Ooops - where did November go? And, the addiction to family.

I am booking appointments into January 2011 right now, and it is not even December. So, I figured I had better blog at least once or I will miss this entire month!!  I do not remember September, it is just a blur. October was crazy, with a conference in Newfoundland and another in Ontario, teaching a graduate course (excellent students, btw), keeping up with two research projects (and a new one that got funded), doing analysis and writing for a self-study of our graduate programs, editing the special issue of a journal, writing a proposal for a grant, EDSA, GPEC, DAC and FEC meetings, doing a few media interviews, talking with prospective students on the phone, moving from one office to another, and updating several websites.

But this month of November, which begins with All Hallows Day and ends with Mark Twain's and Winston Churchill's birthdays, has to be the busiest I have experienced as a faculty member in the last 10 years... No, Really!!  I have the marked up, over-crowded postit-note plastered, dog-eared daytimer to prove it... BUT, SShhhh!! So far, I have successfully fended off attempts by my handlers to put my calendar online and accessible to others for booking meetings....  Anyways. To one of the points of this post.  The other day, I got a note from my dean congratulating me and my team on a job well done. It is hard to describe how awesome it was to get this feedback and recognition; a simple little note, a moment of recognition for a job well done, and in spite of carrying two industrial sized bags around under my eyes from cramming my marking into the wee hours  of the morning, I actually felt much lighter, even more positive about my job, and that much more happy to come to work.

Speaking of how one can be busy AND happy at work, I also try to maintain a healthy and balanced home life with dear husband and two children. Not. Always. Easy. Nor. Is. It. Nirvana. So, I actually paid attention to this National Post article when it crossed my virtual desk this week:  The Greatest Addiction of All. I can certainly relate to the opening narrative in which a little child cuddles on a parent's lap, the cares of the day fall away, and all seems well in the world. Most mornings and evenings, and several times a day and at night on weekends, I, too, get numerous cuddles and kisses from two manic, wriggling, over-heated, often piercingly loud, sometimes smelly little bundles of unrestrained joy... Yup. There is the fantasy of parental bliss, and there is the reality.

Parenting is just as challenging, if not more demanding, than being a full time professor. In future posts, I might just detail some of the more humorous incidents and events that characterize my parenting journey. Suffice it to say, I often feel like a border collie - screaming banshee - Nanny McPhee - cross as I shepherd my two offspring through school, music lessons, sports activities and family and household chores and routines, take a deep breath before you smack one of them....  All of which foreshadows the next part of the article that resonated with me:  "Research may depict parenthood as a bile-inducing, rage-fueling, stress-producing ordeal, but parents tell us that becoming parents is the best thing they ever did". Truly, while they are a work in progress, my two offspring are my greatest creations. Cute, smart, funny, exasperating, argumentative, entertaining, gifted, demanding, irritating....

My sister sent me this earlier this month, and I finally got around to reading it:  Men are from mars, kids are from Pluto. Very funny and liberating -- so what if your child wants to wear a Halloween costume to kindergarten? Every... day... for... a... month...  Must be normal on Pluto....


I realize I am blathering a bit. But, I do have a point. How to reconcile the tiny little cherished moments of bliss with the daily grind of full-time work and full-time parenting? Though the connection may seem awkward, it makes total sense to me:  it appears that the tiny little moments in parents' lives, those cuddles and kisses, the lap time, AND those sporadic, congratulatory notes from the boss, are like narcotics to addicts. Yes, it is the hope for reward, not the reward itself, that often drives us; and it is the tiny little moments of bliss that sustain us through the hard work it takes to do anything well.

MUN's Murphy Mashup: Learning in a Smarter World

I am attending the EDGE 2010 Conference in St. John's Newfoundland today, and felt the urge to blog about an excellent keynote by Dr. Elizabeth Murphy (and not just because I enjoyed Mark, Mary, Dale and Michael's panel on blogging!).

Dr. Elizabeth Murphy's keynote presentation, entitled "Learning in a Smarter World: Imagining the Future", was delightfully different (at least to me).  Dr. Murphy provided a brief introduction and concluding remarks that framed an engaging media mashup that she thoughtfully prepared ahead of time. Dr. Murphy's call to action focused on using our imagination and innovative technological resources to design smarter learning and learners. Key messages include:

• Imagine a world in which every child is capable of critical and rational thinking. Imagine a world in which every child has access to all knowledge. 
• Imagine every child regardless of gender, geography religion,  race or income with open access to all knowledge and to sophisticated learning tools.
• Imagine more intelligent computers that help all students learn more effectively and efficiently. Imagine high quality learning activities and materials in the hands of every child.  
• Imagine children learning through play. Imagine children engaged and enthralled by every learning experience.
• Imagine learning experiences designed for the whole child. Imagine a system of learning that responds to children's individual needs.

Dr. Murphy skillfully wove together readily available YouTube videos with thoughtful commentary in a compelling media mashup about smarter learning and the future of education. She distributed cards with a link to a set of delicious bookmarks she prepared so that people could enjoy the videos again after the presentation.  Murphy's media mashup was a great approach to a keynote about imagining smarter learning.

I encourage you to experience a version of Dr. Murphy's presentation as preserved using delicious bookmarks and comments:  Elizabeth Murphy's Edge 2010 keynote, Learning in a smarter world: Imaging the future

Divon's news: Tech-savvy teens take skill to the classroom

Read a recent news article about teens learning with technology.  I really enjoyed talking to Jordana from Metro News about Sharon Friesen and my research on engaged teaching and technology enabled learning. Jordana quoted accurately and in an appropriate context:

• “We found they were a lot more creative in the types of projects teachers did with students, and they pursued more long term projects because the kids could take the technology with them at night to work on projects at home,” said Jacobsen.
• ... in spite of all the new advances in classroom technology, Jacobsen stresses the importance of having teachers on board. “All the technology in the world is not going to change things in classrooms if the teachers aren’t designing rich learning experiences for the students. So engaged teaching matters more than ever.”

Be sure to comment on the article.

Engaging, Purposeful and Meaningful Homework

Calgary Catholic School Board has posted a new homework policy online; The Board has asked for feedback from the community.   Global National's Francis Silvaggio asked me to comment on this policy, and aired a few of my responses on Oct 6th:  No Homework Policy.  Other views that I expressed during this interview include:

• CCSB has proposed a balanced and flexible policy that enables teachers to be responsive to individual student learning needs;
• A clear focus on meaningful and purposeful homework has been articulated;
• Reasonable expectations for the quantity of daily homework have been set for children in different divisions (i.e., K-grade 3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12);
• Homework can take different forms, from practice, to completion, to enrichment, to project work; 
• Punitive measures to discipline students for incomplete homework - no missed classes or loss of privileges - are inappropriate. Instead, focus on good communication between school and home;
• Roles and shared responsibilities for students, parents, teachers and school administrators have been identified.

As an educator, I support the idea of regular homework that is engaging, meaningful and purposeful. I believe that homework can be a great opportunity for children and parents to connect and communicate about learning strengths, interests and needs.  In higher education, professors and instructors have a great deal of flexibility given the learning characteristics of our adult students - most students do individual and group work outside of scheduled instructional time. For teachers and students in K-12, I believe that our expectations for homework outside of instructional time need to be guided by sound educational research on learning and teaching, and also be tempered by our understanding of the many demands on home and family life. Teachers and parents are BOTH focused on student / child success in learning, and effective processes can be put in place to communicate and negotiate a set of shared expectations for schoolwork and homework.

As parents, my husband and I engage with our own children on learning tasks most evenings and on weekends. The learning tasks we do together range from printing and practicing with text, lots of reading using diverse materials, fun activities both indoors and out, arts, crafts and music, and math and science explorations using a microscope, a stove and measuring cups, shovels and seeds, tools in the garage, and various other materials. That said, we are a family that also has to balance full time work and school, with music lessons, choir lessons, sporting activities, housekeeping, meal preparation and clean up, laundry, pets, and so on! In our busy and purposeful full-time lives, we expect to work together with the school on purposeful and meaningful homework tasks that help our children love school and love learning and experience success.

Education Canada: The Hard Work of Learning and the Challenges of Good Teaching

Read this new article by Davis and Sumara (2010) on the weekend. In it, the authors challenge readers to consider a "change" focus versus a "challenge" stance in designs for learning. I plan to assign it to my student teachers for discussion and debate next semester.  In the meantime, I encourage educators to read and contribute to the discussion using the comments feature on the CEA Website: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada

Here is what I posted: 

This is a thoughtful and important article to discuss with my student teachers - Thanks for the great read!  Two parts that really resonated with me:
"... teaching that is focused on challenging learners is organized around the much more demanding tasks of setting situations that allow students to negotiate the level of difficulty, of trusting they will choose the tougher route when they are able, of really listening to where they’re coming from and what they know."
--- the design of meaningful work and learning opportunities, introducing challenging ideas, trusting students to make good choices and to engage, and attentive listening to learners
" [teachers] are doubtlessly challenging their students, refusing to make things easy and constantly expecting more than of learners than learners might imagine themselves capable."
--- Seymour Papert introduced an idea decades ago, "hard fun", that relates to a key idea that you are describing here - learners want to be challenged and engaged in a scholarly community of inquiry, and in these communities they thrive. Ref:  http://www.papert.org/works.html

A Day in the Life of an Associate Professor

It has been a while since I wrote a "day in the life" blog. So, as I enjoy my Saturday morning coffee, here is a look back at my busiest day last week.

6 - 7 am - Answer email, read and respond to a graduate student paper, organize calendar.

8 - 9: 30 am - Drop dear child off at school; Drive to work; Talk to two colleagues by phone about research projects and committees; move more stuff into new office. 

9:30 - 11:30 am - Academic Workload Advisory Committee

11:30 - 12 - Squat and gobble while printing handouts, agenda and updating website

12 - 1:30 pm - Chair, Educational Studies in Language, Culture and Technology Meeting

1:30 - 3:00 pm - Graduate Programs in Education Council

4:00 pm - Music lessons with child

6:30 pm - Sound check and mingle with cool educators!

7:00 - 9:15 pm - Panelist, CRC's Digital Citizenship Symposium

9:45 pm - Fill vehicle with gas and find my way home.

Thankfully, most of my days are not this busy - most professors can and DO handle a few of these busy days a month. In fact, many of my colleagues seem busier than me - emails at all hours of the day, and slightly disheveled attire and grooming, attest to their hectic and demanding schedules! [Having fun here, friends!].

An academics' busy schedule demands that we make trade-offs - we all have to make choices about how we spend / invest our time in order to maintain an active research program, prepare articles and grant applications, offer quality teaching and graduate supervision, do journal editing and make conference presentations, engage in administrative and leadership service on dozens of committees, and cultivate a healthy and happy family life. On that note, I have to go get ready for hockey practice with my two kids. Cheers.

Are tech-savvy students better learners?

Are tech-savvy students better learners?
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/august26-2010/education

As children of all ages head back to school this fall, many of them will have the benefit of having a laptop computer all to themselves. But does having this level of access to technology guarantee the individual student will be successful in their studies? According to two University of Calgary professors, access to technology is only one part of the equation.  Quality teaching matters more than ever when computers come to school....