WSU Teaching & Learning Blog

Previously I posted about the Department of Communication’s summer doctoral seminar on communication activism. The seminar went quite well and I’m pleased to announce that a podcast episode about the seminar is now available. The audio, captured on the go using a little olympus digital recorder, documents some of the excitement and learning that occurred during this year’s event. 

You can get it (at no cost) in the iTunes Music Store - search for “Conflict Learning Audio”. You can also hear it online and/or download it at my Conflict Learning Audio podcast page http://www.campus-adr.net/podcast/  The direct link to just this episode is here.

FYI, the podcast server is an old machine that sits under my faculty office desk, so please be patient with it, especially given the hefty 19.7 MB size of the file.

If you have iTunes installed on your computer, you can go directly to the podcast in iTunes using this link.

Here’s the full episode description:

Engaged Scholarship Seminar - 2008-06-21 by Bill Warters

This episode focuses on the 2008 Summer Doctoral Seminar hosted by Wayne State University’s Department of Communication. The theme was “Communication Activism: Engaged Scholarship” and it featured guest scholar Dr. Larry Frey from the University of Colorado. We get to hear from some of the student participants and listen in on an engaging discussion that took place after students returned from a activists’ tour of Detroit. Interviewed participants include Audrey Wagstaff, Brian Ekdale, Janet Donoghue, Karen Greiner, Nadine Yehya, Sarah McGhee and Teemu Kauppi.

(43:06min, 20MB)

While aimed at a 5th-grade audience, all ages can appreciate the old songs, folktales, legends and history presented by the Windsor Public Library in their online exhibit known as The Folklore of le Détroit. The exhibit focuses on the Detroit River French who lived on both sides of the River through most of the 1700’s. Here’s a quick history lesson from the site: 

The French founded a colony at le Détroit du lac Érié in 1701. Détroit means “strait”, and that’s exactly what the Detroit River is: the strait between Lake Erie and Lake Saint Clair. The colony was the brainchild of Antoine Cadillac, first commander of Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. He brought soldiers, farmers and merchants, as well as members of several First Nations, to settle in the area, in order to help defend the Great Lakes and French possessions in the interior against advances by the British and their Iroquois allies. Initially, the colonists settled on the north shore of the river (on what is now the American side). But from1749 on, they began occupying the south shore as well. Some of the settlers came directly from France, others from the Saint Lawrence River Valley. They practised a bit of agriculture, but most of them relied on hunting and fishing and the fur trade to earn a living. The colony became a British possession in 1760, but Francophones continued to settle in the area. Even after the north shore became part of the United States in 1796, the Detroit River remained for all intents and purposes a French river.      

Academe Online, a publication of the AAUP, recently published a very informative article by Oscar Wambuguh entitled Teaching Large Evening Classes. The subtitle says it all - “They’ve been working all day, they’re tired, and there are scores of them—how do you reach them all?” Definitely worth checking out for insight into the creative approaches Professor Wambuguh has developed to keep things interesting.

Back in 2001 the Australian Universities Teaching Committee commissioned a series of online resource materials designed to help faculty leverage advances in technology. The working groups developed five generic learning design templates that can be applied to different disciplines and problems. 

 As an example, one of the core methods that they focused on is use of the Online Roleplay. The resource site for this is known as “enRole, Research, React, Resolve, Reflect: Developing and using online role play learning designs” and it is chock full of useful tools for creating learning roleplays.  I was particularly intrigued, given my interest in campus conflict resolution, to see that their QuickStart Roleplay #2 (pdf) uses a university controversy as the subject of its sample roleplay scenario. In addition to various templates and checklists, the roleplay Designers Guide provides video clips from people who have developed online roleplays or participated in them. There is lots of good material here.

Northern Illinois University has done a nice job creating a podcast called Teaching with Blackboard that is actually served up using a Blackboard building block. Fifteen episodes are available so far and they cover a range of topics that will interest faculty who use Blackboard to enhance their instruction. Topics have included strategies for moving your course online, use of classroom clickers, embedding RSS news feeds in your course, creating podcasts, and more. Incidentally, Jason Rhode, mentioned in my previous post, is at the center of this project. Nice going Jason!

A few free books are still available for WSU faculty, staff or graduate teaching assistants wishing to join us for our Dec. 5th, 2007 discussion of Rebekah Nathan’s (not her real name) “My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student.”

We’re planning to get together at 4:00 at the Office for Teaching and Learning reading area for a discussion. Box lunches will be provided so people won’t have to worry about getting dinner before class if you teach that night.

Come and join us to explore the teaching and learning implications of this fascinating (and easy to read) book by an anthropology professor who secretly took on the role of a first-year college student, living in a residence hall, participating in activities and taking a full load of classes. You can reserve your copy of the book and register for the event via WSU Pipeline, or by calling Kristi Jordan at the OTL.

Informing Faculty, located at http://informingfaculty.org/ is an online journal providing cases for reflection by faculty. Informing Faculty’s mission is “to serve as the premier source of refereed discussion cases that address the challenges faced by faculty members participating in higher education across the globe.”

They are currently inviting faculty members in higher education to submit case studies relating to situations that they or their colleagues have faced or are facing. These case studies should be designed to encourage thoughtful discussions of the issues involved, in a classroom, workshop or online setting. There is already one full issue posted. At the present time, the principle focus is on publishing cases addressing challenges stemming from:

• Implementation of innovative technologies for teaching
• Adoption of new pedagogies or procedures in a course setting
• Developing new courses or curricula to accommodate the increasing diversity of the student body and to address regulatory issues
• Balancing teaching and other career demands in an increasingly demanding academic environment

Cases that fall outside of these areas, but are nonetheless consistent with the mission of Informing Faculty, will also be considered. The journal is published in both printed form and online. Printed versions are prepared annually, while online versions of cases are posted upon acceptance.