Po'okela Magazine-November/December 2009-Issue #46

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becomes an end in itself, and in a “curve” grading system, a high grade may just mean that a student was the best of a bad lot. This brings me to my favorite goal orientation. It’s not really one of the official orientations favored by theorists, but it’s one we all recognize. I call it a “strategic effort” orientation (but in the literature it’s often called “work avoidance”). This kind of orientation recognizes that there are many demands on everyone’s time, and sometimes students have to sacrifice quality in the face of overcommitment. The theorists who put forth the “work avoidance” orientation meant it to be a bad thing, but I differ. I defy anybody in the education system, faculty included, to assert that they haven’t had this orientation to some task they had. Maybe we’ve spent five instead of 10 hours grading during a week full of meetings. Or maybe we’ve skimped on the references in order to get a paper submitted before a deadline. None of us would say we were being work avoidant; we’re being strategic in how we spend our time.

No. 46 November-December 2009

How Many Pages? continued I think that’s what is happening in our opening scenario. The teacher wants her student to be mastery-oriented and to work as long as it takes to really understand. The student, on the other hand, may be faced with having to make choices – to be strategic in the way he allocates his effort, which requires a good understanding of what is required. If each could recognize and accept the different orientation that the other has, they wouldn’t be so annoyed. They might realize that both want to do the best job they can, but within the constraints of available resources. Such an understanding might even lead to some compromises that would allow everyone to achieve a reasonable goal, and possibly put an end to all that frustration. Reprinted with permission from The National Teaching and Learning Forum, a bi-monthly newsletter on college teaching available from James Rhem & Associates, LLC. Individual print subscription, $59USD /$65CD annually. Multiple orders discounted. Internet site licenses available ( www.ntlf.com ).

Contents 1 A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator 3 A LIFE CHANGED BY ART and by a teacher 4 How to Teach What You Don’t Actually Know 6 Beloit’s Mindset List for the Class of 2013 7 How Many Pages?

Teaching and Learning Center Staff Director: Michael Dabney (808) 543-8048 mdabney@hpu.edu

Back in the old days, around 10 or 15 B.C. (Before Cellphones,) I encountered a problem similar to cell phone distraction, but with print media. I used “fun” to address it. During the break in my two-hour lecture on basic principles of education, the student newspaper arrived. At the beginning of the second hour I was faced with a sea of open newspapers. I said to the class, “My obligation as a teacher is to those who are listening, and I’m concerned that the rustling of newspapers might distract them. Accordingly, I will have a page turning break at quarter after the hour, another at half past and a third at quarter to the hour. Please refrain from turning pages between those times.” To my surprise everyone put away their papers. I don’t know how to translate this into current technology. Perhaps I would ask them to turn down the light intensity on their phones so that they don’t distract those who are listening. The hidden message is: “I am bursting with enthusiasm about this subject matter and there are some students out there who also find it exciting. We can carry out our teaching and learning without you if you choose to withdraw. Just don’t interfere. This is not about me or my ego. It is about your engaging in the most exciting journey of your lifetime, if you choose to.” This piece originally appeared in a Professional and Organizational Development (POD) e-mail dated September 10, 2009. Reprinted with permission from Dr. Richard G. Tiberius, director and professor, Educational Development Office, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Department of Medical Education (R-98).

Administrative Coordinator: Sandra Meyer (808) 356-5250 smeyer@hpu.edu TLC Hours and Location: Monday to Friday 7:00 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Saturday 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Opening hours change during summer and winter sessions. 1188 Fort St. Mall, Suite 139 Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813

The Po‘okela newsletter is a bimonthly publication featuring articles of interest to faculty regarding pedagogy, scholarship, and service at Hawai‘i Pacific University. Opinions in this newsletter are those of the authors. Articles are chosen for their power to encourage reflection and discussion and do not reflect endorsement by the Teaching and Learning Center or Hawai‘i Pacific University.

8 Hawai‘i Pacific University • Po‘okela

“Po’okela serves HPU faculty and an outside mailing list of readers interested in our work, with the intention to prompt community building and reflection on professional practice, and to encourage innovation in teaching.”

Hawai‘i Pacific University • Teaching and Learning Center • http://tlc.hpu.edu

A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator by Gina Greco

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“Impersonal, disconnected, and unfulfilling.” That is how I would have answered if you asked me 10 years ago what I thought of online teaching. As a teacher, I feed off the energy of the crowd and thrive on exciting and entertaining my students to the point of drawing even the most resistant into attending class. When the economy and my growing family necessitated that I teach online as well as in the classroom, I couldn’t have been more surprised by the satisfaction and joy that could come from a distancelearning program. It is not easy. First there are the students themselves. They are generally older, multicultural, and have work and family commitments. Many are in the military or have a spouse in it. Many are single mothers. Some see this chance for an education as their only chance in life, their last option. To effectively work in the distance-learning realm, your students need to feel close to their classmates and professors, despite the miles between us. Establishing a bond, a common ground, a supportive arena for thought and expression may mean the difference between a successful, compassionate classroom and a lost, detached one. One step toward entering an online frame of mind is to reconsider how we write to our students. Staying positive and eliminating language that could be taken as biting or sarcastic, or that could be misinterpreted and cause anxiety or confusion, can make or break online classroom interactions. It is amazing how even an emoticon like “:)” at the end of an e-mail message can defuse a tense situation. Without the benefit of

tone, body language, or social cues like proximity or volume, no wonder it is so difficult to communicate effectively in the online classroom. We always hear that we should not write the way we speak. I agree — everywhere but in the online classroom. Our language must literally pop off the computer monitor. Like poetry, our words should be written as we want them to be read. We have to go back to the basics of our word-processing programs: Use bold fonts; use italics for emphasis and parentheses for clarity, as in “(slight sarcasm here).” Many of our students know the etiquette for speaking online better than we do. Shortcuts, emoticons, Internet-chat acronyms, and the like can be exploited positively if used in conjunction with strong, grammatically accurate language. I have often responded in the class-discussion forum with “LOL” (laugh out loud) followed by my reasons for enjoying a student’s post. They think it is hysterical that I am “lingo literate,” and I am ensuring that they read everything I post — even if it is just to see what I will say next. The elimination of anxiety is a superb tactic that can be used daily in interactions with students, in the planning and development of our assignments, in discussion-forum prompts, and in timely responses to questions in students’ individual forums. Clear, detailed assignments can be the difference between a student’s feeling confident or overwhelmed. I often construct course materials much like an owner’s manual: clear, without a lot of needless filler, and including helpful notes or tips for students continued on page 2


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