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“Davos in the Desert” by Wendy Williams was originally published on Getting Smart.
The Education Innovation Summit (#EISummit) conference this week in Arizona is a large and seamlessly orchestrated event, but one of my favorite presentations so far was not actually on the agenda. The keynote speaker for Tuesday’s lunch was to have been Larry Summers, president emeritus of Harvard, but after the tragic bombing at Monday’s marathon he needed to stay close to home in Boston. Jim Shelton, U.S. Dept. of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement, was tapped to fill in, and he was an inspiring speaker. Although Shelton said that he worries that the EdTech sector could miss opportunities to reach its goals and transform education, he shared enough insights to make it clear that he is not really a pessimist at all, just engaged and grounded. He also talked about his personal experience with great teachers and schools and the big difference they have made in his own life.
Shelton observed that some country is going to take the lead on education innovation and reminded us that U.S. education mavericks need to “build for the global opportunity.” He also spoke about how online learning innovations in higher education could have a democratizing effect, creating social capital and a better college experience for all. Colleges need to emphasize completion and acceleration, however, and the grade he would give higher education for the job it is doing at present is just a C minus. Gaps/opportunities he suggested for entrepreneurs included early childhood resources for use by informal caregivers, and K-12 tools for summer and outside of school, whether for enrichment or remediation.
The conference has also been lucky to have computer industry pioneers like Steve Case, a founder of AOL and now Chairman and CEO of Revolution, who drew on his years of experience to offer insights on the current state of the educational technology field. Many keynote speakers and panelists at the conference have been asked to make projections about the future, and Case emphasized that the start-up companies that are forming today need to be ready for them to take a long time to build.
Another great presenter was Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State University, a school that is taking the lead on education innovation and is a host of the conference. When asked about what tack ASU takes on inter-disciplinary work in arts and sciences, Crow described how they are involving science-fiction writers like Neal Stephenson to project future states, for students to build on in visionary ways. The Center for Science and the Imagination is where this all happens, and it looks like a really exciting collaboration. [Neal Stephenson, by the way, is the author of a sci-fi novel that could be a distance-learning manifesto: The Diamond Age. In it, an interactive learning tool educates and empowers a neglected child, who goes on to change society with what she has learned.] Despite Crow’s embrace of education innovation, he said he does not think of it as schools reducing the cost of a degree “by replacing faculty with robots,” but rather doing things to support instructors.
The conference has also covered an interesting range of topics in panel discussions that made me wish I could attend two sessions concurrently. The panel on MOOCs was not always in agreement about the projected future of these massive open online courses, nor on their impact on ‘traditional’ online education, nor even on the definition/scale of what constitutes a MOOC. Nevertheless, they did make a few observations. Asked if MOOCs represented the beginning of a do-it-yourself degree, ASU’s Phil Regier predicted that higher ed basics like having to take courses outside one’s major would continue. As for MOOCs’ usefulness for remedial coursework, he observed that the students who need remediation are not autodidacts. There did seem to be some agreement that MOOCs could have a big impact on continuing education, since the competency focus would make certification irrelevant, so long as the student learned the desired subject matter, as in a photography course.
Steven Johnson was the last to speak on day one of the conference, and so some people may have missed his presentation. Johnson began by talking about the ‘liquid network,’ social spaces in which ideas bounce around and lead to innovation. He took us from 18th century coffee houses as the space where the Enlightenment happened, to a redesigned incubator that improved infant mortality rates in Africa, to Apple’s ‘genius bars,’ modeled on the concierge service in high-end hotels (like the one where the EIS conference is held). As he talked about the career diversity to be found in the social networks of the most innovative people, I thought about the interesting range of people at the Education Innovation Summit – Ed Tech entrepreneurs, investors, business people, writers, policy wonks, and educators — all enthusiastically talking about how to improve education in the short and long term.
Wendy Williams is a media professional, educator, and cultural anthropologist. She is an online instructor for CUNY School of Professional Studies and lives in Brooklyn.
*Note: Although this article was published on April 17, 2013 prior to the Education Innovation Summit, the content remains relevant for the SPS community.
The City University of New York (CUNY) is proud to partner with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to support the efforts of public housing residents in their pursuit of higher education at CUNY colleges.
Since 2005, the NYCHA-CUNY Resident Scholarship Program has aided several CUNY students in achieving their professional goals. Annually NYCHA awards $1,000 scholarships to eligible residents who are enrolled full-time at CUNY colleges through two scholarship programs: The NYCHA-CUNY Resident Scholarship Program and the Regina A. Figueroa Memorial Scholarship for NYCHA residents with disabilities.
If you are a NYCHA resident attending a CUNY Community or Senior College, you may be eligible to receive a $1,000 NYCHA – CUNY Resident Scholarship or the Regina A. Figueroa Memorial Scholarship.
We are pleased to announce the open application period for both scholarships. Approximately 10 scholarships will be awarded to eligible NYCHA residents. Completed applications must be received by NYCHA no later than June 14, 2013.
Go online to get an application: www.nyc.gov/nychacunyscholarship or www.cuny.edu/nychascholarship
“Preparing for the Future” by Wendy Williams was originally published on Getting Smart.
The future of education will be on display next week in Arizona, at the Education Innovation Summit. There will be a wide range of speakers and panel discussions, which I am really looking forward to hearing. Because the focus is on innovation, and many educational technology companies and entrepreneurs will be there, it is a chance for me as an educator to hear about what tools will be available to my university and K-12 schools in the near future. I am especially interested to hear what new models are being proposed that can make sense of the MOOC phenomenon for me, since the online instruction that I do at the City University of New York (CUNY) takes place in small classes and does not discard the traditional framework of credit hours and degree programs within a university structure.
Thomas Friedman’s recent op-ed for the New York Times made many CUNY instructors bristle by extolling the “MOOCs revolution” as if massively open online courses alone could fix difficult issues of social inequality and access to education, in the U.S. and globally. Friedman does note in another article, however, that so far it is mostly middle and upper class students who are able to benefit from this kind of massive online course. There may be a multitude of autodidacts out there, ready to thrive on their own in MOOCs, but my experience has been with college students who would need some foundation laid before they could get to that point.
The communications course I teach online is soon to be renamed Digital Literacy and offered to a wider group of CUNY students than the Online B.A. students who have been taking it. I feel lucky to be teaching the course, because I see the impact on my students as extending beyond the end of one semester. While the returning adults enrolled in the program are highly ‘wired’ in some ways (especially social networking with friends and family), they still find the course useful, to understand the theory and practice of finding and using digital information. There is a whole range of behavior they need modeled for them, from online research skills, to evaluating the credibility of resources, to knowing what to foreground in a short essay and how to avoid plagiarism while writing it. My students are smart and motivated, so even if some of them were under-served by the New York City public education system and are catching up, I am not convinced that these fundamental digital literacy skills are something that other young people ‘just know.’
My students are also learning how to be producers of knowledge and to be part of an academic community. They create blogs during the course, learn to edit a wiki, and experience a high level of interaction with classmates in discussing the readings and ideas of the course. When I ask them to use Twitter for a group assignment, many students have no previous experience with it, or have only used it to sign up for discounts and coupons from retailers. It is rewarding to see them coming away with a new understanding of how professionals use social networking tools to share news and ideas — to see them begin to follow some thought leaders and become part of a wider conversation on their own.
While I have been teaching online for almost six years now, I feel as though I need to pay attention to a lot more than what is already happening, only at my university. Along with presentations by many innovative companies at next week’s summit, the conference also brings together a wide range of leaders, from those with backgrounds in politics and education, like Senators George Mitchell and Bob Kerrey, to computer industry pioneers, to technology writers like Steven Johnson. I just assigned a chapter he wrote on the benefits of gaming to my communications students, many of them young parents, to get them to think about how technology is revolutionizing what constitutes a learning opportunity for young people. There is also a panel that I am interested to hear on how massively multi-player online games (MMOG) might improve learning outcomes. Middlebury College, where I studied Chinese ten years ago to prepare for my anthropological fieldwork, will be there with the interactive version of the intensive language program that they have since developed.
Things are evolving very quickly, and I want to stay in the vanguard. Lest we forget why words like ‘revolution’ are being used to talk about online learning innovations, one of the summit panels is called “The Nuclear Option: Should We Just Blow Up the Current System & Start from Scratch?” I am pretty sure the answer to that is not going to be ‘yes,’ but I am looking forward to coming away with fresh ideas about what the future might hold.
Wendy Williams is a media professional, educator, and cultural anthropologist. She is an online instructor for CUNY School of Professional Studies and lives in Brooklyn.
*Note: Although this article was published on April 12, 2013 prior to the Education Innovation Summit, the content remains relevant for the SPS community.
This article by Wendy Williams originally appeared on the blog Getting Smart on February 21, 2013.
I never get to meet most of my students in person, because I teach asynchronous online courses via Blackboard, for the City University of New York (CUNY). I was part of a cohort of Ph.D. students who began teaching after fully online programs were available. The online venue allowed us to keep researching and writing our dissertations, teaching asynchronously as time permitted. While teaching, I was working on my anthropological research, on Chinese Americans and their digital communication strategies in Brooklyn’s Chinatown. The focus of my research was the online relationships this group builds and maintains online, using everything from Skype to the Chinese social networking service QQ. My favorite part of doing my anthropological fieldwork was developing new relationships, especially with one particular family. I treasure the details my students give me about themselves, too, as a way to get to know them, albeit virtually.
The CUNY online program, part of the School of Professional Studies (SPS), is for degree completers. Students must transfer in with at least 24 credits, so they are all adults, with complicated lives and many responsibilities. The program began in 2006, offering an online major in Communication and Culture, and went on to offer degree programs in Psychology, Sociology, and Business; there are eight in all today, six bachelor’s and two master’s. Because my students are working adults and often parents, I think many are not focused on the social experience of college; they just want to learn and get their degrees. The big advantage of distance learning for them is that they do not need to travel to a classroom, and there are other perks.
Because class size is capped at 25, SPS classes are more like small seminars than MOOCs, and students thrive on the personal attention and feedback, from me and from each other. Most of their work is written, so students get a lot of much-needed practice in writing. Some are not native English speakers and get to sharpen their language skills as well. The self-pacing means they can tailor the time they spend on each assignment. With their remarkable diversity, typical of CUNY students, they bring a range of perspectives that enhances every class discussion. My colleagues and I spend lots of time thinking about ways to enrich the student’s online learning experience using open source tools — with Jing videos, a blog in WordPress, class discussions on Twitter, and other enhancements.
SPS has an extensive list of instructional design options to include in each course, and having at least some group work is one of those recommendations. Some of my students are resistant to group projects but later report that they found it quite beneficial, for the fresh viewpoints that different minds and learning styles brought to the project. They also get to interact with the rest of the school, and beyond, by producing ePortfolios. One former student, who was considering a new career, took my assignment to produce an academic ePortfolio and ran with it, producing a rich display of her schoolwork that was personal, polished, and creative – just the sort of thing to show to a potential employer or graduate school. It also allowed me to relate to her in a new way, after seeing that we liked the same kind of music.
My students may be more comfortable with the limitations our online program places on relationship building than I am. I share some of Sherry Turkle’s concern from Alone Together (and see her New York Times opinion piece) that people are so focused on text-based communication today that face to face communication can get devalued, along with the relationships it enables. I crave more chances to see light bulbs go off for students, with my own eyes, although I do get to witness it in other ways. I once suggested in an informal discussion forum that my students might be interested in a free lecture at the New York Public Library. I met one student after he graduated who told me that he did attend that lecture, and that it started him on a life-changing journey of discovery of the intellectual life of New York City.
CUNY’s online students benefit from these casual conversations, and so do I. There is room for growth in finding more ways to nurture their social interaction and competency in oral communication, even in a fully asynchronous online course. I use Blackboard Collaborate, Skype, or Google Hangouts for my office hours and to get small groups of students together, to facilitate their relationships with me and with each other. The informal learning that can happen in the social spaces within and outside of the course is an important goal. When students then graduate and move on, some to graduate school, they are taking with them this experience with how a student-centered, collaborative learning environment works online.
Wendy Williams is a media professional, educator, and cultural anthropologist. She is an online instructor for CUNY School of Professional Studies and lives in Brooklyn.
In October of this year, Paul Russo, Ph.D., SPS’s Director of Online Programs and an instructor in the Sociology program, led a team of current CUNY students and graduates to develop a free student-to-student text book exchange as part of the ApplicationsforGood codathon sponsored by the Motorola Mobility Foundation, Center for Social Innovation, Blue Ridge Foundation, and New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
While textbooks represent 17% of tuition costs in various majors, the team believes that there are simple ways in which technology can make books more affordable. Their application—much like other online communities such as Match.com or Craigslist—combines the broad reach of the Internet with the benefits of local face-to-face interactions. Focusing on urban areas such as New York City offers the project access to a critical mass of potential users, which is necessary to make participation valuable to all textbook swappers.
The team is committed to making the bookswap student owned and student operated, following the OpenSource model, to ensure future use will have only student friendly policies. Their model is also distinct from other services such as Amazon.com because the primary mode of exchange is student-to-student swapping or monitored low cost reselling, to prevent high markups or shipping costs. The group says that over time, they are interested in adding more functionality to the site such as links to affordable housing, health services, and various types of student discounts.
The judges awarded the project the Most Promising Prize, which included a cash award and an invitation to a December 12th luncheon with angel investors. The group currently has a working prototype, and as the next version of the platform comes online, Russo hopes there will be interesting research opportunities for students to study the system as part of a capstone project or in his own course titled “The Digital Revolution and Information Society” (SOC 419). To learn more about their plans for the textbook exchange, see ApplicationsforGood.org. You can also contact Paul at paul.russo@mail.cuny.edu or 646.344.7247.
To all of the veterans, active troops, and military families in the SPS community, we thank you! Returning home and making higher education a goal is not always easy. We asked alum Armando Vega, and current student Enrique Diaz to share some of their thoughts on being student veterans.
1. What branch of the United States Military did you serve, and for how many years were you enlisted?
I was in the U.S. Navy, and I served honorably for 4 years (1994 – 1998).
2. What CUNY SPS program did you receive a degree in, when, and how has that changed your life?
I earned an MA in Labor Studies. My desire is to work in Human Resources and the Labor Relations department. My dream is to one day become the HR manager and or director of a reputable corporation.
3. Were your experiences as a student affected by also being a veteran?
Not really because I returned to school much later in life, and my classmates where older working class adults. I try to keep my veteran status private for the most part.
4. What does Veterans Day mean to you?
Veterans Day is close to being the most important day of the year next to July 4th. It is a day of remembrance for the sacrifices made by the many brave men and women that has enabled this great nation to remain free from tyranny.
5. What advice do you have for newly returning veterans?
To be resilient, and realize that the civilian world is not very kind to returning veterans, and that finding employment is very difficult right now. Keep the faith and seek help from the Veterans Administration.
Any additional thoughts?
For me to attend CUNY and earn my Masters degree was a worthwhile accomplishment, and hopefully I can use it to advance in my career.
1. What branch of the United States Military did you serve, and for how many years were you enlisted?
I served 6 years as a Religious Program Specialist (RP) with the United States Navy and 4 years as an 0111 (Administrative Specialist) with the United States Marine Corps.
2. What CUNY SPS program did you receive a degree in, when, and how has that changed your life?
Currently enrolled in the Public Administration Certificate Program, once completed, June 2013, I plan on transferring to Brooklyn College for a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Once I have earned my degree in Political Science, I hope to use it to advance my career within City government.
3. Were your experiences as a student affected by also being a veteran?
My yearning for learning was nurtured while I was on active duty. As a veteran, I now have more time to pursue my desire to learn.
4. What does Veterans Day mean to you?
It’s a day of reflection. I think back to my time served, my friends and family who have served and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that I could live in a land where the only one holding me back is myself. All the opportunities are there for the taking.
5. What advice do you have for newly returning veterans?
Take advantage of any programs available to you. Use your GI Bill to further your education and make yourself more marketable. As sad as it is to say, being a veteran is simply not enough anymore to obtain a good paying job to sustain yourself and your family.
Lisa Poelle, faculty member for the Child Development Associate (CDA) program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, is author of the soon to be released book, The Biting Solution: The Expert’s No-Biting Guide for Parents, Caregivers, and Early Childhood Educators.
Lisa’s twenty-five years of experience in the field of early childhood education include counseling families, pioneering a mentoring program for teachers, applying her expertise to the architectural design of child care centers, as well as serving as a consultant for corporations and government organizations. She has also provided consultation to childcare centers and programs through the Children’s Health Council. Her experience with this multidisciplinary agency inspired her to write the book. “That’s when I started getting so many requests to help with biting, and it is how I had a chance to practice and perfect my method,” Lisa says. “My case studies in the book came from this period. This was quite a unique opportunity.”
Here at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, Lisa shares her knowledge and experience with students in the Child Development Associate (CDA) program. The CDA program, offered in partnership with the NYC Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, offers students an opportunity as early childhood professionals to master the knowledge base, application of theory to practice, and qualifications to create effective learning environments for children. Lisa teaches Child Development: Birth to Five and Observing and Recording Development of the Young Child.
In her book, Lisa provides realistic advice to help caregivers devise effective plans to solve children’s biting behaviors. She provides seven questions for caregivers to consider before establishing a plan to describe the problems and design the solutions to curb children’s biting behaviors. Using her method, “Stop the Fighting and Biting,” Lisa emphasizes the importance of parental involvement in developing positive and effective solutions for aggressive behavior problems.
The Biting Solution: The Expert’s No-Biting Guide for Parents, Caregivers, and Early Childhood Educators will be published in the fall of 2012.
Lisa Poelle is also co-author of the book, Growing Teachers and several parenting articles. Lisa’s website can be found at: www.stopthefightingandbiting.com.
Parenting is an energy consuming challenge in the best of times. This past year I haven’t been employed outside my home, giving me a chance to spend a year as a stay-at-home mom for the first time since my 18 year old was a baby. It was eye opening to say the least.
I had so many preconceived notions about stay at home moms, how my job search would go and how many different things I would get done. Saying it didn’t all go according to plan would be an understatement. For instance, I figured my apartment would finally be spotless. And it was. A couple of times in the first couple of months. My kids were annoyed at my attempts to keep it that way and to avoid a lot of yelling and exasperation, I gave up and kept it at least cleaner than it had been when I had been holding down a full time day job. Ok, ok, I have to admit that in the beginning, daytime TV was very distracting but I think I can justify it because I’m now so knowledgeable, I could charge a consulting fee on how to win any case in small claims court. My back room still isn’t painted and I haven’t gotten to the Guggenheim, but I chalk that up to pure laziness. Admitting you have a problem is the first step in combating it!
One plus was the time I was able to give to my kids and their studies. I was able to attend every school trip that my first grader went on and it was great to be able to pick him up from school everyday and do his homework with him. Being home also meant being able to follow a dream and start a blog about parenting and kids, something I’d wanted to do for years but hadn’t had the time or energy. Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials, it’s where I learned everything about WordPress and how to format my blog. I had no clue how much work that aspect of it was going to be.
I also took the opportunity to pick up four classes at my college, the CUNY School of Professional Studies. I am so glad I found that program. It gives me the option to take all my classes online eliminating travel time and allowing me to see lectures and take tests anytime, day or night. My sons think it’s cool that I’m back in school. When the television is off and they are studying, I’m studying too and they’re inspired to work harder knowing how much I do. Next semester I’m so psyched to be taking beginning Chinese which my oldest took last semester and he’s promised to help me out, then we’ll finally be able to say things again that Khev, my 7 year old can’t understand. (He’s been able to figure out everything we’re spelling for two years, what a drag.)
I’ve challenged my teens to a ‘grade-off’, we are going to see who can get the best GPA. I’m determined to win. That way when they’re rolling their teenage eyes at my advice and thinking I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll be able to shove my grades in their faces and say things like, if you know so much, how come my grades are better than yours? Just (mostly) kidding. A good technology class is a must for me so I can stay on top of what my boys know and to help me stay competitive in the virtual world. My physical energy may be in short supply but I don’t need anyone to tell me that it will all be worth it, I’m already in now or never mode. I’m undaunted by the challenges I’m facing because I want to improve my family’s standard of living. By returning to school and earning high grades, I’m proactively creating my destiny. Feels great to have so much control.
Cheryl is a student at CUNY School of Professional Studies and the mother of three boys. A former office manager, she currently writes a blog about her adventures in parenting called UrbanMommys.com. In her spare time she likes to check out fun new places and things to do with children for her readers.
I just don’t understand the fascination with Teen Moms, Hoarders, the Housewives, Jersey Shore and the myriad other sleazy reality shows on TV. The supreme franchise, however, has got to be those Kardashians. Are you kidding me?
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy reality shows where people have talent or have to accomplish something. I never miss the Amazing Race and I record Project Runway rerun marathons. They have the right combination of Shakespearean tragicomedy to teach lessons as well as be entertaining and fun to watch. But, train wrecks stop to watch the Kardashians.
While many early television shows were unscripted and showed people in real situations (Smile, you’re on Candid Camera), the first “reality show” that I remember is An American Family. It aired in 1973 and it documented the life of a typical American family. Unexpected situations such as the separation and divorce of the parents and the coming out of the eldest son created much controversy. Some critics complained that the family members played to the camera while the family said they sometimes didn’t even realize the camera was recording. In any event, An American Family was something never before seen on TV, and it was sociological, educational and tastefully raw.
The Real World, Big Brother, Survivor, American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Deadliest Catch and other programs showing real people or ex-stars doing something different and/ interesting have large audiences. This is understandable. Although some of the shows have started to decline or get a little too self-indulgent, they still have a point and engage us for many reasons. However, what is the deal with the embarrassing low quality ones? Why is watching someone climb over the piles of garbage and newspapers in her filthy home entertaining?
I suppose Paris Hilton began the new type of reality TV showcasing famous for being famous people. At that time it was probably funny to watch rich “celebrities” doing average things. It was a real life situation comedy. Even the Osbournes in an “I hate to admit it” way was mesmerizing. That was the guy who bit off a bat’s head and whose albums were thrown out by many of my friends’ parents? The Osbournes showed a weird, profane, sometimes (most of the time) stoned family who nevertheless loved each other.
However, the latest crop of reality shows has crossed the line. For the most part, they depict bottom feeders with psychological problems who would do anything for money. It is easy to understand why a 16-year-old pregnant high school drop out would allow herself and her unfortunate child to be used, or why lowlifes from New Jersey would jump on the money train, but the Kardashians are a different story.
The Kardashians are a family of television personalities and publicity hounds. Dad was most notably OJ Simpson’s lawyer and mom (married for over 20 years to Bruce Jenner) is an outstanding businesswoman and the manager of the empire. Besides their reality shows, they have clothing lines, boutiques, perfume, sex tapes and numerous other credits. Their reality shows have been huge hits and the money has allowed them to pursue their various business ventures and celebrity lifestyles. Kim’s wedding (a match made it heaven) cost millions but made millions. Her quickie marriage and divorce have outraged many fans, shocked, I say shocked, by her greed and hypocrisy.
I just don’t understand the fascination or entertainment value. Is television programming giving us what we want to watch or is it creating the audience? If this is what people want, what does that say about us?
Mary Casey is a student in the MS in Business Leadership and Management program at CUNY School of Professional Studies and is an alumna of Lehman College. She is an administrator for a university in NYC. She loves to travel and wants to see as much of the world as possible. Mary has more comments on the SPS blog than she received on the community/political blog that she created and maintained from 2002 to 2004.
