Leveraging My Technology Learning Tools

Twitterfeed
I am sandwiching in (actually eating donuts!) some brief writing time between my two labs for Statistics and Experimental Design (PSY205). The students seem to have indeed come in prepared, having looked at the screen cast I had made using Screenflow for them about how to do a two-way, between subjects ANOVA with SPSS. One of my students offered to use Quizlet to make a review for their fellow students of the “language of statistics.”
Student research assistant Alison has been at work in my office since 8:00 updating our Macs with the new WordPress app. With no formal direction from me, she has reviewed our latest blogs, given thought as to how we can (and if we should) move up in the “elearning feeds ratings” and investigated how to use CreateSpace for the book we shall be writing together. I alert her to several more tools i want her and my other three student assistants to explore: Scoop.it, Paper.li, and either Feedly or Inoreader. She bounces the idea off me of my mentoring a Carroll Pioneer Scholar research program about technology learning tools.
I check my Twitter feed and discover  Much Ado about Nothing brouhaha among Wikipedia editors. That might make my colleague and Shakespearean scholar  (and Object Lesson author) John Garrison laugh. I share it with John. Time to head back to teaching my 2nd lab. Technology CAN be a tool as long as I don’t allow it to control me.


“Don’t be who ISIS wants you to be”: Bloggers on Paris and Beirut

Others can better express these things than I. Hence, the repost of these important ideas:
Bloggers in France, Lebanon, and beyond share their stories, analyses, and art after a week of violence.
Source: “Don’t be who ISIS wants you to be”: Bloggers on Paris and Beirut
We need to reaffirm our humanity and  rediscover our common purpose.

  • Don’t worry about doing THE Right Thing, but do A right thing.
  • Live, Love, Learn, and ——Give.
  • Be Good (for Goodness’ Sake).
  • Be Nice to your Brother and Sister.
  • Be Patient.
  • Be Kind
  • Be Giving.
  • Be Forgiving.
  • Be of Good Cheer.
  • Be You.
  • Be—–

and

  • Let it Be.



Ten Resources for Contextualizing My Academic Institution's Well Being

CC

I am sitting in front of my Mac in the office listening to the hammering of destruction construction outside while I do the homework to ask intelligent, informed questions of President Hastad and our invited speaker. I am delighted to have just received a “check-in” from my research assistant Tia. Right now preparation for playing soccer (and staying healthy) should be her priority.

Just quickly reviewed this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education with particular focus on articles dealing with “discount rates” and enrollment trends. Usually the updated figures occur around October 1. Here are resources I draw upon to give me a context for trends in higher education. Several of them allow me to create my own comparison group data bases (e.g. for salaries and endowments).
Ten Resources for Putting Into Context My Academic Institution’s Well Being

  1. Oberlin Strategic Plan Reading List: Source: Web Page shared by David Simpson’s alma mater Oberlin College
  2. College and University Endowments: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  3. Tuition and Fees: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  4. AAUP Salary Data: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  5. Money Raised by Colleges, 2014 Fiscal Year: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  6. Almanac of Higher Education:  Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  7. Student Data: Enrollment Trends: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  8. Executive Compensation at Private Colleges: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  9. IPEDS (individual institutions and comparisons)
  10. CUPA Surveys



Ten Resources for Putting Into Context My Academic Institution's Well Being

I am sitting in front of my Mac in the office listening to the hammering of destruction construction outside while I do the homework to ask intelligent, informed questions of President Hastad and our invited speaker. I am delighted to have just received a “check-in” from my research assistant Tia. Right now preparation for playing soccer (and staying healthy) should be her priority.

Just quickly reviewed this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education with particular focus on articles dealing with “discount rates” and enrollment trends. Usually the updated figures occur around October 1. Here are resources I draw upon to give me a context for trends in higher education. Several of them allow me to create my own comparison group data bases (e.g. for salaries and endowments).
Ten Resources for Putting Into Context My Academic Institution’s Well Being

  1. Oberlin Strategic Plan Reading List: Source: Web Page shared by David Simpson’s alma mater Oberlin College
  2. College and University Endowments: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  3. Tuition and Fees: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  4. AAUP Salary Data: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  5. Money Raised by Colleges, 2014 Fiscal Year: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  6. Almanac of Higher Education:  Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  7. Student Data: Enrollment Trends: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  8. Executive Compensation at Private Colleges: Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
  9. IPEDS (individual institutions and comparisons)
  10. CUPA Surveys

Adventures in Carroll Land – I've been teaching here half my life…


Retooling and Sharpening the Saw

An_Outline_of_Basic__Cover_for_KindleLearning never ends. I am continuing to explore the value of technological learning tools to make my best course, PSY205, even better. Initial student feedback has been quite favorable.
In the past two weeks I have experimented with Quizlet and SurveyMonkey. Tomorrow I shall introduce screencasts using Screenflow and Vimeo.


IntrotoScreenFlow from David Simpson on Vimeo.

Does introduction of these tools add value to the learning experience? Time may tell.


Syllabus Creation Time (David in Candy Land)

This is NOT my office.
This is NOT my office.

 
Refreshed, recentered, rejuvenated, and fortified by candy (hence David in Candy Land) from Galena, Illinois, I’m back in the office preparing syllabi. Classes resume tomorrow (Tuesday) for me at Carroll. Even though I am teaching only one class (twice) this semester (“Statistics and Experimental Design“), syllabus creation takes quite a bit of thought and time. I hope to get a lot of writing done this semester. Alas, I say that every semester! Maybe I’ll instead follow up this statistical investigation of Candy Land🙂
 
Psychology 205SyllabusSP2015Psychology 205SyllabusSP2015


Musings While Giving an 8:00 a.m. Saturday Morning Final Exam on the 37th Anniversary of My Carroll Job Interview…

The Newf

It was a foggy 5:30 a.m. morning when I let the Newf out for her morning “duties.” One of many good reasons for driving carefully to Carroll this Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. I surely would NOT like to hit another deer—nor would Santa or my car.

Deer Me

I can still see fog outside my Rankin classroom. Thirty-seven years ago I was in this very building giving a sample lecture illustrating how I teach as part of my two-day job interview to become a faculty member at then-called Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I still have a copy of that presentation—and I remain at my first and only job for better or for worse. So much has changed—buildings, enrollment, technology, the institution’s name, the organizational structure.  I feel obligated to protect traditions and overriding institutional historical values, but there are fewer and fewer here that remember them. So many of my former mentoring faculty and staff friends have moved on through retirement or from life. I miss their wisdom but try to preserve their gifts to Carroll.

Ghosts of Christmas's Past

And here I sit proctoring an 8:00 a.m.Saturday morning final exam covering “Statistics and Experimental Design” taken by students several of whose relatives (aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters) were former students or advisees of mine. An_Outline_of_Basic__Cover_for_Kindle

There are times when they look and behave very young and I recognize that I am 65-years old. Many other times Assistantsthey keep me young with their energy, willingness to learn, and playfulness. I feel that way especially in the present of my student research assistants—four of whom are graduating this year.

It has been a rough semester. I continue to find challenging teaching three consecutive seventy-minute courses in a row with 10 minute breaks even when two of the courses are the same. And this year I am co-chairing the Planning and Budget Committee (with a delightful colleague and poet BJ Best).

It has been the Dickens of a task: The Wurst of Times and the Best of Times. Younger colleagues like BJ, though, and the fewer and fewer remaining colleagues from my past reinforce my willingness to remain here and make a difference before departing.

Best of Times, the Wurst of Times

The chimes just sounded. 10:00 a.m. Eight students remaining. Very good students among which several, should they wish, might join Dr. Simpson’s Neighborhood as student research assistants.

Carroll’s 2014-2015 theme is “Time.” I just finished reading David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks. Time to start grading so that I can finishing reading The Book of Strange New Things.

 

Through the Looking Glass: (Ms.)Adventures in David-Land

S-TEAM

P1020013

6b521-6a0105369066ba970b0120a6ce7b96970b-piIMG_0012

Amy and David---Photo stored on Google Drive

Phoumany

Two soon-to-be graduates Phoumany and Ryan

Ryan and Phoumany

Amy
Amy Peterson

4 years ago, I anxiously started my career as a Psychology Research Assistant for none other than the “psychology professor with the big beard”, Dr. David Simpson. Our first encounter was delayed because after receiving my assignment and seeing his picture, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work for him, what a typical precocious freshman I was! But after meeting him and learned the ropes from the God-like junior and sophomores, I finally began to feel comfortable in Dr. Simpson’s neighborhood. Looking back, I can hardly believe how much has changed. Time has transformed me, well, all of us really. Now sitting in the office, reflecting on my future after Carroll in December, I’m nostalgic for those years. From silly videos and webcasts, to struggling through SPSS for the first time, to Survey Monkey, and our pilot course in global connections through technology, our accomplishments are innumerable.
Dr. Simpson always brings light and fun into the office, even when he has stuff to do. He always makes time to check in with us, or joke about his Chi Tea Lattes, and of course telling stories about dear Robin, the Newf. Working with Dr. S has turned me from a precocious freshman, to a slightly-cynical, confident, and “sassy” senior with smarts to match-or so he lets me think! Our S-Team is my work family and as a senior, it’s especially odd that Phoumany and Ryan aren’t still here working with us as they had for 3 years prior.
Life in David land is a never ending adventure full of learning, fun and family.

Gracie
Gracie Bubnik

My time in Mr. David’s neighborhood has been fairly limited because this is my first year. I had heard through the grapevine that there was a waiting list to become one of Dr. Simpson’s research assistants and somehow I was given one of the positions! At the time of receiving the email I was really excited to be given this opportunity! Then I was on mycarrollu.edu looking up my class schedule and realized he was one of my professors… I was terrified to begin my time as one of his research assistants. I was nervous that he would bring up class work during work and work during class. But we are here now, 2 months later, and I have found out that I can apply what I learn during work to my classwork and vice versa.
I know I haven’t been here as long as many of the other research assistants but I have found this little lab in the back of his office to be very comforting. And the family type relationship I have formed with the other research assistants and Dr. Simpson is something I look forward to keep building.

Jamie

Jamilyn Smolik

I started this journey with Dr. Simpson in the spring semester of my sophomore year as one of his Psy205 students. At first, I was extremely intimidated by him because I was still a very shy, insecure underclassman with little self-confidence who had a lot to prove. I have learned that he is not as intimidating once you get to know him, and he is always around to help me out whenever I need it. After taking one of his classes, I was then curious if he had any openings for faculty assistants the following year. Because, I was not very assertive or timely, I waited to contact him the following fall when school began again. Long and behold, I received an email back saying he would enjoy having my help and welcomed me to his team.
After being shown the ropes from some helpful upperclassmen, I have grown to be quite comfortable when working in the office. I now also help the newbies get affiliated and comfortable with working in the office. I enjoy helping/working on ‘up and coming’ projects Dr. Simpson participates in outside of the Carroll environment. All of his projects provide great networking opportunities not only for himself, but for us, the student workers as well. As for the other student assistants, I have become very good friends with all of them. It is as if we are one, big, work family. We get on each other’s nerves at times, but just like family, we make up and act as if nothing ever happened. As I finish up my final year at Carroll, I look back and am so thankful for the opportunity I have been granted to work under Dr. Simpson, but also am grateful I took the initiative to push myself in a direction that will impact my future.

Copy of Maxine

Maxine Venturelli

I remember as a freshman being assigned to Dr. Simpson as a faculty assistant for my work-study program. I took a breath and turned the doorknob into Dr. Simpson’s office to meet him for the first time. I was so nervous! What I did not know at the time was that I was walking into a place where I would make some great friendships and learn many things from the one and only Dr. Simpson. Starting off as acquaintances, they soon into my S-team family. See, these people are not just peers, but people who I look up to and admire. For the first few weeks working for Dr. Simpson, I was very quiet and shy, but that quickly changed. I slowly started to open up. Dr. Simpson takes the time to get to know each and every of his faculty assistants. He has challenged me to improve upon my weakness, while encouraging me to use my strengths. Over the years, there have been a multitude of projects that have taught me to collaborate with my fellow workers. Although, we did not always agree, we always ended up finding a solution in the end. One of the most memorable projects that we completed my sophomore year included creating our own course that focused on culture. Along with the project, we were each given an iPad. I loved participating in this project because I desire to become a teacher! Working with Dr. Simpson is a privilege. He involves us in projects and opportunities that are meaningful. I have so many memories that have accumulated over the years. My experiences here have shaped me into not only a better student, but a better person. When I graduate this coming spring, I will greatly miss the times spent in Dr. Simpson’s office.

Copy of Liz

Liz Firkus

Looking back on the past four years gives me such a bittersweet feeling. It seems surreal to think that in just a few short months I, along with several of the other S-Team members will be walking across the stage at graduation. I remember walking into Dr. Simpson’s office for the first time, feeling absolutely terrified. This did not last for long though, Dr. Simpson and the other S-Team members very quickly made me feel right at home. The first two years we had the same six S-Team members who quickly became my family away from home.
As an assistant, we always have work to get done, but Dr. Simpson makes sure that we have a fun time doing so. He is always filling us in on the latest stories about Robin, The Newf, his big black Newfoundland “pup”. Dr. Simpson, being an avid reader, makes it a habit of giving away books from his personal collection, so I always have a new book to add to my collection, a recommendation for something new to read, or someone to discuss Harry Potter with. Dr. Simpson has always played the role as a second academic advisor as well, giving advice about classes to take and what adjuncts he is familiar with and recommends. Working for Dr. Simpson has been an amazing experience that has taught me so much that I will take with me when I leave Carroll. Any future students will be extremely lucky to be one of his student assistants.