Why I Read Blogs – Keeping Up with
the Latest in Educational Blogs
by Peg Balachowski, Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning
If you are reading this post, then
you are a blog reader. As defined by Wikipedia, “A blog (a truncation of the
expression weblog) is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries ("posts").”
This blog, the The 5-Star Consortium, is
written by members of the 5-Star Consortium College’s professional developers
group, and is regularly updated with posts on a variety of topics including
“What Would You Do Wednesday?” with classroom management scenarios that are all
based on real situations. Other topics have included growth mindset and
formative assessments.
Why do I
read blogs? My office bookshelves are crammed full of scholarly works that I
keep meaning to read. At times it seems overwhelming – the thought of getting
through several hundred pages of scholarly texts in a short amount of time
(i.e. in addition to an already lost list of things to do) makes me a bit
crazy. But blogs? I can get through them pretty quickly. They are meant to be
short (mostly) and offer a variety of viewpoints.
Here is a
sampling of the blogs that I read with the title of the most recent post. I
hope you
enjoy reading them.
Using an accessible syllabus to create
an inclusive classroom: As we reach the end of one academic quarter and prepare for the next
here at EvCC, you may find yourself thinking about updating the syllabus for
one or more of the courses you’ll be teaching. Revisiting a syllabus is always
a good opportunity to make some simple changes that can dramatically improve
its accessibility. (Full disclosure – I
am one of the contributors to this blog!)
High impact practices: Last
month, I was at a meeting on my campus regarding High-Impact Educational
Practices, where the discussion centered around the need to incorporate more of
these practices into students’ educational experience.
How do
students learn from participation in class discussion?
Despite numerous arguments favoring active learning, especially class
discussion, instructors sometimes worry that discussion is an inefficient or
ineffective way for students to learn. What happens when students make
non-value added, irrelevant, or inaccurate contributions?
Learning
outside your comfort zone: When we learn something outside the
comfort zone, we attempt to acquire knowledge or skills in an area where we’re
lacking. Part of the discomfort derives from learning something we anticipate
will be difficult. We have no idea how to do it, or we think it requires
abilities we don’t have or have in meager amounts.
Find Open Access Articles
Faster with UnPayWall: Have you heard of Unpaywall? It is a free
Chrome/Firefox extension that helps you quickly find open access versions of
articles you’re searching for.
Which of these is your
favorite? Do you have blogs that you would suggest? We’d love to hear from you!
Sometimes students share things with you because they see you as a trustworthy person and they are worried about a friend. They don’t know what to do about a situation so they come to you for help. A student in your class, Joe, tells you that his roommate, Ben, has become totally preoccupied with Sheila, a girl he’s interested in. Joe saw Ben going through Sheila's pictures on social media, and he always wants to eat at the restaurant where she works. Joe knows Sheila from a class they had together, and she has told him she is pretty uncomfortable with all the attention from Ben. The flowers and gifts she’s getting from Ben are nice, but she already has a boyfriend, and he’s getting jealous! She’s told Ben to back off, but he’s not listening. What advice should you give Joe - should he stay out of it, or should he talk to Ben about taking a step back from the situation?
