Week 5 Assignment
Part A
One challenge every educator faces is coaching students to achieve goals. Those goals may be structured such as earning appropriate grades to pass a course or more complex such as progressing to achieve a life goal or career objective.
Educators are confronted with multiple theories and methods of how to achieve goals that more often than not, focus on content and context, rather than the underlying understanding of “how” learners acquire knowledge.
Carol Dweck’s “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” (Random House, 2006) addresses a component of “how and why” students may succeed. In my classroom experience so many factors and situational events affect learners it is difficult to list and elaborate all the circumstances that affect their learning. I will use specific examples as reference to how my learners shaped my perspectives and how I in turn adapted my perspectives and objectives to impact their learning.
The most critical component of Dweck’s mindset is the theory of “yet.” I’ve spent most of my teaching career educating high school students in grades 9 -12. Obviously, they are young learners, but they are also young adults with many years of learning and educational experiences. This group has generally matured enough to have dealt with several family, social, cultural, economic, environmental and psychological events in their short lifetimes – they bring a lot of unique experiences into the classroom.
What Dweck’s mindset (and the DLL program) has shown me is the ability to name and provide a framework for what I and many other educators often tell students – learning is a work that is always in progress and that knowledge and expertise are two different points on the same path.
“Yet” is a concept that can apply anywhere in the learning process, but acts a crucible to engage in further learning. For example, if a student or class is just being introduced to basic news writing with no previous experience, the expectation that their work would be of Pulitzer Prize quality would likely not be appropriate. Is that to say, no one in the class has that potential – the answer would be, not yet.
A beginning writer must gain experience and confidence and that process is also best framed with a pattern of learning and instruction. Again, the DLL course helped me frame the structure of what makes a significant learning environment. My previous experience was framed mostly on Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) of how students should apply acquired knowledge, but it never really framed what I, as an instructor, should be doing to frame my teaching.
My introduction to COVA in 5302 help put into focus what my Learning Manifesto should incorporate to create what I hope is a significant learning environment for my students. I have found that COVA helps to create a foundation for students developing their own growth mindset and instilling the concept of “yet” in their role for developing and taking responsibility for their own learning. I tend to emphasize ownership as a primary concept of COVA and how to motivate student to be responsible for what do and don’t do in my class, but also their education as a whole. Certainly, learners must choose to do this. I also emphasize that not making a choice in their learning is, in itself, a choice.
I see voice and authenticity more as processional components that are ongoing throughout their overall learning. Certainly, choice and ownership are ever-present, but in the words of Master Yoda one must “do, or do not.” That is a black and white disposition, but accurate. Learning can be situational, but in any given situation a learner is either going to choose and own or they are not.
By that same notion, cheating is a choice with a variety of reason behind it. The chart referenced in Jackie Gertstein’s post, “Is ‘Having a Growth Mindset’ the New ‘Just Say No’, somewhat addresses the cheating by positing examples of what leads to cheating with several examples. Cheating is a choice and often cheating happens simply because it can – a lot of people will take the shortest path because it’s there. Is it a moral failing? Perhaps. Is it a lack of poor planning and preparation? Probably. Are people tired and lazy? Yes. There are a whole host of reasons of why people cheat and I don’t think mindset can always change that. It can help in possibly limiting the extent of it, but it will still happen.
I think feedback works in a similar way, but depending on how feedback is framed and the context in which it is exchanged, feedback has more potential to be delivered in a controlled situation and therefore more positively received.
My learning plan has been revised multiple times since beginning the DLL program – and I see that as a benefit and not a detriment. I have a passion for what I teach and I’m passionate about my students and their learning – their success is my success. This week I attended the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Conference in Dallas and it presented several opportunities not for my own students, but many others. This years’ conference was represented by 47 separate Texas educational institutions, 627 students, 77 advisers, faculty and media professionals. The conference features timed, onsite, live competitions ranging from news writing to video editing and also contests covering previously published content from student media from all of 2016. It also has workshops and seminars, of which I presented one “Pitch Perfect: Upping Your Advertising Game” and hosted 38 students, advisers and professionals from 14 different Texas schools.
The technique I (and my student business manager, Taylor Phillips) focused on was how student media business operations should be student-centered, operations need to focus on humanistic engagement to student staff and client (it’s all about relationships) and get out and engage your audience in personal and technological forums. The main framework I discussed was the use of the COVA and Maestro models to outline and organize goals and objectives for advertising operations in the form of a 3-column template.
My session was for 50 minutes and response was such that several students and advisers asked if we could continue after the presentation. We did across the hall in the hotel lounge for almost another hour. Advisers responded that they are stressed from wearing essentially two hats in the newsroom – editorial/teaching responsibilities and the business/advertising. I think I could write a paper on this experience alone (I’m going to blog on it later in the week when my office settles down).
This experience does address student’s preoccupation with grades. My overall experience is that the student with the highest grade in class is not necessarily my best student in class. I think grades and accountability are important, but they are not the final word in being a proficient journalist (or anything else).
When students take ownership of their learning and their work, their preoccupation with grades does not go away or diminish, but it becomes less of a worry. When students take ownership of their work, they focus more on the quality of their work and the impact it has on others. In our case, the impact is often measured with our readership engagement. For example, how does the audience react to a given story? Do they engage with commentary (excluding trolls)? Was the effort recognized with an award or commendation from a third-party group like the conference we attended mentioned above. (By the way we won 29 individual and staff awards, including first place feature story, first place video documentary and first place feature photo beating out programs like the University of Texas, A&M and Baylor).
Grit is a factor that varies from student to student and I do think it plays an important role in learner’s mindsets. I think grit has a deeper psychological impact on how and why people do what they do. I also think that there are many unknowns as to why people do the things they do. Why do people with the same set of experiences react in two different ways to a given stimulus? I think we can only postulate and guess for the most part. But behavior can be trained to react differently over time. Consistent application of reinforced growth mindset behaviors can change the way a learner reacts – a significant learning environment employing Dweck’s mindset and other methods, for example, COVA and Maestro can influence the probability of positive achievement outcomes. I have not determined an accurate measurement of this (yet) but I definitely have case studies to apply this to and I’m currently documenting the process. I have doubts that traditional quantitative measuring can capture the full scope of this process, but might be better documented in a traditional humanistic case study format. I don’t know enough about measuring formats, yet.
When I first read Dweck’s Mindset (2006) I thought of it as the fad, “the power of positive thinking” that was part of the 1970s and 1980s New Age movement. It seemed trite, superficial and overlooked a broad arrangement of social, cultural and economic issues. I feel I have a better understanding now because I have read much more about Dweck and writing since then. I still believe she overlooks those same issues, but I also recognize that mindset can be a persuasive force to modify behavior and outcomes. I think mindset has to be tailored in terms of context and content in relation to who or what it is being applied to. It is one piece of the puzzle used to build a significant learning environment.
Authentic learning that is rigorous in application, expectation and execution may lessen claims that grit or mindset is faddish or overused. I think the consistent application of COVA as a planning and instructional method keeps complacency less likely to occur and addresses the concerns of critics. It’s ever-adapting and ever-changing and is progressive to helping learners achieve their goals, but also goals of institutions as well.
Mindset and creating significant learning environments has greatly impacted my innovation plan agenda for what I want to accomplish within this course. I have always been an advocate for student-centered learning and authentic learning goals, and CSLE has provided a more substantive framework for me to further develop and streamline my plan for the University Press. The biggest aspect to change is the scope of my plan. Originally, my plan was overly broad and vague covering the UP and our Comm Department and through four courses and four professors, I’ve been able to get tangible and positive feedback to make a more cohesive and coherent plan to organize the University Press and to contribute to the Department of Communication innovation plan, essentially one plan became two. Currently, I’m able to implement all aspects of my innovation plan at the University Press as I’ve planned and I’m excited to be able to begin the fall semester and start a new, complete cycle for my students.
My ability to provide input for the Department of Communication is a longer-term project, but already is bearing fruit as some proposed components are being evaluated and implemented. I feel confident in my proposals in that I have a voice in discussions and policy development because I’m frequently asked to participate in discussions with the department chair and dean and my contributions are positively affirmed. I don’t say this in way to project vanity or self-importance and I know many parts of this process are not in my domain of participation. Per our video conversation earlier in the course, I have had opportunity to present components of our discussion and I hope they can be developed to a higher level such as you proposed. Frankly, my greatest concern is not the innovation plan, but campus politics and the inability of some stakeholders not being able to adapt and progress. There is a lot of work to be done yet, but I’m working my best sales pitch. I hope that we can speak again about this and perhaps work toward a formal proposal
Part B
CSLE Response
Learning Philosophy
Learning Environment/Situational Factors Outline + 3-Column Table
UbD Template
Growth Mindset Plan
Creating Your Significant Learning Environment Response
http://www.stephanmalick.com/?p=295
Several fundamental ideas in “A New Culture of Learning” are copacetic with the innovation plan for the University Press and they can be incorporated in a variety of ways.
The UP certainly has a culture of its own, but it has never been defined or evaluated for its component parts and analyzed. One of the goals of the innovation plan is to document the UP culture so that it can be perpetuated and propagated into a legacy of a definable, significant learning environment.
Part of the UP culture’s ability to sustain itself has been through a continuation of relationships over several decades. The challenge is that these relationships are not sustainable because of basic human mortality. The idea is that the innovation plan blueprints the UP culture into a definable model for learning and teaching.
Many of the concepts included in “A New Culture of Learning” are evident in the practices of the faculty, students and staff of the UP, however it has often been characterized “just the way we do things” by previous and current advisors. But, this way of doing things, is in fact, a significant learning environment.
For example, the concept of cultivation focuses on what students and staff already know and includes the practice of what the group does in day-to-day, year-to-year operations. Stories are assigned and reported. Layouts are made. The newspaper is published and distributed. It’s how these practices have been transmitted to successive groups of students that is evidentiary of cultivation. The innovation plan not only documents this process, but guides innovative change that takes place.
This change of cultivation is innovative and disruptive because it is constant and subject to the changes in technology used and with the influx and outflow of students throughout a given semester. The innovation plan incorporates the Maestro Concept (Ryan 1991) to essentially have a peer-coach assigned with all new students. It has typically been an informal thing that was just done by one of the editors – now it will be an exclusive assignment to insure that all new students get the relationship connect to a veteran staffer to infuse and cultivate the UP culture.
Another example adding the COVA model to the UP culture. In some aspects, parts of COVA are already a part of the UP culture, but there is not a pattern or a process attached within the culture. For example, portfolios are an important item for students to catalog their work with the idea of presenting it to future employers representing a body of work they have done.
This is the most substantial aspect of the innovation plan – all staffers will be required to produce a semester portfolio for a grade.
How COVA applies is that while the UP culture has always advocated ownership of students and their work, it has always been treated as a means to an end. The purpose has been one-dimensional and rigid – students need a portfolio to get a job. The COVA model will help to expand and deepen the learning experience at the UP as the start of what will be a continually changing aspect of the students professional career – change and adaptation. COVA will help identify a structure in how students look at their learning experiences.
Students must identify that their future work is a matter of choice and ownership. They, in themselves, must be the voice of authenticity in their work. The COVA model will identify the purpose of the students work portfolio as an agent of stability and process for their career.
The portfolio serves a model for engagement and participation in what they have learned and what they will learn. A portfolio is not meant to be complete. It’s meant to show process and a progression of that process.
A majority of our students are seeking to work in media or communications of some sort and it is a field that is constantly in change and will be. The portfolio should be a reflection of that.
Another concept is compatible is collective learning. It happens daily and one item already in place as of the Fall 2016 semester is internal staff Facebook page and messenger thread. The collective learning manifests in the team, Maestro, method to communicate in how we cover and report our stories. Both serve to provide a unified platform for students to collaborate on their work. It transitions as a place for all students to participate in multiple discussions and permits the ever changing of students been added or dropped from the UP staff.
The UP staff transitions every semester because students graduate and move on and the Facebook platform allows seamless additions and subtractions to that collective. The platform also allows room for the dispositions of learning by having an equal access to keeping an eye on the bottom line, diversity of viewpoints, change, fun and living in the now.
The social media platform also provides a space for hanging out, messing around and geeking out.
Since the incorporation of the Facebook spaces students live stream each other while covering events and gives anyone on staff the opportunity to be where someone else is at and have the opportunity to participate in that event as well.
What is learned during this process is participation and the ability to work collectively.
These concepts allow a more guided and consistent approach to a lot of the things the UP already does and additionally creates a institutional memory or knowledge that can be used as a legacy to enhance the learning of students and staff that will come later.
The challenges are plenty. The main challenge will be coaching a level of consistency on the part of the advisors and editors. The change in UP culture is a challenge because this process is now identified and formally addressed as an issue within the culture itself. This process is new and time management will be challenge to hold consistent participation and engagement.
As the instigator and investigator of the innovation plan, I know I have several challenges in front of me. I know my perspective is not broad enough alone to be a singular influence, I honestly don’t know. I think I will certainly have an important role. I think my role is also to find as many primary influencers and voices as I can to develop my philosophy. My actions will speak for themselves. I hope my actions are a positive influencer, I think they have the potential to be.
My Learning Philosophy
http://www.stephanmalick.com/?p=299
Preparing students to be life-long learners and critical thinkers is the principal concept around my teaching philosophy. Like most students, I can give examples of teachers I enjoyed in my experience as a student and I can also give examples of teachers who I thought were terrible.
To provide my students the best opportunity to succeed in achieving their personal goals is not just a classroom objective to me, but as a life goal for them as an individual. To do this, I use the concept of a gumbo. Personal experience plays role in every learner’s ability to learn. The same goes for instructors, and my experience is a gumbo of other instructor’s methods and philosophies that I have encountered as a learner and I apply those with the needs and desires that I see within the students I teach every year.
There is not a one-size fits all approach to learning or teaching. Learning and instruction must be tailored and it much be ever-adapting to changes for each learner and for course content.
During my teacher certification courses almost 20 years ago, the professors and certification program seemed to center a lot of emphasis on Skinner’s (1973) behavior models and Blooms Taxonomy (1956). And these models, especially Bloom’s, were heavily reinforced during my first teaching assignment at West Orange-Stark High School.
I think they both have their place and are solid theories, but they also seem overly rigid and unadapting to changes in contemporary classrooms. Their methods are still included in my teaching methods as blended components of “how” I teach and “why” I instruct students in certain ways.
Creating an absolute philosophy is not possible for me and this is because I will constantly adapt the way I instruct students in order to best prepare them for what comes next in their academic or personal career. I can be specific about what I do, but I cannot be absolute. In any given course, I use multiple methods to reach and connect with my students. The gumbo is not meant to be a hodge-podge of ideas with hope that something sticks – it’s a multi-layered approach meant to cast the widest net of learning styles that my students may be best suited to.
Media Writing 1330 is the lowest level course I teach. It tends to have my largest number of students and students from a variety of majors and degree plans sign up for it either because of a requirement or as an elective. It is a traditional classroom course with supplemental materials on BlackBoard and I also create a class Google Drive for additional materials, rubrics and etc.
For example, I use behaviourist methods of activity and repetition (Hartley 1998) in my Media Writing 1330 course to reinforce writing structure using the Inverted Pyramid method for news stories. Getting students “used” to the concept of lead, the quote paragraph and then transition paragraph until the story is complete takes practice and repetition, especially for students not used to writing beyond a few paragraphs.
The behaviourist method was probably the method most of my own teachers used. It works, but it is basic in it’s approach and it relies on primitive human conditioning and for the very same reason it is successful, it also has a great weakness – it can be boring.
In my undergraduate studies, I was exposed to a lot of Jungian psychology by some professors and a lot of that discourse was about Jung’s concept of self and the unconscious collective. What concept I hung on to that was later applied to my teaching philosophy is better expressed with cognitive theories, especially as related by the principles outlined by Hartley (1998) and also by Bruner (1998).
Again in teaching students basic journalism writing and reporting the structure of process links all the parts of a story together. For example, if students brainstorm for a story idea, the next step is to identify primary sources to interview or research and from there to conduct the interviews or research and then further to construct a story, submit the story and then edit the story for publication. In this approach there are opportunities for the learner to get feedback on their results and the instructor can adapt to influence enhancing areas where the learner may have weakness or lack of success.
The end components of my philosophy are concepts that are the most newly indentified to me having only realized what they were called until the EDLD 5313 course. Social or situational learning models a lot of what occurs in newsrooms and serves as platform for students to personally engage in their learning. It seems to me on the surface to coalesce with COVA model on many levels.
At the University Press we have implemented a Maestro approach to staff instruction that is acted out with the structure of relationships to students to one another on staff. For example, an editor will coach a staff writer on how to post content to our news website. That instruction is based on the relationship of student hierarchy to one another on staff – supervisor to subordinate (Bandura 1977). But also on the relationship of participation and familiarity – students that contribute to the UP become familiar with one another because of the experience and time they share together on a daily basis. They get to know one another whether they want to or not just by being around each other. It is a community and the act of participation is a learning experience (Lave and Wenger 1991). The UP is a learning community by practice and the act of participating becomes knowledge.
The learning community concept is a theory that I plan to continue exploring and ties with the 21st Century learning theory (Jenkins 2009). To me this is a self-evident theory because of the nature of what I teach. A lot of emphasis is placed on student preparing for a career or the workforce in general. My colleagues and I are preparing most of the students we teach for careers in media and communication. There are some very specific skill sets that students need to learn in addition to general learning concepts involving self-perpetuating attitudes about learning and disruption that students need to develop on their own.
The 21st Century theory acts as a reflection for learners to internalize learning. Again, this is where COVA merges for the learner to take choice in owning the life-long attitude to continually learn in an authentic environment.
Authenticity is a self-reinforcing learning component for journalism because students publish their work for public view and it will receive public feedback. I have a colleague that jokes when referencing experiential learning with another colleague by saying, “That works great in practice, but how does it work in theory.”
My learning philosophy meshes with my teaching philosophy in that both should be opportunities for experiential learning.
A concept that I am ingesting in this course section is Siemens Connectivism (2005). I identify several processes that are already present in some of the things I do and I’m evaluating on how to formally include them in what I do. For example, media related careers are in a consistent state of change and evolution and students and teachers have to be prepared and understand that adaptation is essentially a natural course of the professional. It will always change technology and work and learning are often the same thing (Siemens 2005).
I’m also interested in Driscoll’s concept of Interpretivism and how reality is internalized and knowledge is constructed. So I tend to view learning in constructivists concept that Driscoll uses (Driscoll 2000, p. 376).
Learning and teaching, from my perspective, are symbiotic – they can’t be separated because one is necessary for the other to exist. It’s like the recipe for gumbo – your have your roux made from flour and grease, everything else is additive – chicken and sausage or shrimp and crab or fish and crawfish, freshwater or seafood or okra? There are a number of combinations that create a variety of flavors. Gumbo literally means anything and everything – it’s what you have on hand or you could find.
Learning theories work the same way. Educators have a lot of methods on hand and what works with one learner versus another may not and instructors have to adapt just as learners do. It’s an extension of the symbiotic relationship that occurs in any classroom.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press.
Bloom, B., Englehart, M., Furst, E., Hill, W. and Krathwohl, D. (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain, Longmans Green, New York, 1956
Bruner, J. (1960, 1977) The Process of Education, Cambridge Ma.: Harvard University Press.
Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1987). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the craft of reading, writing and mathematics (Technical Report No. 403). BBN Laboratories, Cambridge, MA. Centre for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois. January, 1987.
Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1988). Cognitive apprenticeship.Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, 8(1), 2-10.
Driscoll, M. (2000). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham Heights, MA, Allyn & Bacon.
Hartley, J. (1998) Learning and Studying. A research perspective, London: Routledge.
Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
Skinner, B. F. (1973) Beyond Freedom and Dignity, London: Penguin.
Siemens, G. (2005) Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
Smith, M. K. (1999) ‘The behaviourist orientation to learning’, the encyclopedia of informal education. [http://infed.org/mobi/the-behaviourist-orientation-to-learning/. Retrieved: March 11, 2017].
Learning Environment/Situational Factors Outline + 3-Column Table
http://www.stephanmalick.com/?p=303
Course Goal:
Learners will identify, develop, report and publish story ideas for the University Press newspaper to publish on multimedia platforms. Learners will learn to operate individually and as part of a Maestro team concept (Ryan 1993).
Learning Outcomes:
Aligning learning outcomes and goals with UP goals and culture as they apply to course activities and assessments.
BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – Overarching Course Goal
Learners will competently produce accurate and credible content to publish for the UP in print, online and multimedia for public engagement and to produce semester WordPress e-Portfolio for assessment and personal career building.
| Learning Goals | Learning Activities | Assessment Activities |
| Foundational
Learners are or have taken Media Writing 1330 course for basic news writing and gathering as staff & individual reporters |
Analysis and evaluation of news topics important to readership.
Discussion and research of topics & engagement options. |
Review & and discuss news gathering resources.
Utilizing UP culture of internal engagement & feedback. |
| Application
Maestro concept of student-centered learning and coaching to create UP content |
Learners brainstorm story package concepts
Determining division of work & assign teams as needed
Discussion |
Research story background & UP archives if possible.
Assigning interview, photo assignments & research |
| Integration I
(Integration components 1-3 are simultaneous) Learners/student editors assess & analyze factors affecting story goals & objectives |
Conduct interviews, photo assignments & research
Discuss interview outcomes |
Complete interview transcripts. Complete principal photography & graphics. Discuss content outcomes |
| Integration 2
Learners/coaches analyze & evaluate final content creation |
Learners/coaches assess content for editing & publishing & complete layout | Learners/coaches publish content. |
| Integration 3
Learners/coaches synthesize content & reactions |
Learners/coaches determine future reporting & discuss companion stories | Learners/coaches monitor & report/respond to audience engagements |
| Learner Dimensions/Caring
Learners & coaches analyze production roles & what impact UP culture has on growth mindset of creating significant, effective learning environment |
Learners discuss & reflect on Ryan’s Maestro Theory concept & Dweck’s mindset theory
Coaches/faculty discuss & reflect on Ryan’s Maestro Theory concept & Dweck’s mindset theory & Thomas and Brown’s “A New Culture of Learning.” |
Learners read Dweck’s, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
Coaches/faculty review & reflect on plan and e-Portfolios for creating a student-centered significant learning environment. |
Learning Environment & Situational Factors to Consider
- Specific Context of the Teaching/Learning Situation
How many students are in the class? Is the course primary, secondary, undergraduate, or graduate level? How long and frequent are the class meetings? How will the course be delivered: live, online, blended, flipped or in a classroom or lab? What physical elements of the learning environment will affect the class? What technology, networking and access issues will affect the class?
- General Context of the Learning Situation
What learning expectations are placed on this course or curriculum by: the school, district, university, college and/or department? The profession? Society?
- Nature of the Subject
Is this subject primarily theoretical, practical, or a combination? Is the subject primarily convergent or divergent? Are there important changes or controversies occurring within the field?
- Characteristics of the Learners
What is the life situation of the learners (e.g., socio-economic, cultural, personal, family, professional goals)? What prior knowledge, experiences, and initial feelings do students usually have about this subject? What are their learning goals and expectations?
- Characteristics of the Teacher
What beliefs and values does the teacher have about teaching and learning? What is his/her attitude toward: The subject? Students? What level of knowledge or familiarity does s/he have with this subject? What are his/her strengths in teaching?
For this assignment, I chose the undergraduate Practicum 3130 course as my example for CSLE and the Assignment 3 component. This course is non-traditional in many ways: it does not have a set time for meeting, it is a physical class that takes place in the University Press newsroom, but is often conducted via Facebook text and video messaging, the UP intranet and Google Docs using mobile devices and desktop computers during various hours and days of the week.
The primary requirement is that students must complete a minimum of six stories per the 16-week semester class and the stories must be published in print, online or in a video package. The students range from freshmen to seniors, contributors and staffers and in size from about 10-20 students per semester. This semester I have 15 students in my section and it is the only section available for Spring 2017.
The 3 Column Table is presented as a single production week. The UP prints every Thursday, however online content is published daily. Sometimes different versions of a story may appear in print and online. For example, we may publish online a behind the scene story about the effort and resources to cover a particular story and the actual story appears in print later in the week. We do this to involve reader engagement and track to see if our audience follows the story and how they engage with it on our social media platforms
On average, most students in the practicum course publish 8-10 stories during the course of a semester. While no extra credit is given in the course, many students choose to independently hedge their grade with additional stories generally given that as the semester progresses they get better at writing and producing content. This is an example, where student-centered learning takes the lead in what students are doing. They often judge and critique their efforts more rigorously than the faculty advisers and strive to exceed their (and adviser) expectations – and generally do so.
Time management is the most significant factor affecting both students and faculty. Everyone is busy and the news cycle never really stops until the semester ends. Students are taking multiple classes, most have jobs that require a significant amount of their time so to accommodate learners my co-adviser and I have attempted to build a flexible communication system for students to conduct discussion, research and the submission of content.
The UP has a certain culture on campus for student excellence (a culture we shamelessly promote) that can be intimidating to the uninitiated. Our students routinely excel in student and professional journalism contests. Our readership is highly engaged and the paper as a whole is well-respected as an outlet for accurate and credible information within the community as whole for sometimes covering in-depth issues not covered elsewhere in our community by the professional media.
The student editors function as peer-learning coaches to all the staffers. Veteran staffers also serve as coaches to practicum students. The editors host a weekly, informal staff meeting on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is not one continuous meeting, but a time when the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Online Editor are in the office at the same time and can meet with students or teams to discuss their story assignments.
I formally introduced Buck Ryan’s Maestro Concept (1993) beginning in the Fall 2015 semester. There were many concepts of the Maestro theory in partial use at the UP and I conferred with my co-adviser about formalizing the learning and teaching approach to UP operations. This was implemented to address gaps in the overall Communication Department curriculum as a means to enhance and create a student-centered learning environment. In addition, as part of self-determination I wanted to put in to document what the organization was doing and how it maintains its legacy of excellence (I was UP Editor-in-Chief Fall 1994 to August 1995) and to provide a transitional consistency to how our students learn.
The UP operates as an independent entity of the Communication Department administratively and editorially. Our learners come from all the Lamar colleges and a communications degree plan is not a requirement for being on staff or contributing. However, by nature of what the UP is, most of the students working or taking courses related to the paper are communication majors.
The implementation of disruptive innovation coincides with the appointment of a new dean and department chair that are seeking disruptive and innovative changes as well. Part of the reason I enrolled in DLL program is to design potential courses for the communication program with their blessing and input.
Journalism learning is a divergent process and is exposed to a variety of subjective concepts by those who practice it and those who consume it. It is an authentic learning experience because it can only be practiced by producing content for public scrutiny. Journalism is combination of many disciplines that is a convergence of practical and theoretical skills and processes. It has legal and moral implications and consequences. It has technical parameters and necessities.
The learners in course have a variety of learning experiences to draw on and their competency ranges from the novice to the advanced. My exposure to Dweck’s mindset theory, COVA and Thomas and Brown’s culture of learning has more recently shaped and sharpened what learners should be experiencing in class. Some aspects of these theories have been a part of my teaching style for decades, but I was unaware and ignorant of conditions in which they can occur or the methodology in applying them to my own efforts. The theories have helped me put into words and define what it is that I do or should be doing.
My own learning experiences are shaped by the outcomes of those experiences. I’m a kinetic learner. I like doing hands on exploration of what I’m doing. I can read a software manual and tell you all about it – it doesn’t mean I know how to use the software. That will only happen once I get my hands on it and start to use it. The manual is great for reference, but application and reflection is where my learning takes place.
I have observed over the last two decades most of my students do as well when given authentic learning experiences. I believe that I should coach and guide students to enhance their learning and my teaching should adjust to their needs more than my own. In journalism, students should know about concepts of ethics, libel along with specifics like Associated Press Style, spelling and punctuation, but they should be directing the way in which it is applied in regard to story ideas or if a story is better told as a video than a written story.
The key indicator for CSLE is to build a relationship with my students, both individually and as a group. They have to develop trust in me to guide them and I have to develop trust in them in the form of respecting what it is they want to get out of their learning experience. Teaching is a production, it is a stage of sorts and a performance. Teachers can only do that with a solid knowledge of their subject matter, planning and plenty of reflection and feedback from the learners. I think this applies in any learning environment from K-12 to higher education.
UbD Template
http://www.stephanmalick.com/?p=308
Malick, S., UbD Template 2.0
| Stage 1 Desired Results | ||
| ESTABLISHED GOALS G
Learners will become novice, functioning journalists and publish the University Press student newspaper as a requirement of their individual degree plan.
BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – Learners will competently produce accurate and credible content to publish for the UP in print, online and multimedia for public engagement and to produce semester WordPress e-Portfolio for assessment and personal career building.
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Transfer | |
| Students will be able to independently use their learning to… T
Learners will publish journalism stories, produce content for the University Press newspaper to publish on multimedia platforms. |
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| Meaning | ||
| UNDERSTANDINGS U
Students will understand that… • That journalists are an essential component of a democratic society of laws and ethics. • Journalism provides information the public has a lawful right to know. • Journalists disseminate information and holds authorities accountable for their actions. |
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Q
• What is news? (and other journalism formats) • Who and what is a journalist? • What is important for people to know? Why? |
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| Acquisition | ||
| Students will know… K
• How to develop story ideas • Identify sources • Interview sources • Write stories, produce video |
Students will be skilled at… S
• Researching sources and information • Interviewing people • Using AP style to write stories • Using technology resources to capture and edit photographs and videos |
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| Stage 2 – Evidence | ||
| Evaluative Criteria | Assessment Evidence | |
| Publishing stories, photos, videos and layouts T | PERFORMANCE TASK(S): T
Producing the weekly print edition of the University Press and online news site. |
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| ePortfolio SA | OTHER EVIDENCE: OE
Students produce content for their individual ePortfolio due at the end of the semester. Students should update ePortfolio every Friday after UP publication for self-reflection. Weekly discussion to follow with Editor(s), advisers or at Monday staff meeting.
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| Stage 3 – Learning Plan | ||
| Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction L
Journalists produce content in a variety of forms for a multitude of audiences and multimedia platforms. Learners are expected to plan, report, draft, edit, revise and complete written compositions on a weekly basis, carefully examining their stories for clarity, engaging language, and the correct use of the conventions and mechanics of written English and Associated Press Style. Students will become analytical consumers of media and technology to enhance their communication skills. Published work of professional journalists, technology, and visual and electronic media are used as tools for learning as students create, clarify, critique, write, and produce effective communications. Students enrolled in Journalism will learn journalistic traditions, research self-selected topics, write and publish journalistic content in the University Press newspaper, and learn the principles of publishing and newsroom operations. (1) The student demonstrates an understanding of media development, press law, and responsibility. The student is expected to: (A) identify and understand the history and development of American journalism through people and events and it’s relation to current (B) identify the foundations of press law, including copyright law, the fair use exemption, and the ownership of intellectual property; W (C) identify the foundations of journalistic ethics and the role of journalism in society; W (D) distinguish between responsible and irresponsible media action; and W (E) understand the consequences of plagiarism and libel. W (2) The student demonstrates an understanding of the different forms of media and the different types of journalistic writing. The student is expected to: (A) distinguish the similarities and differences of print, broadcast, and online media; and E, T (B) distinguish the similarities and differences of news, feature, and opinion writing. E, T (3) The student reports and writes for a variety of audiences and purposes and researches self-selected topics to write journalistic texts. The student is expected to: E&E, H, E, R, T (A) demonstrate an understanding of the elements of news; H (B) select the most appropriate journalistic format to present content; R, T (C) locate information sources such as persons, databases, reports, and past interviews; gather background information; and research to (D) plan and write relevant questions for an interview or in-depth research; O (E) gather information through interviews (in person or telephone); E&E (F) evaluate and confirm the validity of background information from a variety of sources such as other qualified persons, books, and reports; (G) write copy synthesizing direct and indirect quotes and other research; E&E (H) use journalistic Associated Press style to write copy; E&E (I) revise and edit copy using appropriate copy editing symbols; E&E,T,O (J) rewrite copy; O (K) create different forms of journalistic writing such as reviews, ad copy, columns, news, features, and editorials to inform, entertain, and/or (L) write captions; and E&E (M) demonstrate an understanding of the function of headlines through the writing of headlines. E&E (A) identify the appropriate form of journalistic publication to present content such as newspapers, newsmagazines, online media, broadcasts, and newsletters; W (B) design elements into an acceptable layout, online post or video package; E&E, T (C) use illustrations or photographs that have been cropped to communicate and emphasize a topic; E&E, T (D) use devices and art to communicate and emphasize a topic; and E&E (E) prepare a layout for publication in print and online. E&E, T (5) The student demonstrates an understanding of the economics of publishing. The student is expected to: (A) understand general salesmanship in selling professional or student-produced publications; W (B) differentiate between advertising appeals and propaganda; W (C) differentiate between the various types of advertising such as classified, display, public service, and online advertising; and E, T (D) design an advertisement for a particular audience. E, T (6) The student will demonstrate learning skills acquired through the publication of shared end of semester e-Portfolio of their published works. E&E, E, T, O A) displays a diverse body of published work from current semester R, E, T, O B) displays relevant self-reflection; shows peer reflections; adviser’s reflections R, E, T, O
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Comparing and Contrasting the UbD Template and the 3-Column Format
The UbD Template and the 3-Column format are both ways to map learning goals, objective and elements of learning for a particular learning environment for a given course.
The 3-Column format is best to present a screen shot overview for individual components with a learning plan. I like the idea that a course can be broken into smaller components to frame a given lesson within an overall plan. Depending on the course and significant amount of 3-Column tables could be generated to support a course. However, it does seem to that 3-Column tables are more “big picture” oriented and while they are specific in their overall goals and objectives, they lack the smaller details of “how” and “why” a particular learning goal is set.
The UbD Template requires specific, smaller detail sets to be presented. Its arrangement is more complex in categorical areas and requires many more steps to be elaborated on. For example, for the practicum course described above, there are key learning events in detail that are listed and the 3-Column table does not necessarily require that – it tends to focus on overall goals.
While neither format specifically addresses teaching methods per se, they both do incorporate structure and learning goals. Learning goals, in a sense, can be considered a teaching method, especially when combined with the learner-centered approach to course design. Learner-centered instruction aligns itself with constructivist theory and divergent learning theories when combined with either of these two formats. Either of the formats can be elaborated on to be inclusive of as much information as the designer wants.
I think any instructional designer can elaborate as much as they want or need to. Wiggins and McTighe have both written in Understanding by design (2005) that the templates are just that – guides to develop significant learning environments. I never saw anything in the text that states the templates can’t be modified. That is part of the versatility of the template as well. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) also stated that UbD is not meant to be theory, but I refer back to my previous statement that it can be a component within a theory.
The UbD Template and the 3-Column Table are complimentary components when creating significant learning environments and are best used together instead of exclusively apart.
Growth Mindset Plan
http://www.stephanmalick.com/?p=312
A growth mindset plan sets a mission statement to achieve a goal or objective-oriented plan. The purpose of my plan is to address several need areas for the University Press student newspaper and the Lamar University Department of Communications.
The growth mindset plan incorporates initiatives by individuals and collaborative groups to expand and scale-up knowledge and skill development of enrolled students, recruitment and retention of enrolled students and to provide additional learning opportunities to students and professionals with more options in content delivery and user and instructor interface.
Carol Dweck wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “What Having a ‘Growth Mindset’ Actually Means (https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means – January 13, 2016) that “scholars are deeply gratified when their ideas catch on. And they are even more gratified when their ideas make a difference — improving motivation, innovation, or productivity, for example. But popularity has a price: people sometimes distort ideas, and therefore fail to reap their benefits.”
She said (2016) individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning. When entire companies embrace a growth mindset, (Dweck, Harvard Business Review, November 2014) their employees report feeling far more empowered and committed; they also receive far greater organizational support for collaboration and innovation. In contrast, she said people at primarily fixed-mindset companies report more of only one thing: cheating and deception among employees, presumably to gain an advantage in the talent race.
This is similar to my role in my position at Lamar University and the University Press, but to act in the role of disruptor to add and enhance operations, instruction, outreach and innovation. My approach is to simultaneously address Dweck’s Four Steps at once by combining personal and professional directives in collaboration of small groups within the current organizational framework of the university, to observe and spur disruption and facilitate action plans and initiatives. In addition, my role is to incorporate and implement a growth mindset to these groups, to document and report outcomes, facilitate the initiatives of all stakeholders and adapt, modify, complete and evaluate defined goals and objectives.
For example, career connections of alumni and students has had a historical pattern within the LU Department of Communications as being inconsistent, not well-marketed to students and not having a direct relationship to the recruitment and retention of enrolled students as reported by faculty, staff, alumni, and students from a series of informal interviews and surveys compiled over 20 years.
I had participated in previous events as an invited guest to present career development to students in past years, so I reached out to the Department Chair, alumni, fellow staff and faculty, the Career & Professional Development office and the Alumni office, formally and informally. A small team came together incorporating members from each group (Jenna Powell–Career Development office, Jacqueline Hays – Lamar English Instructor and UP alum, Natalie Tindall –Communications Department Chair and Derina Holtzhausen – Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication). In retrospect, most of the responses from the college faculty and staff were with a fixed mindsets – “This has been done before,” “I don’t want to do it, I’m busy,” or “I didn’t work before, why would it work now?” The fixed mindsets I think emphasized individual mindsets over the growth mindset potential for students and innovating the institution and because the majority of the faculty and staff come from primarily academic backgrounds and not of professional industry. The goal is to change the mindset of individuals and that of the institutional resources.
The result, so far, of this initiative will manifest on Wednesday, October 26 at Noon on the 8th floor of the Gray Library with the University Press presents “UPLift: Career Portraits in Modern Media and Communications” (http://www.lamar.edu/news-and-events/news/2016/09/university-press-hosts-uplift-career-portraits-in-modern-media-and-communications.html) a lecture series to connect UP alumni working in industry and discussing topics critical to career preparation and development focusing on professional branding or social media. In addition, to the lecture, alumni will visit individual classes to engage faculty and students with special topics in their course. This project will be videoed and different versions will be edited for research and reference and archived on the UP website and the Communications Department website.
The event is open to public and will incorporate campus stakeholders and local professionals as well. The objective is to have this as an annual speakers event during homecoming week to capitalize on campus promotional activities and alumni visiting campus. Already, alumni response has been very favorable and oriented toward a growth mindset with offers to speak and participate in future events. One way to expand inclusion to other college and departmental stakeholders is that additional spring session could be added but sponsored or hosted by some other entity within the college utilizing strategies developed with UPLift.
A focus group will convene off-campus that evening at 6 p.m. at the Art Studio, Inc., 720 Franklin in downtown Beaumont to record participant observations and comments
I’ve decided to address Dweck’s Four Step with this simultaneous approach in this situation because when dealing with individuals or organizations a growth mindset plan has to be tailored. Classrooms and students have to have tailored plans as well. Growth mindset provides a guide and roadmap to achievement and success, but the specifics, methodology and approach is going to have to be adaptable and flexible. The intent of any plan is that is must embrace a growth mindset as well. I think a cumulative approach is doable and it allows tailoring of the initiative at any stage within any component at any time. It is confrontational and disruptive in nature that is consistent with the action plan’s directive.
The method to communicate “yet” is direct engagement and the inclusion of stakeholders and it’s a work in progress. To put it in a communications framework, it relates to sales pitches of overcoming objections to serve students over an individual’s desires. To address this plan, is to engage it daily and weekly, as needed, with interpersonal and group communication via email, texts, social media posting and meetings.
The impact of this course on me is a two-for-one approach. So far, and completely coincidentally, the goals of the course align with the mission objective I was recruited to participate in. The challenge is to lead without being over-bearing and to develop initiatives that are sustainable and to the benefit of students and that incorporates stakeholder in a variety and revolving set of leadership responsibilities.
I think some additional challenges to confront comes from another part of Dweck’s Harvard Business Review January 2016 article is to self-evaluate to attempt to avoid false growth mindsets, false praise and rewards, and the false idea that just saying something makes it true. The plan can’t just be lip service. Goals, actions and objectives have to be measured, reported and acted upon by stakeholders.
I refer again to Flavell’s concept of metacognition (Flavell 1979) for self-evaluation because the concept assists the feedback narrative of achievement, inclusion and success. It is a component that has to be incorporated into any mindset growth plan whether it is individually or group directed. I haven’t come across any research that contradicts feedback, and Dweck, while not expressly saying so does, repeatedly, allude to the very idea of metacognition and self-evaluation.
Dweck states (2016), “Even if we correct these misconceptions, it’s still not easy to attain a growth mindset. One reason why is we all have our own fixed-mindset triggers. When we face challenges, receive criticism, or fare poorly compared with others, we can easily fall into insecurity or defensiveness, a response that inhibits growth. Our work environments, too, can be full of fixed-mindset triggers. A company that plays the talent game makes it harder for people to practice growth-mindset thinking and behavior, such as sharing information, collaborating, innovating, seeking feedback, or admitting errors.
“To remain in a growth zone, we must identify and work with these triggers. Many managers and executives have benefited from learning to recognize when their fixed-mindset “persona” shows up and what it says to make them feel threatened or defensive. Most importantly, over time they have learned to talk back to it, persuading it to collaborate with them as they pursue challenging goals.”
She hits the nail on the head in summarizing the situation I am facing with my current directive. It will be hard work with many challenges, seen and unseen, but I think Lamar has much more to gain by embracing growth mindset concepts and the processes of putting them into place. The benefit to the university and as Dweck (2016) said, “It gives them a richer sense of who they are, what they stand for, and how they want to move forward.”
