Enriching Scholarship: A Transformative Week for Instruction and Reflection

Before I started writing this, I reviewed my post about last year's Enriching Scholarship session.  Just a quick review, Enriching Scholarship is a, "week of free workshops, discussions, and seminars has become an annual event each May for instructional faculty and staff, and showcases over 120 sessions that address the role technology plays in fostering engaging and effective teaching, learning, and research"(http://www.teachtech.umich.edu). 

Last year, I considered teaching The New Basics: Computing 101 to be my first official instructional experience.  I wrote that after the session, we realized we needed to tweak the workshop because there was too much content for too little time.  So in between last year and this year, my co-instructor and I taught a Web Basics class, which went pretty well.  This year for Enriching Scholarship, however, we decided to not only teach The New Computer Basics: Understanding the Web but also The New Computer Basics: PC Desktop Computing.  The Understanding the Web session had several participants, many of whom seemed to appreciate the information we provided about clearing your "cache" and downloading images.  And the few participants in the PC Computing class appeared to enjoy learning about how right-clicking can make moving around the computer easier and more efficient.

In my post from May 2011, I wrote about practicing instruction prior to actually instructing.  Many of my other posts over the last year have covered this as well.  So now might be the proper time to reflect.  To start, I'm more comfortable teaching - especially something I've already taught.  Secondly, I've become better at being patient while instructing - I've learned the goal is not to get everything done (especially in computer basics workshops!) but to teach at a pace that is both effective and appropriate for the group's learning processes.  Participant's learning is the goal!

A third "lesson learned" is that I still get nervous teaching something I've never taught before, but that I've learned how to combat this.  Prior to the PC Basics workshop, I spent hours preparing and getting materials ready and arrived much too early the day-of to make sure the computers were loaded with the proper documents and that the handouts were printed and correct.  But through this I also learned that that helped me to feel more comfortable with the instruction.  Instead of stressing, I built that time into my work schedule and was feeling prepared to teach when the time came.

Most of all, instruction is a process.  Having taught the Web Basics three times now, we're still finding things to change and pieces of the workshop to adapt, and that is OK.  In fact, it makes instruction fun because I've realized that nothing is perfect and that we can always do better for our participants and ourselves.  The process of instructing is part of the learning process for us all (I always learn something new while teaching) - and having the opportunity to do both at the same time is something for which I'm grateful.

Transition and Time Management

The transition from school-to-work full time happened.  Quickly.  Suddenly, all the "school stuff" was over, and the "work stuff" became priority.  Which is good.

I started this week thinking that there would be so much time to prepare for my practice presentation about the Detroit Center this week, before teaching two sessions at Enriching Scholarship next week, before my real presentation the following week (oh, and the other presentation at MLA Technology and Trends that week, too).  Somehow, 40 hours at work doesn't seem to be enough.  In fact, I did "home work" this week - practicing and adjusting presentations.

So my thoughts today revolve around those very ideas... transitioning from being busy all the time, to being busy at work, while trying to manage life and work.  Now, I don't need to be busy working all the time - and don't think I should be.  But I do need to transition to making the most of the time I am working, and learning to know what to prioritize over these next few weeks.

I imagine this issue will arise again in December when I graduate from the School of Education and (hopefully) transition into a full-time job.  Managing 12+ hours of classes, 20+ hours of work, homework, and life stuff is quite different than managing 40 hours of work and life stuff.  I've done it before, but I realized this morning that it's a different way of thinking and prioritizing.  I think part of it is that when there is far too much to do, I just do it.  When I have time to do other things (relax a bit?), I need to focus more on the time management part of my life.

So, here's to working through that the next couple of weeks - practically and mentally.  I need to realize that I shouldn't work all the time (as happened January-April), but I do need to consider how much I need to work on the important upcoming instruction sessions and presentations and how to manage that time.  Any tips are welcome :)

Lessons learned: Professionalism, ethics, and self

It's been a tumultous couple of days. But my experiences related to these incidents have helped me see things more clearly - professionally, ethically and personally.

Between yesterday and today I've had to make some professional, ethical and personal decisions.  And I learned some valuable life-long lessons in the process.

What I learned over the past two days is that honesty is the best policy.  I learned that needing to take care of myself is important and is valued by those who understand that taking on too much can be taxing and dehibilitating to not only self but others.  I've reaffirmed that people are good, and understand when things don't go as planned.  I've learned people understand that right now I'm a student first and an "everything else" second, and that sometimes academics and health (mental or physical) need to come first.  I've learned that when you do the right thing - continously - people recognize that.

This incident may be the culmination of this busy semester, where I've committed to too much and a lot has suffered.  But I really believe that what has happened over the past two days has been a great learning experience and is one that I will always remember as I move forward professionally, ethically, and personally.

So here's to a clearer head, a re-focus on what's important, and a better second half of the final semester of my first Master's degree.

And here's a huge thank you to those who've helped me learn these lessons.

EdLeadership & How People Learn Chapter 3

Educational Leadership
The Educational Leadership piece "Put Understanding First" by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe was a concise article that discussed how important it is that when students learn, that they actually understand what they're learning.  The authors list three academic goals for curriculum and instructor to aid in the process of understanding: "helping students (1) acquire important information and skills, (2) make meaning of that content, and (3) effectively transfer  their learning to new situations both within school and beyond it."  Ways that instructors can help learners complete thie process of learning for understanding are through direct instruction, facilitating and coaching.  The article discusses research in congnitive psychology that says that students don't necessarily need to learn all of the facts and basic skills before dealing with concepts or applying the skills in authentic ways.  This is a problem that plagues lower acheiving students.  The article also suggests that curricula need a new sequence for  learning - a meaningful process that helps students really understand what they are learning that involves meaning, acquisition and transfer.  The statement that "we must recognize that the purposeful and effective use of content is the ever-present goal, and we must design all instruction with that goal in mind" is a reflection of what we must do when assisting students in their learning process.

This article was a great discussion of how schools are disconnected from students' experience with what they will encounter in the real world.  Learning rote knowledge and regurgitating it back to a teacher does not necessarily help students learn - they need to be able to connect it with something they will need or perceive they will need to use in the fugure.  I hadn't really thought about the idea of students not needing skills prior to application of a process, but I like it.  It feels more useful and "real" than doing worksheets to identify facts.  It seems this is very relatable to the idea of job training.  When going into a new job, I've always had basic communication skills, but not necessisarily the skills needed to run a database full of relevant information I'll use every day.  But, I can learn this through on the job training because it's applicable to the work I'm doing to do.  The company didn't need to hire someone with all of the skills they were looking for, but rather basic skills that they could build upon during training.  In a school setting, this suggests that students could learn "on the job" once having a foundation of knowledge.  They could learn science vocabulary better after having seen it a few times and then applying it in the lab.  Just one thought/example of how this relates to the real world which students enter after they're done with school.  :)

 How People Learn Chapter 3
The "How People Learn" chapter on transfer was great in-depth supplemental reading to the Educational Leadership article.  The idea of initial learning being necessary for transfer sounds obvious but is a good starting point for understanding transfer.  The discussion of initial learning, abstract representations of knowledge, and prior knowledge was important for my understanding of how transfer is effective.  Ideas of mastering the original subject, taking the appropriate amount of time to learn something, deliberately practicing, engaging in a feedback process, understanding motivation, and contexualizing the learning are critical to transfer of information.

When the chapter discusses that learning should be done in multiple ways and allow for a flexible representation of knowledge makes a good deal of sense.  Psychology tells us that people learn in different ways, and putting knowledge into a context that is applicable to student's understanding seems a simple way to do this.  However, schools are not tying information learned in schools to what students already know or will need to use in the their lives.  The section on previous experience was fairly eye-opening: thinking about how to activate knowledge and interpreting it in a way that is meaningful through using tools, group problem solving and abstract knowledge are all things I know I've used in the real world but never really thought about in terms of schooling.  But John Dewey's quote on page 77 really says it all - students should be taught life preparation in school.  Facts are important and a good foundation for knowledge but they don't help problem solving and day-to-day interaction.

It's clear that our students are not being taught things that they feel are useful - some students are becoming less and less engaged in school because it doesn't use the tools or technology they use in their everyday lives.  This is one area where librarians can help - we can work with people's previous knowledge and help them discover what they can do with that knowledge either through articles, books, or community resources.  I see this as a place we can really help people understand what they're learning.