My Teaching & Learning Philosophy

Warhol's Light Bulbs by zetson.Several years ago, a colleague shared with me this quotation by longshoreman and philosopher Eric Hoffer:

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

This quotation struck a chord with me. Put simply, my overarching goal in teaching is to ensure that our world has more learners than learned. I am fortunate to be in a role in life where I can have an impact on our future world leaders.

What do I expect from my students?

  • Prior to the class when we discuss them, students should be fully read on all of the chapters (or other reading assignments) and to be ready to discuss any part of the readings.
  • Students should raise questions when they are uncertain of the material we are discussing, including questions that I will have no easy (“pat”) answer for.
  • Students should make every effort to gain the most value that they can from the class. They should want to become independent learners.
  • Students should be responsible for helping to creative a positive, respectful and encouraging learning environment with their peers.
  • Students must comply with the university’s code of conduct.
  • Students should become aware of not only how what happens in the world (current events) impacts them, but also how what they do impacts the world. Campus is not a cocoon.

And what can my students expect from me?

  • Because I am aware that students learn in many different ways, I will not lecture at my students daily from behind a raised podium. Instead, I will provide instruction to them in an interactive manner, even in online courses. In a typical week, students will experience partner discussions, small group discussions, Internet scavenger hunts, and even crossword puzzles, in addition to short (less than 20 minute) lecturettes. “Death by PowerPoint” will not happen in my class.
  • I will provide them with the most current information I have available. I stay current on topics and trends in the industry.
  • I will stay abreast of current technology and apply it in the classroom whenever it adds to the learning experience. (Examples include current software, learning management systems, podcasts and blogs, to name a few.)
  • I will make every effort to help guide students through the issues that they raise, and we will seek resolution together.
  • I discuss both ethics and diversity as part of the curriculum in each course I teach.
  • I will make every effort I can to make sure that students understand the issues and concepts my courses present.
  • When I have positive feedback to share, I will share it openly in the classroom and call attention to students by name in the process. My goal in this is to enhance or maintain the students’ self-esteem, not to break it down. There are plenty of other places in the world where their self-esteem may be diminished. Constructive criticism will still be provided to students, but not by name in front of a whole class.
  • I truly adore those “lightbulb moments,” when I can see the metaphorical lightbulb go on above my students’ heads.
  • I expect for us to have fun in class. Laughter and learning go hand in hand in my book. If we are not enjoying ourselves in class, there’s something amiss.
  • And perhaps most importantly, I will listen to my students so that I can learn from them, too.

Questions? As always,

barbara_is_listening

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66814335@N00/3036254720/

Informal Methods of Observing People

We’ll be We discussed discussing informal methods of observing people in today’s PRCA 4330 (PR Research) class.

Traits of a Good Interviewer

In class, we also brainstormed traits of a “good interviewer.” I combined the lists the class developed with a little crowdsourcing on Twitter, and here’s what we came up with:

good interviewer

 

NOTE: The video we watched in class was “The Science of Selling,” from Chapter 4 of The Persuaders, a Frontline series on PBS. Thanks to Corinne Weisgerber for the suggestion.

PRCA 3339 :: Getting Started With WordPress

 

So, you signed up for an account at WordPress, and you added an About page. Now what’s next?

FIRST: Let me know your blog address by replying to this post with a comment, sharing your name and blog address.

NEXT: How do you go about learning more to create a blog that reflects your personality and style?

Fortunately, WordPress offers many FAQ screencasts to help you with the step-by-step instructions. Here are a few of the best ones to help you get started on the right foot:

And though you may have a good handle on the technical aspects of blogging, remember that the technical side is only part of the blogging equation. Corinne Weisgerber, a professor at St. Edward’s University and fellow PROpenMic member, created this presentation for her Social Media for PR class. The emphasis? How blogging can help you create your personal brand online. Take a look. It’s worth the time.

 

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: commenting identity)

 

Photo Credit: “1/365” uploaded to Flickr by PhotoJonny

A College Student’s Recipe for Reading Research Articles

In Monday’s PRCA 4330 (PR Research) class, we are discussing using secondary and historical research. Purdue University’s Mihaela Vorvoreanu helps simplify this process in a recent post on her PRConnections blog.With her permission, I adapted her blog post to a PPT. If you download the PPT, you can see the relevant sections of her blog post in the Notes area.

The Joshua Tree Epiphany & CRAP :: Principles of Effective Design

In Friday’s PRCA 3339 (PR Publications) course, we discussed author Robin Williams‘ concept of the Joshua Tree Epiphany and how CRAP can help us remember effective design principles. 

Many thanks to Saul Greenberg for developing the original PPT that I based this upon.

PRCA 3711/4711 Trade Book Review Assignment

Stacked by Thomas Hawk.For my PRCA 3711/4711 Students:

One of our assignments this semester is for you to read and review a trade book on public relations. In the left sidebar of this blog is a list of books for you to choose from. (You can also see this complete list at my Amazon.com Public Relations Trade Books page that I created for you.)

Your book review will take the form of a 5-minute presentation in class. For your presentation, create a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation. Rely more on images to tell your story than bullet points. (We’ll discuss more in class about how not to create a “Death by PowerPoint” slidedeck.)

Your presentation should include:

  • Opening slide should include an image of the book’s cover
  • Short bio of the author(s) of the book (perhaps with a photo of the author)
  • What did you learn by reading this book?
  • What surprised you in this book?
  • What do you want to learn more about, now that this book has piqued your interest?
  • Would you recommend other students to also read this book? Why or why not?

Once you choose the book, reply with a comment to this blog post so that you can “claim” the book for yourself; unless you are working in pairs, only one student should review each book on the list.  (If you work in pairs, both individuals will earn the same grade on the assignment.)

Optional:

  • If you have a blog (and if not, why not?), please consider uploading your book review to SlideShare and embedding the slides in your blog.
  • If you’re using Twitter, search for the authors of your book there and connect with them. You may be surprised how willing most of them are to reply to you when you @ them.
  • Leave a comment about your thoughts on the book on the author’s blog.

Questions about this assignment?

barbara_is_listening

What is research: Initial thoughts from PRCA 4330

In today’s PR Research class, we discussed the students’ perceptions of what research is. I captured the essence of their thoughts (meaning I typed *most* of what I heard them say) and made a word cloud of it using Wordle. The words they said most frequently showed up larger, as in most word clouds.

research wordle

At the end of the semester, we’ll check back and see if their thoughts about research have changed.

PRCA 4330 Article Review

For my PRCA 4330 Public Relations Research class:Reading Well by moriza.

Review an academic article on public relations that appears in a peer-reviewed journal. Your review is due by midnight on Tuesday, September 1. Recommended journals include (but aren’t limited to):

Choose the article you will review by August 26 at class time, and reply with a comment to this blog post with your article choice. Use APA works cited style to tell me which article you will review.

Your 500-word minimum review could take the following form:

  • What did you learn from reading the article?
  • What surprised you in the article?
  • What do you want to know more about, now that you’ve read the article?

It is acceptable to use first person for this review. Be sure to cite your source–in text as well as in your reference section–in proper APA format. (Using Citation Machine might be helpful.) This assignment is worth 100 of your 1000 points in PRCA 4330.

Turn this assignment in using GeorgiaVIEW by midnight on Tuesday,  September 1. No hard copy is needed.

UPDATE: On her PRConnections blog, Purdue University’s Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu shares her tips for how to read a research article. This is a MUST read. See the PPT version of her blog post here at Public Relations Matters, also.

Questions? You know where to find me . . .

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/1704875109/