Servire Est Vivere

As a member of the faculty here at SCC I am encouraged to engage in campus service. Which means I should do things on campus. Fortunately, I would do things even without encouragement, but it is still nice to know that the college is interested in fostering this kind of internal community. So... what does campus service look like?

One of the first things I did on campus was volunteer to speak at the annual Scary Movie Marathon. Around Halloween I saw a flier advertising the scary movies that were going to be shown and I thought that would be a great opportunity for me to bring some academic psychology to what otherwise would be a purely entertaining movie. That first year I spoke about the nature of fear, and about a different topic from psychology (Aliens, Zombies, and Bloody Mary) each year since.

Last spring I helped to organize a week of child abuse prevention events during child abuse awareness month. This included speakers from the community like Dr. Jamie Spurrier-Kondis a pediatrician specializing in child abuse, and also a nationally recognized advocate Erin Merryn who went on to be named Glamour magazine's woman of the year. I also got to speak at an anti-bullying event when speaker cancelled at the last minute.

Aside from talking, I serve on tasks force (is that right?) and committees. That really means I go to meetings and try not to doodle too much. Like with most meetings some are effective and others not. Either way I always try to bring some entertaining ideas to the table.Presently I serve on the Long-Range Planning Steering Committee (LRC-SC) and the Distance Learning and Educational Technology (DLET) Task Force.  Both are trying to create systems and plans where, in many cases, there was no system before. It is very challenging since so many interests are vested in both of these arenas. I suspect that there will be no way to please everyone in either of these groups, but hopefully we can find a healthy consensus for our plans.


I've also been helping with the promotion of The American Theater Festival. This is the most fun I think you are allowed to have doing campus service. The English and History departments work together each year to stage plays (RFK and Gertrude Stein) that are connected to American History. There are so many events aside from just the plays that are going to make this spring a fun time to be at SCC. If you are looking for more information you can check out the ATF Facebook page. This year, in an effort to increase attendance to the plays we are trying to do more promotion on social media. Like this blog, the ATF has a blog, but the best part about it is that this year we found a very special guest blogger to write for us: Gertrude Stein herself! So go ahead over to her latest blog post and check it out!

What I Did Over Winter Vacation

Topiary Mickey

Over the break my family and I went to Disney World for our vacation. Even though I live within sight of the airport (really), getting to Lambert has been a problem for us in the past. Taking a cab both ways is pricey for such a short trip, and there is no good way to walk to the airport. But at the last minute we arranged with a friend (who also was dog/ferret/fish/house sitting for us) to ferry us to the terminal. you might think that flying with a baby (my son Rex is 8 months old) would be a challenge, but not with this baby. He is so laid back, he just slept and/or  smiled the whole trip.
In Orlando Disney has all the machinery in place to get you (and your luggage) from the airport to your hotel. They even collected our bags for us, so all we had to do was get in-line for a bus. Finally my kids started to get excited. We we're in Florida on a Mickey Mouse bus watching a disney cartoon and Rhys (my 5 year old son) actually put it together and exclaimed, "We are going to the REAL Disney World!?!" Indeed we were.

Main Street USA was a bit crowded 

We started  in the Animal Kingdom (for future reference a half-day is not enough time here). We rode the animal safari, had dinner, and saw a live-action lion king show. All of it cool, but one of my favorite moments of child-like wonder happened during the Lion King show. Several large floats with animotronic animals crossed the stage and parked in the corners of the theater. These giant animals proceeded to sing-a-long with the show. After about fifteen minutes Rhys leans over to me and earnestly asks, "Daddy, are those animals real?" The same thing happened at the Tiki Room. And the Jungle Cruise. How awesome must it be to live in a world where the lines between imagination and reality are still so fuzzy!

The only good picture
of the whole family

Next up was the Magic Kingdom, and it was jam packed with people. The crowds were so rude too, I mean it is the happiest place on Earth, there is no need to shove. We had the baby in a stroller and people were quite cavalier about bumping it and cutting us off. Next time I'm going to install a cow-catcher on the front. Here we had breakfast with Winnie the Pooh, and the other characters from the 100-acre wood. When we went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh floor Alice (my 9 year old daughter) wanted me to submit a joke for Mike to tell during the show. Here is here joke:

Two scientists walk into a science bar.
The first says, "I'll have H two O."
The second says, "I'll have H two O too."
The second guy died.

I am not a good photographer.

My wife is a good photographer

Alice thinks that is so funny. Pretty sharp for a 4th grader. We also did everything in adventure land and explored the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. But that was about it, so we went back to the hotel and swam. Hollywood studios was a blast! Rhys rode Star Tours twice and was amazed! We took a backlot tour and I spotted some props from Narnia in the warehouse. We also saw a driving stunt show that really impressed Rhys. That night was New Years Eve and we went to a fireworks show. The crazy thing is that Rex slept through the ENTIRE thing! What a chill baby. In Epcot we had breakfast in Norway with the princesses, then rode a boat through troll country. Rhys got freaked out by a troll with one big red eye. Next we drove cars on a test track, toured the spaceship earth and saw illuminations that night. We went back to Hollywood and spent over two hours in line for the Toy Story ride, but Rhys claims it was his favorite thing ever. Then he and Alice wanted to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I was surprised, but they both had the courage to give it a try. Rhys was scared of the Twilight Zone floating eyeball, Alice was scared of the falling. The kids also loved Space Mountain when we went back to Magic Kingdom on the last day. I can't wait to take them on more thrill rides in the coming years, they are going to love it.
All in all it was a great trip for the kids. I got progressively more exhausted as the week went on, and by the time we got home I was glad to have another week off to recover from my vacation before heading back to work. If you want to see more photos from my vacation I put them all up on Facebook.

A TRANSformative College Experience

I like to think that for many of my students college will be more than just test scores and transcripts. I like to think that students will really grow as a person during their experience at SCC. Whether they are traditional students here for their first foray into higher education, or they are returning learners who have a wide range of life experiences but are looking for more formal education. Or even beyond that range I have student veterans who have life experiences beyond those that many students can comprehend and are using higher ed as part of their return to civilian life. Or high-school students who dual-enroll in college to get a head-start on their academic career. Whatever the student I suspect that if they engage in the SCC experience, that they can truly find transformative moments that will influence the rest of their lives.

Recently I created an extra-credit assignment for my Psych-101 students. The assignment was to attend an event, ask a question, and write a reflective essay about the experience. The description of the event follows:

The St. Louis Trans visibility Project, in conjunction with Sex+STL, and Transhaven present an afternoon of uncensored Q&A. Our amazing panelists will be ready to answer any question you might have about their lives and experiences as Trans* identified persons, including those questions you were told you should not ask, and the questions you may have been too shy to ask. No refusals, no reprisals, just honest dialog. Live questions will be fielded, as well as "anonymous write in" questions for anything you do not wish to ask aloud. The panel will be followed by an informal "coffee and conversation" hour.

I was a bit nervous. I felt like my students might be rude (intentionally or accidentally) or offended by the event itself. But, I thought that it was worth the risk. 7 Students (and 5 guests of students) attended the event. My wife and I were also there so I got to witness their behavior first hand. They were, of course, all very well behaved. I shouldn't have worried that they would do all right. But I have to say I was very proud of their essays. All seven essays had the same theme, and all were well written, but I chose one out to share with you. The author is one of those dual-enrolled high-school students and think her writing is a good example of why I try through this and other assignments to offer students the opportunity to have transformative moments. Here is her paper:

Last weekend I was exposed to a whole new world. I went to a little coffee shop downtown. When I walked in I saw men and women. I always thought that when it came to men and women you were straight or gay, but I learned that is not always the case. When I left I saw human beings. A panel of 5 transgendered people sat on a stage and answered questions about their lives and how they have changed from years ago. First there was Lilly who used to be a man but now identifies as a women; she basically looked like a man dressed in women clothing to me. Then Eli, who used to be a girl, but now identifies as a boy; on a normal day I totally would have thought that Eli was just like any other boy. Next was Linda; she made me feel really uncomfortable actually, but she had male parts that were inactive or something like that. She was really interesting. Then there was Tim who used to be a girl but identifies as a man now. Before the presentation started I was kind of looking around the room to decide if I could tell who was going to be on the panel and I would have never guessed that Tim would be up there. I couldn't tell at all that he used to be a girl. Lastly, there was Susan, who used to be a man but now identifies as a woman. All had their own story to tell as well as information to give.
    I was really intrigued by the entire presentation. Like I said, growing up in a St. Charles County suburb, I have never been exposed to the topic of transgender and transsexualism in such a way. I knew that some people got surgery and stuff like that to change their gender, but there was so much that I had no understanding of. Eli and Tim transitioned when they were middle school/ high school age. That is insane to me. I have so much respect for them because I think we all know how brutal kids can be in high school. Some of the other panelist didn't transition until they were in there mid thirty's or forty's. These people reshaped their entire lives to be happy. Some were lucky, like Lilly, who seemed to have a very supportive family system. Others weren't as lucky, like Susan, who described how she lost most contact with her family, friends, and a marriage. Even though I cannot fully understand the feelings behind the panelists' needs, I can relate to wanting to find happiness and be at peace with myself. I think that is a part of everyone's journey in life, we all just have a different path we chose to follow.
    I learned a lot from the questions that people asked. Honestly, some things I had no idea what they were talking about because a lot of the audience was educated in the subject. Actually, when you looked at the audience it was quite obviously that a lot of them were “gender queer” and transgendered or transsexual themselves. I thought I would be uncomfortable at this event because of that fact alone, but the atmosphere was cool and everyone gave off an open minded attitude, I guess you have to when you are talking about changing someone’s biological and genetic background! I asked a question about dating; I wanted to know when is a good time to tell someone you are a dating that you are a transgender person. I was hoping to get information about how transgender people find each other but the panel kept their answers pretty short and direct. Basically, they all said that it's best to just be honest, and if you are not honest then it could get to a point where someone could be hurt. That is the answer I was hoping and expecting to get, but I just wanted to see if there was any other information they would reveal about dating. In some cases, like Tim, he had the same girlfriend through his transition. 
    I guess the answers I got from the panel kind of reminded me that a relationship with a transgender person in it is just like a relationship with straight people in it. Both people are looking for the same qualities and characteristics as anyone else would. Another question I thought was interesting was when a lady asked what she could do as an ally of trans people to help them. The panel pretty much said to just spread the word that they are normally functioning people in society. Lilly actually said something like “Tell them I won't hit on them, I won't hit on their girlfriend, I won't molest their children, but I will be their friend.” That phrase really stuck with me because the whole topic of transgendered people is really unknown to a lot of us. A lot of people just kind of write them off as freaks or perverts. A lot of people don't know what to think about trans people because they don't have information so they just judge them. So you could say the panel just really wanted to be treated as equal, and to help spread information that would tell the public what they are actually like.
    This whole experience really opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on things. I used to be one of those people that didn't know what to think about trans people and would kind of write them off as weirdoes, but after I actually met some of them, I realize they are normal people. It really hit me that they are just like me when I was in the room with people who were trans gender and I would have never known unless they said something about it, like Tim. If someone important in my life got a sex change or ended up being transgender, I would be supportive of them and help them through a time of need. Everyone has their own problems; we are all humans.

Comments welcome. And if you know of any community events in the spring that you think psychology 101 students might value, please let me know.Maybe you want to have this kind of experience? It's not to late to enroll at SCC or just sign-up for one of my classes.

Trivia Night Victory!

JLA and Mandi posing with my team's trophy

That's right my trivia team won the ESP trivia night competition here at SCC. My teammates were:

1. Gabe Harber
2. Anna Leeper
3. Marvin Tobias
4. Marvin's Wife
5. Marvin's Son
6. Lisa Stoner
7. Kate Weber
8. and Me

We had a fantastic game, scoring 92 out of 100 (Of course we got an A). Categories included: State Quarters, Candy, Sports Mascots, TV Theme Songs, Musicals, and Flags of the World. We had a great time, and raised money for a great cause! If you think you can beat my team next year I invite you to be disappointed.

SoTL: Maryville SoTL Conference 2012

Last weekend I attended a conference hosted by Maryville University. The theme of the conference was Integrating the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Into Academic Culture. I like teaching conferences; all too often teaching is a lonely pursuit. I go to my classes I do my thing, I kvetch with my colleagues about students, but often the actual planning and execution of a class occurs in a vacuum.  That is to say that we (teachers) rarely share or collaborate with each other on topics like course design and classroom management. So teaching conferences are a great way to meet with other teachers and talk about what we do and discover better ways to do it.

In the keynote address Peter Felton (Elon University) asked us the question, "How intentional are you towards your course?" I feel that over the last four years I've done so much to try and transform my course into a student-centered learning experience, so I'd say I'm fairly intentional. I am primarily teaching a general education required course, so there are a lot of topics that I must address, but I feel that I go a long way to bring education to my students in innovative ways (with varying degrees of success). But I think this is a great and fundamental question that we (still teachers) can all use to evaluate our efforts.

Another workshop I attended was presented by Michael Palmer (University of Virgina) titled, "The 5% Rule, or Teaching As a Scholarly Act." The idea being that if one of my teaching goals were to get five percent better at teaching every year, how would I measure my success? Teachers are scholars. We went to school for quite sometime and studied significantly to sharpen our scholarly skills. We can apply the skills to our teaching by researching our teaching and the learning of our students. I've done a little of this in the past, but I'm not doing it currently. I think over the next few weeks I'd like to decide on an area of my teaching to improve (student engagement, learning outcomes, or some such) and start a research project centered around it.

The last session that I'll write about here was presented by Randall Osbourne (Texas State University) titled, "Tolerance for Ambiguity: Knowing Which Students are Better Prepared for the Ambiguity of SoTL Approaches." Without drilling down into the specifics of the research, the theme of this presentation was that students with a higher tolerance for ambiguity (ToA) are more successful in courses designed with a more student-centered approach. Additionally using the active-learning model (ALM) helps to increase ToA and thus student success. This is important for me because I have found the greatest barrier that students face in my class is the ambiguity of some assignments, and maybe integrating some of the ALM techniques will help my students.

In sum, I thought this was a great conference and it really helped me to crystalize my thinking on ways I might improve my course and my teaching. I hope to implement some of these ideas in the coming semester and get started with a new SoTL research project. But next up is the Focus on Teaching and Technology conference at UMSL, and if any colleagues are interested in attending together please let me know.

Where Did September Go?

I can't believe I missed September entirely! I'm not sure how it happened, but let me try to break down where my time last month went:

Bye bye September pie.

By far the largest portion of my time went to sleeping. Even with a new (5 months old today)  baby in the house I spent more time sleeping last month than anything else. Following that was "Family Time" which might sound like fun, but really is mainly wrangling the children shuffling to events, feeding the baby, and breaking up fights. The next one will come as a surprise to my students but I spend about twice as much time grading the junk quality work they turn in as I do teaching. It is the consequence of a learner-centered activity heavy course design. I could just lecture and give multiple choice tests and then I'd have almost no grading to do, but I think my students learn better by having lots of ways to applying the things they learn so instead I slog through 150 (really) of paragraphs about fear, or diagrams of neurons. Even with all that time I am still behind. That could be because of the new time I've been spending on committee work here at the college. This semester I'm on at least two committees (They might be tasks force but I'm not sure. Also is tasks force the correct plural for task force? or is it task forces?) that have required a lot of reading and effort to contribute. I don't begrudge committee work, in fact I actually enjoy it. I mean it. No really. I'm serious. So as you can see from the pie chart there was precious little time for blogging. I have plenty of things to say, so this month I'll sleep less and blog more. I have a lot to say, but what would you like to read more about?

1. Research
2. Teaching
3. My Family
4. Committees
5. Other

Let me know in comments!

Who Cares About Student Feedback?

Some professors don't. They make the argument that students aren't qualified to judge a teachers ability. They might be right, but for good or ill I care about student feedback; I want to know what my students think about my class. One thing to consider is the way in which I receive feedback, well ways really. I get feedback through five main channels: RateMyProfessor, unsolicited student messages, solicited student surveys, our official student survey (IDEA), and direct feedback from a boss.

As of August 28th, 2012

1. RateMyProfessor - This website has become pretty famous among students as a way to suss out the quality of higher-ed professors. I imagine only students who feel strongly one way or the other will post comments here, so the data might be a bit biased. That said I'm doing ok on their 5 point scale. Most students like it that I tell stories, so I'll keep that up. I have the creepiest picture imaginable on the website which I think is responsible for my lack of hot peppers.



An example of a positive tweet



2. Unsolicited Student Messages - I'm referring mainly to social media messages. Since many students are my friends on Facebook and twitter I see when they write about me. During these first few weeks of the semester there seems to be a lot of positive feedback, which is great in that it makes me excited to be here too. My goal is for students to find each other on twitter so that they can commiserate about class and support themselves through the more difficult chapters.
   

   

   Solicited Student Survey Free Responses



3. Solicited Student Surveys - At the end of each section of my class (there are five sections) I ask my students to complete an online survey to give me some feedback on how they feel about their learning in my class. I really want all my students to have a good learning experience and since I am regularly trying new and different activities, assessments and assignments I want to make sure that these changes are having the effect I intend. It might be a bit of a hassle for students to do this again and again but it really is the most valuable to me, since it is direct and immediate feedback about specific things we have just done in class.


4. IDEA Survey - This is the colleges official student feedback form. All students receive this for all classes via email toward the end of the semester. We started using this last year and student response rates were too low for meaningful statistics to be done. Hopefully this year we (faculty) can all encourage our students to complete these surveys so we can do some useful analysis. I really want this to be valuable because it can compare how students rate me against other psychology professors or against the college as a whole. I mean it is great that my students seem to like me, but what I want to see is if they feel they are learning in my class and learning at least as much as students in other classes. 


5. Direct Feedback From a Boss - This last one only happens on rare occasions. Sometimes a student is so upset that they will go to a program coordinator, department chair, or division dean to complain. Whenever this has happened with me I have been impressed with how sensible my dean, chair or coordinator has handled the situation. But should I change my style because of a vocal student complaint? Even if I'm still getting good reviews from so many others? I weigh this carefully. I don't want any student to get this upset in my class. I'm ok if students get uncomfortable (that's part of learning), but I don't want it to be more than they can bare. So I always try to weigh the pedagogical advantage that I give to the majority of my students against the displeasure of the few... Is there another way I can achieve this that will be less objectionable? Is there a way I can soften this information in consideration of student sensitivities? Could I tell this story with less profanity? The answer is sometimes yes. 

The short story is I care what students think. I won't always change my teaching or behavior because of your feedback, but I do carefully consider it. So please continue to inform me about your thoughts, feelings, and opinions on my teaching, and I'll continue to try to be a better teacher.