As much as we love our roles as student teachers, we’ve all daydreamed about more glamourous careers as athletes, movie starlets, lion tamers, etc. That’s why it’s pretty remarkable to hear others in those careers that dream of completing a university degree. In honour of opening day and the start of a new baseball season (a pretty big deal around Windsor), we present the case of Jason Castro.
Jason Castro is developing into one of the better catchers in Major League Baseball. Even so, Castro thought it was more important to finish his degree at Stanford Unviersity this offseason. In a recent interview with mlb.com, Castro explained why it was important to complete his studies:
“We can’t play baseball as long as we’d like,” Castro said. “At some point, I’ll probably put [the degree] to use. Who knows what, but just having it and knowing it’s something done and out of the way, when baseball is over, it’s nice.”
While baseball does have a scholarly component, and while a number of professional baseball players also teach, Castro is a useful reminder of priorities for struggling students and student teachers alike.
And to make sure this post is as scholarly as possible, if you’re unsure how baseball relates to scholarly teaching, read J. E. Bickel’s “Teaching Decision Making With Baseball Examples“.
Remember when your parents told you it was a waste of time to spend your days playing video games? Imagine what they would say if they knew video games were being used in university classrooms to engage students in complex learning. Yes, video games are becoming the object of study for scholarly teachers in all disciplines. So why not celebrate this Friday by learning from some video games?
- Friend of the show…errr…friend of the blog @LitAtLeddy is always finding quirky literature resources. This is by far the quirkiest: Quirk Books’ list of “Five Bookish iPhone Games You Should Be Playing Right Now.” This may provide that push you needed to finally read Jane Austen. However, we don’t want to discriminate against the non-iPhone crowd, so here’s a link to a game we can all enjoy: pong.
- But why should the literature junkies get all the fun? They shouldn’t, and that’s why playinghistory.org exists, collecting history games covering just about every topic imaginable. Imagine what your Canadian history elective would have been like if you could have learned about the West Coast shipping trade from a game like “Navigate the Hazards“.
- Admittedly, science is the least fun of all the disciplines. The website sciencegamecenter.org is trying to change that. Now instead of watching reruns of medical dramas like ER to learn about medicine, you can play games like Cell HD: Emergence.
Happy Friday!
We’re hearing that the call for nominations could go out any day now for the 2014 GATA Awards. Maybe it’s the afterglow of the Celebration of Teaching Excellence and the Celebration of Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, or maybe it’s that group-selfie fever that’s sweeping the world in the post-Ellen Oscars era, but we’re really excited about this year’s awards.
Do doubt, as we suggested, you’ve been thinking about the special GAs/TAs you know that might deserve a nomination, but maybe you haven’t made up your mind yet. In an effort to demonstrate just how impactful the GATA Awards can be, we’ve been catching up with past winners to see how their awards have affected them. Now we’re sharing their feedback.
Christin Moeller was one of three winners of the GA/TA Award for Educational Leadership in 2012. As a frequent collaborator of the Network, we’ve been witness to the great work that Christin does in the classroom. Here’s a look at Christin’s profile from the 2012 GATA Awards.
Christin Moeller (Psychology)
Christin is committed to student learning: she designs and facilitates workshops, organizes student retreats, participates in course enhancement processes, mentors and advises peers, and serves as a student representative on campus-wide committees. S he truly creates a positive learning-centred community in her department.
Christin is no longer a course GA, but you may have attended her workshop on identifying plagiarism in students’ papers and assignments GATAcademy 2013. Lately, she’s focused more on her research activities, including her dissertation (she’s a PhD candidate!) and other research projects, and she hopes to graduate next year. While she views her award as a great accomplishment, Christin was quick to explain that the nomination process was what she found most rewarding.
How did you find out you had been nominated?
C: A faculty member from the Dept of Psychology emailed me to indicate that they’d like to nominate me.
What was the most difficult part of the nomination process? Why?
C: To be honest, I don’t remember there being a “difficult part”. Assembling the nomination dossier (getting other letters of support, writing the statement, etc.) was somewhat time consuming, but not really “difficult”.
Had teaching and learning been a big part of your life before you won the award? How did the award change your views?
C: Teaching and learning had certainly been a big part of my life as a GA before I won the award. Being a GA has truly been one of my most enjoyable roles as a grad student: I greatly enjoyed working with undergraduate students and always tried to support their learning experience as much as I could. This meant that I aimed to not only provide “course-specific” support, but also, to provide guidance and assistance with other academic matters, such as navigating graduate school applications. For me, being a GA didn’t just “stop” at the end of a semester: Like learning, “teaching” (in my case, “mentoring” is probably more appropriate) is an ongoing experience. The GATA Award is a reminder that being a GA/TA can be so much more than grading papers and invigilating exams – It’s an opportunity to have a lasting, meaningful impact on students’ learning experience.
How has the GATA Award impacted your life, if at all?
C: Certainly, receiving the award was a great “official” accolade and a fantastic addition to my CV. Yet, I would have to say that the nomination process in and of itself had the most impact on me personally: I was so honoured that students, staff, and faculty were writing these wonderful letters of support for my nomination dossier. Even now, a few years after I was presented with the award, the nomination dossier itself is an incredibly telling and encouraging memento of the positive impact I’ve had on students and the wider university community.
…and not a single soul was giddy. But really, you can be excited for 3MT® and still be terrified to compete. Which is why we’re devoting our usually happy-go-lucky Friday blog post to curating a collection of useful resources for you brave three-minute thesis proposers.
- Be kind to the microphone, and the microphone shall be kind in return. That means giving the mic a little bit of space. That also means resisting the urge to make any wildly erratic modulations in your voice. As Austin Evans suggests, it’s best to know a little bit about your microphone, too.
- Limit your hand talking. Researchers are beginning to assert that talking with your hands is natural. Even so, you don’t want your hand gestures (or any other movement) to be a distraction to your audience. Sarah Lloyd-Hughes has some great ideas of what gestures not to make during your presentation. Tip: don’t cross your arms. You should also check out the Thesis Whisperer blog and its “Presenting” section.
- Speak in a language everyone can understand. That means no jargon, no technical terminology, no academic verbosity whatsoever. You could consult a jargon finder or a simple translator. You could also try the Up-Goer Five Text Editor to make sure you’re keeping things simple. Best of all, practice your presentation in front of an audience of outsiders – people with no knowledge of your research or your discipline – and ask for their feedback. That’s the type of audience you can expect the day of the competition.
- Learn from the best. The best way to build a winning presentation is to look at other winning presentations. With that in mind, we present the following:
- Sharon Savage, 2013 Three Minute Thesis Winner from the University of New South Wales:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfrUCg1S7vk - Andrew Ming-Lum, 2011 Three Minute Thesis Winner from the University of British Columbia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hADXDMUNy2w
- Sharon Savage, 2013 Three Minute Thesis Winner from the University of New South Wales:
It just doesn’t seem right to make Friday all business, so between those 3MT® presentations you’ll be YouTubing, make sure you take two mental health breaks: one to watch this mash up of Christopher Walken dances and another to watch Superman strap on a GoPro and do Superman stuff (while you watch).
Image courtesy of lifehacker.com
Feeling that mid-semester slump? Limping into the home stretch? Praying for final exams? Before you degrade yourself like that, you should check out gradhacker.org. The GradHacker team has been compiling advice on how to navigate the checkpoint that is mid-semester.
Liz Homan recently wrote on how to reinvent your teaching half-way, and most of her tips are useful reminders to do what we already do, again. For instance, have you tried using ice breakers at the mid-point to change the mood in your class? Homan offers some suggestions on how to use ice breakers to forward a discussion of course content:
An icebreaker. No longer must these be relegated to the first day, when everyone expects them. No longer must these be (let’s face it, futile) attempts to get everyone to learn names. Tie your icebreaker to course content! My favorite is a “four corners” exercise where students strongly agree/agree/disagree/strongly disagree with a number of value statements tied to our course content (in my case this semester, professional writing). These get people moving around and discussing their opinions with one another.
To read more of Homan’s article and learn the “jigsaw approach” (which is kind of like having students teach themselves), visit http://www.gradhacker.org/2014/03/07/reinventing-your-teaching-mid-semester-5-really-tiny-things-you-could-do-tomorrow/
Not too many of us here at UWindsor have official mid-semester evaluations in our classrooms, but it’s still worth taking a pulse now and then. We also love what Laura B. McGrath suggests you should do with student feedback. McGrath provide resources and guidelines for running your own evaluations and feedback forums and recommends that whatever you learn from these exchanges should be related back to your students:
Summarize the evaluations for your students; tell them what their peers have said (generally), tell them what you heard, and tell them what you’ve learned. This can be tough, especially when the comments aren’t positive. Your students went out on a limb to be honest with you; let them know that you heard them. Reporting your findings shows that you value their input, and can help to establish greater trust within your learning community.
To learn more about McGrath’s experiences with classroom feedback, read her article at http://www.gradhacker.org/2014/03/12/mid-semester-evaluations/.
Sometimes a theme develops out of nothing (and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar). We’re not really sure how the theme of this week’s We Made It: It’s Friday became sounds, but it did. So here are some useful/funny/interesting sound related links for your enjoyment and relaxation this Friday.
- Network Alum Braydon Beaulieu recently alerted us to the existence of soundrown.com – an ambient noise generator that allows you to work to the sounds of the coffee shop/a crackling fire/birds, etc. Just don’t try them all at the same time.
- Speaking of noise generators, ever wish you could sound more like a professor? What about a Matt Groening animated professor from the future? Futurama fans: someone made a Professor Farnswarth soundboard. Because who knows how to say “Bushwah” properly anymore.
- Ever notice how some sounds just sound scarier than others? Of course you have. Well, apparently there’s a very scientific answer for what makes a sound scary. Katie McDonough from salon.com uses science to break down “how movies use music to manipulate viewers into becoming whimpering scared little baby people” here.
We get it, enough with the noise. So, in closing, here’s this totally unrelated note about cat and dog espionage in the WWI.
Everyone who loves public speaking raise your hands! No, of course none of you raised your hands (unless you’re this girl). Honestly, though, why would anyone want to get up to speak in front of a group of strangers?
If we’re talking about the Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT®), we can think of about 1000 dollars, errr, “reasons”. But we know you’re above the money, so you’re probably looking for those other intangible benefits. With that in mind (and to make sure we didn’t sound like salespeople), we started combing the internet for real testimonials from real students who have competed in 3MT®. You can find a lot of stories about Windsor’s competition on the Graduate Studies website, but what about stories from the competitors themselves?
It turns out that the competition has affected a lot of students around the country. For instance, the University of British Columbia has been amassing a lengthy webpage of testimonials from past competitors. It’s especially interesting to see how positive even the finalists are, with no cash prize to show for their efforts. These comments are among our favourites:
“This competition is a MUST for all graduate students at UBC. When I joined the competition, my aim was simple: to win $1000. Throughout the process, what I gained is worth way more than the monetary reward. This competition pushed me out of my comfort zone enabling me to articulate my ideas, enthusiasm and passion to a wide audience. My participation has led to many other opportunities such as presentations at the Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference, with the alumni of UBC, at a summer barbecue with UBC President Stephen Toope and donors, as well as a special talk in the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre’s annual meeting. Feedback from the audience – particularly other students, researchers and patients – really inspired me to confidently pursue my PhD with enthusiasm and optimism. These opportunities not only bolstered my confidence, but they also enable me to expand my social and professional networks. I strongly encourage every graduate student to participate!!!
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” (Yoda)
Sun Nee Tan, Neuroscience
3MT 2013 People’s Choice Winner…
“I am a big believer in, and supporter of the 3MT program. It was a great experience for me, and I think it’s a great addition to academic life at UBC. The competition provided several benefits: 1) the opportunity to meet grad students from other disciplines and to learn about their fascinating research; 2) the challenge of boiling down my own research project into 3 minutes, which helped clarify my own thinking; and 3) the chance to get great presentation feedback and learn some tips from other presenters. I would do 3MT again in a heartbeat!”
Andrew Pilliar, Law
3MT 2012 Finalist
Ryan Andrew Murphy, a 3MT® finalist at UBC, shared his experience in the 2011 competition. For Ryan the 3MT® offered an opportunity to “join the conversation” by connecting with others in the research community. Watch his interview below:
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Let’s not make this post about arguing for any intrinsic value for Seinfeld as a sitcom, because that torch gets taken up too regularly. It’s hard to believe a GA/TA could learn anything revolutionary about teaching and learning from the television show that dedicated an entire episode to waiting for a table at a busy restaurant (though “patience is a virtue” is true in any role). So, what can GAs/TAs learn from Seinfeld?
Maybe a lot, if we’re talking about Jerry Seinfeld the actor. Last month James Clear wrote about the “Seinfeld Strategy” for entrepreneur.com, analyzing Brad Isaac’s interview with the famous comedian in an effort to pinpoint the root of Seinfeld’s success (because, you know, he’s a bazzillionaire). Interestingly, the advice that Clear compiles is applicable to just about everyone looking to succeed: stop procrastinating, build on a chain of small actions, and realize that “mastery follows consistency”.
Stop Procrastinating
One of the best ways to make sure you’re using what little time you have as a busy GA/TA wisely is to build a calendar and stick to it. Especially when so much of your day-to-day life is self-directed, developing a regular routine will bring more consistency to your life and more consistency to your work in turn. Clear notes that the important thing is to never break this pattern or “chain”, even when a tough day at the office gets you down.
Build a Chain of Small Actions
The links in said chain don’t have to be monumental tasks; in fact, part of Seinfeld’s self-professed success comes from the fact that he focused on performing small tasks that were simple to maintain day-to-day. Rather than focus on cramming all that grading or reading into a weekend, why not devote one hour per day, every day to “Marking/Reading Time”? What ever task you devote yourself to each day should be small but meaningful (i.e, reading an article per day about a topic in your discipline, rather than an article per day in the newspaper).
Mastery Follows Consistency
Becoming really good at something doesn’t happen over night, as you’ve probably been told a million times. The point here is that the more commonplace something becomes in your life, the more likely you’ll become an expert at it. What does consistency look like in the classroom? Be consistent in the way you manage class time. Be consistent in the way you treat students. Be consistent in the way you mark assignments. Get the picture?
Read more from James Clear at http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231023?cam=mktinit&src=taboola&ctp=article
Move over reading week, the GATA Network has a new favourite most wonderful time of the year: Open Education Week. Alicia Higgison from the Office of Open Learning describes Open Education Week, running March 10th – 15th, as such:
First of all, we’d like to extend the invite ALL WEEK (…and all the other days of all the other weeks…) to stop in and see us on the first floor of Erie Hall. Stop by Erie Hall 1110, which we affectionately call the COLlab (Collaborative Open Learning Laboratory), and see our fancy BrightLink Interactive whiteboard, it’s really something! Come see the cool gadgets we have, the ways we can make your classes (yes, even your on-campus classes!) work better for you, stop by and chat with us about any technology-related questions you may have. We’re always happy to help, and happy to learn from you as well. And I’m not saying there will definitely be treats involved, but I’m not saying there won’t be either…
It could be the mention of “treats”, it could be the very idea of open (read: free) resources…either way we’re pretty fired up about next week and the awesome workshops @UWinOpenLearn, and it led to a special edition of We Made It: It’s Friday…
- Next Tuesday the Office of Open Learning will be offering a crash course on the world of Open Educational Resources (OERs). But if you’re like us (read: keeners), you’ll want to know a thing or two about OERs so that you can impress fellow workshop goers with how pro you are at being a beginner. So here’s this collection of articles from opensource.com for beginners in OER.
- Gearing up for Alicia’s workshop on personal branding, we got thinking about brand power in general. Naturally, that got us thinking about logos, and that led us to guessthelogo.com. True, you won’t need a logo to build your personal brand, but file this under “research” anyway.
- Lastly, we bring you grammar. So you never took to grammar in school? Language and writing just aren’t your things? Or, in the spirit of open learning, maybe you just need to come at grammar from a new angle. Try the grassroots viral puppet celebrity angle: learn about grammar from Glove and Boots.
To find out more about Open Education Week and the workshops mentioned above, visit the Office of Open Learning’s blog: http://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/openlearning/
Happy Friday!
If you have or are currently working on one, you know the countless (literally, you stop counting) hours you invest into completing your thesis/major research project. How, for the love of brevity, are you supposed to condense that into something summative, engaging, and exciting that you can present to an audience in three minutes or less?
You can and you should, and then you should submit to present at the University of Windsor’s Three Minute Thesis competition. Mostly because it’s a noble endeavour to refine your work so that it can reach a larger audience efficiently. Oh, right: also because you could win $1000 dollars in the process. That’s yours to spend as you see fit. Read more about the contest in the CFP from the Faculty of Graduate Studies below:
2014 Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT®)
We are very excited to announce that the Faculty of Graduate Studies will once again be holding the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition for graduate students in Spring 2014.
The competition challenges graduate students to present their research to a non-specialist audience in an engaging way. Students have just three minutes and one slide to present a compelling presentation on their thesis, major research paper, or dissertation topic and its significance.
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check out the full Competition schedule of events
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Register for the competition
Key dates from the UWindsor 2014 competition:
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