Category: Paul McAfee

Interested in Teaching Online?

1/18/2019

For my fellow educators who are interested in teaching online, I am sharing a free online course from the State University of New York (SUNY). I'll see you there. This is the content of the email I received:

Colleagues,

We will be offering an informational webinar on January 31st at noon providing a brief overview of Interested in Teaching Online? - an openly-licensed self-paced online resource that is free of charge and open now to anyone interested in learning more about online teaching and learning.

Access the webinar at noon on January 31st: https://zoom.us/j/507669719

To access the resource visit: http://commons.suny.edu/interested/

For a more detailed description, check out the video overview: https://youtu.be/S3P0IwcLoqw

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

Determine if you have the prerequisite skills, knowledge, attitudes, and support to be successful teaching online.

Define common terms related to online teaching and learning.
Identify core competencies needed to teach online.
Explain the value of applied effective online teaching practices.
Evaluate the benefits and affordances of teaching online.
Determine if online teaching is right for you.
Locate and participate in the Open SUNY Community of Practice.

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amazing Students

1/5/2019

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I've conducted my Ph.D. dissertation interviews with seven students, with one interview each for four, and two interviews for three. My methodology involves conducting two interviews about a week apart. This allows the students to receive a transcript of their first recorded interview, review it, and comment on it if they wish, prior to the second interview. That is called member checking in the methodology I am using.

More importantly, the time between interviews allow the students to reflect on their first conversation. The always expand extemporaneously on what they had previously discussed at the start of the second interview. The time allows me to review the first transcript and ask follow-up questions for clarification and to gather more information.

Interviewing these students, and then reading their transcripts has been a high-point in my brief educational career. I only started teaching in 2012, and of course I brought a lot of assumptions and baggage to the teaching process. The first reason for pursuing a Ph.D. in Education was to unpack the baggage and to learn more about teaching and learning processes.

Having just scanned a transcript of a recent interview, I decided to share some excerpts that illustrate why I am so amazed at our students. I selected these from several transcripts, so they are not from only one student. The "Q" is my question, and the "A" is the student's response. Here you go . . .

Q - How many languages do you speak?
A - Four.
Q - What are they?
A - Portuguese, Japanese, English and Spanish.

Q - [Following up on the student's explanation of experiential learning:
A - It's a lot more personal. [Same student contrasting lecture-based courses with experiential courses:] So like it or not, it will just leave us some lingering impression. We will not revisit it again.

Q - What value do these experiential learning activities hold for you?
A - Experiential learning environments . . . make me feel a lot more like I'm actually working. They give me a sense that I'm actually, uhm, maybe not contributing to an industry, but I'm getting a grasp on it in a way that I wouldn't . . . just through lectures.

There is so much more, and it will have to go into my dissertation because the students' observations need the context of the conversation. I'll return to this post as I analyze the data and add a few more comments.

Image Reference
Bergsteiner, H., Avery, G. C., & Neumann, R. (2010). Kolb's experiential learning model: critique from a modelling perspective. Studies in Continuing Education, 32(1), 29-46.

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Early Research INterview Reflections

11/29/2018

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This week, I started interviewing instructors and students for my Ph.D. dissertation research. I am amazed at the depth of thought that the instructors and students invest in their work. The reflections from students show real consideration for what they are learning, how they are learning it, and how they can apply their new knowledge to their lives and careers. The instructors demonstrate a sincere consideration for the quality of education they deliver, and for how they educate. I've also interviewed one administrator and I was impressed by his concern for the quality of education in the institution.

As the research progresses, I will share my insights and fresh points of learning that I gain from talking to these interviewees. For those who are interested, here are my research questions.

Research Subject: Exploring definitions and perceived value of experiential learning.

1) What definitions of experiential learning are expressed by students, faculty, and administrators?

2) Within a classroom learning context, how do participants describe teaching and learning related to experiential learning? Specifically, how do:
a. students describe their own classroom experiences with experiential learning?
b. instructors describe their experiences with experiential learning?
c. administrators describe their understandings of the ways in which instructors and students experience and engage in experiential learning?

3) What value, if any, do students, faculty, and administrators ascribe to experiential learning?

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"Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running Out of Excuses" (Yong, 2018)

11/23/2018

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The glass is half full.

While half of the replication attempts in this study failed, half succeeded. That is wonderful news for the researchers whose studies succeeded.
The methods of the replication attempts appear to be valid and thorough, according to the article. The replication attempts also checked for possible cultural differences.

That half of the original study results were replicable across cultures is a positive outcome, at least for the half of the studies that were confirmed.

The researchers from the unconfirmed studies can return to their methodologies to evaluate how they might improve their studies, and maybe can confirm their outcomes, or otherwise, modify their conclusions.

The article is not clear about the actual research methodologies that were evaluated. I assume the study designs were quantitative as opposed to qualitative, because qualitative studies generally may not be expected to be replicable.

The first thought that I had after "The glass is half full," was of the work by Hatch (2002) on research paradigms. Not all research can be replicated. See the illustration below.

References
Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Suny Press.
Yong, E. (2018). Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running Out of Excuses. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/psychologys-replication-crisis-real/576223/

Research Paradigms (Hatch, 2002, p. 13).

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Interested in Teaching Online?

amazing Students

Early Research INterview Reflections

"Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running Out of Excuses" (Yong, 2018)

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