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Latest Posts From the Lane Blog Network

November 19, 2024This fall, I have wanted to infuse my course with some kind of AI-awareness activity with my Writing students. I found an article that discussed how much water is used for AI training and asked students to read it and then do an inventory of their own water usage. The results have been really interesting. Many students reported that they never use AI, but almost every student was surprised to discover the water costs of AI usage. Here’s the prompt with a link to the form. First read the article on AI and water usage to understand this assignment. ( PDF of Water Usage Article )Then name a writing project of any kind you have written recently–either using AI or not using AI. Fill out the form here so we can get a baseline understanding of our use of water when we use AI. [...] Read more...
November 2, 2024In November 2023, Angel David Nieves, Siobhan Senier and I were notified by Professor Jennifer Ross that our edited collection, People, Practice, Power: Digital Humanities Outside the Center (Minnesota UP) was awarded the 2023 DH Caucus Book Prize by the American Studies Association. Unfortunately, Angel David died just weeks after this announcement. In honor of his extraordinary contributions, the DH Caucus book award is now named after him. “The ASA DH Caucus Ángel David Nieves Book Award was renamed to memorialize the profound scholarly, pedagogical, social justice, and personal impacts of Dr. Nieves on his colleagues and the field of digital humanities. The Ángel David Nieves Book Award recognizes exceptional work that grapples with urgent questions that are specifically situated in practices of studying at the intersection of American Studies, Digital Humanities, and Digital Studies.” I look forward to hearing about the 2024 recipient. [...] Read more...
March 29, 2024Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for the rest of the world, our ranking has slipped a bit this year, from 149,013 last year to 199,996 this year. Our ranking among community colleges in Oregon hasn’t changed—still #4—and our ranking across public educational institutions improved from #8 to #7. So why do I say our ranking slipping is good? Because throughout the last year we’ve substantially increased our rate of PDF remediation, and are confident that we have fewer accessibility errors across our pages (we fix every accessibility error our checker finds! Plus we have fewer pages this year!). So if we’re slipping in the rankings, that’s because pages across the world are getting more accessible, and that’s good for everyone. [...] Read more...
February 5, 2024We’re making an effort to bring this blog back! Wanted to start today with a quick note about getting editing control of your website. On the old website, pages were organized into “folders”, and we’d provide access to the entire folder at once. On the new website, access is actually set on a per-page basis. This is a bit of a pain for us, since it means we need to add users individually to every page, but it opens a lot of flexibility for you. There’s a couple areas where we’re still trying to work out how editing permissions are going to work. The first has to do with pictures & uploaded files. The media system on the new website is wildly different, and I’m still not sure how to assign permissions correctly. We can still provide permissions to pages with images, but it sometimes takes some work to make it happen, and so far there’s no way for most people to upload images or files to the site. The other area is the types of pages that are available to edit. Most standard pages can be edited, but program pages and steps to enroll pages are  two where we’re not assigning permissions yet. For now, please continue to route those through us. If you’d like to get involved with making edits to your site, reach out to webmaster@lanecc.edu and we’ll help you get started. [...] Read more...
January 19, 2024Here are my slides from the MLAsession “Teaching Digital Humanities at Community Colleges “ Slides Paper [...] Read more...
December 3, 2023All credits go to Nintendo© for properties used in my project. The first thing I noticed when starting the final was the prompt. The project sounded very enticing because of the vast amount of ideas that could be created from it. I have to say it was equally fun as it was frustrating to produce. In the beginning, compiling my assets became very time consuming because of the length of the clips I needed, as well as the downloads consistently getting messed up. I am a novice editor, so I ran into my fair share of problems while working on the editing as well. I had a smooth time for the majority of my project, the problems arose when I went back to replace lower quality clips. Finding the clips again, replacing transitions, relocating media, and so on all contributed to the immense backtracking I did just to make sense of the mess I created. But I have to say, seeing your work finally come together is an extremely fulfilling and satisfying experience, especially when it’s something you are genuinely proud of. I hope the effort I put in can be seen, and the enjoyment I had can be felt; I also hope I can bring back some nostalgic memories for those that grew up with the games I showcased. By: Haley Johnson [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023Making this was definitely an experience. Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what I want to do when a project has very wide open parameters but I figured out what I wanted to do with this pretty quickly. My other idea for this was to animate a person being attacked by a giant sea monster (think of Subnautica) so I had the same base idea of someone being attacked. It was just the decision between zombie vs sea monster and as you can see I went with a zombie. This was intended to be an animation but it turned out to mostly be still images with a few bits of animation. It still looks fine, it just wasn’t my intention. The hardest part of this project for me was the time constraints. If I had more time I could make this closer into an actual animation, improve the art style, and add color, but that would take way too long for a school project.  Three quarters of the way through drawing the frames I was genuinely considering giving up and doing something else because I hated drawing them and it didn’t look good. In the end I guess I’m glad I didn’t give up because I think the sound really carries this whole video. [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023For my final project I decided to stick to a theme of my home country, which the people who are also in the MUL103 class will see.. This video is about some strange expressions. Moving to a different country can mean encountering some language barriers in certain situations and I realized that I sometimes throw expressions out there that I basically translated directly from my native language. These expressions make sense to me but can sound super weird to English speakers.  I had some issues with the editing programs not wanting to cooperate so I basically had to remake the whole thing last minute which is why there are some obvious flaws but I wanted to do something a bit more creative when explaining these expressions so I decided to include video from phone calls to my family and have them say the phrases instead of just putting them in text directly. To do this I had told them before that I would call and say something and asked them to respond with any Swedish expression that they thought would fit. I had a lot of fun (at least before the programs started crashing..) creating this video and I learned a lot while doing it! (Also my roommate didn’t actually steal my lunch.. I should give her my lunch for lying about that) – by Julia Hansten [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023I wanted to give you the lowdown on my class video project journey. Initially, I had this cool project that I wanted to do but as I started filming I wasn’t liking the direction it was taking. So, I changed my plans – not just once but a couple of times. The brainstorming process was a bit of a maze, exploring different ideas and directions. It felt like a creative puzzle, trying to find the right fit in the short time that I had and in the midst of my 4 other classes. It made me appreciate the fluidity of the creative process and how being adaptable is a crucial part of the game. After some thinking, I settled on a concept that I’m genuinely excited about, documenting my venture into the world of sewing as a total beginner. It seemed like a cool way to bring you all along for the ride, sharing the ups and downs of learning something new. From threading the needle to trying not to get tangled up in the bobbin, I’m capturing it all. The video is not a tutorial at all. Matter of fact I am very intrigued with the final product but I had fun filming and trying new activities. [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023-Tristan Adams This video was in editing purgatory for a long time after the shots were taken because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to change the function of the video from creepy to more relaxed and happy. I feel like the choice was a good one and I am more comfortable with the final product. I felt like I needed to make the viewers see what I feel whenever I come home from these classes in terms of how its really not much else besides stress I have whenever I am out of the house. School is definitly not the reason of the stress and more the social interaction, but it doesnt mean I hate being with people. Instead its me more worried about myself and my lack of grip on my own emotions. Though it is very short, at the end I show my cat being with me and I know soon I probably will remember this video just for that scene since next year she probably wont make it through. I come home to see her waiting for me and that has always gotten me through most days even if they are too stressful. [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023By Fedya Lockwood This is a piece about my time in highschool and after graduating. It’s a collection of videos that are important to me, layered with other videos and images. The emotion I was trying to go for was inspiration, but I’m not sure if it will be taken that way since the videos are personal to me. [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023By Nicole This project started out really fun but I ended up catching the flu. As you would imagine I wasn’t expecting to get sick so I tried to work on the project as if I wasn’t sick. Eventually it had gotten to the point where I actually needed to rest. That left me two to three days behind. Tired, recovering from a really bad flu, and stressed I decided to just not color like half of the animatic. Which I learned is a lit faster than trying to color each frame individually. Anyway, first I started with the story boards. In which I only realized after I finished that should have started with the music and sounds first. It was a very slow process for the animation because as I have said before I got very sick with the flu. Then after I finally got the animation done I moved onto the music I decided to try to make my own music using garage band. I basically just chose the piano and picked one of the pre made melodies putting on loop. After that I just used things around me to get the sound effects I wanted. Things like using my breath for the wind, tapping my desk to get the landing sounds, and using string to get the web sounds. [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023For my final project ” Details of Fall ” I decided to try to inspire, and bring a sense of peace to the audience. The world can be very loud, and at this point in time, pretty much everyone is under some sort of stress. I can feel it, you can feel it, we all can. So, I wanted to use my project to bring together a few minutes of calming music, sounds and scenery. In hopes to give everyone a moment to get out of their heads.  Like most, I’ve dealt with stress this school term, and I will be the first to admit, it’s shown in some assignments. For this particular project, my original idea did not go as planned and I had to work to create and execute a new plan. I used my own camera equipment for all of the shots, and it’s funny, because in all my years of being a photographer, I’ve never utilized the video settings on my camera. It was quite the learning experience to learn video stabilization, cropping, and editing in camera, and was a whole new experience editing that product with Adobe. I tried to focus on clips that represented the season of Fall: rain, leaves, wildlife, ponds, streams, moss, trees, etc. I used medium / long shots, and a range of closeup videos to create my sequence. Then I did color corrections, transitions and more image stabilization. After that I worked on audio, and tried to level it as best I could. Used a couple of free audio sources, and recorded some myself. Did a couple small edits with the title and credits. This was a great learning opportunity, I think I could improve on making sure I have my pre production set in stone, and  take more time to know what my final plan is. Audio editing isn’t my strong suit, I think I could take more time to problem solve there. I enjoyed filming and working with the video clips even though they’re not perfect. Overall I think this assignment taught me alot.  BY: Jurnee Mickelson [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023By Lady Diaz About: Warm meal is a short film about parents not apologizing directly and instead choosing to do so through acts of kindness. In this specific case its through food. Process: Story boarding: When creating a story board I first started with a topic that I had knowledge on and wanted to showcase its complexity. Once I had the beats placed down I moved onto the technical aspects such as light, composition, shot progression, contrast, readability. Planning: once the storyboard was finalized I moved onto either creating or finding parts to complete the idea. Bellow are all the steps as well as software used for this short film. Sculpting: I created a floor plan for the room set up using Pinterest and my own room. Then moved onto modeling a low poly model of the room in Maya. Once pleased with the layout I moved onto creating the high poly model room. 3D Rigging: This is the step that took the most time since I had minimum knowledge about it and what I had in mind was advanced beyond my ability. I committed several mistakes along the way but to keep it short I spent 6 hours working on a 12 second clip. I used Lou and Kenna, both can be found in Gumroad for free as well as on Agora. https://agora.community/assets?fbclid=IwAR1e5E8hHjQBMFEppaMl5t_sK07Nwmb9Jomihd9gPiBMz7Iz1QKgTNT0H8c https://gumroad.com/discover?query=rig&sort=newest#jaEYP Motion capture: With the limited time I moved onto finding other shortcuts for rigging characters. I figured that I could try motion capture. I used Rokoko which is a free software that uses both motion capture gear and video capture. I then learned to rig using Mixamo and apply the skeleton from Rokoko to my Maya model. Now that I had an idea of what I could and could not do I revised my original storyboard and cut down some scenes to make sure I could complete my project within the given time. 3D Modeling: I went through a total of 4 models and rigged all of them using mixamo. Some gave me complications and others worked perfectly fine but did not fit the stories aesthetic or description of the characters. I used Sketchfab.com to find a 3d model of a female teenager to young adult and an elderly man. The elderly was the rarest to find and gave me complications as the format for download was not supported by Maya. To get around that issue I used Blender to convert the GLb file to an OBJ file. Acting: With the acting I used Maximo to download the clips and on my own adjusted the rig so that it read well. I created animation clips and applied them to the character and trimmed and blended the two animations into one animation. Tip- you can make corrections to your animation without touching the original frames by creating animation layers this gives you more freedom to make changes without worrying of loosing the original. Changes can be turned on and off too. Link to YouTube video that helped me understand: https://youtu.be/NRMCGJk_hN8?si=m0r8oPVLDJ1QdUxa Compositing: With all the prep ready now came the part to put everything together. 1-camera. position the camera to show the angle in which you wanna show. I tried to keep in mind the 180 rule. 2-lights, consider where the light source is and if it pops the character out to the front. 3-Render the frames. Repeat step for all clips. I kept my camera stationary as I wanted the focus to be on the acting. Next use After effects to put it all together. To avoid reshooting and doing touchups I converted some clips into photoshop files, the wonderful thing about doing so is that the changes done in photoshop apply directly to the files in after effects. I used this tutorial to help put my animation together: https://youtu.be/jv4axtpnZps?si=RVVZNWbLUqQYqBeb Music: For music I searched for dead composers whose music was now free to use. Then listened and settled for one that fit my theme. Sound effects were used from http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk. The glass sound effect was used from YouTube https://youtu.be/m4h-T-beqYs?si=wmdtvSbnjXNbw6gG I edited the audio using audition. Then finally rendered it in after effects. By Lady Diaz [...] Read more...
December 1, 2023This is a storyboard type of animation. It is about a girl that wakes up in a fantasy world. She meets a fairy, and the fairy wants to her, and they fall in love. The they eat some mushrooms. I did all of this on my phone. It took me maybe three to four hours to do. I’ve been wanting to make this animation for a long time now, and I’m happy that I got a excuse to make it. Some day I want to make a actual animation that is smooth. But sadly I don’t the right equipment in order to make it. I also don’t have the time for it. I wish I added more animation to it. Seeing other people’s project, then mine, makes mine look not done. But I still like how it turned out, also I didn’t have time to change it because of my other final projects. Some things I would change is the part with the eyeball. I personally didn’t like how it turned out. I wish i didn’t make the eye shake I had so much fun making the project. I think it’s because it’s a dream animation I always wanted to make. I was really worried making this as my final project because I’m scared of what other people would think, or them judging my art style. Then I said screw it, It’s my project. I can do whatever with it, so I made it. By: Jade Wilkerson [...] Read more...
November 30, 2023The main goal of my creative endeavor is to elicit a multifaceted response from the audience that transcends mere observation. Through the seamless integration of audio and visual elements, I aspire to evoke a range of emotions, prompting viewers to delve into a reflective state.  I seek to immerse the audience in a surreal and emotionally charged experience. The astronaut’s solitary journey across a giant chessboard, adorned with reflective gold and black tiles, is designed to evoke a sense of wonder and contemplation. The interplay of the crystal sphere, pulsating in a waveform spectrum synchronized with the background music, further amplifies the emotional depth, creating a mesmerizing visual and auditory tapestry. Beyond emotional resonance, the project encourages intellectual engagement by inviting viewers to decipher symbolic elements embedded in the narrative. The reflective chessboard and the crystal sphere symbolize life’s complexities, reflecting the multifaceted nature of individual experiences. The inclusion of lyrics, such as “that life is not what you wanted,” prompts contemplation on the existential themes explored within the work. The thematic underpinnings extend to an exploration of life’s unpredictability and the profound realization that it may not align with one’s initial aspirations. The astronaut’s symbolic journey on the reflective chessboard becomes a metaphor for navigating the twists and turns of life. The intricate details, such as the giant blue and pink chess pieces, serve as visual metaphors, enriching the narrative with layers of meaning and inviting viewers to delve into the intricacies of the human experience. Inspired by the immersive experience, I aim to prompt a call to action, encouraging the audience to introspect on their own life’s journey. The visual spectacle, coupled with the pulsating crystal sphere and poignant lyrics, serves as a catalyst for personal reflection. Whether it be a renewed commitment to personal growth or a heightened awareness of life’s uncertainties, the aspiration is to motivate viewers toward positive, introspective action. In essence, my creative endeavor seeks to transcend the boundaries of traditional storytelling, offering the audience an emotionally resonant, intellectually stimulating, and visually captivating exploration of the human experience within the vast cosmic tapestry. [...] Read more...
November 30, 2023The inspiration for this project was a propaganda film from the 1950s that was talking about the “dangers of homosexuality”. I wanted to do a modern take on that, but with accurate information and without blatant homophobia. I decided to do my best to recreate the look of 1950s films by adding a bit of blur, a noise filter, some vignetting, setting it to black and white, and adjusting the audio to match the tone of the video. I hope you enjoy it! [...] Read more...
November 30, 2023Please watch the video at the highest resolution before reading this post. My experience with this project has been both stressful & relieving. Like any other student, it was stressful due to working on this project & other school assignments. And it was relieving because it when I was focusing on this, it was a moment of control, a sense of doing something I’m capable at. Which is creating content. Anyway, this video is semi biographical & hopefully relatable to college students. What I mean by this is it’s basically a student working on a project while figuring out their future. The premise is simple, but hopefully the way I edited demonstrates how I think. In this case, an archaic sense of slapstick silliness. What I want the audience to feel is be humored while relating to the life of a college student. I want them to be aware of the present while also thinking about after Lane. To know that probably everyone here is trying their best but will have moments of doubt. That we will have at times question decisions that pertain to the betterment post student life. But it is also understandable to dream about something unordinary. To have something that defies the standard of living. Dreaming may be cheesy, but better to be cheesy then to be nothing. [...] Read more...
November 30, 2023By Danielle Hilliard For my project i chose to tell the visual story of my adventure to class. I thought it would be funny and realistic. My goal for this project is to make people laugh and to share my experience with them. I had a lot of fun filming for this project and i cant wait to further my camera skills and make even better projects in the future. i had trouble using after effects it kept ruining my footage so i just went with using Premiere Pro. I would lime to further my knowledge in these Adobe Creative Cloud programs so I can get better at using them. I tried to add fun sounds such as the bagel chomping sounds to make people laugh. I had to add the footage of the turkeys they just make coming to campus more interesting they are very beautiful creatures, and are fun to film and photograph. I had some difficulties when it came to filming on the same weather days to make the shots line up good, but overall I feel it all worked out well in the end. I am happy with my finished project! I really want to keep making more film projects like this one. I have so many more ideas this is really fun for me. I didn’t realize how much I liked doing this until I took this class. [...] Read more...
November 30, 2023I wanted to do some worldbuilding around my silly Minecraft prison for this project, so I decided to do an instructional video on how to maintain it. I’ve done other projects related to it for other classes but I wanted to show off the gross fleshy areas at least once before the end of the term. The thought process behind the script for the video was I wanted it to be constantly hinting at the heart without outright saying it, and continuously imply that there is something sinister happening, only to later casually reveal it all the while the upbeat and chill music continues to play. The two things I think I struggled the most with this project was keeping it under 3 minutes while also getting all the information across, and then also making the video seem crusty and old. But in the end I’m happy with how it turned out Credits: Voice over: Ben Bartlett (My brother) Music: Hep Cats by Kevin MacLeod By Duncan Gustina [...] Read more...
November 29, 2023by JD Rodejo A drag video? From a drag queen? SHOCKING. I decided to stick to what I know. I had multiple ideas that didn’t go according to plan so I decided to go back to my passion which is performing. I was still able to incorporate my original ideas, drawing, a bit of stop animation/video and fashion. I decided to showcase my creative process to one of my biggest looks for my drag. I made the back piece and headpiece from scratch using unconventional materials such as balloon sticks and cardboards. I performed this look to Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”. I have been enjoying videos with hard transitions so this was such a fun project. I used Adobe premier and Capcut to edit and put the videos together and applied a bit of editing or filter in Adobe Lightroom as I already have the presets saved. For the reveal of the look, I had a video of my performance that I have added in to complete the project and for me to showcase everything in action. The video was taken at my own show that I produce and host. All videos of me drawing were taken by me and the video of my performance was taken by a friend who gave me the rights for the video. AD: If you are free on December 8th at 7pm, head to Spectrum Queer Bar(150W Broadway) for Morena’s Hotpot! An all ages show and lipsync competition for new performers. [...] Read more...
November 27, 2023I needed to show myself I could do it. When coming up for ideas on what to do for this project, I wrote off one that I deemed too complicated and excessive. Every other idea felt dull in comparison, and the whole thing started to leave me feeling defeated without even starting.  I mentioned the project to a student that had previously taken the class, and they excitedly showed me what they had created. It was beautiful. I felt emotional, and that’s when I knew I had to push myself. The worst possible outcome wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, and this would be a great opportunity to see what I could pull off. So, for the first time, I built a small set. I stuck to the plan that was created. And it worked out. I’m still surprised and residing in a fog of chaos and daze, but I’m writing that off as a mindset shared by speedrunning multiple projects. There are definitely a few things that I would do differently, but overall, I’m happy with what I accomplished in such a short amount of time. And it gave me a great excuse to look into different effects and things of that nature in quite a few Adobe programs.  by: Erin Schooley [...] Read more...
November 8, 2023Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
November 6, 2023By: Fedya Lockwood My five favorite un-skippable albums in no particular order are: Renaissance by Beyonce Glass Reflections by Philip Glass Toxicity by System of a Down Igor by Tyler the Creator Where the Wild Things Are Motion Picture Soundtrack: Original Songs by Karen O and The Kids I have a hard time being able to listen to albums all the way through, most of the time there’s at least one song I don’t like. But none of these are like that. It was also hard choosing because I listen to such a wide range of music, so the combination in this video is kind of jarring. However, I stand by my choices. [...] Read more...
November 6, 2023For this P5 Image assignment, ( which is a little late, so I hope you all are still able to check it out.. blog posting issue on my end ) I chose to do my project on the first 5 months of my dog Berlin’s life with me! I got him at 7 weeks, and have had him for almost 2 years now. The photo at the very end shows how big he is now!  For me, this assignment wasn’t super difficult, as I’m currently learning more and more about editing softwares like Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition. But I am still a beginner and hope to improve far past my capabilities with this specific video. All images and video for this project were taken on my Iphone, so the quality isn’t super detailed and professional, but I think it did the job, in showing his life stages and fun times as the video goes on. Berlin is a big ball of energy, being half German Shepherd, and the other half a mix of Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, Labrador Retriever, and Pitbull. I don’t have much downtime because of it, he is always Go Go Go, you can see in some of the photos, and video clips, that he loves to be outdoors, running around and having a good time. I wanted to showcase that using fun upbeat non copyrighted sounds on Free Sounds. I will however give some credit to the sound uploaders: Music from Freesounds.org, by Migfus20 SFX “New Morning” from Freesounds.org, by dadshb1489  Overall I learned a lot with this assignment, using different programs, transitions, video edits, audio editing etc. And I hope to continue to build on those skills.  By: Jurnee Mickelson [...] Read more...
November 3, 2023 This assignment was a lot of fun It was a simple process of deciding on what to do then I just hopped on the game and got started grabbing my frame its weapons, and the companion I wanted to use then went off to the mission. I did the mission collected some footage then came back to the orbiter and I repeated that about 6 times. I also decided to do a little bit of an intro so I went to the captura and created a little intro with the poster boy of Warframe Excalibur. The editing was a bit long but fine I had to trim a lot of little bits just to make it under the 2-minute threshold luckily I was able to keep some of the moments I wanted to keep mainly within the Alad V assassination mission. Plus with all that, there are a couple of references to other games In the video mainly being names of my weapons and companions of my choice. P5 image BY: Joseph Reiter [...] Read more...
November 2, 2023This P5 Final showcases my audio sculpture from MUL103, expanded into video with a 5 handed monster. This project was a learning experience through its entirety. Between mixing audio in Adobe Audition to video editing in Premiere, it became a slightly daunting experience because I am a novice in both programs. There’s always a learning curve to tackle but I was able to quickly find the fun in the assignment once I figured out how to navigate the programs for my needs—seeing it come together was the most exciting—but because I was so new to Premiere, it took me twice as long as I expected. There were a few effects I wanted to add in but couldn’t figure out how to. It was also difficult getting the audio and video to line up. I went through a lot of trial and error and back and forth between the programs to get them to match. Even with that extra effort it is still certainly not perfect.  My main goals as I progress is that I get quicker in my process and can learn even more in depth effects to make my editing ability much richer. That being said, I am still satisfied with the end product based on the time I allotted for the project. I hope the love I have for the Tears of the Kingdom game is palpable through my effort.  (The Youtube upload really tanked the quality and I wasn’t sure how to fix that.) By: Haley Johnson [...] Read more...
June 14, 2023A couple years back, we looked at how we placed in WebAIM’s top million homepages for accessibility. At the time, we were ranked #242,359, putting us in the top 25% for the first time, and ranking #7 in the state for community colleges and #13 for Oregon public colleges. After the launch of our new website, we’re now ranked #149,013! That ranks us as #4 in the state for community colleges, and #8 for Oregon public colleges! See our entry on WebAIM’s site. One of the really helpful things to come out of the website redesign is the addition of an automatic accessibility checker on every page. As we edit pages now, we’re correcting accessibility issues whenever we spot them, so we’re even more optimistic for our rank next year. [...] Read more...
May 26, 2023In May I participated in Lane’s Teaching and Learning Symposium with colleagues Aryn and Rachel. This is the third year we have used Flower Darby’s Small Teaching Online as an anchor text for making improvements to our online classes. This year I focused on using an equity lens to improve the warmth and sense of belonging in my online classes. The incremental approach that Darby uses is perfect for community college teaching contexts, because faculty at CCs get few extended opportunities to overhaul our courses or pedagogies. But consistent tinkering produces long-term improvement, I think. My slides are here: [...] Read more...
April 24, 2023The Guided Pathways TIPSS Team is pleased to present TIPSS #53.  This TIPSS examines four recent student cohorts on two components of credit accumulation: numbers of credits attempted and rates of successful credit completion.  TIPSS are provided in the hopes of stimulating considerations of, and conversations about, aspects of Lane’s student success data. We encourage thoughtful and reflective discussions with colleagues about various TIPSS topics. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2023/04/TIPSS53-Credit-Attempts-and-Completion-Rates.pdf” title=”TIPSS53 Credit Attempts and Completion Rates”] [...] Read more...
April 6, 2023My review of Robin Isserles’ important book, The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community Colleges (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2021) is out in Academe this month. You can read the review here or even better, order the book for yourself or for your college library! [...] Read more...
March 7, 2023The Guided Pathways TIPSS Team is pleased to present TIPSS #52.  This TIPSS is an update to TIPSS #49, which asked if we could retain more students from fall to winter.  TIPSS #52 provides data to show how well we did retaining our fall students for winter term.  TIPSS are provided in the hopes of stimulating considerations of, and conversations about, aspects of Lane’s student success data. We encourage thoughtful and reflective discussions with colleagues about various TIPSS topics. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2023/03/TIPSS52-Retain-More-Students-Fall-To-Winter.pdf” title=”TIPSS52 Retain More Students Fall To Winter”] [...] Read more...
February 16, 2023The Guided Pathways TIPSS Team is pleased to present TIPSS #51.  This TIPSS examines success rates for students in a new, 1-credit corequisite gateway math course.  In this course, students review math and study skills and are connected with tutoring and other student success resources. TIPSS are provided in the hopes of stimulating considerations of, and conversations about, aspects of Lane’s student success data. We encourage thoughtful and reflective discussions with colleagues about various TIPSS topics.  Past editions of TIPSS can found at: https://inside.lanecc.edu/ir/tipss [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2023/02/TIPSS51-Corequisite-Pathway-Helps-Students-Complete-Gateway-Math.pdf” title=”TIPSS51 Corequisite Pathway Helps Students Complete Gateway Math”] [...] Read more...
January 23, 2023The Guided Pathways TIPSS Team is pleased to present TIPSS #50.  This TIPSS examines completion and retention rates for new students, with pre and post covid ‘lockdown” comparisons. TIPSS are provided in the hopes of stimulating considerations of, and conversations about, aspects of Lane’s student success data. We encourage thoughtful and reflective discussions with colleagues about various TIPSS topics. To view and download this and other TIPSS, go to the TIPSS Library. Also be sure to look at the Guided Pathways Dashboards, which presents Lane’s early momentum metrics.  The dashboards are available to all staff at Lane.  At the above link, open the “Guided Pathways Metrics” tab to find the links to the dashboards. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2023/01/TIPSS50-Completion-and-Retention-Rates-for-Studentsl.pdf” title=”TIPSS50 Completion and Retention Rates for Studentsl”] [...] Read more...
January 18, 2023Savanna Ferguson came to Lane in 2021 to work on her GED.  She was motivated to come back to school after 11 years to be an example to her three kids.  She wanted to show them that starting something, working hard, and following your dreams will get a person where they want to go in life.  In addition to her kids, she has her family and her boyfriend who have pushed her to stick with her studies even when it was difficult. She sees her success as a “joint effort.” At Lane, she found instructors who helped her persist, cheered her on, and helped her transition to credit classes.  Now a Peer Mentor, she assists students in their transition from non-credit to credit classes.  “No matter how hard it gets, keep trying, ask for help, go see your instructors, and you will succeed,” says Savanna. Savanna is enrolled in credit classes and is working toward an AAOT.  When she graduates from Lane, she will transfer to OSU to study geology with the goal of completing a bachelor’s degree and working as a geologist with the Forest Service or going onto Graduate School.  Let’s all wish Savanna the best of luck as she continues to pursue her dreams!   [...] Read more...
November 14, 2022The Guided Pathways TIPSS Team is pleased to present TIPSS #49.  This TIPSS is a snapshot of department students registered for winter so far compared to department students retained fall to winter last year. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/11/TIPSS49-Can-We-Retain-More-Students-Fall-to-Winter.pdf” title=”TIPSS49 Can We Retain More Students Fall-to-Winter”] [...] Read more...
November 14, 2022[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/11/Guided-Pathways-Student-Profile-Mara-Williams.pdf” title=”Guided Pathways Student Profile – Mara Williams”] [...] Read more...
November 14, 2022The Guided Pathways TIPSS Team is pleased to present TIPSS #48.  This TIPSS examines enrollment declines across Oregon community colleges. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/11/TIPSS48-Enrollment-Declines-Across-OR-Community-Colleges.pdf” title=”TIPSS48 Enrollment Declines Across OR Community Colleges”] [...] Read more...
October 3, 2022  Guided Pathways 2021 – 2022 Annual Summary   This is a summary of Guided Pathways work during the prior AY 2021 – 2022,  and a look forward to ongoing progress in AY 22/23.   Default Academic Plans  Lead: Edgar Rosas Alquicira Faculty members, academic advisors, and curriculum staff built and reviewed default academic plans (DAPs) for transfer programs, 1-year certificate programs, and 2-year certificate programs. Drafts were reviewed by financial aid staff and degree evaluators. This collaboration ensure that DAPs take all information into account and provide an effective tool for students to progress toward their transfer and completion goals. The DAPs for 38 transfer areas and 10 CTE programs were started, meaning that faculty, advisors, and curriculum staff met and created an initial draft. DAPs for 17 transfer areas and 6 CTE programs were completed, meaning all feedback was reviewed, incorporated, and approved by the content faculty member(s) and the plan has been entered into Degree Works for use by advisors and students. During this coming year, we will focus on completing remaining DAPs in transfer and CTE areas, entering DAPs in Degree Works, and supporting advisors and students in developing Individual Academic Plans (IAPs) tailored from a DAP to each student’s interests and goals. We are also looking forward to working with content areas on a second phase to develop DAPs for various student situations, such as part-time enrollment or including development education in the DAP. First Year Math and Writing Team Leads: Steve Selph, Math Faculty,  Ingrid Nordstrom, Writing Faculty During AY 21/22, a team began the multi-year process of working toward the goal of creating an ideal future student experience in which students identify the starting point at which they will be most successful for math and writing through a compassionate, validating, and encouraging process, and are supported throughout their experience completing program-level math and writing. The team engaged in research of options, assessment of current practices at LCC, and developed recommendations to improve placement and program level completion in math and writing. These recommendations seek to improve the student experience for these gateway courses through course-embedded tutoring, curriculum updates, co-requisite course offerings, and a seamless transition from non-credit to credit classes.    In the coming AY 22/23, the recommendations of the team will be vetted through areas of the college as appropriate for the specific recommendation, and implemented to the degree possible. Holistic Student Supports During AY 21/22, a team comprised of members from academic and student affairs members created the following vision statement for Holistic Student Supports (HSS) at LCC:  Honoring and responsive to a student’s cultural beliefs and needs, Lane will provide comprehensive personalized services to them that empower and support all students toward their educational goal. The role of Holistic Supports is for employees to have authentic and meaningful interactions with students to provide comprehensive and culturally appropriate support to them as a whole person. In the coming AY 22/23, watch for information about the implementation and coordination of HSS across areas of the college. Early Momentum Metrics Dashboards The Guided Pathways Data Team, Institutional Research, and the Guided Pathways Core Team researched, designed, and produced a set of publicly available dashboards to illustrate Lane students’ progress in nine critical areas. These metrics, known as Early Momentum Metrics (EMMs), are closely aligned with a student’s ability to persist and complete their course of study at Lane. To view the dashboards please visit https://www.lanecc.edu/ir/data-packages-and-reports and open the “Guided Pathways Metrics” tab to find the links to the dashboards. Timely Information Promoting Student Success (TIPSS) Seven editions of TIPPS were published during AY 21/22. In addition to being linked below, you can find these and previous TIPSS on the IR website. TIPSS are provided in the hopes of stimulating considerations of, and conversations about, aspects of Lane’s student success data. We encourage thoughtful and reflective discussions with colleagues about various TIPSS topics. TIPSS #40 – Re-Updating the Pipeline: Writing        TIPSS #41 – Re-Updating the Pipeline: Math       TIPSS #42 – Completing Gateway Courses during the Student’s First Year TIPSS #43 – Oregon Promise and Lane’s First Year Experience        TIPSS #44 – Student Feedback from Lane’s First Year Experience TIPSS #45 – Transfer Rates        TIPSS #46 – The Lane Index 2.0                                 Engagement During AY 21/22, five profiles of students, faculty, and staff were published in the Lane Weekly and on the Guided Pathways blog. The profiles included: March 3, Francesca Critelli, Student Highlight March 12, Kate Sullivan, Faculty Highlight April 12, Katherine Kaylegian, Classified Staff Highlight. May 17, Dawn Whiting, Manager Highlight June 1, Matt Wakefield, Graduating Student Highlight We are looking forward to continuing these profiles in the coming year. The purpose is to showcase the experiences of students, and student success work throughout the college.   Spring Conference, 2022 During last year’s Spring Conference, four Guided Pathways sessions were delivered: Default Academic Plans at Lane Community College Presenters: Claudia Owen-Earth and Environmental Science Instructor and Faculty Coordinator, Rick Glover-Earth and Environmental Science Instructor and Faculty Coordinator, Edgar Rosas Alquicira-Biology instructor and Guided Pathways and Ted Calcaterra-Academic Advisor. Watch the video of this session here. Early Momentum Metrics at Lane – Guided Pathways Data Dashboards Tour and Discussion Presenters: Jennifer Frei, Cathy Thomas, Edgar Rosas Alquicira. Watch the video of this session here. Humanizing the First-Year Experience: A Conversation with the Guided Pathways First-Year Math & Writing Team Presenters: Ingrid Nordstrom, Writing Faculty and Stephen Selph, Math Faculty — co-leads of Guided Pathways First Year Math & Writing Team. No video available. Understanding, Creating and Utilizing Holistic Student Supports Presenters: Jane Reeder, Potentially: Justin Chin, Ellen Osterkamp, Jenn Kepka, Carl Yeh, and Rosa Lopez. No video available. DOWNLOAD WORD DOCUMENT OF THIS REPORT: FINAL 2022-10-03 Guided Pathways AY 21-22 Year End Summary [...] Read more...
October 3, 2022The Guided Pathways Team is pleased to present the first TIPSS edition for Academic Year (AY) 2022 – 2023: TIPSS #47: It’s Time to End the Trend. This TIPSS illustrates Lane’s enrollment since 1992 and discusses the effect of the most recent decade’s downward trend.  TIPSS are provided in the hopes of stimulating considerations of, and conversations about, aspects of Lane’s student success data. We encourage thoughtful and reflective discussions with colleagues about various TIPSS topics. Also, be sure to look at the Guided Pathways Dashboards, which presents Lane’s early momentum metrics.  The dashboards are available to all staff at Lane.  At the above link, open the “Guided Pathways Metrics” tab to find the links to the dashboards. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/10/TIPPS47-Its-Time-to-End-the-Trend.pdf” title=”TIPPS47 Its Time to End the Trend”] [...] Read more...
June 7, 2022For several years, Lane has been involved with the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Honors instructor and Faculty Coordinator for Undergraduate Research, Stacey Kiser, initiated the relationship, and since that time, we have had several Lane faculty and managers on the planning committee and subcommittees at UO. This year, we had a number of students from the Honors Program, Phi Theta Kappa, and the college at large participate in the symposium. Sprout Mahoney (pictured below, closest to the poster) won the award for Best Poster: Community College Division. Honors Student Sprout Mahoney answers questions about her poster. A week after the UO event, Lane held its annual Lane Student Research Days. Posters displays lined the halls of Building 16 while additional events included student work on sustainability in the Learning Garden, an alumni panel discussing the impact undergraduate research had on the panelists’ future education and careers, and a creative works reading. Jordan Coen (pictured below) read original work at the UO symposium and at LSR Days. PTK Member Jordan Coen reads a short story in the Titan Scholars space. Congratulations to all the Lane students who participated in these events! [...] Read more...
June 7, 2022For several years, Lane has been involved with the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Honors instructor and Faculty Coordinator for Undergraduate Research, Stacey Kiser, initiated the relationship, and since that time, we have had several Lane faculty and managers on the planning committee and subcommittees at UO. This year, we had a number of students from the Honors Program, Phi Theta Kappa, and the college at large participate in the symposium. Sprout Mahoney (pictured below, closest to the poster) won the award for Best Poster: Community College Division. Honors Student Sprout Mahoney answers questions about her poster. A week after the UO event, Lane held its annual Lane Student Research Days. Posters displays lined the halls of Building 16 while additional events included student work on sustainability in the Learning Garden, an alumni panel discussing the impact undergraduate research had on the panelists’ future education and careers, and a creative works reading. Jordan Coen (pictured below) read original work at the UO symposium and at LSR Days. PTK Member Jordan Coen reads a short story in the Titan Scholars space. Congratulations to all the Lane students who participated in these events! [...] Read more...
May 31, 2022Meet Matt.  This is Matt’s third and last year at Lane and he is graduating with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Programming.  A non-traditional student, he’s spent a good part of his life making art and playing music and found his calling in game development.   He’s completed two internships with companies that produce CGI art.   In his time at Lane, he’s been the Phi Theta Kappa Chapter President and a tutor.  Both of these opportunities allowed him to connect with students whom he wouldn’t have otherwise.  Tutoring allowed him tohelp other students and he enjoyed the emotions students expressed when they figured out a problem or learned how to do something.  This year Matt attended the Phi Theta Kappa Catalyst Conference in Denver.  He felt this was a good way to end his career at Lane by representing Lane Community College and the PTK Chapter.   Matt hopes to find a job somewhere in Oregon so he can stay close to his family.  In his time at Lane, he’s received guidance from more people than he could name.  He especially credited the College Success course and faculty for helping him create a solid foundation for his studies.   Remember that Commencement is Saturday, June 11th. Please come and support Matt and our other graduating students! [...] Read more...
May 26, 2022The Guided Pathways Core team is pleased to present TIPPS #46, The Lane Index 2.0.  We hope you enjoy this snapshot of Lane, with apologies and credit to Harper’s Magazine. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/05/TIPSS46-Lane-Index-2.0.pdf” title=”TIPSS46 Lane Index 2.0″] [...] Read more...
May 10, 2022The Guided Pathways Core Team is pleased to present TIPSS #45, which illustrates transfer rates for Lane students.  The items presented include 10 year transfer rates, transfer and graduation data, as well as the the relationship between transfer rates and early momentum metrics (EMMs). Speaking of EMMs, also be sure to look at the Guided Pathways Dashboards, which presents Lane’s early momentum metrics.  The dashboards are available to all staff at Lane.  To view the dashboards please visit https://www.lanecc.edu/ir/data-packages-and-reports and open the “Guided Pathways Metrics” tab to find the links to the dashboards.   [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/05/TIPSS45-Transfer-Rates.pdf” title=”TIPSS45 Transfer Rates”] [...] Read more...
May 6, 2022The Guided Pathways teams are presenting several sessions for Spring Conference this year.  Check back after the conference for a summary of each session, resources, and hopefully recordings of each session. Click the link below to access the presentation for today’s 2:30-3:30 Spring Conference Presentation, Early Momentum Metrics at Lane – Guided Pathways Data Dashboards Tour and Discussion. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-GnpDU7A55sOxaiKxJqMTR6Dbz0HFKGN/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104539996146571292801&rtpof=true&sd=true  (This is a Google Slides link. You will have to copy and past this link into your browser.) 2022-05-06 GP Overview EMMs & Dashboards Spring Conference workshop.  (This is a Power Point link.  This link will download a Power Point file to your computer and Power Point will open.)        [...] Read more...
April 15, 2022On April 15, I had the pleasure of addressing faculty and librarians at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida. The Institute for Teaching Excellence there is an impressive facility, and it was a pleasure to be in a room filled with CC faculty who are interested in infusing digital humanities into their curriculum. Thanks to Mia Tignor and all the staff at IRSC for an invigorating discussion. Here’s my PowerPoint presentation from the talk. Assignments to inspire DH infusions and redesign at IRSC: Link for Google Drive here: [...] Read more...
April 12, 2022Meet Katherine Kaylegian. She prefers to go by Kat.  Kat has a BS in physics with a minor in math, and is working toward a master’s degree in physics with a focus in optics. She worked as a research assistant in computational neuroscience and high energy physics for 6 years, and in that time published two papers, and is presenting ATLAS research for the American Physical Society this April. While working as a research assistant she took a position as a tutor in the math department at LCC but was asked to take on an academic coaching role not long after she began. It is a position that excites her because it gives her a chance to provide holistic support to struggling math students. She was a nontraditional undergrad, and when she struggled with life events, she had no place to go and no one to talk to. As a result, she learned a lot about advocating for herself and a lot about working through her math and test anxiety- skills that she passes on to her students. As an academic coach she is the point person when a student struggles. She likes to be a safe place for them to go to talk about juggling life and school, and she get to make sure that students don’t fall through the cracks. Her newest venture at LCC is as part of the GP Math and Writing Group. This work allows her to address one of the most common barriers to math success that she sees: improper math placement. She works with many stressed students who are improperly placed, and is grateful for the opportunity to participate in a program that allows her to actively work to make a change that will help our students succeed. [...] Read more...
April 4, 2022The Guided Pathways Core Team is pleased to present TIPSS #44, which illustrates responses from a survey completed by students enrolled in Lane’s First Year Experience Course. Previously, TIPSS #43 showed that students enrolling in First Year Experience have better first-year outcomes than other new students. Both #43 and #44 are posted together so you can examine both of them. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/04/TIPSS44-First-Year-Experience-Student-Survey.pdf” title=”TIPSS44 First Year Experience Student Survey”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/03/TIPSS43-First-Year-Experience-Student-Success-Metrics.pdf” title=”TIPSS43 First Year Experience Student Success Metrics”]   [...] Read more...
March 3, 2022The Guided Pathways Core Team is pleased to present TIPSS #43, which illustrates student outcomes for those who participate in Oregon Promise and/or Lane’s First Year Experience course.  The examination of the success data shows students who participate in either one or both of these programs have higher success rates than those students who do not.   Also be sure to look at the Guided Pathways Dashboards, which presents Lane’s early momentum metrics.  The dashboards are available to all staff at Lane.  To view the dashboards please visit https://www.lanecc.edu/ir/data-packages-and-reports and open the “Guided Pathways Metrics” tab to find the links to the dashboards.   [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/03/TIPSS43-First-Year-Experience-Student-Success-Metrics.pdf” title=”TIPSS43 First Year Experience Student Success Metrics”] [...] Read more...
March 3, 2022Kate joined Lane’s English (now writing) department in Fall 2000. Growing up in a working-class home, she witnessed the power and opportunity of education when her mother attended college and obtained a college degree while Kate was in grade school. One of her mother’s first positions was as the job counselor at the local jail, where she focused her efforts not only on work placement for offenders but also on helping them earn their GEDs.   After coming to Lane, Kate had the opportunity to work with and learn from colleagues in a variety of capacities:  as a member of the composition committee, as a chair of the assessment team, as part of SAGA (Success and Goal Attainment Committee), and now as chair of the academic program review oversight committee (APROC)–all employee groups focused on examining data and building better systems to support students and help them be successful. Informed by this work, she was one of the first people at Lane to explore and suggest  Guided Pathways as a mechanism to create beneficial systems for students to explore and plan their journey, receive support during that journey, and create the life they want to live after the completion of their education. In lieu of a recent photo, Kate shared her favorite book on teaching, pictured left. [...] Read more...
March 3, 2022Francecsca is receiving her AAOT in June and will be transferring to the University of Oregon to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.  Her goal is to go to Law School or work toward a Master’s degree.  After being unable to finish high school due to medical issues, she had to relearn basic life skills, such as walking.  Her family helped her find her way to Lane Community College, where she was able to complete her high school education through the GED and ABSE program, where the faculty and staff “believed in my success before I did.”   She credits her success at LCC to a compassionate staff and faculty and intense support network provided to students so that they can succeed.  Francesca works as a tutor at Lane helping students in the same way student tutors helped her when she worked toward her GED.   “Having another student who could relate on my level was incredible.  I mostly wanted to give that back to the Lane community.”   Whatever she does she wants to help others.  “If you have access to education you should use it to build a longer table and not a taller fence,” says Francesca.  Let’s all celebrate Francesca’s success!  Best of luck in whatever you do, Francesca. [...] Read more...
February 28, 2022Check out the latest edition of the Lane Honors News, edited by three honors students: Kayley Cook, Hannah Joel, and Rayven Mack. There’s a feature on research conducted by an honors student, an interview with a former honors student, a look at honors students who work in the Tutoring Center, information about upcoming events, and an update on recent activities by our Sigma Zeta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa! [...] Read more...
February 23, 2022This year, Lane Community College has two administrators receiving prestigious awards from Phi Theta Kappa! Congratulations to Lane Community College President, Margaret Hamilton, for winning PTK’s Michael Bennett Lifetime Achievement Award for ongoing support of Phi Theta Kappa campus chapters! PTK explains the award: “Michael Bennett Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to college presidents/campus CEOs at two-year institutions and state community college system directors who are retiring and have provided consistently outstanding support to Phi Theta Kappa chapters and advisors during their careers. They are named in honor of the late Dr. Michael Bennett, longtime president of St. Petersburg College in Florida. President Hamilton is one of six college presidents receiving the award this year! President Margaret Hamilton Congratulations to Associate Vice President of the School of Arts and Sciences, Jennifer Frei, on receiving the Distinguished College Administrator award! Frei is one of twenty-eight administrators honored this year out of more than 230 nominated administrators. PTK describes this award as one “presented to college vice presidents, deans, or directors serving at post-secondary institutions who have shown strong support of student success on their campus by recognizing academic achievement, leadership, and service among high-achieving students.” Associate VP Jennifer Frei The awards will be presented at PTK Catalyst in Denver in April. We are so proud of our administrators and grateful for their support of our Sigma Zeta Chapter! [...] Read more...
February 23, 2022Congratulations to our four members of this year’s All Oregon Academic Team! PTK explains on its website that the purpose of the all-state teams is to recognize “high achieving college students who demonstrate academic excellence and intellectual rigor combined with leadership and service that extends their education beyond the classroom to benefit society.” Our four student members of Oregon’s team definitely meet those criteria! Melony Burnett belongs to the Lane Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa as well as participating in my projects at the Gender Equity Center. Volunteer work includes: Eugene Advisory Council, KaiserKaiser Patient PartnerRainy Day Food Pantry, Lane Community College Melony Burnett Jordan Coen is a member of the Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Phi Theta Kappa, and the Student Activity Fee Committee. They hold leadership positions as a PTK Ambassador and Social Media Coordinator for the GSA. Volunteer work includes CERCO and interning for a kindergarten class. Jordan is also a published author. Jordan Coen Isaiah Contreras is a member of the Lane Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa. Isaiah’s volunteer work includes organizing donations for victims of the Holiday Farm Fire in Oregon in the fall of 2021. Isaiah Contreras Autumn Travertini is a member of the Lane Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa. Autumn Travertini Congratulations to all four team members! [...] Read more...
January 31, 2022The annual DREAM conference, hosted by Achieving the Dream, will be convening from February 14th-17th, 2022.  Like last year, the conference will be virtual.  Scholars, staff, administrators, faculty, and students from around the country will gather to discuss best practices and reforms to improve the student experience at the community college level.   A group from Lane will be attending, composed of a large number of our First Year Math and Writing Team.  One of Lane’s Guided Pathways aspirations for the 21-22 academic year is for this team to redesign first year math and writing to enable students to experience success and close equity gaps.  Success in program level math and writing is a key early momentum indicator for student retention and success.  https://www.achievingthedream.org/event/18008/dream-2022   [...] Read more...
January 10, 2022ARH 209_H History of Japanese Art -Honors (taught by Alexandria Nanneman) Alivia Stiles’ “Visual Analysis of Kōshirō Onchi’s Family of the Field from Poem no. 2“ Kōshirō Onchi, Family of the Field from Poem no. 2, 1937 Showa Era, color woodcut on Japanese paper, 14 7/8 x 14 1/2 in. (37.783 x 36.83 cm), Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, https://library-artstor-org.lanecc.idm.oclc.org/#/asset/ADALLASIG_10313601517;prevRouteTS= 1635624793780  ENSC 182_H Atmospheric Environment and Climate Change – Honors (taught by Claudia Owen) Nick Bernier and John Adair’s Research Project WR 121_H Introduction to Academic Writing – Honors (taught by Eileen Thompson) Katie Sincerbox’s Essay Julia Taylor’s Essay WR 227_H Technical Writing – Honors (taught by Ce Rosenow) The following students wrote reflections on their research process and included links to the comparative analyses they produced in their formal analytical reports: Jecca Arthur’s Honors Reflection Kat Lakey’s Honors Reflection Raven Mack’s Honors Reflection Jeremiah Vandagrift’s Honors Reflection [...] Read more...
January 10, 2022History of Japanese Art -Honors (taught by Alexandria Nanneman) Alivia Stiles’ “Visual Analysis of Kōshirō Onchi’s Family of the Field from Poem no. 2“ Kōshirō Onchi, Family of the Field from Poem no. 2, 1937 Showa Era, color woodcut on Japanese paper, 14 7/8 x 14 1/2 in. (37.783 x 36.83 cm), Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, https://library-artstor-org.lanecc.idm.oclc.org/#/asset/ADALLASIG_10313601517;prevRouteTS= 1635624793780  Technical Writing – Honors (taught by Ce Rosenow) The following students wrote reflections on their research process and included links to the comparative analyses they produced in their formal analytical reports: Jecca Arthur’s Honors Reflection Kat Lakey’s Honors Reflection Raven Mack’s Honors Reflection Jeremiah Vandagrift’s Honors Reflection [...] Read more...
January 10, 2022The Guided Pathways Team is pleased to present TIPSS #42, which presents data about student completion of both first year math and writing, two key early momentum metrics (EMMs).  These and other EMMs are closely aligned with a student’s ability to persist and complete their course of study at Lane.   Also be sure to look at the Guided Pathways Dashboards, which present these and other EMMs.  The dashboards are available to all staff at Lane.  To view the dashboards please visit https://www.lanecc.edu/ir/data-packages-and-reports and open the “Guided Pathways Metrics” tab to find the links to the dashboards.   [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/guidedpathways/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/01/TIPSS42-Completing-Gateway-Courses-during-First-Year.pdf” title=”TIPSS42 Completing Gateway Courses during First Year”] [...] Read more...
November 24, 2021In October, we held a workshop for members of the Lane Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa on how to create a CV and how to present at academic conferences. The workshop took place on our Discord server in the Honors voice channel. Claire Dannenbaum shared information about the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium coming up this spring. Erika Masaki discussed why someone might want to participate in an academic conference and what to expect at conferences. Ce Rosenow explained what a CV is and reviewed how to create one. Use the links in this post to access the materials shared during the workshop. You can also visit the University of Oregon’s website for information about their symposium. We will hold more workshops in winter and spring, including additional mentoring for presenting at conferences and creating ePortfolios. [...] Read more...
November 24, 2021In October, we held a workshop for Phi Theta Kappa and Lane Honors Program members on how to create a CV and how to present at academic conferences. The workshop took place on our Discord server in the Honors voice channel. Claire Dannenbaum shared information about the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium coming up this spring. Erika Masaki discussed why someone might want to participate in an academic conference and what to expect at conferences. Ce Rosenow explained what a CV is and reviewed how to create one. Use the links in this post to access the materials shared during the workshop. You can also visit the University of Oregon’s website for information about their symposium. We will hold more workshops in winter and spring, including additional mentoring for presenting at conferences and creating ePortfolios. [...] Read more...
November 22, 2021This year, we are holding a series of workshops for students in the Lane Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa, including several on how to present at conferences. The first workshop ran this fall on our Honors Discord server. Honors Librarian Claire Dannenbaum and Honors Political Science Instructor Erika Masaki joined Honors Coordinator Ce Rosenow to discuss why students might want to present at a conference, what the process for submitting a proposal looks like, and what to expect in the various conference presentation formats. We will hold additional workshops in winter and spring to prepare students to present at the Lane Community College Undergraduate Research Fair and at the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. [...] Read more...
November 22, 2021This year, we have three co-editors working on the Honors Program News, our program’s newsletter. We plan to publish one issue per term in fall, winter, and spring. Work on the fall issue is well underway, and we plan to publish the newsletter at the end of the term. Meet our wonderful new editors: Kayley Cook (pronouns are she/her) is a double major in English Literature and Education. She’s in the Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa, volunteers with OSPIRG, and is a tutor at Lane’s Tutoring Center. Outside of school, she plays piano, and she loves to read. She plans to go to the University of Oregon once she has finished at Lane, and she would like to study in the UK at some point. Hannah Joel was born and raised in the small city of Ipoh in Malaysia. Now, she finds herself across the world as a first-year student at Lane Community College. Growing up, she was always intrigued by the world of criminal justice, criminology, and psychology. Her penchant for such studies led her to enroll at Lane in the spring term of 2021 and join the Honors Program in the summer term of 2021, where she is currently pursuing an AAOT degree. Hannah was captivated by, and drawn to, the honors program because of the small class sizes and the close faculty mentorship. By taking honors classes, she would not only be more engaged with the content but also have the ability to be involved in discussions and debates that would keep her open-minded.When she saw an announcement to be involved in co-editing the honors newsletter, Hannah immediately jumped at the first opportunity. She had never co-edited anything before, so she thought that it would be an excellent idea for her to experience something new. Hannah also wanted to have a sense of involvement within the community. Since she is not on campus at the moment, co-editing the honors newsletter sounded like a great way to be active in college despite taking classes online.Apart from spending her days working on her assignments and projects for college, she enjoys reading novels, watching movies, and listening to podcasts concerning crime, thriller, and horror genres. Hannah also takes delight in spending time with her poodle Calum and going out for food trips during the weekends with her friends. Raven Mack has been at Lane since Spring Term of ’21 and is studying English. Her goal as of now is to become an editor, though that is subject to change as something else may catch her interest in the future. Regardless, she does intend to work somewhere in the writing field, as writing has always been a hobby of hers. She really enjoys writing short stories, with her absolute favorite genre to write is contemporary fiction. She also loves reading and will read an entire book in a day if given the chance. Her favorite books tend to fall somewhere on the fiction spectrum as well, ranging anywhere from horror to sci-fi or fantasy, and of course, contemporary! [...] Read more...
October 14, 2021The Guided Pathways Team would like to share with you the following announcements and opportunities for involvement with Guided Pathways at Lane.     In this message you will find: 1. Guided Pathways Academic Year 2021-2022 Aspirations 2. First Year Math and Writing Team recruitment  3. Faculty Core Team posting    Please see below for more information on each topic.   GP AY 2021-2022 Aspirations: This document describes the big-picture goals for this year. There are aspirations for Academic Plans, First Year Math and Writing, Foundational Seminar, Data, Retention, and Engagement. The work of project teams will be focused in these areas.    First Year Math and Writing Team recruitment: We are seeking participants for this team. The team’s goal is to create systemic conditions that decrease equity gaps, and guide and support all students toward completion of both program-level math and writing within their first year. Please review the full team description here . To express interest, please fill out this form by noon on Friday, 10/22.   Faculty Core Team posting: The Guided Pathways Core Team seeks a current full-time or pat-time faculty member as a Core Team member. The Core Team is responsible for strategy, planning, and direction of GP work. The team facilitates college-wide implementation of Guided Pathways and gives charge to project teams, including clarification of outcomes and timelines for implementation. Please review the posting here and attached. To express interest, please submit letter of interest and resume/CV to Jennifer Frei by noon on Fri, 10/22.    You may ask why are we seeking a Faculty Core Team member? It is with great gratitude that we say THANK YOU to Jenn Kepka for three years of dedication to launching and leading guided pathways work throughout the college. Jenn’s consistent focus on centering the student experience, equity, and connecting across areas of the college have been highly valued and appreciated. She’s now focusing on supporting students through tutoring.    Finally, if you’ve made it this far, we’ll preview that more opportunities for involvement will be coming soon. Please watch for team recruitment related to additional aspirational areas, including Foundational Seminar and Holistic Student Supports.  [...] Read more...
October 10, 2021Please join us in the Honors Program voice channel on Discord for two workshops this term! If you haven’t joined Discord, contact Ce at RosenowC@lanecc.edu for the link. Workshops: Creating an Academic Resume & Presenting at Conferences, Tuesday, October 26, 4:00-5:00 Publishing Your Work, Tuesday, November 30, 4:00-5:00 [...] Read more...
October 10, 2021Please join us in the Phi Theta Kappa voice channel on Discord for our two chapter meetings and in the Honors Program voice channel on Discord for two workshops this term! If you haven’t joined Discord, contact Ce at RosenowC@lanecc.edu for the link. Chapter Meetings: Tuesday, October 19, 4:00-5:00 Tuesday, November 16, 4:00-5:00 Workshops: Creating an Academic Resume & Presenting at Conferences, Tuesday, October 26, 4:00-5:00 Publishing Your Work, Tuesday, November 30, 4:00-5:00 [...] Read more...
September 8, 2021After many years of supporting the Blog network, Matt Danskin has left his position at Lane Community College and is no longer responsible for maintaining the network. Till additional Information Technology staff is hired, support and requests for new blogs will be handled by system admins at the Academic Technology Center (ATC) and IT will continue to support and maintain the underlying server infrastructure. We are working to catch up with various plugin updates along with testing an adjusted site backup plan/roll-back protection. For those individuals who would like more direct control over their content, themes, and features, it’s recommended that you investigate migrating to Google Sites. Many of the features Google sites supports were not available at the time the blogs network was established and it is now a much easier way for staff, faculty, and even students to share publicly accessible or private content. For questions or concerns, please contact the ATC via email (atc@lanecc.edu) and be sure to include your blog address so that your request can be addressed as quickly as possible. [...] Read more...
September 8, 2021We have three wonderful new officers who will lead our chapter this year: Matt Wakefield, President; Annie Sweet, Vice President of Service; Noni Lundy, Public Relations Officer. Each of them brings excellent skills and a commitment to serving our chapter membership. With their help, we will have an excellent year! Matt Wakefield, President Annie Sweet, Vice President of Service Noni Lundy, Public Relations Officer Thank you to all three leaders for their contributions to our Sigma Zeta Chapter! [...] Read more...
June 14, 2021Hello again everyone! This TIPSS was the last published of this academic year. It looks at data specifically tied to the Title III grant Lane received in 2019. Please review the TIPSS here to find out more! PDF version of TIPSS All of our TIPSS are available on this site any time you’d like to review them. [...] Read more...
June 9, 2021astra.3.5.0 Theme authorizerelementor.3.2.4essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.7.1kadence-blocks(1)nextgen-gallery.3.11ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.23.1ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.7wordfence.7.5.4wp-force-login.5.6.2wp-smushit.3.8.5 [...] Read more...
June 3, 2021There’s a lot going on this summer with teaching and learning! We have something for everyone; workshops, course development projects and expanded support options. Check it out! DTen Virtual TrainingZoom “aLive-Streaming”: Engaging with StudentsCourse Design Intro: Three Sections for Summer 2021Teaching Pairs: Improving Your Online/Hybrid Course: Summer 2021Full Course Development (Create a new course or redesign a course for a new modality)Course Refresh (Improve a current course) For details and more opportunities go to LaneOnline: Course Development and Support Opportunities or visit the ID Services website. [...] Read more...
May 19, 2021WP 5.7.2Kadence BlocksVery Simple Event ListAstra theme [...] Read more...
May 12, 2021Themeastra.3.4.2 Pluginselementor.3.2.3essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.6.6kadence-blocks (1)list-category-posts.0.84.2really-simple-ssl.4.0.15ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.22.4wordfence.7.5.3 [...] Read more...
May 6, 2021Accessibility Challenge!Attention all faculty: we’re throwing down the gauntlet and challenging you to up your accessibility game! The object of the challenge is to learn about accessibility and universal design and how to create accessible documents for your courses. You’ll get to chart your own path by choosing a document and making it accessible. There are four challenges and the time per challenge is estimated at 1-3 hours. You may complete as many or as few challenges as you like. Did we mention prizes? For each challenge you complete you will be entered into a drawing for a prize. The Challenge is open now and runs through May 23. Winners will be announced on June 1. To participate login into Moodle and go to Accessibility Challenge. For more information about the Accessibility Challenge please contact Meredith Keene at keenem@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
April 28, 2021astra.3.3.3elementor.3.2.2essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.6.3h5pkadence-blocks(1)list-category-posts.0.84.1nextgen-gallery.3.9.3panoramic.1.1.14really-simple-ssl.4.0.14so-css.1.2.14twentytwentyone.1.3ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.22.3wp-scheduled-posts.4.0.3 [...] Read more...
April 20, 2021This year I am participating in a Faculty Inquiry Group aimed at improving online pedagogy. We are reading Flower Darby’s Small Teaching Online and working to implement some of Darby’s principles. One of the key principles she encourages is that of student engagement, something I’ve been interested in since 2005 when I worked on a Title III grant whose aim was to improve student engagement. Darby encourages incremental changes over time to improve online teaching and student engagement. With that in mind I went online and found that California is intentionally improving student engagement in its online STEM courses. It calls this process “Humanizing” an online course. I’m fascinated by this idea and am working to humanize my own humanities class. The first thing I’ve done is to begin a “Liquid Syllabus” template that I will develop in Fall 2021. More about that here. [...] Read more...
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April 13, 2021Congratulations to Annie Sweet for having her poem accepted for presentation at the Western Regional Honors Conference this month! This annual conference is sponsored by the Western Regional Honors Council and is open to students in honors programs across the country that belong to the WRHC. Annie read “Annie Wildwood,” at the one-day, virtual conference. [...] Read more...
April 7, 2021Pluginsauthorizerdecent-comments.1.10.0essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.6.0kadence-blocks(1)nextgen-gallery.3.9.1qubely.1.6.8really-simple-ssl.4.0.13ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.22.2wordfence.7.5.2wp-smushit.3.8.4 Themesastra.3.3.1weaver-xtreme.4.4.7 [...] Read more...
April 6, 2021Several honors courses included honors-level undergraduate research this term. Students in Stanley Coleman’s COMM 111_H Public Speaking – Honors class completed an honors research project as part of the course requirements. Isaiah Contreras’s Research Paper Casey Nagai’s Research Paper Samantha Wilson’s Research Paper   John Adair and Lille Youngbauer completed ART 115_H Basic Design – Honors with artist and instructor, Kathleen Caprario. From the assignment instructions: “It’s often said that there’s nothing really all that new under the sun. That history repeats itself and that the “new” is actually the old, just dressed up differently to seek out a contemporary audience. So, is that true? And, what are the iterations possible for similar ideas given a different cultural point of view and time? Are there similarities in intention, need and purpose that continue to inform the bulk of what is labeled “new,” with the radical, never-before-seen actually being an exception and anomaly? Begin by researching and selecting two different artists or artistic/cultural movements to compare and contrast. You will be considering these creative and cultural examples, one from the past and one contemporary that, despite different time periods, have similarities based on form, function and aesthetics. Make sure that there is a discernible difference between the two in terms of time period and technologies that will allow for you to fully consider the contrasts and outcomes between the two.” Read their research papers: John Adair’s Research Paper Lille Youngbauer’s Research Paper   In Alexandria Nanneman’s ARH 209_H  History of Japanese Art – Honors class, Perry Wright completed an undergraduate research project.  Perry Wright’s Research Paper    In WR 227_H Technical Writing – Honors, students completed a research project and a reflection on that project. The following reflections were written specifically to be shared on this blog. They include links to the students’ formal analytical reports, where they present their findings as to whether PowerPoint or Prezi is the most appropriate presentation software for various audiences. Noni Lundy’s Reflection Zain Shah’s Reflection Trenton Tomlin’s Reflection Matt Wakefield’s Reflection [...] Read more...
March 31, 2021We are so proud of this year’s members of the All Oregon Academic Team: Deepti Gautam (Engineering), Nora Jackson (Dental Hygiene), and Shawna Staff (Computer Programming). All three students are members of the Lane Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa. A special shout out goes to Nora Jackson for being selected as one of the featured speakers! Even though the awards ceremony has been cancelled because of COVID-19, Nora’s speech will be recorded and available to view. Congratulations to all three team members!   Deepti Gautam Nora Jackson Shawna Staff [...] Read more...
March 31, 2021Thanks to Georgia May and Kyla Ramsey for another great edition of the newsletter! Please enjoy the features, interviews, and information they have included! [...] Read more...
March 22, 2021Pluginscontent-views-query-and-display-post-page.2.4.0.1essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.5.4kadence-blocksqubely.1.6.7subscribe2.10.35ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.21.1weaverx-theme-support.4.4.5wp-accessibility.1.7.7 Themesastra.3.2.0weaver-xtreme.4.4.5 [...] Read more...
March 10, 2021WordPress v5.7 – Esperanza was released this week.  Several very nice new and updated features.  Learn more here…   WordPress 5.7 “Esperanza” Along with the major version update, many plugins and themes were also updated to maintain compatibility. Pluginsantispam-bee.2.9.4authorizercaldera-forms.1.9.4content-views-query-and-display-post-page.2.4.0elementor.3.1.4essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.5.3kadence-blocksnextgen-gallery.3.8.0really-simple-ssl.4.0.11regenerate-thumbnails.3.1.5ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.21.0ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.6wp-latest-posts.4.8.8wp-scheduled-posts.4.0.2 Themesastra.3.1.2panoramic.1.1.11siteorigin-north.1.18.0twentyeleven.3.7twentyfifteen.2.9twentyfourteen.3.1twentysixteen.2.4twentyten.3.3twentythirteen.3.3 As always, if you see any problems with your blog, please contact me here. [...] Read more...
March 5, 2021The Counseling Center is offering Preparing for Finals workshops.   Students can select one of the links below or go to lhttps://www.lanecc.edu/cc to sign up.     Preparing for Finals Workshops: Know what you need to know then apply these action steps:  Make a detailed plan in your planning tools  Organize your course materials and study tools  Develop a study plan  Carry through with your plan  Remember the basics of self-care Preparing for Finals – Mon. Mar. 8th, 8:30 am Preparing for Finals – Wed. Mar. 10th, 3:30 pm Preparing for Finals – Thurs. Mar. 11th, 4:00 pm [...] Read more...
March 5, 2021The Counseling Center is offering Preparing for Finals workshops.   Students can select one of the links below or go to lhttps://www.lanecc.edu/cc to sign up.     Preparing for Finals Workshops: Know what you need to know then apply these action steps:  Make a detailed plan in your planning tools  Organize your course materials and study tools  Develop a study plan  Carry through with your plan  Remember the basics of self-care Preparing for Finals – Mon. Mar. 8th, 8:30 am Preparing for Finals – Wed. Mar. 10th, 3:30 pm Preparing for Finals – Thurs. Mar. 11th, 4:00 pm [...] Read more...
March 5, 2021Consider running for office! We’ll hold elections early in Spring Term for next year’s officers. Holding office is a great experience that builds leadership skills and provides a good line for your resume. It’s also a fun chance to work with other students in our Sigma Zeta Chapter. Review the list of offices and their responsibilities.    You may run for as many offices as you like, but if you are elected to more than one, you will have to choose only one office to hold.   Send Ce Rosenow (RosenowC@lanecc.edu) the office or offices for which you are running along with a single paragraph per office explaining why you want to hold that office and what skills you will bring to the job.   Due: 5:00 pm, Friday, March 12. [...] Read more...
February 23, 2021WordPress v5.6.2 Pluginsauthorizeressential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.5.1kadence-blocksnextgen-gallery.3.7.0qubely.1.6.5really-simple-ssl.4.0.9ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.5very-simple-event-listwp-smushit.3.8.3 [...] Read more...
February 13, 2021It’s been a while since we had a blog post! Guided Pathways work has continued this year, though like most campus projects and operations, we’ve been slowed by the pandemic and its imposed limitations. To keep the campus updated, this week the Core Team developed and delivered this presentation for Learning Council. It reviews both where we are now and some aspirations for next year. We invite comments and questions here and through email, and we hope that everyone can find ways to incorporate student-centered information into their work at Lane. [...] Read more...
February 10, 2021Consider sharing your work from a previous or current class at these two events! They are open to a wide variety of projects and presentation types. The University of Oregon Undergraduate Research Symposium takes place May 27. You can be on a panel, read a paper, show an academic poster, share creative work including performances, or share a five-minute data story where you just explain a project you are working on that isn’t finished. Register by 5:00 pm April 12 here: https://undergradsymposium.uoregon.edu/symposium-abstract-submission. You just need to confirm you’ll participate, give the title of your work, and select the type of work you’ll be presenting. The event will be virtual and is free. The Lane Community College Undergraduate Research Fair takes place the week of May 24. You can share an academic poster, read a paper, participate in the ePortfolio Showcase, or present a creative work. Here is the link to the Google form to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVAjMj9KuN7Ccmf_uVFl19MFWYp7OP6lIGIyaJ_F-mf1LqYA/viewform. The event is free and will be virtual. [...] Read more...
February 10, 2021There are a lot of events and opportunities coming up that you are eligible for in part because of your membership in the Lane Honors Program! Check them out!   CONFERENCES   These events are excellent lines for your resume and for a variety of applications. Think about projects you have already completed for a class or a project you are working on this term.   1.The Western Regional Honors Conference is having a virtual conference in April. If you would like to present a paper, creative work, or academic poster at this event, you need to submit your proposal here https://www.suu.edu/wrhc2021/ prior to the deadline of February 16th, 2021. Once they group the presentations, you’ll upload your work and just give a short overview of it at your session. Then you, the other students presenting, and members like me in the Zoom audience will have a discussion and ask questions. Registration will open after the proposal deadline has passed. Early registration is $25 by April 1 and $40 after April 1. The conference is April 10. The Lane Honors Program will pay early registration for up to eight honors students! You do not have to present to attend; however, presenting is a good experience to get comfortable try it out! 2.The University of Oregon Undergraduate Research Symposium takes place May 27. You can be on a panel, read a paper, show an academic poster, share creative work including performances, or share a five-minute data story where you just explain a project you are working on that isn’t finished. Register by 5:00 pm April 12 here: https://undergradsymposium.uoregon.edu/symposium-abstract-submission. You just need to confirm you’ll participate, give the title of your work, and select the type of work you’ll be presenting. The event will be virtual and is free. 3.The Lane Community College Undergraduate Research Fair takes place the week of May 24. You can share an academic poster, read a paper, participate in the ePortfolio Showcase, or present a creative work. Here is the link to the Google form to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVAjMj9KuN7Ccmf_uVFl19MFWYp7OP6lIGIyaJ_F-mf1LqYA/viewform. The event is free and will be virtual.   POETRY READING BY LENARD D. MOORE This event counts as one of the three academic/cultural events you can attend to fulfill your experiential learning requirement for the Honors Program.   Moore is a renowned jazz poet, the author of six collections of poetry, the former president of the Haiku Society of America, and the 2020-2021 Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives. Please attend his reading on February 23 from 4:00-5:00 on Zoom. RSVP to the Honors Faculty Coordinator, Ce Rosenow, at RosenowC@lanecc.edu for the Zoom link!   SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO THE PALOUSE REVIEW   The Palouse Review showcases the literary, creative, and scholarly talents of honors students of the Western Regional Honors Council. They accept short fiction, nonfiction, scholarship, poetry, photography & visual art, music, and digital multimedia. Submit your work to the May 1, 2021 Edition of The Palouse Review. The deadline for the upcoming edition is April 1, 2021. To see the current edition and previous editions, please visit https://palousereview.wsu.edu/.   [...] Read more...
February 9, 2021Corewordpress-5.6.1 Pluginsauthorizerelementor.3.1.1essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.5.0kadence-blocks(1)qubely.1.6.4really-simple-ssl.4.0.8so-css.1.2.13ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.4 Themesastra.3.0.2panoramic.1.1.09 [...] Read more...
February 8, 2021Position: Director, Small Business Development Center Life at Lane: Robert Killen will celebrate his two-year anniversary at Lane in May and has spent his career supporting the growth of small businesses as a banker, consultant, nonprofit executive, and most recently, as the membership development director at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Through his work at the Springfield Chamber,  he began working closely with LCC’s SBDC team and that collaboration prompted him to consider a role with the SBDC two years ago. Life Before Lane: Robert spent the first decade of his professional life in art/design and branding, then made the shift to finance, which started him on a path to help small businesses grow. Let’s Get Personal: Robert and his wife have three “mostly-grown boys.” He’s “very proud” of his wife, who is a 4J school administrator and the couple live in Coburg. Robert says while he doesn’t have much time for hobbies these days, he does enjoy playing music. He and his wife met through their mutual appreciation of music while students at the University of Oregon and at one time, they performed in a choir together. Music remains a major part of their lives, though, lately, the couple’s attention has been focused on helping our community in their respective roles during the pandemic.  Q: What interested you in your current position? A: When I found my way to the Chamber of Commerce, I actually thought I was going to retire with chambers because I love what chambers do, but the opportunity to focus my attention on education and training of business owners was too good to pass up. I was excited to take this position. I grew up in a household where my dad had his own business. Even though at the time, I didn’t realize how it impacted me, I gravitated toward positions and opportunities that would allow me to help small business owners. I was 10 years or more into my profession when I realized I wanted to help business owners. I became a business banker and from that point on, in any position I took, I’d try to help small businesses and/or nonprofits that really drive community. They are the heart of community. So for me, it’s exciting to help businesses succeed and help businesses launch new ideas. It’s an absolute joy.   Q: Tell us about your role at the SBDC as director.  A: My initial outreach was not specifically to prospective clients, but partner development and reaching out to entities that serve businesses, because we, the SBDC, should be the first phone call any business makes when they have a question. That doesn’t mean that we may have the answer, but we should know where to send them. Through my work at the chamber, I came to realize that there’s no obstacle that a business faces that there’s not someone who has a job to help them overcome that. The problem is historically, we’ve lacked a good way to connect business owners to the right resources in a timely fashion, so when I came here I made it my priority to make as many connections as I could with organizations. That turned into a product: the Lane Business Link portal. It’s a searchable database for businesses to find an organization to help them with their questions or provide support.  Q: How has that changed in the past year?  A: Once COVID came, then, everything had to change. Businesses were struggling and wanting to learn about these new programs that were coming out. We are the primary resource for information about stimulus programs for businesses. We have a direct relationship with the Small Business Administration (SBA), so they expect that we’ll be the experts. I present to businesses about stimulus programs. I continued with that through the fall and then there were new factors: wildfires, social unrest and new stimulus programs from the State and County. It was our job to make sense of all that and get that information out to business. I am proud of the number of business owners we’ve helped. We’ve also changed how we do business as a team. We moved to telephone or video advising and adapted in positive ways that will serve us well in the future even when this is over. We’ve learned new skills to allow us to reach more business owners and reach into rural Lane County and do our job better for more business owners.  Q: Have you had to alter how you approach your role? A: It’s certainly changed. I can’t say that it’s harder. I think in many cases it’s easier to reach people because everyone is so accessible through video. We’ve become comfortable with that.  Our work has become more efficient, and in some ways, more effective. However, nothing replaces in-person meetings to establish rapport and a relationship, but we can’t do that now and we’re making the most of the situation.  Q: Is there a demand for SBDC services right now? How is the SBDC helping businesses in our community during the pandemic? A:  This is our Olympics. In the history of the SBDC, which turns 41 nationwide this year, there has never been or will be a time that SBDC has been more important. We are small business owners’ connection to federal stimulus and strategies for resilience. Whether it’s a 1099 contractor or a business with up to 500 employees, we’re the first contact about these programs. We saw an extraordinary increase for requests for advising and information in 2020. The recorded impact only represents a third of the total impact we created in helping businesses figure out how to access these resources. We are and we continue to be more necessary than at any point in our history.  Q: What do you think other LCC employees may not realize – or be surprised by – about the SBDC and its services? A: I think a lot of people — a lot of businesses and the public don’t know the breadth of our programming. Even now, what people do know us for now is that we provide information and guidance regarding these stimulus packages, but our core work is free and confidential advising for business owners at any stage from beginning to exit. We talk to them about whatever they want to talk about to help them grow. We offer specialized services with statewide teams for those who want to enter global trade.  We have a capital access team to help them apply for funding. We have ongoing classes, including a brand new course that started in January: a microenterprise course developed in response to a grant at the city of Eugene to help those interested in launching new businesses. Then, at the same time, at the other end of the spectrum, we offer Small Business Management. It’s a three-year cohort model that businesses have been praising for 38 years. We have a lot to be proud of. We also know we have a lot of opportunity to get even better.  Q: Any personal practices you’ve started during the pandemic?  A: I have had to get good at Zoom and I took that a step forward to implement an actual green screen and software that allows me to do more sophisticated video recordings. I do a lot of video recording. We are using this as an opportunity to get good at delivering online training.  Q: What are you most looking forward to when we can use the term: post-pandemic?  A: I miss my team. I enjoy being in the downtown center. Because they’ve made changes to the center, they’ve moved our offices from the third to the first floor, so we have a lot of unpacking to do. That doesn’t particularly excite me, but it will be fun to be back in the office and meet new people since the city offices will be located there. It will be celebratory to go into a live meeting with people again. It will be a fun time when we can do that again. I’m looking forward to that human connection. Some things won’t go back to normal, my team of advisors will likely stick to virtual advising and do face-to-face when needed, but now, we have a different option and we have new tools to make good on our commitment to serve more of Lane County, like our rural areas in Oakridge, Cottage Grove, and Florence.   [...] Read more...
February 1, 2021Our website has nearly fifty pages with the word “Contact” in the title. For us, this has actually been our standard for a long time: we’ve always tried to make the bottom link in a menu a contact page. But, in designing the website, we started to believe this was the wrong approach. First, many department homepages work better as contact pages. Why  make someone click a link, just to see what the phone number for a department is? Second, many of those contact pages ended up reproducing pages in the employee directory. Why have duplicate pages? And, since the employee directory updates directly from Banner, it’s much less likely to be out of date than a manually updated page. On the new site, we’ll be introducing the support block on pages, and eliminating many of those contact pages. Here’s an example of a draft support block on the Continuing Education site: The support block supports a little bit of variation, and we’ll be able to do things like showcase people, include logos, and add additional yellow buttons. We’re hoping this will result in a standardized look and feel for our contact information, while allowing us to substantially reduce the size of the website. Of course, this means we need to fix any data quality issues in the employee directory. Be sure to check out your listing in the directory, and use the edit button at the bottom of the page to make corrections. For extra credit, check your department’s listing, and see if anything is missing. [...] Read more...
January 26, 2021Pluginselementor.3.1.0essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.4.0kadence-blocks.zipreally-simple-ssl.4.0.7.zipredirection.zipultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.20.1.zipultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.3.zipvoid-elementor-post-grid-addon-for-elementor-page-builder.2.1.8.zipwp-latest-posts.4.8.7.zip Themesastra.3.0.1.zipsiteorigin-north.1.17.19.zipweaver-xtreme.4.4.4.1.zip [...] Read more...
January 26, 2021Work-Life at Lane: Lori began working at Lane in June 1991 as a work-study student in the Financial Aid Office. She was hired as a full-time employee in 1993 as she continued her studies at the University of Oregon, where she completed her Bachelor of Science degree in anthropology. As a UO student, she took a course in HTML coding and development and at the time, did not know just how much it would shape her future at Lane. Lori helped create a great deal of the content for Lane’s first website and continued working on the site as webmaster after a transfer to computer services/IT, providing support and ensuring our website stays relevant, accurate, and helpful for our students and community. She continued in that position for 22 years before the web team was moved to Marketing where she continues in the same role.  Personal Look: Lori and her husband enjoy camping and fishing and a few years ago purchased a fifth-wheel travel trailer that has enabled them to safely enjoy the scenic outdoors during the pandemics. Her husband retired a few years ago and they’re both looking forward to Lori’s retirement at the end of 2022, so they can travel more and enjoy retirement together.  Q: Tell us a bit about your role at Lane. What’s an average day like, is there an average day? A: Because of where we are in the redesign of the website, there isn’t an average day. The part of the current website that will be included in the new website has been frozen and all updates come through me. So each day I take care of any updates as they come in. Then, I continue the work to review, reformat, and organize the pages that have been migrated into the new temporary site while learning how to do all that in the newer version of Drupal that the new site is in.  Q: How has working remotely impacted your work and/or the way you do your work? A: I have been telecommuting quite a bit for years so other than not seeing anyone in person at all, nothing has changed. Q: You’re currently working on our web redesign. What can we expect when that work is done? A: The biggest change most people will notice is that right from the front page, it will be immediately apparent that everything, from the design to the content to the organization of pages is designed with a focus on prospective students. You can follow along on our blog at blogs.lanecc.edu/webteam. We’ll be posting some previews there in the coming months. Q: How has going remote changed any thoughts or practices on how we approach our web design and content?A: It’s made it more clear that there have to be things in place for not going to campus to accomplish pretty much everything. Meeting with people, turning in forms, conducting business with the college — anything that was done with a paper form had to be rethought. We were already focused on mobile-first for our web content display to make sure it was easier for a lot of people to do what they needed to do from wherever. What we worked on for the first couple of weeks was migrating paper forms to web forms so that business could be done digitally and on getting information online as departments figured out doing a lot of things with zoom.  Q: What do you think other LCC employees may not realize — or be surprised by  — about the role of our web team?  A: We coordinate vacations and other time off, so that someone is available 24/7 to make changes to the site, if needed, including in the event of an emergency or a closure. And, not only do we maintain the current website, we maintain old versions in an archive site, so you can see how things have changed, including looking at the homepage from the earliest years we have in the archive. Q: What are you most looking forward to when we can use the term: post-pandemic? A: Seeing people in person. Many milestones have passed by without gathering to be together to celebrate, mourn, encourage, and just be together.    [...] Read more...
January 25, 2021One of the changes we’ll be introducing in the new website is a better integration with 25 Live, our event scheduling system. If you’re hosting and event, and would like to get it on your website, rather than asking us to do it, and going several rounds via email to get something on there, you’ll instead schedule it on 25 Live (which, to reserve a room, you’d do anyway) and tag it so it shows up on the website. That’s it – somewhere around fifteen minutes later, the event will just show up. It’ll look like this: You see the problem: it looks like we only have one governance council. Going forward, if your event is open to the public, it’s going to be incredibly important to make sure to get that scheduled on 25 Live. If you don’t, it simply won’t show up. But here’s one potentially confusing thing: that “More Events” Button takes you to our all events age, rather than taking you to a list of events tagged like in the view (in this case, governance events). That might be something we reevaluate in the future, as we better understand the capabilities of the new integration, but it will be several weeks yet. [...] Read more...
January 19, 2021I’ve had a lot of questions on the content freeze recently, and I’d like to clear one of those up: there’s no end date on the freeze. Part of that is practical: until the website launches, we need to make updates to both the old and new site whenever there’s a content changes. But even after launch, we’re not going to be immediately adding a bunch of accounts. Last time, we had a massive training program where literally hundreds of people learned to use the website to make edits. In retrospect, this was a bad idea: Many people took the training without ever making any changes to the website (only about 1 in 3 accounts on the website is even active anymore, and we’ve deleted dozens of accounts who never made edits) Most people don’t make many edits to the site. Excluding Lori and me, over the last 9 years, the average user has only made about 100 edits – about one per month since launch. There are only 11 people, including 2 retirees, who have made more than 600 page edits since we started. By contrast, Lori has made more than 16,000.* Of course, there are some outliers who have made over a thousand edits – more on them in a minute. Providing web editing access to hundreds of people ensured that our website would never have a consistent voice. Even today, there are sections written in very academic sounding third person, sometimes right next to a more casual 2nd person. If we’re going to provide a good experience to prospective students, this needs to stop. Right now our focus is on launching the website. Once we’ve launched, and have a better handle on how we’ll handle user permissions, we’ll start exploring ways to help get our really frequent website users more involved. But whatever that process, it will be very slow, and very deliberate. * These numbers are actually more complicated than this, since we’ve deleted thousands of pages, and I can’t capture those edits in these statistics. Since those pages were often the least edited pages, Lori’s total edits should be several thousand higher.  [...] Read more...
January 15, 2021Pluginsadmin-notices-manager.1.1.0akismet.4.1.8elementor.3.0.16essential-addons-for-elementor-litekadence-blocks(1)really-simple-ssl.4.0.6wp-accessibility.1.7.6wp-latest-posts.4.8.6wp-scheduled-posts.4.0.1 Themesastra.3.0.0 [...] Read more...
January 11, 2021Join your faculty colleagues and an instructional designer in a five-week online course covering current research and best practices around online teaching. This course is self-paced, asynchronous and paid at 20hrs at CD rate. There will be a non-mandatory open lab offered each week via Zoom. At the end of this training, you’ll have a plan built for your next online course, and perhaps a new understanding of what students experience in the online realm. Please note: If you were previously enrolled in a different session but want to return at a more leisurely pace, drop us a line! Any faculty member teaching online, remote, or hybrid this year is eligible to participate. Questions? Contact IDservices@lanecc.edu. Session: Winter term, Weeks 4-8, Jan. 25-Feb 27, Instructor: Meredith Keene, Session registration: Register here for Winter Term (opens on Jan. 25Session: Spring term, (Dates TBD) Instructor: Kevin Steeves [...] Read more...
January 11, 2021Join your faculty colleagues and an instructional designer in a five-week online course covering current research and best practices around online teaching. This course is self-paced, asynchronous and paid at 20hrs at CD rate. There will be a non-mandatory open lab offered each week via Zoom. At the end of this training, you’ll have a [...] Read more...
January 11, 2021The last few weeks, we’ve been testing every component of the website in every browser, operating system, and device combination we can come up with. Every time we find an issue (like, in Firefox only, a certain menu doesn’t correctly cover another menu), we file a ticket with iFactory, and they get to work fixing it. We’ve also been working on our content. This helps testing, since we’re doing real world tasks with the website as we test. But working on content has made me realize there’s a lot more to do than I thought. For instance, when we build the website back in 2011-2012, our primary focus was on an initial cleanup, and many of our pages were imported from the original website without substantial changes.  Often, that means they were built under the mistaken assumption that no one would scroll beneath the fold.  At the time, we thought most big monitors people had would be 1440 x 900 pixels. The monitor I’m writing this on today has a viewport almost three times that size, and 11 times as many pixels. Many of our pages from our current site simply look empty on the new site.  Some are so short that their content isn’t provided in a context that matters – if you landed on that page from a search, you might not know how what you’re looking at relates to anything else. Reworking all of those by, for instance, moving a page with a standalone Flickr slideshow into a slideshow widget on a page that tells you about what you’re seeing, takes some time. Since, despite the cleanup efforts we’ve made in the last several years, there are still more than a thousand pages on the website right now, it’s going to take us some time to go through those. There’s almost 400 open tasks on our list of things to do before we launch, and those are just the tasks I’ve built – that number should be a lot higher. Consequently, there’s no launch date to announce yet. Hopefully I’ll have more to report next status post.   [...] Read more...
January 5, 2021Several students completed the honors sections of WR 227 Technical Writing. Here are their reflections on their research, written specifically to be shared on this blog. The reflections also include links to their formal analytical reports, where they present their findings as to whether PowerPoint or Prezi is the most appropriate presentation software for various audiences.   Devin Daniels’ Reflection Alicia Foster’s Reflection Deepti Gautam’s Reflection Donald Laskey’s Reflection Hanna McGuinness’s Reflection Jeanna Metcalfe’s Reflection Casey Nagai’s Reflection Ryan Rebello’s Reflection Mariah Vohland’s Reflection Micki Williamson’s Reflection [...] Read more...
January 5, 2021Don’t miss this term’s Honors Orientation and Information Session! We’ll go over program requirements and upcoming opportunities. We’ll also review how to register for the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium! When: January 29, 2021; 4:00-5:00 Where: Zoom (see your Lane email for the link) [...] Read more...
January 5, 2021Since we were still off campus in the fall because of the pandemic, I wanted to provide virtual spaces where the honors students could connect both with the program and with each other. I assumed that Zoom would be the obvious choice since many faculty were using it in their classes and the students would be familiar with it. I held the Honors Orientation using Zoom. Several new students and some students who had been in the program since last year attended. We reviewed  program requirements, discussed publishing opportunities and upcoming events, and then mostly used the time to actually see and talk with one another. Zoom worked really well for this kind of event. It also worked for the reading by New York Times bestselling author, Laurie Notaro. People registered in advance and received the Zoom link. Notaro read from her work and answered questions. Her humor was a welcome relief from the stress of the pandemic, civil unrest, and the wildfires that had devastated parts of Oregon. When it came time to create a virtual honors lounge to substitute for the physical lounge space we had created on campus, I thought Zoom would be fine. The campus lounge served students from the Honors Program, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and the Sigma Chi Eta National Communication Association. Groups held meetings there, PTK officers held office hours there, and people just dropped by to socialize or ask questions. When I suggested to the PTK officers that we use Zoom for a lounge space, however, Brian and Nadira recommended using Discord instead. Kyla, the Honors newsletter editor, also recommended Discord.  I knew about Discord, but I hadn’t really used it, and I only really understood why it worked better for a virtual lounge when a few of the students helped me set it up. Discord is an instant messaging and digital distribution platform. Everyone who joins the server can communicate in real time using video, voice, or text. It’s also easy to keep everything organized. Sigma Chi Eta didn’t participate in the lounge, but Honors and PTK did, so we set up text and voice channels for both groups. We also set up channels for the student lounge and for upcoming events. We held PTK chapter meetings in the PTK voice channel. Student leaders in the Honors Program and PTK held two hours a week in the student lounge channel to answer questions and connect with other students. At Kyla’s recommendation, I made some of the student leaders monitors, as well, so that they could make sure the communications were appropriate and also move discussions out of one channel and into another if they were accidentally happening in the wrong space. When someone joins Honors or PTK, I send them the link to join the Discord server. So many of the students were already using Discord for socializing and classes that they were already comfortable with it. We are continuing to use it this term, and I would like to find more ways to make it a place to create and support community. I can see Zoom continuing to be useful, as well. I may draw on some of the ideas my colleagues at other honors programs have shared. At the National Collegiate Honors Council’s virtual conference, I participated on a panel about virtual honors spaces. Al Golden (Joliet Junior College, Illinois), Trista M. Merrill (Finger Lakes Community College, New York), Kathleen Sullivan Stephens (Dallas College, Richland Campus, Texas), and I recorded our session on Zoom in September. They offered activities including taking virtual tours of a city, using Smule for karaoke events, setting up honors penpals, and holding virtual dance parties. The session was shared with people who registered for the conference. It is clear to me after my experiences this fall that we need to not only continue with virtual honors spaces but further develop them. They are obviously needed while we are still off campus, but they could also be beneficial as ways to connect students who are only taking online classes or have schedules that prevent them from coming to campus for events. It was a bit of a crash course in creating our first virtual honors spaces, but the benefits are clear and the possibilities are exciting. [...] Read more...
January 4, 2021Lots of updates to start the new year. Version 5.6 Pluginscaldera-forms.1.9.3elementor.3.0.15essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.3.9kadence-blocksnextgen-gallery.3.5.0page-links-to.3.3.5qubely.1.6.3so-css.1.2.12tinymce-advanced.5.6.0ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.19.0ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.2very-simple-event-listvoid-elementor-post-grid-addon-for-elementor-page-builder.2.1.7wp-accessibility.1.7.5wp-smushit.3.8.2 Themesastra.2.6.2panoramic.1.1.08siteorigin-north.1.17.18twenty-nineteen.1.9twentytwentyone.1.1weaver-xtreme.4.4.3 [...] Read more...
December 21, 2020Since we first announced the freeze, most of the questions we’ve received have been about webforms. That’s understandable, since forms are complicated, but often critical to our workflows. They need to just work. This post is going to try to provide some clarification. Moving our forms into the new website Unfortunately for all of us, the migration scripts can’t move webforms from the old to the new website. That means we’re going to need to rebuild each form individually. How we do that depends on if a form only contains transient data and the form is part of a workflow. When we get to a point where we’re starting to build forms, our first step will be to disable form editing across the site, to make sure none of the forms change while we’re moving them. This will only impact form editing: you’ll still be able to view form results, people will still be able to submit forms, and you’ll still be able to edit form submissions (if that’s something you do). The simplest cases are forms that only contain transient data. Often these are contact forms, like the advising contact form or the Board contact form. Submissions to those are relayed to an email address as soon as someone hits submit, and then the submission can essentially be forgotten. For these forms, we’ll build them on the new site, and they’ll go live at the same time as the new site. On the other hand, you may have a form that collects submissions for a period of time, and then you download them all at once and don’t use the form for another year (e.g. an event registration form). For these, we’ll rebuild the form, but not take it live until we know you’ve been able to download your responses (if applicable) and are good with us switching over. The most complex forms are the ones that have hidden fields that you use as part of a workflow. An example might be a form where someone submits it, and then you edit a hidden field to note that you’ve reviewed the submission and approved it. For these, we’ll rebuild them, but again work with you to make sure you’re good with us switching them over. We don’t anticipate any interruptions: forms should continue to function and be available throughout the entire process. Old submissions Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to migrate form submissions from the old site to the new site. In some forms, this doesn’t matter. But if you do want to save old submissions, at some point you’ll need to download them to your computer. But there’s no hurry yet: we’ll send out reminder emails in the spring. Drupal Webforms vs Softdocs I’ve been asked a lot of questions about if a certain form should be moved to Softdocs, if Softdocs is more secure, if Softdocs is going to replace Drupal, and if Drupal webforms are going to go away. Softdocs is an authenticated form and lightweight workflow solution. Drupal is a generalized content management system, with a bunch of plugins that can be used to make it do almost anything. While, superficially there’s some overlap, in reality they solve different problems. We need both. Softdocs will hopefully replace a lot of the PDFs we have on campus, and  lead to more efficient workflows since it directly integrates with Banner. It provides authenticated forms, which legally meet the requirements for an e-signature. If you have a form where you need to verify the identity of the person submitting it, and you’re certain anyone submitting the form will have an L Number, you want to use Softdocs. Drupal will continue to have a webform component. It will never integrate with Banner. There’s a limit to how complicated the forms can be (Softdocs allows you access to the HTML, so you can do much more). But since the forms are branded, integrated into your website, never require authentication, and are quick to create or edit, they’re very appropriate for collecting information from people not yet affiliated with the college. Neither one is really more secure than the other – one just provides identity verification. If you have a form that requires identify verification, is more of an internal process, or a form which would be improved by integrating with Banner, then you should move it to Softdocs.   [...] Read more...
December 14, 2020Last week, we finally got a glimpse at the new website, live and working in browser. Things look great! This first look was just to make sure there wasn’t anything on the backend that would keep us from being able to work on content throughout the rest of December. We’re looking forward to having greater access later this week. Please continue to email us any updates to your website. [...] Read more...
December 9, 2020A major revision update has been released for WordPress (v5.6) but I am holding off on updating the blog network for a week. With major revision updates often come surprise problems that get fixed fairly quickly. v5.5.x that we are running is stable and secure, so I will likely wait for v5.6.1 to update. Pluginsbetter-search-replacecontent-views-query-and-display-post-page v2.3.4kadence-blocksqubely v1.6.2really-simple-ssl v4.0.5very-simple-event-listweaver-xtreme v4.4.1wordfence v7.4.14 Themestwentyten v3.2twentyeleven v3.6twentytwelve v3.3twentythirteen v3.2twentyfourteen v3.0twentyfifteen v2.8twentysixteen v2.3twentytwenty v1.6 [...] Read more...
December 8, 2020Last Friday night I officially locked out edits on most of the pages mentioned in our previous post, and then Sunday night I shipped all the locked nodes off to be imported into our new site. Here’s our timeline right now: 12/4 – Site Frozen 12/6 – Database sent off to development 12/7-12/8  – Database migrated into the new site 12/9 – Initial training in the new site, and the start of the QA process 12/18 – Second training in the new site, finalize QA Early January – Migrate the site to the campus data center For us, one of the most intense parts of the web design process starts this upcoming Wednesday. When our content is migrated into the database, it’ll be stored close to how it is now. For each of the 2061 pages we’re migrating in, Lori and I will need to reformat them using the design components we’ve been provided, rework the content, add media, and appropriately add them to our menus. I’ve been asked a number of times this last week when we expect things to go live, and right now the answer is: we don’t know. That will depend entirely on how quickly we can get that content work done. The last few days last week were one the busiest periods of edits we’ve ever had. Thank you to everyone that helped squeeze those in, since they saved us from double entry! [...] Read more...
December 7, 2020Current position: Success Coach since September 2019 Work Life Before Lane: Glenda is a lifelong educator and prior to joining Lane was the site administrator for an adult education program that served more than 12,000 students in southern California. She holds a Ph.D. in human development.  Prior Work at Lane: Glenda has worked at Lane for nearly seven years and previously was an adjunct faculty member for ABSE and ESL. She also has assisted with qualitative data analysis work in support of student success. Personal Look: Her second grandchild (a granddaughter) was born recently. She has three adult children and a 3-year-old grandson. “I’m a happy mom and grandma.” She plans to retire at the end of December. Q: What interested you in your current position?  A: It was my dream job to be able to work one-on-one with students. That was my sole purpose to help them. When you teach, you’re helping them, but you have multiple students. As a coach, i feel like I can interact more and find out really how I can help and share the resources. A lot of them don’t know what’s available at Lane. Lane is crazy full of opportunities for them and the community.  Q: Tell us about your role as a success coach. What is it and do students find you … or do you find students?  A: Prior to this year, I was more involved with counselors and students who needed help meeting Academic Progress Standards. I’d be a liaison between the counselors and students. If they were having academic challenges. I’d set up appointments for them to meet with the counselor and help them navigate resources and identify solutions. My role has evolved since we’re not putting students on alert now while we’re in our remote environment. Now, I’m working primarily with First Year Experience students and providing support as they navigate the Moodle course. I still get referrals from Early Outreach, tutors, retention counselors and financial aid as I have built up rapports with them and am eager to help our students. Q: Have you had to alter how you approach your job as a success coach during the pandemic? If so, how?  A: We’re now working largely through email and I think a lot of our students aren’t used to communicating or focusing on email. So, when I learned I could request a phone, I decided to get one. I love having it because going back and forth on email with a student, it takes a little longer because they don’t always immediately respond like some of us to email. Sometimes, it could take a few days or longer to get their issue resolved just by email. Before, students also would come to our office. There’s something to be said by talking to someone face to face. You can tell by their body language if they’re anxious or nervous and through email, you can’t tell. Phone is tricky, too. I miss that authentic way of communicating. We have to adapt to that. Like everyone else, we need to be more patient. The empathy is certainly still there. I feel for them. This is tough. Also, just being in the same workspace is helpful. Cheryl (Shaw) and I worked well together and with the part-time coaches. If there was a student that had an issue that we didn’t know how to deal with it, we had the other coaches there and we could bounce ideas off each other. Or, I could walk over and bring in a counselor. Now, I have to text or email them and it’s a slower process. I’m afraid that we may lose some students in the process. I think younger people want immediate results or immediate solutions and that’s hard. We’re all doing the best we can. I also miss the camaraderie and support of counselors and success coaches.  Q: Are you receiving questions that you didn’t hear/read prior to the pandemic? If so, what are some of them?  A: Yes. Some of the things I hear: I’m fine but my teacher has no idea what’ he’s doing (technology-wise). My friends and I decided we’re just going to be patient with him. That’s not very often, but it just goes to show that everyone, regardless of one’s role, is struggling with this new normal. We have students who have Internet access challenges. I refer them to the SHeD. I just had a student who was having problems learning chemistry remotely, so I referred them to the tutoring center. Most of the students we’d see are new students, or those that are not necessarily resourceful. In the past, we were able to walk them to resources. Now, if it’s through email, you have to send them a link or a screenshot. It’s hard to have a warm hand-off remotely. Now, students face new challenges staying at home with parents, grandparents, and/or children 24/7 while juggling work and school. The vast majority of students I communicate with are first year students.  So, in addition to dealing with the new role of being a college student, many are suddenly thrown into working full-time as well, helping their parents with childcare, or even being caregivers for family members at home.  This all on top of adjusting to remote learning and using technology in newly discovered ways. Q: What do you think employees may not realize about the needs of our students who reach out for success coach support?  A: In the beginning, when I started this job, I was surprised myself because just because they’re younger and know social media does not mean that they check their email and know how to check for links. We can’t assume that they know how. Emails are seen as an archaic form of communication to many students, so LCC needs to acknowledge that students are not necessarily email savvy. Even just navigating Moodle, they’re not aware of all the possibilities or how to access all the information in a shell.. Also, that they have amazing struggles. We need to acknowledge that. I think we need to just know that if it’s hard for us, it has to be hard for these students, especially first time students who may or may not be supporting families, or even their parents during this time.  Q: Have you started any new work practices to help you better adapt to our remote work environment? A: I have a white board that I glued onto my back door because there’s a lot of new information that I want in front of me: changes in CRNs and due dates. There are some adaptations I’ve had to make because the FYE has a few different expectations. I set up an office space. I originally would work in my kitchen, but found that it was not as effective. I moved things around and I have a work space now and I actually “go” to work. I have coffee in the kitchen and then I go into my work space room.  Q: What are you most looking forward to when we can use the term: post-pandemic?  A: Being face to face with students and colleagues. Absolutely. Being able to walk students to where they need to go and introduce them. Laugh with people.  Q: Since you are retiring, what will you miss most about Lane and your work?  A: I hope that I’ll be able to help continue to serve, help people. I think I will. I’ll miss that. Selfishly, hopefully, people will give me feedback. That makes my day when students do that. When we had furlough days in summer, I volunteered to deliver Meals on Wheels, it was so great. People were so appreciative. I didn’t know what to expect, they were so kind. I may continue that. I need to figure out next steps. The idea of retirement is still new to me. Hopefully, I’ll find something. I have an immigrant Zoom group that I started with my ABSE/ESL students. When I was teaching we’d meet every other week, and now we do a (Zoom) book club. Most of them were students at Lane and from Iran, China, Taiwan, South America, Hungary. Hopefully, i’ll be able to devote more time to that.  [...] Read more...
December 2, 2020Thank you to those of you who attended the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Grand Opening last Friday! For those who could not attend or would like to revisit some of the activities and information: Watch a video overview of the CTLComplete a scavenger hunt about the CTL website Share your vision for a CTL (Note: don’t press “enter” until you are ready to submit! Use the tab key to add new phrases.)Share your interest in the CTL. Finally, thank you to Ian Coronado, Laura Pelletier, and Tammy Salman, who helped to plan the Grand Opening and facilitate the breakout sessions!  Door prize winners are announced! Thank you all who participated in the CTL Grand Opening event!! These lucky ducks are the winners of a personal neck massage! Highly recommended by Kevin Steeves 🙂 [...] Read more...
December 1, 2020Current position: Fabrication and Welding Faculty   Work Life Before Lane: Spent earlier career in kitchens and was a chef when he decided to change careers. He was a student in LCC’s welding/fabrication program and is a certified welding inspector and certified welding educator through the American Welding Society, the organization that sets the global standards for structural steel and piping.  Prior Work at Lane: In 2015, joined college as an aide/instructional specialist in the welding and fabrication program and has been a full-time faculty member since 2018-19. Personal Look: During the pandemic, Doug has spent more time on his art. He’s an abstract painter and enjoys painting with acrylics to explore colors and forms.      Q: How did you get into welding/fabrication and what drew you to becoming an instructor? A: I needed to change what I was doing for my life. There’s not a lot of upward mobility or insurance working in the restaurant industry. It’s great money and stable money and pre-COVID, there was always a job and the ability to travel. But, I was ready to settle down and that meant focusing on my education and going back to school. The reason welding? It’s working with your hands and it seems silly but it kind of seems like wizardry because you have electricity that you’re using to fuse metal together. It’s like magic really. It’s fusion. You take two pieces of metal and make them one piece and you can’t tell the difference. It drew it to me, electricity, the heat, the fire, the flames. All the different facets of welding. There are so many different genres you can get into. Everything is welded unless it’s made with wood. It’s like the magical glue that holds the world together and I was interested in being a part of that.  Q: Welding. Fabrication. What’s the difference?  A: Welding is fusing two pieces of metal together. Fabrication is being able to read a blueprint and create something. You could become a parts welder and never see the final product. A fabrication welder would be able to read the blueprint and understand it. It’s like learning another language. When I teach blueprint reading, I let students know that it is a new language of symbol and numbers. Fabrication is learning a different language of symbology to read from a blueprint. A welder would weld parts of the box. The fabricator would build the box. Q: Have you had to alter how you approach your job/instruction as a welding and fabrication instructor during the pandemic?  If so, how?  A: We had to make it happen. I used some of the big hitters in the industry’s  training videos. The training videos have benefited the student because there is a lot of trial and error and hand eye coordination with welding. The traditional way is: let’s get in a welding booth and go for it. This way, I can pause the video and let them see a weld-pool close up. With a weld pool or puddle,  you’re noticing 15 to 20 things at the same time, and with the video I can hit pause and blow it up on the screen and point out details that might be missed otherwise. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of it and really helps get into a student’s head so they can see what the puddle is.    As far as transition to hybrid style and teaching online, it is propelling us into a new way of teaching that wouldn’t have existed otherwise, at least not for a while. It’s worked out really well. I see the students coming and being further along sooner with this hybrid style of teaching, rather than the traditional style of teaching, because I’m able to pinpoint what I’m talking about on the screen. Q: What do you mean by pool and puddle?  A:  The weld puddle is the small area of molten metal that is present for a just a second while the electrode is directly over the spot being welded. Once you take the welding arc off of it, there’s a brief amount of time when the pool is liquid. We’re dealing with a lot of unseen forces, magnetism, gravity and it could start to droop on you. If it’s not hot enough the toes of the weld aren’t welding in. There quite a few things they need to consider: the right angle, the right travel speed, right parameters on the machine. I need to be sure that they can see that weld puddle correctly. I can’t see through the eyes of the pupil, but I can see what they did because it’s frozen in the weld pool. You can read the welds. I can tell if a student was holding their breath, the angle they were using, I can tell what they did each step.  Q: How have students adapted to the hybrid model? A: The practice of welding, it’s almost impossible to teach online, but you can get the basics online. How to position yourself, wear all your clothes correctly, set your shade (different shade numbers for lenses). Some people haven’t had much hand-eye coordination, so we’re doing training techniques that we wouldn’t have used otherwise. We wrote out COVID protocols early on and ordered PPE, printed out signs for the floor and were able to reopen the last three weeks of spring term and all summer and now, fall. The nature of the welding booths, they’re already sectioned off and each has its own ventilation system. You’re not breathing in anyone else’s air and the booths are already six feet apart. We were already 90 percent there to be able to bring students safely back into the space.  Q: Is there a demand for welding/fabrication jobs during the pandemic?  A: We’re continuing to grow our committee advisory through this pandemic. Most of the fabrication shops in this region are still rolling. We added four new folks to our advisory group. We just met with a boat fabrication company that needs people. There’s a steel fabricator on Mohawk and they’re just crushing it and growing exponentially. There will also be needs in the community related to rebuilding after the wildfires. We can place everyone of our students locally who finish this year and next year. I don’t have any concerns about that at all. There’s also the boomers who will be retiring, so it’s an in-demand trade. If they want to travel, it’s even more money.  Q: What do you think other LCC employees may not realize about the needs of our students during this time?  A: Kindness. Courtesy. Just understanding that our students right now are under a whole lot of pressure and they may not always understand where that pressure comes from. They don’t have a lot of experiences. They grew up in the cell phone era. There are these anxieties that we need to have compassion with. Caring, kindness and compassion. That’s what I try to do without degrading their instruction. Flexibility when ushering this new era of technology and instruction.  Q: Have you started any new work or general practices to help you better adapt to our remote work environment?  A: Yes, because I can’t get as close or do as many demonstrations or go back and forth and be in the booth with the student. I’m focusing more on terminology and articulating what I teach. So that when we talk to each other they understand exactly what I want rather than me showing them what I want. I’ve also had to train myself. I really got on the ball with training myself to become more efficient and run online classes. Half of my students when I started were more adept then me at computers. In a way, it creates a bond, when one of your students tells you: ‘you know you can save time if you do it this way.’ I’m learning from them, too.  Q: What are you most looking forward to when we can use the term: post-pandemic?  A: (Laughs) There’s not going to be a post-pandemic. Our department didn’t miss a whole lot, but I really miss being able to be more hands on and getting into the booth with the students and work with them a bit more closely. I’m looking forward to more hands-on mentorship.  [...] Read more...
December 1, 2020As we enter December, we’re also entering a new phase of our website redesign. Very soon – possibly the end of this week – we’ll be entering into a content freeze. Editing privileges to the sites listed at the bottom of this post will be suspended as soon as we enter the freeze. I’m really, genuinely sorry I can’t provide an exact date here. Some difficulties unique to 2020 has made that impossible. I hope to know the exact date a little later this week. Where we are and what’s next Our redesign firm is putting the finishing touches on our website. Next they’ll import our current content, and we’ll start testing. Lori and I will try to test the new website on every possible combination of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari on Android, iOS, Mac OS, and Windows. We expect that testing to last for a few weeks, as we go back and forth fixing problems and testing again. While we test, we’ll be working on reformatting the imported content. Our current website is built around one giant text area (the “body” field), with things like pictures or videos inserted in it. The new website will be built around reusable content blocks, like accordions, videos, or image galleries. It will take some time to reformat into the new system, but once we’re there, we should be a lot more flexible and consistent across our pages. As part of the redesign process, the firm identified some areas where we’re lacking content. In addition to reformatting and rewriting existing content, we’ll also be doing some content development. And of course, we’ll be hunting for images to use all around the site. Don’t be surprised if we reach out looking for a higher resolution image from your pages! While this process is a lot better than the last time we did this (when we had to hire someone to copy and paste, full time, for over a year. She was bored out of her mind!), it does create a problem: after we import all the current content into the new website, there’s going to be a multi-week period where if you make an edit to your current site, it won’t automatically be moved into the new site. That brings us to the freeze. The freeze Possibly as soon as the end of this week, we’ll be turning on a new module which disables edits on the list of sites found at the bottom of this post. If your site is in the list, and you absolutely must make a change to your content, reach out directly to Lori instead of doing the edit yourself. She’ll make the change on both the old and the new sites simultaneously, so we don’t lose any of the changes. This will significantly increase Lori’s workload, so please try to limit changes to what’s absolutely essential. One question we’ve had already is forms. There are a number of departments with a critical form they need to access. If your site is frozen, you will still be able to log in and use your forms. This freeze only impacts the ability to edit your page content. For now, we’re keeping the ability to edit your forms, but may need to disable form editing when we reach the point where we’re migrating forms into the website. Unfortunately, the migration process cannot move forms, so we’ll be recreating those manually. If your form will eventually be moved to SoftDocs, it will not be migrated to the new site, even if it isn’t ready in SoftDocs when we launch the new site. The old form will continue to work for some time in the old site, but I encourage you to move it to SoftDocs as soon as possible. If your site isn’t in the list below, then nothing in this post applies to you. We’re only migrating student and prospective student oriented content to the new website, and if your site is primarily staff oriented (ATC, FPD, PD, etc) or is largely administrative (COPPS), then we’ll probably be leaving it in the current website for now. You’ll continue to have access, and continue to be able to make changes as normal. Sometime next summer we’ll hopefully start adding functionality to that site, and work toward having a true intranet. After Launch While we won’t be able to nail down the exact launch date for the new site until after we’re in there reformatting and redeveloping content, we expect it to be some time late in winter term. Since we’ll be doing double entry for all website changes, it’s in our interest to get there as fast as we can. When we launch, we plan to very slowly add new users to the site. There’s a number of reasons for this caution. Some are technical, like the all new permissions structure. But we’re also trying to create a more consistent voice on the new website, and think that’s going to be very hard to do if we bring in all 148 current website editors. Details to come as we get a little closer. Thank you for being understanding of our need to keep everything somewhat flexible this year! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out via email. The List There are some sites on here which are hybrids. For instance, Academic Technology’s site has some student pages, like the SHeD, but is mostly employee oriented.  We’ll be working with those sites  to try and unfreeze parts of them midway through the process. While this list should not be considered final, here’s the list of sites we’re planning to freeze right now: abse academictechnology (LETS and SHeD pages) accreditation admissions advising advtech als alumni apprenticeship artgallery arts Arts and Humanities aslcc aviationacademy bond budget business calendars cc ce cec cfe & lcfc cit collegenow commencement cooped cottagegrove covid19 ctecc culinary dentalclinic disability diversity downtowncenter engineering eorp esfs (not the document submission form or degreeworks FAQ pages) esl español (undocumented students pages) facilities transportation (excluding motor pool) and event scheduling pages fec financialaid firstyearexperience florence food foundation gec governance healthclinic healthpe honors hp hr (employee recruitment and affirmative action pages. hr sub-terms, such as employment classifications may not be impacted) hsconnections information technology student computer labs pages international laneonline leadership learningcommons llc longhouse math mcc mediaarts mhwc mpr/success newsroom pathways perarts pie psd ptk qcc rtec safelane schedule scholarships science scp seniorprogramming sexualrespect socialscience speaker-series sss studentconduct studentemployment studentlife sustainability testing trio tutor va wc 12/6 – This post was edited to add accreditation and budget to the above list, and to add notes to the esfs, español, facilities, it, and hr sites. [...] Read more...
December 1, 2020Pluginselementor.3.0.14essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.3.7kadence-blocks(1)nextgen-gallery.3.4.7qubely.1.6.1really-simple-ssl.4.0.3ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg.1.18.2ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.1weaverx-theme-support.4.4.1wp-smushit.3.7.3 Themesastra.2.6.1panoramic.1.1.06 Removed Unused ThemesOceanWPTwenty Eleven/webteamTwenty NineteenTwenty Seventeen [...] Read more...
November 24, 2020Welcome to Georgia Mae, our new co-editor of the newsletter! She has been at LCC for a year and joined the Lane Honors Program at the end of her first year. When asked why she joined Honors, she said, “I joined Honors because I had a goal to open as many doors as possible. My professor, Angie, recommended me for the Honors Program and I couldn’t say no!”   Georgia Mae is still deciding on a major because she has so many interests including: nutrition, law, business, and design. Her career goals include becoming an interior designer, a doula, and a nutritionist. In her free time, she enjoys indoor gardening, walking her dog, yoga, baking, learning, journaling, and binge-watching TV shows from the early 2000s. We are so lucky to have another amazing editor to work with Kyla Ramsey on this newsletter! [...] Read more...
November 24, 2020Spend a few minutes this week learning more about Dawn Barth and the work she does to keep our campus and greater community safe.  Current position: Interim Manager of Risk and Environmental Health and Safety Programs and COVID-19 Compliance Officer  Work life before Lane: Holds a master’s degree in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation and worked as a rehabilitation specialist.  Prior work at Lane: Began as an hourly employee in November 2007 as a data entry clerk assisting with conversion of credit lines to electronic recordkeeping and eventually, landed in a health and safety specialist position in 2004-05. That position evolved over the years and now includes her current position.  Personal look: Dawn’s husband works at OSU and they have four children: a daughter, who is an LCC grad; a son, who is a current LCC student; a son who lives in Salem: and a son who is a first grader. She also has her own photography business and enjoys portrait and sports photography. Q: What interested you in your current position? A: The position has evolved a lot. I think that’s what’s most interesting. It’s always changing because what I work with in risk management is never the same thing. You’re planning and then something different comes up, like a pandemic or wildfires. One of the most interesting workshops I’ve attended was in Florida about hurricane response and preparedness and what they’ve learned. They have to be prepared every year. Even though we don’t have hurricanes here, there’s so much we can learn and apply from people who are preparing for similar responses to a disaster. Q: What does a risk manager do when there’s not a pandemic? A: The risk manager’s job is to evaluate programs and processes on campus to make sure we’re doing the best we can to work and learn safely. My goal is to be proactive rather than reactive. I want to try to identify potential problems and fix them before we have an accident or an injury. I work with the safety committee and emergency planning team to identify those items. Sometimes I do have to react. If we have property damage or if someone wrecks a (college-owned) car, I am the liaison with the insurance company to get claims processed and investigated. Since December, that has included workers’ compensation, as well as property and students. Q: How have you had to alter how you approach and do your job in the remote work environment? A: It’s a little bit different and it’s looking at things differently. When you’re in this little bubble of our campus, you look at how to keep this safe but now, I’m looking at how we keep safe at a bigger level. With the pandemic we can’t just look at our campus. We have to look at what we are doing to contribute to the overall health and wellness of Lane County. Also, in addition to risk manager, I’ve been appointed by President Hamilton as the COVID Compliance Officer. There’s where a lot of my time is going. In that role, my job is to ensure compliance with what the reopening committee puts in place. Any department that has submitted a reopening plan, I’ve had to go in and inspect those plans and make sure plans are safe for employees and students. I’m also LCC’s liaison for Lane County Public Health anytime there is an exposure with one of our students or employees. I also work with other agencies including officials from Eugene City, UO, the hospitals and Public Health to determine the threat level. Right now, COVID Compliance is at least 95 percent of what I do day to day. Q: What are some ways that risk management and planning directly impact our campus(employees/students/community)? A: It’s important that we are proactive in what we’re doing. I like to know about things before they become a problem because I can’t be everywhere all the time. If someone sees something: stairs crumbling for instance, I need to follow up on that and get that repaired. We do have routine building inspections, but something could happen after an inspection that we need to know about. Risk management takes all of us because anybody could see something is a concern and bring it to my attention. That is how we work together to be part of a solution. Q: What do you think people may not realize about your role/risk management on campus? A: Not everyone realizes the resources they have available to them about educating themselves on safety. People are surprised when they find out about the Safe Colleges online software. You have access to that full library of training all the time. It doesn’t have to be assigned to you. It doesn’t cost us anything extra. There are some great topics on there: first aid, CPR, AED use. When we’re all at home more, wouldn’t it be great to know or refresh your CPR and first aid skills or learn how to use a fire extinguisher. Some of these are less than 10-minute videos and that training is at your fingertips. It’s helpful for you not just at work. We want you to feel safer at home because that affects your work life now more than ever. To find the Safe Colleges, type in the Lane website: lanecc.edu/SafeLane. You’ll find a whole list of resources. Q: As you talk about the work you do, there’s passion in your voice. Where does that passion come from? A: I’ve always been one to want to know more. I will say the world looks a lot different to me since I started doing risk management. I notice people on roofs without safety equipment and notice a lot of other things I don’t think I’d notice before. For instance, I was out at the coast at a glass blowing place and they made people wear safety glasses, but they let people wear flip flops. It was unreal that they didn’t make people wear actual shoes. When you’re in it day to day, that’s the stuff that jumps out at you and it drives my family crazy. They say: ‘Mom, only you!’ But, I see what happens when you don’t take precautions and I see the value when you do. Q: Have you started any new work practices to help you better adapt to our remote work environment? A: Other than becoming a zoom expert and finding better angles and appropriate backgrounds, not really. (Laughs) Q: What are you most looking forward to when we can use the term: post-pandemic? A: It’s going to be nice to be with people again. For a lot of years in my position, I was a department of one. It was just me. I had a boss, but there was really no one else that did anything else that had to do with what I did. When good things happened, I didn’t have anybody I could celebrate with. When they added workers’ comp to my position late last year, I moved to HR, so I’m now part of a work team, and it’s been nice to have that camaraderie. In this remote world, we’re missing out on that camaraderie or that feeling of accomplishment and being able to do things together. I was just feeling that and then, we went remote. I will enjoy being able to walk down the hall and say something funny or have watercooler talk and just to be able to share with people and get to know people outside of work. [...] Read more...
November 23, 2020Welcome to a new Lane Blog, “A Few Minutes With …” — a short Q&A feature to help employees meet or reconnect with colleagues and learn how different roles on campus help fulfill our institutional mission. During these remote work times, the blog will also provide an opportunity to share how colleagues are adapting in our remote campus environment and to share ideas and resources.  New employee Q&A features launched late fall 2020 and will be shared on Tuesdays during the regular term. Spring Term 2021 Read this week’s Q&A, featuring Robert Killen. Q&A, featuring Lori Brenden. Fall Term 2020 Read Q&A, featuring Glenda Izumi.  Read Q&A, featuring Doug Ford.  Read Q&A in the series, featuring Dawn Barth.      [...] Read more...
November 23, 2020In a word: no. As stated by the WAI, new links can be “…disorienting for people, especially people who have difficulty perceiving visual content”. As with anything else on the web, there’s always an exception, and you should definitely check out the link above to read about some specific scenarios where opening a new tab/window can be appropriate. But those scenarios are rare. People know how to use the back button. Depend on that, rather than a new tab/window.   [...] Read more...
November 21, 2020Each spring, PTK chapters hold an induction ceremony for their new members. With the pandemic, these ceremonies couldn’t happen. Thankfully, PTK Headquarters has created a virtual induction ceremony for everyone who joined in 2020! Registration Deadline: Friday, December 4, 2020Induction Ceremony: December 10, 2020; 6:00 pm Pacific Standard TimeHere is the link to register: https://www.ptk.org/virtual-induction/ Your family and friends can watch on Facebook Live so that they can celebrate with you! [...] Read more...
November 17, 2020antispam-bee v2.9.3essential-addons-for-elementor-lite v4.3.6wp-force-login v5.5wp-smushit v3.7.2very-simple-event-listvoid-elementor-post-grid-addon-for-elementor-page-builder v2.1.6wp-scheduled-posts v3.3.3 oceanwp v2.0.0 theme I also gave the blog network an updated look so it’s more in line with Lane’s marketing guidelines.  Hope you like it. [...] Read more...
November 16, 2020Today’s post is a quick one, to share this awesome captioning style guide from Humber College, which I found while trying to figure out the appropriate way to caption a choir singing a round acapella (I still don’t know the answer). In addition to the most helpful information I found on captioning music, also included are suggestions on timing, dialog, sound effects, and accents. Since we need to caption almost every video on our website, it’s worth a quick glace to get an idea of how it should be done. [...] Read more...
November 13, 2020The regional officers are holding a scholarship workshop! Here is the information from our regional coordinator: Have questions about the PTK scholarship? Need a little push to get your application started? Need tips about writing a scholarship essay? Come spend the night with the RMC region and apply for scholarships. Our goal with this scholarship night is to all work on the PTK application at our own pace, but have an environment where you can ask questions as they come up during the process.Tuesday November 17th, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm PST / 7:00 pm-9:00 pm MSThttps://clackamas.zoom.us/j/94975124080 [...] Read more...
November 12, 2020We have learned in the Inclusive Teaching at Lane series that “course policies should be flexible and welcoming for all students, allowing for mistakes, external challenges, learning, and growth”. Assignment > User Override Within your activity or quiz you will see user overrides. Allow extended deadlines for specific students or a group of students. Quiz > User Override Require a password, extend deadlines, and/or adjust a time limit. Moodle Philosophy and UDL Moodle is built on a “Social Constructionist” pedagogy, where participants can be encouraged to construct something for other classmates to use and experience. This pedagogy in the core of Moodle offers a lot of resemblance to Universal Design for Learning. UDL allows students to express their knowledge in many different ways. Here are a couple of ideas we can use in Moodle: Choice: Ask a question and allow your student’s responses to build a graphic (anonymously or not).Database: participants create and maintain a spreadsheet of student entries.Forum: Provides a place for student-to-student discussionTip: Assign students to moderate or even create the discussions prompt and directions.Glossary: (a personal favorite) use this in a number of different ways:students create a list of definitions Tip: These pages can include images, videos, links, text – essentially everything you find in the ATTO editor. Not limited to definitions!Quiz: Allow students to receive instant feedback.Tip: changing the local role in the quiz activity to allow students to create quiz questions. Then let students take each other’s quizzes. The best questions might be found on midterm/final.Wiki: An oldie, but still a goodie – similar to glossary individuals or groups of students can create and maintain pages.Tip: If interested in using Wikis – consider using Google suite instead.Workshop: One of the most robust tools in Moodle to allow for student-to-student collaboration. The workshop is like a 3 phase assignment that includes a phase of peer review.Tip: Not for a beginner. What are your ideas? How do you allow for flexibility in your course? [...] Read more...
November 10, 2020Elementor v3.0.13Kadence BlocksUltimate Addons For Gutenberg v1.18.1Void Elementor Post Grid Addon v2.1.5 SiteOrigin North theme v1.17.16 [...] Read more...
November 9, 2020Recently I found a post which explores some of the limitations of automated website accessibility checking tools by building a site that scores a 100% on Google’s accessibility checker, while being completely inaccessible. That post explores the very real limitations of automated tools. Tools like that can be useful, and help us by checking some of the low hanging fruit. But they never do a great job. For instance, just to highlight one obvious example mentioned in the post, here’s some examples of alt text on a logo which links to the homepage which would pass an automated check, but are really terribly inaccessible: alt=”logo” alt=”logo.png” alt=”Picture” alt=”The Lane Community College Logo” alt=”Lane Community College” You know what some good alt text would be? “Visit the LCC homepage” – it’s a linked logo, so provide the purpose of the link. When it comes to automated accessibility tools, use them to give you an idea of the overall accessibility of a page, but always double-check some items yourself – particularly ones that are difficult to for a computer to check, like link purpose. Looking for more on alt text? Check out a decision tree for alt text [...] Read more...
November 5, 2020My question: how to get online students to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and not just read an online summary of the novel. My solution: assume that students will encounter Spark Notes or some similar website in an era of “No Fear Literature.” Instead of trying to replace Spark Notes encounters, I extend those encounters by leading students back to the original and guiding them through a process of improving upon the notes by observing what is left out of them. Who knows if they still read the whole novel to get there, but my experience has shown me that they do encounter Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with a fresh appreciation of the language and complexity of the original.  Here’s the assignment. [...] Read more...
November 5, 2020This fall in Oregon, we were trapped inside for 11 days while wildfires destroyed forests and towns all around us. It was a bleak time and I wanted to use the time in some positive way. So I researched poetry readings online to include in my Women Writers class. Each week, students watch a very short poetry reading by an African American poet. Then they complete an “exit ticket” to reflect on what they heard and saw. My modest goal was to open a space in my course for Black Women Poets to speak without my commentary and with a modest apparatus–just enough to prompt my students to reflect but not enough to guide their response.  So far the response has been very positive.  Here’s the file with links to the poetry readings the exit tickets.   [...] Read more...
November 3, 2020Quick update to WP5.5.3 to patch a couple minor issues. While I was here I also updated the Essential Addons for Elementor to v4.3.5 [...] Read more...
October 30, 2020Updated WordPress to v5.5.2 to have the latest security patchesAlso updated Void Elementor Widgets plugin and Weaver X theme Removed an empty folder left over from an old analytics plugin that became unnecessary. Also removed the Hello Dolly plugin that comes with wordpress because it’s stupid. [...] Read more...
October 29, 2020Laurie Notaro is a very funny, smart writer who has published twelve books and is a New York Times bestselling author! She is reading on November 6, 2020 from 3:00-4:00. Contact Ce Rosenow at RosenowC@lanecc.edu for the Zoom link to this event!   Learn more about Laurie Notaro before the reading! [...] Read more...
October 27, 2020Pluginsakismet.4.1.7elementor.3.0.12essential-addons-for-elementor-lite.4.3.3qubely.1.6.0regenerate-thumbnails.3.1.4so-css.1.2.11ultimate-social-media-icons.2.6.0void-elementor-post-grid-addon-for-elementor-page-builder.2.1.3wordfence.7.4.12 Themesastra.2.6.0siteorigin-north.1.17.15 [...] Read more...
October 26, 2020I know, I know, we’re in week 4, and I’m finally putting out my first post of the year. But it’s 2020. It’s that kind of year. Last week the web team attended the 2020 HighEdWeb annual conference. This is one of my favorite conferences, and it was even better this year because it was absolutely free online (though in central time, which made for some early mornings). Here’s some gems: Plain Language Matters. It’s an accessibility issue. It’s an equity issue. People skim online. If we make that hard for them, they leave. Take a look at our previous plain language post. Resource pages & emails don’t work. One of the groups at Miami University did a lot of extensive testing. People don’t self serve. If you have a lot of links and resources that you want to put out there, consider a drip campaign to slowly provide those links at a pace people can digest. Use social to highlight different resources at different times. Include titles that highlight the problem the resource solves (“Looking for a tutor late on a Sunday night before class? Look no further!”). Track what you do to see what works (and reach out if you’d like help setting that up!). Rather than a resource page, consider a blog, where those resource links can be provided in context, and do some content marketing for you. We’ve also covered resource pages in the past. Stop posting flyers and event posters online. Especially now, when we’re not going to see them in person. Flyers and posters are designed for print, and don’t translate well to digital. If you’re considering putting a flyer or poster online or on a digital sign, reach out – we’ll connect you with some graphic design resources, and help design for the medium you’ll be promoting on. The college website is for prospective students. And those students know when they’re being marketed to. Carlton did a great session where they detailed extensive user testing before their homepage redesign. They found things like: prospective students (particularly Gen Z) think the entire website is for them. Even the section clearly labeled “Alumni”. But your homepage should be for them before any other audience: most other audiences search for something, then land on some other page. Prospective students are the most likely, by far, to land on the homepage. they know when pictures are staged. They want to see people in place: shots that show what students actually do some place on your campus, and how that sets you apart. Person under a tree reading a book? Clearly staged. Dining hall shot? Every college has a dining hall. Candid shot of a class outside? Student learning to machine something? Much better. Carousels don’t work. I think one possible exception is a photo gallery, but that’s tricky. The large hero image on a program’s website sets the tone and creates a greater impression than all the text there. From one of their slides: “Students want #nofilter, but we’re giving them #fellowkids” FAQs don’t work. While we may think splitting our content up into questions is easier for the student, it actually makes things harder to understand. Read your entire FAQ page, make groups out of the content and write a header for each one, and then rewrite the content in each group to paragraph form. It’ll work better for everyone. Here’s a page with the slides, a sample FAQ with real life before and after examples, and some other resources for why we should stop using FAQ pages. You can also review our previous post on FAQs. [...] Read more...
October 22, 2020Pop-quiz! Answer the following: Are you trying to keep up with student reports so that you can message at risk or failing students and encourage them to attend office hours or seek tutoring? Are you watching your participants list to find and reach out to students who have not logged into the course or participated recently? Are you trying to make sure students with an excelling grade have additional opportunities to further challenge them? Are you wanting to find a way to get back a few hours of your life each week and let the PLD do some work to help you? The PLD can provide differentiated instruction that is more personalized to the student. Many of the essential steps in helping your students succeed take a lot of TIME!  The Personalized Learning Designer (PLD) will help you by completing these tasks for you, thus giving you back this time to focus on your teaching! Give some of these rules from our PLD Cheat sheet a go: A student has not logged into the course in the previous x days.Event: Recurring Event (daily)Conditions: User role check (student) & Course login (has NOT logged into course, x)Actions:  Send emailQuiz or assignment not submitted (*note this rule uses course completion settings)Event: Quiz or assignment submitted Conditions: Activity completedActions: Send emailStudents with 69% and below after midterm EMAILEvent: Specific date and timeConditions: Course grade rangeActions:  Send emailSend students to the syllabus when the FIRST enter the courseEvent: Course start dateConditions: Course login (NOT logged in / 30 days)Actions: Go to activityThe PLD can be found within your Course Administration menu. Want to learn more or see it in action? Come to our PLD Workshop on 10/29 at 11am. Upon completion of this workshop, you’ll be able to: Design automated interactions with students and personalize their learning.Create rules using the Personalized Learning Designer to assist with course management strategies. Do you have PLD rules that you found helpful? Tell us about them in the comments! Keep an eye on the CTL Calendar for upcoming workshops. The next one will be 10/29 @11am on the PLD. If you can not make the live workshop – it will be recorded AND/OR I have an online version of the PLD workshop in Moodle for you! [...] Read more...
October 22, 2020Pop-quiz! Answer the following: Are you trying to keep up with student reports so that you can message at risk or failing students and encourage them to attend office hours or seek tutoring? Are you watching your participants list to find and reach out to students who have not logged into the course or participated [...] Read more...
October 18, 2020The application for PTK scholarships is now open. The deadline this year is December 1. Be sure to apply! [...] Read more...
October 14, 2020Congratulations to Jordan Coen. Their story, “Esmerelda’s Journey,” was one of 25 works accepted by PTK’s anthology, Nota Bene, out of the 370 submissions received! The anthology will be available online this winter. See the full press release! [...] Read more...
October 12, 2020There are two important PTK events this week: 1. Webinar: PTK Scholarship Insights for Students Wednesday, October 14th @ 11am Central Time (9:00 Oregon Time) Click here to join. Can’t make it?  All webinars will be recorded and saved in PTK’s Scholarship Support Library.   2. Sigma Zeta Chapter Meeting Wednesday, October 14th, from 3:00-4:00, in the PTK voice channel on Discord. Note: The link to join us on Discord was sent to Sigma Zeta members’ email addresses.   [...] Read more...
October 7, 2020Jenn Kepka with her “co-worker” Jenn Kepka is an instructional designer at Lane Community College. She is currently teaching “Course Design Introduction,” a learning experience for faculty that delves into research and OSCQR-aligned best practices for backwards design, online support, planning engaging activities, and aligning course goals. The next class begins during Week 3 and runs through Week 8; faculty can receive up to 20 hours at the curriculum development rate for participation. Sign up through this Google Form. Jenn is available for questions at her email: kepkaj@lanecc.edu. How did you come up with the idea for the course? This is built on the back of the excellent Lane Online Teaching Overview that Kevin Steeves, Meredith Keene, and Meggie Wright ran last winter. We needed a course that could be open-ended and flexible, but would also provide faculty with a chance to interact with each other, with an instructional designer, and with content about current research into online pedagogy. The CDI was born from that — and from my own too-online presence as an instructor and educational technology student, combined with 70 to 80 cups of coffee. How can we give everyone an introduction to first steps into online learning? What approach are you taking to course design? The CDI is built around principles from major course design models: backward design, outcomes and assessment alignment, and most generally, the social constructivist and connectivist theories of learning. (I mean, we can get started on my radical constructivist ideas, but someone better get me a drink). There’s a little mixture of the adapted Technological-Pedagogical-Content Knowledge model wedged in, too, just because I like to poke at TPACK whenever I get the chance. What should instructors expect if they take the course? I’m not kidding about the 20-hour time commitment: I built this like I’d build 2-3 weeks of a graduate seminar for those interested in Instructional Design. Each module has current readings, research-based practice recommendations, a chance for self-reflection about applying these practices in one’s own course, and an applied “planning” section where faculty can start sketching out what a future online course would be like. At the end, I hope everyone leaves with a clearer picture of what quality online teaching can be and a plan for starting to implement new ideas in their own course. Having said that — it’s not about perfection. I change something in my own teaching and design every time a new term starts! It’s part of the fun. What is the best part of the course?  For me, it’s getting to hear about others’ amazing plans for their courses. There’s so much creativity in how faculty approach what they teach, and so much passion toward their subjects, that it’s inspiring. Learning to teach online is stressful, but there are so many opportunities now for people to share, connect, and really let their expertise in their subject matter shine! I hope for others some of it is seeing their colleagues are thinking through the same problems they are. There’s a real sense of us all being in this together. Do you have any time management tips for faculty? Tip 1: Someone please invent time travel. Tip 2: I think more about attention management than trying to manage time in 2020, since time seems pretty weird. I pay attention best when I can focus without feeling I’m giving up or neglecting something else, whether it’s other work or family. I set firm off time each day and all weekend, and I communicate honestly about those boundaries with students and colleagues. I also spent a few weeks relentlessly tracking my time and attention so that I could figure out why some days felt so much longer and harder than others (hint: too much Zoom), and now I try to anticipate where I’ll have attention divisions or bottlenecks. There are a million pieces of tech to help with this. For me, it’s the Forest App (locks my phone when I need to concentrate); disconnecting my work Google account from all but my “work” computer at home; using the schedule-send feature in Gmail if I want to write a message out of hours, so that it’s not really sent until the next work day (so I don’t start checking for a reply later in the evening); and even using a separate browser for work and non-work, so that I don’t get a shiver of dread when I open a new email window. What do you do to manage stress? I have to have at least thirty minutes of writing time for myself every day, completely unconnected to work. I buy ridiculous amounts of pens and paper to make lists that I can check off (so satisfying). I also have an 8-year-old co-worker at home these days, and she manages to give me pointed reminders of what’s really important (I’m told it’s cookies and Minecraft). Thanks, Jenn! [...] Read more...
October 5, 2020We’re looking at another term — and maybe more — of learning and assessment that happens predominantly through online means. This can make instructors nervous about maintaining academic integrity for their assignments and exam materials in particular. It also poses some thorny ethical questions for those presenting and grading tests, which I think we need to take a few minutes to unpack. I’ll provide my own views here, and I’d welcome further discussion! The Risks… Test proctoring through remote technology is imperfect at best and can be threatening in some forms: It requires surveillance of students in their homes. Many of the technological solutions to replacing traditional in-person test taking come with a host of privacy and access issues. For example, some proctoring services require eye-motion tracking; others require students to show their entire room to the camera; still others will invalidate tests for any interruption, leaving students with little recourse over infractions as minor as resting their chin on their hand or reaching out to move an interrupting pet from the desk. If you’re working from home right now, you can imagine what might be shown — or what might interrupt — you at any moment. Now, put yourself in the position of a student being asked to take a high-stakes examination, while also concerned that a child or roommate might come in at the wrong moment. In addition, using proctored testing services for students can set up an atmosphere of distrust from the start. I’ll admit, when first reading this critique a few years ago, I felt automatically defensive about the accusation that my use of anti-cheating technology was inherently discriminatory. In the intervening years, watching not only the discussion among faculty about these practices but also hearing from my own students, I’ve come around to the ideas that Jesse Stommel and Sean Michael Morris, heads of the Digital Pedagogy Lab, support and espouse. …Outweigh “The Rewards” There’s not much evidence that online proctoring services or technology have any impact on improving student learning or preventing cheating. In fact, they may do the opposite, while having a negative impact on student success. Josh Eyler, director of faculty development at the University of Mississippi, summed this up nicely in a blog post today. Here’s a key excerpt: There will always be those who have planted their flags of resistance firmly on the hills of rigor and standards. These are not bad things in an of themselves–I believe in having standards for our students and helping them to meet those standards–but when they conflict with students’ ability to do their best work or even serve as an obstacle to students’ emotional wellbeing, then we need to look closely at why the commitment to rigor and standards is so rigid… Those who are not persuaded by the ethical and empathetic position should know that proctoring software fails miserably when checked against the science of learning too.Josh Eyler, “The Science of Learning vs. Proctoring Software.” Little research exists into whether online proctoring has an impact on student test-taking behaviors. Are students less likely to cheat when being monitored? Maybe. Are students who would have done well (and never considered cheating) more likely to struggle because they are being monitored? That result seems clear. What’s the alternative? Put succinctly, the alternative is to trust that students are enrolled in courses because they want to learn, and then to provide them with the best opportunities to demonstrate what they’ve learned (and support to make sure they’ve learned it) throughout the course. Project-based learning presents likely the best alternative to high-stakes testing in general. In courses where this seems impossible, restructuring exams to make sure that they assess the skills necessary in the course — not memorization of facts but the ability to demonstrate learning — can still be done through standard quiz methods. Lowering the stakes for some tests by offering multiple attempts and promoting recursive learning is another strategy that has promise. Most importantly, talk to your students about whatever path you want to take. Showing that you value their learning and trust their integrity will go a long way toward building a learning community and a culture of honesty. Students are talking about these practices among themselves, and the reviews for this type of monitoring are overwhelmingly negative — and often very public. Students are experts in their own situations, and involving them in the decision of how to assess and monitor learning can be a rewarding experience for everyone! Further Reading: Thomas J. Tobin, “Student Agency in Uncertain Times,” from Inside Higher Ed. This piece links to an earlier white paper that provides three “paths” in degrees of intrusiveness for assessment of originality. It’s a great starting point for discussions of what we mean by “integrity” and “observation.”Shea Swauger, “Our Bodies Encoded: Algorithmic Test Proctoring in Higher Education,” in Hybrid Pedagogy. This provides examples of specific harms observed in proctored online testing situations; a response was later published by one of the companies, Proctorio, in Inside Higher Ed. [...] Read more...
October 5, 2020We’re looking at another term — and maybe more — of learning and assessment that happens predominantly through online means. This can make instructors nervous about maintaining academic integrity for their assignments and exam materials in particular. It also poses some thorny ethical questions for those presenting and grading tests, which I think we need [...] Read more...
October 3, 2020We have two meetings this term: Wednesday, October 14, 3:00-4:00 Wednesday, November 18, 3:00-4:00 The meetings will be held in the PTK channel on the Lane Honors Groups Discord server. The link will be sent out soon to PTK members’ email addresses. [...] Read more...
October 1, 2020Pull up a virtual chair and a real coffee (or drink of your choice) every Friday this fall for a check-in and chat hosted by your Instructional Design Services colleagues. There’s no formal agenda! Just drop in to talk through what’s on your plate and your mind. We’ll have a chance to check-in if there’s a goal you’d like to accomplish: sometimes saying it out loud can help, and maybe so can the colleagues around you. Just want to converse? Missing the hallway/watercooler/coffee shop line? We have space for that, too. Add this meeting to your calendar for a reminder every Friday (including Zoom link), and we’ll see you there! [...] Read more...
September 24, 2020One critical factor in building a sustainable online course is deciding how and when to set limits on your own work and interaction time with the course. In-person classes have the advantage of a clear end time: You walk out of the classroom. This fall, for many of us, the classroom will go with us wherever we are, in our pockets on the internet-connected smartphones we may be carrying around. At the furthest, class is but a few doors down in most households. That can be exhausting. If you’re feeling a need to reply to student email in the middle of the night (or dinner, or during TV breaks), consider whether you’re able to provide thoughtful and quality help in these situations. Then think about whether you can sustain the always-on work mode for the rest of the year. Ready to set some limits now? Try this: Communicate clearly from the start of your class when you will be available. This includes office hours (synchronous video? phone?), class times, and other by-appointment times, and the hours when you’re available by email or other contact methods (if you provide a texting number or use an app).Stick to those times.If you can’t stop yourself from replying to email at 2 a.m., consider using the Schedule Send feature in Gmail to make that message appear within your scheduled work hours.Explain why you have these policies, and what students should do if an issue comes up when you’re not available.Technical problems can be referred to the Student Help Desk (SHeD).Tutoring and academic questions can go to Academic Tutoring Services, where they can find appointments at many hours of the day.I offer automatic extensions on deadlines if students contact me in advance of a due date. If their printer explodes or their understanding of citation evaporates between Friday afternoon and Monday morning, they can ask for an extension, know that they’ll have one, set up an appointment with me, and be ready to work as soon as I’m back on Monday.Don’t feel bad about being less than always-on.Taking time off is not a disservice to your students. It is vital to your own survival.Being clear about how soon you’ll respond lets students know that they aren’t screaming into the void, which can reduce some anxiety. Other things to consider (not recommendations, just ideas): Add an autoreply message when you’re not available to remind students (and colleagues) that you’ll get back to them at X time, and also to show them their message has been received.Poll students to find out when they plan to complete their work, and schedule your available time to match up with these hours. Do you have a way of dividing work and non-work time that’s, um, worked for you? Let us know in the comments, or join us at an upcoming Friday morning Coffee Check-In with Colleagues to talk about it. [...] Read more...
September 24, 2020One critical factor in building a sustainable online course is deciding how and when to set limits on your own work and interaction time with the course. In-person classes have the advantage of a clear end time: You walk out of the classroom. This fall, for many of us, the classroom will go with us [...] Read more...
September 17, 2020As members of the Lane Honors Program, you are eligible to submit your work to these publications! Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity The National Collegiate Honors Council’s Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity provides students the opportunity to have their academic and creative pursuits published alongside the work of some of their brightest and most dedicated peers. We receive submissions from schools both in the United States, as well as from institutions overseas, and each of our associate editors studies at a different NCHC-affiliated university. We strive to show the power of undergraduate work by transcending the boundaries of state, region, and discipline.  Submissions deadline: October 16, 2020 Website link: https://nchcureca.com/  The Palouse Review We invite your students to submit their creative work to the December 1, 2020 Edition of The Palouse Review. We accept short fiction, nonfiction, scholarship, poetry, photography & visual art, music, and digital multimedia.This is an excellent opportunity for students to publish their work!  Submissions deadline: November 1, 2020 Website: https://palousereview.wsu.edu/ Scribendi We accept submissions in a variety of categories, including poetry, creative nonfiction, short fiction, foreign language, visual art, photography, and open media. As our staff begins the production process for this year’s edition, we would like to invite the students in your honors program to submit their work for the chance to be published! To further celebrate the accomplishments of submitting students, the top submission in each category will receive a $250 award from the WRHC.  We’re seeking innovative and imaginative works—anything and everything from choreographed dance pieces to architectural sketches, from film to music, from pottery to performance art, from fashion to graphic novels. Submissions deadline: October 9, 2020 Website: scribendi.unm.edu [...] Read more...
September 17, 2020Jordan Coen is running for the position of Secretary. This position remained open after our spring elections. When Jordan offered to serve in this capacity, the chapter officers agreed that we should hold a special election. Please check your Lane email for a link to the voting poll. [...] Read more...
September 14, 2020Zoom is the new dog park. If we like it or not, Zoom and other online web conferencing (Google Meet) is here to stay and the “easy” days of normal may never be “normal” again. How do you replicate what we did in the classroom in zoom? A: You can’t. If you are expecting to fully engage your students with your live lecturing performance you will be sorely disappointed with the level of participation. Students most likely will have their webcams turned off. They may not have a private space or many other reasons why it is uncomfortable for them to allow you (and ALL their classmates) into their home/car/porch/tent/etc… Because their webcam is turned off, you can not see their face or read their reactions to the discussion. Crickets chirp when it’s silent. Have you tried asking an open question in zoom only to be answered with silence ? Students may not be paying attention or know how to interact in this new classroom. Building class-community and connections with students from the start may help easy their tensions when trying to interact with their instructor and classmates. Give students a chance to use Zoom reactions vs verbal responses. Then WAIT…until ALL students have responded in some way. You may have also heard about Zoom fatigue. Imagine a student who has 3 lectures on zoom in one day. Now imagine having three 1-hour to 1.5-hour long meetings in one day via Zoom. YUCK is right! Only ask participants to turn on webcams if it is absolutely needed. So how do we teach inside of Zoom? I fall on the side of using Zoom to support the content, rather than deliver the content. Zoom makes it really easy for us to create, edit, and link in Moodle a screencast of our content. We use Zoom to screencast our content into micro-lectures, then use our live class sessions in Zoom to discuss, reinforce, and expand upon concepts. Sounds like a new type of flipped-classroom! There are hundreds of tips and tricks to use while teaching in Zoom. The best advice we can give is to practice – practice – practice. All of the reactions, filters, polls, screen-shares, etc are only great if you know how to use them and seamlessly transition from one to another. We can help you get started in the ATC! Need to talk through your course plan with an Instructional Designer? Post UPDATE: Learn Zoom through LCCs Linked-in Learning platform. [...] Read more...
September 14, 2020If we like it or not, Zoom and other online web conferencing (Google Meet) is here to stay and the “easy” days of normal may never be “normal” again. How do you replicate what we did in the classroom in zoom? A: You can’t. If you are expecting to fully engage your students with your [...] Read more...
September 12, 2020In ENG 104_H Introduction to Fiction – Honors, the students in the honors section and the students in the non-honors section were in the same class. The honors students, however, produced a final literary analysis project that included a multimedia presentation and a final essay on a graphic novel of their choice. John Adair’s Presentation Jessry Smith’s Presentation In WR 227_H Technical Writing – Honors, students participated in the regular section of the class, conducting individual research to determine whether Prezi or PowerPoint was the best presentation software for technical writing students at Lane Community College. The primary differences in their assignments were an extended annotated bibliography and a reflection on their research experience. Below are the honors students’ reflections: Sophia Brownlee’s Reflection Damian Carreon Ilboa’s Reflection Isaiah Contreras’s Reflection Natalie Ferguson’s Reflection Grace King’s Reflection Vi Truong’s Reflection [...] Read more...
July 6, 2020While I know I’d promised to put most blog content on pause, I wanted to make a quick post about the availability of our new site archive. Every once in a while, we create a snapshot of the entire www.lanecc.edu website. There’s a couple limitations to that. We can’t capture: Files that aren’t linked from a page somewhere Pages that aren’t linked from another page Pages that are password protected Some of the dynamic content (for instance, all the forms are disabled) All of the changes that have happened since the last archive. corrections to broken links (there were about a dozen internal links that are broken) This type of snapshot, created using httrack, creates a standalone site that isn’t dependent on a content management system, meaning it’s very resistant to security problems, and is the only real option for creating a semi-permanent archive. I say semi-permanent, because while I intend to keep this archive up as long as possible, it’s possible, if not likely, that changes in browser rendering  will eventually make this archive difficult to view as intended. This year’s archive will allow us to remove a bunch of old  content from the website, to further prepare for our new website. It also sets us up for splitting all the employee content out of the website: the current Lane website is monolithic, but under the new site, we’ll have audience specific websites. Check out the 2020 Site Archive Looking for an older archive? (you should! There’s some gems in there) 2016 Archive 2011 Archive Older, partial archives (look at “Historical Sites” in the menu)     [...] Read more...
June 16, 2020Congratulations to Brian Janisch on receiving the first Sigma Zeta Paragon Award! This award is given at the discretion of the advisors to the officer or member who best represents PTK’s values and goes above and beyond in service to the chapter. Brian is the outgoing vice president and incoming president. His work during the last year to help bring back Sigma Zeta, create an honors lounge, and encourage others to join PTK was instrumental in our chapter’s growth and success. Thank you, Brian! [...] Read more...
June 15, 2020Today’s helpful resource is the Plainlanguage.gov’s web language guidelines. While the whole thing is worth at least a skim, we’ve already covered a lot of the content in depth (see, for instance, the content redevelopment series). But I want to just briefly dive into the section labeled Follow Web Standards. There are four items that get their own subsection: Avoid FAQs: We’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth revisiting. FAQ pages tend to be disorganized and hard to process. Try to eliminate them where you can. Write effective links: We’ve also mentioned this in the context of accessibility, but it also makes a lot of sense from a usability perspective. Clear links are easier to use. Repurpose print materials for the web: I think there’s some text here that’s worth quoting: Don’t cut and paste the text of print documents to create web content. People are more likely to leave your webpage, potentially costing you time and money, because they will not take the time to find what they are looking for. Print writing is different from web writing. If you’ve created print materials, you’re going to need to rework them if you want them to be effective on the web. Make sure you’re speaking directly to the page visitor, and using conversational, but clear language. The purpose of print content is different than the purpose of web content. Avoid PDF overhead: Here’s another quick quote: The Nielsen Norman Group has done multiple studies on PDFs and has consistently found that users hate them and avoid reading them at all costs. That should speak for itself. Avoid posting PDFs unless there’s no other option, or unless you need a document to print a certain way. That’s it for this week, and also this year! Summer starts next week, so I’ll be taking a long break from blogging. Lots more to come this fall, along with lots of detail on the new website! [...] Read more...
June 14, 2020The Lane Honors Program now has a newsletter! Edited by honors student, Kyla Ramsey, this newsletter will come out a couple of times a year to update the college on the program. Check out the first issue of the Honors Program News! Kyla did a great job! [...] Read more...
June 9, 2020Course Description Have you taught online but could like a refresher on best practices?  Maybe you have never taught online, but are planning to do so in the future?  This course is perfect for you!  The LOBP in Course Design using OSCQR will introduce you to teaching online at Lane and spend time reviewing best practices in online course development and design found within OSCQR (OPEN SUNY Course Quality Review/Rubric).   This course is designed for new or experienced online instructors who are new to OSCQR or teaching online at LCC.  General Course Outcomes The participant will be able to identify and design online experiences using best practices in student success.The participant will be able to identify and design engaging courses with designed interaction that is appropriate for the course modality (remote/hybrid or online)The participant will develop an action plan on how they will integrate best practices into their online teaching. Workshop Syllabus for more detail on LaneOnline Best Practices in Course Design using OSCQR. LOBP in Course Design using OSCQR self-enrollment is currently open. [...] Read more...
June 9, 2020Course Description Have you taught online but could like a refresher on best practices?  Maybe you have never taught online, but are planning to do so in the future?  This course is perfect for you!  The LOBP in Course Design using OSCQR will introduce you to teaching online at Lane and spend time reviewing best [...] Read more...
June 8, 2020It’s been a while since our last redesign post, but don’t think we haven’t made some progress. We’ve been averaging about one video call per week, and are getting closer and closer to development work.  Some of the things we’ve done: Developed Batch 1 Designs Our first batch of pages included the homepage, a career community page, and a program page. Our assumption is that these are some of the first pages most prospective students are going to look for, so we wanted to dive right into them. Our homepage is definitely going to shift direction, and be focused very narrowly on prospective student. User Tested Batch 1 To be certain that we were on track with design and the information architecture, we did some intensive testing with some real prospective students. Users were asked to perform specific tasks, with people watching exactly what they did and seeing where they struggled. Finalized Batch 1 Designs We made some changes to the designs to address issues uncovered in user testing. Some were easy to address, but one has been a particular thorn. Lane has a lot of different offerings, and people are confused by them. We have degrees, 2 year certificates, 1 year certificates, less than 1 year certificates, career pathways certificates, and non-credit credentials. There’s even more variety within the certificates. Some are financial aid eligible, some are not. Some are stackable with a degree, some are independent. Some are stackable, but you choose between multiple options. Some are technically stackable, but are marketed to a different market segment than the degree. We’ve gone several rounds with trying to balance standardization of design (to reduce confusion) with the flexibility to accommodate all our programs (to stay accurate). We’ve landed on a layout we think will work, and we hope to test it again, but it’ll be difficult to know if it’s worked for all programs until well after launch. Reviewed Batch 2 Mockups Our batch 2 pages included some Registration and Tuition related pages. While we’re pretty happy with the design of these pages, they’ve helped highlight a problem for us: our internal organization doesn’t always match how people think about us. For example, consider how students pay for college. We have a lot of departments that deal with money: a Financial Aid office, a scholarship and student employment office, a veterans benefits office, a bursar, and several people that work with sponsored accounts. There’s probably more. There’s really good reason for splitting them apart, and each requires a ton of very specific expertise. But if I have a question, and I’m not sure which of those areas can answer my question, who do I call? Started Batch 3 Our Batch 3 designs relate to the application sorter and steps to enroll pages. We’ve done quite a few versions of these since our last redesign in 2013. For instance, our sorter page swapped from being person type oriented to goal oriented. Yet, despite all those changes, our sorter continues to be one of the least liked pages on the site. Our new design is going to try to leverage some of that experience, and include information that can help you navigate either way, while simultaneously emphasizing the most commonly used enrollment pathways. Content planner Our greatest amount of work has been the content planner. This maps content on our current website to the new website, and identifies where the gaps are. We’ve got a bunch of folders and empty documents set up in google docs right now where we’ve been starting to develop new content and rewrite some old content. There were more than a hundred pages which we need to keep, but which don’t have an obvious home in the new website, and I’ve been slowly making my way through. Some of the rewritten content will be launched before we launch, while most of the new stuff won’t be launched until the whole site is ready. Meanwhile, as we continue our review of every page on the website, Lori’s been aggressively working on some of the recommended page merging and deletion. Thank you to the dozens of you that have helped us delete old pages! What’s next? After we finalize batch 3 this week, we’re hoping to do another round of prospective student testing. Very soon development will start, and while the site is being built, we’ll continue our work on content. One of our big challenges will be photography. Normally for a website redesign you’d schedule a couple of professional photo sessions on campus, but due to COVID-19, that’s tricky. Before launch, it’s unlikely campus will look quite as busy as it would normally, we won’t see groups of people together, and the people we do see may be wearing masks. I’ve been trying to make it out to campus once in a while to get some photos, but there’s only so many empty shots of campus we can use. If you have any amazing photos – ideally where everyone in the picture has signed a photo release – and you’d be willing to let us use them, send them our way! [...] Read more...
June 5, 2020June 5, 1pm-2pm Recording. Does your course offer access to a variety of engaging resources and activities that facilitate communication and collaboration, deliver content, and support learning and engagement? OSCQR: Content and Activities Category  Upcoming options LaneOnline OSCQR Top 15 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cvto7EL4oOvqzVZv1HBNKu0FTTN53SB716V9S6u_pmM/edit OSCQR in focus: 29. Course offers access to a variety of engaging resources that facilitate communication and collaboration, deliver content, and support learning and engagement. Why it matters: Students learn more by doing than by listening/consuming content.All content and activities should be aligned with module, course, and program objectives.WHY do students need to do this?  Do you tell them why? What it looks like: Tell them WHY and HOW they should be engaging with course resources.Meet with a librarian to help find more engaging materials.Explore OERCommonsCourse share with other faculty – meet and show what you do and why. (teaching-pairs?)Don’t lecture.  (50 alternatives to lecturing) – small chunks w/ interaction/assessment.Using the features within zoom to keep students engagedGoogle doc – reactions while learning – used as prompts for future discussionBreakout rooms in zoom for discussion 30. Course provides activities for learners to develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills, such as critical reflection and analysis. Why it matters: Individual and group reflections – sustained critical thinking and reflection allow the students to construct knowledge, inquiring, exploring, and thinking. What it looks like: Reflection – what did you learn?  Why is it important to you?  How can you apply this today? Etc..Peer review groups – when assigning groups encourage (or assign?) students to meet via Google hangouts as a group.Use anonymous posts in a course forum.  Assign students a role in live zoom sessions (moderator, class spokesperson (filters/proposes all student questions, etc.)Allow students to create course content. 31. The course provides activities that emulate real-world applications of the discipline, such as experiential learning, case studies, and problem-based activities. Why it matters: These activities engage learners by having them establish what they know and don’t know, work together to come up with real-world solutions, share those solutions, and review possible results. According to Kolb (1984), experiential learning relies on four elements: Experience;Critical reflection;Abstract conceptualization; andActive experimentation in a new situation. What it looks like: Explore MERLOT for case studies that you can integrated into your course.Create scenario-based discussion forums for learners to interact in. Establish and assign roles for learners within those scenarios.Use mini-cases as pre-lab work where learners can see what might go wrong before they are actually immersed in an online lab.Have learners create and facilitate course related scenarios.Have learners turn in reflective essays along with applied learning activities to measure critical thinking and reflection stages of the process.Assign “offline” activities to learners, and have the learners “debrief” in the online environment.Require foreign language learners to interact with native speakers (online) and summarize their experiences.Have learners document their real-world experiences through digital storytelling tools. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2020June 5, 1pm-2pm Recording. Does your course offer access to a variety of engaging resources and activities that facilitate communication and collaboration, deliver content, and support learning and engagement? OSCQR: Content and Activities Category  Upcoming options LaneOnline OSCQR Top 15 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cvto7EL4oOvqzVZv1HBNKu0FTTN53SB716V9S6u_pmM/edit OSCQR in focus: 29. Course offers access to a variety of engaging resources [...] Read more...
June 1, 2020We’ve talked about why we get backlink requests, but what do they look like? So glad you asked. Let’s talk about my dog. Five years ago I tried to take my dog hammock camping. She got cold overnight, and I had to put her in the car to get warm. When I wrote up the trip on my personal website, I linked to a dog sleeping bag manufacturer, since I naïvely thought my dog would sleep in one and keep warm (spoiler alert: she will not). A couple weeks ago, I got a backlink request from a website that wrote up a guide to buying a dog sleeping bag. This request fit the form of a standard backlink request template so well that I based a fill in the blank backlink generator request on it: Having trouble? View this embedded page on its own. This isn’t the exact email I got, but it’s close enough to get an idea of the structure of a request.  They try to include a little information about you, which they can look up online (like your job title). They include something vaguely complimentary (like calling your post “amazing”). Then they explain how their site would fit perfectly in with your content before wishing you well. I think the process goes like this. Someone writes a vague template, based on a script available on some SEO website. Then they search for some term like “College scholarships” or “Student Resources”, and go through the top 50 or 100 pages, emailing the site owner with an email customized just enough that it won’t feel generic, unless you get a lot of backlink requests. So how do you respond? Consider not responding at all. There are ways to automate gathering contact information (using a WHOIS record or various screen scraping techniques), so it’s entirely possible that your request was sent by a script, instead of a person. Don’t feel bad about ignoring a computer. Definitely don’t click on the link they sent you. If someone sends you an unsolicited link, never ever ever* click on it. If you’re really curious, at least Google the url first. See what you can learn about the page. Don’t just trust the text of a url – there’s ways to spoof that too.  You can also just forward those requests to us. Believe me, we get a lot of them. Our general rule is to not respond to backlink requests for commercial websites, and to avoid including links to commercial websites in our pages. We sometimes make exceptions for  local, non-profit organizations. But since those organizations are part of our community and usually know someone at Lane, they tend not to reach out using a form email. Remember, linking to a website from your page can provide an implicit endorsement of that page.  Make sure you trust what you’re linking to. * ever ever ever ever ever ever. [...] Read more...
May 27, 2020This post is continuation of the original 10 Steps to Build a Remote/Hybrid/Online Course. Wondering where to start? Just as we normally tell our students – start at the top and work your way down. The development checklist and all other guides on course development are designed to help you chunk the course development into easy to digest chunks. Taking the course development overall process step-by-step will help take a massive project and turn it into doable steps. Step 6: The course development checklist is designed to walk you through setting up your course – starting with providing directions on how students should start the course (getting started) through the first week or module of the course. Key points in step 6 are to make sure you have a welcoming introduction, all your essential course information is clear, students and instructor begin to build class community from the very first student entry into the course. Step 7: Consult with an instructional designer! Once you have completed your getting started material, course orientation, syllabus, introduction materials, and week 1 –> STOP! Meet with an ID to review your work and gather feedback on how to progress with the remainder of your course development. Step 8: Following your format of week 1 – develop weeks 2, 3, …. Following OSCQR top 15 as a guide.  It’s ok if your course is not 100% complete before week 1, as long as week 1 is ready by week 1!  ? Stay tuned – step 9, 10, and 11 are next week! [...] Read more...
May 27, 2020This post is continuation of the original 10 Steps to Build a Remote/Hybrid/Online Course. Wondering where to start? Just as we normally tell our students – start at the top and work your way down. The development checklist and all other guides on course development are designed to help you chunk the course development into easy [...] Read more...
May 27, 2020Session Recording from May 22 How do we build critical pieces to our online, hybrid, or remote courses? How can my teaching be as effective as I was in the classroom? How can my students feel like they belong to the class and establish a community and trust amongst all participants? OSCQR [Interaction] best practices in focus during this topic:  *40. Learners have an opportunity to get to know the instructor.[Syllabus / Instructor Bio, Introductions Forum] *41.  Course contains resources or activities intended to build a sense of class community, support open communication, and establish trust (i.e. Ice-breaker, Bulletin Board, Meet Your Classmates, Q/A Forum)[News and Announcements, Introductions Forum, Course Q/A forum, Various activities through the course.] *42. Course offers opportunities for learner to learner interaction and constructive collaboration. *43. Learners are encouraged to share resources and inject knowledge from diverse sources of information in their course interactions. Future Friday Sessions: May 29 Completion Conference (Full) June 5 Creating Engaging Content and Activities June 12 Online Assessment [...] Read more...
May 27, 2020Session Recording from May 22 How do we build critical pieces to our online, hybrid, or remote courses? How can my teaching be as effective as I was in the classroom? How can my students feel like they belong to the class and establish a community and trust amongst all participants? OSCQR best practices [...] Read more...
May 27, 2020Gmail has been in use for one year as of July 2020. As communicated during the Gmail rollout, it is time for GroupWise access to end. Please make sure you have verified that all of your email has been migrated to Gmail and there is nothing remaining in GroupWise that you need anymore. If you have a GroupWise archive that you would like migrated to Gmail, please contact the GroupWise Migration team via the helpdesk at helpdesk@lanecc.edu or by calling 541-463-4444. [...] Read more...
May 26, 2020Back in the resource pages post, I briefly mentioned backlink requests. Since if you don’t get these regularly they can be difficult to identify and understand, I thought we could dig into them. Backlink requests aren’t evil, and getting backlinks can certainly help your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But the people making the requests don’t necessarily have the interests of our students in mind, so you should know how to spot requests and why they’re sent. A quick refresher. Search engines mostly work by looking at how pages link to each other. Pages that get linked to a lot (that have a lot of inbound links) are considered more authoritative. Links from those pages are worth more than links from sites with fewer inbound links. If you have a website that you’re trying to get to rank higher in search, getting other sites to link back to yours will help. One way to make that happen is to ask. You can do that many different ways. For instance, you could find a website with a broken or outdated link, and suggest to the website owner that they link to your site instead. Or there’s the testimonial strategy, where you write a testimonial and offer it for free to another website, with an expectation they’ll attribute your testimonial to your site. Offering a guest blog post is another. The most straightforward is to ask directly. And the easiest place to ask for your link  to be included? A resource page. College websites are particularly attractive targets. While as mentioned above, Google certainly provides a lot of search engine weight to links,  there are all sorts of other factors they consider. One of those is domain name. Not every domain is easy to get. Anyone can purchase a .com, a .org, or dozens of others. But some, like .mil, .gov, and .edu are very hard to get. If you want an .edu domain, you need to be an accredited post-secondary educational institution. And you can only have one.  Because an external agency has guaranteed the validity of the domain, Google is thought to give .edu sites a little boost over sites with more open domains (part of why you probably don’t want a .com for your department!). When someone sends you an email, requesting you put their link on your site, ask yourself if they stand to gain financially from an increase in traffic on their website. The link they’re sending you might not sell anything directly. But that page might link to something that does or to a page with advertising – linking to a page on a site provides a boost to that page’s rank, which in turn provides a smaller boost to all the pages that page links to. We should also remember that linking to a site provides something of an endorsement of that site. Particularly on resource pages we’re effectively promising students that we’ve validated these resources as good and trustworthy. Make sure they are. Next post we’ll look at the structure of a backlink request and how to respond. [...] Read more...
May 20, 2020Many of you are engaged in undergraduate research in your classes, and you may be presenting some of that work at the college’s Undergraduate Research Fair and/or at the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Many of you are also wonderful fiction writers, painters, photographers, poets, song writers, and other types of writers and artists. It’s time to start publishing your work! This publication workshop covers several aspects of the publication process: where to find places to submit your work, how to submit it, what to expect in response, and how to track submissions and publications. Don’t forget that Lane Community College has its own journal, Denali, where you can send work! When you do have work published, be sure to add that information to your CV and resume. See this Curriculum (CV) Workshop for more details. [...] Read more...
May 20, 2020Many of you are engaged in undergraduate research in your classes, and you may be presenting some of that work at the college’s Undergraduate Research Fair and/or at the University of Oregon’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Many of you are also wonderful fiction writers, painters, photographers, poets, song writers, and other types of writers and artists. It’s time to start publishing your work! This publication workshop covers several aspects of the publication process: where to find places to submit your work, how to submit it, what to expect in response, and how to track submissions and publications. Don’t forget that Lane Community College has its own journal, Denali! When you do have work published, be sure to add that information to your CV and resume. See this Curriculum (CV) Workshop for more details.   [...] Read more...
May 20, 2020We had a great Friday Discussion last week that centered on course design and layout. 40+ people were in attendance! Up for discussion–One of the regular themes in online student feedback is that consistent course design across online courses is essential to their success.  We jumped right into the thick of things and took at look at the ID Services OSCQR course templates in action. Several instructors so kindly shared their courses with us and we were able to address the following questions: Is the course design intuitive and easy to navigate?  Is the course cluttered with a lot of various files and links?  Are the instructions on what the student is to do clear?  Do all the links in the course work and provide for easy navigation back to the course?  As promised, here is the link to the Session 3 presentation Note: We cannot provide links to the courses that were used in the demo. Other resource links from the presentation: OSCQR Top 15 Our guide to the top 15 best practices for online, hybrid and remote course building and improvementInstructional Design Intake (form) Let us know how we can support you with your summer and fall term course development needs.Take a closer look at the IDS Template (OSCQR) ATC (Academic Technology Center) Support Hub Be sure to join us this Friday, May 22, 1-2pm, for Session 4: Building Interaction in Your Course. You can also join us for our Instructional Design OPEN Office Hour. Join the Zoom Meeting https://lanecc.zoom.us/j/93310264545 [...] Read more...
May 18, 2020WebAIM’s analysis of the accessibility of the top million homepages came out the other day, and we made the top 25% for the first time. That puts us as #7 in the state for Community Colleges, #13 for Oregon public colleges. Well done SOU for being the highest ranked college in the state! That’s two successive improvements to our rank. Hopefully we’ll move up quite a bit post redesign! See our entry on WebAIM’s site. [...] Read more...
May 17, 2020This weekend, members of our chapter participated in the PTK Rocky Mountain-Cascade Region’s first time ever virtual Spring Convention. The event was organized by Regional Coordinator Michelle Gietl and the regional team. Regional officers provided a wide range of presentations and evening fellowship opportunities. At Saturday’s Awards Gala, our chapter received several awards! In addition to being recognized as a three-star chapter, we also received a Rising Star Award for our chapter activities and development; a REACH Award for recruiting; and a Horizon Award for chapter advising. Our award slide from the awards slide show! Next year’s convention will hopefully be in person. If it is, it will be at Umpqua Community College, where this year’s convention was supposed to have been held. Our members will be there, and we plan to be a four-star chapter by then! [...] Read more...
May 14, 2020Our Regional Coordinator, Michelle Gietl, and the regional officers have done an amazing job creating a virtual Spring Convention! May 15 and 16 are packed with presentations and workshops with topics ranging from scholarships to public speaking to what to do once you are a chapter officer. There is also an awards gala on May 16 from 5:00-7:00 PST. If you’ve registered, you’ll receive the schedule in an email message. You can still register for this free event: registration form Follow our region on Facebook for fellowship opportunities during the convention! [...] Read more...
May 13, 2020This post in continuation of the original 10 Steps to Build a Remote/Hybrid/Online Course Have you ever thought to yourself any of the following: My course is a mess!I worked so hard on all this content and activities, but my students seem so lost!I am new to online/remote teaching and have no idea how to even start! #IfIhadadollarI wish I had a place to at least start from.I wish our department had a starting point for a shared course experience. Have students ever asked: How do I get started, navigate, and work through your course?What are we doing this week?I can’t find this weeks work, can you help me?Why do we have to do this? (one of my personal favorites) How do I submit this assignment?When is our midterm? Finals? This week’s assignment?I’m confused about what to do when to do it, and how I’m supposed to submit it to you. Can you help me? Well, have we got an answer for you! The Instructional Design Services has developed a Moodle course shell template, IDS Template . $ $ Free of charge and 100% openly licensed to share and share-alike with your friends! The IDS template will provide you with a solid start to a course (remote or online) design that is student-centric and based on research best practices as outlined in OSCQR. Use all or just a few pieces of the course template – a la carte model of sharing the love. Act fast to get yours! Email the atc@lanecc.edu and just ask for an import! DONT WAIT! ACT NOW! Ok..enough of the cheesy infomercial…my sales career lasted only a couple very miserable weeks in college. If interested all you need to do is email the ATC and ask for an import of all or pieces of the template. Have questions about how to use the template or what parts make sense to bring over to your course? Inquire with an instructional designer. Review of steps to Course Dev so far covered:STEP 1: Brush up on my Moodle skills.STEP 2: Review and spend time with the IDs OSCQR Top 15 best practices in course design.Step 3: Meet with an instructional designer to develop a Personal Development Plan (PDP) on course design and training needed to teach.Step 4: Complete a course planning worksheet (note this can be used in your syllabus).Step 5: Ask the ATC to import the IDS Moodle course template.  Use the template material and fill in the blanks where needed. next post in series of 10 steps to course dev (coming soon): Step 6: Complete Getting Started Course Development checklist and follow the steps on building introduction through week 1 of course.Step 7: Meet with an instructional designer to develop a Personal Development Plan (PDP) on course design and training needed to teach. Google doc in action (steps 1-5) Questions / Comments / Feedback – comment in discussion below! [...] Read more...
May 13, 2020This post in continuation of the original 10 Steps to Build a Remote/Hybrid/Online Course Have you ever thought to yourself any of the following: My course is a mess! I worked so hard on all this content and activities, but my students seem so lost! I am new to online/remote teaching and have no idea how [...] Read more...
May 12, 2020Congratulations to Jeremiah Vandagrift! His photograph, “Under the Cloud Veil,” appears in the May 2020 issue of The Palouse Review! The journal is published by the Washington State University Honors College. [...] Read more...
May 8, 2020UPDATE 5/12: Recording of this session available What are some top student success strategies when starting an online course? We will talk about these and what essential components need to be in place in your course for the greatest chance of student success. OSCQR best practices in focus during this topic:  *1. Course includes Welcome and Course Orientation Content that establishes instructor presence and guidance. *2. An orientation or overview is provided for the course overall, as well as in each module. Learners know how to navigate and what tasks are due.*40. Learners have an opportunity to get to know the instructor. Outline and resources [...] Read more...
May 8, 2020UPDATE 5/12: Recording of this session available What are some top student success strategies when starting an online course? We will talk about these and what essential components need to be in place in your course for the greatest chance of student success. OSCQR best practices in focus during this topic:  *1. Course [...] Read more...
May 8, 2020Congratulations to Jeremiah Vandagrift! His photograph, “Under the Cloud Veil,” appears in the May 2020 issue of The Palouse Review! [...] Read more...
May 8, 2020Step 4: Complete a course planning worksheet (note this can be used in your syllabus). This post in continuation of the original 10 Steps to Build a Remote/Hybrid/Online Course The course planning worksheet has gotten a lot of positive feedback from instructors who have worked with it.  When completed BEFORE you dive into Moodle and start adding all kinds of cool stuff to your course.  The planning worksheet is designed to help you outline or draft your course before you take the time to add / remove / change / move / delete / re-add / pull hair out.  Do this as paper and pencil – or draft through Google docs.  Eventually, you can integrate this into your syllabus to provide a one(ish) page “snap-shot” of your course. Don’t have 100% of the course figured out yet?  Yeah – me either!  No course will ever be 100% developed – it’s like remodeling a house.  Many first time courses have instructors who do their best to stay one week ahead of the students.  This is okay!   One of the most difficult parts of teaching online is I can’t just “wing-it” like I used to in the classroom.  Many of my best lessons were those conceived on the drive into campus.  Or those ad-hoc discussions when the students and I would go down the rabbit hole on a cool concept (actually I have much richer discussions online now).   That all said, complete the course planning worksheet to the level of detail you feel your pedagogy has tolerance for.  It will help you, trust me.  Share a solid outline of your course with your students to provide a course format, but allow for flexibility and adaptation of your instruction per your student response and interactions with the course…just like in 2019! [...] Read more...
May 8, 2020Step 4: Complete a course planning worksheet (note this can be used in your syllabus). This post in continuation of the original 10 Steps to Build a Remote/Hybrid/Online Course The course planning worksheet has gotten a lot of positive feedback from instructors who have worked with it.  When completed BEFORE you dive into Moodle and [...] Read more...
May 7, 2020The Scribendi publication window is now open! Don’t miss this chance to submit your work to a great journal published by the University of New Mexico Honors College! Honors students who are going to be enrolled at Lane next fall are eligible to submit work. See the Scribendi website for more information: [...] Read more...
May 7, 2020Each year, our Rocky Mountain-Cascades Region of Phi Theta Kappa holds its Spring Convention. This year, the event was to be held nearby at Umpqua Community College. With the current stay-at-home orders in place, the event will now be virtual on the weekend of May 15, with the awards ceremony being held at 5:00 on Saturday, May 16. More details about the days/times/schedule will be coming soon! Register now for this free event and represent our Sigma Zeta Chapter at Spring Convention! Here is Registration Form!   [...] Read more...
May 6, 2020I really like simple lists.  Maybe a way oversimplified list with links for additional details if I would like to venture down that path and learn more.  I don’t have to click all the links – just the ones I want.  I have not found much in the “simple” category lately, so I guess we try and build our own!  You may not be developing an online course, however, you are developing online components of your course regardless of modality.   What’s the difference between a remote, hybrid, and online course?  IMHO: Interaction. Best practices in teaching don’t change based on modality – they are still the same.  How you achieve them might differ based on modality.  With this in mind when you review online course design best practices, read them with a lens for your modality.  Do the recommendations make sense for your course?  Not sure – let us help you decide. Remote/Hybrid/Online Course Development in 10 steps: STEP 1: Brush up on my Moodle skills.STEP 2: Review and spend time with the IDs OSCQR Top 15 best practices in course design.Step 3: Meet with an instructional designer to develop a Personal Development Plan (PDP) on course design and training needed to teach.Step 4: Complete a course planning worksheet (note this can be used in your syllabus).Step 5: Ask the ATC to import the IDS Moodle course template.  Use the template material and fill in the blanks where needed.Step 6: Complete Getting Started Course Development checklist and follow the steps on building introduction through week 1 of course.Step 7: Meet with an instructional designer to develop a Personal Development Plan (PDP) on course design and training needed to teach.Step 8: Following your format of week 1 – develop weeks 2, 3, …. Following OSCQR top 15 as a guide.  It’s ok if your course is not 100% complete before week 1, as long as week 1 is ready by week 1!  🙂Step 9: Meet with an instructional designer to seek feedback and assistance.Step10.  Ask students for feedback in course design (maybe weeks 2, 5, & 9) “How-to” do steps 1-10 – current how-to steps 1-3.  4+ coming soon Step 11 (after the dust settles): Improve!  Connect with FPD for local and national PD opportunitiesInquire about Online Learning Consortium (OLC) institute training Connect with other faculty and share coursesConnect and participate with the CTL! What do you think?  Interact with us in the comment options below! [...] Read more...
May 5, 2020Lane has moved away from using Netstorage in favor of a more modern application called FILR.  When you try to visit netstorage.lanecc.edu to interact with your network drives, you will now be automatically redirected to filr.lanecc.edu.  You should update any shortcuts or favorites you have saved in your browsers to be sure you always have quick access to your files. Netstorage and FILR are both simply portals to the network drives that you have access.  None of the files you have saved through Netstorage have been lost due to this change. Logging into FILR uses the same username (last name first initial) and password as Netstorage.Once logged in, you can see all your network drives under the “Net Folders” link at the top of the screen. Please contact the helpdesk @ x4444 or helpdesk@lanecc.edu for further assistance. [...] Read more...
May 1, 2020We have shared the slides from the Friday, May 1 Discussion, where we talk about external definitions of online, remote, synchronous, asynchronous, and really every other buzz word we could find related to our current moment! If you want to join the discussion — even asynchronously — you can jump into the shared Google Doc. [...] Read more...
April 27, 2020You’ve likely already seen this on our Web site or thrilled to the news in the Lane Weekly, but in case you’re a blogs-only kind of person, ta-da! We are announcing an upcoming series of Friday discussions/webinars to help faculty think about the different ways we’re handling online teaching and learning in these weird times. We’ll meet online from 1-2 p.m. every Friday, starting this week (5/1) for these discussions. Bring your lunch! Or your pet! Or your pet’s lunch (maybe keep that one off camera)! You’ll see a preview post before each session here, including some good reference material for the topics we’ll cover. If we have slides to share or other content that gets collected during the discussions, we’ll also use this as a place to post those. We’ll be talking about: Remote Teaching (what does it mean, and how is it different/the same)First week/getting started strategiesDesign and layout to promote student successBuilding interaction into your courseCreating engaging coursesCrafting online assessments So sit back, relax (and if you manage this, let us know how!), and get ready to chat every Friday during Spring term. Check out the ID services site for Zoom information and the full schedule of events. [...] Read more...
April 27, 2020Hello again everyone! This TIPSS was delayed slightly by, well, everything that’s happened in the past month or so. Luckily, the news it’s delivering is that students have been experiencing fewer delays in graduation over the past few years. Please review the TIPSS here to find out more! PDF version of TIPSS While Guided Pathways meetings are on a pause during spring term as the college moves swiftly to respond to the pandemic, our thinking and work will continue. We hope you can review this TIPSS when you have a moment, and please let us know your comments or questions below. [...] Read more...
April 24, 2020BCM – Sending a Message A step-by-step guide to using BCM to send messages to Banner populations.   BCM User Guide v9.4 – July 2018 Ellucian’s user guide to using BCM. [...] Read more...
April 22, 2020As the new term began, I noticed an increase in messages from students in the Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa. I also noticed more students joining both groups. Given that everyone is studying and working from home, the physical college is closed to everyone but the few employees who must be on campus to do their jobs, and all spring events have been canceled, it’s not surprising that students are looking for ways to connect. So far, I’ve taken several steps to support the students and help them feel less isolated and more focused on their goals: starting a new Lane Honors Program blog and a new Phi Theta Kappa blog; using blog posts, email, and social media to share information about publication and volunteer opportunities; working with students to research their transfer schools, curate their ePortfolios, and polish up their resumes; and developing with Casey Reid a short workshop on building their first CVs based on an earlier workshop that Casey had created. Later this term, we will hold an online orientation for new honors students, as well. I’m so impressed with these amazing students. Regardless of sheltering at home, losing jobs or working new shifts, and moving to a remote instruction learning environment for all of their classes, they are persevering. They are, as always, inspiring! [...] Read more...
April 22, 2020This spring, the Honors Program will publish its first newsletter, and we have an outstanding editor in charge of the project! Kyla Ramsey is from Cottage Grove, Oregon. She is finishing her first year at Lane, and she joined the Honors Program in winter of 2020. Kyla is an English major with plans to transfer to the University of Oregon to continue her studies in English. She is an avid gamer and dedicated writer, spending her free time playing games with friends, writing D&D campaigns, and pursuing her passion for creative writing.   Kyla Ramsey, Editor, Honors Program Newsletter [...] Read more...
April 20, 2020Check out this short workshop by Casey Reid and Ce Rosenow, and start building your own expanded resume known as a curriculum vitae CV! Here’s the workshop and here’s the handout used during the workshop. Contact Casey (ReidC@lanecc.edu) or Ce (RosenowC@lanecc.edu) if you have questions or would like more help with your CV! [...] Read more...
April 17, 2020Are you looking for a way to connect more with Lane’s EMS program?   Maybe you want to refresh some knowledge, get a jump start on classes you sign up for, or maybe just get to know the faculty a little better?   Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we have become creative in the way we are teaching lab skills for courses, and have created a new Lane EMS Program YouTube channel. There are already a lot of videos uploaded, and we add new videos each week. Lately the focus has been on EMT skills, but AEMT/I and Paramedic skills will be posted in the next couple of weeks, as well as some lecture topics.   Please check out our (new) Lane EMS Program YouTube Channel, and consider SUBCRIBING! It would be a great help to us, and perhaps also a great help to you.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE1RXCeGmPEaLv7y3hm6Pcg     [...] Read more...
April 6, 2020Are you interested in finding leadership opportunities, ways to connect with others during this stay-at-home time, and additional elements to add to your resume and scholarship applications? OSPIRG is looking for student volunteers. Learn more! [...] Read more...
March 30, 2020Dr. Richard Glover “In teaching environmental science I enjoy helping students explore the bioregion surrounding them, partner with campus stakeholders to do scientific research in my classes to help build their identity as a scientist and treat the campus as a living lab. Additionally, I work with students and sustainability groups to incorporate sustainable practices across campus, aligning campus policy/practice to external benchmarks (like the UN SDGs), and promote food security. I began teaching Environmental Science courses at Lane in the Fall of 2019. Prior to that I was an Environmental Science and Chemistry faculty member at Bellevue College, in Bellevue, Washington for 6 years. In my free time I like to be outside whether biking, skiing, hiking, or camping. Additionally, I am an avid gardener and like to grow (and cook) open pollinated vegetables (ask me about the Learning Garden Club).” [...] Read more...
March 30, 2020If you are following this blog about the Lane Honors Program, consider these other honors-related blogs, as well: The Honor RollHonors Undergraduate ResearchPhi Theta Kappa [...] Read more...
March 27, 2020What do you want to do? Please select the option that is right for you: I will be on campus some days and working at home other days. I will be working from home all work days. I prefer to just use a greeting on my office phone that instructs callers to leave a message, email me or call another number to reach me. If you selected 1, then you probably want to use the Call Forward – No Answer option. This option will ring your campus phone 5 times and then forward the call to your home or cell phone.  If you don’t pick up, the call will be sent to your home or cell phone voicemail. If you selected 2, then you probably want to use the Call Forward – All  option This option will forward all calls directly to your home or cell phone without ringing your campus phone.  If you don’t pick up, the call will be sent to your home or cell phone voicemail. If you selected 3, you will leave your phone the way it is and record the appropriate greeting.  Please be sure to check your voicemail regularly, check email regularly, and answer your home or cell phone.  If you don’t pick up, the call will be sent to your Lane voicemail. If you choose to forward your calls: NOTE: You must forward calls before you leave campus and use your campus phone to do so. NOTE: You must cancel existing instructions (such as forward to voicemail (3535)) before you can set a new instruction. NOTE: Remember * is used to set and # is used to cancel. To Set Call Forward – No Answer (Option 1)         Lift handset Dial #3, wait for beep, then 3535 to cancel forwarding to voicemail Dial *3, wait for the beep Dial phone number to forward to Example1: 3535 to forward back to Voicemail Example2: 9 541-XXX-XXXX to forward to a cell or home phone Example3: 9 1 XXX-XXX-XXXX to forward to a non-541 area code number Wait for the tone, then hang-up.        To cancel Call Forward – No Answer, dial #3 To Set Call Forward – All (Option 2)         Lift handset Dial #3, wait for beep, then 3535 to cancel forwarding to voicemail Dial *2, wait for the beep Dial phone number to forward to Example1: 3535 to forward back to Voicemail Example2: 9 541-XXX-XXXX to forward to a cell or home phone Example3: 9 1 XXX-XXX-XXXX to forward to a non-541 area code number Wait for the tone, then hang-up To cancel Call Forward – All, dial #2 To record a Voicemail Greeting and access your Voicemail (Option 3)  Call the external or internal voicemail number, 541-463-3535 or ext. 3535 NOTE: If you are off campus, press # when the voice prompt starts Enter your mailbox number Enter your security code Checking Messages Press Listen to new messages 1 Record a message for another subscriber 2 Delete a message 4 Save a message or listen to saved messages 5 Review, forward, delete, or save messages you’ve selected 6 Listen to and recover messages you’ve marked for deletion (in this session only) 7 Recording Messages Press Follow the recorded prompts to record your message: To stop recording 2 Approve for sending # Discard and start over 4 Review 6 Set routing options 0 -Future deliver options 1 -Set urgent status 2 -Restrict forwarding 3 -Request a receipt 5 -Return to recording options * To make changes in your mailbox NOTE: You must be in your mailbox to make these changes Press From the voice prompt-PHONE MANAGE FUNCTIONS: Change your standard greeting 3 1 3 2 Change your out-of-office greeting 3 1 3 3 Change your recorded name 3 1 5 Change your security code 3 1 4 [...] Read more...
March 25, 2020From off campus:  Dial 541-463-3535 When it answers, press # and enter your mailbox number  Enter your password From this point on it should be the same as sitting at your desk. [...] Read more...
March 24, 2020With the pandemic impacting people around the world, the college moving all spring instruction online, and the people of Oregon being ordered to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus, it seems like a good time to reflect on some of the positive things that happened for students in the Lane Honors Program this winter. We added two new classes: ENSC 183_H Aquatic Cultures (fulfills a lab science requirement) PS 297_H Environmental Political Science. We also plan on at least three new classes next year: CH 243_H Organic Chemistry MATH 243_H Introduction to Probability and Statistics PSY 201_H General Psychology. We renewed our transfer agreement with Portland State University’s Honors College. Southern Oregon University’s Honors College will work with us unofficially while they try to build capacity to accept more transfer students. The agreement is on hold while they work on how to accommodate a much larger cohort than they currently have. University of Oregon’s Clark Honors College continues to work on ways to admit transfer students. Their restructuring will be complete in fall and will provide ways for students to transfer in as sophomores. I’ve asked them to find ways for our students to transfer in as juniors rather than paying UO tuition for three years instead of two. We also held an orientation this term with 13 students attending. Claire Dannenbaum, the Honors Librarian, joined us to discuss the many ways she supports honors students through the library. We took a wonderful field trip to UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and then to Noisette Bakery for lunch and to see Claire’s art exhibit. After many years, I’m happy to say we are now planning on circulating an honors newsletter! Honors student Kyla Ramsey has accepted the position of editor, and publication is set for later in spring. More posts coming soon. In the meantime, stay safe and stay well! [...] Read more...
March 21, 2020As the COVID-19 virus spread and the college community faced the reality of a pandemic, honors students and faculty finished the Winter 2020 Term via remote instruction. As part of that final effort, students in WR 227_H Honors Technical Writing reflected on the research they engaged in during the term. Here are some of their reflections: Laney Baehler’s Reflection  Kamaya Deville’s Reflection Carter Kittell’s Reflection The college will continue remote instruction through the Spring 2020 Term, and faculty and students will find innovative ways to collaborate on undergraduate research. Results will be shared here!   [...] Read more...
March 21, 2020As the COVID-19 virus spread and the college community faced the reality of a pandemic, honors students and faculty finished the Winter 2020 Term via remote instruction. As part of that final effort, students in WR 227_H Honors Technical Writing reflected on the research they engaged in during the term. Here are some of their reflections: Laney Baehler’s Reflection  Kamaya Deville’s Reflection Carter Kittell’s Reflection The college will continue remote instruction through the Spring 2020 Term, and faculty and students will find innovative ways to collaborate on undergraduate research. Results will be shared here!   [...] Read more...
March 19, 2020As soon as possible — before Spring Break if you can! — it’s helpful to let Spring term students know what they will need to succeed in your upcoming remote course. You can link to this Minimum Technical Requirements document in an announcement to your course, or build your own statement using the sections below. All courses making use of online resources require: Consistent, high-speed internet accessIf you have assignments due once a week, consider whether once-a-week access is enough, or whether multiple days will be required, and state this requirement clearly as soon as possible! For instance, a discussion board that requires both a post and replies will require either multiple hours on one day or shorter time over multiple days. Other hardware requirements:   Requiring Use of: Students will need: Moodle only (assignments, forums, messages, etc.) Modern computer (<5 years old); Modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari); Moodle with multimedia (videos or recordings) All of the above, plus: Headphones or speakers Video conferences (Zoom) Webcamera or smartphone Online homework platform Modern computer, modern browser; smartphones and tablets may be less reliable for this type of homework Written homework Modern computer, or tablet with a keyboard, or smartphone with dictation capability Google Apps Modern computer or tablet or smartphone; modern browser Other software requirements: Software is less predictable because you may already have required/preferred programs. Here are some possible requirements. Type of AssignmentType of software neededWritten homeworkWord processing software: Microsoft Office (free download); Google AppsPresentations: building slidesMicrosoft PowerPoint; Google SlidesPresentations: filming or presentingScreencast-o-matic (free), Zoom (if offering live)Attending or participating in web conferencesZoom Turning in large filesGoogle DriveUploading/sharing videosGoogle Drive or YouTube (both available with Lane email account Google access) [...] Read more...
March 2, 2020[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/a/lanecc.edu/file/d/1ws-h9DDzHZHQNhHmsmctPMFSF2q2lHnG/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="800"] [...] Read more...
February 25, 2020On Friday, February 21, we headed out on an art field trip. Students met on campus and then we carpooled to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. The museum had several excellent exhibits, including “By Looking Back, We Look Forward,” by Roger Shimomura and “The Usual Suspects” by Carrie Mae Weems. After spending time at the museum, we went to Noisette Bakery to see an exhibit by Honors Librarian Claire Dannenbaum. Claire joined us for the field trip. While we ate, she shared information about her work and answered questions. You can follow Claire on her blog! [...] Read more...
February 5, 2020Avoiding the “Cool-out”: Concerns about Equity in Tracking Graduate Students for Community College Careers [...] Read more...
February 1, 2020Visit the Honors Undergraduate Research Blog for new posts: Student reflections on their research in WR 227 Technical Writing from fall 2019 University of Oregon’s upcoming Undergraduate Research Symposium   [...] Read more...
February 1, 2020The University of Oregon celebrates the tenth year of its Undergraduate Research Symposium on May 21, 2020. Once again, we are preparing Lane students to participate! UO has created a special abstract submission process for Lane Community College students and visiting McNair Scholars. The symposium organizers are also working on a video of Lane students presenting last year. Honors faculty will work with students this term and next so that they can share their research at the symposium. [...] Read more...
February 1, 2020The following students took the honors section of WR 227 Technical Writing in fall of 2019. As part of their honors work for the term, they reflected on the research projects they conducted in the class and uploaded the reflections to their ePortfolios. Annie Taylor is a student athlete who runs cross country and track. She chooses to challenge herself academically through honors coursework. Read her reflection. Daezhane (Dae) Day joined the Lane Honors Program in fall of 2020 as part of her goal to get as much as she can from her educational experience. Read her reflection. Jessry Smith joined the Lane Honors Program in 2018 and has completed several honors courses. You can read one of Jessry’s earlier reflection from the spring of 2019 (shared in an earlier post on this blog) and her reflection from WR 227. [...] Read more...
January 27, 2020A faculty member brought a concern to Faculty Council in January after finding that some web sites are now blocked or filtered because of their content. This follows a recent update to the campus security software, FortiClient. In the past, this software has been described as one that may temporarily block sites based on their potential security threat to campus, but it appears that sites are now blocked based on their material, specifically whether they include nudity, pornography, or “other adult content.”   Our concern is that many web sites used for learning purposes could be blocked under these headings. We’d like to find out more about the impact of this practice.   If you try to visit a web site from a campus computer OR from any device while using the campus network and receive a message that it has been blocked, please record your experience on this anonymous web form. We also encourage staff to pass along reports they may hear from students (for instance, from library computer use).    You can also reach out to your faculty council representative or chairs (at this e-mail address) if you have further concerns or questions about this matter.   [...] Read more...
January 22, 2020 Read more...
January 22, 2020Thanks to everyone who participated  [...] Read more...
January 8, 2020Draft Essay: McGrail A New Boundary Object DH at 2 Year and 4 Year Colleges Published in ADE Bulletin Fall 2020 (paywall) [...] Read more...
December 2, 2019Congratulations to Meg Strout on having her essay, “When the Lilacs Bloom,” published in The Palouse Review! This arts and academics journal is published biannually by the Washington State University Honors College. Well done, Meg! [...] Read more...
September 30, 2019[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nteTyMIATDk1mG1puN_04z9xPYbTiKML/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
September 18, 2019In Spring 2019, several students took the honors versions of WR 122 and WR 227. As part of their work, they were required to write final reflective essays on the research they conducted during the term. Use the following links to read their reflections. Many of the links go to their ePortfolios where you can also see samples of their research! Sadie Baker’s Reflection Danyka Bratton’s Reflection Bayli Case’s Reflection Max Graf’s Reflection Alex Heintz’s Reflection Finn Mifsud’s Reflection Olivia Morris’s Reflection Arjun Singh’s Reflection Jessry Smith’s Reflection Maddie Smucker’s Reflection     [...] Read more...
August 28, 2019This year’s Undergraduate Research Fair took place May 29-31, 2019. The event included poster sessions, an ePortfolio showcase, presentations, and a poetry reading, and honors students participated in everything! Stacey Kiser and other members of the Science Division faculty created the fair, which began as SUGR Day (Science Undergraduate Research Day). As the event grew, it developed into the current three-day fair with student research findings being shared in multiple locations. The posters line several hallways in the Science Building. The large space outside the library offered the perfect venue for passersby to see the culmination of student research projects.  It also served as the venue for the poetry reading. The Academic Technology Center (ATC) continues to be a strong supporter of student research. Students displayed their ePortfolios in the ATC classroom across from the library, explaining their various projects and how their process and findings were incorporated into their portfolios.   [...] Read more...
July 18, 2019Beginning on July 22, 2019, Gmail is the email system used by Lane Community College. Gmail is only accessed through the web (https://mail.google.com/a/lanecc.edu) using a web browser. Login using your full email address and your LCC G Suite password. Your email address is not changing. You will use the same email address you used with GroupWise when logging into Gmail. If you have not activated your LCC G Suite account, or don’t know your LCC G Suite account password, open your web browser to https://lanecc.edu/gsuite and login with your L# and password. This will activate your LCC G Suite account if has not been activated before and it will push your L# password to your LCC G Suite account. GroupWise will continue to be available as an archive only. After the transition on July 22, 2019, it will not be possible to send email using GroupWise and no new email will be delivered to GroupWise. If you have specific questions about the migration that are not answered on this blog, please send an email to the Gmail Migration Team at: GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu.   [...] Read more...
July 9, 2019If you were using the GroupWise Mobility Service or IMAP to access GroupWise email and calendars on your mobile device(s) (e.g. iPhones, iPads, Android phones, Android tablets), you will need to reconfigure your device(s) to access your G Suite account after the migration on July 22, 2019.  You can add both Gmail and non-Gmail accounts to the Gmail app on your mobile device(s) by following the instructions at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8494?co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS&hl=en&oco=0 IMAP access can be configured on your mobile device(s) by following the instructions at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en After the migration on July 22, 2019, the GroupWise Mobility Service will be shut down and will not be available.  If you have questions about using your G Suite account on your mobile device(s) after the migration, please send an email to the Gmail Migration Team at GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu. [...] Read more...
June 26, 2019Many people at Lane have access to GroupWise resource accounts in addition to their own user account. In GroupWise, resource accounts are owned by a single person, identified as the account owner. The account owner can grant other people access to the resource. Gmail resource accounts work in a similar way. Gmail resource accounts have a password assigned by the account owner. The account owner can share the password to allow others to access the account, provide Delegated Access for Gmail, or set access permissions for other users on Google Calendars. Unfortunately, Google does not have a way to share contacts or contact lists with other users. The best way to accomplish contact sharing within the G Suite of tools is to create a Google Sheet that contains the list of contacts and share that sheet with other users.  The good news is that all of the resource accounts in GroupWise will be migrated to Google G Suite. The bad news is that the sharing has to be recreated using Google Gmail Account Delegation or Google Calendar Sharing. You can find more information about using Google Gmail Account Delegation or Google Calendar Sharing in the Google G Suite learning center. Early in July, before the July 22, 2019 migration date, the GroupWise Migration Team will be emailing additional information to GroupWise resource account owners.  This information will include account credentials for the new resource accounts on Google and instructions on sharing the resource with other users.   For answers to specific questions, you may also send an email to the Gmail Migration Team at GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu. [...] Read more...
June 26, 2019Many GroupWise users utilize rules to automate message handling. Gmail also allows use of rules to manage messages. Unfortunately, GroupWise rules (like vacation rules) will not automatically migrate to Gmail. If you’re using GroupWise rules to automate handling mail in your account, you will need to recreate the rules in Gmail after the migration. For example, if you use a GroupWise rule to automatically move messages to a folder and you want this to continue in Gmail, you will need to recreate the rule in Gmail after the migration has occurred on July 22, 2019.  If you have questions about rules in Gmail please visit the Google G Suite Learning Center at https://support.google.com/a/users#topic=9296556.  Information about adding rules to automate Gmail can be found at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579.  Information about setting an out-of-office message in Gmail can be found at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/25922.  You may also email the Gmail Migration Team at GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu if you have additional questions. [...] Read more...
June 21, 2019ADE Summer Institute Midwest Presentation June 21, 2019 ADE Presentation Writing CC Students into the Digital Landscape Slides are Here ASSIGNMENT SAMPLES LINKED TO “WHOLE GAME” AND EQUITY APPROACHES: Play the Whole Game: Using Voyant Tools Make the Game Worth Playing : Critical Language for Understanding New Media Rhetorics Work on the Hard Parts: Rhetorical Element Inventories Play Out of Town: Mapping Emotions in America Play the Hidden Game: Scientific Controversy and “Alternative Facts” Learn from the Team: Collaborative Annotations Learn the Game of Learning: Metacognitive Confidence Self-Checks: Prechecks Postchecks   [...] Read more...
June 11, 2019If you are planning on setting an out-of-office message on your email for the summer, please remember that you will need to recreate it in Gmail after the migration on July 22. For more information about setting out-of-office messages in Gmail, see the Google G Suite Learning Center https://support.google.com/mail/answer/25922 or contact the Gmail Migration Team at GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu. [...] Read more...
June 11, 2019If you are using shared folders in GroupWise, it’s important to note that sharing works differently in Gmail. Gmail relies on labels instead of folders, but they work in a similar way. Unfortunately, there is no way to simply share a single label or set of labels with other Gmail users. It is possible, however, to use Gmail Account Delegation to share email and associated labels with other users. Learn more about Gmail Account Delegation here https://support.google.com/mail/answer/138350?hl=en. One disadvantage of  Gmail’s Account Delegation feature is that the users with delegated access to your account are granted full access to all of the email and contacts in your Gmail account, and access cannot be limited to a single label or selected set of labels. Additionally, there is no “read-only” option in Gmail, so users with delegated access can send and delete email in your account. If you are using shared folders in your GroupWise account, you may want to consider creating a new Gmail resource account for some (or all) of those shared folders. Then, use Google’s Account Delegation to grant other users access to the new resource. Please contact the Gmail Migration Team if you are interested in converting a shared folder to a resource account so you can share access to those messages with other Gmail use [...] Read more...
June 10, 2019 Read more...
June 9, 2019Color 1: GreenShutter 1/1250, F/4.5, ISO 1600 Color 2: GreenShutter 1/1250, F/4.5, ISO 1600 Color 3: WhiteShutter 1/1250, F/4.5, ISO 200 Portrait 1Shutter 1/1250, F/4.5, ISO 200 Portrait 2Shutter 1/20, F/5.6, ISO 1600 Portrait 3Shutter 1/20, F/5, ISO 1600 [...] Read more...
June 9, 2019ƒ/8 1/80 49mm ISO400 ƒ/5.6 1/50 18mm ISO400 ƒ/5.6 1/400 55mm ISO400 [...] Read more...
June 9, 2019f/4 1/640 28mm iso3200 f5.6 1/25 24mm iso400 f/4.5 1/1600 28mm iso3200 [...] Read more...
June 9, 2019f/4 1/640 28mm iso3200 [...] Read more...
June 3, 2019For the second part of the final project I decided to work with the color red. Red can be a very confusing color as it can mean anger, love, and more. I wanted to do 3 distinctive items that encapsulates a different feeling of the color red each time. Through these photos I hope to see different reactions to each photo and of course, the color of red itself. -Alex Red Orb.Fstops: F5.0 Shutterspeeds: 1/200 ISO: 6400 Red Heart.Fstops: F5.0 Shutterspeeds: 1/200 ISO: 16000 Red Flowers.Fstops: F5.6 Shutterspeeds: 1/250 ISO: 100 [...] Read more...
June 3, 2019During these photo sessions I realized that I need more time to study my macro lens. While the quality of this photos are lovely I believe with better resources out of my reach at the moment, they could have looked even better. With that said I am extremely proud of my food photography macro shots and I hope you enjoy them as well. -Alex Cake.Fstops: F5.6 Shutterspeed: 1/200 ISO: 12800 Blueberry.Fstops: F4.5 Shutterspeed: 1/4 ISO: 1250 Strawberry.Fstops: F5.0 Shutterspeed: 1/4 ISO: 8000 [...] Read more...
May 31, 2019Training on using Google Gmail and Calendar is being offered by IT on the following dates and times. This one-hour training will help prepare you for the upcoming email and calendar transition from GroupWise to Google G Suite. All trainings will be held in the Center Bldg ATC Computer Lab Classroom (CEN 219). Registration is not required but you can reserve a seat by emailing the Gmail Migration Team at GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu. Drop-ins welcome but limited to available space. Wed, 6/5/19 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Fri, 6/7/19 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Tue, 6/11/19 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Thu, 6/13/19 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM Mon, 6/17/19 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Wed, 6/19/19 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Mon, 6/24/19 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Wed, 6/26/2019 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM [...] Read more...
May 28, 2019Post feedback here from the May 23rd Forum in the Ragozzino Performance Hall. View the Governance Diagram the GSC proposed as a starting point for future conversation that was presented at this forum. [...] Read more...
May 27, 2019Henri Cartier-Bresson inspired Shutter 1/1000 f5.6 ISO800 135mm Shutter 1/1000 f5.6 ISO640 135mm Shutter 1/1000 f5.6 ISO800 135mm Shutter 1/500 f8.0 ISO800 29mm [...] Read more...
May 22, 2019On May 20, 2019, the Honors Program sponsored a poetry reading by Diana Arterian.  The event was held from 3:00-4:00 in the Haugland Commons on Lane’s main campus. Students who attended received a free copy of Diana’s book, Playing Monster : Seiche. Diana read many poems from this collection followed by some poems from her current project, a manuscript of poems about Agrippina the Younger. She described the research she conducted for this project, including a trip to Rome. After the reading and Q&A session, students stayed on to have their books signed and to talk with the poet. [...] Read more...
May 21, 2019Queer slam poet, Kit Yan, brings their performance and workshop to Lane! Slam poet Kit Yan performs their award-winning show, “Queer Heartache” from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 22 in the Blue Door Theatre, Building 6. See this week’s Titan Times for a link to free tickets! Seating is limited. Yan will also provide a free slam poetry performance and writing workshop on Thursday, May 23, Building 19, Room 119. No registration is necessary for the writing workshop opportunity. Yan is a queer, trans, Asian-American who was born in Enping, China, and raised in Hawaii. Yan’s show has won 5 awards at the Chicago and SF Fringe Festivals. Please join the Gender Equity Center for this event celebrating the beauty of queerness, as well as Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! https://www.lanecc.edu/gec/calendar-events [...] Read more...
May 21, 2019We’ve heard from several individuals that they would prefer to NOT have their GroupWise email and calendar migrated to Gmail and G Suite. Instead, they’d like to “start fresh” with an empty inbox and an empty calendar. This option is available on request – just ask! It’s also possible to migrate only the GroupWise email or only the GroupWise calendar. If you would prefer to start fresh, or to migrate only part of your GroupWise account, please send an email to the Gmail Migration Team (GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu) and let us know your preference. [...] Read more...
May 20, 2019While working on this assignment I have learned one thing about myself. I am mediocre at photography. While I might have the most simple of basics down, I still have a lot to learn. Looking at Irving Penn’s style has a been a joy and one of education. By looking towards his style I can hopefully find something that really says “me”. Please enjoy and thank you. Teapot.Fstops: F5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 ISO:25600 Hanging basket.Fstops: F5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 ISO: 640 Hearts and roses.Fstops: F5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 ISO:25600 Eggs.Fstops: F5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 ISO:25600 [...] Read more...
May 15, 2019The Gmail size limit for email attachments is 25MB (https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6584). GroupWise attachments smaller than the Gmail limit will be migrated and remain attached to messages in Gmail. Attachments larger than 25mb will not be migrated. During the migration to Gmail, attachments larger than 25MB will be extracted to a folder that will be accessible to the user. There won’t be a notation or link to access the detached files within an affected message in Gmail. For that reason, the best course of action for users is to save large attachments outside of GroupWise before the migration. Once files have been saved, they can be deleted from GroupWise. The links below provide instructions to find and save attachments larger than 25MB (or any size, really) in the desktop GroupWise client. Note that the instructions apply only to the desktop client. GroupWise webmail is not capable of performing these functions. Click the link to the view instructions that match your operating system: GroupWise desktop client for Windows Groupwise desktop client for Mac [...] Read more...
May 13, 2019Motion BlurF/4.5, Shutter 1/60, ISO 1600 Motion FreezeF/4.5, Shutter 1/200, ISO 1600 Motion PanF/20, Shutter 1/60, ISO 1600 [...] Read more...
May 13, 2019Freezef/8 1/500 ISO800 18mm BlurF22 1/20 ISO400 18mm PanF22 1/20 ISO400 18mm [...] Read more...
May 13, 2019Things are on the move! 24 students attended a joint Honors Program Orientation and PTK Meeting. Huge thanks to Casey Reid for joining me as a PTK advisor when she already has a long list of responsibilities at the college in her role as Writing Center Coordinator. Together, we facilitated this event.  With plenty of food set out in the Haugland Commons, we reviewed the criteria for completing the Lane Honors Program. A key point was the new option for attending three academic/cultural events as a way to fulfill this requirement. Then we discussed the newly reopened Sigma Zeta Chapter of PTK, our need to elect officers for next year, and the importance of raising campus awareness about PTK. Due to the shut-down of the chapter for a couple of years and the general lack of visibility, many students receiving the email invitation to join PTK think it is a scam. We are recruiting students to serve as PTK Ambassadors to help let people know that this is a legitimate and beneficial organization to join. Students had until Friday, May 10, 2019 to submit paragraphs expressing their wish to run for office and their qualification to hold office. Casey and I will create a ballot this week and then hold a meeting to announce the election results. [...] Read more...
May 13, 2019The All-Oregon Academic Team (AOAT) Awards Luncheon was held at Chemeketa Community College; however, the day didn’t start there! Our two students, Holly Kolodziejczak and Sabrina Piccolo, started their day at the State Capitol Rotunda for a photograph with Governor Kate Brown. Then they travelled over to Chemeketa CC for the lunch, and  I met up with them there. President Marge Hamilton, Vice President Paul Jarrell, Board of Education Member Susie Johnston, and Director of Public Affairs Brett Rowlett all attended the event. The awards luncheon is sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa and the Oregon Community College Association. It began with a buffet lunch followed by the presentation of the AOAT members who came to the stage one college at a time. President Hamilton presented Holly and Sabrina with their medallions. We then listened to three amazing student speakers. Finally, we wrapped up with a few closing remarks and headed back to Eugene. Lane Community College was well-represented by these outstanding students! Thank you, Holly and Sabrina! [...] Read more...
May 12, 2019Motion BlurFstops: F29 Shutter Speed: 1/20 ISO: 160 Motion FreezeFstops: F29 Shutter Speed: 1/320 ISO: 2500 Motion PanFstops: F32 Shutter Speed: 1/8 ISO: 125 [...] Read more...
May 12, 2019f36 – 1/5 – 135mm – ISO100 1/125 – 18mm – f3.5 – ISO400 1/15 – 30mm – f4 – ISO100 [...] Read more...
May 8, 2019Symmetrical Balance a. Horizontal Shutter 1/250 f7.1 ISO100 b. Vertical Shutter 1/80 f4.5 ISO100 Rule of Thirds a. Horizontal Shutter 1/40 f10 ISO400 b. Vertical Shutter 1/40 f10 ISO400 c. Contrast –Red Crane Shutter 1/30 f5.6 ISO200 Intentional Imbalance Shutter 1/125 f22 ISO100 Diagonal Composition a. Horizontal Shutter 1/15 f4.5 ISO200 b. Vertical Shutter 1/40 f 14 ISO100 Radial Balance Shutter 1/250 f4.0 ISO800 P.S. sorry for the overdue post [...] Read more...
May 6, 20191a- Symmetrical Balance – Horizontal Orientation f7.1 – 1/400 – ISO400 – 18mm 1b- Symmetrical Balance – Vertical Orientation f7.1 – 1/800 – ISO400 – 44mm 2a – Rule of Thirds – Horizontal Orientation f7.1 – 1/800 – ISO400 – 135mm 2b – Rule of Thirds – Vertical Orientation f25 – 1/20 – ISO400 – 37mm 2c – Rule of Thirds – Horizontal Orientation Focal Point f5 – 1/2500 – ISO400 – 50mm 3 Imbalance f7.1 – 1/160 / ISO400 – 24mm 4a Diagonal Horizontal f5 – 1/1250 – ISO400 – 45mm 4b Diagonal Vertical f4 – 1/20 – ISO400 – 18mm 5 Radial f8 – 1/40 – ISO400 – 18mm [...] Read more...
May 6, 2019Horizontal Symmetrical BalanceF/20, Shutter 1/50, ISO 200 Vertical Symmetrical BalanceF/20, Shutter 1/50, ISO 200 Rule of Thirds HorizontalF/20, Shutter 1/25, ISO 200 Rule of Thirds VerticalF/20, Shutter 1/50, ISO 200 Rule of Thirds Focal Point by ContrastF/20, Shutter 1/50, ISO 200 Intentional ImbalanceF/36, Shutter 1/8, ISO 200 Diagonal Composition HorizontalF/5, Shutter 1/40, ISO 200 Diagonal Composition VerticalF/20, Shutter 1/25, ISO 800 Radial BalanceF/20, Shutter 1/25, ISO 400 [...] Read more...
May 5, 2019Symmetrical balance Horizontal ƒ/25 1/30 27mm ISO3200 Symmetrical balance Vertical ƒ/4.5 1/4000 29mm ISO3200 Rule of Thirds horizontal ƒ/5.61/400055mmISO3200 Rule of Thirds Vertical ƒ/4.5 1/4000 30mm ISO3200 Focal point emphasized by contrast ƒ/4 1/4000 18mm ISO3200 Intentional imbalance ƒ/5.6 1/3200 29mm ISO3200 Diagonal Composition Vertical ƒ/4 1/4000 27mm ISO3200 Directional composition Horizontal ƒ/5.6 1/3200 29mm ISO3200 Radial Balance ƒ/4.5 1/4000 27mm ISO3200 [...] Read more...
May 4, 2019Vertical Symmetrical Balance shutter speed:1/800 ISO:300 F5.0 Horizontal Symmetrical Balance shutter speed:1/600 ISO:400 F5.0 Horizontal Rule of Thirds shutter speed:1/1000 ISO:400 F5.6 Vertical Rule of Thirds shutter speed:1/1000 ISO:400 F5.6 Focal Point Emphasized on contrast shutter speed:1/800 ISO:500 F4.5 Intentional Imbalance shutter speed:1/30 ISO:200 F5.6 Horizonal Diagonal Composition shutter speed:1/1000 ISO:400 F4.5 Vertical Diagonal Composition shutter speed:1/1000 ISO:400 F4.5 Radial Balance shutter speed:1/640 ISO:200 F4.0 [...] Read more...
April 29, 2019 Read more...
April 26, 2019We are pleased to announce that LCC is partnering with Google G Suite for Education to provide employee email and calendars, beginning in summer 2019. G Suite for Education is a suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications designed for schools and universities. Google provides these applications as a “service,” rather than software to download and install on individual computers. Users access G Suite applications using a web browser on a device that’s connected to the Internet. Key benefits of G Suite for Education: ability to access email and calendar services from any Internet-connected device much more storage capacity than currently available robust and innovative collaboration and communication tools Google’s G Suite for Education includes: Gmail (webmail services) Google Docs (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation slides, and form creation and sharing) Google Calendar (shared calendaring) In the coming weeks, look for additional announcements as we prepare to migrate GroupWise accounts to Gmail and G Suite. Lane’s IT department is working to make this transition as seamless and simple as possible. Your email address won’t change, and you won’t lose any data or saved messages. We’ll be migrating all existing GroupWise email messages, appointments, contacts, and tasks to G Suite. Your Lane email will continue to be the primary method of communication used by the college to send information and updates. If you’re an employee and have already activated your Lane G Suite account, you’ll access email and calendars using the same account you currently use to access other G Suite products such as Google Drive and Google Docs. If you are an employee and haven’t yet activated your Lane G Suite account, you can do so now by opening your web browser to https://lanecc.edu/GSuite. Your Lane G Suite account will use your existing Lane email address, and will default to the password associated with your L#. If you do not activate your Lane G Suite account prior to migration, we’ll do it for you.     More information about G Suite for Education at Lane: Read the FAQ: https://docs.google.com/document/d/172cSBdsTm42roTfa2T4Fpo6qHB03CaiBeAfobEKTyag/edit?usp=sharing Check the G Suite Learning Center: https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center Read and post questions on the Lane G Suite Migration Blog: https://blogs.lanecc.edu/gmailmigration/ Email the Migration Team: GmailMigrationTeam@lanecc.edu   [...] Read more...
April 25, 2019If you have questions about the migration to Google G Suite we might already have the answer. Check out our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). If your question hasn’t been answered on the FAQ feel free to post it as a comment below or send it directly to the Lane Gmail Transition Team at GmailTransitionTeam@lanecc.edu. [...] Read more...
April 24, 2019f/22, Shutter 1/200, ISO 200 f/18, Shutter 1/200, ISO 200 f/16, Shutter 1/200, ISO 200 f/8, Shutter 1/10, ISO 200 f/10, Shutter 1/10, ISO 200 f/6.3, Shutter 10, ISO 200 [...] Read more...
April 24, 2019“Overexposed” shutter:1/4 ISO:auto F13 “Perfect” Shutter speed:1/250 ISO:auto F13 “Under exposed” Shutter speed:1/1000 ISO:auto F13 “Under exposed” Shutter Speed:1″6 ISO:auto F3.5 “Perfect” Shutter Speed:0″3 ISO:auto F3.5 “Under exposed” Shutter speed:1/250 ISO:auto F3.5 [...] Read more...
April 16, 2019Not Prioritized. Numbered for reference Recommendation Purpose Recommended by BP 325 1 Reaffirm commitment to shared governance. Acct DS, GSC, GTF, Councils 3,5,6,A 2 Intensive governance training for Chairs/Vice-Chairs, governance PD for all council members. Identify responsible parties. Comm/Clarity/ScopeAcct DS, GSC, F 1,3,4,A 3 Convene Policy and Procedure team w/support to clean up the policy and procedure system Comm/Acct DS, GSC, C/VC, Councils 1,3,4,6, A 4 Support adequate compensation/release time for governance participants and other substantive work in context Comm/Acct DS, GSC, F, OD 4,7, A 5 Provide administrative support for each council – maintain agenda/minutes, etc. Communication DS, GSC, F 4,7, A 6 Council planning on hold except AMP, FMP, SEMP Efficiency/Scope GSC, C/VC, F 3,5,6 A 7 Review all college-wide committees and realign within governance where appropriate Acct/Efficiency GSC,DS, OD, GTF, F 8 Reaffirm commitment to accountability for implementation and evaluation of  council work. Acct GSC, C/VC, F 3,5,6,A 9 Create an Accreditation Steering Committee under College Council to ensure accountability to governance Acct GSC 3,4,5,6,7,A 10 Create a communication process for governance, including campus-wide notification of new and updated policies Comm DS, GSC, F 1,2,4,5,   11 Decision Making Process – need to improve clarity around processes related to recommendations and decisions. Where do/should decisions happen? Comm DS, CC, C/VC, 1,2,3,6 12 Representation – increase by applying the Equity Lens throughout governance system. President BP 325 1. Clarity; 2. Wide and explicit communication; 3. Effectiveness; 4. Efficiency and timeliness; 5. Processes that encourage employee and student participation in problem solving and decision making; 6. Processes that assure that decisions are made at the appropriate level, by the appropriate group with the needed expertise; and 7. Recognition of the support needed for employees and students to participate and contribute meaningfully. Recommending bodies: (DS) Data Synthesis (F) Forums (GSC) Governance Subcommittee (CC) College Council (C/VC) Chairs and Vice Chairs (OD) Other Data (e.g. Faculty Survey) C/VC – Chairs and Vice Chairs of Councils       [...] Read more...
April 12, 2019The Lane Honors Program is sponsoring a poetry reading by Diana Arterian. 10 free copies of her book, Playing Monster : Seiche will be given away at the reading! What: Diana Arterian Poetry Reading When: Monday; May 20, 2019; 3:00-4:00 Where: Hoagland Commons (CEN 203) Check out this promotional video for her book, Playing Monster : Seiche! [...] Read more...
March 30, 2019[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssuX5jz7VIxu42QQYFCI_LGNhDi8c2zG/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="800"]   [...] Read more...
March 18, 2019Now that we have the Honors Program and PTK Sigma Zeta Chapter back up and running, we’ve been able to nominate two students to the All Oregon Academic Team after missing this opportunity in the recent past. This team is sponsored by the Oregon Community College Association. As explained on their website: “The All-Oregon Community College Academic Team, a part of the national All-State Community College Academic Team program, recognizes high achieving two-year college students who demonstrate academic excellence and intellectual rigor combined with leadership and service that extends their education beyond the classroom to benefit society. Phi Theta Kappa, community college presidents and community college state associations sponsor All-State Community College Academic Team ceremonies in 38 participating states.” Our two nominees are outstanding students who are in the Honors Program, are PTK members, and also tutor in the Writing Center. Both nominees are excellent representatives of Lane Community College and very deserving of this honor! [...] Read more...
February 22, 2019EUGENE, Ore.—“The Room Upstairs: Uncovering the Life and Poetry of Hazel Hall” will be told through music, dance, lecture, and readings in a special presentation on Thursday, February 28, from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Ragozzino Performance Hall on Lane Community College main campus, building 6, 4000 E. 30th Ave., Eugene. The event is free and open to the public. An installation related to the project will be available for viewing in the lobby before and after the show. The presentation reflects the research and compositions of Matt Svoboda, music instructor at Lane. A devotee of poetry who uses words to inspire his music, he hadn’t heard of Hazel Hall until he chanced upon one of her poems in a literary magazine several years ago. “I was immediately taken in by her musical voice, perceptive mind, and unpretentious style,” he says. Hall was born in 1886 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and moved with her family to Portland, Oregon as a small child. At age 12, she was paralyzed by scarlet fever or possibly a fall—historical accounts vary. She took in sewing and embroidery to help support her family. She started writing poetry in her 20s but didn’t receive recognition until her 30s. She published two volumes of poetry and a third was published posthumously. “Hazel Hall was once a critically acclaimed poet with a fascinating story and admiring audience,” Svoboda says, “yet she is relatively unknown today.” Now he will revive her story in the presentation on February 28 and as part of Lane’s annual dance concert, “Collaborations,” from March 7-9. Svoboda’s compositions follow Hall’s three books of poetry. “Curtains” (1921) addresses isolation, sewing and interior spaces and describe what Hall sees and knows such as doors and needlework, stairways and counterpanes. “In this movement, cello is featured because of its connection to sewing, how you move your hands back and forth,” and because of its plaintive nature, says Svoboda. In “Walkers” (1923), Hall wrote to the people who walked up and down the street below her window. “Here the music picks up tempo and becomes more interactive, with themes being traded between instruments that also shift roles as the music unfolds.” “Cry of Time” (1928) “is about transcendental themes, mortality, the limits of poetry, and the plight of women,” says Svoboda. “The music for this movement begins in anguish but progressively moves to resolution. The initial theme from ‘Curtains’ returns, but in a transformed state.” After the performance, Svoboda will be joined on stage with the dancers and other collaborators to talk about the evolution of the project, including Portland visual artist Laura Glazer, LCC technical director James McConkey, DanceAbility choreographer Jana Meszaros, LCC choreographer Sarah Nemecek, and UO poet Geri Doran. The part of Hazel Hall will be danced by Karen Daly who has used a wheelchair after losing a leg to cancer at age 11. For more information— “The Room Upstairs: Uncovering the Life and Poetry of Hazel Hall” Finding The Room Upstairs: A Visit to Hazel Hall’s Home For accommodations to attend this event, contact the LCC Center for Accessible Resources at (541) 463-5150 (voice), 711 (relay), or -email AccessibleResources@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
February 22, 2019There are still spots left in the Andrea Gibson workshop that will be at 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25 in the Longhouse! RSVP now! Registration closes at 3 p.m. Friday (tomorrow, Feb. 22). This workshop with spoken-word poet and activist, Andrea Gibson is a rare opportunity to learn from a working artist who uses their art for advocacy and activism. Don’t miss it! This workshop is free. Gibson’s poetry explores their own experiences with identity as genderqueer (someone who identifies as neither male or female) and examines gender norms and the intersectionality of gender and race. (Gibson uses the pronouns they, them, and their.) This workshop, “Spoken Word in Action!” will focus on a myriad of social justice issues for students to explore a poet’s responsibility in the current political climate. Students will read and discuss poems by contemporary writers focusing on issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, patriarchy, and capitalism. Students will use the shared poems as writing prompts to inspire their own voice. Can’t go to the workshop, but still want to hear Andrea’s poetry? They’re giving a free public reading at 6 p.m. Monday in the CML, Building 19, Room 103. You need a ticket to go to the 6 p.m. reading. Don’t have a ticket? Email: TitanTimes@lanecc.edu to reserve yours today! Seating is limited. [...] Read more...
February 20, 2019Below are the reports from Governance Councils, as requested by IEC: College Council Diversity Council Facilities Council Learning Council Student Affairs Council Technology Council [...] Read more...
February 20, 2019Below are the council self evaluation reports based on Board Policy 325: College Council Diversity Council Facilities Council Learning Council Student Affairs Council Technology Council [...] Read more...
February 19, 2019 Read more...
February 19, 2019Register for a new twist on the traditional Literature Survey course.  Spring term registration is now open for continuing students.  New student registration opens tomorrow, February 20. [...] Read more...
February 14, 2019Hi Esteemed Colleagues: The administration is hosting representatives from Barnes and Noble to come to campus to discuss concerns and answer questions that faculty may have as the college considers the possibility of the bookstore being outsourced to this company. Examples of concerns that have already been raised are OER limitations, reducing work study options for students, limiting academic freedom, textbook costs, and potentially impacting student access to materials. Senior representatives will be here February 25th from 1 to 4 p.m. The Faculty session will be from 1 to 2:15 p.m. Building 4, room 106 – and a general open forum will be from 2:30 to 4:00. They will be here to listen to concerns, provide feedback and to respond to questions. This forum is for both faculty who have attended the above session and for those who have not. Please share your comments and concerns here regarding the possibility of the bookstore being outsourced to Barnes and Noble. Faculty Council Co-Chairs Jessica Alvarado and Lee Imonen [...] Read more...
February 14, 2019Literature@Lane is a Lane Blog Network newsletter featuring the curriculum, classes, and special events of the Writing and Literature Department’s literature program.  Student candidates for an Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer (or Direct Transfer) degree, with an interest in exploring a path to a degree in English at a four year university, will find blog posts, newsletters, posters, an image gallery, program faculty profiles, and links to LCC social media to learn more about the study of literature at Lane.   Students who have declared an interest in an English major have been automatically subscribed to this blog.  If you do not wish to be subscribed, please send a request to LLC-Literature@lanecc.edu and your email will be removed from the list. I would welcome any feedback that you would have to make this newsletter a useful resource for you. Thank you, Eileen Thompson Lead Faculty for Literature   [...] Read more...
February 1, 2019This week, Casey Reid and I organized an information session for the Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa. Nine people attended our event. In addition to serving as an information session, this event fulfilled the honors orientation requirement for students in the program. At this event, we reviewed the benefits of these two honors opportunities, the requirements for each, and the ways in which participating in both could be especially beneficial for students planning to transfer to four-year schools. We also introduced students to the Honors Librarian, Claire Dannenbaum (far right) and the Honors Writing Tutor, student Sabrina Piccolo (third from right): A highlight was presenting Sabrina and Holly Kolodziejczak (second from right) with their honors medallions for successfully completing the Honors Program! And of course, we had lots of snacks! Casey and I will be offering several more information sessions before the end of this academic year, hopefully in our soon-to-be-realized Honors and PTK Student Lounge! [...] Read more...
January 25, 2019How do you feel about  the term “learning designer”? Does it make you a little bit queasy? The language of “learning design” makes me a bit uncomfortable, but luckily at our college we have some colleagues who have earned our respect before they got their new titles. I joked with one of our learning designers that I thought it was funny that the email address for these colleagues was “idservices” which seemed anonymous to me (that is, there was no “ID” provided when we asked a question of “ID” services. Get it? Well, neither did they.) I am working hard to cross the learning design divide after years of comprehensive learning environment responsibility (CLER for short–yes, I just made that up). I am an educator who came to higher ed in the era before learning widgets.  So, how do I inhabit a widget-world of teaching and learning environments? So far, I’ve been trying to embrace it. This past year I have made more than a dozen instructional videos and posted them to You Tube. I used to use Jing and Flash, but now that I see that these don’t support Universal Design, I’m happy to move to a close-caption-friendly platform. Yes, it’s many, many hours of work, but I’m slowly letting go of some of my control of the LMS. No longer seeing CLER-ly.  [...] Read more...
January 17, 2019View the minutes from this forum. [...] Read more...
January 17, 2019Forum Minutes 2019 Data Synthesis Governance Task Force Report [...] Read more...
January 17, 2019 Read more...
January 15, 2019If you’re like me, taking my had off the keyboard to push the mouse around feels like a big time waste sometimes.  In my day to day work I use keyboard shortcuts to bring up settings, change formatting in text editors… There are a ton of things you can do with just a few quick keystrokes so you don’t have to take your hands off your keyboard.  Jira is no different. To see what keyboard shortcuts are available, just type a ? (shift-/).  That will bring up a screen that shows you all the keyboard shortcuts that are available inside Jira.  Pretty long list, so don’t try to use them all at once.  Find one that will be really useful, use it for a few days so it becomes habit, then pick another one. [...] Read more...
January 10, 2019Between yesterday afternoon and this morning I have made some changes to the way Jira sends notifications (some of you may have noticed it sends an email for pretty much EVERYTHING!) and some of Jira’s default user permissions. Jira’s default behavior is to auto-watch a user every time they look at an issue.  This has been disabled, so, from here on, you can look at projects and issues without then being inundated with emails for the rest of your life. Jira’s default behavior is to send an email to issue watchers everything time ANYTHING changes.  So, you add a comment, everyone gets an email.  You forget a comma and go in to fix your bad grammar, everyone gets another email.  This has been fixed.  Jira will no longer send email for issue updates. When we originally set Jira up, we gave way too much access to “anyone who is logged in”.  Basically, we figured if you’re logged in you should be able to see everything and even add issues to projects even if you weren’t assigned to the project.  While this hasn’t been abused, it’s unnecessary.  All logged in users can still browse projects and see what is going on, but you now have to be assigned to a project in some way in order to monkey with issues and things of that nature.  Not a huge security change, but should make it easier for project leads to make sure issues in their projects are legitimate. As always, let me know if I broke anything for you.  Or, better yet, let me know if Jira is annoying you in some way.  I can fix most annoying behavior.  I just need to know what the annoying behaviors are. danskinem@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
January 2, 2019In the latest Banner 9 upgrade you now have a portrait printing option. Landscape was the previous option only. Click Tools/Print Screenshot and Print or change the layout. [...] Read more...
January 1, 2019[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oWf_HgGkwv2zlig6T5k71NvXEONqTtkh/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
December 7, 2018Starting in September 2018, we brought back the Honors Program and have made a lot of progress creating opportunities for students!  Honors Classes This year, we are offering the following honors classes: ANTH 102_H: World Archaeology ART 115_H: Basic Design BI 101_H: General Biology COMM 111_H: Fundamentals of Public Speaking COOP 280_H: Co-op Ed: Service Learning ENG 105_H: Introduction to Literature: Drama ENG 106_H: Introduction to Literature: Poetry WR 121_H: Introduction to Academic Writing WR 122_H: Composition: Argument, Style and Research WR 227_H: Technical Writing WR 242_H: Introduction to Imaginative Writing: Poetry Partnering with Phi Theta Kappa The Director of the Writing Center, Casey Reid, and I are now the advisors for Lane’s Sigma Zeta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. We will be bringing the chapter back in winter of 2019! Honors students can hold leadership positions in PTK to fulfill their experiential learning requirement. Also, we will hold workshops for both Honors and PTK to help students build and maintain ePortfolios, create research posters, and develop their resumes.  Transfer Agreements We reinstated our agreement with Portland State University’s Honors College. Students completing our program can transfer directly into their college as juniors. We are in the process of reinstating our agreement with Southern Oregon University’s Honors College. We are also in conversation with the University of Oregon’s Clark Honors College, which is interested in developing a transfer agreement with us. Watch for more details on these last two agreements and other developments in 2019! [...] Read more...
November 30, 2018We have had a lot of questions about Building Door Hours schedules where exterior electronic doors locks are controlled by standard daily schedules. We have constructed a new calendar that tries to give you the necessary information to understand the door hours schedule. The search (Building Door Hours – Symmetry) in 25Live gives you the same data, but hopefully the calendar makes it easier. If there are events outside of the Building Door Hours schedule, then 25Live sends commands to the door groups using the 15 minute offset for exterior doors. Door schedules will change for the Winter Break and will be updated next week. If you have door schedule changes, please e-mail them to LaneEvents@lanecc.edu. There are a few caveats for the new calendar: 1) The calendar entries are in the 15 minute offset mode – so the times posted for unlock are 15 minutes later and the times for locking are 15 minutes earlier. (There are some exceptions where the door group is direct time) 2) The locations in 25Live that are linked to the actual doors in Symmetry are auxiliary locations not normally scheduled in 25Live like hallways, storage rooms or loading docks etc. 3) The primary schedule for Main Campus has a lot of locations associated with it. If you do not see an Building Door Hours schedule exception for your building, then it is likely in the primary schedule. The new page lives on the Public Safety Department web page and can be found on the left navigation. or at: https://www.lanecc.edu/psd/building-door-hours Send questions to laneevents@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
November 28, 2018Your dashboard is the main display you see when you log in to Jira. You can create multiple dashboards from different projects, or multiple dashboards for one massive overview of all the work you’re involved with. I have created a system dashboard that should be helpful to most. You should see 4 blocks 1 – HIGH PRIORITY issues from all projects you are involved in. 2 – MID to LOW PRIORITY issues from all projects you are involved in. 3 – Standard Welcome to Jira with a few links for tutorials. 4 – List of ALL projects in Jira that are visible to logged in users. You can check it out here:  https://jira.lanecc.edu/Jira/secure/Dashboard.jspa#   If you would like to further customize dashboards, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help. [...] Read more...
November 13, 2018How to Create a Change Order in Banner 9 [...] Read more...
November 11, 2018Hi All Faculty: A decision by Faculty Council is moving forward to impact the grading notation of NC currently used by Faculty at our November 9th, 2018 meeting. Motion: Approved Suspend the use of NC grade effective January 7th, 2019 Need to have acceptable grading alternative in place for Winter term between February 1st and March 1st. Second Motion: Approved Faculty Council will direct the work group to include appropriate administrative involvement and will now focus on identifying acceptable grading alternative to recommend to Faculty Council. This work group meetings will be open- it currently meets Mondays 8-9 a.m. in Building 19 room 239. Winter term day, time and location TBA Additional outreach to include campus wide Faculty feedback in the Faculty Council blog and by email and also facilitated by Faculty Council Members. Faculty Council Co Chairs Jessica Alvarado and Lee Imonen Now that this decision is made – the Non Standard Grading Work Group will be focusing on selecting a grading alternative by February 1st. This means we will be seeking Faculty input now with their own ideas. We will also be requesting input on  posting potential solutions that are being considered. For the remainder of Fall term we are meeting 8-9 a.m. Mondays in Building 19, room 239. The Winter term meeting time and location has not been set. [...] Read more...
November 9, 2018[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/it/wp-content/uploads/sites/103/2018/11/2018-11-8-IT-Dept-Monthly-Meeting.pdf” title=”2018-11-8 IT Dept Monthly Meeting”] [...] Read more...
November 5, 2018Click HERE for instructions on how to remove a purchase order in Banner 9 [...] Read more...
November 5, 2018The following browsers and versions are supported by all Ellucian products except where noted in the “Notes & Exceptions” column: Click here for Ellucian’s Global Browser Support. [...] Read more...
November 2, 2018This Guide is provided to you by Lane’s Purchasing Department. How to Create a Purchase Order in Banner 9 [...] Read more...
October 25, 2018  Banner 9 Tips and Tricks: How to Set up My Banner or a list of saved pages Filtering Data Banner 8 vs 9 Navigation   [...] Read more...
October 22, 2018Why must a firewall be used? Manually identifying and blocking all known attackers in the world would be an impossible task without a firewall. Our firewall blocks: botnets spammers phishers malicious spiders/crawlers virus-infected clients clients using anonymizing proxies DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) participants Do other colleges in our region use a firewall like ours? Yes, the following colleges use the same one we do:  George Fox University Oregon Tech Pacific University Multnomah University Reed College Rogue Community College Umpqua CC Warner Pacific College University of Western States More and more colleges and organizations are recognizing the need to hire specialists in cyber security to address the growing threat of cyber crime. How does it work? Through a service called IP Reputation.  IP reputation leverages many techniques for accurate, early, and frequently updated identification of compromised and malicious clients so attackers are blocked before they target our servers or end users.  Data about dangerous clients derives from many sources around the globe, including: Global Firewall service statistics honeypots botnet forensic analysis anonymizing proxies 3rd-party sources in the security community What does the firewall do with information from the sources above? Our firewall service compiles a “wellness” reputation for each public IP address. Clients will have “infected” reputations if they have been participating in attacks, willingly or otherwise. Because blacklisting innocent clients is equally undesirable, our firewall service also restores the reputations of clients that remove their “infections”.   Some organizations don’t take information privacy seriously enough, and their computers are easy prey for attackers.  As soon as their computers are cleaned, and safeguards are put in place to protect privacy, their IP reputation is updated.  Thus access is restored when an infected computer is cleaned How long does it take for the Firewall to determine a wellness rating for a brand new website? Usually about 5-10 minutes. Is the firewall the only thing that blocks access to a website? No, browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari block or put up warnings about websites they detect as being unsafe.  Increasingly, websites with mixed content are being flagged as “unsecure”. *Mixed content is when a web page is loaded over a secure connection (HTTPS), but parts of the same page are loaded over non-secure (HTTP) connections. What should I do if a website I need to access is blocked even after 10 minutes? Call the Helpdesk at x4444.  Our firewall administrators will determine if there is a malfunction or if the blockage is due to a real threat. I use the web in my classes. Will all the websites in Moodle classes be impacted? Since the database of infected sites is global most sites have already been given a “wellness” score in the database.  Thus most of the websites in Moodle-based classes will probably not experience any delays.  However, if you build/use a brand new website, since it has not been scanned and categorized as “safe” or “malware-free” you may experience a delay.  If you don’t have any brand new websites that have not yet been accessed, delay probability is low.  If you do experience delays that last more than 10 minutes, please call the helpdesk at x4444, because something else might be going on that we need to investigate. What about classes where the students are expected to do research on the web? Most of the student searches will yield sites that are already in the global database which means there will be no delay.  We expect there will be little impact on your class. Aren’t standard virus/malware protections up to the task if no one is entering personal information? Is there some way to turn this off for specific computers? If a phishing email is clicked on, or a website with a payload is visited, virus and anti-malware protection may not stop it.  In addition, turning off the protection means we are compromising the school’s infrastructure. For instance, if firewall rules were turned off, denial of service attacks or other malicious attacks could be launched from our campus network by a third party from anywhere on the globe. The computers in my classroom already have Deep Freeze. Can’t classrooms be turned off from the firewall rules? Deep Freeze will protect the computer images in labs from most threats, but until a reboot takes place, these computers can harbor malware.   Attacks can be launched and other machines can be compromised.   A single compromised computer can spread lots of havoc on the network and beyond even while frozen. If I build a brand new Moodle Class will there be delays? No, but if you put URL links in the class to websites that are brand new (i.e. just built) those links might need to be scanned by the firewall.  For instance, suppose you decided to create a website that hosts animated 3-D models for chemical structures called MyOwnChemicalStructures.com.  You built the website over the summer and just brought it online in the fall.  The first time someone tried to view it would result in the site being scanned.  Once scanned, as long as the host server is clean of malware, there would be no delays. Have we had any attempted attacks on our servers or network at Lane? We have hundreds of attacks every single day. Where do these attacks come from? They come from all over the world.  There are dozens of state (i.e. country) sponsored hacking groups targeting the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel in particular but other countries as well.  These groups look for targets in business, medicine, education, and other organizations including our electrical infrastructure grid.  Please refer to the following link for some information about the activities of some of these groups:  https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/8-nation-state-hacking-groups-to-watch-in-2018/d/d-id/1331009?image_number=1 Is information security important for higher education? After all we aren’t a for profit business. The Educause Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) is a research group whose work is targeted specifically to IT professionals and higher education leaders.  It is the only subscriber-driven research organization dedicated to understanding IT’s role in colleges and universities.  They publish a top ten issues list for IT leaders in higher education each year.  For the past three years Information Security has been ranked number one on their list. Here is ½ hour presentation from the University Business Executive Symposium held in Dallas, Texas on October 3-5, 2018 targeted at Presidents, Provosts and Higher Education Leaders concerning Cyber Security. https://ubtech.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/932b498cafc7447cb9d65245ab5f729a1d What is a “Drive by download attack”? Just by visiting a site, the site deposits a payload on your computer, tablet, phone or other computing device.  Learn more here: https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/how-drive-by-download-attacks-work/ [...] Read more...
October 17, 2018If you’d like hands on help with the navigation in Banner 9  pages, come to Building 2 Room 215 Friday, October 26: 1pm to 2pm. You can try your Banner processes with an IT staff member available to help with the navigation. Oct 29, 2018 we are going live with all Banner HR and Finance modules. [...] Read more...
October 16, 2018If so, please wait a few minutes to see if the situation resolves itself. This issue is caused by the new Fortinet firewall – it is not a bug, but an enhancement. If you attempt to visit a website that our firewall has never seen before, the firewall temporarily restricts access to that website until its reputation can be verified. Our firewall then contacts the Fortiguard website reputation engine which gives the website a safety “score”. This scoring process takes 5 to 10 minutes, without any intervention by IT staff. If after 10 minutes, the website is still inaccessible, it means it got a low safety score and has been blocked by our firewall. If this happens to a website you need to visit, please contact the Helpdesk @ 4444 for assistance. [...] Read more...
October 11, 2018I hope everyone’s fall term term is off to a good start. One of my new (academic) year resolutions is to check in here more regularly and continue to engage Aspiring Leaders at Lane. Weekly update On Friday, Oct. 12, the college will honor its founding president, Dr. Dale P. Parnell by renaming the Center building in his honor. Parnell had the vision for community college while principal of Springfield High School and served as Lane’s president from 1965 to 1968 and went on to hold state- and national-level positions to advance access to public education.  The dedication ceremony of the Dr. Dale P. Parnell Center for Learning and Student Success is planned for noon, Friday, Oct. 12 on the plaza in front of the building. Parnell’s children and other family members are expected to be in attendance. Copies of the book, “The Parnell Years,” will also be available. Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!: Community College Trivia Edition  Q: Who was responsible for the creation and development of what we know now as the associate degree? A: Dr. Dale P. Parnell. Parnell served as the president of what is now the American Association of Community Colleges (part of the title that noted “junior colleges” has since been removed) from 1981-1991 and was instrumental in advancing community college policy, including the creation of the associate degree and strengthening community colleges as economic drivers and responsive to workforce development needs. Q: When is Lane Community College’s “birthday”? A: Oct. 19. On Oct. 19, 1964, voters approved the creation of Lane Community College in a special election. Want to know more about the college? Visit the archives in person, or online at: https://www.lanecc.edu/archives Kudos Thanks to all employees who were a part of making Fall In-service a great success by sharing your expertise during the breakout sessions. Aspiring Leaders alumni made up the majority of presenters with six of the 2017-18 cohort among them. Weekly challenge This one is a repeat, but it’s pretty simple: read The Lane Weekly. It’s an easy way to receive information about what’s going on, not only on campus, but in our community. In next week’s edition you should find information about a community forum on suicide prevention and the opportunity to support a Lane faculty member in a community theatre production. Have something to share in The Lane Weekly? Submit online at: https://www.lanecc.edu/mpr/lane-weekly-submission-form Already read The Lane Weekly? Then, here’s a challenge for you: subscribe to The Titan Times, the student newsletter, and stay up-to-date on the weekly need-to-know info for students. Use that information to remind them of deadlines and opportunities to get engaged. Through The Titan Times, you’ll also learn more about the wealth of student clubs on campus in the “Spotlight” feature. Want to share an upcoming event/opportunity or student deadline info? Send to: TitanTimes@lanecc.edu   [...] Read more...
October 3, 2018Did you know? 1)To remove the success or error label just click the number. In the example shown click the yellow box. When you do, the Start Over button is shown and allows you to go back to the keyblock without closing the page. 2)Printing a result set from Banner only prints the page displayed. To print more change the per page from 20 to 50 and then print. Or  export to a file and then print(Tools menu).      [...] Read more...
September 30, 2018[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZrUfxqm2Fwv0Tj0llrZT1NooT8DOr54s/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
September 26, 2018[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/it/wp-content/uploads/sites/103/2018/10/2018-09-26-IT-Dept-Monthly-Meeting-PUBLIC.pdf” title=”2018-09-26 IT Dept Monthly Meeting – PUBLIC”] [...] Read more...
September 26, 2018Here is me at Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a legendary cathedral well known  all across the world. I can only imagine how awesome it would be to be wed in Notre Dame. Notre Dame took over 2 hundred years to build. The beginning of Notre Dame started in 1163 and finished it’s construction in 1345. Family’s of builders would spend their whole lives constructing these marvels of the world and if their work was not complete, then they would pass the unfinished labor to their next family’s generation. [...] Read more...
September 26, 2018This is my host family Dany et Veronique. Ah the bond that we have made. It was a great honor to be allowed into their household and I am ever so grateful that they allowed me to be a part of their family. These kind, generous people will always have a place in my heart. I hope I will be able to see them again one day. [...] Read more...
September 26, 2018This statue is on la Place St Michel in Paris. This statue is in honor of the veterans of the French military. The angel is a servant of France and the devil beneath his feet represents France’s enemies. There are many statues like this across France in honor of past wars that took place on the soil of France. [...] Read more...
September 25, 2018We visited the famous d Day beach. It’s so peaceful now. Blood of the past is no longer on the beaches of Normandy France, but it is important that we all remember the heroic sacrifice our heroes have made for us. The d day invasion was one of the most costly battles in American history with a estimate of over 10,000 U.S lives lost in a single day. [...] Read more...
September 25, 2018Looking at the these images of the dead made me appreciate even more what the “Greatest Generation” has done for our country as well as the world. [...] Read more...
September 25, 2018When visiting a medieval festival in Bayeux, I saw all kinds of unique things. All items were hand made and the craftsmanship was fantastic. With it being only 20 minutes away from Caen France, I saw and spoke with a few locals about the items they had crafted. The Vikings, also known as Norseman, colonized the north coast of France between 820-1020 A.D. The Norseman are made up of a few different people’s, such as the Franks and The Gallo-Romans. Christianity also played a big part of the Norseman culture. The Norseman dynasty of northern France is well known both for their military strength as well as their undying loyalty to the Christian religion. [...] Read more...
September 4, 2018Lane has taken a positive step in hiring a Learning Designer as a faculty member. We have had a smart and talented staff member in this role for years, but being staff rather than faculty limited him.  I worked with Kevin this spring to plan for streamlining and clarifying the interface for my online course. I had mapped all of my assignments to course outcomes, but previously I’d only done this assignment by assignment. Kevin advised a single snapshot and so I created Curriculum Map ENG 217 Course Outcomes with Activities.  [...] Read more...
August 22, 2018I asked my host Maman what that means. She simply shrugged her shoulders and said “Don’t work too much. Always make time for yourself, your family, and your friends, and good food. Don’t let stress rule your life.” I would say she gave a great nutshell version of why the French are adamant about having their 5 weeks of vacation every year! [...] Read more...
August 22, 2018General de Gaulle once quipped “How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?” As I research this question, I find that no two answers are the same…kind of like the topic itself: French cheeses! So, I will quote Wiki ” Traditionally, there are from 350 to 450 distinct types of French cheese grouped into eight categories ‘les huit familles de fromage’. There can be many varieties within each type of cheese, leading some to claim closer to 1,000 different types of French cheese.” Surely new cheeses are created daily, so that number could get a bit unruly and highly debatable. In short, who knows? [...] Read more...
August 22, 2018Street French vs. Formal French meaning: 1. Ski deez? 1. What is he saying? 2. Shay pah. 2. I dunno. 3. T’es fou toi! 3. You are crazy! 4. Tu rigole quoi? 4. Are you joking or what? 5. Y’a rien a voir. 5. That has nothing to do with it. [...] Read more...
August 22, 2018Here are slang terms I have learned: 1. Choette! (Cool!) 2. C’est dang ca. (That’s dumb.) 3. C’est chien. (That sucks.) 4. Merde (Good luck on your exam. P.S. If you say thanks, then you loose your good luck. So, you are not supposed to give a reply at all.) 5. Mec/gar (a guy) 6. Truc (thing) 7. Troc (To sell/trade used items) *Example of #6 and #7 together would be “Truc a Troc” (Used items to buy and sell, such as Buffalo Exchange.) [...] Read more...
August 22, 2018Being in France this summer, and being able to witness some of the greatest art in the world was a once in a lifetime experience. I have been drawing/painting/sculpting and just creating in general since before I can remember, and as an artist you can’t not appreciate the most famous artists in history, especially after studying them. In the Musee d’Orsay, I couldn’t believe that I was standing in a room full of Van Gogh’s paintings, then in the next room over there was Picasso. And Renoir. And many others. And beaucoup d’art from other eras and artists that were important parts of art history. But then, if I thought I couldn’t take that all in, we visited le Louvre. With our study abroad group we only had a few hours there, we popped a quick hello to Mono Lisa and sped walked through ancient Greek tablets and Renaissance Art. Fortunately, I was able to come back with my sister (who is also an artist) and we spent an entire day there. It was astounding. I stood in front of paintings that were bigger than my barn and older than my giant pine trees. I was inches away from art and ceramics that dated back to 3,000 B.C. and beyond. I saw things that belonged to/during Ramses II. My sister and I kept trying to retrace our steps but instead we kept getting lost, which I thought was hilarious and very fun. Being able to see so many things from history was both hard to absorb and life changing. I love how we still celebrate our past by opening museums and letting the rest of the world see what a legitimate vase from ancient Greece looks like, or the giant pillars from an ancient Chinese tomb. Or the great painters and sculptors of the Renaissance like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, or Raphael, and many others. As a girl from a small town, art was not always seen as something of value, hardly anything above “cool” by those around me, so being able to see five hundred year old plus paintings that changed the way we view art, people, and society, was an affirmation to me of the importance of art, an of course, it broadened my perspective and personal connection to history.       1.One of Van Gogh’s starry nights, 2. Michelangelo sculpture 3. Ancient Green Pottery  A huge, old painting.    Pillar and timber from Asian tomb 2. Ramses II 3. Venus, world famous sculpture. Mona Lisa! Apollo’s Hall, I believe, in the Louvre. There were portraits of kings, painters and architects, as well as very expensive royal jewelry. [...] Read more...
August 22, 2018I was definitely not prepared for the D-Day beaches in Normandy. On our way there, I realized that I had only studied them briefly in middle school and high school, and just like all traveling does, they are now very important to me. I have always been so moved by soldiers who fight for what they believe in, or even just fight at all for a good cause. Visiting the places where these horrible events took place, like Omaha Beach, and especially the American Cemetery, really made me take a look at my life and how it has been affected by events that took places around 70 years ago. It was difficult to not cry as Hope and I walked in between the crosses and stars of David that marked the burial places of over 9,000 men, especially since I am as old as some of them were when they died. There is such a strong feeling there, when you enter the cemetery and see the monument, then it just nearly overwhelms you as you turn your eyes to the headstones. Even though we did not get to stay very long, I am so grateful for the time that I had to walk in that place. Though the D-Day beaches exemplify this more than other places, I learned even more that our world is not just made up of different nations, languages, customs and ethnicities. It is truly a place where we all live, and it is up to all of us to make sure it’s protected so that we can keep living.              [...] Read more...
August 21, 2018 Read more...
August 21, 2018I will be forever grateful for our tour guides Adele, Benjamin, and Pierrette (She told the most hilarious animated stories in French!), and our bus drivers. All staff mentioned surely possessed the patience of saints!!! No doubt that they had days where they must have felt as if they were herding cats and waiting for the cows to come home, since every tour ended with the lost and the latecomers. In spite of these challenges, they were always gracious and kind. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of them, especially our bus driver to Etretat. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!! [...] Read more...
August 20, 2018Forever grateful are the only words that express how moved I was to experience sooooo many lovely places in France. Although every tour felt rushed, I realize that, had we spent more time in any one place, we would have never been able to visit so many. My bucket list has been revised to include Etretat, Honfleur, Mont Saint Michel, St. Malo, and Place du Tertre/Montmartre…all to be revisited at a leisurely pace…one lifetime is surely still not enough time! I long to kayak in the turquoise waters and walk the cliff-top golf course at Etretat. Waking early Saturday morning, I would sip my latte slowly before delving into Honfleur’s bustling Saturday market to see and taste all the vendors offer. Dining in a restaurant tucked away between Mont St. Michel’s endless meandering cobblestone walkways of shops, I would then explore every nook and cranny of this ancient island fortress. After basking on the white sandy beach, I would wade into the aquamarine waters of St. Malo for a relaxing swim beneath the clear blue skies. Montmartre/Place du Tertre beckons me to study every brush stroke of its artists, to walk its winding cobblestone streets lined with restaurants and shops, and to sway to the music as I listen to the street performers from the steps of Sacre Coeur. If I never return to any of these lovely places, I will still count myself richly blessed to have been able to visit them at all. [...] Read more...
August 20, 2018Music pulsed below as crowds cheered for street performers and the red, white, and blue French flag colors were displayed against the facade of a building, reminding me of those who’s lives were lost when hatred was given a place. Seeing Paris by night as the Tour Eiffel strobe lights lit up the sky felt surreal with gargoyles perched on either side of me atop the Notre Dame cathedral. No two were alike. There were gargoyles that took on many animal forms, including an elephant, pelican, monkey, wolf, hyena, eagle, and others too eerie to describe. Where did gargoyles come from and what was their purpose I wondered as I photographed them one by one. I’ll ask Google later… Wiki gave me my answer: “Paris was the birthplace of Gothic style architecture; gargoyles came into gothic architecture in the early 13th century (Notre Dame was completed in 1260) and are defined as “a waterspout, projecting from an upper part of a building or a roof gutter to throw water clear of walls or foundations.” The origins of the word ‘gargoyle’ are derived from the old French word ‘gargouille’ meaning throat.” That explains why they each had holes in their mouths, which I first noticed while photographing Sacre Coeur’s gargoyles from directly below each one. Sadly, my camera did not save the many gargoyle photos I took. I am hoping to see photographs of them taken by others in our group. [...] Read more...
August 15, 2018L The day after everyone went their seperate ways, my mom & I went to the Catacombs! The wait was so long but so worth it. We walked down this spiral staircase that felt like it went on for miles & miles, but finally we reached the bottom where it was cool & dark. The first part of the Catacombs was just old mining tunnels that we walked through. It was interesting to see all of the different street signs that were placed there many years ago. Some of them date back to the 1700’s! After walking through the tunnels for what seemed like forever, we finally made it to where all the bones were piled up. Creepy! (But also super cool!) I found a skull that looked like it had been stabbed, which was interesting. There was also a skull that still had teeth attached to it which was awesome considering these bones are very old. The Catacombs are definitely worth exploring, if you’re not easily scared! [...] Read more...
August 15, 2018The Eiffel Tower was my absolute favorite thing in Paris. I have always loved it but I fell even more in love with it when I saw it in person. It was so beautiful! I got to climb up the Eiffel Tower twice—once at night & once in the day time. It had such a breathtaking view of Paris. Even if you are afraid of heights or elevators, it is so worth going to the top. [...] Read more...
July 27, 2018I have become fascinated with the fact that the French are far more active than most Americans and I was determined to find the reason behind this situation before I came to France. My first theory was regarding french food which is far less processed than America’s. However, I’ve discovered since being in France that many French men and women walk everywhere they go (when they are not taking the metro, which still requires a great deal of walking up and down flights of stairs). Now, after being in France for a month my theory still regards the food which the French consume. The less processed food is, the easier it is to digest. Giving many French men and women the energy to live very active lives as is needed in a country where the main form of transportation (metro and bus) involves a lot of walking. I would like this pattern and healthy life style to be something us Americans can emulate. [...] Read more...
July 27, 2018Discovering the marvelous man made creation that is Mont Saint Michel was without a doubt my favorite part about our trip to Normandy. After my visit to the island of Mont Saint Michel, I did some research regarding the history of such an historic French landmark. The islands foundations were laid in 708 AD off the West coast of Normandy, France. The Mont was a request of the Archangel Michel the leader of the “heavenly body of angels.” Legend says that Michel came to bishop Aubert of Avranches and requested he built a Monastery in his name. After Aubert ignored Michel’s request several times, Michel burnt a hole in the bishop’s skull. With that, and many other unexplained events which had occurred in the bishop’s life, he began to lay the foundation of the Mont in 708 AD. After many leaders ruled over the Mont throughout the next two centuries, the abbey had finally been completed in 1084 after being designed by William de Volpiano who was chosen by Richard II of Normandy. During the “Hundred Years War” the Mont became a fortress of solitude when towers and battlements were built around it, preventing the structures of the island from being destroyed. During the next three centuries the Mont slowly became abandoned. Because of this, the monarchy used the abbey as a prison. The captive would be cared for by the remaining Monks of the Mont. The prison was finally closed in 1863 and the Mont was officially made into an historical landmark. and finally… Today, over 3 million people visit the Mont out of curiosity and to meet with and pray with the Monks who began to settle at the abbey in 1966. I was fortunate enough to find myself in the abbey with the men and women of the church and had the honor of witnessing one of their catholic services. My love for the past has always been reflected in my curiosity and as a result of visiting Mont Saint Michel (only to discovery its remarkable beauty and fascinating history) that love has strengthened my curiosity which has made me even more determined to explore and therefore learn.   Posted by Taryn Hugo. [...] Read more...
July 19, 2018Étretat was my favorite place that we went to during these three weeks here. When we arrived there, my friends and I decided to eat at one of the many restaurants there. I had pasta with Camembert sauce and Camembert slices on top. It was sort of like fettuccine alfredo but way better! Once we finished our lunches, we went to the nearest ice cream shop. Ice cream is always an essential part of our excursions. As I looked at all of the many flavors, I realized how difficult it was to chose. I  decided that lavender and violet flavored ice cream sounded the best. We took our ice cream and hiked up the hill to the church that was at the top. When we reached the top, I was amazed at the beauty that this place holds. It was breathtaking! We spent some time on the top, looking out at the ocean and taking pictures. We then saw a building off in the distance that we wanted to check out. As we got closer to the building, we discovered that we couldn’t go inside, that was when we saw people climbing down the other side of the cliff. We decided to follow them, and found that the path led all the way down to the water! What a surprise! I was so happy that I got to get close to the water because it was so hot. I needed to get my feet in so I took my shoes off and stood in the cool ocean. When we were climbing back up the stairs, we discovered a cave that went through the mountain to the other side. We were curious as to where it went so we went one by one into the mountain. We came out on the other side and realized that it was a beautiful beach that we had seen earlier in the day but never knew how to get to it. We just stumbled upon it! The beach was filled with these beautiful rocks with many colors. It kind of hurt to walk on them but it was so worth it to take my shoes off and walk in the beautiful ocean. We spent the rest of our time here, sun bathing and taking in the amazing view. Days like this make me realize how truly beautiful the world is. I will never forget this adventure! [...] Read more...
June 11, 2018Commencement is Saturday on our campus and 3,000 revelers are expected to celebrate the Class of 2018 during the ceremony in Bristow Square. This week, you’ll be able to watch Bristow Square transform into the staging area for the ceremony that starts at 11 a.m. Saturday. Thanks to the Aspiring Leaders of past and present who have stepped up to help out with this year’s commencement — whether it’s the event itself or a willingness to help support a graduate with the cost of a cap and gown. More than 20 people: managers, faculty, classified, part-time, full-time, timesheet and even a board member offered to help students cover costs of a cap and gown. (So far, one student will now participate in graduation because the cap and gown was made available.) Even more employees help to make the event a celebration for our graduates. Faculty and staff will participate in the procession, as well as provide support at the event. (There are still opportunities to help out Saturday. Let me know if you have the time/interest: sillsm@lanecc.edu.) This year’s commencement features two keynote speakers, who will no doubt inspire the class of 2018: Guest Keynote: U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley Student Keynote: Michael Weed ASLCC President Wilgen Brown will provide the student welcome, while faculty will be represented by Aliscia Niles (ABSE instructor).   We’ll also have a special guest, who will be the recipient of our new Alumni Achievement Award. This year’s recipient got his start in our cooperative education department and is now helping to shape the future of education in our state. (That’s the only big hint I’ll give until Joan’s press release goes out.) In all, it’s an impressive lineup that features the fulfillment of our mission: students’ success. That success takes the stage, literally, Saturday. Thanks for all you to every day to support that success. Let the week of celebration commence. Weekly challenge: engagement Find a graduating student and congratulate them for their hard work. Maybe, even engage them in more conversation: What are their plans after Saturday? How was their experience at Lane? What do they hope other students get to experience here? If you learn something that could help improve students’ experience at Lane, kindly pass it on to the Lane employee who would benefit most from knowing it. If you’re not sure who the right person is or how to kindly share this information, you can pass it on to me and I’ll see that it gets to the right ears/eyes.      [...] Read more...
May 10, 2018The event will be held on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 11:00 AM at Bristow Square. See map below for directions. View the Main Campus map – Bristow Square is in the middle of campus between Building 6 and the Center Building View closeup map marking Bristow Square This is a free event open to the public. The goal of this event is to promote sustainable practices and community interaction. LCC Sustainability Committee organizes the event and encourages the participation of all community members. The following sustainability tours and workshops will be available, at no cost to attendees: LEED tour of building 30 Recycling workshop Mushroom inoculation workshop For more information, contact Luis Maggiori at (541) 463-5884 or maggioril@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
May 3, 2018The students in the Capstone Seminar are engaged in a group research project in preparation for a panel presentation in Week 9. The panel will be part of the college’s newly expanded Undergraduate Research Fair. As part of their work, they met with Holly Kolodziejczak  in the new Michael Rose Writing Loft. Holly is a writing coach employed by the Lane Writing Center. She is also an honors student and completed the Capstone Seminar last year.  The students asked questions, and Holly also offered various tips based on her group’s experience in the seminar. This conversation was so much more productive and seemed to have a greater impact than simply having me and my co-instructor, Stacey Kiser, offer advice. The students will present their research findings at 2:00, May 30, in the Center Building’s Hoagland Commons on Main Campus. [...] Read more...
May 3, 2018Dear Faculty Colleagues,  We want to inform you and solicit feedback about proposed changes to policies about non-standard grades at Lane, especially the NC grade and the Incomplete. These changes were brought to Faculty Council on April 27 by Dawn Whiting, LCC’s Registrar, and Faculty Council will be discussing the proposals again at our May 11 meeting. Please feel free to share your views by commenting publicly on this post or by emailing Aryn Bartley at bartleya@lanecc.edu or Jessica Alvarado at alvaradoj@lanecc.edu by Thursday, May 10, at 5 pm.  NC: Dawn Whiting, our registrar, has proposed to eliminate the NC grade at Lane. She notes that, while faculty often believe that the NC grade does not have a negative impact on students, it does in fact impact both attempted credits and, subsequently, financial aid. The NC grade, therefore, doesn’t impact GPA, but it does impact a student’s academic progress. Last term, Lane had 557 NCs; the term before that, we had 644. We are the only community college in Oregon that still has this grading option.  Incomplete: Lane currently has almost 40,000 outstanding Incompletes. Dawn proposes the following changes to the way Incompletes are handled. 1) When an Incomplete is entered into Banner, the faculty member will mark both the deadline for completion and the grade the student will receive if they do not complete expected work. 2) Incompletes will have a recommended completion deadline of one term with an option for a faculty member to extend that deadline up to a year. 3) Banner will be programmed to automatically transfer a grade from an Incomplete to what the grade would have been originally after the agreed-upon deadline has been reached. 4) Both faculty members and students will need to complete and file contracts for Incompletes, including details about expected work and a deadline. 5) The request for an Incomplete should be initiated by the student. Specific proposed language follows:  I indicates Incomplete: When a student has satisfactorily completed 75 percent or more of the course work as defined by the instructor and noted in the syllabus, but is unable to finish the remaining required scheduled work due to circumstances beyond the student’s control. An Incomplete grade is not used to avoid a failing grade or if scheduled work is not time convenient for the student. A grade of Incomplete must be made up within one term from the last day of the original term it was taken, but may be extended up to one year at the discretion of the instructor.  A request for Incomplete must be a student initiated request but the approval is at the discretion of the instructor.  Granting an incomplete requires a contract between the student and instructor detailing the work to be finished.  A contract must be filed for each approved incomplete.  The contract must contain a deadline by which outstanding work is to be completed. It cannot be required that a student retake or audit a course during the term of the incomplete.  When a student enters into an incomplete contract, it is the responsibility of the student to understand the terms of the contract.  At the end of the contract date, the incomplete will convert to a standard grade as determined by the terms of the contract.  The procedure for submitting an incomplete is as follows: Student initiates request for incomplete with the instructor.  The instructor and student fill out the incomplete form and both sign, agreeing to the terms of the incomplete contract.  A clear deadline must be written on the contract as well as the grade that will be earned if the student does not complete the required work as noted on the contract. The incomplete form is turned into the department administrator.  When the incomplete is entered into Banner, the incomplete contract is sent to StudentRecords@lanecc.edu and imaged into application extender in SHACRSE .  Enrollment Services will verify that a contract has been submitted for each incomplete issued. For Incompletes that are missing the corresponding contract Enrollment Services will contact the instructor to request the form.  Upon expiration of the contract, Banner will update the student record to reflect the default grade from the contract, if a grade change form is not submitted by the faculty.  Dawn sent an informative Q/A document regarding these changes, which is attached to the email we just sent out to the faculty.  At last Friday’s meeting, Faculty Council members were receptive to the proposed changes, but we wanted to communicate those changes to the faculty at large to receive your feedback before we meet next Friday. Again, please feel free to share your thoughts by commenting on this post or by emailing Aryn Bartley at bartleya@lanecc.edu or Jessica Alvarado at alvaradoj@lanecc.edu.  All the best,  Aryn Bartley and Jessica Alvarado  Faculty Council co-chairs [...] Read more...
April 30, 2018The first time I introduced students to distant reading methods, I provided them with Franco Moretti’s “Conjectures on World Literature” and “Slaughterhouse of Literature,” two key essays that explain his purpose.  For the most curious students with some English courses behind them, these essays are a revelation. But for many students I found that the essays were too dense. So this year, I have provided a 15-minute online lecture that summarizes and paraphrases Moretti’s purpose in these two essays. This video lecture provides the context for students’ work this week: Working with Voyant tools to learn how to (in Paul Fyfe’s phrasing) “Not Read a Victorian Novel.” After #METOO. Lauren Klein’s blog entry became part of our course this year. This was one of those times when teaching online and in a community college course is highly challenging, because there was so much complex background to discuss. But I linked to Klein’s blog for those who could make sense of the conversation, and in some ways Klein’s piece became a bookmark for next year’s curriculum update. Step by step instructions for this week’s work with Voyant tools are here and here.  [...] Read more...
April 25, 2018[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/04/TIPSS23.pdf” title=”TIPSS#23″] [...] Read more...
April 24, 2018It’s already Week 4 of my second time offering a DH@CC course: “Reading, Writing, and Digital Culture.” It took 2 years to get the name changed in the catalog from “Introduction to Digital Humanities,” which no one on my campus understood! The very first things students do in my class is to create a course-dedicated blog (or at least a course-dedicated page on an extant blog) and to introduce themselves on it, and so I did the same thing here. I walk everyone through the weeks as I see them unfolding, hoping I can stick somewhat to the plan. Although I couldn’t fit it in last year, I am working really hard to put together a modified/right-sized instructional demo for students to create a digital edition using smart phones and cheap apps. This idea and some of the scaffolding is totally indebted to Shawna Ross at Texas A&M, who provided a comprehensive introduction to this work in a webinar on programming for humanists. Her book with Claire Battershill, Using Digital Humanities in the Classroom, is out this year from Bloomsbury Academic. If I do manage to teach my online students how to create a digital edition–of a menu, or a letter, of a book chapter–then it will be as part of their larger Omeka archive project, which makes up the heart of the second half of the term. Last year’s students struggled for the first couple weeks trying to figure it all out, but the feedback I got by the end of the term was that it was incredibly meaningful for students to be able to curate their own digital collection. Next week, I’m working with Annemarie Hamlin at Central Oregon CC in a collaborative assignment with her students. Both classes will share their work in a Google doc and use the comments feature to talk to one another about their discoveries. Tune in in a couple weeks and I’ll let you know how it goes! [...] Read more...
March 30, 2018[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cRI0hzkc3qWXc0oABJjKUrX9Yrywkchp/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
March 23, 2018On Wednesday, I met with Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Jennifer Frei and Executive Dean of Student Affairs Kerry Levett to discuss the Honors Program. The meeting was at Jennifer’s invitation, and both she and Kerry wanted to figure out how to maintain a scaled back version of the Honors Program and an active Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) chapter. We decided to bring the issue up in a meeting that Stacey Kiser and I had scheduled with the President,  Interim Vice President, and Jennifer on Thursday morning to discuss expanding undergraduate research at Lane. When Jennifer, Stacey, and I met with President Marge Hamilton and Interim Vice President Jane Harmon on Thursday, we began by discussing undergraduate research at Lane. Both Marge and Jane were very supportive of expanding this high impact practice for Lane’s students and directed us to move forward with the work. Before we could bring up the Honors Program, however, Marge brought it up. She made it absolutely clear that she wanted an Honors Program and a PTK chapter at the college and would support bringing both of these honors opportunities back for students. I’ll post more information in a few weeks after attending the initial planning meeting scheduled for early April. For now, it’s time to celebrate! HONORS IS BACK! [...] Read more...
March 20, 2018[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/03/TIPSS22-Addendum.pdf” title=”TIPSS22 Addendum”] [...] Read more...
March 7, 2018This term, we did not have the enrollment to run the HON 201_H Invitation to Inquiry Seminar. The class is a prerequisite for the HON 202_H Capstone Seminar in the spring, and it is also required for program completion. We waived these requirements so that the students can still take Capstone and finish the program. I felt, however, that the students who had signed up for the class were missing one of the key opportunities of being in the program. In place of the seminar, I’ve arranged for independent study (HON 298_H) with these students to try to approximate some of what they would have been able to do in the seminar. The independent study class is only one credit, so I’ve needed to be sensitive to workload. The primary requirements for the class are: several one-hour, discussion-based meetings during the term readings on critical thinking and on the role of Western research in colonization building an ePortfolio While it’s not a perfect solution, I do think that the students will be better prepared for Capstone.  I also have to say that it has been so much fun meeting in my office and having discussions about the readings! Each time, I’m reminded that one of the benefits of honors education is that honors students teach each other and the students and instructor all learn. [...] Read more...
March 1, 2018[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/03/TIPSS21-A-Pilot-Project-in-First-Year-Math.pdf” title=”TIPSS#21-A Pilot Project in First – Year Math”] [...] Read more...
February 15, 2018Every Tuesday, the what’s what on campus is sent to your inbox. But, I hear that folks don’t read the Lane Weekly. (And, I realize even fewer will read this!)  The Lane Weekly is our employee newsletter and an easy way to stay engaged with what’s going on around campus — and score a new-to-you UO vest. Don’t know what I’m talking about? You missed out! Other than serving as a quirky electronic bulletin board for folks looking to unload used furniture or find housing for rent, the Lane Weekly is a way to connect with events and accolades. It’s our very own news feed. For instance, did you know that … Kerry Levett received the Oregon Women in Higher Education’s “She Flies With Her Own Wings” Service Award at the group’s conference last month. Congratulations, Kerry!  U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley will be on campus for a town hall meeting from 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21 in the CML. You can give your feedback about the campus master plan now through March 14. Learn more here: https://goo.gl/forms/ROG5wL1tC23kGSAP2 Got a submission? There’s a nifty form that you can fill out: https://www.lanecc.edu/mpr/lane-weekly-submission-form For those who are adamant non-readers of the Lane Weekly, what other ways do you think that employees could become more engaged in what’s going on around campus and celebrate the accomplishments of our co-workers? Let us know by leaving a comment or email me directly at: sillsm@lanecc.edu. Weekly challenge Here’s an easy one this week: Read the Lane Weekly! [...] Read more...
February 12, 2018[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/02/DREAM-Summary-of-Student-and-KPIs-Discussions.pdf” title=”DREAM Summary of Student and KPIs Discussions”] [...] Read more...
February 7, 2018Weekly update Rob Johnstone, a national researcher on the guided pathways movement, was on campus Monday, Feb. 5. His keynote and small group sessions with faculty and staff were well-attended. Surveys to participants for their feedback on the sessions will go out later this week. Here’s a copy of the guided pathways implementation graphic Rob shared during the presentation and breakout sessions from the American Association of Community Colleges. On Friday, Feb. 9, the current cohort has its seminar and we’ll hear firsthand from students about their experiences at Lane. The session also features an overview of the results of the Employee Experience Survey by Sarah Lushia, chair of the Diversity Council. All Lane employees were invited to participate in the survey to provide their feedback on their experiences at Lane. Upcoming sessions include topics of: governance and Lane’s history; library resources, facilities and sustainable practices and leading through change.  Please contact me if you haven’t filled out a survey about your Aspiring Leaders experience and would like to participate: sillsm@lanecc.edu. (I’ll send you a copy of the link and you can respond anonymously.) Weekly challenge The challenge this week: what kind of trainings would you like to see on campus? Let me know. Email: sillsm@lanecc.edu.           [...] Read more...
January 29, 2018Rob Johnstone comes to campus Feb. 5 Rob Johnstone, a national expert and researcher on guided pathways, will be on campus Monday, Feb. 5 for a keynote presentation and breakout sessions. What are guided pathways? In short, it’s a model of restructuring student services and scheduling to create a more clear path for students to meet their goals. Have questions about what it is or wondering which campuses have implemented it and whether it’s been effective? Johnstone is a good person to ask. There will be break-out sessions for faculty and classified staff and opportunity to ask him questions. Johnstone advises that the keynote address will provide the necessary background for more productive breakout sessions. You can review the agenda and other relevant linked information about guided pathways on the events page.   [...] Read more...
January 26, 2018[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/01/TIPSS20.pdf” title=”TIPSS#20″] [...] Read more...
January 22, 2018Lane is the community’s college and there’s an opportunity to give your input about the community by participating in Lane County’s strategic planning process. The county is currently seeking input to update its 2018-2021 strategic plan through a survey. There is also an open house where you can learn more about the framework of the process from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24 in Harris Hall, 125 E. 8th Avenue, downtown Eugene. If you can’t make it to the open house, here’s a link to the survey: http://bit.ly/LaneCoSurvey You can read more about the county’s strategic planning process and the 2014-2017 strategic plan by clicking this link: https://www.lanecounty.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=3585881&pageId=4081129 Weekly update Our current cohort met on Friday, Jan. 19 for a special presentation by Lida Herburger and Deborah Butler on Appreciative Inquiry, a reflective planning tool they illustrated using a “4-D Cycle” – Design: Consider, “What should be?” Destiny: Consider, “What will be?” Discovery: Consider, “What is?” Dream: Consider, “What could be?” Last year, a team of employees was trained in Appreciative Inquiry practices and several of the trainees are going through the certification process, which requires them to give a presentation. If you’re interested in learning more or in a training for you or your department, email sillsm@lanecc.edu.   [...] Read more...
January 16, 2018[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/01/TIPSS-19-A-Closer-Look-at-Completion-of-Program-Level-MATH-within-One-Year.pdf” title=”TIPSS #19 – A Closer Look at Completion of Program Level MATH within One Year”] [...] Read more...
January 16, 2018[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/01/TIPSS-18-A-Closer-Look-at-Completion-of-Program-Level-WRITING-within-One-Year.pdf” title=”TIPSS #18 – A Closer Look at Completion of Program Level WRITING within One Year”] [...] Read more...
January 11, 2018I’ve been waiting to post until there was more clarity about whether a scaled down version of the Honors Program would be allowed to continue. I can share what I know at this point. Last fall, the administration considered having the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) advisor for our Sigma Zeta Chapter also do a small amount of program administration. To date, however, the new PTK advisor has not been hired and the program coordination has not been aligned with PTK work. The existing honors classes continue to be offered this year so that current honors students can finish the program. More as I know it . . . [...] Read more...
January 11, 2018“Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., March for Integrated Schools, April 18, 1959. Imagine someone reading words you uttered and history showing you lived by those words. We do not need to imagine when reading the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Next week will be a short one as we pause Monday to reflect on his contributions and how our communities can work together toward healing and equality. In the coming days and weeks,  there are opportunities to engage in conversations and events that seek to build community learn from one another. Later this month, free events sponsored by Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project seek to engage communities in conversations on the following topics:  Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation How Do We Create Inclusive Communities? Jan. 23, 7 p.m., Fern Ridge Library, Veneta   Conversation Project: Race and Place Racism and Resilience in Oregon’s Past and Future Jan. 25, 5:30 p.m., Springfield City Hall, Springfield   On Monday, the local NAACP chapter has organized a march and community program. Those interested in the march are encouraged to start congregating at Autzen Stadium at 9 a.m., so the group can organize and leave the parking lot at 10 a.m. to begin the march to the Shedd Institute downtown. At the Shedd, there will be a program from 11 a.m. to noon featuring community leaders, the youth council and activists who will share their vision and hopes for our community. On Wednesday, March 17, Lane will have our own MLK Celebration featuring Nina Turner. Turner is a former Ohio state senator and contributor on CNN and other news programs. Last year, she was also tapped to lead Bernie Sander’s group that reaches out to potential leaders. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Please extend an invitation to your colleagues, family, friends and neighbors and help us create community here at Lane. Some of our students have stepped up to volunteer for our MLK Celebration event. If you’re interested in volunteering, let me know by emailing me at: sillsm@lanecc.edu.  Weekly challenge The motto, “A Day On, Not a Day Off” has been adopted to designate the holiday as one of service to honor King’s legacy. How do you plan to make it a “day on” through service to your family or community? Share by leaving a reply for us.     [...] Read more...
January 5, 2018[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jKFjr1C8qJGKVO9MYBaNfmoxyJXE7yF-/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
January 2, 2018Have you forgone resolutions this year? The new year ushers in reflections on what was, what is and what will be. May we carry the resolve of reflection with us into the days ahead. Weekly updates Jan. 19: Current cohort monthly seminar on strategic planning at Lane and interactive planning exercises using Appreciative Inquiry with Jen Steele, Deborah Butler and Lida Herburger.  Jan. 25: Alumni book club at 3 p.m. in Building 19, Room 142 to discuss selection, “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg. Training opportunity An interactive training on the gender spectrum, Gender 101, will be offered at two times on Jan. 19: 10 a.m. to noon; 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Both sessions will be held in the Gender Equity Center in Building 1. The training is presented by Jenn Burlington of TransActive Gender Center. Check out http://transactiveonline.org for more information about the TransActive Gender Center. The presentation is sponsored by International Programs, Gender Equity Center and Diversity Council. Employees will receive two hours of cultural competency professional development credit for attendance. RVSP is requested to secure a spot: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZV24PiLICg-RXcd42dCsedf9X2Lsx8gB66OxnrmbOGHVSWA/viewform   Weekly challenge Leadership author, John C. Maxwell offers these tips on developing listening skills as a leader in an article he wrote in 2014 for the magazine, Success. In the article, he shares a story of the importance of not only listening, but asking the right questions. The full essay and listening audit can be read in this link: https://www.success.com/article/john-c-maxwell-a-1-week-leadership-listening-challenge Below is an excerpt of his listening audit: The Listening Audit The first step is to take an honest look at your current approach to communication. Start by asking yourself the following questions: 1. Am I open to other people’s ideas? 2. Am I open to changing my opinion based on new information? 3. Am I actively seeking feedback and input in order to move the team forward? 4. Do I act defensively when criticized, or do I listen openly for the truth? 5. Do I ask questions in every conversation? At the end of each day, reflect on the day’s interactions—every meeting, conference call, phone conversation and so on—and calculate the percentage of the time that you spent listening as opposed to the time you spent speaking. How much of the day were you actively taking in information? At the end of the week, tally up your percentages and get an average. Set a goal to increase your listening percentage in the upcoming week. Be sure to track your progress. What you are trying to develop are these five strengths of a listening leader: Connecting. In my book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, I write about the Law of Connection, which states, “Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.” You cannot connect with other people when you are the one doing all the talking! Do this intentionally. Stop, make eye contact and be fully present, and you’ll find yourself truly connecting—not half-listening. Building confidence. Take time to listen to each person on your team. New people, in particular, offer a fresh perspective that can lead to valuable insights, but they may not feel they have the right to contribute their thoughts. Shake their insecurity by soliciting their ideas and taking those suggestions to heart. Henry David Thoreau once said, “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought and attended to my answer.” Don’t you feel the same way? Soliciting ideas. Great leaders create an environment of innovation. That requires actively seeking out new ideas. I often find that listening precedes great periods of creativity in an organization. In the words of Richard Branson, “Any organization’s best assets are its people, and if you are ready to help the team to achieve its goals, you can start gathering information on how to move things along just by paying attention to what employees are saying.” Taking action. With your new focus on intentional listening, you will probably find that you have an abundance of good ideas at your fingertips. Just hearing them isn’t enough. Good ideas have expiration dates. You need to act before they become dated, irrelevant or otherwise spoiled. A bonus: Members of your team will see your responsiveness, feel valued, trust you with their ideas and keep bringing them forward. Reflecting nightly. Maximize your new habits by taking time before bed to think and reflect so you can process and apply what you have learned. Do you want to increase your leadership capacity? Work on applying these practices on a consistent basis. Pastor and speaker Robert Schuller once said, “Big egos have little ears.” I challenge you to become the opposite—a small ego with big ears. Because that’s the kind of person who truly excels. Source: https://www.success.com/article/john-c-maxwell-a-1-week-leadership-listening-challenge [...] Read more...
December 28, 20172017 was a busy year for me and for DH at community colleges. In January, I presented at the MLA on intersections between “minimal computing” practices in open access learning environments like community colleges. The chair, Jentery Sayers, shared the panel presentations here and here.  Meanwhile, “community college” made it to the list of 60 digital humanities keywords in the MLA volume, Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: Concepts, Models, and Experiments, edited by Rebecca Frost Davis, Matthew K. Gold, Katherine D. Harris, and Jentery Sayers. Working with Dominique Zino Jaime Cardenas, and Bethany Holmstrom, I curated the collection of assignments and artifacts that represent the history of digital pedagogy projects at community colleges since 1999. The hybrid publication project will be published in print  by MLA in 2018.  Currently, I am working with Angel Nieves and Siobhan Senier on a collection of essays concerned with institutional infrastructure for digital humanities for the Debates in the Digital Humanities series entitled Institutions, Infrastructures at the Interstices. Since  access and infrastructure for supporting digital humanities at community colleges were issues that first got me into this field more than five years ago, I am honored to be part of this project. The open peer-review process will begin in February so stay tuned!     [...] Read more...
December 14, 2017I appreciate the Mintzberg quote above for its implication that leadership is a practice. But, I also think we can learn by not only doing, but, well, by learning from others through reading and reflection. Our alumni book club seeks to engage discussions on leadership through books that examine and enlighten views on leadership and connections. Their current selection, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead” by Sheryl Sandberg. Here’s a Forbes review of the book from 2013, if you’re interested in learning more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/03/04/10-things-sheryl-sandberg-gets-exactly-right-in-lean-in/#157f36567ada At the current Aspiring Leaders cohort’s retreat, Marge shared a book recommendation: Bad Leadership by Barbara Kellerman. (Available in the Lane Library stacks.) The book explores a missing piece in many leadership books: the bad leader, seeks to define bad leadership and what we can learn from it. In each chapter, Kellerman evaluates a different trait of a “bad leader” and offers the reader a view of that trait through the lens of a leader in history. Not sure you want to spend your free time reading about bad leaders? What about bee leaders? Bees have secret lives and lessons to teach us about leadership. “The Wisdom of Bees: What The Hive Can Teach Business About Leadership, Efficiency, And Growth” by Michael O’Malley is also available in the Lane Library. Here’s an article by O’Malley in Psychology Today on lessons we can learn from bees on decison-making: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-wisdom-bees/201006/why-bees-dont-make-stupid-decisions-and-we-do Have you started a reading list for the break or books to tackle in 2018? Let us know what you’re reading or your recommendations by replying. Weekly Update Thanks to those of you who have provided feedback about the Aspiring Leaders program via the survey. It’s still up – and will be up through the end of 2017. Your feedback assists with continual improvement at the college and is appreciated. Here are a few more comments that have come in: Q: How would you describe Aspiring Leaders to an employee unfamiliar with the program? Program which says it’s a leadership development sequence, but mostly a networking opportunity.   Q: If you could experience one seminar or day of Aspiring Leaders again, what would it be and why? Quality time with the president reflecting and talking about BIG, possibly even sensitive, issues that individuals feel must be tackled/addressed in order for Lane CC to be all it can be. I think this lets aspiring leaders see the college’s leader as a human being with thoughts and feelings and worries like the rest of us, and allows us to get to the business of solution-finding… at least temporarily… on an equal plane.   Q: What would you like the Aspiring Leaders program planners to keep in mind when making decisions about potential changes to Aspiring Leaders programming? Consider adding outcomes for the program to make it more cohesive; tie sessions to leadership; encourage personal goal setting and reflection throughout. Weekly Challenge This is a revisit of the first challenge: reflect on your core values. The holidays are a time of reflection for many. Take the time to reflect on your core values and revisit your own mission statement. Is your work and daily practice a reflection of those values and your personal mission?   [...] Read more...
December 6, 2017AAWCC is pleased to announce the new Women in Leadership book club at LCC!  This club has been formed to create a supportive space for women to talk about challenges and opportunities for women in leadership at LCC and beyond.  Whether you are an established leader within the college or you’re interested in developing your skills and network, this group is for you.  Through shared learning and frank, directed inquiry, we hope to support and inspire women in all stages of career and personal development.  All college employees and students, regardless of role, gender, or AAWCC membership status are welcome to join.   Participants can begin reading at any time, and are welcome to attend standing monthly AAWCC brown bag networking luncheons to check in and talk about the book.  Join us here at to find out more and connect with other readers.  On March 15, from 11:30 to 1:30, we’ll meet as a group at an AAWCC social to share the insights and ideas we’ve gathered.   Our first book will be The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance–What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.  Check out the official book website for information about the authors and their  message, including media coverage and interviews about the book, social media links, and a confidence quiz to help you assess where you’re starting your journey.  You can purchase a copy of The Confidence Code at a local bookstore or  online at one of the following sellers: Powell’s City of Books IndieBound: a Community of Independent Local Booksellers Barnes & Noble  Amazon.com (audio copies also available) The LCC library will have a limited number of copies available to loan.  If book cost is a barrier to your participation in this group, please contact Deborah Butler to inquire about copies that may be available through a special donation to AAWCC.  We strive to make AAWCC activities and opportunities accessible to everyone.  [...] Read more...
December 6, 2017Weekly Update Thanks to those of you who have completed the survey about your Aspiring Leaders experience. Time is precious and as the end of term is in sight, a survey is another time drain. I invite you when you do have the opportunity: to reflect on your experience and provide some feedback. Continuous improvement is a goal for all our programs at Lane and your perspective will help us identify areas for improvement and potential new programming. As a reminder, you’re responses are anonymous – but if anyone would like to provide attribution to their feedback, let me know. Here’s what some of you are saying: Q: How would you describe Aspiring Leaders to an employee unfamiliar with the program? Warren Bennis once stated, “leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Aspiring Leaders trained employees to assist in translating LCC’s vision into reality. AL was a fantastic opportunity for me to meet and network with other LCC employees. I learned so much about other areas of campus and the challenges that face LCC. On multiple occasions I was taken out of my comfort zone and feel grew because of it. Q: Has your participation in Aspiring Leaders added value to your work at Lane? Explain how it has or how it has not. Absolutely. I was a new employee and it immediately “shrank” the college down to a happy size. It gave me a crash course in the college culture—both what it was and what it could become. I created relationships with colleagues whom I continue to lean into for support. It has not, it confused things because the direction given in Aspiring Leaders is not how things are run. Q: What type of alumni efforts should the group consider? Could we take on one project a year? Such as fundraising, an event to collect materials for the food pantry or clothing stash. I wouldn’t put too much effort into this, though perhaps one event per year – like a coffee/tea. Maybe reach out to alumni to facilitate a discussion? Q: Do you feel Aspiring Leaders is relevant to the mission and core values? Please explain your response. (All affirmative responses so far.) Yes, because good leadership requires at least an openness to transformation, and building relationships is essential to helping an institution transform the lives of not only students, but staff and community as well. Yes! Meeting and working with Lane colleagues from other departments across classified, faculty, and manager positions really demonstrated that equity lens and cultural diversity that the college is pushing towards. I saw issues from other perspectives that I had never experienced before in a safe and open place. Aspiring Leaders transformed my life through learning and all of our efforts were to improve ourselves and student success through better understanding. We touched on all of the core values at some point during the year. Weekly Challenge Kerry Levett, Brian Kelly and Jen Steele joined the Aspiring Leaders cohort for the December seminar. Brian and Jen received some good ideas from the small group exercise on ways to increase revenue and retention, such as differential tuition options and discounts for returning students. The group quickly ruled out a brew pub on campus. Think you have a plan or idea that you know has worked elsewhere that could help generate new revenue or help with student enrollment and retention? Share it. Who knows what your brainstorm could spark? Also, Kerry shared the somewhat new science of an organized life: bullet journaling. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. It takes writing things down to the next level with this key change: an index! You can use any notebook. Here’s a short video that explains it:   Give it a try. Let us know how it works out for you. [...] Read more...
November 29, 2017By now, Aspiring Leaders of the past and present should have received an email with an invitation to complete a survey about your experience in the program. Your feedback will be used to help guide future programming and alumni activities. Thanks to you who have already submitted your responses! If you haven’t received an email with the link, please let me know: sillsm@lanecc.edu. Weekly Challenge Let’s keep it simple this week: complete the survey. Seriously, your feedback is valuable to the future of the program. Feedback: it works for Elon Musk. “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” – Elon Musk “What is the shortest word in the English language that contains the letters: abcdef? Answer: feedback. Don’t forget that feedback is one of the essential elements of good communication.” – Anonymous Ways to Get Involved Dead Week is upon us! Support students who are wrapping up their term.  Smile. Say, hello! Wish them luck! And … Ask if they’ve registered for winter term. Reminder: The Aspiring Leaders Book Club meets at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1 in Building 19, Room 124. The group opted to continue reading the current selection, “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” by Adam Grant. Giving Tree: There are still some tags available on the giving tree for students’ children. Gift ideas and the age of the child are on the tag. If you take a tag, unwrapped presents need to be returned to the Gender Equity Center by Friday, Dec. 1 – but it’s possible to return gifts next week through Dec. 6. The earlier deadline is better because parents have transportation issues and may not have finals scheduled through Dec. 6. Pop into the Gender Equity Center if you have questions. Have an idea for Aspiring Leaders to get involved with a campus activity? Submit to sillsm@lanecc.edu.           [...] Read more...
November 29, 2017Survey results from a follow-up to the 2013 National Survey of Digital Humanities in Community Colleges are in. This week’s featured question: Which of the following do you use regularly in your humanities courses? (“Regularly”= at least once a week in all your classes)   An institutionally provided course management page or site (such as Blackboard, Web CT, Moodle) 91.30% 63 A course website that you developed independently. 21.74% 15 Web resources in the classroom or to support curriculum 72.46% 50 Blogs or social media in or out of the classroom 30.43% 21 Web-based software other than word processing for student production of humanities research projects (e.g., Prezi, Pinterest, Storify, Moviemaker, Omeka, Voyant Tools, etc.) 36.23% 25 Use of web-based video or podcasts for lectures 46.38% 32 Production of your own audio or video for lectures or student support 40.58% 28 Use of digital archives for courses (e.g., Library of Congress Digital Archives, Emily Dickinson Archives, Internet Archive, etc.) 39.13% 27 I may occasionally use one or more of the above, but not regularly. 18.84% 13 None of the above. 2.90% 2 You can view them here. [...] Read more...
November 21, 2017Greetings from the POD! Happy break to all of you – and good luck scratching off your to-do list before the end-of-day tomorrow … and before the end of the term! Few quick updates: Aspiring Leaders Alumni Book Club: Next meeting is 12:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1 in Building 19, Room 124. The group opted to continue reading the current selection, “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” by Adam Grant. Here are a few quotes from the book that may pique your interest — “Originals are nonconformists, people who not only have new ideas but take action to champion them. They are people who stand out and speak up. Originals drive creativity and change in the world. They’re the people you want to bet on.” “Argue like you’re right and listen like you’re wrong.” “The greatest shapers don’t stop at introducing originality into the world. They create cultures that unleash originality in others.” Aspiring Leaders Surveys: Look for a message from me in your inbox by Nov. 29 with a survey related to your experience in the program and suggestions on moving the program forward. We’re seeking your feedback on where to focus future programming efforts and how to best continue this enrichment opportunity for employees. Note: If you don’t receive a survey by Nov. 29, let me know. We may need to update our list. (Alumni and the current cohort will receive surveys.) Aspiring Leaders Current Cohort: Next monthly seminar is from 1 to 5 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1 in Building 30, Room 114. Guest presenters are Kerry Levett and Brian Kelly, who will provide leadership practice insight related to their work at Lane. Weekly Challenge As part of the Aspiring Leaders fall retreat, participants are asked to consider their core values and draft a mission statement. Find yours and review it. Is your mission statement still relevant? Does it need an update? (Can’t find yours? Make the time to reflect on your core values and start a new mission statement.)   Ways to Get Involved Holiday Giving Tree: Spread the holiday joy and pull a tag with the holiday wishes of a Lane student’s child from the Holiday Giving Tree. The tree is in Building 1 on the second floor, near the Gender Equity Center. Unwrapped gifts may be returned no later than Dec. 6 for student-parents to pick up. The project is a cooperative effort between the Gender Equity Center and the MultiCultural Center/Clothing Stash. Work by Core Theme review teams will get underway in the coming weeks to examine how well our work is aligned with our core themes: Resp6onsive Community Engagement; Accessible and Equitable Learning Opportunities; Quality Educational Environment; and Individual Student Achievement. Many Aspiring Leaders (current and alumni) are either leading these review teams or serving as team members. A call for volunteers was issued earlier this month and sent via email to all employees.  Have an idea for Aspiring Leaders to get involved with a campus activity? Submit to sillsm@lanecc.edu.   [...] Read more...
November 15, 2017“The connection economy thrives on abundance. Connections create more connections. Trust creates more trust. Ideas create more ideas.” ~ Seth Godin It’s time for this blog to do its job of forging connections as it was intended. This is a space to share ideas and information for alumni and the current cohort. Much has changed since the date of the last post in 2015. This is the first year of the program without its founder and the current cohort’s resiliency and adaptability skills are being honed. (You’re welcome!) Two alumni: Mike Sims (2015-16) and Kristina Holton (2013-14) stepped up, offering to help facilitate the retreat and they did an amazing job setting the tone for the rest of the program year. The 2017-18 cohort is a lively bunch that includes: Carla Arciniega-Henrici Katheryn Blair Amanda Blunt Anna Gates-Tapia Andi Graham Scott Hutchings LuAnne Johnson Nikki Li Richard Lubben Mira Mason-Reader Bliss Newton Casey Reid Cathy Thomas Shara Tscheulin James Walugembe Brenda Williams Meggie Wright Carl Yeh What’s the latest with alumni action? Well, there’s a book club. Thanks to Jill Gillett (2016-17) for getting it a book club off the ground. The group meets Friday, November 17, 12:30 p.m., Building 19 Room 142 to discuss: “Originals: How non-conformists move the world” by Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg. Email Jill if you’d like to attend the meeting via Zoom. Didn’t read the book? (It’s book club! Who reads the book?!?) Stop by and engage with alumni, anyway. Following the alumni gathering in the spring, there seemed to be a consensus to do more alumni activities. Look here and the Lane Weekly for updates on how to get involved and give feedback. Have news to share with Aspiring Leaders and Aspiring Leaders Alumni? Let me know! Contact me through the blog or at sillsm@lanecc.edu. Thanks to Deborah Butler, Aspiring Leaders (2015-16) for bringing the blog back in the leadership spotlight. Updates to our webpage are coming soon. [...] Read more...
November 1, 2017Dear Colleagues, At Faculty Council’s October 27, 2017 meeting, Vice President of College Services Brian Kelly and Strategic Planning and Budget Officer Jennifer Steele presented on the Administration’s proposed budget timeline for this year. Faculty Council felt the information shared was important enough to pass on in detail to the faculty as a whole in order to: 1) give you a sense of the way the budget process as a whole may be impacted by these changes; 2) share our concerns about the proposed process; and 3) offer you the opportunity to join in this conversation.  We will synthesize the discussion that takes place here for presentation to the Board during their Thursday, Nov. 9 meeting, so please comment by Tuesday, Nov. 7 at the end of the day. This blog is a publicly accessible document.    We recommend you use the following documents as resources: Budget Development Calendar: https://www.lanecc.edu/sites/default/files/budget/budget_development_calendar.pdf Planning and Budget Development Calendar: https://www.lanecc.edu/sites/default/files/budget/planning_budget_development_calendar_2017-18.pdf Standard Data Package: https://www.lanecc.edu/planning/standard-data-package   NOTE: The remainder of this document has been edited in response to communication from Jen Steele and Brian Kelly, and hopefully is more thorough in its information and precise in its language than it was originally. All quotations below are taken from that communication.   Here are the key aspects of the budget process as presented by Brian Kelly and Jennifer Steele: According to their presentation, based on feedback from last year’s budget process that departments didn’t have enough time to respond to proposed cuts and reductions, the Administration has proposed a new budget process timeline (see above for a simple or more detailed version). According to Brian and Jen, the new timeline is “designed to provide impacted faculty, staff, and students with time and opportunity to engage in impact analysis and consideration of alternatives with administration” as well as to “provide clarity in roles and decision-making responsibilities.”   The timeline is structured as follows: In fall term Institutional Research shares a “standard data package” that includes information on enrollment, completion, demographics, etc. for programs and services. (This document has already been circulated; see above for the link.) Institutional Research and planning staff will “provide an orientation to the data for deans, directors, and faculty engaging in program review, hold open ‘drop-in’ sessions, and also provide individual or group consultation and additional data/analysis to departments and program review teams.” In January, if cuts are deemed a necessary consideration, the Administration will circulate a list of potential program and service reductions and investment options. During winter term, time will be set aside to analyze any impacts of cuts/reductions and to gather feedback from campus stakeholders. The Board will make decisions about program/service investments/reductions on March 30.  The first draft of the budget of the Budget Development Subcommittee (which includes faculty, staff, students, and management) will be forwarded to College Council on April 1.     Here are our takeaways. As currently proposed: The Administration will develop their list of program/service reductions with the promise of conversations with impacted program/service faculty, staff, and students and (as yet undefined) input sessions focused on “impact analysis” throughout winter term. Decisions about program/service investments and reductions will be made separate from budget decisions. The Budget Development Subcommittee, which is made up of faculty, staff, student, and management representatives and has in the past forwarded budgets that differed from Administration’s budgets in regards to program/service reductions and cuts will no longer have the ability to give feedback on program/service reductions except in the context of the conversations and input sessions listed above. They will not be able to offer alternatives to decisions made about program/service reductions within the budget they offer.    Faculty Council appreciates the move towards greater transparency as well as the promise of a longer period set aside for feedback, input, and problem-solving in response to potential program reductions. At the same time, many members of Faculty Council have concerns about the new process.    Concerns that emerged during our October 27 Faculty Council meeting: The sharing of data does not equate to sharing of information. While faculty and staff can access the standard data package, we do not yet have answers to the questions: Beyond departmental program review, how will this information be used for decision-making about program investments and reductions? Will these kinds of decisions be tied to program review? What are the criteria for decision-making?  Historically, mechanisms for feedback (2-3 minute speeches at Board meetings, College Council forums, and Dean advocacy) have been insufficient. While the new process extends the time for input/feedback on decisions about program/service investments or reductions, it does not yet demarcate the specific nature of the mechanisms that will be used for this kind of input/feedback. Historically, there has been little to no legitimate or substantial incorporation of or response to input/feedback from faculty/staff/students. The Board usually has taken the Administration’s proposal and adopted it with little revision. The new process does not yet address this issue. The new process reduces the ability of the Budget Development Subcommittee — as the key collaborative body working on the budget — to offer alternative financial solutions to program (and job) reductions within the context of a proposed budget.   In our meeting, Faculty Council members gave the following suggestions to Brian Kelly and Jennifer Steele:   Provide commentary on data that reflects how it is being understood and used in the context of decision-making about program/service investments and reductions.   Provide and define legitimate, substantial, and collaborative mechanisms for faculty, staff, and student participation in initial and subsequent discussion of and recommendations for program/service investments and reductions across the year. Define formal avenues for advocacy by programs and services under threat of reduction with the legitimate possibility of altering the Board’s course of action. Now we would like to open the floor for discussion. What do you think about the proposed budget process? Do you share the concerns listed above or have other concerns? What suggestions would you offer? [...] Read more...
October 18, 2017[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2018/01/TIPSS-17-Key-Progress-Indicators.pdf” title=”TIPSS # 17 – Key Progress Indicators”] Download [...] Read more...
October 13, 2017Download [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/10/Capacity-Cafe-response-summaries.pdf”] [...] Read more...
October 13, 2017Download [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/10/ICAT-Response-Distribution_Lane-Community-College.pdf”] [...] Read more...
October 13, 2017Download [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/10/ICAT-Results-Summary_Lane-Community-College.pdf”] [...] Read more...
September 30, 2017[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gFfU_fuAesIO0-G7buS95K-VipsdrHsJ/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
September 23, 2017We’re into another academic year and there are many new developments to share with you. Here are some of the new changes. Reminder: G Suite and Student Email All Lane students have college provided email and G Suite accounts via Google. It is important to keep in mind and set expectations in courses that they should check those accounts on a regular basis for all messages that come from the college, including Moodle messages. Students can get assistance with their email accounts at the Student Help Desk (SHeD) in the Library or at help.lanecc.edu. ATAG Fall 2017 Dates The Fall meeting dates for the Academic Technology Advisory Group (ATAG) are: Oct. 16, 3:00 – 4:30, CEN 229 Nov. 13, 3:00 – 4:30, CEN 229 Dec. 11 , 3:00 – 4:30, CEN 229 The ATAG helps inform Academic Technology of student and faculty needs around technology and the web-enhanced, hybrid and online learning environments. Instructors and support staff of all technical abilities are invited to participate, share successes, convey needs and learn of new developments. Zoom Zoom is a new web/video conferencing platform that can be used to meet with classes, hold online office hours, offer one-on-one meetings and record presentations on your computer. Everyone can have access to a basic account with meetings that last up to 40 minutes in duration. Need more time? Request a Pro account to enable meetings without time limitations: https://goo.gl/forms/0arXHZFmS7l96hco1 We’ll have weekly drop-in meetings and some Zoom workshops throughout the term. Dates and times will be Fridays from 11 am – 12 pm with the exception of October 20th. All meetings will be using the Zoom meeting link to meet at if you’d prefer to join in virtually: https://lanecc.zoom.us/j/535846503 Moodle Boost Theme Give your Moodle course a fresh new look!  Boost is a new theme with improved navigation and convenient editing options.  With a focus on accessibility, mobile device access, easier navigation and an improved user experience, Boost is great choice for many of your students needs. Magna online seminars Lane Community College has access to Magna Commons & 20-Minute Mentor Commons As a member of our campus community this online content from Magna Publications is available at no cost to you.  You’ll need to contact the ATC to get info on how to activate your account through Lane. Magna Commons offers on-demand versions of Magna’s most popular Magna Online Seminars, covering a broad range of topics of interest to faculty & administrators. You can view the offerings available to stream here: https://www.magnapubs.com/magna-commons/ 20-Minute Mentor Commons offers on-demand versions of Magna’s popular 20-Minute Mentor programs, covering a broad range of faculty development topics. You can view the offerings available to stream here: https://www.magnapubs.com/mentor-commons/ We’re looking forward to working with you this academic year! The Academic Technology team [...] Read more...
August 14, 2017Last February, the Honors Program invited scholar, Sharon Schuman, to campus to discuss her book, Freedom and Dialogue in a Polarized World. As I described in a post after the event, Schuman extends Mikhail Bakhtin’s work on the dialogic nature of language to the concept of freedom. She argues that freedom is dialogic. The more perspectives one can see from, the freer one will be. This event was well-attended by students, faculty, staff, and members of the Eugene community. During the Q&A session, a student who was not in the Honors Program commented that Schuman seemed to think that polarization was a bad thing. She asked a thought-provoking question: “What’s wrong with polarization?” Schuman was so intrigued by the student’s question that she continued thinking about it and whether there were positive aspects to polarization. Several months later, she wrote an essay in response. It was published in today’s Register-Guard newspaper as a Guest Viewpoint: “Polarization is Easy; Seeing the Other Side is Hard.” She will also post it on her website, Dialogic Freedom, and I’ll link to that post, as well, once it is up. The Schuman event and follow-up essay exemplify so much of what is valuable about honors education at community colleges and specifically at Lane Community College: encouraging student engagement in intellectual and creative activities with prominent scholars; creating spaces for learning outside the classroom; bringing together members of the Lane and Eugene communities to consider contemporary scholarship that is highly-relevant to today’s world; engaging diverse perspectives; and leading to increased critical thinking and broadening the discussion to a significantly wider audience. In short, the event supported the college’s Core Learning Outcomes and its Core Themes. It is one of many examples of how honors contributes to mission fulfillment and of the valuable service that Lane Community College provides to our community.  [...] Read more...
June 30, 2017[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/oureducationenvironment/wp-content/uploads/sites/111/2017/06/White-paper-1.pdf” title=”White paper – 1″] [...] Read more...
June 15, 2017[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/06/TIPSS-16-A-Stop-Out-Survey.pdf” title=”TIPSS #16 – A Stop-Out Survey”] [...] Read more...
June 14, 2017I have been focusing on undergraduate research, student opportunities, and student accomplishments in my last posts because those topics represent so much of what honors education is about. Unfortunately, I do need to acknowledge that this month the Board of Education officially accepted the college’s budget proposal, including the elimination of the Honors Program. Next year, we will offer the existing honors classes, including the two honors seminars, so that students can complete the program and be eligible for transfer agreements. There will be no program coordination and no honors events, just the classes. After next year, the program will be gone. I plan to continue blogging here about honors at Lane and honors education in general through next year. [...] Read more...
June 12, 2017[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/06/TIPSS15.pdf”] [...] Read more...
June 9, 2017As a follow-up to my recent post on the Honors Spring Symposium, I’m sharing photos of the research poster and pamphlets created by the Capstone Seminar students as ways to share some of their research findings: [...] Read more...
June 8, 2017What an event! The students presented their research findings in two sessions separated by a short break. The first group — Sam, Hayden, Holly, Emma, and Paige — addressed morality legislation in a panel discussion. They described their methodology, used women’s reproductive rights as their primary case study, and then elaborated on how the methodology could be applied to thinking critically about other moral issues that have been, or continue to be, legislated. The second group, Jack and Gus, opened with a cover of Lady Gaga’s song, “Til It Happens to You,” performed by Jack. This performance was followed by Gus reading his paper and sharing slides describing many facts and statistics on alcohol education at universities and its potential impact on reducing sexual assaults. This segment concluded with Jack describing the shortcomings of colleges and universities in addressing the realities of alcohol consumption by student and performing a demonstration measuring the recommended amount of alcohol safely consumed per hour vs the actual yet often unrecognized amount of alcohol contained in a typical solo cup of Jungle Juice. The students also created a research poster, brochure, and website. I will post links to them once their are available. I have no doubt that these students will continue to pursue research interests during their time at Lane and at their transfer institutions. I hope they will also decide to pursue graduate degrees given their intellects, research skills, and passion for learning.   [...] Read more...
June 6, 2017In my last posts, I noted the college’s plans to eliminate the Honors Program. Although the Board of Education has not officially voted on the final budget, it will do so at tomorrow’s Board meeting. When I know what next year’s version of honors will look like as students complete the program, I will add a post with that information. In the meantime, I want to focus on what the Honors Program has been about for seven years: building scholars and providing opportunities for undergraduate research. In the Invitation to Inquiry Seminar held each winter, the students visit the University of Oregon’s Special Collections Library. There are previous posts describing this event and sharing photos on this blog. In the Capstone Seminar held each spring, the students visit the University of Oregon’s (UO) Undergraduate Research Symposium, the Lane Community College Poster Day, and Oregon State University’s (OSU) Honors Thesis Fair. They also put on their own Honors Spring Symposium (I’ll blog about this soon as the symposium is tomorrow!). There are several benefits to attending the UO’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. These benefits include becoming more familiar with, and comfortable on, the UO campus; seeing examples of research posters; reading a range of abstracts in the symposium program; and attending panel presentations. All of these benefits allow the students to see their research in context of other student research, to build confidence, and to take what they learn from the symposium and apply it to their own projects and assignments in the seminar. In short, this field trip supports the college’s Core Learning Outcome: Apply Learning. Visiting the college’s own poster day builds on the UO visit by showing students the research projects other students at our college are engaged in and the quality of their posters. This event is organized by honors science faculty, Stacey Kiser, who also team-teaches the two honors seminars with me. Viewing the posters and talking with fellow students helps the seminar students see their work in the context of fellow Lane students. Finally, the trip to the OSU provides examples of the research and educational experiences of other honors students. We have an information session at the OSU Honors College where the students learn about the requirements for transfer students and see the honors lounge, workroom, and classrooms.  We also review the abstracts for the honors posters, walk through the poster session, and talk with students about their work. This trip provides a context for honors research, presents sample abstracts and posters that the students can consider when creating their own, and helps make them more comfortable on the OSU campus. It was gratifying to hear students talking about applying to the OSU Honors College after our visit! Having seen the presentations, poster, and pamphlet the students will share at the Honors Spring Symposium tomorrow, I know the value of these field trips and the impact they have on the students’ own research and on their sense of themselves as scholars moving forward into their academic careers.   [...] Read more...
June 5, 2017http://www.eugeneweekly.com/20170525/guest-viewpoint/misappropriated-tropes Backlash masquerading as budget cuts ARTICLE | MAY 25, 2017 – 12:00AM | BY MARK HARRIS When a trope or metaphor gets popularly misappropriated due to cultural transference, problems ensue. Two examples often used in mainstream Western culture are “low man on the totem pole” and the “pawn in the game.” Neither of these artifacts originally comes from Western civilization — that civilization in which cultural historical amnesia is a given norm and assimilation is a goal, thereby dooming those who buy into the concept to repeating preventable mistakes, like déjà vu all over again. On the west coast of Turtle Island, the Tlingit-Haida Nation originated totem poles. Though their political influence at one time stretched down into what we call California, totem poles, like feathered headdresses and teepees, became a recursive meme meant to stand in for indigenous nations that never used them. Obviously the being represented at the base of the pole, holding every one else up, has to be the physically strongest and, perhaps, the spiritually strongest, and certainly not the least powerful or significant in an artificial hierarchy. Similarly, the pawn in chess is the only piece on the board that, having reached its goal, can transform itself into the most powerful piece on the board. As both totem poles and chess are originally artifacts, taken from indigenous communities of color, that have been adopted and changed by Caucasianization, we can expect these histories to be erased, and the emic (internal to the culture) symbolism to be misunderstood. If I were low man on the white cultural totem pole, I might be looked upon with contempt by the ones riding on my back and shoulders as being a lower life form, when I’m actually supporting them. Similarly, if I am an empowered pawn, capable of shape-shifting and exerting powers of transformation in myself and others, I can do that, even if visibly removed from the game. Just as successive exalted cyclops of Eugene Klan #3 have done by becoming businessmen, educators, politicians, administrators, etc. In the quarter century I’ve worked at Lane Community College and the two years I’ve been employed at the University of Oregon, I’ve been both forewarned and forearmed. Blessed enough to innovate and make change, only to see such innovations and changes get washed away by various forms of backlash rather than being built upon and protected. African-American professionals who’ve worked and moved on from both workplaces have warned me: It’s the belly of the beast, it’s a great training ground for institutional racism, it’s vicious, or viscous like mud or quicksand; it will eat you alive like quicksand made of acid. Of course, I didn’t enter into Eugene’s “progressive paradise” with rainbow-tinted glasses, either. The upside is that here, if you’re patient, you can get things done that might take longer in other places. But it might take you longer to implement what is a longstanding progressive standard elsewhere. So, while I’ve participated in many innovative projects — at LCC, in the community and, finally, the past two years at the UO — to enhance the infrastructure, nothing can’t be undone by backlash or budget cuts or backlash masquerading as budget cuts. I like the irony quoted in the UO mission statement: the university “focuses on teaching and research excellence, with a focus on critical, logical thinking, clear communication, and ethical living.” Budgets and expenditures reflect priorities. As of this writing I’ve yet to be paid by the UO, working as an instructor teaching International Substance Use Treatment. I’m an addictions prevention, treatment and recovery practitioner. While not in 12-step recovery, I promote the “Addiction is Slavery” meme: I’m like Harriet Tubman or Morpheus. I teach addicted pawns caught in the matrix of addiction to become powerfully transformed, addiction Jedi knights and Warrior queens, rather than agents of the addicted system. During basically the same time period, a drunken white assistant football coach got paid inside of a week for five days work, more money than I would’ve gotten paid if I worked for 10 years in the soon-to-be-canceled substance abuse prevention program. I was forewarned to understand how the university might value me if that value is measured in dollars and cents. I know how much money football makes, but how many brain-injured, addicted football players are there and who would help them? If that value is measured in lives saved, improved and extended, and addiction reduced, the consensus might be that the value is priceless. Everything that has a beginning has an end. The end for the substance abuse prevention program is approaching. The problems won’t be going away, and neither will many of us. We’ll still be here, teaching pawns to transform, jumping barriers, and eliminating obstacles to empowerment. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2017Notes from the Riverside Obama to Trump: Reconstruction Progress to Backlash What if you were born to live in these times, in this place? To be a force for calm, strength, wisdom, humor, even to sing and pray in the face of state sponsored terror, though it might mean your death? I’m talking about the experience of people of color in North, Central, and South America, including Hawaii. I could also be talking about South Africa, and numerous White Supremacist regimes America has sponsored because of profit. If the last eight years of a Black Presidential Administration have demonstrated, the basic structures supporting White Supremacy have never been dismantled, or seriously disrupted. I liken them to the standard chessboard in which white makes the rules, moves first, knows the hidden legal moves, and the ways to win by cheating, if you don’t know the rules or the history. Progress will always be followed by Backlash. Backlash leads to Mandela, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Panthers, Black Lives Matter, ActUp, Standing Rock, Wellbriety, and a host of others. The movement which brought Obama to power, because of the backwardness of Bush, may have diversified the color of the pieces on the board, but didn’t change the structure or rules of the game, and its underlying assumptions. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2017http://www.eugeneweekly.com/20160908/guest-viewpoint/my-sense-times-intertwined-deep-great-blacks “My Sense of Times Intertwined Deep with the Great Blacks. Standing in my corner, ain’t no way you can fake that. No way you can shake that, No way you can take that I reckon that you pace back, and learn to embrace that.” -”Great Blacks” Georgia Anne Muldrew, A Thoughtiverse Unmarred I wanted to be white for 3 weeks in 4th Grade (1965), because I was being rejected. Being the only Black kid in class in my elementary school in Bel Air. After three weeks I realized, wait, there’s nothing wrong with me, its them. My home training countered the non-lessons I was getting: Slaves were smart. Slaves resisted every step of the way. We were the slaves that taught ourselves to read, when it was a death sentence. Therefore: Learning to read before kindergarten, reading at least 3 grade levels above where you are, try to excel at everything you can, especially at the multi-racial nation building things Black people have done before…know The Great Blacks, before you go to school. Because you can’t trust the schools to teach you, all you need to know. Know about other people of color too. A movement of multicultural affirmation. Black Lives Matter erupts, emerges, evolves, from the same conditions that James Brown wrote and recorded Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud. The messages from mainstream society despite assertions of equality i.e. All Lives Matter, is that White Lives Matter More. Whitewashed historical evidence suggests, the best thing you can do, is adopt the values, including historical and cultural amnesia, and acquire the trappings of wealth and success. Emulate American successful exemplars displayed on street signs, buildings, tabloids, reality television, fashion magazines, and school curriculum. To counter that, a larger story needed to be told, and the Ethnic Studies movement evolved from Negro History Week. I Too Am Eugene: A Multicultural History Project, broke the story of Eugene Klan #3, nearly 20 years ago in the Eugene Weekly, LCC’s Ethnic Studies, and Rites of Passage. Cheri Turpin, sat down in the microfilm room, cross referenced archives, and found the Klan / UO connection, Klan membership lists, and statewide Klan activities well past the purported death of the Klan in 1925. In 1937, meeting in Portland, (Reported in The Oregonian but not in the Register Guard) the Klan claimed 16,000 members statewide and wanted Eugene, (again), as its state headquarters. They decided to recruit in law enforcement and again be politically active. The Eugene Klan didn’t die, but embodied the Invisible Empire: political, news, business, education, law enforcement, and justice system infrastructure. There is nothing to show that they weren’t successful and that anyone stopped them from those goals. Or more cogently, subsequently eliminated their influence from the businesses, organizations, and institutions they inhabit today. Post-war the Klan focused on the growing Black community, including cross burnings, at least one lynching, and practices of legal and illegal housing, job, and lending discrimination. In effect making Eugene both a redlined, and sundown town. A place where skilled millwrights like Willie Mims father, could not find work in the timber industry because of their race. A place where business owner Sam Reynolds, could neither get a business loan for a new business, nor rent or buy a home within the city limits. Gathering personal accounts by Black & White community members, we were able to establish Klan influence from the post-war period into the 21st Century. Since experiences affecting people of color, are not regularly reflected in Eugene, the University, the Register Guard, can maintain the fiction, that the Klan has been dead for 90 years. Institutional historians may use the standard that if we can’t produce membership lists, then its not Klan activity. Even if cross burnings, and lynchings occur, we can’t say it’s the Klan that did it. If a toy gun is treated the same as a real gun by the police and military, then crosses burnt on Skinners Butte, in front of the West 11th Community, in front of a home on Friendly street, or a home in Springfield one week after 9/11, are going to be considered the genuine article. The Klan is a secret fraternal organization that infiltrated news, schools, business, law enforcement, and politics. They learned from their past mistakes, but they could and did act through the institutions they infiltrated, as “Red-blooded Americans”, a Klan phrase indicating racial purity. Doing that, they could order the incarceration of American citizens of Japanese descent. Order the termination of Native American tribes. Question Latino-American citizens on the basis of race alone. I Too Am Eugene as activist historians produced school, college, and Rites of Passage, curriculum, a historical bus tour, trained K-12 teachers, and acts to make communities of color historically visible: Wiley Griffon Historical Monument, Sam Reynolds St, MLK Blvd, helped facilitate Talking Stones, and other projects, because we feel as a multicultural history project its more than just a story in black and white. Activist historians operate outside of classrooms, books, curricula, into the community, to meet real human needs, not operate in some academic remove. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2017Originally published in Eugene Weekly Nov 12, 2015 Notes from the Riverside Shooters to Shao Lin By Mark Harris Paul Robeson once observed: “The man who accepts Western values absolutely, finds his creative faculties becoming so warped and stunted that he is almost completely dependent on external satisfactions, and the moment he becomes frustrated in his search for these, he begins to develop neurotic symptoms, to feel that life is not worth living, and, in chronic cases, to take his own life.” Or yours. America is adept at producing young white men in particular, who find their only outlet of either sexual or meaningful life expression, in murderous violence, ending in suicide, or suicide by cop. Either way, lacking courage to create a life. Easier to destroy, than create and our society makes that normal. Normal, is what occurs with predictable regularity — there’s an infrastructure producing “normal”.  For me what happened at UCC, was about where and when, not if. In some communities this kind of violence is a daily occurrence. Every day 90 people a day die by gun violence in America. By October 1st, the equivalent of the entire population of Roseburg, plus about three thousand, had already died. Put another way, the annual death toll from gun violence equals the entire student body of Lane Community College, plus all but a few thousand students of the University of Oregon. Normal and predictable, supported by infrastructure, also means preventable. By example,the illegal drug problem in America, is normally generated by un-arrested, unprosecuted, wealthy white Americans. Relaxed drug laws, reduced incarceration of people of color, aren’t going to make a dent. Stricter gun laws, without increasing general humanity, compassion, culturally competent mental health skill building therapy, will not make a dent either. Many of my clients, who have already been dangerous people, want to be less so, and “give back”. I feel no danger from the people who’ve killed for our government, or for their street organizations. The former killers who now want to “give back”, become addictions / social workers, are not the dangerous ones. After receiving 3 death threats (Two from Supremacists, and one from a mentally ill person) I like to keep aware of my surroundings. I see it’s the ones who lose their humanity in cyber addiction, in fantasy, in garden variety dehumanizing insanity. The system that doesn’t recognize racism as a normalized recurring dual diagnosis (an addiction and a mental illness) which affects white shooters, like Dylann Roof, and Black shooters like Vester Flanagan, alike, won’t begin to address the normal generators of such madness. The shooters don’t find sanity in the reality of helping less fortunate others. Giving themselves a more noble life purpose, in the face of barbs and slights from others. What if access to deadly force, was not simply a consumer choice, but an earned privilege, like a samurai sword? You must prove your capacity to heal and make peace, adhere to a code of honor, before acquiring deadly force, in the manner of a Shao Lin Monk, or 18th Dynasty Medjay Warrior. Old school and naive perhaps, but when did expecting people to become more human, not less, and nurturing them on that journey, become more rare and less normal? [...] Read more...
June 5, 2017It’s hard to believe that it’s Week 10 of an 11-week term! I’m sure my online students are as breathless as I am.  Just as I had expected, there was no way we could fit everything into this term, and so as I wrote to my students with the final sandbox assignment of the term last night, I had to erase the sentence, “This assignment has two parts.” I had so wanted to ask my students to create digital editions of restaurant menus for this last week. Shawna Ross at Texas A & M had given a wonderful workshop on how to create “minimal computing” digital editions, and I was intending to assign this to my students. But I realized that it was too much mental load to expect students could research and curate menus in our area, then scan and OCR them, and then post them in Omeka. So instead, I stuck with the original New York Public Library “What’s on the Menu?” crowdsourced proofing/reviewing project. While they won’t experience a “whole game” experience of creating digital editions and posting them in their archives as I had intended, they will experience the “whole game” of participating in the development of a world-class digital archive.  Last week, students from Central Oregon Community College, under the care of Professor Annemarie Hamlin, collaborated with my students on a digital maps project. We had intended for that project to be hosted by the DH@theCC Commons, but we had trouble with the invitations in Buddy Press, so we relied on Google Docs and I have to say it didn’t work badly at all! Here are the assignment sheets: Week 9: Cross-Institutional Collaboration Collaboration with Central Oregon CC Students  Week 10: “What’s on the Menu?” Crowdsourced Review Assignment What’s on the Menu Assignment   [...] Read more...
May 22, 2017In Week 7, I realized that less was more at this point and gave my students a second week to develop their Omeka sites. I often feel that I’m not doing my job if I don’t create new assignments and activities each week, but I have learned slowly that students miss the satisfaction of really developing something that they’ve learned. With Omeka especially this was true, and so I took my foot off of the activity pedal so students could build their archives to their satisfaction. Now, in Week 8, students are headed in yet another new direction: taking “synthetic selfies.” I got this idea originally from Jena Osman, whose book and presentation, Public Figures, explore the non-human gaze of public monuments.  Since the weather is finally nice, I’m asking my students to watch Osman’s chapters and then go outside and find a public monument and explore the gaze and view of non-human subjects with a selfie-stick. Cyborgs, enhanced humans, and “beat box” singing all reveal an increasingly sophisticated popular familiarity with human/non-human relationships. Focusing on a pre-digital form, the statue, provides a literal brick-and-mortar experience of the non-human. I’m hoping that Osman’s anticipation of selfies and “photo bombs” through immobile statues will give students a defamiliarizing vantage point from which to examine their own experience of the non-human. I got the idea for this assignment from Kaia Sand’s assignment here.  Here are my assignment instructions, based on Sand’s:  Take a Synthetic Selfie [...] Read more...
May 10, 2017I’ve recently been documenting the college’s plans to eliminate the Honors Program. Honors is on a list with several other valuable programs and services at the college, including Philosophy and Religion. Philosophy classes make up the majority of our honors social sciences offerings and have been instrumental for students expanding their critical thinking skills. Read honors instructor Caroline Lundquist’s article in the Eugene Weekly: “Philosophy is Dangerous.” It is difficult for me to imagine a college removing the opportunity for students to experience an honors education. It is inconceivable to me that a college would not offer courses in philosophy and religion. The Board of Education will vote today on whether or not to accept the administration’s proposed budget, including the program cuts. [...] Read more...
May 7, 2017We are past the mid-term point, and anyone who has taught quarters understands what May 7th feels like. Running on fumes and very hard to continue to create! But I’m so convinced my students will reap great rewards by creating their own archives. So, with the help of a blueprint by Amanda French  I provide step-by-step instructions with customized illustrations to my class this week. Writing curriculum is like…writing. Less is always more. “If I had longer, it would be shorter.” So I asked my students just to create their archive, to upload 3 items, to post a reflection in our LMS. That’s enough for this week. It’s a lot. Instructions for Your First Upload to Omeka Archive [...] Read more...
May 3, 2017[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/05/TIPSS14-Enrollment-Patterns-v2.pdf” title=”TIPSS14 Enrollment Patterns v2″] [...] Read more...
April 13, 2017[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/04/TIPSS13.pdf” title=”TIPSS#13″] [...] Read more...
April 3, 2017Download [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/04/2016_annual_reflection_Final.pdf”] [...] Read more...
March 30, 2017[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m-kP9nt6ijs14GkCY4cLyLqv7lXDV1LV/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
March 14, 2017The two “questioning strategies” in Bean’s  “Chapter 4: Questioning a Text” I chose are “Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Ethos” and “Examining a Writer’s Appeals to Reason or Logos.” Ethos means character while logos means reason(hence the titles.) After watching Randall Bass’s TEDxGeorgetown and reading his “Disrupting Ourselves” essay, it is clear that the two go hand in hand. In both of these messages he expands on three major points: post-course era, expanding our conception of teaching, and the new nexus. In relevance to Bean I decided to keep it simple and follow the “for writing and discussion” sections. Bass is clearly knowledgeable considering he is an associate professor of English and vice provost at Georgetown University, and Executive Director of Center for New Design of Learning and Scholarship. I’d assume he likes teaching and improving the higher education system; it is the main point of the two works I have read. He is in favor of change and recognizing its significance. He believes in progressing and keeping up with the times. He refers back to how much has changed in just 10 to 20 years. His approach is very calm, but informal. He seems to be a likeable man. I would not mind having him enlighten me over some coffee. Bass wants educators to understand the importance of using integrative thinking and experiential learning to re-shape higher education. He uses several different images to help better understand the message he is trying to get across. All of which were convincing and backed up with solid evidence. His assumptions of future education add up making it easy to connect the evidence to them. He has been in this business for years and clearly knows what he is talking about. Although the message is mainly directed towards educators, I enjoyed watching/reading him. It is comforting to know that people like him exist in the world. People who work towards positive changes and have the students best interest at heart is truly inspiring. He understands that the world is changing at a rapid pace and is already preparing for what the future has in store. One thing that stuck with me from the video was his wife, Professor Heidi Elmendorf’s idea of the three ways to teach that hit the “sweet spot” of knowledge. He further adds that the colors around each of them had importance as well. When shown on a piece of paper the center of the three colors were black. When light was shed on them the center was white; “the white space of formation, the white space that then becomes the canvas which students have the chance to paint themselves, to author themselves.” [...] Read more...
March 14, 2017This reading is extremely difficult for me to process. When I first read it, it went in one ear and out the other. There are quite a few words I don’t understand and phrases I did not pick up on. In order for me to really understand it I had to reread sentences over and over. Honestly the reading bored me and was painful to get through. Basically the entire reading is about being a scholar. As I did some research I found that it was delivered as a speech to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard University on August 31, 1873. No wonder I couldn’t understand it, it’s from 1873 and directed towards Harvard students. Anyways, I also did a bit of research on Emerson. He was born May 25, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. This guy was brilliant. He was seen as a champion of individualism. This actually makes me more intrigued to try and understand the reading more because I know a little bit about the author now. Although I am not a scholar….yet, I can appreciate pretty much anything that someone is passionate about. Another thing is that I feel like it was almost a different language compared to now in the older days. It is very proper and really takes work for me to try and understand. That is why I was immediately turned off by the reading. When I break things down, it makes much more sense in my 2017 mind. Thank the higher powers for google because it just completely helped me understand something I never would have if it did not exist! [...] Read more...
March 10, 2017  GOOD NEWS – Adobe Acrobat Pro is available for LCC employees on campus. It is an indispensable publishing software tool for you as OER course creators, especially if you are adapting existing material in PDF format. The application enables you to run Accessibility checks on existing PDFs. You can fix common issues like adding alt-tags and titles; ensuring that a PDF is properly tagged; and that the document is set to the correct language. You can also perform editing functions like auto-pagination; direct-text editing; and rearranging pages. Another feature of Acrobat Pro is the ability to combine PDFs with easy drag-and-drop methods. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader does not perform any of these higher functions. Acrobat Pro is part of the Adobe Creative CC suite. Any part of the entire Suite can be installed on your work computer. To place a request, contact your department’s admin and they will forward it to IT.     [...] Read more...
March 10, 2017[download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/03/TIPSS12.pdf” title=”TIPSS#12″] [...] Read more...
March 7, 2017Bass In the article “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education,” by Randall Bass, the author argues that the traditional course is antiquated in that the most effective way of learning now happens outside the bounds of standard courses. Education is unique to every individual and should be guided with their particular needs. The education system needs to change to integrative thinking and experimental learning. The instructor based method is out of date that E-Portfolios are rapidly becoming the new thing. More and more students are familiarizing themselves with professors teaching online. The more educational methods change the better students will be able to succeed. The author uses visual elements such as quotes and diagrams to persuade the reader, in this case the audience are instructors. When Bass inserts the visuals in his writing, he does not introduce them or mentions them in any way. Though the visuals emphasize on Bass’s argument, they are inserted in the middle of a paragraph with no explanation. The author uses the visuals to enhance the logical appeal in the article. Bass writes, “On the one side is a growing body of data about the power of experiential learning in the co-curriculum; while on the other side is the world of informal learning and the participatory culture of the Internet.” He incorporates facts for the readers to understand what is happening to education (logos) and uses the aid of a visual to further enhance the credibility of his image and what he is trying to convey. Randall Bass text ideology is the change in education methods to applying what is learned to a real life situation versus staying in the traditional, stay in the class for two hours long, while listening to a professor teach, method. Bass values and understands that each individual is different. Each student learns differently and in different kinds of environment. He recognizes the importance it is to identify when standard courses no longer work. Everything is transitioning online. He knows that students now need more hands on learning with the ability to apply to their life. Bass says, “Students’ participate in one or more of these practices had the greatest impact on success.” When students are involved in internships, studying abroad, and/or seminars, they are able to succeed more than if they only went to a classroom to learn. The author of this article also made a Tedx talk. In doing this, we learn more about Randall Bass. We get a better sense of his personality and credibility by seeing how he acts in real life and not just through a computer screen. This is also known as ethos. He tells us a little about his wife and how above all else, the most important thing is to learn for the soul. Everything students learn should be able to be applied, not only for educational purposes but for each individual’s life and soul. By knowing a little bit of Bass’s life, it increases his credibility. His actions makes him trustworthy. His words do not seem like they are fake or unreliable. Overall Bass uses ethos, logos, and visuals to enhance the persuasion of his argument. [...] Read more...
March 7, 2017“The American Scholar” While reading “The American Scholar,” by Ralph Emerson I found that the language and sentence structure is difficult to comprehend. Since it was written in the 1800’s the language is very different from the modern language. This made it very difficult to figure out who the audience is. Who is he speaking to and what is he talking about? At the very beginning it does say “An oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge.” This helps us assume Ralph is speaking to a group of college students, but why do they want to hear him speak? What is the purpose? Throughout the speech Emerson spoke about the three fundamental influences of the American Scholar: nature, books, and action. When he was talking about nature, at some point it seemed like he was speaking about religion. “There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning itself.” I was confused because when he was talking about nature, I thought he meant an American Scholar should go out and explore, find new things, expand your knowledge; not find yourself in a spiritual level. After researching Ralph Emerson, I found he was an American Transcendentalist Poet. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. “ A core belief of transcendentalism is the inherent goodness of people and nature” (Wikipedia). Now knowing Ralph Emerson’s background gave another meaning to his speech. Going back and rereading it makes absolute sense. He was saying everyone needs to find themselves and realize everyone is “One Man.” Ralph was also a minister, which would correlate to all the religious language as well. He wanted people to understand we all have to start thinking for ourselves and not use old books for our ideas. We should use books to have the knowledge for creative ideas not to copy from others. When he talks about action being one of the fundamentals influences, he’s professor side comes out. He is letting everyone know we should not waste an opportunity, which is what every teacher wants out of their students. Overall, Emerson’s speech was the idea that to change the world, it is dependent on future generations. [...] Read more...
March 5, 2017The first speech I chose was “Are Our Devices Turning Us into a New Kind Of Human?” by Study of 15,747 American users who check their smart phone multiple times per hour, conducted in 2015 Amber Case. I concluded her audience was also a broad spectrum of those who use participate in the use of digital networks. A secondary audience could possibly be other anthropologists. The intention of this speech is to explain how humans are becoming more and more reliant on technology, having a physical self, and a digital self. She appears very confident with her studies and observations, and conveys her message in a very straight forward manner. She developed her credibility by having a significant of research and observations. In Ted Talk “How Can Our Real Lives Be Ruined by Our Digital Ones?” by Jon Ronson, the intended audience was a multitude of people who use social media, and those who listen to Ted Talk. The purpose of his talk was to raise awareness on just how much of an impact social media has on our lives, not only on the screen, but in the real world, with real emotional consequences in hopes that we rethink how we interact on social media. He used examples of real life situations where twitter took control of a woman’s life, causing real life consequences and harassment. He describes commuters on the internet act in mobs, mostly for social approval. The medium is developed through a speech given to live audience. His speech was very straight forward and passionate. He developed credibility in his real life examples he presented. I chose to research Jon Ronson, who is a Welsh journalist, author, documentary filmmaker and radio presenter. He has published nine books and his work has appeared in British publications such as The Guardian, City Life and Time Out. He has made several BBC Television documentary films and two documentary series for Channel 4. He has several bestselling books, including, Them: Adventures With Extremists, The Men Who Stare at Goats, the Psychopath Test, and Lost At Sea. He is known for his informal investigations of controversial fringe politics and science. He has been described as a “gonzo journalist,” which the reporter writes in first person, including themselves as a part of the story. Sources: http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/14-non-fiction/10245-so-youve-been-publicly-shamed-ronson?start=1 [...] Read more...
March 5, 2017The first story that resonated with me was Jon Ronson: How Can Our Real Lives Be Ruined By Our Digital Ones? He spoke of a woman who posted something on twitter, then woke up to her world flipped upside down with harassing messages, this post consequently caused her to lose her job. People absolutely judge you based off of your online presence, and this online lifestyle can consume you. This story really rang true with me; when I had my son at 17, someone made a post about me, telling his followers to message me and harass me (because I was pregnant at a young age). I remember receiving hateful messages, even people stalking me. This consumed me, I remember crying every time I received a nasty message, I was even paranoid to go in public. The internet absolutely can effect your real life. The second story I found interesting was Amber Case: Are Our Devices Turning Us Into A New Kind Of Human? This one interested me because at first I scoffed at the thought of a “Cyborg Anthropologist,” but the more she explained the developments and how we rely on our phones, it made sense. We are so reliant on this “virtual world,” they truly are extensions of ourselves. We have to present ourselves in a legitimate way on this online world just as much as we do in the real world. Our reliance on this virtual reality is causing us to not use self reflection. Amber Case’s Ted Talk can be found here: http://www.npr.org/2015/09/11/438944317/are-our-devices-turning-us-into-a-new-kind-of-human Jon Ronson’s Ted Talk can be find here: http://www.npr.org/2015/09/14/440286008/how-can-our-real-lives-be-ruined-by-our-digital-ones [...] Read more...
March 5, 2017In the article, “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education,” by Randall Bass, he argues that traditional formal curriculum is not where high-impact experiences take place. The educational system needs to shift for students to get the best learning outcome. Technology can play a key role in learning; E-portfolios allow students to organize their learning, and expand their focus from individual courses to broader educational spectrum. Randall Bass’s ideology is the progression in education moving from traditional course’s, into learning that promotes high impact learning. This being more of a hands on learning, where education is integrated into real life experiences. He believes team-based learning would be beneficial, instead of trying to change faculty so they change their courses, this change focuses on changing course structures so that faculty will be supported in an expanded approach to teaching. This thought also focuses course work around the student, instead of the student having to track down all the necessary resources. Studies show that when students participate in internships, studying abroad, and seminars, they have a higher success rate than traditional course work; where students are loaded with information, then thrown into real life experiences instead of integrating course work with real life experiences. After examining Bass’s writing and TedX talk, I understand his reason (Logos). His perspective appears to be genuine based of his experiences and observations. Before reading his article, I had a similar theory based off of my personal experience’s with learning. So when reviewing his article, he provided studies, experiments, and his opinion, I have no objection to his stand point. I believe everything he wrote about was valid and raised some progressive idea’s I believe would be very beneficial in the educational system. I do believe everyone learns differently, and it’s proven that traditional course work is not beneficial for every student.Through out his article, he provided concise information, strategically placed charts and graphs, and had a logical argument. In this article, Bass uses Ethos, Logos, visual elements and makes his ideology very clear.  I enjoyed his writing and speech, I believe he his very persuasive in his view points. I hope the educational system progresses in the manner he spoke, this would benefit students and broaden understanding of real life experiences, instead of just words on a page or homework they don’t think twice about. I thoroughly believe that Bass touches on all aspects in his writing the compels the reader to engage and truly understand his perspective and ideology. [...] Read more...
March 5, 2017While typically I can understand the context I am reading and the general direction the author is guiding me; I had to read and re-read to genuinely understand Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writing. He wrote in first person, in a didactic nature including many rhetorical and poetic devices, making this speech a very interesting read. After my second time through, the repetition throughout the speech really helped me understand his message. His use of rhetorical questions helped guide me, peeking my involvement in his text, much like a conversation. Generally, I find metaphors and simile’s  helpful when reading; but several of the ones in this speech felt unfamiliar to me, which made grasping his intention’s behind the text difficult. This made me stop and really analyze the meaning behind each metaphor/simile.  While I found this to be a bit out of my comfort zone, I believe the amount of engagement he required from me to truly understand and contextualize, was beneficial, pushing me to grow as a writer and deepen my engagement when reading. Another point of difficulty for me would be that he wrote in a very poetic manner. This effected the way I read it, very stop and go, particularly full sentences with substance I am not used to. I am not familiar in this era, which more than likely made it much more difficult to understand his writing. I can read poetry with ease usually, but I did find it challenging in essay form. I do think this speech was very well put together, especially how he engaged his audience. Before reading, I researched Emerson on the internet and found an abundance of information about his character and beliefs; this assisted me in understanding the tone. Emerson established myself as a prolific poet, essayist, and lecturer. He was also a part of  American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, called the Transcendentalist Movement. Transcendentalism system based on a belief all creation’s need unity, seeing the best in people, individualism, and the using of insight over logic. Another belief is that God does not have to reveal the truth because it is revealed intuitively through nature. Knowing a general idea of who he was and his beliefs was quintessential in my understanding, if I had not taken notes or researched who he  was – I would of have had an obscured idea of his speech. References; biography.com/…/ralph-waldo-emerson-9287153 poets.org/…tsorg/poet/ralph-waldo-emerson poetryfoundation.org/…/ralph-waldo-emerson [...] Read more...
February 28, 2017  Upon listening to “Screen Time – Part I & II” by TED Radio Hour and watching several of the full length TED talks included I found it challenging to focus on just two of the twelve stories as they all fully captured my interest. Eventually I narrowed it down to “Rana El Kaliouby: Will Our Screen Soon Be Able To Read Our Emotions” and “Dimitri Christakis: When It Comes To Kids, Is All Screen Time Equal?” I picked Rana’s story because I am a highly emotional person and make a point to find emotional support among the people around me as well as offering it. The concept of having my technology and devices read my emotions is frightening, but at the same time I appreciate Rana’s attitude of, we probably can’t detach ourselves from our technology so how can we make it more human and empathetic? Dimitri’s story is interesting to me because I may have grown up in the last generation/set of circumstances (at least in this country) without a lot of TV, cell phones, touch screens, etc. I am extremely grateful for my childhood and the amount of time I spent in nature and with other people, and am curious how I may eventually raise a child in this ever changing technology driven world. [...] Read more...
February 27, 2017Throughout the listening process of the Ted Radio Hour’s “Screen Time, Part 1” and “Screen Time, Part 2”, I ran across two that had especially caught my attention. The first of the two, was one titled “How Are Our Screens Changing Us?”. While listening, Mark Zuckerberg had predicted the evolution of screens through virtual reality technology, which had caught my attention. Curious about where he was going with this idea, I asked myself where could he possibly be going with this idea. He soon resolved my curiosity by stressing the idea of how major computing platforms must evolve and over time there must new ideas to build upon, and to keep pushing the technological industry. As for the second “How Do Screens Distort Our Sense Of Time”, it took a completely different direction that explained, how mankind has developed a sense of blindness to the real world due to the evolution of technology throughout today’s society. We as humans all have a desire for things outside of us, it is just breaking past the technological barrier that prevents us from becoming our true selves. The reason I chose these talks, is due to how incredible it is to see how technology has incorporated itself into our lives, and how useful it has become, but to also disallow it from running our lives, despite it having endless possibilities. [...] Read more...
February 27, 2017What have you done to retain “just one more” student? [...] Read more...
February 26, 2017Screen Time Part 1 Dimitri Christakis: When It Comes to Kids, Is All Screen Time Equal? Our brains are shaped by what we see and hear. The discussion was about what all this screen time and early exposure to the screen does to the brain in development. That all this screen time is affecting how they may interact with the world. I found this to be a battle I find myself in with my own son that is 11. It is a balance between making sure he is learning technology that is so important in the way we work today, but also making sure he is also able to be social and interact properly. But without knowing how all this screen time will affect this next generation are we allowing too much screen time. And the talk also asked are all screen times equal. I definitely feel that an hour of “Call of Duty” is not the same as watching a YouTube video on how to create a school project.   Screen Time Part 2 Jon Ronson: How Can Our Lives Be Ruined By Our Digital Ones? What happens when our digital self takes over our personal life. This discussion was about what happens when a person posts something on the internet that can be perceived as offensive. This talk was of great interest to me. I am constantly telling my adult children to be careful what they post online. Not only can it put your personal information into the hands of people you may not want to know so much detail about your life. But, future employers may look at what you have posted and this could affect your possible future employment in a negative way. By posting something that you feel is innocent or perhaps you meant it in a joking manner. If you have offended one person or someone that did not see it as a joke they can start spreading what you said in a negative light like wildfire across the internet. Something so small as a short blurb on Twitter or Facebook can be used to villainize you even if that was not your intent. Be careful what you post, it could follow you for the rest of your life. [...] Read more...
February 21, 2017Randy Bass is Vice Provost for Education and Professor of English at Georgetown University, where he leads the Designing the Future(s) initiative and the Red House incubator for curricular transformation. For 13 years he was the Founding Executive Director of Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS). He is the author or editor of numerous books, articles and digital projects, including recently, “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education,” (EDUCAUSE Review March/April 2012). In the article Bass discusses the fact that today’s ways of teaching “formal curriculum” are obsolete. Sitting in the same class for two hours every day, listening to a lecture, is no longer working. He states that we are in a “post-course era” to show that the everyday courses are no longer our main sources for learning. Bass encourages that we switch from the standard and move to a more experimental and engaged system of learning. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. From the information above, we can tell that Randall Bass is a well educated man. He uses his information and experience to create his ethos. Even though Bass is talking to the audience in a formal way, you can get a sense of how passionate he is about his work. He is persuading you, not by arguing and throwing out random facts, he is calm, passionate, and gives you the facts in a calming manner. This is how he connects to you and draws you in Logos is a literary device used to convince the audience through reason or logic. In the article, Bass uses vast amounts of logos to sway the audience into agreeing with his opinions. He cites many reliable sources such as The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).  The source contains information about five specific campuses that applied this high-impact learning and the effect it had on the students. These sources further solidify Bass’s stance on the subject and showed that he had evidence that this new advanced type of learning actually worked. In doing so, he makes his point clear, and shows how the system is going to change. He explains that there are more resources outside of the classroom to be learning from. For example, Bass talks about internships, study abroad, and undergraduate research. Along with connecting to you by ethos and pathos in his article, he connects on a personal level in his Tedx Talk. This video truly shows just how passionate he is about the educational system and what needs to change. Bass connects to you be talking about his personal life and even telling jokes throughout the video.  He talks about the soul and how everything you learn should only impact your education, but you as a person. Knowing Bass on a more personal level helps him appeal to you through ethos. These are just a few examples of how Randy Bass wins over his audience and successfully conveys his point. [...] Read more...
February 21, 2017While writing, you must find a way to analyze for inherent problems that must never see the light of day.  They’re easy to miss, and it’s all too easy to forget the vital strategies that we learned in our youth. We have all developed a style with academic learning, separate from higher learning processes and creative processes, which constrain us as writers. We’ve developed a form that derives itself from previous work, in a self-perpetuating cycle of recycling the same or similar arguments over and over. Critical examination of your own work is therefore essential, and especially in your own credibility and ability to appeal to ethos. Making use of these two elements as guidelines of your work, you give yourself the power to increase the overall impact your writing may have, and reach out to your audience in more meaningful ways.   Though, to understand why credible writing and appeals to ethos are important, you have to understand first the value that is lost if they are absent, and how writing that lacks these become less pertinent. Finding and utilizing reliable text is the number one responsibility of an academic writer, for if they use suspect sources, or ones tainted overly much by opinion or politics, they undermine their own credibility severely. Sifting through journals, websites and books can be a difficult process in this day and age, but the difficulty of the task does not make its necessity any less.   At the same time, it’s important to flavor your research with your own opinions and ideas, for a completely neutral article does not exist, and any that claim to be unbiased in totality are likely just as unreliable as an overtly biased one. Confidence in your own knowledge and opinions is key to a successful delivery, and just as sorting out pure opinions from passionate facts is key. A successful think piece should be just that: a think piece. Bass advocates for a system of high learning, and part of that calls for challenging material. It should be able to lay down facts and opinions in such a way as to encourage the reader to either challenge your ideas or to look into them and extrapolate on their own. If they do not leave with questions or challenges, you have not succeeded in writing a critical piece, but if they are left angry and unwilling to continue, you have failed to appeal to ethos.   In this way, Bass has done an outstanding job of appealing to ethos, seeing as his target audience consists of teachers and students. He presents his arguments in a way that implies benefits to those who would read his piece, while also imploring us to examine how we accept the way things are done because ‘tradition’ in a more critical manner. So, what’s disrupting courses and the formal curriculum? If they are no longer the essential center of the undergraduate experience, what is? He directly questions things that are of relevance to the reader, and frames the question in such a way as to draw the reader in as an active participant in the conversation. At no point does he speak like a lecturer; he speaks like one who is just as frustrated with the way things are done as his audience, and he calls them to stand by him in challenging the system. His masterful appeals to our sense of ethos, and his constant challenges to our traditional ways of thinking create a refreshing piece that keeps us engaged far easier than if her simply stated the facts with no passion of his own, and no mind for what his audience finds engaging.   The last thing to consider as a writer is the ability to use language to shape your ideas. If you stick to straight, cited facts, with little regard to your own personal dialect, you will create a piece that is easy to ignore and skim. You absolutely must be willing to engage in a meaningful conversation with your audience. No one wants to be lectured at, and working with multiple people and questioning each other lies at the base of this concept. After all,the most successful writers are those who know this and actively engage and challenge their readers. Bass actively engages us, and creates a dialogue that gives back as much as we put in. He keeps us interested in both his use of language, and his application of ethos and critical examination. He understands a bored audience is not one that will stay long. In this way, language is the most important tool out of all, and a writer who refuses to speak is merely a mouthpiece for others. [...] Read more...
February 21, 2017Bass’s use of the rhetorical strategies, ideology and logos, assist him in capturing the audience and persuading them to think about new ways educational institutions need to reform the meaning of curriculum to bring higher education into the new era of learning. Bass’s ideology on higher education reflects that he is an ambassador for higher education and institutions but he is finding that outside resources for education are changing how the higher education community offers its education. He would like to see changes in the way courses and course curriculum are better serving the student. Moving away from the course being the primary learning experience to the course being a part of the larger curriculum, involving many departments of the domain of the course, in other words, “team-based”. By this redesign of the curriculum, the students are better served and educated and the faculty are better utilized. For the universities and colleges to sustain relevance in an information saturated world, these changes are critical to implement. Incorporating teaching techniques that allow the student to experience the intermediate space between novice and expert will give the student a meaningful learning experience. An experience that can only be provided by the institutions through the instructors and the curriculum. There will always be the demand for higher education but what that will look like is under reform. Bass’s reasoning or logos for making this proposal to redesign the course curriculum is supported by providing pieces of evidence that reinforce his position. The persuasive evidence he provides in both the essay, “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education” and the TEDx Talk “Formation by Design”, comes from studies done within the educational community, his audience, and his own personal research work with professors and students. The evidence is presented to the reader and then followed by questions to the reader about what that evidence will be as it applies to his ideas. He engages the audience with this technique and brings logic to the concept. Receiving this information from a man of Randy Bass’s experience and accomplishments, gives him a unique platform that is difficult to doubt. He has spent much of his life thinking and designing learning programs, so when he proposes a new way or design on how education is to be offered and learned, he is coming from a place of professionalism. His concept that higher education offered by a college and university should involve “mentored-learning” and the “arch of learning” is what will make these institutions unique and set apart from the other kinds of education students can buy. I was persuaded by the reasoning and evidence Bass presents in his ideas. The higher educational community holds a responsibility to ensure that the higher education offered to society is effective and beneficial to the advancement of the citizens of the world. I agree with Bass, that if the universities and college fail to offer effective and high impactive learning, that only they can provide, then what is their purpose. As a student, I would like to educational institutions move in the direction Bass is proposing. The benefits outweigh the hardships of reorganizing programs. [...] Read more...
February 21, 2017In chapter 4, Bean does a great job explaining what all “questioning a text” actually involves. After examining the Tedx video, That Randall bass gave at Georgetown, I got an idea of what appeal he was using. In this video I think that Bass was using “Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Ethos” I figured this out because Bean says in Chapter 4, that this appeal is “when you change a reader’s mind about something, writers must make themselves credible by projecting an image of themselves that will gain the reader’s confidence.” So, for example: Bass is Vice Provost for education, he is an english professor at georgetown university, he is an author, and a wise man. He uses examples of things other very wise people as well. So if they think it and believe it, basically we should too! Ethos focuses on credibility and trust. It’s main techniques is personal branding, confidence in delivery, and citing credible sources. He adds in quotes from Professor Heidi Elmendorf, who is also from Georgetown. He put a quote from 1994 about the world wide web, grabbing people’s attention.He used a diagram showing formal learning and experiential learning, and incorporating them into high impact integrative curriculum. At the end, he showed another diagram, along with the picture that he showed in the beginning.He basically shows us that he has the good education, knowledge, and character and so you should believe him. This is definitely ethos.   In Randall Bass’s “Disrupting ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education” I think that he mostly uses Logos. He has a structure of what he’s saying. He references studies, statistics, case studies. He has comparisons, analogies, and metaphors. He wants to give reason to why we should expand the conception of teaching. He introduces a new and innovative or disruptive process of higher education that focuses primarily on experiential learning rather than the main focus being formal learning.   He shows ways that students can do that will have a great impact on their success. He has a targeted audience. Bass uses was Bean said about images, “the common belief that pictures or more truthful and compelling Than Words is often true visual images are often powerfully persuasive devices.” Bass uses a lot of visual elements and logical appeals. “Visual illustrations are a staple of educational materials especially for beginners who are new to various subjects and test they naturally play a central role in academics and journalists writing that analyze and critique the use and quality of the images themselves.” Logos is a power logic, reasoning, and proof.  In the speech it was about the structure, studies, comparison, and metaphors. Logos is an appeal to logic and is a way of persuading an audience by reasoning. He uses a lot of images. The lingo he uses sounds very logical. I also feel like there is a tie between us thinking that if georgetown, this university that is so strong with academics uses ideas like this, than we should too. This was a good example of Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Reason or Logos.   [...] Read more...
February 20, 2017Bass has stressed that throughout the course of the learning process, one must ask themselves how they could pick apart the learning process, to try and develop some sort of solution to the problems they find. Essentially same goes for writing, it is important to strive for the best work possible and that can not be achieved through “formal learning” as he has stated in his video. Now it is extremely common to make mistakes especially through education, and for many of us it is inevitable for us to forget the tools we were given throughout our learning process. Which has caused all of us within society to develop a thought process that is content with “formal learning”, constraining us from striving for “high impact learning”, in which he states is “a person will feel deeply invested in their work”. I firmly believe after listening to Bass, that this is the basis of what has caused all of society to fall into a rut that prevents us from from evolving the techniques of learning, and developing a final product that is inclined from the previous trials. Ultimately, to fully understand the depth of Bass’s message, one must concentrate  on Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Ethos as well as focusing on Examining a Writer’s Language. By utilizing these two major components that are forever tethered into today’s modern language and by using them as guidelines to dissect the delivery of his content, one will be able to fully grasp the message he is trying to appeal to his audience. To completely understand the value of Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Ethos, one must ask themselves why do they find credibility important, and how is it pertinent to understand the context. Bass understandably recognizes, the difficulty of integrating these tools, especially since today’s modern language has revolutionized throughout time, but he continuously stresses the importance of stepping outside of the box to keep pushing the standards. A huge piece to this, would be to understand that his position of being a professor establishes a connection with credibility. He references areas of research and articles that are intertwined with his own ideas which helps develop some continuity with his message, in which he has drilled into the audience’s mind throughout the course of the lecture. Bass continuously talks about the process and stresses the importance of it all while creating a supporting cast around him that supports his message. The last piece of the puzzle that I find equally as important would be Examining a Writer’s Language. I have found that throughout Bass’s content he is constantly going past the classical appeal of the context and allows the audience to sense the author’s style of language in such a way that their message becomes substantially more clear. This is where he himself goes beyond the way of formality. He successfully reaches beyond the generic and interchangeable ways of learning so that an individual person is unable to tell the difference between interpretive words because they seem like facts. By recognizing these details, he masters the formation of integrative design within language and develops a mentality that will surpass all formalities. [...] Read more...
February 20, 2017Upon reading and re-reading “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education” by Randall Bass and viewing his Tedx talk “Formation by Design”, I am analyzing his credibility and appeals to ethos and logos. On the subject of ethos I will articulate my opinion on his apparent knowledgeability, interests, biases, approach, character and the mood of his writing and speech. For logos I will delve into the perspective I believe Bass wants the reader to assume as well as his claims, reasons and evidence used to present his position. I will also look into whether I share the author’s assumptions that connect his evidence to his claims. Ethos is an appeal to ethics and a means of convincing someone of the character of the persuader. Randall Bass appears well esteemed and highly knowledgeable. He is the associate provost and a professor at Georgetown University, working in his field for over twenty years as well as being a prolific author. He is especially interested in future-thinking and planning working to create new ways of structuring undergraduate education in the next 10-20 years. Bass advocates for innovation and the integration of technology. He emphasizes the importance of “high-impact practices” such as study-abroad and undergraduate research as well as believing in the necessity of balancing learning about oneself, the world, and a specific trade or discipline. He wants to evolve the “formal curriculum” so that it is no longer at the center of the undergraduate experience. In his article and Tedx talk Bass speaks passionately, clearly inspired by his work and with a positive attitude towards what the future may hold. His approach uses a formal tone and includes factual citations and logic while writing inquisitively inviting a dialogue for how change can come about. Overall his character is strong and intelligent and although I am not his intended audience and I believe if we met for tea the conversation would be cordial albeit impersonal. Logos is a literary device used to convince the audience through reason or logic. Bass wants the reader to adopt his belief that our current undergraduate “formal curriculum” centered education system is becoming outdated with the influx of the information and community available through the internet, and the growing knowledge of the importance of “high impact” learning. This includes study abroad, undergraduate research and internships. Bass is hoping to get the reader on board for reforming the current method of education to go from a teaching environment to a learning environment, asking how best universities can teach their students. Bass sites a long list of references in his article, from educators to university researchers, looking at the most effective ways to learn and what students retain from their educational experiences. He talks about the internet and e-portfolios as a way of integrating students into the world and helping them to present themselves and make connections. He reviews the benefits of participatory culture which include strong support for one’s contributions, informal mentorship, a sense of collective ownership and the feeling that something is at stake. He also outlines how “high-impact practices” encourage students to invest their time and effort, experience diversity, respond to frequent feedback and learn through real-world experiences. Upon reviewing the article and Tedx talk I find that I share the assumptions Bass uses to connect his evidence to his claims as I have personally experienced many of the things he is claiming. I have experienced both negative and positive sides to the current higher education system as well as participating in many “high-impact practices” that have been life-changing. I would love more opportunities to balance my personal growth, ideology and specific skills and knowledge in a classroom environment. [...] Read more...
February 20, 2017Randy Bass is an English professor at Georgetown University. First, he started his education at the University of the Pacific in which he got a B.A. in English and History. Next, he continued his education at Brown University where he successfully achieved a M.A. and Ph.D in both English and American Literature. Bass is an author and editor of not only several books, but many articles and digital projects as well. One of his most recent is what I am interested in writing about to day; “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education”. This is his most recent literature. “Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Ethos”. When I think about the author of “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education”, Randall Bass (2012), I think intelligent and compassionate about higher education. He seems to really know what he is talking about. Also, wants to help the environment of the higher education continue to its next step in its education. In Bass’s Ted talk he shows us a quote that says, “What the hell is the world wide web?” from Buddy Karelis in 1994. Buddy was in charge of the fund for Post-Secondary Education. This important man in funding in higher education said this when he was looking at Bass’s grant proposal for the American Studies Crossroads Project. This statement made me think that he was smart but then he finished talking about the proposal with saying, “that became the first web-based project ever funded by the U.S. department of education”. Bass was the person that got the first ever web based project up and going. Many people in 1994 did not know what the World Wide Web was. Now, everyone in higher education knows what the web is. Bass took the first step into integrating the web with higher education; making him in my mind a very smart and compassionate man for higher education. “Examining a Text’s Ideology”: In Bass’s writing, “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education” you can tell that he is passionate about Higher education, and where it needs to go next. He believes that higher education needs to move into the future to have something different than other places people can learn. He uses phrases like “post course era” to tell us about the education system of today being an antique. The section of his writing “Expanding Our Conception of Teaching” points us in the direction of his belief in the future. He thinks that we need to move away from the dusty old concept of ‘instructor-centered’ teaching, for the education system is evolving in time. Soon it will be even more evolving; like it did to when people did not know what the World Wide Web was to today. He believes in e-portfolios. They are a step into the future and it is happening in front of us today. He mentions that we need to not focus on the destination, but the ride there. [...] Read more...
February 20, 2017Randall Bass is touted as a forward thinker and innovator in the realm of  higher education. He is the Vice Provost and Executive Director of the Center of New Designs in Learning and Scholarships at Georgetown University as well as a professor of English. Bass is the author of a myriad of text involving literature, articles, and digital projects. In one of his more prolific articles, “Disrupting Ourselves: The problem of Learning in Higher Education” and his Tedx talk “Formation by Design”, Randy expresses the growing disconnect between the new age of students and traditional learning environments. In both media he poses the question of how we would usher higher education into the modern era, representing a more meaningful and involved education curriculum rather than the antiquated framework currently in place. One not need look far to notice that for the past decade as universities struggle to evolve and keep the old structures of traditional education,  inquisitive minds of newer generations increasingly see greater or more lasting impact in their education through what Randall calls, ” high impact practices” and “experiential co-curriculum.” Bass addresses this as what he sees to be the problem and suggests as a solution that these newer forms of learning come to the forefront of one’s formal education. In the light of growing pressure from data and the ease of participatory culture, Bass states that we are in the “post-course era”, as to signify that the contained and composed formal curriculum is no longer where we receive our most impactful learning. Understanding the ethos of Randy Bass can seem very straight forward. Just by reading his biography one can glean his extensive education and clear knowledge on the subject he is talking about. Bass is concise, informative, and logical. By using statistics and placing all arguments in context with the current climate around education he provides an incredibly compelling case. This logical and in some ways reasonable approach to the subject matter is backed by his tone of conviction. Bass communicates to you in a relatively formal way, though you can feel and see in his expressions that he has passion for the subject matter. Randy appeals to his audience base in a warm and reasonable manner, much in the same way two intellectual friends would converse with each other. He hopes to connect on some level of emotion as well between his tacky jokes and explanation of potential dangers of neglecting to adapt higher education. Given these facts on his stature and background on the subject matter as well as his eloquence. Bass gives a clear-cut view of his approach on ethos, and the manner in which he tries to draw his audience. The ideology surrounding Randall Bass’ beliefs aren’t veiled in mystery by any means. Considerably avant-garde and forward thinking, Randall’s views seem to be deeply rooted in embracing the future. By accepting new research and innovation you continue to evolve and move towards a better tomorrow for society as a whole. Using terminology such as “post-course era”, explaining the environment in which progressive thought leaders are created, and addressing the use of “E-Portfolios” (which is a relatively new resource attributed to the information age), Bass highlights his progressive ideals in the face of opposition in the form of antiquated models of higher education. Much in the same way that he gravitates towards language that resonates with progressives, he tends to avoid terms rooted in tradition. Whether one agrees with his beliefs or not, it is quite easy to see his position and motives on the subject of new forms of higher education. [...] Read more...
February 20, 2017In order to better understand Randall Bass’s essay “Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education”, and his video presentation on TEDx Talk, “Formation by Design”, I chose to focus on the strategies (1) Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Ethos, and (2) Examining a Writer’s Credibility and Appeals to Reason or Logos. Ethos is understanding or believing a person who is speaking or writing because the person is one of good character. This corresponds to Bass because of the background search I had done on him before my reading and listening of his essay and presentation. Randall Bass is Vice Provost for Education and Professor of English at Georgetown University, so right away I had to believe that anything that he was going to say would be credible and believable. The strategy of Ethos relates to Bass’s essay and his presentation on TEDx Talk because he states true facts and speaks in a manner to teach undergraduate students different strategies of learning and comprehending information, and even faculty members and teachers about different strategies to teach students information and guide them to using resources such as technology, writing centers, etc. Logos is the sense of information that’s appealing to the mind, as opposed to pathos which is appealing to your heart and emotions. Logos corresponds to Bass’s essay and presentation because of the information he provides throughout both. For example, in Bass’s essay he states, “If we are beginning to see that the greatest impact on learning is in these boundary‑crossing, integrative, and so‑ cially networked experiences, then we need to re‑create dimensions of these experiences in the learning designs that bridge the classroom with life outside of it. The connection between integrative thinking, or experiential learning, and the social network, or participatory culture, is no longer peripheral to our enterprise but is the nexus that should guide and reshape our curricula in the current disruptive moment in higher education learning.” Personally, this quote from his essay is very appealing to my mind because he is trying to convince teachers and faculty members to connect and create different learning styles for undergraduate students to make learning easier, more accessible by having options, and maybe even a bit more entertaining. As an undergraduate student, this is appealing to my mind because in the long run it is an attempt to benefit me. These two strategies that I chose to analyze Bass’s essay and presentation with helped me better understand what his motive is/was with a deeper meaning. I was able to absorb more of the information at hand considering I was looking for information to support my writing rather than just reading or listening to Bass to see or hear what he has to say and what his argument is. [...] Read more...
February 18, 2017In the article “The Problem of Learning in Higher Education”, Randall Bass, his focus is on our learning institutions and the process of which they currently teach. He introduces an innovative thinking about this process and how it should and could evolve by pointing out that students today have a higher success rate when given the ability to learn both in and out of the classroom. That by experiencing life and working with peers a student can learn more than by instructor lead teaching alone. While reading this article, I found that Bass’ writing style was easy to read and engaged me in thinking about my own classroom experience. It made me wonder if I had a different experience while I as in high school, would I have made the decision to go to college sooner in my life.  And learning that he has worked with so many students and faculty I felt he has a firm grasp on what he is proposing. He preaches that the knowledge of the world, self and domain are the true “sweet spot” in higher education to evolve highly successful student. Then while watching Tedx Talk, this really helped solidify my original findings that he is both an engaging and a credible author. It was in this video he shared some insight into how he lives and learns. This was helpful to me understand where he is coming from as both a teacher and an author. I really enjoyed listening to him and his way of teaching. He again kept my interest and I appreciated his humor.      [...] Read more...
February 16, 2017Creative Commons has introduced a new search engine, CC Search, for finding images that use its licenses.  The engine searches several image repositories (including Flickr, the New York Public Library, and The Met) for access to over nine million images with open licenses. For more on the new search engine, read “Creative Commons unveils a new photo search engine” by Sarah Perez for Tech Crunch. Images are a great way to add interest to pre-existing OER materials. Try out CC Search. [...] Read more...
February 10, 2017We are pleased to announce that we’ll be starting the process to award stipends for OER course development work for this coming summer. Awards will be in the form of curriculum development hours to convert non-OER courses to OER courses using existing OER materials. Awards will be up to 70 hours of curriculum development funds to complete the work over the summer in time for the upcoming Fall ’17, Winter ’18 or Spring ’18 terms. Stipend application closes – Beginning of Spring Term – April 7 Announce awards – Week 3 of Spring term – April 21 Questions? Feel free to send inquiries to OER@lanecc.edu The Application for Lane’s Summer 2017 OER Stipends is now open. [...] Read more...
February 9, 20172017-01-24 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-02-28 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-03-14 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-04-25 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-05-23 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-05-9 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-07-11 Minutes Jedi High Council 2017-07-25 Agenda Jedi High Council 2017-08-8 Minutes Jedi High Council         [...] Read more...
February 9, 2017The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just changed the licenses of approximately 375,000 images to Creative Commons Zero, or CC0, licenses. This places the images into the public domain and allows for their free download and unrestricted use. Search The Met’s collection of public domain works. For more information on this policy change, read the full story “Met Museum Makes 375,000 Images Free” by Joshua Barone for the New York Times. [...] Read more...
January 17, 2017[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2017/01/TIPSS-11-Thirty-Years-of-Credit-Enrollment.pdf” title=”TIPSS #11 – Thirty Years of Credit Enrollment”] [...] Read more...
January 1, 2017[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HjbGouRtMYQvhmLqdMwNAABXZdx9tn-t/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
November 29, 2016[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2016/11/TIPSS10.pdf” title=”tipss10″] [...] Read more...
October 11, 2016[Download] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2016/10/TIPSS9.pdf” title=”tipss9″] [...] Read more...
October 6, 2016Check out Dave Sherwood and Jayce Keller in the most recent episode of Rick Dancer TV. Published on Oct 5, 2016 On this week’s episode of Rick Dancer TV, we take a look at Mckenzie Fire and Rescue, hike to the top of Carpenter Mountain for a chat with Fire Lookout Rob Mutch and talk with Janet Cooper about the Make Your Ripples Count movement. [...] Read more...
September 30, 2016[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/177WESLTxBPUQvjmOvBnr4RBSPNYgs0W3/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
July 20, 2016(or, there is no sagebrush in Florida, yet) In 1976, the Sagebrush Rebellion began (again) as western Americans began to try to reclaim their supposed constitutional rights (Wald and Temkin 1982). It was quashed largely by the election of Ronald Reagan and appointment of James Watt, but still led to many acts of civil disobedience but also violent anti-government acts (see this review from High Country News). But thanks to Bundy “Patriots” and their supporters, including those who support the Constitutional Sheriffs and Police Officers Association (CSPOA), Sovereign Citizens, skinheads, and neo-Nazis, they are back in a big way. The 2014 showdown on Federal land near the Bundy Ranch in Nevada and the 2016 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) are just two notable examples. The effort to put Federal public lands into state (or private) hands is not new, but is more problematic now because of recent developments, not the least of which is its adoption in the 2016 platform of the Republican National Committee. This effort, first supported politically on the national stage by Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah shortly after his election to the US Senate, has now reached vitriolic proportions and has garnered a rabid national following among staunch conservatives. Their arguments for it are patently ridiculous on their face. Among them: Too much public land in our state is in Federal hands so we don’t get to generate any tax base. The Feds don’t manage public lands properly Our state should run air, water, and land the way we see fit We ought to be able to cut timber, graze, and mine the way Americans always have [but…in the 1800s things were different. Those who argue this also don’t like to see price increases for these rights on Federal lands, where typical rates run 5-10% of “market-driven” rates on private lands. Aren’t they the real laissez-faire proponents or is that saying too French for them? We need to return the land to the original inhabitants’ and let them use it the way they feel No matter how you feel about civil liberties, the Constitution, or politics, all of us benefit from rational management of Federal lands. Surely the government has mismanaged the lands in some cases. And private users have also abused the privilege and should be held to account (thinking Bundy here, and others!). But in Harney County, Oregon, citizens and government officials all got together and created a cohesive management plan over time that worked out and was destined to do great things, but for a few known troublemakers who ended up being supported by the Bundyites. On the Malheur NWR, invasive species were set to be removed by managing carp and loss of vegetation/water quality to help restore the inland part of the Pacific flyway for migratory birds, and the occupation by the Bundys and others set back wetland restoration for years, most likely, by allowing the problematic fish to expand their boundaries. Politicians who supported these people like Michelle Fiore, Ted Cruz, and others, helped to put them into the national spotlight, and some law enforcement leaders (CSPOA again) even supported their efforts in Nevada and Oregon. This also gets into 2nd Amendment issues and the NRA, which would be an entirely different discussion (not for today), but is also quite problematic given the recent horrendous gun violence against private citizens and law enforcement officers. And lest any of you think that this is just a problem for us to sort out in the west, water wars and land wars are found in the east, too! I worked on drought in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin when my sciencing was happening at FSU, and the water wars in that and some other basins have been going on in the courts for 30 years already. Thanks to Governor Rick Scott of Florida, the notion of parks in that state is now changing as well, to including hunting, mining, and timber harvesting in novel ways that boggle the mind. Florida’s parks were gems and many still are, but as water gets fouled with nutrients and springs die off and effluent spills and nutrient-laden waters from Lake Okeechobee and Fenholloway River (to name a few) are forced into the Atlantic and Gulf waters, all coastal residents and visitors can now see first-hand the environmental catastrophe (short-term for now) that is on the horizon. With climate change, there could be sagebrush growing in Florida as the land dries out and precipitation regime changes. Is there anyone who thinks that this situation will improve when a party platform and politicians of that party tout local/state/private takeover of lands, when science shows how public protection is vital to public health in terms of land (soil), water, and air quality, and our future climate? Yet we have Governors, Senators, and their supporters who deny science from its foundational core as black and white. “You have not proven it to me yet” is the attitude expressed. Well, I say to you it is time to turn in your membership card as a thinking person. So come and enjoy your Federally-managed lands! You pay for them! And you don’t need a RNC or NRA membership card, to come inside (outside)! As an aside…did we as educators really do that bad a job in school teaching people about what science is? Maybe, but I doubt it. There mu$t be $omething el$e going on here. Paul Ruscher, Eugene, Oregon • 20 July 2016 Notes: High Country News, 2016: Forty years of Sagebrush Rebellion. High Country News, 4 January 2016, cited from http://www.hcn.org/articles/sagebrush-rebellion. Wald, Johanna H. and Elizabeth H. Temkin, 1982: The Sagebrush Rebellion: The West Against Itself — Again. UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Public Policy, 2 (2), cited from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3d2722zk. [...] Read more...
July 7, 2016When is enough enough? It’s confession time, I guess. News this week is full of killing of Muslims, killing of young black men by police officers, killing and raping of women, mistreatment of gays and lesbians. But it’s not just this week. I’m so sick of ‘Murica. And partisan politics does not make any of this any easier to take. But for me, it’s deeply personal. And that will seem strange to many, who probably could rightfully accuse me of being a “victim” of white, male privilege. You see, I’m the father of 11 children and 3 foster kids. But it is deeper than that. I grew up as the eldest son of a racist father who paid his sheet metal factory workers rather poorly – they were mostly blacks from the Bronx as well as Portuguese immigrants. I worked alongside them as a teenager and saw how they were (mis)treated, and said nothing at the time. Not until my break with my father occurred in the late ‘60s. He and I recovered from that break, but only in the last few years before his life ended tragically as cancer ravaged his body. I feel guilty about that late healing, but I also feel guilty about how I turned my back on what I viewed at the time as injustice, but what could I do as a 12 year old summer factory worker (being paid under the table)? Now I read the morning news and find the same stories, over and over, and our political leadership doing nothing about it. The guns. The racism. The jingoism. Criticizing leaders of #BlackLivesMatter for their vitriol. Are you fucking kidding me? How many lives must be lost before ‘Murica understands the targeting that is going on, whether explicit or implicit? If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s a duck. My ancestry is French, German, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh (or so I’m told). 6 of my kids share that ancestry, along with my beloved wife, whose ancestry is Italian, Polish, English, Scottish, and Irish. We are all white-privileged, I suppose. But there are 8 others. Two of our adopted kids hail from India; one died before he reached 30, a victim of drugs, and a health (and probably parental) system that failed him, taking his life from AIDS-related lymphoma. Three of our kids were adopted as BUFA babies (Babies Up For Adoption – abandoned by their Moms at birth in hospitals). Unwanted because of their race, by anybody, apparently. But loved by Mom and Dad, and even some of their siblings. These are the children I worry most about in these times of racial profiling. We’ve tried to raise them up right and two are still teen-agers of whom I’m proud, but they are proud, outspoken, and garrulous. Just the sort of “uppity” that probably will get them in trouble at some point – I just hope it is not at the butt of a white police officer’s gun. Three other foster kids have spent countless months and years in our home, and one still does. I worry about these young black children, too, none of whom have yet reached their teen-age years. What will our future America look like to them as they gain their voice, independence, and right to pursue life, liberty and happiness? Have you had enough yet? And on top of all of this – I daily find on my social media feeds people who I call or used to call friends calling out violence in the name of Islam as emblematic of the entire faith. “Let them all just kill each other off.” – I cannot understand how young men and women of faith can be hoodwinked by the charlatans who have hijacked a major religion into cult status, calling for executions of all infidels. And lest you think it only happens in the Islamic faith, check out what the Southern Poverty Law Center and other social justice organizations say about the religious orientation of many American hate groups. But why do you ask is this so troubling to me? Bear with me. You see, each of my married white kids has chosen to embrace multiculturalism, too! I could not be prouder of my Trinidadian, Korean, St. Lucian, and Bangladeshi children-in-law, and our multicultural grandchildren. What scares me is that my now Muslim daughter, her husband, and her kids are and will continue to be targeted in this intolerant ‘Murica that we are becoming. And I don’t just blame the media, or Donald Trump and his followers. Have you had enough yet? I’m the father of six wonderful daughters and one beautiful foster daughter. Every one of these young women has or will experience overt sexual harassment by pricks with dicks and no brains. I say that stereotypically, because we all know stories of pricks with dicks that run science labs that do the same thing to their colleagues and students, so it could be argued that they have brains. But a lack of mutual respect, independent of sexuality, is also rampant in ‘Murica. And is tacitly allowed to continue in a fashion like organized crime. Have you had enough yet? I have. We, the Silent Majority, who don’t speak up or otherwise support those who are powerless, are often chastised for not doing enough. That is often deemed by us to be offensive. We must support the powerless. I left the church a long time ago, when my church abandoned its most Christian of principles, again, as a teenager when I lost my love of guns and church and committed (at least personally, internally) to a future where racism would play no part. I have left the Democratic Party for the last time. I will not rejoin just so that I can “play” in the primary. I don’t know who I’ll vote for in November. It will not be Donald Trump. But the partisan two-party system no longer interests me. It is inevitable I suppose that that system will force me on a practical basis to vote for Ms. Clinton, because of the Electoral College. What must happen is this – first – embrace the idea that all politics is local. The ultra-right-wing of the Republican party has figured this out and across American is seeding school boards, county officialdom, state legislatures with their brand of conservatism, much of it rooted in Christian fundamentalism. Wake up, and realize this is a great game plan, but one fanatical group does not own it. Wake up! Libertarians, Greens, Progressives, yes, even Socialists can do the same thing. Start with local grass roots efforts may be the only way to make a change; thanks Sen. Sanders for waking so many up to the possibility here. Next – it is time to abandon the Electoral College. This antiquated system perpetuates a ridiculous primary/caucus system that draws out an election campaign in a two-year cycle that just so happens to correspond to a Congressional term. This will effectively end the two-party system once and for all, and will create temporary chaos in Congress as new partnerships are formed. You can argue that this would be worse. Worse than what? A Congress that won’t pass any bills? The present Congress has the worst record by far of any post-Civil War Congress in terms of passing effective legislation. One-person one-vote is how most of the civilized world votes. Do you know what will happen if no candidate this November gets an electoral majority? The House votes for our next President. We’ve already had the Supremes decide one election because America could not decide. Finally, everyone must vote! The young in particular complain loudest on social media about how the system is rigged and how lousy it is. And then they don’t show up at the polls. The system is in fact rigged against many of them. The League of Women Voters has rational ideas in place to fix a rigged system, from anti-gerrymandering to voting rights restoration. Check them out. Help them if you can. Most of all – it is a time I think for self-reflection. “Am I doing enough to make America less ‘Murican?” Today, I still don’t think I’m doing enough. Typing this poorly written screed is a small start. I will do all I can to convince young people to vote. I will question my local candidates and government officials. I will champion a free and fair public education for all. I will call out racism, nativism, homophobia, and sexism when I see it. Scientists and educators, I apologize for this interruption in what is usually an intellectual visit to environmentalism and fairness in science. But because so many of you have very powerful voices and I urge you to speak up about injustice outside of your professional sphere of influence as well. We have lots of work to do to inform public policy professionals and the general public about science and education, but there is so much more to do, as well. We are all players. [...] Read more...
July 5, 2016I want my country back. I want the country where “All My Relations” whether in Lakota, Hopi, Aztec, or Taino,  meant an expanded humanity that lived in kinship with other lifeforms as relatives, not resources. That recognizes that all humans in particular, are relatives to be nurtured and cared for, not resources to be enslaved, exploited, or feared and hated. When you are the target of enslavement, exploitation, and terror that the solution to oppression, is to become more humane than your oppressors. It’s partially the country that existed before 1491: Pyramid cities, intercontinental and interracial trade and commerce. Though slavery, and war were not unknown here before Columbus, we found ways towards democratic civilized resolution, through remembering our common strengths and gifts. Among those gifts were the insights given by those variously named two-spirits who brought us wisdom beyond binary gender, and physical / spiritual duality. Its not the country or culture that would build a Walmart outside those pyramids cities, nor that a US corporation could claim ownership of rainfall in Bolivia. The country that came after that (whether 1492, or 1776) was predicated on certain types of violence. The targets were indigenous people and their demonstrated allies from other continents, which included historically respectful Europeans.  The country that practiced and practices massacres, lynchings, church burnings, concentration camps, and other forms of sociostructural violence, must fade into historical memory, before my country will emerge. I asked Robert Kono, at the time, a local veteran (442nd) and survivor of the concentration camps, “Why would you fight for a country that incarcerated you because of your race, while allowing major corporations to trade and profit from doing business with the enemy: Nazi Germany?” He said, he didn’t fight for politicians, or his family, or the soldiers next to him, (All Japanese-Americans). He’s fighting for an America that doesn’t exist yet, that would never do the things that happened to him and others. If he doesn’t fight for it now, it will never exist. I could pledge allegiance to that America. I could celebrate that country’s birth. It’s a kind of a dual consciousness, similar to what Dubois referred to in in “The Souls of Black Folk”: Remembering better, experiencing worse, and working for better in the face of worse. Being a mandatory reporter for a system I wouldn’t entrust a single blood relative to, unmonitored. Supporting institutions that regularly betray you, and your kind, and that “kind” is continually expanding. In the “Free State of Jones” white men join self-freed slaves in a rebellion against the Confederacy. A Confederacy based on conscription of poor people, while stealing their crops, livestock, land and property,  to fight for the benefit rich people (who are exempted from fighting if they own slaves). Who use the illusion of white supremacy, and white privilege to enforce oppression of Black people, or as they refer to them: Niggers, an English corruption of the respectful word Negars, which means a person from Africa. As in Schwarzeneggar which means in old high German: Black and from Africa. (Like Schwarzkopf means Black Head, as portrayed on the 18th Century coat of arms.) The reality is that poor whites are as much niggers, in the Confederate system, as Black people. And when they find common cause, and fight to end their common oppressor. This is still true in today’s America. When the indigenous democracy was peopled by people who represented racial, gender, sexual, and other types of diversity, a Wall was built on Manhattan Island, not so much to keep Natives out (It was in the middle of Indian Country), but to keep Black and White slaves and indentured servants from joining the Six-Nations indigenous democracy, where they would welcomed as allies. Rich White people building walls on traditionally indigenous lands to gentrify them (to use the modern term for the process), is not new. Trump uses the same tactics, using verbal violence, to condone physical violence. So what was once done by the state, or allowed by the state, the state now facilitates by allowing weapons of war to be a consumer choice, not an earned ethics bound privilege. Its not so much where or who will perpetrate the next attack? I come from a people whom the state was the main perpetrator, or allowed the attacks to happen. Electing a Black President (Whose received more death threats than all the white presidents combined) didn’t change that. Improved technology for killing, without deepened humanity, means that a single person, normally socialized (Where violence against Others was normalized and legal), can kill as many people as a state. The worst massacres were state sponsored or facilitated: Washita (“103”), Sand Creek (“163”), Fort Pillow (“300”), The Red Summer (“293”), Tulsa Black Wall Street (3000), Rosewood, Florida (150). (Numbers in quotes are the official white numbers. Non-quotes are the people of color count). Dylan Roof was following an American tradition: internally hating yourself, then externally hating others. Omar Mateen while saying “’I don’t have a problem with black people….You guys suffered enough’”, while killing people of color, including Black people. Killing people of color while being a person of color, is displaying a sort of mental illness commonly undiagnosed in America, racial self hatred, with gender identity dysphoria. (According to APA internalized racism doesn’t exist). If he was taught to hate himself and natural aspects of his being, with no heathy resolution for the inner turmoil, then no amount of FBI background checks could predict or prevent his attacks. In fact the healing could occur from within the community he targeted, just like Dylann Roof. Communities who suffer, in the absence of healing from the mainstream, must and have developed their own healing ways. Individually, then collectively becoming more humane than their attackers, and the society that generates their attackers. How would one become a healthy gay Muslim man, or a recovered White Supremacist? Not through cognitive-behavioral therapy and anti-depressants. Such healing ways were once widespread in my country, embedded in the culture, as it were. They were largely suppressed by this country, there needs to be, and is a more vigorous resurgence. For a new country to emerge, backlash is predictable, but resistance is fertile. [...] Read more...
July 4, 2016They did not get things completely right 240 years ago.  The primary author, Thomas Jefferson, certainly had his faults, as do all of us.  But it behooves us, I think to remember what tyranny did to upset the apple cart in the 13 colonies.  We would do well to extend the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness to all Americans and visitors, and also to our environment – our lands, our airshed, and our watersheds.  Take time to read our charters of freedom, and honor them by understanding their value in today’s world.  Happy Independence Day, everyone. —- The Declaration of Independence —- IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. [...] Read more...
June 20, 2016The new environmentalism… My last post took on interference with rational government regulation, and corporate denial of its importance. But to be fair, there is much to think about, too, in terms of what the environmental movement itself is doing wrong. Here I focus on the science denialism that exists on the “left” as well. If our nation is ever to take environmental responsibility seriously, we must work to blunt the voices of the environmental movement who spout irrational propaganda in support of ideas that just don’t pass the smell test. Many of these ridiculous ideas are indeed related to proposed geoengineering solutions out there to solve some of Earth’s crises that are seemingly ridiculous on their face. As a scientist in Florida I actually had to evaluate some of these. For example, claims that dropping atomic weapons on hurricanes, or adding absorbent (think Pampers lining) material to the ocean, would diminish hurricane intensity. But the widespread implementation of them is just not happening. I won’t dignify the public web sites out there that tout environmental harm, but among them are the patently false claims related to: Chemtrails – by spraying chemical aerosols that are probably harmful, the government is reducing solar radiation, combatting global warming – see http://contrailscience.com/ for good debunking material here Iron fertilization of the oceans to forestall ocean acidification – a useful summary of the lack of benefits to this and other similar “solutions” is found here. HAARP – Blamed for causing many natural disasters, and basically closed down, it still gets amazing attention from environmental whackos (yes there are many out there and they show up at public meetings and grab microphones, etc.). HAARP is closed, and had some interesting purposes, but not weather modification! Other acronyms that seem to get peoples’ goat: EMFs – ElectroMagnetic Fields do exist in nature, and much of today’s technology does relate to advances in their applications (such as WiFi networks, Bluetooth technology, smart power meters, etc.). Many so-called environmentalists like to tout the research that supposedly supports the idea that harm has been proven. The reality, however, is that most studies have not shown any affect, and at best a weak connection has been found to impacts on laboratory animals, in studies that are difficult to replicate or have extremely small sample sizes. GMOs – I’m no biologist or chemist but I realize that even though I eat pretty healthy food in general, probably more than 50% of what I consume has been genetically modified. I like labeling to know what I eat, too, given that I have two very serious food allergies (gluten and sulfites) that severely restrict what I can eat. To me the GMO controversy is ridiculous, because most of the laws being proposed exclude certain agricultural products (like meat and dairy), but specifically go after plant-based foods – if it has anything to do with Monsanto, it must be evil, right? If you are going to be honest, label all GMOs, and let the chips fall where they may – let consumers decide what to buy. Perhaps we can take a lesson from California where you can’t go into any place in public without seeing this familiar warning sign. CO2 as plant fertilizer – Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a so-called greenhouse gas – but because plants ingest it through photosynthesis, increasing it is nothing but a good thing – see this meta-analysis for more information on reality. Environmental whackoism is probably doing as much harm to the environmental movement as science denialism which based on pure capitalism, or political denial. These ideas do sow seeds of doubt into people who may be curious and engaged in learning more. If you are at an environmental meeting, try some time to explain the science to a person who spouts these views – you are likely to get very frustrated with the close-mindedness in evidence. Move on, it’s not worth it. As an educator, in a class setting or public talk, you can engage by teaching, but too often you are also confronted, and there are good strategies out there (see this article from Yale for some tips). Fortunately these people rarely rise to prominence, the Food Babe, Donald Trump, and Dr. Oz notwithstanding.     [...] Read more...
June 17, 2016Time for some truthiness…watershedmoments has been on hiatis, but it is back and will continue… There are those in power in government who deny critical scientific information that comes their way, because it does not suit their own agenda, or belief system. These people, including powerful national and state legislators who run committees that determine funding for science agencies, are a real danger to progress and public health. There are serious battles ahead of us related to funding for monitoring of environmental conditions, particularly when degradation is likely due to mining, drilling, land use changes, transportation of materials, and lack of oversight of commercial or other use of public resources in our lands, watersheds, and airsheds. Cases in point Congress recently tied important funds for Puerto Rico’s insolvency problem to a monitoring program at the United States Geologic Survey #USGS (see Washington Post article). This monitoring program provides important and lifesaving information to the general public about the health of our waters. for a decade, those who have been reaping the harvest of fracked gas and oil have not had to disclose the process chemicals used, as special privilege was granted to exempt them from the Safe Water Drinking Act and its amendments. Yes, one could argue we’ve all reaped benefits in terms of cheaper fuels, but at what cost to our environmental health? methane emissions from oil and gas operations are only estimated or spot-checked and EPA is not allowed access to carry out monitoring of air quality for toxics including gases and particulates. Residents near these sites in states as varied as Pennsylvania, Texas and North Dakota are left with little recourse.  See this article for background. my former home state of Florida has a governor (who shall not be named) who refused to allow his state’s scientists to refer to climate change in any of their presentations on threats that Florida faced. He also spent incredible resources dismantling progressive environmental regulations to ensure Floridians’ access to safe water and air – these same regulations were put in place by his predecessor, also a Republican who left the party because of the political turn of his former home. Florida DEP lost a few good scientists and environmental educators as a result. NOAA climate scientists have been harassed by a Congressional committee chair for their correspondence and data supporting research, and even when it was provided, his staff effectively asked for more (presumably they could not understand why what was provided was a real response to the questions) – and this one really hit home because he attacked the credibility of many of my former students here. trains carrying volatile oil from the Bakken oil shale fields move through the Columbia Gorge and the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and oil companies do not have to disclose these shipments, nor does the Oregon government demand company responsibility with sensible regulation (as do the neighboring states of Washington and California) because lobbying by the rail and oil & gas industries won the day last session. The recent derailment and spill at Mozier had a greater response on the Washington side of the Columbia than that of  Oregon. our environmental satellite program is in jeopardy and Congress is refusing to fund replacements of deteriorating satellites that are ready for launch or those need to be built to replace our aging fleet. These satellites provide a complete view of the Earth and its atmosphere, oceans, glaciers and ice caps, and our opportunity to have continuous monitoring is in jeopardy. National Science Foundation budget oversight includes paralyzing efforts designed to reduce funding on important climate change science, renewable energy utilization, and monitoring efforts that have long-term impacts. I could go on and on (and probably already have too much).  Are 8 examples sufficient here? Many scientists also profess to not need the in situ observations that have been so important in the development our knowledge. Some in the satellite community think that we should improve our remote sensing technology at the expense of direct measurements. Others in the computer modeling community often minimize the importance of observations, as well. Funding for environmental monitoring needs to be substantially increased to support new technologies as well as people in the field doing this important work, and the work of independent scientists who process and analyze these data. It is natural for all scientists to value their own work over others’, I suppose. The data provided by objective technicians and scientists in the field are crucial for ground-truthing of remotely-sensed data, and validation of models. They also provide the direct answers needed and can provide long-term ecological records of critical help to answer critical questions. The answers that the data and scientists who work with them provide are often providing shocking results, and they can change scientists’ minds about processes. That is part of the scientific process – but many “experts” who write or legislate about these issues seem to lack the scientific perspective to process this information in anything but a political lens. And since so much of this important environmental information has now become politicized in the last ten years, and so many tactics deployed by stakeholders like chemical and tobacco companies are now being deployed to shunt environmental progress, there are powerful voices influencing decision-makers (if I can call them that). Climate change, environmental protection, water quality are all public health issues that must be protected for all of us and to benefit the environment, which provides tangible environmental services to us all. By restoring wetlands, preserving native species and removing invasives, and removing barriers to connected habitats of important native plants and animals, we are restoring our planet and acting as sensible stewards. But in removing funding for monitoring (and restoration) programs, we remove the opportunity for technicians and scientists to get the important data they need to answer important questions and ask new ones. Science is an evolving process of information-gathering and knowledge development. We must continue to support the labor-intensive and technology rich environments that facilitate environmental data collection for the betterment of society and our public health. Some movements are afoot to use a legal argument call the public trust doctrine for protection of lands, air, and water. It is time for sensible scientific leadership in state and Federal government. I don’t know if a cabinet level “Department of Science”, where USGS, NASA, NOAA, EPA and Energy and other science-based agencies could collaborate better and provide better organized support for scientific research. But something has got to give. The election in November should be about science, at least in part. There are many other issues that are critical to our nation, too. But science denialism appears to be rampant in and around Washington DC and around many state capitals. That is as dangerous a threat as any terrorist, in my opinion. This column took on corporate objections to reasonable regulations and political sabotage of these rational environmental efforts.  Environmentalists – you may not be off the hook either; stay tuned.  I’ll try to write weekly until the end of days 2016, at least. Paul Ruscher • Eugene, Oregon [...] Read more...
June 2, 2016Download [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/achievingthedream/wp-content/uploads/sites/96/2016/06/TIPSS8-Malveaux’s-Challenge.pdf”] [...] Read more...
April 28, 2016Time Traveling at Cape Arago: A Meditation on Geology and Human Scale My husband Peter and I visited Cape Arago last weekend, and I became fascinated with photographing the remarkable rock formations, features, and detail there. With a little research, I learned a lot about the deep history of this remarkable place. The result is a digital story similar to one which any student might make for a geology class, photography class, or writing/research class.   [...] Read more...
March 30, 2016[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wblYSKidLzgTWAXVFWW1bTWcltpzA8Oi/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
March 10, 2016Snap, Moodleroom’s responsive theme for Moodle offers: – Simplified design to focus the learner on the course content and reduce possible distractions in the user interface – Streamlined workflows on all devices to give a consistent look and feel regardless of device. – Design matching services to provide consistency for users going from their webpage and learning site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khzzHiNykK0 [...] Read more...
March 10, 2016On March 1, 2016, Faculty Council issued the following statement: Faculty Council supports the call from Library staff to be included in the decision-making process for actions such as the proposed Library signage featuring donors’ names. Any decisions that affect the learning environment and education process must include those who work in the spaces. This is in alignment with the core value of Learning, and the commitment of the college to “work together to create a learning-centered environment.” If LCC is to demonstrate accessible learning that serves “the educational and linguistic needs of a diverse community,” as stated in the Diversity core value, it must establish and follow a clear and collaborative process that makes a supportive learning environment its top priority. [...] Read more...
March 2, 20162016-01-12 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-01-26 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-02-09 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-02-23 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-03-08 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-04-12 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-04-26 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-05-10 – Meeting Cancelled 2016-05-24 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-06-14 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-06-28 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-07-12 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-07-26 – Meeting Cancelled 2016-08-09 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-08-23 – Meeting Cancelled 2016-09-13 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-10-11 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-10-25 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-11-8 Minutes Jedi High Council 2016-12-13 Minutes Jedi High Council [...] Read more...
March 2, 20162015-01-13 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-01-27 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-02-10 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-03-10 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-03-24 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-04-28 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-05-12 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-06-09 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-06-23 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-07-14 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-07-28 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-09-08 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-09-22 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-10-13 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-10-27 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-11-10 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-12-01 Minutes Jedi High Council 2015-12-08 Minutes Jedi High Council [...] Read more...
March 1, 2016As an engaged member of our community, Lane’s programs, services, and activities serve the community’s needs. Objective 1: Lane offers comprehensive programs that support individual and community needs. We look to key community stakeholders—workforce, transfer institutions, advisory boards, and continuing education participants—to gauge whether our programmatic offerings are meeting their needs, and providing students the skills and opportunities necessary to succeed. Our indicators also allow us to determine whether we are being responsive as needs change. Objective 2: Lane serves the intellectual and social needs of the community through non-academic programs and services. To measure the extent to which we are serving community needs outside the classroom, we evaluate three of our widest-reaching activities. [...] Read more...
March 1, 2016Lane’s policies, procedures, programs, and services facilitate open, fair, and just educational experiences. Objective 1: Lane minimizes barriers and maximizes opportunities for diverse student populations. To gauge the extent to which the college minimizes barriers and maximizes opportunities for its students, we consider quantitative data and student perception. The following indicators represent traditional measures of access and equity, as well as how students evaluate their individual access to opportunities. [...] Read more...
March 1, 2016Lane’s quality educational environment embraces academic and instructional integrity, relevancy, rigor, innovation, and transparency. Objective 1: Lane employs high-impact practices. To determine how successfully services and programs create a quality educational environment, the college considers three key areas of student engagement: student awareness of high-impact practices, student perception of the effect of these practices on their educational experience, and student ownership of their own learning as a result of these practices. Objective 2: Lane faculty and staff regularly engage in professional development. In order to gauge the extent to which the college supports and contributes to the ongoing improvement of Lane’s educational environment, we measure how many employees participate in professional development opportunities. Objective 3: Lane’s curricula are designed with intention to support discipline-level, program-level, and college-level outcomes. Designing curricula with intentionality involves connecting each curriculum with outcomes at three levels (the discipline, the program, and the college), and maintaining currency. We look at curricula mapped to Lane’s Core Learning Outcomes because these outcomes create this connection between levels. We also gauge how well curricula reflect the best practices in the field. [...] Read more...
March 1, 2016Lane’s students advance on their academic paths and reach their educational goals. Objective 1: Students progress toward their educational objectives. To determine the extent to which students are advancing, we use established measures of student progress and examine three traditional academic paths. Objective 2: Students complete their educational goals. In order to assess student completion of educational goals, the college considers established measures in each of Lane’s four general paths to student success: academic transfer, career technical and workforce development, foundational skills development, and lifelong learning. [...] Read more...
February 3, 2016[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/studentsuccess/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2016/02/TIPSS1.-What-We-Do-Matters.pdf”] Download an accessible PDF version [...] Read more...
February 3, 2016 Read more...
February 3, 2016 Read more...
January 25, 2016What is it? Automate elements in your course. Participants can have different course experiences based on their specific interactions within the course. Quickly ID behaviors and allow for remediation or accelerated learning. Allows instructors to “stay personal” with their students with customizable messaging and learning paths for each student. Why? Saves instructor times and effort. Track student progress. Provides additional help to troubled students. Accelerate learning and further challenges excelled students. History of all rules fired from PLD. Examples: Watch for at-risk grades and send an email to student to initiate contact – written with instructor’s language.  Can cc’ others (i.e. advisor). Student scores below a 55% on an exam they get an email from the instructor asking them to see them at next office hour. Student scores a D on last quiz – they are redirected to a specific lesson in the previous unit for additional content on the topic. Require student to review previous units material and retake exam before they can move onto the next unit. Add additional material for student’s deeper learning if they score above 90% on an exam/quiz/assignment/etc.… Send a positive message to students when they get above a certain grade on a quiz/assignment. Three different students login to the same course, but each one of them see a different learning path.  Different content has been made available to them based on previous and ongoing assessments. Interested in learning more? You can learn to write PLD rules in your own course or you can meet with an ATC consultant to explain how you would like your course to act.  We can help write rules for you! Online resources: Blackboard online resource for how to add rules. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9hd1SiET4o   [...] Read more...
January 21, 2016This article from Inside Higher Ed, titled “Bias Against Female Instructors” offers some interesting observations.   [...] Read more...
January 14, 2016As of 8:55am PST Moodle has been down.  I am working with MoodleRooms to correct this problem.  I currently do not have an ETA on when Moodle will be back up.  We of course will get Moodle back up ASAP. Follow this post for an updates on this situation. UPDATE:  Moodle has come back online as of 9:07am PST.  Total down time only 12 minutes.  Please be aware of this when working with student deadlines. [...] Read more...
January 8, 2016Want to know when your Spring courses will be available to you and your students?  Would you like to be prepared for when the 2014/2015 Moodle Course archives are removed?  Curious to know when each term begins and ends? Export and subscribe to the Moodle Faculty Support Course calendar! https://classes.lanecc.edu/calendar/view.php?view=upcoming&course=8323 [...] Read more...
January 7, 2016Great post from Moodle.com on how Moodle 2.9 has become simpler and friendlier for teachers to use! Follow this link to read on 10 time-saving features! https://moodle.com/2015/05/15/10-awesome-time-saving-features-in-the-latest-moodle-release/  [...] Read more...
January 1, 2016[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o610kEzSRAB0ddRjQqVTg1_jh3DtrOam/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"]   [...] Read more...
December 10, 2015“Music and Me” A Digital Story by Morgan deBord https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uADlGqKHiP4&feature=youtu.be [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015“Carving My Own Path” A Digital Story by Kyle Woods [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015“A Daydream” A Digital Story by Shaina Qualley   [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015Hidden Loneliness   A Digital Story by Mykala Bouffard [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015“My Mother, Alzheimer’s & Art” A Digital Story by Satoko Motouji “I want to express my gratitude to my mother who has Alzheimer’s. She teaches me how to appreciate simple joys in life.” [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015“Character and Success” A Digital Story by Skye Lipson   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okICCg4V7Ug [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015“Becoming Brandi Jean” A Digital Story by Brandi Bailes     [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015“Stand Together” A Digital Story by Chelsea Hamar     https://vimeo.com/148186775 [...] Read more...
December 9, 2015Once Upon a Time I Decided to Become a Teacher by Breeanna Selby   [...] Read more...
December 8, 2015On December 8, 2015, Faculty Council issued the following statement: Lane Community College Administration should immediately halt the hiring process for a Medical Office Assistant (MOA) Program Coordinator until all contractual obligations have been met and institutional processes followed. The college’s handling of the MOA program, including removal of the current program coordinator, ignores due process as guaranteed by the faculty contract. The Administration’s plan to hire a new program coordinator who will be charged with revising the full curriculum by Fall 2016 is not physically possible unless Curriculum Committee deadlines and the Program Review process are also ignored. The Administration’s claim that the “urgency” of the hiring is due to a promise made by the college president to unnamed employers further disregards the institutional standards outlined in the college’s Core Values. As stated in May 2015, “Faculty Council strongly condemns any administrative action to remove, supplant, circumvent or bypass the faculty role in reviewing and designing curriculum, an example of which is the college administration’s treatment of the Medical Office Assistant program. Any process involving program restructure at Lane must be led by the program faculty, as well as follow the Program Review process and long-established academic and empirical data standards.” [...] Read more...
October 31, 2015At the Oct. 23 meeting, Faculty Council discussed possible questions for the Student Evaluation Instrument currently under development. Below you will find some links and documents that have informed the discussion. THE ISSUE: 1. Faculty Council (FC) is responsible for the Student Evaluation Instrument. 2. FC has been apprised that the software supporting the Scantron system (the fill-in-the-bubble sheets used for years) is no longer viable. An online instrument has been developed and piloted. It is a work in progress, and, while there is general support to see it developed, no vote has been taken to mandate its use. 3. There are currently 14 questions (used on the Scantron sheet) that were approved many years ago by FC. These are the default questions until FC votes to change them. 4. It is generally agreed that the current system and questions are not particularly useful. WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU: 1. The College Online Policy and Procedure System (COPPS) for Student Evaluation of Instruction states that “Evaluations are required of all full- and part-time faculty.” Click here for a full explanation. 2. COPPS also states that “A modification of this system may be arranged through Faculty Council.” This will be the primary topic of discussion at the next FC meeting. 3. Article 13.8 in the LCC Faculty Contract states: 13.8    Use of Regular Student Evaluations.  The regular student evaluations of classes may be used in evaluations of faculty provided: 1. The evaluation instrument was properly used; 2. The faculty member received copies of the complete results of the evaluation within a month of the end of the course in which the evaluation was solicited; 3. Any concerns raised by the evaluation results were given in writing to the faculty member within a month of the end of the course for which it was given; 4. Alternative explanations for the concerns raised through student evaluations will be solicited from the faculty member in writing and the responsible department/division chair/manager will respond with a written assessment of the possible alternative explanations for the concerns; and 5. Anomalous results were discounted. 13.8.1 Timeliness. Faculty members shall receive the complete results of student evaluations no later than thirty (30) working days after the end of the course in which the evaluation was solicited, or sooner when possible. WHAT WE ARE ASKING OF YOU: 1. Please consider two things: The method of doing student evaluations, and the types of questions you would like to see used. Keep in mind that the purpose of the Student Evaluations is to provide “…one method for evaluating the teaching component of the learning environment.” And also that “Evaluation questions were selected to provide information for a faculty member to create a better learning environment and to become a better teacher.” (Both quotes from COPPS.) 2. Feel free to join the discussion on this blog. To help inform your thinking, click through the links below. Each includes a short identification for context. LINKS TO RESOURCES AND INFORMATION Faculty Evaluations Resources Website. Built in 2013 by Bert Pooth. An excellent resource for background and context of the Student Evaluation process at LCC. This is a Moodle page in which everyone can enroll. To do so, log on to your Moodle home page, scroll down to “Programs and Groups” then click on “Faculty Evaluations Resources Website.” This will take you to an “enrollment key” page. Type in “instructor” and you will be enrolled. Thereafter, you will have access to this website through your Moodle page. List of suggestions for questions, gathered from LCC deans by Administration Executive Team. This is a pdf file that you can download and open. Scantron sheet with questions adopted in 2001. A pdf file you can download and open. Portland Community College Course Evaluation Questions. Includes questions for Face to Face and Distance Learning courses. Also includes SAC (Subject Area Committee) Level and Instructor Level questions. University of Oregon Online Course Evaluations. Adopted as replacement for Scantron paper evaluations. Oregon State University Standard Questions. Used for all courses, with ability for instructor to add questions specific to a course. Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. This page has sample questions. Check out the left navigation bar for links to further resources providing background and context. Thanks for your participation in this important discussion and decision-making process. The final decision will affect all of us, and this is your opportunity to be involved at whatever level you prefer. [...] Read more...
October 16, 2015I shyly admitted to a friend the other day that I was having to re-score old student papers in order to use the data in action research.  When I scored the papers the first time I did a dirty job of it – now I am re-doing the scoring the way I wish I had. “Oh, don’t feel bad about that,” she said kindly. “I have a teacher in the family; I’ve heard this before. You all have a secret pile a papers you never corrected, right? You stress about this: Should you hand them back to students after all this time? Or just throw them out?” Ahh, the dirty secret of teaching. In teacher school you think of course you will always correct assessments immediately, handing them back while the work is fresh in students’ minds. But then there you are, carrying a battered folder of overdue uncorrected papers from school to home and back again. (If I told you how many times, I’d have to…) Of course, and always, there is never enough time. Something must be left undone. Why, is correcting papers the thing left undone? Why do I avoid this task, above all others? As Alfonso Procaccini (my favorite college professor) taught me, there is a method to madness. I can look backwards at what I actually do to figure out what I am thinking and why. When I am correcting students’ papers, I could focus on what the student has learned. I could be thinking, “Look at what this student has learned! Where is this student on the continuum of learning this skill, or gaining this knowledge?” Is there a teacher out there that thinks like that? Not me. I think “Why is this student not getting this?” which leads me right to “What have I done wrong? How am I failing this student?” By leaving the papers in the folder instead of reading them I avoid feeling…shame. [...] Read more...
October 15, 2015Free tacos! Discuss your experiences with IT at Lane. Come to the Northwest Commons area in the 2nd floor (the lounge above the staircase) Thursday, October 15th, 2015 between 11-1. Free tacos are available for those that come and want to share their experiences using technology at Lane. An actively listening group of IT “Jedi” will be there to listen to suggestions, woes and praise. This event will run until 1pm or until the conversation runs out. RESULTS: TacoswiththeTechs-compiled notes [...] Read more...
September 24, 2015As we come back from a restful summer I want to make sure everyone is aware of the summer updates applied to our LCC Moodle. July 9th our Moodle instance was updated to Moodle 2.8. A full review of all the updates can be found in my Moodle Summer Update July 9th post. Below are some of the highlights from this update: Themes We have 4 themes available in Moodle.  The reason for ONLY 4 themes is due to the drop in support of external themes by Moodle core and MoodleRooms.  The positives to having 4 themes allow Moodle/MoodleRooms to focus their development on a few themes (rather than many).  Moodle is committed to making all themes accessible to all students regardless of ability. Snap, More, and Clean are responsive themes.  Responsive design focuses on creating a site that responds to what device a user is currently accessing the site from and optimizes the layout to fit the screen size and orientation. This helps users with accessing content and eases navigation. – See more at: http://www.moodlerooms.com/resources/blog/using-responsive-theme#sthash.0Y2BLdcV.dpuf Note:  Express is not a responsive theme.  We will be looking to replace Express in the future with a responsive design. Though they are not perfect I expect to see great advances in these themes since Moodle/MoodleRooms are now able to focus their work on them. Grade book  Maybe the largest change in Moodle 2.8. Natural aggregation – This has replaced sum of grades  aggregation method.  Now items that are not yet graded can be set to not count against a student’s grade.  Each item has a “natural weight” based on the course total and the items point value.  If new grade items are added Moodle will automatically recalculate each items weight.  You can manually edit weights by editing the settings in the gradebook. Setup – the categories and items tab is now renamed “settings”. Extra Credit – Once you edit the settings of any item you can enable extra credit on that item.  When you view an item that is marked as extra credit you will notice a “+” next to the items name within the setup menu. Single View – a great way to enter grades, view all of a single students grade, or view all of the grades for a specific activity.  You can also “Perform Bulk Insert” for empty or all grades.  Note – if you have “exclude empty grades” enabled you must enter a 0 for any empty grade you want to count towards a students course total. While in your gradebook take a look at the Blackboard Collaborate ULTRA This is a web conferencing tool we have had in Moodle for some time.  If you teach online, hybrid, or even face-to-face you should really consider taking a look at Collaborate.  Instructors use Collaborate in a variety of ways from lecture capture, online office hours, meetings with students and other colleagues, tutoring, etc.  See the view for a quick view of Collaborate Ultra.   Additional updates include changes to forums, assignments, choice activity, and the quiz-building interface.  A full comprehensive list of all the new additions and improvements can be found my original Moodle Summer Update post. Items we are still working on are the email reply features.  We are working out some bugs in order to allow faculty and students to reply to forum posts via email as well as sent files to their My Private Files area through email as well. If you find any bugs please let me know.  I am always working with MoodleRooms to resolve issues. For any support on what is new and other course development needs please contact the ATC.   [...] Read more...
September 14, 2015The new quiz editing interface is very much cleaned up and simplified. From the drop down menu you can select a new question, from question bank, and/or a random question.  Once you add a question the settings and interactions are the same. For how to add a quiz and questions you can follow the self-help document here https://help.lanecc.edu/ATC/Knowledgebase/Article/View/800/0/adding-questions-to-a-quiz [...] Read more...
September 10, 2015There are now 4 themes available in your Moodle courses.  The reason why we have dropped to 4 themes is due to what Moodle core now only supports 2 themes (Clean and More) while MoodleRooms supports an addition 2 (Express and SNAP).  We cannot use themes that are no longer supported by Moodle.  These would eventually lead to more bugs and security problems if we used outdated themes. What themes are available and what are their features? Clean Theme This is the default theme for all new courses. Responsive (works on any device – full computer screen and mobile devices).  The theme will adjust to work nicely on any size screen. Allows for blocks to be docked. More Theme Responsive (works on any device – full computer screen and mobile devices).  The theme will adjust to work nicely on any size screen. Allows the Moodle Administrator – Me! – to edit the following: Text and link color Background color/image Main content background color Logo Custom CSS footnote Allows for blocks to be docked. SNAP Theme Responsive (works on any device – full computer screen and mobile devices).  The theme will adjust to work nicely on any size screen. Theme is updated and supported by MoodleRooms. Simple and intuitive with consistent experience across any device. Simple layout and navigation. Search course content. Course tools (Reports, Gradebook, Outcomes, Badges, etc..) based on course settings. Express Theme Allows for full customization of theme. Current theme for homepage. Allows for customized menu bar at top of frontpage and course pages. Allows for blocks to be docked. If you are missing a specific feature from a previous theme please let me know.  Sometimes there are designs in the available themes that are not widely known. Need help? Support is available in person, by phone, over email through the ATC. 24/7 support available through our self-help guides on our knowledge base – help.lanecc.edu/atc [...] Read more...
September 1, 2015The Gradebook is the largest change to Moodle 2.8.  Below is a brief overview of the largest changes to the gradebook.  If you would like an additional comprehensive resource our friends at Southern Oregon University has put together a great “What’s new in 2.8” guide: http://moodle.sou.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=424233&chapterid=20960  The new and updated gradebook has many new enhancements that will allow for greater communication between instructors and students. Natural Aggregation Natural Aggregation is the default aggregation method.  It has taken the place of “Sum of Grades” aggregation. Advantages to “Natural Aggregation”: Items not yet graded will not count against a students overall course grade (if “exclude empty grades” is enabled). Each item has a “natural weight” – this is the weight the item has on the course total based on its available points and the course total available points. Each time a grade item is added (or removed) Moodle will automatically recalculate the weights of each item based on the course total. You can edit the weight of an item simply by editing the settings of the item. Setup The “Setup” tab has replaced the old “Categories and Items” tab. To make any adjustments just click on the “Edit” dropdown menu. Extra Credit Edit the settings on any items – click the “Extra credit” box within the items settings. When you view your items within the Setup page you will see a “+” next to any item marked as extra credit. Single View Great way to enter grades, view all of a single students grades, and/or view all of the grades for a specific item. On the Single View Page use the drop-down menus to display a grade item or student. You can enter grades and feedback directly into the available areas when viewing a single grade item. You can also “Perform Bulk Insert” for empty or all grades.  Note: if you have “exclude empty grades” enabled you will need to add 0’s for all empty grades if a student failed to submit. The new gradebook is great!  However, it may take a little getting used to. Additional Training and help: Self-enroll into Course Building course and complete the Gradebook section: https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50632§ion=2  Visit, call, email the ATC and ask any Gradebook questions you may have: https://www.lanecc.edu/atc Use our self-help knowledgebase to search and find documentation on how to setup your gradebook: https://help.lanecc.edu/ATC/Knowledgebase/List/Index/50/gradebook  [...] Read more...
September 1, 2015[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NVRdvnqP_Kq5xOrfPa4o_wY3153Q5zLf/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
August 27, 2015We will be constructing a series of posts that highlight key updates from Moodle 2.8.  Todays post will highlight the new Collaborate Ultra plugin. As promised the Blackboard Collaborate module has been updated to Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.  Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is a web conferencing integration within Moodle that is perfect for any online, hybrid, or traditional course.  Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is perfect for online lectures, office hours, tutoring, online meetings, etc. What is the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Experience”? Because we still have some courses running session on the old Blackboard Collaborate we will continue supporting the old plugin through the Fall term.  We will no longer support the old version of Blackboard Collaborate starting Winter term.  If you need training on how to manage the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra plugin please contact the ATC for training opportunities. When adding a Blackboard Ultra session please make sure to select “Collaborate” and not “Blackboard Collaborate Session”.  We understand the naming convention is confusing and are working to edit the plugin names to something more intuitive. If you have questions or would like to request training please contact the ATC – atc@lanecc.edu   [...] Read more...
August 11, 2015The Summer LCC Moodle 2.8 update has been applied with any problems on July 9th.  There have been a couple kinks we have found that we are working out.  If you come across any please let me know (steevesk@lanecc.edu). I have completed updating our Moodle Training Courses and available Workshops.  You can find what we have available within the Trainings and Workshops page! Contact me with any questions regarding the Summer update and/or if you would like to schedule a face-to-face or webinar training for you and your team. [...] Read more...
July 26, 2015National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute at Lane Community College Digital Humanities at the Community College If we talk about literacy, we have to talk about how to enhance our children’s mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative, and involved lives: I know! Let’s start with the teachers… July 13-17, 2015 I was privileged this summer to be on the faculty of a summer institute funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, written by my colleague Anne McGrail. It was my job to introduce digital storytelling to the fellows (as they are called), who came from all over the United States. There were two projects. The first we accomplished as a group in twenty-four hours. Borrowing an idea I learned from my mentor Alan Levine, I had everyone point their cell phones at an object in the world and spontaneously record how that was a metaphor for what is important to remember about teaching digital humanities. They e-mailed me their 15 second clips, and I cobbled them together quickly into this video, which was shown on the second day of the institute: And then I threw the Really Big Challenge at them:   The rest of the week went by quickly as my project was supposed to be a small part of the overall experience. I’m not sure it turned out that way because the last day was our Film Festival, which I thought was a Very Big Deal, indeed! Just about everyone had done some version of the project, to my pride and joy. Of course, in the midst of this flurry of intense activity, I had to demo the digital storytelling making process from start to finish. I was asking them to do really rough and ready work–no time for perfectionism or refinements–and I felt I had to (actually was forced to) abide by that maxim. So this is the digital story I made alongside my students and showed to kick off the Film Fest on Friday at the end of the Institute. It’s hard for me to post something with such a rough sound track: I was out in the atrium, holding my cell phone up to my mouth, and what can I say? Those are field conditions! A final word of thanks to Anne McGrail for including me on the faculty of this wonderful Institute, and a special thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for their generous funding of this project. [...] Read more...
June 19, 2015Instructors –  The Moodle Summer update will be applied on July 9th (specific times TBD).  Below is a review of what will be changing as a result of the update.  If you would like any Moodle training or have any questions please contact the ATC.  If you would like to test these features NOW on our LCC Moodle Test (Sandbox) site please let us know. Only 4 themes available: Clean, SNAP (responsive Mobile friendly theme), Express, and More themes are available.  All other themes have been removed by Moodle core and are no longer supported. To view screens shots of each theme please see: https://help.lanecc.edu/ATC/Knowledgebase/Article/View/898   GRADEBOOK: New Grader report (the main interface showing all grades): Uses the whole window Smooth, stable scrolling in all directions Works on all platforms, including phones and tablets MDL-18229 – A new Single view mode allows editing of any row or column on its own Allows quick editing of any cell without reloading. New Natural weighting aggregation method MDL-43378 – Combines grades simply Clearer interface for using weights Supports extra credit, excluded grades, hidden grades Can remove the need to use any other aggregations New Grade history report MDL-46191 – A grade history report lists full details of all grade changes Improved Grader setup page (for defining items and categories) New design Easier terminology and clearer layout Bugs fixed relating to how grades are added in some scenarios Prevents loss of data when you leave the window Improved User report New design Clearer calculations MDL-47064 – Contributions column explains grade calculations Improved Grade import/export Improved interface MDL-46547 – Copy/paste import direct from spreadsheet programs Robust handling of null data or bad data Locked grade items are now protected from imports Export to multiple display types (Letter, Percentage…) Forum MDL-1626 – You can subscribe to get email copies of individual discussions MDL-3714 – You can now reply to forum posts received by email, and even include attachments MDL-8501 – You can jump to the next and previous discussions easily MDL-36929 – New discussions are displayed in full recent activity report MDL-41708 – Attachments are displayed in the same order as they were uploaded Assignment MDL-39929 – Option of adding additional files for use in the assignment, such as answer templates MDL-45965 – New capability that allows to control which grader receives notifications Choice MDL-3034 – More than one choice can now be made External tool MDL-45843 – LTI 2.0 support MDL-44902 – Various additions and bug fixes for the external tool Quiz New quiz-building page MDL-43089 – The page where you assemble your questions to make a quiz has been completely re-build to make it much easier an more efficient to use. For example you can now drag-and drop questions to re-order them or move them between pages. Other MDL-37993 – New completion options: Can apply when a passing grade achieved or all attempts are used Lesson MDL-38106 – Now includes Introduction like other modules MDL-38560 – Better handling of images in questions Workshop MDL-31936 – Workshop submissions and/or assessments can be removed during the course reset Analytics Event monitor: can look for patterns of events and send you notifications More detailed logging and events have been added, especially around grades Usability MDL-45893 – New user menu in Clean theme: shows your profile on-screen in the header and allows quick access to personal pages. MDL-18014 – The Atto editor can now automatically save drafts of your texts so you don’t lose anything if any unexpected disasters occur MDL-45897 – Improved My Home page: better default blocks MDL-45884 – My Courses are collapsed by default MDL-46022 – Possible to create dividers in custom menu Other things MDL-16474 – Single-item scales: now you can implement “Like” buttons with no downside! MDL-47197 – Users can add files to their private files area by emailing them as attachments MDL-44725 – The experimental setting ‘Group members only’ has been removed, with the group and grouping restrictions in conditional activities now providing this functionality MDL-46481 – New faster backup method that just uses defaults MDL-20367 – Decimal numbers may be used to define boundaries for grade letters MDL-43472 – It is possible for manager to move courses on the Search courses result screen MDL-40351 – Course categories can be displayed for courses on My home page MDL-46450 – Activity names in the availability description now have links MDL-45991 – Ability to ignore users that are already in groups when auto-creating groups MDL-46524 – Auto-create groups from existing group or grouping membership MDL-32450 – DragMath is no longer distributed in Moodle Any questions please let us know!  Have a great summer! ~Kevin [...] Read more...
June 12, 2015The Elephant in the Headlights By Mark Harris. Originally conceived for the Community College Moment theme of the Changing Classroom, but repurposed for the Cultural Competency Conversation. Before I was employed at Lane in 1990, I collaborated with some faculty of color at Lane, to attempt to have mandatory cultural competency training for all Lane Employees. Though the construct that ended up in the Diversity Plan was created by a professional of color, Terry Cross, of PSU, Cultural Competency is not about being “politically correct” with Brown People, but more about competently serving White People from a Medical Perspective of optimal client / student outcomes. While there are a good many systems of discrimination in operation, when the Elephant in the room is Race, do you react to the sighting of the elephant as if its Dumbo, Jumbo, or Ganesha? That is to say, the choice between myopic “Kumbaya” sentimentality, fear-tinged paralytic xenophobic fascination, or skill based responses to the opportunities, we face? “The changing classroom, where building skill for dealing with difficult realities, transgresses the traditional mainstream notion of what is polite conversation. In recent developments, Lane’s students in the face of continued sexual orientation and racial harassment from some faculty, are continuing to push for mandatory cultural competency training. While the initiatives are supported by organized faculty, classified, and management, of color and their allies, they are opposed by faculty leadership, who seem by default, to be siding with the perpetrators of such violence. With the glare of scrutiny, they find themselves like deer in the headlights, reacting with fear and ignorance, when they are supposed to be modeling knowledge, wisdom, and skill.” “You don’t seem racist to me”, he said. We were in an exam room in Student Health. He was there because he was seeking help with his fifth of vodka a day habit. “Um, why do you think I’m racist?” After all, I’m one of the one’s trying to talk you into living, teaching you how to live in a different way. Mona is even trying to make arrangements to take care of your dog. “Actually, it’s my roommate who thinks you’re racist”. His drinking buddy, who drinks a 30 beer case a day. Clearly an objective judge of character, but often when you bring up difficult subjects, when the usual social default is silence, then you are often accused of the very thing you’re pointing out. “It’s something you said on TV, what was once, what was once…” he trailed off. “Ah, It was in my African-American Experience class. The reason white people should study Black History, is because Black History is American History, and what was once done to us because of race, is now being done to you for the money, so you best to be hip to the game that is being run on you.” “Yeah, that’s it!” “So what’s racist about that? “That’s just being real.” “Yeah, you’re right”. A racist, would simply let you die, I thought. After all, we were strangers, except you saw me on TV, which is not really knowing me. Now I’m sitting next to you arguing for your life, because you are killing yourself. Or as I’m fond of observing, addiction is slavery, and you are fully and willfully enslaved. In effect committing autogenocide, as I call it. You’re drowning in drink and willfully letting go of the lifeline I threw you. On a macro level I know, as many African-American addictions professionals believe, an addicted population, is a controlled population. You get traumatized, and the only coping skills you are presented with, render you incapable of acting to change the conditions that traumatized you. There is a precept that came out of African-American women’t treatment: “It’s not what’s wrong with you, it’s what happened to you.” A diagnosis, is a description, not an answer, or solution. What happened to you to think that a fifth a day was normal behavior? I cannot treat it as simply a lapse in personal responsibility, if A. You were never taught coping skills to deal with common life traumas, and B. Substances were made available to you as the normal solution to coping. Someone is making money from your misery. I moved to Lane from a situation as a consultant in the employ of governments, where my classrooms were hotel conference rooms outside academe. The goal was to train a workforce in a quasi-medical field, i.e. addictions treatment. It’s a field which goes through rapid evolutionary changes over a period of months. I found it a slight transition, moving my skill set to Lane Community College, where instruction goes on in many faculty’s view, only in their classroom, or their offices. Such is the priesthood of the ivory tower, which believes it exclusively mints and confers legitimate knowledge, for the civilized domestication of the unwashed and unlettered masses. Yeah, in their dreams. The reality outside the ivory tower, where students have learned from a rougher and more unforgiving tutelage, is vastly different. The school of hard knocks confers and mints its own legitimated knowledge, the street has its reasons whereof the ivory tower knows not. “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of… We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart.” – Blaise Pascal” We know the truth, not only through the ivory tower, but through the street. That particular instance I mentioned above, was a time where the classroom moved out of the studio, (“Your that TV guy”) into the health clinic. The curriculum was being co-taught by the nurse practitioner, the doctor, the medical office assistant, and the treatment center at the other end of the telephone line. It was to move from the health clinic, to the back of a marked Public Safety patrol car, and going to Buckley House for detox. I rode in the back with him, even though he said he was no stranger to the back of a police car, and I hadn’t been in the back of one since just after high school. But the lesson continued, into the classroom of the real world. I’m used to a pedagogy where the boundaries of instruction move outside of a classroom, into the world, and back. Who is the teacher, and who is the taught? What is the lesson, and what is the world that the lesson has wrought? There is a reciprocal and intersectional relationship between the knowledge of the student, the experience of the teacher and the material we both learn. In teaching Addiction Studies and Ethnic Studies, and being a maroon (African-Native genetic and cultural hybrid), there is no way the hidden hand of history, doesn’t get into the material, nor the influence of Intersectional patterned systems of discrimination imported to this continent from Europe in 1492. In the changing classroom of the 21st Century, ancient topics must mix with contemporary understanding. Old school book smarts, with street-smart technology. There is an adage about old age and treachery will beat youth and skill. When that meets the brick and mortar, ivy league, ivory tower classroom, bastion and mint of legitimated knowledge. We see knowledge whose intent is effectively designed to keeps treacherous old white men and their heirs of any description ascendant. That ivory tower is being shaken up by other bodies of knowledge, changing laws and social norms, as well as technologies, which may be new to the old dogs, but are not in fact new tricks, just new to those particular types of dogs. Twenty-one years ago I was two years into my tenure at Lane. In that year bell hooks published her book Teaching To Transgress. In it she wrote of what I would call The Way of the Southern Black Educator: Education as Social Service Uplift. It always required you be grounded in the community, and that your classroom might move to a kitchen table, or a church basement, to the polls. Education was a Civil Rights Issue, and often involved Civil Rights Struggle. This made you a target. Steeped in a culture of resistance within the segregated South, it expresses an urbane erudite response to White Supremacy. Or the Columbus-Discovered-America-White-People-Civilized-the-Brown-People-Slavery Uplifted Black People from a Condition of Savagery-Women are Weak and Inferior curriculum which supports settler colonialism, over indigineity, not to mention other forms of discrimination. While we were steeped in that curriculum, we gave ourselves the mission of cultivating Black leaders out of the poorest of the poor. Make a Way out of No Way. Build pyramids out of the rejected social stones that mainstream society rejected. Well, still rejects, no matter what their credentialing or demonstrated skill. (Yea, verily, even at Lane). We were expected to do this, with decreasing, little, or no resources, yet we still had to produce results, and be accountable to our community and changing times. Indeed, I had to adapt this code to be able to succeed and transforming 4th Generation White Racist Biker Meth Cooks, with 4th grade educations, into addictions professionals. We were raised with a code. Its adherents were taught to internally cultivate the Al-Gebraic expression 2x + y = x/2. Where x is what Peggy Macintosh would call White Male Privilege. Her invisible knapsack of maps, code books, pass words, passed memetically from generation to generation. What bell hooks refers to as White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy, or Allan Johnson, The Matrix of Domination. Then the expression is jidrashically interpreted to read: “You have to be twice as good as a white man to be considered equal and then hard as you work, you will only get half as much, progress half as far. Half x, you’ll never measure up, if (As Dubois said in the Souls of Black Folk) you measure your Soul Self, by their tape. Al-Gebra in Arabic means The Mending. The image is of a broken stick, with the equal sign of Justice in between. What you do to one side, you do to the other, what you do above, you do below. I didn’t learn that in Math class, I had to learn it from a Palestinian born in Jerusalem, now a prominent restauranteur and peace activist. In Arabic, the term jidrash, like the word in its sister language Hebrew, midrash, means to freely and personally improvise an interpretation from scripture. In math its simply taught as a calculation method, but in its culture of origin it’s a spiritual problem solving discipline. To reinforce that you have all the answers inside of you already, to any problem. Do the hardest thing first. Go to the center of the greatest pain, attack the greatest fear. Order of Operations (PEMDAS in Math, PLFDAS in Afrocentric Optimal Psychology) directs you to do the hardest thing first, and follow logically until you reach an answer. One of the answers, is, in the face of continuing oppression, the response is to become more Human, than the Oppressor. In Optimal Psychology you move through Pain, Loss, Fear, Depression, Anger, to Serenity. This is Al-Gebra as a Spiritual problem solving memetic discipline. Not simply Mathematical computation, as its taught outside of the cultural context in which it was born. To heal, to mend from oppression, go to the center of the greatest Pain, the greatest Loss, the thing you Fear the most. Go to the center of the coldest Depression, Warm it. The hottest Anger, cool it. Float on the Ocean of Serenity, gather your Breath, your Spirit, your Axe, your power to make things happen, your Joy. Dive Deep, Breach Tall. Jidrash in Arabic, Midrash, in Hebrew, both can lead to radical reformation because of the free and personally adapted multiple meanings in a single word. Thus they could easily develop cultures of covert transgression against overt systemic oppression. A Hidden Curriculum of Liberation if you will. It was this curriculum that forms a great deal of my work at Lane, in spite of the resistance to such work one encounters at Lane. I can control whatever content I deliver with the caveat that I source the material, and clearly delineate when its my personal belief, or opinion, and why I hold them. It seems like often the resistance comes in the form of disrespecting the messenger, even when the message is of benefit of all. In the case of the student whose best friend is vodka, even if he thought I was a racist, he still displayed more respect than some of my colleagues, but then again I was working to save his life. I teach in a transgressive classroom, mindful of the elephant in the room. Thinking on the layered ironies of an elephant in a room, in the ivory tower, and playing with that image. Some are content with merely feeding peanuts, to the elephant in the room. In other words, acknowledge that it exists, briefly and move on, leaving the elephant in place. Not questioning its continued presence, how long it has been there, or how it got there, or even whether it should be there, or be let free. My transgression, is not simply feeding snacks to metaphorical pachyderms, but developing skill in the identification of the species of ivory bearing lifeforms, and training it for freedom. In order to build an ivory tower, many lifeforms, of which Elephant, hippopotami, walrus, pig, sperm whale, and narwhal ivory have been historically used. Elephants have been the principle species, and being intelligent enough to mourn their dead, one wonders what they would make of being imprisoned inside a tower made of the body parts of their relatives. Would that, like the captive orcas in the documentary Blackfish, drive the elephant into insane homicidal rages. Should the elephant be righteously angry, and be allowed to express that anger? There are states in this country, which incarcerate thousands of juveniles, with developmental or mental health issues, transfer them to adult prison, put them in solitary confinement for decades, and release them, untreated, unsupervised, into their communities. Untreated Mental Health issues, Rage, and PTSD. Throw in a little Meth, Alcohol…. That’s always good for community health, particularly in our community where similar individuals reside and come to Lane. Where we are their primary health care provider. Actually they have been coming to Lane for my entire tenure here, a fact, many would like to ignore. That would be another type of elephant in the room. Where the elephant in the room is race, some people approach the subject as if they were deer in the headlights. With fear, and they freeze up. Even if the subject is unvoiced, but still extant in the form of the feared “other”, a person’s fears can be projected onto that other. If an elephant, were transfixed in the headlights of an on coming car, and the car stops, the elephant is quite capable of destroying the vehicle. A raging elephant, cannot be calmed by feeding it peanuts. Particularly if it is in a building build on the unforgettable suffering of its fellows. This is the danger of being a transgressor in the ivory tower. You remember the stories of suffering in the very walls around you. You are not angry yourself, but the stories you tell of others suffering, naming and giving voice to that suffering, then what you do ignites outrage in others. If you name the elephant in the room Jumbo, the image is of a big mad, raging elephant. If the elephant in the room is Dumbo, then all intelligence flees, and a person stands transfixed, unable to progress, only able to discuss and fixate on their fears. And not focusing much on courageously moving on from their fears. Then the elephant is reduced to a cartoon. It’s as if a diversity historical narrative gets reduced to a Columbus glorification, where the glories of western civilization are bestowed on a native populace, with all the attendant pain and suffering, glossed over. It’s a cartoon Dumbo, who believes he can fly, holding a feather in his trunk, with crows to egg him on. Cartoon Diversity. Fear of flight dispelled by a feather, black crows to encourage you to flight. It’s this notion that systemic inequities can be dispelled by training alone, that can be part of the problem. Which doesn’t mean training shouldn’t happen. Our skill with bicycles often came with training wheels, until we developed skills of Inner Balance. Dumbo, can move through the stages of Jumbo, to become Ganesha. Most of my classes are televised on educational cable, then You Tubed. So in effect, for me the classroom extends beyond credit students, into the larger world There was this white dude, out of the blue, emails me. Two different names on the email, so I’m inclined to think somebody known, or encountered before, channel surfing late at night. Saying, I need to change my schtick, like I play the race card too much, which for some white folks, means mentioning systemic oppression exists at all, is saying too much. Saying I’m playing the race card. Yawn, so tired of that metaphor. I don’t play poker, this ain’t no card game. If anything it’s combat basketball, played by Black streetball rules, No Blood, No Foul. You don’t expect to be unscathed taking it to the hole. Don’t expect me to avoid contact with you. If you don’t like my answers, you should stop asking scary questions, or find a true answer that works. I was making the point in that particular class about epigentics, and addictions being induced in certain populations, by mass murder, genocide, famine, war. Conquest of the Irish, Russians, and Germans, by the English, Genghis, and the Romans, leading to heavy drinking patterns among them. Particularly when the cultural moderating influences (i.e. the wise women) are burned at the stake, raped, and enslaved. Native Americans and whisky-firewater, when their chiefs, medicine people who advocate abstinence and not trading land for firewater, are imprisoned or killed. American White women, being mass diagnosed as hysterical, and prescribed heroin as the cure. This from the same group, college trained white men, the precursors and mentees of the founders of the American Medical, and the American Psychological Associations, that defined African-American slaves as mentally ill, for escaping slavery. And to this day, APA. refuses to acknowledge any psychological or emotional pain or trauma from 700 years of racism. In class, I thought I was simply spreading the pain around, allowing white people the same understanding that we people of color are allowed to have, a healing culture of resistance. Particularly when its other white people you are aiming your resistance to. To take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them. An essential praxis. What some people call a schtick, others call an essential practice of genius. It takes courage. What Maya Angelou calls the one essential virtue. Courage is the greatest virtue because without it you cannot use any of the others consistently. You can employ the others sporadically, or as she says erratically, but to employ them consistently you need courage first. To speak up, and not be silent, even if it isn’t popular. To be grateful you have the vision and the courage to bring it, to fruition, or take it to the hole, or breaking the plane of the goal, whatever motivates you. Even if you fail, you tried, and you be grateful fo’ de lesson. Lest we forget, Einstein once gave the following answer to a rabbi’s question about how to talk to his daughter about racism: “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the ‘universe’ limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons close to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from our prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all humanity and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. “ – Albert Einstein. (Quoted in H Eves Mathematical Circles Adieu (Boston 1977) I emailed that back to “schtick” man. I’m not sure he got it. Because he misquotes Hamlet… Methinks the lady doth protest too much. A part of me is thinking ghetto, Oh so you callin’ me a teary bitch now. So I came back with Othello…, I fetch my life and being From men of royal siege, and my demerits May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune As this that I have reach’d: for know, Iago, But that I love the gentle Desdemona, I would not my unhoused free condition Put into circumscription and confine For the sea’s worth. Shakespeare, identifies Othello as a Moor, by which the Greeks, and Romans referred to Black Africans. Africans, not being savages in grass skirts, were no strangers to military adventures in European theaters. From Memnon and the Honorable Ethiopians at Troy, the two conquests of the Iberian Peninsula, 1150 B.C, and the period between 711 – 1492 A.D., where millions of European war captives were enslaved in North Africa, whether in harems, or stables. Where Othello’s from, Royal Worth is the ability to bring many people together in wisdom and p(i)e(a)ce them together, utilizing their differences as if they were parts of an orchestra, like Prince, or Dizzy Gillespie, The Duke of Ellington, The Count of Basie, King Sunny Ade, Queen Latifah, or Sir Quincy Jones, not to mention the Honorable Herbie Hancock. Africa is the source of our strength, America is the test of our strength. America made jazz, blues, gospel, rock and roll, as necessary, as erudition and numeracy. Shakespeare recognized that racism exists, but as Odetta sang…”You don’t know my mind, and if you see me laughin’, I’m laughin’ just to keep from cryin’ “. When you transgress in speaking about serious subjects, it is often of use to use a bit of humor. Basically, when the elephant in the room is Dumbo, mistakes are made for lack of intelligence, in all senses of that word, but principally emotional intelligence. More specifically, empathy. Unless you are by nature xenophilic, you fear the alien other. When the elephant in the room is Jumbo, then reactions from fear, rule the day. You are like a deer in the headlights, frozen in place in fear of, for example, the imagined or real “Angry Black Man”. The fear of a calm, erudite, and educated Black Man, trumps, imagined angry ghetto ignorant Black Man. The reactions to either, reacting from rightful concern or anger, causes those who other, to be frozen, repulsed, in fear and awe, or fear and oh no! Pessimistically, the difference between a liberal and a conservative at a lynching, is neither will act to stop it. The liberal will wring their hands and eulogize the dead, the conservative will think the lynched person had it coming, and defend the lyncher’s free speech rights. The clear and simple solution is action, not talking. A radical might take action immediately to stop the lynching using any means necessary. Not just lynching, but any hate crime. Act to prevent, act to succor the targets, act to bring restorative justice to the targets and the perpetrator. Optimally, I like to think of the elephant in the room as Ganesha, remover of obstacles. “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage, can seldom see through his bars of rage, his wings are clipped and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing.” “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and its tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.” “The free bird thinks of another breeze, an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees, and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn, and he names the sky his own.” But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing”. – excerpted from the original, Maya Angelou In order to remove the obstacle, as Angelou writes, to free the caged bird, the caged bird must understand the structure of the cage its in. Preferably, from birds like itself, but alternatively, from free birds. Not to just simply sing of freedom, but the actual practice of freedom. When the elephant in the room is Ganesha, (Remover of obstacles and ensurer of success among human endeavors, patron of arts and sciences, writing and letters, and the deva of intellect and wisdom), then a realm of possibilities opens up beyond the rage of Jumbo, and the ignorance of Dumbo. In the Matrix of Domination, (Settler-Colonialist Hetero-Patriarchy, White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy, the System, the Man, among other names and guises), Oppressor and Oppressed alike are caught within that Matrix, both caged birds. To successfully extricate us caged birds, we might listen to the songs of free birds. Who knows white male privilege, better than its first target, white women? And who to write the seminal or at least widely used paper, on White Privilege, than Peg Macintosh, and use it to teach white people about white privilege. The danger or the challenge in the racial realpolitik, is if you are a person of color, instructionally using Macintosh, you are accused of reverse racism. If you are a white person using Macintosh, all of a sudden depending on your gender, you are accepted, or rejected. Macintosh’s delineation of up to 46 separate privileges of whiteness, reveals uncomfortable truths on their own. The references to other works, for example the Combahee River Collective Statement, presages her further work beyond that 1988 paper. That is, there are other worldviews, non-white worldviews, to which her work is like the differences between pre-school ABC’s, and a post doctorate fellowship. This illustrates some issues around cultural competency, where that early scholarship on how to negotiate issues of race, predates Macintosh by a good eight and a half decades to a century. This canon generally remains invisible, even though it is written in the English language. But Dubois, Delaney, Fanon, Baldwin, Davis, Karenga, Walker, Pierce, Poussaint, Myers, to name a few who span that time period to the present. Three of them Harvard trained, or Harvard faculty. I was apprised by an African-American applicant for a faculty position, of an odd experience he had during a job interview, simulation. The simulation involved a white male faculty member, playing a white male student, who had issues with the assignment: Macintosh’s White Male Privilege. The applicant told me, “Look Macintosh is old, there are more daring writings on the subject, it was a safe choice on their part. I felt confident, and I’d had that conversation many times with white male students. White females, and minorities of either gender, get it immediately. So I’d done it before, because a lot of predominately white organizations use it. So I was used to having to defend it in my institution.” “After all, our job is to teach new concepts, and expression in writing, which means the student has to stretch a little. It’s not like I gave out bell hooks….” He said. “The title chapter of Killing Rage?” I asked. He nodded. “I use that too.” “But if Macintosh is salt and pepper, bell is jalapeno. Killing Rage is habanero, most run of the mill white dudes can’t hang with dat flava. Too Real.” I said. “True dat” he said. “I didn’t get the gig. I was really into the simulation, I felt I gave a brilliant defense of Macintosh, I mean I’ve met her, and studied her later work. Trippy thing about those continents, mountains, rivers thing.” He was referring to Macintosh positing culture, like a continent with differing values symbolized by mountains, rivers that flow from them, and other natural features. The French derived English word salient, refers to mountains seen in profile from a plain. Different peaks, different heights, different cultures place greater importance on different things. White Male culture, values different things, places different salience, than White Female culture, or other cultural characteristics. “Ultimately, I didn’t get the gig. I think they were threatened by my passion for the material. I think the white people interpreted it as anger. I wasn’t feeling angry, didn’t raise my voice, kept an even tone, was patient, after all it was a job interview, and I have a doctorate. An educated black man is threatening to some people.” He shrugged. “Of course I checked the place out before hand with my contacts. Other black professors warned me against applying, there, the place has a reputation about being hostile to black people in particular.” It was reminiscent of my own experiences teaching at Lane, using Macintosh with white students, and the objections you often get from white male students. They feel, they don’t have any privilege, and feel that they are discriminated against, and passed over for jobs via affirmative action etc. So, they want another assignment. And I refuse, because understanding the assignment is a prerequisite to going further into other material. You wouldn’t skip times tables, fractions, negative integers, in becoming numerate. You can’t skip White Male Privilege in understanding Intersectionality, which is essentially what the student is describing. Macintosh cites Combahee River, which is a collective of Black Lesbians, who write about a system of interlocking systems of discrimination, I teach as C2 R2A3 S H (C lassism /militarism Racism spirituality Addiction Ability Age Sexism, Heterosexism.) Therefore, when Ganesha is the elephant in the room, you show how the system that normalizes racism and calls me nigger, calls you poor white trash, and her a ball cutting bitch, because we assert our equality, confers privilege and dominance on you, so that even if I’m a PhD, you can still consider me an uppity nigger, her a bitch, and feel superior. So the culturally appropriate principle among Ganesha devotees, is that you don’t back down when the subject is racism. You have an adult skill building conversation based on the available literature, and modified by experience. You don’t avoid the subject, you approach it with reverence and skill. You don’t feed peanuts to Ganesha. But over come your fear, and offer laddu / prasad. Recognize recognize the laddus often depicted at Ganesha’s feet, requires humility and knowledge to prepare. The changing classroom, where building skill for dealing with difficult realities, transgresses the traditional mainstream notion of what is polite conversation. In recent developments, Lane’s students in the face of continued sexual orientation and racial harassment from some faculty, are continuing to push for mandatory cultural competency training. While the initiatives are supported by organized faculty of color and their allies, they are opposed by faculty leadership, who seem by default, to be siding with the perpetrators of such violence. With the glare of scrutiny, they find themselves like deer in the headlights, reacting with fear and ignorance, when they are supposed to be modeling knowledge, wisdom, and skill. If they would look through that glare, with third eye glasses, they would see Ganesha in the headlights, proffering his tray of wisdom conferring laddus, bidding us, eat. [...] Read more...
June 11, 2015Fanon wrote of Sociostructural Violence, where violence perpetrated by systems, was normalized. As a Fanonian, I don’t expect loyalty from institutions which were born and bred to betray me. Whose raison d’etre is betrayal, however much I depend on them. More recently there have been writings regarding Institutional Betrayal. When I raised the question “Why should you trust institutions that were designed to betray you?” I was told, that design was besides the point. You come to depend, or are forced to depend on the institutions, and that’s where the betrayal comes in. That produced in me a familiar doublethink, DuBois once called Dual Consciousness. Peter Bell referred to it as being successfully schizophrenic. Loyal to America and the American dream, but not surprised when she fails you. Like the Delaney Sisters…”I love my country, but my country doesn’t always love me back.”   http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/institutionalbetrayal/ Institutional Betrayal The term “Institutional Betrayal” refers to wrongdoings perpetrated by an institution upon individuals dependent on that institution, including failure to prevent or respond supportively to wrongdoings by individuals (e.g. sexual assault) committed within the context of the institution. The term “Institutional Betrayal” as connected with Betrayal Trauma Theory is discussed in more detail in various publications, including in a section starting on page 201 of Platt, Barton, & Freyd (2009) and in a 2013 research report (Smith & Freyd, 2013). Institutional betrayal is a core focus of the book Blind to Betrayal, by Freyd and Birrell, 2013. Currently the most definitive exploration of institutional betrayal is presented in the American Psychologist (Smith & Freyd, 2014). Betrayal Blindness Betrayal blindness is the unawareness, not-knowing, and forgetting exhibited by people towards betrayal. The term “betrayal blindness” was introduced by Freyd (1996), and expanded in Freyd (1999) and Freyd and Birrell (2013) in the context of Betrayal Trauma Theory. This blindness may extend to betrayals that are not traditionally considered “traumas,” such as adultery, and also to institutional betrayal. Victims, perpetrators, and witnesses may display betrayal blindness in order to preserve relationships, institutions, and social systems upon which they depend. (Also, see Eileen Zurbriggen’s essay on Betrayal Trauma in the 2004 Election.) The reality on the ground is that those with privilege are often perceptually impaired: blind, deaf, unfeeling, non-empathic, to those without privilege. So they construct systems, institutions, policy, procedures, to cover the contingencies which affect them, but no one else. [...] Read more...
June 11, 2015There is an inherent conflict that amounts to Civil Rights Struggle, in the on-going efforts supporting Diversity at Lane. One of those conflicts often revolves around whose rules of order should be in operation. I suggest Longhouse Rules. Longhouse Rules of Order “We bring our de-colonized human Selves into spaces that have been colonized, whose intent is to specifically deny our humanity.” – Jim Garcia From a communication about the difference between a predominately white organization which uses Robert’s Rules of Order, attempting to engage with an older Sovereign Indigenous Nation: “Funny, how when you are with people who respect each other there do not need to be “rules of order.” There is the respect of interaction that is inherent in the relationship and the interaction. Those who are respected simply remind others on how to treat each other, if the need arises and all is good. The rules are there because there is power in conflict and the only way to “try to contain the devil” is to make rules. But, alas, you can’t unleash the devil and expect him to behave.” – Ruth Bichsel, Ph.D. (Dine’), FABPS, FACFEI, AHTA, HS-BCP CERT I witnessed a historic event at the Diversity Council which met on Martin’s actual Birthday, Wednesday January 15th 2014. In short, the historic event was the attempt led by two or more white men, to expel or disempower two or more ethnic minorities from membership in, and leadership of, Diversity Council. In all the decades that Diversity Team, and then Diversity Council existed, no one had ever tried to expel another member for any reason, because no one ever saw a reason to until now. The following meeting, in Black History Month, brought proposals for creating term limits for members. Where following the Longhouse custom, term limits had never been applied. Those who are on a Council serve as long as they are willing, able, and share the respect of other council members. Other council members who do not try to remove them, because of a disagreement. Diversity Council’s charter allows for it to expand its membership as necessary to achieve its goals. To me it was utterly predictable if it ever happened, who would attempt to, counter this tradition. I hate being right. In the spirit of what I call CCK, Columbus, Cavalry, Klan, certain demographics come with a historical and current dehumanizing predisposition. This in effect, denies history, agency, credibility, and occupies a stance of assumed superiority. This stance can negate traditional or longstanding practices, by which formerly dehumanized groups, use to assert their humanity, and practice equity, in what amounts to Civil Rights Struggle. The creation of the governance system, allowed for the initial exclusion of some of those who had down foundational diversity work, and allowed those who had never actively supported beleaguered diverse “others”, to be appointed on the council. Knowing the meeting was going to be contentious, girding myself for battle, putting on my game face, before the meeting, I decided to check in with Jim Garcia, who as the first Diversity Coordinator, facilitated Diversity Team meetings, collaboratively developed Diversity Plans, and set certain standards for the college like Terry Cross’ Cultural Competency Continuum. “We bring our de-colonized human Selves into spaces that have been colonized, whose intent is to specifically deny our humanity.” – Jim Garcia While General Henry Martyn Robert, was the son of a man opposed to slavery, who became the first president of Morehouse College, i.e. not explicitly colonialist, racist, sexist, classist, his rules of order do not explicitly recognize similar, more inclusive older rules of order among civilizations and civilized nations older than Europe. These forms of democratic governance, which existed among indigenous and other nations, practiced degrees of inclusion, that I would name as Longhouse Rules of Order. Robert’s Rules, have not exactly been used to advance the purposes of Diversity, either in America, or at Lane Community College. I would advance the notion that any technology or process that doesn’t interrupt colonialism, perpetuates it. Diversity Council, has traditionally operated in a way to interrupt colonialism Longhouse Rules of Order are based on Indigenous Democratic principles formulated on this continent around 1100 AD when Europe was in the Dark Ages. They required inclusion and consideration of human and non-human points of view, and did not recognize exclusion on the basis of gender, gender expression, race, class, disability, age, religion, spirituality, national origin, or other systems of discrimination prevalent in cultures based in European and Western Colonialism. Indigenous Democracy required that you build relationships based on honesty and trust, as well as knowing the history, strengths, vulnerabilities, and opportunities for growth, in yourself and your fellow citizens. Even if you have a historically adversarial relationship, you are expected to reasonably work out your differences towards shared agreed goals. The realpolitik of “All My Relations” is different from that of “We The People”, in that All My Relations includes in the polity all recognized intelligences including non-human ones, and We The People only recognizes a polity composed of wealthy white men. Longhouse Rules of Order require an inclusive engaged diversity to operate. One that is mindful of past, present, and future, strengths, alliances, and opposition. Without articulating Longhouse Rules explicitly, Diversity Team, influenced Diversity Council, to cleave closer to Longhouse Rules of Order, more than Roberts. “Be strong of mind, O chiefs: Carry no anger and hold no grudges. Think not forever of yourselves, O chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground”.- The Peacemaker. The Peacemaker as he as known in the Iroquois Confederacy, over 800 years ago brought warring tribes of the Northeast together to form the Iroquois Confederacy. The Peacemaker’s work is preserved in the Confederacy’s traditional constitution, which had a largely unacknowledged (by mainstream historians) impact in shaping the American Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. The teachings of the Peacemaker remain vital today, offering an inspired model for consensus-building among nations and peoples throughout the world. The Chiefs, the Peacemaker is addressing, are selected (And / or unselected) by the Clan Mothers, who see to it the Chiefs serve not only the people, but past and future generations. In addition to feminine leadership, there was explicit incorporation of human diversity in all its senses. These are the people of the Eastern Longhouses, (There is also a Western Longhouse tradition native to Oregon), and also some of those who follow the Code of Handsome Lake, which among other things requires living a revivified sober indigenous life (Wellbriety Movement), counter to the alcoholism, addiction, classism, racism, sexism, and heterosexism supported by mainstream American society. Roberts Rules of course, address only temporal efficiency, the issues of equity, and justice, are unquestioned by Robert’s Rules of Order. The process by which we meet and do business, must free us, make us fuller human beings, and undo the damage being done by our larger society which attempts to and often succeeds in processes and procedures which dehumanize us. Because those of us who were not wealthy white men had to fight to regain the recognized equality we possessed before colonization and slavery, part of our strategy as American citizens, was to recognize our own forms of democracy, which were present before our exposure to European Contact, Colonization, Genocide, and Slavery. Indeed, since many Europeans (Irish, Scots) had some nascent forms of inclusive egalitarian democracy before conquest by more patriarchal cultures, these ones could also feel welcome in Diversity Team. Diversity Team at Lane Community College was composed of committed students, employees, and community members to form a place to support remaining and thriving at Lane, a place we were not always experiencing as diversity friendly, even to certain types of white people. Diversity Team membership was open, inclusive, and volunteer, there was no need to be selective, or to set term limits. If you showed up, and were willing to learn from the pain and experiences of others, work through your own pain and suffering, and teach others to learn from you, you were welcome. A good deal of time could be spent hearing people’s experiences of workplace pain and suffering, which could not be, or was not being alleviated by the complaint processes. The unions, as part of the college community, minimally or negligibly participated in D-Team, whose issues and purpose for existing, they historically ignored, even though they had a legal mandate to protect their vulnerable members from known modes of discrimination, in a hostile work environment. A number of us, found D-Team to be a refuge and a place we could vent and problem solve our frustration with union negligence, or the slow pace of change at Lane. We in BASE (Black American Staff, faculty, and Employees of Lane Community College) had formed our own informal ethnic specific organization in 1999, to deal with this internally, as well as formulate self-care responses, and policy and system change to benefit, students, employees, and the community. It was informal because we were refused both an inclusive seat on the board, nor were we approached by either bargaining unit, to understand why African-Americans might form such an organization at Lane. Twenty Five years ago, a number of faculty of color, community members, students, and staff, following the principles laid down in Cross’ Cultural Competency construct, felt some sort of training was necessary. We felt this would be predictably resisted, and began our own R&D to be implemented independently. Mandatory training has its limits, particularly with the resistant. But for those who were early adopters of advanced culturally proficient technologies, certain initiatives like the Longhouse, weren’t simply symbolic, but representative of the type of active refuge we sought. This refuge feature of D-Team remained part of the conditions when D-Team members were originally excluded when the structure of Diversity Council was first outlined in detail. This initial D-Council structure, included the unions which had ignored our concerns and working conditions and excluded those of us from D-Team, who had put in many person-years of effort over the years, including myself . I publicly asked the question “What kind of structured process creates a “Diversity Council” with no Black people on it?” “And think that’s normal behavior, and purports to be credibly using the term Diversity?” A union, and (I use IATSE as an example) assumes and supports basic skill maintenance (stage craft, carpentry, electronics, audio, video, computer literacy, scientific and technical literacy) as well as physical, emotional, and psychological, safety procedures (show up sober, rested, not under the influence, respect your and the artists crew regardless of gender, gender expression, race or class). A union, bound by law, representing us except within a grievance process, which can only respond to the legal remedies, i.e. illegal overt discrimination based on evidence, is still a culturally blind response and less than the full support mandated by the science. They stop calling you nigger, kyke, or faggot, and illegally discriminate in hiring, in the workplace, or engage in microaggressions as detailed in the literature, both psychology and desegregation case law. The answers to here’s what happen when you desegregate, diversify, and here’s what you do to desegregate, are not “rocket surgery”. My medical student daughter, used the meme rocket surgery, to illustrate that in order to do rocket surgery, you have to know anatomy, engineering, physics, and be a creative interdisciplinary generalist, because some things aren’t in the “book”. In the Longhouse Book, we expect resistance, we plan for conflict, the obvious retention problems and often hostile meeting climate, often serve to thin members who wish simply to have their projects continue. When we finally merged with D-Council, our previous culture of inclusion merged with it, and we never saw the need to set term limits (which come from a colonized sensibility in any case), nor did we see the need to develop a process for exclusion or expelling members because of our historical working relationships and mutual respect, trust, and skill in discussing difficult issues that could not receive a hearing in any other council. Indeed our charter allows for expansion of membership if our council deems a person or position necessary to do its work. Given the evolving and inclusive definitions of Diversity, this is a necessary feature of our council. Many employees of color feel our unions are at best culturally blind, if not culturally blind, allowing culturally destructive behavior: i.e allowing illegal racially discriminatory hiring, or racially hostile work environments, to exist. Knowing these patterns and places exist, one could reasonably point new hires of color, to be mentored by more senior employees of color, at least where such networks exist. Since neither the college as a whole, nor the bargaining units do this, nor recognize that discrimination exists and is ongoing, many employees of color rightfully assert, the unions do nothing to protect them. The comments which the led to the attempted deposing of Elizabeth Andrade as D-Council chair, on Jan 15, 2014, were not her own thoughts in isolation, but echoed by a great many of us, including myself. Since my position on D-Council derives from the same D-Team, D-Council merger, 10 years ago, therefore my membership is of the same basis as Elizabeth, an attack on her, is an attack on me. Which those of you who know me, know I will not be passive against such incursions on my sovereignty. As a maroon in the tradition of Al Hajj Al Malik Shabazz, I believe in self defense in meeting verbal violence assertively, articulately, on the levels that it occurs, and this creates peace. Also, while meeting such incursions, maintain a safe place to retreat to, like a Longhouse. [...] Read more...
June 3, 2015 Read more...
June 3, 2015https://youtu.be/AMDRwnSDNJE [...] Read more...
June 3, 2015https://vimeo.com/121965304 [...] Read more...
June 3, 2015This is a digital story about my experience of learning Japanese calligraphy over time. [...] Read more...
June 3, 2015Digital story on my growth as a teacher in my journey thus far by Tim Hammett. https://vimeo.com/129636884 [...] Read more...
May 11, 2015Faculty Council strongly condemns any administrative action to remove, supplant, circumvent or bypass the faculty role in reviewing and designing curriculum, an example of which is the college administration’s treatment of the Medical Office Assistant program. Any process involving program restructure at Lane must be led by the program faculty, as well as follow the Program Review process and long-established academic and empirical data standards. [...] Read more...
May 7, 2015Life Flight Training Exercise April 30 at Lane Community College EMS students were invited to watch, learn, and participate in a joint Life Flight Training Exercise with Lane County Sheriff’s Office Regional Reserve Academy, Search and Rescue (SAR), Police Agency Reserves, Public Safety, and C-CERT (Campus Community Emergency Response Team) on April 30th, 2015. The training scenario involved a mock vehicle crash scene with one patient needing to be transported by Life Flight. The helicopter will flew in, landed in the prepared landing zone and will loaded the patient. The helicopter circled the campus and returned to offload the patient as if at a hospital; and shut down for a debrief with the participants. SAR and C-CERT participants cleared and maintained the landing zone, while LCSO guided the helicopter; EMT/Paramedic students provided stabilization medical care transitioning the patient to the flight crew, assisting with the load and offload the patient. KVAL Story LCC EMS Facebook Video     [...] Read more...
April 27, 2015Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
April 25, 2015Global Conversation: Who is the 21st Century Student? Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 3-4:30 p.m. Hosted by Dawn DeWolf, Vice President Academic and Student Affairs The presentation began with a video: Teaching the 21st Century Learner Notes from the discussion following the video: In the next 5 years, we will be impacted. Who are these students? They are technology natives. For them social media is huge. Minorities are now the majority. How will it affect us? We expect a greater number of traditional students, non-white, lower-income, and first-generation. There are fewer high school students overall. The current workforce is graying. Very few staff at Lane are under 30 years old. Our current full-time staff does not reflect our current students or future students. Students are completely wired at all times. They don’t want a lecture. They want to engage with the information. They rarely use email but use social media. They may not know how to use the production side of technology. Discussion Questions What challenges, gaps, and/or disconnects do you see at Lane? What are the opportunities? What ideas do you have to address these changes? Are there other areas you would like to identify Instructions: Choose one area and use the questions above to guide your discussion. Topics from the preparatory reading: Demographic Shift Ubiquity of technology Communicating Active Learners Informal Learning Hybrid/Flipped Models New Paths Changing Brain Notes from the discussion groups Notes from the discussion group reports     [...] Read more...
April 13, 2015Dawn DeWolf, Vice President will be leading the next Global Conversation which will be held on April 15, 2015, from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in CML 214. The topic for this conversation will be Who is the 21st Century Student? Attached is an article that Dawn wants you to have/read in preparation for the conversation. The Students of the Future As with the earlier Global Conversations, this will be a wonderful opportunity to spend time with your colleagues and engage in rich conversation about a current issue that will affect education at all levels so please mark you calendar and plan to attend – and bring someone with you. [...] Read more...
March 18, 2015“Rising From the Ashes” is a digital story by Brittney Healey. She was inspired by The Last Castle by Jeannette Walls. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpy4PR3SJx8 [...] Read more...
March 18, 2015Brody Wasson took his inspiration from the book Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson.     [...] Read more...
March 18, 2015Mirna Becera’s digital story about starting life over after the death of her beloved brother takes inspiration from the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.   [...] Read more...
March 18, 2015Irene Heckman is a native of Pilot Station, Alaska. Her digital story tells of her quest to obtain computer skills, so she can go back to her village of about 800 people to teach them how to take advantage of the computing power now available to them. [...] Read more...
March 18, 2015In this digital story, Shawna Neil retraces her heroic journey from injury to the classroom. She was inspired by The Power of Our Words:Teacher Language that Helps Children Learn by Paula Denton.     [...] Read more...
March 12, 2015The Advanced Aspiring Leaders Committee met on February 27th. Participants discussed possible ideas for Spring term and for the 2015-16 Academic Year. The next meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, March 18th from 9-10am in Building 1, Room 212. [...] Read more...
March 11, 2015Global Conversation: Care and the Community College: Across Campus and into the Classroom Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 3-4:30 p.m. Hosted by Maurice Hamington, Executive Dean School of Arts and Sciences Care is a subset of Emotional Intelligence. Care ethics is relationship-centered, contextual, responsive, and values emotions. There is a distinction between care-about and care-for. Students experience it one relationship at a time, and organizations set the stage. According to Nodding, in the classroom, “the student is always more important than the subject.” Discussion Questions One of Lane’s current Core Values is Learning and one of the elements listed for this value is: “Fostering a culture of achievement in a caring community.” Table Task: Thinking about care at Lane Select a recorder and a presenter Collectively select questions to address below or create your own. You can address as many questions and in any order as you wish. Record key elements of your response on a flip chart. We will get back together as a group to discuss. Possible Questions Can you identify a Lane colleague that you consider “caring”? Is their caring a nice character to have or does it also help them be effective in their job?  How so? Given the definition of care given here, what would be caring behaviors in your workgroup or office? Is there room for improvement?  How can they be improved? What are the implications of care for our cultural competency efforts? What are the implications of care for constituency relations at Lane? What are the implications of care for student success at Lane? Is care a high impact practice?  Why or why not? Given what has been described, is care a worthwhile value for Lane to pursue as an institution?  If yes, how should we pursue it? Develop your own questions for discussion about care and Lane. Discussion Notes [...] Read more...
March 9, 2015Instructors – We had 2 errors this weekend regarding Moodle. 1.  Saturday Morning from 12:20AM to 1:35AM PST out site was down due to a misconfiguration in the security certificate. 2.  It appears the Daylight Savings Time change occurred at 6pm PST Saturday, March 7th on our site.  I am currently communicating with MoodleRooms as to why this change occurred at the wrong time.  We will continue to work with them to make sure this does not happen again. We apologize for any inconvenience these two issues have caused.  If we in the ATC can help with adjusting due dates please let us know. ~Kevin [...] Read more...
March 1, 2015[gdoc link="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L-6KMJaKBYNGv19caTzvjW2XZ-l65PQA/view?usp=sharing" type="other" height="600"] [...] Read more...
February 20, 2015Communication with your students is crucial to establishing your instructional presence and ensuring interaction within your course. There are many features within Moodle that are available for opening the modes of communication. In this topic, you will learn how to: Communicate to students using the News Forum. Use the Messages block. Use the Participants link from the People block and Navigation block. Add the Calendar block, select an event type, and update its settings. Training link: https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50629&section=5 *Make sure to self enroll into the course in order to access the module and complete the training. Would you like to complete the entire “Moodle Course Building for New Users” course?  Access the below link – login – self enroll into the course: https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50629&section=0 Moodle Course Building for New Users: Getting Started in Moodle Resources Video Communication Tools Course Management See all online Moodle Training opportunities:  https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=16 Questions: email Kevin Steeves – steevesk@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
February 18, 2015Maurice Hamington, Executive Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences, has published extensively on care ethics and will lead a discussion on this important topic for emotional intelligence at our next Global Conversation. “Care” in this context, may not be what you think. Care as described in the current literature is a relational approach to ethics that impacts who we are and how we come to knowledge as well as what we value. After a brief presentation, participants will have the chance to discuss what care means on this campus for students and for all of us. In particular, we will address whether care can be a part of an intentional strategy to help Lane achieve its goals as the community’s college. In preparation for the meeting, you are encouraged to take a look at the following documents: “Care Ethics and Caring Organizations,” a chapter from the forthcoming book Care Ethics and Political Theory, edited by Maurice Hamington and Dan Engster “An Ethic of Care in Higher Education: Well-Being and Learning in Higher Education,” by Richard P. Keeling “The Caring Relation in Teaching,” by Nel Noddings Global Conversation Care and the Community College: Across Campus and into the Classroom Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 3-4:30 p.m. CML 214 [...] Read more...
February 12, 2015This is a notification that the Moodlerooms Technical Operations team will be performing database maintenance this Saturday, February 21st between regularly scheduled maintenance hours 8 PM – 2 AM PST. During this period you may experience a very brief (< 30 second) interruption in service.  After the maintenance has been performed, you will need to log back into Moodle. [...] Read more...
February 9, 2015Each year a tactical one year plan will be created with specific projects that fall into one or more of the five year technology plan themes. The themes encompass the categories of projects that will vary from year to year but have a common overarching purpose. Each of the following themes are presented to align with and enable Lane’s Vision, Mission, Strategic Directions, and Core Values FastLANE: Provide appropriate, sustainably fast, hardware with appropriate software that is reliable, secure and allows students and employees to work effectively in classrooms, offices, labs and other learning areas. AnalyzeLANE: Continue the development of reporting tools, dashboards and business analytics to give employees of Lane actionable information to achieve the mission of the college. DegreeLANE: Provide tools for student success and completion. AgileLANE: Provide project leadership and management for the information systems projects of the college using the Agile project development framework. StreamLANE: Provide business process redesign and systems analysis services to help improve systems and processes throughout the college. DigitalLANE: Provide a cohesive, integrated digital presence that serves the needs of students, faculty and staff. SustainLANE: Provide enterprise resource planning system services (ERP), email, Learning Management Software (LMS), and other systems to support college administrative and teaching operations.  Maintain the servers and systems software through operating system and application upgrades.  Evaluate, implement, and communicate about new software and hardware releases to faculty, staff and students.  Keep services highly available and accessible to as many device types as possible without compromising security.  Provide adequate local and wide-area network wired and wireless services for the campus. LaneOnline: Provide appropriate technologies and course development strategies to enable effective instruction across face-to-face, hybrid and online modalities. Support sustainable teaching and learning practices such as Open Educational Resources (OER) adoption and implementation. Support faculty to implement student centered learning through standards based instructional design. InnovateLANE: Keep a watchful eye on the horizon for emerging tools, processes and methods, allowing for exploration, experimentation and play.  Listen to and try to implement good ideas from all constituencies. [...] Read more...
February 9, 2015In the 2013-2014 year, the Technology Council surveyed faculty, staff and students about where improvements were needed with technology and which direction we should be headed. Annual Plan for 2015-16 Encourage network storage use for Lane documents (SuL) – In process Continue to improve internal change control processes (StL) Expand support for end-user devices like smart phones and tablets on the network (SuL) Implement Google Apps for Education, giving students an “.edu” domain based email (SuL)- In process Achieve PCI Compliance for all credit card transactions throughout the college. (SuL) Expand wireless access locations especially in the CLASS project area (SuL) – In process Investigate and possibly implement a Lane mobile app that provides similar information to myLane. (DigL) Implement a Single Sign On portal (DigL)  – In process Develop a messaging framework with support for online text messaging (DigL) Implement Banner XE registration and Attendance tracking (SuL) – In process Expand development and use of Argos reports and dashboards across the college (AL) Begin Degreeworks planner implementation (DegL) Develop failover capacity between downtown and main campus servers (SuL) Implement CIT virtual bench lab (SuL) Develop a tool for the CTE program updates (StL) Improve the PTSOA process for administrative assistants and HR (StL) Business continuity infrastructure upgrades and additions (SuL) Groupwise server software upgrades (SuL) – In process Improve Macintosh integration on the network (SuL) Smart classroom implementations and updates (SuL) – In process TV station upgrade (LO) – In process Miscellaneous infrastructure upgrades, patches, and changes (SuL) Encourage and enable OER development among faculty (LO) – In process The augmentation of the Faculty Technology Specialists team in order to help address the changing online needs of the college (LO) Work to secure funds to ensure adequate development and support of online courses as well as sustain existing resources. (LO) The key for alignment to the Five Year Technology Plan is as follows: FastLane – FL AnalyzeLane – AL DegreeLane – DegL AgileLane – AgL StreamLane – StL DigitalLane – DigL SustainLane – SuL LaneOnline – LO InnovateLane – IL This list of issues to work on was determined by our 2014 survey, summarized below by a series of projects and initiatives many of which are underway.  The survey issues we identified are as follows: Student Focused Issues Train faculty and advocate for a more unified and consistent course layout in Moodle.* Increased computer lab access (workstations and hours) across campuses (Main and Downtown).** open lab More comprehensive wireless (WiFi) access on campus.* Email for Lane students* Mobile apps for Moodle/Learning Mobile app for the school (maps, ability to register for classes)* Access to up-to-date software in centralized lab locations to offset computer classroom use as labs.* A clearer, less cluttered website* Updated computers in classrooms and labs** Access to computer checkout for students* Technology/digital literacy trainings for students* Printing issues*  Faculty/Staff Issues Access to enough computer classrooms Access to up-to-date software Slow computers need replacing* More LMS trainings* Digital literacy assessment/training for students* Single sign-on (SSO) so that you log in with your info once and the credentials work across all the college’s systems.* A better ticketing system for support* More comprehensive wireless (WiFi) access on campus.* Email for students* Improved Mac support* Professional Development for staff A different email solution than GW* Support staff at the downtown campus* Employee Communication Policy* *Included in the tactical plan or are currently being addressed. **Items being partially addressed. [...] Read more...
February 6, 2015We highly recommend that you start simple and build complexity into your gradebook as you feel more comfortable navigating in the Moodle environment. Upon completion of this topic, you’ll be able to: Set up the Moodle gradebook and view its various reports. Identify the differences between the available aggregation methods. Configure aggregation methods for categories in your course and for your course as a whole. Create custom scales and outcomes. Modify letter grades. Import and export grades. Modify how the gradebook appears to your course participants. Alter your preferences for viewing the Grader report and Joule gradebook. Training Link: https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50632&section=2 *Make sure to self enroll into the course in order to access the module and complete the training. Would you like to complete the entire “Moodle Course Building for Intermediate Users” course?  Access the below link – login – self enroll into the course: https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50632 Moodle Course Building for Intermediate Users: Gradebook Overview and Setup Commonly Used Activities Grading Activities Joule Features See all online Moodle Training opportunities:  https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=16 Questions: email Kevin Steeves – steevesk@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
February 6, 2015Global Conversation: OER/Digital Literacy Thursday, February 5, 2015 Hosted by Bill Schuetz and Ian Coronado This very different, faculty-focused, Global Conversation has the potential to provide faculty and students with a customizable textbook without copyright issues and save students money at the same time! To make the most efficient use of our limited discussion time, attendees were handed an index card with a table number on one side and the table rotation sequence on the other upon their arrival. Participants spent fifteen minutes at each table discussing the table topic-Benefits, Challenges, Support–or doing hands-on OER research at the Discovery table. Each group moved as a cohort to each table in sequence. If attendees did not watch the videos on the OER blog beforehand, they had the opportunity to catch up at the homework table and join a cohort afterwards. Discussion prompts were placed at each table and pens and paper were provided to capture thoughts and ideas: Discovery:  Find OER for your discipline Using the links provided, try to find some OER for your discipline field Open Educational Resources @ PCC Consider one learning objective from a course you are teaching or a course you have taken and see if you can find an OER that would be a good resource to help teach that objective. What are the CHALLENGES of adopting OER into courses? What are some of the challenges of using OER in courses? Why wouldn’t we want to use OER at Lane? How could Lane and its students BENEFIT from using OER? Which directions should Lane explore with OER? What are the benefits of using OER? Why should Lane pursue more OER in courses that are offered? Should Lane partner with someone like Lumen learning? If so, is there a particular program that should be done first as a pilot? Are there others such as Khan Academy that Lane should pursue partnerships with? What are additional SUPPORT needs for OER? What kinds of support should be in place in order to ensure that faculty can be successful adopting OER into their classes? What are other auxiliary support needs that should be considered in order to have a healthy, thriving culture of OER at Lane? Notes from the four cohorts organized by table: Notes from the Discovery table Notes from the Challenges table Notes from the Benefits table Notes from the Support table This rotational pedagogical approach was approved by Wendy Simmons, Lane’s Wellness Coordinator.   [...] Read more...
February 5, 2015Welcome to your New Student Information Session! As a new student you’ll want to become familiar with Lane policies and procedures, available supportive resources and student success practices that aid in the progression towards your academic and career goals.   The New Student Information Session will guide you through the most critical things you need to know as you begin your journey at Lane. Select the “Enroll Me” link to get started. [...] Read more...
February 4, 2015In anticipation of our time together on Thursday, 2/5/15 in the CML at 3:00, we have some more materials that can help shed more light on Open Educational Resources  (OER) if you aren’t as familiar with them as we may be. If you are starting at zero, Creative Commons has a good point of departure to help define what they are. The New Media Consortium has a good overview in this PDF as well, approaching it from the standpoint of how libraries can play a role in partnering with faculty when they look at adopting OER. We have a bit of a history using OER at Lane and are perceived as a leader in the way we’ve encouraged faculty participation in the adoption of OER in classes. While this has been a great start, we have only just begun and are looking how the college should move forward. In addition to the materials we sent out on Monday, we’ve added a few more to see different perspectives on OER from students and faculty at Lane. Students Discuss Their Experiences with Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Discuss Their Experiences with Open Educational Resources (OER) Results from an ASLCC survey of students on main campus in the Fall of 2014. This was a face to face poll of the Lane student body, originating from the work that ASLCC had taken amongst themselves to do. [...] Read more...
February 4, 2015Please come tomorrow, Thursday, February 5 at 3 p.m. to CML 214 for a Global Discussion about Open Educational Resources led by Ian Coronado and Bill Schuetz. This will be a hands-on, interactive, learning discussion that is flipped–we want everyone to read the materials ahead of time and come prepared for engaged discussion. We are looking to share information, ask for input and explore how OER can be used at Lane Community College to increase student success and save them money as well. There will be some light refreshments served. There are two new videos to review since our email sent on Monday. The ASLCC student government has also shared their results from a Fall 2014 survey conducted on main campus to 788 students. Please review these materials before we meet tomorrow. [...] Read more...
February 2, 2015What is an Open Educational Resource (OER)? Does Lane use them? Do OERs improve learning outcomes?  Do students want them?  How can I find them and integrate them into my class? Please join us for a global conversation about Open Educational Resources at Lane on Thursday, February 5 at 3 p.m. in CML 214. We are looking to share information, ask for input and explore how OER can be used to increase student success and save them money as well. There will be no presentation at this Global Discussion just discussion. We will be using a blended format, rotating participants through four discussion topic tables with guest facilitators. In other words, there will be no lecture, just engaged discussion–please come prepared to discuss. We especially encourage faculty and Deans to attend as OER use depends on you. In order to make the most of the time that we have together, please review content in advance of our meeting.  This is part one of your prework. We will send links to two additional short videos to watch prior to our discussion in a day or two. Please prepare upfront so we can have an engaged discussion for our whole time together. You can find the review content at the OER blog. We hope you’ll join us for this exciting topic. [...] Read more...
January 30, 2015Are you interested in getting started with online Course Design? To make the transition from face-to-face to online course design, you will first need to prepare yourself, prepare your materials, and potentially gain new skills for any instructional technologies that you plan on using.In this training, you will learn about each of these key areas. Upon completion of this topic, you will be able to: Differentiate between the design of face-to-face and online classes. Determine content gaps for moving to the online environment. Evaluate how prepared you are to work in the online world. Training Link (you will need to login and self enroll into the course): https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50634&section=1 Would you like to complete the entire “Getting Started with Online Course Design” course?  Access the below link – login – self enroll into the course: https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/view.php?id=50634 Getting Started with Online Course Design topics: Preparing for Online Planning the Course Structure and Strategies Designing Course Content Developing the Course See all online Moodle Training opportunities:  https://classes.lanecc.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=16 Questions: email Kevin Steeves – steevesk@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
January 30, 2015You are cordially invited to join us for the next topic in Lane’s Global Conversation series. Bill Schuetz and Ian Coronado will be asking for input around the topic of Open Educational Resources (OER) and what should be done to encourage their adoption at Lane. The meeting will be February 5th, from 3:00pm to 4:30 in CML 214. In advance of the meeting, we’ve included some resources to help bring you up to speed. What are Open Educational Resources? What do other educators say about them? A Qualitative Investigation of Faculty Open Educational Resource Usage in the Washington Community and Technical College System: Models for Support and Implementation What have other colleges done with OER?  Adopting OER: A Case Study of Cross-Institutional Collaboration and Innovation [...] Read more...
January 29, 2015Maricopa Community Colleges District has the goal of trying to save students 5 million dollars over the next 5 years in textbook costs by offering OER or low-cost alternatives. They seem to be on track as they were able to hit 1.4 million in savings in their 1st year alone. Part of their solution includes a class search option that filters out any classes that has a textbook cost greater than $40. http://www.oeconsortium.org/projects/showcases/maricopa-millions-case-study/ http://vimeo.com/78298095 [...] Read more...
January 29, 2015Instructors, This is a notification that the Moodlerooms 2.7 Maintenance Pack 1 will be applied to production sites from 3am-5am PST on Thursday, February 5th. During the upgrade, users will see a web page that states the site is currently being upgraded. We strive to minimize any required downtime, and the notice will only be displayed while the site is actively upgrading and not for the entirety of the 2-hour maintenance window.  Users will be able to continue normal usage of the site immediately after the upgrade completes. Release Notes Updated release notes for the Moodlerooms 2.7 Maintenance Pack 1 can be found here: http://kb.moodlerooms.com/node/665 More information Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to the ATC. [...] Read more...
January 22, 2015Most teachers develop a course plan when designing a course for the face-to-face (F2F) classroom. Planning is also a critical part of building an online course. Once a course is ready to move online, the teacher will need to modify the course plan to adapt for online delivery. This requires a paradigm shift in thinking about what a course is and how it is delivered. Moving a F2F course to online is harder than most expect. For this reason, MoodleRooms has developed this course to help teachers get started with online course design. This course will aid in easing the transition and in creating an online course that meets the needs of both students and teachers. This course is written from the perspective that a F2F course already exists and a teacher is now looking to move it into the online arena. Therefore, basic concepts of instructional design are not covered, as this content would be a course in itself. Instead, this course will focus on the design principles specific to online instruction. Course Objectives: Upon completion of this training, you will be able to: Prepare to build an online course. Develop a plan for building an online course. Design an online course. Follow best practices when developing an online course. Click the this link to access and self-enroll into the course (login with L# and Passphrase is required) [...] Read more...
January 21, 2015On Friday, January 30th, 2015 between the hours of 9:00 pm to 03:00 am PST, the Managed Hosting Engineers of MoodleRooms will be performing an infrastructure maintenance at datacenters. Please take note that this is a maintenance occurring on a Friday with possible impact to email services for few minutes during this maintenance window. Thanks for your understanding. [...] Read more...
January 21, 2015Global Conversation: 40-40-20 Tuesday, January 20, 2015 hosted by Dawn DeWolf Presentation: 40-40-20 Notes from Presentation Handouts: From Lane’s High School Connections High School Connections Brochure From the Connected Lane County website Connected Lane County Flier Connected Lane County Leadership Infrastructure For the group discussion, each table of participants was asked to discuss the following questions and then report out to the group. Does 40-40-20 make sense for Oregon? Why or why not? What is the role for community colleges beyond workforce development? What else can Lane do to reach the goal of 40-40-20? Notes from the small discussion groups: 40-40-20 Small Group Discussion #1 40-40-20 Small Group Discussion #2 40-40-20 Small Group Discussion #3 [...] Read more...
January 20, 2015From the Higher Education Coordinating Commission: Progress Toward 40-40-20 [...] Read more...
January 20, 2015From Oregon Public Broadcasting, May 29, 2014: About Oregon’s 40-40-20 Goal [...] Read more...
January 20, 2015From the Portland Business Journal, March 20, 2014: Despite Big Education Goals, Oregon College Enrollment Falls [...] Read more...
January 20, 2015From OregonLive, January 13, 2014: Oregon’s 40-40-20 Goal: How close is the nation as a whole? Chalk It Up [...] Read more...
January 15, 2015Test for winter term – mkw [...] Read more...
January 14, 2015If your gradebook is not aligning properly between the grade items and course roster – change your theme. To update your theme go to your Administration block > Course Administration > Edit Settings > And find the “Appearance” tab Force Theme: (Change this to a different theme and test gradebook). We have not identified any specific theme that corrects or causes the problem.  We currently have a ticket in with MoodleRooms for an update in Moodle code to correct the problem. Notify the ATC if you experience any problems. [...] Read more...
January 13, 2015In order to consider what our shared values might be in developing and codifying how we operate as a department, we posted the following list on the white board on November 14, 2014: [...] Read more...
January 13, 2015Faculty Council is considering the idea of making all wait lists unlimited in number of slots. The rationale for this move is to have more data on where student needs are not being met by Lane class offerings.  For example, this type of data may better facilitate a program’s ability to add back classes where wait lists are long and demand is not being met.  At present, all such information on student demand is anecdotal at best. Please leave a reply to share your thoughts or responses.   [...] Read more...
January 13, 2015Faculty Council is considering moving the college wide date for purging class wait lists from the first Monday of the term to the first Tuesday of the term. The rationale for this is to allow for Tuesday/Thursday classes to meet before purging the wait lists. Please leave leave a reply to share your thoughts or responses. [...] Read more...
January 9, 2015Diane Ravitch posted about President Obama’s forthcoming initiative to propose free tuition for responsible community college students.  An interesting idea.  She followed up with a post with some interesting ideas on why we should not be all excited about it, from a faculty member at the apparent elitist math department at the University of Memphis, who equates his state’s public community colleges with low quality (read it here:  http://dianeravitch.net/2015/01/09/dissent-from-obama-plan-to-make-community-college-free/comment-page-1/#comment-2277437). When I taught at Florida State University’s Meteorology Department, we had students who learned their math in classes of up to ~115 (including differential equations).  Introductory calc-based meteorology in classes of up to 80.  Freshman biology was taught in a concert hall to over 1000 students.  At the community college across town, students were taught by dedicated teachers who spent time with them in smaller classes, with good support systems in place for their writing and development of their quantitative skills in math and computers.  My wife and kids all started at the community college.  They’ve received an excellent education.  Not low quality.  As many as 1/3 of our BS majors for meteorology transferred there from Florida or other community colleges, and generally had no performance differences or abilities; many went on to successful professional careers with their BS or pursued graduate study at FSU or elsewhere. I now teach at a community college after more than 25 years at a University.  I like it here.  My students like it here.  They are engaged learners.  It is a diverse population to be sure, including some who are trying to return to the workplace / educational system after numerous setbacks.  I have smaller classes and time to teach them; many are engaged in field research with me.  These students are not often welcome at the University, where faculty members often hold no office hours and see students (other than those in their research labs) only 3 hours per week. Regardless how I feel about the President’s new proposal (have not read it or thought it through yet), I would hope that the students in Tennessee who are at the community college now strongly consider NOT transferring to the University of Memphis, if the opinion expressed by one math professor is indicative of how the STEM faculty there feel about their transfer students. [...] Read more...
December 22, 2014{submitted to but declined by The Oregonian).  The Oregonian‘s recent announcement that climate change will not be on its editorial agenda (http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/12/why_climate_change_will_not_be.html) in 2015 is disappointing, if not a complete cop-out as some scientific colleagues have mentioned to me. While noted climate change “deniers” like Charles Krauthammer and George Will will continue to populate the pages of your paper with their misinformation pieces on climate, voices of scientific reason will likely now be even more muted at a critical juncture in our history. This is a global issue, for sure, but it reaches down to every individual household and business as well. The editorial board is correct in its assertion that there are global manifestations to climate change that are important and that actions of we little Oregonians have little influence on the energy budget of the planet. But by minimizing the problem that a lot of your readers obviously have on their minds, you are indeed participating in a whitewash that lets scientific denialism proliferate. The 4th estate should be where we go to avoid the musings of our three official branches of government, and a place where good journalism can point out when government is wrong (or right), and when society is taking turns that are self-destructive or imaginative. The scientific debate over human influence on climate is not over, as is sometimes touted by the so-called “alarmists”, only because research is still ongoing to calibrate the proportion of human causation. Yet, it is unequivocal that humans are playing the dominant role through our use of fossil fuels and changing land use practices. We are changing the energy, mass, and water balance of the planet in ways that our planet’s flora and fauna do not have sufficient time to make adjustments. And the change is not just evident in the temperature at thousands of weather stations across the planet. It is happening on the ice caps and glaciers, in the oceans, and in our biosphere and soils. These changes are almost universally detrimental to a healthy, diverse ecology. Oregonians are facing some tough decisions ahead as climate change is affecting us here and it is likely to accelerate, clearly making this a state issue. As the National Climate Assessment (http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/) and its northwest component (http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/northwest) clearly show, our forests and hydrological resources are particularly at risk, as wildfire and insect infestations are likely to increase and streamflows are likely to continue to change under more rapid snow and ice melt, and with periods of heavier, warmer and earlier precipitation in mountainous regions. Our anadromous fish populations already suffer from water that is too warm or moving in streams in the wrong time of year.   By accelerating the time scale of environmental change, human impacts are devastating ecological diversity and augmenting species extinction. Choices made from individuals to states can make an impact on economic and energy aspects of the mix, as well. Oregon also is one of the few states to adopt the new Next Generation Science Standards, a teacher-driven effort (not the Common Core) which highlights an understanding of the Earth system as a hallmark, with climate and climate change as its cornerstone. Yet, across the K-12 curriculum, teachers often express frustration that there is little support available for them to be trained adequately to provide useful instruction at the elementary, middle, and high school level in Earth science. There is no teacher certification in Earth Science, and little professional development funding available for existing teachers to obtain further experiences. State geology programs have recently been tossed on the trash heap (SOU, EOU), and students in Oregon cannot find a solid undergraduate major in atmospheric science or climate science. Oregon’s natural beauty includes all of nature’s biomes, and is the perfect state to explore them in field settings in ecology, Earth science, environmental science programs, but the state’s spartan educational budget offers little support for expansion of science programs which are often (and incorrectly) deemed too expensive. This impacts what students can learn at the K-12 level, but also in college, and then at the graduate level, where we are training our future scientists and educators. But thanks to the Oregonian, much of this will now no longer be displayed in their editorial pages (except perhaps in an occasional op-ed), because climate change is just not an Oregon issue. I beg to differ.   Paul Ruscher is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and faculty member/coordinator of the Lane Community College Watershed Science and Earth & Environmental Science programs. He lives in Eugene. [...] Read more...
December 10, 2014Faculty Colleagues, as you hopefully read in Dawn DeWolf’s email,  no-show drops for Winter term will be the same as Fall term.  Faculty Council discussed revisions at two different meetings Fall term and were unable to agree on a recommendation for revised language.  Faculty Council will participate in a work group Winter term with the goal of recommending revised language for no show drops for Spring.  If you are interested in participating in that group, please email Faculty Council co-chairs, Brooke Taylor and Joseph Colton.  If you have input regarding no show drops, comments can be recorded in reply to this post here. [...] Read more...
December 4, 2014Global Conversation: Student Success Progression & Completion Wednesday, December 3, 2014 hosted by Kerry Levett Presentation:  Global Conversation 12-03-2014 (pdf) For the group discussion, each table of participants was given one of the following categories: First Generation High Academic Achievers Men of Color Students Placing into Developmental Education Veterans The instructions to the small groups were as follows: Discuss what your group of students need to be successful Lane students. Discuss ways we can increase progression, completion, and student success. Develop a list of ideas. As a group, identify your top three needs and ideas to share with the group. Notes from the small discussion groups: Small Group Discussion–First Generation Small Group Discussion–High Academic Achievers Small Group Discussion–Men of Color Small Group Discussion–Students Placing into Developmental Education [...] Read more...
November 19, 2014Global Conversation: Trends in Community Colleges Wednesday, November 19, 2014 hosted by Brian Kelly Brian Kelly’s Presentation (pdf) Presentation Notes (pdf) Small Group Discussions (pdf) [...] Read more...
November 13, 2014From The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/5-higher-education-trends-for-2014/282702/ [...] Read more...
November 13, 2014From Western Governors University: http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/8_questions_report.pdf [...] Read more...
November 13, 2014From the American Association of Community Colleges http://www.aacc.nche.edu/newsevents/HotIssues/Pages/default.aspx [...] Read more...
November 13, 2014From Inside HigherEd https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/future-higher-education [...] Read more...
November 5, 2014Global Conversation:  The Future of Public Higher Education Wednesday, November 5, 2015 hosted by Mary Spilde Presentation: Global Conversation 11-05-2014 (pdf) Notes:  Future of Higher Education Presentation Notes (pdf) [...] Read more...
November 3, 2014From Complete College America: http://completecollege.org/the-game-changers/ [...] Read more...
November 3, 2014From Deloitte University Press: http://dupress.com/articles/reimagining-higher-education/ [...] Read more...
October 28, 2014Define_Name Draft 102720104 [...] Read more...
October 24, 2014Faculty Council continues to consider new language for first week attendance in order to meet both federal guidelines and recognize diverse instructional needs.  Based on feedback provided to the previous blog post and discussion in Faculty Council on October 24, 2014, Faculty Council revised the proposed language as follows.  Please review the proposed language and share your input by leaving a reply. Students not attending the first class meeting will be dropped.  For online classes, students who do not complete the first online assignment by the stated deadline will be dropped.  Thereafter individual instructor syllabi policies apply. [...] Read more...
October 18, 2014Drafting Program Review Initial Meeting Oct. 17, 2014 Jon Bridges, Margaret Robertson Questions: What area to cover: local? regional? broader? How do you organize and bring together random research information? Where do you look in order to find the key trends, the factors having an impact, for Section 2, Environmental Scanning? How will we decide what weight to apply to each factor in Section 2? How do we organize the mass of research we collect? Would League for Innovation or League’s STEM conference be a source for ideas? Ideas: We want to answer the question, “What is a drafter?” We won’t know for a long time. Research approach: Cast a net. See what we get. Wait for forms to appear out of the mist. (Collect research, then see what it looks like.) As we talk to people, we will discover/uncover trends for Section 2. As we talk to people, this will spark ideas. Thing leads to thing. Research does not have a discrete stopping point. Research is iterative. (Draw loops to illustrate) The big view: What is drafting now, in 2014? Identify what people need to know. Scenario planning suggests categories for organizing the research we gather. Consider scenario planning as an approach to program review and planning for the future. Possible ways to organize research: Compile a bibliography as we go along. Bibliography probably needs to be subdivided by category. Takes notes or write an abstract of each article. File with the article itself? Compile annotated bibliography as we go along. (With note about what was noteworthy in each article, or note that article was not useful.) There could be an annotated bibliography in each category folder. Make a list or a log of articles. Create category folders in Drop folder on campus. Or in the iCloud. An article can go in more than one category. Consider scenario planning categories: Social, Economic, Environmental, Technological, Political. Even if we use these, we might discover additional categories are needed. Consider EverNote software for collecting articles. Action items: JB and MR: Cast a net. Gather material, do research, make abstracts. JB: Find out about access to ERIC. Investigate iCloud or other file-sharing options. MR: Set up Drop folders for now. Write a first draft of Section 1, Program Info, and Section 2, Environmental Scanning. Send to JB for comment and revision. [...] Read more...
October 10, 2014Faculty Council is currently considering new language for first week attendance in order to meet both federal guidelines and recognize diverse instructional needs.  Please review the proposed language as follows and share your input by leaving a reply.  (Note:  this language is only being proposed for face-to-face classes; separate language will be considered to address online and distance learning classes.) Faculty must drop a student if they don’t attend once. Faculty may drop students if attendance is less than 100% in the first week. The course attendance policy will be clearly defined and communicated in the class syllabus. [...] Read more...
October 10, 2014Just testing…. [...] Read more...
October 8, 2014English University of Oregon http://uoregon.edu/~engl/ Lane counselor: Anthony Hampton hamptona@lanecc.edu      463-5275             Office: Center Bldg. Rm. 406 Lane advisor:   Cindy Lott      lottc@lanecc.edu              463-5232          Office: Center Bldg. Rm. 454 Bachelor of Arts degree only: Requires two years of foreign language UO Title                                       UO                                  Lane equivalency         Title Intro. to English Major                            ENG 220, 221, 222 (See note 2)   Select one course: Shakespeare                                              ENG 207, 208 Select two additional courses: World Literature                        ENG 107, 108, 109 Topics in Ethnic American Literature:   ENG 245 Topics vary from term to term Shakespeare                                                ENG 207, 208 Introduction to Folklore                           ENG 250 Survey of American Literature                ENG 215, 216 Additional elective courses at UO: ENG 110 Introduction to Film and Media ENG 200 Public Speaking as a Liberal Art ENG 225 The Age of King Arthur ENG 230 Introduction to Environmental Literature ENG 241 Introduction to African American Literature ENG 242 Introduction to Asian American Literature ENG 243 Introduction to Chicano/Latino Literature ENG 244 Introduction to Native American Literature ENG 246 Topics in Global Literature in English ENG 260 Media Aesthetics ENG 265, 266, 267 History of the Motion Picture ENG 280 Introduction to Comics Studies Must take all four courses   (See note 2)   ENG 204 & 205     Survey of British Literature ENG 253 & 254     Survey of American Literature Plus:   Select one course:   ENG 201, 202, 203       Shakespeare Plus:   Select two additional courses:   ENG 100                         Children’s Literature ENG 107, 108, 109       Survey of World Literature ENG 121                         Detective Fiction ENG 151            African American Literature ENG 194                         Literature of Comedy ENG 195, 196, 197         Introduction to Film Studies ENG 201, 202, 203         Shakespeare ENG 213            Survey of Asian Literature ENG 215                         Latino/a Literature ENG 222                         Literature and Gender ENG 232                         Native American Literature ENG 240                         Nature Literature ENG 243                         Native American Autobiography ENG 244                         Asian American Literature ENG 250            Introduction to Folklore and Mythology ENG 257                         The American Working Class ENG 258                         Working Class Lives in Film ENG 259                         African-American Journey ENG 260                         Intro to Women Writers ENG 261                         Science Fiction ENG 270                         Bob Dylan: American Poet ENG 271-273 & 276     Film Genre FA 263                             Film in the 50s FA 264                             Women Make Movies FA 265                          African American Film Images   NOTES: All major coursework must be passed with a mid-C or better. Lane transfer students should complete both sequences –all four courses (ENG 204 & 205 and ENG 253 & 254)) to meet UO Intro to English Major sequence (ENG 220, 221 & 222). Usually, no substitution is allowed for any part or parts of the Introduction sequence, and the four-course equivalency must be completed at the time of admission to the University. No part of this requirement or its equivalency may be satisfied by course credits received by exam (CLEP credits and/or similar college-level examinations for credit). Effective fall, 2002, students admitted to the University under the direct transfer plan are not able to count more than one major course in the general education group requirements. For English majors, this means only one course with an ENG prefix may be used to fulfill their Arts & Letters group requirement.   [...] Read more...
October 8, 2014Course Outline   ENGLISH DEPARTMENT   COURSE TITLE: Survey of American Literature COURSE HOURS PER WEEK: 4 COURSE NUMBER: English 254 Lecture: 4 COURSE CREDITS: 4 Lec/Lab: COURSE PREREQUISITES: Lab:   COURSE DESCRIPTION:   Survey of American Literature is a two-term sequence to acquaint students with representative works of important American writers, literary forms, and significant currents of thought. Primary emphasis is on reading and engaging with the literary materials, with an introduction to practices of literary interpretations. Questions of genre, authorship, aesthetics, and literary movements may be examined in their relationships to social, political, and intellectual movements of the United States. The first term will draw on material from colonial settlement in the Americas through the Civil War period. The second term will include literature from the end of the 19th century to the present.       GENERAL COURSE OUTCOMES:   Upon completion of this course, the successful student will be able to: These outcomes will be verified by one or more of the following assessments: Be able to distinguish between connotation and denotation and demonstrate how the connotative language helps shape major points of a literary text (poem, story, play). In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Demonstrate ability to use interpretive frameworks to investigate contextual meanings of literature. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Recognize historical and mythological viewpoints and central themes and how these viewpoints establish different worldviews and value systems. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Understand international influences on the United States, including immigration and power relations between countries. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Understand the complexity of national issues and their influence on the literature, particularly political, educational, and religious goals, the use of different languages, the establishment of social goals, and legal and economic systems. Explore how the literature reflects and shapes perceptions of critical social issues such as slavery, treatment of Native Americans, attitudes toward immigrants, and the rights of women. Consider the role of community in literature, what are considered the center and the margins of community, and the boundaries between groups of people as well as what establishes a sense of belonging. Appreciate the different ways freedom is defined and established, including rights, choices, and civic order and responsibilities. Understand oneself better as an American, or a person living in American, and as a human being. Consider personal identity issues based on race, class, gender, religion, education, and sexual preference, and how those issues are addressed in literature. Experience different writers’ sense of place, land and a sense of home. Understand why certain American authors have been included in the literary canon and others excluded, specifically women and ethnic minorities. Develop an understanding of the major changes in literary genres and style, why certain genres are studied in the academy and others excluded, and why certain stories are repeated each generation in different forms. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Course outline by major topic   Realism Naturalism Immigration The American Dream The Frontier Reconstruction Modernism Ethnic literature The Red Scare/Cold War Harlem Renaissance The Civil Rights Movement Protest literature Women’s Movement Post Modernism       [...] Read more...
October 8, 2014Course Outline   ENGLISH DEPARTMENT   COURSE TITLE: Survey of American Literature COURSE HOURS PER WEEK: 4 COURSE NUMBER: English 253 Lecture: 4 COURSE CREDITS: 4 Lec/Lab: COURSE PREREQUISITES: Lab:   COURSE DESCRIPTION:   Survey of American Literature is a two-term sequence to acquaint students with representative works of important American writers, literary forms, and significant currents of thought. Primary emphasis is on reading and engaging with the literary materials, with an introduction to practices of literary interpretations. Questions of genre, authorship, aesthetics, and literary movements may be examined in their relationships to social, political, and intellectual movements of the United States. The first term will draw on material from colonial settlement in the Americas through the Civil War period. The second term will include literature from the end of the 19th century to the present.       GENERAL COURSE OUTCOMES:   Upon completion of this course, the successful student will be able to: These outcomes will be verified by one or more of the following assessments: Be able to distinguish between connotation and denotation and demonstrate how the connotative language helps shape major points of a literary text (poem, story, play). In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Demonstrate ability to use interpretive frameworks to investigate contextual meanings of literature. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Recognize historical and mythological viewpoints and central themes and how these viewpoints establish different worldviews and value systems. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Understand international influences on the United States, including immigration and power relations between countries. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Understand the complexity of national issues and their influence on the literature, particularly political, educational, and religious goals, the use of different languages, the establishment of social goals, and legal and economic systems. Explore how the literature reflects and shapes perceptions of critical social issues such as slavery, treatment of Native Americans, attitudes toward immigrants, and the rights of women. Consider the role of community in literature, what are considered the center and the margins of community, and the boundaries between groups of people as well as what establishes a sense of belonging. Appreciate the different ways freedom is defined and established, including rights, choices, and civic order and responsibilities. Understand oneself better as an American, or a person living in American, and as a human being. Consider persona identity issues based on race, class, gender, religion, education, and sexual preference, and how those issues are addressed in literature. Experience different writers’ sense of place, the land and sense of home. Understand why certain American authors have been included in the literary canon and others excluded, specifically women and ethnic minorities. Develop an understanding of the major changes in literary genres and style, why certain genres are studied in the academy and others excluded, and why certain stories are repeated each generation in different forms. In-class participation, presentations, projects, quizzes, formal and informal writing, in-class discussions, exams. Course outline by major topic   Colonization Exploration/Conquest New World Culture New World Literatures Calvinism of Puritans/Pilgrims The Wilderness Captivity Narrative Enlightenment Influences Revolutionary Texts Slavery Slave Narrative Transcendentalism True and New Womanhood Industrialization The making of an American Identity Civil War Immigration       [...] Read more...
September 19, 2014Here’s our meeting minutes so far. Future minutes will be posted as new posts. 2014-12-09Minutes 2014-10-28Minutes 2014.09.09 Minutes 2014.08.12 Minutes 2014.07.08 Minutes 2014.06.12 Minutes 2014.05.22 Minutes 2014.04.24 Minutes 2014.03.05 Minutes [...] Read more...
September 6, 2014Exhibit CE.1         Career Technical Programs Exhibit CE.2         Board Policy BP325, College Governance System Exhibit CE.3         Core Learning Outcomes Exhibit CE.4         Oregon Revised Statute ORS 341.290 Exhibit CE.5         Oregon Revised Statute ORS 341.425 Exhibit CE.6         Oregon Revised Statute ORS 341.465 Exhibit CE.7         Strategic Directions Report Exhibit CE.8         Board Policy BP705, Admissions for Credit Students Exhibit CE.9         Article 7 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit CE.10      Article 5 of the LCCEF Contract and Memoranda of Agreement Exhibit CE.11      Board Policy BP720, Student Services – Global Directions Exhibit CE.12      Board Policy BP555, Treatment of Staff Exhibit CE.13      Board Policy BP635, Institutional Integrity – Global Directions Exhibit CE.14      Board Policy BP505, Affirmative Action Exhibit CE.15      Board Policy BP356, Global Executive Directions Exhibit CE.16      Board Policy BP357, Global Governance Commitment Exhibit CE.17      Board Policy BP370, Membership on the Board of Education Exhibit CE.18      Board Policy BP312, Board Job Description Exhibit CE.19      Board Policy BP311, Board Duties and Responsibilities: Appraisal and Evaluation of Operation Exhibit CE.20      Board Policy BP210, Board Duties and Responsibilities: Budget Making Exhibit CE.21      Article 15.2 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit CE.22      Article 15.3 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit CE.23      Article 16.3 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit CE.24      COPPS: Student Rights and Responsibilities Exhibit CE.25      COPPS: Freedom of Inquiry and Expression Exhibit CE.26      Applying for Admission Exhibit CE.27      Board Policy BP260, Financial Planning and Budgeting Exhibit CE.28      Board Policy BP255, Financial Condition and Activities Exhibit CE.29      Long Range Financial Plan Exhibit CE.30      Board Policy BP030, Educational Programs—Global Directions Exhibit CE.31      Board Policy BP360, Governing Style Exhibit CE.32      Board Policy BP355, Global Board-President Relationship Exhibit CE.33      College Governance Website Exhibit CE.34      Board Policy BP020, Credit Hour Exhibit CE.35      Board Policy BP313, Board Members’ Code of Conduct Exhibit CE.36      Board Policy BP610, Conflict of Interest Exhibit CE.37      Board of Education Monitoring Report, A.050 Exhibit CE.38      Board Policy BP330, Communication and Support to the Board Exhibit CE.39      Board Policy BP345, Delegation to the President Exhibit CE.40      Engineering Transfer Articulation Agreement to Oregon Institute of Technology Exhibit CE.41      Lane Community College Articulation Agreements, 2012-13 Exhibit CE.42      Transfer Plans Exhibit CE.43      COPPS: Credit for Prior Learning Exhibit CE.44      COPPS: Credit by Assessment Exhibit CE.45      Student Organization Guidelines Exhibit CE.46      COPPS: Release of Student Records Exhibit CE.47      COPPS: Hiring Process Exhibit CE.48      Board Policy BP340, Contractual Authority Exhibit CE.49      Board Policy BP285, Purchasing Procedure Exhibit CE.50      2013-14 Faculty Evaluation Handbook Exhibit CE.51      Board Policy BP215, Budget Officer Exhibit CE.52      Board Policy BP220, Budget Preparation and Adoption Exhibit CE.53      Board Policy BP245, Ending Fund Balance (EFB) Exhibit CE.54      Board Policy BP280, Interfund Transfers Exhibit CE.55      Board Policy BP275, Interfund Loans Exhibit CE.56      COPPS: Instructor Certification Exhibit CE.57      Catalog Search Screenshot Exhibit CE.58      Oregon Outcomes for AAOT, ASOT-Bus, OTM Exhibit CE.59      COPPS: Records Management Exhibit CE.60      Library Research Guides Exhibit CE.61      Library Student Survey 2011 Exhibit CE.62      Budget Development Website [...] Read more...
September 5, 2014Exhibit 1.1           Executive Summary of the Economic Contribution of Lane Community College Exhibit 1.2           Connected Lane County Website Exhibit 1.3           Substantive Change Letter, 12-2011 Exhibit 1.4           Geospatial Information Science and Technology (GIST) AAS Exhibit 1.5           Watershed Science Technician AAS Exhibit 1.6           Energy Management: Building Controls AAS Option Exhibit 1.7           Website Design One-Year Certificate Exhibit 1.8           Health Records Management Exhibit 1.9           Achieving the Dream at Lane Overview Exhibit 1.10         Ask Lane: What is Lane’s Mission? Screenshot Exhibit 1.11         Minutes of Lane Board Meeting Approving Core Themes (June 14, 2011) Exhibit 1.12         Budget Document for Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Exhibit 1.13         Lane’s Mission, Vision, Core Values, and Strategic Directions Exhibit 1.14         College Catalog: Mission Statement Exhibit 1.15         Facts About Lane 2013-2014 Brochure [...] Read more...
September 4, 2014Exhibit 2.1           Oregon Revised Statute 341.009 Exhibit 2.2           Lane’s Charter Exhibit 2.3           Board Policy BP535, Equality of Opportunity Exhibit 2.4           College Catalog: Tuition, Fees, Financial Aid and Payment Exhibit 2.5           College Tuition, Fees and Payment Exhibit 2.6           Article 3.1 of the Management Employees Working Conditions document Exhibit 2.7           Strategic Direction “A Safe Learning and Working Environment” Exhibit 2.8           Faculty Resources – English: Suggested Language for Syllabi Exhibit 2.9           Board Policy BP380, Officers of the Board of Education Exhibit 2.10         Degree and Certificate Overview Exhibit 2.11         Health Professions Credit Program 2014 Applications Exhibit 2.12         Board of Education: Board Policies Exhibit 2.13         Audit Reports Exhibit 2.14         Board Policy BP510, Board Duties and Responsibilities: Personnel Exhibit 2.15         Principles that Guide the Governance System Exhibit 2.16         Lane Governance Website Exhibit 2.17         Faculty Council Meeting Minutes Exhibit 2.18         Strategic Learning and Student Affairs Directions Exhibit 2.19         Current Councils Membership Exhibit 2.20         Board Policy BP305, Agenda Planning Exhibit 2.21         Board Policy BP540, Monitoring President’s Performance Exhibit 2.22         Treatment of Staff Report Exhibit 2.23         Board of Education Minutes: March 12, 2008 Exhibit 2.24         Unit Plans Exhibit 2.25         Organizational Chart: July 22, 2014 Exhibit 2.26         Lane’s Executive Team Exhibit 2.27         College Online Policy and Procedure System (COPPS) Exhibit 2.28         Human Resources: Staff Resources Exhibit 2.29         Library: Circulation Policy Exhibit 2.30         Library: Borrowing, Renew, Return Policy Exhibit 2.31         Library: Borrowing from Other Libraries Policies Exhibit 2.32         Library: Policy on Computer Use Exhibit 2.33         General Information for Transferring Credit Exhibit 2.34         Course Equivalency Transfer Tool Exhibit 2.35         COPPS: Student Rights and Conduct Exhibit 2.36         Policy and Procedure Links Exhibit 2.37         Under 18 Students Exhibit 2.38         Steps to Enroll in Credit Classes Exhibit 2.39         Student Experience Group Action Priorities Exhibit 2.40         Programs with Specific Admissions Procedures Exhibit 2.41         Guided Studies Program Exhibit 2.42         Placement Testing Information Exhibit 2.43         Screenshot: When Can I Register? Exhibit 2.44         COPPS: Grades: Academic and Degree Appeals Exhibit 2.45         Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards Exhibit 2.46         COPPS: Organizations Exhibit 2.47         Associated Students of Lane Community College (ASLCC) Website Exhibit 2.48         ASLCC Constitution Exhibit 2.49         The By-Laws of ASLCC Exhibit 2.50         Board Policy BP715, Student Activities Fees for Student-Initiated Programs Exhibit 2.51         COPPS: Student Travel Agreements Exhibit 2.52         COPPS: Media Commission Guidelines Exhibit 2.53         COPPS: Procedures: Adding, Revising or Deleting Exhibit 2.54         COPPS: Personnel Files Exhibit 2.55         COPPS: Advertising Exhibit 2.56         COPPS: Brochures Exhibit 2.57         Lane Web Guidelines Exhibit 2.58         Content Guidelines Exhibit 2.59         2014-15 College Catalog Exhibit 2.60         Management Employees Working Conditions Agreement Exhibit 2.61         COPPS: Employment of Family Members Exhibit 2.62         COPPS: Equipment: Personal Use Exhibit 2.63         COPPS: Copyrighted Materials: Reproduction Exhibit 2.64         2014-2015 College Catalog: About Lane Community College Exhibit 2.65         Board Policy BP010, Accreditation Policy Exhibit 2.66         Lane Accreditation Website Exhibit 2.67         COPPS: Harassment Based on Race or Ethnicity or National Origin: General Exhibit 2.68         COPPS: Curriculum Equity Exhibit 2.69         Curriculum Forms Exhibit 2.70         COPPS: Student Evaluation of Instruction Exhibit 2.71         COPPS: Gift and Donation Acceptance Exhibit 2.72         Board Policy BP205, Asset Protection Exhibit 2.73         Board Policy BP315, Borrowing Exhibit 2.74         Board Policy BP240, Definition of a Balanced Budget Exhibit 2.75         Board Policy BP295, Unappropriated Ending Fund Balance (UEFB) Exhibit 2.76         Board Policy BP290, Stabilization Reserve Fund Exhibit 2.77         Board Policy BP230, Capital Reserve Funds Exhibit 2.78         Board Policy BP225, Budgeting of Non-recurring Resources Exhibit 2.79         Board Policy BP270, General Fund Contingency Exhibit 2.80         Board Policy BP235, Debt Issuance and Management Exhibit 2.81         Board Policy BP265, Financial Reporting Exhibit 2.82         Recruitment Procedure Exhibit 2.83         Article 5 of the Management Employees Working Conditions agreement Exhibit 2.84         Forms Library: Management Forms Exhibit 2.85         Forms Library: Classified Forms Exhibit 2.86         Article 11.10 of the LCCEF Contract and Memoranda of Agreement Exhibit 2.87         Faculty Professional Development: Professional Activities Funding (Short-Term Leave) Exhibit 2.88         Faculty Professional Development: Sabbatical (Long-Term Leave, Paid) Exhibit 2.89         COPPS: Workload: Faculty Exhibit 2.90         Article 35.3 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit 2.91         Article 35.3.2 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit 2.92         Article 13 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit 2.93         Faculty Developmental Evaluation Record Sheet Exhibit 2.94         Article 34 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit 2.95         Article 37 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit 2.96         Article 34.5.6.2 of the LCCEA Bargaining Agreement Exhibit 2.97         Code of Federal Regulations, CFR 34 600.2 Exhibit 2.98         College Catalog: Degrees and Certificates Exhibit 2.99         Curriculum Committee Charter Exhibit 2.100       College Catalog: Information Literacy Outcomes Exhibit 2.101       COPPS: Credit by Examination Exhibit 2.102       Adult Continuing Education (ACE) Catalog Exhibit 2.103       Instructor Qualifications: Noncredit Exhibit 2.104       CCSSE Results for Tutoring Exhibit 2.105       Lane TRiO Objectives 2012-2013 Exhibit 2.106       Lane TRiO STEM Objectives 2012-2013 Exhibit 2.107       Unsubsidized Student Loan Origination Statistics by Point-in-time Date Exhibit 2.108       First Year Learning Communities Exhibit 2.109       “First Time in College” New Student Academic Advising Sessions Exhibit 2.110       COPPS: Student Code of Conduct Exhibit 2.111       Threat Assessment Team Exhibit 2.112       COPPS: Admissions Exhibit 2.113       Continuing Education Website Exhibit 2.114       International Programs Website Exhibit 2.115       Steps to Enroll Exhibit 2.116       Choosing the Correct Program of Study/Major at Lane Exhibit 2.117       Early Childhood Education Admission Requirements Exhibit 2.118       Health Professions Exhibit 2.119       Career Pathways Exhibit 2.120       COPPS: Student Records Exhibit 2.121       COPPS: Subpoena Exhibit 2.122       State of Oregon Agency Administrative Overviews and Special Schedules Exhibit 2.123       Records Retention and Disposition Schedule Exhibit 2.124       New Student Resources Exhibit 2.125       Academic Advising Moodle Page Exhibit 2.126       Lane’s 2011 Community College Student Survey of Engagement: Advising Results Exhibit 2.127       MyLane: Campus Life Screenshot Exhibit 2.128       Learning Garden Club Exhibit 2.129       Video: Rainy Day Food Pantry Exhibit 2.130       About Student Life and Leadership Development Exhibit 2.131       Women’s Program Exhibit 2.132       Specialized Support Services Exhibit 2.133       NWAC Athletic Eligibility Requirements Exhibit 2.134       Lane Community College Athlete Eligibility Requirements Exhibit 2.135       NCTA Standards for Test Centers Exhibit 2.136       Library Collection Development Exhibit 2.137       Information Literacy Toolkit: Widgets Exhibit 2.138       Tutorial: Deciphering Your Assignment Exhibit 2.139       Video Services for Faculty Exhibit 2.140       Library Purchase Request Exhibit 2.141       Academic Liaison and Subject Specialists Exhibit 2.142       Information Literacy Toolkit Index Exhibit 2.143       Workshops and Trainings Exhibit 2.144       WCET Recognizes Outstanding Works In Higher Education Exhibit 2.145       Inklings Newsletter Exhibit 2.146       Library 2011 Student Survey: Why Do You Come to the Library? Exhibit 2.147       Information Literacy Toolkit: All Handouts Exhibit 2.148       Faculty Resources – English: Information Literacy and Writing Courses Exhibit 2.149       Library Unit Plans Exhibit 2.150       FY14-FY15 Projection Exhibit 2.151       FY14 Third Quarter Financial Report Exhibit 2.152       Budget Document, FY13-14 Exhibit 2.153       Enrollment Capacity Report Exhibit 2.154       Position List Administrative Report Exhibit 2.155       Technology Group Charters Exhibit 2.156       Oregon Department of Revenue, Local Budgeting Manual, Chapter 4 Exhibit 2.157       Oregon Budget Law ORS294.463 Exhibit 2.158       Documentation of Transfers Included in the Budget Document Exhibit 2.159       Schedule of Interfund Transfers Exhibit 2.160       Oregon Budget Law ORS294.468 Exhibit 2.161       Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Exhibit 2.162       Board of Education Monitoring Report: A.040 Exhibit 2.163       Lane Foundation Agreement Exhibit 2.164       Lane Foundation By-Laws Exhibit 2.165       Lane Foundation: Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Information Exhibit 2.166       COPPS: Waste: Infectious Exhibit 2.167       COPPS: Waste: Hazardous Exhibit 2.168       COPPS: Bloodborne Pathogens: Exposure Exhibit 2.169       COPPS: Hazard Communication Exhibit 2.170       Conceptual Vision Plan Exhibit 2.171       Tactical Technology Plan [...] Read more...
September 3, 2014Exhibit 3.1           Strategic Plan Exhibit 3.2           Emergency Management Plan Exhibit 3.3           Florence Employee Emergency Manual Exhibit 3.4           Downtown Academic Employee Emergency Manual Exhibit 3.5           Satellite Campus Employee Emergency Manual Exhibit 3.6           30th Avenue Campus Employee Emergency Manual Exhibit 3.7           New Employee Safety Orientation Exhibit 3.8           Safe Lane Website Exhibit 3.9           Public Safety Department Newsletter Archives Exhibit 3.10         Public Safety Department Brochures & Posters Exhibit 3.11         Public Safety Department Website Exhibit 3.12         Lane Community College Emergency Preparedness Exhibit 3.13         Annual Security Report Exhibit 3.14         COPPS: Emergency Contact of Students Exhibit 3.15         COPPS: Emergency Messages to Students [...] Read more...
September 2, 2014Exhibit 4.1           COPPS: Academic Progress Standards Exhibit 4.2           Core Learning Outcomes Assessment Action Plan Exhibit 4.3           2014-2015 Update to the Perkins IV Local 5-Year Plan Exhibit 4.4           CLO Rubric Development Project Report Form Exhibit 4.5           Math Title Changes for Applied Math Classes Exhibit 4.6           Career Technical Awards Conferred: Overview, FY07-FY15 Exhibit 4.7           CCWD: Adult Basic Skills Program Exhibit 4.8           Lane Enrollment & Headcount Exhibit 4.9           Oregon Board of Massage Therapists: Examination Statistics Exhibit 4.10         American Massage Therapy Association: 2014 Massage Therapy Industry Fact Sheet   [...] Read more...
September 1, 2014EcoChallenge A Success! Lane’s EcoChallenge Team placed 4th out of the 207 EcoChallenge Teams scoring 3340 points and beating our challenger, Portland Community College. Eighty-two Lane employees and students participated on the team and enacted lasting changes such as eating organic food with every meal, eating two meatless meals per day, switching to a reusable drink container, taking shorter showers, turning down the thermostat at home, and walking and biking more. Stories of Change “I took the water challenge and found that I don’t need to leave the water running when I brush my teeth, and that a 5 minute shower can be plenty of time to cleanup and even warm up in the morning.” Jim Lindly “I’m more inclined to ride my bike over the hill to the college in the morning after the challenge. Take aways from the challenge reporting – I am going to find out how I can integrate bike travel into my weekend errands.” Anna Scott “I finally bought a reusable drink container from Sequential. I’ve been making excuses not to for over a year now. This helped me to finally just do it.” Lena Demosthenes “2 meatless meals per day and I got my sister (Louisville KY) to join the LCC team. We both met our challenges every day – I made a healthy change for myself, made a positive eco-impact, and had the chance to be on a team with a sister who lives too far away for our dual participation in most events. I love her and it was fun for us! Yay!” Jayne Culberson “My goal was to eat every meal including some, if not all, organic foods. I achieved this goal every day except the two days I was at a conference. This is going to remain a goal for the rest of my life. It’s achievable, it’s good for my health and sustainable for our earth.” Wendy Simmons “I succeeded in reducing my thermostat temperature by 2 degrees, reducing the number of showers I take and limiting them to 4 minutes. I was not so successful in closing my curtains every night, but did do it many nights. I plan to continue all of these habits.” Claudia Owen “My name is Ellen, and I am a “returning” student at LCC. I participated in the Sustainability Challenge because I truly believe that, while the major changes have to come from governments and corporations, as they are the major contributors to human-induced climate change, each of us, as individuals, can also do our parts to conserve our precious and dwindling resources. I chose to commit to having 2 of my meals per day consist primarily of organic ingredients, and two of my meals per day be vegetarian, for multiple reasons. These include that I am trying to learn how to grow my own organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs, inspired, in part, by the Learning Gardens at LCC; because I am aware that pesticides are harmful to bees and humans and ground water; because I am aware that cultivating grain and bean proteins is vastly less land- and water-draining than raising feed animals; to raise awareness to encourage folks to vote for labeling of GMO’s; and because it is really not easy to eat well when eating from food boxes….I’d like to encourage the Rainy Day Pantry to seek additional vegetarian and organic items, and the Learning Garden to contribute more to the Rainy Day Pantry. Thank you.” Ellen “I blogged about what I found out from the Waste Management recycler for our apartment complex. They indeed come to the complex 6 times per week to pick up all sorts of stuff to keep it out of the landfill. The person I talked with said that only hard plastics are sent to China, not all of what goes into the bins as I was previously told by a person in recycling business. He also said clean food boxes are recycable. This helped me to know where the curbside recycling actually goes and affirmed that there is good attention on it.” Darlene Colborn EcoChallenge News 10/3/14: PCC has jumped ahead again with 21 participants and 465 points vs. Lane’s 13 participants and 230 points. 10/2/14: Team Member, Wendy Simmons, pledges to enjoy 3 meals per day with organic ingredients. 10/1/14: Lane is now ahead with 12 registrants and 210 points vs. PCC’s 4 registrants and 85 points! 9/30/14: Lane Community College is competing with Portland Community College. PCC is current winning with 4 team members and 85 points. Lane has 2 team members and 45 points. Help Lane win this challenge and join today! 9/29/14: Team Member, Jennifer Hayward, pledges to commute by bus to work. The EcoChallenge Event to take place October 15 -29, 2014 [...] Read more...
September 1, 2014Exhibit 5.1           Accreditation Resources Exhibit 5.2           Core Theme Summary Tables Exhibit 5.3           Principles, Criteria and Data Elements for Unit Planning Exhibit 5.4           Budget Balancing Strategies for FY14 and FY15 Exhibit 5.5           Department Report Overview [...] Read more...
August 30, 2014Appendix 4.1     Core Theme One Institutional Scorecard Data Appendix Appendix 4.2     Core Theme Two Institutional Scorecard Data Appendix Appendix 4.3     Core Theme Three Institutional Scorecard Data Appendix [...] Read more...
August 20, 2014Originally presented by Ian, 6/26/2014 Slides from the presentation   [...] Read more...
August 20, 2014Originally given by Alen on 6/26/14 TechTalkXE [...] Read more...
August 14, 2014Given 7/17 by Ray Notes: Argos Tech Talk July 17 [...] Read more...
August 14, 2014Originally given on 4/25/14 by Kyle The complete presentation can be viewed online. A few handy links: The Git Parable SourceTree (visual Git client) Try Git in a browser Lane Community College on Github Gitlab (Lane’s private git server) For additional help with Git, feel free to contact Kyle, David, Matt, or Phil A. [...] Read more...
August 13, 2014It’s summer, and that means Rites of Passage time, when I do workshops for African-American related youth on preventing addiction and problems related to sexuality, whether or not you’re under the influence. I combine 21st Century knowledge with 25th Dynasty wisdom, i.e. African Old School. It’s keeping your spirits, your wits, and your body safe, as well as safeguarding those around you. It comes down to and improving upon “Who Raised You!?” Among my peeps, that phrase usually means you had absent or questionable home training. Or conversely you had good home training and you “actin’ like you ain’t got no sense” aka Motherwit. Watching the UO Basketball Player Sexual Assault situation, Rites of Passage and “Who raised you?” come to mind. I played, what if they (males and female) were my kids?, in my mind. A source told me the athletes played hooky from a structured “rites of passage” program, to go to that party. If so, I’m thinking maybe the approach wasn’t African Old School / Motherwit enough. It’s probably not reasonable to expect the UO, and Eugene-Mayberry to replicate Black Old School, but neither they, nor the young woman can go back “home”. My exemplars for Black Basketball player behavior are: Paul Robeson, my father, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. They exemplify that college athletics is merely a gateway through an intellectual life, into one of service and activism. Kareem recently wrote in Time magazine: “You can’t go home again.” …”Wolfe, who took that title with permission from writer Ella Winter, used it to mean that after we leave home and are battered about by our adventures in life, we are changed. And in our disillusioned mind, “home” becomes a romanticized symbol of our innocence, in which we dreamed limitlessly and were loved unconditionally.” Speaking of losing innocence through battering adventures, if two guys take one woman into a bathroom in someone else’s house, while one stands outside as lookout, and one acknowledges that he wouldn’t want what was done in that bathroom to happen to his mom, or sister, is it shooting beyond their conceptual arc that this woman should be treated as if she is a daughter, a sister, a potential mom? I’d say they knew they were doing wrong, by anyone’s standards. To say they’re being lynched… white folks…Pleeze. I have relatives who were actually lynched, I was raised with Emmett Till as a cautionary tale. A Black Man, married to a white woman, was lynched in Eugene (half his body was found in the Willamette). I’d say the use of the term lynching is being made by people whose families weren’t targets of actual lynching, therefore their home training did not include how to conduct yourself as if you were a target. Black women, living in Eugene during the time of that lynching, faced rape, broad daylight attempted kidnapping and abduction, racial attacks, and had no recourse to police, nor could they appeal to the district attorney to prosecute, as the Eugene Klan was quite active, yet less overtly violent than in Mississippi. Paraphrasing Frederick Douglass, it is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken adults. Having raised daughters and sons in this community who’ve avoided being either targets or perpetrators of sexual assault (but who have not avoided being racially targeted). I have tried to pass on the collectivist adage, I was raised with: When you are out in society you are not there representing yourself, you are representing Us (Black Americans specifically, and the best of humanity generally). So hold yourself to a standard of behavior better than those around you, particularly when they’re acting like they ain’t got no sense. What role should the UO Community take in its culturally competent in loco parentis avatar, in raising what the Old School Black Community, would call an upright strong Black Man? A dangerous Black Man i.e. law abiding, intelligent, articulate, activist, armed with a college degree? I’m glad attention is being paid to the experience of the victim, without overt regard to her race. But whatever privileges a woman might have because of her race, her gender often makes her an unprotected target, prey to white men, and “honorary” white men, like certain Black Male Athletes, who are not held to culturally specific aspirational standards of behavior. A salient set of questions for women of any race or gender expression, is how do I detect whether this person will harm me? Its not like serial rapists of any race in college settings can’t simulate being harmless, before abruptly turning on you. My kids, (And the vast majority of LCC Rites of Passage kids) have so far successfully avoided being criminals, perpetrators or victims of sexual crimes, or even accused of such. Our upbringing prepares one against the inevitable targeting either as a victim, or a perpetrator. We are taught to make appropriate adjustments in character and action as if you’re an active target. My hope for the “sister” in this incident is that she comes back strong, like Maya did from similar circumstances: “Every human grouping, whether its just two people, a family, people in the neighborhood, people in the city, in a nation, a tribe, a species; people live in direct relation to the heroes and the Sheroes, they have. – Maya Angelou My Sheroes and Heroes, taught me that being the best we can be, when the world expects the worst of you, often makes you more of a target. Therefore, you don’t get a second chance to redeem yourself after a mistake. So learn from the others around you, and don’t make certain predictable, and avoidable mistakes. That’s why police are called “One Time”, because the one time, you think you can get away with it, is the time they get you. So don’t give them any opportunity. None, Zero. Zip. Don’t waste an opportunity to excel, for us. We need you strong. Stay Strong, Stay Ready. Come Prepared.   [...] Read more...
August 6, 2014Hi everyone, Post your questions for Meeting #3 here! See you on Friday the 15th at the UO Library Gray Classroom 222 at 10.  We have discovered that the meters are pricy, but if you don’t mind walking a little, you can park within a couple blocks of the library for free for 2 hrs. Remember that we are reading chapters 13 and 27 (#12 is optional).  We will also be bringing ideas for assignments/courses/community writing centers to be workshopped. All the best, AB [...] Read more...
July 30, 2014Hi all, FYI: The University of Colorado at Boulder will be holding a conference on community writing in October of 2015, exploring questions like “How can writing and rhetoric programs create innovative curricular and scholarly models around social, economic, and environmental needs? How does writing, argument, and communication drive social change? What kinds of theories and knowledge are generated in universities that can contribute to local, national, and global movements? How do community leaders and academics share knowledge and expertise to build collaborative research projects and courses?” See http://www.communitywriting.org/ for more info! FYI:  They also have a wonderful handbook on creating service-learning writing courses. See http://www.colorado.edu/ArtsSciences/PWR/Documents/PWR_WISE_booklet_updated813.pdf Exciting stuff. AB [...] Read more...
July 29, 2014Hi all, Please post your questions for this Friday’s meeting here! See you on Friday, 8/1, at 10:00 at the UO Library, in or near Gray Classroom 222. AB p.s. A reminder of what we’ll be doing on Friday: We will consider the questions “What is a community?” and “What does a community do?” and start our next meeting by discussing those questions. We will all read two foundational works from our text, namely Brandt’s “Sponsors of Literacy” (Ch. 1, pp. 15-33) and Deans’s “English Studies and Public Service” (Ch. 9, pp. 97-116).  We will each post a discussion question or two about these two essays a few days before our next meeting. Each person will read another essay of their choice from the book to briefly share with the group.  (Options for sharing:  summing up the text, sharing theoretical or practical approaches the group might find interesting, discussing strengths and limitations of the text, considering applicability to Lane’s writing program/ classroom, etc.) At the next meeting, we will decide on the plan for the following meeting, based on the questions/problems that arise during our discussion.   [...] Read more...
July 14, 2014At times, someone will ask if OERs and publishing are mutually exclusive.  “If I do this, won’t I be excluding myself out of the publishing community?” Given how easy it is now to self-publish, the answer is definitely no.  Seth Godin has a few words on this topic from the excellent documentary PressPausePlay. [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Struggling readers try to make sense of text by relying heavily on the graphic and phonic features of words. This means they often make poor predictions about what text means because they are busy substituting words that look or sound similar but don’t mean the same. For example, substituting dimple or simple won’t help a reader understand what an author means by pimple. One way to move students past this habit would be to give them a cloze text to work with. In a cloze text the reader has a passage with blanks where words were removed. The reader’s task is to insert words that make sense. This exercise puts readers in a position where they have to take risks to make meaning and they can’t rely on graphophonic cues. For example: Once upon a ________, The little pig built _____ house out of straw The wolf walked ________ the road Apparently a traditional cloze text eliminates every seven words. Another approach would be to leave an introductory section intact and then eliminate words according to a pattern, such as every ten words. In Debra Goodman’s chapter, The Reading Detective Club, in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek (1996), she describes using cloze exercises she built from predictable stories or folk tales in order to reap the benefits of retrospective miscue analysis with a larger group of students. Goodman had students work the exercises in pairs and then share responses. She would put all responses on the board and ask: Do these responses make sense? Why did you come up with this response? The second question opens the door to the reading process. Following questions might include: What did you see in the text that led you to this response?  What clues did you use to come up with this response? What were you thinking about when you came up with this response? [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Struggling readers try to make sense of text by relying heavily on the graphic and phonic features of words. This means they often make poor predictions about what text means because they are busy substituting words that look or sound similar but don’t mean the same. For example, substituting dimple or simple won’t help a reader understand what an author means by pimple. One way to move students past this habit would be to give them a cloze text to work with. In a cloze text the reader has a passage with blanks where words were removed. The reader’s task is to insert words that make sense. This exercise puts readers in a position where they have to take risks to make meaning and they can’t rely on graphophonic cues. For example: Once upon a ________, The little pig built _____ house out of straw The wolf walked ________ the road Apparently a traditional cloze text eliminates every seven words. Another approach would be to leave an introductory section intact and then eliminate words according to a pattern, such as every ten words. In Debra Goodman’s chapter, The Reading Detective Club, in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek (1996), she describes using cloze exercises she built from predictable stories or folk tales in order to reap the benefits of retrospective miscue analysis with a larger group of students. Goodman had students work the exercises in pairs and then share responses. She would put all responses on the board and ask: Do these responses make sense? Why did you come up with this response? The second question opens the door to the reading process. Following questions might include: What did you see in the text that led you to this response?  What clues did you use to come up with this response? What were you thinking about when you came up with this response? [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Here are additional take-aways and bits of teaching advice… When students finish reading, always focus on what they understand before discussing any other aspect of reading. Follow this by asking what, if anything, gave students trouble.  If a reader pauses at an unknown word, wait it out, and watch what they do. If a reader asks for the meaning of a word, instead of providing the answer, ask them what they think should go in that place. If they make a reasonable guess, they can move on. If the guess is not reasonable or they won’t make a guess, encourage them to keep reading. Watch what they do when they see the word again or when they make sense of the meaning. Text selection is key. Gaining control of the reading process may be a light switch that flips on, or a gradual zigzag. “Matching” is a good way to talk about reproduction of the letters/sounds. Did what the reader say out loud match what was written? Miscue analysis is a problem-solving, inquiry-oriented experience. It can’t be turned into a formula and will lose power if procedures are followed slavishly. After the first 200 words of a text, a reader starts to make more effective predictions. Don’t underestimate the ability of any reader to read a substantial amount of text (500 words is a minimum to gain understanding). Students assume that they have said something incorrect if the teacher asks a follow-up question. [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Here are additional take-aways and bits of teaching advice… When students finish reading, always focus on what they understand before discussing any other aspect of reading. Follow this by asking what, if anything, gave students trouble.  If a reader pauses at an unknown word, wait it out, and watch what they do. If a reader asks for the meaning of a word, instead of providing the answer, ask them what they think should go in that place. If they make a reasonable guess, they can move on. If the guess is not reasonable or they won’t make a guess, encourage them to keep reading. Watch what they do when they see the word again or when they make sense of the meaning. Text selection is key. Gaining control of the reading process may be a light switch that flips on, or a gradual zigzag. “Matching” is a good way to talk about reproduction of the letters/sounds. Did what the reader say out loud match what was written? Miscue analysis is a problem-solving, inquiry-oriented experience. It can’t be turned into a formula and will lose power if procedures are followed slavishly. After the first 200 words of a text, a reader starts to make more effective predictions. Don’t underestimate the ability of any reader to read a substantial amount of text (500 words is a minimum to gain understanding). Students assume that they have said something incorrect if the teacher asks a follow-up question. [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Over the intersession, Peter and I stayed at The Chetco River Inn, which is a wonderful place eighteen miles upriver of Brookings, Oregon. The swimming and underwater GoProing was great. We hiked up into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness one day, and spent another day down in the California Redwoods. While I was there, I made this video as a sort of practice commercial approach to digital storytelling. [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Retrospective miscue analysis is often done in individual sessions with students, but in a college classroom where students attend for a maximum of 10 weeks (and some fewer than that) there isn’t time to schedule the number of individual sessions needed. The analysis can also be done within student groups during class. Sarah Costello’s chapter titled A Teacher/Researcher Uses RMA in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek, has some useful ideas for a series of seven background lessons to prepare students to do the analysis in small groups. I summarized these below with notes about implementation, and with instructional objectives (derived from Costello’s description). Note that Costello developed the series of seven after trying three lessons exploring:1) what is a miscue (unexpected response, not a mistake, a window into reader thinking),2) all readers miscue3) reading process: what readers are doing to make meaning (sample/predict/confirm/deny) Lesson 1: What is the process of learning?Objective: Identify and become aware of the pre-requisites for learning. Costello used a group brainstorming activity. I have used think/writes to call up wisdom gained in past experiences (successes and failures), sometimes combined with a dating line where students share their wisdom with others in turn. Pre-requisites to look for: students must want to learn students must be in an environment where they can take risks and make mistakes students must have opportunities to practice Lesson 2: What is “reading”?Objective: Define reading and list examples of the variety of student reading experiences. Costello assigned students to “log all the reading they did in one day,” categorizing it on a chart as informational (e.g. textbook, magazine, instructions, cookbook), recreational (e.g. a phone text, TV commercial) or environmental (e.g. a stop sign). The class discussed the data collected on the next day. Lesson 3: What do we perceive?Objective: Evaluate the quality and nature of individual perception. People can perceive the same thing differently and we often see what we think we see.  Costello showed the students optical illusions – images with more than one meaning. My colleague Phyllis Nissila demonstrated a similar lesson on perception for our faculty inquiry group using geometric optical illusions. Costello also used riddles to discuss multiple interpretations “because the author expects the reader will think one way and then provides a twist for the purpose of surprise.”  Examples from Costello: 1: Some months have thirty days; some have thirty-one. How many have twenty-eight? (All)2: You are lost in the woods. You are freezing and you find a cabin. You have only one match. You enter the cabin and find a kerosene lamp, an oil heater and a wood-burning stove. Which would you light first? (The match) (Goodman & Marek, Retrospective Miscue Analysis p. 171). Costello closed the lesson with a final exercise and discussion about “what effective and efficient readers do when reading.” This is a dramatic example of a miscue using a text that purposefully leads the good reader to read what is meant instead of what is written. Efficient readers will miscue when reading these two samples because they don’t even see (or read) the repeat the or a. If someone were reading word for word they would see and read it, but it’s not important when reading for meaning. Efficient readers aren’t making a mistake, it’s a miscue. The efficient reader samples only as much text as the reader needs to make meaning, predicting what will be there and confirming or denying what he/she predicts by asking if it makes sense, then correcting as needed. Possible discussion supports after reading the sample out loud (to a partner?) and having the partner listen and then compare the text to the words read out loud. Did the reader read the text out loud exactly how it was written on the page? What was different about the reader’s version? Why didn’t the reader say all the words? How did the reader know that those words weren’t needed? What is the reader doing? Does it matter if the reader’s version is different from the author’s version (what is read out loud is different from what is typed on the page)? When would that matter? Terms to highlight for students (note that Goodman calls these the strategies but if using a more detailed list of strategies perhaps these would need another name): sample – the reader chooses what to read next to make sense of the text predict – the reader thinks about what the author will say next confirm/deny – the reader checks to see if the prediction is correct correct – the reader samples and repeats if the prediction is not correct In my experience students will need several more experiences in order to re-examine the assumption that decoding words is the same as reading (or making meaning).  Lesson 4: What do readers do in the search for meaning, if they aren’t just decoding the words?Objective: Identify the steps in the reading process (sample, predict, confirm/deny, correct) and how students already use those steps. Next, Costello and her students discussed the way everyone uses the steps/strategies. For students to reach the lesson objectives they would need to use the information presented to make decisions on their own – perhaps an assignment to find examples and bring them back to class, or brainstorm them with a partner, after hearing a few examples. Possible examples: looking at a book cover and predicting what the book will be about watching a sample of a movie (trailer) to predict what the movie will be about comparing the trailer to the movie (confirm/deny/correct) sizing up a teacher on the first day of class meeting a dog at the dog pound to consider for adoption Finally, Costello surfaced student background knowledge of reading strategies used to find word meaning, including sounding out the word, skipping it, asking someone, using the dictionary and stopping reading. I wonder why surfacing word level strategies is meaningful at this early stage, when a central goal is to help students re-examine their assumption that finding word meaning is the key task in reading. Perhaps she surfaced this schema early on so her students could see how it related to the new information she presented about the reading process. This also feels like another lesson.  [Would it be fruitful to compare the traditional word level strategies to the sample/predict/confirm etc. steps.? For example, a reader who skips a word leaves it out of the sample, but can return later with more information to predict/confirm word meaning. Or, a reader who sounds out the word is sampling every letter in an attempt to find meaning. Or, a reader who asks someone or looks in the dictionary samples the word, but skips prediction – looking immediately for the correct answer. Perhaps that’s why this technique fails so many readers, because often the dictionary just provides a new set of variables requiring new predictions and confirmation…] Lesson 5: What information do readers rely on to make predictions and confirm or deny? Objective: Identify the four cueing systems that readers use to make meaning. Costello defined the four cueing systems and gave students examples of how they use their intuition about language to make meaning by using these systems. Terms to define – the reader figures out meaning by looking at cues that are… Semantic  – based on meaning, context – what the word could mean here Syntactic – based on language, grammar – what function the word has here Graphophonic – based on letters, sound – what the word looks like or sounds like Pragmatic – based on word usage – what people use words like this for Examples of syntax that students would pick up – many more examples needed: Readers know that these words can’t fit: Jack ran up the have. Give me the put. To grasp this objective students would need to do something with the information – perhaps analyzing miscues (after watching a demonstration and doing a reciprocal teaching exercise to practice the technique). Costello has this lesson followed by the practice – will it work to have these on separate days? This feels like technical information presented out of order – at a time when students do not yet understand what to do with the information or why it’s important. If the driving purpose is to focus students on whether a miscue does/doesn’t affect meaning, could Lesson 6 come before Lesson 5, with explanation of the technical terms following the analysis of examples? Lesson 6: What do readers use to make predictions and confirm or deny?Objective: Analyze the quality of a variety of miscues, using the cueing systems. Costello gave students miscues to analyze and discussed each one while students responded on a chart. Here is a miscue example provided by Costello (with miscue in bold italics, and original text crossed out): “I’m really bored,” said Judy Julie, “Why don’t we go out and play?” Questions for analysis/charting: Did what the reader said mean the same thing as what was written in the text? Did what the reader said sound like language Did what the reader said look like or sound like what was written in the text? Did the reader self-correct? Did the reader need to self-correct? What is the reader’s strength? Lesson 7: How can we notice and analyze miscues in a small group?Objective: Analyze miscues from a recorded oral reading of text with help from a group. Try out the routine for small groups. Costello originally used this lesson to review the procedures for small group retrospective miscue analysis session and the expectations for group members. She would ask a student volunteer to read for recording while the whole class followed the reading with a typescript, marking miscues. She found this unworkable because the audio wasn’t loud enough on replay and the reader became defensive about the miscues. She recommends having students work only in small groups. Another way to accomplish this would be for the teacher to do the reading for the whole class demonstration, recording and playing back using the classroom projector and speakers. To work in small groups students need instruction cards with steps to follow and roles to carry out. Costello’s routines for retrospective miscue analysis in small groups:Size: Costello settled on four students as the optimal group size. Groups of three might be better for the 10-week term so that each student had three opportunities to read if this was a weekly routine.Routine: On the first day one student read a selected text. All students had a typescript copy of the reading and a chart to mark the miscues (see above). The group would listen to the tape, and have stop the tape as soon as someone heard a miscue. The students would listen to it again and work together to analyze and log the miscue on their charts. This process would start on the first day and continue on a second day. At the end of each cycle a student would volunteer to read at the next session. The students turned in their charts and noted the name of the next reader.Roles: Each group had a chairperson who would set up the recording equipment, assemble the group, hand out the materials, and get the group started.Groundrules/etiquette: Allow the reader to read without interruption. Allow the reader to self-correct – let them figure it out for themselves (like figuring out a riddle). Allow readers to volunteer. Giver readers the option to read to teacher solo outside of class instead if more comfortable.Teacher preparation: Costello formed heterogenous groups. She prepared a basket for each group with copies of the text, charts, and recording equipment. A log identifying readers could be added. [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Retrospective miscue analysis is often done in individual sessions with students, but in a college classroom where students attend for a maximum of 10 weeks (and some fewer than that) there isn’t time to schedule the number of individual sessions needed. The analysis can also be done within student groups during class. Sarah Costello’s chapter titled A Teacher/Researcher Uses RMA in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek, has some useful ideas for a series of seven background lessons to prepare students to do the analysis in small groups. I summarized these below with notes about implementation, and with instructional objectives (derived from Costello’s description). Note that Costello developed the series of seven after trying three lessons exploring:1) what is a miscue (unexpected response, not a mistake, a window into reader thinking),2) all readers miscue3) reading process: what readers are doing to make meaning (sample/predict/confirm/deny) Lesson 1: What is the process of learning?Objective: Identify and become aware of the pre-requisites for learning. Costello used a group brainstorming activity. I have used think/writes to call up wisdom gained in past experiences (successes and failures), sometimes combined with a dating line where students share their wisdom with others in turn. Pre-requisites to look for: students must want to learn students must be in an environment where they can take risks and make mistakes students must have opportunities to practice Lesson 2: What is “reading”?Objective: Define reading and list examples of the variety of student reading experiences. Costello assigned students to “log all the reading they did in one day,” categorizing it on a chart as informational (e.g. textbook, magazine, instructions, cookbook), recreational (e.g. a phone text, TV commercial) or environmental (e.g. a stop sign). The class discussed the data collected on the next day. Lesson 3: What do we perceive?Objective: Evaluate the quality and nature of individual perception. People can perceive the same thing differently and we often see what we think we see.  Costello showed the students optical illusions – images with more than one meaning. My colleague Phyllis Nissila demonstrated a similar lesson on perception for our faculty inquiry group using geometric optical illusions. Costello also used riddles to discuss multiple interpretations “because the author expects the reader will think one way and then provides a twist for the purpose of surprise.”  Examples from Costello: 1: Some months have thirty days; some have thirty-one. How many have twenty-eight? (All)2: You are lost in the woods. You are freezing and you find a cabin. You have only one match. You enter the cabin and find a kerosene lamp, an oil heater and a wood-burning stove. Which would you light first? (The match) (Goodman & Marek, Retrospective Miscue Analysis p. 171). Costello closed the lesson with a final exercise and discussion about “what effective and efficient readers do when reading.” This is a dramatic example of a miscue using a text that purposefully leads the good reader to read what is meant instead of what is written. Efficient readers will miscue when reading these two samples because they don’t even see (or read) the repeat the or a. If someone were reading word for word they would see and read it, but it’s not important when reading for meaning. Efficient readers aren’t making a mistake, it’s a miscue. The efficient reader samples only as much text as the reader needs to make meaning, predicting what will be there and confirming or denying what he/she predicts by asking if it makes sense, then correcting as needed. Possible discussion supports after reading the sample out loud (to a partner?) and having the partner listen and then compare the text to the words read out loud. Did the reader read the text out loud exactly how it was written on the page? What was different about the reader’s version? Why didn’t the reader say all the words? How did the reader know that those words weren’t needed? What is the reader doing? Does it matter if the reader’s version is different from the author’s version (what is read out loud is different from what is typed on the page)? When would that matter? Terms to highlight for students (note that Goodman calls these the strategies but if using a more detailed list of strategies perhaps these would need another name): sample – the reader chooses what to read next to make sense of the text predict – the reader thinks about what the author will say next confirm/deny – the reader checks to see if the prediction is correct correct – the reader samples and repeats if the prediction is not correct In my experience students will need several more experiences in order to re-examine the assumption that decoding words is the same as reading (or making meaning).  Lesson 4: What do readers do in the search for meaning, if they aren’t just decoding the words?Objective: Identify the steps in the reading process (sample, predict, confirm/deny, correct) and how students already use those steps. Next, Costello and her students discussed the way everyone uses the steps/strategies. For students to reach the lesson objectives they would need to use the information presented to make decisions on their own – perhaps an assignment to find examples and bring them back to class, or brainstorm them with a partner, after hearing a few examples. Possible examples: looking at a book cover and predicting what the book will be about watching a sample of a movie (trailer) to predict what the movie will be about comparing the trailer to the movie (confirm/deny/correct) sizing up a teacher on the first day of class meeting a dog at the dog pound to consider for adoption Finally, Costello surfaced student background knowledge of reading strategies used to find word meaning, including sounding out the word, skipping it, asking someone, using the dictionary and stopping reading. I wonder why surfacing word level strategies is meaningful at this early stage, when a central goal is to help students re-examine their assumption that finding word meaning is the key task in reading. Perhaps she surfaced this schema early on so her students could see how it related to the new information she presented about the reading process. This also feels like another lesson.  [Would it be fruitful to compare the traditional word level strategies to the sample/predict/confirm etc. steps.? For example, a reader who skips a word leaves it out of the sample, but can return later with more information to predict/confirm word meaning. Or, a reader who sounds out the word is sampling every letter in an attempt to find meaning. Or, a reader who asks someone or looks in the dictionary samples the word, but skips prediction – looking immediately for the correct answer. Perhaps that’s why this technique fails so many readers, because often the dictionary just provides a new set of variables requiring new predictions and confirmation…] Lesson 5: What information do readers rely on to make predictions and confirm or deny? Objective: Identify the four cueing systems that readers use to make meaning. Costello defined the four cueing systems and gave students examples of how they use their intuition about language to make meaning by using these systems. Terms to define – the reader figures out meaning by looking at cues that are… Semantic  – based on meaning, context – what the word could mean here Syntactic – based on language, grammar – what function the word has here Graphophonic – based on letters, sound – what the word looks like or sounds like Pragmatic – based on word usage – what people use words like this for Examples of syntax that students would pick up – many more examples needed: Readers know that these words can’t fit: Jack ran up the have. Give me the put. To grasp this objective students would need to do something with the information – perhaps analyzing miscues (after watching a demonstration and doing a reciprocal teaching exercise to practice the technique). Costello has this lesson followed by the practice – will it work to have these on separate days? This feels like technical information presented out of order – at a time when students do not yet understand what to do with the information or why it’s important. If the driving purpose is to focus students on whether a miscue does/doesn’t affect meaning, could Lesson 6 come before Lesson 5, with explanation of the technical terms following the analysis of examples? Lesson 6: What do readers use to make predictions and confirm or deny?Objective: Analyze the quality of a variety of miscues, using the cueing systems. Costello gave students miscues to analyze and discussed each one while students responded on a chart. Here is a miscue example provided by Costello (with miscue in bold italics, and original text crossed out): “I’m really bored,” said Judy Julie, “Why don’t we go out and play?” Questions for analysis/charting: Did what the reader said mean the same thing as what was written in the text? Did what the reader said sound like language Did what the reader said look like or sound like what was written in the text? Did the reader self-correct? Did the reader need to self-correct? What is the reader’s strength? Lesson 7: How can we notice and analyze miscues in a small group?Objective: Analyze miscues from a recorded oral reading of text with help from a group. Try out the routine for small groups. Costello originally used this lesson to review the procedures for small group retrospective miscue analysis session and the expectations for group members. She would ask a student volunteer to read for recording while the whole class followed the reading with a typescript, marking miscues. She found this unworkable because the audio wasn’t loud enough on replay and the reader became defensive about the miscues. She recommends having students work only in small groups. Another way to accomplish this would be for the teacher to do the reading for the whole class demonstration, recording and playing back using the classroom projector and speakers. To work in small groups students need instruction cards with steps to follow and roles to carry out. Costello’s routines for retrospective miscue analysis in small groups:Size: Costello settled on four students as the optimal group size. Groups of three might be better for the 10-week term so that each student had three opportunities to read if this was a weekly routine.Routine: On the first day one student read a selected text. All students had a typescript copy of the reading and a chart to mark the miscues (see above). The group would listen to the tape, and have stop the tape as soon as someone heard a miscue. The students would listen to it again and work together to analyze and log the miscue on their charts. This process would start on the first day and continue on a second day. At the end of each cycle a student would volunteer to read at the next session. The students turned in their charts and noted the name of the next reader.Roles: Each group had a chairperson who would set up the recording equipment, assemble the group, hand out the materials, and get the group started.Groundrules/etiquette: Allow the reader to read without interruption. Allow the reader to self-correct – let them figure it out for themselves (like figuring out a riddle). Allow readers to volunteer. Giver readers the option to read to teacher solo outside of class instead if more comfortable.Teacher preparation: Costello formed heterogenous groups. She prepared a basket for each group with copies of the text, charts, and recording equipment. A log identifying readers could be added. [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Materials to investigate and for further collection of teaching ideas: Atwell, Nancie, In the Middle (1987, 217) – using riddles to look at reading from a different perspective – author misdirecting the reader? New Zealand Ministry of Education (1985, 1990), New Zealand model of teaching reading and writing – experiences for students to explore the reading and writing process “Materials for teachers to explore the reading and writing process” – for experiences for students in addition to cloze exercises Goodman, Bird, Goodman, The Whole Language Catalog (1991) and Assessment Supplement (1992) Davenport, Ruth, Miscues not Mistakes – description of reader with business degree miscueing as he reads his daughter Blueberries for Sal Burke, Jim, Reading Reminders – more reader experiences to explore the process? Reading Apprenticeship curriculum – experiences moving students from word to concept level, role of vocabulary discussion, use of student goals, assessment for student feedback Dudley-Marling and Rhodes, Readers and Writers with a Difference: A Holistic Approach to Teaching Struggling Readers and Writers – role of vocabulary, experiences dehaene, Stanislas, Reading in the Brain – text examples where decoding doesn’t lead to meaning and vice versa [...] Read more...
June 25, 2014Materials to investigate and for further collection of teaching ideas: Atwell, Nancie, In the Middle (1987, 217) – using riddles to look at reading from a different perspective – author misdirecting the reader? New Zealand Ministry of Education (1985, 1990), New Zealand model of teaching reading and writing – experiences for students to explore the reading and writing process “Materials for teachers to explore the reading and writing process” – for experiences for students in addition to cloze exercises Goodman, Bird, Goodman, The Whole Language Catalog (1991) and Assessment Supplement (1992) Davenport, Ruth, Miscues not Mistakes – description of reader with business degree miscueing as he reads his daughter Blueberries for Sal Burke, Jim, Reading Reminders – more reader experiences to explore the process? Reading Apprenticeship curriculum – experiences moving students from word to concept level, role of vocabulary discussion, use of student goals, assessment for student feedback Dudley-Marling and Rhodes, Readers and Writers with a Difference: A Holistic Approach to Teaching Struggling Readers and Writers – role of vocabulary, experiences dehaene, Stanislas, Reading in the Brain – text examples where decoding doesn’t lead to meaning and vice versa [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014 The holy grail of inquiries for whole-class Reading/Writing units: controversial – inquiry with no right/wrong answer that sparks emotional engagement relevant – requires a decision that is relevant to students’ lives and social contexts limited – can be investigated to reach an evidence-based conclusion in 3 weeks builds GED content knowledge – especially life science or government I’m working on two inquiry units for Spring term, timed to coincide with teachers in other classrooms, with the first one grounded in Social Studies and the second in Science. Looking for relevant controversies related to Social Studies I’ve been searching Oregon ballot initiatives, since during Spring term there will be a May vote-by-mail election, including voting on ballot initiatives. Past Oregon Voter’s pamphlets describing ballot measures with descriptions of the controversies surrounding the measures are available online, along with the election history. The pamphlets provide an authentic and meaningful reading challenge. (Unfortunately the current pamphlet won’t be published until midway through the term, or in the final days of this unit.) I’m leery of investigating this spring’s hottest ballot controversies (legalization of marijuana and gay marriage). Students need practice investigating questions to arrive at conclusions based on textual evidence. I assume that this is more difficult when students start the investigation with a ready and deeply-held emotional answer, which makes the spring controversies a bad match for me as a beginning inquiry leader.  Another one predicted to show up on this Spring’s ballot: Should Oregon require food to carry labels if the food contains genetically modified organisms? This would involve study of both social studies and science, but I’m pondering whether students will find this relevant and engaging. Some older controversies from election history looked appealing at first: Should Oregon repeal Measure 57 (providing longer sentences for certain crimes)? Should Oregon repeal Measure 11 (providing mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes)? Should the federal government eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes? These could be relevant and engaging, because of the connection between mandatory minimums and long sentences with high incarceration rates and especially the disparate incarceration of minorities (which has been called the “new Jim Crow.”) However, in Oregon the Legislature took reform action last summer, so this is a controversy that is no longer as open-ended and polarized. Another incarceration-related controversy is voting rights of ex-felons, but it looks like Oregon is not one of the offending states, so this is a national issue – a little less relevant to Oregon residents. [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014 The holy grail of inquiries for whole-class Reading/Writing units: controversial – inquiry with no right/wrong answer that sparks emotional engagement relevant – requires a decision that is relevant to students’ lives and social contexts limited – can be investigated to reach an evidence-based conclusion in 3 weeks builds GED content knowledge – especially life science or government I’m working on two inquiry units for Spring term, timed to coincide with teachers in other classrooms, with the first one grounded in Social Studies and the second in Science. Looking for relevant controversies related to Social Studies I’ve been searching Oregon ballot initiatives, since during Spring term there will be a May vote-by-mail election, including voting on ballot initiatives. Past Oregon Voter’s pamphlets describing ballot measures with descriptions of the controversies surrounding the measures are available online, along with the election history. The pamphlets provide an authentic and meaningful reading challenge. (Unfortunately the current pamphlet won’t be published until midway through the term, or in the final days of this unit.) I’m leery of investigating this spring’s hottest ballot controversies (legalization of marijuana and gay marriage). Students need practice investigating questions to arrive at conclusions based on textual evidence. I assume that this is more difficult when students start the investigation with a ready and deeply-held emotional answer, which makes the spring controversies a bad match for me as a beginning inquiry leader.  Another one predicted to show up on this Spring’s ballot: Should Oregon require food to carry labels if the food contains genetically modified organisms? This would involve study of both social studies and science, but I’m pondering whether students will find this relevant and engaging. Some older controversies from election history looked appealing at first: Should Oregon repeal Measure 57 (providing longer sentences for certain crimes)? Should Oregon repeal Measure 11 (providing mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes)? Should the federal government eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes? These could be relevant and engaging, because of the connection between mandatory minimums and long sentences with high incarceration rates and especially the disparate incarceration of minorities (which has been called the “new Jim Crow.”) However, in Oregon the Legislature took reform action last summer, so this is a controversy that is no longer as open-ended and polarized. Another incarceration-related controversy is voting rights of ex-felons, but it looks like Oregon is not one of the offending states, so this is a national issue – a little less relevant to Oregon residents. [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014Last Fall I inherited a new Reading course and started by working with curriculum shared by previous teachers. The themes for the course came out of a traditional Reading text with short non-fiction articles around a series of themes. The text supported practice of a sequential set of discrete reading skills, starting with the skill of previewing text. After my students practiced previewing the title, headings, first sentences of paragraphs and article conclusions I tested their new skill by asking them to complete the text’s comprehension questions after their preview but before close reading the article.  Students were able to answer the questions correctly without reading the article. It looked to me like the text was too easy for them, but I wanted to know if they thought so, so I asked. They were unanimous: yes! Since one of the skills needed in strategic reading is the ability to ask and pursue significant questions, I decided to use the search for a new reading theme as an opportunity to practice developing questions and finding answers through reading. My goal was to involve students in a transparent process to create a class-level “inquiry” into a significant question. I set up the process by telling students we would work together to find other texts to develop their reading and asked if they would like to identify a new theme or choose a theme from further on in the text. They reviewed the textbook Table of Contents and chose the “new theme” option. I then asked them to think of ten questions that they would like to know the answer to and to bring them to class the next day.  The next day they wrote their questions in big letters on the whiteboard. We looked at them together, adjusted and fleshed out some of them, eliminated some, and added some. When we seemed to have enough that looked workable (10? 15?) they voted by putting dots by questions they’d like to pursue. Each student put five dots by their first choice, four by the second choice, etc., down to one dot for fifth choice. We then reviewed the questions that had the highest dots from each person, and discussed the options to choose a class inquiry. The inquiry they chose was: Why are books banned? However, after the activity ended and as students were packing up and getting ready to leave, I overheard them talking amongst themselves about near death experiences. This was a theme that wasn’t among the list on the board, and yet they were talking about it with more emotion and engagement than the ones we had looked at in the formal process. We briefly considered whether to do this theme instead of book banning, but they decided to do book banning first and then near death experiences. [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014Last Fall I inherited a new Reading course and started by working with curriculum shared by previous teachers. The themes for the course came out of a traditional Reading text with short non-fiction articles around a series of themes. The text supported practice of a sequential set of discrete reading skills, starting with the skill of previewing text. After my students practiced previewing the title, headings, first sentences of paragraphs and article conclusions I tested their new skill by asking them to complete the text’s comprehension questions after their preview but before close reading the article.  Students were able to answer the questions correctly without reading the article. It looked to me like the text was too easy for them, but I wanted to know if they thought so, so I asked. They were unanimous: yes! Since one of the skills needed in strategic reading is the ability to ask and pursue significant questions, I decided to use the search for a new reading theme as an opportunity to practice developing questions and finding answers through reading. My goal was to involve students in a transparent process to create a class-level “inquiry” into a significant question. I set up the process by telling students we would work together to find other texts to develop their reading and asked if they would like to identify a new theme or choose a theme from further on in the text. They reviewed the textbook Table of Contents and chose the “new theme” option. I then asked them to think of ten questions that they would like to know the answer to and to bring them to class the next day.  The next day they wrote their questions in big letters on the whiteboard. We looked at them together, adjusted and fleshed out some of them, eliminated some, and added some. When we seemed to have enough that looked workable (10? 15?) they voted by putting dots by questions they’d like to pursue. Each student put five dots by their first choice, four by the second choice, etc., down to one dot for fifth choice. We then reviewed the questions that had the highest dots from each person, and discussed the options to choose a class inquiry. The inquiry they chose was: Why are books banned? However, after the activity ended and as students were packing up and getting ready to leave, I overheard them talking amongst themselves about near death experiences. This was a theme that wasn’t among the list on the board, and yet they were talking about it with more emotion and engagement than the ones we had looked at in the formal process. We briefly considered whether to do this theme instead of book banning, but they decided to do book banning first and then near death experiences. [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014BIG teaching puzzle from this year, as I worked on implementing Reading Apprenticeship techniques: What makes it difficult for readers to monitor their own comprehension? Could it be that readers…? assume that if they “know” (recognize) the words they have made sense of the text (assuming reading is just decoding, and decoding naturally produces full comprehension) avoid unpleasant feelings associated with lack of understanding have low expectations for their own comprehension, based on past difficulties don’t sense that they are missing meaning because they lack background knowledge limit the reading purpose to answering narrow teacher or text questions use coping skills from past classrooms to ignore meaning going beyond these narrow questions [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014BIG teaching puzzle from this year, as I worked on implementing Reading Apprenticeship techniques: What makes it difficult for readers to monitor their own comprehension? Could it be that readers…? assume that if they “know” (recognize) the words they have made sense of the text (assuming reading is just decoding, and decoding naturally produces full comprehension) avoid unpleasant feelings associated with lack of understanding have low expectations for their own comprehension, based on past difficulties don’t sense that they are missing meaning because they lack background knowledge limit the reading purpose to answering narrow teacher or text questions use coping skills from past classrooms to ignore meaning going beyond these narrow questions [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014Problem: Students have difficulty identifying places in the text that don’t make sense, or, in the language of Oregon adult learning standards, “self-monitoring” their comprehension. There are several ways that students might practice self-monitoring. In retrospective miscue analysis students learn to monitor comprehension by reading text aloud, then using a tape-recording (or log or transcript) to find oral miscues, where they made unexpected changes to the original text, and then analyzing the miscues to see their impact on comprehension.  In the Reading Apprenticeship model, students identify “roadblocks” or “puzzles” while reading silently, or when thinking aloud while reading out loud, in order to discuss and analyze them either in pairs, groups, as a class, in writing, or through making meta-cognitive reading logs. Student difficulty with self-monitoring in practice: Experimenting with the Reading Apprenticeship model this past year I asked students to work together and also at times alone to identify comprehension roadblocks or puzzles – places in the text that caused them difficulty. To prepare for this I gave short (less than two minute) demonstrations of finding conceptual roadblocks in text (beyond word level). I made an analogy to driving a car, where a driver slows down when there is something on the road that is puzzling, like a deer on the side of the road, an accident scene, or an unexpected group of cars ahead. I asked students to notice when they were slowing down or stopping in their reading, marking that place in the text so we could talk about it later. Nearly all students identified words as puzzles, if they found unfamiliar names, words and especially foreign words. (Some students seemed to feel that even identifying unfamiliar words was a risk – perhaps avoiding notice of their vocabulary struggles.) Many students who did not identify unfamiliar words, would say there were no puzzles or roadblocks in the text, although discussion would reveal that they were indeed confused about meaning. Scaffolding attempted: Building on the driving analogy, I experimented with using awareness of reading pace to help students find puzzles. I asked them to remain aware of their reading pace and mark any place in the text where they slowed down (going back to the car analogy). I had a hunch that this might encourage students to identify a broader range of text issues in a safe context, because saying that something slowed you down as a reader might seem more socially less risky than saying something confused you. The first time I tried this it immediately paid off.  A student told me she/he slowed down to think about a picture of a butchered cow lying in the sun on a table in a village in Mali. This made the student think about why someone would would leave meat lying in the sun in the open air and whether that would affect the quality and safety of the meat. When we reviewed the photo’s caption as a class we found that the meat had to be sold in the local market the same day it was butchered, because there was no refrigeration or chemical preservatives available. This lead to a comparison of the quality and safety of meat sold in American supermarkets and some deeper thought about whether the Mali cow was less, or more safe to eat. [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014Problem: Students have difficulty identifying places in the text that don’t make sense, or, in the language of Oregon adult learning standards, “self-monitoring” their comprehension. There are several ways that students might practice self-monitoring. In retrospective miscue analysis students learn to monitor comprehension by reading text aloud, then using a tape-recording (or log or transcript) to find oral miscues, where they made unexpected changes to the original text, and then analyzing the miscues to see their impact on comprehension.  In the Reading Apprenticeship model, students identify “roadblocks” or “puzzles” while reading silently, or when thinking aloud while reading out loud, in order to discuss and analyze them either in pairs, groups, as a class, in writing, or through making meta-cognitive reading logs. Student difficulty with self-monitoring in practice: Experimenting with the Reading Apprenticeship model this past year I asked students to work together and also at times alone to identify comprehension roadblocks or puzzles – places in the text that caused them difficulty. To prepare for this I gave short (less than two minute) demonstrations of finding conceptual roadblocks in text (beyond word level). I made an analogy to driving a car, where a driver slows down when there is something on the road that is puzzling, like a deer on the side of the road, an accident scene, or an unexpected group of cars ahead. I asked students to notice when they were slowing down or stopping in their reading, marking that place in the text so we could talk about it later. Nearly all students identified words as puzzles, if they found unfamiliar names, words and especially foreign words. (Some students seemed to feel that even identifying unfamiliar words was a risk – perhaps avoiding notice of their vocabulary struggles.) Many students who did not identify unfamiliar words, would say there were no puzzles or roadblocks in the text, although discussion would reveal that they were indeed confused about meaning. Scaffolding attempted: Building on the driving analogy, I experimented with using awareness of reading pace to help students find puzzles. I asked them to remain aware of their reading pace and mark any place in the text where they slowed down (going back to the car analogy). I had a hunch that this might encourage students to identify a broader range of text issues in a safe context, because saying that something slowed you down as a reader might seem more socially less risky than saying something confused you. The first time I tried this it immediately paid off.  A student told me she/he slowed down to think about a picture of a butchered cow lying in the sun on a table in a village in Mali. This made the student think about why someone would would leave meat lying in the sun in the open air and whether that would affect the quality and safety of the meat. When we reviewed the photo’s caption as a class we found that the meat had to be sold in the local market the same day it was butchered, because there was no refrigeration or chemical preservatives available. This lead to a comparison of the quality and safety of meat sold in American supermarkets and some deeper thought about whether the Mali cow was less, or more safe to eat. [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014Some unresolved questions about retrospective miscue analysis: Theoretical: How can teachers use miscue analysis in the post-DIBELS era, with students have been trained to read fluently without oral miscues and without making meaning? Do students who show proficiency by miscueing without losing meaning also show proficiency on standardized reading tests that measure sentence level comprehension (and often with little context for academic vocabulary), such as the GED or the Accuplacer? Why are phonic cues strong for beginner readers (would for could, bead for read, etc.)? Why are pragmatic cues not part of the retrospective analysis? Practical: How do you find texts that will generate the minimum of 25 miscues? How do you adjust texts for second language speakers to keep miscues at an acceptable level? How to separate semantic vs. syntactic miscues (think I know it, but do I?) How to separate semantic and syntactic miscues that do/don’t affect meaning (ditto) Lesson planning: Is it useful to teach students technical terms beyond “miscue” (such as syntactic, semantic)? Would it be useful to have a library of screencasts demonstrating reading strategies? If so, would it be best to demonstrate discrete skills or show an integrated use of strategies? How would my students respond to audio-taping?  Would taping be practical for me? What circumstances naturally lead students to activate background knowledge (as opposed to completing an assigned KWL chart, for example)? [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014Some unresolved questions about retrospective miscue analysis: Theoretical: How can teachers use miscue analysis in the post-DIBELS era, with students have been trained to read fluently without oral miscues and without making meaning? Do students who show proficiency by miscueing without losing meaning also show proficiency on standardized reading tests that measure sentence level comprehension (and often with little context for academic vocabulary), such as the GED or the Accuplacer? Why are phonic cues strong for beginner readers (would for could, bead for read, etc.)? Why are pragmatic cues not part of the retrospective analysis? Practical: How do you find texts that will generate the minimum of 25 miscues? How do you adjust texts for second language speakers to keep miscues at an acceptable level? How to separate semantic vs. syntactic miscues (think I know it, but do I?) How to separate semantic and syntactic miscues that do/don’t affect meaning (ditto) Lesson planning: Is it useful to teach students technical terms beyond “miscue” (such as syntactic, semantic)? Would it be useful to have a library of screencasts demonstrating reading strategies? If so, would it be best to demonstrate discrete skills or show an integrated use of strategies? How would my students respond to audio-taping?  Would taping be practical for me? What circumstances naturally lead students to activate background knowledge (as opposed to completing an assigned KWL chart, for example)? [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014In the Surviving Reading Instruction chapter by Ann Marek in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek, she states “…only the reader is in the position to judge whether miscues disrupt meaning. Further, a teacher attempting to control those determinations may only reinforce dependence on others to monitor understanding.” (p. 85, emphasis added) Is this true for all reading purposes? I agree that if I step in to judge comprehension I reinforce reader dependence, and that reader independence is an important goal.  I am not sure I agree that students who are reading to seek information or content knowledge, or students who are reading to demonstrate comprehension (such as students taking a standardized test) are free to judge whether miscues disrupt meaning. The reader has the responsibility to judge whether the miscue disrupts meaning, yes, but in testing other people are in a position to judge as well. In a test, a student who confidently concludes that miscues did not disrupt meaning, reaching unexpected or novel conclusions about the content, may fail to correct miscues that must be corrected to achieve the reading purpose (identifying a correct answer). Judging whether a miscue disrupts meaning is a skill, just like identifying comprehension “roadblocks” or “puzzles” in the Reading Apprenticeship model is a skill. It’s true that all and any analysis by the reader provides a window to understand the process the reader is using to make sense of the text, so in that sense all conclusions are valid and useful. However, not all conclusions are objectively accurate. What experiences help students build the self-monitoring skills they need to gauge their own level of comprehension with sufficient accuracy?  [...] Read more...
June 24, 2014In the Surviving Reading Instruction chapter by Ann Marek in Retrospective Miscue Analysis by Goodman and Marek, she states “…only the reader is in the position to judge whether miscues disrupt meaning. Further, a teacher attempting to control those determinations may only reinforce dependence on others to monitor understanding.” (p. 85, emphasis added) Is this true for all reading purposes? I agree that if I step in to judge comprehension I reinforce reader dependence, and that reader independence is an important goal.  I am not sure I agree that students who are reading to seek information or content knowledge, or students who are reading to demonstrate comprehension (such as students taking a standardized test) are free to judge whether miscues disrupt meaning. The reader has the responsibility to judge whether the miscue disrupts meaning, yes, but in testing other people are in a position to judge as well. In a test, a student who confidently concludes that miscues did not disrupt meaning, reaching unexpected or novel conclusions about the content, may fail to correct miscues that must be corrected to achieve the reading purpose (identifying a correct answer). Judging whether a miscue disrupts meaning is a skill, just like identifying comprehension “roadblocks” or “puzzles” in the Reading Apprenticeship model is a skill. It’s true that all and any analysis by the reader provides a window to understand the process the reader is using to make sense of the text, so in that sense all conclusions are valid and useful. However, not all conclusions are objectively accurate. What experiences help students build the self-monitoring skills they need to gauge their own level of comprehension with sufficient accuracy?  [...] Read more...
June 17, 2014There’s a big new MOOC in town called Connected Learning MOOC (Massively Open Online Course). Every week, we are challenged to do a new “make.” We started with “make a how-to” using any media whatsoever.   As I am building on online course, I made a “How to be a Great Online Student Haiku Deck:   HOW TO BE a great online student! – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires</span [...] Read more...
June 16, 2014Below is my wrap-up video for this OER project! I really enjoyed working on this and am excited to continue to use the resources I found! Marisa https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmpn3n8pxnifxcd/OER%20Final%20Recording.mp4 [...] Read more...
June 14, 2014[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/climate-action-plan-presented-to-LCC-Board.pdf” title=”climate action plan presented to LCC Board”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/climate-action-plan-presentation-feb-2011.pdf” title=”climate action plan presentation feb 2011″] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/climate-action-plan-board-of-education-update-june-2014.pdf” title=”climate action plan board of education update june 2014″]   [...] Read more...
June 9, 2014What I am doing in this blog post: My novelist friend Beth Camp, who keeps an excellent and active blog at http://bethandwriting.blogspot.com/has looped me in to an internet phenomenon called “The Blog Hop.” There is no centralized beginning point, just each blogger answering four questions and then inviting two other bloggers to do the same on their blogs. The four questions are: What are you currently working on? How does your writing process work? How does your work differ from others of its genre? Why do you write what you do?  You can read Beth’s answers here: http://bethandwriting.blogspot.com/2014/06/lets-play-blog-tag-my-writing-process.html Most bloggers answer the questions all on one blog post; however, I have chosen to answer each question in a different genre (digital story, a map + legend, a letter, and a poem). I will announce and ballyhoo my guest bloggers as they accept my invitation. This blog post answers Question #2, “How does your writing process work?”   How Does Your Process Work? I am always wandering in this world, and all my pasts invisibly surround me like floating veils, like the wavering sheets and flickers and flashes of light from the aurora borealis. The path of memory is always available to me although more and more the oldest memories are changed by the geologic forces and pressures of fossilizing time. The path takes me to an orchard I knew as a girl where apples hung so heavy that the farmer used long wooden props to hold the limbs up off the ground. These Red and Golden Delicious apples, Winesaps and Winter Bananas, are like ideas ripe for the picking. I take my idea apple down to the river to eat it. I have been here so often that I can never get lost. And yet this is a wild, untamed river, unpredictable, fresh, exciting. Cliffs rise on the other side of the river; those are challenges too great for me to master. I have been known to make that dangerous river crossing and to attempt that difficult climb into long form fiction or other projects beyond my limits of time and craft. These days the apple orchard, the path and the river lead me where I love to go. [...] Read more...
June 7, 2014The Daily Create challenge for June 2, 2014 was: A video of you (or someone else) reading “Anna Blume” The original German text by Kurt Schwitter is available athttp://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/Anna_Blume_Dichtungen/index2.htm, but you can try this in any language you can find translation. Be dramatic in your reading! A little quick research revealed that Kurt Schwitter was a Dada-ist poet. I saw some Internet chatter that said the poem “Anna Blume” made no sense at all, but that is patently untrue. Anyone who can parse ee cummings or roll out the Surrealist cadences of Pablo Neruda can easily hear that this is a love poem to Anna in her red dress. [...] Read more...
June 6, 2014What I am doing in this blog post: My novelist friend Beth Camp, who keeps an excellent and active blog at http://bethandwriting.blogspot.com/has looped me in to an internet phenomenon called “The Blog Hop.” There is no centralized beginning point, just each blogger answering four questions and then inviting two other bloggers to do the same on their blogs. The four questions are: What are you currently working on? How does your writing process work? How does your work differ from others of its genre? Why do you write what you do?  You can read Beth’s answers here: http://bethandwriting.blogspot.com/2014/06/lets-play-blog-tag-my-writing-process.html Most bloggers answer the questions all on one blog post; however, I have chosen to answer each question in a different genre (digital story, a map + legend, a letter, and a poem). I will announce and ballyhoo my guest bloggers as they accept my invitation. In this blog post, I am answering Question #1, “What are you currently working on?” with a digital story: [...] Read more...
June 6, 2014The fellowship has been a wonderful learning experience for me–both in better understanding OER and in using Moodle more fully. Thank you all for your very helpful and informative posts. And, Jen, thank you so much for all your helpful guidance through this process. Screencast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU_u_3zIoR8 [...] Read more...
June 5, 2014Here’s a quick rundown of the resources I use on a regular basis: CK-12: CK-12 is a nonprofit organization that creates and curates academic content. While they focus primarily on STEM content, they do have some Language Arts and history content. CK-12 offers text files, quizzes, videos, study guides, and other content resources at a wide range of levels. I love two things about the CK-12 texts – first, most topics are offered at basic/at grade/advanced level options, and second, all text is completely editable. You can download complete textbooks, put your own text together from individual sections, or create a book from scratch. I created my own textbook from section files that matched my course content, then edited them for content and age-appropriateness. Also cool – texts can be linked to online or downloaded as pdfs, files for Kindles, or files for tablets. I especially like those last two options – they not only save students the cost of a text, but the cost of printing a digital text. My Open Math: Another great, versatile site with a wealth of resources. My Open Math can function on its own as a course management site, or can be connected to Moodle. Instructors can build entire courses (import pre-build courses, start completely from scratch, or somewhere in between) that include textbooks, videos, assessments, links, etc. I primarily use My Open Math for two things – to create online practice assessments (drawn from MOM’s algorithmically generated question banks) for my students to complete during lab sessions, and to create problem sets for use in class – there is an option to generate paper versions of exercises created within the system. Despite the occasional glitch, the system is generally reliable and provides a decent variety of question types for most subjects. Arithmetic and geometry content is scant, but there are many algebra, college algebra, calculus, etc. options. As with CK-12, instructors can edit questions and use MOM tools to create questions. Highly recommended. Tyler Wallace’s Beginning and Intermediate Algebra textbook: An open textbook with student solutions manual and workbooks. An editable version of all files is also available for download. Kuta Software free worksheets: Kuta Software sells a program for generating customized math worksheets, but also provides a rather extensive bank of sample worksheets free on its website. Topics range from PreAlgebra to Calculus. Khan Academy: I use Khan’s videos for homework assignments (previewing the next day’s lesson) and additional help outside of class; I’ve also used the practice exercises as additional review for students. Braingenie: A component of CK-12, Braingenie is a gamified tutorial/practice site for math and science. Students can complete practice quizzes for various topics and units; they can also join “multiplayer” quizzes with other students using the site. Blendspace: This website allows teachers to “bundle” resources found on the web – media files, pdfs, links, etc. – and share lessons with students and other teachers. I’ve been using Blendspace to create sets of practice/review materials for the various topics I cover in class. The site is extremely easy to use, and blended lessons are easy to embed into Moodle. Dr. John Rasp’s Statistics Website: A collection of diverse data sets that can be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets. Great for real-life stats practice, linear modeling, etc. NBC Learn: Again, mainly a paid service of the NBC network, but provides a section of educational videos that are accessible for free. Lots of STEM videos related to sports (my fave is on the science and math of hockey). The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips: Short, readable explanations of various math topics. Some interesting and fun seasonal/cultural math topics. Math-Drills.com: Free, printable pdf worksheets on a variety of basic math topics. Good for review. Math-Aids.com: Another free worksheet generator. Basic math – geometry. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2014Here’s a quick rundown of the resources I use on a regular basis: CK-12: CK-12 is a nonprofit organization that creates and curates academic content. While they focus primarily on STEM content, they do have some Language Arts and history content. CK-12 offers text files, quizzes, videos, study guides, and other content resources at a wide range of levels. I love two things about the CK-12 texts – first, most topics are offered at basic/at grade/advanced level options, and second, all text is completely editable. You can download complete textbooks, put your own text together from individual sections, or create a book from scratch. I created my own textbook from section files that matched my course content, then edited them for content and age-appropriateness. Also cool – texts can be linked to online or downloaded as pdfs, files for Kindles, or files for tablets. I especially like those last two options – they not only save students the cost of a text, but the cost of printing a digital text. My Open Math: Another great, versatile site with a wealth of resources. My Open Math can function on its own as a course management site, or can be connected to Moodle. Instructors can build entire courses (import pre-build courses, start completely from scratch, or somewhere in between) that include textbooks, videos, assessments, links, etc. I primarily use My Open Math for two things – to create online practice assessments (drawn from MOM’s algorithmically generated question banks) for my students to complete during lab sessions, and to create problem sets for use in class – there is an option to generate paper versions of exercises created within the system. Despite the occasional glitch, the system is generally reliable and provides a decent variety of question types for most subjects. Arithmetic and geometry content is scant, but there are many algebra, college algebra, calculus, etc. options. As with CK-12, instructors can edit questions and use MOM tools to create questions. Highly recommended. Tyler Wallace’s Beginning and Intermediate Algebra textbook: An open textbook with student solutions manual and workbooks. An editable version of all files is also available for download. Kuta Software free worksheets: Kuta Software sells a program for generating customized math worksheets, but also provides a rather extensive bank of sample worksheets free on its website. Topics range from PreAlgebra to Calculus. Khan Academy: I use Khan’s videos for homework assignments (previewing the next day’s lesson) and additional help outside of class; I’ve also used the practice exercises as additional review for students. Braingenie: A component of CK-12, Braingenie is a gamified tutorial/practice site for math and science. Students can complete practice quizzes for various topics and units; they can also join “multiplayer” quizzes with other students using the site. Blendspace: This website allows teachers to “bundle” resources found on the web – media files, pdfs, links, etc. – and share lessons with students and other teachers. I’ve been using Blendspace to create sets of practice/review materials for the various topics I cover in class. The site is extremely easy to use, and blended lessons are easy to embed into Moodle. Dr. John Rasp’s Statistics Website: A collection of diverse data sets that can be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets. Great for real-life stats practice, linear modeling, etc. NBC Learn: Again, mainly a paid service of the NBC network, but provides a section of educational videos that are accessible for free. Lots of STEM videos related to sports (my fave is on the science and math of hockey). The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips: Short, readable explanations of various math topics. Some interesting and fun seasonal/cultural math topics. Math-Drills.com: Free, printable pdf worksheets on a variety of basic math topics. Good for review. Math-Aids.com: Another free worksheet generator. Basic math – geometry. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2014I put the finishing touches on my OER course this week, and I feel pretty good about what I’ve put together. While I consider this a work in progress, I feel like I can roll into fall term with my Math 4 course ready to go for my students. I’ve really enjoyed this project, because it’s prompted me to do things that I’ve intended to do for a long time. My students now have a text book customized to our curriculum, practice materials for every lesson, and a bank of resources to help them outside of class. It took some time to put all of this together – I knew that would be the case, but it took more time than I anticipated – but I consider it time well spent. Given that I teach students at the developmental level, I’m always challenged to find materials that meet them at both their academic level and level of maturity. My students are adults – while they may need to learn skills that are generally taught in middle or high school, they don’t want to solve problems about a kid saving his allowance for a video game. I had to wade through a lot of that type of material to find what I wanted, but I’m pleased to say that I was able to find resources that appeal to a more universal audience, or can be edited to make them more age-appropriate for my students. My wrap-up video covers a few of the main OER resources that I used in constructing my class; for a more complete list, check out my next blog post. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2014I put the finishing touches on my OER course this week, and I feel pretty good about what I’ve put together. While I consider this a work in progress, I feel like I can roll into fall term with my Math 4 course ready to go for my students. I’ve really enjoyed this project, because it’s prompted me to do things that I’ve intended to do for a long time. My students now have a text book customized to our curriculum, practice materials for every lesson, and a bank of resources to help them outside of class. It took some time to put all of this together – I knew that would be the case, but it took more time than I anticipated – but I consider it time well spent. Given that I teach students at the developmental level, I’m always challenged to find materials that meet them at both their academic level and level of maturity. My students are adults – while they may need to learn skills that are generally taught in middle or high school, they don’t want to solve problems about a kid saving his allowance for a video game. I had to wade through a lot of that type of material to find what I wanted, but I’m pleased to say that I was able to find resources that appeal to a more universal audience, or can be edited to make them more age-appropriate for my students. My wrap-up video covers a few of the main OER resources that I used in constructing my class; for a more complete list, check out my next blog post. [...] Read more...
June 5, 2014Last Feb. 2014, my Mom turned 88–and had open heart surgery for a leaky valve. Three months later, and she’s ready to rise above it all. She requested a hot air balloon ride for her birthday, so up, up and away with the whole family! If you have an eye for such things, you’ll see some frames from my very first effort at shooting with my new Go Pro camera. [...] Read more...
June 3, 2014They say it’s my birthday…the dedicated digital storyteller must let no opportunity for digital storytelling to go by uncelebrated, even her own birthday. This video was originally targeted for the Vimeo Weekend Challenge, which was to make a video opening a window into family culture: that by way of explaining why I’m talking about family culture in the video! Richard Lennox shot party pictures, and I included some classic KIIs (Kodachrome II’s)  shot by my dad, Warren Brown, “back in the day.” I posted a draft of this video on Facebook asking for feedback. I got lots of excellent suggestions, especially to include identifying labels. Thanks to the thirty-three people who took time to watch and give me their best ideas!       [...] Read more...
June 2, 2014Quality Matters Training Opportunities Available Quality Matters offers a variety of online workshops and courses designed for faculty who are new to teaching online and also for those with experience teaching online who wish improve the quality of their online course. Quality Matters (QM) is a leader in quality assurance for online education and has received national recognition for its peer-based approach to continuous improvement in online education and student learning. The “Applying the QM Rubric (APPQMR)” online workshop is being facilitated by staff at Portland Community College and begins June 17.  A detailed description is below.  Other QM workshops and courses are also available.  Please visit Quality Matters for the list, descriptions, and schedule of workshops and courses. If you are interested in registering for either the APPQMR workshop or in a training listed on the QM website, please contact Audrey Mills. These training opportunities are being funded by the Oregon Community College Distance Learning Association (OCCDLA). Applying the QM Rubric Workshop Start date: Tuesday, June 17 Duration: 2 weeks Facilitated by PCC staff: Kristen Kane, Tani McBeth, Greg Kaminski Description: This workshop explores the Quality Matters Rubric, provides a framework to improve the quality of online courses and is designed for instructors who have taught online.  (Other workshops are recommended for those in training to teach online for the first time.) This is the QM foundation workshop for anyone who might be interested in participating on a peer review team in the future, and participants will be able to apply the strategies to their own online course design. During this workshop participants have the opportunity to explore many standards of the Quality Matters rubric in depth, and to apply those standards to a demo course. Participants should plan to block out an average of about 1-1/2 hours a day over the two week period, or about 14-20 hours total. Those who complete the workshop might have a future opportunity to participate in the official “Peer Reviewer Certification” course offered through Quality Matters. (The PRC is a 2-week online workshop designed to follow the “Applying the QM Rubric” workshop.) [...] Read more...
May 30, 2014I would like to thank all those who assisted in the development of my course shell. Jen was very helpful and available which was nice. I am glad to be part of this movement to reduce student book fees and provide information to fellow Faculty members to enhance education. Good luck and have a great Summer! https://filehost.lanecc.edu/public.php?service=files&t=508dffbead6104c94867963c71906e8d [...] Read more...
May 30, 2014I would like to thank all those who assisted in the development of my course shell. Jen was very helpful and available which was nice. I am glad to be part of this movement to reduce student book fees and provide information to fellow Faculty members to enhance education. Good luck and have a great Summer! https://filehost.lanecc.edu/public.php?service=files&t=508dffbead6104c94867963c71906e8d [...] Read more...
May 29, 2014Lit at Lane has just gotten funding to begin development of an Introduction to Digital Humanities Course, English 217. We’ll be collecting resources here for course development. Contact Anne McGrail if you want to share work of note. [...] Read more...
May 28, 2014  The Wave: A Poem by Peter Jensen I was at a family gathering at the Oregon Coast over the weekend. Peter and I were reading and writing quietly when he suddenly said, “May I read you a poem?” I said, “Just a second!” and turned on the closest piece of technology that would voice record, which happened to be the microphone feature of iMovie. “Okay, I’m listening!” I just knew it was going to be a great poem, and it was. I added some media from our adventures that day to honor his thoughts. [...] Read more...
May 27, 2014This blog site is not active at the present time. help.lanecc.edu/atc provides convenient help for teachers – Knowledgebase:  Browse or search for quick answers Live Chat: ATC consultants can answer questions in real-time Ticket: Leave a ticket for guaranteed follow-up   If you are unable to find what you’re looking for, please let us know, so we can work on it: atc@lanecc.edu [...] Read more...
May 23, 2014I am privileged to be a blogger on Digital Storytelling for The New Media Consortium. I blogged about my first article here. Down the Rabbit Hole: In Search of the Best Digital Storytelling Web Tools Posted May 23, 2014 by nmc admin By Sandy Brown Jensen “In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” Where you might see another rabbit hole, I am like Alice in Wonderland, trying out all all the weird digital storytelling apps so you don’t have to, and like Alice, I’m easily dazzled by every Mad Hatter who can throw an app on the table. While I embrace the new and the weird, my ultimate goal is to track down apps I can reliably serve up to my students in order to satisfy Common Core standards or digital literacy outcomes. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” So where to begin, you ask? Criteria, criteria, criteria! Here are my three standards for useful digital storytelling tools: Free — It must be free for individuals and not cost very much for a site license. Reliable — It has to work reliably with easily taught skills. Accessible — It needs to be available to any student who can find a computer with access to the web; this means they can create on the web and publish it on the web without a tablet or phone. Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” The Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” First stop on our tour of Wonderland is wevideo.com. WeVideo is a full-featured, easy-to-learn online video editor, and it’s free to individuals. Teachers can create walled gardens for their classes. There is a WeVideo Education Channel, which is a free resource that provides free, curriculum-aligned Film Fests, as well as free video clips, examples and tutorials. Have I mentioned that it’s free? WeVideo has three levels of video editing and a drag and drop interface, so it’s easy to use for grade school kids as well as university students. Its features support collaborative projects, and the narration can be recorded inside of the video. The coolness factor is enhanced with the availability of free themes to give stories everything from a noir moodiness to that “Sixties Super 8” look. Final video processing is done in the cloud, and projects are easily posted to your classroom blog or LMS. This is my first digital story on WeVideo, which was a poetry class assignment that combined a poem with a personal narrative:   Missed Star Two from Sandy Brown Jensen on Vimeo. “Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense.” PowerPoint-type presentations never were any good for digital storytelling, and I include the nausea-inducing Prezi. Yet there was potential for a cross-over application that could deliver a polished look along with features that lead one deeper into the digital storytelling Wonderland. The aesthetically minded designers over at Haiku Deck fulfilled this need for presentation software that would lend itself to “old school” styles (yeah, Mr. Bullet Points and Ms. Text-Heavy Slides, I’m talking to you!) as well as to the up-and-coming storytelling generation. What you need to know about Haiku Deck, other than it’s free, and it’s on the web, is that it’s beautiful. While you understand “free” and “on the web,” I think “beautiful” bears some elaboration. What is beautiful is the simplicity of Haiku Deck. Posting a Haiku Deck in an LMS can be done effortlessly; for example, I created a Haiku Deck to give an overview of my online writing class and posted it in my Moodle classroom: Welcome to Your Online Writing Class! – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires Haiku Decks are very simple to construct. I can use my own photos or choose from an online selection of copyright-free pictures, and there are a variety of themes, fonts, and slide layouts. If you look at a Haiku Deck on a tablet, you’ll see and feel the smooth, sliding interface—not clicking, but sliding! Haiku Deck started as an iPad native app designed to look spectacular on the Retina display, and this aesthetic has carried over to their open web presence. I also use it to provide assignment overviews, such as this “How to Write a Criteria/Match Definition Essay.” “It was much pleasanter at home,” thought poor Alice, “when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn’t gone down the rabbit-hole—and yet—and yet—…” If you’re getting a little wistful about your rabbit hole days, let me show you the way to Wonderland from here. What you want is Alan Levine’s famous site called “50+ Web Ways to Tell a Story.” http://50ways.wikispaces.com/StoryTools Levine has cleverly taken one story about his dog Dominoe, who was lost and then found, and retold it fifty ways using fifty different free, web-based tools as he evaluated them all. This exercise was nerdy but highly instructional for some quick comparisons and contrasts. It’s also useful for helping you locate a favorite tool you’ve lost mental track of, such as xtranormal, a web-based animation application. It was free, on the web, and xtranormal made it easy to be funny. However, there were glitches; users reported losing the movie maker, access to their characters, and the movies they made. A trip to Levine’s “Island of Lost Tools” showed me that xtranormal has been purchased by nawmal.ltd and is currently being re-designed, which is good to know. “She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).” Now more than ever before, Web Wonderland is available to anyone who wants to tell a story. Just remember when you go shopping that what you want is free, reliable, and accessible. If anyone tells you otherwise, remember what the Dormouse said: “But what did the Dormouse say?” one of the jury asked. “That I can’t remember,” said the Hatter. Sandy Brown Jensen is on the Lane Community College Writing Faculty. She is also a Faculty Technology Specialist cultivating student success and faculty professional development through digital storytelling. She is a published poet and essayist. She maintains an active digital storytelling blog at blogs.lanecc.edu/mindonfire. She is on Twitter and Instagram @sandramardene [...] Read more...
May 21, 2014Hi, Another project has been completed, thanks to the Dig CoLab class.  I was determined to make a module to help students develop better eating habits.  So I used SoftChalk to create a mini series lesson, and here it is… Food And Wellness [...] Read more...
May 16, 2014Just another test to get an email. [...] Read more...
May 15, 2014On Mother’s Day, eight of us went hot air ballooning at dawn up the Willamette River.   Then on Tuesday, I hiked with a friend and a guide up to Cascadia Cave, a 6000 year old rock art and native ceremony site.   This digital poetry story is the result:   [...] Read more...
May 14, 2014Spring Term 2014 “NC” No Basis for Grade Conversation Should we continue to offer the “NC” No Basis for Grade? Questions/Issues to Consider: 1. What is the purpose of the “NC” grade? According to COPPS and our grading rubrics: NC  (No Credit): Issuing a grade of “NC” is at the instructor’s discretion and is used when the instructor believes the student has not participated enough in the class to earn a grade.  It is not meant and should not be used to replace an “F” or “Incomplete”.  Always include the last date of attendance.  P, NP, NC, I and U are not used to compute GPA  2. How common is it for faculty to assign an “NC” grade at Lane? This chart reflects the number of credit grades awarded and how many were “NC” No Basis for Grade between fall 2011 and fall 2013. Note what percentages of all grades awarded this represents. (College Now grades excluded) Term # of Credit Grades # of NC Grades Percentage Fall 2011 39,079  2,764  7% Winter 2012 38,204  2,671  7% Spring 2012 35,632  2,791  8% Summer 2012 12,518  1,134  9% Fall 2012 35,291  2,650  8% Winter 2013 34,584  2,438  7% Spring 2013 31,616  2,328  7% Summer 2013 10,512  963  9% Fall 2013 30,975  1,983  6%  3. Is the reason for assigning an “NC” consistent between faculty? Some faculty use the “NC” to provide a grade for students who registered, but never attended. Some faculty use the “NC” to provide a grade for students who registered, attended for some period of time, and stopped attending. Some faculty use the “NC” when the student stayed in the class, but did not participate enough to warrant another grade. Some faculty use the “NC” when students ask that they not receive an “F” to not have their GPA negatively impacted. Could there be other reasons?  4. What is the impact of earning an “NC” on the student? The credit associated with an “NC” is used in the Academic Progress Standing calculation, and it can cause a student to receive an Alert 1, Alert 2, or Alert 3 hold if having this contributes to the student completing less than 67% of attempted credits. Students receiving financial aid and earning an “NC” will not receive credit toward graduation, but the credits associated with it count against their total available to be funded in the financial aid credit limit process. Students who are receiving financial aid retroactively cannot be paid for an “NC” grade, but can for an “F”. An “NC” does not calculate into a student’s GPA.  5. What grade would a faculty member assign instead of an “NC”?  If the student fails to drop the class by the eighth week of the term, they would receive an “F” for failing to continue to attend and/or not submitting work enough work to warrant a grade beyond “F”. 6. How does an “NC” grade impact Financial Aid? While the instructions for assigning an “NC” direct the faculty to provide a last date of attendance, this is not a required step in myLane, so it is possible that we could be in violation of the federal financial aid regulations if we pay a student for attending when they were not in attendance. “NC” grade credits are calculated into the Satisfactory Academic Progress calculation and are counted in the total number of credits that can be used with financial aid.  7. Do the other Oregon community colleges use an “NC” or equivalent grade? An analysis of sister Oregon Community Colleges, Valencia College and Salt Lake Community College shows that an “NC” No Basis for Grade is not a standard grade utilized and in most cases it has been retired. Institution NC Grade? Registrar Comments PCC No Lane Yes Recording the Last Date of Attendance for an “NC” is not forced in myLane and is often left blank. Chemeketa No We used to have an “N” grade and that went away in 2009-10.  Linn-Benton Yes Our Academic Affairs Committee is meeting to discuss getting rid of X “no basis”, and WP “Work in Progress” grades.  Clackamas Yes Faculty input the “Y” and it means Never Attended. It counts in attempted credits On our transcript key it says “Never Attended” We implemented a “Y” grade (never attended) a few years ago because students who never attended were getting both “W” and “F” grades for the same behavior. Just last year, we told faculty that they must (a word we never use here) provide a “Y” grade if the student never attended. Mt. Hood No Rogue Yes “Z” indicates no basis for grade (e.g., you do not attend beyond the first third of the scheduled class meetings). If you attend beyond the first third of the scheduled class meetings a grade for the class other than “Z” must be assigned.  SWOCC No Southwestern had a similar grade many years ago (it was a “Y”). We require faculty to administrative withdraw non-attending students by the end of the 2nd week.  Students who attended, but stop out and don’t drop, get “F” grades. Klamath No At KCC we have no such grade.  The student typically receives an “F” grade in your situations below.  If the student is not happy, we make them do an appeal for a “Late Drop”. TVCC No Our instructor’s give students “F” grades; we don’t have a grade for students that stopped attending class.  Tillamook No TBCC does not have a grade for students who stop attending.  They receive the grade they earn, which is a lot of ‘F’s.  Clatsop No Until this past fall term, we used Z grade indicating the student stopped attending, or no basis to award grade.  Not all faculty used it the same, and Financial Aid still had to follow up on every student receiving an F or NC to satisfy Department of Education standards. We did away with the Z and now require instructors entering an F (courses with letter grade) or NC (used in Pass/No Credit courses) grades to enter a last date of attendance.  The interface for inputting faculty grades requires this. Salt Lake CC No Valencia No Umpqua No We discontinued the use of the “Y” (no basis for grade) about six years ago.  Now, instructors must assign an A-F or P grade.  Any grades left blank are reported to the VP/Deans for follow-up.     [...] Read more...
May 14, 2014The proposal for replacing the “Freedom of Inquiry and Expression” policy with the drafted “Academic Freedom” policy derives in part from the University of Oregon’s recent adoption of a revised “Academic Freedom” policy. The following case was presented in Learning Council on May 9th. 1. Existing policy on AF confuses several different rights and is too broad. It confuses AF with freedom of inquiry, freedom of expression, free speech, and free assembly. It interjects a civility clause. To the extent any of these are required, they should be separate policies. Freedom of inquiry in an academic environment is covered by academic freedom. Freedom of inquiry is the right to pursue research and have access to knowledge and information. It is most often used to protect libraries, library collections, librarians and library patrons, as well as researchers. Academic freedom is usually seen to cover all theses areas win an academic setting. Freedom of expression, free speech, and freedom of assembly are all protected by the first amendment and are guaranteed in public spaces. As such, there is no need to separately establish policies on these, as they are constitutionally protected in all public spaces and institutions. What separates AF from these others is that while it is protected by the constitution, it is also broader in some regards (the right to determine course content, methodology, and grading) and narrower in some regards (it applies only to particular roles instructors, students, higher ed institutions) than these other rights due to the academic context. Unlike free speech, etc. , not everyone has the same rights and responsibilities in an academic context. Academic experts (instructors) have nearly exclusive rights to determine course content, teaching methods, grading, and administrators have no rights to intervene unless there is some sort of professional violation (i.e. academic dishonesty, for example). Thus, the need to have an AF policy. 2. U.S. Supreme Court has said that academic freedom is protected speech. However, it has not ruled that AF applies to faculty exclusively. It has said AF means a university can determine for itself on academic grounds: who may teach, what may be taught, how it should be taught, and who may be admitted to study. Academic freedom involves more than speech rights; for example, it includes the right to determine what is taught in the classroom. In practice, academic freedom is protected by institutional rules and regulations, letters of appointment, faculty handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, and academic custom. In the U.S., the freedom of speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….” By extension, the First Amendment applies to all governmental institutions, including public universities. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that academic freedom is a First Amendment right at public institutions. 3. However, Academic Freedom is unsettled law, as there a number of conflicting legal cases (non-precedent setting) and conflicting interpretations. For example, proponents of “creationism” argue that AF protects the right of educators to teach creationism in the classroom. While opponents argue that AF prohibits creationism from being taught in the classroom as it is a religious belief and not scientifically valid. Similarly, various groups argue that AF does not protect educators who promote racial supremacy in the classroom under the guise of scholarly inquiry. While libertarian defenders of AF argue that it does protect such speech as a necessary evil of free and open debate and inquiry. 4. The AF policy recently passed by the University of Oregon Faculty Senate is a very good statement because it is simple, open to interpretation, and open to both institutional procedures and legal challenges for clarification. It does not attempt to resolve all of these issues with potentially contradictory or restrictive wording. [...] Read more...
May 14, 2014The current policy is called “Freedom of Inquiry and Expression.” The proposed policy below would replace the policy linked above. ACADEMIC FREEDOM Lane Community College serves the community by providing programs of learning that enable students to pursue and achieve their educational and vocational goals. Academic freedom is indispensable to promoting the pursuit of these objectives. Open, scholarly engagement lays the groundwork for students to acquire knowledge and develop intellectual skills. The college is committed to providing an environment that supports independent, critical thought in the pursuit of knowledge. Lane Community College assumes responsibility to protect its scholarly community from internal or external influences that have the effect of placing limitations on academic freedom and the freedom of inquiry. . INSTRUCTION. In all instructional environments, including classroom, laboratory, and online environments, instructors and students have the right to investigate, present and discuss matters, including those that are controversial, free from institutional restraint and reprisal. Matters brought up in a class should be related to the content of the class or otherwise be educationally relevant as determined by the professional judgment of the instructor. It is the responsibility of the instructor to maintaini a scholarly environment conducive to achieving the learning outcomes of the course. Instruction should be presented in a manner that shows scholarship fairly and accurately; that acknowledges differing perspectives where appropriate; that cites sources of knowledge; and that differentiates personal views from scholarly supported positions SCHOLARSHIP. All members of the college community including students, faculty, staff, and administrators are free to conduct research and produce creative work, and to share their work with others within the professional academic standards of accountability. Only serious abuses of this policy that rise to the level of professional misbehavior or professional incompetence should lead to adverse consequences.  Any such determinations shall be made in accordance with established, formal procedures. [...] Read more...
May 14, 2014The following was presented and discussed at Learning Council Friday, May 9th, and also at Faculty Council the same afternoon. Motivation: Compliance with DOEd and Financial Aid.  The Federal standard requires students to attend once during the first week.  “attend once” = “participate in one educational activity” Current COPPS language: “Students who do not attend 50 percent of the class sessions by the end of the first week may be administratively withdrawn.” Proposed change to COPPS: Will be administratively dropped Possible new wording also being considered:  Students must attend at least one of the first two meetings of a class during the first week. Students who do not attend one of the first two meetings of a class in the first week will be administratively withdrawn. [...] Read more...
May 13, 2014What should be the vision of the college for building online courses/programs? [...] Read more...
May 12, 2014What courses should be targeted for developing online versions?  Should courses with the highest online enrollment be targeted first? [...] Read more...
May 12, 2014What current training and support do you feel is working in helping you convert/build an online course?  What training and support do you feel is lacking and needed? [...] Read more...
May 12, 2014What are the current needs to supporting faculty in building online courses?  What type of support, tools, guidance, do faculty need in building/converting their courses? [...] Read more...
May 9, 2014Climate Action and Education Forum – 2014 On Friday, May 9, 2014, the Institute for Sustainable Practices hosted a Climate Action and Education Forum that included presentations by three experts who each have a unique perspective about solutions to climate change. Environmental scientist Paul Ruscher, Ph.D., demystified climate science by debunking the top 10 climate myths; Russ Pierson, DMin, Global Leadership, discussed the social impacts of climate change; and psychologist and author, Don Schneider, Ph.D., presented concrete tools for positively influencing climate skeptics so that we can all be done with the senseless bickering and begin focusing on the vastly more important work of mitigation and adaptation. Links to the videos of the forum, presenters powerpoint presentations, and written answers to questions posed during the forum are provided here. Video of Paul Ruscher, Ph.D., Demystifying the Science of Climate Change by Debunking Climate Change Denial Video of Russ Pierson, DMin, Environmental Justice: Social Dimensions of Climate Change Video of Don Schneider, Ph.D., Communicating Across the Divides in our Everyday Lives for Constructive Dialogue about Social and Environmental Concerns, and the Progress of Civilization [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/2014_climate_action_and_education_forum_agenda.pdf” title=”2014 Climate Action and Education Forum Event Agenda”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/Russ-Piersons-presentation-on-social-dimensions-of-climate-change-May-2014.pdf” title=”Russ Pierson’s presentation on social dimensions of climate change May 2014″] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/Paul-Ruschers-May-2014-presentation-demystify-climate-change-science.pdf” title=”Paul Ruschers May 2014 presentation demystify climate change science”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/2014_climate_action_and_education_forum_table_notes.pdf” title=”2014 Climate Action and Education Forum small group notes”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/12/2014_climate_action_and_education_forum_qa.pdf” title=”2014 Climate Action and Education Forum q and a”] [...] Read more...
May 5, 2014After much hard work and a lot of fun, I’ve finished developing my OER WR122 course and have begun to implement it this term. Students were ecstatic to not have to spend money on a textbook for the course and have found the OER resources I compiled quite helpful.  In their first reflections in the course, several of them spoke to how important specific OERs have been to their journey in the course and to helping them become better writers. In my feedback on student drafts, I’ve directed many of my students to specific OER links on the NCU Writing Center website that was one of my favorite finds in the process.  I love that this website gives students the opportunity to focus in on the specific writing areas, like introductions, citations, incorporating sources, and writing thesis statements that they are struggling with as individual writers. I met with Jen today, who generously tutored me through the creation of my first screencast, where I got so speak about the challenges and victories of my OER journey, as well as offer advice to others considering the OER route and speak to how I’ve begun to implement the course.  The screencast can be viewed here. Thanks for following me in my journey through this OER cohort.  I hope I’ve inspired you to begin your own OER journey. [...] Read more...
May 5, 2014I am a great admirer of the poetry of Portland poet Don Hynes. He and I both love the great Pacific Northwest, its coast and forests. In this digital story, Don narrates three poems that make up a wonderful trilogy. You can find out more about him and his poetry, including books for sale, at donhynes.com. [...] Read more...
May 1, 2014Please click on “Leave a reply” to make a suggestion on what you’d like to see in the way of a Faculty Council Forum topic. [...] Read more...
April 29, 2014April 28, 2014 we visited the lush flood plain riparian zone of Elk Creek called Fairyland on the Applegate Century Farm, Yoncalla, OR. This is an informal digital story/ slide show of our magical walk. [...] Read more...
April 29, 2014Hello OER cohort, I hope your spring term work is going well. Marisa asked me to offer a workshop on screencasting, so I’ve scheduled one for this Thursday 5/1 , from 11:30-12:30 in the ATC 1/121. We’ll take a look at Screencast-O-Matic and learn techniques about screen recording to make demos for your classes. This will also help you to make the screencasts required for your final fellowship step. Join us! [...] Read more...
April 27, 2014This is my final story reviewing briefly the substance of the work done in Joe Lambert’s Seven Stages: Story and the Human Experience webinare series. This was a very rich experience, and I highly recommend it to storytellers from beginners to professionals. I created a total of six digital stories during the eight week class. If you return to the homepage of Mind on Fire, you will see them labeled as “7 Stages.” Here is a list, as well. In addition to the one on this post, there are: Orca Mystery Kimchi! Sharpshooter Fianna Water Air Earth Fire Each story took many hours to think through and create, contrary to what someone jokingly referred to as my “almost robotic” creation of stories. That is one of those jokes that just hurts, and I puzzle over the source of it even as I move forward ever deeper into my storywork. Lambert’s outstanding book is available on amazon.com (clickety click!): Seven Stages: Story and the Human Experience [...] Read more...
April 25, 2014http://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/what-students-really-need-to-hear/ [...] Read more...
April 24, 2014In beginning this project, I felt as though I was gathering tons of little pieces of information and resources. In fact, it often felt as though the resources available on the web were as limitless as grains of sand on the beach! But, now I have built a sand castle (or maybe it’s a sand “fort” – not castle status yet). I have uploaded the majority of my OER course into a Moodle test shell and would love to share it with any who are interested. Send me an email and I’ll be happy to add you as a course reviewer. A final piece I would still like to add is a resource where I utilize Camtasia or some sort of screen capture software. I will be working on that in the weeks to come!   [...] Read more...
April 21, 2014On April 21, 2014, the Institute for Sustainable Practices hosted Lane’s first annual climate summit. The summit included presentations by four panelists on different aspects of climate change and input and questions from the audience. Click on the links below to learn more. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/first_annual_climate_summit_audience_input.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/first_annual_climate_summit_cousar_presentation_summary.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/first_annual_climate_summit_jonna_presentation_summary.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/first_annual_climate_summit_presentation.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/first_annual_climate_summit_presenter_biographies.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/lcc-summit-climate-change.pdf”] [...] Read more...
April 19, 2014Blue Camas lines a trace of the old Oregon Trail, called here the Applegate Trail, where it crosses Finley National Wildlife Refuge I have been sick for what seems like a really long time, and with the antibiotics finally kicking in, Peter and I went on a field trip up to Wildwood Falls, Rujada Camp, then over the ridge back down to Highway 58. This is a short digital story about what it’s like to emerge from such a long confinement. PS Peter points out that what I called a buttercup is actually a yellow wood violet, which I knew–aargh! [...] Read more...
April 19, 2014I have been collecting resources for my class this term.  We are going to read Gulliver’s Travels, and I will need a variety of teaching guides to adapt because there are a few students who are at different skill levels than the rest of the class.  Alise also has some nice stuff on her Moodle page and I will access that as well.  For now, here is a collection, including audio book that I am studying right now, found on Blendspace Guide for Gulliver’s Travels [...] Read more...
April 19, 2014Here are my thoughts about two of the many repositories out there. I tried Merlot a few times, and at first I found it confusing, but as it is with so many new things, I just needed to be patient and give my brain a chance to acclimate. For example, after uploading my item, I wanted to edit it.  It took me forever to find it and actually it was another instructor who was looking over my shoulder (easy to do in our cube farm), who guided me.  But now it seems so obvious. For my personal use, I have also found some fantastic resources, like this one on Music Acoustics which I sure wish I could find a way to work into my ABSE class. Connexions, is a nuisance.  You immediately get directed to another page and I kept thinking that I had typed it wrong because, well, connexions is an odd spelling.  I did not have much success with this site.  After uploading my stuff, I still can’t find it. Merlot, on the other hand is very user friendly.  Right there in the upper right corner of the home page, you can search by author, or any other filter.  Also, Merlot makes it very easy to add your creative commons license.  I did not even get that far with Connexions. [...] Read more...
April 19, 2014This is a fun way to introduce the topic of metacognitive skills.  I had quite a good time screencasting a powerpoint presentation.  You can do this on a Mac without any additional software.  You do it with Quicktime, which is already on your computer, It’s on YouTube. [...] Read more...
April 19, 2014Great think aloud screen cast videos by Alouise Warner.  The first one is very basic and I had never really seen a video demonstration of this before.  She did a great job with a clear pleasant voice and a brief piece of text.  The second one on Math homework is very well done with entertaining pictures like a half-baked muffin and a shoe rack strewn with colorful flip-flops to illustrate “messy math”.  And of curse, the message is great.   [...] Read more...
April 18, 2014Here is my latest creation.  It’s a guided essay writing activity that can easily fill up a whole week or more, depending on your teaching style. It also serves as stand alone for students who can not attend class, although they would miss out on the whole group discussion, and the peer editing process. Students should have already received basic instruction in paragraphs and essays and it is best suited for GED and pre-GED levels. The activity is also created within a theme of success and personal awareness.  I will include it in the Essay Writing Section on the DIG page, where you will also see my first one, the 5-Paragraph Guided Essay.  This new one has more depth in the content, and potentially more complexity in the writing and I hope others will use it and let me know the outcomes. [...] Read more...
April 16, 2014Today Alise gave me a tutorial on a really fun easy web site call Blendspace.  I was able to master it in 5 minutes, and uploaded an activity that I have been working on since last term.  It is a 5-Paragraph Guided Essay Activity and you can find it in the DIG page under Essay Writing.   [...] Read more...
April 15, 2014I just completed the on-line ATC Moodle workshop and it took me much longer than 1 – 2 hours.  Also, it would not let me do 3 of the assessments, so I only received a C- grade. Overall, It was somewhat useful but I had much better results when asking Alise Lamoreaux for help, which she provided on several occasions.  Here is a picture of my grade report [...] Read more...
April 15, 2014Water, Air, Earth, Fire: How I Learned About the Creative Cycles During session six of our Seven Stages Storywork webinare, Joe Lambert put forward several theories or metaphorical ways of thinking about the Creative Cycle. His writing prompt was: “Tell a story about a time when you were given permission to express yourself through your creativity. Bring us to the moment of awareness that you felt supported to fully explore your creative voice.” I don’t actually ever remember not feeling I had permission to be creative because everyone in my family pretty much has kept the faucet on since the moment of birth, from what I can tell. However, I suddenly remembered when I learned how to think about and how to navigate the creative cycles of life. In this digital story, I’ve distilled what was actually many different training sessions over many months and years into the first moment of understanding. I was miraculously blessed with very practical spiritual training at the time in my life I most needed it. Everything since then has been a matter of paying it forward. [...] Read more...
April 14, 2014Here’s a nifty little Time Management assignment you can give to almost any student who has difficulty with time management. It is reflective and self-guided, and provides the student with an opportunity to build awareness about responsibility without any harsh “should or shouldn’t” language.  You will find it on the DIG page under Study Skills.  I also tried to post it on Connexions, but that site is very strange, which I will write about in greater detail in another post.  If you can find my document, please let me know. [...] Read more...
April 14, 2014Hi,Wow.  I just finished making my very first Moodle class.  I have been thinking about doing this for a long time and I hope you will be able to check it out.  The class is Effective Tutoring and I can honestly say that that the entire course has been improved dramatically as a result of going through this whirlwind of developing resources and activities, finding good YouTubes, making questionnaires and assignments, and basically becoming cross-eyed from staring at a computer screen 24-7.  It is listed under the Misc. section on the DIG page. [...] Read more...
April 13, 2014Hi,I went here–http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/characterizing-effectiveness-of-developmental-education.html And I read this–http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/media/k2/attachments/response-to-goudas-and-boylan.pdf This article was very informative, mainly due to it having the quality of a debate and therefore presenting opposing views with good solid supporting evidence for both sides of the issue. The author has written this article in response to criticism of his research that was conducted to say, basically, that there is a need for reform in the area of Developmental Education because it isn’t producing the outcomes that were hoped for.  Particularly “outcomes better than those of college-ready students”. The research was conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC), and the criticism came from an Alexandros Goudas and Hunter Boylan in an article in the Journal of Developmental Education, (2012).  The basic claim that is made is one that we see all the time.  It is claiming that the researchers have skewed their research results to push an agenda. Throughout the article there are repeated statements about comparisons of developmental education completers to college-ready students, about differences between remedial and developmental education, and the criteria for determining how students fit into these categories.  This a great article.  It is very scholarly and one that I will read again because some of the content is very new to me such as “regression discontinuity studies.” I usually find it to be somewhat challenging to read research articles but this one is very well organized  with key points highlighted and clear summaries. [...] Read more...
April 11, 2014This short digital story is for the True Tales of Open Sharing Projectt clickety-click!).   [...] Read more...
April 10, 2014Some of you may remember back in the year 2000, when I discovered Powerpoints and was running around the hallways of the old duct-taped and toxic-air-vented LCC Downtown Center with a CD hot off the press.  (The “press” was a blue popsicle colored iMac.)  I had burned my powerpoint called Calm Confident Test Taking,  also known as CCTT.  Eventually it was placed on the tutor program web page, but shortly after that I was told that Powerpoints just don’t work well on web pages, and so it went into hibernation. And then i discovered Prezis.  So…  CCTT is back and this time it comes with a companion guide.  The link to the Prezi and the guide (Word and PDF) have been uploaded to the DIG Moodle page under Study Skills. [...] Read more...
April 8, 2014Check out this Prezi on Metacognitive Skills for Reading.  You can also find it on Merlot. Looking forward to becoming a Moodle Master. [...] Read more...
April 8, 2014I have finished building my OER shell for GEOG 201, which I have already started using this term.  The video discussion of the course ran a little long, but not too bad.  As with all of my courses, I plan to keep adding and refining material as I find it, but the course is in a usable format as of right now.  I am teaching this as a hybrid course so there is only one lecture each week plus online discussion exercises. [...] Read more...
April 7, 2014 Read more...
April 7, 2014“Wait!  Did you say that I could set up OERs for a class and possibly get an iPad?  What a great idea!  Count me in, and I’ll find a couple of colleagues to help with this.”  We desperately needed to pool resources anyways because the class we teach does not have a book.  There literally is not a textbook that would account for more than a couple of lectures.  The class Ocean Life Foundations is a general biology course for non-majors but is in the marine biology series.  There are lots of marine biology texts on the market that cover groups of organisms, habitats, and environmental impact but none that focus on cellular biology in a marine environment.  Most marine texts have only a couple of paragraphs dedicated to these topics.  If we decided to use a general biology book, it would cover the cellular biology but not the marine biology topics.  So, should we have students purchase 2 or 3 textbooks with a cost of over $200 when they would only use a few segments?  The resounding answer was “of course not!”  Some students have difficulty with a class that does not come with a textbook, even though there are textbooks they could borrow from the Science Resource Center if they desired.  This means that we are regularly digging up resources to post on Moodle.  With the demands of teaching, busy schedules, and personal lives, we really haven’t had much time to share what we’ve found with each other.  Consolidating all of these resources will make it easier for each of us to incorporate new ideas and activities into our teaching, as well as making access to resources much easier for students. Now that we have started the process of acquiring OERs, I have discovered how incredibly TIME consuming it is.  I find it is like being sucked into some kind of portal where I start in one place, follow a pathway, and end up in a totally different place with no idea of how I got there!  Along the way I’ve found other paths that I didn’t want to follow because I liked the current path but that I should investigate in the future.  Now how the heck do I get back to where I was?  I’d be hitting the “back” button forever! Other problems we’ve encountered involve what would be expected when you try to merge three instructors with three different classes into one cohesive Moodle site.  We each cover the course outcomes but using different examples, ideas, and topics. What we’re creating is a site with many different topics that can be pursued depending on the instructor’s interest and expertise.  Now the main concern is organizing the material into cohesive groups and attaching labs and assessment activities.  And with the children running and screaming in the background, did I mention how locating OERs sucks me into a time portal? [...] Read more...
April 7, 2014“Wait!  Did you say that I could set up OERs for a class and possibly get an iPad?  What a great idea!  Count me in, and I’ll find a couple of colleagues to help with this.”  We desperately needed to pool resources anyways because the class we teach does not have a book.  There literally is not a textbook that would account for more than a couple of lectures.  The class Ocean Life Foundations is a general biology course for non-majors but is in the marine biology series.  There are lots of marine biology texts on the market that cover groups of organisms, habitats, and environmental impact but none that focus on cellular biology in a marine environment.  Most marine texts have only a couple of paragraphs dedicated to these topics.  If we decided to use a general biology book, it would cover the cellular biology but not the marine biology topics.  So, should we have students purchase 2 or 3 textbooks with a cost of over $200 when they would only use a few segments?  The resounding answer was “of course not!”  Some students have difficulty with a class that does not come with a textbook, even though there are textbooks they could borrow from the Science Resource Center if they desired.  This means that we are regularly digging up resources to post on Moodle.  With the demands of teaching, busy schedules, and personal lives, we really haven’t had much time to share what we’ve found with each other.  Consolidating all of these resources will make it easier for each of us to incorporate new ideas and activities into our teaching, as well as making access to resources much easier for students. Now that we have started the process of acquiring OERs, I have discovered how incredibly TIME consuming it is.  I find it is like being sucked into some kind of portal where I start in one place, follow a pathway, and end up in a totally different place with no idea of how I got there!  Along the way I’ve found other paths that I didn’t want to follow because I liked the current path but that I should investigate in the future.  Now how the heck do I get back to where I was?  I’d be hitting the “back” button forever! Other problems we’ve encountered involve what would be expected when you try to merge three instructors with three different classes into one cohesive Moodle site.  We each cover the course outcomes but using different examples, ideas, and topics. What we’re creating is a site with many different topics that can be pursued depending on the instructor’s interest and expertise.  Now the main concern is organizing the material into cohesive groups and attaching labs and assessment activities.  And with the children running and screaming in the background, did I mention how locating OERs sucks me into a time portal? [...] Read more...
April 7, 2014                This term I began teaching a fully online technical writing course on Moodle (still using a textbook, mind you), which has given me a much greater sense of just how much I can do on Moodle. As a result, I’ve added a number of resources to my Writing 115 OER shell, including discussion forums, video resources, external website links, and a slideshow Flash video.                 The shell for my OER course is now built for the most part, but I continue to add materials, activities, and more thorough descriptions of assignments. When I first began this process, I viewed Moodle as little more than a place to post .PDF handouts and the course syllabus, and a platform for taking attendance and entering grades. Now I’m beginning to see it as a far greater tool for learning than I’d previously thought. My approach to this OER fellowship has changed to where I’m now imagining the course as not only being textbook free but as also being classroom free/fully online. With that in mind, I’ve added hyperlinks to web resources, including lessons and videos, created discussion forums, embedded materials, and added assignments that students can upload directly to Moodle—assignments that I can then read, grade, comment upon, and return to students without ever having to use pen or paper. This is a pretty great discovery.                 In terms of challenges, some of the readings I’ve used in my face-to-face classes were not available for OER use, so I was forced to drop some of my original selections in favor of others that are more freely available (primarily older essays).  This has taken a bit of flexibility on my part, but in the end I feel it has been well worth it. I’m still in the process of adding and replacing some readings, but doing this has made me rethink my reading selections in general, especially around their availability.                   Another challenge I faced was creating files that can be opened with free software, i.e., files not reliant on proprietary software. For example, I use a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate strategies for critically reading texts. I had originally posted this to the Moodle page as a Powerpoint file, not taking into consideration the possibility some student users might not have Powerpoint software (or any software capable of opening a Powerpoint file, for that matter). To remedy this, Jen suggested I use a website called Slideshare to convert the Powerpoint file; I used it and read up how to embed a slideshow into Moodle, but for some reason that I never figured out, I could not make the file appear. So I took a different approach and converted the slideshow into a Flash video (using free software called Ispring) and then simply adding it as a file rather than embedding it onto the page. This ultimately worked well, I think. And, despite my frustration at still not being able to embed the Slideshare slideshow, I read up on (and watched numerous YouTube instructional videos about) Moodle in general and ended up learning quite a lot about embedding videos and other resources using Moodle’s HTML editor. I’m now feeling much more confident about my Moodle knowledge and realizing just how vast Moodle’s capabilities are.        [...] Read more...
April 4, 2014Choose a time in your life of emotional upheaval and change. Write about an event at that time that reflected the inverse of the feelings of loss, confusion, or despair; where you observed something, heard something, read something, or did something, that provided a glimpse of contrasting light against the darkness. Take us into that moment of possibility. In our “Seven Stages: Story and the Human Experience circle with Joe Lambert this week, we were challenged with that writing prompt. I went back to the bad old days of the late eighties; this story took place in 1990. The art work is from the dreamwork blog that my artist sister, Cheryl Renee Long, and I keep off and on over the years: The Mysterious Night Vision Journal. I give credit to other media sources in my credits at the end. Otherwise, I generated all media, since inquiring minds always seem to want to know! Other people have been asking if these are true stories; the answer is yes, absolutely this is how it happened. [...] Read more...
April 1, 2014In our Seven Stages Storywork class, Joe Lambert showed a digital story that once again sent me down the rabbit hole of memory and personal mythology. I know I have told this story before in the digital story called Shared Vision, but the wonderful thing about memory and personal mythology is that those stories bear telling and re-telling. How many haystacks did Monet paint? How many self-portraits of Frida Kahlo? This story as my imagination has shaped it over the decades, is Source Imagery of the narrative kind for me. The music is an orchestral version of “Bright Eyes” from the movie Watership Down.”  In retrospect, I’m not sure about that choice, but it is the song that was running through my head as I created the digital story.   [...] Read more...
March 30, 2014Today’s Daily Create was to make a slooow video. The slowest forces we can’t imagine are geologic and cosmic, so I went with BIG and OMINOUS. I felt like a kid throwing contraband firecrackers through a conveniently open window… [...] Read more...
March 29, 2014“Daily Create: Make a video of something moving that doesn’t usually move.” Peter and I were spring breaking it in Newport, Oregon, and were highly entertained by the mostly inert, sleeping sea lions. Every once in a while, one would burst into a loud complaint then fall back asleep. I dunno–I thought it was funny! [...] Read more...
March 22, 2014Greetings! With one term of OER research under my belt I am excited to say I have made significant progress toward creating a course that will provide students with free educational resources. Up to this point I have created a Moodle page within the developmental shell that contains lecture materials, course calendars, lab projects, quizzes, and most importantly free textbook material. I was able to obtain my textbooks in .PDF format from the Federal Aviation Administration for free which is posted on the Moodle page. This was challenging at first due to limited access to materials, but by calling the FAA I was able to obtain the copies through their website for free. I am still in the process of finding copies of industry manuals for some of the aircraft we maintain that I use in developing my lectures and projects. Gaining permission to post .PDF copies to my Moodle page may not be legal from a copyright standpoint. My goal is to obtain permission to disseminate digital copies to the student so they can build a reference library that they can take with them when they graduate to help them in the industry. My overall goal is to provide a course that provides all materials for free and online. Additionally, my course will be able to be used by students in the industry as reference when they graduate. The Moodle format also encourages a module format that can be easily used by instructors other than myself as well. I’m excited about the course and look forward to teaching it this Spring term. [...] Read more...
March 20, 2014I received a new poem in my e-mail in-box this morning that I would like to share with you:           To Love What is Close By Don Hynes On March 19, 2014 I found this place before the winter snows, green and tender with the wet smell of life, the ground soft and open, speaking in the timeless way. Resting here, the old wounds healing, the impulse to go on quieted beside the river, limbs like drooping cedars, ready to let go and touch the earth. The pass ice is melting, the way across the mountains opening for spring yet I don’t think I’m going, the smell of apples and litter of oaks enough of what I want, nurturing the urge to love what is close. I still see the mountains but from where my roots tangle in the soil and stones, going down into the dark among the ancient trees.     [...] Read more...
March 13, 2014Today was the last meeting of the New Dimensions teaching seminar.Here are my final reflections on the course: [...] Read more...
March 12, 2014As a result of Monday’s meeting on Math 98 (Math Literacy) (notes from which I see I haven’t put on this site yet), I’m going to be the facilitator for a new Faculty Inquiry Group (FIG), hopefully in the spring term. I started the paperwork on that today, in addition to my routine 105 and 251 tasks and spending an hour with a student working on how to calculate an annuity. I also submitted my two agenda items for the Math Advisory Council to put on the agenda for our next division meeting. Those are always fun. Next one will be a two-hour meeting with a potluck afterwards. I’m thinking of asking my husband to make his guacamole again! To do: (1) Finish grading items for 105 and 251. (2) Write final exam for 251. (3) Look into MyOpenMath and our math department Moodle site. (4) All the prep for Spring work that I mentioned in another post. [...] Read more...
March 11, 2014I often wonder whether the way I structure group assignments in class is effective. I often grade them based on completion or participation – only taking points off if someone is blatantly not doing the work. To be fair, it seems to be pretty rare that I have someone who’s not actually trying to do the assignment. That said, I’ve been reading about rubrics for grading class participation, and I wanted to collect a few links that have been interesting: Grading Class Discussion – good intro, and a list of resources Expectations for Class Participation – list of behaviors to look for, strategy for grading Guide to Class Participation – Excellent rubric for class participation Bonus Links: In-Class Groups – tips on structuring in-class group work and how to assign roles to group members Observations on Groupings – a close look at which methods for choosing groups are best for which types of projects  [...] Read more...
March 11, 2014Today I’m thinking a lot about my classes in the spring. I’m teaching four different courses, called “preps”, and I just found out last week that one of them will be Math 65, rather than what I expected to be teaching, Math 111. Upside: it’s an online version of 65, which will be fun. My Math 105 is also entirely online, which should be much smoother this time around, since I’ve already got the class on Moodle in nearly the same incarnation as I want to use in the spring. I’ll tweak the grading scale and maybe turn tests into optional projects. There is also going to be a final exam in that class, and I need to be sure to get the message to students about how to take a final exam in an online class. Action item required: find out from the ATC if there is any way to write my News posts ahead of time and have them sent out automatically. Math 243 will be a lot of fun this time around. I’m changing it up significantly – I’m going to require students to read and possibly watch lecture videos outside of class, so we can reserve more of the in-class time for activities, examples, and q&a. I’m also going to emphasize a lot of real-world uses of statistics and how we can answer questions that students might actually find interesting. Action item: change up the syllabus. I may do something similar with Math 213 – I want to lecture less in class, which means students have to do more of the reading. The problem with this particular set of chapters is that I fear I may get even more of the “I tried to read it, but I just don’t get any of it.” On the other hand, I have lots and lots of neat activities to do with Math 213, that take a lot of class time. Action item: finalize decisions about grading, and finish writing syllabus. Finally, for Math 65, I’d like to look over the materials I received from other instructors. I like the idea of having a worksheet to fill in while watching a video or reading through a lesson. I need to plan out the best way to use Moodle and WebAssign in conjunction so that students know where they need to be and how to get their work done. Action item: WebAssign site and Moodle site creation and coordination. [...] Read more...
March 10, 2014Today I spent a good deal of time typing up more notes about my DREAM conference trip. I have a ways to go, but I’m realizing that what I am doing is a summary of the presentations and ideas that I saw, along with my thoughts about how they relate to what we do here at Lane. What might be more useful is a more concise list of possible changes to implement here, with some pros and cons, to distribute to the rest of the division for comment and discussion. Also today, I arranged a meeting with Disability Resources to discuss a student as well as how to incorporate certain accommodations into my courses. I checked in with my online 105 course, and added the Finals Week block to my 251 course on Moodle (the 105 is already set up). I think I might be ready to port my 105 over to next term and start changing the dates so that it is ready to go for students. Things I need to do: find out if Moodle can send News posts at a certain time (every week, for example), and also find out how to make things visible at certain times but not alterable (for example, forums that “close” at a certain date but are still visible for review). [...] Read more...
March 8, 2014Please don’t tell those who think all learning comes with a standard about our activities. Don’t inform those who believe  knowledge must be assessable. Fun naysayers must not know that my students and I had WAY too much fun last week. Our last week before Spring break was supposed to be filled with obnoxious behavior and strict schedules in anticipation for a week off and the upcoming Iditarod Race here in Nome. Our principal reminded us to keep tight reins on our students as we trudged toward the finish line. Every break has its anticipatory behavior.  Thank goodness someone forgot to tell my students. Our week was filled to the brim with off the mark good times. I heard “Ms. T, this is the best day ever!” many times from many happy faces. Monday was READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY. We spent most of the day in pajamas with a book in hand. We invited our 1st grade buddies to visit in the morning. We usually go to them so this was super exciting for the little ones. Then we put our books down and went to the swimming pool for a swimming lesson (students get swimming for 6 days a year and ours happened to fall on March 3rd.) After swimming we put our PJs back on and cozied up for an afternoon of reading. When it was over, students groaned as they reluctantly put their books away to head home.   On Wednesday we were joined by 2 time Olympic skier, Lars Flora, and his entourage. This group of 4 nordic skiers travel rural Alaska with enough skiing equipment to take an entire class skiing at one time. We spent an hour and a half on Wednesday and Thursday outside with these experts. I was so proud of my kids. There were no negative comments the whole time. In fact, I heard words of encouragement and many words of congratulations for each other’s efforts. Students helped each other at every turn and waited for friends to catch up or have a turn on the down hill. My lesser academic kids got a time to shine as they jumped higher, and skied faster than all the others. My Gifted student spent the time exploring the flats. Everyone was successful. It was Lars and friends who suggested we ski a second day because of our enthusiasm and good attitudes.   http://www.nananordic.com/ There were times during the week that I wished I had more time to teach Math. There were moments I even felt guilty for spending too much time outside the classroom. But then I would see the ragged faces of teachers surviving until Friday. I heard the comments about crazy behavior and unfocused learning environments. I realized how lucky my students and I were to have so many activities to keep us focused and happy. The time we did spend in class was quality time. Educational author,Harry Wong, says give students more work to do before a break, not less. I will back that up with more and different work. I must remember this for future impending breaks. We reached Friday tired and happy.   [...] Read more...
March 7, 2014I sometimes feel like I have so many things going on in my work that it’s difficult to keep track of them all. And so I am starting a new website with a blog to help me keep track of my ideas, projects, notes, and so on. Ironically, the creation and design of a website is one additional project for me to add to my list. But that’s the way it goes. [...] Read more...
March 2, 2014I am in Nome, AK near the arctic circle. There is diversity here, sure. We have Inupiat, Yupit,  Chupit, some Athebaskin. You may not be able to tell the difference between these Native Alaskans and Eskimos but they are literally as obvious as the noses on their faces. Also, we have Norwegians, Swede’s, and Russians a plenty. To fill in the gaps we have a smorgasbord of mixed ethnicities from Europe and other white beginnings. To spice things up we have a good showing of Koreans and Hispanics. What we don’t have are many African Americans. We have one boy in all of the fourth grade of African decent and he is very good at reporting racist slurs without taking them personally. “He didn’t mean to hurt my feelings but this is what he said.” Our kids are ignorant to appropriate language around racism and African Americans in particular. The children of Nome, AK get most or all of their exposure to African American culture through popular media. Can you imagine? They think all black people speak with a Ghetto slur and call each other “N-ers”. Well there is the President of the United States but he seems different. He IS different. He’s the president. So when racial injustices slip from the mouths of my ignorant babes, I have to tread lightly. I want them to hear what I am saying and feel what others feel. When I announced that February is African American Month, they acted as if they had never heard of such a thing. “Really?” I said. “Then you probably have no idea about women’s month in March.” They were flabbergasted (one of our classroom favorite words). “Why isn’t there a National Men’s month?” asked Andrew. I told them to listen to the answer to that question very carefully. I told them that groups of men had never been treated terribly just for being men. African’s had been treated terribly just for the color of their skin. Women were not allowed to vote or be treated equal in many ways simply because they were women. If the same were true of men in general, we would certainly have a men’s month too. In response Body said “What about the Jewish?” I love my students. While I read LINCOLN’S WAY by Patricia Polacco one of my students blurted out the “N” word during our reading. “What?” he asked. “That’s what they’re called.” Without singling my student out I told the class about a woman who cried and left a teacher conference in anger because she didn’t want to hear anyone use the “N” word. Not in any context, ever. This African American woman had lived through enough racism and “N” words that she never wanted to hear black or white say it again. I left it at that and went on with the story. Serendipity happened that night. I saw a post on Facebook of an UPWORTHY  video about the “N” word. It highlighted the debate among African Americans and the use of the “N” word. And then went into great detail about why white people can never, ever use it appropriately. I shared it with my students. The conversation in my classroom was thoughtful. The teaching came from an African American so it was authentic. The cool woman in the video was the obvious expert in the room. I asked my students to journal their feelings about the film clip. I encouraged them to write even if they were unsure about it. I promised not to look at any journal entries unless they were shared with me. I told them it was okay if they felt confused or unsure, or even if they disagreed with the video. They wrote furiously for the 10 minutes until recess. Some of the students shared their writings with me happily and openly. Those entries were humble and kind and full of a deeper understanding of differences. One student asked If I really thought it was appropriate to “make” kids think about and write about the “N” word. My emphatic “Yes, I do.” made her head move up and down thoughtfully. As we moved through discussions of Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges, I watched and listened. Their new knowledge was being used. “I bet they called little Ruby the ‘N’ word.” “Did they even call Martin Luther King the ‘N’ word?” Over and over they saw the horror behind the use of that one single word. Racism is a difficult obstacle for teachers. I have heard many say we should celebrate and educate children about the injustices to the black man everyday. Well, I say teach empathy everyday.  Teach equality and acceptance everyday. But give African American month the honor and respect it deserves in February. Dive into it fully, something you can’t do every day, and give students a chance to understand. http://www.upworthy.com/you-shouldnt-use-the-n-word-if-youre-not-black-the-end-but-if-you-need-an-explanation-here-you-go           [...] Read more...
February 25, 2014Did you know? Moodle Quiz auto saves answers every 5 minutes? This includes essay questions! There is nothing you need to do as the instructor – the auto save is set server wide and enabled now! Ever wanted a personal assistant to help you with routine tasks in your Moodle course? Ever needed more time to send out email notifications and feedback? Give Personalized Learning Designer a try! PLD can do all of these things for you! Gamify your course to help provide additional incentive! Moodle now has Mozilla Open Badges integrated. Instructors can create and assign badges to their own courses. Moodle has many more features! Subscribe to the Moodle blog to always stay up to date on latest notifications and tips! [...] Read more...
February 13, 2014Moodlerooms will be releasing December 2013 Maintenance Pack 1 for our site between the hours of 11PM ET (8PM PT) on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 and 6AM ET (3AM PT) on Thursday, February 20, 2014. This maintenance pack includes updates that will improve the usability and stability of Moodle site. You should not experience an interruption in [...] Read more...
February 8, 2014During our “Alaska Wild” investigations, students began to wonder a lot about our ocean. The students knew that the salty ocean froze later than the fresh water rivers, lakes and ponds. They decided to get some of that sea water and find out at what temperature it would freeze. This decision was made after all fresh water in the area had frozen solid and the ocean was looking mighty slushy. We needed to hurry and grab our sample before it was inaccessible.   We picked the worst possible weather, cold rain with some sleet mixed in. It was windy, too! But we are Alaskans. We know how to dress for weather. So we bundled up and signed out at the office, “Going to the beach.” When we got to the beach I had the students remain across the street with my wonderful instructional aid, Monica. I slipped down to the waters edge, wondering what the heck I was doing out in this weather slipping down a sea wall. I was successful. I filled my bucket and emerged victorious. The kids cheered. Monica said, “Let’s get out of here!” The rest of the school complimented us on our hard core toughness. Before jumping into our freezing experiment we, we decided to see what was in it. We put tiny drops on science slides and turned on the microscopes. We had already looked at other water samples, the turtle’s water and pond water before it froze so we knew what microscopic animals looked like. We were amazed. The water contained a few of those same shaped little critters we had seen from the turtle water. the difference was these didn’t appear to be moving. The students couldn’t agree on the cause. Either they were dead, asleep or simply so cold they couldn’t move. I am no Protozoan expert so I could only speculate myself. Next we began our temperature for freezing experiment. We filled an identical container with tap water. We left both at room temperature over night. We hypothesized and broke into teams. The teams would have to check the water for signs of freezing every fifteen minutes. This isn’t easy with our busy schedule. They would have to leave their other teacher’s and lunch when their time came. They were excited about the responsibility. Early in the morning right after morning announcements the first team took both buckets out doors. They took temperature reading of the samples and brought the data back to us. The samples were 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The outdoor temperature was about 20 degrees F. The next group found the samples to be 40 degrees. They were amazed how quickly the temperature dropped. In the end, at exactly 32 degrees F the tap water developed a layer of ice and at 28 degrees F the salt water began to crystalize. Strangely though, the salt water never really developed a solid layer until the whole thing froze. Also, by breaking through the ice the students were taking water temperatures as low as 20 degrees in liquid water. I was much more amazed by this fact than they were. Eventually, both samples froze solid. The students weren’t done with their sea sample. Someone wondered how much salt was in the sample. They were all sure it was a lot because it tasted so salty when they swam in it in the summer. Without a saline monitor we couldn’t get true salt levels, but we could find out what capacity of the container was salt. the students measured one cup of water and left it to evaporate. They guessed that there would be half a cup or more of salt. No one hypothesized the one teaspoon that was scraped from the dry container 2 weeks later. With one bucket of water from our ocean down the road, my class became experts on sea water. [...] Read more...
February 6, 201430 Years an Oregonian   This year marks my 30th year in Oregon. To celebrate, I took in a double feature which exemplifies the two poles of my Oregonian experience. 12 Years a Slave, and Gravity. Both films, helmed by directors of color, one served to ground me in reality, while the other took me up to my favorite fantasy, a world without borders, that isn’t so heavy or weighted down. The reality of space though, is that it has no breathable atmosphere, extremes of hot and cold, and is always trying to kill you, nothing personal. Perhaps it is fitting that a British director, and British leading man tell an American story, which resonates today in contemporary Oregon, and the rest of America. Britain did end slavery before America, an monarch of African descent sat on the British throne during our Revolutionary War (Charlotte Mecklenburg-Streilitz), and her granddaughter (Queen Victoria) decreed that any American slave who made it into Canada had the protection of the British military. 12 Years a Slave was directed by Steve McQueen, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, as Solomon Northrup. Solomon Northrup, an African-American citizen living in Saratoga New York, who in 1841 was induced to go below the Mason Dixon line, to Washington D.C., drugged, and kidnapped into slavery, in Louisiana. This was not an uncommon fate for free men of color, living under White Supremacy. They were particularly targeted because their intellect often made them more threatening, because they dared to think of themselves as equal to whites. Northrup was a man of intellect, gracious manners, and means, musically inclined, well traveled, and of course literate. In slavery, other than his musical talent, his pride, and his literacy marked him for death, thus had to be hidden. Northrup is portrayed as a tender husband, a loving gentle father, and a man well known in his community. While McQueen is not heavy handed with his subject matter, slavery. He doesn’t shy away from the casual hairtrigger brutality, nor the attempts of enslaved people to maintain their humanity in lovemaking, or simply staying alive, while being whipped for the crime of acquiring soap after being raped. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a “Good Massa”, while Michael Fassbender plays “Bad Massa”, the difference being the former can stand by and allow brutality to occur, while the latter is sadistic and inventive in his drunken cruelty. Alfre Woodard does a turn as a former slave turned mistress of the plantation.  While it was never shown, the Confederate flag symbolizes all those activities.  Oregon is essentially a Southern State in the Northwest. As an American citizen of African descent, it would have been illegal for Solomon Northrup to come to live in Oregon, it was the fact of his intellect, cross cultural competency,  that made him, and people like him threatening to figures like Samuel Thurston, Joseph Lane, or their contemporary equivalents. As it remained llegal for him to live within the Eugene City limits before 1965, or be on the street after dark in Springfield, could he find employment as a music teacher? Could he remain 30 years an Oregonian?   [...] Read more...
January 29, 2014Melissa Kilgore, Bert Pooth, and Leah Knelly are collaborating to transform one of the classes they teach separately (BI101E; Oceanlife Foundations) to accommodate OER as supplemental curriculum. This collaboration will be in keeping with the vision, mission and core values of Lane Community College by providing comprehensive, accessible, quality, learning-centered educational opportunities and promote student success. Through this endeavor we hope to support creativity, experimentation, and institutional transformation by responding to the ever-expanding technological changes in our environment. By acting deliberately in relation to these changes we hope to expand our repertoire of hands-on activities and field trips to include a larger diversity of learning styles and physical capabilities. Each of us already uses several OER websites to implement our curriculum because there is no one printed textbook we have found to meet our requirements for the content we currently present to the students. By working together we hope to share all of our current resources and find even more resources to create a curriculum that we can use individually to fit our teaching styles. We are currently not teaching this course, so we are going to use the timeline of two full terms to complete our Moodle shell. The challenges we will face are primarily linked to time; including time required to find additional resources and planning time to merge them into already existing curriculum in a cohesive manner. And then there’s the challenge of three instructors with very little blogging experience trying to work together without creating excess stress on any of us. Our Moodle shell for Oceanlife Foundations is at https://blogs.lanecc.edu/oceanlife-foundations-oer/ [...] Read more...
January 24, 2014So many books and so little money! The courses I teach here at Lane require multiple texts which impose a significant financial burden on the students. I was excited to get involved with OER and work with others to come up with ideas to reduce book cost for my courses. I teach Aviation Maintenance and we use up to eight different manuals and texts for the course I chose to convert to OER. Through industry support I have been able to obtain a large portion of the required texts in .PDF format. Within Moodle I have been able to upload some of these materials for students. We teach Physic’s, electrical theory, fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, and several other subjects that require extra material other than our core textbooks. This ultimately leaves the students without reference material for subjects they may have never studied in their lifetime. Providing this material in a free format greatly enhances there ability to grasp basic concept without causing them any additional financial strain. My short term goal is to prototype my Airframe 02 course which I teach in the Spring term to a OER course. After that I will convert the remainder of my courses (4) to OER. Moreover, I will assist my colleagues in converting their courses to OER with the objective of converting our entire program to OER. We have already developed an online library though Moodle where we disseminate aircraft maintenance manuals and other technical information that is beneficial to the students. I look forward to drawing knowledge from this cohort and experience to provide a course with zero textbook costs. Good luck! [...] Read more...
January 22, 2014Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
January 19, 2014Cooperative Education is Triple Green Star Green Office Certified! They received 20 out of 25 points and their efforts are impressive. Of course, all members of the division turn off lights and other electronics when not needed. However, Coop is taking their commitment to “turning it off” to the next level by requesting motion sensors for the lights in their break room and conference room for those times when guests forget to turn out the lights. Division staff have also switched from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs in task lamps and removed mini-fridges from individual offices. Other commendable efforts include a strong commitment to reducing, reusing, and recycling. Reducing This is where Cooperative Education really shines. Cooperative Education Coordinator, Gerry Meenaghan, has been a paperless innovator extraordinaire. His efforts include digitizing the Cooperative Education agreement form that previously used 4-part NCR paper. Syllabi are no longer printed, just posted on Moodle, and attendance forms are digital. Gerry has even transitioned site-evaluations and self-evaluations to be digital forms in Moodle and has consulted with other Lane departments and outside employers on paperless strategies. This last effort, earned Cooperative Education the “We mentor other departments in instituting their own sustainable practices” point.        Cooperative Education also stores reusable containers in their staff kitchen so that when they have special events (like their Green Office Certification lunch) they can eliminate food waste and have something tasty for later. Reusing Cooperative Education uses Lane’s Reusable Office Supply Exchange and Surplus Property warehouse before purchasing new, but even before that, they look in their own reusable cache. The division has their own surplus store containing monitors, organizers, file folders, and more. In addition to reusing supplies and furnishings, several members of the Coop Division also reuse paper that has already been used on one side and all employees use rechargeable batteries. Recycling Cooperative Education has done a great job setting up a clearly labeled recycling system to help ensure all employees and guests know how to recycle all of the basics. Additionally, this division has a composting container that employees switch out for a clean container at least twice a week.        At their Green Office Award Lunch Party, the Coop team kept brainstorming about how to make their division even more sustainable. Additional actions planned now include purchasing packets bus passes that Coop staff can use when they have meetings downtown and shopping for hybrid used vehicles as Coop Division vehicles need to be replaced. Earning the Triple Green Star Certification was hard work, but contributing to a healthier college and community makes it all worthwhile. Receiving a beautiful framed certificate, signed by President Spilde, and celebrating with a fabulous lunch made by Chef Tim didn’t hurt either. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2014/01/cooperative_education_form.pdf”] [...] Read more...
January 10, 2014As educators, we know that engagement is important in any learning environment and that the ways in which we build engagement into our courses will often vary wildly given our classroom need, our curriculum, our students, our philosophy of teaching and learning, and the mandates we are required to comply with. Think about the ways [...] Read more...
December 18, 2013After fourteen years of teaching education students at Lane Community College, I think the thing I enjoy most about my job is visiting the classrooms of stellar teachers like Sunshine, Theresa, and Jen–teachers who were once my students. Sunshine continues to remind me of the joy of teaching all aspects of literacy. Her fourth graders gobble up books–choosing from the hundreds she has accumulated book by book over the past six years. She loves to plan out adventures to teach her students about geography, integrating the arts and writing into each lesson. Like Sunshine (in her Charter School classroom of 20), Theresa (in her Bethel District classroom of 36) is an enthusiastic user of all forms of new technology. Both Sunshine and Theresa are graduates of the Oregon Writing and Technology Project, and it shows. They mentor their fourth and fifth graders with skill. Jen also teaches fifth graders in the Bethel District; she is a school and district leader and welcomes Lane interns whenever they appear at her door. Teaching is a career in which we don’t always get to see the fruits of our labors, but I am a fortunate teacher; the cooperative education program in education at LCC allows me to be always out and about with my students – learning about the new from my students of old. –Merrill Watrous, Faculty, Education In Spring 2013, three students from Lane were placed in classrooms taught by three graduates of Lane through Cooperative Education. Click on their names to read their individual success stories. Cori with Theresa at Malabon Elementary School Bailey with Jennifer at Fairfield Elementary School Blake with Sunshine at Sand Ridge Charter School [...] Read more...
December 6, 2013Lovely snow, isn’t it?  The 7″ of snow received so far in the South Hills amounts to about 0.5″ of water content (melted down).  Snow may be much deeper than forecast because the National Weather Service typically uses a 10:1 (snow depth:rain depth) ratio.  Our snow is quite fluffy around Eugene today.  Enjoy the break from the grind… Last vestiges of snow are now gone from my neighborhood a mere 15 days after we got 8.5″ in the South Hills!  And a finals week to remember for sure.   [...] Read more...
November 22, 2013I have never been a fan of rote memorization. However, I have learned that as soon as a person memorizes their multiplication tables, the world of math gets easier for them. So much of fourth grade math relies on the automaticity of math facts learned earlier. So…I drill my students, but I don’t want to kill their enthusiasm. I give a 2 minute quiz daily. Each student begins with times zero. As they master a page, they advance to the next.  Nearly everyone passed zeros the first time and the remaining passed by the second day. After ones, the students abilities started to diverge. Some crept slowly and others zoomed. Everyone failed before advancing though. I took this opportunity to reinforce the idea that “practice makes perfect. If it is hard today, then they haven’t mastered it yet but that tomorrow will be a little easier and so on until WOWSER they have. My teaching assistant, Ms. Monica, is amazing. She corrects the quizzes and writes encouraging words on the next day’s page. She also makes flash cards for any child who asks for them. She only gives them cards for the facts table they are currently working on. Everyday when I pick up those papers I ask them, “Did you do better today than you did yesterday. They always say yes. I instruct them to pat themselves on the back for all of their successes and think positively about the facts they have yet to master. Many students have shocked their parents by insisting they help them practice. I am amazed that a rote memorization practice would get them so much support at home. The great thing is this is easy for parents. They know how to do it. They are not intimidated as they sometimes are with the math homework I send home. Now my students beg for “Mad Minute Math.” Some have moved through multiplication and are tackling division facts. A few are using the time to master some pre-algebra facts and I have a couple who only have to finish two rows of the page. These students needed to feel successful. They will repeat the series, adding a row to their success. This in no way portrays my math teaching techniques nor is it an example of any of my teaching philosophy where I believe learning should be real, hands on and played with. This is simply the best way I have found to raise ALL of my students automaticity levels in math facts. [...] Read more...
November 13, 2013Hi, all – I’m not so sure I agree with the mapping here of Oregon and Washington on this map, and I don’t care for that particular map projection, either, but a h/t to colleague Gary Mort for sharing this great attempt at reorganization of the US geopolitical map following the recommendations of Major John Wesley Powell, whose views on the arid west and the lack of water were very inspiring to a lot of hydrologists … but apparently not to a lot of planners and politicians. In any case, kudos to Ben Schiller of Co.Exist for a good first effort! [...] Read more...
November 13, 2013It is going to post soon, sorry!  Paul [...] Read more...
November 12, 2013Advanced Aspiring Leaders Committee: The next Advanced Aspiring Leaders Committee Meeting from 3:30 – 5:00 pm next Tuesday, Nov. 12th in the Boardroom.   At this meeting, we will need to: 1) identify our goals for this year or at least the rest of fall and winter terms, and 2) determine a regular time for our meetings.    [...] Read more...
November 10, 2013This is now my third year as a classroom teacher. If you read back through my posts you will see that it hasn’t all been easy. My first year was tough, real tough. In order to have any management over my students I had to develop a zero tolerance approach. I was forced to squelch any noise or movement. No one could leave their seat without permission. After multiple disasters, I quit allowing students to go to the bathroom unattended.  I struggled as I attempted to create autonomous learners in this type of environment. Silent reading was tough because so few of my third graders could read. And my one solid skill, reading aloud to children, was disastrous because my students couldn’t sit still and listen. You may think that movement would be the answer for such students but it was not. They would fight and push and kick and scream. No, only a firm grip kept us safe and allowed some learning to take place. We were most successful with teacher led, direct instruction. By the end of the year, our greatest accomplishment was some of my students could finally answer an open ended question orally. I knew that to become the teacher I aspired to be, I would have to leave the village children I had grown to love. Last year, I was still that teacher. I managed my classroom like a drill sergeant. I still relied on direct instruction and left no wiggle room for autonomy. Don’t get me wrong, I led engaging discussions and taught the students to think for themselves. I even let students go to the restroom alone at appropriate times.  But I was frightened by the thought of my classroom getting out of control. I think I was still in shock after my first year. It was a year of growth. I was supported and my students responded to my teaching positively. By the end of the year I trusted my students to get a little wild and still return to civility and blessed quiet. This year I’ve forgotten to think about classroom management at all. I put my expectations in place right from the start. We practiced procedures. I was clear about consequences. Then I put my attention elsewhere. This was not a concious decision. I just got caught up in my teaching. I organized the desks in groups. I set up cooperative learning groups and quit requiring permission for things like “I need a tissue.” My students know when they are free to converse and at what level their voices should be for different groups. #1, whisper voice is for conferring during quiet independent work sessions. #2 low flow for small group work. #3 teacher voice for presentations or whole group discussions. The best thing is that I am no longer afraid to give the students ownership of their environment. Sometimes they are excited and a little loud. I have learned to smile and give them a signal to bring it down. They quickly respond and harmony is restored. You may think I simply have easier and more independent children. This may be so. But I also have a child with ADHD on a behavior management program and another boy who has the following taped to his desk, “Before you speak, Think.” We are a group with many strengths and weaknesses. We are all allowed to make mistakes. We are supportive of each other and we are each other’s cheerleaders. The students run our discussions, our learning and the classroom in general. They thrive on being the decision makers. It is empowering to have such a powerful role in one’s own learning and they embrace it fully. They created classroom jobs and take them seriously, because they are important to them. They create an agenda and run class meetings. They toss a soft ball to each other and  only speak while holding the ball. When they break this sacred rule, it is they, not me, who remind each other. While brainstorming this week. Our discussion was fun and the students were particularly exuberant. Caden, blurted, “Ms. T, we brainstorm a lot. We’re getting really good at it!” Then before I could even respond, His cousin, Haylen says at the top of his voice, “That’s because we are smarter together than we are apart!” He gave my favorite saying back to me. I love my job!   [...] Read more...
October 27, 2013Reading buddies are great. Reading specialists are even better.                      Mrs. Hazel, a first grade teacher and I wanted to make time for reading together. Nothing nurtures a child’s love for reading more than reading with someone. When older children mentor younger, both grow and learn. Mrs. Hazel, however, wanted this to be even more beneficial. She has barely emerging readers and truly wanted some help teaching them. Plus, in this time of standards, where every moment must be justified, she wanted this weekly meeting to be legitimate. So she asked if we could call the 4th graders “Reading Specialists” and actually put them to work. To our amazement, the kids have far surpassed our expectations. Each Friday before we head to the first grade pod, I pull up the common core state standards on my Promethean board (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/4) . We look at the 1st grade reading standards and talk about what specifically, our young readers need to learn. Then we brain storm what they can do to help them. So far we have focused on Key ideas and details, Genre (fiction or non-fiction) and settings. The students come up with ways to question their readers and then brainstorm about what is working and what is not. It is absolutely amazing. ____________________________________________________________          English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » Grade 1 Key Ideas and Details CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. Craft and Structure CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.5 Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6 Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events. (RL.1.8 not applicable to literature) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories. _______________________________________________________________________________ I believe my fourth graders are better at using developmentally appropriate language and questioning skills than I am. The first graders love it. They look up to their mentors with loving admiration. This week, Mrs. Hazel pulled me over to look at one particularly heartwarming interaction. She motioned towards a little girl who normally cannot sit still or focus well. This same little girl sat motionless with her head on the shoulder of her mentor, fully engaged in the story she was listening to. While reviewing Common Core Standards, I show my students the fourth grade standards as well. They are amazed that the standards are almost the same. The wording is more grown up but covers the same strands. In this way we are emphasizing the fourth grade standards as well. As my “big kids” help their readers master the “big idea,” comprehension skills and recall, they are working on those very same skills. All the while, Mrs. Hazel and I enjoy a few minutes a week of relaxation with our kids. It is definitely a win/win for all concerned. [...] Read more...
October 14, 2013This summer while planning for my year, I knew I would focus on empathy. It would be the umbrella over all our learning. Putting oneself into another’s shoes would be the spotlight shining on all we would do. I wanted my first class read aloud to bring us together and set the stage for a deeper understanding of kindness and caring. I sifted through my library looking for just the right book. Then, by chance, my friend and once upon a time Ed 200 and 201 classmate, Errica Heim, posted a book title on her “Goodreads”  account, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I was intrigued. I looked up a review for the book. I knew immediately; this was the one. The content looked intense so I asked a few friends what they thought about me using it as a read aloud. All who had read it said it was amazing but was indeed heavy at times. Even though I didn’t know my students, I took a chance. I ordered the book and it arrived two days after school started. We’ve been reading it ever since, and Friday, I read for nearly an hour to finish it. When they begged me to keep reading I was thrilled because I wanted to keep reading too. This story made me cry twice. Once for sheer sadness and the second for pure joy. It brought us together in a way that only  great experiences can. We got to know the characters like friends or family. Each one multifaceted, sharing their best and worst with us. I could not have picked a better read aloud for building an understanding of empathy. The protagonist, August, touched the hearts of many characters in the story, changing them, making them better people. He did the same thing for each of us. This was not an easy read aloud. It spurred many debates and deep conversations.  But when it was all over, my class gave it a standing ovation. [...] Read more...
October 3, 2013Today I will receive my first Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend check or PFD. This year all Alaskans are expecting $900 to be deposited into their bank accounts or mailed to their PO Boxes. Businesses across the state have been and will continue to run specials in hopes of luring that money their way. I am one who plans to take advantage of Alaska Airlines special rates. This is an exciting week for everyone, but it can be an unsettling time for many children in Nome. Villagers flock to Nome to spend their $ and visit family. Homes fill up with visitors and unfortunately for many, alcoholism and abandonment issues increase.  Last year my students were showing up sleepy and some were disturbed. We will see what this year brings. I plan to put the issue on tomorrow’s class meeting agenda so the kids can discuss it. Hopefully we can figure out coping skills (earplugs and self management at bedtime) and where to find safety when needed. Perhaps they can be each other’s support. Alcoholism is always an issue in rural Alaska. The issues surrounding the PFD’s are not specific to this time of year. It is merely amplified. I have no photos to share but the visuals I have seen include drunks wandering around the streets yelling obscenities or simply those who fall down and sleep on the sidewalks. We have a special safety patrol made up of volunteers who roam the streets making sure no one falls asleep and freezes to death. This safety patrol is also present during the Iditarod Dog-sled race, another problematic time in Nome. [...] Read more...
September 30, 2013Our monthly data have been summed, analyzed, and checked, and here are the totals: Greenhouse Weather Station (4″ plastic official gauge):  211.2 mm Rooftop tipping bucket weather station (SW corner):  7.15″ These data are as of noon, following protocols established by the GLOBE program.  What?  Oh, the units!  We divide any precipitation in mm by 25.4 (mm/inch) to get the rainfall total in Imperial units, thus we received 8.31″ of precipitation in September, more than an inch more than in the tipping bucket rain gauge on the roof.  Local effects?!  Hardly…more than likely the rain is sometimes underestimated with tipping bucket rain gauges.  As an example, for the 72 hours ending today, the roof accumulated 3.60″ of rain, while the greenhouse clocked in at 3.965″, a full 10% higher. We await the official NWS record report for Eugene (at the airport), which will account for all accumulations through midnight.  At least our recent storminess helped to lessen our water year and annual rainfall deficit!  But since about August 28th, it has been a very unusual late summer, to be sure! Update – Well the government shutdown has only delayed the monthly climatological report by a short time, but it is now ready. The official monthly total for the Eugene airport is 7.08″ for the month, shattering the old record of 6.16″ set in 1927. This compares to the normal (1981-2010 base) of 1.29″ per month. You may remember last year was exceptionally dry, with only 0.02″ recorded. My, how things change! [...] Read more...
September 30, 2013Eugene Monthly Rainfall Record is Shattered! Well, this is the opening post, and what better way to start the fall term off than with a deluge across the Pacific Northwest.  All across Oregon, rainfall records are being shattered, in many cases back more than 100 years.  I’ve got a link here to the Portland NWS office’s public information and record statement reports.  After our official LCC weather station report at local solar noon today, I’ll also post our summary, too.  We don’t have records at LCC going back to 1890 like the city of Eugene does, but I can guarantee you that this was indeed our rainiest September in a long, long, long, long time!  I’ll keep you posted!  Paul [...] Read more...
September 25, 2013Lane’s Office of the President recently became the fourth Lane department to receive Green Office Certification with 20 out of 25 points. Everyone in the Office of the President turns off lights when they are not needed, shuts off their computers at night, uses the power management features on their computers and prints double-sided or on paper already used on one side. President Spilde’s staff has also significantly reduced printing by moving to mostly electronic distribution of the monthly Board of Education packet. Finally, President Spilde and her team are tireless champions of promoting sustainability within Lane and outside of Lane to our community and to community colleges nationally. The staff achieved Green Office Certification in September 2013 due to the leadership and efforts of the Office of the President employees and, of course, President Spilde herself. The Office of the President consists of Mary Spilde, President; Elizabeth Andrade, Project Coordinator; Joan Aschim, Public Information Officer; Brett Rowlett, Director of Governmental and Community Relations; Tracy Simms, Director of Marketing and Public Relations; and Donna Zmolek, Assistant to the President and Board of Education. The Office of the President received the Green Office Certification due to their commitment to greening their own office, supporting sustainability throughout Lane, and promoting sustainability in our community and nationally. Examples of efforts within the Office of the President include: Using no incandescent bulbs. Sharing appliances, minimizing electronics, and ensuring that all electronics are turned off at the end of the day. Printing double-sided or on paper that is already used on one side. Minimizing paper use further by moving to electronic filing systems and distributing the monthly Board of Education packets electronically. Looking in surplus property and the Reusable Office Supply Exchange before purchasing new furnishings and supplies. Having a wellness champion who promotes wellness activities within the department. Including sustainability in all job postings. For our community, President Spilde and the Office of the President staff tirelessly advocated for the LEED Platinum Downtown Campus academic building and LEED Gold Titan Court, buildings that are helping to revitalize the core of Eugene in a healthy and sustainable way.        In addition to all of this important work for Lane and for our community, President Spilde has also been a strong leader in education for sustainability nationally. She was one of the first signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment and served on the steering committee for the commitment. She serves on the Sustainability Task force of the American Association of Community Colleges and she also co-edited the League for Innovation publication The Sustainable Community College: Holistic Approaches to Sustainability. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2013/09/presidents_office.pdf”]   [...] Read more...
September 23, 2013No matter how many hours I spend in my classroom, I never feel fully prepared. There is always something left undone or put off. This is always true. As the first student day approached, I felt overwhelmed and more than a little nervous. I am lucky that many master teachers shared with me that they always feel that way before school starts. I held onto this uncomfortable feeling through the entire first week of school. That was not expected. Our schedule has changed since last year and I had trouble getting into a flow. I spent most of this time getting to know my students. Fortunately, the kids were great. It turns out that, once again, I love my students.   [...] Read more...
September 23, 2013After my August workshop I met up with my son and his girlfriend in Anchorage. We shopped until we dropped. There isn’t much selection in Nome. Then we took a tour of the surrounding area. Matanuska Glacier was amazing. Our return flight got rerouted to Anchorage for some malfunction so we flew home Wednesday the 14th, the very day I began teacher in-service. I only missed an hour. [...] Read more...
September 23, 2013One week before school began for teachers in our district, I traveled to Girdwood, AK for a 5 day Workshop. iTREC (Iditarod Trail in Every Classroom) is the name of the cohort I joined that week. 12 students (fellow teachers) and a whole slew of instructors began a year long program designed to integrate placed-based, service learning into Alaska classrooms using the National Historic Iditarod Trail as our focus. We are scheduled to meet for this one week in August, a long weekend in November and finish up in Nome for three days in April, 2014 The Iditarod trail is most famous for its Last Great dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome. The actual trail runs from Sewerd to Nome and was used to carry mail among villages, similar to the pony express. The mail was carried by dogsled. The sleds also brought miners and goods to remote Alaska and was very influential in the enculturation which took place during the early gold rush. Place-based learning was new to me last year but I see the term popping up in many teaching areas. In a nut shell, it means teaching across curriculum through the lens of where you and your students are located. The added special feature of this curriculum development program is that we are required to add a service to the focus of learning. Not only will i create a unit of study that will allow my students to get to know their home better and deeper, they will also have to give back to the community they live in. I’m not yet sure where this study will take my students and I as I plan to follow their lead as much as possible. To make this a true Place-based learning they need to be in the driver’s seat with me. What I do know for sure is it has already changed the way I view teaching materials. I am now using only Alaska Science teaching curricula, my art is focused mostly on local art techniques and when ever possible, I relate their learning to what my students know and understand. This style of teaching is right in line with my personal teaching philosophy which is child centered and relevant. The workshop was fantastic. It was held at the beautiful Alyeska Resort, the home of Alaska’s premier ski hill and right smack on the Iditarod Historic Trail. I met and befriended many awesome teachers from across the state and we worked together to create good stuff while enjoying the last of our summer break. I am looking forward to the November workshop when I will be expected to start creating the unit. [...] Read more...
July 5, 2013Congratulations to the Professional and Organizational Development  & Diversity Office for being the third Lane department to receive the Green Office Certification with the most points so far! This group earned 23 out of 25 points for activities such as greening the Fall In-service and Spring Conference all staff events by minimizing handouts and eliminating paper cup waste. To celebrate, the Institute for Sustainable Practices provided the POD & Diversity Office folks with a fantastic lunch made from Learning Garden produce. Lane’s Professional and Organizational Development & Diversity Office (POD/Diversity) is comprised of two passionate and hardworking folks – Donna Koechig and Roxanne Watson – along with a work study student worker. Donna and Roxanne are the organizers of important Lane all-staff events such as the Fall In-service, Spring Conference, and the Aspiring Leaders Program. They also provide resources, coordination, and leadership to support Lane’s diversity core value.  POD/Diversity recently became the third department to receive the Green Office Certification with 23 out of 25 points! POD/Diversity’s practices that contributed to their Green Office Certification include: Turning off lights when a room is not in use and when daylighting is sufficient. Minimizing appliances and electronics and ensuring they are turned off at the end of the day. Using only rechargeable batteries. Using tap water and washable drinking containers and not supplying cups or bottled water. This practice extends beyond POD/Diversity’s office practices and into the events and trainings that they organize. Decreasing paper use by printing double-sided and using an electronic filing system. One of POD’s huge paper saving initiatives was to move from printing handouts for all staff at Lane’s Fall In-service and Spring Conference events to publishing materials on the web.   Sustainability in purchasing is a place in which POD/Diversity really shines.  POD has been working to include more organic, local, and healthy food and beverage options at Fall In-service, Spring Conference, Aspiring Leaders retreats, and staff trainings. Staff is reminded and encouraged to bring their own beverage containers. They have also made an effort towards using more reusables, fewer disposables, and ensuring that disposable items are composted and/or recycled. In addition, POD has moved toward purchasing more eco-friendly awards for the Employee Recognition Gala in several ways: all dollars spent remain in the local community, engraved retirement and years-of-service awards are crafted from recycled glass, and retiree bricks for the Wall of Honor are now made by a small, local cottage industry company. Diversity is also an essential component of sustainability and the work of the Diversity Office is closely linked to the work of the Institute for Sustainable Practices. Sustainability is often thought of as environmental conservation, but it also encompasses aspects of social justice and economic sustainability. Sustainability grew out of the environmental movement, but it is an evolution from thinking just about ecological preservation to realizing that people who do not live in a peaceful, just, and economically stable society – people who have a daily struggle for food, clean water, and health care – will not have the time or energy to think about “the environment” and will likely use ecologically destructive practices, if they must, to survive. Therefore, the Diversity Office’s efforts to pursue social justice are also in support of sustainability at Lane. Please give a big thanks to Donna and Roxanne for their work in helping people and the planet! Find out more information about Professional and Organizational Development and Diversity at Lane. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2013/07/podform.pdf”]   [...] Read more...
June 10, 2013Mathematics recently became the second division to receive the Green Office Certification with 20 out of 25 Math Computer Lab Math Computer Lab points. Employees in this Division are really doing their part to reduce Lane’s greenhouse gas emissions! To save energy, the Math/Engineering Computer Lab’s computers have the shortest time out session at Lane. After just 30 minutes of no activity, the 36 student machines shut off and the Division trains students to shut down the computer and turn off the monitor after each use.        In Math Resource Center Testing Rooms, only ½ of the computers are turned on at the beginning of the day. Additional computers are only turned on as needed. To reduce emissions from commuting, over 30% of Math employees carpool, walk, bus, bike, or telecommute at least two days per week. Administrative and Technology Specialist, Robin Geyer, acted as the Math Division’s Sustainability Ambassador and took the lead in determining for which points Math qualifies and toward which they will work. Of her experience working on the Green Office Certification, Robin said, “What a pleasure it is to work with such a large group of caring and aware individuals. The people of the Math Division are very good at educating their students in math and also serve as examples of how to be good stewards of our environment! Thank YOU!!” Other sustainable practices in the Math Division include: Collecting all single-sided used paper, cutting it in half, and using it for scratch paper in the Math Resource Center Tutoring Labs. . Saving files on department server rather than having multiple people have multiple paper copies of things like syllabi. Having only seven networked printers for 100+ employees saves energy, reduces resource use, and helps improve employee wellness. Using tap water and washable drink containers rather than disposable cups or bottles. In fact, the Math Division even went so far as to purchase ceramic coffee mugs and cloth napkins to use at the annual Math Skills Fair. Considering sustainability factors when making purchases including looking for products with recycled content and reduced packaging. Division Dean, Kathie Hledik, was excited that Math received the Green Office Certification. She said, “One of the first things I noticed when I came to Lane two years ago was the emphasis on sustainability, particularly in the math division. I’m very proud of our faculty and staff for giving this core value such a high priority, and for making the extra effort to obtain the Green Office Certification.” [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2013/06/math.pdf”] [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Faculty Council Charter Review Draft 1 Mission Statement 1.0 Faculty Council contributes to the quality of education at Lane as the deliberative faculty representative group on academic matters. It may also consider other matters brought before it. 2 Roles 2.1 As provided for by the LCCEA contract, Faculty Council may refer issues on academic policies of the college to a vote in which the whole faculty may participate. The Faculty Council shall be responsible for defining and ensuring timely college-wide debate and subsequent voting process, and for formulating and publishing the results. 2.2 As provided for by the LCCEA contract, Faculty Council’s responsibilities include grading policy and the campus-wide student evaluation instrument. 2.3 Faculty Council provides a campus-wide forum for faculty to collaborate in governance over academic issues and policies within its authority as established by tradition, contract, and need; 2.4 Faculty Council appoints/recommends faculty to serve on committees such as the Curriculum Committee, Assessment Team, Academic Requirements Review Committee, including other standing curricular committees; 2.5 Faculty Council works in concert with Administration, Governance Councils, The Lane Community College Education Association (LCCEA), and other faculty groups to address campus-wide issues; 2. 6 Faculty Council provides faculty perspectives in response to issues raised by the college administration, LCCEA, or any other college body. 2.7 Faculty Council provides a critical nexus of communication between faculty, staff, and administration. 2.8 Faculty Council addresses issues, sparks discussion, develops solutions, and assists with implementing changes. 3 Operation 3.1 Freedom of Discussion 3.1.0 In realizing its role, any issue that impacts on the faculty at large, excluding legally confidential matters, may be considered by this group. However, Faculty Council does not engage in dealing/bargaining. 3.2 Communication 3.2.0 The Faculty Council will keep faculty informed about campus issues by: 3.2.1 Receiving reports from division representatives to the Faculty Council 3.2.2 Reserving a portion of the agenda for those outside of the Faculty Council to introduce issues, give reports, etc., as appropriate. 3.2.3 Directing Faculty Council representatives to keep divisions informed 3.2.4 Hosting forums. 3.2.5 Appointing Faculty Council representatives to college councils and committees, and receiving reports from them. 3.2.6 On-line communication to representatives and the faculty at large. 3.3 Academic Program Decision Making 3.3.0 The Faculty Council provides a means for faculty to make decisions on academic matters by: 3.3.1 Acting as a forum for discussing ideas and proposals 3.3.2 Acting as the approval body for faculty on college-wide instructional plans 3.3.3 Establishing task forces on issues that need a plan or proposal submitted to Faculty Council 3.3.4 Making decisions 3.3.5 Providing an avenue for developing relationships among faculty members 3.3.6 Working in conjunction with the LCCEA and respecting each other’s jurisdiction 4 Organizational Structure 4.1 Membership 4.1.1 Divisions will make provisions for faculty members to actively participate in Faculty Council. 4.1.2 Members of the Faculty Council are representatives by division. Faculty in each division will elect their own representatives to send to the Council. Each division will have two representatives chosen from different disciplines or instructional units. Representatives will serve two-year terms, be selected during spring term in alternate years, and may serve for consecutive terms. 4.1.3 Special elections may be held when needed to fill vacant positions. 4.1.4 Full-time and part-time faculty teaching during the forthcoming academic year shall be eligible to be elected as division representatives. 4.1.5 Elections shall be conducted within each division according to the established division practice or by secret ballot. The previous year’s representative whose seat is not up for re-election shall conduct the nominating and voting processes. 4.1.6 Although divisional representatives are the decision making members, Faculty Council meetings are open to the entire college community, and attendance by any interested party is encouraged. The goal of the Council is to foster effective communication and collegial discussion of issues for the entire faculty. 4.1.7 All faculty members are encouraged to participate in other college committees and task forces as well as any other college activity that involves faculty. The Council shall actively solicit/encourage full faculty participation in shared governance and in promoting/maintaining transparency in all college processes to the extent allowed by law. 4.1.8 Regular attendance of Council representatives will ensure continuity in the decision-making. 4.1.9 All members shall have equal access to the same information that, to the extent practical, consists of primary documents as well as digests and analysis. 4.1.10 The Faculty Council shall include a non-voting representative from the Office of Instruction & Student Services (OISS), LCCEA, The Associated Students of Lane Community College (ASLCC), and LCCEF. 4.2 Meetings 4.2.1 Regularly scheduled meetings shall be held. Face to face votes shall only be held when at least half the membership is in attendance. Votes may be held by e-mail if the members present at a meeting vote to do so. Only Council members will participate in voting, which is distinct from the referendum process and the co-chair electoral process. 4.2.2 Agendas will be divided into sections with suggested time limitations on each. 4.2.3 To save time, people are expected to talk to the co-chairs about any last-minute adjustments to the agenda before the meeting. 4.2.4 Persons wishing to elicit opinions, input or help from Faculty Council shall be asked to submit a brief description of the problem or situation that shall be distributed to the council members prior to discussion of the issue. Council members will be encouraged to review the material prior to the meeting. 4.2.5 Issues that need research and reflection will be referred to standing committees of the college or task forces, so that when a proposal is returned to the Faculty Council, the members can discuss the issue more effectively. 4.2.6 A chair will be appointed by the co-chairs at the time of forming a task force, and will be listed under Committee Reports and will be asked to schedule reports to the council with the co-chairs. 4.2.7 Persons/committees/task forces will submit items that need decisions or discussion by Faculty Council to the co-chairs. Copies of these items will be sent out with minutes prior to the next meeting whenever it is possible. This will provide ample opportunity for those who might be affected by the issue to review and discuss it prior to the Faculty Council meeting. If it is impossible to distribute before the meeting, the written information should be brought to the Faculty Council and distributed at that time. 4.2.8 Proposals from committees should have the difficulties worked out as much as the committee is able before the submission to the Faculty Council. 4.2.9 Co-chairs will delegate tasks to other Faculty Council members in order to encourage full Council participation in the functions of Faculty Council. Persons shall be assigned to track each important issue and report as necessary for the development and resolution of the issue. 4.2.10 It is the responsibility of all persons present to be succinct and to the point (i.e., if committee has not met, or has no reports, the proper response is “no report”) 4.2.11 Meetings will be conducted using a modification of Roberts Rules of Order, such modification being the right of any council member to make a motion for consensus on an important item for vote. If the motion is seconded, consensus will be required to be pursued in good faith by all council members. Council appointments are not subject to consensus. 4.2.12 If a council member’s motion for consensus on an item is pursued within a meeting, and consensus is not achieved, Faculty Council will declare a reflection period until the next Faculty Council meeting. At the start of that next meeting a consensus vote will then be held. If consensus is not achieved, a majority based vote will be taken, and then both majority and minority reports will be issued. The representative who made the original motion for consensus will write the report for whichever outcome (majority or minority) he/she winds up on. The co-chairs will write the remaining report. This may change depending on how we resolve 4.2.11. 4.3 Criteria For Agenda Items 4.3.0 Criteria for selecting the agenda items: 4.3.1 Does it concern teaching and learning at LCC or in higher education? 4.3.2 Does the Faculty Council have the necessary information to address the issue? 4.3.3 What is the time line? 4.3.4 Requests to make presentations to the Faculty Council should be submitted in writing. 4.4 Standing Committee Representatives 4.4.0 Faculty Council shall recruit/ appoint representatives to other college decision-making bodies. 4.4.1 Recruitment will be by faculty-wide solicitation of statements of interest and qualifications to be considered by the council members, except when a sitting representative wishes to renew her/his appointment. In that case, the council will vote on the renewal without a campus-wide solicitation. 4.4.2 Except in cases where a single statement of interest has been received and the council members decide by consensus to appoint the candidate who submitted it, appointment will follow a vote. 4.5 Committees 4.5.0 To facilitate the smooth and efficient operation of the Faculty Council, committees and task forces shall be formed as required. 4.5.1 The co-chairs shall maintain a list of all task forces, chairs and members. 4.5.2 These task forces shall cease to exist when their mission has been completed. 4.5.3 Faculty Council appointees to curricular committees and task forces (such as Curriculum Committee, Assessment Team, Academic Requirements Review Committee) shall submit upcoming agenda items to co-chairs in time to be published with the agenda, as well as make reports to Faculty Council upon invitation. 4.6 Co-Chairs 4.6.1 The Faculty will elect two Faculty Council members to act as co-chairs. To be nominated, the member must have attended more than half of the regularly scheduled meetings during the immediately preceding year or have served as a Faculty Council member for at least one year with a 50% or better annual attendance record within the past five years. Co-chairs will serve for two years and elections will be held every year such that the terms of the co-chairs overlap. 4.6.2 In the event of a resignation, a special faculty-wide election will be held for a replacement to complete the resigning co-chair’s term. 4.6.3 Co-chairs will participate as members of the council in addition to performing their duties as co-chairs. 4.6.4 In the event that a sitting co-chair’s division elects two new members, not including the co-chair, the co-chair will continue to carry out the duties of co-chair until the end of his/her term, but will not otherwise participate as a representative of her/his division. 4.6.5 Whereas in the past, the Faculty Council co-chairs received re-assignment time equal to one class per term to represent faculty interests, unless otherwise negotiated in bargaining, Faculty Council co-chairs receive a stipend, as well as budget of $500 to be spent on Faculty Council business 4.6.6 The co-chairs shall: 4.6.6.1 Keep order at meetings. 4.6.6.2 Keep discussion to a reasonable time schedule. 4.6.6.3 Poll the members for decision making at the end of discussion. 4.6.6.4 Wrap up each meeting with a restatement of action items. 4.6.6.5 Establish a calendar of meetings. 4.6.6.6 Keep the budget. 4.6.6.7 Keep a list of operational procedures (printing, mailing, room reservations). 4.6.6.8 Keep a list of Faculty Council actions and accomplishments. 4.6.6.9 Act as representatives & liaisons for Faculty Council as needed. 4.6.6.10 Keep the Faculty Council & faculty informed of instructional issues and developments. 4.6.6.11 One of the co-chairs will serve as the Faculty Council representative to the College Council and the other will serve as the representative to the Learning Council. 5 Amending the Faculty Council Charter 5.1 The Faculty Council Charter shall be amended when two-thirds of the Council members vote to form a committee to amend the charter and charge that committee with proposing specific changes. 5.2 Such committee will meet and form language in response only to the changes charged to them by Faculty Council based on the aforementioned voting mechanism. 5.3 Faculty Council will take the proposed language from the committee and publicize the proposed amendment language in a manner to best reach all college faculty, notifying them of upcoming discussions and a vote. 5.4 After publicizing the language to all college faculty, Faculty Council must place the proposed amendment language on the agenda for discussion for two open meetings. 5.5 After the publicizing and open meeting requirements have been met, only then can the amended language be considered for a vote by Faculty Council. 5.6 Amended language to the Charter must meet with approval by a two-thirds’ vote of the Council members to be made official as Charter language. [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013In order to consider what our shared values might be in developing and codifying how we operate as a department, we began to review and consider the old EFL&S Charter in the draft form below: draft3charter 12.12.00           [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013We (the Technology Council) will be using this site to publish our long term strategic plans as well as short term tactical initiatives. Stay tuned for postings. We welcome your input into the direction of Technology at the College! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
June 6, 2013Welcome to Lane Community College Blog Network. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
May 3, 2013Congratulations to Lane’s Small Business Development Center for being the first department to achieve the Green Office Certification. The SBDC received 20 out of 25 possible points thereby attaining the highest level of certification – the coveted Triple Green Star! To celebrate the SBDC’s achievement, the Sustainability Committee hosted a lunch for all of the SBDC staff made from produce from Lane’s Learning Garden. Highlights of SBDC’s sustainable practices include supplying reusable serviceware at department meetings rather than disposable and including sustainability in all job postings. Lane’s Small Business Development Center supports local small businesses by offering a wide range of services and training. It is one of 19 centers throughout Oregon and 1100 Centers nationwide. Located at the new Downtown Campus, the SBDC is the first Lane department to receive the Green Office Certification and they achieved it at the highest level – Triple Green Star. Developed by the Sustainability Committee, the Green Office Certification is a tool for departments and divisions to use to improve sustainable practices, earn rewards, and have fun. “The Triple Green Star Green Office Certification was very important to our department so we could demonstrate to our students and clients that we practice what we preach. The program has helped our staff realize the importance of these cost saving practices and I’d encourage all departments at Lane to make it a goal for the 2013-2014 school year.” – Jim Lindly, SBDC Director In celebration of their good work and dedication to sustainability, SBDC employees were treated to a lunch party made from fresh produce from Lane’s Learning Garden. The Small Business Development Center achieved 20 out of 25 points for sustainable practices such as: Turning off lights when they are not needed. Using computer power management features to turn off monitors and power down computers. Ensuring that all computers are turned off at night. Supplying reusable dishes, cups, and silverware at department meetings. Having a wellness station where employees can exercise or stretch during breaks. Including sustainability in all job postings and interviews. Having a representative on the Sustainability Committee. SBDC even received an innovation point for a practice called “Quick and Easy Kaizen.” Bethany Robinson, SBDC Business Relations Coordinator, explains, “Each staff member in our department has the opportunity to make creative changes that continually improve the work environment and the work that we do. The goal is to implement these changes quickly and integrate them without disrupting the existing work flow. Using this practice has helped us adjust to the new physical space we moved into and connect with our clients, by streamlining processes. This heightens the level of customer service we provide.” SBDC not only conducts these green practices within their department, they also use them in their trainings for local businesses. These practices include: Using PowerPoint presentations and emailing materials to clients instead of printing. Conducting conference calls and meeting directly with clients, thereby reducing transportation. Bethany led the department in determining which points they would achieve and which they will work toward. When asked about her experience of certifying her department, she says, “It is easy to assume you are being sustainable, but this process made the SBDC realize there were actions we could change or improve on. The beauty of working towards the Triple Green Star Green Office Certification is that once you practice a sustainable action it becomes second nature.” [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2013/05/sbdc.pdf”] [...] Read more...
April 21, 2013For those of you who ask students to think about writing in (relation to) a variety of media, words of wisdom from a video game writer. Opinion: Video Games Taught Me How to Write | Polygon. [...] Read more...
April 17, 2013This is a site for Quileute people and their friends to tell stories–stories about nicknames and about place-names.  What’s your nickname?  How’d you get it?  What’s the story? What about places around LaPush?  How’d they get their names?  Who named Thunder Road?  Why is Mora called Mora?  What does Toleak mean? It’s fun to think about these things. The ones I’ve already talked with had a good time remembering some of these names and stories. But everyone remembers different things, and so we’re hoping that everyone can help out with this. Here’s a questionnaire you can use to get your memories going and get the stories started! NICKNAMES 1. What nicknames have you had over the years? 2. What are the stories behind them? 3. What nicknames do you remember from your childhood in LaPush? 4. Do you know the stories behind them? 5. What about over the years, and today? What other nicknames can you think of? What other name stories do you know? 6. Do you think nicknames are more or less common these days than they have been in the past? (Or as far as you can tell, is it pretty much the same?) 7. Do you think most people in the community know the stories behind the nicknames? Do you think it matters if people know the stories or not? 8. What social role do you think nicknames play in Quileute culture? 9. What names have become common words in the community language (like “mup” or “JD” as verbs, or “lela” as a noun)? 10. What about naming generally? How many people do you know in the community who have, or have taken on, Quileute names? Has this practice declined over the years? Why do you think some people do this, and some people don’t? 11. What about last names? Do you know where your last name comes from? PLACES 1. What place-names do you know in Quileute territory? 2. Do any of these have stories behind them? 3. Do you know the Quileute words for any of them? [...] Read more...
March 11, 2013Happy Open Education Week! Are you considering converting to or building a textbook-free course? Would you like to incorporate some open resources into an existing source to help your students get a better grasp of certain topics. Here are some tips for finding Open Educational Resources to build or add to your classes. Step one: Set aside time. Searching for these materials takes time and persistence, just like research! Step two: Get cozy with your specific learning objectives. Instead of focusing on the textbook that you would like to replace, focus on what you would like students to specifically know or be able to do. You will likely need to search for several materials to address different topics or components of your complete class. Example: instead of searching for “biology” materials, search for “cell structure” or “DNA” or “evolution” materials. Step three: Use Google “Advanced Search” to search for open resources. Step four: Search within some of the specific OER repositories/OER search engines: MERLOT http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm OER Commons http://www.oercommons.org/ Connexions http://cnx.org/ Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/ College Open Textbooks: http://www.collegeopentextbooks.org/ *OER Librarian pro-tip* Use the browsing tools that the repository or search engine presents to you! Don’t rely solely on keyword searching. Step five: Consider library materials, which are free to students. The library provides access to hundreds of ebooks, and thousands of articles that students can access electronically, for free. Library’s homepage http://lanecc.edu/library/ Step six: Not finding what you’re looking for? Ask your OER librarian. I’m happy to help or refer you! email: Jen Klaudinyi Step seven: Consider creating and sharing your own OER. Each term, the ATC hosts workshops that can help you use software to create your own materials, or you can always drop by for help. If you create materials, consider contributing them to one of the OER repositories. More advice on searching for OER? Check out this 60 minute webinar “Finding and Selecting High Quality OER” from the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources [...] Read more...
March 8, 2013This is the full version of the article published in the Eugene Weekly, on Thursday March 7th 2013. A play celebrating the life of Paul Robeson, will occur on March 8th & 10th at LCC Main Campus will benefit the Lane Community College Black Student Union, scholarship fund.Dr. Stanley Coleman a director and actor, now faculty at Lane, plays Paul Robeson in the one-man Broadway play by Phillip Hays Dean. Said the New York Times: “Of all the imposing figures who have strutted across the stage of American culture in this century, none has been more invested with a superman mystique than Paul Robeson…and…Phillip Hayes Dean’s play PAUL ROBESON should do nothing to diminish his stature…PAUL ROBESON conveys an inspiring moral fervor.” LCC’s BSU, has provided the lion’s share of the funding of a historical monument honoring the earliest named African-American resident, Wiley Griffon. The monument is expected to be installed this spring, in the Masonic Cemetery where Mr. Griffon is buried. Historically Lane’s BSU has been a source of activism resulting in Oregon’s first Black, Ethnic, and Interdisciplinary Studies programs, as well as supporting MLK events, and local Black History Events. Though these two historical figures never met, they nevertheless represent and role model two distinct Eugene African-American survival modes. Paul Robeson, athlete, lawyer, singer, actor, and outspoken labor and Civil Rights activist, was not Wiley Griffon: ‘ready smile’, ‘devout Christian’, ‘obsequious Chesterfield’ or more plainly in one of Mr. Griffon’s obituaries: “what a Southerner would call a good n****r”. The term obsequious Chesterfield triggered my Microaggression Anansi Sense. (Anansi aka Aunt Nancy, is a West African trickster in the form of a spider. In other words my “spidey sense” for racism and its various tricks was tingling). According to the dictionary, Chesterfield is either a style of sofa, or an overcoat. As this reference was clearly about Mr. Griffon, and he was neither a piece of furniture, nor clothing, I dug further, because like Robeson’s sojourn to Eugene it seemed implausible and cryptic at best. Though no African-Americans were featured in Chesterfield cigarette ads, more African-Americans smoked Chesterfields than any other cigarette until World War II. In fact (similar to targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes to minorities, and their association with minorities, to this day within prison) the brand loyalty was so strong, that in an early version of dog whistle capitalism, Lucky Strike cigarettes featured an ad campaign that cast Chesterfield as a “n****r” cigarette, causing #1 Chesterfield to drop to #3 behind Lucky Strike. So to refer to Mr. Griffon as “ebon-hued muleteer, and obsequious Chesterfield”, is to engage in a microinsult. Microinsults are defined as “Communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity, demeaning a persons racial heritage or identity. Subtle or not so subtle snubs “frequently unknown to the perpetrator, but clearly convey a hidden insulting message to the recipient of color.” Segregation was the law of the land during Mr. Griffon’s lifetime and Robeson’s rise to international prominence. Overt discrimination and later microaggressions were raised to a high art, when Robeson visited Eugene, Salem, and Portland. Robeson was an American patriot, and a citizen of the world, who spoke 46 languages, performed in 25 languages, who believed in holding his nation accountable for the legally promised equality to all its citizens. In that, unlike Wiley Griffon, he was reviled by some, as an alleged Communist, and beloved by many more who love freedom more than racial supremacy. Robeson’s exemplary response to discrimination, inspired some prominent historical Oregon figures like Senator Mark Hatfield, to action. Those qualities would certainly cause Southerners among others to refer to Robeson and those like him as “uppity”. Robeson was born in 1898, when Mr. Griffon was operating the tram here in Eugene, to a slave who had freed himself at 15 and became a college graduate and firebrand minister. His mother came from an abolitionist Quaker family. Two years after Mr. Griffon’s death, Robeson won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University in 1915. He received the Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year, graduated as class Valedictorian, and despite suffering racist physical violence against him by his teammates, won 15 varsity letters in three sports (baseball, basketball, and track), and was named twice to the All-American Football team. He was posthumously named to the College Football Hall of Fame 19 years after his death. At Columbia Law School (1919-1923), where he met his wife Eslanda Cordoza Goode (first black woman to head a pathology laboratory), he taught Latin and played professional football on weekends to finance his tuition. He had a brief career in law, when the white secretary at his firm, refused to take dictation from a “Negro”, and the partner of the firm backed the secretary. Robeson quit, and with the encouragement of his wife Essie, he turned to the stage. Paul Robeson believed in and practiced a healthy African-American cultural existence as an activist. He tried to choose roles that were uplifting to the image of African-Americans as players on the global stage. He was the first Black man to play Othello, in the 20th Century, as it was usually played by white men in make-up. To practice for that role, he practiced and could perform it in period English, contemporary English, Italian, German, and French to name a few. For example whenever he played the role of an African royal who is displaced into a largely white society, he learned that specific tribes language. While the Russian Court might have spoken French as the language of diplomacy, like Alexander Pushkin before him, Robeson spoke Russian, which when he sang Russian folk songs, endeared him to the people. When he and Essie were traveling to Moscow via Germany, Nazi’s pulled them off the train, because they thought Essie was white. Paul noted the similarities in racism and the affinity of racists between German Nazi’s, and the Amerikkkan Klan. The Russians, didn’t appear to have issues with him or Essie, racially. It impressed the Robesons enough, to consider educating their son Paul Jr. in Russia, because of the centrality of racism within the standard American school curriculum. Many of these omissions continue today, even in Robeson’s case, as an role model example,  which if included would inspire excellence in people of color, and train whites to recognize and be accustomed to excellence in people of color. While Robeson, never joined the Communist Party, he was not the first to note the obscene marriage between Capitalism, Racism, and White Supremacy, noting anyone talking about Equality, particularly Racial Equality, was called a Communist, by the racists. When War was declared against Japan, the young Mark Hatfield, in college, and watching tearfully as his Japanese American friends were being loaded onto railroad cars on their way to internment camps, was part of a student group at Willamette University, that brought performers like Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson to Salem. Of course, you would put up international stars in the finest hotel. But the hotel owner refused to allow Robeson to stay because he was Black. Embarrassed, Mark Hatfield, borrowed the family car, and drove Robeson to the Benson Hotel in Portland. I asked Senator, “What was that ride up to Portland like? What did you talk about?” Senator Hatfield replied “Oh, he just laughed the whole situation off.” “He was a genius, you know. A great man, and in conversation, he had a way of making you feel as if you were on his level.” “He talked about his life, and his travels, the things he’d seen.” Senator Hatfield as a Naval officer saw action at Iwo Jima, and walked through Hiroshima after the atomic bombing. These experiences led to his famous anti-war stance, but as an Oregon legislator, he also successfully pushed through a landmark Public Accommodations Bill in Oregon, to end discrimination in public transportation and hotel accommodations. This was done he told me because of his experience with Robeson, and was done before such legislation was enacted nationally. While he noted Robeson was called a Communist, many Communists, as Senator Hatfield pointed out were “Our Communists” citing Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, and Tito of Yugoslavia. He pointed out the Ho Chi Minh was our ally against the Japanese in World War II. Ho Chi Minh quoted Thomas Jefferson, and the French Rights of Man in his inaugural address. Further investigation revealed that the young Ho Chi Minh, while in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance kickin’ it with the likes of Marcus Garvey, wrote articles against American lynching and the Ku Klux Klan. Particularly because Black soldiers were being lynched, in uniform, in New York City, as well as the Deep South. It was strange that a Communist spoke out about lynchings, but three wartime Commanders in Chief were silent on the issue, not even suggesting that White Americans killing Black soldiers on US soil, might be an act of treason. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize racial injustice, but two geniuses Albert Einstein and Paul Robeson, signed a petition as part of the American Campaign to End Lynching, and brought it to President Truman, who refused to see them, and disparaged Robeson. Though Robeson, campaigned and performed for the troops at home and abroad, he did wonder out loud, rightfully in my view, whether African-American soldiers should fight abroad for a country that allowed them to be lynched in its streets. Thus it was not a new sentiment when Muhammad Ali voiced it in response to refusing the draft call in the Vietnam era, noting “No Vietnamese ever called me nigger.” Indeed, the leader of the Vietnamese championed racial justice in a way, no “Red Blooded American” (after the Ku Klux Klan symbology) cared or dared to. I was interviewing the Senator, for I, Too Am Eugene, because a Black community elder Willie Mims, had mistakenly identified him as being the reason Robeson came to Eugene. Senator acknowledged that he had brought Robeson to Salem, but it was the Sandell family who brought Robeson to Eugene, where he sang at the Ferry Street Chapel, in the Ferry Street Community, before it was bulldozed. Mr. Mims remembered that incident as a child, as well as a family photograph taken of Mr. Robeson at that event. Ferry Street was the most well known integrated community built outside the city limits, because non-whites were not allowed to live or buy homes within the city limits until 1965. Imagine WWII veterans returning to Eugene, not being allowed to buy or rent homes in the city, and having a County Commissioner named Christian, signing the order in 1949 to bulldoze a church, a juke joint, and people’s homes. Of course without signing the order to allow American Citizens to live wherever they could afford. This would be exactly the kind of example of institutional racism, that Paul Robeson, on the personal request of local white friends, would come to lend his considerable voice. While there is little about Wiley Griffon’s commentary about the racism of his times, he reminds me of the line sung by Odetta when she came to Eugene: “You Don’t Know My Mind. And if you see me laughing, I’m laughing just to keep from crying.” One survival mode is to wear the smiling mask and not speak up. That was not Robeson’s way, and he lived longer than Wiley Griffon. “As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this. “The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.” “The man who accepts Western values absolutely, finds his creative faculties becoming so warped and stunted that he is almost completely dependent on external satisfactions, and the moment he becomes frustrated in his search for these, he begins to develop neurotic symptoms, to feel that life is not worth living, and, in chronic cases, to take his own life.” – Paul Robeson [...] Read more...
February 5, 2013Welcome to Knowledge Network Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! [...] Read more...
February 3, 2013Celebrate Black History Month With Us! | Independent Lens Blog. [...] Read more...
January 17, 2013The Facilities Management & Planning department has taken great strides towards reducing its impact on the environment. Pesticide use has been eliminated from campus gardening practices. Native landscaping installations help to restore wildlife habitat while creating a natural space that requires very limited maintenance. A new Integrated Pest Management Plan provides FMP employees with steps to eliminate pests from buildings without using chemicals. Electric hand dryers in restrooms reduce garbage and allow Custodians to spend more time on cleaning and less time on emptying trash. Campus painters use low VOC paints. Campus planners consider sustainable design including use of locally-sourced building materials and daylighting. The FMP office is moving to paperless systems across the board. Here are a few examples of what FMP is doing.Custodial Services Lane’s Custodial Services does whatever they can to reduce the amount and the toxicity of the products they use. Here are a few examples of Housekeeping’s sustainability achievements: Use Sustainable Earth Cleaning products that are Green Seal Certified. Soap in bathroom dispensers is Green Seal certified and is a foam-style that reduces reduces packaging seven times over liquid soap. Microfiber rags and dust mops trap dirt and germs without the need to use chemicals. Carpet cleaning equipment uses 50% less water and chemicals than most other brands. Custodial services is concerned with more than just the environmental aspect of sustainability, the social aspect is incorporated into the unit with a focus on keeping the custodians safe and injury free. There are regular safety trainings in Custodial services and at the time of this writing, they have been incident free for over 100 days. Grounds Much of Lane’s grounds are National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. In order to get this certification, a property needs to have four basic habitat elements: food, water, cover, and places to raise young. Weed control is maintained by hand removal, spot burning, and with plantings. Lane’s gardens are self-sustaining. They require very little water once established and do not require fertilization. This strategy relies on leaving the majority of leaf litter in place to decompose and provide self-fertilization. Landscapes are chemical-free and maintained and pruned to ensure plant health and natural development. Lane’s gardens use a minimum of 60% native plant material.  Non-native plants may be included if they provide a benefit for wildlife and are not invasive. In the last ten years, 450 trees have been planted at Lane. Grasses and meadows are maintained by mulch mowing. Meadows are mowed infrequently and allowed to grow to a height that enables wildflowers to bloom and propagate. When you’re not landscaping with native trees, bushes, grasses, and flowers, why not landscape with edible plants that are used in Lane’s conference center and campus restaurant? That’s what Lane’s Grounds Crew does! Planning Bond and Facilities Planners ensure that sustainability is included in new construction, remodels, and infrastructure upgrades. Lane’s “Sustainability:  Design and Construction” policy requires projects to meet the U.S. Green Building Council LEED certified equivalent, but FMP planners have done better than that. All new construction that has occurred since the policy has been in place has been certified LEED gold or better and remodels target LEED silver equivalent. LEED Certified new construction includes: Building 30 – LEED Gold Building 61a (Downtown Campus Academic) – LEED Platinum Building 61b (Titan Court) – LEED Gold More information on these LEED projects. Major remodels have used LEED as a guide for incorporating sustainable features. Examples include: Building 2 remodel (2010):  The Building 2 project included an energy saving heat exchanger that takes waste heat generated from the servers in the data center and uses it to heat the rest of the building. The project also includes locally harvested and produced wooden doors, 100% post-consumer recycled content accoustical wall panels, and reused metal studs. Building 5 remodel (2010): The Building 5 remodel included natural ventilation, a bioswale that removes pollutants from stormwater, and bike racks for 18 bikes. Building 10 remodel (2011):  This project conserved resources by using fewer materials. Rather than installing carpet or linoleum over the existing concrete, Lane simply polished the concrete flooring surface. Ceiling tiles were omitted to save additional resources and to allow for skylights to be used for daylighting. Trades Lane’s trades recently moved from a work order system that used 3 part NCR paper to a paperless system saving a significant amount of paper. Other highlights of sustainable practices by Lane’s trades include: Zero and low VOC paints used by painters. VOC stands for volatile organic chemical. Paints with more VOCs put more pollution into the air that harms human health. Electrians are beginning to replace energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps with even more efficient LED lamps. Lane’s carpenters make durable podiums and cabinetry. Transportation Vehicle emissions are the largest contributor to Lane’s greenhouse gas profile. In order to reduce these emissions, FMP has made efforts to green our fleet and to help support sustainable com Motor Pool and Fleet Since 2004, FMP has been saving fuel and carbon emissions by replacing gasoline-powered vehicles in our motor pool with hybrid electric vehicles. There are currently 4 hybrid vehicles in our motorpool. Facilities fleet has also become more green – most recycling, grounds, and maintenance vehicles are now electric. Bike Lane Bike Lane is a bicycle loan program for students who pay the $27 transportation fee. Lane currently owns 35 bikes that we loan out to students on a term by term basis. This program allows student to reduce their emissions and save money by riding their bike to Lane or by using a combination of bussing and biking. [...] Read more...
January 12, 2013Have you seen the TED Talk on the link between body language and confidence/success? I had my students practice this in class on Thursday, before I gave them a small group activity to conduct and then “teach” to the rest of the class–all on the 2nd day of the term! It functioned as an awesome “icebreaker” exercise (which Igenerally hate and strenuously avoid, but sometimes magic happens if people don’t actually know they’re doing “icebreakers”), and the reigning impression was that it worked really well. After striking the Superhero (aka the “Wonder Woman”) and Victory poses for 1 minute each, in small groups they read, analyzed, and presented totally new information on literacy to the whole class: a group of people who, for all intents and purposes, were total strangers when they walked in the door that day. And they did a GREAT job. Not only that, after reading and teaching the handout on shifting definitions of literacy, the students had the best understanding of the content, far better than any previous group of students with whom I’ve shared the same handout (which is the starting point for their first formal essay assignment, the Critical Literacy Narrative). Afterward I explained some of the research in psychology around the posing exercises, and they seemed to appreciate and enjoy that as well. The related TED video is now on our Moodle course page, and you can watch it at the link below. Some examples of how power posing can actually boost your confidence [...] Read more...
December 5, 2012Here at the end of the term, as students work on finalizing their portfolios, essays, and end-of-course reflections, I thought a few notes on revision might be in order. I’ll start with this cool clip by Tim Weninger, a graduate student in computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which shows timelapse video of a research paper in 463 distinct phases of composition and revision. Enjoy!   [...] Read more...
December 5, 2012Studies show that contact with the natural world can significantly reduce symptoms of attention deficit disorder, contribute to enhanced self-esteem, and increase the likelihood that individuals will take action to benefit the environment.* Lane’s Child and Family Education Department have taken these studies to heart and have designed a full outdoor experience for the kids in their Center. Natural Playground In 2011, Child and Family Education transformed their traditional playground to one that emphasizes play with natural elements. A rock creek bed, garden, and play campground made of rocks replaced plastic houses. In additional to the natural elements, the playground also includes recycled-content, low maintenance plastic lumber. Native plants attract birds and insects that further increase the children’s interactions with nature. Outdoor Curriculum The curriculum for the children in the Center includes a lot of outside play with natural materials, planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables, hikes along Lane’s nature trails and tours of Lane’s Learning Garden and the Recycling Education Center. The landscaping consists of edible blueberry bushes and native plants that attract birds and insects that further increase the children’s interactions with nature. Indoor Curriculum When indoors, the kids are often playing with natural or reused materials. Teachers save paper that has only been used on one side and shop at re-use stores for classroom supplies. Food The food served to the children includes healthy, organic fruits and vegetables from the campus gardens. Chef Eiko creates menus around the local harvest and preserves foods such as tomatoes and beets for use later in the year. The Child and Family Education Department’s efforts to incorporate sustainability into early childhood education benefits children’s health and cognitive development as well as the health of the planet. Thanks CFE!!! *This information was taken from a presentation by the Oregon Department of Education on Oregon House Bill 2544 “No Oregon Child Left Inside Act.”     [...] Read more...
November 29, 2012I love Art. I want to teach art for its own sake, however, my administration wants every bit of classroom teaching to relate or support an essential common core standard. There are no essential common core standards for art. They must cross curriculum and support a math or literature standard. I’m all for crossing curriculum, don’t get me wrong. By integrating them into another way of knowing, we remember important facts. That being said, I think art is important enough to garnish its own core standards. I planned this Van Gogh lesson based on the book Van Gogh’s Cat. It was a stand alone art lesson that would take about 3 hours in a Holiday three day week. When I shared my idea with my principal, he immediately referred me to an outstanding art lesson that took twice as long by a 2nd grade teacher. It integrated a study of math angles and the art of Kandinsky. I spent a few minutes feeling inadequate. Then I gave much thought to the lesson I had planned. Although the push to connect lessons is laborious, it is good for me as a teacher. It turns out I had a lesson worthy of my principals critique but it took really thinking it through. This is good for any lesson. I was able to present a lesson that would both teach my students an art form, a standard they would remember and please my administration. I had planned to teach a little about Van Gogh as we went long. Thanks to my principal’s prompts, we took a closer look at the man who became famous for painting and being different. I read Van Gogh’s Cat to my class. We talked about how a class of second graders had created this book, both its text and art. We spoke about the subject of the text, Van Gogh, and what life for him was like. He was a man of artistic passion who was never recognized for his art until after his death. He also went insane. One of my students asked if he really cut off his ear. We had a great discussion about an unstable man who only became more prolific in his art as his mind became shaky. Then we looked at some of Van Gogh’s art. I let the students comment on their favorites. Then we settled on “The Starry Night.” I told the students that this would be the painting we would focus on. I asked the students if they thought they could create art as well as second graders. They were sure they could. We looked again at the art in Van Gogh’s Cat. The students creatively cut cats out of Van Gogh’s paintings. They were sure they could do the same. I put a “The Starry Night” on the projector and passed out heavy art paper. We discussed the light tough of a rough sketch and I set them loose. I quietly began to use a dry erase marker on the white board and they were intrigued. I scribbled a rough sketch of Van Gogh’s painting and reiterated the fact that it would all be covered by paint and would never be seen. “Just draw,” I told them. The rough sketches blew me away. Next came painting day. We looked again at the paintings of Van Gogh. I asked what the students saw. After the obvious “houses, sunflowers, a person, they started to notice swirls and designs in the paint. EXACTLY! Many of the paintings they knew were done with a thick textured technique. I had mixed tempera paint with flour to create a similar medium for my students. I also mentioned several times that in order to paint like Van Gogh we needed to be a little bit insane. They had to promise to keep the paint on the paper and cut off no body parts but otherwise they should let go and have a crazy good time. They were game! We played with the paint using plastic spoons, paint brushes and even our fingers. This style of painting was tough for some but I kept reminding them that they were going to cut this up when finished so they should just enjoy the gooey process and persevere. We had such a good time painting. It took us two days to finish this because we had to let certain colors dry before adding others. The starry sky that Van Gogh created was not green. By the time we started cutting out our cats, many students had fallen in love with their masterpieces and could NOT cut them up. So… we ended up with a gallery of cats and full paintings. In the end, what was the lesson? A deep character study of Vincent Van Gogh. My students will never forget certain aspects of the famous artist’s life and techniques. And we did it all through art!   [...] Read more...
November 28, 2012Moodle 2 highlight of the week: Joule Grader! New Features of Moodle 2 The File System Navigation Rubrics Completion Tracking Conditional Release Joule Reports Joule Grader Joule Gradebook View Personalized Learning Designer Advanced Forums Find out more about these features and more, here. Overview Joule Grader is an alternate grading option that allows teachers to view, grade and download a student submitted assignment in a simplified two-pane grading experience. A student can only view his/hers own submission along with the grade of a particular activity. Joule Grader allows both teachers and students to start a discussion about a particular grade or submission. Joule Grader also gives the teacher and student the opportunity to view/grade (teacher only) advanced grading methods (e.g., a Rubric) for an activity in a grader pane. Read more from the Joule Grader Manual. How to Use Joule Grader Click here for a popup window of the directions below. Support Academic Technology Center Building 2 Room 121 atc@lanecc.edu 541.463.3377 [...] Read more...
November 23, 2012“Good Black Don’t Crack”, my grandma always said. By which she meant both we age well, not actually always “looking our age”, as well as a certain apparent resilience in the face of continuous stressors. At 50 I once got carded buying a six pack of holiday beer, and I said,”Wait, you’re carding me, I’m 50.” “ The woman said, “You have a young hairstyle” meaning African locs. I said “See these gray hairs, I earned them fair and square, teenagers, and in the trenches of Lane Community College.” When I think of Lane in analogous song I’m reminded of that verse from Steely Dan’s Aja: “Up on the hill, they think I’m ok, or so they say.” I took my first break from Lane in 20 years for 9 months, a sort of medically demanded heart rest after my academic sabbatical was denied for curious reasons. I teach addiction studies, and ethnic studies, and run a drop-in Recovery Center, “Recovering Sobriety, Recovering Culture”. The principle idea is replacing whatever addictive culture you practice, with that practice of that which makes you strong; hopefully a deeper non-addictive memetic culture drawn from a tradition that works to free you from the slavery of addiction. I proposed a sabbatical in which I would travel to Africa to gather more material for my classes, visit my “roots”, and also explore with other addictions practitioners of color, what their effective modifications to generic practice were. In addition I would go to Hawaii, to the VA and look at their multicultural environment and whether they used certain modalities, or were open to new ones. They rejected my proposal saying they couldn’t find any connection between my sabbatical proposal and my daily work… Oh and I didn’t specify who I was going to see in Hawaii, though I did specify who I was going to see in Indian Country (Eduardo Duran, Healing the Soul Wound ), and among Black people (Angela Davis, Prison Industrial Complex, and Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow). It seems in this job I have, people who have never had anyone complete college in their family, come to us after a decade or more out of may or may not have finished high school; and are hungry to graduate from the school of hard knocks: Incarceration, Addiction, Combat, Family, So my presence at the college, is acknowledgement that there has been a need for certain specialized attention to get people through to a more successful, less stressful part of their lives. Certainly I’ve gotten acclimated, even addicted to a certain stress level, in dealing with a type of student the system wasn’t overtly designed for. It became normal to me, or at least not uncommon. Oh well Soldier on…it War…and as my people say it was so bad it got good to him… Cancer, schmancer, lose 20 pounds swimming in Hawaii, broccoli kale Sodarshan Chakra & Kirtan Kriya, more music, more writing, as therapy, submitted a bunch of columns, and only this latest one would be published. Lost the locs on the first full moon of August, planted them in the garden on the blue moon, Changing my look from lion to conservative drag panther. Returning to work with the notion of staying away from bitter responses to continuing local and national, vexing politics, which set me on the path of anger becomes cancer. Maya Angelou in her “Iconoclasts” pairing with Dave Chappelle (S2 Epi 6). “If you are not angry, you are either a stone, or you are too sick to be angry. You should be angry. Now mind you, there’s a difference, you must not be bitter. Let me show you why. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats up on the host it doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So you use anger yes, you write it, you paint it, you dance it, you march it, you vote it, you do everything about it. You talk it, never stop talking it.” Like the old Elvis Costello song, “I used to be disgusted, now I try to stay amused”. I returned to the reality that though I was missed, it still seems like I’m doing the work of four people essentially alone. It’s not exactly like things are getting worse, why only last week I took someone to detox, from school, with the help of our public safety department. First time I had ridden in the back of a marked police car without cuffs, since I was a kid, and it was to keep the also uncuffed student company. One of my recently retired friends (32 years as the first and so far only African-American to retire from the juvenile “Just Us” department.) Asked “How is it being back?” “Oh, they missed me” I said, “But they’re still killing you” he said. I shrugged, “I’m trying to stay out of college politics, just deal with students (which inevitably gets you into college politics) and stay amused.” I was really amused watching the election, process both locally and nationally. It was my pleasure to assist a Black first time voter in my office, to re-elect the President, and the observe the white wringing of hands at “losing their country” to the minority and women vote. But Republicans aren’t the only one’s clueless about minority and race relations. I’m not in Eugene City Council Ward 2, where there was a runoff election between an incumbent and a newcomer to the political scene. So I didn’t care about the outcome, predictable as it was, so typically Eugene. An 87 year old white woman named Betty Taylor, and Juan Carlos Valle, a 40 something Latino former illegal immigrant success story poster child, now working in government service, getting his political street cred, by being on this committee, or that commission, not rocking the boat too much. Which is fine, it’s a time honored format for political success, lots of white folks, and others do it. Unfortunately, this is Eugene, which “Honors Diversity” by elevating LGBT concerns often over those of communities of color. I mean this is the community where several years ago, local Democrats threw their support not behind re-electing the incumbent African-American County Commissioner Bobby Green, but supported a guy who showed up to a public meeting in a frog suit, Rob Handy. I admit that the concerns of frogs are often left out of the political discourse, and they are an indicator species of environmental degradation, but the environment has been degrading for a long time for a lot of us. This all happened just before we elected Obama the first time. So if I were to only slightly exaggerate, I would say, you replaced a former City Councilor, UO football player, from the South, seasoned in dealing with less than culturally competent people, and systems; in a county government known for, and riddled with White Supremacists, and their not so passive aggressive supporters, with a guy in a frog suit. Who has proven, he is considerably outmatched in the game of local politics. I wish him peace in his garden, may frogs live there in harmony forever. You don’t necessarily succeed in politics in this town, by being confrontational, and Juan Carlos, is not known for being confrontational, though sometimes, with people who are microaggressively racist, you have to call them out and confront them, with data and evidence, of which there is plenty. I observed the obvious unspoken racial subtext in the race, without comment. But by following an email thread, about the “debate” between the candidates. A Taylor supporter asked Valle about abortion, not an issue in the Council’s jurisdiction, but a dog whistle shibboleth presumably aimed at his presumed religion. A shibboleth is defined variously as 1. “a word or phrase frequently used, or a belief strongly held, by members of a group that is usually regarded by outsiders as meaningless, unimportant, or misguided.” Really, abortion? “2. a saying that is widely used or a belief that is widely held, especially one that interferes with somebody’s ability to speak or think about things without preconception 3. a unique pronunciation, word, behavior, or practice used to distinguish one group of people from another and to identify individuals as either members of the group or outsiders.” A Valle supporter, an NAACP official, asked about Taylor’s two negative Council votes against renaming Centennial, Martin Luther King Blvd. A number of her supporters favored the renaming, (Notably Pete Sorenson, who dubbed Betty “The conscience of the Council”) which was both a progressive and parliamentary procedural no-brainer (City Council had always seconded previous unanimous Planning Commission votes). A vote which is a continuing sore point with communities of color, should be legitimately explained, not described as a “low blow”. We can disagree, but you should articulate your position, even if you prioritize the interests of luxury car dealerships, over local civil rights struggle. A position I’m just sayin’, more stereotypically Republican, than Democrat. We won the street and the White House, not her bench, or their “Traditional America”. It’s OK, “We Honor Diversity”. [...] Read more...
November 19, 2012I am trying to incorporate more Inupiaq culture in my classroom. I don’t think I am the best person to teach the culture to my kids so I have been putting it out to the community. One student’s grandfather often substitutes at the elementary school. He speaks fluent Inupiaq and grew up on nearby Saint Lawrence Island. He offered to teach my children string stories. String stories are stories told while creating relevant shapes during the telling. A long string is tied in a loop and manipulated around the fingers, very much like a jacob’s ladder. The shapes often slide along the string creating animated story telling. The grandfather told my students that he learned the stories and string shapes as a very little boy and has never forgotten them. He created a caribou and sang a caribou story song. He also made a rabbit, a house, and more. The kids loved it and many already new how to make a few story shapes. I’m now getting lessons from my students.   [...] Read more...
November 19, 2012I love using a document camera in the classroom. I like to display students’ work, model assignments, show pictures while reading aloud and there is no better way to demonstrate the proper use of math manipulatives. However, both schools I have worked at in Alaska have been without them. Apparently when the classrooms became equipped with “smart” Promethean boards, document cameras were no longer considered important. I was about to write a grant to buy one. Then I thought, I should ask the technology department if they have any old ones lying around. It turns out that they have many old ones, but they couldn’t be used with the Promethean boards more advnced technology. They did have, to my delight, brand new Hover Cameras just sitting on a shelf. Wow! My new document camera was delivered the next day. It just goes t show you that if you don’t ask for what you need, the answer is always no. But by asking I got a big fat YES! It’s super cute! [...] Read more...
November 17, 2012Did you know it’s Native American Heritage Month? Here’s a wide array of educational resources that you might use in the classroom to help teach and honor our nation’s debt to American Indian/Native American peoples. For Teachers – Native American Heritage Month. [...] Read more...
November 17, 2012The best path to self-efficacy—and, indeed, collective efficacy—found to overcome even such barriers as social-economic conditions is for a teacher to take time with colleagues for personal and collaborative reflection about the effects of his or her teaching on student learning, in a continuous spiral of inquiry. via Education Week: Teacher Quality: Investing in What Matters. [...] Read more...
November 15, 2012Achieving the Dream challenged students to submit three-minute videos in response to the question: What is your dream job and how is your community college helping you get there? Three scholarships will be awarded nationally with winners chosen from the videos with the most votes. Public voting is open from November 14 to 28, 2012. Four students from Lane Community College submitted videos. Take a few minutes to watch them. Please note that voting is now closed. Titus FotsoMy journey to the rhythm of life http://dreambig.maker.good.is/projects/titusfotso Kevin LoderDiscovering my passion for mentoring! http://dreambig.maker.good.is/projects/kjlo88 Annie McKennyBig Dreamer http://dreambig.maker.good.is/projects/annie Nicholas SiegristFrom Shadow http://dreambig.maker.good.is/projects/fromshadow Home page for the challenge by Achieving the Dream:  http://dreambig.maker.good.is/To see all 132 video submissions:  http://dreambig.maker.good.is/projects.dreambig [...] Read more...
November 15, 2012Improving Developmental Education Assessment and Placement: Lessons From Community Colleges Across the Country (CCRC Working Paper No. 51) By: Michelle Hodara, Shanna Smith Jaggars & Melinda Mechur Karp — November 2012. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University At open-access two-year public colleges, the goal of the traditional assessment and placement process is to match incoming students to the developmental or college-level courses for which they have adequate preparation; the process presumably increases underprepared students’ chances of short- and long-term success in college while maintaining the academic quality and rigor of college-level courses. However, the traditional process may be limited in its ability to achieve these aims due to poor course placement accuracy and inconsistent standards of college readiness. To understand current approaches that seek to improve the process, we conducted a scan of assessment and placement policies and practices at open-access two-year colleges in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. We describe the variety of approaches that systems and colleges employed to ameliorate poor course placement accuracy and inconsistent standards associated with the traditional process. Taking a broad view of the extent of these approaches, we find that most colleges we studied adopted a measured approach that addressed a single limitation without attending to other limitations that contribute to the same overall problem of poor course placement accuracy or inconsistent standards. Much less common were comprehensive approaches that attended to multiple limitations of the process; these approaches were likely to result from changes to developmental education as a whole. Drawing from the study’s findings, we also discuss how colleges can overcome barriers to r eform in order to implement approaches that hold promise for improved course placement accuracy, more consistent standards of college readiness, and, potentially, greater long-term academic success of community college students. Original article:  CCRC Working Paper No. 51 [...] Read more...
November 14, 2012Honors at LCC: Lane Community College starts an honors programBy Camilla Mortensenpublished in the Eugene WeeklyOctober 3, 2012 – 11:00pm An interview with Nadia Raza, Ce Rosenow, Honors Program Faculty Coordinator; Katie Morrison-Graham, Faculty Coordinator; and Jennifer Hare, Honors Program Coordinator and Advisor, regarding the new Honors Program at Lane Community College. Full article:  http://www.eugeneweekly.com/article/honors-lcc [...] Read more...
November 13, 2012Lane’s Student Success Leadership Team: A Hybrid Organizational Mechanism for Implementing Ambitious Strategic Directions By Sonya Christian Published in the League for Innovation in the Community CollegeSeptember 2012, Volume 25, Number 9 An article about Lane Community College’s Student Success Leadership Team. For full article:  http://www.league.org/blog/post.cfm/lanes-student-success-leadership-team [...] Read more...
November 11, 2012The laundry is almost done and I am putting my shoes on to head to school. Some weekends I dread going in to tackle the overwhelming stack of work waiting for me. Not so today!  Teaching is a job that is never finished. Right? We make more plans than we could ever accomplish. I love my work. We are doing research on states. They didn’t know how to find research materials in the library. Now they do. We are also starting multiplication of two digit by two digit numbers. Looking forward to using lattice math. Any great lesson ideas? Send ’em my way. Any awesome websites my kids should check out? Let me know. But now, I must go grade papers and write lesson plans. [...] Read more...
November 8, 2012My reading class and I read a series of articles describing mock general elections done by children. My group was intrigued. When they read that students in 41 states participated in these elections and published their results they wanted to be part of it. With the election fast approaching, they spent three days working on a petition to sway the principal their way.They told him that they wanted to practice voting so that they will be better voters when it really counts. On day one, we were interrupted and requested in the library. US Senator McKlowsky was stranded in Nome due to hazardous flying conditions. She requested an audience of students to fill her time. The principal knew we were working on a petition of some sort and thought we would be the perfect group to visit the senator. It was perfect. This senator actually won re-election through a write in vote. The kids thought that was pretty cool. On day three the students presented their petition to the principal who quickly signed it into action. The students of Nome Elementary would vote for President of the United States. The votes would be counted and published. On November 6th, we set up a ballot box in the cafeteria. Ballots had check off boxes and the two candidates names. My kids put up “get out the vote” banners and posters. Nome students had all day to cast their secret ballots. Just before the close of the day, the ballots were counted. The students were stumped when the first invalid ballot turned up. The boxes were both marked and it was hard to tell who the vote was for. They quickly learned that just like in a real election, the only fair way to count ballots is to leave out those that don’t follow the voting procedures. We had some funny write-in candidates. The results of our mock election were astounding. 68% of the eligible voters cast a ballot. 74% of those who voted chose Barack Obama, 21% voted for Mitt Romney and 5% were write-in or unreadable. It’s amazing how similar to real voting statistics these were. The kids were thrilled when they learned that the nation’s vote matched their own. Our results were broadcast on the local radio station and many locals were talking about it. The students were proud of themselves. Not only did they make a difference for themselves, but for future students as well. The principal is already talking about how to make it even better next time. [...] Read more...
November 5, 2012Our Oh-So-Wise school district scheduled conferences to follow the mayhem of Halloween.  School was suspended and conferences were scheduled during regular school hours Thursday and Friday. I have never experienced conferences quite like this so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We were expected to make 100% contact with parents and report cards were handed out personally from teacher to parent. As conferences approached, I had received confirmation from all but 5 families. I started making phone calls. I was successful with all but one mom. She said flat out that she did not want to come. Her son has had many behavior outbursts lately with several negative calls from the principal. I told her that my principal required us to meet and that I could schedule a home visit or a phone conference. She reluctantly agreed to a phone call. We scheduled it well after my conference hours so that she could get home from work and I waited and hoped that she would actually pick up. At the scheduled time, I called, she answered and what followed was the best conference of all. I started by telling her, honestly, all the wonderful things I saw in her son, his eagerness to please, his obvious intelligence and abilities, his sweet, kind spirit. I let the mother vent her frustrations about the situation which is new this year and possibly a result of her new boyfriend and changing home life. Not only did she and I find common ground, but we agreed to work together to help her son. She agreed to a weekly text report about her boy. He will have clear expectations and will know that Mom is waiting to hear the results. Success!!!!! I still have a few parents who did not show (4 of 19). One rescheduled for this evening, the rest will hear from me today. There were no Halloween absences, thanks to the wise planning of the school district, and conferences were great. I loved sitting and talking to parents about our common favorite subject, their children. [...] Read more...
October 31, 2012Recently I pulled together some data from our past 3 terms on how instructors are using Moodle in their courses.  The graph below shows this data.  There are some very popular activities..and some that are not.  Please comment and tell us how you use some of these activities in your courses. [...] Read more...
October 23, 2012As you move through the term you may begin thinking about next term and trying to incorporate some of the new features of Moodle 2.  One area we would like to highlight from our list of new features is Conditional Release! New Features of Moodle 2 The File System Navigation Rubrics Completion Tracking Conditional Release Joule Reports Joule Grader Joule Gradebook Personalized Learning Designer Advanced Forums Find out more about these features and more, here. Overview An instructor can create one or more conditions for the availability of course materials. Note that ALL conditional restrictions have to be met in order for the activity to be made available. Course materials that can be conditionally released: Course activities and resources Course topics/folders/weeks (unique to joule) Conditions include: Start and end dates Score ranges for other course activities Completion of other course activities Release codes (unique to joule) ~ to be used in addition to the Personalize Learning Designer  You can view the entire Conditional Release Manual here. How to Use Conditional Release 1.  Add or Update an activity. 2.  Before you reach the “save” button you will see the area titled “Restrict Access” ( See image) 3.  There are many options to choose from on how the conditional release should behave: Allow access from and until:  Access from/to dates determine when students can access this course item on the course page. Release Code: This course item will not be available to students until the student acquires the release code entered here.  Please note: the release code is enabled via the Personalized Learning Designer ONLY. Grade Condition:   This setting determines any grade conditions which must be met in order to access this course item.  Multiple grade conditions may be set if desired. If so, this course item will only allow access when ALL grade conditions are met. Completion Condition:  This setting determines any activity completion conditions which must be met in order to access this course item. Note that completion tracking must first be set before an activity completion condition can be set.  Multiple activity completion conditions may be set if desired. If so, access to this course item will only be permitted when ALL activity completion conditions are met. Before this can be accessed:  You may choose how the activity appears before it can be accessed by students. Make sure to save your activity and you are set! Support Academic Technology Center Building 2 Room 121 atc@lanecc.edu 541.463.3377 [...] Read more...
October 16, 2012Howdy!  I am including  my Blogger introduction as a means of getting acquainted with all you nice folks here on ATUDE. I had intended to give you just myVoki but a word to the wise: I created it before I established a Voki account, consequently it is not archived and I haven’t found a way to find its code. Otherwise, I would have entered it here in lieu of a link to Blogger. So much to learn, so little time! (Err..sorry for multiple postings today. I’m relearning.) [...] Read more...
October 11, 2012We were informed yesterday (Tuesday) that we would have a school wide show of unity against bullying by joining a nation wide anti bullying campaign. Sounded great but with only one day to prepare I was worried it wouldn’t get the attention it deserved. Bullying is an important topic to me. Our class had a talk about the subtle ways people bully just last week. I had to make it memorable. I have a great mentor text which I bought for this topic but was unable to use last year. I pulled it off the shelf, Googled a few anti-bullying sites and put together the following lesson. The book is A Bad Case of Stripes,by David Shannon Our focus was text to self connections (a real live state standard) and the students enjoyed the story. We talked our way through it. They were making inferences left and right. They were also getting the analogy between the girl who turned into what ever others wanted her to (striped, feathers, etc.) and the real world concerns of trying to fit in. We discussed the many forms of bullying, from name calling and note passing to cyber bullying and intimidation. We looked at the literature my principal had given us as well as a quick slide show I found on line. Then all the students signed a pledge to stop bullying in all of its forms. The nation wide campaign recommended that everyone where the color orange. So we cut orange construction paper and made ribbons, crowns, head bands, bracelets, what ever we could think of and wore them for the whole day. Finally as a reflective piece, I asked the students to trace and cut out a model of their hand in different colors of construction paper. On the hand, I asked them to pick one thing about them selves that is unique and they worry about being teased for. Not all were willing to be so brave, so I differentiated by offering a choice. If they would rather, they could create an anti-bullying slogan instead. The results were astounding.     [...] Read more...
October 10, 2012As the school year progresses, I would like to move further down our list and highlight additional new features of Moodle 2 that may be useful: Completion Tracking!  Learn how teachers and students use this feature by checking out the resources below!  Should you have any questions or would like to request a topic for future features, feel free to email atc@lanecc.edu  New Features in Moodle 2 The File System Navigation Rubrics Completion Tracking Conditional Release Joule Reports Joule Grader Joule Gradebook Personalized Learning Designer Advanced Forums Find out more about these features and more, here. Overview Course Completion tracking is designed to allow a course to be marked as completed in the system based on one or more criteria. Completion tracking can be based on any of the following: The completion of other courses The student setting a course as complete The teacher setting a course as complete for a student The student completing one or many activities in a course A specific date A certain number of days after the student was enrolled in the course The student achieving a final grade in the course above a certain percentage The student being unenrolled from the course How to use Completion Tracking. 1.  Enter your course and under the Settings Block > Course Administration > Edit Settings 2.  Find “Student Progress” field and select to “Enable, control via completion and activity settings”. You may also choose to enable “completion tracking begins on enrollment” ~ this will allow completion tracking to start when a student enrolls. 3.  Scroll down and click on “Save Changes” and return to the course.   4.  Choose a Resource or Activity to add to your course OR if your course is already built you can update an existing Resource or Activity 5.  Find the “Activity Completion” field within the Resource or Activity settings that you are updating. Completion Tracking: if enabled, activity completion is tracked, either manually or automatically, based on certain conditions. Multiple conditions may be set if desired. If so, the activity will only be considered complete when ALL conditions are met.A tick next to the activity name on the course page indicates when the activity is complete. Require View:  This will mark the Resource or Activity as complete once the student views it. Require Grade: If enabled, the activity is considered complete when a student receives a grade. Pass and fail icons may be displayed if a pass grade for the activity has been set. Expect Completed On: This setting specifies the date when the activity is expected to be completed. The date is not shown to students and is only displayed in the activity completion report. 6.  Scroll down and save settings. Once your course completion is enabled you can begin using the Activity Completion report and Course Completion Status block. [...] Read more...
October 2, 2012Here’s my secret. I have about 75 teaching videos in youtube. Up until two nights ago, 74 of them were unlisted. I have been avoiding publicly posting my screen-casts and videos. Jen tried to get my mind around sharing my work, she really did. I understand the Creative Commons and the OER movement, and I support them both intellectually. But uploading materials to Merlot? It felt like pulling teeth. For me, making teacher materials is about tinkering – seeing whether I can help students learn better. I make them and try them out in one term and change them the next. Because I’m learning Media Arts by trial and error, by the time I finish a media project the flaws glare at me. Through making the project I gain skill and find better tools. When it’s done I look back and see what’s wrong with it. Sharing these experiments with the public, then, was about as attractive as airing my dirty socks. Then, as always happens, I made a fortuitous blunder. I posted my first screen-cast to the public without even knowing it. The next term I noticed a curious notation: 471 views??!?  I had only given the link to a handful of students who needed a supplement to review in class. How did anyone view this? It’s public! Unlist this old piece of junk, pronto. Then I found this: and I bumped my way to another youtube screen that said people in Alaska, California and North Carolina were viewing this cast. When this sunk in I realized that it made feel good, proud even. What had been keeping me? This worry: that these casts would be used as evidence of my teaching skill (and any lack thereof). That I would be judged, or misjudged, by others. I decided to let it go. A few nights ago, on the way to bed, I pulled up a series of casts about finding the main idea in a reading. I cleaned up the titles and added a few tags. I made them: public. The next morning this was in my gmailbox: And so was this: [...] Read more...
October 1, 2012Greetings! As the school year begins, I’d like to highlight an important feature in Moodle 2 that will be useful: Rubrics!  Learn how teachers and students use this feature by checking out the resources below!  Should you have any questions or would like to request a topic for future features, feel free to email atc@lanecc.edu New Features in Moodle 2 The File System Navigation Rubrics Conditional Release and Completion Tracking Joule Reports Joule Grader Joule Gradebook Personalized Learning Designer Advanced Forums Find out more about these features and more, here. Rubric Overview: “Rubrics is a scoring system that allows a teacher to quickly assess an assignment using a combination of several criteria. Rubrics allow the teacher to create an infinite number of criteria and separate those criteria into guidelines. The guidelines can then be scored with a number of points or with a specific scale. Furthermore, the teacher can assign other users, such as teaching assistants or graders, to score the rubric for an assignment.” ~ You can download the Teacher Manual with additional details on Rubrics here. How to Create a Rubric: 1.  Add or Edit an Assignment on your course. 2.  Select “Grading Method: Rubric” 3.  When the rest of your assignment settings are complete – click “Save and Display” 4.  You can create a New Rubric or Select on that you have already created and use as a template. 5.  I selected to “create a new rubric” – below you can see how I can add new levels and criterion.  When you add additional levels/criterion all that is needed it for you to fill in the blanks and point values. 6.  Rubric Options – select which options you would like to enabled on your Rubric.  Then select “Save rubric and make it ready”…or if you are still working on the rubric you may select “Save as a Draft” and revisit it later. 7.  Finally when grading using the rubric its as simple as clicking on the appropriate criterion/level and leaving feedback. Additional Resources See the MoodleDocs page for Rubrics [...] Read more...
September 27, 2012Here’s some of the latest on access in higher ed from the ever-incisive educational theorist Mike Rose (h/t to Susan 🙂 )– Expanding higher ed to adults is essential for them and society (essay) | Inside Higher Ed. [...] Read more...
September 24, 2012Several Lane instructors appeared incognito to participate in the panel So You’re Thinking About Teaching Online. The disguises were donned in an effort to be able to speak freely about the pros and cons of online teaching and learning. It turned out there were many more pros than cons and the mustaches fell off after the first few minutes anyway! A follow-up online self-paced tutorial style course will open this term. You can find it on Moodle under Train> Academic Technology for Instructors> Teaching Online: Getting Started. Opens October 1st. [...] Read more...
September 24, 2012A new policy brief from the NCTE outlines the importance of reading instruction at every level of students’ education. The following passage, on approaches to reading that aid in the comprehension of challenging texts, may be of partticular interest to college faculty: research shows that reading comprehension depends on a more complex approach . Specifically, reading comprehension results from the integration of two models, text-based and situation-based. The text-based model focuses on the way words are organized into sentences, paragraphs, and whole texts. The situation model refers to the meaning that results from integration of the text-based approach with the reader’s prior knowledge and goals. Close reading is aligned with the text-based approach, and it encourages students to see meaning as one right answer to be extracted from the text. Close reading is often conflated with providing textual evidence for making a claim about a text, but any approach to reading can insist on warrants for interpretations of texts. By itself, then, close reading cannot ensure that students will develop deep understandings of what they read. In addition, the brief includes a nice list of “Implications for Instructional Policy” that offers practical suggestions and proven strategies that “support students’ learning to read complex texts across grade levels and disciplines” (16). A free PDF of the entire policy brief can be downloaded at: www.NCTE.org [...] Read more...
September 24, 2012Every Fall is busy for teachers. I know this, but I had the disadvantage of being absent for the first two weeks (7 days) of school. My sister’s death to cancer was expected but devastating. Upon my return, my students taught me the schedule, procedures and routines of the classroom. My new principal arranged for my substitute to work with me on my first day. She started the day off as she had been and we slowly transitioned until by the afternoon, she was out of the classroom and I was running the show. It was the smoothest transition I could have asked for. On Thursday night of my first week we had a class potluck. In my absence I had missed the school’s open house so my principal and superintendent both came to support me and introduce me to the community. I had 14 of 20 families attend. This is a much higher percentage than the average open house attendance. I invited parents, siblings and extended family members, anyone who has an influence on my students’ lives. Among this culture, children are often fostered or adopted by aunties or grandmothers. I learned so much in one night and the families were so appreciative of my time. The food was great as well! By the end of that first week, It felt like two or three weeks had gone by. I am slowly catching up and catching on to the school rhythm. I have the most amazing students ever! They are so capable and so kind. They love to read (all of them!) and there are several great writers. I have a few students who work independently on math and they are soaring. On my first day, the students told me their least favorite subject was Social Studies because the book was so boring. By the end of the week, several said it was their favorite part of the day! I went canoeing on Sunday and took an arctic plunge yesterday. The weather is beautiful right now so we are taking advantage of it. We have a walking field trip scheduled for Friday. We will visit the Job Corp and the Bering Land-bridge park offices. I will post pictures soon. [...] Read more...
September 24, 2012In early August, I  spent 5 days at an Alaskan fish camp and got Graduate credit for it!!! The class is required for all Alaska certified teachers and I had planned to take it online. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my new school district partially funded a hands-on version of the class right outside of Nome.The guru of Alaska native studies, Ray Barnhardt, joined us for 5 days of seigning for fish, fileting with traditional ulu knives, smoking, canning and eating Silver Salmon. We studied at night and participated in “round table” discussions every morning. Not only did I get to experience a truly native lifestyle, but I learned and discussed how to use those experiences with my students. I have always included the seasons and the calendar in my teaching (as do many ) but I was at a loss as to how to do that here in Alaska. I definitely could not use common calendar and seasonal  ideas. There are no flowers in April and Winter starts in October. At camp we received resources to support the circle of life here in Arctic Alaska. Instead of seasons, it focused on events. August and September are salmon and berry season, October and November are all about the freeze-up, whaling, and caribou hunting, December and January are highlighted with Eskimo Olympics, making clothing and art.  February and March are marked with ice fishing, cross-country skiing and the Iditarod with the Northern lights as a side-note. May  is noted for the ice break up and whaling. June and July are for hiking, playing and some fishing. Here in Nome where the students have more diverse backgrounds than I encountered in Selawik, I wondered how I could be culturally appropriate while meeting the needs of Inupiat, Yuppit, Athabaskan, and non-native students alike. The consensus of our group was that this is Inupiat land and even though all people should be represented and appreciated in my classroom, it is the Inupiat culture I should incorporate most. With that in mind I am incorporating even more Inupiaq in my curricula and classroom vocabulary. I plan to label as many common things in my classroom as possible in Inupiaq. I have great resources that I didn’t have before. And I still have my friends in Selawik who are fluent. Now to put this all into action. [...] Read more...
September 23, 2012Your students might find this nifty little video (less than 3 minutes!) on the science of procrastination both fun and helpful. Enjoy! via The Science of Procrastination – And How To Manage It – YouTube. [...] Read more...
September 23, 2012Here’s a YouTube version of the presentation I gave at inservice the other day. It’s based on the plenary talk delivered by Paul Kei Matsuda at the Council of Writing Program Administrators 2012 conference this summer in Albuquerque, NM as well as a wonderful chapter on grammar and correctness in John Bean’s Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom.  The first few slides attempt to develop a little bit of context for the conversation, and the final half of the slide show gives specific, practical suggestions for making feedback more effective in the teaching of grammar. Of course, during the presentation I was able to discuss each of the points in more depth and detail, but I’d be happy to provide additional commentary for anyone who might be interested. And one final note: the slide show runs fast, but I figured it would be easier to pause and read then play again rather than having to fast-forward, stop, rewind, etc. Enjoy! Here’s a link to a sample grammar log, which is referred to in the presentation, as well:  http://goo.gl/ZQFph [...] Read more...
September 21, 2012Welcome back, everyone! Thought you’d enjoy this little gem from XKCD: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. [...] Read more...
September 13, 2012Top 10 New Features in Moodle 2 There are many new and updated features to Moodle 2!  Below we highlight just a “few” of them – as there are nearly 50 updates for Moodle 2 users to take advantage of in the new system! Conditional Release Activities and Completion Tracking Create one or more conditions for the availability of course materials and progressive course rollout Dates, Grades, and Completion of activity Allows a teacher to configure activities to be marked for completion, either manually by the student or automatically based on a students meeting one or more conditions. File System, The File Picker, and “My Private Files” Easy to add files Import or Link from external repositories (Google docs, Dropbox, Flickr, etc..) Metadata ~ Author, Date, and License options Joule Reports Allows students and instructors to view data about activity in a course or group of courses that is relevant to them. Course Reports, Correlation Reports, Exception Reports, LearnerView Reports, Learner Reports, and Comparison Reports. Rubrics Allows teachers to quickly assess an assignment using a combination of several criteria. Ability to create an infinite number of criteria and separate those criteria into guidelines. Students can see what criteria they will be graded on prior to starting an assignment. Personalized Learning Designer Instructors now have the ability to create and modify one or more “rules” within a course.  Rules disignate triggering events in the coures, upon which joule automatically performs a specific action. Instructors can create multiple rules to work as an agent on their behalf.  For example, a rule can watch for “at risk” grades, sending messages to those students.  Or a rule can encourage students for improvement by watching for the completion of activities. Numerous possibilities exist as instructors combine different events, conditions, and actions within a course into rules. Joule Gradebook and Joule Grader Simplified view displays categories and course totals for each student. Perform actions like send messages to students directly from the Gradebook who have a grade range on an activity. Alternative grading option that allows teachers to view, grade, and download a student submitted assignment in a simplified two-pane grading experience. Advanced Forums Enhanced Moodle Forum by providing teachers and students with quick, simple views into the forums and their discussions. Allows users to sort and search discussions easily and in multiple layouts. Saves teachers time by finding the posts that are most relevant to the class. Drag and drop file upload Allows teachers to easily add files from their computers to sections in a course. Simply drag a file from your computer and drop it into your course. Folder View course format Displays activities and resources within a folder that is expandable or collapsible. Displays all folders on a page or a single folder at a time with previous and next topic navigations – or a jump-to menu. Allows students and instructors easy navigation throughout the course. Browser Support Updated browsers are now supported (Firefox 3+, Safari 3+, Chrome 4+, Opera 9+, IE7+) [...] Read more...
September 11, 2012From TED.com: Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform. Kirby Ferguson explores creativity in a world where “everything is a remix.” http://vimeo.com/47322970 [...] Read more...
September 10, 2012When I started with Moodle (7 years ago) I did not teach online courses.  What got me started with Moodle was when I realized it made my life as a teacher much easier! Here are a few ideas: No more needing to make copies of class handouts – just post them online for students to download and print. How to post a file in Moodle Use Moodles Gradebook– students will always be updated on current course status. You do not need to use activities in Moodle to use its gradebook.  Click here to find out how to use “offline activity” assignments. Post class documents (i.e. Syllabus) for continuous reference throughout the year. Use the Latest News Forum to send out course notifications This creates a record on the course for you and students to refer back to (time stamped). Also can force subscription to send out posts to student emails. Used my course as a guide and schedule for future courses – built it once and done!  Just need to update dates and adjust lessons as needed. Co-create with other instructors. Share course content with other instructors…and borrow theirs! Multiple teachers to create a course to share. Have you used Moodle with your traditional students?  Comment below and give us more ideas on how to supplement your courses with Moodle. [...] Read more...
September 5, 2012Greetings!  As the new term begins we would like to highlight some of the key updates to Moodle 2 that you will find most useful. New Features in Moodle 2 The File System Moodle Navigation The Gradebook Updated Modules NEW items This post we will be focusing on the File System in Moodle 2.  When adding a resource to your course in Moodle 2 you are greeted with an amazing tool called the “File Picker”.  The File Picker gives you direct access to the following: Uploading Files – to upload a new file. Recent Files – your 50 most recently uploaded files. Private Files – predetermined shortcuts to your most used files. Server Files – access to files linked within courses inside active categories. External Repositories – direct access to Google Docs, Dropbox, Flickr, etc..to copy these files to your course. The most challenging part to the new file system in Moodle 2 is there are no longer a course files area.  Files now follow the user.  You have direct access to files via the file picker – however it may be a little tricky to see at first.  Your most recent files will give you direct access to the last 50 files you had uploaded to any of your courses anywhere in Moodle.  However, a better technique would be to use your My Private Files area. Your My Private Files area can be managed and organized however it makes most sense to you to find and link your courses to your most used files.  The video below explains how the My Private Files area can work for you. As always, if you feel you need additional training on this topic please check our training schedule and/or email the ATC. [...] Read more...
September 4, 2012    Watch this video to find out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdOuSn8pdxU Also visit the ATC training schedule to find workshops to help you with this new feature and many more! [...] Read more...
August 22, 2012Well, one thing I thought would never happen has come to pass.  Blackboard has released an iOS companion app  for their Collaborate (formerly Elluminate) product. Why the skepticism?  For starters, Collaborate is based on Java and to run Collaborate, you had to have a Java interpreter installed on your computer.  This is great for compatibility as Java can run on Mac, Windows and Linux (and other Unix) computers.   Apple has been very explicit about about forbidding interpreted code on iOS in the past as evidenced by the lack of Flash on iOS.  What has changed is that now, Apple has lifted those restrictions.  This may have paved the way for Blackboard Collaborate Mobile. Yours truly has tested it out and here is what I have found: The user experience on the mobile app is just as good as the computer based version and perhaps better on the iPad version due to the simplicity of the interface It is easy to use.  If you know the Collaborate app, you will have little difficulty using the mobile version.  Simply click on a link to a session and the app will automatically launch.. The mobile app is geared towards participants and is not suitable for moderators or presenters. Webcams are not available for participants to use on the mobile version.  I hope they are able to add this in with future versions. Screen sharing is also not supported on the mobile app. Perhaps the biggest deal is that the mobile app does not support playback of recordings at this time.  Only live events. If your students have iPads or iPhones available, I do recommend that they use them for connection to sessions.  It is easier to access a session than on the computer in my opinion and can make accessing online sessions through Collaborate a richer experience. Click here to download the iOS Collaborate Mobile App (Free!) [...] Read more...
August 22, 2012Well, one thing I thought would never happen has come to pass.  Blackboard has released an iOS companion app  for their Collaborate (formerly Elluminate) product. Why the skepticism?  For starters, Collaborate is based on Java and to run Collaborate, you had to have a Java interpreter installed on your computer.  This is great for compatibility as Java can run on Mac, Windows and Linux (and other Unix) computers.   Apple has been very explicit about about forbidding interpreted code on iOS in the past as evidenced by the lack of Flash on iOS.  What has changed is that now, Apple has lifted those restrictions.  This may have paved the way for Blackboard Collaborate Mobile. Yours truly has tested it out and here is what I have found: The user experience on the mobile app is just as good as the computer based version and perhaps better on the iPad version due to the simplicity of the interface It is easy to use.  If you know the Collaborate app, you will have little difficulty using the mobile version.  Simply click on a link to a session and the app will automatically launch.. The mobile app is geared towards participants and is not suitable for moderators or presenters. Webcams are not available for participants to use on the mobile version.  I hope they are able to add this in with future versions. Screen sharing is also not supported on the mobile app. Perhaps the biggest deal is that the mobile app does not support playback of recordings at this time.  Only live events. If your students have iPads or iPhones available, I do recommend that they use them for connection to sessions.  It is easier to access a session than on the computer in my opinion and can make accessing online sessions through Collaborate a richer experience. Click here to download the iOS Collaborate Mobile App (Free!) [...] Read more...
August 22, 2012If you attended a workshop for audio tools or needed a free image editor or vector editor, I was always quick to recommend Aviary’s advanced suite of tools.  Though they were built with Flash (no mobile use), they were powerful, easy to use tools that did not require a download, just an account. Lately Aviary has moved into the mobile app business and has decided to shutter it’s online applications.  As of September 15th, all of the online suite will be unavailable. If you had any work stored online with them, I recommend logging in and downloading it in order to continue to access your creations. Stay tuned for future recommendations to replace the suite of tools that Aviary had made available. Aviary.com’s full announcement here. [...] Read more...
August 18, 2012This is a longer piece than that which was submitted to the Eugene Weekly, around the Sikh Temple shooting. Beyond the limits that 500 words imposes on what you can say…one can say more Hiking With The Preacher The Preacher and I were hiking in Fall Creek, east of Springtucky, and Eugene-Mayberry.  It was a fortnight after the Sikh Temple shootings in Wisconsin, an event itself a fortnight after the shootings in Aurora Colorado at the opening of a Batman movie. I mentioned feeling an itching in the back of my head, “kind of like a deer feels in the crosshairs”. The Preacher laughed and asked, “Was this the forest Derrick Bell mentioned in one of his Geneva Crenshaw stories?”  Referring to the former Dean of the University of Oregon Law school, who left it in protest after its faculty failed to hire an extremely qualified Japanese-American female law scholar, declaring a failed search when two white men declined the job. “You mean the one where Geneva rescues him from some supremacists shooting at him?” I clarified. “Yeah, exactly” “Why do you feel that a nice walk in the woods, might be marred by being killed by white supremacists?” he asked. “Well, it’s not just because they actually have pointed guns at me while in the woods, swimming with my family on a hot summers day. It’s kind of related to the childhood question of why do they hate us, these white people?” “It’s not like you get black D.C. sniper types ‘snapping’, on a regular basis”. “What’s up with these white guys, who acquire weapons, and start shooting people in places they feel safe: The jogging path (Chris Braithwaite), school (Columbine, Thurston), a theater (Aurora), your place of worship (16th Street Baptist, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin). “Sure technically 16th Street was a bombing. But Klansmen didn’t feel comfortable walking into a Black church service and opening fire on the congregation back in the day.” “I mean we’re out in the boonies, but this is often near where these people live and do target practice, what better place?”. “It’s weird to feel safer on the L.A. freeway, than in the middle of nowhere, or even in my office.” “At least on I-10, people shoot at you because you cut them off, not because of your driving while black, or worshiping while Sikh”. “You don’t think its and irrational fear, this fear of assassination in the woods by random strangers?” The Preacher asked me. “I’ve had death threats. I can’t deny that. The fact is there are people that don’t like me, and what I do, to the point of bodily harm, is a fact. So I don’t live in fear, but I do watch my breath, my step, and the sightlines for wherever I am. My degrees are in Psychology. Western Psychology as a set of constructs was born on the irrational foundation of White Racial Supremacy. It has no answer to why racists, lynch us, bomb churches, or shoot up places of sanctuary. Nor do they have a cure. White authorities argue about whether the Sikh Temple shooting was a hate crime. As if the most dangerous domestic terrorists in terms of body counts, have not been racists committing hate crimes. Actually, until White Supremacists started targeting white people and institutions, they weren’t even considered terrorists. So from the point of view of Western Psychology, these people who were once considered normal upstanding citizens as Klansmen, are now considered aberrant, mentally ill, snapped, as if racism wasn’t a normal part of the fabric that nurtured them.” “Actually” the Preacher opined “Klansmen, Skinheads, etc. are now fig-leafed as individually aberrant, mentally ill, snapped, as if racism wasn’t a normal part of the social fabric that nurtured them.”  “In their fear, they imagine they are God because they take life. Courage nurtures life.”  “They are imagining they are doing God’s will, by targeting those they fear, without having the courage to face that part of themselves, the Other, represents.” “Loving your enemy means, having the courage to look past the ignorant fear in your heart, to the place you are connected to your “enemy”. “Ahh, so you know, see, and “love” them as a part of yourself, even the unhealthy fearful parts of yourself.” “The love referred to in the Aramaic originalahebw, refers to a transpersonal force that brings opposites together in secret to create new life.” “I have felt the temptation to arm myself, after the death threats. But I haven’t, because a gun, instills a false sense of security. Better to do as the Dalai Lama, says and simply don’t walk down that proverbial symbolic dark alley.”   [...] Read more...
August 18, 2012These pieces were originally submitted to the Eugene Weekly as part of my regular submission process, but were never published, hence the original 500 word length, that I have taken the liberty of expanding upon. The original “peg” was the 20th Anniversary of the L.A. Rebellion, which the media was calling the Rodney King Riots. The only problem with that designation, is that unlike traditional race riots, where one majority ethnicity, invades the segregated neighborhood of another, The LA Rebellion of 1992 was multiracial and multifaceted. African-Americans accounted for only 1/3rd of the arrests. So clearly when the poverty and hopelessness reaches beyond African-Americans, into Whites, Latino’s, Natives, and Asians, we have a situation beyond the usual scope of media attention. Making Peace With The Preacher Pt. 1   The Preacher and I were having lunch out on the terrace at Simply Wholesome in L.A. It was a sunny day in May, some weeks after the 20 year anniversary of the L.A. Rebellion. “Where were you, then?” he asked. “I was in D.C. working freelance for the Feds, CSAP.” “I was part of a team creating an African-American culturally specific community organizing for substance abuse prevention training.” “We had just finished a conversation about organizing and strategic planning happening on multiple levels, on both sides of community health.  We were looking at knowing the history, particularly the hidden history of a community: what do Elders, as well as gang members, know?”  The elders might remember when the only gangs were organized for self-defense of the community. They might recall a time when there weren’t so many liquor stores. The question might be asked where did all this start? “Someone came in from a break and said, ‘L.A. is burning!’ “We watched events unfold on CNN, and realized, someone planned this, just like we were planning healing.” “Hence the term Rebellion, rather than riot. Rebellions are planned, riots are not.” The Preacher nodded over his fish sandwich. “The ‘trial’ verdict was the predictably obvious match. You and I grew up in an era, where a black man stood a 50/50 chance of surviving a traffic stop with LAPD. Those self defense “gangs” like the Slausons and the Businessmen, were organized to protect people against the Spookhunters, a white supremacist gang who preyed upon Black people “encroaching” upon public parks and spaces, including public schools. The police actively aided the Spookhunters, and also actively recruited from the Klan in the South, as well as ex-military. Thus their racial attacks under color of a badge, sanctioned extra-judicial violence of the civilian Spookhunters. You couldn’t call the cops on the Spookhunters, and you certainly couldn’t call the cops on the cops. What happened to Rodney King was historically typical for LAPD. A white guy’s video provided undeniable evidence of our longtime experience. Once their trial moved to Simi Valley, a mostly white jury would see no crime being done in Rodney’s beating. They wouldn’t see the Latasha Harlings, the Leonard Deadwylers, the Eula Mae Loves,  earlier versions of Trayvon, where there was injustice in their deaths. These conditions are like invisible gas vapors needing a spark. “You can smell the anger building.” “True Dat” I said sipping my Guava Explosion. “But two thirds of the arrestees weren’t black, so the issues were beyond simply race, why call it a race riot.” “The race issues are like lighting a can of gas, sitting on top of a powderkeg, itself resting on nitroglycerin.” “As another famous preacher said, Poverty is the worst kind of violence”. The Preacher rejoindered, “Poverty, as Gandhiji would have pointed out, is not being simply broke, but having your options constrained against your will. To counter the miseducation you have to be home schooled in liberation motherwit mentality”  “People clearly laid advance plans. What about that ‘Spook Who Sat By The Door’ liquor store reduction op you were telling me about?” Hmm…Liberation Motherwit Mentality. I mused. Seeing connections that exist, without being shown them by the Establishment Authorities. “The basic idea…” I said “Comes from the community’s feeling that ‘There are too many damn liquor stores’.” “So on the one hand, you have to wonder, what is the least harmful amount of liquor stores for community health?” “What are the effects of the liquor stores that do exist?” “What kind of businesses would be healthier than liquor stores?” “After Vietnam, returning Black Vet’s wishing to start businesses, were channeled by the government into liquor stores, even if you wanted to start something else, you only got loans for liquor stores.” “That started part of it.” “Later, as the vets, lost their businesses, others moved into the liquor store businesses, like Koreans, and even Muslim immigrants. Even though in the case of Muslims, alcohol is against their spiritual beliefs, liquor stores are recession proof.” “Liquor stores also tend to proliferate with billboards in the neighborhood, there is a symbiotic relationship like herpes assists AIDS.” “The FBI noted once, half of all crime is alcohol related. Therefore lowering the number of liquor stores, lowers some crimes. The term is called Alcohol Outlet Density. The idea is basically that it is more healthy to limit the amount of liquor stores per capita. The city broke its own laws regarding Alcohol Outlet Density. South Central at the time of the Rebellion had three times (750) the legal limit (250) of liquor stores. Many targeted liquor stores were also magnets for crack paraphernalia and prostitution. The predictable verdict reaction provided cover to torch liquor stores. Someone fielded sniper teams to keep the responding fire department at bay, some fire fighters were non-fatally wounded, which presumes a skill set. Took out half the liquor stores. An effective if illegal prevention strategy. So you think about who has the skill set, and the motivation. Not the gangs. They typically don’t have sniper skill sets. The Panthers don’t exist.” “So its not really a matter of who could pull off the operation, it was done”. “When Addiction is Slavery, Slaves Will Rebel.” Preacher saith “Burning Liquor Stores doth not Create Recovery.”   Making Peace With The Preacher Pt.2 “Burning Liquor Stores doth not Create Recovery.” I heard the words of the Preacher, and likened them to what Fanon said about fervor being the weapon of choice of the impotent. When the Chinese dumped tons of British Opium into the sea, it sparked a war. Of course the Chinese had every right to think of the illegal British importation of crude pharmaceuticals, as a chemical warfare first strike. Certainly controlling the decades long export of refined illegal pharmaceuticals has often been the pursuit of military and intelligence services all over the globe. The cartels, or the multinationals, also have the capacity to make such war. Destroying a few liquor stores would only ensure that insurance companies, coupled with aggressive marketing on the part of the tobaccohol companies would bring the liquor stores back with a vengeance. I closed my eyes.  Inhaled. Held, Suspended, and relaxed my breath. Feeling the heat, from the day, and the past. Presently I opened my eyes to a passing silver undercover car, and the trailing LAPD marked unit. Heat in the present. Well it wasn’t illegal to think these thoughts yet. What if, for every liquor store burnt in the L.A. Rebellion, there bloomed 7 grassroots treatment centers, with 12 garden-gyms, each supporting 5 reading rooms in guerrilla libraries. For every Aquarius Book store burned in the ‘hood, may it be restored and replicated tenfold. I asked the Preacher, “Did you ever know or hear of, Alfred Ligon?” “Aquarius Bookstore, the oldest continuously operating black bookstore in the country? “Alfred and Bernice, the Ligons, ran that since 1941, until it got burnt down in the Rebellion. Any way you slice it, that was unfortunate at least, if not stupidly criminal.” “A lot of people were influenced for good at an early age, by them.” “At least it came back somewhat. But there should be more readers than rappers, then more doers than readers or rappers. In South Central, there are sure enough preachers, and choirs to preach to. If only everyone knew they were royalty and acted the same, humbly serving, the land and the people, all their relations, Mexica Tahui. (All My Relations – Aztec)” I swirled my drink in a sunwise (clockwise) motion, an affirmative action toast; “Ashe Ashe Mbele. Kplaa! (It is So, It is So, Forward-Yoruba. Success! – Klingon) to that Txai. (The other half of me).” “Imagine if three characters in Samuel L. Jackson’s career were the same evolving person?” The Preacher asked. “If Gator Purify (Jungle Fever) could evolve through Carl Lee Hailey (A Time To Kill), into Mace Windu (Star Wars Episodes I – III). “Hey!” I said, getting into the spirit. “I could even see an evolutionary detour between Carl Lee Hailey and Nick Fury (The Avengers). Talk about your Super Spook Who Sat In the CEO’s Chair. Nick Fury is gangsta.” “Yes, but the practicality of what it takes to even build the onramp to the road to the Promised Land, and every step of the journey, let alone the destination, and beyond it, is daunting .” The Preacher intoned. “Crafting pyramids with the stones the Empire builders rejected. They scattered, now we must gather, move, and position them.” Start with what you can do. Liquor stores into food coops,  hardware stores, gardens, gyms, libraries, and treatment centers. Even if only in your own home, or neighborhood. Inhale. Focus on the Single Eye. Hold that vision. Exhale into the World. Relax. Let your vision guide your hands. Repeat as Necessary. [...] Read more...
July 11, 2012Welcome to WordPress.com! This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it. Happy blogging! [...] Read more...
June 18, 2012Welcome to WordPress.com! This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it. Happy blogging! [...] Read more...
May 15, 2012My sweet “adopted daughter”, Elvina, captured springtime around the village as she took my dog for a late night stroll. These pictures were taken between 11 PM and 12 AM. [...] Read more...
May 13, 2012For students coin primary research, here are some tips for conducting an observation from  our friends over at Boise State University: http://youtu.be/IFY_RfFPv_I Awesome!     [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012This was published in the May 6th Register Guard as a media advocacy piece. I decided to break a silence. Media Advocacy is the strategic use of the media to produce a public policy change. One cultivates a relationship with the media, and using certain pegs, formats a policy initiative in the media that the policy makers read or consume. In this case in arguing for a position I held briefly, The Minority Youth Advocate, I was also arguing for the institution of demographic outcome metrics. This coupled with illuminating longstanding conditions within the department. I hadn’t been exactly wronged, except for an investigation any reasonable person might assume is an attempt to silence me. But, many people had been telling me their stories of injustice at the hands of their employers, Lane County Department of Youth Services, was only one of many employers acting like that. Budget cuts were looming for the county. It seemed like a propitious time. I sent the op-ed copy in advance of publication to each county commissioner as an attachment, and an e-mail detailing other behind the scenes facts beyond that. Naturally, of course, I heard immediately from both of the liberal county commissioners. I didn’t hear a word from the conservative majority, nor the county administrator, so far. Once the piece was published, I have heard no negative feedback, though some people were shocked. Is this true? Is Mark investigating? Uhhh No… this has actually been common knowledge among communities of color for decades. We don’t get regular columns or reporting on these issues in the paper, or the media. So if any of this is news to you….where have you been? There must be a privilege system in operation preventing your knowing about this. Be an informed Upstanding Citizen. Finding Upstanding Citizens Much attention is focused on bullies and bullying by individuals, the bystanders who let it happen,   and the few upstanders who speak out or act against it. What happens when institutions and systems are the bullies? This makes people working within them the bystanders,  and it makes internal whistleblowers and external concerned citizens the targeted  upstanders. What happens when despite its best intentions, the system designed for youth development damages young people instead? Who acts as advocates for them? Youth  in the system, and the system itself, both need to be held accountable for their actions and inaction. A mission-critical position is vulnerable to cuts proposed in Lane County’s juvenile justice system. The position of minority youth advocate was wisely put in place to advocate in particular for minority youth, who are disproportionately involved with the juvenile justice system. Perhaps even more critically, this position engages in building skills that engage youth and their families in the community, where they feel empowered. Juvenile justice systems have been required by the federal government to address disproportionate minority contact, or DMC, since the late 1980s. I was the Lane County Department of Youth Services’ first contracted minority youth advocate,  and was part of the search committee that hired the current one. In Lane County, the problem wasn’t simply a matter of minority youth being overrepresented in the system, but what happened once they were in the system. More than 20 years ago, before my contract as minority youth advocate,  I was asked by the NAACP to respond to data indicating DMC locally. We asked for data for alcohol and drug offenses, disaggregated by race. What the county’s own figures indicated was that white youth received treatment for addiction-related offenses within two offenses. Youth of color received no addiction treatment,  even after multiple addiction-related offenses. County officials could not identify any clear explanation for this phenomenon. This particular health disparity is one form of institutional racism, where personal prejudice rather than the science becomes institutional policy. Treatment works in reducing crime. How else, and to whom else, do you deny standard medical treatment when it is clearly indicated? You deny it to someone you consider a criminal, someone not suffering from a preventable and treatable health condition. So naturally, 20 years later, as part of the United Coalition of Color, we asked for before and after data showing outcomes,  disaggregated by race,  for every internal Department of Youth Services or contractor program that engages youth of color. We were refused. This doesn’t foster trust — in fact, when you can’t produce such data and don’t require it of your contractors,  you can’t really say your programs are working,  or that you’re attempting to improve.  It gives the impression you are not serious about providing services to,  or forming relations with,  communities of color. This is not a new problem in Lane County. I was part of a research group that found evidence in the Department of Youth Services of racial harassment of staff and youth of color in the early 1990s. The research group’s conclusions and suggestions were not implemented,  and the report was buried. Since that report, we have also found instances of ethnic slurs used as “therapy” by youth services contractors and in some internal programs. The county recently paid close to $1.5 million settling lawsuits stemming from claims of discrimination and negligence. Youth of color also experience racial harassment in schools, communities and facilities by other youth,  community members, or staff. If these systems are not appropriately responsive,  there is no racial stand your ground statute that protects young people from the legal consequences of justifiable physical self-defense against racial attacks — “fighting words”. Minority staff members have been themselves targeted by other staff, without effective relief. Despite operating under those conditions, the minority youth advocate acts as an effective and trusted liaison between the department and diverse communities — it is a position that should be maintained. In the context of DMC, the youth advocate must operate within a department that itself fosters trust of communities of color through various minimum standards of data collection and reporting. The department could respond to requests for information in a timely and complete manner, and practice robust recruitment and retention in a supportive and culturally competent environment. In tight financial times, given a historically hostile work environment where advocacy for equity is seen as troublemaking, the temptation is to eliminate dedicated minority staff regarded as troublesome, and replace them with non-minority friends, relatives or programs, without regard to the effect on services to minority youth. This would only exacerbate the problem, and would not reduce DMC. Mark Harris is the substance abuse prevention coordinator at Lane Community College. He was the Lane County Department of Youth Services’ first contracted minority youth advocate and was part of United Coalition of Color, an advocacy group for minority youth within the local juvenile justice system.   [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012This is probably the piece that prompted someone to send a dead rat to someone else using my name and work address as a return address. I hope the rat was already dead when they put it in the bag. The law enforcement authorities could find no usable prints, though they did ask me if I had any enemies. I could think of none who would do these. The madman of my acquaintance hadn’t emailed me for years at that point, though he did email me recently as a result of the Skyping with the Preacher column. If You Are Not The Target, Who Is   Laura Archera Huxley, musician, psychologist, filmmaker, wife of Aldous Huxley, once wrote a book first published in the 1960’s called You Are Not The Target.  In it, she counsels that one should not feel overly defensive at the actions of others, because many people are really too concerned or pre-occupied with their own problems to be concerned with you. When they do seem to strike out at you personally, it might not really be about you, but about what you represent, or who you remind them of, if an individual. If an institution, it may be about what you represent in terms of a truth, the institution doesn’t want revealed, but is in fact obvious. If not obvious to the mainstream, at least to those who receive the brunt of the mainstream institution’s violence. I try to remember this, when asked to speak or act for others, whose voices are silenced. When revealing facts certain institutions don’t want revealed, I try not to be quixotic when lifting up Klan hoods using my pen, (allegedly mightier than the burning cross / sword). I expect that reactions will ensue. I try not to be a stationary target. One of the challenges is doing nothing, except to continue with a thankless task. Thanks are rare, the more common reaction: It is less risky to attack messengers, than to address unjust institutions whose uncomfortable truths are revealed. A colleague informed me one of the tar baby name callers is now on the state ethics board for therapists, which speaks more about the institution than the person. I have degrees in a field, that I was raised by activists, to be an activist in. A field that named my ancestors as mentally ill because they tried to escape slavery.   I question my sanity in choosing to live in a state that banned free African-Americans. I’m Native living in a county named for an Indian fighter.  I choose to live in a city and larger community where nearly 90 years after the historic publication of the Ku Klux Klan membership list, prominent community members can influence institutions to continue to have no public mention, or display of that list. Why? If the Klan actually did die in 1924, why not show how far we’ve come since then? If the UO employed Klansmen actually lost their influence, why ban the son of the Portland Urban League founder, from living on campus in the 50’s because he was Black? Why were crosses burnt on the lawn of the sorority of the white woman he dated and eventually married if the Klan was dead? De Norval Unthank graduated, designed many buildings, raised children, and has a street named after him. The Klan’s influence has not died, but mutated. A fact well known to many outside the mainstream, whether I write or not. I got bored with the silence. Act on the message, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m not the target.   [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012  Who’s got your back?   The question who “has your back” has occupied me of late. You should of course have your own back,  if people around you are incapable of doing so. When you keep your friends close, and your adversaries closer, your opponents instruct you about your vulnerabilities, optimally allowing you to strengthen them in advance of an encounter. The ‘what goes around comes around’ lessons of history are always useful as training. What they did to my folks because of race, they’re doing to ya’ll folks for the money. Don’t count on the solidarity of the Pledge of Allegiance — the loyalty isn’t to country, but to money. Sometimes its clear the cavalry ain’t comin’ because even if you pay their paycheck, they ain’t comin’ to rescue you, but the settlers. The We, in We The People, and not You People. The Ju$t U$ in Justice for All. While Natives include All My Relations, the indigenous, may not possess the technology to shelter or protect you, Sensei says “We train, so we don’t have to fight”.  In martial arts and social interaction the skill of haragei allows you to non-verbally perceive the truth of a situation, and look behind what a person says, to what they actually mean, without revealing what your true feelings, intentions, and skills are. Inner “Morpheus – Afro-Samurai” advises me Death rides on my left shoulder, an advisor that there are no ordinary moments. Cultivate appreciation of the fragile transitory blossom of the sunlight of a baby’s smile. No home, but Spine’s Base, No Sword but MuShin (Empty Mind). In the wake of recent LCC events I created a Facebook page most specifically for work at Lane. I used a classic slave picture as my profile picture. His shirt is off, his back is to the camera, there is a collage of bullwhip scars on his back, whether from one beating or many no one can say. When asked why I had such a ‘horrific’ profile picture, I replied, “He’s saying, the person who did this is dead, without my lifting a finger. I am armed without weapons. I’m still here, and no one sees these scars who cannot already see my pain. If you have my back you know what’s there without me metaphorically taking the shirt off.  You try not to add to the scars. For example, if an agency has “my” back, you already should know what’s offensive about a white therapist (from an ethnicity who’ve been traditional civil rights allies) calling a black client a tar baby. You should know Emmett Till actually happened and I’m not making it up. A historically racist pickaninny image with a bone in its hair, and a watermelon on its shoulder is not a “huggie”, and cannot be displayed in my workplace without an artists context statement as the law requires, however beloved your childhood memories are of it. Such is Life in Eugene, common knowledge for some, is common ignorance for others. Who’s got your back? Train them.   [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012Skyping with the Preacher   What the bleep? Oh, a Skype from the Preacher. A moment later the Skype phone rang, I adjusted for video and audio. The Preacher was rocking Ysaye Barnwell: “For each child that’s born a morning star rises and sings to the universe who we are. We are our grandmothers’ prayers. We are our grandfathers’ dreamings. We are the breath of our ancestors. We are the spirit of God.” “Let’s talk Trayvon” he opened. I had been clearing blackberries so I was in a prickly mood. “Sure. How do you tell the difference between inexcusable stupidity and racism, between willful ignorance and deliberate malice, however unconscious?” “Well”, he said mimicking congregational sermon response. “In our neighborhoods, a child couldn’t walk home, without being known on sight in a 4 block radius, by at least one adult per block.” ”Didn’t need no guns.” We used knowledge, we passed on wisdom, not fear”. We treated each others children as if they were our children. At the very least we would ask,  Who is your family? Are you lost, can I help you get home? We didn’t mean send him to Heaven. Can I get an Amen! “Amen! That was to protect them from people who were from outside of the community, including police officers who were proven Klansmen.” “So, you’re saying Zimmerman’s sin, was not treating one of our children, as one of his children, or if that’s a stretch, at least treat Trayvon the way we would treat a child we didn’t know. And asking questions and offering with assistance. Kind of a Platinum Rule thing: Do unto others the way they want to be done unto, even if, especially if that’s better than you.”   “Right” he nodded. “Philippians 2: 2-3. Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” “But further”, he said,  “Sin is willful disobedience.” “The history of the South, is supportive of institutional and structural racism. This makes the Trayvon’s of the world uniquely vulnerable. Killing a potential Martin Luther King, a potential Robeson, a potential Beethoven, is simple self-defense to white supremacy. Many avowed racists, are capable of making exceptions for specific favored minority individuals, but not for ‘uppity’ others they don’t know, or the larger group. So Zimmerman can mentor and befriend some black youth and some black people, but see Trayvon as an enemy alien. He is obeying tradition.” “What some people call racism, others call tradition.” “So since you don’t even have to be white, to support white supremacy, Zimmerman becomes a pawn of a larger social structure. Thus, like Angela (Davis) said in the CNN interview, it is to that larger structure we should pay attention. See the White Supremacy Chess game, not just the Players. How are the Trayvon’s in your community treated? He asked. “Don’t ask. Not Well.”         [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012I was represented in a book by a young local author. I was referred to in the book as The Preacher, waving my “fat finger” in his face delivering a sermon on race relations, white privilege, crime and redemption. Clearly he could see I was angry. Clearly he was afraid at what I might do, which was more along the lines of calling his probation officer to report his criminal behavior…shooting my son in the face with a BB gun. I thought the lesson was being lost on him, and perhaps the System should deal with him. Having little faith in the system I admonished him with my fat finger in his face, and let him go. Certainly dropping a dime on him at the time would have altered his life. He would not now be teaching English in a high school, which taught a black child about Langston Hughes, but not that Langston was a Black-Indian, nor homosexual, nor a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, let alone what the Harlem Renaissance was. But this is to be expected in an English Department in a High School, where a Black Woman with an Ivy League doctorate was not hired because she taught from the canon of Morrison, Walker, Angelou, Wells, Davis, and other prominent Black Authors, which was not in their preferred canon of dead white guys and they told her so. “We want to impart a ‘classical education’.” Sure live Black Women author canon, versus dead white guy canon. A classical struggle. Remembering this I decided to create The Preacher. Remembering that memory and memoir can be fogged by time and substances. Particularly when the substance either cause memory insertions or deletions due to tissue damage to the brain. Coffee With The Preacher “When you’re using drugs and it gets bad, you blame everybody but yourself”- Tom Sizemore, www.The Fix.com I was having my favorite drug of choice, Dark Roast Sumatra, with a man I’ll call The Preacher. We were in warmer climes, where we were surrounded by black people playing chess, typing on ipads and laptops, conversing over topics of the day, at Magic’s Starbucks in LA. I was asking his spiritual tactical advice. I opened with: “Should you show mercy whether or not the recipient is grateful, or respects you as a human being?” He said,  “The short answer is Yes.” “On the vengeance is mine saith the Lawd, goes around comes around tip.” Chuckling… “Them Klannish white folks givin’ you grief in Eugene?” “Drop that cross, brotha” “But on the real, Devil’s in the details, like Michel Martin says, Tell me more.” “Well… “I deal with people on both sides of the law, addicts, alcoholics. Hopeless dope fiends, and dopeless hopefiends.” “Sometimes the seemingly law abiding one’s are the worst. Its not like you can expect rational behavior from a crackhead, but permaspun crackheads with a steady jobs, be messin’ with me and mine.”  “You can’t really say that you’re recovered, until you take responsibility for what you have done,  on the pipe, and the dry crackhead behavior you engage in off the pipe. You understand I’m not just talking about cocaine, but people who do whatever they can to not be Fully, Consciously, Human.” “Isn’t it true there’s a developmental delay, while you are using?” the Preacher asked. “One theory anyway.” “So you are expecting rational, responsible, self-aware adult behavior from a criminal addict, who sounds like he got rich parents, or other resources, lawyers, co-dependent co-workers and bosses, to shield him from the consequences of his behavior, so now he can play “straight” in a government job like a school or juvenile justice, and “give back” to kids like he used to be, or maybe still is on the DL, and you feel bad now, because you cut him slack then, and he’s still behaving badly in some way?” I asked him, “What would you do if an adult child on probation had shot one of your kids, with a BB gun, slapped an ice cream cone out of a little girl’s hand, and while appearing fawningly faux contrite, later bragged about it. “Is showing compassion, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he might turn his life around, the right thing?” “Yes, you showed compassion for this racist white dude, regardless of whether he’s showing compassion, contrition, or responsibility, then or now. Whether or not he’d have done that for your black children, were the situations reversed.” “You’re just experiencing compassion remorse, you feel you’ve been taken advantage of.” Sighing, “Ieshua tells us, the Adversaries show us how not to be. Give Thanks, that you know not to be like him, and your example shows how someday he might be better.”  Amen.   [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012I wrote this because of two movie reviews playing opposite each other in the Eugene Weekly. Having seen both films, and also having a different experience of race than the reviewers, I had to weigh in so to speak. But gravitas does strange things. Sometimes things get put together in ways we don’t expect. Precious Avatar If we could project ourselves into an Avatar of Precious, what unobtainium could we extract from under the home tree of culture? I make this conceit, riffing in part because of the reviews of those movies appearing on the same page in this newspaper. Avatar is science fiction fantasy, Precious is a representation of actual reality. An avatar for those of you not old enough to remember, originally was an incarnation of god in a particular form: as Rama, and Krishna, are Avatars of Vishnu.. An  avatar is someone who embodies or manifests an idea or concept. In a cyber context an avatar is simply a three dimensional image used to represent an Internet user in cyberspace. What element would we need to project ourselves into Precious’ reality to create the real vision and empathy prevent her dysfunctional creation, and provoke her functional freedom? Precious is the movie representation of Sapphire’s book Push, where the movie is considerably less heavy than the book, commodified as it is for majority white audiences who may miss, as I feel the Weekly’s reviewer missed, the central points of the movie. Precious is an obese teen parent, living in Harlem, who lives with her incredibly abusive mother, (the movie spares us the mother’s molestation of Precious in the book) who collects welfare checks while foisting the Down Syndrome oldest child on her own mother. Precious’ children were fathered by her HIV+ father, and while illiterate and experiencing spirit crushing verbal, emotional, and physical abuse amidst poverty, she fantasizes about a different life. We see this in disassociative flashbacks while she is being raped. We see this as she is grooming herself for school, when she sees not her actual image, but a Kim Basinger look-a-like. That millions like Precious are produced intentionally and deliberately, that welfare is an extension of slavery, trapping generations in systemic bondage, unless they can free themselves from those bonds of ignorance among other things, is not really revealed directly by the film unless you know what to look for. Clearly the keys to her freedom are not being proffered to her by the public school system or the welfare system which failed her and her family. Just as obviously there is an element of unobtainium emitting empathy, insight, and hope present within in her charter school teacher and hospital nurse that isn’t being offered by the system. In Avatar Unobtainium is a crystal with magnetic superconducting properties which make it nifty for space travel. It also creates a field which connects the lifeforms of Pandora, in a seamless web of interspecies communication. In Avatar the usual colonial corporate American script, where a young white marine, is projected into a colored alien body, to strategically learn the ways of the “blue monkey” nativesavages so they can be moved, assimilated, exterminated, in the name of corporate profit, uh…progress. Human’s can have pandoric empathy for the lifeforms and aliens among us like Precious, without 3-D glasses. Each One, Teach One. [...] Read more...
May 10, 2012  On successive days, two people in a row asked me if I was a man of faith. A white Catholic woman, and a black dread, and really my thought was, would they recognize my faith? (Life is Suffering, All My Relations. You Suffer Because You Love What Deceives You. Do Your Best to Acquire Peace Within You, I am the dream and the hope of the slave, I Rise, I Rise, I Rise) Neither asked me which brand of faith, but my most recent confirmation of faith was in the eyes of children born twenty two years apart. With one child, I was the first person she saw in this life. Her response to my explanation of why Frederick Douglass was a Radical Republican: They believed the only solution to slavery was to completely end any legal basis to White Supremacy. That is, free the slaves, give them land, the tools to work it, educate them, give them tools of the mind, give them the vote, and a voice in democracy, give them reparations to assist in building a free society, and full citizenship equal to that of whites. She said, “Equality with whites is radical?” “It’s a thin line between radical and common sense.”  Indeed. I watched her birth an Afro-Chata-Taino-Celtic Gemini girl with kyanite eyes. Kyanite is a stone reputed to induce calm and tranquility even in times of great stress. No wonder she named the child for an ancestor, captured /stolen as a young child, surviving the middle passage, sold away from her mother and infant sister at four, teaching herself literacy, numeracy, and the self-sufficient way to freedom: Knowledge is a food. Trust not the slaver, or any institution rooted in the enslavement of human beings, to give you the knowledge you need to be free.  Be suspicious of those who work for such institutions unawares. When in Rome, don’t become cruel like Romans, indifferent to human suffering. What they have done to the least of those, they’ll do to you. Forgive them for they know not what they do. Know Thyself, look into the night sky, or the depths in a child’s eyes, and know the only thing greater than yourself. Raise others to equal greatness.  This baby’s spirit, punched through a condom as if it wasn’t there. Hung out for the better part of an hour in the birth canal, without distress. (I survived the middle passage yo, what’s a birth canal, Is this all you got? Whatever.) She came to us, and I was reminded of peoples struggle birthing freedom and equality. There is something about an idea whose time has come, that is so ancient, primal, and yet totally new, that getting it out is like labor. Labor is a loud, sweaty, teary, bloody, mess. Amidst shouts of encouragement, protest, anger, pleading, joy. Do not confuse noisemaking with progress. Beware, Conservative Romans crucify Common Sense Radicals. When Birthing at home, what is Precious Within, You have to Push. It’s in your Hands. [...] Read more...
March 25, 2012A constructive note, for faculty and students alike, from the Tenured Radical over at the Chronicle blogs. [...] Read more...
March 15, 2012Here’s a wonderful link for faculty members who might be using Barry Lopez’s work this year. Lopez, the author of Arctic Dreams, Of Wolves and Men, and “A Dark Light in the West: Racism and Reconciliation” (among many others), is the Lane Community College Reading Together author for 2011-2012. Especially for those who may be reading “The Naturalist,”  included in Vintage Lopez, our selected collection of some of his most famous essays, you’ll find this wonderful array of notebook entries fascinating as well as instructive. They include drawings, prose, watercolors, and photographs that focus a multifaceted lens on the naturalist’s curious, curious mind. Field Notes: A Glimpse Inside Great Explorers’ Notebooks | Brain Pickings. [...] Read more...
March 7, 2012Yes, our own Lane CC makes an appearance in the data. We outstrip other institutions by FAR in per-completion spending, but this is likely tied to the fact that our rate of student “completion” is so very, very low. That, of course, is based on an incredibly narrow definition of “completion,” which doesn’t include part-time students, students who transfer for completion, students who stop-out, and students who’ve attended college before, ever. (And yes, that’s pretty much Lane’s entire student body.) Still, the data are interesting, particularly in light of the move toward “achievement compacts” (away from FTE) and emphasis on college “completion” that was recently endorsed by Governor Kitzhaber–a plan that is currently being promoted across the state by the OEIB. You can do side-by-side comparisons by institution or by state, and did I mention that the graphics are awesome? It’s definitely worth taking a look: College Completion: Graduation Rates and Data for 3,800 Colleges. [...] Read more...
March 6, 2012Below you can read some interesting findings in a recent study of how students talk to each other in groups (team discourse), self-efficacy (ratings of their own academic competence), and individual student achievement. More work needs to be done in this area, certainly, but preliminary results are pretty fascinating. They suggest classroom activities that are simultaneously collaborative and reflective may give students a leg-up in the areas of academic confidence as well as individual achievement. You can read more about the study here: Tomorrow’s Professor Blog | Direct from the TP Mailing List. [...] Read more...
March 4, 2012Happy Grammar Day! National Grammar Day 2010: Ten More Common Grammar Myths, Debunked « Motivated Grammar. [...] Read more...
March 1, 2012Recently I’ve given a few presentations around campus discussing my work on diversity and a pedagogy of/for social justice. One focus of those presentations has been the role of rhetoric and ideology, through what education theorist Lee Anne Bell calls “stock stories,” in either preserving or disrupting historical patterns of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of discrimination that operate along the axes of difference. Following along those lines, I wanted to share this multimedia project by Lakota students of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, created in response to ABC’s reductive representation of Native Americans in the recent 20/20 special “A Hidden America: Children of the Plains.” One of the reasons I find this video so compelling is that it demonstrates how students themselves can use storytelling to make their own interventions for social justice–in this case, a multimodal “transforming” story, to once again draw upon Bell’s framework: More Than That You can also listen to an NPR story about the students and their project here: Through Video, Lakota Students Reject Stereotypes : NPR. [...] Read more...
February 28, 2012A fascinating new contribution from the folks over at Edge is now available. This year’s collection centers on the question: “What scientific concept will improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit?” Last week I was talking to my WR 115 class about “reflective learning” as one kind of meta-cognition, and this book could potentially help expand our metacognitive abilities–both students’ and teachers’–in a big way. In terms of writing and especially the teaching of writing, we ask our students to get metacognitive every time we put them together to workshop drafts of their essays, when they think/write about their own writing experiences and practices (in postwrites, revision plans, self-assessment, etc), and when they reflect back on their work in our composition courses as they prepare final portfolios, just to name a few. Those of you thinking about Lane’s core abilities (which are currently under revision) and/or considering undertaking a critical thinking assessment project will find this book especially timely and, at least from what I’ve seen so far, a pleasure to read, to boot. You can find a description and some wonderful excepts from the text over at Brainpickings (a personal favorite and fabulous resource for all things “cultural” for the curious mind): This will make you smarter (really). [...] Read more...
February 23, 2012Notes From The Riverside is the column I write for the Eugene Weekly. Once on radio, on a now defunct liberal talk radio station in Eugene, it was named after a Langston Hughes poem, as well as the Gary Bartz, Courtney Pine, and Sonia Sanchez jazz interpretations of that poem. Article of Faith is about the birth of my granddaughter from my second born. Precious Avatar is a thought experiment about not just walking in someone else’s shoes, but living in their body and seeing through their eyes. Most recently I’ve taken a slightly new direction with The Preacher, a memetic alter ego after Langston’s Jesse Semple, or Derrick Bell’s Geneva Crenshaw. The Preacher is a combination of my Grandfather the Rev. C.A. Washington, Hamilton Boswell, James Hargett, Reverend Wright, Naim Akbar, Howard Thurman, with a bit of my Grandmothers in there for seasoning.   [...] Read more...
December 2, 2011Teaching Carnival 5.04 – ProfHacker – The Chronicle of Higher Education. [...] Read more...
November 10, 2011Yesterday I gave a brief presentation on how to improve student writing for our Energy Management program. I included the main points below under the broader rubric of “sometimes less is more”–both in teaching as well as in writing. In looking at a few additional resources that I could recommend for the EM faculty, I found this related journal article on using microthemes in fish and wildlife management courses, including a thoughtful rubric (another topic I touched on in the presentation). I’ll continue to add to this post as I build a Teaching/Writing Toolbox for for Energy Management at Lane. Improving Student Writing: How to Do More with Less For Starters: make your own assumptions about writing and your expectations of students explicit identify learning goals or outcomes for each assignment use a rubric to assess student writing share the rubric with students give students an assignment sheet, and include the above in it Middle of the Road: low stakes writing—more small assignments (e.g., muddiest point / clearest point; microthemes): increases comprehension and fluency in writing about content use multiple drafts for high stakes assignments use a portfolio / delayed grading model have students keep an error log for technical and mechanical issues in writing (punctuation, sentence boundaries, etc) don’t “correct” student error; identify it, explain its rhetorical impact, and offer a few suggestions for how the student can address the issue have students assess themselves using the rubric before submitting an assignment Wrapping it Up: keep it simple (less is often more when it comes to commenting on student writing as well) don’t mark everything spend the most time commenting on the issues in student writing that REALLY matter to you   [...] Read more...
January 17, 20112011: Sustainability planning at Lane developed through grassroots efforts of many different individuals and groups. In 2011, the Sustainability Committee saw that Lane had several different plans & policies relating to sustainability, but no overarching sustainability plan. As a result, the Committee elected to begin work on this Sustainability Plan that will serve as an umbrella document under which all other sustainability planning will be housed. This organizational chart of all of Lane’s sustainability planning, helps show the connections and hierarchies between the various plans and policies. [...] Read more...
April 9, 2009Savings!!!Lane put together a 5-year cost analysis on how much money was saved when electric hand dryers replaced paper towel usage across campus. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/handdryer.pdf” title=”electric cost analysis between hand dryer and paper towels”] [...] Read more...
January 17, 20092009: Inspired by the Oberlin Project, Lane’s Sustainability Committee took on the task of developing a Sustainability Plan during the 2011-12 school year. To kick off the planning effort, the Committee hosted a Sustainability Plan Facilitated Visioning Session on February 12, 2012 at which forty employees and students provided input on a vision for the plan. The Sustainability Committee offered another opportunity for Lane employees to provide input during an all-staff in-service on May 4, 2012. The current draft of the plan is the culmination of input received during the 2/13/12 & 5/4/12 sessions. Draft Sustainability Plan [...] Read more...
May 20, 2008Lane invested in having solar panels installed. Read more for more information.   [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/solar2008.pdf”] [...] Read more...
January 1, 2008In 2008, Lane was awarded an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Education Grant to provide training and resources for instructors for the purpose of providing the instructors with the ability to infuse sustainability concepts into their courses. This page provides the materials and resources that were developed during the implementation of this grant. These resources can be used by instructors interested in learning more about infusing sustainability into their curriculum. Teaching Materials A transdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning sustainability: A pedagogy for life Dora Marinova and Natalie McGrath Global Health and Sustainability Links Sustainability Infusion Project PowerPoint [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/group_ideas_090218.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/links.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/rowe.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/terms.pdf”] Sustainability Readings & Resources The Story of Stuff – a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled film looking at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. Free on the internet. [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/agape.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/brown.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/cortese.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/edwards.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/epstein.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/hawken.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/hill.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/lappe.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/lee_heilig.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/mcclaughry.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/myers.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/orr.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/parris_kates_leiserowitz.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/poole_kavana.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/shiva_abundance.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/shiva_economy.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/shiva_interview.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/talberth_cobb_slattery.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/talberth.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2008/01/un.pdf”] Forms Pre-training survey – This survey is to be taken by instructors prior to attending the Sustainability Infusion Project training. Post-training survey – This survey is to be taken by instructors at the end of the Sustainability Infusion Project training. Planning Form – This form may be used as a guide for thinking through the modifications an instructor would want to make to a course. Tracking Form – Once an instructor modifies a course to include sustainability content, this form should be completed and sent to the Institute for Sustainable Practices for tracking purposes. Student Feedback Survey – This survey is for students who have taken a course modified with sustainability content.  [...] Read more...
April 19, 2007[pdf-embedder url=”https://blogs.lanecc.edu/isp/wp-content/uploads/sites/115/2018/06/waste_audit2007.pdf”] [...] Read more...
November 15, 2004Lane adds alternative fuel vehicle to motorpool fleet saving money and reducing environmental impact. In April 2004, Lane added a Toyota Prius to it’s fleet of motorpool vehicles. The Prius is a gas-electric hybrid vehicle that uses 51 miles per gallon (mpg) on the highway and 60-mpg in the city. Other similar-sized motorpool vehicles use 26-mpg on the highway and 19-mpg in the city. Because of the fuel efficiency of the hybrid vehicle, Lane will save an estimated 566 gallons of gasoline and $1,035 per year. Alternative fuel vehicles cost somewhat more than conventional vehicles up front but an energy incentive tax credit and the savings on fuel costs make up for the additional upfront costs in about 4 months! The table below shows cost calculations. Environmental and Financial Benefits of Driving a Hybrid Vehicle vs. a Conventional Vehicle Cost of hybrid vehicle (Toyota Prius purchased by Lane in April 2004) $26,239 Energy incentive for purchase of alternative fuel vehicle (Business Energy Tax Credit with Pass-through Partner, U.S. Bank -$4,002 Energy incentive application fee $118.83 Cost of hybrid vehicle after energy incentive $22,356 Average cost of gasoline per gallon in Oregon on 3/22/04 $1.83 Estimated miles traveled per year (see table below for calculation of estimated miles) 30,000 Prius highway miles per gallon 51 Annual gallons of gasoline used by Prius 588 Annual fuel costs for Prius $1,076 Cost of conventional vehicle – 2004 Mercury Sable, 4dr Sedan GS (cost estimate is from www.cars.com.) $22,025 Sable highway miles per gallon 26 Annual gallons of gasoline used by Sable 1154 Annual fuel costs for Sable $2,112 Annual gallons of gasoline saved by driving Prius 566 Annual amount of money saved by driving Prius $1,035 Months it takes to save the amount of additional cost of Prius over Sable by driving the more fuel efficient vehicle 4 Estimated miles per year average number of rides per day 1 verage miles per ride 100 approximate days of service per year 300 total vehicle miles per year 30,000 [...] Read more...