Learning from Feedback

Last week I posted a message about using a feedback survey at the midpoint in the semester where I ask the students input on their perceptions of the class.  I asked questions like what they like about the class, what the would like to see changed, and how I can help them improve their understanding of the material.

Yesterday I reviewed the feedback from my undergraduate data modeling class and summarized the results to present back to the students.  I was very impressed by the maturity of their responses.  The students were really concerned with their ability to learn the material and this was reflective of their feedback.  They responded favorably to the rigor required for the class and the value they are gaining from the course.  Students enjoy the in-class practice exercises and going through the "answer key" in class so they understand their gaps.

I also received contradicting suggestions for improvement that I will have to ask the class about.  Some students wanted me to spend more time discussing the material in the book while others wanted to spend more time working on in-class exercises.  Also, similar to what I typically see, there were disagreements from students in the pace of the class where some students liked the pace, some wished that I go through the material quicker, and others would like for me to go slower.

There are two things I found that I need to work on in this class.  The first is the students feel that some of the data models we work on in class are unrealistic and would like to have more real life examples.  The second is they would like more interactive lectures and have me make them answer the questions I pose to the class.  Both of these are valuable lessons that I hope to improve upon in the second half of the class.

I learned a lot from this survey.  I'm glad I asked the students their opinions.  While some of their suggestions I did not mention here were counter to productive learning, most of their feedback was very useful and I plan to adjust to help the students learn and apply the material from the class.

Lull in Consumer Technology

The rate of change brought on by consumer technology over the past decade has been rapid and created many disruptions in the way media has been distributed and consumed.  Record stores are now relegated to shrinking departments within the big chain stores and have mostly disappeared from specialty stores in the mall.  We now carry our entire record collection in our pocket and can watch movies, television episodes, and other forms of video from our portable devices.  We are also now beginning to use our devices to purchase and read books.  All of these changes have come relatively quickly and resulted in the rapid adoption of new technologies and new ways of interacting with media.

At this time of the year I often find myself exuberant about a new device that I just can't wait to buy and one that will change the way I do things (for the better I hope).  However, this year it seems as though we have a lull in the onslaught of new technology.  Sure there are new e-readers from Barnes and Nobel and Amazon and  Apple has a second generation iPad and the mobile phone manufacturers have new products but none of these offerings are ground breaking.  They are simply improvements to existing products.  There is nothing new and exciting in the consumer electronics market this year.

Have we exhausted innovation of our current technologies?  Is the rapid flow of change reduced to a trickle?  Or, are manufacturers waiting for the economy to improve before the release the next generation of innovation?  I don't know but it feels kind of weird experiencing a slower rate of change.  Perhaps we can now use this lull in innovation to better understand how to use our technologies to improve our world rather than simply just learning how to use the technology.

Mid-Semester Feedback

Next week is the midpoint of our semester.  We will have completed the first eight weeks of the courses and will have another eight weeks before the end of the semester.  This time of the semester may mean midterm exams but, at least in my courses, it means professor evaluations too.  Many faculty use the midpoint in the semester to check-in with the students to see how the class is going.

In my classes I use a simple set of questions asking the students what is going well, what they would like to see changed, what I can do to help them understand the material better, and their overall satisfaction of the course.  I formalize these evaluations by either distributing these on a single sheet handout or through a online survey in our learning management software.

I really value the feedback I receive from the students as part of this mid-semester feedback survey.  Students are able to express their opinions in an anonymous manner and I'm able to determine if I need to change my approach to improve the effectiveness of my teaching.  However, if I want to survey the students for their input I must also demonstrate that I am listening to their feedback.  Shortly after collecting the surveys I spend five minutes of class time to review the results of the survey and outline the changes that I plan to make to the course to adjust to their feedback.

My discussion of the survey results also allows me to explain why I certain changes cannot be made (like giving the answers to the exam before the exam).  This discussion creates a collaborative environment where the students are able to have input on the methods that work best for them and I gain their insight as a student in my class.  The students are also able gain a better understanding of the reasoning for my methods.  Hopefully these surveys and feedback discussions provide as much benefit to my students as they do for myself.

Knowledge Management in Academia

One of my main research interests lies in the field of knowledge management; particularly knowledge management systems.  It is interesting to note the advances made over the past ten years in this field.  However, many of these advances have been made in the business environment.  Very little research has taken place in the academic environments.

I came across an article this week providing a possible explanation for the lack of progress in knowledge management practices in academia.  The strong division between faculty and administration in these institutions and the individualistic culture create pretty significant barriers to any efforts to share knowledge.  While I agree with this assessment in terms of formal knowledge management practices this is not necessarily true of less formalized knowledge management.

In my experiences I am often engaged in conversations with colleagues sharing best practices in the physical and online classrooms, new insight into technology, and experiences in research.  While the academic culture may not currently support formalized knowledge management practices, informal knowledge sharing does take place in more collaborative faculty environments.

While sharing stories and best practices may occur, I just can't imagine faculty taking time to formally document knowledge in a manner that can be shared with others.  Then again, isn't this similar to what I'm doing in this blog?  Perhaps there is hope for better knowledge management practices in academia.  We just need to find ways to share knowledge that fit within our existing workflows.

Taking the Easy Way Out

Earlier this week I had a conversation with a colleague where he expressed his concerns over the organization of his faculty website.  All of the content on his site requires a lot of time to manage when he wishes to add new links or reorganize the formatting of the site.

The problem is that this individual was stuck in the old ways of building a standard website.  With all of the Web 2.0 tools available, we can now publish our content in so many forms that we should no longer have to manage our own content using HTML.  In my site I am able to share links with people using my Delicious account and share my instructional videos through my YouTube account.  I also share insight (or lack of insight sometime) through this blog, and my photos through my Flickr account.

Rather than placing all of this content on a standard HTML page, I simply use the landing page concept where I provide a short list of links to these various Web 2.0 sources.  This results in a simple and easy to use site eliminating the need for maintenance.  The exception to model in my current site is that I have a second page that includes a list of my presentations and publications.  However, I can replace this manual page with a link to my Delicious account using a specific tag where the URL points to my account with the tagged presentations.  I'll have to give this a try so I will no longer have to worry about formatting my presentation and publication page.

Required Reading

It has been a busy start of the Fall semester and I'm trying to catch up on some of my reading.  I have several publications I subscribe to and feel compelled to read.  Today I came across a great article discussing some key points to using PowerPoint.  The author introduced some very basic, but critical, tips for effective use of presentations.

While I try to avoid some of the issues identified in the article, I sometimes fall into some of these common errors (like the lack of focus on the essentials).  Articles like this are good reminders for us.  We must remember the purpose of the presentation is to clearly communicate ideas.  If we fail to prepare presentations that promote clear and concise communications, we will be unable to inspire, engage, or simply inform our audiences.

Net Effect Conference Presentation

A colleague and I presented at a Health and Human Services conference yesterday.  Our topic was Net Effect: Abuse, Dependency, and Addiction to Technology.  This presentation provided an opportunity to collaborate with a forensic psychologist in identifying current trends in the assimilation of technology and the potential negative societal impacts for those challenged with properly integrating technology into their lives.

Cool Photography Tool

I am fascinated by the photographic technique of the tilt-shift lens.  Using this lens the photographer is able to convert a landscape photograph into what appears to be a miniature.  Some example can be found here, here, and here.

Unfortunately, these lenses are well beyond my budget.  However, this same effect can be made to a standard digital image using a Photoshop technique that is still very effective.  For an even more economical tool, I came across a free website that converts images into tilt-shift images.

I can't wait to begin playing around with this new tool to see what I can create.  Once I create a few examples of my own I'll post them on my Flickr photostream.

Value of eBook Exhaust

Lately I've been fixated on ebook readers and this has only been further amplified with the announcement of Amazon's new ebook reader.  With the thought of purchasing an ebook reader in my head, I was immediately intrigued when I came across an article about ebook exhaust.

The ebook exhaust is the user-generated content created when individuals record notes and highlights within the ebook.  These notes can be stored locally or on a vendor's server and will link the notes and highlights to the content in the ebook.  This "digital exhaust" can then be searched later by the individual or, if the notes are made public, searched by others.  If we share our exhaust, additional knowledge and insight can be amended to the publication.

This example of the power of the Internet is further proof of David Weinberger's claim that the power lies in the metadata.  Using powerful search engines and the digital exhaust from the ebooks, we will be able to share and gain further insight into our consumption of the digital content.   This is a potentially powerful method to further our knowledge and gain new insight into topics of interest.

Online Enhancements

Late last week I was conversing with a colleague about different approaches to online courses.  During the conversation I learned the faculty member was teaching the face-to-face section of this course and was going to build a complete online course to support adjunct professors teaching online sections of the course.  This approach is becoming more common and ensures standardization across offerings of the courses while gaining buy-in from the full time faculty.

My opinion on this approach was to question the use of the online content for only the online sections of the course.  We have online support through our course management system for both online and face-to-face courses.  Since the course shell exists for the face-to-face course, why not make all of the online content available in the face-to-face course.

If we build supplemental videos, discussions, quizzes, and other content for our online classes, we should employ these in our face-to-face courses.  Using these online supplements allows us to engage our students with the material outside of the classroom furthering their understanding and application of the course material.

At the end of the conversation we both agreed using the online content is valuable to our in-class students.  While we may not need to require the students to attend lectures plus perform all activities developed for the online sections, we certainly should employ this content to increase their exposure to the material throughout the week.  I think we both learned something as a result of our conversation and this sparked further interest into enhancing our face-to-face courses with this online content.