We’ve had more than a few confused and frustrated students have a difficult time with the process of putting together their Lit Review and all of the re-editing requests that come with the process. The following is my response to one student’s frustration:

I appreciate your frustration and confusion at the requested changes. One thing that is “consistent” in academic programs and Action Research in particular, is that they tend to evolve. It can be a frustrating thing, but the overall thrust is to make the program the best it can possibly be, and thus the changes that happen along the way are part of that. In this way AR is very much like the technology we use, what worked 12 months ago might not work so well 12 months later.

So the core of what we are looking for hasn’t change but some of the sign posts might have. We’ve been working very closely with together as a team and these are the things that we are looking for:

1. The Lit Review check list: If you go to Dr. Bedard’s example website (see: http://web.me.com/suebedard/AR/Literature_Review.html), you’ll see the check-list. This is very important info.
2. Does it make sense: Just getting a fresh pair of eyes to read the document has proven to be very important. So we’re looking for missing words, missing sentences, things that might have made sense in your head but don’t quite work in print.
3. APA: In-line references and the resource list
4. Synthesis of Resources: The biggest enemy to a good lit review is when one doesn’t fully understand or synthesize the resources and tries to write a lit review. What results is more like an annotated bib where the lit review writer bounces from author name to quote, author name to quote, author name to quote, etc. What we’re looking for is for the author to have a grasp of the lit., so that the writer can act like a talk show host, bring in two or three sources, ask them questions about their work, where their work overlaps, where they disagree with each other and where there are gaps. The talk-show host (lit review writer) never shares his/her opinion, but lets the guests (sources) do all the talking. When they’ve shared their piece, the host brings on a few more guests until the spectrum of the subject has been covered. The host guides the conversation and blends all of the voices, whether they agree or disagree with each other and never shares his opinion or makes his voice louder than theirs. Of course, being a good host, he began the session with a brief intro, no opinion, just the main question at hand. Then when all the guests have spoken, he concludes with a brief summary, again, no opinion on the part of the host. That’s what we’re looking for

Please take advantage of Dr. Bedard’s website, http://web.me.com/suebedard/AR/Literature_Review.html.

Lit Reviews are too complicated to keep it all in your head and being one of the more “academic” things that we do, there’s always a need for re-editing. It’s just the nature of the process.

We want you to be successful and for your work to stand up to the scrutiny of any program in the nation. So we’re going to look at student work that is intended to represent a year’s worth of work with a fine-tooth comb. It’s a lot of work for all of us, but in the end it makes for much better results and speaks to those who under-estimate the value of online education. Hang in there, remember Rule #6, roll with the changes and you’ll be so happy with your work in the end. It’s not that your work is not good enough, we just want it to sing with all the passion that you’ve already invested in it. Hope that this helps. jbb

Joe Bustillos | Course Director
Media Asset Creation – EMDTMS | Full Sail University

        

David Pogue, Walt Mosspuppet and Andy Inhatko may have gotten pre-release versions of the Apple iPad, but their reviews aren’t nearly as complete or intelligent as the following iPad review by Full Sail emdt master’s student, “Dr. Guido”:

Sources:
MAC Week 1 Blog Post-Free Response iPad Review by mikeficara. http://mikeficara.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/mac-week-1-blog-post-free-response-ipad-review/ retrieved on 4/15/2010.

        

Nick Briscoe, Full Sail emdtms grad, talks with Dr. Deason, Dr. Ludgate and moi about Web 2.0 tools such as social networking and their use in education. This is the first episode of Nick’s Educatium podcast which he’s created with fellow emdtms grads Paul Martin, Aletha Williams and Emily Wray. They can only get better from this beginning video podcast. Really.

Here’s a bonus outtake of Dr. Siegel wanting to join in as we were setting up the interview:

        

Another student take on Zander’s giving student’s an automatic “A”:

"May I axe you a question?" Astro's Got an Axe! by tohoscope

Bob is still looking for his A

Grades in middle school are controversial, especially now that students earn credits to be promoted to the next grade level. Ask a teacher at my school to “give an ‘A’” and their response is likely to be one of confusion, disbelief, laughter, or even anger. Administrators will tell you that grades should be used to measure student success and communicate progress. Unfortunately, many teachers use grades to communicate a very bad message and focus on “principle.” “Its the principle of the matter,” exclaims a colleague. “If you give an ‘A’ to a student who does nothing in your class, what kind of message are you sending the kid who works their butt off?”

So it goes back to measure and comparison (see chapter 2). Giving an A is not about allowing students a free ride and telling hard working students that it is all for nothing. Rather, it is eliminating the “anticipation of failure” and allowing the class to focus on what is more important; learning. It’s all about placing everyone on a level playing field (pardon the competitive sports analogy) and saying, “you already have the grade, what’s next?” It’s likely that the response will involve a feeling of relief and willingness to explore.

Ashley’s always reaching for an ‘A.’

However, I think the next step of giving an ‘A’ is just as important as giving the ‘A’ itself. Teachers who feel that giving an ‘A’ would eliminate student accountability will like this step the most. Requiring that students predict how they have earned the A before they have actually received it, helps them develop goals and builds intrinsic motivation. It also helps them see the possibility of being successful, something many have given up on.

Interested in seeing how I felt about this in October, click here. – Noel Nehrig

And my erudite response:

Grades are a bit like religion. There may have been a point at some time but it’s gotten lost in all of the noise and people are very scared to consider what to do if grades/religion had never existed. In the classroom, has the point of all the effort gotten lost to pursuing a grade? I mean, just like religion, isn’t all of this effort suppose to amount to something intrinsic, some good that goes beyond measure?

Grades are institution solution to communicating student progress and/or position in the A-to-F continuum within the classroom. There the measure, not the point. But i’ve seen instructors at all level quibble looking to seal up any possible loophole that a student might use to game the grading system. At best a grade is an approximation that may or may not be related to student progress fulfilling course requirements. In the end, it’s what we carry in our heads and hearts that matters more than this imperfect approximation. Funny how only those who excel and those who feel besmirched care so much about grades. What’s up with that?

Sources:
Wk 1 Reading- “A” is for Ax Murderer by Noel Nehrig. http://web.me.com/noelnehrig/The_Blog_Prince_for_EMDTMS_MAC/2010_MAC_OCD_Wk1/Entries/2010/2/6_Wk_1_Reading-_%E2%80%9CA%E2%80%9D_is_for_Ax_Murderer.html retrieved on 2/9/2010

Astro’s Got an Axe! by tohoscope. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tohoscope/182444838/ retrieved on 2/9/2010

Stone mason by sk8geek. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sk8geek/3917647300/ retrieved on 2/9/2010

Pretty Princess Picking Her Nose by Pink Sherbet Photography. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3295969599/ retrieved on 2/9/2010

        

Full Sail student coping with the end of program requirements… thanks Mary

        

I’m back to teaching my Media Asset Creation class and Ben Zander’s The Art of Possibility is back on the menu. It never ceases to amaze me how his approach sparks debate with classroom teachers, particularly when it comes to “giving an A.” One of my students wrote:

Image courtesy Getty Images

I should give everyone in my life an A. My father, my daughter, my friends, strangers, everyone… see what happens when I make a point of not accidently taking the wind out of their sails…. – Aneesa A

My response:

So, what does an “A” mean? An indication of the mastery of the material, a reward for doing all of the assignments (regardless of whether one really understood the assignments), a made up system that designates one’s position within the educational/classroom culture… The Zander’s “ploy” is to get buy-in from the students first, the students write down what they’re going to do to deserve the “A,” then the teacher goes from being the judge to being the coach helping the student realize their goal. Also, at some point we all need to recognize that the value of working hard in the classroom isn’t for a grade but for the education/learning that is supposed to be the point of being in the classroom. All those years that I took Spanish and got a grade (mostly C’s) is meaningless given that I still can’t have a reasonable conversation in the language. Focusing on a grade when the intended goal is clearing missed is fatally flawed. And given all of my years as a student (and educator) I’d have to say that that is the rule and not the exception. Those who have the heart of an educator knows that grades are, at the moment, a necessary evil, but the meaning and worth can’t be represented by a grade.

Sources:
* Week 1 readings: To give an A or not to give an A by Aneesa Adams. http://thoughtthatwas.blogspot.com/2010/01/to-give-a-or-not-to-give-a.html retrieved on 1/16/2010
* Image courtesy of Getty Images.

        

High Speed Aerodynamics by o b s k u r a

One of the books that I use for my course is the inspirational The Art of Possibility and in one of the opening chapters the authors, Ben & Roz Zander, propose getting rid of grades. This usually invokes strong pros and cons reactions from my students. For example…

“The author of the book, “The Art of Possibility” made a statement that “not just in this case, but in most cases, grades say little about the work done.” This statement could not be more true. The first thing I thought about when reading this chapter is the meetings that I have sat in with administrators that have implied students should earn nothing less than a 50% and that is if they even fail. Today, we are educators, which work in a data driven education system where the author’s statement of this book could not be more applicable. Grades today do not reflect the work or worth of a student for the simple fact that, like Southern California, there are so many other places that are driven by political, or administrative, holds to influence their “data” and/or “funding.” by Melissa C.

Two of Melissa’s classmates responded:

“I feel the exact same way!!! My school wanted us to also not give students anything less than a 50% a couple of years ago and last year the 50% was raised to 60%. When we were told this many of us were livid! I felt like what was the point of grading work if we were just going to GIVE grades. Where is the “Truth in Grading”? Our system depends on data for funding and political purposes. Since our high school graduation rate was so low I believe this was a strategies used to improve it. I don’t understand how passing the children when they clearly have not mastered the material. Giving students a passing grade is being done on all levels and it is so frustrating when students come into my classroom and you are thinking they are on level and find out they are very far behind.” by Nicole

The second classmate said…

“I recently shared this chapter with some of my colleagues at school and you should’ve heard the gasps of horror when I proposed that grades mean a lot less than we think. Of course, they all seem to agree that the way schools are “graded” according to NCLB is unfair. Talk about a double standard. In all actuality, grades can be a good way to provide feedback to students as long as what we are really assessing is mastery. Then again, there are a lot of better ways than grades to do that. I feel lucky that my administrator feels the same way I do (he has also read this book). Unfortunately, we have a steep hill to climb to get everyone on the same page.” by Noel

Being the class professor I had to add my two-cents:

So, part of the problem is that grades are meant to be a way to communicate progress, but rather than track the progress of the learner, they tend to be a crude measure kind of like the height requirement before a little kid could get on a rollercoaster, “rider must be this tall to ride this ride.” It doesn’t tell us anything except for that one data point. So in many ways it fails in it’s primary task. Worse than that is that this crude measure becomes the goal, when what the student is capable might be far beyond “the goal.”

Now your concern is a bit different because administrators are trying to keep students from digging themselves into a hole that they cannot get out of, because if they fail to turn in the first of three assignments, for example, they cannot make up the points needed to pass if they get a zero out of one-hundred the first time out. Now the grade is being used as an accounting tool that needs to be tweaked, which should be a sure sign that something’s amiss. There are some fundamental issues being lost in the need to show a number, forgetting that there might be dozens of reasons for the student not turning in an assignment, beginning with a basic cultural conflict between the needs of the school and the pressures at home and that the student probably can’t read. This is where data is the enemy because it provides excuses and allows decision-makers to hide from the truth that this section of the community/school wall is completely broken and needs more than meetings and studies to repair it.

Sources:
image: High Speed Aerodynamics by o b s k u r a, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixedmedia/2650461196/ retrieved on 10/31/2009

Week 3 – Giving an A by Melissa Clark (with comments by Nicole and Noel), http://constantclarke.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-3-giving-a.html retrieved on 10/31/2009

image: Cover of “The Art of Possibility” from Google Books, http://books.google.com/books?id=qLz0SmPL-qgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false retrieved on 10/31/2009

        

Part of my class at Full Sail University involves issues of Copyright, Fair Use and Creative Commons. One of the videos I share is about the difficulty a particular video documentarian is having securing the rights so that he can share his documentary “Eyes on the Prize”

The video prompted the following video response by one of my students (and my response to his video):



My video response:

Sources:
* Eyes on the Fair Use of the Prize directed and produced by Jacob Caggiano/Center for Social Media, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r0pM1hJGU8 retrieved on 10/22/2009

* Save the Prize by Seann Goodman/OnOttButton, article at http://seanngoodman.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/save-the-prize/, video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8fvmpRtDb0 retrieved on 10/22/2009.

* Save the Prize – Cha-Ching Version by Joe Bustillos, http://www.viddler.com/explore/joebeebee/videos/17/ retrieved on 10/22/2009.

        

An open letter to my emdt co-workers, co-conspirators & creativity enablers,

On one level or another I’ve been teaching communication and writing since I took my first teaching assignment 15-years ago. One thing that I learned right away was that it seemed to be a big function of the education system to take the eagerness of our little learners to share their every creation and over time crush it down to nothing, such that every fourth grader knows that no one wants hear what they have to say and even less what they think. The smart ones, in this system, are the ones who learn to speak and write in the language of their teachers, and that it’s critically important to not make any mistakes in spelling or grammar. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the ones who might suffer the most from this fear of writing are the ones who are part of the system that enforces this approach to writing, our masters students. But what they may not know, which I learned from my second-language 6th graders, is that they’ll never get any better at writing without working at it on an ongoing basis and that requires that I release them from the system that says that they can only write about things that the teacher cares about and only in the style set by the teacher. You have to work against a lifetime of “correction” and just get them to write before you can help them to write “better.”

As we begin to make blogging a bigger part of our process, please consider the learning process and that putting thoughts down in writing for others to read takes something more than can be expressed in a check-list (though a check-list can be very helpful in the beginning). What prompted this concern is the following exchange between two of my current students about having to do a blog in my course:

edm613 student blog entry:
“I must admit, I disliked blogging in the last class in which it was a requirement. I am really not sure why- I like to write- but it just never gelled for me. I did, however, revisit the idea of blogging after losing my job at the end of the last school year. I thought I would chronicle the ups and downs of my lack of job, talk about the new and exciting things I would encounter and boast about my new accomplishments. I would fill the pages with salsa lessons, daily musings and funny anecdotes. I think I actually managed to write a paragraph once or twice and it consisted of me complaining and moaning about emotional drudgery. I have a difficult enough time sounding interesting in one line on Twitter- I couldn’t possibly blog about my life- or lack there of.

“I decided not to re-purpose my last blog but start a new one. It will be chock full of fresh and new ideas, brilliant insight and astute observations. Words will flow from my mind, through my fingers and dance onto the page. I will be clever and captivating. What does this have to do with anything in class? Nothing, but every blog has to start somewhere. Welcome.”

Second students comment:
“I agree with you about blogging in our last class. The requirements were very limiting and seemed to hold me back. The blog became a chore and I dreaded each and every post for fear that I wouldn’t get a good grade or I would make some simple mistake and have to redo everything. I am very excited to get to share with everyone and express my thoughts more freely again. I like that you have brought a great sense of positivity into your new blog. I like your new point of view…you think you can assist me in bringing back my light?”

Standards of excellence and creativity will never be found where one doesn’t have the freedom to make a thousand mistakes first. I should know. jbb

Sources:
image: keyboard – clipart.com/jupiter graphics
thanks to jolene t. & joann s. for your thoughts and comments on blogging and giving it “one more try.”

        

Sorry, self-indulgent, no doubt, but damn funny… well, at least for my students who have to suffer through my course, Media Asset Creation. Thanks Abram Siegel