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It’s amazing! As a polar vortex takes over 75% of the United States, we have been preparing for extreme cold temperatures, down below zero degree when taking into account the windchill. Schools everywhere have been closing for sickness the previous week and are now closing for extreme cold.
How bad is it? Colleges across the country, including the ones I work for, are closing to ensure students remain safe during these tumultuous times.Of course, not everyone believes we should be closed. In fact, the Governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevins believes that we are going “soft” in these school closures. Not everyone agrees with the governor, in fact, many do not. Al Roker was one of these people and he went as far as to call Gov. Bevins a “nitwit”. I’m not one for calling names and in some isntances understand both sides. Growing up, we didn’t cancel school often and temperatures and snow was often worse than now. I walked to school, stood at bus stops, etc. and have lived to tell the tale. Was it right or wrong all of those years ago? I don’t know. The old saying, “I don’t have a dog in that fight” suits me well right now. I don’t have kids, wouldn’t have been at school anyway because of sickness, nor really care one way or the other… However, name calling is a bit childish either way.
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Whenever you are in the education field the question continually comes up as to whether or not you are going to finish your doctorate. It’s a valid question, it really is. I mean, in any field you should want to get to the top of you field and in education, that’s a doctorate. It’s just not as easy as it may seem though. First, finding a program that is in your field. Second, finding that program geographically close is generally a good thing. Lastly, trying to find any
program that is affordable at the same time with enough rigar to ensure the degree is worth obtaining can be almost impossible. Now take all of those issues and combine them and you’ll know what I’ve went through.I originally started a program at a popular state college that was not really what I wanted but it was A. geographically close and B. economical (free for me). What I found out was that even though A + B was there, it wasn’t the program I wanted and thus it became more tedious than it was really worth for me. In years past, doctorates in IT of any kind were few and far between. Now they are becoming a lot more common, but at the same time they are not necessarily affordable even if they are online with some rigor and in my program.
In other words, for me, my doctorate represents a three-headed monster that seems impossible to find. At some point, it won’t be feasible as I won’t have the willpower to complete it.
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As part of my regular duties, I have various students that come in to the college with previous military experience and/or industry certifications that want to convert these experiences as college credit. Most of the time, we have a set guide for what counts as what, but some of the time it must be evaluated and recommendations given. I’ve been that person in my department that does the initial evaluation and then pass it along to my department chair who agrees most of the time with me. We then forward it to the registrar who will either sign off on and post the credit or seek more information. In a lot of these situations, the American Council on Education (ACE) has already given their guidance on military transcripts, certifications, etc. which just needs verified.
It was through these transcripts that I was interested in how these credits were originally given recommendations by ACE. The more I looked at it, the more I liked what I saw. A general overview of how it works is as follows: An organization will contact ACE seeking a review of curriculum for credit. Depending on the situation, ACE will either fly a team to review or conduct a virtual review. A review team will spend three days looking at materials with first and second reviewers determining the what, how much and what type of credit is to be given, if any. The findings are then given back to the organization which can then decide what changes to implement if necessary and what to do with their recommendations.
I immediately saw that this was something I would enjoy doing and when I saw how to become part of these teams, applied and was accepted as a subject matter expert in several areas of Information Technology. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a couple of these reviews so far and can say I am impressed with the process we go through to complete the job.
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One of the great things of being in the education field is that once you get your Master’s degree, the other industry certifications aren’t really necessary to continue moving forward in your career. It’s easier many times to either add another degree or certificate, take more classes or even just attend conferences to gain the skills you need or want. The problem with this many times is that we don’t have an idea what the exams look like exactly as we aren’t necessarily taking them.
Enter the CompTIA Academic Program. Once your school joins the academy (at no cost!), once your students take a certain number of exams, you will gain access to free exams for your professors. The goal is to have more professors have access to the exams so you not only know what you should be teaching for, but also how better to prepare your students. What’s even better, your students get a heavily discounted exam rate. You can get the current rates for students at your school here: Academic Store
So, in the name of helping my students, I have signed up to take my first certification is more than 15 years later this month…. here’s to seeing what to expect!
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I commute three and a half hours back and forth to work during the Fall and Spring semesters. People think I am crazy, sometimes I believe them. I had a student ask me during the first day of class why do I do that? Wouldn’t it be easier working from where you live or doing something different? My quick answer… and one that I truly believe, is that I truly love doing what I do. I enjoy teaching. I was once told that if you do what you enjoy doing, you’ll never work a day in your life. I hold this to be true. HOWEVER, this commute makes sure that I know I am working.
You see, the older I get, the more I feel this drive. Seven hours in a car for a day is a lot. The day after my drive, I feel it in my hips, my legs, my arms, my eyes and everywhere else for that matter. I call the next day a recovery day because it doesn’t’ truly feel like I get anything done until some time after noon at the very earliest, and even then it still hurts. Yet, I still can’t see myself doing anything different.
It’s true that I could do something different, go back “into industry” and work with computers in some other way. If I were to get a job closer to home, I’d still end up driving quite a bit, just instead of all in two days, it would take five days for the same 14-15 hours of drive time. Unfortunately, my heart just isn’t in it. I still do work on the side, I keep my skill set current; but going back to punching a 9-5 time clock…. I don’t think I could do it. I don’t get the satisfaction of seeing the next generation smile when they finally get it. I don’t have people telling me that they’re Team Professor Brown. These moments help remind me why I do what I do.
So, tomorrow, or actually in a few hours, I get to hit the long road with Audible playing “Storm World” by B. V. Larson. I’ll make some phone calls, make my stops and have office hours when I finally get to where I’m going.
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I always love the first day of classes! It’s a time where everyone is on a level playing field, everyone is prepared and ready to begin the semester, high hopes are everywhere and I get to see previous students! What more could someone ask for? Today, was everything I wanted it to be. I’m teaching ten classes this semester, of which, three are in person. The first two are security classes and the last was a Linux II course, each of them a favorite to teach.
With new students, it is always interesting as you don’t know them, and they don’t know you. I give a spiel of who I am and why I do what I do, they often question my motives of teaching… I love it is why I do it, but they can’t understand how a person could drive as far as I do or give up as much money as I did before. For me, it simply comes down to doing something I love.
Interesting fact I learned today… a certain student was stating how hard a class was and that he was not allowed to finish a project last semester, I wasn’t fair, blah, blah, blah… (For the record, the class new of the final project for four weeks, they were reminded that when the deadline passed the link would
disappear, the student didn’t believe I would do it…. I did.) The group of students in class telling me of this event, all said, “Yeah, he didn’t know that we were Team Professor Brown! We love him and know you are lying because we got the same messages you did!”It made my heart happy to hear I have a Team!
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Well, the new semester is about to begin and I officially went back to work today in person. It’s been a week already from home with different questions, etc being answered, even during the break for that matter, but not yet to the college in person. For me, that’s a commute – a long one for that matter. I know, most people think, going back to work means in the classroom, working with students, shaping the future! Unfortunately, no it does not. Nope, not even close. Instead, I helped close out Day 3 of our bullpen advising session… for seven hours (originally scheduled for six!)
The thing that most people don’t understand about teaching is that there is more to the job besides just teaching. One could always assume there’s prep time, teaching time, office time, etc. but it’s the other things that aren’t often thought about when someone asks what all we do. For instance, the advising session today wasn’t just for CIT students, it was for everyone. I helped advise primarily students as it’s my forte’, but I also helped transfer students, Associate of Arts degree students, Associate of Science degree students and even those just wanting to make changes to their schedule. Without getting these students registered, spending time with them, asking questions, we wouldn’t have students to teach. I believe we registered 1200 students over these three days.
I love what I do. I love being able to help students, but some days, a three and a half hour drive there and back feels longer than other days… today was one of those days!
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What could have been a bloody nightmare has finally completed and in record time. At this point, I have spoken with my program liaison, who also happen to be the Online Coordinator for the Business Programs (this was new to me, it just happened!) and was able to discuss everything in the email sent. I sent it to her first, before forwarding to the Dean, to ensure that it was written appropriately and substantiated the grade given. In short, after about an hour, it was discussed and she agreed it was good. She would forward this to the Dean and we began our wait.
Today, only a day later, the Dean sent his letter… he agreed with the Online Coordinator and myself that the grade given was indeed earned. Now, if you are not in education, you may think this is normal. Believe me it is not. It could have gone several ways, and in many cases, could have dragged on further. In today’s budget-poor climate, many administrators might side with the student for fear of that student leaving, taking with them their tuition dollars. I could have been “asked” to change the grade, give more time to accept another attempt, re-grade the papers, and who knows what else.
Now that it is over, I need to inform the student (who never informed me!) of the Dean’s decision of denying the appeal. I’m interested to see what the student may say, but that’s for another day. For now, I’ll be happy that it is mostly over.
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Time is almost up from our Winter Break… and as always, it was too short. Anticipation of things that were to get done, oh such wonderful thoughts come to mind from back at the end of November… Hopes of those fun things that would be done together, a short trip here or there, a visit to family or friends; perhaps, even a party at the house with friends. Alas, like many other breaks that come and go, very little was done to really set this break apart from the rest.
As a teacher, our time is usually divided from one semester to another, one break from another, one week to the next or even a module of work to another module. In short, our time is segmented and as such, so goes our lives — living from Segment A to Segment B. How should we be living? How is it that we are always looking ahead for Segment B without wishing away Segment A? How do we get to where we live “in the moment” instead? It’s these questions and more that I hope to get answers during this writing project.
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Well, the initial email sent has now been replied to. Amazingly, it only took an hour and a half to two hours of my life, mind you, time I am not paid for. Additionally, the Appeal process should have been completed six weeks after the end of the semester which means it should have been completed before the end of November. In other words, this should not even be “a thing” right now as the deadline for grade appeal has passed per rules and procedures. Ever wonder what the process is? Here is a basic timeline of the process:
- Within two weeks of the end of the course, the student should provide a grade appeal in writing to the faculty member who assigned the grade and attempt to resolve the issue.
- If no resolution of the grade dispute is achieved after Step 1; the student should discuss the matter with the department chairperson. In this case, the function of the chairperson will be to attempt to determine the relevant facts and mediate the disagreement.
- If no resolution is achieved at Step 2; the student or the faculty member may refer the whole matter to the Dean of the School, whose function it will be to mediate the disagreement. The Dean will confer privately with the faculty member and with the student, and may call additional witnesses if this is deemed important. Following this process, the Dean will communicate a decision to the faculty member, who will communicate that decision to the student. This step is the final step in the appeal process.
- It is expected that a final decision will generally be made within the first six weeks of the following semester or the first three weeks of the following session. The instructor and the student should resolve grading conflicts regarding individual assignments during a semester.
So far, I have now sent my initial reply to my program liaison, so that it can be reviewed, revised and then sent on to the next layer of Administration. Long story short, the work was not completed correctly when done and some not done at all. It’s a shame really. Want to add more to it? The student through in a side comment in which I was also accused of not liking military students. I am former military, so that line was slightly humorous, but probably more “how dare you” than anything else in my mind.
There was a time when students received a grade they earned and earned the grade they received. Hopefully this will play out as I hope and there won’t be any consequences for dealing with this. Afterall, an adjunct is never guaranteed a future contract.
