Experience vs Youth?

Once again this year, I have been having a series of guest speakers come into my classroom of education students, both in person and via technology. Most of the presenters have a wealth of experience in their area and I am always amazed at how easily they give their time to freely share, pass on their learning, and interact with soon to be teachers. This past week saw the always thought provoking and entertaining Dean Shareski join us via a google hangout - we even got to see & hear his dogs. This week was a bit of a change of pace. I invited three young, new to the profession teachers (2 in their first year and 1 in her 3rd) to come and talk to my students about the things they were doing with technology in the classroom, as well as sharing stories of their challenges, frustrations, and solutions. These three shared some fascinating ideas, interesting and creative initiatives, and some great solutions to problems that arose due to a lack of Internet access, hardware, and other restrictions. I was proud of these teachers, and they could relate to my students well, giving some great tips, some of the realities - and exhibiting the enthusiasm they had for their work. It made me think about the types of people I ask to present. The experience of these experts, such that Dean possesses, offers so much depth, thought, and wisdom to share with those new to the profession. However, the recent experience of youth, and the problem solving and learning that goes along with it, offers much for discussion and contemplation as well. I have had a range of guests drop in over the past few years, I love the discussion, reflection, and learning that it provokes. I also thank these educators who willingly give their time to share with people they do not know. I am convinced that they all offer my students so many opportunities to learn and grow. I will continue to invite a mix of guests, we can learn lots from the stories all of these people tell. So this week, I send thanks to Tiff, Tyler & Kirsten for dropping by and sharing, and prompting me to consider the vast expertise that selflessly drops into my classes each year.

If interested visit the Internet for Educators class blog roll & check them out.

Academic Writing: Take 2.

A few posts back, I wrote about (ranted about?) publishing as an academic researcher. It seems others have been struggling with the traditional approach as well. I came across a few posts on this topic in the past few weeks. Check them out:

Bon Stewart wrote a post about her reflections on writing as an academic. To quote a short section:

 I’ve been trying to be both networked scholar and proper academic, whatever that is. I’ve been trying to wear two entirely separate hats and engage in two entirely separate identity economies and…well, it’s a mug’s game.

And I don’t want to do it anymore. But. I’m not sure, frankly, which parts to drop.

 I shared some of the same thoughts - although certainly not as eloquently as Bonnie, whose writing is so very good. My post was more about how highly valued publishing in major international peer reviewed journals as opposed to the value of other work done by those in higher education. A week or so later, I noticed a tweet linked to a post by Wesley Fryer who also wrote his frustrations with higher education. In particular he comments;

I have zero desire to publish in paywalled journals a very limited number of people are ever likely to read. I’m interested in supporting open educational research and publishing.

In his post, Fryer referenced another post by Sarah Kendzior ("What's the Point of Academic Publishing"). The following excerpt encapsulates the argument:

In order to maintain her professional viability, Day stopped work that she and the public found meaningful—work that directly relates to her role as a teacher—in order to have time to produce work that “counts” to a small number of academics. To “count” is not to spread knowledge, as Day did, or develop new ideas, as Higgs did. To “count” is to preserve your professional viability by shoring up disciplinary norms. In most fields, it means to publish behind a paywall, removed from the public eye—and from broader influence and relevance. To “count” is to conform. 

I think all these authors agree, and I don't want this to seem against publishing, it is an important part of being an academic researcher & thinker - academic publishing is important and has its merits. It is a way to share ideas, research that can spur change or support other avenues of study. There is value in a peer review process - those are not the issues, as far as I am concerned. It does seem, however, that it is valued above all other work and other types of publishing. As well, often academic researchers have to give away the copyright to their own work, some journals charge a publishing fee, and then the journal is behind a paywall - and usually a pretty pricey one at that. As well, all to often the goal is to publish - period (but that was the lament in my previous post). I have decided that I will try to publish only in open access journals as I move forward. In terms of the academic game, I am fortunate since I work at a small prairie university whose faculty of ed does value K-12 experience (& I have 30 years of that). I have earned tenure ... now to get some publications so I can go for promotion in a few years! Of course, I must complete this darn P.h.D first ...

Now, I promise not to raise this again, at least for awhile ;-)

Year End Summary Videos

This year, I 'made' a few videos to summarize some themes from my Instagram and Twitter accounts. Fun, easy to use tools that take info from your feeds to create a short video - why not make your own? The past two years, I put up a summary of my photo a day projects, which I did not do this year - I think I will do it again this year though - I did get a new lens for my Canon Rebel T3i for Christmas :-)

Instagram

Twitter : https://www.vizify.com/mike-nantais/twitter-video

Being Connected - a Twitter Reflection

A few weeks ago I tweeted my 6000th tweet. I marked it with a shout out to my current & past students at BU. This 'milestone', and I use the term lightly (I am not a prolific user of twitter, well that might be relative, I tweet more than many, but less than many others), along with being a participant in someone else's Ph.D. research,  prompted me to reflect back over my use of social media. It was really starting this career as a teacher educator and educational researcher that prompted me to start using social media to connect. While I had dabbled in some forms of Web 2.0 and social media as a school Principal, I started really using social media seriously in 2009 for many reasons. Primarily I thought I should know more about the media that many educators were using and beginning to use in the classroom. I did not want to be one of those people who criticize social media without a real knowledge of it. As I started using twitter - and adding in other media - slideshare, several Ning groups, LinkedIn ... (I now have too many social media accounts to keep track of) that I began to realize even more value. About this same time I also began blogging - this one is my first, started as part of a course in my Ph.D. program, and I added a few more after that. I found twitter to be the mainstay of my PLE, it was a way to share and discover resources, articles and posts of interest, but was even more so a tremendous way to connect and keep in touch with others. It is also, at times, a source of amusement! I follow many educators at all levels (I think it is vital to keep current with what is happening in schools given my role as a teacher educator & researcher) in addition to many other people from many walks of life. I have met so many of these people face-to-face, through online chats and other ways and each adds value to me as a person and a professional. I could go on to name some of the people I have met, but there are many & I have mentioned some in previous blog posts. This is the real value of twitter (& social media) - it is a technology, but it is much more - it is about people, and it does us well to remember that the people we meet - in person or online, that give life value.

Best Practice? and other phrases & words we use ...

A few comments about the words we use.

One of the terms/words we often use in education is 'best practice' ... I have grown to bristle a bit at that one. I know it is just a term we use, however, it gives the impression that there is a set of such practices, you know, the best ones - ones that always work, right? I don't think so, there might be promising practices, or practices that often work ... but I think it is presumptuous to believe that there are best ones. Educators know that context is important. What works in one class or with certain students will not with others. In fact, something that works one day in a certain class may not in the same class on a different day. There are more of these misleading terms we use, most often we know what the person means, but we should try to be more accurate - or misconceptions will occur. In my dissertation, I found that defining 'social media' is also not a clearly defined term - and clarity is pretty important in a dissertation, as I am finding out, what might be clear to one person, raises questions for another - fun!

Oh - one more, the saying that the technology is 'just a tool'. Now I know what folks mean by this, I say it too, however, I think we need to be aware that the tech is much more than just a tool - it can change the way we do things. Cars changed our world in so many ways, computers have too, the way we communicate, research, and create - and they change - or could change - what we do in the classroom. I agree with those who say we need to start with pedagogy, but the tech is not just a mere tool. I don't mean that in a deterministic way - we do have control over how we use the tools, but the tools do affect us. As McLuhan said; 'We shape our tools and thereafter, our tools shape us.'

Video in the Classroom (part 1?)

On Thursday, Nov 28, I attended an event put on by Andy McKiel (@amckiel) and Dean Shareski (@shareski) in Winnipeg. I used the occasion to attend to have a bit of fun and to also visit a few friends and my advisor. I have made much use of video in my previous career as a high school teacher, I co-designed and co-taught a course on video production and was involved in an amazing project that involved all of our grade 12 students in writing, acting, producing and premiering (to the entire community) a movie. This was one among other projects that helped my school earn mention in Maclean's and on the Apple web site. I think I will describe the project in another part to this post sometime. I also have and continue to use video in many forms in my teaching. I believe it to be a powerful medium to tell a story or share learning, addressing many of the senses & our emotions.

Dean and Andy's evening was an enjoyable evening & an interesting, interactive presentation that got the audience involved - not to mention the cool ('er warm) Discovery Ed toque I was given. I had a few reasons to attend - first and foremost was the company of fellow educators. I make a conscious effort to maintain connections with educators involved in public schools (and in ed tech). I don't want to become one of those dreaded teacher educators who is out of touch with schools. The session was also timely in that I only just finished a section of my ICT in Education course about digital storytelling - and using video in particular. It was fun to think about how I might use the videos if I was still teaching high school vs how I would (will) use them in my teaching now. The format of the evening was also an idea I will probably borrow. The videos were presented in pairs representing a theme, such as 'courage'. We then used polleverywhere to vote on which we would be able to use in our classroom. At the end, we picked our top three vids. In between much great discussion was had. One of the top 3 (I think it was number 1 overall) was 'The Time We Have' embedded below.Overall an enjoyable evening. The vids Andy & Dean chose are on this google doc: http://shareski.ca/y/3fg . On my google site I use to support my courses, I have this page of resources related to video.

Publish ... or Perish ... A Few Reflections on Academia

So, I have been a member of the world of academia for just over 5 years. I am now a tenured Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at BU. I have been thinking about the academic game lately - the publish or perish 'game'. I want to state from the outset that I agree that a big part of the job is scholarly work - including publishing peer reviewed articles. In a few years I hope to apply for promotion to Associate Prof and I know I have to show achievement in 4 areas: academic prep, service, teaching & scholarship. I know service & teaching are not an issue, I hope my Ph.D. will be a done deal by then, and I think I do a fair amount in the scholarship area. I also admit that I have grown to value and enjoy the scholarship part of the job since entering the academy. The 'bee in my bonnet' is the pressure (mounting all the time from colleagues, deans, etc) to publish peer reviewed articles ... in major international journals. I don't really have a problem with that per se, I understand it is part of the job and one way that research & scholarly work is disseminated, I even have a few articles published. I just think that the impression is that we need to publish this way just for the sake of the publication. We put so much focus on publishing ... as if it is the most important task of the university scholar (hmm, still not used to using that, I don't view myself in those terms - maybe that is part of the problem?) My first issue is the nature of most academic journals - behind expensive pay walls. My work is funded by a publicly supported institution, why should anyone wanting access be forced to purchase the article or subscribe to an overpriced journal? There are many open access journals, but again, some require a fee from the author for publication. I think I will try, as much as possible, to submit only to journals that are open access & without fees in the future.

Another problem IMHO, is that it seems that we do not value, very highly, other types of scholarly work. For example, spending time working with teachers and schools for improvement of learning. I am involved with a few such projects, sharing my knowledge and experience. This is valued, but ultimately only if I get a publication out of it - and not just any publication, a peer reviewed international journal - that many people will never have the opportunity to read. I know blogs and other online sharing venues are not valued very highly either. One bonus,  at my institution, I have the ability to try to make the case for other forms of scholarship - for whatever good that will do. Another avenue of sharing academic work are presentations - I have done many, but have come to realize that I should do only a few each year - first they cost a lot of $ and my account for this is not very big, and they take time to prepare - and they count for little in the game. Hmmm, I did not intend for this post to be a rant, but in the end I just question the emphasis on the publishing game - I get the sense (and hopefully I am wrong) that the main point is to get published - not to do work that can help inform yourself and others. Publishing is part of sharing that learning, but just for the sake of a line on a cv? Another part of this game is bringing in grants .. but THAT is another story!