Joanna

The articles by Merrow and Oblinger, to me, touch on subjects that I introduced to my seminar students in both semesters last year: student engagement and the state of the current generation of students in college. I think I even showed an article very similar to Oblinger’s to my class that talked about their generation and the impact that growing up with technology and in a consumer society makes.

These readings also reminded me of the video that Chelsie, Sarah, and I showed as a part of a facilitation in Comp Theory class last semester. Here's a link to the video for those of you who didn't see it. I think this video shows a lot of concerns that students have today.

One thing in particular I wanted to mention was how I think this whole concept of the Millenial Generation goes along with the idea of implementing Significant Learning. Not that I think significant learning wouldn’t have been needed or been successful in decades past, but I think with the lack of engagement of today’s students because of short attention spans and the want for quick responses to everything, students need to see how they are learning and why they are learning. This, once again, goes back to that idea of learning to learn versus learning to make money. I feel like we’re constantly seeing this theme over and over again in readings and in discussions when we talk about students’ reactions or levels of engagement, but that’s because it is simply the reality of many students today. As Merrow says, there are even billboards telling society that “Education Pays.” I also liked Merrow’s analogy of the old “sink-or-swim” method versus the “swimming lessons” that are often given today. I kind of see our seminar classes as “swimming lessons” and even the learning communities in general…which is a good thing. We are there to help the students succeed, as we heard today earlier when we met with Dr. Huerta.

It is kind of sad that many students don’t take the opportunity to simply learn, as Merrow was saying near the end of the article. I may have knocked geology in my last journal, but frankly, overall, I AM glad that I took it because I did learn some information that I find pretty cool—like being able to name different rocks. Not exactly something I’d do everyday, but something I encounter every once in awhile that makes me feel like I know a bit more about the world around me.

I was pretty amazed with some of the technological examples presented in Oblinger’s piece, such as Drexel University using the DrexelOne Mobile program to give automatic notices to students. I have to admit, it would be pretty handy and convenient to know right away when a class would be cancelled or moved to another classroom. I guess I am still a little resistant (which might show I’m not entirely part of this new generation I suppose) to the idea of the school needing to do something like this for the students. To me it often just sounds like a bit much for students to need access to updates or information immediately wherever they are. Then again, with issues like the Virginia Tech shooting, I could see why schools might move more towards something like this. One point that I thought our school covers pretty well is the technology in the classroom. I think a good number of our professors are pretty proficient with technology and that we have a decent number of classes using Wiki or Moodle or WebCT or some internet tool as a part of the class.

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Chelsie

When I was getting close to finishing my undergraduate degree I was so afraid of the “real” world. I didn’t feel at all prepared to do anything in my field. I won’t tell all of my secrets, but I really did just get by (and I graduated with a pretty great GPA). That’s when I decided to go to graduate school. I’m really glad that I did. I feel that I now have a skill. It’s too bad that it took going to graduate school to get that skill. One of my professors once said that high school was prolonging childhood. College is doing that as well. The students are being babied and not getting anything out of their education. My favorite instructors were the ones that made me work really hard. I complained about the work ALL OF THE TIME, but at the end I felt like I had actually accomplished something. That is what I’ll have to do for my students, expect the most.

I feel like I’m pretty fortunate right now because I am still part of the generation that I am teaching. The article did say that the younger individuals of the millennial generation will be more prone to using the Internet for school, work and leisure. So I use the internet a lot, but more students will be even more familiar with using it. They will know how to use certain programs a lot better than I do. They will be able to utilize genres that I wouldn’t be able to. I like that this article encourages group work, etc. What the article said about customer service is interesting, yet true. I might need to let them know that my class will not be that sort of situation.

I found it interesting that Rose says that writing ability can be quantified through the presence of error. I’m assuming that this must mean the organization of content error as well as grammatical, etc. In that case, I guess it can be quantified. Who makes the judgment call as to whether the content errors equate to writing ability?

I like Rose’s argument about the problem with the word skill when describing composition. He says that changing the term would just be a surface solution. I think that labels are much stronger than he lets on. I find it interesting that Rose makes a claim about what needs to happen to the conception of composition at the end of his argument. I was led to wonder when this was published and where and whether Rose was preaching to the choir.

I’ve been struggling with what I want to call Project One for Portfolio One and how I want to adjust it to fit my goals for my students. I keep leaning toward the Literacy Autobiography, but don’t really like how it sounds. Page 429 gives a lot of help defining this assignment. Rose defines literacy as an acquaintance with elements of a particular field or domain. This includes cultural literacy, computer literacy, etc. It doesn’t simply have to do with a person’s experience with writing. I’m afraid if I use this terminology I will confuse my students. I was trying to think of something really cool to call the assignment today and I came up with “Song of Myself.” I’m not sure if that’s going to work, but I’m going to think it out.

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JEN

Declining by Degrees -- John Merrow

One think irked me about this article. If Tom is such a swell teacher, why did we not hear more about his methods? I was waiting for that. Basically what I got out of this article was what we already knew: teachers need to care and excite their students for them to get the most out of their education. I was a Nate, I will tell you that! I did nothing in high school academically enthralling and still graduate 13th in my class. In college, I worked three jobs and studied as much as I could, but most everything in core was memorization, so it was boring and unfulfilling, so I winged it. Thank goodness for collaborative learning. If I had not been able to do group study in my history classes, I would have really been out of luck. I did like Merrow’s “swimming lessons” metaphor. Are the Triads and Tetrads swimming lessons? They sure seem like it, especially seminar. The more I learn about the Triad business, the more I think it really is a great concept. Is there any data from the University about retention rates, if they have gone up or down, since the inception of the triad/tetrads?

Understanding the New Students – Oblinger

Some interesting facts here. I still don’t know if I am a Gen Xer or not. I keep thinking I am a year too young for that. But the Millenials do sound like an interesting crew. I guess I could ask about half the class how they feel about that label. I think this article puts into perspective what I did not know about what students want nowadays when it comes to technology and customer service. I think the most interesting thing was about how “the computer is not considered technology” (40) by the Millenials, since they have never known a world without it. Too bad, they are freewriting by hand in my class! LOL! As Fink put it yesterday, it can be a really thin line between accessibility and quick customer service and the philosophy of “me-ism.” Even with the differences in generation and technology, there still needs to be respect for those teachers who may not be that “tech savvy.” I am not saying that respect is not there, but both teachers and students have to realize that somewhere in their classroom there may be a gap in tech-knowledge. What if we get a non-traditional student who is coming back to school after being a stay at home mom for 10 years and really doesn’t know more than how to e-mail or open a Word document. We might be a nation of quick answers nowadays, but we must also still have a little patience for those who are still contemplating the questions.

Mike Rose – The Language of Exclusion

We have just learned about the inception of correct spelling in Etheridge’s class, so learning a bit about Thorndike and the use of spelling and handwriting and the lamentations of professors about student flaws was a bit jarring to see that grammar seems to be a problem for literally centuries. As James Berlin so eloquently puts it, “Correctness because the era’s ‘most significant measure of accomplished prose.’” (420) Thorndike was a pioneer of the hands on approach to language acquisition, from what I understand. What is a bit worrisome is testing, and what eerily reads like a description of standardized testing, was, as Cubberly put it, “one of the most significant movements in all our educational history.” (421) Now it is not scary that this was highly regarded in the 1800s, but what is scary is that much hasn’t changed since them in the realm of standardized testing! But I am probably being over dramatic because I am bias and think it is a waste of time and energy. Seven pages dedicated to the use of a capital letter? The UCLA definition of Freshman writing was shocking, regardless that this was written in the 1990s: “A university course should set forth an integrated body of knowledge with primary emphasis on presenting principles and theories rather than on developing skills and techniques.” (423) I agree with Rose when he says this type of assessment is a tremendous liability, as well as problematic, to the credibility of the writing program. When a highly regarded institution slights writing in its description, it leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths, especially the professors and the students who are required to take the course. Where do you go from there? Congenital Word Blindness! I think I have that sometimes. Regardless, understanding the history of remediation, the inaccuracies and stereotypes behind the notion of illiteracy and the myth of transience does have value for those of us who may very well see it in our classes in the fall.

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Liza

I found the idea that the “sink or swim” environment has transformed into a place of “swimming lessons.” I really like that idea and I see that I our learning community strives to provide that type of learning environment. What I wasn’t so happy with was reading that some students are allowed to “tread-water” and simply passed. I hope that students are receiving an education. At the very least, I hope they are becoming skilled in their chosen craft/specialty, etc. Sadly, it is just about a piece of paper for some. I read somewhere that the Bachelor degree was becoming obsolete (but I cannot find the darn article!). Some professions are requiring that students get more training and that is forcing students to get masters degrees or PhDs?.

The “Understanding the New Students” article made me wonder about things other than technology. For instance, how do I create lessons that bridge the gap between all of these generations without seeming condescending or trivial? I think that is why I was open to doing the Community Literacy Autobiography that builds up to the Argument. These Portfolios do not seem to be centered on only one particular community. They can speak to anyone. The question is going to be the daily assignments that bridge the Portfolios. I’m working on that, though.

As far as instant messaging, I did have a professor who set up instant messaging as an option for “meeting” with her. She designated a time that she would be available online certain days and hours of the week and would chat with her students about anything they wanted. I’m not really sure how I feel about it yet. I remember thinking that it was a pain because she was using Yahoo and I use Messenger so I had to set up a Yahoo account and install it on my computer, etc. (I think they might be compatible now but I’m not sure). I do think it is something interesting to look into and consider. I would not make it mandatory but the students who wanted assistance could have that extra “conferencing” option.

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Eva Marie's Journal

Merrow's article was a little disheartening. I have heard several conversations on campus that have backed up what Merrow is saying, that a college degree is more of an investment than anything else. People do see a degree not for its intrinsic value but for the value out in the market place. I think that this is a commentary not only on the younger students but also on older students. I know of several people who have gone back to college in order to start a new career after retirement! I have heard people say of their career that they are only 'doing' it for the money. So this attitude of just getting by in college is symtomatic of te materialistic way we view the world. But I do not believe that this applies to all students.

I can see how a professor, especially one who conducts sessions in big lecture halls, does not have the inclination to motivate students who are coasting. There usually can not be any kind of relationships built in such an impersonal environment.

I had not thought about the idea that a professor has little or no experience on how to teach, I guess I figure that they take professional development classes like everyone else but I guess that is part of the perks of that heirarchy that Dr. Huerta was refering to.

In spite of the no training thing, most of my professors do pretty well bt that may be because they are so knowledgable in their field that they are interesting.

I think that our university goes a lang way to help students swim as the article says. I never knew such a push for retention and I can bet that our professors have been pushed by administrators to do all they can to keep students engagd and enrolled.

I like how Merrow uses that fear tactic to open our eys to our lagging education system when he envokes national pride / shame because'other countries are breathing down our necks. As we already experience, this has impacted jobs in the U.S. so i guess it goes full cirlce. We buy degrees for better jobs and our jobs are being farmed out to countries with advanced education and skills.

Oblinger has good points about the diverse population getting educated today. That information aged student is almost a foriegner to the industrial age person. The disparity in the age of educators / students does present a problem because there is a real culture difference in how we gain knowledge. Textbook vs. text message and so on. so it must be perplexing for older professors /teachers to get more and more younger students enroll. Oblinger's data shows a great increase in non-traditional students,so whether they are from a different country or a different age, there is still that gap between students themselves and teachers and students. The Millennials , those born after '82 seem to need more and longer nurturing. But the unusual thing I find about them is that they are not defined by their culture. So does this mean that we have reached some critical mass where these younger , new humans collectively think almost the same way about certain core values? So maybe we will be educationally salvagable since the article does say that they think it is cool to be smart.

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Sarah

I showed the same video Joanna was talking about in my seminar classes, and the discussions we had were very interesting. In one class, students didn't feel like most of their college courses related to their lives or that their professors understood them, etc. They suggested using things like facebook to post assignments, etc. because they're "on them anyway." What was really interesting was that my other class totally blamed the students (themselves) for the problems. I had them get in groups and talk about what they would do if they were teachers, and I got some pretty strict answers. They wanted professors to crack down on student behavior and student excuses. In other words, this class seemed to support the "sink or swim" approach. Unfortunately, since my class responses were so different, I can't really draw any conclusions about students as a whole. I will say what Frances tells me all the time (and I think Dr. Murphy, Chloe, and others have said it a lot too): if the students don't see a purpose or a connection to their lives/the real world for every single thing that you do in your class, what you're doing is worthless to them. It doesn't matter if you see the connection--you have to make them see it too.

Dr. Jozwiak showed a video in his class last semester about millenials too (I think it was a PBS documentary or something). This one was more about what happens when millenials graduate from college and go out into the workforce. Apparently, a lot of millenials get jobs and don't expect to have to work their way up. They also immediately expect vacation time, etc. They feel very entitled and as though if their job is not interesting enough or giving them everything they want, they can just go do something else. My mom was telling me about a segment on 60 Minutes where they were talking about how the younger generation expects to be rewarded and praised for their efforts all the time, and that many who are just starting out in the real world are suffering self esteem issues and lack of motivation because they're not being constantly praised and recognized like they were in school. This makes me wonder about us, because we are constantly thinking about things like retention. We want students to feel encouraged and that their efforts are being noticed so that they will stick around. But once we get them to stick around, are they too used to having that recognition? I have to say that I believe in the sink or swim approach a little bit (and I know as an FYP employee I'm not supposed to say that). I mean, I absolutely believe in having resources for students who are struggling, but I don't think it's healthy for students to get used to hand holding. I know for me as a student, I flipped out and fell off the radar my sophomore year when I had made it through freshman year with flying colors. That may not be typical, but I have heard other students say the same thing. So...I guess I don't have any solutions to offer other than I think we should be supportive and encouraging without becoming crutches for our students. We need to start holding them accountable. I think most of them will rise to the occasion.

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Garrett

Some interesting readings, if not a little frustrating. The whole time I was reading, I just kept thinking “These kids are just lazy!” I thought back to our class discussion on how students are coddled now, and don’t have to work very hard for their degree, a point Merrow underscores with his assertion that “College used to be a ‘sink or swim’ environment, but today, either colleges are giving much-needed ‘swimming lessons’—investing in student success—or they're allowing students to ‘tread water’— giving decent grades for very little work.” Whatever happenened to meeting them halfway? Or better yet, the teacher is the teacher, and the student is the student. I know we’ve also discussed liberatory learning and allowing the student to have an active part in the curriculum, but where does one draw the line when meeting them “on their level?” When they are just trying to get that job, and not an education, how do you make them care?

Oblinger’s article was just as frustrating if only for the fact that it seems that she has given in wholeheartedly to meeting them on their level. Students are different now, but online labs? When I read the passage entitled Elimination of Delays, I instantly thought of my generation’s penchant for instant gratification. I would be lying if I said I didn’t see some of myself in these descriptions, but in college, shouldn’t anything that is worth doing or learning take some time? Research is a lengthy process, doing labs is a lengthy process. That’s why college classes occur on several different days of the week, instead of consecutive classes like in high school: it takes longer to digest the material and to do the homework. I just think that such concessions, as necessary as they may be in today’s information age, might have a snowball effect and eliminate the most important part of the college experience, at least to me, of human interaction with people different from you.