The Graduate Educator

Faculty Club

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Almond) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:50:00 +0000

An interesting article in the Chronicle about becoming a part of the lucrative group we call faculty. I laughed out loud more than a few times as I read this at the coffee shop while "working" on my dissertation.

Writing technologies and Literacy

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Almond) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:16:00 +0000

An interesting article today in Inside Higher Ed titled A Better Pencil discusses the changing trends in writing technology and the impact these advances have on the English language.

The article, an interview with the book author discussed his views on new communication tools, such as text messaging. While many of us believe that the acronyms used in text messaging will seep into our students language, he claims that students have said they would be ashamed to do this, stating it would be childish.

Also discussed is a the trend that professors prefer their students to send them papers as attachments, so that they may make changes and comments electronically, eliminating the problem of students not being able to read their professor's handwriting. I go back and forth on this one, sometimes I find it easier to grade this way, and other times I prefer a hard copy. It seems that for me it is easier to observe the structure of a paper when it is in hard copy form.

Also discussed are online courses. One point he makes is that while online classes may be cost effective and innovative, students may lack motivation. He argues, students who must be in a face to face class must have enough motivation to at least make it to class. Students in an online class face a variety of distractions at home, while trying to remain engaged in an online lecture or chat.

This article raises some legitimate questions about the impact of technology on higher education. I think that as technological advances become more mainstream we will have to integrate them into our courses, whether we like it or not.

You, too, can stay motivated

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Some surprisingly simply (and likely quite effective) advice for staying motivated to keep chugging along towards that graduate degree, from Alexes Harris, in today's Inside Higher Ed.

The generations we teach

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Almond) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Hello all, hope you are having a wonderful summer.

I have had conversations with colleagues and friends concerning the generation of traditional age college students we have in our undergraduate classrooms. Many or almost all of them text up until and while they are in class, they are the generation that made "facebook" a verb. In light of recent craze over twitter I thought this was interesting. An article in the Chronicle recently discussed the fact that teens are not twittering, and gave some interesting insight about why they would rather "facebook".

Tenure decisions

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Some helpful information and good insights for those not in the know.

Thanks, Chronicle of Higher Education!

Ouch!

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:26:00 +0000

This professor takes off the kid gloves when confronting a plagiarizing student.

Thanks, Inside Higher Ed!

Teaching and learning online

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:41:00 +0000

A newly-released report from the U.S. Department of Education studied the benefits of online coursework:

"Despite what appears to be strong support for online learning applications, the studies in this meta-analysis do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium," the report says. "In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages. At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction."

Read more at Inside Higher Ed.

Some words of wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:32:00 +0000

"We must reshape students' thinking so they understand that 'good enough' isn't, and that doing better is simply a matter of seeking the rewards of excellent writing in the same way one might seek a bigger paycheck for working overtime. We aren't offering them real training in earning rewards if we allow them to pass their courses despite weak effort and poor results. In the real world, people often get only one opportunity, one job opening, one chance to move ahead. Most of us know that the amount of time that a person commits to a project usually leads to better outcomes, but many students work under the delusion that almost any results are acceptable."

-Bob Kunzinger

Thanks, Chronicle of Higher Education!

Different perspectives

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Graduate students and their professors often don't see eye-to-eye. But, students have a limited view of what professors do day-in and day-out, only getting a small piece of the picture of the scholar's life.

Thanks, Chronicle of Higher Education!

Dress code out the window

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:11:00 +0000

As one who takes a deliberately casual approach to what I wear in the classroom (neckties reserved for special classes and special occasions; tropical shirts for summer workshops), I found this news helpful. A community college instructor studied her students' responses to her teaching based on whether she dressed formally (slacks, buttoned shirt, low heels) or casually (t-shirt, jeans, sneakers) for her classes. Surveying students at the beginning and end of the semester, she found no meaningful differences in their perceptions of her:

The data showed that Ms. Konheim-Kalkstein's clothing made a small difference in perceptions of her on the first day of class, with those students in the "formal" classes finding her more qualified and approachable than did those in the informal classes. But four weeks into the semester, wearing less-formal clothes had about the same effect on student perceptions as wearing formal clothes.

So, if you feel like wearing shorts and sandals, by all means, feel free. On the other hand, if a suit and tie are more to your taste, then go with that. Chances are, it won't make much difference in how your students view you. What matters, I imagine, is how well you teach and your ability to convey the material in a meaningful, authoritative, and engaging manner.

Thanks, Chronicle of Higher Education!

More and more and less and less

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Kemp, Ed.D.) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:49:00 +0000

There is an old joke in graduate school..."You know more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing." The same is true about being a faculty member. It seems that every time I wrap myself around this job...something new comes into view that is more interesting, more time consuming and takes up more of my time. Now it seems like I am doing more and more about less and less and what seems like everything has become nothing.

I think I need to publish something.

Some articles of interest

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:56:00 +0000

A smattering of interesting articles and essays from the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed this week:

Adjuncts and assistant profs
Online writers
Is your college undermining your work?
Adjunct work does not pay
When do students "own" their work?
What college students will look like in 2020

More advice from Rachel

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:19:00 +0000

I think I love Rachel Toor. Her friends are, apparently, way cooler than mine. She's a runner. And she writes about writing and how to improve one's written work. Here's her latest essay from today's Chronicle of Higher Education.

Is graduate school a good choice right now?

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:27:00 +0000

This writer is not so sure.

Thanks, Boston.com!

A really, really bad idea

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:02:00 +0000

The Chronicle of Higher Education chronicles online instructors who pose as "students" in their online courses to better monitor and provoke students' participation and learning. Let me be clear, as someone who has taught online courses for a decade: This is an incredibly bad idea and an exceedingly poor choice of strategies for invoking student participation. If I have to resort to chicanery, subterfuge, and spying to get students to take my online course seriously, then I'd better re-think altogether what I'm trying to accomplish. I cannot imagine any reason why an instructor would want to do this -- there are so many more effective (and transparent) methods for engaging students and getting them excited about learning.

Tenure...it just feels good

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:18:00 +0000

One newly-tenured professor's perspective on how that feels, in today's Chronicle of Higher Education.

Learning how to teach

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:54:00 +0000

From today's Chronicle of Higher Education.

Research skillz

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:55:00 +0000

Todd Gilman wonders if your students are research-literate, in today's Chronicle of Higher Education.

Doctoral programs shrinking

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:54:00 +0000

For those considering doctoral study at some of the nation's high-prestige schools, this is not good news. However, some who might have otherwise considered applying to a Ph.D. program at, say, Harvard might now be inclined to apply somewhere else: Michigan, Berkeley, Wisconsin, perhaps? Top-caliber institutions with many fine doctoral programs, to be sure. I haven't seen any evidence that Ph.D. programs at state-supported institutions are scaling back -- although that could certainly happen if the economy continues to sour.

Mean reading

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:43:00 +0000

Fess up! Do you read like a graduate student? More from Rachel Toor in today's Chronicle.

Grim news

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:32:00 +0000

A new report by the American Federation of Teachers finds that the percentage of tenured and tenure-track faculty members employed at higher education institutions throughout the country continues to decline, accroding to today's Chronicle of Higher Education. I don't see this trend reversing any time soon; as states struggle to pay the bills, publicly-funded colleges and universities continue to be woefully underfunded. Certainly, within a generation, academic departments at most universities will be led by full-time professional administrators and staffed by only a few tenured faculty members who'll control the curriculum (if they're lucky); but, most courses will be taught by part-timers who will be supervised by either the few remaining faculty members or some assemblage of administrators and faculty who'll fight for control. It is unsettling to witness the demise of a great American institution (no, not GM) -- the public higher education system.

Although this is a promising development.

Avoiding blowback

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Some good advice, in this essay by Shari Dinkins -- in today's Inside Higher Ed -- for organizing your teaching, clarifying your instructions, and setting out clear guidelines for students. Not a guarantee that you won't be confronted with a grade appeal or two from dissatisfied students (I had my first grade appeal last semester -- in more than 20 years of teaching in higher education), but these steps will go a long way to minimizing such appeals.

(BTW, the student's appeal was unsuccessful because I have long employed many of the practices that Ms. Dinkins advocates.)

A couple of things

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:08:00 +0000

From today's online Chronicle of Higher Education:

You don't need a Ph.D. to be a good teacher, says Rob Jenkins.

And Thomas J. Straka would rather not be his advisees' best friend forever, thank you very much.

Finally, apropos of nothing, this story in today's Inside Higher Ed on a new NBC comedy series (with Chevy Chase) about a group of "losers" beginning life again at a community college. Sounds like must-see TV to me.

Six degrees of education

noreply@blogger.com (M Cecil Smith, Ph.D.) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Inside Higher Ed has a brief news bit today featuring my home institution, Northern Illinois University, which...

last week gave a special alumni honor to the Sereno Family -- two brothers and four sisters who came from modest means, earned their undergraduate degrees at the institution, and went on to earn Ph.D.'s from top programs and to pursue academic careers. The siblings (in order of graduation) and their current academic homes and disciplines are: Martin (psychology, University College London), Paul (paleontology, University of Chicago), Joan (linguistics, University of Kansas), Margaret (psychology, University of Oregon), Anne (neurobiology, University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Rice University) and Sara (psychology, University of Glasgow). The Chicago Tribune ran a profile on the family.

One of those feel-good stories; somewhat rare in higher ed these days.