“Google is not research.”

On the surface, this seems to be a self-evident truism; a bane of all instructors looking at the paltry bibliographies of their student’s “research” papers. A topic is assigned, the student does their due diligence by “Googling” expected key words, and undoubtedly one of those key terms turns up Wikipedia. Information is found, two more sites consulted and the topic is, according to the students, covered. Laptop case closed, time to move on.

InsideHigherEd today offers a story about the Cornell Undergraduate Information Competency Initiative, which seeks an “understanding [of] how students perceive university research.” One of the expressed goals, as stated by Cornell professor Kathy Lee Berggren, is “to ‘really learn how to use a library whether they’re in it or not.’”

Cornell’s summer seminar seeks to build on the work from Berkeley who, undergoing an accreditation review, sought to understand how to incorporate research skills into the course level of instruction. That is, instead of requiring a specific research course, Berkeley, on a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, sought to set up the framework by which research skills could be woven into the instruction of any course.

What Berkeley and Cornell are both wrestling with is the complication of performing research in an iPod age. The players as I see them: “digital native” students, cranky, if well-meaning professors, Google and brick-n-mortar libraries. Oh yea, and Steve Jobs.

First, the natives. Contemporary students come to college with a different set of expectations than they did even ten years ago. These students are not agog at the level and breadth of information available to them. Rather, they expect to be able to, within a few key strokes, to gain access to whatever information they seek. And, with aggregated search engines like Yahoo! and Google, they are, to a large extent, able to accomplish this. Want to know the background of the Boston Tea Party? Want to see dissenting opinions? Conspiracy theories? The YouTube parody? Incoming freshmen can provide, usually while listening to downloaded music streaming from a video-enabled iPod (or, if you teach at ACU, all accessed on their school-provided iPhone). Research is done dude!

The cranky, if well-meaning professors, once confronted with such a bibliography, stare at the creatures seated in front of them and wonder, probably correctly, if these poor deluded punks have ever set foot in the hallowed halls of the school library. They haven’t. In their minds, they do not need to. Wake up old man, all of the information is now available online. If you want “deep” research, go to Google Scholar. There are all sorts of articles and things like that—even whole books now.

And expectations clash.

Libraries have done wonders in cataloging, compiling and generally making information accessible. I have no beef with them. They are, with a few notable exceptions, often lone wolfs, wandering the information plains with little support, scratched-together technology, and low budgets. They yearn for the students to come on in and use the catalogs so painstakingly compiled, the databases built from competing platforms. They even have an online portal offered up for dorm access. They have built it…they will come.

A user is able to access a vast catalog of downloaded/ripped songs by using only one fingers—usually the thumb. By spinning the wheel, even a novice user can quickly find the song/podcast lecture she is seeking within a few seconds, even from a list of thousands. Form meets function, and the case is cool and sleek and it works and the information becomes subordinate to the users. The thumb is in charge, and the streaming sounds confirm that, at least here, the world works, as it should. Steve Jobs has provided the user with a user experience that confirms, at least for most, the promises of the web hype—the tool from the bubble.

What the Natives don’t get, and the Profs know, is that the Net does not cast the skein that one might assume. That is, there are some big holes in that Net. The Libraries have worked to fills these gaps (consortiums, partnerships, etc.), but their work doesn’t always get the notice or exposure. Here is where the fault lines of generational expectations come into stark relief: Profs expect students to march into the library and acquaint themselves with the subject’s/discipline’s fiefdom. If not, then the student is lazy and lacks the necessary drive or will. The Natives don’t expect to have to navigate fiefdoms. For them, at least thus far, knowledge and data have been without borders. It does not occur to them that there would be a specific database for articles about Colonial literature that is not accessible through a quick key-word search from their dorm.

So, committees will form, grants will be given and studies will recommend that individual professors seek to imbue a research skill-set into their objectives. And without a standard (either a collective standard (MLA) or an organizational approach (ie Google)), the Natives and the Profs will continue to lament just how odd, lazy, out-of-touch, etc. the other is.

"The Last Professors" an interview

InsideHigherEd.com has a interview with Frank Donoghue about his book "The Last Professor." While the interview sounds a rather pessimistic (realistic?) view of the future of tenor, the meat of the discussion--alluded to but not explored--is in the "the casualization of the teaching workforce"--which I would have liked way more discussion about.

What is interesting about the article is that the bulk of the comments focused on the role and nature of tenor, much, I think, to the dismissal of the larger forces at work.

I think I have more to say, but just not yet.

What a student sees: OR learning today

Are you a teacher or an Educator

[copied from an e-mail forward]

According to a news report, a certain school was recently faced with a unique problem.

A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the washroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. He called all the girls to the washroom and met them there with the maintenance man.

He explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, he asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers, and then there are Educators

The state of writing today

I was doing my daily reading, which I haven't been able to do for months, and this article about teen girl's and writing sucked me in. Pookie is only 5 odd years away from teendom, and I am already starting to worry.

With story after hand-wringing story about the decline of literacy due to short attention spans, texting, et al, it is refreshing to note that the "kids" are doing pretty well by themselves. Doing pretty damn fine, really.

Perhaps the text-laden, word-saturated world they live in now (you are, yourself, reading a blog) actually increases a sense of rhetorical power...makes it tacit, like grammar. Perhaps those time-wasting movies (Saw IV, anyone?) provides a sense of pacing, story-telling and framing for effect.

Infants learn to speak by listening. Perhaps, to a greater degree than has been acknowledged, teens learn to write by "reading" their world.

WIKIs in the classroom

I am ambivalent about the use of WIKIs in general. Don't get me wrong, I think that they are useful (see my query about a Grace Slick song here), but to be used in the classroom seems to be an exercise in busywork.

WIKIs work by employing those with knowledge and time. It also appeals to a certain strata (who I am glad are around, but I am just not one).

Now, if I force my Freshmen to go to a WIKI to compile a set of collective knowledge about something, I will get some interesting results, but I wonder about the utility. Will a classroom be a large enough pool to gather "expertise"?--without which the whole endeavor, from the student's point of view and my own, seems to be only mildy interesting.

Would I create a grammar WIKI? God no! Horrible, horrible idea. A style WIKI? One shade up from the pit of Hell...

I see no real use.

BUT, if you do know of a use, please let the fellow below know. He works for WetPaint, a free WIKI hosting service, and he is interested.
--------------------------------
My name is Michael Bolognino and I'm writing to you from Wetpaint Central in Seattle.

I'm working on building out a dedicated area at Wetpaint.com to help guide educators through the benefits of creating wikis in the classroom, and I'd love to get your input.

If you are an educator, please take 3 minutes to answer a few questions about using wikis in Education. If you are not an educator, please disregard this email.

Cheers, Michael

Michael Bolognino
Community Manager
Michael@wetpaint.com


http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=U27EQP2L56BC

Distressing note leads to diatribe

A loyal reader wrote a note that was for me most distressing. I present a culled, anonymized version:

… I also work as an "instructional designer." It is kind of bogus work, though, mostly doing grunt work for existing professor to build online classes, further depleting the need for actual living, breathing, teachers. Most of these teachers are building classes outside of their core competency, which is easy, they just read the textbook manufacturer's provided power points into a camera and no student interrupts to actually find out if they really know what they are talking about. I transcribe said powerpoints into HTML and it pays as much as I probably deserve as an entry-level assistant professor. But 40-hours a week without vacation.

I recently took this job when I relocated to [southern state]. The colleges and Universities down here pay $550 per credit hour, so as the fall semester winds around I may be forced to turn this down, or to "moonlight" as an adjunct instructor just one or two classes. How much teaching do you do vs. "consulting?" My ID job is full time, so I don't know if they would let me go down to part time or "consulting," but that might make giving my time away for free in the profession I really wish to pursue, manageable.

I find many parts of this note distressing, in order:

• The writer is not employed as an Instructional Designer (I mean no disrespect, we work where we can), but rather an instructional destructor. No good can come from reading PPTs, whether in person or {shudder} on video
• If a professor is moving his materials online, he should only do so when he himself knows enough to perform the necessary tasks. If he outsources these skills, his students will know. They will pity and loath said professor. More educational destruction will ensue
• The writer does not deserve (as s/he seems to indicate) to put up with a job like this. Even entry-level asst. profs should be able to design and craft the material – true instructional design – rather than convert the bloviating of others.
• My advice is to look for night classes to adjunct. I have found that these students are more motivated (your job easier) and willing to put forth effort (your job easier). Community Colleges are a great place to adjunct. Really. If you are doing for the love of teaching, ignore the cattle-call university courses and go CC. Just keep your day job. One has to, like in any mission field, eat.
• I wish the writer luck.

Online Adjuncting: the numbers

For those considering, or already involved in, online adjuncting. consider these numbers:

• $1250--amount paid (I worked up to this number) for a six week session
• 47 -- estimated number of days worked in a six week session (6 weeks x 7 days + 5 days pre and post class sessions for setup and grading--estimated low for grading)
• $26.60 -- per hour rate if you worked one hour per day
• $13.30 -- per hour rate if you worked two hours per day (more likely average)

Factors that affect these numbers:

• Add 8 hours if teaching a new class
• Add 8 hours if creating new quizzes for a class
• Add 8 total hours if teaching a writing intensive class (like composition)
• Subtract a half-hour per day if you type really, really fast and have a high-speed connecting. If not, add another hour per day.

Things that suck up your time:

• Different schools have differing rules on instructor participation. For the six week school used above, they required at least 6 days logging in. What they also demand, but do not say, is that you not only log in, but that you directly interact with virtually forum posting. This sorts out to about 30--45 minutes on a good day per class.
  
• Grading (see quizzes to cut the time) will take a large amount of time, especially if you are in a writing intensive course. I cut my essay grading time down using the GradeEaze program. I was able to save my most commonly used comments and just click them in. I still, though, had to check TurnItIn.com for plagiarism (I recommend using this site), and down and upload the submission.
• Offline prep. I tended to edit my materials every half year. I didn't, though, have control over the book(s) used, and when they changed (it was my responsibility to check the book list each six weeks to ensure I was using the right edition), I had update time to factor in.
• e-mails: students will e-mail you about anything. Then, they expect an immediate response, especially right before a deadline. I do not recommend giving them a phone number...perhaps an IM name, but no phone numbers.
• Number of students in class--the "max" at the school used in this scenario was 12--15.
• Number of sections/courses taught. If you are teaching three sections of the same course, then the time spent in each can be streamlined. Trouble begins when you are teaching 2-3 different courses. More trouble if those courses are spread across multiple schools (my record was 10 courses at three schools at the same time).

Other numbers:

• 6+ average years in acquiring a liberal arts PhD.
• 3 -- number of years to acquire a law degree
• $35-$42K -- starting salary for liberal arts instructors
• $0--$45K -- starting salary for law grads
• $50K -- average salary for liberals arts grad five to ten years into
• $80-$120K -- average salary for law grade five to ten years into

Still more numbers:

• $10K -- annual salary at one course per 6 week semester
• $30K -- annual salary achievable at this school (max of three courses per semester)
• $4326 -- annual cost of health insurance for a family of three
  
• $20K -- net pay
• $15674 -- net after health insurance

Final numbers:

• 24 -- number of courses to make $30K
• 288 -- number of students taught to make $30K
• 1440 -- number of essays (five per 6 weeks) per year for $30K