Faculty Development News This Week:
The Hare & Billet Pub, Blackheath, England.
Ann Schroder and her husband, Nick Marcucci, recently travelled to England, so I begged her to share a photo for the blog. Above you see the Hare & Billet Pub, Blackheath, England.
Ann also kindly provided copy to go along with the photo. Read on:
The Hare & Billet Pub is a small, cozy establishment that has been operating since the 1800's. This is a great place to sit over a brew with the newspaper or have the midday Sunday roast dinner and watch the kite flying on the heath. There's also a pub quiz on Sunday evenings.
If all this atmosphere is not enough, the Hare & Billet Pub is also haunted.
Legend has it that, the ghost of a young woman haunts the pub. Why? Apparently, she hung herself after a tragic love affair, and, after all this time, she still has issues.
This place has everything!
Thanks Ann and Nick.
GRANTS
--Grants for Teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development
Grants for Teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development support projects to improve specific areas of humanities education and are intended to serve as national models of excellence. They must draw upon scholarship in the humanities and use scholars and teachers as advisers. NEH is especially interested in projects that offer solutions to problems frequently encountered by teachers
This announcement is a modification to a previous grants notice.
For more information:
HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 21st-CENTURY
--Anytime, Anyplace and the Community College: Ten Emerging Insights
Read the abstract for this article:
Community colleges are a vital part of the larger higher education community in the United States and increasingly around the world. The more than 1,100 U.S. community colleges—not to mention the hundreds of like institutions internationally—have evolved into dynamic, comprehensive institutions that are often known for their resourcefulness in using any available tool or technique to improve and expand learning. From the early days of correspondence courses to the “colleges without walls” movement of the 1970s and 1980s, community college educators have demonstrated a commitment to extending the reach of education in their continuing efforts to make a difference for students and communities.
In today’s higher education world, asynchronous learning is the power tool. Moreover, the associated techniques for using asynchronous learning to support in-class and online instruction are bringing learning to life in new and exciting ways. This edition of the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks examines the role of these anytime, anyplace tools with a special focus on the characteristics of the community college movement—particularly the access, affordability, and outreach elements. Readers are treated to explorations of demographic trends, technological tools, and change-management strategies from well known researchers and practitioners. The conversation often ranges beyond community college, and that is with purpose. Community colleges are part of the broader family of education as well as a piece of the social and political fabric of the communities that they serve and thus deserve to be explored in this more complete context.
Read the article:
This is a 6-page PDF file.
--An Overview of Higher Education in the United States: Diversity, Access, and the Role of the Marketplace
This article describes the major characteristics of American higher education, noting its essential philosophical underpinnings as well as important issues that currently challenge it. An Overview of Higher Education in the United States provides snapshots of how most colleges and universities are governed and financed, their students and faculty, the nature of the curriculum and student life, and the effects of the marketplace on colleges and universities.
This publication originally appeared as a chapter in J. Forest and P. Altbach (Eds.), The International Handbook of Higher Education (two volumes), to be published by Springer (expected publication date October 2005).
An Overview of Higher Education in the United States
This is a 25-page PDF file.
--UC/21: Defining the New Urban Research University
UC21 is the University of Cincinnati's strategic plan for charting its academic course for the 21st century. Its preparation involved months of discussion and consultation at a scope never before seen on campus.
A wide range of university stakeholders -- students, full- and part-time faculty, staff, emeriti, alumni, corporate partners, donors, civic and social service leaders, and neighbors -- were invited to participate.
More than 240 people, including individuals from the community at large, worked together in a series of Town Hall meetings to discuss and draft the university's vision for its future. Additional insight came from over 2,400 people who participated in more than 90 input sessions hosted by UC colleges and units.
This report is interesting for its perspective on one institution's roadmap for the 21st-century.
Download the report for free. This is a 143-page PDF file.
Defining the New Urban Research University
FACULTY PUBLISHING
--Richard Nelson, History Department IHCC
Richard Nelson has recently published an article in The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly: "Family Nationalism in Black and White: Slaves, Swedes, and the Promise of Reconstruction." The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly 55 October 2004):218-42.
And do you know....Richard is the author of Aesthetic Frontiers: The Machiavellian Tradition and the Southern Imagination and A Culture of Confidence: Politics, Performance and the Idea of America. Currently, he is writing a monograph on the role of nationalism in historical thought.
LIBRARIES / KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
--The Weariness of the Flesh: Reflections on the Life of the Mind in an Era of Abundance"
Read the abstract for this article on knowledge management:
The invention of the printing press reduced higher education’s learning-resource scarcity. Access to learning increased, and this democratization of education indirectly contributed to the idea of political democracy in the western world. As part of these political changes, equilibrium was sought between the supply of expertise needed to promote prosperity and the demand for such expertise. This equilibrium has been elusive as the world economy shifts to a reliance on intellectual capital. To complicate matters, we now live in a world of staggering information abundance. How do we mange such boundless information? One answer may lie in viewing the social character of information (how information is used) as fundamental in setting information management agendas. This article presents a holistic approach to information management as one strategy to create effective management of information that starts with the individual and ends with collective knowledge and wisdom.
Read the article:
This is a 10-page PDF document.
--Digitaizationblog
digitizationblog
digitizationblog focuses on digitization and related activities in libraries, archives, and museums, and is a source of news relevent to people who manage and implement digitization projects. Postings about new technologies and tools (particularly software), developments in metadata, and government or consortial initiaves are welcome, as are pointers to new and innovative collections of digitized and born-digital material. Even though there are several excellent sources of digitization news such as the DigiCULT Newsletter and RLG DigiNews (and this blog certainly isn’t intended to replace them), there is a lack of space on the web where implementors can share ideas and useful pointers. digitizationblog is intended to fill part of this gap.
Visit digitizationblog:
I acquired this resource from Catalogablog, 6 December 2004.
--Center for History and New Media
Since 1994, the Center for History and New Media has used digital media and computer technology to democratize history—to incorporate multiple voices, reach diverse audiences, and encourage popular participation in presenting and preserving the past. They sponsor more than a dozen digital history projects and offer free tools and resources for historians.
This site offers several features I plan to implement in my classes. One is an online Survey Builder, which allows you to create and edit surveys. I plan on using it with case study research. The second is Poll Builder, which creates polls that you can embed in your Web pages. You can select the background color for the poll and have up to 5 possible responses.
All of this is free, too! Registration required.
Center for History and New Media
PEDAGOGY
--Book: Providing Culturally Relevant Adult Education: A Challenge for the Twenty-First Century
I just acquired Providing Culturally Relevant Adult Education, an imprint of Jossey-Bass Publishers (1999. It looks like an interesting read:
Chapters:
"Culture as Context for Adult Education: The Need for Culturally Relevant Adult Education"
"Adult Learning: Moving Toward More Inclusive Thories and Practices"
"Giving Voice: Inclusion of African American Students' Polyrhythmic Realities in Adult Basic Education"
"The Quest for Visibility in Adult Education: The Hispanic Experience"
"Navajo Language and Culture in Adult Education"
"Creating a Culturally Relevant Dialogue for African American Adult Educators"
"Culturally Relevant Adult Education: Key Themes and Common Purposes"
TOOLS
--NOID or Batch Identifier Infrastructure
John A. Kunze from the California Digital Library has released noid (nice opague identifer generator commands), a Perl utility for creating persistent, globally unique names for documents, databases, images, vocabulary terms, etc. Documentation, including a tutorial,
This is a 17-page PDF file.
This resource acquired from Digitalizationblog 21 November 2004.
--SingingFish
SingingFish touts itself as a new multimedia search engine.
Try it out:
--Feedspeaker
Feedspeaker translates texts RSS Feeds into MP3 files.
This is so neat. I have been playing around with avatars (talking computer simulations)this term, so this text-to-speech synthesis utility caught my interest.
Feedspeaker is free, however, you might need to download a couple extra bits, if you don't have them ( Microsoft .NET Redistributable 1.1 and Microsoft Speech API {SAPI} 5.0). There is also a sample download of the Slashdot feed MP3'd.
Source acquired from ResearchBuzz12 December 2004.
--Google Suggest
What is Google Suggest? Read the promotional literature:
As you type into the search box, Google Suggest guesses what you're typing and offers suggestions in real time. This is similar to Google's "Did you mean?" feature that offers alternative spellings for your query after you search, except that it works in real time. For example, if you type "bass," Google Suggest might offer a list of refinements that include "bass fishing" or "bass guitar." Similarly, if you type in only part of a word, like "progr," Google Suggest might offer you refinements like "programming," "programming languages," "progesterone," or "progressive." You can choose one by scrolling up or down the list with the arrow keys or mouse.
Google Suggest
In Beta.
--Blogdigger
What is Blogdigger?
Read the literature:
Blogdigger a search engine for blogs. Blogdigger uses state of the art syndication technologies, such as RSS and Atom, to index blog content and make it available for search. Blogdigger also makes all search results available in RSS or Atom, so users can subscribe to keyword searches and automatically be notified, via the News Aggregator of their choice, of new content pertaining to their interests. Blogdigger searches thousands of RSS and Atom feeds, and is built-in to many popular News Aggregators, such as FeedDemon and NetNewsWire.
Blogdigger
Resource acquired: ResearchBuzz 12 December 2004.
--Neighborsearch
NeighborSearch will search for your keyword only in those pages which are linked from the URL you specify. So, you could enter the wordvisit, for example, and the URL http://www.inverhills.edu/, and get a list of pages relevant to visiting Inver Hills Community College. Response time is somewhat slow.
Clever!
JOURNALS
--New Journal: Foucault Studies
Foucault Studies is a new electronic, refereed, international journal. The editors invite submissions and cover art for Issue Number 2, which will appear in May
2005.
Even if you are not one of Foucault's disciples, he is always interesting to read, and you can see how his theoretical frameworks are being applied by scholars today.
The first, inaugural issue is curerently online.
Especially interesting, in my view, is "Defending Society From the Abnormal: The Archaeology of Bio-Power" a review essay of Foucault's lectures "Society Must be Defended"(1975-76) and "Abnormal"(1974-75) by Brad Elliott Stone, Loyola Marymount University.
NOTES
Michel Foucault, “Society Must Be Defended”: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975‐1976, trans. David Macey, English series ed. Arnold I. Davidson (New York: Picador,
2003).
Michel Foucault, Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1974‐1975, trans. Graham Burchell, English series ed. Arnold I. Davidson (New York: Picador, 2003).
--New Journal: Dislocate
What is Dislocate?
Read on:
Dislocate was founded as a new media journal of the arts in 2001 by students in the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota. In the spring of 2003, a group of new students got together to brainstorm ways they could develop a high-quality print journal on campus. They spoke with faculty, staff, and students past and present. The former editors of Dislocate were interested in handing their journal off to new energy. In the fall of 2004, the newly reinvigorated Dislocate completed its first web issue. The first print issue of Dislocate is due out in spring 2005. Dislocate is committed to publishing high-quality work in many different styles and forms. We publish both established and emerging writers in each of the three genres — fiction, nonfiction, and poetry — in which University of Minnesota students specialize. Each issue publishes an interview with a featured writer who has recently visited our campus, alongside a selection of his or her work.
Take a look:
--Newly Discovered Journal: Rizomes
Read the manifesto for this journal:
We at Rhizomes oppose the idea that knowledge must grow in a tree structure from previously accepted ideas. New thinking need not follow established patterns.
Intrigued? Then visit:
Rhizomes
All journal references courtesy of CultureCat, 12 December 2004. Thanks, Clancy!
STUDENTS
--Students with Disabilities in Distance Education: Characteristics, Course Enrollment and Completion, and Support Services
Read the abstract for this article:
This study describes the characteristics, enrollment, and completion rates of studentswith disabilities and the support services they received over a three-year period. Between 1998 and 2001 a total of 604 students with disabilities enrolled in undergraduate courses at Athabasca University, which represents 1.5% of the student population. More than half (52%) had a physical disability, 20% had a learning disability, 20% had a psychological disability, 4% had some form of visual impairment, and 3% had a hearing impairment. Of these students 56.6% completed one or more of the courses in which they were enrolled. Their overall course
completion rate (including early withdrawals) was 45.9%, somewhat lower than that of the general university population. Most students received a variety of types of assistance and accommodation through the Office for Access for Students with Disabilities. Only 7% of students with disabilities received no support services. Students who received more types of support services tended to have somewhat more success in terms of course completions, and certain types of disabilities appeared to be more amendable to certain types of assistance.
Read the article:
Students with Disabilities in Distance Education
This is a 19-page PDF file.
--Improving Lives: State and Federal Programs for Low-Income Adults
This project report address the issue of academic success for low-income adults.
Goals of Project:
To make the case to institutional leaders and policy makers that low-income adults are a vital part of the college student population, who possess unique characteristics, face significant challenges, and require greater attention and assistance than traditional students.
To identify proven policies and programs that help low-income adults meet their educational goals, as well as spotlight existing institutional and public policy barriers that impede the academic progress of these individuals.
To prompt action among institutional and policy leaders to improve the academic success of low-income adults.
Download a free PDF of the report, and sign up for e-mail notification when future project reports are released.
This is a 48-page PDF file.
--MentorNet
MentorNet is the award-winning nonprofit e-mentoring network that addresses the retention and success of those in engineering, science and mathematics, particularly but not exclusively women. Founded in 1997, MentorNet provides highly motivated proteges from many of the world's top colleges and universities with positive, one-on-one, email-based mentoring relationships with mentors from industry and academia. In addition, the MentorNet Community provides opportunities to connect with others from around the world who are interested in diversifying engineering and science
BLOG GRAB BAG
--The Illustrative Art of David Remfry
David Remfry is a talented watercolor artist who recently collaborated with fashion designer Stella McCartney.
Stella McCartney
The Illustrative Art of David Remfry
I acquired this resource from the ever-eclectic BoingBoing, 15 December 2004.
--The Empire that was Russia: Photographs of Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii
The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population.
The photo above is the Church of Saint Dimitri, built in the 1190s in the town of Vladimir, east of Moscow in central European Russia. Note the verticality common to early Russian church architecture.
Ruminators' Ilk will resume 9 January 2005. Have a restful holiday season
Blog editor
Image Credits
--Christmas Tree," Image credit: 320 x 432 pixels - 32kstencilwithstyle.com/ Christmas%20tree.jpg
--"Church of St. Dimitri," http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/architecture.html
--"Cover for Improving Lives http://www.acenet.edu/
--"Cover for Providing Culturally Relevant Adult Education" http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787911674.html
--"Defining the New Urban Research University," http://www.uc.edu/uc21/
--"Dislocate," http://english.cla.umn.edu/creativewriting/dislocate/index.html
--"Foucault Studies" http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucst/index1.html
--"Hare & Billet Pub, Blackheath, England," Ann Schroder
--"Lady in White," 306 x 427 pixels - 7k
www.loadsofodes.co.uk/ html/lady_in_white_sati...
--"Rizomes Logo," http://www.rhizomes.net/issue9/issue9.htm
--"Stella McCartney." http://www.webwombat.com.au/lifestyle/fashion_beauty/images/mccartney1.JPG
--"Untitled," David Remfry, 2001/ Dancers Series/ Watercolor on paper 40'' x
100'' / 102 x 254cm / Diptych http://www.davidremfry.com/
posted by Blog Editor @ 4:41 AM
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