Michigan

New visions/strategies/items re: higher education

On 02/19/2016, in 21st century, change, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, funding / grants, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, Michigan, new business models, policy, reinvent, staying relevant, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

Some items from Bryan Alexander:

[Mini Feature] Doing more with less: Scaling higher ed — from evoLLLution.com

Excerpt:

Today’s students expect their entire experience with an institution to mirror what they see from major online retailers and service providers; personalized, supportive and flexible. However, institutions are having to deliver on these heightened expectations with smaller budgets and less capacity to increase prices than ever before.

Scaling is absolutely critical for higher education institutions in today’s marketplace. Through scaling, institutions can “do more with less”—they can meet the sky-high expectations of today’s discerning students while keeping their costs and prices low.

This Feature highlights some of the approaches today’s institutions are taking to achieving scale.

A new vision for paying for higher education — from usnews.com by Lauren Camera
How do you build the federal student loan system from the ground up?

Excerpt:

As it stands now, the current system for financing higher education is particularly unfair for poor students, many of whom are forced to borrow more money than their wealthier peers, graduate at a much lower rate and go into default at a much higher rate.

To be sure, the average six-year graduation rate for students seeking a bachelor’s degree is 59.4 percent, but a recent survey of more than 1,000 public and private four-year colleges found that only 51 percent of Pell recipients graduate. And at community colleges, only 23 percent of first-time, full-time students ever receive a degree.

Is it time for colleges to withdraw from their outdated schedules? — from pri.org by Caroline Lester

Excerpt:

We asked a few college grads what they’d like to change about the current system. Their answers spanned from increasing accessibility, to eliminating lectures, to creating greater support services for students at risk of dropping out.

That last point is key: the vast majority of students who start college don’t graduate.

Community college, state schools, and private universities — six-year completion rates are falling. To Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, this means something is wrong.

Crow believes that the best way to address America’s higher education woes is to lower the cost of a college education while personalizing teaching. He proposes three big changes…

Credentialing, free tuition top this week’s news — from ecampusnews.com by Laura Devaney

Some items from Jeff Selingo:

A brief excerpt from newsletter from one of Michigan’s Senators, Debbie Stabenow:

62 percent of students in Michigan graduate #InTheRed with student loan debt. A student who graduated from a 4-year Michigan college or university in 2014 owes on average almost $30,000 in loans, making Michigan 9th in the country on average student loan debt. Student loan debt in the United States is over $1.3 trillion and is the 2nd highest form of consumer debt.

…and back from March 2015:

Example slides from one of the presentations at the Flipped Classroom Conference 2016
[Held at Harvey Mudd College in January; with special thanks to Mr. Jeremy VanAntwerp,
Professor of Engineering at Calvin College for this resource]

Three reasons for switching to flipped learning — from rtalbert.org by Robert Talbert, Mathematics Professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan [USA]

Excerpt:

The argument from pedagogy: We use flipped learning because it puts the best-known/best-available practices for teaching and learning in the spotlight, including active learning of all kinds, student-centered instruction, constructivist techniques, differentiated instruction, spaced repetition, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development idea, self-regulated learning, and the like. Whereas these things can be featured in a traditional classroom but it feels unnatural, like the wrong tool for the job.
The argument from logistics…
The argument from relationships…

Peer instruction for active learning — by Harvard University Prof. Eric Mazur on difficulties of beginners, teaching each other, and making sense of information

Also see Eric’s presentation out at Auburn University from back in September 2014:

Why are we so slow to change the way we teach? — from facultyfocus.com by Maryellen Weimer, PhD

Excerpt:

However, lecture isn’t the only example of where we’re slow to change. Many aspects of teaching—course design, approaches to testing, assignments, and grading—have also changed little. Granted, some faculty do change, a lot and regularly, but not the majority. The question is, “Why?” Here are some possibilities I’ve been considering.

Crafting questions that drive projects — from learninginhand.com by Tony Vincent

Excerpt:

Not only does project based learning motivate students because it is an authentic use of technology, it facilitates active learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Projects begin with a driving question—an open-ended question that sets the stage for the project by creating interest and curiosity. Writing an effective driving question is surprisingly challenging. You want the question to be intriguing and irresistible to students, which makes it very different from the typical questions they encounter on tests.

A Driving Force
Like many educators, I call the “mission statement” of a project a driving question. It captures the heart of the project by providing purpose using clear and compelling language. With so many different flavors of project based learning (including problem based learning, challenge based learning, student centered learning, exploration, student driven inquiry, and authentic learning), it’s not surprising that we have a variety of other terms for a question or statement that is the project’s driving force. These terms include essential question, challenge, prime question, WILD HOG question, focus question, and smart question. I’ll stick with driving question, but do know that sometimes the driving question is not interrogative. It might be a statement, but I’ll still refer to is as a question.

Literacy help: Alan Peat story bags – How to develop story writing and literacy skills in younger children. — from hubpages.com

Excerpt:

There is no getting away from the fact that the more a child has been read to and the more they try to read themselves then the better their literacy skills are going to be. Parents have a massive influence on this. As a parent myself I considered reading to and teaching my daughter to read the one most important thing I could do to aid her life at school.

Sadly this is not always the case and too many students we teach read rarely at home or in rare cases don’t even own a book. Sad I know and to be honest I can’t imagine a house without books in it. I jokingly refer to my daughters collection ‘her library’ because she has so many which are updated as she reads through them.

But lets be fair, it is not only the students who struggle with reading that need help with story writing. A lot of students will benefit from this approach including your high flyers. I have taught this in year 3, although i would consider it to be more a KS1 activity, but in year 3 they do need certain aspects of a KS1 curriculum to help there development as it is a hard transitional year. Saying that I have seen other teachers use it in higher years than that and why not if it will benefit their writing.

…
On the front of each bag, so every child can read it easily should be the questions:

Who?
Where?
Where next?
Why?
What goes wrong?
Who helps?
Where last?
Feelings?

Simple tips to create a blended learning classroom — from blog.edmentum.com by Jasmine Auger

Excerpt:

We’ve compiled this list of five easy ways to start incorporating technology into your classroom and building a blended environment!

Blogging
Social Media
Virtual Presentations
Infographics
Video

Other somewhat related items:

Full STEAM ahead: Why arts are essential in a STEM education — from edutopia.org by Mary Beth Hertz

Excerpt:

The connection is also obvious for anyone who has ever worked in any traditional STEM career. Everyone from software engineers and aerospace technicians to biotechnical engineers, professional mathematicians, and laboratory scientists knows that building great things and solving real problems requires a measure of creativity. More and more, professional artists themselves are incorporating technological tools and scientific processes to their art.

Also see:
STEM to STEAM: Resources Toolkit — from edutopia.org | Originally Published: 5/21/14 | Updated: 1/20/16
Whether you are looking for resources on integrating science, technology, engineering, and math or on infusing the arts to transform STEM into STEAM, these curated compilations will help you plan different approaches to integrated studies.

…and a related item re: curriculum, but at the collegiate level:

What is the value of an education in the humanities? — from npr.org by Adam Frank

Excerpt:

In spite of being a scientist, I strongly believe an education that fails to place a heavy emphasis on the humanities is a missed opportunity. Without a base in humanities, both the students — and the democratic society these students must enter as informed citizens — are denied a full view of the heritage and critical habits of mind that make civilization worth the effort.
…

So, these are my traditional answers to the traditional questions about the value of humanities and arts education vs. science and engineering. From my standpoint as a scholar, I’ll stand by them and defend what they represent to the last breath.

But the world has changed and, I believe, these answers are no longer enough.

It’s not just the high cost of college that alters the equation. It’s also vast changes that have swept through society with the advent of a world run on information (i.e., on data). So, with that mind, here is my updated — beyond the traditional — response to the value of the humanities in education: The key is balance.

It is no longer enough for students to focus on either science/engineering or the humanities/arts.

Thank you LORD!

On 11/25/2015, in Daniel S. Christian, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, Michigan, relationships, by Daniel Christian

Thank-you-LORD---thanksgiving-time

Michigan Radio’s Issues & Ale: College Affordability & Access [michiganradio.org]

On 11/02/2015, in colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, funding / grants, higher education, Michigan, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Michigan Radio’s Issues & Ale: College Affordability & Access

Excerpt:

College affordability is a big issue, from the living rooms of anxious students and parents, to the presidential campaign trail . Over the past ten years, tuition costs have increased more than five times faster than the Consumer Price Index and the average class of 2015 graduate with student-loan debt will have to pay back more than $35,000. Michigan’s students leave college with some of the highest debt levels in the nation .

A recording of the October 27, 2015 event is available here.

Average debt for graduates in Michigan: Just over $35,000

Notes:

Michigan is below national average in # of adults that have a college degree. Need 300,000 more people to graduate with a college degree just to get up to the national average. (Doing so would add $7 billion to Michigan’s economy BTW.)
[Adjusted for inflation] Cost has doubled in 1 generation.
[Adjusted for inflation] Since 1975, cost at a public university is up 138%; at private 157%; but wages have only gone up 1.6% (flat lined basically)
Can’t work your way through college like your parents or grandparents might have done
Rising tuition
Rising textbook costs
Room and board
Need to have a talk about financial literacy; help a student know more about financial aid and what will need to be paid back and when
Scholarships, grants, funding
Transfer rates are sizable from community colleges
Community colleges are often a very good choice for students who are raising children and/or for students who are returning to college later on; can make a very good living on some of the jobs that you can get coming out of a community college
Students often don’t know how to advocate for themselves; don’t know how to navigate a campus and the services/resources therein; also don’t take advantage of office hours
Michigan State is pushing the idea of “neighborhoods” — like communities in the dorms; easier and less fearful to access services/tutoring/assistance
Other choices? Unions/trades such as plumbers; joining the military
Ingredients of costs; decreased spending at state level has had a significant impact on rising costs for students
…and more.

The world’s largest art competition starts next week in Grand Rapids, MI (USA)

On 09/17/2015, in art, creativity, drama/theater, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, K-12 related, Michigan, society, STEAM-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

ArtPrize is a radically open international art competition decided by public vote and expert jury that takes place each fall in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA). For 19 days, art entries from all over the world cover three square miles of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan—and it’s all free and open to the public.

Also see ArtPrize’s 2014 Annual Report:

Reflections on “Free college? It doesn’t fix everything” [Op-Ed features the Kalamazoo Promise]

On 07/23/2015, in cost of getting a degree, funding / grants, higher education, Michigan, society, sociology, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Op-Ed: Free college? It doesn’t fix everything — from latimes.com by Richard Reeves

Excerpt:

Here is one solution to the rising cost of college: Make it free. That’s what a group of anonymous donors in Kalamazoo, Mich., accomplished a decade ago for local students. Almost every high school graduate in the town is eligible for a scholarship covering from two-thirds up to the entire cost of in-state college tuition.

President Obama is just one of many who praised the so-called Kalamazoo Promise, flying to the city five years ago to speak at the Kalamazoo High School graduation. More than 35 cities, from Denver and Pittsburgh to Ventura and Long Beach, have since adopted their own versions of the Promise. These schemes vary. Some have minimum GPA requirements, or target only low-income students. But they share the goal of bringing college within financial reach for all.
…
Can the Promise programs help create a more level playing field? The Kalamazoo program is now mature enough to provide some useful data. As always, there is good news and bad news.

First the good: High school graduation rates have shot up, and almost 90% of Kalamazoo high school seniors are enrolling in college, compared to around 70% for the state. Most encouraging of all, low-income and black high school graduates are almost as likely to enroll in college as their affluent and white peers. In fact, the black/white gap in college enrollment rates has completely disappeared in Kalamazoo, according to research from Timothy Ready at Western Michigan University.

Now for the bad news: Gaps by race and income reemerge when it comes to actually gaining a post-secondary qualification. The Promise has lifted college completion rates, but quite modestly, and far from equally.

From DSC:
The generous donors behind the Kalamazoo Promise are all anonymous — a far cry from having a football stadium or a new business school named after oneself for legacy’s sake. These folks didn’t want their names out there; they helped anonymously. Very cool!

Tim Bartik, Senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, had some good points regarding this article out on Twitter and on his Investing In Kids blog. So I’m adding some related items here:

Good policies will usually not “fix everything” — from investinginkids.net by Tim Bartik

Excerpts:

One surprising reaction to the Kalamazoo Promise has been to try to downplay the Promise’s success by emphasizing that many problems remain in Kalamazoo despite the Promise. While this is true, it is irrelevant to whether the Kalamazoo Promise is a good policy. Policies can have benefits far greater than costs without fixing all problems.

Here is what the evidence actually shows on the effects of the Promise, based on the recent report I wrote with my colleagues Brad Hershbein and Marta Lachowska. Our report evaluated the Promise by seeking to compare how the Promise had changed educational attainment for similar students over time.

The Promise increases post-secondary credential attainment rates as of 6 years after high school graduation by one-third. The baseline rate was 36%, and the Promise’s effect was to increase the post-secondary credential attainment rate by 12%, an increase of one-third. Of this increase in post-secondary credential attainment, four-fifths was due to an increase in bachelor degrees.
…
What is true is that if one compares the present value of the expected future career earnings due to the Promise’s effects on credential attainment, with the present value of the costs of the Promise’s scholarship dollars, the ratio is over 4 to 1. I would call that a large benefit-cost ratio.
Read more here >

Kalamazoo Promise boosts college completion by one-third — from investinginkids.net by Tim Bartik

Also see:

Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program ‘significantly’ increases college grad rates, study finds — from bridgemi.com by Julie Mack

Excerpt:

Six takeaways from the Kalamazoo Promise study:

The Promise “significantly” increases college graduation rates.
The increases are evident among low-income and minority students as well as more advantaged students.
Promise-eligible students are 40 percent more likely to choose in-state public colleges compared with pre-Promise peers.
Compared to pre-Promise peers, Promise-eligible students are a third more likely to attend a four-year college.
The long-term payoff of The Promise is significant, and easily justifies the cost of the investment.
The results are especially impressive because Promise scholarships are not awarded on the basis of financial need or merit.

Psalm 112:5 (NIV)
Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
who conduct their affairs with justice.

From DSC:
Many times we don’t want to hear news that could be troubling in terms of our futures. But we need to deal with these trends now or face the destabilization that Harold Jarche mentions in his posting below.

The topics found in the following items should be discussed in courses involving economics, business, political science, psychology, futurism, engineering, religion*, robotics, marketing, the law/legal affairs and others throughout the world. These trends are massive and have enormous ramifications for our societies in the not-too-distant future.

* When I mention religion classes here, I’m thinking of questions such as :

What does God have in mind for the place of work in our lives?
Is it good for us? If so, why or why not?
How might these trends impact one’s vocation/calling?
…and I’m sure that professors who teach faith/
religion-related courses can think of other questions to pursue

turmoil and transition — from jarche.com by Harold Jarche

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

One of the greatest issues that will face Canada, and many developed countries in the next decade will be wealth distribution. While it does not currently appear to be a major problem, the disparity between rich and poor will increase. The main reason will be the emergence of a post-job economy. The ‘job’ was the way we redistributed wealth, making capitalists pay for the means of production and in return creating a middle class that could pay for mass produced goods. That period is almost over. From self-driving vehicles to algorithms replacing knowledge workers, employment is not keeping up with production. Value in the network era is accruing to the owners of the platforms, with companies such as Instagram reaching $1 billion valuations with only 13 employees.
…
The emerging economy of platform capitalism includes companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple. These giants combined do not employ as many people as General Motors did. But the money accrued by them is enormous and remains in a few hands. The rest of the labour market has to find ways to cobble together a living income. Hence we see many people willing to drive for a company like Uber in order to increase cash-flow. But drivers for Uber have no career track. The platform owners get richer, but the drivers are limited by finite time. They can only drive so many hours per day, and without benefits. At the same time, those self-driving cars are poised to replace all Uber drivers in the near future. Standardized work, like driving a vehicle, has little future in a world of nano-bio-cogno-techno progress.

Value in the network era is accruing to the owners of the platforms, with companies such as Instagram reaching $1 billion valuations with only 13 employees.

For the past century, the job was the way we redistributed wealth and protected workers from the negative aspects of early capitalism. As the knowledge economy disappears, we need to re-think our concepts of work, income, employment, and most importantly education. If we do not find ways to help citizens lead productive lives, our society will face increasing destabilization.

Also see:

Will artificial intelligence and robots take your marketing job? — from by markedu.com by
Technology will overtake jobs to an extent and at a rate we have not seen before. Artificial intelligence is threatening jobs even in service and knowledge intensive sectors. This begs the question: are robots threatening to take your marketing job?

Excerpt:

What exactly is a human job?
The benefits of artificial intelligence are obvious. Massive productivity gains while a new layer of personalized services from your computer – whether that is a burger robot or Dr. Watson. But artificial intelligence has a bias. Many jobs will be lost.

A few years ago a study from the University of Oxford got quite a bit of attention. The study said that 47 percent of the US labor market could be replaced by intelligent computers within the next 20 years.

The losers are a wide range of job categories within the administration, service, sales, transportation and manufacturing.

…

Before long we should – or must – redefine what exactly a human job is and the usefulness of it. How we as humans can best complement the extraordinary capabilities of artificial intelligence.

This development is expected to grow fast. There are different predictions about the timing, but by 2030 there will be very few tasks that only a human can solve.

The top ten things student teachers teach me — an excerpt from “To teach is to learn” [Schoone-Jongen]

On 06/18/2015, in faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, K-12 related, Michigan, relationships, religion, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, Uncategorized, United States, by Daniel Christian

To teach is to learn — from historicalhorizons.org by Robert Schoone-Jongen

Excerpt:

…here is tonight’s Top Ten Things Student Teachers Teach Me:

To be a teacher is to be a student, a learner. A teacher cannot just pour out knowledge on students. A teacher needs to learn from the students in order to teach them. Your students are the best methods book you will ever read. Listen to what they will teach you every day.

Each class consists of two parts: what went right and what went wrong. Being a teacher and a student means living with both successes and failures. During each class we learn something new about students, subjects, and our selves as teachers.

Each class is another chance to get things right. All our advance planning must be proven in the fiery furnace heated by real students. In our teacherly minds we may have covered all the bases, but the students likely will exhibit different thought patterns. The big question of the day might get the lesson off ground, but the students determine the actual flight plan and landing pattern–be it a smooth one or a swim in the Hudson River. You and I may be in the cockpit, but we can’t control the wind swirling around us. Serendipity is the order of the day in a classroom, not stolid stability.

The students are the most important thing in the room. These individual image bearers of God, his precious jewels in the words of an old hymn, come to us in various grades–some highly polished gems, others very rough hewn. They all have one overriding need: the guidance of a responsible adult, you, their teacher. Despite all the technological doodads and wizardry–the stuff computer companies equate with effective teaching — students still need you, a living, breathing, three dimensional human being, to provide the companionship no silicon chip and flat screen will ever provide.

You and me, those breathing human beings in the front of the room, are not super heroes, but fallible people with limited abilities and vast weaknesses. Chronology and a state-issued certificate separates us from our students. That has its advantages, but also its weaknesses. We may have accumulated more of what only experience can provide, but our age also renders us exotic in the eyes of our students.

Our humanness requires maintenance–both physically and spiritually. Without a healthy you, students will see just a sick teacher. Physical maintenance is not optional. The students deserve our best effort, and we owe them more than mere endurance. My informal teachers, the student teachers, remind me every semester that sleeping and eating and exercising are what keeps our heads on straight, and our feet firmly planted underneath, from the first bell of the day until the last.

Spiritual maintenance constantly reminds us to be humble about running a class. Each time we teach, thousands of words pour forth, and hundreds of instant calculations determine our vocabulary, our inflection, and our reception. A spiritually-maintained teacher prayerfully acknowledges that the torrent of words cascading through the room will carry rocks that can bruise students, and even scar them. We need divine purification to keep that torrent as a clean as possible, for the wisdom to know when a rock flew, and for the character to admit it and make amends.

That never ending prayer should have a second petition–thankfulness for the blessing of being commissioned to mirror Christ’s love to another group of His image-bearers. You and I have the chance to show goodness and love to students, many of whom are unlikely to see those divine traits elsewhere. You can be Calvinistically proud when God entrusts you with being His messenger of light in the classes you teach. It is a precious gift to show students that despite all the wrong we see, the light does still shine in the darkness, even when it is very dim.

That light is more than words and worksheets; it is the presence that students experience in your presence. Your reputation looms larger than your facility with the facts. Presence is the part of a class the students most likely will remember for years. In the end, what students really want from us are two simple things: to be treated justly and to be treated respectfully. The highest compliments–the evaluation that really matters–will come in two short sentences: one direct–“You were always fair”, the other left-handed–“You never made me feel dumb.” If students can say that, they have glimpsed the face of Christ in us.

These student renderings of “Well done, good and faithful servant” are far more important, and more eloquent assessments of our teaching than all the numbers Pearson Corporation can tease from all the standardized tests inflicted upon students. Teaching’s essence cannot be measured by algorithms, formulas, or equations. God, and those image bearers in our classes will evaluate us by our faithfulness, not by the dots on a bubble sheet.

Find those hymns for your Easter Celebration at Hymnary.org!

On 04/02/2015, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, Michigan, music, relationships, society, by Daniel Christian

HeIsRisen

Hymnary.org:
A comprehensive index of over 1 million hymn texts, hymn tunes, and hymnals, with information on authors and composers, lyrics and scores of many hymns …

Browse Popular Hymns
Browse Popular Hymns These are the 250 hymns published the…
Explore Hymnary.org
For Developers. CSV dump of the entire Hymnary…
Melody Search
To search, enter a tune below; otherwise, you can get help…
Scores
A Mighty Fortress. It’s said that Luther himself took a…
My Hymnals
Hymnary‘s My Hymnals feature highlights search…
About Us
Do you search for hymns and worship music for worship…
My FlexScores
Hymnary.org FlexScores are a revolutionary type of…
My Starred Hymns

Psalm 97:9 (NIV)

For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

Helpful resources from Michigan Virtual University re: online learning/learners

On 11/26/2014, in K-12 related, Michigan, online learning, student-related, by Daniel Christian

MVU releases guide to help schools navigate the virtual learning journey — from mivhs.org, as posted on September 17, 2014

Excerpt:

MVU…released a guide for mentors of online learning students, “Mentor Fundamentals: A Guide for Mentoring Online Learners,” that is intended to provide an understanding of the fundamental elements of mentoring or coaching students for success with online courses.

Download the mentor guide »

About MVU
Michigan Virtual University® is a private, nonprofit
Michigan corporation established by the State of
Michigan in 1998 to serve as a champion for
online learning. It is the parent organization of the
Michigan Virtual School®, Michigan LearnPort®, and
Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute™.
Visit www.mivu.org for more information.

Excerpts from MVU’s mentor guide:

Why Students Choose Online Learning
The State Virtual School Leadership Alliance shared the following evidence that state virtual schools meet the 10 attributes of Next Generation Learning (as established by Next Generation Learning Challenges). From the student’s point of view, online learning is attractive because it is:

Personalized to my needs and learning goals.
When students select their courses, they take greater ownership.
Flexible so that I can try different ways to learn.
Online learning allows scheduling to accommodate health, athletic, job and family circumstances.
Interactive and engaging to draw me in.
Students meet people outside their community in a safe environment, and multimedia used in online learning provides different ways of learning.
Relevant to the life I’d like to lead.
Students gain more experience using the 21st century technology tools used in college and in the workplace.
Paced by my own progress measured against goals I understand.
Students can move faster or slower through assignments and track their own progress toward their goals.
Constantly informed by different ways of demonstrating and measuring my progress.
Educational technology can measure and share tudent progress quickly.
Collaborative with faculty, peers, and others, unlimited by proximity.
Students can access learning materials and resources – including local, state, and national experts – using online communication tools.
Responsive and supportive when I need extra help.
Communicating outside the typical school day is supported by the online learning culture. Many students – and teachers – report they spend more time interacting online than in the face-to-face classroom.
Challenging but achievable, with opportunities to become an expert in an area of interest.
Online learning reinforces lifelong learning skills and promotes information literacy and communication skills as well as thinking and problem-solving skills.
Available to me as much as it is to every other student.
Online learning can direct the talents of some of the most skilled educators to the most underserved populations. A zip code does not have to determine learning options any more.

Profile of a Successful Online Learner
Instructors with years of online teaching experience agree that students who have successful, satisfying experiences learning online share several critical characteristics. Review these characteristics and answer these questions for and with potential online learners.

Good Time Management:
Can the student create and maintain a study schedule throughout the semester without face-to-face interaction with a teacher?
Effective Communication:
Can the student ask for help, make contact with other students and the instructor online, and describe any problems she/he has with learning materials using email, text messaging and/or the telephone?
Independent Study Habits:
Can the student study and complete assignments without direct supervision and maintain the self-discipline to stick to a schedule?
Self-Motivation:
Does the student have a strong desire to learn skills, acquire knowledge, and fulfill assignments in online courses because of an educational goal? Can she/he maintain focus on that goal?
Academic Readiness:
Does the student have the basic reading, writing, math and computer literacy skills to succeed in the class?
Technologically Prepared:
Does the student know how to open, create and/or save a document; use various technology tools (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, grammar checker, calculator); and identify various file formats (e.g., doc, xls, pdf, jpg)? (from Michigan Educational Technology Standards for Students 2009).

Also see:

MVU’s Online Learner Readiness Rubric

Team-based content creation/delivery is pulling ahead of the pack!

On 11/04/2014, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, higher education, immersion, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, love of learning, media/film, Michigan, multimedia, online learning, participation, play, psychology, real-world assignments, relationships, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, story, storytelling, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, transmedia, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Last week I attended the 20th Annual Online Learning Consortium International Conference. While there, I was inspired by an excellent presentation entitled, “A Disruptive Innovation: MSU’s Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Are You Ready to Survive a New Way of Learning?“ The four team members from Michigan State University included:

Glenn R. Stutzky | Course Instructor
Keesa V. Muhammad | Instructional Designer
Christopher Irvin | Instructional Designer
Hailey Mooney | Course Librarian

Check out the intro clip on the website about the course:

From the description for the presentation:

This session highlights MSU’s award winning, groundbreaking online course that fuses social theory, filmmaking, social media, and viral marketing while students survive an apocalyptic event. http://zombie.msu.edu/

MSU created and used powerful digital storytelling and multimedia to overlay real, experiential, immersive learning. Important content was relayed, but in a way that drew upon your emotions, your ability to solve problems and navigate in a world where you didn’t have all of the information, your ability to work with others, and more.

“This innovative course integrates current research and science on catastrophes and human behavior together with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. In doing so, we actively engage with students as they think about the nature, scope, and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations, and the Earth itself.”

“Our innovative approach to teaching and learning features: students as active participants, the instructor becomes the facilitator, storytelling replaces lectures, zombies become the catalyst of teaching, a “zombrarian” (librarian) drives research, and the students emerge as digital storytellers as a way of assessing their own learning.”

Others outside MUS have found out about the course and have requested access to it. As a result of this, they’ve opened it up to non-credit seeking participants and now various people from police forces, Centers for Disease Control, and others are able to take the course. To make this learning experience even more accessible, the cost has been greatly reduced: from $1600+ to just $500. (So this talented team is not only offering powerful pedagogies, but also significant monetary contributions to the university as well.)

For me, the key thing here is that this course represents what I believe is the direction that’s starting to really pull ahead of the pack and, if done well, will likely crush most of the other directions/approaches. And that is the use of teams to create, deliver, teach, and assess content – i.e., team-based learning approaches.

So many of the sessions involved professional development for professors and teachers – and much of this is appropriate. However, in the majority of cases, individual efforts aren’t enough anymore. Few people can bring to the table what a talented, experienced group of specialists are able to bring. Individual efforts aren’t able to compete with team-based content creation and delivery anymore — and this is especially true online, whereby multiple disciplines are immediately invoked once content hits the digital realm.

In this case, the team was composed of:

The professor
Two Instructional Designers
and a librarian

The team:

Developed websites
Designed their own logo
Marketed the course w/ a zombie walking around campus w/ brochures and a walking billboard
Used a Twitter stream
Used a tool called Pensu for their students’ individual journals
Made extensive use of YouTube and digital storytelling
Coined a new acronym called MOLIE – multimedia online learning immersive experience
Used game-like features, such as the development of a code that was found which revealed key information (which was optional, but was very helpful to those who figured it out). The team made it so that the course ended differently for each group, depending upon what the teams’ decisions were through the weeks
Used some 3D apps to make movies more realistic and to create new environments
Continually presented new clues for students to investigate. Each team had a Team Leader that posted their team’s decisions on YouTube.

They encouraged us to:
THINK BIG! Get as creative as you can, and only pull back if the “suits” make you! Step outside the box! Take risks! “If an idea has life, water it. Others will check it out and get involved.”

In their case, the idea originated with an innovative, risk-taking professor willing to experiment – and who started the presentation with the following soliloquy:

Syllabi are EVIL

Syllabi are EVIL and they must die!
Listen to me closely and I’ll tell you why.
Just want students to know what is known?
See what’s been seen?
Go – where we’ve been going?
Then the Syllabus is your friend,
cuz you know exactly where you’ll end.
But if you want to go somewhere new,
see colors beyond Red, Green, and Blue.
Then take out your Syllabus and tear-it-in-half,
now uncertainty has become your path.
Be not afraid because you’ll find,
the most amazing things from Creative Minds,
who have been set free to FLY,
once untethered from the Syllabi.

Glenn Stutzky
Premiered at the 2014
Online Learning Consortium International Conference
October 29, 2014

“The number of infected in Michigan has reached critical mass.” CSM Quintero #sw290 pic.twitter.com/F6m8ZaoRyG

— MSU Zombie (@MSUZombies) June 19, 2014

They started with something that wasn’t polished, but it’s been an iterative approach over the semesters…and they continue to build on it.

I congratulated the team there — and do so again here. Excellent, wonderful work!

By the way, what would a creative movie-like trailer look like for your course?

Great colleges to work for 2014 [chronicle.com]

On 07/21/2014, in adjunct faculty, career development, colleges, community colleges, faculty, higher education, Michigan, online learning, teaching & learning, universities, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

The Uncertain Future of Academic Work — from chronicle.com by Audrey Williams June
Now more than ever, people employed in higher education face the forces of change

Excerpts:

Over the next several years, at least, new technologies are expected to drastically reshape the way professors teach, and when and where people on college campuses do their work.

…

For those who do end up in the academic workplace, how to best use technology in teaching and scholarship will be a challenge for the foreseeable future. Although massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are hot topics of conversation, even professors who have never taught online have seen the effects of technology on their work lives.

Some advice from Ms. Austin to graduate students who want to be professors: Get experience teaching online.

“You’ll be expected to teach fully online and to use technology quite skillfully in class,”says Ms. Austin, who has taught all-online courses in the College of Education’s online master’s programs.

As for senior faculty members, “we can’t just stay up on what’s happening our fields, but we have to stay ahead of the technology as well,”*** Ms. Austin says. “It’s more than just learning some technology. We need to think about it in the context of what are the most effective ways of helping students learn.”

…

“If you look to the future, it’s really going to be necessary for faculty to have a good degree of flexibility,” Ms. Austin says. “They’ll need to be flexible enough to use new technology, flexible enough to respond to the changing student body. Appointment types are changing.

“Flexibility is going to be key.”

*** From DSC:
Though I applaud what Ms. Austin is saying throughout this solid piece, I don’t see faculty members being able to stay ahead of the technology as well as staying up on what’s happening in their fields. Even keeping up with (vs. being ahead of) the technology is something that even Educational Technologists struggle to accomplish! Given limited resources as well as the pace of change, it’s very difficult, if not impossible to achieve such a feat. This is why I think TEAM-based content creation and delivery will be the predominant setup in the future.

A new, very sharp, incredibly well-designed collaborative workspace in Grand Rapids, MI (USA)

On 06/30/2014, in 21st century, career development, collaboration, entrepreneurship, learning spaces, library / librarians, Michigan, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt from custerworklab.com:

The floor plan includes 10,000 square feet of co-working space.

13 private offices
Two mobile offices
One executive office
One team room that can accommodate up to four people
Seven meeting spaces with seating for four to 35 people

All the meeting spaces include display and switching technology with video conferencing available in three of the rooms. Other features include a work lounge, cafe and a variety of other workstations. Plus more social accessibility, ergonomic furniture and the best technology available.

From DSC:
I recently toured this space and I can tell you that you can quickly get a sense of how much thought and effort went into the design of that collaborative workspace.

Check out the photo gallery and 360 degree tour to see what I mean.

I think you will agree that each and every thing that you see in that space is approached from a sense of design and functionality. Everything is there for a reason. The technology. The furniture. The esthetics and accessories. Everything. It’s very well done. If you get a chance to use it or tour it, I would highly recommend it. Custer’s Worklab lays out so many things that are helpful in a collaborative learning/workspace.

Also see:

8 Perks of Coworking Spaces for Savvy Entrepreneurs — from grasshopper.com by Allison Canty

Learning Ecosystems

New visions/strategies/items re: higher education

Thank you LORD!

Michigan Radio’s Issues & Ale: College Affordability & Access [michiganradio.org]

Reflections on “Free college? It doesn’t fix everything” [Op-Ed features the Kalamazoo Promise]

Find those hymns for your Easter Celebration at Hymnary.org!

Great colleges to work for 2014 [chronicle.com]

A new, very sharp, incredibly well-designed collaborative workspace in Grand Rapids, MI (USA)

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