Tamara Smith

Without a doubt, this was a big week for me….I LEARNED TO EMBED thanks to all of you and some knowledge of HTML! Who would have thought that it was so easy??!?? And I still have a sense of humor (with myself).

I am also completing a Prezi presentation on “How to Write a Historical Thesis” for my classes in the spring. It took some work and I hope it makes a difference for my students! I will share my results next semester. Love Prezi and it is accessibility compliant.

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I have learned something new and exciting each week of this class. With my style of learning, I must put things into action right away and found myself playing with VoiceThread and Prezi and then never completing blog assignments. So, I am catching-up a bit….the Virtual Life week was not a week that I wanted to TRY. I completed the readings, watched the demonstrations and was left rather uneasy. One of the many reasons I do not teach below the collegiate level is the restrictions on academic freedom. I cannot mesh my “course design” with virtual life and yet, do not ignore the possibility that it could be very useful for other instructors. Here are my misgivings for the history classroom:

Despite the theoretical arguments within the historical profession about objectivity, subjectivity and truth, historians are searching for a sense of reality and the perspectives of multiple groups about that truth. Gender, race, class and sexual identity all add lenses of perspective to history and events; they shape the human experience. Virtual life adds another dimension to these perspectives and one that can be troublesome to dissect as a historian. How are we to judge truth and reality from a “created” reality??? One of the basic objectives of my courses is to teach students HOW to JUDGE history based on knowledge, facts, and cultural perspectives. If I ask them to create a persona that is not “real” am I not contradicting my very objective from the start? Also, part of college is to discover who you are and what you want to be or become. How can that be achieved if I encourage students to hide behind a created persona? Personally, I envision a world that embraces diversity and demonstrates empathy; if students create a persona to diminish those differences or to not fully reveal that which makes them unique, then the methodology fails my larger objective!

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I certainly dragged my feet to facebook! I actually argued with my husband when he set up a family account to share photos of the kids with distant relatives. I never considered social networking in this medium as anything more than the water-cooler gossip gone virtual. Being honest….I have also witnessed the negatives of cyber-bullying with teenagers and the snarky “me-me” narcissism of sharing every detail of our existence. As a history professor, I push students to become more civic minded and knowledgeable about the world further than their own small slice of reality or the “reality” they choose to share. I poll students a great deal and keep the data. One of the many questions I ask is how many hours a week they spend on social networking versus reading a newspaper or keeping up with current events or actually reading a full-length book. More often than not, the younger students complain that they simply do not have time to read about candidates running for public office. I encourage them to log for one week how much time they spend on forums like facebook and to just take one hour of that time and dedicate it to politics, candidates, or a social issue in the news. Balance is the goal…

I did not consider that facebook could be used in a “professional” manner and am pleasantly surprised. I see the value within this group but fear too many options for networking within our courses–will I get too far way from the subject at hand?? Admittedly, I experienced some trouble setting up my account as well….should I be teaching students how to set up facebook accounts when they do not understand the Bill of Rights or Constitution??

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Some of you may be interested in this superb documentary!

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Lisa’s slidecast on blogging forced me to think about a few things.  I came up with some useful ideas in my courses to use this format within and outside of blackboard:

1. First, I am attracted to the idea of “modeling” for my students.  There are plenty of times that my lectures lead to my special interests or additional research into topics that I do not always share with students.  It is easier to share it off the cuff in a classroom versus sitting down to produce and write.  As a historian, I am always looking at new sources and secondary pieces on topics.  I may write book reviews for myself to keep track of historiography but why not share it with my students to encourage their interests as well?  I would just need to take what I am already doing and put into a forum for student access.  This though would require going outside of blackboard to preserve the blog overtime and that is not something I have considered before.

2. Second, I am interested into blogging as a tool for student self-reflection.  How can I make that work? I want students to reflect on large, open-ended philosophical questions about history.  Each bit of lecture content and the materials students analyze should contribute to their ability to do this.  I ask them to pull it all together into a final exam essay but would the requirement of personal blog to do this week by week help them stay focused on the big picture and to keep track of what they are thinking and learning?  I do know that if credit is not given for the activity then many and most likely those that need it the most will not complete this task.  Another form of self-reflection that I encourage in students but have yet to develop a measurable activity for is how they see their own progress with the analysis of primary sources and historical thesis writing in my class.  Can they measure their own improvement and take some accountability for their productivity and efforts? How are they incorporating my suggestions for improvement? This would have to be a private blog between the student and myself though for the best results or that is instinctively what I am thinking.  Any suggestions out there for this one?

3. And last, I do encourage discussions on current events but find myself making the majority of posts.  Students will rarely post something on their own and seem most comfortable with commenting.  However, I do not offer credit for this activity and participation  slows over the semester.  In the traditional classroom, these discussions earn participation credit.  Perhaps a blog format with credit is the right way to go??  I hate the constant carrot on the stick for all work but am in reality enough to know that it works. And this type of blogging should be open for all to see and comment.

4. I work at a few different colleges and the levels of collegiality vary from spot to spot.  Blogging within departments could be a powerful way for us all to learn from one another and share our specialized disciplines with colleagues (just as we are doing in this forum for online teaching). Not sure how well that would be received and it may just depend on the department environment at different colleges. But I appreciate learning from others and exchanging ideas.

As a whole, blogging offers an opportunity for one of the most important yet basic needs of all students and instructors: writing, writing, and writing.  We can only improve from doing.  And a skill once acquired becomes rusty without consistent use.

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I enjoyed this video and it left me with much to think about this week.  Undoubtedly, technology is causing education, society and social thought to undergo a paradigm shift.  This is a historical pattern that impacts each generation.  One just needs to look at the impact of technology on warfare from Civil War battlefields, to the mustard gas filled trenches of WWI, to atomic bombs in WWII, and the space race of ICBMS of the Cold War, and now stealth attacks and assassinations on terrorists that require fewer and fewer soldiers in direct confrontations.   There is always the good, the bad, and the ugly in regards to technology as with most things.  Human behavior changes in response to these possibilities and many times for the better.  Communication over the centuries is a perfect example.  Caravans traveled over trade routes carrying letters, contracts, royal decrees and then were replaced with ships, the railroads, planes and eventually telegraphs, telephones, email, texting and tweeting for more and more immediacy! And commonly, just as a human society advances alongside technology, law codes expand and expand into mind-boggling fine prints of dos and don’ts.

Lawrence Lessig’s presentation left some unanswered questions for me:

1. Is access to information truly democratized when the majority of American or global students do not own a $1500 computer or have immediate access to high-speed internet from their homes? Is their “equal opportunity” within the American education system when so many students lack access to technology within the home AND classroom??

2. Are we teaching students and citizens how to find “accurate” sources or how to judge what are the “best” sources when all sorts of misinformation are accessible in so many formats?

3.  What about this “kill switch” on internet access that we just witnessed dictators exercise in several Middle Eastern revolutions?  Will American Presidents use it too “if deemed necessary” since the passage of the Patriot Act?

4.  I followed Lessig’s logic on WHY remixing is NOT a copyright violation and that is justification enough, right?  I found all of the examples “entertaining” and creative expressions of speech but what was the intellectual value for students??  I have children that do homework assignments just like this in the High Tech High charter system.  They are engaged but I sometimes worry about what information is actually retained.  Has the easy access to information replaced the need for actual working knowledge since we can just look it up on the internet or pull out a calculator??

5. How do we balance the need to protect the product of creative entrepeneurship for the innovator with the sharing of knowledge that is essential within education? Or is the ingenuity that drives technological advancement to be held in common “good”?

Accessibility is a very important issue for me.  Since many students cannot even take an online course because of technological inequalities or may not have the option within their schools, isn’t the concept of “equal access” violated from the start??  Have the issues of Little Rock moved to cyberspace?  Should ADA law and Title 5 coverage move to a much broader scope?? If accessibility should meet the learning styles of multiple intelligences and this is the “information/technology generation,” then the laws must follow suit.

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I am practicing my new ability to embed.  Thank you Lisa.  This summarizes my initial thoughts on virtual life.

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I disliked professors that lectured from the “Ivory Tower”. You know the ones?? The ones that paraded their pedigree and PHD when you posed a challenging question. The one that directed ALL questions back to the iron-clad syllabus versus sharing a few moments of clarification. The one that taught one perspective-THEIR OWN-and enjoyed the crucifixion of any student with a logical, contradictory stance.  How many times did one of my undergraduate history professors scream that “love, meaning, and relevance” had no place in academia and that all free thought should be held until graduate school, when maybe, we were entitled to an opinion! He said it so much that our history club printed it on T-shirts.  This was not well-received at a small and  conservative women’s college in the midwest. Neither was the subsequent formation of the college’s first American Civil Liberties chapter.

Some classrooms reek of rank, distinction, and isolation: mighty, all-knowing professor versus the minions. I did not learn well in these courses.  I may have walked away with encyclopedias of knowledge drilled into the brain that could be regurgitated on command.  And I waited like a good pet for the treat–the “A” at the top of an essay! But where was the wisdom? Where was the joy and contentment of exploration among a community of learners seeking intellectual openness?  Where was the freedom?

The teachers and professor I respected were the “human” ones. They offered a smile, a sense of humor, shared their life experiences, and told good-stories! I felt comfortable approaching them, was able to ask questions, and along the way, found my own voice. They were the ones that stopped and paused to ask: how did you reach that conclusion? There was a connection with these professors and a deep respect for the learning process. Now that I look back at these important people in my education, I recognize that they too were on a journey.  Like their students, they were still learning and evolving.

I have attended many professional development seminars on “opening day” techniques for traditional classrooms. These focused on the BIG HOOK or how to draw the student’s interest into the class and to make that first connection. Some have worked and others failed….but the drive to make it happen was always present.  I felt so liberated the first year I proclaimed: “I make mistakes. I am human. I do not know everything but am really good at finding answers.” Many history students ask what I term the “google” question: How many soldiers died on the battlefield at Gettysburg?  The EXACT number please….or, what was the break-down of the popular vote in  Andrew Jackson’s election?  The exact number please….I redirect them back to the meaning behind Andrew Jackson’s election or the relevance of the Battle of Gettysburg without brushing off the question.  Are they testing the walls of the ivory tower?  As a young professor, these questions rattled my cage a bit. Now, I tell them to find the answer and return at the next class to share the information.  Share the power of knowledge….this is just one simple step to broaden connections with students and to build community.

I find the online environment different for building community but not necessarily more difficult. And more often than not in this age of technology, I walk away knowing my students better in the online environment.  It is safer for students to post a comment than to raise their hands in a classroom.  It is safer to send an email than to knock on the office door. I credit this to the Ivory Tower AND the changes in human interaction because of technology.  Will any of our grandchildren actually have an in-person conversation or will it be twitter, tweets, and asynchronous blurbs? This concerns me a bit and makes me think a bit of Albert Einstein: has our technology surpassed our humanity?

I have enjoyed looking into many of your classes.  It shook my confidence a bit because of the advanced use of  technology.  And I reminded myself what I tell students about writing a historical thesis (big emphasis in my classes): Simple does not mean SIMPLETON! I went back to the basic question I need to answer in regards to my online pedagogy: is it working for my students?  And which pieces of technology will best serve them and the delivery of my content? How do I break down the Ivory Tower in my classes?

The following activity was created for my online students. I now use it in my FTF courses too; students enjoy it and are able to get a sense of me a bit.  The activity has several objectives wrapped into one: 1. measuring knowledge of a basic skill needed for my course; 2.  sampling of student writing so I can find those that need assistance from me or campus writing centers; 3. mastering the discussion board; and 4. building community!

Primary Sources of Your Life!

Historians are obsessed with primary sources! Sources are the back-bone of our work, theories, and analysis of the past. Primary sources (written documents and artifacts) are the most immediate connection with the past and provide a direct voice.  Historians place primary sources into proper historical context to prove theories about certain groups, time periods, and events.   And rarely, is a primary source without some BIAS.  What sources will you leave behind?  How would a historian reconstruct your life, achievements, values, hardships, and dreams?  Where will they find the answers?

After reading the assigned portion of the text that discusses the difference between primary and secondary sources and viewing this brief video clip from the UCSD LIBRARY,  please present five primary sources of YOUR life.  First, identify the source and then offer a brief explanation of the significance. Feel free to share as much or as little of yourself as you wish.  Students must comment on the posts of at least two peers.  Find some common grounds with others, or make an online friend, ask questions of one another, and at a minimum, assure your instructor that you know the difference between a primary and secondary source!

(I normally offer a screen cast to walk the students through posting on the DB and creating a thread. Once we are in the forum, I take them to the first Post-and I call it Breaking the ICE!. The following is what I share with students to give them an example and to enter into the community:

Hi All:

I am going to start us off with a few primary sources that I believe represent my life and tell you the significance.  Feel free to ask questions.

1 & 2. An important artifact from my life would be this massive rolling pin I received as a wedding gift.  It is pretty dinged up and used from the last eighteen years and represents my love of cooking and baking. Thousands of Christmas cookies, homemade raviolis or pastas, and flaky pie-crusts caused the grooves. I keep a set of family recipes with it at all times that are a collection of all the women in my family and the cherished cultural foods of my background: Irish, Italian, and Polish.  Food is an important element of my family and symbolizes culture and times shared. These recipes also represent the many diverse peoples that risked marrying into this crazy clan over the years and the cherished foods of their cultures: Creole, Thai, Indonesian, Hispanic, French.

3. My master’s thesis is very representative of my interests and thoughts.  The title is “Sisters Trapped in Sin: Cotton Mather’s Puritan Women.”  The contents should reveal my educational background, understanding of gender ideology, and those that contributed to this formation. I spent several years analyzing Puritan ministerial literature and the writings of America’s first poetess, Anne Bradstreet. I also analyzed Church Court records from Salem and Boston to see how men and women were punished for the same exact sins in early New England. The thesis is a secondary source for women in American history but a primary source from my life since I wrote it.

4. My Bible: This was a gift from my great aunt, Sister Rosaleen Dunleavy. She was a Biology professor and Archivist at St. Mary’s College.  She gave it to me at my graduation and recorded not only the dates of my life but an extensive family tree.  This should also signify a religious affiliation. Unfortunately, the mass cards from the funerals of many family members and friends are tucked within the pages. A historian could use these to trace my family and the people I knew.

5. A collection of love letters from my husband prior to our marriage and since (though they seem to dwindle in number as the years pass). We all have them tucked away somewhere and I hope my daughter and sons will enjoy them after my death.  They document not only the growth of our relationship and mutual admiration, but mark key transitions in our lives and social thought. (What we thought about our lives, plans, love, and marriage.)

I look forward to reading the Primary Sources of YOUR life!

Best,

Tamara Smith

I hope that gives you all an idea of a community building activity.

And just for sharing:  I recommend Belle Hooks to all of you.  Start with her piece, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.  I warn you though, she is not a feminist for the weary.  But, she has influenced me more than any other educational philosopher out there with her mandate to break down every paradigm of power and discrimination within the classroom so that not only are students free, but their teachers as well.

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I truly appreciated Lisa’s likening of the Constitution with an Interactive Syllabus.  As a fellow historian, it was exactly my thought.  I keep my old syllabi and sometimes wonder how I ever was permitted to use a brief, one page explanation of my course that has now become ten.  I benefited from one of Jim Sullivan’s seminars at Mt. San Jacinto several years ago and transformed my regular syllabus into a much more visual, humorous and appealing document.  Thank you JIM! Your suggestions encouraged me to add myself into the syllabus versus the formal, stagnant outlay of laws for the course. Visuals helped weave some  laughter into my syllabus and students are more responsive or at the least, READ IT! (It also helps that I give a syllabus QUIZ that first week too.) Every semester I seem to add something or tweak what is there in hopes of finding perfection and putting to rest the endless editing process but I am always adjusting the “design” of my courses and therefore, my syllabus continues to evolve in a perpetual metamorphosis. I have another twenty years of work in me so the butterfly will finally emerge or perhaps the point is, it never should??

Last spring I worked with a group of students in Dubai.  Listen to Ko and Rosen when they say to specify due dates by a time zone; it would have alleviated some early confusion for my students.  And consider the language you use as well.  I kept saying to complete something before NOON on a certain day and had some international students confused again!

The readings over the past few weeks caused me to really take stock of a few things and I find my classes already changing.  It disturbed me that I scored closer to the lecturing style and not discussion centered learning. I wanted to see my class as more of discussions and student. Reality:  I was too lecture driven.  I am stepping away from instructor led content ramming and returned to a more balanced lecture/discussion style.

In my online courses, I thought I was using an interactive syllabus and now know that was wrong! My syllabus was adjusted for the online environment but it sat and sits as a doc or pdf file. I am not sure how to fully get away from all those required elements that the colleges want to see in the syllabus??  But what I did change or thought was interactive, occurred in my content areas.  Four years ago, I organized my courses into LEARNING UNITS and each week a new one opened and a list of documents and items appeared under one file.  BORING!!! BURDENSOME!  And too many students can’t open the files? But the content was there….I switched this summer after watching Pilar’s demonstration (it is excellent to see how she maneuvers blackboard) that Lisa referred to and one that can be found on the POT cite.  But I did not fully grasp the idea.  In my Learning Unit section, I constructed those boxes and attached a visual image for the week.  Within the box I reminded the students of their readings, assignments, and gave a general overview of the week’s material.  Then, I went back to the old, safe way and listed my lecture as a document and mp3.  The student still has to click away and I have to pray that they can finally open the file without too much trouble. Then, any optional or additional items are provided as hyperlinks directly to the webpage. I cannot seem to figure out how to link to another area of the course for quizzes or the DB within the box.  I am going to try the hyperlink demonstration Lisa showed us because I just did not think of it—I associate the hyperlink function with the internet, not my class). So, Under the box, I added the direct links there (if that makes sense to blackbordians).  Direct links are provided but they are outside the box that should contain all the interactive materials for the week. And for everything, I keep labeling and adding the dates of the week.

Light bulb moment after watching Lisa’s demonstration: I am only half-way there!  And not confident that Blackboard can do it all the way. I WAS quite pleased with the changes I had made and my students are much happier but there is more to do?!? Ugh….so the living, breathing document must morph again.  I am sold on the idea though and need to learn the technology to get there. Time to play with MOODLE when I just figured out PREZI!  Love Prezi (perfect for accessibility compliance) and will use it this semester for several demonstrations.

I do have some questions for Lisa or Jim:

1. Where is the rest of your syllabus???  All that information about SLOs and objectives, assignments, etc…? The interactive syllabus looks more like a schedule of readings and assignments???

2. Can Blackboard 9 link to other course areas (DBs and tests) within a table (the box) in a content area? should it be the hyperlink?

3. How can I get rid of listing those documents?  Should I put all the documents in a hidden course area and then hyperlink so it pops open with out all the clicks and downloads??

And all of the resources these past weeks confirmed for me why I am pushing myself into Camtasia.  I am not a techy by any means but since I learn best with these visual demonstrations and personal voices, I am confidant it is another step I must take for my students.  My Christmas holiday just became loaded with work…..thank you Lisa and Jim. LOL! But it is another way to come out from behind that curtain!

Tami

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