Comments for Don's Desk

Comment on There is No Food by writingisthinking

writingisthinking — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:40:25 +0000

This goes beyond “like”. I love this!

Comment on There is No Food by Olurotimi (Timi) Akindele

Olurotimi (Timi) Akindele — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 05:36:06 +0000

Well done President Laackman.

Comment on The Sounds of Silence by Brad Sexton

Brad Sexton — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:42:09 +0000

Running the day-to-day operations of a college in a comprehensive and effective manner is at best a full-time job adding a second college with a separate set of goals and idiosyncrasies would have to be exhausting, add the significant increase in pressure during budget time and it’s incomprehensible. In spite of this during this time, no matter the situation, Don has remained supportive and measured in his approach. His calmness, professionalism and ability brush away the superfluous information to quickly reach a thoughtful decision has been of tremendous value. These are marks of a true leader and in my opinion HWC has an incredible leader that will guide and mentor the college staff (faculty, staff & students) hopefully for years to come. Although I look forward to having a full-time President, I will surely miss Don’s presence here at Wright. Our new President will have some large shoes to fill.

Comment on Thanksgiving by kate dircksen

kate dircksen — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:07:50 +0000

This paragraph will assist the internet users for building
up new weblog or even a weblog from start to end.

Comment on Year Two by True Story | The Harold Lounge

True Story | The Harold Lounge — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:22:38 +0000

[...] another post, Don writes that he understands success to mean “helping students achieve what they came here [...]

Comment on Anecdotes by True Story | The Harold Lounge

True Story | The Harold Lounge — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:22:35 +0000

[...] some people will read this, and say, as our President apparently did (to himself) in his first few months on the job, that warm and fuzzy anecdotes are nice and all, but data [...]

Comment on Thanksgiving by Anecdotes | Don's Desk

Anecdotes | Don's Desk — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:26:11 +0000

[...] November 2011, I wrote about an international student who was struggling with a CCC policy that made it difficult for her and [...]

Comment on The Exonerated by Kathy Nash

Kathy Nash — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:07:20 +0000

On behalf of the cast and crew, thank you for the words of praise! I know you have a discerning eye and, as always, I appreciate your support!

Comment on Conferencing by Juan

Juan — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:08:07 +0000

Don,

Like a number of my fellow faculty, I have taken courses through ION and carried what was learned into the courses I teach. I have come to see some pros and cons re: online/hybrid/enhanced courses.

However, after I poked around the sites of the three MOOC providers above, the ION courses now seem a bit “primitive” by comparison. Still — at least for the moment — teaching or studying in an ION course seems to be infinitely preferable to what some of these MOOCs claim (e.g. conducting courses with thousand of students).

Count me in for a MOOC. If your plan is for CCC instructors to experience this together and then share the experience, I suggest that you ask instructors to volunteer to do that during a summer. (This summer works for me.) It might also be a good idea to limit instructors’ choices of courses. Polling instructors might work. edX seems to have the most variety across disciplines.

Finally, I see MOOCs supplementing degree programs but some limits remain. Students who take online courses are self-starters with good study habits and such, so some students will choose not to enroll. (That’s just caution and experience speaking.)

Thank you for the prompt reply. I remain interested in analogy/contextualization too.

Juan

Comment on Conferencing by Donald Laackman

Donald Laackman — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:06:49 +0000

Juan,

No one presented data related to new learning styles. They did discuss experiences with MOOCS and how readily students collaborate and form learning communities independent of faculty direction. The speaker attributed this to the digital environment in which this generation has grown up.

The MacArthur Foundation is doing a great deal of work in this area. A recent announcement about their work with the Mayor appears here: http://www.macfound.org/press/from-field/chicago-children-earn-digital-badges-citywide-learning-initiative/

They have also sponsored YouMedia at Chicago Public Libraries (http://youmedia.tumblr.com/). Their focus is on learning how to create collaborative learning communities where students learn by coming together to work on problems or projects.

The speaker also suggested that we all take a MOOC to understand how the learning environment works. I will be exploring this after I get back down to one college. edX, Coursera, Udacity are all options.