Day two of My Adventures in Ethiopia!
This morning I went to the University and met with students to advise them on their qualitative research projects. The students are so smart and so passionate about their topics! I am always amazed at how much new researchers try to accomplish in one single research study. I'm still so fresh out of my doctoral program that I can certainly relate to them--I wanted to cover so much with my dissertation research, but I soon realized that a narrowly focused and do-able project is best for the doctoral thesis--as one professor told me, the best dissertation is a FINISHED one! LOL I shared that with some of the students today-- of course, no one ever wants to hear that their project should probably be scaled back! So, I told them very gently. :)
We met with the Directors of the Institute for Educational Research at Addis Ababa University. It's so amazing of the breadth of their collaborations and research endeavors. They collaborate with several other reserach organization and an international consortium for educational research. So many possibilities! Speaking of possibilities, my colleague Ann O'Connell gave a fantastic talk about the partnership goals and projects that we hope to engage in via the partnership. I give my talk on Thursday--I will discuss how we can use technology to support our partnership and student engagement efforts.
Today, we visited the Mary Joy Development Association--one of the country's largest NGOs--and it serves hundreds of thousands of people yearly with its health and education inititiaves. This organization has impressed me with its ability to accomplish such meager resources. Mary Joy is one of the organizations we hope to partner with for service learning and community outreach projects. The staff were so wonderful to us--so hospitable and welcoming! We were treated like celebrities--I was so moved and honored and grateful. We toured the compound and clinic. Such an amazing facility! While at Mary Joy, I had authentic Ethiopian food--a type of spongy-like bread product that is native to this country. It's called injera and it is not found anywhere else! It was covered with a flavorful red sauce... My tummy didn't like that sauce--it was very spicy. I drank a lot of coco-cola to keep my mouth from burning! LOL I must be getting old because my tummy doesn't like a lot of different things these days.
I took a ride in a taxi bus they call the "blue devil" and it's hilarious because everyone drives really fast here, but there are not many traffic regulatory mechanisms like traffic light signals, signage and such... funny, I have not been frightened at all while riding along in cars. I just feel like I am completely safe here--the power of my spirit in action!! Also, it is NOT illegal to drink and drive or to have open bottles of liquor in the car while driving! How interesting is that? Speak of liquor... I had "honey wine" tonight and I was told by my university colleague that it's not strong enough to make you tipsy, but how about I'm definitely tipsy right now! LOL Another quick fact--do you know how much gas is here?? Approximately, 1.00USD per liter!! Can you believe that?
While drinking the honey wine, I had a such a wonderful discussion with my colleague about a possible study he wants to conduct--it is on teacher education. There has been some major programmatic changes--I believe that it is a perfect opportunity to use a qualitative study to explore the nature of these changes. What a stimulating experience. It feels great to be able to explore possible research topics with my colleagues at Addis Ababa--this experience made me feel so grateful to have my career.
One thing that has moved me in a very special way is the ability of the Ethiopian community to adjust to their environment and make big things happen with small amounts of resources. I have seen amazing projects and initiatives happening on such small budgets and such... it makes me realize how innovative and creative people can be--and also how wasteful we are as Americans. If we used our resources the way Ethiopians use theirs, we could probably accomplish three times as much as we currently do. I am so moved and honored to be witness to the persistence and tenacity of human beings.
Well, that's it for today's reflection! Pics on the way!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
A New Experience: International Partnership Work in Ethiopia
Again, it's been a while since my last post... I'm having a new experience this week: I am working with an OSU colleague on an Int'l partnership development project and my college and I are visiting Ethiopia for relationship building, teaching, and fact-finding... I just figured this would be a good time to share a little of what I'm experiencing..
So as I write this, it's after 10pm here in Ethiopia! I've had an exciting day, but I'm completely exhausted! I only got an hour nap all day! Can you say jetlag?? LOL
Did you know that 1 US Dollar is equal to 17 Ethiopian Birr?? So when I cashed in 100.00USD for ET Birr today, they gave me 1700. ET Birr!! I spent 600 Birr today and here is what I bought: 5 pieces of handmade jewelry and a light meal for two which consisted of two bowls of soup, two beers, a super huge order of fries and a bottled water... I have 1100 Birr left! So I only actually spent roughly 35 USD on all that stuff... Unbelievable....
I learned that Ethiopia is actually known for its coffee and I had some of the best coffee I've ever had today. I also learned about the history of the University. The University was founded only in the 1950s or so. Their main campus building was actually the palace of their last King! This building houses their Institute for Ethiopian Studies and inside is a wonderful museum that chronicles Ethiopian life--showing notable history and rituals and customs, from birth through death. So interesting... and I've always been intrigued by different cultural norms, rituals, and belief systems, so I've been pondering lots of questions about this type of stuff along the way. So many questions have come up (e.g., questions about gender relations in the university and in the culture in general, how meetings with university admins are approached/arranged, etiquette/decorum and views about the elderly, poverty and the behavior of panhandlers on the street, and so many other things) I plan to share more of my relevations on this later.
I met with a few university administrators today to talk about the partnership. I met some doctoral students that are taking my colleague's class, too. I will be giving a few of them some guidance on their research proposals and I'm planning a brief workshop (on conceptualizing research questions) for friday morning--this idea just came up over dinner tonight when we realized some of the students needed help with this. So much to do!
I learned so much today, my mind is overflowing... well, I just wanted to share a little... I have a few pics to post, but I'm in bed now, so I'm gonna post them tomorrow. More updates to come!
So as I write this, it's after 10pm here in Ethiopia! I've had an exciting day, but I'm completely exhausted! I only got an hour nap all day! Can you say jetlag?? LOL
Did you know that 1 US Dollar is equal to 17 Ethiopian Birr?? So when I cashed in 100.00USD for ET Birr today, they gave me 1700. ET Birr!! I spent 600 Birr today and here is what I bought: 5 pieces of handmade jewelry and a light meal for two which consisted of two bowls of soup, two beers, a super huge order of fries and a bottled water... I have 1100 Birr left! So I only actually spent roughly 35 USD on all that stuff... Unbelievable....
I learned that Ethiopia is actually known for its coffee and I had some of the best coffee I've ever had today. I also learned about the history of the University. The University was founded only in the 1950s or so. Their main campus building was actually the palace of their last King! This building houses their Institute for Ethiopian Studies and inside is a wonderful museum that chronicles Ethiopian life--showing notable history and rituals and customs, from birth through death. So interesting... and I've always been intrigued by different cultural norms, rituals, and belief systems, so I've been pondering lots of questions about this type of stuff along the way. So many questions have come up (e.g., questions about gender relations in the university and in the culture in general, how meetings with university admins are approached/arranged, etiquette/decorum and views about the elderly, poverty and the behavior of panhandlers on the street, and so many other things) I plan to share more of my relevations on this later.
I met with a few university administrators today to talk about the partnership. I met some doctoral students that are taking my colleague's class, too. I will be giving a few of them some guidance on their research proposals and I'm planning a brief workshop (on conceptualizing research questions) for friday morning--this idea just came up over dinner tonight when we realized some of the students needed help with this. So much to do!
I learned so much today, my mind is overflowing... well, I just wanted to share a little... I have a few pics to post, but I'm in bed now, so I'm gonna post them tomorrow. More updates to come!
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
The Time Has Come...
...for me to stop neglecting this space!
Hi all! I have a couple of new endeavors on the horizon. The one that is most heavily on my mind right now is my intro stats class. Some of you may know (well, actually, many of you may NOT know) that I taught a full, stand-alone intro stats class for the first time last summer and that it was a struggle (and that's putting it mildy). Needless to say, no one was happy with the way the class turned out. It's tough to relive this horror, but I must provide context, so please bear with me...
I have suffered with math anxiety since junior high school, but after successfully navigating many math and stats classes during undergrad and grad school, tutoring folks on stats, and teaching snippets of it as a part of research methods courses (without taking any type of anti-anxiety meds), I felt like I had beat my anxiety. So, back last year, I had actually looked forward to teaching that intro stats class last summer. Well... in retrospect, I think teaching a full-fledged stats class (in the traditional, commonly implemented approach) simply caused a relapse in my math-related anxiety--of course, teaching a stand-alone course is way different than taking a course or tutoring someone. To make a long story short, by the end of that summer, I was ready to drink myself into a stupor and pass out on my living room floor. Luckily, I fought back the urge... until, of course, I got my course evaluations--which were the worse I'd seen since 2004 (I started teaching in 1999, by the way, and I had never gotten evals that poor even then).
So, this time around I made a drastic decision--I decided to teach the course again. Yes. I was determined! This stats course was NOT going to beat me, dag-nabbit! Very soon after making that decision, I also decided that I was going to use a completely different approach--I was going to turn that course over on its head... yes, indeedy. How, you ask? Well, I'd recently heard of this teaching approached called the "flipped classroom" that these two high school science teachers had begun using (to learn more: http://youtu.be/v-y9vR7YTak) and then the eiphany hit me--that's the answer!
Give my lectures to my students before class, so that they can watch them at home, at their own pace and re-watch as necessary. Give them the 'homework" problems to do in the classroom with me and their classmates present. We could use the classroom to focus on reiteration, elaboration, and application of concepts. We could use class time to get students talking and working together to comprehend the concepts and make deep applications of stats to research. We could encourage collaboration through every aspect of the course (except exams, of course), so that students do not have to feel that they are struggling alone. On top of all of that, not having to lecture in class will free me up to provide that "just-in-time" coaching and interact with my students in small, intimate groups--so I can get to know their individual areas of strength and weakness. And the in-class practices will help me know how students are learning and what I need to re-teach or review. WOW! This was it! This was my solution... *lets out excited sigh of relief*
Soooo... I had an idea for what to do. I also decided that I need to teach in a way that matched my lively, happy-go-lucky, and fun-loving personality (I know, I'm pushing it) and I figured I could indulge the performer in me through recording those videos and selecting materials that matched. I selected Andy Field's award-winning stats text, Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/field3e/) which is the ONLY stats book I've ever read that actually got a chuckle out of me as soon as I opened it. Yes, the humor can be a bit crude (after all, his website is http://www.statisticshell.com/, but it's stats so what do you expect?), but darnit, it's a 7 week stats course during SUMMER--we need to laugh... desperately.
So... now fast forward to today... we are in the third week of class. The students seem very, very happy with how things are going. They like the videos and being able to watch them at home. I am peaceful and content (though I drastically understimated how long it would take me to script my video lectures, so I'm struggling a bit to keep up) and able to rest, when I do get a chance to actually make an attempt at sleeping. And most important, my students are learning!! They are understanding the concepts--the questions they ask in class show me that they come prepared and are truly processing the content. Their work in class shows me that they are able to make applications and teach each other. They are truly learning. So far, this has been a great success!
Overall, things are pretty peachy, but this process is not without its challenges... for example, I drastically underestimated how long it would take me to prepare the video scripts and get the video lectures ready for them, so I am struggling to keep up and have been since day one. Also, this past Friday, we were hit by some crazy damaging thunderstorms that knocked out power across the state. Most of my students were NOT able to get work done and I am now even more behind with my preparations--I've learned that extenuating circumstances like these wreak pure havoc on this style of teaching that relies so heavily on technology and the Internet (my videos are streamed). So, I will be using my next few blog posts to share about these challenges, the wonderful accomplishments of my students, and my personal/professional lessons learned from this experience.
I am ever so glad I listened to my mom (a quantitative research Goddess in her own right) when she said, "Nawww, Trace, don't give up after teaching it just once. You gotta try it at least ONE more time!" She just never stops being right.
Until next time (and I promise it won't be six months from now)!!
Dr. Tra
Hi all! I have a couple of new endeavors on the horizon. The one that is most heavily on my mind right now is my intro stats class. Some of you may know (well, actually, many of you may NOT know) that I taught a full, stand-alone intro stats class for the first time last summer and that it was a struggle (and that's putting it mildy). Needless to say, no one was happy with the way the class turned out. It's tough to relive this horror, but I must provide context, so please bear with me...
I have suffered with math anxiety since junior high school, but after successfully navigating many math and stats classes during undergrad and grad school, tutoring folks on stats, and teaching snippets of it as a part of research methods courses (without taking any type of anti-anxiety meds), I felt like I had beat my anxiety. So, back last year, I had actually looked forward to teaching that intro stats class last summer. Well... in retrospect, I think teaching a full-fledged stats class (in the traditional, commonly implemented approach) simply caused a relapse in my math-related anxiety--of course, teaching a stand-alone course is way different than taking a course or tutoring someone. To make a long story short, by the end of that summer, I was ready to drink myself into a stupor and pass out on my living room floor. Luckily, I fought back the urge... until, of course, I got my course evaluations--which were the worse I'd seen since 2004 (I started teaching in 1999, by the way, and I had never gotten evals that poor even then).
So, this time around I made a drastic decision--I decided to teach the course again. Yes. I was determined! This stats course was NOT going to beat me, dag-nabbit! Very soon after making that decision, I also decided that I was going to use a completely different approach--I was going to turn that course over on its head... yes, indeedy. How, you ask? Well, I'd recently heard of this teaching approached called the "flipped classroom" that these two high school science teachers had begun using (to learn more: http://youtu.be/v-y9vR7YTak) and then the eiphany hit me--that's the answer!
Give my lectures to my students before class, so that they can watch them at home, at their own pace and re-watch as necessary. Give them the 'homework" problems to do in the classroom with me and their classmates present. We could use the classroom to focus on reiteration, elaboration, and application of concepts. We could use class time to get students talking and working together to comprehend the concepts and make deep applications of stats to research. We could encourage collaboration through every aspect of the course (except exams, of course), so that students do not have to feel that they are struggling alone. On top of all of that, not having to lecture in class will free me up to provide that "just-in-time" coaching and interact with my students in small, intimate groups--so I can get to know their individual areas of strength and weakness. And the in-class practices will help me know how students are learning and what I need to re-teach or review. WOW! This was it! This was my solution... *lets out excited sigh of relief*
Soooo... I had an idea for what to do. I also decided that I need to teach in a way that matched my lively, happy-go-lucky, and fun-loving personality (I know, I'm pushing it) and I figured I could indulge the performer in me through recording those videos and selecting materials that matched. I selected Andy Field's award-winning stats text, Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/field3e/) which is the ONLY stats book I've ever read that actually got a chuckle out of me as soon as I opened it. Yes, the humor can be a bit crude (after all, his website is http://www.statisticshell.com/, but it's stats so what do you expect?), but darnit, it's a 7 week stats course during SUMMER--we need to laugh... desperately.
So... now fast forward to today... we are in the third week of class. The students seem very, very happy with how things are going. They like the videos and being able to watch them at home. I am peaceful and content (though I drastically understimated how long it would take me to script my video lectures, so I'm struggling a bit to keep up) and able to rest, when I do get a chance to actually make an attempt at sleeping. And most important, my students are learning!! They are understanding the concepts--the questions they ask in class show me that they come prepared and are truly processing the content. Their work in class shows me that they are able to make applications and teach each other. They are truly learning. So far, this has been a great success!
Overall, things are pretty peachy, but this process is not without its challenges... for example, I drastically underestimated how long it would take me to prepare the video scripts and get the video lectures ready for them, so I am struggling to keep up and have been since day one. Also, this past Friday, we were hit by some crazy damaging thunderstorms that knocked out power across the state. Most of my students were NOT able to get work done and I am now even more behind with my preparations--I've learned that extenuating circumstances like these wreak pure havoc on this style of teaching that relies so heavily on technology and the Internet (my videos are streamed). So, I will be using my next few blog posts to share about these challenges, the wonderful accomplishments of my students, and my personal/professional lessons learned from this experience.
I am ever so glad I listened to my mom (a quantitative research Goddess in her own right) when she said, "Nawww, Trace, don't give up after teaching it just once. You gotta try it at least ONE more time!" She just never stops being right.
Until next time (and I promise it won't be six months from now)!!
Dr. Tra
Friday, January 13, 2012
Social Media Terms of Service--Do They Restrict or Protect?
How well do any of us truly understand Terms of Service (ToS) policies for the social media services we use? Be honest. Do you actually read them?? I'll bet you don't. I barely read them--I skim at most, and that's on a really good day. Well, when we just click "agree" and start posting, we have no idea what we're agreeing to do (or not do) by using the service. Most of the time, that's just fine. We're using these services in the spirit of the typical, honest, clean-cut user anyway (well... most of us are), so it's all good. We're not going to do anything that would cause the company to sue us or hold us liable for breaking any of their rules. However, sometimes the policies in the ToS may be there to help protect us--not to protect the owners of the service. This is especially true in the case of kids using social media services.
A while back I read an article (Boyd, et al., 2011) that reports statistics on how many kids under age 13 sign up for accounts on social media services, such as Facebook, despite Terms of Service agreements that contain policies to protect these youngsters under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 (http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm). Further, the article explains that not only do many parents know about their kids using sites like Facebook, they sometimes help them set up the accounts (by letting them lie about their age)--not realizing that by ignoring Facebook's policy on this, they are circumventing the Act that was designed to protect their kids.
Well, this is the thing...as a parent of 19 year old and 9 year old sons (I know what you're thinking... she is either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid for having kids that far apart--I prefer to think I'm the latter :), I was dealing with the troubling quandary of how to manage my oldest son's use of social media sites back when MySpace first became all the rave (which, by the way, looks drastically different than it did back in the day; check it out: http://www.myspace.com/). My response to finding that he had an account--realizing that I wouldn't be able to restrict him from it anyway--was to act as if I was so intrigued by MySpace that I would like him to please, PLEASE create an account for Momma! It worked. He was happy to teach me something about which I knew nothing (or so he thought) and he friended me immediately, so now I could see what he posted and use selected opportunities as "teachable moments" to help him learn how to use the medium responsibly and safely.
Well, this worked for me. I am against censorship for various reasons--I opt instead for learning more about the media my kids are consuming and teaching them about being critical consumers of this media. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it is more work than my mom experienced back in the days of cassette tapes. And yes, it is worth it. Back in the day, when we had access to inappropriate media, my mom just took it from us and threw it away. Unless we had enough allowance money left over to by a new cassette or VHS tape, it was a wrap. That was it. This parenting technique is a no-go in today's world of burned/bootlegged media on CD-R/DVD-R and endless sharing of computer media files. So... today's digital parents have to be a little more strategic... and creative... and downright persistent. Brute force just isn't gonna work. Not anymore. Further, isn't it best for our kids that we teach them about all that exists in the world and about how to maintain a healthy mental diet anyway? Anyhoo... I digress.
Well, this is our burden, digital parents and 21st century educators. We may want to pay a little more attention to the ToS guidelines for our social media services, perhaps urge our kids to know about the agreement they are making before using the services, and help them to understand why some of those policies are there. Let's think about why the COPPA was created and how this law serves us. Knowing more can mean doing better in this case. Give it a try--the next time you're on Facebook, go on over to their Terms (https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms?ref=pf) and see what's you've been missing.
Well, this is our burden, digital parents and 21st century educators. We may want to pay a little more attention to the ToS guidelines for our social media services, perhaps urge our kids to know about the agreement they are making before using the services, and help them to understand why some of those policies are there. Let's think about why the COPPA was created and how this law serves us. Knowing more can mean doing better in this case. Give it a try--the next time you're on Facebook, go on over to their Terms (https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms?ref=pf) and see what's you've been missing.
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