the calm before the storm...and confessions of the squall-ble

I'm not proud of this, but I know that I can store only so much frustration before it bursts forth in all its self-righteous fury.

Liz was entirely too politic (my assertion) in her last entry. I was violent during Liz's half-hour meeting with the Associate Vice Provost and we now have a meeting tomorrow morning with the Provost to essentially "call the question" of whether the "university" is going to direct its institutional divisions to support the SUSTAIN learning initiative or whether we need to send the money back to the National Science Foundation.

systemic and interpersonal

I have resisted writing this blog entry, trying to think of a good reason for keeping the difficulties private. I can think of none except my own ego. So here is a summary of what I learned this last week. This has a bit to do with others on campus but I am doing my best to see that this is my experience, not anyone else's.

Our office

SUSTAIN-SLO has an office! I use "office" very loosely. It is a 10 by 8 foot room on the fourth floor of the library. Linda had the very bright idea of it not looking like an office at all...which it does not. Imagine this: white boards on two walls (floor to ceiling), butcher paper and large post-its on one wall and a window on the last. A small table with five small stools (think pre-school) and a thrift store orange naugahyde chair. I hope to post a picture here too.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions....

I used to think this saying was a commentary on how one often doesn't act on their good intentions, that in a scenario where "good works" gets one in to heaven, the chronic "not doing" good works would lead you to hell.

Now, the saying occurs to me more as a statement of reality...that by actually acting with good intentions, your journey will be hellacious!  This is a perfect description of what we seem to be encountering at Cal Poly as we attempt to "do good."

Lunching together

It was so nice to meet with the faculty collaboration for a potluck lunch this last Monday. It helped me remember the reason we are doing this.

1) We believe the way we are educating students right now will not prepare them for the world we are leaving them

2) We ourselves are longing for a community where we can talk and learn together

3) We love to be with students

Thanks all for helping us remember these things.

Students Learning About Learning

I had meant to track down Linda's email about the side-class that I (and Liz and John) could teach to support SUSTAIN but I am a little impatient to get some ideas down about how I envision the ideas that such a class could incorporate.


As I recall, the idea is for us to have a 2-unit class to provide some additional direction to students in our department/major to help ensure that the SUSTAIN experience is linked back to the major curriculum. In do some reading about learning portfolios ( Zubizarreta, John and Barbara J. Millis

The Learning Portfolio: Reflective Practice for Improving Student Learning Reflective Practice for Improving Student Learning, Jossey-Bass; 2nd edition 2009) I came across multiple times discussions about how important it was to get students to reflect on their learning. One set of reflection questions for students that was brought up (and reinforced throughout the essays in the book) is as follows:

Walking in a students' shoes--physics

It looks like I'll be playing a support teaching role to Pete in the physics courses that we'll be teaching in the winter.  Right now, these courses look like a range of courses on mechanics, and a "concepts of physics" course. Of course, this requires a great deal of review for me, especially in the mechanics area.

So, this summer, I am attempting to re-learn physics as if I were a student in SUSTAIN-using open education resources.  Here, I record some of my thoughts of this experience. First, I should point out that I have every advantage in (re-)learning physics:

Chance's thoughts

1. What worked? What would you celebrate?

We got 10 or 12 faculty together for 10 weeks talking about teaching. That is a real achievement. I am motivated to know that so many others are interested in trying new ways of teaching and getting students engaged with something, anything.

Colleen's thoughts

1. What worked? What would you celebrate?

I first heard of Sustain when Linda and Pete came to a Math Department meeting to describe the initiative to us. I thought then, and I still think, that it is a great concept. I see enormous value in tying a student’s coursework directly to meaningful projects in the community.

Bringing up the rear

It seems fitting that my entry arrives on the final day to complete our homework, since I walked into our "parliamentary" meeting an hour late on a weekly basis. First, thank you for this opportunity to be part of this group process. Since my involvement with SUSTAIN began two years ago, I have met and forged wonderful relationships with faculty on campus, with this group being no exception. It's a privilege to work with you on a project that excites me.

On to the questions: