Author: mjimenez

As many of us are in ‘evaluation mode,’ I wanted to share this video.  We all know the value of setting goals for ourselves – personally or professionally.  We teach our students everyday about the importance of achieving goals.  And around this time of year, we tend to do a lot of reflection about those goals.  But with what’s been going on this semester with COVID-19, I’ve heard or read comments lately about not being able to “hit a goal” or “do what I wanted to do,” and I sense a bit of disappointment (even failure) in those comments.  I find myself feeling the same way when I didn’t get to finish a project I started or pursue an idea I had.  It’s not a positive mindset to be in.

As we write our self-assessments, please keep in mind that success is not only defined by hitting goals, but also by the process and journey of getting there.  HOW you work to reach those goals, is as important (and in my mind more important), as reaching them.
 

Anyway, I like this video a lot.  I hope you enjoy too.  Take 5 minutes to watch it.  Use it to remind yourself that what you all are doing is awesome, appreciated, and valued.  Keep it up.  

Every year, Educause complies results from its annual Key Issues in Teaching and Learning survey.  This year’s results are here.

According to the infographic and resources below, the Top 5 issues are:

1. Faculty Development & Engagement
2. Online & Blended Learning
3. Instructional & Learning Experience Design
4. Digital & Information Literacy
5. Accessibility & Universal Design for Learning

As a supervisor, considering these trends is important in setting goals for the work we do.  Coupled with data and a grasp of student learning needs, these can be powerful planning tools.

I’ve challenged my staff to consider the following questions:

• Are our services/resources accessible to on-campus and distance students?
• Are the resources we provide accessible by everyone (ADA-compliant)?
• In what ways are we engaging with faculty, and are they effective?  How do we know they are effective?
• How are we addressing digital and information literacy in all of our programs?

Things to think about.

Last week my youngest, Ryder, brought home a story he had written and illustrated. On it, a gold star and a “Very Nice” written at the top.

Looking more closely at the story, I noticed a few of misspellings and backwards letters. Later, my husband (an IT consultant), asked me, “Why didn’t she correct that?” I could tell he was annoyed. In his world, I guess, spelling matters. I tried to explain to him that the teacher gave the gold star likely because she was proud of two things: 1) Ryder had written an original story and 2) Ryder was able to string words into a sentence. “But what about the misspellings,” he asked. I explained that those two skills I mentioned were likely higher on the teacher’s priority list than spelling. For a variety of reasons, he still didn’t like it.

This morning, I opened up one of my RSS subscriptions and came across this article about the 40/40/40 rule (one that I had never heard of before). I plan on showing this to my husband tonight.

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/applying-the-404040-rule-in-your-classroom/

As you read through this article, think about this rule within the context for your programs (learning objectives). Think about this rule within the context of our entire office (mission and goals).

In doing so, I think we’ll have a clearer, stronger purpose for how we see ourselves impacting students now… for how we see ourselves impacting students in the future.

Here’s an interesting read from NPR.

Fixing the Freshman Year: Here’s What College Sophomores Say

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/03/04/466329252/fixing-the-freshman-year-heres-what-sophomores-say

Issues sophomores bring up in the article:

1. Financial issues
2. Connecting with students from different socioeconomic backgrounds
3. Connecting with professors

I know our students have similar obstacles.

If we know these issues exist, what do we do next? As the Center for High Impact Practices, is it our job to help fix them? Shrug.

Something to think about.

During Tuesday morning’s Information Technology Advisory Council (ITAC) meeting our CIO summarized a host of IT initiatives that the campus is prepping for.

One in particular, that I’ve mentioned before, is Distance Learning offering complete 4-year degrees beginning this Fall. ITS knows that the enrollment of these distance students will have a huge impact on their operations – access, storage, support, etc. I’ve been engaged in a lot of conversation with PEP in how this addition will impact tutoring, but what about the rest of us? I think the key take-away…in our success of meeting their needs…is (and should be) the importance of our online content. Distance students will be checking our websites first, before emailing us, or calling us for help.

And notice, I didn’t say, our online website…I said, online CONTENT. For while I, or Shanna, can make a website aesthetically and functionally pleasing…it starts with relevant and organized content.

• When was the last time we updated our handouts, activities, assignments, presentations?
• When was the last time we purged some old files from our shared drives?

In my head, we’re in the middle of the calm before the storm. And if we prep early enough, we’ll be ready.

Take a look at this article from the New Media Consortium’s blog that stresses the importance of organizing content first…before we put anything online. It’s more about course development, but I think it applies to all of us who put (or will put) anything online.

http://www.nmc.org/blog/my-shopping-bag-of-content/

One of my most favorite publications from which I get ideas/inspiration is the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report. The 2016 Higher Education Edition is an interesting one; feel free to take a look and reflect on some of your areas (as they are now, and as they might be in the future).
http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-horizon-report-he-EN.pdf

Pay particular attention to pp. 36-47. In these sections, the report details technology/learning trends and when institutions are/should be adopting them: One Year or Less, Two to Three Years, Four to Five Years.

Consider this the beginning of a new communication feature in our office, Thursday’s Thoughts.