Teaching with Techonology: plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

In the past five years since I began teaching on the Internet, my struggles with creating engagement with my Distance Learning students have brought mixed results. It is easy enough (but very time consuming) to create community by the use of discussion boards and forcing students (i.e., issuing grades) to reply to each other’s posts, and barring technological difficulties, it is not too hard to get some pretty good, teacher-directed chat sessions going.

The funny thing about chat, however, is that students often wander far afield on their own, sort of, you might say, holding their own sidebars during the class/chat time. I cause my students who do not attend the “class” sessions to read the chat logs and present me with a summary, and sometime these summaries are a little bit snippy in that the offended students point out that a lot of the chat is off-topic. I’m not really opposed to this, and in fact, Marilyn Cooper and Cynthia Selfe say this is a good thing, because the computerized environment, in which the teacher is not totally in control, allows students to alter the power structure a little more in their own favor, where real learning might take place (857).

In fact, I enjoy the humor and the banter and the “poking [of] fun at the gravity with which the subject matter is treated in the classroom” (857). And I also enjoy the imperative that teaching with web-based technologies brings to the instructor to produce, as David Jaffee puts it, “some deep reflection about teaching, learning, and the respective roles of instructor and student” (233).

So I am a little annoyed with myself that now I have switched to Breeze as the platform to hold my Internet class sessions, my students seem more serious and attentive. Breeze, which I love because it frees me from typing and revealing in print to my students my terrible spelling and butchered syntax, has actually caused me to switch back to a lecture mode, in which I find myself doing most of the talking while my students listen attentively and politely.

That said, the response I’m getting from my students is very good. Because I can record the sessions and have those who can’t attend view the recording and write summaries, I’ve been able to monitor the feedback, which includes statements like “It’s really nice to hear your voice and view you as a real person.” Or, “You were really able to clarify some issues I haven’t otherwise been able to get my mind around.” Such anecdotes aren’t a formal study of course, but I’m sensing that even my Internet students appreciate what ever replication of the traditional classroom is possible. So, in a nutshell, hats off to Breeze.

I know that for myself, I’m much more comfortable in the visual and aural environment, where I can do little dog and pony shows with PPT and web pages in real time, without being tied to a keyboard, where my typing skills (just like my blackboard writing skills) are really atrocious. And the nifty little “polling” feature (much like classroom clickers) is a real crowd pleaser.

But I do find it amusing that as the technology advances, it is enabling me to revert to more traditional classroom practices. Apparently, as the French like to say, “Plus a change, plus se la mem chose.” Or, as we say somewhat less elegantly on this side of the Atlantic, “what goes ‘round comes ‘round.”

In any event, I’m looking forward to sending my students a little anonymous online survey at the end of the semester asking them what they think of the switch from chat to Breeze. Watch for the results in this space in early May.

Works Cited:

Cooper, Marilyn, and Cynthia Selfe. “Computer Conferences and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse.” College English 52.8 (December 1990): 847-69.

Jaffee, David. “Virtual Transformation: Web-Based Technology and Pedagogical Change.” Teaching Sociology 31.2 (April 200): 227-36.

SoTL Articles for the Teaching of English Compositon

The following three articles exhibit the application of scholarship and research in the teaching of English Composition:

Cooper, Marilyn, and Cynthia Selfe. “Computer Conferences and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse.” College English 52.8 (December 1990): 847-69.

Straub, Richard. “The Concept of Control in Teacher Response: Defining the Varieties of ‘Directive’ and ‘Facilitative’ Commentary.” College Composition and Communication 47.2 (May 1996): 223-51.

Perl, Sondra. “The Composing Process of Unskilled College Writers.” Research in the Teaching of English (13.4 (December 1979): 816-36

Marilyn Cooper’s and Cynthia Selfe’s study demonstrates that even when students are seemingly off-task in the electronic class they may still be acquiring knowledge.

Richard Straub’s article determines and illustrates that extensive markings on composition papers often reveal more about the teacher than they do to the student.

Sondra Perl’s study, though seemingly dated, thoroughly documents the actual tasks that students struggle with as they face the writing process.

The new scholarship demands a new epistemology

_____

Comments: This is the article by Donald Schon, Professor Emeritus at MIT
at the time of writing. He has since passed away. Schon's philosophy of
deliberate, recursive consideration of one's "design moves", expressed
in the Reflective Practitioner, and Educating the Reflective
Practitioner (my personal favorite) has and continues to influence
educators, designers, policy administrators, and professionals in many
other fields. This is the article that influenced me, and provided
validation for the research I wanted to do--highly qualitative, with
practical application--but which was continually marginalized because it
was thought to be neither rigorous nor generalizable (the dual chalice
of "bona fide" research).
_____

Record: 1

Title: The new scholarship requires a new epistemology. (cover story)
Authors: Schon, Donald A.
Source: Change; Nov/Dec95, Vol. 27 Issue 6, p26, 9p, 4c
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *EDUCATION, Higher

*KNOWLEDGE, Theory of

*LEARNING & scholarship

United States
Geographic Terms: UNITED States
Abstract: Discusses the importance of epistemology in pursuing new
forms of scholarship in higher education in the United States. Forms of
scholarship as envisioned by Ernest Boyer; Dilemma of rigor or
relevance; Epistemology of the modern research university; Deweyan
inquiry and action research.
Full Text Word Count: 7370
ISSN: 0009-1383
Accession Number: 9512100782

Persistent link to this record:
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=9512100782&logi
npage=login.asp&site=ehost&scope=site

Cut and Paste: <A
href="http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=951210078
2&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost&scope=site">The new scholarship
requires a new epistemology.</A>

SoTL examples - Psychology teaching

The following is the citation and a description of a article (which is
attached - the 1998 article) concerning scholarship.

Halpern, D. F., Smothergill, D.W., Allen, M., Baker, S.Baum, C., Best,
D., et al. (1998). Scholarship in psychology: A paradigm for the
twenty-first century. American Psychologist, 53 (12), 1292-1297

This report is from the Society for Teaching Psychology (APA Division
2) task force that looked at redefining what constitutes faculty work
and then recommended criteria that may count as scholarship for
psychology. The goal is two fold: 1) to better represent what faculty
are in fact doing and 2) a broader definition of scholarship may
contribute to a change in the reward system of faculty. The task force
suggests the definition of scholarship can be more meaningful if
expanded to include: original research, integration of knowledge,
application of knowledge, the scholarship of pedagogy, & the scholarship
of teaching in psychology. Each point, then, is elaborated on. The
article also discusses Diamond and Adams (1995) operational definition
for six shared features of scholarship with other disciplines.

A continuation of this discussion can be seen in the following
articles.

Halpern, D. F., & Reich, J. N. (1999). Scholarship in psychology:
Conversations about change and constancy. American Psychologist, 54
(5), 347-349.

Mathie, V. A., Buskist, W., Carlson, J.F., Davis, S.F., Johnson, D.E.,
& Smith, R. A. (2004). Expanding the boundaries of scholarship in
psychology through teaching, research, service, and administration.
Teaching of Psychology, 31 (4), 233- 241.

12 O’Clock Scholars Brown Bag #1 - January 30, 2006

Discussion Topic: “Dealing With Difficult Students”
Facilitator: Lesa Rae Vartanian (Psychology)
Next Brown Bag - February 23 at Noon.

Synopsis: What do we really mean when we say we have a “difficult student?” Is there a difference between a student who is “difficult” and one who might be called “high-maintenance?” It seemed to us that there could be a difference–a student who is under-prepared for college and requires/ seeks a lot of attention in or out of the classroom might be viewed as “high-maintenance” but not necessarily as “difficult” (e.g., adversarial, defensive, disruptive). We discussed the challenges students of both varieties (as well as hybrids) poses for all instructors, but particularly for those who are relatively new to teaching. Are difficult students born or created? We also talked about this issue–in particular, we focused on the ways in which we as instructors might willingly or unwittingly create environments that invite difficulty from students (e.g., how policies are stated or not stated on syllabi, how various issues are handled in the classroom, etc.). A basic theme that emerged from our hour discussion was that how we deal with our students ideally ought to reflect our teaching philosophy and our objectives for our students’ learning.

Suggestions for other discussion topics:

• continue this thread of “Dealing with Difficult Students” (make a recurring topic)
• Communicating Effectively With Students
• Students and Their Technology in the Classroom (cell phones, ipods, pagers, laptops)
• “From the Trenches” (a show-n-tell of trials, tribulations, and triumphs)