Rhetorically Speaking

 I glanced at a ATL fellow’s post and saw the word “camel” and thought I’d begin my post with a picture inspired by her post. I do promise to read her post, but for now this image works for me. In responding to Papert’s “Why School Reform Is Impossible,” I wonder why he didn’t identify computers with a capital C. Surely from his statements about reform movement’s expectations from technology, it should be given its status as Computers.

As a former high school technology instructor with a master’s degree in Instructional Technology and now a college lecturer in information systems and writing and a Ph.D. student in Technical Communication and Rhetoric, I question the kind of student sophistication that Papert refers to. I say this while quickly stating that I respect and value my students, but I do not believe that their perceptions of the primary use of computers include academic research. They do research on a computer because the assignment calls for them to use the Internet. However, their motivation does not seem to placed in seeking new and more sophicaticated ways to do research. A student will search and find answers to sports questions, relationships, or game trivia and not see the connection that they can use the same technology to do their research.

An example, my university closed early this week due to snow. My students had an assignment due the following day. The assignment was to gather research from specific areas about the company they are researching. We met in the library where the librarian showed them the electronic databases that she recommended for them to use and many others that they could access as students at a university. The night before the assignment was due (and several hours after campus, i.e. library, had closed) I received an email from a student. In summarizing, the student stated that due to the library closing, he would not be able to complete his report. Hmmmm. This is an upper level college student who has accessed the databases on a computer in a lab in the library and yet he deduced that he had to be in the library to access the databases. Never mind that he apparently had waited until the last evening to begin his work. The class had had a work day in our own lab the day after visiting the library where the librarian had been available to answer any questions. Thus, he had accessed the databases in two different locations. Now, if I had given an assignment based on his favorite game I might have gotten a different outcome. I believe that technology enhances learning; I do not believe that learning happens because of technology.

While this could be a post all by itself, Papert makes a huge assumption when he states that students have acquired a new kind of sophistication. His assumption is that computers are available to all students. For those in the trenches, we know this is not the case.

Now that I’ve added some issues that are close to my heart, I do commend any professional who reminds us all that this School or school or technology is in need of change, reform, or whatever you want to term it. Papert is a visionary and I thank him for that.

Trying to stay calm, I’m thinking through student learning and engagement. I know the perspectives that if instructors provide too much help or too much information that students begin to expect it. One example, a fellow professor felt that students were not prepared for an exam. He also knew that the majority had prepared and done their assignment but felt that offering a night review session (outside of class time) might help many in the class. He received lots of thanks and was interested in student feedback in the end of year evaluations. What he found was the majority of students had a very negative reaction to the review. You might ask, “Was it the time (at night)?”, “Did they not find the review helpful?” No, they responded that he had not met their expectations and not prepared them for class exams because he did not have a review for EVERY exam.  His response to his fellow colleagues in sharing this was that he was responding to a need, he knew this particular exam covered the most difficult subject matter of the semester, and he wanted to see if the review would help student learning. Will he do this again? No.

Another professor posted in social media about her frustration with students not seeking help and yet evaluating her negatively because she was not clear. She had posted and announced five days in advance of a difficult project for students to contact her if they needed additional help. She did not receive ONE email.  I do find it mysterious that some students do not see engagement as their responsibility, as enjoyable, as a means to be successful in their course. I reach the majority of my students. They understand my love for teaching, excitement that they “get it,” and genuine pleasure in their successes.  How do I reach the student who sighs, constantly glances at the time, and then states at the end of the semester that I wasn’t clear and wasn’t passionate about the topic?

Not to beat a topic until it’s absolutely ad nauseum, but I’m finding it very curious as to the personality types that use facebook, texting, and twitter. From my world view which I thought more broad than it is, I’m finding my quieter, keep to themselves friends love to text. So, the mention of post-human interested me because the assertion is that people would rather interact with technology than with humans. Hm… I do have friends who would rather text than call. Recognizing that it could be that I love to talk is causing them to opt to text,, I think it’s more than that.  If I had a research genie I would pursue this topic.

I’ll share that I have had friends tell me that when they are lonely that they listen to the voice mails I’ve left them. It’s very important that my friends know the why to the information Tweeting with friends just won’t cut it; tweeting to share professional info or reminders does in my world.

I find the topic of friends in relation to Facebook very interesting and perplexing. This week a very interesting article about how many friends Facebook users can handled was posted on Mashable.  From my personal experiences, some use Facebook to connect professionally, some purely relationally among friends, and some gather as many friends as possible. Are you a Facebook user? How do you determine who is a “friend”?

While I can’t tell a good joke, mainly because I forget the climactic punch line, I love to share experiences. In the past few years, I’ve realized that many call this experiences their stories. About a year ago I attended a workshop on digital storytelling and truly felt the power of THE story. Stories are personal, reflective, and lead to shared experiences between the listener and the teller.

My research passion for the past three years has been hospitalist communication practices. While this might sound like a yawner to some, it is fascinating to me. The fascination comes from the stories; the perspectives of physicians who share their world with me. I am truly grateful for each one of these individuals because, bottom line, it takes a bit of braverly to share with a stranger personal struggles, challenges, unmet expectations. The successes are easy to share.  I’m reading a book by Dr. Lisa Sanders, Every Patient Tells A Story. While I’m in the process of reading, I will share that this book has been everything I hoped it would be. Knowing that the intended audience is not a host of academics I’ve appreciated her candor and her STORIES. 

An individual can express an opinion, but when they support that opinion with a story it takes on a life of its own. For example, Dr. Sanders discusses the physical exam and spends a chapter on the sight. She includes a wonderful quote by Sherlock Holmes to Dr. John Watson, “I have trained myself to notice what I see” (90).  Her topic is learning what to see and noticing what to see. I’m currently reading her stories about seeing the patient during the exam. In other words, observations through sight. One of her stories, however, is of a physician who is blind but it is through the story that you see her point and also appreciate the physican and what he can mean to a certain segment of the patient population.  What I notice from the story is the risk the physician took to share his story. Very powerful because through the story we all have a new appreciation of “seeing” the patient.  I’m sure I’ll return to this topic.

Applications to the classroom? The power of students sharing their story and, likewise, the professor.  Hm…..

Brenda Gourley’s keynote address at the 2009 Educause invited us to radical militant activists – it tolls for thee. She titled her address, “Dancing with history – a cautionary tale” (I find it interesting that innovators  use “dance.”  Patricia Schubert-Barnes who began Sister Schubert Rolls in 1989 spoke at an event at Baylor University several years ago and invited us to dance. She was alluding to service, giving to others, volunteerism.)

Gourley originated the Open University and spoke to six important points that she feels impacted success. These are my notes from her podcast and not necessary direct quotes!

1. paid serious attention to quality of materials: assembled experts to teach course teams, technologist, graphic designers, Second Life

2. paid serious attention to student support through offices so that there was administers available, study centers, tutorials, meet other students, attend seminars, using facilities of other universities including residences

3. enlisted staff of other universities as part-time tutors @ 25 students per tutors, students say that they have never had more personal attention

4. OU lectured over the BBC, brand building, as technology became sophisticated it is now on cds and internet; BBC prompts interest today, jointly produced BBC/OU shows (10 Million viewers a week)

5. worked hard at presence, students, part-time students/staff scattered all over the world, seminar groups online, chat rooms, clubs, societies, peer-to-peer mentoring: 24/7 operation

6. emphasis on using educational technology, carefully researching how and when to use; large teams of people dedicated to research and extensive testing in this area

Two statements she listed hit home to me: paid serious attention to student support and worked hard at presence. I understand personally why Open University has been successful. I’m a current student in an online Ph.D. program and am two courses away from completing my coursework. The fun then begins, but that’s another conversation. The question is: Are we surprised that online programs need to commit to student support and presence? or Are we surprised that online programs think they can commit to support and presence? People are generally curious about online learning if they have never experienced it. I see blank expressions when I tell them how I’ve experience rich discussion and also mental exhaustion after each class. In my program, we get together once a year for 2 weeks of intense discussion, student-led and professor-led research presentations, classes, and mentoring among doctoral students. However, we visit with our professors over the phone, through IM, facebook, and Twitter. Many in the program have created hashtags where they tweet about topics important to their research. We stay current on each other’s research through blogs, visiting at conferences, etc. Online learning can be rich, vibrant, personal, and invigorating.

Two important players in the digital world are also noted in Gourley’s address. Tapscott and Williams introduced me to their “wikinomics” world in their book that profoundly impacted my view of the wiki principle. Gourley mentions Tapcott’s book, Growing up Digital. She also highlights  Kevin Kelly and his phrase,  “a new kind of socialism.”  I was introduced to Kevin Kelly in one of my online classes, watching his video about the next 5,000 days of the web. Gourley invites us to join her and embrace the momentum of technology.

I’ve just returned from a wonderful conference, complete with great weather and interesting sessions. In trying to spend some time reflecting before returning to the Monday reality of life, I still feel some tension from the various methods professors use to deliver information. The continuum of information I gathered from individual conferences to sessions was lectures with some electronic interaction to projects with professors as facilitators. Somewhere in between are concerned professors who want to engage their students but do not want the medium to become the focus.

Good points I did return to my students with: power lectures of about 10 minutes following by student-to-student discussion/role play/videos, constant interaction, and this quote, “the person who does the talking does the learning.”  Another professor shared: Understand Your Ego (leave it at the door), Understanding Yourself (what are your gifts), Know Your Topic, and Know Your Students = Joy of Teaching.

My goal is to incorporate more rich mediums for learning; however, this doesn’t mean that every class will have the feel of “Burleson’s Entertainment – come on in.”

Last week I was invited to participate/share in a panel discussion about privacy in social media sites. Each panelist represented different academians involved in various areas of the university, and we were each to share our personal experiences and observations as part of the discussion.  My first social media experience was with Facebook, and I joined the site because I was writing a paper on ethos and social media. My question was: How do students establish their ethos on Facebook and do they see their representation of themselves as an extension of themselves or separate?  This initiation into Facebook took place in the fall of 2006 as I was beginning my first course in a graduate program in Technical Communication & Rhetoric.

Back to the panel discussion. As each participant shared, I was reminded that we carry our own unique traits, experiences, and personalities into our social media presence. Where one person might accept any friend requests, others want to know the person face to face before they engage in a cyber friendship. I was also reminded of the importance of understanding privacy rights (or lack of them) and entering into these sites responsibly. The only time I truly feel a generational gap with my students is when we discuss privacy. My students don’t seem as focused and absorbed by the need for privacy as many of my adult peers seem to be. Carried one general further, my parents’ generation is much more concerned with privacy than we are. Recognizing that generalizations are dangerous, these have been my perceptions as I have spoken to students.

At a time when individuals are negotiating their online identities, privacy obstacles, and decisions as to join or not join, we’re also seeing corporations entering into social media sites for storefront appearances. One corporate executive whose dissertation are is corporate social media has posed some interesting questions and information that have helped introduce me to the challenges of social media in the corporate arena.

This week I heard Dr. Anthony Grafton share ideas, thoughts, and challenges about traditional learning/thinking/writing/researching spaces–the library. I must admit that I was anticipating the possible proposal of the demise of technology because of the changes that are occurring in how we use the library. Instead, Dr. Grafton spoke of the rich cultural heritage of the libraries, the texts which are now available because of digitization, and the knowledge/power relationship.

He then guided the audience to consider the future of the library: what will the library look like, how will it look structurally and how will the public use the library.  I kept asking myself as he showed images of libraries (past and present) what did I want the library to become?  Taken from a different perspective, what would I miss if there wasn’t a major library on campus? One of the ideas Dr. Grafton proposed was to consider harkening back to early library history and create smaller libraries within disciplines. Instead of a major depository of information, create smaller and more specialized areas.

What is it you would miss if you didn’t have a library? How do you envision the library of the future? Think beyond books, what is it that draws you to a library?  If every book/article/newspaper were digitized, would you return to the library?

Certainly the library must be at the forefront of technological innovations.

Signing off for now with more questions than solutions.

It’s always amazing to me how words on a page change their meaning depending on the mindset at the time the pages are read. For example, four years ago my daughter and two other girls wrote a short enactment depicting the life of Jane Addams. As I listened to her memorize her lines and watched the group practice in our living room, I decided to read a little about Jane Addams and about Hull House in Chicago, Illinois.  Her bravery, heroism, and desperate search to make the lives of those much less fortunate than herself resonated through everything I read. Their work was rewarded as they advanced to state competition that year. Jane’s work was rewarded as she witnessed lives being touched through the Hull House. She also became the first women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (1931) .

Two significant changes have occurred in my life as I revisit Jane Addams: I’m now a doctoral student (yes, at 50+) and my daughter is now a senior. So, in rereading Jane Addams I have moments of nostalgia thinking of the history project and of visual memories of my senior daughter once in middle school. For some reason I’m also noticing that Jane Addams died when my mother was three and my father was nine. Historically, in looking at a timeline, their lives overlapped. I’m possibly getting a little soupy here but every stage of progress overlaps other stages.  This is good; this is important.

I’ve also plunged into the world of rhetoric, technology, and the ethic of care. While these may seem to be random and disconnected, in my world they seem very connected. And so, as I read about Jane I saw that her ethic of care permeated everything she changed, every individual she met, and everyone who saw her vision and worked alongside her.  She states, “I learned that life cannot be administered by definite rules and regulations; that wisdom to deal with a man’s difficulties comes only through some knowledge of his life and habit as a whole…” (Fifty Major Thinkers on Education, 183).