Teachnology: Comments

Comment on "Yes, It Applies to You, Too"

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:30:06 -0500

How about, "Turns out only you mom thinks you're that special"?

Comment on "Living through the Revolution"

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:38:23 -0500

Stevie

Like you, I was writing a comment that got "too long." So it is now a blog post over at my blog. (http://theprofessornotes.com)

I alas focused on one very specific comment you make, that "Prof X is a scribe."

I realize you wrote more than that, and hopefully my reader(s) will come read your full post.

--Steve

- STEPHAN PAUL BRADY

Comment on "Living through the Revolution"

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:33:04 -0500

Hi Stevie. You know, I think there is a larger life lesson wrapped up in the conversation going on around the way education is changing. Part of living a meaningful life is approaching every day expecting to learn something. It can be challenging and at times we may be pushed outside of our comfort zones, but that's the way it goes. As you know, I've been taking graduate classes part-time. I recently made the decision to share all of my class assignments on my blog. I was a little intimidated at first when I first considered it. But it was such an "a-ha" moment once I finally pushed myself over the edge. Why wasn't I doing this all along? I feel like I've grown up a little and also regained some of the wonderment of youth all at the same time. I updated my Facebook status this morning to the old Bob Dylan lyrics "I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now." Pretty succinctly describes how I'm feeling.

- NATALIE FRANCES HARP

Comment on "Thinking the Unthinkable: What can we Learn in Higher Ed?"

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:15:27 -0500

Wow! Great stuff here, you all! Nikki, I think that having the 10 reasons we're going out of business would be a great thing to inspire folks to be more agile in the workplace. I might even start a list to share with some folks at my next team meeting, actually. Cool idea!

Robin, I hope you don't mind, but I posted a link to David Wiley's slide presentation (it couldn't have been MORE timely) to the intranet to try to foster some discussion. We'll have to see where it goes, but I'm hoping (vainly? not-so-vainly?) that it inspires some serious discussion across the organization. Thanks!

Natalie: I can't tell you how much I liked the proposal. It's exactly the kind of research we need right now. I left a comment on your blog with my volunteerism, too! :)

- Stevie Rocco

Comment on "Thinking the Unthinkable: What can we Learn in Higher Ed?"

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:33:57 -0500

Hi Stevie,

Thanks much for this very thoughtful post. Very uncanny timing, too, as I just submitted a paper last night in my ADTED 532 class on moving the hierarchical distance education institution into a network organization. The assignment was to be submitted in the form of a research proposal so you'll see that my paper leaves many questions and suggests avenues and methods for research. I hope you get the chance to have a look: Becoming a Network Organization: A Research Proposal.

Anyway, your post has inspired me to move more of my class writings from the past out of ANGEL and into my blog - this will happen in a little time. Thanks for the inspiration.

- NATALIE FRANCES HARP

Comment on "Thinking the Unthinkable: What can we Learn in Higher Ed?"

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:03:07 -0500

Two corrections:

1) The link to David Wiley's presentation doesn't seem to be working; here it is in full: http://www.slideshare.net/opencontent/openness-and-the-disaggregated-future-of-higher-education-presentation

2) I got the quote wrong; it should be "This is Your 11:20 Wake Up Call: Your institution will be irrelevant by 2020."

My bag. :)

- rb smail

Comment on "Thinking the Unthinkable: What can we Learn in Higher Ed?"

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:59:55 -0500

Stevie,

This is a very well written post; I felt something shift in my outlook when I read Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, but I admit I didn't take it directly into the institutional education model like you did. I agree with many of the questions you have; not that we're doing it wrong, per se, but that we might not be doing enough to keep us out of the way of that big information boulder that is bearing down upon us, Indiana Jones' style. I find the open content model persuasive because I simply cannot refute the argument. If anything, these past several years have shown us that information is to be freely shared; walled gardens do not work; and community engagement and group think are, whether you view them as good or bad, here to stay. In a matter of eerie timing, David Wiley just posted his presentation on Disaggregation and the Future of Higher Ed this morning on slideshare. His very first slide? "This is Your 11:20 Wake Up Call: Your institution will be irrelevant by 2010."

I know that our division must bear in mind the number of students we serve, and not to jump blindly down an untested path for fear of leaving people behind. I understand we have a duty to our students to provide a quality education for which they pay good money. That said, how long before the unthinkable is actually the reality? Things move very quickly and that boulder, my friend, is on our heels.

A definite conversation starter.

- rb smail

Comment on "Thinking the Unthinkable: What can we Learn in Higher Ed?"

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:48:31 -0500

Really great post today, Stevie!

One of my favorite anecdotes from Mavericks at Work writer, Bill Taylor was the executive who kept a document in his desk drawer called "Ten Reasons We're Going to Go Out of Business" to help him face the potential threats on the horizon and be a more agile.

We need to ask ourselves what higher education offers students today? What is the value-add? What does our institution add specifically?

Are we selling the content? Packaging our content as a product is problematic when so many other types of content are being shared. The price of content has deflated. Content is no longer king.

Are we selling the experience? Critics of higher education claim that we are no longer relevant to real-world experience. Why accrue debt for lecture-based classes when one can gain real-world experience through paid time in the workforce?

We need to rethink our content and our learning environments in light of what students can already access in our connected world. In another time, perhaps, the university was the gatekeeper for the content, the experience, and ultimately the destinies of its students. This is not the case.

If this is not the case, can the university teach the students how to aggregate, evaluate, produce, remix, or analyze the content and experiences that already exist?

- Nikki Massaro Kauffman

Comment on "Organizations, Garlic, and Telling the Tale"

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:18:25 -0500

Excellent post. I'm sorry I missed the days of "The Garlic". It seems I was always missing out on the fun! I have two thoughts.

One, exploring your organization means you need to feel comfortable baring your soul and opening yourself up to constructive criticism, both as an individual and as an entire group. The Garlic and their blog are great example of how they have tried to invite honest conversation in a nonthreatening way.

Two, I would argue that we don't always have to hide our dirty laundry from our neighbors behind a protected space, depending upon how we choose to air it and the ground rules we establish. A little healthy dialog across departments and institutions may reveal that we have the same dysfunctions, and that we may be able to share some potential solutions (form a support network of sorts).

I've linked to some posts Bob Sutton has done on organizations admitting mistakes and Penelope Trunk's personal self-examination in my post here: http://www.personal.psu.edu/lnm105/blogs/cleartext/2008/05/collaborative-intelligence-or.html

- Nikki Massaro Kauffman

Comment on "Organizations, Garlic, and Telling the Tale"

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:34:24 -0500

Most excellent! I too would have love to have heard this session.

Though I'm curious, and you alluded to this in your closing paragraph, whether or not something like The Garlic had an reforming influence on the very issues that inspired it?

I love the questions you are asking Stevie - they couldnt be more relevant to the here and now. I've been trying to wrap my head around some very similar concepts of late. If indeed next weeks session will discuss some of the solutions, you can expect the international Stub of mystery to find his way into the crowd ;-)

- CHRIS STUBBS

Comment on "Organizations, Garlic, and Telling the Tale"

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:59:49 -0500

Oh--and the legal comment was sort of tongue-in-cheeck, given the whole "dominant narrative/shadow narrative" thing. But you're right. It doesn't work. I removed it. :)

- Stevie Rocco

Comment on "Organizations, Garlic, and Telling the Tale"

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:53:23 -0500

I think, Allan, that the Open Minds sessions are Outreach-only. But I'm not totally sure, so I will certainly inquire. I think it'd be awesome to have everyone interested come, even if there's a nominal fee for everyone that way.

- Stevie Rocco

Comment on "Organizations, Garlic, and Telling the Tale"

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:50:01 -0500

Hey Stevie. Brilliant and insightful post. It's a good perspective on office culture. "The Garlic" was hilarious and I'm glad that the higher-ups took it in the spirit that it was intended. On the other hand, it was born out of a stressful situation (more for you designers than us techies).

Another thought: I'm interested in your inclusion of the "legal notice" at the top.

I actually think that I would have enjoyed this session. Are the "Open Minds" sessions open? Or are they limited to Outreach? Is it something that would be of benefit to others?

- ALLAN SHAWN GYORKE

Comment on "The Culture of Teaching and Learning"

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:44:24 -0500

I have always liked Dr. Wesch's YouTube clips using his students (and studies) at KSU; these videos are quite thought provoking. The visual delivery seems to heighten the impact of his message.

This one is really pushing the idea of how the incoming students learn—and are we helping or hindering them? Definitely food for thought.

- rb smail

Comment on "The Culture of Teaching and Learning"

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:50:43 -0500

Hi Stevie,

I saw a guest post on Penelope Trunk's blog that puts me in mind of this video.

It's from an A-student Millennial blogger who observes that has decided the "real" value of an education is no longer about GPA, content, or rote memorization, but about social connections and experience.

Food for thought.

- Nikki Massaro Kauffman

Comment on "Tweet Meet "

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:45:34 -0500

I was just wondering how many tweet meet tags we could find online. So far there's Micala, Reginald, mine... I have a feeling that the Tweet Meet is here to stay, in various reoccurring formats. Anyway, very nice post; I keep seeing this theme over and over again around twitter and community.

- rb smail

Comment on "Tweet Meet "

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:22:37 -0500

Nice post Stevie. I continue to be amazed by the power this application has for me in my own backyard.

- Jeff Swain

Comment on ""Punch Meeting""

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:13:17 -0500

I've always been a fan of these. I always tell people that weekly meetings will get shorter as the project goes on (maybe 15 min or even zero if it's really smooth).

Pre-scheduled "punch" meetings are also much better than unscheduled emergency "pop-up" meetings. I think these are the most dreaded ones of all.

- ELIZABETH J PYATT

Comment on ""Punch Meeting""

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:04:14 -0500

Sounds like a take off on a "punch list" to me....THAT I've heard of. ;-)

- Cathy Holsing

Comment on ""Punch Meeting""

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:56:20 -0500

While we were at PSU, Mike, Dave, and I always thought that as English teachers we had a divine right to coin phrases and create new words at whim. I dont think you were at Zeno's when we arrived at the realization, but I thought it was more than appropriate to fill you in now.

- Jim Heiney