Signing off…for a while…

As many of you who know me are aware, I’m heading into my dissertation phase….so guess what?  No more writing.  Not for a while anyway.  I’ll be writing for the next 18-24 months – so between work and teaching and my doctorate, I need to concentrate heavily on that piece of paper!  I hope you’re all with me…sorry if you were a regular reader.  But priorities are priorities 🙂  See you in a couple of years!

Problems Down Under…and Up Over

I just got back from Australia…what a confusing place that is! They use dollars, but not the same dollars as the US (obviously). They are 16-18 hours behind my beloved Mountain time zone, depending on the time of year. Australia uses centigrade, so when I asked what the temperature would be one evening and heard, “10-15″…I was hosed. I was asked several times if I was staying in the CBD, to which I incorrectly answered, “No, I’m staying at the Hilton…”

But at the end of the day, all of the differences aside, one thing seems to be universal – even down under. Education is in trouble. Talking to educators ended up in the same conversations I have in the states, just counter-clockwise. 🙂 They’re worried about quality, outcomes assessment, education dollars, and authentic curriculum just like we are in the states. Australian teachers have problem students, problem parents, and problems with administrators just like teachers in the states. Administrators have difficulty with rogue teachers, consumer minded students, and whether to go online with all programs, just like the states. In fact, it seems that we’re all in the same boat for just about every major, educational trend I know of.

So I have to ask…WHY? Why do so few countries seem to get it right? Why are there so many problems? Why aren there so few innovators and visionaries leading the (correct) way down a path towards enlightenment?

Luckily, I have an answer. It’s simple, really: argumentum ad antiquitatem is what it’s all about. Yep, a simple fallacy in reasoning is the culprit behind decades of inaction and fearful speculation. The appeal to tradition is paralyzing education around the world…

Ok, so maybe it’s not just that simple, but listen for a moment to my reasoning. If you look at most scholars who gauge educational relevance, they’ll put it somewhere between 3 and 5 decades late. In other words, educators still teach out-dated theories, practices that nobody uses anymore, and terminology that few “real world” practicioners understand. On top of that, most teachers use methods that are years behind, we force students to learn the ways in which we learned, and we ignore brain research instead focusing on antiquated learning theory.

So you may be sitting there getting frustrated by these comments. If so, odds are that you are 1) a teacher guilty of this (99% likely are…) or 2) an innovator who wants desperately to change things. Well friends, I’m with the innovators.  For example, it still amazes me how few, traditional teachers accept the Internet as a viable way to educate. Is it best in every situation? Of course not. Is it better than on-ground teaching in many situations? Absolutely.  I can show you rich, authentic, meaningful digital assets that will measurably enhance learning.  Of course it’s scary too. It provides a level of accountability that educators aren’t necessarily used to. Data mining is changing the face of online education and the measures / assessments brought with it are going to cause tremendous angst for some instructors. I’ve been in meetings where teacher’s union representatives have flat out denied the viability of online education explaining, “…we’ve never needed to teach that way before…” (yikes)

So you want a fix? Ok – here’s one. Call your Congressman – talk to your local school board – write our President. It will take a small portion of the education budget and some guts. But here we go…

Offer X grants per state for innovative education ideas. Something like 3 schools per state would likely work. One should be elementary, one should be high school, and one should be at the college / university level. The key is in the proposal – it has to be “out of the box” and it has to be adopted institution wide. What would “innovative” look like? Well, I don’t know exactly. The beauty of innovation is that it draws from the collective brain trust. BUT, one key aspect of the proposal would be measurement. How do you measure success? That question has to be answered farily and justly in order to receive consideration. For the opponents of NCLB, this gives them the opportunity to create their own measures. For the proponents, they can use the metrics already in place if desired. But real measurement must provide the outcome.

Let me give one example to get the ball rolling. How about the New City School in St Louis? This is a school where every student has a DEEP understanding of HOW s/he learns. As a result, diversity is embraced without being forced. Collaboration becomes second nature to these kids. And all the while, they see how they BEST learn, while figuring out how to mitigate their own lack of learning styles. In other words, they learn practical application of authentic tasks & assessment – what better way do we have to prepare students for the real world? THAT is innovative.

So, we get 3 schools per state to “pilot” a program for 1, 2, maybe even 3 years. Do you know what we get when we’re done? 150 case studies. We get 150 stories of success or failure. We see what might work, what likely wouldn’t work, and what we should consider rolling out to dozens…heck, to hundreds of schools. It might involve new ways of designing curriculum, different textbook configurations, innovative projects, new uses for technology, providing students with unique tools, or a myriad of other ideas.

We have always been a country that embraces innovation and creativity. While that’s not easy for big business or our government, as a country we still idealize the concept that a new way of doing something may be effective. (Obviously we have to be cautious of the fallacy of novelty…that’s another blog.) So let’s put our money where our mouths are. Let’s let educators put up or shut up. I believe in my heart that there are some creative, innovative educators out there with some potential solutions to our education crisis. Let’s give them a stage to present their ideas and potentially shine.

So would this “fix” education? Probably not. We’re talking about a system that has problems from top to bottom. Just look at the problem with cafeteria foods as it correlates to learning, obesity, and focus (http://www.jamieoliver.com/school-dinners). But, might this start the ball rolling to get more and more of our students educated in a system that creates a more competetive employee! At least I think it might.

So let’s see. I read article after article in INC., WIRED, NEWSWEEK, FORBES, and dozens of other publications about how to tap into innovation and creativity. Why don’t we start modeling and (therefore) teaching it to our students right now? It could lead to education reform that helps us financially, academically, and systemically. Creativity could lead us to a system of education that prepares students for a real world future…whatever continent of our world they may happen to reside in.

Would you like to talk about innovation in education? Want to learn how to both teach and assess creativity in your students? Contact jborden@jeffpresents for more information!

How NOT to Build an Online Course – Part II

Letter to the Coures Editors – Part II: In my travels and dealings, I have seen thousands of online courses.  Some courses are brilliant, while others leave much to be desired.  Unfortunately, there is still a significant number of what I call, “Text Under Glass” – essentially courses that are all reading with little to no interactive content.  Likewise, there are courses where the instructor has no presence – no immediacy, no communication, no evaluation…no teaching!  I have also seen courses that aren’t really courses – they are incomplete from the traditional concept of a course.  So, for these last two blogs, I’d like to present my letters to course writers.  These letters are meant to both motivate and call out.  See what you think.

Dear course author –

I saw one of your courses the other day.  Whoops!  It’s hard to know where to start in trying to explain the numerous problems I saw, but I’ll try to take a stab at it. 

Let’s start with the pretty pictures…perhaps you might want to rethink grabbing any old photo from Google images and tacking it on a page.  It’s especially helpful if the picture actually has something (anything) to do with the content you are discussing!  But not to worry, there weren’t that many pictures anyway, so at least there won’t be many to fix.  (Although the different colors of your paragraphs seemed to match the pictures sometimes – how great for your class of ADHD students!)

Of course, not much in the way of images suggests that you had a lot of text.  That would be like saying the Titanic took in a lot of water.  Take some direction from our Instructional Design friends – less can be more!  The Word documents you converted to html pages were…well, they were probably exactly what you designed them to be – notes!  YOUR notes.  Not meaningful content or substantive comments, but notes to help guide your own understanding.  Do you know what good your notes are to me?  Let me try to help you.  Here are my notes from a lecture on Objectics:

Objects and Artifacts.  Function and aesthetics.  Presidential debates – going back to Kennedy / Nixon.  Colors = context culturally. 

I have several more lines, but I hope you get the idea.  This also translates to PowerPoint slides.  I finally get the saying: Death By PowerPoint.  This is because your slideshow had no power, nor did it have a point.  I’m guessing that’s because some were your notes, while others were publisher slideshows.  You do realize that the 200 slide presentation was designed for face to face consumption?  As well, it is probably best edited down to a manageable grouping.  Finally, the keywords your students see really need to be sentences as it generates a LOT more meaning.

Don’t get me wrong – the educational integrity was there!  You are obviously a master of your subject matter!  (Read: I would NOT want to play Trivial Pursuit against you in your degree area!)  As well, you took great care in providing feedback to your students on their final paper.  It’s a shame you had to mail the papers back to the students – there are ways to capture that information electronically!  But the rigor in your course was intense for sure.  Discussions, essays, tests, literature reviews, bibliographies, definitions pages, and other assignments would surely help students know more of the material by the end.  (That’s assuming they made it past week 3, right?)  But you had a lot of sources and resources to give a mosaic of content – albeit in only one or two formats.

That said, it might be time to rethink the amount of work and time your students are spending in the course materials.  Perhaps adding a few group assignments would be good.  After all, most workers find themselves in teams once they leave school.  If you believe the current literature, this happens more than ¾ of the time!  So perhaps it’s time to teach them skills they’ll need even if they aren’t specific to your discipline.  I know, I know, you aren’t a “small group” instructor.  (Unless you are a small group instructor – and in that case – good for you – you are salt of the Earth!)  But students need help tying the pieces of their education together just like humans need help tying together anything.  When someone becomes very sick, they may tie together diet, medicine, exercise, mental calm, environmental toxicity, and dozens of other pieces of life.  Why shouldn’t we teach them how to best live their lives once they’re out of school?  (Perhaps that’s why teachers always refer to graduation as going into the “real world” – hmmmm.)

Oh, here’s another tip.  Directional text.  Your students don’t automatically know what to do or where to click next.  So, it’s probably a good idea to let them in on it, rather than making it some kind of secret club or game.  Speaking of games, why note embrace the full power of the online medium!  Gaming is powerful – it increases retention, comprehension, and engagement.  These things are well documented.  So, instead of transferring your face to face (F2F) lectures to digital lectures (or walls of text), perhaps transforming your content to fit the new medium is a good idea!  Instead of needing a test in every unit, perhaps a group exercise is called for.  Why not include a simulation, a game, or a real-world exercise and have the students simply reflect on it?  You don’t even have to make it up completely – there are thousands of free resources on the Internet that have pre-made learning assets.  So, if you aren’t feeling particularly inspired or creative, find someone else who was and who also put their content up on the web for anyone to use…free! 

Lastly, it’s time to figure out learning outcomes.  I don’t care what you call them – here’s how I view them.  Course objectives (specific tasks) suggest or “prove” course outcomes (standards in k-12).  Outcomes suggest mastery, proficiency, or competence of program goals.  Goals, ultimately can imply institutional values.  That’s it – four levels.  Objectives, outcomes, goals, and values – figure out how your content maps to those and you are well ahead of many of your colleagues (both online and F2F). 

So, my friends, I’m left wondering what to do next.  I don’t want to offend all of you with good intentions, but it’s time to get in the game!  I realize that most instructors are not taught principles of education – mapping to standards, how to create immediacy, PBL, what is authentic assessment, etc. – these are concepts that are foreign to most college level teachers and loosely understood at the k-12 level.   (By the way, I realize there is a contingent of you who are researchers and not teachers.  I realize you are teaching 1 or 2 classes per term because you have to, not because you want to.  This blog is not for you.  To you I beg – find a GREAT graduate assistant and force them to research education in addition to teaching your load…)  Learning styles mean little in terms of student understanding and even less in terms of curriculum creation.  And that is a shame.  (I’d call it more of a travesty really.)  My suggestion?  Go back to school.  Pick up an instructional design class.  Check out a teaching effectiveness conference.  (And actually go to the sessions – don’t just hang out by the pool or the bar….I’ve been to your conferences and I know how you are!)  Buy a book on teaching, instructional design, or curriculum mapping.  And for the sake of all that is holy, invite quality speakers to perform your inservices.  (If you need one, I happen to have a million dollar idea…)  But leave the committee chairs and community business leaders off the luncheon schedule for a while.  Promote good learning, effective teaching, and sound pedagogical strategy.  Hold teachers accountable to outcomes, problem based learning, effective use of Bloom’s taxonomy, etc.  In other words…promote quality education.

Want to hear more about building a better course?  Need some help finding a balance between standardization and effective teaching?  Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

How NOT to build a course (Part I)

Letter To The Coures Editors – Part I: In my travels and dealings, I have seen thousands of online courses.  Some courses are brilliant, while others leave much to be desired.  Unfortunately, there is still a significant number of what I call, “Text Under Glass” – essentially courses that are all reading with little to no interactive content.  Likewise, there are courses where the instructor has no presence – no immediacy, no communication, no evaluation…no teaching!  I have also seen courses that aren’t really courses – they are incomplete from the traditional concept of a course.  So, for the next two blogs, I’d like to present my letters to course writers.  These letters are meant to both motivate and call out.  See what you think.

Dear course developer –

I saw another of your courses today.  Yikes!  I’m not completely sure I would consider a course at all, but accreditors don’t seem to know the difference, so I guess you’re covered.  Why wasn’t it a course, you ask?  Well, it consisted of about 3-4 pieces of content every week.  The basic outline went something like this:

Content Item #1 – labeled Readings:  Here you told your students what pages or chapters of the textbook to read. 

Content Item #2 – Discussion: Here you had a discussion area with a pre-populated discussion topic for the “instructor” to facilitate.

Content Item #3 – Assignment: Here you asked the student to submit a 5 paragraph essay on most any topic.  The creation of a product (I’m assuming) gave you the feeling that you were assessing a higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Content Item #4 – Quiz / Test: In the weeks that had tests (not all did), the questions were purely recall, suggesting that memorization of terms from the textbook was essential.

That’s it.  Don’t get me wrong – your course has plenty of structure and instructional design.  And standardized nomenclature is a very good thing for an online course.  When students click on “Discussion” they know exactly what you mean.  The stock photos and newspaper like pages were easy to read, especially since there really wasn’t anything more than directions item after item.  As well, your outcomes and objectives were impeccable.  They weren’t necessarily important or practical, but they were spot on in terms of what you presented.  You obviously mapped program goals to learning outcomes to course objectives – this should make for a great report to show accreditation groups or internal reviewers.  However, when it comes to differentiation (Educational Variance), curriculum integration, immediacy, and lots of other important, academic concepts, you’ve missed the boat. 

You may have noticed that I put the word instructor in quotes above.  I know that seems harsh, but essentially the course that I saw from you made the teacher an overpaid grader – s/he wasn’t teaching anyone anything.  For example, if the instructor asked a poignant question in the thread, students had absolutely no reason to answer that question.  The explicit grading rubric, in and of itself a great thing, was clear.  As long as students responded to the pre-populated topic and X number of their peers, then the student would earn all points for the week’s discussion.  So, perhaps you would allow the instructor of the course access to add in a few quiz questions so as to keep students accountable to the expert you’ve hired to teach.  Nope.  The instructor was not allowed to add any assessment to the course.  Only the development team could do that.  So I say again, your course had no need for an “instructor”.  (Other than the fact that accreditation requires it I guess…)

But where was the rest of it?  If a traditional course, requiring contact hours + homework asks 45 hours of a teacher / student’s in class plus 3-5 times that outside of class, how does this course work?  If ALL content is coming from the textbook, isn’t the textbook the teacher?  Is that really the best education our students can get?  No practical, real world instruction from an expert – but just textual theory from a bunch of graduate students who work for a PhD?  Don’t get me wrong – I AM a doctoral student and I work my tail off to gather research and assemble journal articles.  But my ability to write a textbook today would come from the last 15 years of communication teaching AND experience – I would not have been effective at that during my Master’s program!

Perhaps there is a shortage of quality instructors?  People who you don’t trust to teach effectively?  Surely there are ways to police that though.  I know how hard it is to keep tabs on adjunct faculty teaching in the face-to-face classroom – I managed over 50 at a time when I coordinated public speaking at MSCD.  But online is a different story, isn’t it?  You see every communication, every thread, every document, EVERYTHING!  You should be able to tell if quality instruction is happening.  So I’m guessing that’s not it.

Hmmm.  I guess it comes down to creativity, teaching, and other academic principles.  The lack of web 2.0 concepts, the surface development of learning community, and the trust of content over teaching suggests a business decision, not an educational one.  I’m reminded of a keynote address I heard recently by Dr. Mark Milliron.  He said that research shows the #1 influencer of student success is a teacher.  He also noted that the next 5 educational elements that influence success, when totaled, don’t equal the percentage of relevance a teacher has.  Not standardized outlines, not repetitive agendas, and definitely not content.  (Libraries have been around centuries yet we still need teachers to effectively teach us how to classify, interpret, and apply it, no?) 

So, my friends, I’m left wondering what to do next.  I work with many of you – I KNOW many of you.  Some of you are excellent people with (uninformed) hearts in the right place.  (I also know some “educators” who really only care about the profit involved.  I have no problem with you – everyone has to make money and furthering education in the process is fine by me – but this isn’t for you.  You’ll likely see this as silly and altruistic.  No worries – find another blog.)  But how do I fix this?  It IS fixable after all.  Content doesn’t have to be boring.  Learning doesn’t have to exclude practicality, originality, and context.  Learning doesn’t have to happen in a vacuum.  Rigor is okay when accompanied by scaffolding, core knowledge, and scholarship.  I know it might weed out potential unmotivated customers, er…students, but that’s okay too.  Not every class is for every student and school isn’t for every person at every stage of life.  Life-long learning doesn’t have to be formal – informal and nonformal learning are at work too.

Well, I’ll keep on speaking.  I’ll put out the word and see if any of it sticks.  I’m cynical, but not without at least a small degree of hope.  Things can be changed.  There IS a happy medium between the course I described here and the course created by a faculty member who is either uninformed or lazy.  And the person who figures that out…watch out.  It will change education as we all know it.

Want to hear more about building a better course?  Need some help finding a balance between standardization and effective teaching?  Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Perception Determines Reality

I’m funny.  At least I think so.  My daughter thinks I’m a hoot too.  Give me a nerf and a good head shot…she’s on the floor laughing.  But when my household is compared to a sitcom, my wife doesn’t think of me as the comic relief.  I’m not the star of the show.  After my daughter (of course), the spotlight falls on my wife.  At least that’s how she sees it.  If only she saw what everyone else does…that I’m hilarious in my own head!

I recently came across a journal article about employer perceptions of online degrees.  The first lesson I teach my speaking students is something we should all take note of.  Perception Determines Reality or PDR for short.  I’ve blogged about it before.  But it’s extremely true.  It doesn’t matter what IS true – it only matters what you BELIEVE to be true.  Heck, even in a court of law it doesn’t matter what you think – it only matters what you can get a jury or judge to believe to be true. 

So, the perceptions of employers is an important element to study.  Now, I know some practicing distance educators who would be annoyed if not outright angry at the thoughts and perceptions of this group.  I hear them at conferences making fun of people who don’t “get it” and how we’re really the enlightened ones.  I read blogs from the ivory tower that frustrate me for their lack of practicality and conventional wisdom. (Sigh)

I don’t buy into that though.  I think it’s my job as an educator, a policy maker, a businessman, and an online advocate to help mold the perceptions of others into what it should be!  Here are some highlights from the research article:

Throughout the empirical studies, as well as Carnevale’s (2005, 2007) popular media articles that cite empirical studies, potential employers gave the following reasons for their reticence in accepting online degree credentials: ·         lack of rigor, ·         lack of face-to-face interactions, ·         increased potential for academic dishonesty, ·         association with diploma mills, ·         concerns about online students’ true commitment evident from regularly venturing to a college or university physical location, considered by some to be an important part of the educational experience. On the other hand, some themes emerged from the empirical study literature and popular media supporting employer acceptance of online degree credentialing. Conditions that could influence online degree acceptance in the hiring process were: ·         name recognition/reputation of the degree-granting institution, ·         appropriate level and type of accreditation, ·         perception that online graduates were required to be more self-directed and disciplined, ·         candidates’ relevant work experiences, ·         and whether the online graduates were being considered for promotion within an organization or if they were vying for new positions elsewhere or in a new field.

As I look at that list, I’m not surprised.  Anyone who teaches online should have considered one or more of those points along the way.  I’ve had students actually complain to me because my class wasn’t as “easy as they thought it would be.”  Cheating in the online arena is probably the easiest target by doubters, even making its way into the Higher Education Reauthorization Act where schools are being required to “prove” that the student is who they say they are.  As frustrating as this mindset is (since there is no evidence that cheating happens more online than on-ground), it is still reality.

Likewise, the other issues are real perceptions too.  While I can (and do) debate them all the time, the findings aren’t surprising.  I was at a curriculum meeting for one of our big for-profit schools last year.  They brought in industry experts and outsiders to look at the curriculum for a specific program and makes recommendations, suggestions, etc.  The issue of online courses came up and the room got very excited!  Business owners and entrepreneurs were extremely concerned that the employees they would hire did not have any “real school” experience.  But, rather than feel frustrated or dejected, I tried to take that opportunity to share the value, rigor, and potential for online classes.  I became an “e-vangelist” for the event.

And that is the ultimate advice I would give here.  For some people, they will never believe an online education is possible.  Forget them for now – the closed minded don’t have a place at my table today – I’m too busy working with people who are willing to listen and learn.  While I have and continue to teach both online and face to face, I realize there are pros and cons to BOTH mediums.  But just because there are cons to F2F teaching doesn’t mean it should go away.  Likewise, online education has its place – a prominent place – in our educational future landscape.  I think that my job is to show the promise, the potential, and the real-world application available today in this format.  My job is make my perception your perception.  Then, together we’ll determine a reality that makes sense.

The last thing I’d mention about online courses and degrees is this.  There is no distinction made on a transcript for an online vs on-ground course.  (And there shouldn’t be.)  Just like there is no distinction made about the instructor’s credentials, how the student did vs their peers in the class, etc., there is no extra measure listed on a transcript.  So, at the end of the day the argument doesn’t really matter too much.  Just about every college student graduating by 2010 will have taken an online class.  It’s estimated that by 2020, half of K-12 education will be delivered via distance.  And nobody will know the difference…

Want to hear more about online learning?  Need some suggestions for creating a great online course, program, or curriculum?  Contact Jeff at jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Innovations Conference Presentation

For anyone at the conference who attended my session – here you go! (This link will be good from 3/16 – 3/23 on YouSendIt)

Conference Presentation: How Virtual Learning Environments Could (And Should) Help Learners.

https://www.yousendit.com/download/UmNJck95d0k1aVpFQlE9PQ

Innovation In Education

What is your favorite, dramatic, uplifting “school” movie?  Is it the one about the young teacher who goes into a group of underprivileged students and shows them how to learn in a way that’s meaningful to them?  Or maybe it’s the movie with the stranger who teaches students to use tools they didn’t know they had like dance, martial arts, or painting to find in-roads to learning.  Ok…so you probably realize that I just gave the basic plot for most every school-based drama in the past 100 years!

(Notice I said drama – while I enjoy the work of Belushi & Farley, those comedies are another blog – probably one about togas.  And movies about school sports don’t qualify this week either.  By the way, what’s the best school sports movie?  If you said Hoosiers, give yourself an A+)

So who is ready to fix education?  I know I am.  Unfortunately, I don’t get to waive my magic wand anytime soon.  But I strongly believe one road to fixing education is along the path of innovation.  Let’s start planting the seeds of creativity and innovation and see what springs up!

A Youth Movement: How many educators have been at it for more than 20 years?  Too many, right?  Whether it’s that high school biology teacher who taught you, your brother, AND your mom or the college professor who has had tenure longer than you’ve had a driver’s license, some teachers have been through enough changes to beat the fight out of anyone!  I’ll be the first to admit that MOST (not all) innovative ideas come out of youth.  You could argue it’s naivety, but often it’s that lack of “understanding” (read: cynicism) that is what propels someone forward down a path of originality. 

It’s hard for me to write this.  I’m not “young” anymore.  I stopped getting looks from teenage girls when I was still a teenager!  But I will admit as a new father, while I love the wisdom and security that comes with being an almost-40 dad, I sure would like a few less aches & pains and a bit more energy.  Our young teachers with ideas based on their RECENT experiences and new theories in educational thinking should be given a shot here.  Teachers who embrace technology, new ways of thinking about assessment, and who connect with students in a paradigm-breaking new way should be allowed to innovate within our educational walls. 

Old Dogs / New Tricks: But innovation isn’t just for the young.  While there may be less creativity and passion for change in seasoned veterans, that doesn’t mean we’re dead!  Some of the most innovative professors I meet are older than I am and loving the “revolution” (that’s what they call it) of technology based education.  They’re the ones who have longitudinal data to suggest ways to bridge major educational concepts like variance, curriculum integration, and collaboration. 

I will point out that much of this innovation can (and should) come from OUTSIDE the education community.  The ideas for new thought and creative process would often be best served by people who haven’t been indoctrinated already.  Disrupting Class is a great example here – some non-academics used business technology and assessment to identify areas of change and need in classrooms.  Brilliant.  Where else could education get a boost?  Imagine how scientists could change science curriculum to be more interesting and more practical?  What about a Chief Operations Officer teaching business process to Freshman?  (Andy…you know you should do this…)  Or what about professional speakers changing how communication is taught in public speaking classes? 

It’s time for a change.  This of course means it’s time to put our money where our mouth is.  Put out the call and have people compete for creative, innovative ideas with the goal being real money, real schools, and real kids.  And by all means don’t blow it with a judging committee of old school educators!  We’re talking about challenging the norms here!  We don’t need anyone with terminal PP (paradigm paralysis) clogging up the works.  While it will be important to monitor closely and I’m certainly not suggesting a blank check with no measures or objectives – but let’s not stop the process before it even starts.  Get a healthy mix of experts, radicals, conservatives, parents, students, and non-educator types to help pick a winner. 

Let’s jump start a new paradigm in teaching.  Can you imagine 1 of these programs per state?  Let’s say that 10% work (although I’d bet on more than that).  Now we have 5 strong models to look at for adoption in other areas.  If we had this contest every year, we’d eventually have a generation of learners having been touched by some form of innovation. 

And now that I have a 2 year old…I want her to get the results of that innovation.  Here’s to a world of change Addie girl.  I hope we can embrace it for you.

Want to hear more about online education?  Interested in real solutions to cheating and plagiarism?  Contact Jeff at jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

Online Security

Hi, I’m Dan Burrows.  No, actually I’m Chase Larson.  Ok, in reality I’m Suzy Patrick.  I have been asked a LOT lately about how schools are going to deal with the new Higher Education Act of 2008.  There is a very small paragraph in the 1200 page document that gives schools using the Internet a new directive.  Prove that your students are who they say they are…

Ok, so forget the 27 year old student from a large, prestigious, R-1 institution I met on a plane who told me about how he paid for college by pretending to be rich kids.  He would take the entire semester as that person, turning in work, taking tests, etc.  Only one instructor in 8 years asked for ID which was easy enough to fake – school IDs aren’t Driver’s licenses after all.  And, forget about the statistics that show ALL students (K-20) are cheating in record numbers on tests, papers, etc.  Forget that any on-ground student could have a brother write a paper, a sister take a test, or a friend create a portfolio.  And don’t get me started on twins!!!  (Evil mimeographs…)

How would the Government like schools to do this?  Of course, there will be entrepreneurs who will come to the rescue!  It will cost a boat load of money, but they’ll try to help. 

For example, one company uses credit-based questions for online students.  When you login to the class or a test, the message says, ”You claim to be Jeff Borden.  Jeff Borden lived at one of the following 4 addresses.  Which one?”

Or another company that is using webcam technology to randomly capture images of students in a testing situation.  They compare the instant photos to known photos of the students taken during registration and see if someone else is taking the test.

Of course both of these are easily cheatable for someone who really wants to.  Just sit off camera or have the real person answer the questions as their friend types in the answers…

Another company feels they have it figured out.  They provide a small globe that looks like a mini-disco ball.  It captures finger prints, has a webcam, and a microphone.  If anything unusual happens in the vicinity of the camera, finger prints are asked for, images are taken, and sounds are recorded.  Big Brother 2.0!  (Securexam – the company with the ball – costs the student about $150)

Other companies are using algorithms around student typing or average speed of answer to check for problems. 

Some teachers have tried to figure things out on their own.  A few phone calls throughout the term helps them determine if a person really understands the concepts they claim to.  Checking for patterns with writing styles and skills in math are how some instructors are bridging the gap. 

But ultimately it comes down to this.  People will always cheat.  You can make it as hard as you want, but people will do it.  Remember the group who helped doctoral candidates cheat on the GRE?  Encoded pencils gave answers to the paper based, highly secured test for years before they found out.  (I wonder how my doctor did on his entrance exams…?)

People will always find a way around the rules.  There is a group of people who cheat just for the thrill of cheating!  Others are so pressured from various places they feel it necessary.  And on and on…why people cheat is another blog article. 

I guess I’m trying to say to Congress…take it easy.  Policing is just going to cost a lot of money and make a lot of people who finally have access to education fail.  Let’s look at real answers and solutions, not just knee jerk reactions to fear.  It doesn’t have to be like that!

Ok…soap box #1 out of the way for 2009.  Hope you enjoyed the rant.  See you next week when I tackle the financial rescue package… 🙂

Want to hear more about online education?  Interested in real solutions to cheating and plagiarism?  Contact Jeff at jborden@jeffpresents.com for more information!

PowerPoint Do’s And Don’ts

Ok folks – short and sweet today.  I was reminded of this blog topic when at a meeting for work.  It was a cool topic with great ideas…and a horrific PowerPoint to accompany a really bad presentation!  Don’t be that guy/girl! 

For a great video by Don McMillan on how NOT to use PowerPoint – check out the following! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM  For those in a hurry…just remember the following:

1. Stop looking at the screen.  The audience needs your eyes for dozens of reasons, not the least of which is so that you know if they care at all about what you’re saying!  Look out there!
2. Stop writing sentences!  Remember that bullet points are your best tool for an actual presentation.
3. Take it easy on the bullet points! 
4. Please don’t read to your audience.  Unless they are 5^th graders, they can read for themselves.  Use the keyword / bullet point to trigger a story, illustration, statistic, definition, etc. 
5. Transitions are not just for the slides – they are for you too!  So don’t say…”ok, now we’ll talk about…”  Just get to it!
6. Remove all: Sounds, Clip Art, Animations, and spelling errors.  It’s time for you to move up in the world.
7. Use pictures and video – it’s 2009!  Bring your ideas to life with visual imagery, motion, and emotion!
8. Minimize your numbers.  Statistics are great – if they have meaning.  Demystify the concepts into numeric form – in other words, bring things down to the lowest common denominator!
9. Highlight the bullet you are on – minimize the bullet you are NOT on!
10.  Blank Off!  Sometimes the imagery you create with a story, vivid example, or vibrant narrative are enough.  Don’t be afraid of the black screen!

If you are giving a professional presentation using the world’s most popular presentation tool – just remember it’s people who deliver presentations…not software.  Good luck…and good speaking.

Need to know more about how to use PowerPoint effectively?  Want ideas on all kinds of visual aids and how to use them professionally (aka effectively)?  Contact Jeff at jborden@jeffpresents.com for more info!

Stupid Questions

It’s getting to be that time of year…classes are starting.  I have 60 speech comm students trying to figure out what kind of teacher I am, how they can try to get out of doing speeches, and how the heck you do public speaking online.  But, it also means I get some great questions to answer.  I know you’re not supposed to say that questions are stupid.  It’s a very “non-PC” thing for a teacher to say.  And I’ve heard the old phrase, “The only bad question is the unasked question.”  But I’m going to go out on a limb here and tell you, unequivocally, there are stupid questions. 

Come on, you’ve heard them!  How about the guy in front of you at KFC saying, “Hmmm…what am I going to order?”  I know!  I know!  CHICKEN!  How about the sports reporter asking Evil Kneivel what was going through his mind when he realized he wouldn’t make the canyon jump?  “I was thinking about puppies…”  Have you ever had a cop pull you over and ask, “Would you like to step out of the car?”  HECK NO!  I’m just fine right here!

And I’m not just talking about my favorite teacher questions – the ones that you can’t believe a student would actually speak out loud.  Like this:

• “Do I need to buy the book for this class?”
• “I’m going to be gone the first week of class.  Will I miss anything?”

Ah, oldies but goodies!  But when you infuse technology into the mix, things get even stranger.  You’ve heard some of the old standards for tech questions, right? 

• “I don’t have a cup small enough for this portable cup holder in my computer.  Where do I get one?”  (Yes, this is regarding the CD tray)
• “My computer says to press any key…where is the any key?”

So, let’s put the two together and see what we get.  I’m about to share two ACTUAL questions from students.  I’m NOT making these up.  This is just to illustrate how far we’ve come.  Check these out:

• “I won’t have a computer for three more weeks, how can I be successful in your online class until then?”
•  “I can’t look at a computer monitor for more than 5 minutes without having a seizure, as my online teacher, what do you recommend?”

COME ON!  Really?  What advisor suggested either of these students should take an online class?  And better yet, where did we miss the boat in terms of teaching them some critical thinking skills? 

As funny as the questions are, they are a bit sad too.  But I can’t focus on that…I’d go crazy.  So, to all the teachers out there who get questions like these day in and day out, I salute you.  So remember, when you’re in the midst of telling your students about the eclipse tonight and a student asks if it will be a solar eclipse…just grin.  It will all work out in the end…right?  They can’t be your student forever…

Looking for a humorist to talk with your group?  Want to hear a cacaphone of “stupid questions” as they relate to education, communication, or just society in general?  Contact jborden@jeffpresents.com right now!