tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33824532909688950272024-03-07T21:52:38.798-08:00Dispatches from an Insignificant Corner of Higher EducationThe tiny voice of one man on the rugged frontier of our nation's intellectual development enterprise.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-38240249228551962822011-10-15T11:51:00.000-07:002011-10-15T11:59:47.774-07:00Reflections on effectiveness and advocacyAnother fall has come and will soon go in the ebb and flow of higher education. Once again students find themselves either rejoicing at making it through their courses or being confronted with the hard results of failure.<br />
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This time, for me, is a time for reflection on where I was successful in reaching my students or failed to adequately prepare them. I, like most educators, agonize over the loss of the borderline student, or I shake my head in frustration when I think of those who come to college to "play" or work the system, a waste of talents and taxpayer dollars. I reflect on these events and can find no permanent answers to the challenges and frustrations of my profession, only strategies that can be implemented in the hopes of optimizing success. After all, good education, in practice, is sometimes more of an art than a science.<br />
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At this point in my career I have also made a choice to become more of a committed advocate for students higher education, especially for those enrolled in community colleges. My reason for advocacy, the future of the community college in Mississippi, the home of my current employer, is once again on shaky ground.<br />
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Community colleges in Mississippi have historically been the backbone of postsecondary education and workforce training in the state. These institutions have provided low cost educations to the working poor, the middle class, and even the upper classes of the state for decades. Students from these institutions have gone on to obtain Bachelor's degrees as transfer students, as well as advanced degrees from other colleges and universities. The workforce training and development has also been a crucial part of the state's transition from a primarily agrarian economy into a more diverse industrial and service economy.<br />
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With the tough economy driving up unemployment more students have enrolled in the state's community colleges in order to seek retraining or new careers altogether. Some of our community colleges have experienced record enrollment, a condition many people would call a boon rather than a problem. However, this population explosion puts a strain on an institution in terms of space, services, and wear on facilities. Add to this the cost of educating a given student (the actual sometimes close to 3x the cost of tuition and fees), and the need for state funding becomes even more crucial, since, like other community colleges throughout the US, the bulk of funding for Mississippi's community colleges comes from the state and county districts they serve. The funding from these sources, unfortunately, has been severely hurt by consistently falling tax revenues.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-73753842705193353452011-10-15T11:48:00.000-07:002011-10-15T11:51:09.719-07:00Past techniques revisited This semester has seen a return to teaching and testing techniques that I thought I had abandoned. This semester I returned to multiple choice exams and have added oral testing in the class (i.e. "come up to the board, please..."). <br />
I have observed a mixed bag of results. On the upside, I have developed a research-oriented pedagogy that allows me to link students misconceptions to specific learning objectives. Students also have some instantaneous feedback about their deficiencies regarding basic concepts in the text. On the downside, however, I have noted a potentially disturbing trend. It seems very few of my students, especially among the traditional freshmen, are able to study effectively or even have the capability to make the most rudimentary connections between concepts. <br />
This situation has prompted me to look at my students within the concepts of student development theory to explain the situation. From what I can tell, my students seem to be stuck within the dualistic position of development described by Perry's theory of intellectual development. This way of thinking mean students look at the world in terms of right and wrong with no grey areas in between. now, this situation is quite common among traditional students, but the current crop seems to have this perspective more firmly entrenched. For example, I have needed to explain how to study for these studdents, even going so far as to require them to make notecards and explain exactly how to make the notecards. I have also found myself in the position where I am forcing them to memorize information for the exams. This means I must test them on their ability to learn at the lowest levels of Bloom's taxonomy, rather than giving them information in order for them to demonstrate their ability to apply information.<br />
All in all, I am rather frustrated at my students' absence of basic work ethic and learning skills. Lucky for them, however, they have an instructor who cares too much to let them flounder. They may not always like me, but they will leave my class with a more realistic knowledge of college learning.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-55230878463690059192011-05-20T11:43:00.001-07:002011-10-15T11:57:50.183-07:00For those curious about what faculty sometimes face from time to time...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WVvKnq5XT-g?rel=0" width="425"></iframe>Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-21610201930709173772011-02-08T12:19:00.000-08:002011-02-08T12:27:02.572-08:00More work with Poll EverwhereAs a warning to any editorial-minded folks, I'm mixing tenses... <br />
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Today marked the first time that I deployed an SMS polling service in my general chemistry class. As I introduced in an earlier post, the application I am employing comes from <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/">Poll Everywhere</a>, and in my class I am using simple multiple choice questions that test my students' understanding of stoichiometry calculations based on chemical formulae (see poll below).<br />
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<script language="javascript" src="http://www.polleverywhere.com/polls/LTExOTc2Njg0MTE/chart_widget.js?height=250&results_count_format=percent&width=300" type="text/javascript">
</script><br />
<div style="font-size: 0.75em;">Make a <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/">live audience poll</a> at <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/">Poll Everywhere</a></div><br />
<script language="javascript" src="http://www.polleverywhere.com/polls/LTczNjM0OTk0NQ/chart_widget.js?height=250&results_count_format=percent&width=300" type="text/javascript"></script><div style="font-size: 0.75em">Try this <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/audience-response-system">audience polling system</a> at <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/">Poll Everywhere</a><br />
</div><br />
<script language="javascript" src="http://www.polleverywhere.com/polls/LTIwMTg5MzU4NjI/chart_widget.js?height=250&results_count_format=percent&width=300" type="text/javascript"></script><div style="font-size: 0.75em">Get a free <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/sms-classroom-response-system">sms student response system</a> at <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/">Poll Everywhere</a></div><br />
The polls were structured so students could give the correct answer, two other answers that are based on common misconceptions of the concept, and a "Don't know" option. I administered several polls during a class period, showing only the instructions for the poll, with a five minute time limit on participation in each poll. After time was called, I revealed the results of each poll to them as a graph. The results of each poll were then displayed in the graph form shown above.<br />
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My students gave me nothing but positive feedback during this session. They asked questions about different ways of presenting the concepts within quizzes, common misconceptions were addressed, and problem solving strategies were introduced to them.<br />
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All in all, the experience of SMS polling proved very positive for my students, at least in the engagement department. Whether or not this strategy results in improved test scores, rests, as always, on the shoulders of my students.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-8282499630779628402011-01-19T08:57:00.000-08:002011-01-19T08:57:16.620-08:00Trying out Poll EverywhereToday I'm giving the application, <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/">Poll Everywhere</a>, a try. Poll Everywhere and its ilk are designed to replace hardware-based audience response systems (ARS), such as "clickers", with a web-based application that polls the audience via different methods like SMS or online voting. An example of the kind of use of this service can be seen in the embedded chart widget below.<br />
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<script language="javascript" src="http://www.polleverywhere.com/polls/MTQzNDk1OTYwNg/chart_widget.js?height=250&results_count_format=percent&width=300" type="text/javascript">
</script><br />
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I've just started with this application, but already I can see the great utility of this approach. In fact, I feel rather foolish for not looking into this approach to audience polling sooner, since SMS polling has become a ubiquitous marketing tool for everything from soft drink marketing to reality TV. The results are gathered and presented realtime, so the feedback potential is ideal for the class room. Add to this the ability to embed the graph in your blog, website, or download as a presentation slide, and you have a streamlined method to seamlessly present your polling data to almost any audience.<br />
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As far as pricing goes, Poll Everywhere provides a wide array of pricing options. A free account allows for up to 30 participants per poll, an ideal number for a small class size. For the <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/account/plans/classroom_response_system_k12">K-12 community</a> several discounted rates are available, ranging from free for small classes of up to 32 students to district-wide plans. For <a href="http://www.polleverywhere.com/account/plans/classroom_response_system_higher_ed">higher education</a> the plans range from small classes of up to 32 all the way to unlimited numbers of participants with varying prices.<br />
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All in all, I am very pleased to finally have a low-cost method of implementing classroom response technology in all of my courses. Give this one a try.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-62779199073078126052010-11-15T12:21:00.000-08:002010-12-14T06:48:48.228-08:00One of the saddest things I have seen in the lab...Today I am sitting in lab, and of the six students remaining only two of them seem to be actually making any effort. I watch the two workers, and I am still frustrated by the increasing number of helpless slackers that seem to be an ever-increasing part of my labs. <br />
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Every semester I conduct <a href="http://www.pbli.org/">problem-based learning</a> exercises where I place students in groups of four to five. The general pattern for most groups seems to be three of the people in the group are (A) lazy, (B) clueless, (C) apathetic, or (D) all of the above. These slackers attempt to ride the coat tails of the more motivated students. I have tried implementing punishments for this behavior, but nothing I do seems to work. (I guess my only option is to walk around with a clipboard and mark them as participating or not participating.) What's worse, the students who are now in the class are asking me to help them design a procedure that they have already done in an earlier lab! <br />
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Is this a consequence of <a href="http://www.purdue.edu/uns/x/2008b/080811TG12-MoonEducation.html">No Child Left Behind</a> (click here for Dr. Moon's <a href="http://news.uns.purdue.edu/mov/2008/080811TG12-MoonEducation.wmv">video</a> on the subject)? Is this some sort of ludicrous trend in extended immaturity (If 30 is the new 20, then 20 is the new 10....)?<br />
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I am discouraged by this situation, but what is the alternative? I could let these young people continue to wallow in a sea of disengaged anesthesia, and I'm not so arrogant enough to think that I can truly open their eyes. Maybe they will finally grow up one day and demand more from their own children. By this time, hopefully, the next generation will learn from their parents' apathy.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-53190373385308318932010-11-15T10:45:00.000-08:002010-11-15T10:45:41.533-08:00Rediscovering My Old ManifestoNow that I have suffered through one of the most frustrating semesters of my teaching career, I have decided to revisit an idea that occurred to me in 2008. This idea is to be my manifesto of higher education. What is this idea? It's quite direct...<br />
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<b>Confrontation shall be the sum of all education!</b><br />
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Does this mean that I will become an overbearing "sage on the stage", still a sad fixture within higher education? Does this idea of confrontation mean I must adopt an adversarial attitude towards my students? No, this idea means that I must seriously think about my role as an educator. In order to confront the woefully inadequate preparation that too many of my students receive I can see they require three simple actions from me, to filter information, to assess basic proficiency, and to facilitate engagement.<br />
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The first two actions are relatively easy for me, since, I am considered a subject-matter expert. I can, with a PhD in chemistry, find a myriad of real-world applications that capture the essence of different chemical concepts, and I can design challenging assessments that push my students to their intellectual limits. The real challenge comes from the third role, facilitating engagement, a problem that many of those in my PLN (Professional Learning Network) can attest to being one of the most challenging parts of education. Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-70758134554968309722010-11-15T10:43:00.000-08:002010-11-15T10:43:56.977-08:00Another election...another round of funding cuts...what else is new?Election day has come and gone this month. A <a href="http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=53903">"tsunami"</a> of anti-encumbent sentiment has swept many out of Congress, and I must now ask whether the new crowd will be helpful or harmful towards community college education.<br />
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In my own state the answer has already been handed down. Our budgets will be decreased by another 15% when the next budget is passed. The next round of draconian cuts promises to stretch tight budgets even tighter, despite the nearly <a href="http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2010/09/mississippi_community_college_1.html">7% enrollment increase</a> statewide. Community colleges in Mississippi are now facing an uphill battle, especially with the prospect of funding being tied to graduation rates rather than just full time enrollment numbers.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-73340526160737525232010-09-15T12:17:00.000-07:002010-09-15T12:17:55.756-07:00Student motivation...or a lack thereofRecently, I have started conducting some of my office hours in my institution's tutoring center. The reason for this change in my normal schedule is the hope that I can provide greater assistance to people enrolled in our chemistry courses. <br />
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The result of this effort, unfortunately, has been no change from conducting my office hours in my office. Students just do not seem to seek out assistance. I'm sure there have probably been studies about this phenomenon, but I just can't see how we, as educators, can create motivation. Don't get wrong, I try extremely hard to make my lectures engaging as well as provide my students with resources that run the gamut of Bloom's Taxonomy. The priorities of my students, though, seem to be focused on everything besides getting help. <br />
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I have to wonder how student services professionals or faculty can really engage students in the face of such apathy. Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-90810924807416464042010-06-12T18:29:00.000-07:002010-06-12T18:52:41.481-07:00Very pleased with Mind42As stated in a previous post, I have decided to abandon my traditional, snore-inducing lectures (using a ubiquitous slide producing application) in favor of interactive mind maps, and this post is my follow-up describing my likes/dislikes of my weapon of choice. The application that I have chosen to use is <a href="http://www.mind42.com/">Mind42</a>. You can see an example of one of my works in progress below.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="200" src="http://mind42.com/pub/mindmap?mid=b5b35cfd-d296-4ed7-87b0-53c8139b1d89" width="500"></iframe><br />
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What I like about this application:<br />
<ol><li>It's FREE!!!!</li>
<li>You can attach links to different nodes as well as notes that contain text or Wikipedia references. </li>
<li>You can collaborate/share easily with others.</li>
<li>You can imbed published mind maps within blogs/sites.</li>
</ol>Some features that I wish were there:<br />
<ol><li> I wish Wikipedia was not the only reference source (Must review content for accuracy).</li>
<li>I wish that you could export the map as something more than just an image file or PDF. (i.e. HTML)</li>
</ol>On the whole, though, I'm really pleased with the capabilities of this application. Please feel free to interact with the mind map shown and tell me what you think.<br />
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Note: Notes/Wikipedia entries can be accessed by clicking on the paper clips, links by the world icons.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-29480667169403454972010-05-16T10:27:00.000-07:002010-05-16T18:09:21.840-07:00Batting Averages and Student AssessmentI was having a conversation recently with a university administrator, and the subject of standardized testing came up. As someone who teaches, or at least attempts to teach, chemistry students who are the products of our current No Child Left Behind educational environment, I was struck with a sudden realization. The students that arrive in my classroom seem woefully unprepared to apply any knowledge from their tenure in the K-12 system, and this lack of preparation is in no way evidenced by their standardized test scores or college entrance exams (ACT in the case of my institution). Also, we as college educators often want students who come pre-loaded with amazing abilities, but this is an unreasonable expectation for K-12 to meet if the primary goal is to pass standardized assessments for funding to keep the doors of their institutions open.<br />
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If part of the problem with the current system is teachers being forced to "teach the standardized tests", who determines the content for these assessments? Now, please don't take this question as a denouncement of all standardized tests. I think most of the time these tests provide a measure of raw talent, a useful piece of information, however, these exams provide little if any measure of subject-specific application. Additionally, students have no way of determining the scope of their talents or their limitations within specific subjects.<br />
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My solution to this problem is to develop an index, call it the <i>A</i>pplied <i>S</i>ubject <i>K</i>nowledge Index (A.S.K. Index, gimmicky, huh?). This assessment consists of content-specific questions that range from the lowest level literacy to the most advanced critical thinking exercise that a student might encounter within the first two years of college study and is to be given during a student's last year of high school or period prior to applying for college. Content areas are separated into blocks, Biology/Biotechnology, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Languages/Literature/Technical Writing, Physics, Mathematics/Statistics. The questions in each content are submitted by two different stakeholders. Private-sector interests (corporations, companies, etc.) submit questions that test a student's knowledge area regarding skills they look for in a potential employee. Public-sector interests like academia and government agencies balance the fads that sometimes occur in the private sector by focusing on the core competencies needed to survive in their own communities. The development of this assessment must also be transparent to both stakeholders as well as the K-12 educational community at large in terms of slightly broad areas of content application rather than overly specific topics that might lead school districts to "teach the test". Secondly, freedom should be given to school districts to assess their own student populations with variations of this index in order to determine adjustments that might be required to their curriculum, provided the results of these assessments are shared with state/federal agencies.<br />
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So, what does this hypothetical index have to do with batting averages? Simple, in the majors a player that can bat .300 or better is considered to be a solid asset to his team. This means said player is considered a pretty good batter if he hits the ball only 30% of the time. In other words, he is expected to <i>fail</i> at the task of batting nearly 70% of the time since the task he is undertaking is so difficult. This spectacular failure rate is exactly what I propose as the expectation of the ASK index, a difficulty so great as to test the limits of any student. In this way students are not expected to be "geniuses" but are encouraged to be honest about what they know or don't know about a given subject. Extremely talented students obtain a measure of their actual understanding as well as a goal to push themselves. Average students also receive information about their talents as well as an advising tool to help them determine a career path. <br />
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Colleges/universities also receive a much more detailed assessment of a potential recruit. Students scoring an overall 25-30% should be considered as solid assets to a college institution, and high performance in specific content areas should be used to advise a student on career options. Students that score lower on the index should be encouraged to take a more developmental route through community colleges for one year before attempting the ASK exam again. Scores for each attempt of the exam should be retained as a measure of a student's intellectual evolution (also a great measure of growing maturity/work ethic) and as a means of providing detailed feedback to the student as to their talents/shortcomings.<br />
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Private sector interests should also find this index useful in providing feedback to the workforce as to which skills are strong and which areas need improvement. In this way industry can be more confident about the intellectual talent that is available in our country.<br />
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I realize that I am proposing yet another assessment to what seems to be an ever-growing number of tests, exams, etc. However, if the current system is to be changed, a concerted, transparent effort between the higher education enterprise and the industries receiving the graduates is desperately needed. Otherwise, our nation is going to continue this ludicrous cycle of blaming K-12 educators as incompetent for not achieving standards that are never clearly set or students for being "lazy", disengaged brats, both labels that only serve to make education out to be a hopeless endeavor. Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-27745788917111111602010-05-07T13:56:00.000-07:002010-05-07T13:57:02.721-07:00They don't even realize where they might need chemistry...<div>I remember reading an article about a new discovery from GA Tech that involves the use of <a href="http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=14608.php">magnetic nanoparticles to slow the transport of free cancer cells</a> throught the body, thereby limiting the metastatic growth of some cancers. This technique involves the selective attachment of nanometer-scale magnetic particles to the free-floating cancerous cells (in this study ovarian cancer was of interest), and literally moving them around with another, larger magnet. The magnetized cancer cells can then be moved to another area of the body for physical extraction.</div><br />
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<div>I read about this stunningly simple, yet elegant approach, and all of a sudden I am hit with just how crucial a basic chemistry/physics education will be for the present generation of undergraduates. </div>Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-12662348368605321482010-05-03T15:05:00.000-07:002010-05-04T19:18:58.506-07:00New tech tools and a renewed purposeIf you can't tell already, student engagement in my classroom is probably my greatest hurdle as an educator. I have resolved to change this by drawing a line in the sand.<br /><br />Step 1<br /><br />I have decided to get away from the traditional Power Point presentation that I have been inflicting on my students in Chemistry 1. I am going to give a visual approach a try through an application called mind42. Here's my first published <a rel="nofollow" href="http://bit.ly/UnitMMap">mind map</a>. I want to actually use this resource to assist my students in making connections between concepts as well as to turn their informal study into an active learning experience. <br /><br />More steps to come...Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-12387870898670105702010-02-23T10:50:00.000-08:002010-02-23T11:26:25.483-08:00Frustrations with student engagment/effort and finanical aid fraudI'm about to make a "well, duh" kind of statement. It seems to me that far too many students at the college level are severely lacking in the fundamental maturity required to accomplish even the most basic level of college study. It's not that they are disruptive or overtly disrespectful, just completely disengaged from the whole process. As a result, they flounder about and make poor grades while wasting large amounts of tuition dollars, a heavy cost when considering the hard economic times that face parents/taxpayers. To the casual observer outside of higher education this problem is usually simplified into an accusation made towards the instituions. Anecdotally, I have heard several of these comments from parents/other citizens that sound something like this...<br /><br /><em>"I pay all of this money and my child still doesn't know anything...Why can't those professors teach the students anything?"</em><br /><br />You get the idea...Now, I will admit to some of the shortcomings of those who teach at the college level. Some faculty have wildly inflated egos and/or lousy instructional skills. However, as I can tell you from my own experience as an educator, innovation in the classroom is impossible if students <em>refuse</em> to participate in the process!<br /><br />In addition to this frustrating task of trying to shake students from their high-school-induced stupor institutions (and taxpayers!) must also deal with another very ugly reality. Some students are not in college to acquire any sort of degree, rather, they barely attend classes until Pell grant checks arrive. Once the money is in-hand these students disappear until it's time to enroll in the next semester for more "free" money. At my own institution the running joke among some students is to ask when someone is going to have a "Pell grant party". I'll stop at this point to say I have no idea how pervasive the problem of financial aid fraud is throughout the country, but as a taxpayer and educator this problem bothers me to the core. Maybe I'll revisit this issue later with some hard data that either confirms or denies this impression.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-22460001891626771392010-01-28T12:41:00.000-08:002010-02-01T07:33:30.113-08:00Fighting burn-out...sometimes you loseSpring semesters are normally difficult for me. I always seem to be sapped from the work of the fall, and for some reason the majority of students taking my courses during this time have deep-seated maturity/work ethic issues that make even the most banal subjects in chemistry (i.e. metric untis) an impossibility to teach. These two factors combine to create an academic undertow, a vortex of frustration pulling down my spirits.<br /><br /><br /><br />Normally, I can shake off these late winter blues during the first couple of weeks by learning to accept the shortcomings of my students. This semester, however, it has been very difficult for me to just go with the flow. I am afraid that I have hit a "third-year wall". <br /><br />What do I mean by this made-up term? Well, in my case, it's now my third year of teaching, and I have exhausted all of the little classroom tricks that I learned as a graduate teaching assistant. I am now at a point where I can't try anything new or ground-breaking, especially considering the woefully inadequate preparation of the students in my institution. The result of hitting this wall is plain, old fashioned burn-out.<br /><br />I have tried numerous ways to try to get motivated to be in the classroom, to re-ignite my engines. Unfortunately, I seem unable to climb out of this funk. The only hope I have seems to be this...maybe this burn-out is like the flu. If I can wait out this semester, hopefully I can recover my motivation.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-66101168208113210202009-11-18T17:34:00.000-08:002010-01-21T13:46:35.340-08:00The Demise of Group Work in My ClassroomI am happy to finally put to rest the absolute exercise in futility that is group-based exercises in my Chem 1 classes. I started this semester with high hopes of using case studies in the classroom and allowing my students to work in small groups. I even sweetened the deal by allowing them easily pass each case study through simple attendance and proof of basic preparation. <div><br /></div><div>The only result of this work (and let me tell you it was a lot of work to prepare all of the case studies) is a massive increase in slackers riding the coat tails of the well prepared students. In addition to an increase in the slacker quotient many of the students seem absolutely incapable of retaining any of the information or able to apply even the most basic concepts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, before any of my non-existent readers get up in arms over the much-researched and touted practice of small groups, let me say this. Group work in the classroom only seems to work when students are actively engaged in the process. At the non-honors freshman level students just don't seem to be emotionally or intellectually mature enough to get much out of the activity. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, dear readers, let us no longer resurrect this exercise for the teeming, uninterested masses. Rather, let us all return to the old fashioned quiz and exam, the crucibles of mental purification where the shortcomings of students are laid bare to be purified in the fire of trial and perseverance. </div>Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-44430476851861399222009-03-11T11:37:00.001-07:002009-03-11T12:18:27.560-07:00Possibilities...I have been pondering the ultimate destination of my career of late. Will I remain in the community college world or will I throw my hat into the tenure-track ring of the 4-year college? Will I start working with web publishing or keep to a more conventional course?<br /><br />I know that I am not alone in asking these questions, as this topic was the subject of a recent article in <em>C & EN News </em>(an <a href="http://www.chemistry.org/">ACS</a> publication). I recall the article as covering the transition of Ph. D. chemists from higher-ed or industry to high school instruction. The chemists that are featured in the article are all extremely satisfied in their career choices and speak of the extremely rewarding task of expanding their students' understanding of chemistry as well as scientific work in general.<br /><br />What I find so remarkable about this article is its stark contrast to the attitude held by the academic culture that produces so many of the PhD chemists. I recall how taking an industry position or finding a tenure-track spot at a university always seemed to receive much more respect than choosing the more humble route of high school or community college education. This sentiment, one that I ashamedly admit to have held during my graduate years, usually lead to talk of colleagues who took the less prestigious route with the sort of language reminiscent of conversations about friends with terminal diseases...<br /><br /><em>"Did you hear that Bob decided to teach at Belching State Community College?"</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>"Oh (pause with thinly veiled distaste)...that's nice...what a noble choice to go teach the unwashed masses. Too bad he'll never have a real job..."</em><br /><br />I realize that I'm being melodramatic, but the scenario is not far from the sad truth. After all, I am guilty of having said similar statements in the past.<br /><br />So why does academia hold such an unfavorable view of the noble pursuit of pure education? Is it because of the beaureaucratic structure or the fact that too many teachers in this country seem to have, at best, a superficial understanding of the disciplines they teach? I do not pretend to understand this apparent animosity, and I must say, as one who has chosen teaching as a career, that attitude makes even less sense.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-6420752278035141222009-03-10T06:06:00.000-07:002009-03-10T06:15:19.561-07:00Return of the Doc....Even more time has elapsed since my second entry, but I have a better excuse than last time. I have been frightfully busy with work. I am currently scrambling to finish a lab manual for a publication deadline in April. The writing process has been hampered by procrastination, mountains of paperwork, and the usual business of being a husband and father. Still, I have found the whole business of writing to be extremely rewarding. <br /><br />On another note, I have become fascinated with using web 2.0 tools in creating new educational environments as well as collaborative workspaces for future writing projects. I am currently learning the basics of HTML and Java. I realize that I am a late-comer to this whole process, being now at the <em>ancient</em> age of 34, but I am certain that mastering the basic skills of browser communication will open new doors for my career path.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-31967599271340701932008-08-07T06:16:00.000-07:002008-08-07T06:22:04.213-07:00Long time no postWell, it's been over a year since I posted anything on this blog. This means it's not much of a blog at all! I think I'll re-purpose this blog for more personal news for family/friends. <br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Dr. CDoc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382453290968895027.post-4786699335703559032007-05-03T12:47:00.000-07:002007-05-03T13:05:34.830-07:00Inaugural blogspot entryDoc Crawford's blog is officially started. <br /><br />I'm Dr. Nathan Crawford, a chemistry instructor at a 2-year college in MS. This spot will become, I hope, a place for all students in the sciences to get some feedback and tips from myself or other experts in the field on any number of scientific topics.Doc Crawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08968618924433935154noreply@blogger.com