Week 8 Reflections

There are two prominent ways Baker College of Jackson and the Baker College System could utilize Instructional Design in education like it is used in business and industry.  First, Baker College of Jackson and the Baker College System could utilize the team member and leader roles in the creation of virtual teams.  Baker College of Jackson has over 150 adjunct faculty that are on campus as few as one night a week.  Often, faculty within a department do not communicate and collaborate with, or even know, other departmental faculty because of schedule conflicts, lack of means of communication, or other reasons.  Virtual teams could be made within departments to foster the sharing of resources, dean-to-faculty and faculty-to-faculty training, and overall communication and collaboration.  Deans, and possibly core faculty, could act as team leader(s) and departmental faculty could act as team members.  As for the Baker College System, it is the third largest college in the state of Michigan, but is spread out among 13 campuses within the state.  “Members of a virtual team are located in different places”, which is very similar to the spread-out Baker College System (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 177).  Virtual teams of similar departments could be made to increase collaboration and communication among counselors, advisors, admission, etc. throughout the System and physical state.

Baker College of Jackson could also utilize “faculty”, not “designers”, as consultants for deans within the campus and the Baker College System.  Like designers “often serve as consultant to a development team” in business and industry, faculty can serve as consultants to a different type of development team (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 176).  Development teams for Baker College of Jackson could consist of departmental teams, developmental education teams, mentor faculty teams, counseling and advising teams, and research teams.  Developmental teams for the Baker College System could consist of professional development and training teams, departmental teams, developmental education teams, counseling and advising teams, and research teams.  Many times, deans and the System make decisions based on their best judgment, however they are not in the classrooms.  Similarly, faculty question deans and the Systems' decisions, but do not see the bigger picture of all 13 campuses.  I think deans and the System would benefits greatly from utilizing the classroom experts in making decisions or for general input.

“Over the past 10 years, the boundaries between many workplace disciplines have blurred, and design and performance improvement project teams are often staffed by a variety of specialists working together (Foxon, Richey, Roberts, & Spannaus, 2003 as quoted in Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 177).  Not only have the boundaries between workplace disciplines been affected, but the physical boundaries, too, have been blurred.  Ironically, Baker College of Jackson and the Baker College System could utilize virtual teams and faculty as consultants simultaneously, which would improve collaboration and communication without physical limitations.  I am confident there are many other ways that Instructional Design used in business and industry can be used in education, and vice versa!

Victory for MSU!

Students often complain that they will never use math in their jobs or real life and I can only reply with “it’s more than just math, it’s problem solving and critical thinking”. While the following activity is not completely applicable to real life (unless hovercrafts exist), it gives students a fun way to use math in real world context. Look at the map below and see that Petah’s house (the blue push pin) is in Schoolcraft, MI. On a beautiful day for football, he drives via 127 and 94 to get to Genny’s House (the pink push pin) in Clarklake, MI. After picking up Genny, Petah drives himself and Genny via 127 and 94 to Spartan Stadium (the green push pin) in East Lansing, MI to watch MSU football live. If Petah had a hovercraft, meaning he didn’t have to drive via highways, and didn’t have to pick up Genny in Clarklake, what is the distance (in miles) from Schoolcraft to Spartan Stadium.

Click "View Pythagorean Theorem in a larger map" and zoom in to better see the push pins. Use “get directions” to calculate the distances (in miles) between Schoolcraft and Clarklake, and Clarklake and East Lansing. Then use your knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate the distance between Schoolcraft and Spartan Stadium via hovercraft. Assume Clarklake is the vertex of the right angle and that the distances from Clarklake to Schoolcraft and East Lansing to be the legs of the triangle. Oh, and the Spartans win!


View Pythagorean Theorem in a larger map

Week 7 Reflections

I found it ironic that the authors said “there is power in words, but only when their meanings are made manifestly clear” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 135). Aren’t these the same authors who devoted all of Chapter 1 to defining the field of instructional technology? Thanks to their definition, I quickly understood the meaning of HPI and immediately linked it to professional development. To play off of the first quote, “there is power in TECHNOLOGY, but only when it is used to our (HUMAN’s) best ability”. What I mean is that schools can have the greatest technologies, but if the teachers are not trained on, keen of, or even using the technologies, it is of no benefit to the students. This is inversely reflected in the relationship between HPI and HPT; “human performance improvement is what we wish to achieve and human performance technology is the means we use to achieve it” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 137). Consider Baker College where we have a variety of educational technologies ranging from SMART Boards and clickers to overhead projectors and educational software. Most instructors attend 1-2 professional developments a year, of which few, if any, are technology-related. Like I said, I initially linked HPI to professional development, but the editors presented the idea that “human performance problems could be solved via means other than training” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 141). Technology aside and looking at Baker College faculty as a whole, “timely methods for providing feedback for employees” and “better worker selection procedures” are the most relatable means to improve human performance (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007, p. 141). Every quarter, faculty are evaluated Week 8 (of 10 weeks), and I think we receive feedback Week 1 or 2 of the following quarter. By then, most instructors have probably already set up their class as they normally do and it’s too late for major changes. To tie feedback into hiring, I think Baker College needs to not be afraid to let go of poor instructors. I’m told every quarter that the President reviews every instructor’s feedback and that we could lose our jobs if the scores are too low. And every quarter, the instructors that students complain about and that I know are poor instructors are still listed on class schedules. Maybe we need to evaluate human performance more like we evaluate educational technology and ask ourselves if it’s worth the investment and going to enhance the students learning experience.

Since I’m not an Apple user, I went to Zune.net to view podcasts available for my Microsoft Zune. I’ve always noticed the “podcasts” list on my Zune, but never bothered to get into it…until now. Two topics peaked my interest when I was browsing through the education podcasts – math and German. I’ve taught math for three years now and am always interested in new, fun ways to look at math. I reviewed the various math podcasts and subscribed to “The Math Dude – Quick and Easy Tricks to Make Math Easier” for a two primary reasons. First, the host, Jason, takes a non-traditional and more fun approach to math, which is much like my teaching style. He explains things in terms that people can relate to and makes math more understandable and offers a wide range of podcasts of beginning math, intermediate math, terms, test taking tips, real world math, and brain teasers. Second, the most recent episode was uploaded 10/8/10; a common problem I saw with most podcasts is that new episodes haven’t been uploaded for months or years. Listen to the “What Do Prefixes Mean in Math?” episode on the official Web site here - I think you’ll love the music like I did! :) I had never before noticed various types of RSS feeds, i.e. podcast and article, but I did this time and correctly subscribed to his podcasts via Google Reader…go me! The German podcast I chose to subscribe to is Pukka German: Real German Lingo! I’ve had over four years of formal German instruction and visited Germany twice, but everyday conversations are often very different than what is taught in school. This podcasts features episodes of street-wise lingo instruction in topics ranging from Oktoberfest and food to elections and family interactions. The unofficial Web site doesn’t work, but you can find out more about this podcast here. I’m going to review some higher ed podcasts within the next week, but I thought I’d first get into podcasts with some more fun educational topics! My sister's been doing a lot of business in Germany the last few months, so I'm going to send her the link to German Survival Phrases! Looking forward to seeing what exciting podcasts my classmates found! :) PS, hope you could find the links easier...I found out how to change the font color! :)

My boss, the director of the Learning Support Services (LSS) has been talking about podcasts for a few years now. Here’s a few examples of how the LSS could use podcasts:

LSS Services

Episode 1 – Tutoring

Episode 2 – Make-Up Testing

Episode 3 – Hours

Study Skills

Episode 1 – Note Taking

Episode 2 – Test Anxiety

Math podcasts would probably be broken down further into each class

MTH 091

Episode 1 – Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers

Episode 2 – Multiplying and Dividing Whole Numbers

Episode 3 – Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Episode 4 – Multiplying and Dividing Decimals

Episode 5 – Ranking Decimals

Students could access these short podcasts from home, or even a computer on campus, for a variety of topics! There could even be other categories with subject-specific tips and tricks, brain teasers, etc. to appeal to a wide variety of students!

Week 6 Reflections

I thought that the question for reflection this week was odd; my first thought was how has the Internet not changed the three areas mentioned. The benefits of the Internet that I discuss in the next few paragraphs does not even begin to scratch the surface of how much the Internet has changed, and enhanced, these areas.

In reference to K- 12 programs, I think the greatest benefit of the Internet is improved communication. Teachers can post pictures and videos from field trips (another classmate mentioned this, not my initial idea), district resources, and other day-to-day happenings. In the younger grades, teachers could use the Internet to post links to educational gaming sites or fun activities to do with the students outside of school. In the older grades, specifically high school, teachers could use the Internet to post grades, attendance, and homework in case students missed class. In all grades, teachers could use the Internet to more actively involve parents in the students’ learning experiences.

In regard to higher education (ed), I think the greatest benefit of the Internet is an expanded, and enhanced, learning. One of the most obvious uses of the Internet in higher ed is what we are all in right now – online courses. This gives students the opportunity to complete course work where they want, when they want, how they want, etc. Another use of the Internet is higher ed is course supplements like MyMathLab that provides students with a more individualized learning plan. These supplements, as well as online courses, give students more control over their learning and other benefits, such as instant feedback, gradebook, multimedia library, and another means of communication with the instructor.

As for business, I think the greatest benefit of the Internet is resources more readily available. The second to last section of the chapter, Into the Twenty-First Century: Changing Views and Practices, peaked my interest and I jumped to chapter 28 to read more about online learning. There, “supporting materials [and] books or manuals for reference” were mentioned (p. 295). Most, if not all, of the Baker College System information is on the Internet. We do FERPA trainings, request maintenance, view our pay stubs, access professional development (PD) resources, etc. on the Baker Web site. For a system of thirteen campuses spread across the state of Michigan, this is the ideal way to share resources.

Brown University

Here's a Google map of Brown University in Providence, RI. I worked as a facilitator for SuperCamp, an accelerated learning camp. The dorm rooms were in Woolley Hall, the course rooms were in Alumnae Hall, and our Main Room was in Andrews Hall.


View Larger Map

Who said math isn't fun(ny)?

A Vision of Students Today

This is possibly one of my favorite educational videos.

Week 5 Reflections

I’m excited to share one of my most favorite free-write activities in which I used flickr. Free-writes are used in dev ed math classes to utilize writing across the curriculum; I use it in my class to give the students a chance to think about math as more than just numbers. Around Week 8 of the 10-week quarter, the free-write topic is “design two math bumper stickers; one serious, one funny”. At first, the students look at me oddly and worry that they won’t come up with something good. I remind them that it’s not graded and just for fun, and a few minutes in, I hear giggles and students talking to themselves as they are writing. I removed any names and scanned the bumper stickers into a computer and uploaded them to flickr. The next class, after we get done with a quiz, I tell students to go to External Links on Blackboard, and then to the flickr link. I give them a small piece of paper and ask them to vote for their favorite bumper sticker. Again, there’s more laughs as the students browse through their classmates’ bumper stickers. My Dean even purchased some items (mini stapler, post-its, click eraser, etc.) for first, second, and third place winners. The following day, I reveal to students the bumper stickers that won and the designers claim their prizes. Click here for the link to my students’ bumper stickers. You can even tell me you favorite!

Two of the characteristics of instructional design resonated with me. The first characteristic, “instructional design is learner centered”, applies directly to my experience teaching at Baker College of Jackson. MyMathLab, an online supplement used in our dev ed math classes, makes each student’s experience a little more personalized; for example, homework is generated based on the student’s individual performance on a pre-assessment, so the exercises vary among students. Also, each student has the power to control his/her learning experience outside of the classroom; he/she can chose to do the MyMathLab work from any location with an internet connection, at any time of day, for any length of time, and as often as desired.

In regards to the third characteristic, “instructional design focuses on meaningful performance”, I think that this is an opportunity for improvement for Baker College. Baker College is a career college and focuses a lot on post-graduation employment. My experience with teaching dev ed math and tutoring higher math classes, shows a disconnect between classroom content and real world application. MyMathLab does have story problems , like one about a recipe that involves fractions, but what about using math in a career, in the real world? The Learning Support Services (LSS) staff and math teachers are often asked “why do I need to take math...I’m never going to use it”. Sometimes after finding out a student’s major, I can list a few examples. Most of the time I say, “because the math class is about more than just math...it’s about problem solving and critical thinking”. But really, how will the human services majors specifically use math? What about the criminal justice majors? Hopefully the opportunity for improvement is taken and we strengthen ourselves as a true career college.