Academic Executives Blog
Posts for ‘Online Learning’
Learning and the Academic Paradigm Shift
by Pearson Learning SolutionsSunday, September 25th, 2011
Paradigm: a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated; broadly: a philosophical or theoretical framework of any kind
Pearson eCollege’s Jeff Borden’s article “The Future of Online Learning” from eLearn Magazine touches on the notion of the paradigm shift—that often-cited, albeit not- really-understood (until it hits you in the face) phenomenon in which your world is disrupted, and you are never able to see things through the same lens again. To illustrate, think about the nature of your world-view when you were ten, and the nature of your world view now. Things probably (hopefully!) look and feel a lot different. Various factors contribute to this shift, but at the forefront of the change is human development and ultimately, education.
Speaking of education, what about the switch from traditional classroom and textbook-based learning to e-learning and multimedia forums that Jeff Borden aptly describes? This trend has caused quite a stir in the world of academia and it’s no wonder. When a paradigm shift takes place, there is an element of fear involved for interested parties, even if the change is gradual. “What if my lifestyle becomes drastically different?” “What if I’m no longer relevant?” These are, of course, valid concerns and fears that come along with any major change and that are being asked by stakeholders in the growing shift from the classroom to the chatroom, so to speak. Not too dissimilar to the fears faced by the student entering high school for the first time and worrying about things like lockers and sports team tryouts.
At the core, this paradigm shift in education was caused by an upward swing in not only technology, but also in the industry’s understanding of the connection between psychology and learning. No two minds think alike, as we’ve known for eons. Why, then, should students be forced to take their brains, full of limitless potential and ability, and conform them to a rigid course of learning that might essentially stifle their creativity and limit their power over their own future? The one-size-fits-all approach to education is not conducive to the success of the student outside of the textbook. Preparing students for success in learning, success in creating, and success in life should be the top priority, and that’s really what online and multimedia learning is all about. It’s less about memorization and recital, and more about application of knowledge to real-life situations. It opens up the forums for a legitimate two-way dialogue to occur; ultimately putting the power and the responsibility on the student and helping them gain confidence in their abilities. It’s a collaborative and limitless world, full of creative outlets and practical elements, where education no longer has a rigid form, but becomes a fluid, real, and dynamic part of life.
From the customizable course content, to the ability to track one’s progress and determine weak spots, progress and future behaviors; the comprehensive online learning system is all about freedom and flexibility, but it’s also about measured progress. Students are no longer just a filled seat and a checked box on an attendance roster. They are living entities with very real abilities, behaviors, needs and priorities. What better way to help them succeed than by not just teaching, but also listening? That’s a paradigm shift we can all be proud of. It’s time to grow that adolescent of an education system into a fully-functional adult who is ready to thrive in the real world.
From Jurassic Park to Wall-E: The Evolution of Learning
by Pearson Learning SolutionsFriday, September 23rd, 2011
EDUCAUSE is just around the corner, and Pearson’s theme for this year’s conference is “The Evolution of Learning”. The title is timely, giving a nod to the shift in academic practices from traditional classroom and textbook-based styles of learning, to blended online classes and customizable course content. While academia has always been in a state of evolution, it’s safe to say that this is among the most epic shifts to have taken place. The flexibility and power afforded the teacher through the use of customized e-books, for example, makes the hardcover textbook, (while it admittedly has its benefits), seem like something of a dinosaur. New multimedia and interactive teaching techniques are putting more and more potential in the hands of the student, and allowing learning to fly out of the classroom and into the real world.
As Pearson’s “Evolution of Learning” video puts it, “When you think about learning, where does it happen? In a classroom, lecture hall, at home, a local park, coffee shop, or museum? Does it happen when you’re on the train or bus? Learning can happen anywhere, at any time.” This echoes Pearson’s mantra, “Always Learning”, and stresses the importance of nontraditional education.
We live in a global world, and the demands of work, responsibility and life mean that not everyone has the luxury of being able to attend traditional, on-site classes during “normal” school hours. Or should we even call that a luxury? Students are largely finding that there are as many, if not more benefits to comprehensive online learning systems than exist with classroom-based models. For example, they can measure their academic progress in real-time; discern with relative ease exactly where their weaknesses and strengths lie; and they can see predictions of their future academic performance based on previous online behavior and activity. These are crucial elements of the learning process that simply cannot be gauged with such great accuracy in the (paradoxically) less-personalized classroom environment.
If student success is the ultimate goal of the academic world, then this is the kind of evolution everyone should believe in. This is an exciting year for EDUCAUSE, and it will be interesting to see what kind of ideas and discussions are generated there on this very topic. The evolution of learning has essentially taken us on a rich, interactive and multimedia journey from Jurassic Park to Wall-E…and who knows what’s next?
The Not-So Secret Life of the American Teenager
by Pearson Learning SolutionsThursday, April 14th, 2011
Written By: Rachel Cubas
Academic Trainer & Consultant
Pearson eCollege
It was right around the transition into life as a teenager that my little brother, Joseph, self-elected to become “Joe” and relinquish the longstanding “Joey” that had been our reference for him since his birth. This change seemed an emerging sign of the abandonment of childhood and his notable leap into young adulthood. It was all too soon after that we were now prepping him for his first college semester.
Homeschooled from kindergarten, our family wondered how “Joe” would acclimate to a more traditional classroom environment in which he would now be sharing the classroom with other peers, working in groups, and collaborating at a level that had not been previously required of him through his independent studies. After all, when asked about whether he would like to begin college online or in a traditional delivery format, Joe elected the latter, stating that he wanted the formal ‘classroom’ experience. And so the first semester began and Joe was now ‘attending’ school, was part of a classroom of peers, and now had multiple professors. Without letting him on to our strategy, we resolved to observe his patterns, behaviors, and adaptations into his new academic environment. Through our highly-sophisticated and undercover investigative efforts (a bit exaggerated, I’m sure), we observed a few notable changes and emergent patterns.
Though punctuality had always seemed to be a sensitive point and value to Joe, college seemed to augment his innate sense of commitment to being on time, often leading him to leave the house with more than ample time to allow for the drive to school (and any other eventuality). A marked change for Joe also seemed to emerge in his wardrobe. Whereas the worn-in t-shirt and casual pair of Levi’s had been more than enough for fishing outings, visiting friends and even attending church, college life seemed to demand a more trendy and polished look. After all this time, the classic Ralph Lauren polo shirts, the dark denim jeans and plaid golf-style shorts I had always gifted to him but had never really seen him wear, were becoming his wardrobe pieces of preference. I was (internally) overjoyed.
Our heightened state of awareness led us to observe a third remarkable pattern and one that most sparked my analysis as an Online Instructor and Academic Consultant- Joe’s seamless transition into technology-infused social learning and collaboration.
Prior to entering college, Joe had a MySpace & Facebook account, a newer-model laptop, an iPod and a web-enabled Smartphone. And each of these was an integrated part of his daily life, used to check sports scores and stats, watch online movies or YouTube videos, surf the web and connect with friends. With over 6,000 text messages a month through his I-phone (yes, this is true!) we knew that technology was as basic a need for Joe’s world as anything Maslow defined for us years ago. It was, however, still the case that Joe had never before encountered the need (or opportunity) to truly use these same resources in the context of his studies and formal education. What would this mean for Joe?
- What use of technology would he encounter as supplemental, required, or integrated into his traditional courses?
- Would he find it difficult, awkward, or otherwise unappealing to link his formal learning spaces with his virtual spaces and technology?
And what we noticed was that the same daily use of technology Joe employed in his personal life prior to college was now being enhanced and enlarged to include application to an academic arena. This could be observed in his new study patterns. On a typical night of homework, you could walk into the house and find Joe sitting on a large reading chair with his laptop propped open, iPhone in hand and headphones drooping off his ears. A closer look at his laptop reveals a myriad of ‘windows’ (programs and web sessions) open: his teacher’s email with his assignment prompt, a Microsoft Word document where he is building his assignment, a Facebook page where he is messaging classmates about the assignment (and theirs as well) and a MySpace page from which he is listening to his latest favorite artist’s album- all the while sending and receiving the occasional text message. On other occasions, he’d have each of these resources at use and still toggle back and forth between the electronic copy of the lecture from his class, web pages for additional research, and several apps going on his I-phone to help tackle his homework and collaborate with classmates, i.e. metric conversion/calculator app, dictionary/thesaurus app and live chat app.
It became clear. With each new class and passing week, Joe, fueled by the need to collaborate with classmates for team projects, engage with instructor-driven asynchronous communication and supplemental content, including internet-based self-study resources, and his own desire to connect with newfound friends and classmates, was quickly finding a new application for the technology he already used and thus merging his formal learning space with the virtual spaces and technology at his disposal.
The interesting order I’d like to highlight for your reflection and my own in the observed transition for Joe is that he seemed to find the transition to not be much of a transition at all. In fact, for Joe, utilizing technology and virtual resources to communicate and connect with others was already a standard (daily) use case for him, and leveraging Facebook, online discussions, live chats, and mobile devices to communicate and collaborate with peers in projects stemming from his formal learning was no stretch of his technological muscle. Adapting to now applying his formal learning process to his access and use of technology seemed a no-brainer (and peripheral adjustment) on the road to accomplishing the true transition- learning how to work in formal groups, collaborate with classmates, and engage with college professors on and off campus, in real time and asynchronously. Of course, this seems to beg the question for us, as educators, if we are being as purposeful when asking “how can I use x, y or z technology in my classroom” rather than ensure that the technology becomes a solution to a real pedagogical need instead of “a solution looking for a problem (As cited by Meloni, 2010).”
Though learning through opportunities for collaboration has historically proven effective in formal education, my observations of Joe in his first college semester have illustrated for me how remarkably different the context is in which this occurs today. After all, he’s juggling far more devices, programs and services than I had access to in my formal learning experience. And with the number of teenagers using technology and the internet across all areas of their lives, this context continues to evolve. In fact, 87% of young adults between the ages of 12-17 can be considered to have an online presence. And if you think this means simply listening to music or shopping for new trends, consider that even more to the point of collaboration and social learning, 64% of these young adults are engaged in some form of ongoing content creation ranging from photo-sharing, posting status updates, blogging and maintaining dialogues through web-based and mobile technologies (Lenhart, 2009).
For these students, including Joe, it often appears it is a natural, seamless, and in many cases uneventful adaptation to utilize all of the tech services and devices at their disposal to accomplish their formal educational tasks and informal daily learning, suggesting for you and I the potential for using technology and multimedia purposefully and intentionally for both formal and informal as well as independent and collaborative application. And as recent research suggests, students and graduates, such as Bernice Bain (introduced in the next paragraph), when asked to reflect on their own formal learning journey and the integration of technology, seem to favor the effective integration of good pedagogy and accessible technology, reflecting in Bernice’s case: “When my online teachers integrated multimedia into my coursework, it added dimension to the learning environment.”
I recently had the opportunity to ask Bernice Bain, alumnus of and current eLearning Coordinator for the MacArthur School of Leadership’s Online program at Palm Beach Atlantic University, to share her thoughts on what impact, if any, studying online had on her own personal use of technology as an adult student and working professional. Bernice shared: “I have always been an ‘online researcher.’ Although I did not formally study online, I used technology to find answers, play games or just seek information. Studying online opened my eyes to other distance learning options. When looking for alternatives to traditional public education [for my own kids], I sought online alternatives. Now, my middle school and high school age kids complete all of their studies online.“ Reflecting on her own college experience and her perspective for future program graduates, when asked to speak to the place of technology and multimedia in today’s college education, Bernice is clear in asserting: “The global culture of today demands technology be integrated into college education. Technology brings education options to people who may not have had the option otherwise. As global business leaders we should be seeking the best talent. Educational delivery means should not limit the development of the next “superstar”, no matter where they are located.”
Bernice’s perspective on the issues affected by technology, including business administrators seeking the best talent from amongst college grads, is not very different from what we see as considerations for the issues of teaching and learning affected by technology in recent research. In fact, a recent survey commissioned by Cisco and conducted by Washington, DC-based Clarus Research Group “revealed that education is transitioning to the new “connected learning” networked economy, which requires technological skills development for increased global competitiveness in education…The three teaching and learning issues affected by technology rated most critical were teamwork and project-based learning, student engagement, and preparation for the workforce (Meyer, 2011).
One could recognize the evident and imminent need for education to shift to support the needs of a new global economy and the new context of today’s student. Recognizing this and observing Joe’s rapid integration of education into his daily use of technology (in that order), while acknowledging that sources point to such behavior as the norm rather than the exception, I have to ask some pertinent questions and hope you will join me in reflecting on the same:
1) With social learning occurring in the social context of my students in and outside of my classroom/course, what might I observe and know to be true about how that context has changed for my students in the last 10 years? 5 years? And how might that context look in the years to come?
2) Social learning theory considers that individuals can learn from one another through interactivity dynamics such as observational learning, imitation and modeling. How am I intentionally and purposefully creating such opportunities in my classroom/online courses given the changes in context?
3) While some educational professionals advocate pushing technology and gadgets completely out of the classroom and others assert that this can be similarly applied to online courses and the integration of Web 2.0 tools and multimedia, students like Joe seem to naturally and seamlessly utilize all of the tech services and devices at their disposal to accomplish their formal educational tasks and informal daily learning. With this, what is my stance on technology and gadgets in the classroom and the integration of technology, such as Web 2.0 tools and multimedia, in my online course(s)?
What are your thoughts? Let’s dialogue!
References
Bain, B. (2011). Personal Interview. March 16, 2011.
Lenhart, A. H. (2009). Teens and Technology. Washington DC: PewResearchCenter.
Meloni, J. (2010). Technologies for Teaching: Strategies and Pitfalls. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved February 18, 2011 from http://chronicle.com/article/Technologies-for-Teaching/125109/.
Meyer, L. (2011). Survey Finds Strong Support for Educational Technology. The Journal. Retrieved March 14, 2011 from http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/03/14/survey-finds-strong-support-for-educational-technology.aspx.
Instructor’s Tip: Understanding Gradebook Weighting
by Pearson Learning SolutionsThursday, April 14th, 2011
Written By:
Rob Kadel, Ph.D.
Supervisor, Academic Training & Consulting
Pearson eCollege
The use of weighted assignments in a course is something that few outside of mathematics and statistics understand. Indeed, when I mention the use of weights during one of our workshops, I am usually greeted with a chorus of groans. This is not because weights are difficult to use, necessarily. But they can be a little difficult to understand. So let’s break down this concept, see what weights can do for your grading and learn how to use them in Pearson LearningStudio.
Weights are great tools in grading because they allow you to use any point values and grading scale that you think is appropriate for the assignments in your course. For example, let’s suppose that you have an eight-week course, with discussion forums to be graded each week, a quiz each week, and three essays due in weeks three, five, and eight. And suppose that you want each of these to count equally toward the students’ final grades. Many of us would set up something like this as our grading scheme:
- Discussions (8 @ 10 points each) = 80 points
- Quizzes (8 @ 10 points each) = 80 points
- Essays (3 @ 26.67 points each) = 80 points
Okay, maybe you don’t make the essays worth exactly 26.67 points each; maybe you go for 25 points each for a total of 75 points on the essays. It’s close enough, right? Hopefully you see the logic here: three different types of assignments each making up (about) the same amount of points toward the final grade.
This, in and of itself, is a form of weighting. You’ve weighted each type of assignment so that it is one-third of the total grade.
But, suppose that you have a rubric you use for grading discussion forums that’s on a scale from 1 to 3, i.e., 1 = below standards, 2 = meets standards, 3 = above standards, or something along those lines. It’s a lot easier to grade on a 3-point scale than it is to grade on a 10-point scale (as proposed above). How do you divide a three-item rubric into 10 points? 3.33 points per item? 3 points for below standards, 7 for meets standards, and 10 for above standards? Using a three-item rubric, it’s a lot easier to grade 1, 2, 3.
Suppose, also, that you’d like to give grades on the essays along a 100-point scale, rather than 25 or 26.67 points. Now you’ve got a grading scheme that looks like this:
- Discussions (8 @ 3 points each) = 24 points
- Quizzes (8 @ 10 points each) = 80 points
- Essays (3 @ 100 points each) = 300 points
Now none of the items are equal, and if you used this grading scheme in the Gradebook, the three essays would be worth 12.5 times the eight discussion forums! (300 / 24 = 12.5) What a mess!
And so the weighting feature in the Pearson LearningStudio Gradebook can come to your rescue. You want to grade the discussions, quizzes, and essays according the scheme just above. But you also want them to be equally weighted toward the final course grade. No problem.
In your Pearson LearningStudio course, switch to Author mode and go to the Gradebook. Setup your Gradebook with the items listed above, adding those items to the Gradebook, making them gradable across the eight weeks of the course, etc. On the Assign Points/Weights tab in the Gradebook, enter the point values for each of the items according the grading scheme you’ve already decided on. So, based on the example above, you would have something like this:
Note in the message toward the top of the picture that “Gradebook weighting is turned off.” Click on the Preferences tab to turn on the weighting option. Check the box next to “Use weighted calculations” and then click Save Changes. Then click the Assign Points/Weights tab to switch back to that screen.
Now, you’ll see a Gradebook screen that looks like this:
Don’t be frightened by all the blank boxes with % next to them! The key to using weights is to make use of the button that says “Distribute Weight %,” which will fill in all those boxes for you.
To make use of that button, consider this: you have three types of assignments that you want to be equally weighted toward a final grade of 100% in the course. Now, unfortunately, 100 doesn’t divide evenly by 3. The closest you can get is 33.333333, etc. So to make this easy, let’s say that we’ll make the discussions worth 33.3% of the final grade, the essays also worth 33.3% of the final grade, and the quizzes worth 33.4% of the final grade, for a total of 100%. (See below for other ways of distributing the final grade.)
Here’s the magical part. Click on the button that says “Distribute Weight %.” A box will pop up that asks you what percentage of the final grade you want to distribute among certain assignments. So you tell LearningStudio you want to distribute 33.3% across the eight discussion forums. Fill in the box so it looks like this:
Notice that I checked the boxes next to all the Discussion Forums, but I didn’t check any boxes next to the essays or quizzes (which appear if I scroll further down in that window). Once you’ve done this, click the button that says “Distribute Weight %.” Pearson LearningStudio automatically calculates that 33.3% of the final grade spread out over eight discussion forums makes each worth 4.16% of the final grade (except for the last discussion, which it makes worth 4.18%, indicating that the system has even accounted for any errors in rounding off numbers).
If I repeat the above process for the three essays (33.3%) and the eight quizzes (33.4%), I end up with a Gradebook that looks like this:
To reiterate, this allows me to use any point systems I want for my different assignment types, and still have each assignment count towards about one-third of the final grade.
But you can also change the weighting depending on your course and your appraisal of the value of each assignment. Suppose you are teaching a course that is writing-intensive, and the essays should be worth 60% of the final grade, the discussion forums are worth 30% of the final grade, and the quizzes are worth just 10% of the final grade. Again, you would use the “Distribute Weight %” button, but in the box that pops up, enter those percentages to be distributed across the assignments, like this example for the essays:
Repeat the process distributing 30% across the discussions and 10% across the quizzes, and you’ll have a Gradebook that looks like this:
Note that you can change any of the individual values of the weights, and that can be a little more complex. The system will allow your weights to sum up to greater than 100% (because when you add extra credit to the mix, you make it possible for students to earn greater than 100% in the course). So it’s important to make sure that if you change any of the individual percentages in the Gradebook, the total still equals what you expect — in this case 100%, as shown in the upper-right corner of the picture above.
In short, the only math you need to do is in deciding how much each type of assignment counts toward the final grade. If you can add numbers up to 100, you’re all set. Pearson LearningStudio will do the rest of the calculations for you.
Catch Pearson at these upcoming events!
by Pearson Learning SolutionsTuesday, March 8th, 2011
Upcoming Events:
- Microcomputers in Education 3/14 – 3/16/2011
Scottsdale, AZ - NERCOMP 3/28 – 3/30/2011
Providence, RI - Sloan C Blended Learning 3/28 – 3/29/2011
Oak Brook, IL
Catch Pearson Presenting at Sloan-C Blended Conference, March 28-29, 2011, International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, April 4-8, 2011 and AACC, April 9-12, 2011.
Instructor’s Tip: Rubric Resources
by Pearson Learning SolutionsTuesday, March 8th, 2011
Written by: Brian Epp
Assessment & Analytics Group Manager
Academic Training & Consulting, Pearson eCollege
Rubrics have been used in K-12 education for years due largely to the shift to standards based education. Calls for accountability are prompting a similar shift in higher education which means faculty are increasingly being asked to participate in the development of student learning outcomes and their associated evaluation rubrics.
Well-written outcome rubrics provide the foundation for assessment because they define the important criterion along with performance level descriptions for the varying levels of mastery toward a learning outcome. This is helpful for faculty because it reduces subjectivity in the assessment of student work. It’s also invaluable for students to be able to see how their work will be evaluated so they can essentially choose whether they are content with proficiency or if they’d like to strive for excellence.
Here are a few salient resources to help faculty develop assignment rubrics:
URL: http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/rubrics.htm
Title: Authentic Assessment Toolbox
Annotation: Jon Mueller, Professor of Psychology at North Central College in Illinois, provides an excellent overview on rubrics.
URL: http://www.aacu.org/value/index.cfm
Title: VALUE: Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education
Annotation: Association of American Colleges & Universities led a national, collaborative effort to develop a total of 15 of the most common general education rubrics. The rubrics can be downloaded at no cost from this site and then adapted as needed.
URL: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
Title: Create Rubrics for your Project-Based Learning Activities
Annotation: This site is geared toward K-12 educators; however, it allows users to select an assignment type and to then selectively choose from a variety of criterion with pre-populated performance level descriptors that can be adapted later by faculty if desired.
Educator’s Voice: Ethical Codes and Their Application
by Pearson Learning SolutionsTuesday, March 8th, 2011
Ethical Codes and their Application
Written By: Ken Switzer, Ph.D.
Senior Academic Trainer & Consultant, Pearson eCollege
Introduction
The instruction of students and related activities in the area of education should be based on a code of ethics for the educational professional as educators carry out a wide variety of instructional duties whether in the classroom, blended classroom or online courseroom .
Education is intimately connected with ethics, because holistically speaking education is more than simply passing examination and acquiring degrees. . . the . . . educator makes a positive, ethical and interventionist role by helping students to learn beyond the stereotypical classroom situation. . . (Demiray & Sharma, 2009)
Often educators’ discussion of ethical behavior focuses on “the principle of nonmaleficence that can best be summarized in the moral injunction: Above all, do no harm.” (Spinello, 2011) Frequently, in this line of discussion, educators emphasize student behavior. For example, we admonish students concerning plagiarism of other’s work which harms the student and, theoretically, the readers of the student’s material.
With regard to themselves interacting with students, educators tend to focus on educational ethics as behaviors that emphasize positive outcomes in the learning environment, or beneficence. For example, educators in the online environment are generally concerned with establishing a viable instructor presence and developing a robust learning community.
Codes of Ethics in Education
Educators should be aware of and, in theory, bound by various professional codes of ethics. Whether clearly articulated as a code of ethics or presented as ethical guidelines for carrying out professional duties, it behooves instructors in every educational environment to consider how such ethical codes can be applied to themselves and their conduct in carrying out their professional duties with regard to the student, the institution and the profession. Similarly, it can also be argued that there is a professional duty with regard to parents, the community and the funding sources for educational programs though these are seldom addressed in our discussions.
Professional associations such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) provide codes of ethics for their members. The NEA’s code places an emphasis on the two areas of commitment to the student and commitment to the profession (NEA, 2011). The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has a similar Statement on Professional Ethics as noted below (AAUP, 2011). The AAUP notes that these are guidelines for the profession with no enforcement action other than that taken at the institutional level. In the related field of training the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) has a code of ethics similar to those of professional education associations, with six principles guiding behavior in the training environment (ISSPI, 2011).
AAUP Statement on Professional Ethics
- Professors, guided by a deep conviction of the worth and dignity of the advancement of knowledge, recognize the special responsibilities placed upon them. Their primary responsibility to their subject is to seek and to state the truth as they see it. To this end, professors devote their energies to developing and improving their scholarly competence. They accept the obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge. They practice intellectual honesty. Although professors may follow subsidiary interests, these interests must never seriously hamper or compromise their freedom of inquiry.
- As teachers, professors encourage the free pursuit of learning in their students. They hold before them the best scholarly and ethical standards of their discipline. Professors demonstrate respect for students as individuals and adhere to their proper roles as intellectual guides and counselors. Professors make every reasonable effort to foster honest academic conduct and to ensure that their evaluations of students reflect each student’s true merit. They respect the confidential nature of the relationship between professor and student. They avoid any exploitation, harassment, or discriminatory treatment of students. They acknowledge significant academic or scholarly assistance from them. They protect their academic freedom.
- As colleagues, professors have obligations that derive from common membership in the community of scholars. Professors do not discriminate against or harass colleagues. They respect and defend the free inquiry of associates, even when it leads to findings and conclusions that differ from their own. Professors acknowledge academic debt and strive to be objective in their professional judgment of colleagues. Professors accept their share of faculty responsibilities for the governance of their institution.
- As members of an academic institution, professors seek above all to be effective teachers and scholars. Although professors observe the stated regulations of the institution, provided the regulations do not contravene academic freedom, they maintain their right to criticize and seek revision. Professors give due regard to their paramount responsibilities within their institution in determining the amount and character of work done outside it. When considering the interruption or termination of their service, professors recognize the effect of their decision upon the program of the institution and give due notice of their intentions.
- As members of their community, professors have the rights and obligations of other citizens. Professors measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of their responsibilities to their subject, to their students, to their profession, and to their institution. When they speak or act as private persons, they avoid creating the impression of speaking or acting for their college or university. As citizens engaged in a profession that depends upon freedom for its health and integrity, professors have a particular obligation to promote conditions of free inquiry and to further public understanding of academic freedom.
Reflection
Statement one emphasizes knowledge in the instructor’s field of study and expertise. It is interesting that the majority of instructors at the higher education level have received no training in “education” per se or in online education. The AAUP statement addresses only the content area, such as biology or composition. As professional educators, what responsibility should we have to be “experts” in the field of education to at least the degree of understanding such areas as the design of measurable learning objectives, the effective delivery of content, and the assessment of students through multiple approaches?
Statement four notes that professors should seek to be “effective teachers.” As noted in Statement 1, instructors have commonly received no training in how to be an effective instructor. As professional educators in online education, what responsibility should we have to understand what is “effective?” For example, how does one show a full range of instructor presence in a course and how does one establish and maintain a viable learning community for students?
Statements two and four address students to one degree or another. Statements one, three, four and five address responsibilities to the profession or institution. As professional educators in online education, what responsibility should we have to the larger community and to other stakeholders in education? For example, do we have a responsibility to the taxpayers whose taxes fund public institutions, or to shareholders if we are at a for-profit institution? Do we have a responsibility, if we are at a public institution, to legislative bodies that set guidelines and provide funding?
References
American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (2011) Statement on professional ethics. Retrieved February 4, 2011, from
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/contents/statementonprofessionalethics.htm
Demiray, U., & Sharma, R.C. (2009). Ethical practices and implications in distance education: an introduction. London: IGI Global.
International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) (2011) Code of ethics. Retrieved February 2, 2011, from
http://www.ispi.org/content.aspx?id=418&terms=code+of+ethics
National Education Association (NEA) (2011) Code of ethics. Retrieved February 2, 2011, from
http://www.nea.org/home/30442.htm
Spinello, Richard A. (2011). Cyberethics, morality and law in cyberethics (p. 22).
(4th ed.). Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Thoughts from Jeff’s Desk: Readiness Solutions
by Pearson Learning SolutionsTuesday, February 15th, 2011
Written By: Jeff D Borden, M.A.
Sr. Director of Teaching & Learning, Pearson eCollege
If the research and vision illustrated in, “Disrupting Class” (Christensen, 2009) is correct, half of all high school classes will be taken online by 2019. If that is the case, how many classes will use the online modality for colleges and universities? 60%? 70%? More?
Regardless of your attraction, indifference, or intolerance to online education, it is not just here to stay, it seems poised to change education dramatically. From delivery, to radical transparency of the teaching and learning process, to individualization and beyond, education technology will transform education. And this transformative catalyst is widening its net to capture more and more learners every day.
From simulations to serious games to immersive environments to rich media, students at all levels are now able to access fantastically diverse and educationally helpful assets both locally and on the Internet. From Starfall to Disney’s “Club Penguin” to Pearson’s own “Poptropica,” which reaches ten million children in over 190 countries every month with tech driven education literacy assets, technology is changing education.
So, if this is all accurate and technology is changing education, then why do we still have the same troubles we have always had? Why are literacy and numeracy scores in the USA still not meeting the levels of other countries? Why do we still have such high dropout rates? Why is readiness (both college and career) still such a problem? Etc.
Unfortunately, there is no “magic bullet” for all of these things. While there are answers to these and to hundreds of other educational problems, unfortunately the policy has often trumped the process and so our educational delivery suffers. Political differences and agendas seem to polarize and paralyze the education system more than promote solutions. And while I believe that eventually these issues will be fixed (it will come to a boiling point someday), that time is likely still far off. But there are some glimmers of hope, in spite of traditional struggles between stakeholders.
For example, I think of the conversations I have had with multiple state education leaders. States are realizing that attacking the problems of education from 1,000 different fronts is far too divided to make any significant changes or strategic fixes that are both scalable and sustainable. Our education system is being both hurt and helped by every district, every institution, every teacher, and every administrator, every day. So, some states are starting to look at statewide solutions, P-20, that have the ability to impact learners throughout the learning process.
One such example is a simple question with a host of political answers. Why doesn’t a state utilize one delivery mechanism that connects all institutions, teachers, administrators, and learners together? For example, why doesn’t a state use one, single LMS? Why doesn’t a state use one, single SIS? Why doesn’t a state use one, single reporting engine based on one, single data warehouse?
You know the answers. I have heard them in my conversations with elected officials, administrators, and educators for a few years now. It’s too hard. It’s too expensive for some. Control becomes suspect at each level. And on and on.
Yet, some visionary state leaders are looking into doing just that. These education architects realize the power of data, the power of technology, and the power of economy of scale. So they are beginning to ask the questions that need to be asked in order to create digital delivery mechanisms for teaching, assessment, content, collaboration, and data collection / reporting. They are starting to look at the power of a solution that allows a college to see the work, the scores, the outcomes, the activity, and a host of other aspects about a high school student who has been accepted to their institution. Does this have the power and potential to change the “readiness” question? Absolutely. Seeing as today’s higher education institutions have little to no communication, let alone views into the K-12 processes, this connection point becomes a potential way to establish agreed upon outcomes and goals for both groups.
As well, with regard to transparency, a single data warehouse allows any appropriate stakeholder to run reports on statewide retention numbers, statewide career readiness outcomes numbers, or statewide matriculation numbers from any grade to any grade. With data and information like this, we may start to gain insights as to why it seems so much harder to go from 12th to 13th grade, than it does to go from 8th to 9th. With reports like this, we may finally see where breakdowns happen with regard to a specific standard, a specific outcome, or a specific goal. Plus, with one delivery system in place, the cost per student goes down dramatically with regard to many aspects currently inflated in education. To the business community, it’s obvious. When 1 person buys a widget, that widget is expensive. When 1 state buys everyone a widget, the cost of each widget goes down exponentially.
We can tackle readiness and a host of other problems from financial to standards / outcomes to matriculation if we want to. Of course it means some hard, political conversations and (likely) even tougher leadership decisions. But these problems are being addressed by some visionaries. I believe we will see the fruits of these decisions very quickly. We will have discernable, actionable results from data that will make it almost impossible to argue with.
College and career readiness is only a symptom of a much bigger problem. A problem that has not been fixable when attacked at every level with 1,000 different ideas. However this problem can be addressed much more effectively, with both action and agility when everyone is communicating together with the same tools, the same diagnostics, and the same data.
So who can provide this kind of solution? Truly, I do not know of any other group than Pearson. Soup to nuts, we can talk about teaching and learning throughout the entire student lifecycle in a P-20 framework. We can provide help and answers at every turn. We can offer one, data based solution for teaching and learning that allows for reporting, transparency, and economy of scale with regard to technology, services, content, and distribution. Is this a sale pitch? Well…actually I’m not a salesman. I’m an educator. But I believe in this so strongly…so passionately, that it floors me to see educators not even asking the right questions.
What is the definition of crazy again? Isn’t it, “trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?” Well…I would add something to that. I believe it’s crazy to attempt one-off solutions in a system that is complex beyond measure thousands of times with little thought given to scalability or sustainability. In other words, the shotgun approach isn’t working. It’s time to get a sniper rifle and laser-focus in on the solutions. And there are solutions. We just have to ask the right questions and partner with the right people.
Good luck and good teaching.
Educator’s Voice: Who Knows What They Don’t Know?
by Pearson Learning SolutionsTuesday, February 15th, 2011
By: Luke Cable
Academic Trainer & Consultant, Pearson eCollege
You teach your course and you do it diligently. You get to know your students; you let them get to know you. You give them real feedback and provide them the opportunity to provide feedback to each other. Your course is dynamic and challenging; full of practical applications and purposeful differentiation. You take to heart what you’ve heard at conferences, webinars, and lunches. You use story to bring your subject to life. You give students the chance to discover on their own while being the needed guide on the side. Despite all this, two important questions can linger: ‘Do you know what your students don’t know?’ And, probably more importantly, ‘Do your students know what they don’t know?’
The answer to these questions may seem either simple and obvious … or … could be likened to the answer to the question “Do you see the same colors I do?”: difficult to know with certainty. When students fail tests, turn in poor work and don’t participate you can be much more certain of what they don’t know. However, since “[k]nowledge is a concept – like gravity. You cannot see it, but can only observe its effects” (Hunt, 2003, p. 100), inconsistency between what a teacher understands a learner to know and what the learner may actually, confidently know is possible. Similarly, the student themselves may also have an inconsistent understanding of what they know. This inconsistency is largest, or worst, when learners are confident in knowledge that is incorrect (misinformation). Calvert (1999), notes misinformation can be incomplete, out-of-date or confused knowledge believed to be correct. For example, both instructor and student may believe and say “The flower is blue.” and yet the student sees a green flower.
Adams and Ewen (2009) assert “misinformation leads to poor decisions and mistakes in the application of learning” (p. 2). Knowledge Factor (2005) goes as far as to say that it can lead to “disastrous results” (n.p.). A great example of disastrous results that I’m sure is retold in engineering classrooms every term is that of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. If you’re not familiar with the story, this is a great video showing what happened. The gist is this: In 1940 a long, narrow suspension bridge was build to cross the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound. It was designed primarily by Leon Moisseiff, an award-winning and prominent civil engineer of the day who also worked on the designs for the Manhattan Bridge and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Yet, the Tacoma Narrows bridge lasted a mere four months before crashing spectacularly into the water below. Did Leon and those who worked with him purposefully design a bridge to disintegrate? Obviously not. But somewhere along the way they held enough confidence in erroneous information to build the bridge.
Clearly misinformation is not desirable. And in most non-professional, academic learning settings, little time exists for learners and instructors to return and unlearn misinformation and then re-educate. So what can we do to avoid, recognize and mitigate misinformation? I propose three things:
The first is easy to state, harder to practice: be purposeful.
As you plan your course, consider where and when misinformation might occur. Are you communicating clearly or using phrases that can have multiple meanings? Is jargon being used that may have multiple or unclear meanings? Are there concepts or key information that are only being assessed once or in one way? This can provide a single point of failure; one guess and misinformation could be hidden. Has everything that you want the student to know been presented in more than one way? More than one time in the course?
Similar to the ways we plan for differentiation, assessment, etc., we can plan to avoid misinformation by providing multiple means and events for a student to check their knowledge and connect newly learned information together.
The second is to look for the things that are not there.
If you like mystery novels, especially classics, then you might have noticed that one of the things that the ‘brilliant’ detectives are able to notice that others often don’t is the one object that is missing from a scene. The hat that should have been on the hook. The water that wasn’t dripping from the umbrella. They look beyond what is right in front of their eyes to see what is not in front of their eyes.
Seeing misinformation can be much like this. The right answers, good scores, timely submissions and well composed papers may all be there, but an erroneous belief may be hidden in what is not being said or done.
For example, a history paper regarding the Civil War has been written and all the battles, people and timelines referenced are correct, but the Appomattox Courthouse is never mentioned. Did the student purposefully leave it out or do they not understand the role it played? The logic of the C# code appears solid and consistent, but the student didn’t include a compiler error report. Were there simply no errors or does the student not understand how their code is compiled? An omission may warrant more investigation than a misstatement or error.
Lastly, a small student reflection goes a long way; give the opportunity and make it worth their time.
A concise student reflection done in the context of the event that doesn’t take more than a couple minutes can be invaluable. It can provide just enough insight into a learner’s perception of their work to give you, as the instructor, a more accurate picture of their assessment experience. Without the students’ perception we often naturally make assumptions regarding students’ confidence level, which may or may not be accurate.
The reflection doesn’t have to be wordy or lengthy; it could be as simple as indicating a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on a quiz. A thumbs-down indication with a 100% score could be a great alert to some lucky guessing. Even when requests for feedback and reflection are simple, students often opt not to participate. Consider adding incentive by making the reflection a portion of their grade. For example, a single question at the end of a physics test asking for a one sentence reflection worth 2% of the grade may be enough. If a student answers with “I know I got the energy problems but struggled with inertia,” but the opposite is true, you have insight you wouldn’t have had otherwise.
As education is the foundation for both business and life outside it for today and the future, we must find ways to increase our certainty that a learner’s foundation of knowledge and skill is solid. While we will never be able to completely know what our students don’t know, we can recognize and minimize misinformation by using methods like those above. Searching for misinformation may only result in the correcting of a small misconception, but it may also keep a student from building further knowledge on an incorrect foundation.
References:
Adams, T. M. , & Ewen, G. W. (2009, August) The Importance of Confidence in Improving Educational Outcomes. Paper presented at the 25th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning, Madison, WI. Retrieved from: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/09_20559.pdf
Calvert, P. J. (1999). Web-based misinformation in the context of higher education. Asian Libraries, 8(3), 83-91. Retrieved November 26, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 115725077).
Hunt, D. P. (2003). The concept of knowledge and how to measure it. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 4(1), 100-113. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 284053311).
Knowledge Factor (2005) Take a Guess – How much Misinformation Can you Afford? Retrieved from: http://www.knowledgefactor.com/dev/knowledgefactor/sites/default/files/Cost.of_.Misinformation.pdf
Lee, H. B. (2006). Information Referenced Testing. Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from. Retrieved from http://www.sage-ereference.com/statistics/Article_n215.html
Swartz, S. M. (2006). Acceptance and Accuracy of Multiple Choice, Confidence-Level, and Essay Question Formats for Graduate Students. Journal of Education for Business, 81(4), 215-220. Retrieved November 26, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1036255091).
