24
Apr
2019
Apr
2019
Ph.D. supervisor
How to be a PhD supervisor
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/how-be-phd-supervisor
Searching for "higher ed"
31
Mar
2019
Mar
2019
shifting reality of the online landscape
State Systems Plot Major Online Growth
Public universities across the country are adjusting to the shifting reality of the online landscape. Despite similar goals, approaches vary widely.
Mark Lieberman March 20, 2019
interviewed administrators at systems across the United States for a wide look at how the landscape is shifting.
The University of Missouri System last year signaled plans to increase its total enrollment from 75,000 to 100,000 by 2023. Administrators pointed to online education as a key driver of future growth.
In other ways, the Missouri system’s approach could look similar to Massachusetts’. Administrators in Missouri are pondering the creation of a separate entity within the system that would offer online programs to adult learners.
Administrators have ruled out purchasing or merging with an existing online apparatus, as Purdue University did with the for-profit Kaplan University to enrollment-expanding but controversial effect.
Senior administrators and board members at Louisiana State University began looking at online education in the early 2010s.
From 2016 to 2018, Sasha Thackaberry served as assistant vice president of academic technology, course production and alternative learning models at Southern New Hampshire University. Louisiana State hired her in February 2018 to lead its online growth; three months later, she was promoted from associate vice provost to vice provost of digital and continuing education.
When Kristina Johnson became chancellor of the State University of New York system in 2017, she challenged administrators to consider a wide range of possibilities for growing online capabilities. According to Tod Laursen, SUNY’s senior vice chancellor and provost, the system has just wrapped up an information-gathering process that will inform a soon-to-be-released request for proposals. Johnson has slated for this fall a major online learning initiative, the details of which are still being ironed out.
Colorado State University Online serves as an online program manager for the state system — distinct from Colorado State University Global, which has a separate faculty and governance structure, and tends to serve adults at an average age in their 30s. CSU Online, by contrast, tends to serve “less seasoned” students between 24 and 34 years old, according to Amy Smith, senior director of CSU Online.
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more on online education in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=online+education
25
Feb
2019
Feb
2019
New Leaders program
Study: Schools with principals from New Leaders program show higher student learning gains
K-8 students with the same principal, who was trained by the nonprofit, for at least three years get higher math and English language arts scores than those with other leaders.
Principals trained and supported by New Leaders — a New York City-based nonprofit — are contributing to higher student achievement and staying in their jobs longer than those hired through other preparation programs, a new RAND Corp. study shows.
Students attending K-8 schools that have had a New Leaders principal for at least three years score at least 3% higher in math and roughly 2% higher in English language arts (ELA) than students with school leaders prepared in other ways.
The RAND researchers found that specific aspects of being a leader — specifically competencies related to instruction, and adult and team leadership — were more closely associated with increases in student achievement.
What New Leaders calls “cultural capital,” which includes skills related to “cultural leadership” and “operational leadership,” was more closely linked to retention.
A 2017 Stanford University study showed that academic growth among CPS students in grades 3-8 was increasing at a faster rate than in most districts in the nation.
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more of EDAD in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=edad
17
Feb
2019
Feb
2019
Psychodynamics of Bullying in Libraries
categories: academic library
The Psychodynamics of Bullying in Libraries
Steven W. Staninger
https://journals.tdl.org/llm/index.php/llm/article/view/7170/6381
Bullying in the workplace has been defined as:
The repeated actions and practices (of a perpetrator) that are directed to one or more
workers, which are unwanted by the victim, which may be done deliberately, or
unconsciously, but clearly cause humiliation, offense, distress, may interfere with job
performance, and/or cause an unpleasant working environment.
Bullying most often occurs within an organization where negative aspects of that
organizations’ culture aggregate.
The challenge for the library administrator is to identify where these accumulations are, and take steps to re-create the culture of that area and change the systems that allow bullying to occur. This is an essential function of an effective administraton
Bullies will almost always deny that what they are doing is bullying, particularly when the stated goal – or directive sent down from higher administrators – is to
move the organization “forward.”
Bullying includes but is not limited to unreasonable criticism of job performance, attempts to
control workplace interactions between peers, and creating unwritten policies. Other bullying
behaviors include assigning unrealistic workloads, ignoring and ridiculing suggestions about
library operations, and excessive monitoring that leaves employees excluded and isolated, not to mention exhausted.
Librarians would do well to honestly reflect and determine if they are participating in
bullying behaviors, and/or are watching it happen without attempting to take steps to call it out
for what it is.
Library administrators should be vigilant about identifying bullying and addressing it before it becomes ingrained in the institutional culture.
As Reed notes, “Toxic leadership, like leadership in general, is more easily described then
defined, but terms like self-aggrandizing, petty, abusive, indifferent to unit climate, and
interpersonally malicious seem to capture the concept.” 17 Distressingly, a library with a culture of bullying corrupts those who serve it, marginalizing those with initiative and new ideas and rewarding the sycophants. Ultimately, bullying creates a continuous fear of failure, so people work to avoid being bullied instead of attending to their assigned tasks. The result is an ineffective library that falls well short of its intended mission
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more on bullying in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=bullying
08
Feb
2019
Feb
2019
21st Century Teaching
categories: OER, OER open educational resources
6 Key Trends to 21st Century Teaching
Richard Nattoo
https://www.edsurge.com/research/guides/21st-century-teaching-guide
Colleges around the country have also started hiring staff members with titles like OER Coordinator and Affordable Content Librarian. Our series looked into how the movement is changing, and the research into the costsand benefits. You can even hear a podcast version here.
Flipped classrooms seem to be growing exponentially
Robert Talbert, a professor of mathematics at Grand Valley State University and author of the book Flipped Learning. Talbert recently tabulated how many scholarly articles are published each year about “flipping” instruction, meaning that traditional lecture-style material is delivered before class (often using videos) so that classroom time can be used for discussion and other more active learning.
More professors are looking to experts to help them teach. (Though some resist.)
By 2016, there were an estimated 13,000 instructional designers on U.S. campuses, according to a report by Intentional Futures. And that number seems to be growing.
There’s also a growing acceptance of the scholarly discipline known as “learning sciences,” a body of research across disciplines of cognitive science, computer science, psychology, anthropology and other fields trying to unlock secrets of how people learn and how to best teach.
here’s a classic study that shows that professors think they’re better teachers than they actually are
The classroom isn’t the only place to learn
experiments with putting office hours online to get students to show up, bringing virtual reality to science labs to broaden what students could explore there, and changing how homework and tests are written.
Students are also finding their own new ways to learn online, by engaging in online activism. The era of a campus bubble seems over in the age of Twitter
Colleges are still struggling to find the best fit for online education
We dove into what lessons can be learned from MOOCs, as well what research so far about which audiences online can best serve.
And what does it mean to teach an age of information overload and polarization?
Perhaps the toughest questions of all about teaching in the 21st century is what exactly is the professor’s role in the Internet age. Once upon a time the goal was to be the ‘sage on the stage,’ when lecturing was king. Today many people argue that the college instructor should be more of a ‘guide on the side.’ But as one popular teaching expert notes, even that may not quite fit.
And in an era of intense political polarization, colleges and professors are looking for best to train students to become digitally literate so they can play their roles as informed citizens. But just how to do that is up for debate, though some are looking for a nonpartisan solution.
04
Feb
2019
Feb
2019
Weakest students online college classes
Weakest students more likely to take online college classes but do worse in them
Survey of rigorous academic research on online education finds lower grades and higher drop out rates Column by JILL BARSHAY February 4, 2019
According to the most recent federal statistics from 2016, roughly one out of every three or 6.3 million college students learned online. That number is growing even as fewer people are going to college.
The paper, “Does Online Education Live Up to Its Promise? A Look at the Evidence and Implications for Federal Policy,” was also written by Sandy Baum, an economist at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.
Online degrees are also concentrated among a handful of nonprofit universities. Just three — Western Governors University, Liberty University and Southern New Hampshire University — enroll about a third of all online students at private, nonprofit institutions.
overwhelming research evidence that community college students aren’t faring well in online classes
Another 2017 study of students at a for-profit university which offers both in-person and online classes found that students who took an online class not only got lower grades in that class but also in future classes. Online students were more likely to drop out of college altogether than similar students who attended in-person classes.
There are much stronger results for courses that combine supplemental materials online with traditional, face-to-face instruction. But the authors do not consider this hybrid instruction to be “online” learning.
19
Dec
2018
Dec
2018
The College Fear Factor
Equity Book Group & D2L Brightspace Course
A Professional Development Opportunity for All Faculty and Staff
What: Statewide opportunity to read, discuss, interact, share and learn with a book on a topic of interest and relevance for our work. This year the topic is improving communication with students and enhancing their sense of belonging. Created by: Rebecca March and Cheryl Neudauer, Minneapolis College
The book is The College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors Misunderstand Each Other. Rebecca Cox “spent five years talking to, and watching, community college students. She noted carefully the many ways they failed their classes. She listened closely to their reasons why.” – Jay Mathews, Washington Post blog
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/18/college-fear-factor
- Three 90-minute virtual Adobe Connect meetings to discuss how the experiences and perspectives in this book relate to our students and communities. Virtual meetings are scheduled for:
- Thursday, February 21 – 12:00-1:30 pm
- Thursday, March 28 – 12:00-1:30 pm
- Thursday, April 18 – 12:00-1:30 pm
- D2L Brightspace course to explore issues related to communicating with our students both outside of and within the classroom, orally and through our documents, policies, and electronic communications and how these impact their sense of belonging. The “course” will use short, asynchronous, interactive activities to help us explore how we can better serve our students, connect across the system, and share resources.
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2nd meeting, March 28, 2019.
CHAPTER 2 THE STUDENT FEAR FACTOR (pp. 20-41)
Engaging the Online Learner Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction:
motivation. goal has value
22
Nov
2018
Nov
2018
Does AI favor tyranny
categories: Digital literacy, educational technology
Why Technology Favors Tyranny
Artificial intelligence could erase many practical advantages of democracy, and erode the ideals of liberty and equality. It will further concentrate power among a small elite if we don’t take steps to stop it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-noah-harari-technology-tyranny/568330/
YUVAL NOAH HARARI OCTOBER 2018 ISSUE
Ordinary people may not understand artificial intelligence and biotechnology in any detail, but they can sense that the future is passing them by. In 1938 the common man’s condition in the Soviet Union, Germany, or the United States may have been grim, but he was constantly told that he was the most important thing in the world, and that he was the future (provided, of course, that he was an “ordinary man,” rather than, say, a Jew or a woman).
n 2018 the common person feels increasingly irrelevant. Lots of mysterious terms are bandied about excitedly in ted Talks, at government think tanks, and at high-tech conferences—globalization, blockchain, genetic engineering, AI, machine learning—and common people, both men and women, may well suspect that none of these terms is about them.
Fears of machines pushing people out of the job market are, of course, nothing new, and in the past such fears proved to be unfounded. But artificial intelligence is different from the old machines. In the past, machines competed with humans mainly in manual skills. Now they are beginning to compete with us in cognitive skills.
Israel is a leader in the field of surveillance technology, and has created in the occupied West Bank a working prototype for a total-surveillance regime. Already today whenever Palestinians make a phone call, post something on Facebook, or travel from one city to another, they are likely to be monitored by Israeli microphones, cameras, drones, or spy software. Algorithms analyze the gathered data, helping the Israeli security forces pinpoint and neutralize what they consider to be potential threats.
The conflict between democracy and dictatorship is actually a conflict between two different data-processing systems. AI may swing the advantage toward the latter.
As we rely more on Google for answers, our ability to locate information independently diminishes. Already today, “truth” is defined by the top results of a Google search. This process has likewise affected our physical abilities, such as navigating space.
So what should we do?
For starters, we need to place a much higher priority on understanding how the human mind works—particularly how our own wisdom and compassion can be cultivated.
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more on SCSU student philosophy club in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=philosophy+student+club
13
Nov
2018
Nov
2018
VR and AR for SEL
categories: educational technology, instructional technology
How AR and VR are Being Used to Teach SEL
By Tina Nazerian May 29, 2018
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-05-29-how-ar-and-vr-are-being-used-to-teach-sel
Bailenson contrasts experiencing virtual reality with reading news accounts and watching documentaries.
Caldwell—who used Google Expeditions to deliver a virtual reality experience set in the Holocaust—says that when his students first put on the goggles, they viewed them as a novelty.
Ron Berger, the Chief Academic Officer of EL Education, points to another factor schools should consider. He thinks virtual reality can be a powerful way to introduce kids to situations that require empathy or adopting different perspectives.
keep safety in mindsaving virtual reality for “very special experiences,” keeping it “relatively short” and not getting students dizzy or disoriented. A report Bailenson co-authored for Common Sense Media highlights the research that has—and has not—explored the effects of virtual reality on children. It states that the “potentially negative outcomes of VR include impacts on children’s sensory systems and vision, aggression, and unhealthy amounts of escapism and distraction from the physical world.”
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more on VR in education in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality+education
on Google Expeditions:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/11/13/google-expeditions-higher-ed/
31
Oct
2018
Oct
2018
bullying prevention
categories: digital citizenship
Research evidence on bullying prevention at odds with what schools are doing
Punishing the bullies doesn’t really help, researchers say. But what does work?
Column by JILL BARSHAY https://hechingerreport.org/research-evidence-on-bullying-prevention-at-odds-with-what-schools-are-doing/
“Trump effect” on bullying in schools, citing a study that found higher bullying rates in GOP districts after the 2016 presidential election.
The scientific evidence on what works is complicated.
For example, this 2007 review of anti-bullying programs found “little discernible effect on youth participants.”
twenty-some years of empirical research that shows punishing kids is unhelpful
Instead, he argues that schools should combine consequences for bullies with mediation, counseling or a learning experience.
School shootings and violence have prompted schools to take an even more punitive stance against student misbehavior, experts I talked to said.
the higher a school’s climate rating — that is, the more that students, parents and teachers think their school is a safe place where people are respected — the lower the bullying rates. Similarly, the higher the social-emotional skills, such as the ability to wait and not react impulsively, the lower the bullying rates. But what hasn’t been clearly proven is that improvements in school climate or social-emotional skills will necessarily lead to a reduction in bullying.
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more on bullying in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=bully