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Well, it was bound to happen. After working in education for more than twelve years I finally had my first student formally ask for a grade appeal from administration. Granted, it’s not my full-time gig, but instead one of the places where I adjunct at. I’m anxious to see how administration will handle the situation considering the deadline to submit an appeal has already passed to begin with. Anyhow, a quick run down of the situation….
This class has a lot of writing involved and students are expected to use APA format. In fact, students should already know how to use it and have passed classes in the past writing papers at this college. Most of the students in this class are getting ready to graduate as it is a JR-SR level class so I would expect decent work. This past semester, that expectation was not met. In fact, it was so bad, I had to seek assistance from my program contact, the librarian and the student services (read as tutoring service) to assist in the various issues going on as in many cases it would be considered an academic integrity issue.
Examples of this include:
- Improperly formatted citation(s) within a document
- Improper in-text citation
- Partial paraphrase, makes an attempt but lacks understanding
Now, after the initial issues, if it happened again, it moves from a minor infraction to a standard infraction which comes with an automatic failure for the course. So, how do you think I handled it to begin with? Nicely, I would think. Instead of reporting, I chose to allow students to work with tutoring, librarians, etc. They were then informed if they did it again, they would receive zeroes on their papers. Any guesses what happened? Yep, you’ve got it right. Same issues repeated, paper received a zero, student complains.
So, here we go on the roller coaster. So far, the division chair has sent an email with an initial look at the situation. However, the details were not looked at. (I always leave comments as to why zeroes are given, these weren’t seen nor referenced…) Tomorrow will be a phone call with my program coordinator so we shall see. My hope is that administration will back up even the lowly adjunct as the student did not earn a different grade.
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[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t’s almost that time again where school begins and the endless questions start about class. “Where is this?” or “What is the grading scale?” or my favorite, “Is there a final in this class?”. I typically want to answer each student quickly and precisely with, “READ THE SYLLABUS! It’s in there, I promise!”
I’ve been teaching for awhile now and have really gotten used to teaching a class. I know what a student needs to know and what they need to succeed in class. It’s all in the syllabus. It has to be, that’s how classes work. It’s a contract between the professor and the student. Without a contract, the class is essentially not valid. Therefore, if you have a question, chances are… “It’s in the syllabus!”
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What a semester it has been! I am so thankful that we have reached the end of it for many reasons. I have enjoyed the students I have had this semester and will see a few of them again next (some for next level courses, others as repeats). As a student, it has been difficult to accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish in a timely manner. This has caused me more anguis that anything and more than likely helped me to decide that I am simply not ready for the Ed.D program. Instead, I will continue to take classes here and there and possibly add another Master’s and a few certificates along the way.
Why the sudden change? Well, I have decided that it would be best to put my efforts into helping move our IT Department forward in what we are offering as far as classes and certificates to give our students a better range of courses that are currently available. In the process, I must further educate myself and continue to search out grants to help pay for the new curriculum.
Beginning this fall, we will be offering an Introduction to Geographical Information Systems. This course, which has a pending grant, will introduce students to a variety of materials including GPS. I am using the GPS modules to introduce more Service Learning initiatives for the college and is partly behind the grant I am seeking. We will be using a Garmin eTrex Venture HC to map the various trails, facilities and several other places of interest around Grayson Lake. There will be more to following on this later.So for everyone that is still reading this, good luck for a wonderful end of semester and FABULOUS summer! I’ll be posting here from time to time and keeping everyone informed of what is going on in my neck of the woods. Who would have thought that this is something I would actually want to keep up with?
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What can I say? I have succumbed to the masses and over the last few weeks have been adding gadgets to my collection… For example, I have been looking for quite some time for some type of MP3 device so that I can listen to music, books or anything else that may cross my mind. A great debate has occurred over the past several months over what to get, a zune because of price and capacity, an iPod Nano for its price, an iPod Touch for its applications and WIFI capability or an iPhone itself which would combine everything together — but ultimately give me a monthly fee.
After 3 months of researching, reading reviews and asking opinions I finally made a decision and price points at which I would buy each of the above. I found knock-offs and cheaper models, but quickly ruled them out. Sometimes quality counts and with this gadget, it definitely does. After searching high and low, I finally found an iPod Touch (1st generation) below my price point and struck quickly.
A side effect of the iPod touch is that I am wanting to learn more about programming an iPhone. Needless to say, installing Snow Leopard on a PC is not the easiest task to accomplish. This too will be a separate post. A spoiler could be for those who care to look for “Hackintosh”.
Next I have been working on a grant application to implement Service Learning within the class room while also implementing Web 2.0. It was almost as if the grant has been written for me due to the classes and timing of this grant. It has also taken up so much of my time. Needless to say, this has proven to be a difficult project, but I feel it could also revitalize not just our Information Technology department, but others due to the cross curricular nature of the technology I want to use. A short synopsis of the project is that I will have students creating Blogs, WIKIs, Facebook groups and surveys in order to supplement the use of Handheld GPS Units in a Service Learning environment. This project has led me to purchase one of the handhelds so that I could get used to the product before the class this Fall. The handheld unit we will be using is a Garmin eTrex HC.
Finally, at the present moment, I am using an ASUS EEE PC Netbook. I did not actually purchase this myself, but instead borrowed it from the department. It may be used for the “Hackintosh” project and if the grant is not funded, my GIS class. All in all, it is not a bad contraption for those wanting the ultimate in mobility. I am able to complete posts that have neeeded to already have been done and check various internet sites. A quick opinion on this particular model is that the keys are small and somewhat causing my hands to cramp up. Yet another post on its way for this.
I’ll add more later on separate posts, as each of these topics deserve, but wanted to leave a post for those who are thinking about the same technologies as I am. Don’t think twice — they are all worth it!!
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In one of my classes, I was asked to talk about what our thoughts are about where we stand educationally regarding technology and whether or not we are really preparing students for dealing with the technological society of tomorrow. In a way, this will be very subjective depending on where an individual is, whether or not they are an educator and even whether or not they themselves are technologically competent. So, for me, this will be an interesting question.
Educationally speaking, I think we are still behind more countries around the world than we are in front of — which is extremely sad in my opinion. I believe we have been the leaders for so long that it has come to the point we no longer remember what it took to get there. I recently watched a video (2 Million Minutes) and it described what students do in other countries to receive their education. We take it for granted that we allow EVERY student to receive an education.I think it is because of these our students do not really “work” for it anymore. Instead, they show up because they have to, not really striving or doing the most of what they can accomplish.
In some countries, students have to dodge bullets just to go to school. Others, must complete various testing and score high enough to keep in school. Our students are entitled to an education. We are becoming an entitlement society more and more. This, for me, is one of my greatest fears. If we relax too much, what will become of this great country of ours?
Are we preparing our students to enter into this technological society? I can speak for others, but I can speak for myself. I am trying my best! I set high standards for my students and try to expose them to more and more technology. Unfortunately, but the time they get to me, they have already been failed. I am teaching them skills that should have been taught many years before I have them in class.
Where, or possibly better asked, how does this happen in a country as blessed as we are? I think it begins with how we operate as a society. We are who we are and that should be enough. Unfortunately, it is not anymore. Projections have shown that in order for us to keep up with the rest of the world we are going to need to graduate more and more people within Sciences, Math and Engineering segments.
Our educators need to be retrained so that it begins as soon as a student enters school. Our parents need to be trained so that mediocre school work is not acceptable. We need to start from ground zero to implement these changes and quickly before another generation is lost to the entitlement era.
I am adding a linkto a portion of the documentary “2 Million Minutes”. I would highly recommend everyone look at this, it is scary to see where we stand.
YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niU1E3SSTAM
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As a relatively new college professor, I have had a lot of firsts this year. Last semester I had a student email when he was contemplating suicide and a little later in the year I was nominated for an exceptional teaching recognition. This semester, I have had several students enter my classes that are registered with disabled student services. While this is not unusual (I had some last semester also), it has been a bit different. I do not want to go into details to protect the innocent, but I have found that college professors need more training on how to deal with the various disabilities — some of which, as they are in my case, can be extreme in nature.
Now, I don’t want this to come across as complaining, because in no way am I, but it does go to show that as an educator, sometimes we are to be stretched to our limits and in certain times, beyond these limits. This has happened this semester as well, but not for any of the aforementioned reasons. Last semester I had the great fortune of teaching many wonderful students (somewhere around 180) and enjoyed it greatly. I enjoyed it so much, that I wanted to teach an advanced class and have several of the students return. I do not know that this is normal, but for me, it was wonderful as I was able to teach several of my “favorite” students. I was able to handpick students due to the timing of when the class was added, again not normal.
Let’s fast forward to this semester. I have had a great time with the students in the class, and in several instances seeing them blossom into great learners. It has been a great class. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, one of my students was killed in a terrible accident. She was nineteen and full of life — finally choosing a career, making some important decisions and just an all-around AWESOME young lady. Her birthday was this past Monday. Needless to say, this class was a close-knit group and has taken this extremely hard. I have taken it hard. We each have tried to deal with it, and at times, it just hasn’t seemed possible.
So, now we get to the relevance of how this might somehow deal with technology. A group on facebook was created by a friend in the student’s memory, email has been used to spread the news after the accident, the local news had a comment section enabled directly after the accident and many students were notified by text. This did make my job so much easier in that I did not have to be the first one to notify the students in my class.
In addition to everything that has went on, my class has decided to unite and do something to help the family. You see, the family does not have the money to pay for the funeral or marker for the grave. At the present time the details have not been completed, but it will be a fundraiser of some kind.
There is not a lot more I can say about this subject, but I do think I have learned so much from this experience. I would not wish this experience on anyone, but I can say I am a better educator and person for having known Britt.
Britt, you are gone, but not forgotten.
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In another class, I have been reviewing materials that deal with multimedia and its purpose in education. The article, “Multimedia in Education – Introduction, The Elements of, Educational Requirements, Classroom Architecture and Resources, Concerns ” which is also linked as an enclosure, tells us that multimedia “combines five basic types of media into the learning environment: text, video, sound, graphics and animation, thus providing a powerful new tool for education.”
I like the sound of that — “a powerful new tool for education,” but truly how new is it? Educators have been trying each of these mediums for a long time now, its only that the mediums and the educator’s access to the mediums has changed. I remember when I was in elementary school, we had projectors with film strips and sound. There were our letters forming a border around the room. Our teachers had bulletin boards with relevant information about what we were studying pinned up. Maps pulled down in front of chalkboards which were erased daily (and if you were lucky, you got to clean the erasers!!)
Instead of using the media from that time, we have now moved into movies provided online. We having testing available that will show us what perhaps we had to imagine at one time — was it really so bad having to imagine? At any time, we can speak to anyone anywhere in the world. Computers are now provided at some schools, chalkboards have been replaced by smart boards and bulletin boards replaced by LCD televisions.
The fact that educators have the access to these new mediums is remarkable to many people, but how are they being implemented in the classroom is the real question that needs answered. Are educators moving forward with this, or are they standing on the sidelines waiting to others implement the mediums into classrooms? Are educators being trained on how to use the hardware and software? Are educators wanting to be trained? I think these questions and more can be answered by the following quote in the article: “But the adage, ‘Putting computers into schools will directly improve learning,’ is negated by the reality that, ‘all this expensive technology will yield little educational return until schools and districts address the need for professional development, technical support, the availability of appropriate software, classroom management, and curriculum integration.'”
It’s one thing to have all of the equipment, technology and everything else that goes along with it but it is quite another to actually effectively use the technology. As educators, we need to changed from the ground up how this is utilized in the classroom. We need to step up to the plate and educate ourselves so that we can educate our students.
Our students are not tech savvy just because our students can get on the internet, check their email (if any actually are using email anymore), check out their Twitter page and Facebook page. These are very elementary technical skills to have when it comes right down to the root of things. The students still do not have the skills to reason out how to do things — they just can do it. Thus, truly they are not learning a new skill instead they have been learning to mimic what they have done before.
Our students need to be able to reason things out and understand how come things work the way that they do. Using the internet is a prime example listed in the aforementioned article. Anyone can put anything on the internet at this time. How will our students know what is right or wrong? A prime example is Wikipedia — how can a student tell if it is fact or fiction? Many students believe that if they see it on the internet, then it must be so. As educators, we know this is simply not true.
I have heard other educators say that with age, they will begin to realize the fallacy in their thinking, but I ask, “What if they don’t?” We need to realize that more needs to be taught at an earlier age so that these new technologies are implemented in a way to further develop and hone the necessary skills to lead our students, and thus our society, further into the future. So, as an educator, I will continue to learn more about technology, I will continue to add more into my classes and I will strive to do my part. How about you? Are you ready to jump into the water with me? I won’t lie, it is mighty cold in here — but the rewards are worth it!
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As I sit here to write in my first blog posting, I question whether people are actually reading my thoughts as I put them to “cyber-paper”. It brings to my mind when I was younger, writing for a newspaper — knowing that when I put pen to paper it would eventually be read. Now, with the Internet anyone and everyone can have their own personal space to write their thoughts, hopes and dreams. This can be a good thing.
People that once did not have a voice, now have a voice. People who cannot clearly communicate by speech, can now communicate. In my mind, which is most important in my eyes, people have an opportunity where there may not be any opportunities. This is what I find to be the most valuable part of this experience.
Some that know me, know this is not what I would be doing. I do not share my thoughts for the whole world to see; although I do freely give them to any and all that may listen (even some that won’t listen). I jokingly says, I don’t want “those people” to be part of my inner-circle. Perhaps even these people cannot be part of it either. I am particular in what people get to know, get to here or even get to see. So why the sudden shift?
I guess it can be summed up by saying I was finally pushed into doing this. Returning to school again has given my the opportunity to do things that I might not have done if on my own. Take this Blog for instance — I have had the website A Teacher’s Perspective for awhile. I had planned on using it to develop my thesis for my Master’s degree. I intended on using it for a Blog as well to keep track of what was happening in my work towards completing my thesis. This never occurred. Instead, I had a website that did not fulfill its purpose.
I once again have the domain name, and I might one day allow the website to fulfill its purpose. I speak to students about everything having a purpose, I speak to my wife about our lives having purpose and I even speak to my Youth Group about their lives having purpose; so, why shouldn’t I allow this to fulfill its purpose? Only time will tell.
If anyone is indeed reading this, “Congratulations!” You have become part of an inner circle. You have moved away from “those people” and become part of us. You are part of an elite group that few even realize they are part of.
