding future course assignments and platform efficacy.
Yet, on the other hand, as a public historian and humanist, I LOVE and live by the model of networked learning in public venues, engagements, and practioning. Shared knowledge and coocreation of knowledge and dispersal thereof is the trademark of my own last four years of work in documenting, registering, sharing and provoking peoples on a social network site dedicated to one Appalachian county in southwest Virginia. Not only is it a way to document the material culture heritage of a region historically trivialized and stigmatized as ‘others’ and/ or ‘backward,’ but it aims to develop relationships with locals, typically reserved from providing oral history and tradition; thus a reciprocal process of education is triggered and (hopefully) burgeoned.
I suppose, to quote Gardner Campbell, as globalized creatures, the internet “was designed for just this kind of collaboration.” The web provides just as much security as it does take away in our teaching and learning abilities. Yett, Campbell’s point on student “experiential learning,” is lofty, admirable, and appreciative. However, I still have reservations. Having taught e-campus courses on behalf of VT for Summer Sessions (1&2) of 2017, Winter Sessions (17-18′; 18′-19′), I have often found difficult ways to fully embrace Campbell’s calling. Above all, I took more from Doug Belshaw’s insistence on “working openly.”
Yet, putting Belshaw and Hitchcock to task: is there really a true open anymore on the internet? I do not know, I am a bit stunned.The feedback and conversation from our first meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 23rd was, perhaps [keep in mind, historian talking whose thrived off small grad seminars at VT] , the most heated debate on one great inquiry raised by my colleauges in-class.
My response and ultimately to this week’s topic; cherish, embrace, and, above all, accept and PROVOKE. No. Do not become another Alex Jones etc., who leeches off disinformation. But, I am at a bit of a reservation this week at least in considering our previous day one discussion.. Some, at least I witnessed, I have never seen so passionately EVER after two MAs and now a doctoral student at VT, a discussion in a room of 40 graduate students engage on day 1 of any course.
To be fair, I brought in at the get go of this post my reservations c. 2015 Spenser. Originally typing this post I thought “They are not, however, contemporaneous to the person currently typing on this late-Sunday afternoon.” Call me cheeky, but, like networked learning, human education through such means (rightfully promulgated by Dr. Nelson), once corrupted in a world of for-profit platforms merits inquiry and investigation for a twenty-first-century world community.
Blogging? Honestly, blogging has never been a thing that I would do in my life. When I learned that I had to do for GEDI class, I said to myself “so… it is a part of my Ph.D. program, so I am going to do it.” Well, after all, I have been well ‘disciplined’ throughout my education and more importantly my whole life, in a very Foucauldian sense. Being exposed to Foucault in my first semester at VT, maybe I am over thinking about the disciplined aspect of my agency; perhaps more precisely, my whole being…
However, why not to give a shot to express my agency and my “humility” in blogging? In other words, not considering blogging as a tool to feel a sophisticated person or to resist by articulating my way of thinking or raising my voice; rather, as a way to find my words, to do self-reflection, and to critically see “who I am.” Along the line of Seth Godin’s speech on blogging, blogging can be really about “humility” that comes from writing, thinking about what I am going to say in three paragraphs. Seeing blogging as a way to respond out loud and to work ‘openly,’ as Doug Belshaw states, can be my excitement here, but not the continuation of my disciplinarity.
“Teaching” and “learning”… I have been heavily thinking about these as I start to ‘teach’ this semester. How am I going to have a connection with my students? What does ‘a good teacher’ means to me? How do I learn, so that teach them to learn and study? How can I create a space for a friendly, open, and respectful environment to my students while they have been already exposed to political, cultural, and social divide? How to present “International Relations” as a fun class to them while we have been already living in a fragmented and more importantly unfair world? And, how should I “grade” them at the end of the day? By putting them in a ranking system, again in a Foucauldian sense?
Dr. Michael Wesch in his TED-talks can’t express better my concerns I listed here. Absolutely, “we [my students and myself too] are more than scores” and “learning is more than what can be scored.” He exactly articulates my feelings when he says
Real learning that questions that you take out from this class, questions that inspires you, can drive you, take you all over the world, open up new connections for you, and forces you to do things that you might think that you never do.
And, more importantly, teaching is about, Wesch says, “not to have small talk in the class, rather ‘big’ and ‘deep’ questions” that we, as educators, should ask to our students to find ‘their agencies’ this time: “Who am I?, What am I going to do?, and Am I going to make it?”
Let’s give a try to think deeply about these in order to achieve having ‘connections’ and ‘sincerity’ with our students and to provide them with a sense of compassion and an ability to love themselves in the process of real learning.
Maybe these questions take us to the moon! Who knows?
Currently I am an MFA Candidate in my first-year studying Arts Leadership through the Performing Arts Department. One of the benefits of this program is the ability to take electives that are offered throughout the school and I chose this course as I wanted the opportunity to explore and build better teaching practices. Prior to my enrollment here at Virginia Tech I had an opportunity to co-teach a course, and in doing so, it re-invigorated my own craving to learn. In this course I hope to have a better understanding of what styles and skillsets I can achieve by learning more about how to teach. With so many formats and tools available to the teachers of today; how can I utilize them to help spark curiosity and foster a sense of empowerment to the students of today.
In our F2F discussion on Wednesday we discussed some of the real challenges around ethics and privacy of Learning Management Software systems (LMS) such as Canvas. In all honesty, while I have accessed Canvas’ analytics tools and spreadsheets and found it’s helpful to have the option to consider how much a student may be working inside the course’s online content, however I believe it to be an additional factor, rather than a deciding factor. To me, more clicks does not equal more learning. Rather, it’s another way I can assess impact of the course. Did the student take the time to try and find an answer on their own before they reach out to send a direct email to their inquiry? Have they expressed curiosity by clicking through the resources I have curated on this platform to assist their learning? Or what tools and resources students spent little to no time with that can help me as I prepare to improve for future classes.
The counter – arguments made during our discussion were new to me, I was unaware until that moment how these tools are monetized, nor had I given much thought to the uninformed consent that students give away by engaging with an LMS. I’m excited and look forward to exploring new and different approaches to learning, as we dig in deeper into these and future areas of focus.
In our class readings, open sourced learning was applauded in Working openly on the web: a manifesto. I can see the positives in creating your own digital identity, thereby having a place where your own voice can be heard, as well as allowing our work to be a building block to others, as well as ourselves. The theory sounds very harmonious and utopian, yet the world wide web still instills a fear that shocks me to the core, as I have yet to discover confidence in my own voice through writing. Or perhaps, there was once I time I learned like Baby George in which I had confidence and joy in sharing my own opinions. Furthermore, when those expressions are unclear I can be able go back and make refinements, and the act of modification isn’t seen as a weakness for not getting it picture-perfect the first time. That even after falling down many times, as Baby George does, I could get back up with a smile and try again; learning and progressing each time.
Dr. Wesch goes on in his Ted Talk to speak to the approaches he has taken to instill positive motivators for students, as well as himself, to learn and engage in the classroom and beyond. Through drawing he is able to share a vulnerability so that other students can emulate that it’s better to keep on trying and through that continued effort we can discover our own empowerment that makes us heroes to those around us.
In addition to thinking about what leads to real learning for the students that and ways we can use networked learning to create that environment, I can also take part in that discovery. As I am vulnerable in writing this blog, however, only by continuing to write will I feel more confident in how my thoughts are articulated through doing it.
*Please note this blog has been created to fulfill a course requirement for GRAD 5144 Contemporary Pedagogy this Spring 2019 at Virginia Tech.
Education all over the world has a very similar uniform defining structure. Be it schools, colleges, or universities, you sit in a lecture hall, listen to someone talk about a subject hour long, complete assignments and sit through exams. Those final grades are all that matters, that decides your level of understanding and more importantly your level of competence. And this structure has defined the framework of learning as well. If you graduate top of the class, you must have learnt the most. The true sense of learning often gets lost in this rat-race. By the time a person becomes a successful banker, he hardly remembers 12th grade Physics and loses all the wonder and curiosity of the workings of universe.
As well as this might have worked in the past, I would like to believe “learning” should not be so stringent, so restricted. Debates and discussions always broadens one’s perspectives, it forces us to think more and to ask deeper questions. The current understanding of pedagogy around the globe is undergoing a transformation and hopefully for the better. Universities are replacing conventional lecture rooms with more informal, more interaction-oriented pathway classrooms. I have the rewarding opportunity to be a teaching assistant in such a class this semester. The set-up is more like a restaurant than a classroom. Round tables, lot of talking and the instructor and us TA’s going around making conversations, provoking healthy debates. Such an ambience in a classroom has lots of assets; the instructor can ensure to the best of his ability that the students are grasping the concepts, the students are able to feel more connected to the subject as well as to others in the class. Instead of the often-bitter sense of competition that we have grown up with our entire school and college life, this format of pedagogy cultivates a sense of educating oneself and other’s around without bias. Such a setup creates a beautiful dynamics of teaching and learning, learning while teaching, and often blends the student-teacher hierarchy.
Probably the most natural way to take this beyond classrooms and further into the circle of academia would be to utilize the vast space of world wide web. To share ideas and opinions in form of blogs and posts, to make resources more accessible. After-all, knowledge grows only when shared. But everything good also comes with a share of bad. I really think I need to be more informed about networked learning and the various aspects of what it entails, to have more educated opinions.
Please feel free to comment, share your ideas, ask questions, or share links that you have found useful. Here’s to my “initiation to networked learning” !!
A ruined dinner, plenty of obscenities, lots of blood, and three stitches. An old lime with a hard rind had rolled left with the blade still attached. My fingers didn’t stand a chance.
Kinda reminds me of when I decided to leave a solid career and pursue this graduate degree. “I’m going in deep!” I had said.
I’ve had varied professions over the years. I’ve tended bar, waited tables, worked construction, and of course designed some really cool products. My last decade was with a luxury lighting firm in Floyd, VA. You can see my light fixtures in capitol buildings, universities, museums, and skyscrapers. Sections of Disney World and RAMSA-designed residentials are illuminated with some of my thoughts. I’m proud of them. I really am. But I am most proud of the team of designers and engineers I have had the pleasure to train and work alongside. I’ve always had a mind to teach, but they are the reason I decided to return to academia.
The cutting moment happened in late 2017, as the last engineer I had personally hired was reviewing one of my drawings. All documents were required to have a double-check before they were sent to the client. Kevin was now an adept and able to review his boss’ work. Suddenly his bored eyes lit up like Christmas.
“I did it! I found one!!” he exclaimed.
“Found what?” I asked.
“A mistake,” he said slowly. “I found a mistake on your drawing.”
“Good,” I replied in amusement. “Mark it up.”
“Really? Seriously! Where’s a red pen?” He searched frantically. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
“Do what?” I asked. “This.” And he drew a deliberate red circle around a misspelled word, his smile from ear to ear. Then he spoke again, “For my first year I was so terrified of the red-lines you made on my drawings. I was always worried I was going to get fired every time I saw them bleed across the page.” “Well, how else were you going to learn?” I asked. He nodded. “And besides, you rarely get them anymore. You’re a really good engineer, Kevin.” “I know. You taught me well.”
Straight to my damned heart. They don’t make stitches for that. I know I’d grown kinda hard and crusty, even a little bitter over the years. I mean, look at those forehead wrinkles. Fourteen years of industry work and two decades of cigarettes will do that. But, they don’t protect you from an honest friend. My team and my company were in great hands. It was time to go teach others. I quit smoking. I applied to graduate school. I left the business.
My wife and I have moved to the area. You can find me in Burchard Hall, where I am working on my MS Arch with a focus on Industrial Design. I hope you’ll help me along with way, and, if ever I can assist you in your own journey, I’ll be there.
