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Fri Fun Facts: Take Aways from #APSA2011

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Today’s post is dedicated to my thoughts about the latest American Political Science Association conference meeting or #APSA2011.

I attended a pre-conference workshop about Gender and Politics in the Field. It really was a workshop dedicated to teaching the various major sub-fields in Political Science. This workshop was one of the best that I have attended in my 15 years in Political Science. The other great APSA pre-conference was in Boston circa 2002 at the Women of Color conference.
Back to 2011, though, teaching often gets short shrift in academia, as the thought is that anyone can teach. Sadly this is not the case, when we add the word well. Not everyone can teach well. It was refreshing to spend a day chatting about teaching. Hearing what everyone is doing differently in the classroom.

Here are my thoughts:
1. Innovation can mean different things to different scholars.
2. There really is a technological divide among some faculty.
3. Senior scholars at the conference wanted the junior scholars to be good teachers and were quite generous with their ideas.
4. All feminists do not agree. And, there are feminisms and not one monolithic feminist monster!
5. There is some amazing work in the field related to teaching.
6. Many of my colleagues at the workshop need to get with the program in terms of social media use or technology in the classroom.(This is said respectfully).
7. The mentoring I witnessed warmed my heart.
8. I was glad to see so many grad students or recently hires in the mix. It’s good to hear what is happening on the ground for the new instructor.
9. Related to this, it’s interesting to hear what more senior people are doing in the classroom. Especially, when you hear that virtually all of us face some of the same situations.
10. Again, related to the above post…students and their evaluation of the material or the instructor was a common topic of conversation. When you are presenting controversial information about gender, race, class, sexuality, colonialism, nationalism (the list goes on), difficult conversations can take place in the classroom.
11. The last point about the workshop–once again it’s a useful exercise to be reminded that I am part of this great community of women scholars in the field. Yes, only women attended the stream that I attended. At the last panel, I spotted a man at one of the sessions. This is another conversation, since men teach gender and politics, too. But, then, again there were so many choices at the pre-conference workshops. I needed a clone for the Social Media workshop, Activism workshop, and Latino Politics workshop! So say we all! #BSG
In closing, a great workshop.

Fri Fun Facts: Positive Wishes for Students

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Today’s Friday Fun Facts is dedicated to my students. Well, to any #UVIC students. I hope that you have a great start to the term and this school year leaves you with a continued love of learning. My other wishes for you are as follows in no particular order.

1. Come to class. You’ll do better.

2. Come to office hours. The consultation does help.

3. Do the reading. A close reading and not a quick review or scan.

4. Take notes.

5. Establish study or conversation groups.

6. Think about the assignments and manage your time well.

7. Use the handy assignment calculator to help you manage your paper(s) writing needs: http://webapp.library.uvic.ca/freecalc/

8. Write helpful comments on the Course Experience Surveys. (Teaching effectiveness, readings you didn’t like/did, etc). Save the snark for FB or Rate My Professors.

10. You have lots of resources at your fingertips or shoes–contact the Writing Centre or other offices on campus to help you.

11. Review numbers 1-3! Repeat.

12. Get involved! The more you make #UVIC and your home department your home, the better you will transition into the campus community. Don’t sleep through these 5.1 years. Make the most of it.

And, seriously, do enjoy these years on campus.

Summer Courses~ Post-Mortem

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I always like to think about my courses after the grades are submitted. What worked. What did not. What did I learn. This Summer term I taught Poli 103: The Worlds of Politics and Poli 433: Politics and Popular Culture. Both courses ended up with two dozen students, which was odd considering that the first usually enrolls at 180-225 during the others school terms.

What worked: I borrowed a tactic from my colleague, Dr. Michael Webb. The syllabus stated that a student could not pass the class unless 70% of the courses were attended. So, yes, I did take roll. And, this was not for mere attendance, but also for participation. I do have an area for evaluation where roughly 5-20% of the students’ mark is assessed based on their quality participation. This worked well. Every student who completed the course attended the requisite number of courses or more. Now, some students’ engagement and participation in the course varied. But, by and large most participated some. It is hard and unfair to compare the courses, since one is a first year level course and the other is a fourth year seminar.

What did not work: Popplet. I could see from the students’ faces that many of them had a hard time following Popplet. I’m a visual learner and I like outlines, mind mapping, and brainstorming. Popplet did not work for all or even most of the students. I think the branches were too thin and didn’t catch them.

Related to this, I think that many liked my use of Prezi and I know that the majority really found the Slide Rocket slides useful. I am not surprised. The Slide Rocket slides had slightly more information on them and would offer them visual cues of sort back to the course materials, while the Prezi presentations were really about the concepts and less for them to hurriedly type or write down!

The students like that they have a choice with one of the major seminar assignments.  Specifically, I have a creative project and the students have the option of putting together a zine, blog or vlog. This term more students opted for the zine compared to last term and I am not sure why this was the case. Regardless, some wonderful zines were submitted, as well as some interesting blogs. The blogs varied in terms of quality and part of this was not just web savvy, but really about the students’ writing and creative analysis. Some obviously spent more time thinking and refining their blog posts.

Overall, I do think that the courses were successful and I look forward to the official course experience surveys (the evaluations), but I will add that the half dozen emails thanking me for the course(s) have been saved and will go in my reappointment file!

Guest Speakers in the Classroom

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During the last few years, I’ve invited advanced graduate students, former students, and colleagues to give presentations in my classes. And, for the most part this has worked well. It’s good to give the graduate students an opportunity to present their research in a relatively small, safe space. They get a line on their CV and I can write a letter of support. Having community members come in is also instructive, since most students become insulated in the campus community and at times forget about the vibrant larger community that the campus is only one part of.

Having colleagues in the classroom is also useful to demonstrate to the students that there is a community of scholars on campus or in the region. This might widen their understanding of the materials or at the very least impart this sense that the instructor is part of a community. The other reason to invite a guest is to have someone else come in and speak to their particular areas of interest and expertise that are usually different from you own. The students get a different perspective on course material. Now, I’m venturing into a different point, but it does fit.

On a related note, I explain to the students that there are approximately one dozen Political Scientists outside of the Political Science department at #UVIC. The only way they might know this is by this announcement. They might realize that they will find other Political Scientists in Women’s Studies, Environmental Studies, Education, and Indigenous Governance to name a few at #UVIC. Likewise, I will announce these colleagues upcoming courses, so that students in the department can take more upper division courses outside of the department. They need to take the courses anyway–so why not share information? Why not make suggestions?

The guest speaker can also pique students’ curiosity to learn more about the information. Maybe this is a form of intellectual networking for the speaker, but for the student it is an educational moment for them to learn more.

Managing the Classroom: Teaching Race and Gender

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It is a constant struggle to teach diversity in the classroom. I am finding that as soon as I think that the rules of engagement are understood, I get reminded that they are not. In a perfect situation the classroom environment will include trust, respect, and an understanding that knee jerk opinions are not part of intellectual discussion. However, I find that occasionally I get “schooled” by some comments that give me pause.

This term I am teaching a Youth Politics seminar with less than two dozen third through fifth years and Gender and International Relations with less than sixty students. I am also managing and co-teaching a course with 225 students and will speak to situations that I have encountered. To protect my students and myself, these scenarios will be reflective of the last year and not necessarily this particular term.

When I am teaching touchy subjects like gender and race, I find that I have to be ready for different types of reactions. There are the students who feel validated by the reading and other students who feel challenged, sceptical or even angry. I lead my classes in a lecture and discussion format, so I engage with the students and their comments lots. I am a strong believer that they are part of the learning team in the classroom: texts, lectures, current events, and student discussion. There are costs to not lecturing and leaving the classroom. I engage the students more and because of this—they have more opportunity to participate. I will not change this, as I find that this is how I teach.

Lately, I have been most challenged with the responses to students’ reaction and use of language. I strongly adhere to the idea that language is powerful and certain words are “loaded” in the same way that certain topics are value-laden. This is not a shared sentiment by all students. I need to check myself and remember that I am also there to facilitate discussion, engage student interest, and, oh yes, teach materials. There is usually a student or two has an “anything” goes sort of attitude and I have to balance all the students’ needs and my own politics. This presents a challenge.

I find that the one thing that I have no patience for is overt racism. Even typing up this sentence reminds me that I have issues with covert racism, too. Oh, choosing our battles in the classroom is tricky. I can easily engage with discussions of gender, but race. I find that the overt racism can make my heart skip a beat. I cannot explain if this is because of the fact that I am a Latina teaching a mostly homogenous student population or if it’s more. Whatever it is, it is compounded by the fact that so many of the Canadian students seem to think that racism is a thing of the past or something that only Americans are guilty of—and in the South, for that matter. And, my friends, these are statements and beliefs that I have heard in my classroom.

Some days it is quite easy, I am at the front of the class walking back and forth juggling ideas, course material, student comments, and student reaction. My love of teaching  keeps me in check and I enjoy seeing the ways in which some students are really excited about the materials. Then, there are other days when one student is out of line or that presents me with a teachable moment. It might be that I need to remind the student about decorum, collegiality, or boundaries. Occasionally I have been known to call a student out and just say, “What you just said was offensive.” Of course, the next thing I do is contextualize the statement and then move on to the next point in the lesson plan or lecture.

It’s these occasional moments, though, that I reply over and over in my mind for the next few hours. I am thinking aloud here and being ever so careful—since this is the blogosphere and any one of my students could google me and find this post. I welcome other educators to give advice about those thorny moments in the classroom.

This post was originally posted on Equality 101, which is now defunct.

For Profit Education

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This post was posted originally on Equality 101, which is now defunct. My thoughts have not changed much on the topic of for profit education institutions.

I was catching up on the  Los Angeles Times and came across an article about higher education in the Business section. Reporter Michael Hiltzik’s article covers the intersection between education and profit. Essentially, neoliberalization’s claws have grabbed further into higher education. The article discusses how the state governments are outsourcing services in order to save money. However, the costs are going to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the students and their parents. This situation is not unique to California, as one can pore through The Chronicle of Higher Education to read about similar situations in other states.

What is California doing? The state of California is in financial straits and the higher education sector is feeling the pinch. The community college system is now going to outsource college courses to Kaplan University, who offers their courses online. Kaplan’s courses will be convenient, as they are online. However, even with a 42% discount for the community college student, the Kaplan course will be almost $600 more than a commensurate course at the community college.  One Kaplan course can cost almost as a year’s worth of courses at a California community college! I guess that one can argue that the market (students/learners) are willing to pay for this service (education).

Students will be hard pressed to find another option, yet if they are under pressure to enter a four year university for the next term, they will have few options. Who benefits? Kaplan. And, if we look at the high cost of education across the United States, we also will see that the majority of students at the community college are students who are trying to save money during those first few years at university. The most vulnerable are going to be charged these extra fees, when they have no other options. I don’t like this one bit, as I think it is a marked difference for a student to attempt to pick up other credits.  But, having the community college outsource to Kaplan for services (courses) that they should be providing really makes my blood boil.

Certainly, California can do better for the less than two million students enrolled in the system. With the four-year university tuitions going up 10-30% across the state, more students will enroll in the community college system. It is no surprise that this decision was just announced during the time when most students are working, so that they cannot mobilize a mass protest. With these sorts of neoliberal policies, the states’ responsibility and investment in higher education shrinks. But, lower middle-class families, and working class families will pay for this. In my opinion it is shameful to make higher education harder for more students to pursue.

This also means that the student will have to enroll in an online course and this will not work for all students. Some students need the face-to-face experience in order to get as much out of the class and interact with an instructor and classmates. I am an undergraduate advisor at my institution, and I have found that more than 50% of the students in my office state that their online course experience was dreadful. The very motivated student will usually find that an online course worked for them. This is from their anecdotal comments, but worth noting.

Another related issue is that this agreement makes it easier to layoff faculty at the community colleges, as well. This issue includes more than the students and money. It includes faculty and pedagogy. To be sure, I do not have a problem with a student opting to take an occasional online course in order to graduate on time or a blended-learning class, but this current arrangement does not sound like it is really for the students’ benefit.

Response to Pushing Back on Mediocre College Professors: Revisit

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After chatting with some other academics, I felt it was worth revisiting this post from 2010. Seth Godin posted a blog post http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/10/pushing-back-on-professors.html about how students need to push back-perhaps expect more from their mediocre college professors. I didn’t really take offense at the blog post. I don’t think Godin is speaking to me. My favorite part of my job, as a college professor, is the classroom–lecturing and engaging with students. I’m good with people–well, most people. Don’t believe the lies on RMP. The haters are gonna hate and motivate, and potatoes are going to potate. (OK, inside joke and perhaps a bad one).

I get what Godin is saying, but he’s making a big assumption about students. We get lots of unmotivated and perhaps barely mediocre students in our classroom. But, I do want to respond to parts of his blog. I really want to push back on the mediocre or barely mediocre students who come to class unprepared or only wanting to offer knee jerk commentary and not real engagement with the course materials. I wish that all of the students in my class came to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings, but this is not the case. It might be the time of day or the time of the term and the students just cannot give 70% to the class.

I have countless students who don’t bother to even come to class, pick up their work or attend their tutorials. Students need to remember that they are also responsible for engaging in their education. Professors are only part of the equation. A good class really includes good students or students who are there to learn. Students are responsible to and for a good class. If they give very little, they are going to get very little out of the class. I don’t have a wand to dispense information.  Continue reading →