Research tells us that first-generation college students, students of color, or students who have experienced economic disadvantage often graduate at much lower rates than other students. As faculty, there are actions we can take to impact this. Academic confidence and sense of belonging are directly correlated with high GPAs and retention rates - particularly for underserved students. Use these research-tested strategies to help your students persist and succeed. 

 ⭐ Stars mean beyond-average choices that may require more planning on the instructor’s part. 

6 Pillars of Equitable and Engaging Design

These pillars come out of research in learning science, including topics like culturally responsive teaching and Universal Design for Learning (see sources below)

Meaning -  A meaningful curriculum connects to students’ lives - their goals and dreams for the future as well as their previous experiences, background and community. A sense of meaning is a major factor in motivation.

Access / Transparency - - This pillar refers to targeted measures to remove specific barriers to access that different student populations may encounter. Transparency specifically refers to helping students peek behind the pedagogical curtain to clearly understand not only the “what” of what they are doing, but also the “why”

Scaffolding - Scaffolding refers to activities which support the processes students need to learn. Like the scaffolding on a building, they are a temporary support to buttress student learning as it’s being built.  

Autonomy/Flexibility/Power - the ability to make choices in one’s work (or education), or to impact a situation or environment can be deeply motivating. A basic principle of Universal Design for Learning, autonomy often allows students the flexibility to demonstrate their understanding, showcase their strongest skills, or work at their personal peak times.   

Belonging/Collaboration - Belonging refers to students' ability to feel comfortable and accepted “showing up” as their whole selves in class. Collaboration and belonging are two sides of the same coin. Collaboration with peers can be a key aspect of belonging, where students strive to make meaning with peers. Both are positively correlated with persistence and student success. 

Mentoring relationships - students are motivated when they feel connected to a mentor who cares. “Students are more likely to lean in and apply themselves at a higher level when they know their instructor believes in them (Gay, 2000; Hammond, 2015; Ladson-Billings, 1994).” - Michelle Pacansky-Brock

Applying the Pillars

Below are four high-leverage areas of instruction where the pillars can be applied.

Area 1 - Welcoming 

1. Meaning - ⭐ Students are helped to understand the “big ideas” of the course early. These could be key questions or real-life connections. Helps students understand why this is worth studying!

2. Access/Transparency 

1. students can easily access information that helps them get grounded in the basics of the course, including syllabus, how to reach the instructor, access technical support and information about how to get started (see our pre-semester checklist for details).

2. Make course rules, resources and accommodations explicit. The reason? Research suggests that first-generation students may not be familiar with the “hidden rules” and resources of college. These can include the practice of asking for extensions and accommodations, office hours (and why they exist!), as well as campus supports like tutoring, student services, counseling or disability services. 

3. Mentorship - a warm, enthusiastic welcome helps students meet the human who will be teaching them. A short, imperfect video sent out before classes begin, a humanizing instructor bio and/or welcome letter all can be helpful!

4. Belonging/Collaboration - activities that help students connect with peers AND indicate that all cultures, backgrounds, etc. are welcome are good for this. Ideas might include icebreakers, class introductions, and/or pre-semester survey. 

5. Autonomy/Power - ⭐ Letting student voices be heard in the classroom early on is helpful. Examples: an icebreaker that allows students to share their own stories, or the creation of a group classroom charter. 

Area 2 - Assessments 

1. Meaning- Assessments are connected to, and measure, whole-course outcomes.  

1. ⭐ Assessments are based in authentic, real-life questions, dilemmas or projects.  

2. ⭐ Opportunities for students to bring in prior knowledge, culture, community or life experiences into assessments.

2. Scaffolding -  Scaffolding in assessment can mean allowing students to assess their own progress on key skills and knowledge. Formative assessments (low-stakes assessments) that allow students to get feedback in a low-risk environment before a major assessment are particularly important.

3. Transparency - Assessments are created using the TILT Higher Ed model, with purpose, tasks, and criteria for success clearly delineated

4. Autonomy ⭐ Assessments offer aspects of autonomy and student choice (in either format or content).  ⭐ There are opportunities for student goal-setting, self-assessment, and collaboration in assessing their own learning. 

Area 3 -  Course Activities and Readings/Materials

1. Scaffolding 

1. Learners are given opportunities for guided practice, feedback, and chances to repeat instruction or information - particularly in the areas where students are known to struggle.

2. Learners have access to supports to access course readings and resources (vocabulary, translation, background information, help understanding structure, etc.).

2. Meaning 

1. ⭐ Course activities and materials are connected to “big ideas” and student goals in the course.  Activities should support whole course and unit-level learning goals. 

2. ⭐ There are opportunities for students to bring in prior knowledge or life experiences into course activities.

3. Instances of bias in the discipline, either historical or current, are addressed and discussed. A social justice lens is used to look at practical applications of theory.

4. ⭐Course readings reflect diverse voices, not just authors/creators from historically dominant demographic groups, particularly in foundational work on disciplinary theory and practice.

3. Collaboration/Belonging - 

1. Students are given opportunities to build meaning and understanding with peers.

2.  ⭐ Activities that build community and create a sense of belonging continue throughout the course. 

4. Access

1. ⭐ Course materials and tech are zero or low cost.

5. Autonomy/Flexibility/Power 

1. Activities are chosen that allow students to express themselves in different ways (examples: written reflections, exit tickets, peer work, digital bulletin boards like Jamboards, whole class discussion etc.). 

2. ⭐ Learners have some input into what they are reading and learning - for example, a student-created index or library of resources on a topic.

3. ⭐ Learners have some choice about how they interact with these course activities, or which ones.

6. Mentorship - ⭐ Students have a chance to connect individually with the instructor (for example through conferences, individualized feedback, etc.)

Area 4 - Technology 

1. Access

1.  Course materials and tech are accessible to all learners, and follow standard accessibility guidelines.

2.   ⭐ Course materials and tech are zero or low cost.

2. Meaning 

1. Course technology is aligned with and supports course goals.

3. Scaffolding

1. Technology is introduced like any new course material, and students are given instructions, opportunities to practice, and resources to troubleshoot any new technology in the course. 

4. Autonomy - ⭐ Learners have some choice or autonomy about course materials and tech (for example, which materials they access, or how). 

Further Reading

Equitable and engaging design just-in-time resources- dig deeper into these topics in 5-20 minutes

• Pacansky-Brock, Michelle. How and Why to Humanize your Online Class   - Well-sourced infographic with eight concrete strategies to create an equitable learning environment. 5-minute read.

• How to Teach a Good First Day of Class. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 5-minute read.

• Equity Unbound – OneHE - Community building activities - website sharing active learning, community building and culturally responsive class activities.  

• Honeycutt, Barbi. Episode 28: Underprepared Students in the College Classroom: Working with "At Potential" Populations with Dr. Newton Miller  - podcast episode sharing foundational equity teaching practices. by Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D. Lecture Breakers Podcast. 50 minutes.

• Mary Ann Winkelmes Unwritten Rules for College Success 4-minute video playlist

• About Universal Design for Learning - Short video and graphic explaining some principles of UDL. CAST 2021

Sources 

• Berrett, D. (2015, September 21). The unwritten rules of college. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/The-Unwritten-Rules-of/233245

• Honeycutt, Barbi. Episode 28: Underprepared Students in the College Classroom: Working with "At Potential" Populations with Dr. Newton Miller  - podcast episode sharing foundational equity teaching practices. by Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D. Lecture Breakers Podcast.

• Honeycutt, Barbi. Episode 44: How to Create a Culture of Connection in Your Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Courses with Chad Littlefield  by Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D. Lecture Breakers Podcast.

• Strategies for Improving Student Retention (Hanover Research) and  How to improve student persistence and completion (Vincent Tito - Inside Higher Ed). 

• Levesque, Elizabeth Mann. Improving community college completion rates by addressing structural and motivational barriers. Brookings. October 8, 2018.

• Meyers, S.A. Do Your Students Care About Whether You Care About Them?  - This article describes recent research on the positive impacts of relationships between students and instructors, common fears and pitfalls, and practical tips. (2009). Do your students care whether you care about them? College Teaching, 57, (4) 205-210.

• Miller, Michelle. One big thing I’ll keep from my remote-redesigned courses this year (Hint: It’s got nothing to do with technology) - Education researcher and cognitive scientist Dr. Michelle Miller writes about her decision to eliminate late-work penalties, replacing them with more flexible deadlines. 

• Pacansky-Brock, Michelle. How and Why to Humanize your Online Class   - Well-sourced infographic with eight concrete strategies to create an equitable learning environment. 

• Weimer, M. Lessons on Learning - This author describes the personal, conceptual and strategic shifts that led her to rethink teaching and learning design and move in a more student-centered direction.  (2002). Learner Centered Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann, Matthew Bernacki, Jeffrey Butler, Michelle Zochowski, Jennifer Golanics, and Kathryn Harriss Weavil. “A Teaching Intervention that Increases Underserved College Students’ Success.” (2016). (https://www.aacu.org/peerreview/2016/winter-spring/Winkelmes)

• Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

• Hammond, Zaretta. Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. (2014). Corwin. 

Further Reading: 

• Ainley, M., Hidi, S., & Berndorff, D. (2002). Interest, learning, and the psychological processes that mediate their relationship. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 545–561. 

• Cohen, G. L., & Steele, C. M. (2002). A barrier of mistrust: How stereotypes affect cross-race mentoring. In J. Aronson (Ed.), Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education (pp. 205-331). Academic Press

• Cordova, D. I., & Lepper, M. R. (1996). Intrinsic motivation and the process of learning: Beneficial effects of contextualization, personalization, and choice. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 715–730.

• Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2016). Emotions, learning, and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience. W.W. Norton & Company.

• Urdan, T., & Schoenfelder, E. (2006). Classroom effects on student motivation: Goal structures, social relationships, and competence beliefs. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 331–349.

• Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 82.

• Wood, J. L., Harris, F. III, & White, K. (2015). Teaching men of color in the community college: A guidebook. Lawndale Hill. 

• Woodside, B. M., Wong, E. H., & Weist, D. J. (1999). The effect of student-faculty interaction on college students' academic achievement and self concept. Education, 119, 730–733.

Examples: 

2019 Summer Teaching Institute - Leveraging Students’ Curiosity and Prior Knowledge to Cultivate Deep Learning in High- and Low-Stakes Writing Assignments (example of infusing meaning, collaboration and autonomy into activities).

6 Pillars of Equitable and Engaging Design © 2021 by Abby Machson-Carter is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Can your iPad read to you?! Well, yes....with a little work

How to access accessibility features....as of Oct. 2016!

Today I took yet another stab at having my iPad read to me.

I'm a sucker for learning while listening...especially since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen: cooking, prepping, cleaning, putting away dishes, etc.

This turns out to be a perfect time for me to listen to recordings, videos or podcasts!

This morning I had kind of burned out on podcasts, I knew I had reading to do for my graduate class, and I wanted to try a trick I'd learned about from my co-workers at CAST (an accessibility in education non-profit): having my iPad read to me.

Anxiety, fear & work avoidance - the missing link

 Review of "Skill-Building Approaches to Anxiety-Fueled Work Avoidance"

I love this article.  

As an executive function coach, I've been focused on strategies with my new clients.   What app can I suggest to a young person?  What kind of grid can we make to help them plan their homework?  What accessible technology can I teach them?

In this flurry of reaching for the "right" tool to share or show (and worrying that I won't remember the "right" one for them in the moment!), I'm realizing that it's easy to overlook the more important, and, in my experience, the deeper and more intuitive side of executive function issues: the mental space that goes along with success or failure.    Because at the end of the day, what is procrastination, task avoidance, task initiation problems, or lack of planning?  According to this article, it's a challenge, struggle or deficit often coupled with anxiety.   

Here's my take on CLT & constructivism:

....it's a work in progress.

Cognitive Load Theory asks the intriguing question: is it ever helpful to withhold information from students?

This question matters to this debate because, in the end, this is at the heart of constructivism.  The idea is that students uncover information & principles through their own investigation - and thus "own" this information in a way that is completely different than if they had simply been told to memorize a rule or concept by rote.

For example, I've read about teaching elementary students about calculating volume not by teaching a formula, but by having them mess around with 3-D models of buildings, shapes made of 1 cm blocks, jars of different sizes filled with water, and by having them predict & calculate volume, and, when faced with unexpected results, find their own motivation to explore more, gather more data, and develop a rule on their own.

To me, that sounds mega-cooler than simply memorizing a formula.

Constructivism & Cognitive Load Theory: fight to the finish?

So, my most recent instructor had a bunch of readings on these two theories.  (If you bothered to read this post, I'm assuming you are some kind of education nerd like me and are somewhat familiar with these....if not...may I recommend wikipedia or...Wikipedia...?)

But in any event...in many of the articles I've read about these approaches, it seems like the authors are putting them in opposition to each other.  That there is a great debate about how to teach people and Only One May Prevail.  I get this for battling academicians out to make their reputations.  But for me as a teacher...I almost can't understand how I wouldn't use both...

Constructivism, as I understand it, is tied intimately to the project of sense-making or meaning-making.  As I get it, it involves presenting learners with a problem or discrepancy, and asks them to try to a) solve the problem and b) as a result of their observations and experiences, come up with general principals or theories related to the topic. (am I getting warm, oh studiers of educational theory?)

To me, this is very appealing.  It imagines learners as active participants as opposed to recipients of knowledge - not bank accounts where information may be deposited, but rather sovereign humans, with experiences and opinions and brains, who learn through their own analysis of their world.

Cognitive Load Theory, as I've encountered it thus far, is just a different animal.  It looks at how our brains work, particularly our two different kinds of memory, and how new things are (or are not) integrated with old things that we already know.

To me, this is also very appealing.  It draws its lifeblood from carefully controlled research and statistics, and interrogates some of our treasured notions of teaching.  It looks at how we actually process information and solve problems, and challenges us as teachers to justify why we are including each element - will it really help learners understand new material?

The Cognitive folks seems, so far, to be either dismissive or...carefully neutral around constructivist teaching.   Most CLT research has been completed around simple problems in the STEM fields with correct answers and easily-testable solutions.  I think this research has brought us tremendous insight...but does not encompass the all of teaching.

The $64,000 question these days is - what about complex, unpredictable problems?  What about problems for which the very method of solving them is unknown?  How can we prepare students for that?
And of course...innovation.  Can we prepare students for "creativity" or "innovation" or are those things a bit immune to teaching?

My answer, in the next post....

Digital tools for reading & writing

Resources?  You want resources?  We got resources!

Well, after a whole summer of researching & learning about how to make a writing class "safe for all brains" - one answer I came up with was...technology.   "Productivity Tools" (so-called) can allow students to add whatever supports are necessary for them without self-identifying as "disabled" or even "different."    The truth is...we all can use support for some aspect of our workload - why force students into a certain medicalized box in order to get the support they need?   Using technology allows for students to personalize HOW they learn.  

But what tools should I be using?

The truth is, there is an endless supply of tools to help students, and more (and better!) ones are being developed all the time.   Main areas to think about are reading, writing, brainstorming/pre-writing, attention/distraction support, vocabulary support for ELL students, and ways for students aural, instead of visual processing in reading & thinking (like using voice recorders to jot down ideas, screencast tools to demonstrate understanding, or text-to-speech tools to read).   These tools can instantly make your class more accessible...if you're willing to think about how to teach technology as well as your subject matter.  (I'll report back this semester, but from what everyone says, students can get a real kick out of working with some of these tools!)

So here's a great article to get you started.   It's mostly focused on tools that can be used as part of Google Drive/Chrome browser extensions (perfect for K-12 schools using Chromebooks....less perfect for a crazy diverse BYOD environment like Higher Ed), but if you like the concept, there are apps and programs that do most of this stuff that you can find simply by using any internet browser.

Enjoy!


18 Digital Tools and Strategies That Support Students' Reading and Writing

And here is one teacher's website with links to a gosh-darn plethora of useful tools (mostly Google or Chrome-centric!) to help with pre-writing, reading, research & editing.  Totally awesome:
 Inspired Writing by Dana Levesque

What can we learn from...pre-school teachers?!

review of Hybrid Pedagogy's "LEARNING FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: HIGHER ED AND THE PROCESS OF BECOMINg"

This article, remarkably, touches on a lot of concepts that I've been thinking about as a teacher lately.  These include issues like how to encourage a growth mindset, learning as risk taking (and how to encourage it), and how to bring aspects of affect into the classroom (i.e. how to care about students as whole learners, not just a set of skills- for of course skill growth and how one feels about oneself as a learner are deeply connected!).    While the authors compare the way a pre-k teacher might give a gentle hug to a student, they list "other ways to 'hold'" students by talking to students about their own concerns, goals and intentions, and "In these ways we hope to separate our care for them as persons from assignment grades or other elements of class."   Lovely. 

Another section that struck me was in their section about respecting students as human equals, with the idea that setting ourselves up as holders of knowledge doesn't make room for knowing and learning to be a two way street, and takes away students' ability to influence a course:

 It is almost as if we make a deal with students: we will give you information if you leave your self, who you are and what you otherwise care about, at the door (and we promise we’ll do the same). Learning will be better, we imply, if it’s not mixed up with actually being people.

Yikes.  And yet....as much as I base my thinking about education on non-"banking" principles, I've come to run a very transfer-based course.   My students need so much guidance around writing that I did not feel comfortable letting them "flounder" - pursuing the same old strategies that have led to failure in the past.  At the same time, although my course doesn't leave a lot of room for students to choose their own topics, I'm trying hard to more explicitly create room for their responses and experiences in their writing.  In the end, how the hell else can students have an opinion or form an argument if it's not based on some part of their own life experience?

[To deal with this problem,] teachers can minimize traditional forms of information transfer (lecture or videos). In their stead, we can create environments where students care about practicing, feel supported in practicing, and are challenged to practice both disciplinary and soft skills.

This to me is the real challenge.   In my online courses, I have had experiences where I care about practicing.  It is always where one of two things is happening: 1) a topic I feel passionately about or 2) knowledge that moves me forward in my profession (or both!).  This week I'm excited to learn video software, read new articles, and work on a research paper on supporting neurodiversity in a writing classroom because I feel thankful to be learning these things!  Anything that feels un-relevant immediately sparks up boredom, annoyance and resistance .  In this way, I think being a student myself, and reflecting on that experience, has been the best guide for me as a teacher.  Without empathy for their experience as learners, how can we design learning that makes sense to them!?

The link between AD/HD and executive function

A new post from the Beyond BookSmart blog about AD/HD and EF issues - A great explanation of how these issues are connected!

The Relationship Between Executive Function and ADHD in Children

UDL Redesign Part II: how "disabled" students can teach us to do better design!

Practice Positive Educational Thinking Poster

Barbara Graham Cooper wrote a wonderful dissertation about AD/HD students and college writing classrooms.   If you're interested in how our brains function (and dysfunction!), how AD/HD and other learning differences impact writing, and some history around AD/HD diagnosis and compositions studies, it's worth a read.

Here are some takeaways from Cooper's paper, "At the Brighter Margins: Teaching Writing to the College student with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder".

In this paper she does some great work: interviews current and former college students with AD/HD, digs into definitions of and research on AD/HD, and shares personal anecdotes, quotes and concepts that come right from the students.   Here are some of what I gleaned:

• There is a real lack of research into the issues of college students struggling with LD and AD/HD in particular.   
• A lot of college composition research looks into students who have been underserved or underprepared through social injustice, but there is less work around neurodiversity.
• AD/HD is great to study, because it is sort of a perfect storm of executive function issues.  (Executive Function or EF guides our ability to plan, manage time, act strategically and monitor or moderate emotions.). Students with AD/HD display a lot of the issues that I see in my students: smart students struggling to organize work, synthesize ideas, plan time, or generally turn their good ideas & understanding of a topic into a finished product.  OFten AD/HD students also have a specific learning disorder as well!
• It is not helpful to tell these students to "try harder"...trying is not the issue.
• What is helpful is structure & scaffolding.   Modeling well-done assignments, helping break down, plan & chunk out work, and providing templates and models are really helpful.  (See p. 176 in her article for more elaboration!)
• AD/HD students often are successful when they have found a system that works for them.
• They can "hyperfocus" when they are interested in a topic.

This paper helped me realize that when I talk about UDL, I mean that I specifically want to design for students with EF and LD issues (and also ELL).   Following the UDL concept of "predictable variability," it seems like designing a course with AD/HD students in mind would all students with EF issues (which is to say, more or less all of us :P ).  

This paper also really helped me understand AD/HD students (and my friends!). It doesn't just mean that they are easily distracted or hyper (common stereotypes), but rather that planning and pulling together their thoughts can be a challenge for them...and they have to work twice as hard as a more "middle of the road" person to get the same work done.  So while I might in the past have rolled my eyes at self-descriptors like AD/HD, now it makes me feel real respect for friends (and students) who feel so challenged by some of these tasks...but have managed to get advanced degrees, open their own businesses, etc.  And bringing fun, creativity and energy to the planet as they do it!   

UDL Re-Design Part I: The research begins, and How reading about AD/HD students can revolutionize the college writing classroom

Hi!  So this is Part I of my summer series about re-designing my Critical Reading & Writing course as a blended courses designed around universal design principles.   I am also researching a paper for my UDL course this summer on more or less the same topic.   I was worried at first that I wouldn't be able to find enough sources specifically about UDL & college composition, but I'm feeling optimistic now.   I"m realizing that I can use sources about UDL itself, UDL vs. the medical model, papers from the Landmark Institute (college specifically focused on learners with LD), papers on neurodiversity and online learning, and, best of all, there ARE some papers about college composition, LD & UDL!

I'm also trying to model the process for my students, so I'm trying to be conscious about annotating, note taking, and organizing my paper.   I'll see what kinds of tools I end up using, and perhaps sharing some of them here!

In terms of the papers I've found on UDL & college writing: some are fairly basic, merely describing UDL and laying out a few strategies.  However, I think I hit the goldmine when I discovered this doctoral thesis from 2008 (I'm looking for more recent stuff because of developments in thinking about executive function as well as technology!).   I have so much to say about this paper - not the least of which is that it is elegantly and engagingly written - something I realize I"ve been missing as I'm reading academic papers!   So grateful to Barbara Graham Cooper for this work she did - so far I can't find out anything else about her, which is a shame!

I"m going to try to lay out some big takeaways from this paper (clocking in at 300 pages, which I devoured!), but if you teach writing and are curious about her well-thought-out suggestions for supporting neurodiverse writers - dont' be intimidated!  Follow the link, download the file, and skip right to p. 176.   Cooper's "At the brighter Margin: teaching writing to the college student with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder."  (Just open the link on this page to download the file).

Redesigning Critical Reading & Writing: blending, gamifying, universally designing....

Hi kids, I'm back!

I had a pretty intense injury this spring where I broke 3 fingers (dispersed among both hands), and so I'm still hunting and pecking instead of touch typing.  Please excuse typos!

I'm also diving in to applying what I learned, which means re-designing my writing/reading course to a) function as a blended course (giving working students more options to participate & scaffolding online work)
b) attempting to use this format to incorporate universal design principles - I want to try to figure out how to make my course accessible & friendly to my ridiculously wide range of students.  All Brains Welcome!  (more on this later).
c) attempt to gamify to increase options for student choice in the intensity and content of their work, and to reward affective, non-grades-based achievements (badges, here I come!).
d) attempt to incorporate fun technologies into my assignments to give all different kinds of students ways to express themselves.  (see b).

I'll be researching and writing about this process all summer...interested to see where it takes me and what kinds of roadblocks I run into .... watch as I model a growth mindset!

Do you know of anyone who has run a cool, tech-focused, engaging, or universally-designed writing class?  Especially for college students?  Let me know in the comments!

Tools for teachers - End-of-Semester round up of my favorite teaching tools!

Hi all!

I'm doing a "tool roundup" of current favorite web teaching & collaborating tools..

As a non-tenure track professor, I often feel I don't have the time to go and investigate new teaching tools.  The reward-benefit ratio felt unbalanced - especially if I was looking for something to quickly use in class.  However, taking this instructional design course has helped push me to learn new tools - to my delight, it hasn't been that hard* and actually really *fun* (a word I don't always associate with adjunct composition teaching :/  ).   Can't wait to think about how to integrate some of these into next year's classes!

 *I also learned that for almost any purpose, there is someone out there who has put together a pros/cons or top 10 list of tools JUST for that purpose!

Here's my current faves:

1.  Google docs suite
Why'd you use it: why wouldn't you?!

Some potentially dicey political thoughts...

I just posted about my friend Katie Raddatz's amazing work with mobile technology in her writing classroom.  For any of you that aren't writing teachers, know that the kinds of creativity, engagement and collaboration that are happening in her classroom are, like, lightyears ahead of what most writing teachers are able to offer (including ME!)

I think one takeaway for me is the amount that individual teachers are pushing things forward in terms of technology in higher ed.

One thing that's really sad for me is often how invisible this is within the institution.  In some ways, yes, it's true, invisibility buys us freedom to experiment.  And Katie did receive institutional support in terms of classroom resources.

However, all of her learning - playing with the iPad, consulting with other experts, reading and experimenting, is totally outside of what she's paid for as a non-tenure track (NTT) instructor.  That's right - she did this learning and prep unpaid.

 And for all the work she did and all the cool pedagogical work that's happening in her classroom, not only will Katie not be eligible for a raise or promotion (there is no designated career path for NTT faculty), but just like me, we aren't guaranteed work from semester to semester, (often losing classes because of enrollment at the last minute) and definitely not paid a Boston-level living wage.  Neither of us know if there will be work for us in the fall, and if so, how much.   Doing this kind of development might make us more "marketable" and sure, could lead to more or different kinds of work, (and clearly Katie's been recognized for her expertise within our university) but there's no built-in way to recognize instructors for doing stuff like what Katie's doing - and a lot of us are still living paycheck to paycheck - but still innovating just because we love it so freaking much.  


 How bass-ackward is that, higher ed?