Annual Distinguished Research Lecture 2011 - Dr. Sharon Friesen

Hey, if you are looking for me later, this is where I will be: Faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Annual Distinguished Research Lecture 2011 - Dr. Sharon Friesen. Not only did I nominate her, it is my privilege to get to introduce Sharon!

Title: "I Hold in My Hand A Bird: Sponsoring Intellectual Engagement"

Check out two of her major works:

The Galileo Educational Network - http://galileo.org/index.html

Intelligence Online - https://www.iomembership.com

Mentorship and apprenticeship: working with graduate students

The bulk of my day today involved meetings with graduate students. Currently, I am supervising several doctoral and masters students as they propose, carry out and write up their graduate research projects. First thing this morning, I skyped with two doctoral students: one who has written the candidacy paper and is preparing for the candidacy exam, and another who is overseas and is preparing a literature review and research proposal. Later this morning, I met with a master of arts student who is also teaching full-time. After lunch, I met with a master of science student, a faculty member and two IT folks who are members of the team that will research the use of clickers with large lectures this Fall.

I regard graduate supervision as one of the most important types of teaching and mentorship that I do, and thus, invest a great deal of effort into building productive, research-focused mentoring relationships with graduate students. In addition to stretching me as a researcher, graduate supervision is time-intensive, emotionally demanding and hands-on work. Graduate supervision is sometimes like 2 - 3 years of formative assessment that leads up to a high stakes summative assessment, the 2 hour oral exam! Ongoing professional and academic dialogue and planning, coursework and advising, proposing and carrying out research, writing, writing, reading, reading and rewriting and rereading drafts of each chapter, and then preparing for the exam... it is a process of continual improvement, peer review and academic advancement.

Working with graduate students is both a privilege and an honor. I learn a great deal from my teaching role as a supervisor and committee member for educational technology, nursing, environmental design, computer science and psychology graduate students, and also as an active researcher who mentors graduate research assistants.

Presenting Research at AERA in New Orleans, April 2011

Sharon Friesen and I presented our research findings at AERA in New Orleans, Louisiana, in April 2011 this year. The session was entitled, "A Three-Year Design Based Research Initiative That Influenced Practices in a One-to-One Laptop School". Those who follow me @dmichelej on Twitter know that a highlight of the conference was listening to the Presidential Address by Kris Guttierrez on designing resilient ecologies and a human science of learning. Another highlight was meeting Dr. Bill Ayers, who got an education award, in person (I have used his text, To Teach, in my undergraduate teaching for the last 14 years). 

In addition to cultivating our minds, Sharon and I enjoyed food for the soul at some of New Orleans' French Quarter hot spots, such as Brennan's for breakfast, Landry's Seafood House for dinner, and Pat O'Brien's for a late night Hurricane. 

Thomas and Seely Brown's book, A New Culture of Learning

I recently wrote a review of Thomas and Seely Brown's new book, A New Culture of Learning, which appears in the Summer 2011 issue of Education Canada. URL:  http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/playing-learn  I believe that ALL education students, both graduate and undergraduate, and ALL Education faculty members should read this book to gain new awareness about participatory learning beyond school. 

Here are the opening paragraphs:

"Play is neither trivial nor frivolous; it is how we learn. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown take seriously the role of play as a mindset that needs to be cultivated in education. In A New Culture of Learning, they invite us to see how a world in constant flux is not either a problem to solve or a challenge to overcome. Via richly textured stories about what learning and play look and feel like in digitally connected participatory cultures, the authors invite readers to imagine how teaching might respond to a world in constant change."


"In a skillful analysis of shifting learning contexts and cultures, the authors explore learning as a cultural, social, and continuous process of inquiry, engagement, and participation in the world around us. Given that knowledge and information are dynamic and changing, that current technologies are participatory and emergent, they argue that learning environments must be transformed into knowledge building collectives that constantly create and respond to change".

I encourage you to read the rest of my review:  URL:  http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/playing-learn

And of course, to read the book itself!!  Thomas and Brown's, A New Culture of Learning:  Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change.  URL:  http://www.newcultureoflearning.com/

A bit of Educational Technology History and Meaning

Here is a short description of Educational Technology that I wrote a while back for my EDER 671 - Conceptualizing Educational Technology graduate course description.

Already a senior citizen in the educational research community, Educational Technology is a vibrant field of study that has undergone many changes in its 70+ year history.

While the field has worked with several definitions over the years, the current definition is: “Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources” (Januszewski & Molenda, 2008).

This course provides an overview of educational technology in the context of research on learning that bridges theory and practice. While the popular notion of "technology" is often associated with a variety of pieces of equipment, such as computers, video cameras and networks, and product development, such as web sites and podcasts, we will conceptualize educational technology more broadly as the systematic application of knowledge to solve instructional problems. Media, hardware, software and networks are considered in the contexts of design, development and utilization of technology that supports intentional learning environments, relationships and communities.

EDER 671 serves as an introduction to educational technology for those who are new to the program, students from other specializations, and anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of facilitating learning with technology. The possible topics for this course are unlimited and diverse.

Inquiry can range from social computing, virtual reality, multimedia, hypertext, simulation and game-based learning to distributed expertise, visual communication, cultural and political impacts, knowledge management and industrial design, to the role of library and information professionals, change and adoption models, corporate and public partnerships, and all the e-this and i-that topics, if you insist (i.e., e-publishing, e-marketing, e-learning, e-business, e-bay, i-Mac, iBalls, iPods, iCulture, and i-cannot-keep-up! ;-).

Instructor selected topics provide merely a broad foundation for discourse that can echo a diverse range of student derived issues and ideas. Students are encouraged to focus their individual scholarship on particular educational technology topics, key issues in educational technology, and emerging trends about which they are passionate and curious.

The instructional methodology for this course is largely inquiry-based. Students will inquire individually and collaboratively into educational technology issues, questions and concepts that define the field. Students will actively reflect on their learning, debate ideas in a scholarly community of inquiry, and will be encouraged to apply new knowledge in the design of a learning web and opportunity for their peers via a wiki. Students will construct philosophical perspectives, investigate diverse educational technology topics and dig deep into instructional problems that they define. The course will be a success if students end up with more questions and key issues to frame ongoing inquiry in the field of educational technology and the end of semester than they started with in the beginning!

For further commentary on educational technology, I suggest you read an article by Denis Hylnka and I wrote in Spring 2009, "What is educational technology, anyway? A commentary on the new AECT definition of the field", By Denis Hlynka and Michele Jacobsen, for the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 35(2).  URL:  http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/527/260

Leadership Breakthrough

Thank you! THANK YOU!  Deanna Werklund, for sponsoring me for the Leadership Breakthrough I Training.  I have taught for 16 years, and I have been a professor for 12 years - I learned so much about leadership, teamwork, passion, courage, teaching and having fun from my peers and trainers - my hat is off to these 25 dynamic and courageous individuals who are changing the world one day at a time. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and my leadership with youth!!

I had FUN! I totally stepped out of my comfort zone and I do not want to go back! Groups of 400 people in a lecture? Totally my comfort zone. Being a strong leader who gives people positive feedback? No problem, and I will get even better at this. Giving people the feedback they need to improve -- gotta work on that. Getting closer to colleagues and building strong relationships -- I will get better at that.

I smiled and laughed and cried and also rediscovered my voice!
I have a powerful voice and I am not afraid to use it. 

JFDI.  Just Focus and Do It.
I am strong. I am powerful. I will overcome. I AM A LEADER.

Heat And Energy From Crap

For this, my 140th blog post, I will highlight an interesting, albeit unconventional 'crap' project by my Chemical Engineering colleagues, Dr. Ian Gates and Dr. Michael Kallos, in the Schulich School of Engineering: Turning human excrement into electricity. This is a serious project with some 100K in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Congratulations boys and best of luck with this knowledge building and world changing innovative work.

And thank you, my loyal reader, for joining me on my short, but well-deserved break, from end-of-semester marking. Bye for now.