Higher Education Observer

I found this article today and it expresses better than I my reflections on teaching critical thinking.  As is usual with these articles, the comments are equally thoughtful.   https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/11/29/roadblocks-better-critical-thinking-skills-are-embedded-college-experience-essay?mc_cid=e5fd55094b&mc_eid=ab27a3f05f My thoughts: 1.  Critical thinking has a variety of meanings and definitions. 2.  One has to have something to think critically about. 3.  "Educated people" think they are already critical thinkers and tend not to question their own assumptions; that's why there is an orthodoxy in higher ed. 4.  Redesigning a course to emphasize critical thinking does take a lot of effort. 5.  Logical fallacies is a good place to start. 6.  Critical thinking is related to disciplinary ways of thinking and processing.

This semester I am the instructor of record on six sections or courses.  I have one online course in professional communication and the traditional version of the same; I have a First Year Experience Seminar with a theme of Liberal Arts Education and what it means for the student; a section of basic public speaking (which I have taught for 38 years); a capstone course for Interdisciplinary studies majors; and one student in an internship.  Needless to say, I am a bit overwhelmed by this, on top of being the department chair and having some other responsibilities.  Consequently I am exhausted, had to cancel a family reunion trip this weekend, and am getting a nuclear stress test in two weeks because of certain symptoms I am having.  Even now typing this I am feeling shortness of breath. Stress is often an excuse used by students (and their professors) for why student plagiarize, which is the real subject of this blog post.  Having too much expected of them just sends students to the e

My Franklin Covey planner's quote for the day is "Education is not the filling of a pail.  It is the lighting of a fire." I like the quote.  It looks good on a poster or a Franklin Covey planner. Academics by nature don't accept things on face value, at least I was not trained to, so I am scrutinizing this.  It is by William Butler Yeats, a great poet (I used one of his in my first novel) but I don't know if he ever taught.  There's a big difference between making pronouncements about education and actually teaching day-in, day-out. Paolo Freire took up this theme with the idea of the banking model of education, which I call the tea pitcher model (I live in the South, but it's not sweet tea).  We of course don't just pour knowledge into students' heads. They do construct some knowledge themselves, but not without access to what has come before, which, well, was poured in. No model or quote or metaphor can encompass everything about learning

Hopefully this isn't behind a password, because it's the best thing I've read on higher education practice in a long time. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/08/05/defining-students-nontraditional-inaccurate-and-damaging-essay?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=6e820cc26b-DNU20160805&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-6e820cc26b-198482621 Today is the last Friday I am off due to our college's "no Friday in summer" policy.  I am glad for it, because it was a rough week. But I was doing some errands and went to the bank.  One of my former students (I have thousands of those) works there and came up while I was dealing with an account issue.  I recognized him and was trying to do my "Oh, let me remember you" game and I had to be reminded of his name, and it was only a year ago. He is having a hard time getting the classes he needs to fit around his work schedule due to our college's behindness to online co

I recommend this article for a basis for thinking about the novice-expert split in college teaching. Whether communication, psychology, economics, or physical sciences, our students come in with having been taught (a) too simplistically in high school about certain concepts (b) having bought into pop culture misinformation about advanced concepts, or (c) constructing their own mistaken knowlege, somehow.  We come to all learning with a set of knowledge and as stated here, if the set of knowledge is incorrect or has significant gaps, the instructor may miss the total point of teaching because they all aren't on a common footing.  I like to start even my basic public speaking class with a sense of where they understand the subject.   http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/prior-knowledge-unexpected-obstacle-learning/?utm_campaign=Faculty+Focus&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=32145789&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9mCmL339m6KUoYFKyJJ2QUq5Rqeof3

This is the last official week of my 19-month stint that was supposed to be 6 months in Academic Affairs at my college.  In the role of Assistant Vice President, I was stretched every day and loved every minute of it.  I will always consider it the high point of my career (and not just because of the salary increase). My next role is as Chair of the Department of Communication, where I will supervise twelve other full-time faculty, about ten adjuncts, a bachelor's degree program, and two associate's.  These include core service classes in communication, theatre, music, foreign languages, and art.  We are also launching a new bachelor's program in communication. The differences are great, and in some ways the new role will be a bigger challenge.  I also didn't know what I didn't know before; now I do know my gaps in knowledge and skills better. I am working on a book about leadership principles as shown in the book of Daniel.  This will I believe help others an

--> Diversity in higher education is not an issue of an enhanced education for the white kids, but an issue of access and opportunity for qualified minorities.   Diversity is first about fairness.  If we make it about diversity as educational enhancement, we are missing the point and just perpetuating the entitlement of white students.       Jedidah Isler, New York Times, December 17, 2015 writes:   “Black students’ responsibility in the classroom is not to serve as ‘seasoning’ to the academic soup. They do not function primarily to enrich the learning experience of white students. Black students come to the physics classroom for the same reason white students do; they love physics and want to know more. Do we require that white students justify their presence in the classroom? Do we need them to bring something other than their interest?” In 36 years of teaching I never thought of my black or Latino students as providing some service to the Caucasian ones.   I fi

Addendum:  I revisited this post on July 28, 2016, edited it, appalled by the number of typos. Sometimes I wonder if having an academic career is detrimental to being a Spirit-led disciple of Jesus Christ.   I present, as an academic would (especially one who was a debate coach for several years), the arguments. 1.      In a career in academia, we must be merit mongers.   In order to achieve tenure and promotion, the only two big monetary awards outside of the move to administration, or to be eligible for grants and awards, one’s accomplishments in all things teaching, service, research, and professional development must be documented, recorded, and broadcast.   Volunteerism for the institution is not valuable for it own sake, but for expanding the CV, or at least, one starts to feel that way.   One begins to question one’s motives.   Of course, one could leave things off the CV, but . . . their absence may mean the difference in a promotion or award. 2.      Academics teach,

I have neglected this blog for four months, and a recent trip to a higher education leadership conference got me writing again.  This is a repost of the other blog; I hope to do better here.   After reading Chancellor Dirks view http://news.berkeley.edu/2014/01/29/the-true-value-of-higher-ed/ and trying to listen to Liz Coleman’s Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/liz_coleman_s_call_to_reinvent_liberal_arts_education and attending a conference on higher educational leadership, I have been reflecting, or cogitating as I used to call it, on higher education’s purpose, problems, and future.   Actually, I was doing so before the last few days, but I find some time to write about it with a long weekend.   I do live in a better-than-average place to comment on these questions, since I have a doctorate, have taught in college for 36 years, and work as a college administrator. It seems that there are three basic views:   1.      Higher education should be responsive to the free mar