Higher Education Observer

It has been quite a while since I blogged here.  My life is quite busy, as I am a second tier (my terminology) administrator now, find myself teaching two traditional and one online class, and am helping to create a textbook for basic speech.  This last is in response to receiving a grant.  Open Educational Resources is very big in the University System of Georgia right now, and my colleagues and I won quite a large grant for this project.  It's overwhelming.  I have written two speech textbooks before, one in two editions, but now technology has changed so much that the attempt is quite different.  Perhaps I will write a good long blog post about this experience.  Being so busy, my academic writing has suffered, and that is disappointing to me right now because one of the reasons I pursued a doctorate at this stage in life (graduating in my late 50s) was to do research and write on student learning, adult learning, and faculty development. That said, it looks like certain post

This title has a double meaning.  I have not read more than the first chapter of To Set a Watchman, and probably won't for a while.  I have about 100 books ahead of it, but I'll read it before I watch the movie, promise. I also have to cowrite an open-resource, no-cost textbook for our basic communication course in the next four or five months, along with preparing to teach three classes, work full time as an administrator, try to market my latest novel, write my next one, and oh, yes, live. However, back to the point.  In reading various comment boards and social media on the new release (hers, not mine--I would love to even get some negative press on mine, and it's much cheaper than hers!), I have been perplexed by the reactions to the way that Atticus is portrayed--as a segregationist, which is to most synonymous with racist.  I have even read posts that say "I was going to name my son Atticus--so glad I didn't!"  (Are you kidding me?  Would you name your

I get a pretty much daily newsletter/email from Faculty Focus, and this link will take you to an article I think every college teacher should read. http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/research-highlights-how-easily-readily-students-fabricate-excuses-2/ This is my take on it:  basically, a student will lie about not getting an assignment in regardless of the "point value" in terms of the final grade.  So it is not a matter of course structure, assignment creation, or instructor treatment of the student, although all those are important.  It has to do with the basic moral and ethical structure of the student. It's like the old joke about "Would you sleep with someone for a million dollars?"  When the answer is yes, the person is asked, "Would you sleep with someone for a thousand dollars?"  When the person answering the question says, "What are you doing?" the response is, "I already know what you are, now I am

Bringing Abundance Back, which has nothing to do with politics, religion, or social issues, (like my others!) is now available.  The prices are as low as I could make them, you get a lot of story and bang for the buck, and all proceeds go to World Vision to dig wells in Africa. Bringing Abundance Back

I am currently serving in an interim administrative position.  I enjoy it very much and appreciate the opportunity.  However, I do not want to hold on to it too tenaciously.  My future in this position is in God's hands. Due to a past commitment, though, I am also teaching two classes this summer.  Driving home the privilege of teaching occurred to me.  I have been trying to get away from it because I have done it so long, yet am I devaluing it in favor of the supposed power of administration?  How can I devalue something as important as teaching, such an honor, such a joy?

I am currently fulfilling an administrative role at my college.  It is interim, and I do not know my future other than I will be at that institution for a little while longer.  I enjoy it very much, although the two aspects of teaching I liked the most--the students and my teaching colleagues--are not as large a part of my life right now. Between finishing my doctorate and stepping into this role, I have to admit to a different self-view and more reticence about what I put on my blogs.  Many things I would like to sound off about I realize it's best not to "go there."  At least while I am "assistant vice president," I will censor myself about upcoming Supreme Court decisions the fact that I got a solicitation from the Bill Clinton Foundation today (they want MY money?) the democratic presidential candidates The current president Amtrak accidents Affordable Care Act murderers at the Boston marathon But anyone who reads this can probably figure it out.

Last Friday I graduated from the University of Georgia with my Ed.D.  I was hooded, and have the photos to prove it (although I can't get a transcript yet).  I plan to use it to advance the profession of college teaching by helping individual instructors and hopefully to make more money (why else spend three years of one's life on such a process). 

An incident with a student today got me thinking about the "flipping the classroom" trend, or buzzword, or fad, or whatever you feel disposed to call it.  However, as I am now an administrator for an indeterminate amount of time, I can't go into the details of the encounter, so I'll skip to the reflection.  Suffice it to say that the student was complaining that some instructors had gone to a "flipped classroom" approach and it didn't work for this particular student. So, why did it not work for this student?  One of three reasons: 1.  the student did not do her part to make the learning strategy work 2.  the instructors did it "wrong" 3.  the instructional strategy of flipping is not the perfection it is touted as. Now, I am being purposefully snarky.  I do not hold to #3.  Flipping is something good teachers have been doing for a long time, but good teachers have not been flipping, too. What about #1?  Highly possible.  Other instruc

Being mission-driven is a good thing, or so we are told.  Assuming it is, mission can be framed in two ways:  as transforming a system or facilitating individual change. I based my dissertation on a social constructionist view of organizations rather than a systems view.  I won't get into a defense of that now, but I think people in the organizations for the most part "create" the organization by their discourse and behavior. Recently a colleague who is, like me, devoted to faculty development, said that she was all about educational transformation.  I would say I am all about helping other professors be better professors.  I think the difference is this:  I want the professors to develop their own gifts, not change to a different person.  I am not sure, but a faculty developer can have a "I'm going to change people for their own good according to my agenda."  That could explain resistance. I am working on a paper in this regard.  Faculty are resistant

I spend a lot of time thinking about this topic--it's my job to do so, at least until June 30, when my time as an interim administrator is up.  My convictions. Tenure will go away.  There can be other, better contractual situations for faculty.  Or at least it needs to be restructured.  Academic freedom is a word that gets thrown around and is meaningless because of so many definitions for it.  If academic freedom is in any way conflated with "lack of accountability," that needs to go away.  Lack of accountability in the college classroom is unsustainable.  I hear faculty say, "I just want to close my door and deal with students."  I understand that; it's why we chose this work.  But why so defensive?  Why not more open and transparent about what goes on in there?  Not to put the burden of proof on hard working faculty, but I have to wonder about a refusal to let others know what and how you teach.  Where else in the economy is such secrecy allowed? (Oth

I was privileged yesterday to attend a summit on Open Educational Resources.  I have a lot of thoughts on this initiative. The keynote speaker was Cable Green of Creative Commons, which was a real treat for me as someone concerned with publishing.  He is a very good presenter and passionate about these projects. OER is fueled by a number of forces:  the almost totally free distribution power of digital media on the Internet, the rising costs of tuition and textbooks, and the research showing that students are not buying textbooks and dropping courses due to the high prices of them.  Prices are outrageous and unsustainable, and I have empathy of students in this regard. However, I don't think OER is the only answer to the last point.  That is a course design problem too.  If students can pass a class and meet the outcomes (often not the same thing) without access to the textbook, there is something wrong with the course and the teaching of it.  Assigning a book that is not criti

I am now Dr. Barbara G. Tucker, B.S., M.A., M.A., Ed.D.