Trust the Process

I’ll never forget my first day of graduate school at Goddard College. Granted, I knew from the college web site that Goddard was “a special kind of place.” http://goddard.edu/

But I was completely unprepared for how Goddard College would turn everything that I’d experienced previously at my conventional, "staid" university upside-down and inside-out.

As an undergrad, I had been on a single-minded mission to earn my bachelor’s degree before I turned 20. I was -- like many young students I still see -- extremely attached to completing classes and checking off boxes on my degree planning sheet. Learning would happen,  I was convinced, but it was more about “getting through” semesters. (I would officially become my parents' daughter once I earned a bachelor's degree ;-)

There was not a lot of intrinsic motivation happening at that time. Which was a shame, because my childhood in Vermont was all about intrinsic motivation. My teachers were incredibly creative and dedicated to nurturing our innate talents. Sherburne Elementary was a tiny school -- 8-10 students in each grade -- and we were grouped in two giant classrooms, one holding grades 1-3 and the other, grades 4-6. There were few rules -- except study what you love.  We were even charged with arranging our octagonal desks and room dividers in a style that was conducive to our particular type of learning. And I thrived.

But somehow that love of learning for the sheer joy of it became lost when we moved across the country, to Allen, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation. I attended a conventional public school for the first time…and so began my indoctrination into checking off boxes and “getting through” my classes.

Public school was incredibly boring. I joined everything I could think to get out of it -- swimming, track, band, choir, and something called “Declam” (kind of like a one-person theatrical performance). It morphed into a pattern: “Get through” the class and check off the box. (Daydreaming was A-OK, particularly if I had a less-than-engaging instructor.)

But Goddard changed all of that. At my first practicum, I was told I would be writing my own curriculum. I was to study whatever intrinsically motivated me, whatever I wanted to learn about.

That first day, I had no idea of what to do, what to think. I was so used to being left-brain linear, being told exactly what I needed to do… And all of a sudden I was given no plan. I had to come up with one on my own.

I remember being at a complete loss, utterly confused. My graduate adviser kept telling me to “trust the process.” I had no idea what the H that meant. All I knew was that I was in between two worlds: the left logical and linear brain that got me through all things academic to date… and this very interesting right brain world… that felt comfortable, familiar and exciting…but also scary and dangerous.

Yet once I got over myself, began to open up and trust the process, I did my very best academic work at Goddard (my master’s thesis research was published as my first book).

Perhaps what was a most valuable takeaway, I learned that you can start with a plan and midway through semester, new discoveries can emerge to take you in an entirely new direction.

That’s how I ended up in sociology, as a matter of fact. My undergraduate major was communication and I loved writing -- especially about topics that really mattered. At first I thought it was psychology…but as I began taking courses in sociology, I quickly realized that was my niche, what I loved exploring the most. You just never know where a journey might take you.

So begins the advice that I give to my own students now, who stop by during office hours, wanting to know exactly what courses to take… to earn this degree or that one.

I tell them (to quote my all-time fave Thoreau), “March confidently in the direction of your dreams.” Take classes that pique your interest... Give each your full attention...and then process, ponder, reflect....begin to rule out those fields and subjects that just don't resonate... Over time, the path will narrow...and you'll know exactly what you were meant to do.

I remind them (and myself) that we can’t force outcomes in anything in life… No matter how hard we try, we won’t ever have a precise plan with the exact details completely worked out well in advance. But we can aim the camera toward a Monet-like view, several F-stops away from focus. And in time, everything will happen, exactly at it is supposed to unfold. Just trust the process.

                                                                       ###

No-Compete Clause

I ended my blog last week with the “glory-be” epiphany of discovering that if I assigned students to rate each others’ Blogs and Wikis (for points), they would have to read (and hang on) every single word posted by their classmates! (Well, that was the theory anyway ;-)

My “Rate Your Classmates” assignment was a work-around to deal with a common issue that I’ve heard with online discussion boards: e.g., that students will only read a few posts -- the latest ones, with no replies -- and then respond only to those to earn their peer post credit.

I wanted my students to read and covet every word of work submitted by their classmates (as we faculty do ;-) More importantly, I also wanted to set them up so they could provide meaningful feedback to their classmates (because doesn’t everyone want to hear, “out of everything I read, yours was most awesome!” ;-)

So here are my actual assignment instructions:

Rate Your Classmates’ Blogs:

After the Chapter Blog deadline has passed, I’ll open up a survey assignment so that you may rank the top five Blogs for each chapter (yes, you may vote for yourself ;-) As part of this process, you’ll post substantive comments (four to six sentences, worth three points each) -- on the top three Blogs, according to you (and yes, you may comment on why yours is amazing ;-) To earn maximum credit, you'll need to copy/paste your substantive comments in your survey assignment to me (including the name of the student you posted them to) and then your remaining rankings, #4 through #10 (name only).

The “top finishing” students will earn extra credit points: 10 points for the highest vote-getter, 9 points for the second, 8 points for the third, 7 for the fourth, 6 for the fifth, and so on.  My vote will be the final decider.

Before I launch into the “interesting” feedback that I received on this assignment last week, let me disclose up front that I frequently pick up the odd adjunct teaching job here and there to “make ends meet.” (My previous career was in pharmaceutical re$earch. When I made a “quality of life” change and accepted a full-time community college teaching position, my annual income was one-third of what it had been in my previous life.) But at least I can feel that I’m contributing more good than evil to the world now ;-))

I must admit, I was feeling that this ranking system was a stellar new strategy -- THE new strategy for all of my classes…but alas, as I discovered last week, not all of my students everywhere feel the same way ;-)

Here is an excerpt from an actual email that I received last week from a student, enrolled in my Drugs and Society class (at an unidentified institution ;-)

"My current GPA is 4.0 and I am very hard on myself.  I feel this class curriculum is overwhelming for me at this time.  The competing Wiki pages made me panic.  My entire life I've had to compete in business.  School is a place I do not want to compete for a number one spot.  I think the need to be number one can actually cause substance abuse.  I'd remove that from the course but you are obviously very talented and smart."

Presidents Club - Top 2% USA 

<Insert Company Here>  Realtor 

Ay yi yi eesh! Asking students to rate each other’s Wiki posts could drive someone to substance abuse? Wow. But even more wow, I think she was serious!

Alas, we can’t make all students happy all the time… but she actually dropped my class because of this assignment (well that and she couldn’t figure out how to use the Mashup button, it was entirely too stressful, even with my video tutorial…)

Given my work in the social sciences, I am highly sensitive to not creating undo stress for my students. In fact, I do agree with this student on one aspect of her concern, that yes, the “world” is competitive enough already. Even when we don’t ask for it, others will compete with us. And one needn’t look far to notice that snarkiness is in bountiful supply these days. We can’t control that…but we can control our reactions to it.

Not to digress, but....I’m fascinated to hear water-cooler talk that rails against “trivial” concerns of the Great Unwashed, like reality TV and celebrity culture… as if gossiping about coworkers is somehow “better” and more elevated, a holier pursuit...

Honestly, I didn’t envision the “Rate Your Classmates’ Wikis” as a competition. I just intended it be good clean fun. Seeing what others are doing/writing/posting, what matters to them, what they perceive to be meaningful, what’s happening in their worlds and how they string sentences together… much like this 9x9x25 blog experience … ;-)) Et vous? 

                                                                        ###

The Accidental Textbook

I never intended to write a book for my communications class. Scratch that… there must have been an intention somewhere… I just don’t recall the exact process…

All I know is that is that when I began reviewing texts for my interpersonal communication class, I was somewhat surprised to discover a number of theories from social psychology, psychology and sociology presented in the texts. And well, they were kinda sorta accurate in their overviews … but there was so much more context to reveal and discuss.

And since many of my communication students were “cross-sells” from my sociology and psychology courses, I initially sought to make the transition seamless, to build on what we had already covered in earlier social science courses.

So my “project” started as “supplemental” material. And then I just kept writing. Telling my stories, recounting the many communication mistakes I had made in love, life, work (eesh!); what I had learned (and was still learning). There was much to tell… and interestingly enough, my “project” was supercharged by insights gained through a year-long, 500-hour intensive yoga teacher training program that I went through in 2008.

As I neared the completion of my writing project, a publisher cold-called late one afternoon during my office hours. They were asking for a book, and by Joe, I almost had one to send along. By that point, I was staying one step ahead of my students, making copies of each book chapter just prior to class. (Yes, I was that 11^th hour student, too ;-)

Suddenly, I had a book contract… and I vividly remember reviewing my final galleys in Heathrow, on my way to India that year…

Fast-forward more than three years and I’ve fulfilled the initial terms of my contract. My students have given me great feedback, but most importantly, my self-disclosures and communication mistakes seemed to have taught them something ;-)

There have been more developments over the last few years. (1) I’ve realized it’s high time for a rewrite (there’s more to share ;-) and (2) I’ve become increasingly sensitive to the high price of books -- even mine -- as I wrote about last week.

Last summer, I decided I’d dragged my feet long enough. I ended up giving my students my book, chapter by chapter, with embedded prompts highlighted in red, asking them create Wiki pages with specific examples of say, how they had been erroneously stereotyped, or how their perceptions differ from someone close to them, or how they tried a new strategy to navigate through that difficult conflict.

The next part of the assignment was an experiment, I have to admit. I had them review each others’ Wiki pages, post the requisite substantive peer feedback on three… and then I asked them to rank the top 10 Wikis (for more points, of course). The top vote-getter would earn 10 extra credit points, the second would earn 9 extra points, 8 for the third most-voted-on, you get the drift.

And you know, it worked -- just that little incentive prompted them to create amazing Wiki pages… but I digress. The major leap forward for me was the possibility of collaboration on course materials (even a text!) as a class… Has anyone else tried this?

How Much is That Textbook in the Window?

“Wow. I didn’t know our textbook was THAT expensive!”

Have you ever heard that “rude awakening” comment on the first day of class -- students lamenting the price of their book at the bookstore?

That’s the thing about textbook publishers.  As faculty, we are pitched every day -- in phone calls, emails, postcards inviting us to adopt their latest and greatest editions…

Publishers pitch us on the content -- as well they should -- but never mention price. Nor is it typically mentioned on their web sites, when we read sample chapters and peruse ancillary material. Sure we can search on sites like Amazon and can deduce the price based on the used market…but figuring out the new book + required CD/DVD “package” can be a challenging endeavor.

Perhaps publishers have the best luck with “newbies” -- those new to teaching, who are starting fresh and have the freedom to adopt their book of choice.

Seasoned faculty can get a bit set in our ways though. We do the initial exhaustive search and find a book that works for us. We tailor our lectures, assignments, quizzes and Blackboard shells to it. So it takes effort -- sometimes a little, sometimes a lot -- to persuade us to choose another text.

A few years back, I took the bait and actually made the switch -- even talked about it in a Faculty Showcase… http://www.telswebletter.com/faculty-showcases/

I was lured in by an open source publisher, offering free access to their texts for SOC 101, PSY 101 and Social Psychology. I eagerly adopted all three texts… went through all of the time-consuming changes to update the course sites and PowerPoints and quizzes and assignments for each class… Only to have the open source publisher come back last spring and begin charging students a fee to access the material online…and a bigger fee for a hard-copy text.

This fall, there was an even more dramatic change: no hard copy texts -- only a card to purchase an access code at the bookstore. Talk about a nightmare. We didn’t learn that there would be no physical text -- just cards -- until the first week of August. The ol’ bait and switch.

So…looks like I’m ready to begin the selection process again. The open source content was great when it was free… but not what I would choose now that we have to pay.

To those of you who build your classes without a required text, wow. I salute you. Not so easy with a 101 in the social sciences though. I’ve mused about writing a book for my 101s, but which one to start with, PSY 101 or SOC 101? And eesh, after writing a book for my communication class (which needs updating), I’m not so sure I want to take this on again…

I wonder…is there another alternative? We need a text as a baseline… is there a way that we as a class can collaborate on content? I tried this successfully with my own communication text in last summer… (More on that next week…) What do you think… is there “open source” content out there that will work? Suggestions, please. I welcome any ideas you have…