What if Universities Put Education First?

In the TED Talk, Professor David Helfand presents an alternative to the modern university, one that ditches departments, levels hierarchy and places education first.

How to Recover from a False Start?

Experimentation and spontaneity can create a dynamic and exciting classroom environment, but what happens when experiments flop? For over three years now I’ve been teaching American Political Thought online. The students are required to complete weekly readings and short writing assignments in addition to a midterm and a final. But after a very successful summer course on Media and Politics where I had students create and maintain blogs on Tumblr, I decided to try something new. I scraped all of the traditional assignments and replaced them with a class blog called: what would the founders do? The idea was simple: our class would work together to provide robust commentary and insight on contemporary events based on key themes and arguments from our reading. In addition, I challenged the students to develop strategies to build a readership and offered extra-credit points for the articles with the most comments and shares. The possibilities seemed endless. But the project failed to launch. One, two, three weeks passed without a single student posting on the blog. Despite daily reminders, pleas, trouble-shooting technical difficulties only three students out of fifteen participated on the page. Frustrated and at a loss, I decided to change course. In an attempt to recover I scrapped the project and returned to my old syllabus. I gave students an option to pursue a dual track – they could continue writing for the blog or they could do reading responses. Only one student opted for the blog. By changing the syllabus three weeks into the semester, I risked my authority as the professor but it allowed me to reengage the bulk of students who were otherwise lost. While I survived the semester, I paid for it in the number of email clarifications I sent and perpetually tardy assignments. It also meant that this semester, I have been much more hesitant to experiment.

10 Tips on How to Write Better College Essays

Advice from Students on Good Writing

Recently, I asked my students: what barriers stand between good and bad writing? What prevents them from handing in quality work?

They had a lot of good insight.  Here are four problems that they identified: 

      

      Don’t overthink sentences:

Students think writing needs to be academic, ornate, and formal.  I have no idea where they got these ideas from.  As a result, their essays can appear like a well-meaning party guest in an ill-fitting tuxedo.  They flex the binder of their virtual thesaurus (AKA Google) and pose as a sesquipedalian.  They bury the subject and the verb in the back of the sentence.  Because, well, if they wrote it like they’d say it, it’d be too causal.   That may be true.  But balance is the key.

Don’t procrastinate:

Another group of students complained that they couldn’t write unless they had an intrinsic drive, so they would just wait until the last moment.  And it’s true.  When an assignment piqued their imagination, they shined.  When they were bored, they dulled.  Many of these students confessed that they loved to write, just not the assignments and tests they receive in school.  Well, that’s understandable. But, truth be told, most people have to work for a living.  If part of your job entails writing, well, it’s contingent on other people.   Just be grateful you’re not a technical writer for a lumber company…unless of course, you work as a technical writer for a lumber company.   

What’s the solution?  Set a specific time and space to write every day.  Or, as one student noted thoughtfully – do the least savory work first. 

Revise:

Many college classes overemphasize the final draft of a paper.  In my experience, many professors will agree to read early drafts if requested, but few require multiple drafts.  And this goes for both grad school and undergrad.  As a result, students never learn the steps or strategies to good revision.  My advice – ok, ok, it’s really Roy Peter Clark’s advice – start big, then go small. In other words, focus first on structure and organization and then edit for style and grammar.  On the first point, I always advise students to re-outline their paper AFTER they have completed a first draft.  This helps capture a big picture overview of their argument and content. It helps to determine a few key factors: order of thoughts, key elements, and superfluous content.  On the second point, I advise – again, not original to me – for students to read their work aloud – emphasis on loud -- and pay attention to the moments when they stumble or sound awkward.

Don't sweat page requirements:

When some students run out of stuff to say…they just talk till they fill the required space.  So, how can you expand your ideas without producing fluff?  Use examples to help provide context to difficult ideas or elaborate on the significance of your argument.  Use conjunctions to link and expand ideas: for, and, nor, but, etc.  Use subordinate clauses to add contrast.  These are sentences that start with although, nevertheless, unless, if.  

Are you a TA or a student?  Comment and share a note about your experience as a grader…or someone being graded. 

Teaching Through the College Transition

In my three years teaching at UMass, I’ve had hundreds of students.  If you count my time as a teaching assistant, that number would be in the thousands.  In all that time, I only met one set of parents – it was move in week and we bumped into each other at a café. 

While secondary school teachers are in a game of chess, negotiating school administrations, unions, helicopter parents and students, College professors are playing checkers.  They have the distinct advantage of singular, content-based focus.  In other words, all they have to worry about is education.  But the singular focus, risks myopia.  College marks that strange, awkward (and now prolonged) transition to independence and adulthood.  It’s those very struggles that often enter into the classroom sideways – chronic tardiness, sleeping in class, plagiarism, generally being unprepared.  Which makes me think – is the single focus flawed?  Would a broader perspective help professors connect with students and teach their material?    And if so, what would that look like? 

UMass, Amherst’s Residential Academic Program (RAP) might provide a model:  Students live together in the same dorm and take three classes together – one in the dorm room.  It’s an opportunity for a small college experience at a big research university.  The class provides a bridge between college life and college responsibilities.  As an instructor, there is one big difference – it’s not just an educational environment, it’s a social environment.  While in my traditional classes, students hardly speak to one another before or after class, in RAP classes, I often had a hard time getting students to stop talking. 

On the one hand, it made my job more difficult – I had to balance a social dynamic in addition to class requirements and content instruction.  But on the other hand, it helped deliver a more meaningful classroom experience for the students.  Many of whom, stay in touch. 

But the parents – for better and for worse – are still absent from the picture.  I’m not suggesting that helicopter parents should make the trip to college.  But is there a presence of absence that should be acknowledge or considered?  And if so, what does that look like? 

Reading an Op-Ed in the Washington Post this morning by Michael Gerson reminded me that there is a complex social and familial dynamic – alongside the complex economic calculation – underpinning the college experience.  And professors would be crazy to think that that doesn’t creep into the classroom. 

Taking College Classes Public Via Tumblr

The emergence of social media fundamentally changes the way people read, discover and create news.  It has also transformed communication and media strategies for business, non-profits and politicians.  Those who succeed are the ones who can shape the conversation, connect with people and build a coalition of supporters.   

In other words, the people who understand and adapt communication technologies have the best chance at getting elected, advancing policy alternatives and driving change. 

While the technology has changed, the principle remains the same.  Take for example the story of Ben Franklin:  In 1729 the people of Philadelphia debated whether or not to increase the amount of paper money in the colony.   Ben Franklin recounts the story in his autobiography:

“Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, entitled “The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency.” It was well received by the common people in general, but the rich men disliked it, for it increased and strengthened the clamor for more money; and they happening to have no writers among them that were able to answer it, their opposition slackened and the point was carried by a majority in the House.  My friends there, who considered I had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable job and a great help to me.  This was another advantage gained by my being able to write.”

Over the last three centuries, there have been monumental changes in communication technology (obviously).  But there is one thing that hasn’t changed: The ability to write, to connect and to communicate effects change.  It matters for politics, it matters for business and it matters for life. 

This summer, I have been teaching Media and Politics at UMass, Amherst.  The class provides a historical and theoretical overview of communication technology and how these technologies have been used to govern and effect policy.  But the class also challenges students to engage the practical application of social media.

The class project asks students to monitor and analyze a single issue across a six week period and record their analysis through blog posts on Tumblr.   The project entails three dimensions: 1) the quality of analysis; 2) a strategy memo on how to build an engage an audience; 3) a reflection paper about what they learned about media and politics.  It asks students to break out of the class, build an audience and connect with the world.   

The results so far have been astounding.  The public component of the blog has motivated the students to produce higher quality content and to be actively engaged in the course.  It also creates an opportunity for the students to not just learn about the symbiotic relationship between media and politics, but to experience and understand it.  

Here are some examples of their work: 

http://kirkpas.tumblr.com/

http://herotraitor.tumblr.com/

http://girlmeetspoliticalworld.tumblr.com/

http://endangeredelephant.tumblr.com/

Does Grade Inflation Help Students?

It’s impossible not to notice rampant grade inflation across university campuses and the inflated expectations that inevitable follow. The new question is: does grade inflation help students or hurt students?

According to Inside Higher Ed, professors and Universities that have lenient grading policy give students an advantage in applying to graduate school.

“New research in the journal PLOS ONE has found that admissions officers appear to favor applicants with better grades at institutions where everyone is earning high grades over applicants with lower grades at institutions with more rigorous grading. The research is based on an experiment involving 23 admissions officers and on long-term, real data on applicants to four competitive M.B.A. programs.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/30/study-suggests-admissions-decisions-reward-grade-inflation#ixzz2ajlbE5qr 

I don’t really care about grades.  I would be happy to give out 100 A’s every semester.  But I do care about quality work.  The problem is that too often students who expect an A tend to pass in subpar work, while the students with low expectations wrestle with assignments and grow by leaps and bounds. 

While higher grades may increase a student’s chances at being accepted to graduate school, I worry that grade inflation teaches students that they can do mediocre work and receive an exceptional grade.  

If that’s the case, then students entering a competitive graduate school or the workforce are in for a rude awakening.  

What do you think? Comment below, does grade inflation help or hurt college students? 

Creating A Meaningful Classroom Experience

I reserve a lot of my class time for students to brainstorm ideas, reflect on assignments and share their work.  Last semester, a little past the halfway mark, we were shifting our focus to the final research paper – the classic 15 page college research paper, the kind that students put off until finals week and then, like an Octopus swimming in a sea of coffee, type 100 pages overnight in a caffeine induced frenzy.  I asked students to take out a piece of paper and fill in the blank: I am writing about x because I want to find out about y.  And then, I asked them to pose a question about their topic. 

I sat and watched the students write for a few minutes and then started the classic show and tell discussion…who wants to share?

But the first student who shared threw a curve ball.  We talked for a few minutes about her topic and then I asked, “what’s your question?”

“Will it be meaningful?” She replied.

That’s not really what I meant, but she struck at the heart of a major and often over looked question that students struggle with: what’s the point?

I remember when I was writing my Master’s thesis, I called up a friend who I trusted and admired and asked him to help read a section and help me think through a problem.  We had a long, creative and reflective email exchange.  But in his last note he wrote: I don’t know why you spend so much time on school, but I hope you find it meaningful. In other words, what’s the point?

At the time, I didn’t have a good answer. I had lots of ideas about how my work was “meaningful” that didn’t necessarily comport with reality…I’m changing the world #Obvi.  In retrospect, it had more to do with answering a question that pricked me.     

But back to the classroom.  So, what makes a paper meaningful? And what makes it meaningless? 

I threw the question back to the students and we launched into a forty-five minute discussion about college. I can’t say the conversation was on topic, but I learned a lot about the way students think about their role in the classroom.

Here’s some of the feedback:

1. A paper is meaningful if it contributes to a larger, local or national conversation.   
2. A paper is meaningful if the student feels like they have the opportunity to gain some mastery over topic or subject. 
3. A paper is meaningful when students have a personal connection to the question or the topic.
4. A paper is meaningful when students receive a good grade.

The irony, of course, is that if the students fulfill the first three items on the list, the last will almost inevitably follow.  While every student could point to a handful of classes or papers that met these criteria, the majority of classes fell short.  So what makes a paper meaningless? According to the students:

1. When the Professors are looking for a preset answer.
2. When they are trying to meet the professors expectations.
3. When they are assigned a topic (When every student writes on the same topic).
4. When they receive a bad grade.

As an instructor or a professor, it’s likely that you have an intrinsic (and possibly delusional) love of your work – how else could you have survived graduate school?  Regardless of your fantasies, it’s unlikely that your students feel the same way.  But that doesn’t mean they can’t learn.  Helping students find meaning in their work and in the classroom makes teaching and learning easy.  It means that students are more likely to meet deadlines, read assignments, write drafts and deliver quality “A” work. 

Using Prezi to Create Dynamic Content for Online Courses

The first time I taught an online class, I wrote and posted 26 lectures.  Originally, I had thought about filming virtual lectures (complete with laugh track).  But I lacked the time, technology and talent to create engaging stylized videos.  Instead, I came up with talking head videos that were more painful to watch than the Nyan Cat on repeat.  So I posted the lecture notes instead. 

This semester, in an ongoing attempt to break out of blackboard, I started to experiment with Prezi – the flash-based presentation software that allows the users to move in three dimensions.  While nothing can replace the face to face experience of the classroom, Prezi adds a dynamic, interactive and playful quality to the information…even more so than video. 

Traditional slide show software like Power Point, are poorly suited to online classes.  Slide shows that artfully incorporate images and key concepts can be great for large presentations.   But they are only ever a compliment to the presentation, not the presentation itself.  Flipping through slide shows without the presenter – even really good slide shows – feels too much like story time at the public library.

But Prezi actual stands in the place of the presenter and encourages the user to have a unique interaction with the content.  It allows you  to move back and forth between the details and the big picture.  It puts the user in charge and allows them to move through at their own time.  They can follow links, watch videos, listen to audio-casts, look at images or simply read the text.   

Four Key Qualities of Good Teaching

Last year, I had the honor of receiving the Distinguished Teaching Award at UMass, Amherst…really it was “a” DTA…I think there were five recipients in all.  But still, it felt good to be recognized, especially in a field where recognition rarely extends beyond the immediate classroom experience.

 

After I won, more and more people started to ask me about good teaching.  Of course, sometimes the questions come out sideways: So, what makes YOU such a good teacher?  

Despite the questionable sincerity, these interactions forced me reflect further on teaching and student feedback and distill the key elements of my experience.  So here’s how I answer:

1) Create a meaningful classroom experience -- Most students don't know why they are in college, nevertheless why they are in my class.  Being able to craft a compelling narrative that connect with the students and that helps explain why the work matters will go a long way.  After all, if the students are bought in, than everything else falls into place. 

2) Value the knowledge that students bring to the classroom -- everybody has something to offer, you just need give your students a chance to share and contribute. The key is to be able to take their knowledge and experience and connect it back to the course content and the larger narrative of the class. 

3) Balance preparation and spontaneity -- it's easy to prepare and it's important to prepare, but if you focus only on preparation you tend to get bogged down talking about the trees while missing the forest.  Spontaneity creates the opportunity for dynamic and lively discussion.  It opens up the opportunity to value the knowledge and experience that your students bring to the classroom – the very thing that you can’t know or prepare for ahead of time.

4) Put students first –in grad school, we’re taught strict reverence for our discipline, but that doesn't always translates to good teaching; we’re taught to put content first and students second…or third.  What does it mean to put students first?  Part of that is valuing the knowledge that they bring to the classroom.  The other part is investing time in students: that means flexible office hours, reviewing drafts, and answering emails 24/7.  It entails a challenging commitment to students.  But it's a commitment that pays off tenfold in classroom outcomes.  

Between Preparation and Spontaneity

Spring semester begins tomorrow.  Early.  I am teaching the same class I taught last semester: PoliSci 399 Interpretation and Methods. At the same time: 8am.   Teaching the same class twice in a row saves a lot of trouble.  There’s no need to prepare new materials from scratch.  I have a baseline of what worked and what didn’t.  I know what to expect. 

But that’s exactly where the problem lies.

I've come to really appreciate the energy that spontaneity creates in the classroom.  The uncertainty, the unexpected, the unaware – they come so easily when you’re teaching a class for the first time.  For all the prepping and planning, I often rely on ideas that strike me late at night or driving to class.  I rely on the classroom dynamic, student participation, questions and reaction. 

The recipe for a successful semester is preparation, clear learning objectives, consistent communication and execution of a plan.  But that’s like mixing up crepe batter without any milk and butter.

I've heard that no one should teach the same class more than three times: once to learn the course, once to perfect it, and once to bore of it.  

While I refined the course based on my experience last semester, I’m not thinking about how I can perfect the class.  I’m approaching it with a different attitude: I’m trying to hold open a space for the mysterious and the unknown. 

Is "C" the new "F"?

Does anyone remember when a “C” was average?  And that was okay?  When I first learned about grades in Elementary and Middle School that was the common narrative.  A’s were exceptional.  B’s were good.  C’s were okay.  D’s were passing.  But then something changed.   When I started high school in 1997, my parents, teachers and peers placed a lot more emphasis on grades.  There was a broad consensus: If you want to go to college, grades count. 

At the same time, high marks became the norm.  Starting in the 1990’s, teachers began to give more A’s and less C’s.  In fact, from 1990 to 2008, the number of A’s increased from 30% to 43% of the grades given while C’s decreased from 20% to 15%.  During this time the number of students between the ages of 16 and 24 enrolled in a four-year college increased from 60% to 70%.

The result has been a generation of college students – primarily white, middle class students -- who view A’s as the norm, B’s as unsatisfactory, and C’s as failure.   Myself included. 

More and more, I find that students expect A’s…regardless of the quality of their work.  Why? Because they receive A’s regardless of the quality of their work…Or, at least B’s.  I know faculty who use grading rubrics that begin at 70%.  That means as long as a student hands in an assignment, they will receive a “C”. 

I’m at fault too.  I rarely fail students who hand in assignments on time.  If a student delivers a legible, original, on topic paper, they usually receive a B.  For better or worse, emphasis falls on effort as much as execution.  

As a teacher, I spend a lot of time thinking about grades.  Every semester, I ask the same questions: What is the best way to evaluate my students?  How do we define success in the classroom? How can I help students strive for success? And every semester I find myself confronting the same dilemma: how do I balance evaluation with student expectations?  And with my own expectations. 

After all, my own success is measured by how well the students do.  In an ideal world, every student will meet the course objectives and receive an A…right? 

I’ve adjusted my grading criteria to de-emphasize grades and highlight learning objectives.  I’ve increased the number of low-stakes assignments where students receive credit for completion rather than content.  I’ve replaced letter grades with a point system – 6/10, 7/10, 8/10, etc.  I’ve increased the number of graded assignments to reduce the pressure of any single assignment.  And I give my students every possible opportunity to make-up work or pursue extra-credit to increase their grades.

As a result, I give more A’s.  I also contribute to grade inflation.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  But given the skewed bell-curve, it seems like a good time for colleges and universities to reevaluate the value of letter grades. 

Do you remember when you first started worrying about grades?  Comment below and share your experience. 

Rethinking Online Education

No doubt, the internet offers a unique educational opportunity.  From Google to Wikipedia, from the New York Times to Twitter, people have unprecedented access to knowledge and information.   But the internet can also be a barrier to education -- especially when it comes to online classes at the university.  Students struggle with technology, they can feel isolated in absence of face to face communication and content-heavy courses tend to drown students in text.

The online option often feels like a poor compromise: we exchange a collaborative classroom experience for the low-cost and convenience of the web.   I have taught a handful on online courses now through the UMass Continuing and Professional Education program.  Despite my best attempt to deliver a high-quality educational experience comparable to the classroom, I always seem to fall short. 

Possibly because I still use the classroom as the model to judge the quality of the class.  Why wouldn’t I?  That’s all I've ever really known. 

I am getting ready to teach American Political Thought online over the winter term (Click the link to check out my syllabus).  And I am determined to think about it differently.  Over the next few weeks I plan on investigating Khan Academy and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in order to gain some new perspective on online education. And perhaps, discover a new model – other than the classroom – to follow next semester.

Have you ever taken online classes in the past?  Comment and share your experience.  Do you have any thoughts on what could improve online education?  I’d love to hear ‘em . 

Lessons on Writing from Ben Franklin

Political Science majors dread the Junior Year Writing requirement at UMass. Even before I ever taught the class, I knew that students dreaded it.  Faculty complained about low attendance and poor year end evaluations.   Students put off the class until the last moment; others did the least amount of work possible; others grin and bear it.   But no one seems to enjoy it. 

The semester began this year, my first semester teaching the class, with a perfect reminder of the dilemma I faced.  I have a handful of returning students who have attended my classes in past.  I thought this might be a good sign.  You know, like a sign that students were excited to take a class with me.  Not quite.  In one student’s words “well, if I have to take the class, I might as well take it with you.”  So, the semester began with a reluctant concession to turn rotten wormy apples into apple sauce.  

But why?  Despite its subpar reputation, the principle behind the class is noble:  help students develop advanced writing skills tailored to a particular academic or professional community.   U.S. News & World Report even named it as one of the twenty-five “Programs that Work.” 

Still, students expect the worse and unless you can counter those expectations…well, that’s what they’ll get. In order for the class to be successful, the students need to buy into the value.  After all, the only way for them to develop “advanced writing skills” is to commit the time and energy to the craft of writing.  And that’s on them…not the teacher.

So, here’s a reminder of why writing matters for Political Science students:  

In 1729 the people of Philadelphia debated whether or not to increase the amount of paper money in the colony.   BenFranklin recounts the story in his autobiography:

“Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, entitled “The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency.” It was well received by the common people in general, but the rich men disliked it, for it increased and strengthened the clamor for more money; and they happening to have no writers among them that were able to answer it, their opposition slackened and the point was carried by a majority in the House.  My friends there, who considered I had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable job and a great help to me.  This was another advantage gained by my being able to write.”

Over the last three centuries, there have been monumental changes in communication technology (obviously).  But there is one thing that hasn’t changed: The ability to write, to connect and to communicate effects change.  It matters for politics, it matters for business and it matters for life. 

I appreciate the value of the UMass writing requirements, but they might consider investing in some good PR.  

Wikipedia in the Classroom

For two semesters in a row, students in my Intro to Political Theory and American Political Thought classes have participated in the Wikipedia Education Program. Their midterm assignment is simple: write an encyclopedia style essay with at least 10 references to be published on Wikipedia. The introduction of Wikipedia into classroom comes with a whole set of new challenges – for both me and my students – picking topics, using wiki mark-up language, new citation rules, as well as the old familiar problem: how to conduct good research. As the deadline for the assignment approaches, and the emails pile up, I am reminded of why these challenges are worth it.

The first task and the first struggle students confront is how to find a topic. The assignment breaks students’ dependence on easy answers and familiar subjects and reaffirms the value of the search.  Wikipedia offers some resources to help identify stubs and missing articles, but many times students discover ample noteworthy material by digging through Congressional records, public policy briefs and Supreme Court cases. By placing Wikipedia at the center of the assignment, it overcomes the fundamental concern that nearly all professors share: Wikipedia is NOT a source. Making Wikipedia the end, not the means, revivifies the research experience. It transforms Wikipedia from a problem to a solution.Wikipedia is always present in the classroom – whether it’s invited to attend or not. Students often draw from Wikipedia as a primary source. Too often, it is the place where research begins rather than ends and a semester rarely goes by without a minor or major case of plagiarism. Last semester, when I first introduced the Wikipedia project, a student asked: “how are we supposed to find a topic if it’s not on Wikipedia?” The Wikipedia assignment forces students out of their comfort zone. It pushes them to look beyond the easy sources and take a new approach to research (a new approach that is really an old approach). Good research begins with the search for a question.

Many of the students I meet view college as an obligation. But higher education is an extraordinary privilege. In the U.S., just 30 percent of adults over 25 have a college degree. And in the world, it’s less than 7 percent. The opportunity for education comes with the responsibility to produce and share knowledge. These are values shared among faculty and graduate students, but often ignored in undergraduate teaching. Wikipedia helps to break down the barriers between knowledge consumption and production.  It allows students to share their work with a global audience. And it helps students to cultivate the authority of authorship and become more discerning consumers and producers of information.

Students walk away from class with a deeper understanding of research. They walk away with the skills and comfort to edit, revise and add content to Wikipedia. And they walk away with the pride of publication. The Wikipedia assignment opens our classroom to the world. It gives new meaning to the work that we, as students and faculty, do in the classroom and in college.

This blog post first appeared http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/02/wikipedia-in-my-classroom/ on April 2, 2012

Assembly Line Pedagogy

It’s not an accident that UMass graduate students are card-carrying members of the United Auto Workers.  That’s right, the good old UAW.  Surprised? You shouldn’t be.  Working as teaching assistant is not that different from working on an assembly line.  Actually, they’re really different.  But both require a lot of routinized, mind-numbing labor.  In my first TA appointment, I graded for 125 students.  There were two five page papers, a midterm and a final, per student.  After two years of doing this type work, I had graded thousands of college essays and developed a few thoughts about the state college writing. Most of those thoughts can be summed up by two words – not good.

Both the university (professors, administrators, teaching assistants) and the students bear responsibility.   The assembly line style grading process fails students…figuratively speaking. Honestly, not that many students really fail classes, despite sub-par assignments.   But I digress. 

There was one semester when I was responsible for 75 students.  Each student had nine papers over two pages and final examine with two essay questions.  In addition, there were 4 extra credit essay opportunities.  I graded over 825 essays in about 12 weeks.

Sure, I can assign a grade to each assignment without too much trouble.  But given the quantity, I didn’t have time to notate the essays adequately or help students improve.  You know, like, teach.  And, as usual, problems flourished: vague arguments, passive voice, run-on sentences, poor citations, and even plagiarism.  I complained to the professor half-way through the semester that there were too many assignments and that it was very difficult to give each student the attention they needed.  He said “you’re doing it wrong; each paper should take you no more than two minutes to grade.”  In other words, he literally just wanted me to assign a number to each paper. “Don’t we an ethical responsibility to the students?” I asked.  The professor shrugged his shoulders and replied “that’s just the reality of these big classes.” 

So, what’s the point of the lecture? If students can’t communicate their ideas clearly, it’s unlikely that they leave with a clear understanding of the content. 

The institution, of course, is not entirely to blame.  After all, some students procrastinate, cheat and slack, etc.   Recently, I asked my students: what barriers stand between good and bad writing? What prevents them from handing in quality work?

They had a lot of good insight.  Here are four problems that they identified: 

      

      Don’t overthink sentences:

Students think writing needs to be academic, ornate, and formal.  I have no idea where they got these ideas from.  As a result, their essays can appear like a well-meaning party guest in an ill-fitting tuxedo.  They flex the binder of their virtual thesaurus (AKA Google) and pose as a sesquipedalian.  They bury the subject and the verb in the back of the sentence.  Because, well, if they wrote it like they’d say it, it’d be too causal.   That may be true.  But balance is the key.

Don’t procrastinate:

Another group of students complained that they couldn’t write unless they had an intrinsic drive, so they would just wait until the last moment.  And it’s true.  When an assignment piqued their imagination, they shined.  When they were bored, they dulled.  Many of these students confessed that they loved to write, just not the assignments and tests they receive in school.  Well, that’s understandable. But, truth be told, most people have to work for a living.  If part of your job entails writing, well, it’s contingent on other people.   Just be grateful you’re not a technical writer for a lumber company…unless of course, you work as a technical writer for a lumber company.   

What’s the solution?  Set a specific time and space to write every day.  Or, as one student noted thoughtfully – do the least savory work first. 

Revise:

Many college classes overemphasize the final draft of a paper.  In my experience, many professors will agree to read early drafts if requested, but few require multiple drafts.  And this goes for both grad school and undergrad.  As a result, students never learn the steps or strategies to good revision.  My advice – ok, ok, it’s really Roy Peter Clark’s advice – start big, then go small. In other words, focus first on structure and organization and then edit for style and grammar.  On the first point, I always advise students to re-outline their paper AFTER they have completed a first draft.  This helps capture a big picture overview of their argument and content. It helps to determine a few key factors: order of thoughts, key elements, and superfluous content.  On the second point, I advise – again, not original to me – for students to read their work aloud – emphasis on loud -- and pay attention to the moments when they stumble or sound awkward.

Don't sweat page requirements:

When some students run out of stuff to say…they just talk till they fill the required space.  So, how can you expand your ideas without producing fluff?  Use examples to help provide context to difficult ideas or elaborate on the significance of your argument.  Use conjunctions to link and expand ideas: for, and, nor, but, etc.  Use subordinate clauses to add contrast.  These are sentences that start with although, nevertheless, unless, if.  

Are you a TA or a student?  Comment and share a note about your experience as a grader…or someone being graded. 

Worrying About What's Next...

It’s a question that comes after class or at the end of office hours. It’s a question that comes by email at the end of semester after all the grades have been posted.  And often with the hesitancy of dog bite victim perusing the pound: “So… what kind of jobs can someone get with a poli sci degree?”

I’m not sure if students hesitate because past professors have snapped at them for asking the same question, or because they anticipate the worst: there are no jobs. 

Not surprisingly – wait, scratch that -- SURPRISINGLY, the jobs question is extremely controversial.  Many professors resist describing liberal arts education in terms of utility: Education is not a means to an end; rather, it contains intrinsic, aesthetic, moral, political and unquantifiable value.  In other words, it’s the journey not the destination.   And they’re not wrong.  Liberal arts education helps people enrich their life; excite curiosity; inform political action; expand the horizons of possibility; develop important analytic skills. But still, many students have more immediate concerns: excessive debt and imminent membership with the boomerang gang.

I am at that point in my career, where I am confronting this reality head on -- the students I had as freshmen are now graduates (AKA I’m getting old).   On Saturday, I met with a former student and a recent graduate to talk about a lot of these very issues.  He’s currently unemployed and frustrated that UMass didn’t do more to help prepare him to transition.  I felt frustrated at myself that I hadn’t/couldn’t do more to help.   We spent a long time brainstorming different professional options and opportunities.  And I have a lot of faith that he will find success.  But still, I really identify with his frustration -- perhaps, because I hear the same frustrations from other students, or perhaps because it resonates a little with my own college experience.

So how can the university better prepare our graduates? The current answer: career services, advising and internship programs.  But there has to be more.  Degree programs should require students to take courses that will help students transition to the workforce.   

This semester, teaching Methods and Interpretation, I find myself in the position to help meet this need.  A section of the class requires students to practice different forms of professional writing.  I know some of my other colleagues have done the same.  As a result, we've started to move the peripheral question of utility out of the margins and closer to the center of our Political Science degree program.

What does this look like in the classroom? Last week, we started to map the variety of job opportunities and possibilities open to students with political science degrees.   It’s irrelevant to talk about a “career path.” Instead, we focused on the web that links different careers together – it’s about a network.   We talked about the interrelationship between government, political, non-profit and corporate jobs and the different opportunities to pivot from one sector to another.  We’ll continue this conversation next week and students will prepare cover letters and resumes for different entry level positions. 

My hope is that these conversations will defuse their anxiety – it already has for some.  The economy sucks, but opportunities for success abound… however you choose to define it.  I like to think that college has the potential to help students align their definition of success with their own values.  And set them on the path to achieve it.

Leave a comment below: What’s one thing that you learned, or could have learned in college, that better prepared you for your current job? 

Twitter and the Art of Prolixity

If the great Will Strunk were still alive, the current state of the English language might render him mute.  #Twitter, Txt msgs, and Facebook reward brevity.  But they often mangle language, leaving sentences and words looking like plastic yard toys in a lawn mower’s wake. 

I love social media, but what happens when social media conventions creep into the classroom? Worse yet, what do you do when they pop up in students’ writing?  A year and a half ago I taught an Intro to Political Theory class titled: Investigating Democracy.   One evening, I received a short email from a student.  The message was in all caps, followed by a string of strange and angry emoticons: HELP >:o.  His final papers didn't look much different.  This student struggled with the material – in a good way – but he also struggled to communicate his ideas.  At first, I didn't know what to make of his writing style.   But then I realized if it had been a text message or even a string of tweets, it would have made perfect sense.   

I spent a good deal of time that semester marking up drafts and helping him to bring his writing in line with traditional conventions.  It wasn't till the end of the semester that I started to consider an alternative approach.  Rather than take traditional writing conventions as a starting point, what if I started with Twitter.  In other words, is it possible to find common with students to connect and talk about good writing? After all, the skills required to craft good tweets are at least as old as…well…Strunk and White’s maxims: Prefer the active voice to the passive; avoid unnecessary words; order sentences for emphasis, etc.

Good tweets jump like a fish out of the rolling twitter stream; they provoke laughter, disgust, empathy.  But more than that, they make you want to read more.  In other words, a good tweet has the same effect as a good title, a good topic sentence, a good lead paragraph. 

This semester, teaching Methods and Interpretation, I turn back to Twitter again and again.  Before students submit their final papers, I often ask them distill their argument into 140 character tweet…with one difference: they have to use pen and paper #OldSchool.

@EdwardErikson

A Near Student Revolt...

I had this brilliant idea for an assignment the other day.  Well, it wasn't exactly mine.  It actually came from a reality TV show.  DISCLAIMER: I really like bad reality TV.  Either way, it was a true moment of inspiration.  There was only one problem:  it required that I change the terms of a graded assignment…An assignment that students were in the middle of writing.

But let me give you a little background first.

I’m teaching a new class this semester – at least new to me – called Methods and Interpretation.  The class fulfills the Junior Year writing requirement for Political Science students at UMass, Amherst.  I scheduled the first half of the semester to focus on professional writing -- like Op-Eds, Press Releases, Stump speeches, etc. -- and the second half on research resulting in a formal research paper. 

Throughout the semester, I emphasize the revision process -- a key craft often lost to the allure of procrastination.  I require students to hand in a first draft which we workshop in class, and then both a first and a final draft stapled together in the subsequent class.  A component of their grade is based off the difference between the first and second draft.

So, back to my great idea:  I had watched this episode of Master Chef where home cooks compete to…well…be Master Chef.  In this episode each cook had five minutes to pick ingredients from a pantry and then thirty minute to cook a meal-to-end-all-meals for the critics.   But there was a twist.  When the contestants returned to the kitchen with their ingredients, the host required them to exchange items with the person next to them.  Do you see where I am going with this?

It was 6am, Tuesday morning, I was eating apples and oatmeal, thinking about how I wanted to structure the days class, and it hit me: rather than have the students break-off into pairs and peer-review the first draft of their press release, I would make them trade press releases with a partner, polish it and hand it in as their final.  Brilliant right? 

It sounds foolish, ridiculous, stupid, but actually it makes perfect sense.  After all, professional writing is rarely single author oriented; it often entails an iterative process with multiple participants.  Besides, what better way to hone your revision skills than to visit incomplete work with fresh eyes and the authority to make it shine? 

Of course, when I announced the activity to class with all the enthusiasm of an evangelical preacher the morning after a midnight visit from Saint Gabriel, the reaction was…well…predictable.  The class erupted in protest.  Students complained to me and to each other; they blurted out questions and rebuttals. One student retorted: “A lot of ideas are good in theory.”   

Most students and teacher treat the syllabus as a sacrosanct contract.  Students resist uncertainty and change – especially when grades are at stake.  But at the same time, I have yet to find a more effective pedagogical tool than spontaneity and surprise.  So, despite a near student revolt, I stood my ground.  I carefully detailed how the assignment would be graded.  I gave the students fifteen minutes to consort with their new colleagues.  And I took group and individual question.

The final draft is due next Thursday…We’ll see how it turns out. 

The First Day of School...

My first experience teaching was as a substitute.  I was 23, college-educated and looking for anything to make ends meet.  I didn't substitute for long.  Few do, I suppose.  I started working in January, 2006 and worked every day till the school year ended in June. 

I experienced a lot in those five months.  I conducted Beethoven’s 9^th symphony for an orchestra of 5^th graders.  I played a lot of dodge ball in gym class. I taught a two-week unit on the Pythagorean Theorem.  I broke up a fight.  I monitored a whole lot of study halls.  I led improv with high school seniors.  And I wore out the rewind button on at least two VCRs.  That’s right VCRs…it was public school in Maine in 2006, what did you expect?

I’m sure I learned a lot during this time…maybe…but I never recorded any of the stories or kept track of all those potential lessons learned. 

I left substituting behind, but continued to teach.  In graduate school, I served as a teaching assistant and now I teach my own classes at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst …I have now for almost three years.  

I’ve received a lot of excellent feedback over that time.  I’ve also invested time analyzing outcomes and refining my teaching style and strategies.

I occasionally write about pedagogy, but not nearly enough.  Despite good intentions, I’ve failed to keep track of stories, classroom experiments and all those wonderful moments that make me chuckle -- and also, teach about teaching. 

So, I am starting a blog.  And maybe, with a little luck and dedication, I’ll be able to capture some of those past moments before they slip into the beyond.  And, maybe, I’ll create a space to record all those experiments and anecdotes that lie waiting, like a corky booby-trap that you set for scavenging raccoons, but stumble upon yourself.   

~ EE