A need for structure

As I think probably became clear last week, I'm a details and process person. I spent my time last week trying to logistically account for the six different courses we're trying to offer next winter. How will we be able to "prove" to the administration and other departments that students are meeting the guidelines for a 4- or 5-unit course? I *think* I figured out a way, and I shared it last week. To me, nothing can move forward until we determine this issue, whereas other people thought I was crazy. But accountability matters in issues like these, and if we want to convince faculty and students to participate, I think we have to show them how it might work. We're talking about 100 students here--the positive impact could be huge, but so could the negative.

I am still struggling to figure out some logistical details, and realize that I still don't have a good sense of how "Sustain" time will work. For instance, if we're saying that 2-5 M-F is Sustain time, what does that mean in terms of classroom space? If Physics 121 and PSC 101 can meet at the same time with the same instructor, where will they meet? Will there be a room big enough for 70 students? And will the space be conducive to active learning (i.e. not lecture, but other types of classroom activities)? Space constraints are a huge issue in my department, as we do a lot of groupwork and are often "stuck" in classrooms that have immovable desks. What about labs for these 70 students? Will there be lab space to accommodate them all during the Sustain times? And, how will students know where to go each day? That is, if HIST 216, PHYS 121, COMS 102, and PSC 101 all meet from 2-5 M-F, how will students know which classroom/lab to go to on which day? And, if some students are taking COMS 102, but others are taking ENGL 134, what will the ENGL 134 students be doing during the Sustain time that focuses on COMS 102? Presumably they will have already had that course, so what would they do with those hours in the day?

These questions seem picky and small to some--like details that can be ironed out later. But in my experience with curriculum planning, it's details like this that can make or break a project. I don't need to know what will happen in each of those courses; I agree that what unfolds will be un-plannable to an extent. But I need to understand the structure for students and for faculty--where they will go when. Or I at least need to see a possible plan for structure, rather like my possible plan for how these courses could be scheduled during those hours. I think a good many faculty are in my position, and I think the project will be more successful if we can demonstrate that we've thought these things through as far as possible. There will always be hiccups along the way, but planning is key.

Statistics Narrative

In the time between the 12 May and 17 May meetings, Linda asked the group to contemplate a narrative about what the experience would be like for our individual fields. I attempted to draft a narrative, but it only yielded a silly tale which leaped around and between class functionality to my/our own preparation. Linda shared her narrative at the 17 May meeting. It appeals to me because much of the process is very similar to my own preparation process. I am eager to see a graphic of her narrative for future visual reference and recollection. From the perspective of the statistics partner, the only preparatory consideration I must mention are the projects. Before the experience begins, the statistics partner must be familiar with the projects, their individual goals, the individual data, and similarities/differences in and between the various data. Ideally, much of the data will have already been collected or will be collected in the first few weeks of the term.

The statistics learning objectives will be best experienced in the second term, an ideal term to support the collaborative effort. The projects will form the basis for student engagement. Having statistics in the second term will allow time for the projects to mature to include data collections. It is possible that not every project will have traditional data or practical data analysis needs to be successful. However, this may result in students collaborating on multiple projects (perhaps good), projects which are too complex, and/or not ideally aligned with the statistics learning objectives.

When the term begins, each student will be given a syllabus for their respective course, which includes the learning objectives and a tentative outline of when learning objectives and/or topics need to be attained. I will show all of the students all of the learning objectives from each course, so that they can see the overlap in learning objectives and topics. I will identify learning objectives which are similar and capable of attainment through projects collectively, learning objectives which cannot be taught through projects, and learning objectives which are specific to their course. Learning objectives in the last two categories are likely to be attained through supplemental online tools, suggested readings, short lectures, and small group discussions as needed.

There are no impossibilities about the structure of student contact time. This could range from traditional/structured lectures, to days/times devoted to small group interactions specific to individual projects/groups. I envision a hybrid approach where all students are present. Students will arrive having done some independent learning, which may not entirely be connected to their project. The independent learning tools will have self-assessment exercises and, perhaps, a formal graded quiz. Students will have to think through and develop questions related to their project. The students will bring their data and questions to the 'class room' which ought to be a computer lab (eg the statistics studio 02-206).

We begin with a real question: 'student X wants to use his/her data to answer question X1.' Connections across the projects will further develop, if not already, when student Y recognizes similarities and offers: 'student X's question X1 is just like my question Y1.' Then, we will talk about about what statistics are appropriate, what are inappropriate, a little theory, some assumptions, software use, and examples in the context of the student projects. The contact time should utilize the statistics partner as a coach or guide, devoting ample time to students working in teams to analyze project data.

I have written this narrative with lots of possibilities, but there are some conceptual and practical impossibilities to consider.

1. Projects

The projects must be well organized, and have a minimal set of diverse data types (qualitative and quantitative variables). Students with projects that do not have this will need to 'partner' with other groups. As a consequence, students may feel like they are working on multiple projects - which isn't necessarily a negative. Alternatively, related data could be identified and utilized.

In general, students will have to accept that concepts learned though projects will occur gradually, somewhat sequentially, and over time. Students will not obtain an ideal, global data analysis rapidly or at the beginning of the experience.

2. Grading

To have support from the senior statistics faculty, traditional grading will have to be used to determine official university grades. This may be some combination of online quizzes, project related homework, a project report which demonstrates mastery of the statistics learning objectives (likely part of a larger report), at least one midterm, and a final.

Hopeful

Isn't this how things go, one moment you think, "how can this ever happen?" and the next, the way through seems so simple? Well maybe "so simple" is an understatement, but yesterday's meeting left me thinking we are making progress.

A student came to our meeting, Emmet. I really like him, he is thoughtful and smart. But what I thought was so great was that we, the faculty, were willing to be completely transparent and honest. We allowed conflict and disagreement, we did not try to manage our image. I want to be part of this kind of community.

Discouraged

The last meeting we had with the faculty collaboration was a bit discouraging for me. I have been thinking on it for a couple days and thought I would blog.....This is suppose to be our honest thoughts and ideas, right? I hope so, because here it goes.

I believe some version of what we are trying to do with SUSTAIN-SLO is what education/community/sustainability will look like in the future. There are many reasons I believe this and would like to articulate them here. 1) We are all (faculty and students) stressed out. 2) We are lonely and looking for community 3) we do so many "made up" projects where we make students do all kinds of things. This seems to me such a waste of resources. We could be making a huge difference for the less fortunate among us. 4) Students retain very little of the things we tell them. 5) I am sure there are more.....

Several people in the last meeting expressed a sentiment about the learning initiative saying "we cant do this" "There are too many unknowns" "I don't see how it will work." Not every one had this sentiment, but probably half of us.

What if we just believed we could create something better and kept working towards that goal? What if we thought of the ways in which it could work instead of the ways in which it couldn't?

I have thought about leadership quite a lot since I attended the leadership development workshop last week. What I believe about leadership is that one role of a leader is to "hold the hope." I certainly don't feel like a leader in SUSTAIN (Maybe Linda can take this role - or maybe each of us), but if I were looking for a leader or if I was one I would want to "hold the hope" of making a difference in higher education.

Thanks for continuing on the journey....I believe half the battle is to just show up.

Life lessons from completing a 1000-piece puzzle

We are now trying to together create the matrix of "courses" that would be needed in order to accommodate 100 freshmen students in up to 66 different majors. I think Liz called this a "puzzle" in an earlier post, by which she may have meant a "wicked problem."  :)

I had the occasion to complete a 1000-piece puzzle a couple of weeks ago. I don't do this very often, probably because I don't very often have a major surgery that renders me incapable of doing anything but sitting and staring at little pieces of cardboard. In any case, I learned so much from this activity that applies to the puzzle that we find ourselves trying to complete together:

At a distance

I have been gone on the East Coast for most of last week. I found myself missing my colleagues in SUSTAIN-SLO. Could it be that we are creating a real community? I have learned so much here about adult development and action inquiry, I cant wait to share it with you all.

The Thursday 28 April 2011 meeting was productive, and personally educational. With Linda away, Liz and Roger guided the group's effort to identify courses which can be taught collaboratively and/or through projects. The group used the sticky blue board (hereafter SBB) to support this exercise.

On large index cards, each member wrote down topics/learning objectives from an example course in his/her field. The index cards would be placed on the SBB classified by (i) collaborative to independent, and (ii) project based to independent. Initially, Liz organized the SBB so that largely collaborative and project based topics would be placed on the respective edges, with the independent topics overlapping in the middle. Perhaps foolishly, I suggested that we change the SBB organization so that collaborative and project based topics would overlap in the middle of the SBB, with the independent topics on the edges. I made this suggestion so the group could easily identify topics that are both collaborative and project based. However, my suggestion did not allow for an easy identification of the independent/independent topics.

While we conducted the exercise using my suggested organization, I was not happy unable to simultaneously identify topics that overlapped as both collaborative/projects and independent/independent. I suggested that we consider alternative methods to visually identify natural groupings. The group suggested several alternatives, and Roger asked the group to investigate alternative organizations.

I like doing research. I don't mind sorting through 75 abstracts to find 2-4 papers that are tacitly related to the perceived topic area. In the end, I found two experimental papers loosely related to what I was looking for. Each paper contained examples of different SBB organizational structures, including one that Chance had suggested!

An invitation to all authors--why?

Hi all, we met with the group of researchers who is watching our work unfold.  They asked us why you chose to be engaged in this.

I know people have different reasons. Kathryn shared hers and I'd like to invite you all to share yours if only in a "tweeting" kind of "comment" way...no editing required...

Why did you choose to engage in this initiative?

Hubris

When I first heard about this project, back in the fall, I was astonished by the hubris of the faculty involved. They circulated a document that listed courses that would be offered as part of the project, including a few in my department. Yet I had not been approached about participating, nor had anyone in my department. I talked with others in my college and in CSM, and they, too, had been surprised to learn that their courses were being targeted without any consultation. I can't speak for the others, but for me the issue brought to the surface the ways in which the liberal arts and humanities are often deemed an "afterthought" on this campus. We offer GE courses to be tolerated rather than valued, and our disciplines aren't seen as important in their own right. And so this lack of consultation read more like a hostile takeover than an invitation to collaborate.

When Linda approached me again in winter quarter, inviting me to participate, I agreed to do so for a couple of reasons. First, I don't want English to appear stubborn or obstructionist; we aren't. We have partnered with other disciplines before and so aren't against such collaboration. And second, I wanted to learn more about the project to discover what sorts of ways we might be able to participate.

I've thought a lot about the differences in disciplines since I've been at Cal Poly, because this is the first time I've been on a campus that doesn't inherently and explicitly value the liberal arts. I attended a small, liberal arts college as an undergraduate and did my graduate work at UNC where, like many universities, the liberal arts shared a college with the sciences (College of Arts and Sciences) and thus were afforded more respect. Coming to Poly was a dramatic shift in my understanding of what a "university" was, and the last 14 years have caused me to become more defensive in my professional life. I often feel like I have to justify and defend my discipline, in large part because so few seem to understand what it is we do. We teach grammar, yes, but that is so small a part of what we do--most people, though, think that's all we do. The first thing someone says after hearing what I teach is almost always, "I'd better watch what I say since you're an English teacher." This sort of thinking about my field limits and narrows it, and it's difficult not to react badly to statements like this. But I also realize that I need to do a better job of explaining what my field is and why it's important. Perhaps it's hubris in me that expects others to innately understand my discipline.

Creating social fabric

I just read this in a book by Peter Block, "Community: The structure of belonging," (Berret-Kohler Publishers, San Francisco) and recognized it as the process we're in:

"The social fabric of community is formed from an expanding shared sense of belonging. It is shaped by the idea that only when we are connected and care for the well-being of the whole that a civil and democratic society is created...what makes community building so complex is that it occurs in an infinite number of small steps, sometimes in quiet moments that we notice out of the corner of our eye. It calls for us to treat as important many things that we thought were incidental...If the artist is one who captures the nuance of experience, then this is whom each of must become. The need to see through the eyes of the artist reflects the intimate nature of community, even if it is occurring among large groups of people.
     The key to creating or transforming community, then, is to see the power in the small but important elements of being with others. The shift we seek needs to be embodied in each invitation we make, each relationship we encounter, and each meeting we attend.  For at the most operational and practical level, after all the thinking about policy, strategy mission, and milestones, it gets down to this: How are we going to be when we gather together?
     What this means is that theory devolves down to these everyday questions out of which community is actually lived: Whom do I chose to invite into the room? What is the conversations that I both become and engage in with those people? And when there are more than two of us together at the same time, how do we create a communal structure that moves the action forward?
     It is in these kinds of questions that accountability is chosen and care for the well-being of the whole is embodied.  Individual transformation is not the point; weaving and strengthening the fabric of community is a collective effort and starts from a shift in our mindset about our connectedness."