tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21977354513375418382024-03-14T12:19:27.051+00:00ShirleyKnotPersonal Ramblings reflecting the diverse threads of the life of a common or garden academic living in Southern England. Call me an edublogger. I am interested in Web Science, change, student learning, educational innovation through the social and semnatic web, digital ethnography, Open Educational Resources (OER)and all things higher education. All works Commercial Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlikeSuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-47162649763726058802016-03-08T12:57:00.001+00:002016-03-08T13:00:27.205+00:00Where to publish?Of course there is no point in writing publications if you don't get them published.<br />
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Some good folk on the <a href="http://elearningforum.management.dal.ca/index.php/2015/06/25/top-journals-for-elearning-research/">e-learning and virtual teams blog</a> have done a systematic review</div>
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Their listing is as follows</div>
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<a href="http://elearningforum.management.dal.ca/wp-content/uploads/IF%20graph.png"><img alt="IF graph" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-37" src="http://elearningforum.management.dal.ca/wp-content/uploads/IF%20graph.png" height="550" scale="0" width="1199" /></a><br />
After conducting a systematic literature search across disciplines,
our researchers have identified roughly 1,600 relevant academic journal
articles, conference proceedings, and dissertations on e-learning and
virtual teams published in the past decade. Here is a complete list of
the most highly-cited and relevant academic journals for e-learning
research, including the top Open Access journals (<a href="http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="14" scale="0" src="https://mannlib.cornell.edu/files/imagecache/news-full/images/news/Open-Access360.jpg.crop_display.jpg" width="14" /></a>)<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-in-human-behavior/" target="_blank"> Computers in Human Behavior </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-and-education/" target="_blank"> Computers & Education </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-internet-and-higher-education/" target="_blank"> Internet and Higher Education</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/information-and-management/" target="_blank"> Information & Management</a></li>
<li><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291365-2729" target="_blank"> Journal of Computer Assisted Learning</a></li>
<li><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291467-8535" target="_blank"> British Journal of Educational Technology</a></li>
<li><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291467-8535" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="14" scale="0" src="https://mannlib.cornell.edu/files/imagecache/news-full/images/news/Open-Access360.jpg.crop_display.jpg" width="14" /></a><a href="http://www.ifets.info/issues.php" target="_blank"> Educational Technology & Society</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cdie20#.VYxU80bMJnA" target="_blank"> Distance Education </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="14" scale="0" src="https://mannlib.cornell.edu/files/imagecache/news-full/images/news/Open-Access360.jpg.crop_display.jpg" width="14" /> International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning</a></li>
<li><a href="http://jrnledcompresearch.com/index.php/jecr" target="_blank"> Journal of Educational Computing Research </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="14" scale="0" src="https://mannlib.cornell.edu/files/imagecache/news-full/images/news/Open-Access360.jpg.crop_display.jpg" width="14" /></a><a href="http://ascilite.org.au/ajet/submission/index.php/AJET/issue/current" target="_blank"> Australasian Journal of Educational Technology</a></li>
</ol>
<br />
The Impact Factor of a journal reflects the average number of
citations an article in that journal receives. This data was collected
using the <a href="http://thomsonreuters.com/en/products-services/scholarly-scientific-research/research-management-and-evaluation/journal-citation-reports.html" target="_blank">Journal Citation Reports</a> from Thompson Reuters.</div>
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Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-43983015980500057412016-03-04T16:00:00.001+00:002016-03-04T16:00:23.282+00:00Write on messageI was delighted to find this video on you tube provides some compelling real world backing for the approaches I am advocating in Room to Write <div><a href="http://youtu.be/g3dkRsTqdDA">http://youtu.be/g3dkRsTqdDA</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-62814944556387089722016-03-04T13:46:00.001+00:002016-03-04T13:50:17.360+00:00Room to writeAs you can see writing is becoming a bit of a theme for me at the moment. <div><br><div>We are putting our feet in the water tentatively with a regular writing date which fortnight my will coincide with #SUWT (shut up and write Tuesday, for the initiated). </div></div><div><br></div><div>Open to all comers the only condition is that you want to write or do some writing related task. </div><div><br></div><div>The idea is that by determining a day long slot writing for discussion and feedback participants can find a time that suits them to join the group.</div><div><br></div><div>The processes incorporated in the meetings are being drawn from a repertoire of proven approaches based on existing research and observations drawn from academic and commercial contexts. </div><div><br></div><div>Some of the approaches may well challenge existing assumptions about how to go about writing. In many ways that is what makes this initiative interesting. </div><div><br></div><div>Our objectives are as follows</div><div>Discover joy and sociability in writing</div><div>Increase personal writing productivity</div><div>Overcome block and barriers</div><div>Have fun</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-11189955259763641712016-02-26T16:49:00.001+00:002016-02-26T17:06:01.827+00:00Writing tools and writing poolsI have been spending a bit of time reading and thinking about writing, as well as actually doing some of the stuff. <div>I have been listening to an audiobook of Dorothea Brande, and doing my 750 words each day. </div><div><br></div><div>I have also been reading Julia Cameron, the creative way, and quite a lot of Boice, especially professors as writers, but also some of his papers. </div><div><br></div><div>I have also been doing my fair bit of writing and editing, so much that I had to do some hand saving dictation yesterday evening, </div><div><br></div><div>Next week I will be upping the ante slightly, by starting off my writing Tuesday's. I am booking a room each Tuesday, ordering in tea, coffee fruit and lunch, and then inviting all and sundry to join me for writing tasks through the day. </div><div><br></div><div>On top of that I am going to take a closer look at Bouce's plan for generative writing, and combine it with Brande's idea of a daily timetabled short writing slot, in addition to my lately rather peripatetic, "morning pages' </div><div>So... That is the plan, let's see how it goes. </div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-83312551558516991332016-02-13T12:04:00.001+00:002016-02-15T07:09:50.077+00:00Finding the flow<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mihaly</span> Csikszentmihalyi's research into the concept of flow have, to my mind, echoes in many other models of human behaviour. </span><div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am much interested in hypnosis and the ability to identify, create, access and replicate 'states'. I find transcripts or accounts of hypnotic interventions fascinating and have been particularly inspired by the work of Milton Erikson. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My recent thoughts and observations are stimulated by learning and teaching about writing, and in practicing and exploring writing myself. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They are also stimulated by the practice of running to which I have returned with renewed determination. Thus my days have shape imposed by goals and objectives to write, to run and to understand and live well. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What I observe are many different possible routes to being and understanding, the better known being selected or gaining popularity when their values also chime with the dominant or preferred values of the 'local' cultures. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thus writing down the bones- a zen inflected meditation on writing reflects the era when author Natalie Goldberg made choices and became a zen practitioner and student. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Kerouac's rules for writers, came from his era. Hippy values, New Romantics, beatniks, teddy boys, macrobiotics, Pilates, low carb, kinesthetics, NLP, Dukan, Picketty, anti austerity, neo liberalism, mindfulness, spiritualism, temperance, encounter, psycho-dynamics, Methodism, buddism each belief set, trend or phase has a role as a shorthand of communication. But each shorthand can be either a help or a hindrance to communication. It is a local phenomenon in time, space and place. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I use local rather particularly, in the sense of proximate/proximal. The system of ideas which is the closest to an individual at any time. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Erikson was famous for making change happen by going with the flow but also across the flow. His handshake induction brought about trance by interrupting routine interactions. Yet novice hypnotised most often fail when they do not effectively mirror and amplify the patterns of their subjects. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If mass movements succeed it is perhaps because they do succeed in mirroring and amplifying widely held beliefs, amplified either by media or circumstance. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Csikszentmihalyi argues that young people can find flow through music and it seems to me that the younger we are the smaller will be the range of possible proximate cultures or practices through which to access flow. The observation is that they find that for themselves. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In teaching there is an assumption that the teacher will find things for the stident. Furthermore, 'good' teaching will be obvious because all that is needed is found and the students are happy with the outcome. The challenge, for a teacher, I believe, is trying to motivate or communicate possible routes to flow to many individuals, each of a different generation or culture. How can I find points of common understanding which can serve as channels for real communication. How will each one find their state of flow? </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Here I use the term generation only to indicate difference - and I am not totally happy with the word. It implies a false difference mediate by age. Yet our real age is surely a proxy for our experience, and within and across generations such age will vary widely. Recognising individual and common h</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">umanity might be better. Humanity is something we all hold in common. It is the most valuable communication channel. But then I stumble on culture and cultural experience. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I read what some people find inspirational </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And I observe, that for me, like a clumsy hypnotic script, they do not quite work. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Earl Nightingale, the simplest secret .. Yes .. But. Tom Peters, yes but, Virginia Wolf, yes but, Karl Marx, yes but always I find , I don't hold the same set of values, or assumptions in common. </span></div><div><br></div></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I despair of being an English speaker because too much of what I read or watch or hear is overladen with alien 'US' cultural references and assumptions. And I tire of the adjustments and baulk at the imperialism and understand, perhaps, other antagonisms that exist. But then again, I understand and can translate. After all I am a woman living in a world predicated on men's assumptions- which is probably even more tiresome. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am accomplished, I know how to use alien texts, but will my students ..And I am reminded that in the classroom I need to be an Erikson, expertly mirroring and modelling but also interrupting to make change happen. </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> And most importantly, how will I ever find out. </span></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-92199737029389419582016-02-12T13:17:00.001+00:002016-02-12T13:17:45.838+00:00What went wrong?A good few years ago I ran a workshop titled What Went Wrong. The essential premise was that if we are researching interventions that make change happen we need to record and analyse our failures as much as if not more carefully than our success.<div>However, academia and popular media likes heroic narrative and if failure is recorded it is too often used as a whipping boy. </div><div>The paradox for academia and research is that our business is learning, and any simple observation of human learning will tell us that we appear to be built to learn from failure. </div><div>Perhaps I should turn the title on its head and call it Make More Mistakes. I am sent back to reconsider the quote of William McIlvanney on honour and success. A man who wrote the books he wanted keeping his character true rather than signing a book series. I am also reflecting on Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones with the emphasis she places on practice writing. Most of all I am thinking about our students who make mistakes and sometimes find that hard to accept. Or who are terrified of making mistakes before the event - exam stress, life stress. </div><div>Is academia suffering from a bad case of the Emperors Clothes? We are writing failure out of the story and the cost is progress. Alongside we breed a culture of ungiving arrogance. The implicit knowledge that failure exists and has s purpose makes liars of us all, and out university culture is much the poorer for that lie. </div><div><br></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-63507984863042182962016-01-15T21:47:00.001+00:002016-01-15T21:56:12.611+00:00Elbowing writing problems out of the way
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<p><span style="font-size: 10.000000pt; font-family: 'Times'"><br></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One omission from my recent post on writing and research was any reference to the work of Peter Elbow. He is probably best known for his promotion of free writing but he also has a great deal</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> to say about the role of our understanding and use of spoken language. Spoken language, he argues, can be used as a tool to help us write more clearly particularly when it comes to harnessing it for editing existing texts. I particularly like this quotation from his 2013</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> paper "Using careless speech for careful, well crafted writing – whatever its style". </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times;">"We can’t count on speech (or freewriting) to yield crisp
clear sentences, but when we harness the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times; font-style: italic;">resources </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times;">of speech by reading aloud to
revise, we can count on the intonational habits of the mouth and ear to produce
sentences that are stronger and clearer than are often produced when people try to
write with care". </span></p><p>Ironically I find his writing a little dense in parts and often skip over parts of the text but that is a minor issue, because in my experience what he is saying is eminently </p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Elbow, Peter (2013) "Using Careless Speech for Careful, Well-Crafted Writing— Whatever Its Style," <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.618em; word-wrap: break-word;">The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning</em>: Vol. 19: Iss. 1, Article 3. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.618em; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Available at: http://trace.tennessee.edu/jaepl/vol19/iss1/3</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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</div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-58171191036072785002016-01-15T11:05:00.001+00:002016-01-15T11:05:13.115+00:00Honour and success<div><br></div>The laidlaw trilogy, and indeed all the books of William McIlvanney offer philosophy as well as detection, they are why done it's rather than we done its. <div>Laidlaw is a very moral man, well educated and reflective. I was particularly heartened by Mcillvanney's comment. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEishf2IUUw-TqakzDtzVGItrk-7wTBVlLwecbknhD5K6pFdaW_YmlW-b-VHrXxBw96V5CGdFA5KnsHauZpDb1e4oB9d9Aafg0C27NApTvV2h8RXYibMOYEtL8rLbU5cnCaIT1IEZdNfeCU/s640/blogger-image--1893219439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEishf2IUUw-TqakzDtzVGItrk-7wTBVlLwecbknhD5K6pFdaW_YmlW-b-VHrXxBw96V5CGdFA5KnsHauZpDb1e4oB9d9Aafg0C27NApTvV2h8RXYibMOYEtL8rLbU5cnCaIT1IEZdNfeCU/s640/blogger-image--1893219439.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I think that we all benefit when honour and acting honourable are privileged over pursuing personal success. </div><br></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-27996583303560750992016-01-13T18:53:00.000+00:002016-01-13T18:55:38.842+00:00Writing as research and other ideasI have been doing a lot of thinking and writing about writing just recently.<br />
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Just about every module that I teach includes some aspect of writing, I supervise phd students who have to write a lot, and I spend a great deal of my own time thinking and writing as well. So anything which can make the process more enjoyable and more productive has to be a good idea, and if I can find ideas and share those ideas so much the better.<br />
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I can't quite recall what started me on this latest expedition back into the territory of writing and thinking. I suspect that I came across ideas in a book for research supervisors supporting PhD students (Kamler and Thompson, 2014).<br />
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I found the book pretty heavy going overall, that they were gems within the text and the concluding chapter was particularly useful from my point of view. I think it was this edition, downloaded with great pain as an e-book from the University library, that reminded me of the concept of writing as research (more of which in another post) .<br />
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I also recall that I read in <a href="http://gu.com/p/4efj9/sbl">weekend edition of the newspaper </a>an article about Robert Boice's famous book a How writers journey to comfort and fluency (Boice, 1974). The main issue with this book is that it costs at least £65 and you can be pretty hard to come by.<br />
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However being a resourceful academic I made use of that ultimate research tool, the search engine, and found myself a few related articles which I have collected together in my Mendeley group, a few of which are referenced at the bottom of this piece.<br />
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One by Boice which made a lasting impression on me, brought together sources as diverse as hypnosis, spiritualism and surrealism - if you are ever come across information on automatic writing, you are advised to take note of this quote<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32Pw5IWkkmR-bV89XyajXlDKJCVbkTo0BlKpAoHear3ZKfOWJjE2W_ZRJ0TFca9sUT-tH_oDEI2yDNd7hj7l-Iveej_Dpp64BtjFTzNfWFjkZ6fTPx2qXRJCqZ1Jt-CI-Bq5DvOSinPk/s1600/Screenshot+2016-01-13+18.27.55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32Pw5IWkkmR-bV89XyajXlDKJCVbkTo0BlKpAoHear3ZKfOWJjE2W_ZRJ0TFca9sUT-tH_oDEI2yDNd7hj7l-Iveej_Dpp64BtjFTzNfWFjkZ6fTPx2qXRJCqZ1Jt-CI-Bq5DvOSinPk/s400/Screenshot+2016-01-13+18.27.55.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Having made a foray into the online sources of papers by Boice, I returned to the task of finding a book. I managed to locate a much cheaper but related book, Professors as Writers (Boice, 1990) which was available in electronic format. Reading that alerted me to hold other set of publications. So I made some time and did a load of reading and lo and behold, I am chugging away with my writing, and champing at the bit to share my newfound prizes with other people.<br />
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Moving on from Boice, a number of useful publications are pitched at fiction authors. nonetheless I think much of the advice is equally relevant and useful two academic authors. Julia Cameron devised a method of daily pages for creativity, which has much relevance to writers. The method is explained in The Artists Way, which for my money has a little too many references to God and uncovering genius, however, I came across it via a motivational web site called 750 words, and it does present a well structured approach which can definitely make positive contributions to the writing process.<br />
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Interesting, some aspects of cameron's approach can be found in a much earlier publication by Dorothea Brande titled Becoming a Writer (Brande, 1934) which has been widely cited and is much admired by many famous authors.<br />
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Interestingly, the advice of Cameron and Brande is actually borne out by the evidence which Boice (originally a psychologist, but much concerned with professional development) assembled whilst he was working at Stanford<br />
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There are of course lots of resources online which relate to academic writing<br />
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A goto destination for academic advice is always the tomorrow's professor website, run by Rick Riess, this site is a gem of a source for educational and professional development items which will be relevant and useful for academics and post grad students particularly, But in some cases even for undergraduate students. Listed below I just a short selection of the currently available relevant resources:<br />
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<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"><span class="field-content"></span></span><br />
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<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"><span class="field-content"><span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"> <span class="field-content">1191</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1191">Want to Publish More? Then Train Like an Athlete</a></span></span><span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"><span class="field-content">1430</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1430">Writing Rocks</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"><span class="field-content">
</span></span></div>
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<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"> <span class="field-content">1425</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1425">Writing the Broader Impacts Section of Your Research Proposal</a></span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-edit-node"> <span class="field-content"></span> </span> </div>
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<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"> <span class="field-content">1374</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1374">Three Phases of Writing for Publication</a></span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-edit-node"> <span class="field-content"></span> </span> </div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"> <span class="field-content">1345</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1345">Let's Get Ready for Summer Writing</a></span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-edit-node"> <span class="field-content"></span> </span> </div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"> <span class="field-content">1226</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1226">Optimizing Your Writing Process: Write Nonlinearly</a></span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-edit-node"> <span class="field-content"></span> </span> </div>
<br />
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-field-message-number"> <span class="field-content">1209</span> </span>
<span class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1209">The Practice of Writing</a></span></span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><br /></span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><br /></span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-title">Another one is the Academic coaching and writing web site which is particularly useful since it has a writing ebook, and many links to interesting and relevant articles. </span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><br /></span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><br /></span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<b>Bibliography</b></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<br /></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"></span><br />
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><span style="text-indent: -32px;">Boice, R. and Jones, F., 1984. Why Academicians Don’t Write. </span><i style="text-indent: -32px;">The Journal of Higher Education</i><span style="text-indent: -32px;">, 55(5), pp.567–582. Available at: http://doi.org/10.2307/1981822.</span></span></div>
<span class="views-field views-field-title">
</span>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><span style="text-indent: -32px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span class="views-field views-field-title">
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Boice, R. and Meyers, P.E., 1986. Two Parallel Traditions Automatic Writing and Free Writing. <i>Written Communication</i>, <i>3</i>(4), pp.471-490.</div>
</div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<span style="text-indent: -32px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Boice, R., 1990. <i>Professors as writers: A self-help guide to productive writing</i>. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.</div>
</div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Boice, R., 1994. <i>How Writers Journey To Comfort and Fluency: A Psychological Adventure</i>. Praeger, Greenwood Publishing Group, 88 Post Road West, Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881.</div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24.0pt;">
Boice, R., 1995. Writerly Rules for Teachers. <i>The Journal of Higher Education</i>, 66(1), pp.32–60. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2943950.</div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Brande, D., 1934. Becoming a writer</div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Cameron, J., 2002. <i>The artist's way</i>. Penguin.</div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</span></div>
<div class="fp-item">
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<span class="views-field views-field-title">Kamler, B. and Thomson, P., 2014. <i>Helping doctoral students write: Pedagogies for supervision</i>. Routledge.</span></div>
<span class="views-field views-field-title">
</span>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<span class="views-field views-field-title"><br /></span></div>
<span class="views-field views-field-title">
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<b>Webliography</b></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Academic coaching and writing: <a href="http://academicwritingandcoaching.org/">http://academicwritingandcoaching.org</a></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
Tomorrow's Professor: <a href="http://tomprof.stanford.edu/">http://tomprof.stanford.edu/</a></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
<div class="gs_citr" id="gs_cit3" tabindex="0">
<br /></div>
</span></div>
Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-84081271429974716392015-07-07T14:31:00.001+01:002015-07-07T14:31:50.111+01:00Project preparation and how to read a paper<p> Followers will know I think reading and writing are rather important.</p><p>Project students at all levels, postgrads and interns all need to work on this, not to mention post docs and academics. </p><p>Here are some pointers to materials which can be used as foundational tools for those wishing to update their skills, or just think and reflect. </p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Practically the FutureLearn MOOC on Developing Your Research Project is helpful. Although, I do take exception to the supporting material which talks about learning styles, but that is the theme for another post. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: none;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m_KvUnkxZag/VZvUtaZStPI/AAAAAAAAAzE/q9J_MDUXqXg/s1536/Photo%25252020150707143129331.jpg" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m_KvUnkxZag/VZvUtaZStPI/AAAAAAAAAzE/q9J_MDUXqXg/s500/Photo%25252020150707143129331.jpg" id="blogsy-1436275908887.3748" class="alignnone" alt="" width="500" height="405"></a></div><p><a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/research-project" target="_blank" title="">https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/research-project</a></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A team of academics developed an online course on research methods which is well worth a skim read with some drilling down to explore issues (just like you might use a text book).</span></p><p><a href="http://www.erm.ecs.soton.ac.uk" target="_blank" title="">http://www.erm.ecs.soton.ac.uk</a><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jpJXz7wWr1w/VZvUuYBEWkI/AAAAAAAAAzM/KfxkT23fpzM/s1536/Photo%25252020150707143129365.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jpJXz7wWr1w/VZvUuYBEWkI/AAAAAAAAAzM/KfxkT23fpzM/s500/Photo%25252020150707143129365.jpg" id="blogsy-1436275908801.1558" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="378" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moving on to the practicalities of reading academic papers, I can point to two useful resources, </span></p><ol> <li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A short practical piece by Michael Mitzenmacher of Harvard</span></li></ol><p><a href="http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~michaelm/postscripts/ReadPaper.pdf" target="_blank" title="">http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~michaelm/postscripts/ReadPaper.pdf</a><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></span></p><p><font color="#000000" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3Nqwt8-4T9w/VZvUvfB6PXI/AAAAAAAAAzU/SVl5MI9A684/s1624/Photo%25252020150707143129402.jpg" target="_blank" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3Nqwt8-4T9w/VZvUvfB6PXI/AAAAAAAAAzU/SVl5MI9A684/s500/Photo%25252020150707143129402.jpg" id="blogsy-1436275908826.6958" class="alignnone" width="500" height="623" alt=""></a></font></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: none;"> </div><p>2. A paper presented at a CS conference titled "How to read a paper" by Srinivasan Kerchav from Waterloo in Canada. </p><blockquote><p><a href="http://ccr.sigcomm.org/online/files/p83-keshavA.pdf" target="_blank" title="">http://ccr.sigcomm.org/online/files/p83-keshavA.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p></blockquote><p> <font color="#000000" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j2otmWfcSJs/VZvUwvb9ArI/AAAAAAAAAzY/ydqd_XTVs0g/s1669/Photo%25252020150707143129455.jpg" target="_blank" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j2otmWfcSJs/VZvUwvb9ArI/AAAAAAAAAzY/ydqd_XTVs0g/s500/Photo%25252020150707143129455.jpg" id="blogsy-1436275908818.9075" class="alignnone" width="500" height="625" alt=""></a></font></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt=" CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" /> CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-63551865875262827332015-07-07T12:44:00.001+01:002015-07-07T12:44:37.132+01:00Gendered narratives: reading between the lines
<p>Recently I have been tasked to take a lead on enhancing the participation, recognition and support of women in STEM: particularly electronics and computer science. I may not be making much impact on the approaches and attitudes if my colleagues, but my own radar has been notched up to fine tuned! </p>
<p>My observations:</p>
<ul>
<li>
I hear stories of everyday realities in education, learning, teaching and subject disciplines frequently presented as heroic narratives with male heroes. <br>
</li>
<li>
I attend seminars when slides are illustrated by images of male authors, occasional female authors referred to by initials with no images - thus becoming invisible.<br>
</li>
<li>
In presentations, references to female students encountering difficulties. <br>
</li>
<li>
Female academic 'actors' referred to in passing, male 'actors' portrayed as the ground breakers and pathfinders. <br>
</li>
<li>
Faculty discussions to ameliorate the position of female academics and postgrads are characterised by a model of deficits, the women are broken, help them mend themselves. <br>
</li>
<li>
Discussions focussed on increasing the percentage of female participants focuses on undergraduates and outreach rather than implementing structural changes across the board. <br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The result?</p>
<span style="line-height: 1.3em;">I find myself </span><br><ul>
<li>
increasingly frustrated recognising the 'broken record' effect of this portrayal and discussion.<br>
</li>
<li>wondering about how to make change happen. This stuff is too important to be left to a few (mostly female) evangelists. </li>
<li>Seeking to identify and champion structural methods af making change happen</li>
<li>Seeking patronage for change</li>
<li>Being willing to hand over the kudos for making change happen to anyone else ;-)</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt=" CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" /> CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-26208493962323732722015-06-22T16:33:00.001+01:002015-06-22T16:33:17.534+01:00Magical modelling
<p> It's a good few years since I was formally reminded of the value of modelling. </p>
<p>I am not talking about embarking on a career as a paid, or otherwise, clothes horse; I don't have the height, age profile or stereotypical 'correct shape, never mind the political sensibilities!</p>
<p>Nor am I talking about mathematical simulation and hypothesis testing.</p>
<p>However, perhaps there is a trace of both of these ideas, in the sort of modelling which is truly magical. </p>
<p>Such modelling often begins with admiration, of behaviours or achievements or created artefacts. It is sometimes evoked serendipitously, sometimes identified through everyday experience, sometimes through purposeful searching and discovery.</p>
<p>The high achieving scholar, whose diligence is evident through their research publications or the highly successful potential rôle model are the most obvious seeds for models, and modelling can be initiated by a single questions.... "how do they do that?". </p>
<p>There is another seed, that I believe is truly valuable to researchers and students, of all levels - the informative and reflective blog site or post. </p>
<p>Sites of value, to my mind, reveal the thinkings of the author through their content. Research methods and approaches are to some extent embodied in the posts. They also reveal a commitment to sharing, openness, transparency and active reflection - all of which are valuable principles for the student and researcher. </p>
<p>I actively encourage my students to blog like this, but also accept that for many the prospect it too intimidating or perceived as too onerous. </p>
<p>There are many possible reasons</p>
<ul>
<li>claiming time;</li>
<li>creating an additional apparently conflicting priority;</li>
<li>demanding work out of the comfort zone;</li>
<li>
exposing undeveloped skills<br>
</li>
<li>Attracting unwonted comment</li>
</ul>
<p>But it is possible to adopt another perspective. Such blogs can work as thinking tools</p>
<p></p>
<ul>
<li>be part of the discipline of the researchers logbook or diary; </li>
<li>Provide space for practicing turning thoughts into words</li>
<li>Act as a living notebook creating an archeological trace which can be searched and indexed</li>
<li>Provide personal feedback for ground covered and progress achieved</li>
<li>Establish the foundations of a reputation</li>
<li>Help identify the key questions you want to ask</li>
<li>Help fellow students and identify your community of scholars </li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt=" CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" /> CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-47592325255469480412015-06-12T11:48:00.001+01:002015-06-16T14:27:13.559+01:00Better projects, dissertations and writing...At this time of year, the whole cycle of student research, projects and writing and dissertations come into sharp focus. <br />
I am always on the look out for good tools and models of good practice to help students understand and engage with the whole process in both a constructive and holistic manner.<br />
Today's example was a slide explaining the contribution of some research into the teaching of derivatives to students of Economics.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: none;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zUJcQ5D-LNM/VXq49GANMxI/AAAAAAAAAyg/rw38KGXfYq0/s1512/Photo%25252020150612114817346.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="419" id="blogsy-1434106103740.7532" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zUJcQ5D-LNM/VXq49GANMxI/AAAAAAAAAyg/rw38KGXfYq0/s500/Photo%25252020150612114817346.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
Since I am often teaching engineers (of one sort or another) I often use the metaphor of engineering the document. <br />
The image above comes from a presentation by A L Alzira Jimenez presented at the IMA International Conference on Barriers and Enablers to Learning Maths: Enhancing Learning and Teaching for All Learners, 10 – 12 June 2015, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland (<a href="http://www.ima.org.uk/_db/_documents/Programme%20-%20Barriers%20and%20Enablers.pdf" target="_self" title="Programme details">programme details</a>)<br />
The example uses a table, which removes some of the pressure to write prose and at the same time, clearly states the contributions of the work and links back to sources discussed in the literature review. <br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">It demonstrates (to a small degree) visual literacy - a favourite theme of mine, and hopefully removes some of the stress of writing.</span><br />
The use of tables in this way is not confined to the contributions, however this is an area often neglected by students in their write ups maybe because conclusions and future work are stuff written at the end if the activity. <br />
Perhaps most importantly, it <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">can function as a thinking tool, helping author review and enhance the quality of their work - engineering a clearer explanation.</span><br />
Anything which makes this process more enjoyable AND improves final product has to be a good thing. <br />
<br />
<div id="blogsy_footer" style="clear: both; font-size: small; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://blogsyapp.com/" target="_blank"><img alt=" CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK" src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" height="20" style="margin-right: 5px; vertical-align: middle;" width="20" /> CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK</a></div>
Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-39202568209311661942015-06-01T08:14:00.001+01:002015-06-01T08:14:51.162+01:00Digital sociology: The politics of data science<p> Interesting call for papers </p><p>Mark Carrigan is well worth following. An academic at Warwick, he has an active twitter feed and blog. </p><p>This call for papers especially caught my eye last week</p><p>http://markcarrigan.net/2015/04/01/cfp-the-politics-of-data-science/</p><blockquote><div id="primary" class="site-content cf" role="main" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-right: 50px; padding-left: 50px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1;"><article id="post-12200" class="post-12200 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized tag-data tag-data-science tag-digital-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; max-width: 960px; clear: both;"><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 700px;"><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Politics of Data (Science)</strong></span></p><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This special issue of Discover Society will explore the political implications of ‘big data’ and the systems of expertise emerging around it, including though not limited to Data Science. In doing so it will aim to bridge the gap between the methodological discourse surrounding data science and the political discourse beginning to emerge around ‘big data’. Here are some of the questions the issue will address:</span></p><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– How is ‘big data’ understood and acted upon? How should we understand its cultural power?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– How is ‘big data’ reconfiguring the social sciences? Do we risk all science becoming data science?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– How and why has the ‘data scientist’ come to be seen as the ‘sexiest job of the 21st century’?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– Is the ‘data scientist’ just a ’Statistician who lives in Shoreditch?’ Or is this a genuinely new intellectual role?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– Can ‘big data’ address ‘big questions’? If not, is this a problem?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– What are the precursors of ‘data science’ within the academy and/or within corporations?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– What implications does corporate data science have for the relationship between corporations & consumers?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– What implications does national security data science have for the relationship between the state & citizens?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– Can the use of digital data lead to efficiency savings in public services? How does this relate to the politics of austerity?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– How could predictive privacy harms emerging from data analytics be addressed politically?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– Can the opacity of algorithmic processes be challenged? Or are we heading inexorably for a ‘black-box society’?</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– How are new forms of digital data reconfiguring activity in particular social environments?</span></div><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">However these are just suggestions and ideas beyond the scope of this list are very welcome.</span></p><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The deadline for contributions is June 15th. Contact mark@markcarrigan.net to discuss a potential contribution.</span></p><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The article will constitute the July issue of Discover Society. Most articles will be <span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1500 words</strong></span> however there are a number of special sections in the online magazine.</span></p><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Front line – 1500 words</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">View point – 1500 words</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Policy briefing – 1500-2000 words</span></div><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you would be interested in writing one of these thematic sections, please get in touch asap.</span></p><p style="text-align: start; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The issue will follow the usual formatting guidelines of Discover Society. Please consult the <a href="http://www.discoversociety.org/contribute/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">notes for contributors</a>.</span></p></div></article></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt=" CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" /> CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 UK</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-80768140899237888142015-05-29T21:52:00.001+01:002015-06-16T14:28:23.383+01:00Workplace tools: a quick updateI've been quite fond of talking about workplace tools but it hasn't been happening very much recently so here's a quick summary of some new additions.<br />
I'm particularly interested in this at the moment, so there are a few things which you can do automatically on the iPad which are rather cool.<br />
IFTTT<br />
Use this to set up automatic triggers for example <br />
<ul>
<li>create an automatic posting with title and link to Facebook or Twitter triggered by </li>
<li>creating a new blog post </li>
<li>getting to a timed calendar entry</li>
</ul>
WORKFLOW<br />
Adds itself to your share option in many iPad apps.<br />
<ul>
<li>Use it to perform routine actions in a standard manner. </li>
<li>You can choose from a gallery of prepared workflows or...</li>
<li>Create your own workflow through a contextualised menu </li>
<li>This is great for personal workflow like appending note items to an existing Evernote </li>
<li>It can also be used to automate ad hoc activities which occur more than once - tweeting about a web page *and* adding it to a calendar </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
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Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-51574189981429561472015-05-16T13:34:00.001+01:002015-05-16T13:34:06.986+01:00Waves hello<div>Stuff that goes in here is meant to be about my work passions and life in general. Life work balance is an important consideration. You migh also get pointers to other stuff I have published elsewhere, especially when I have finally mastered IFTTT - which will of course get a post in its own right. </div><div>Here also you can expect info generally valuable to post grads and project students about writing, research methods, workflow and productivity. </div><div>Other stuff you can exoect on here is likely to relate to equality, feminism and the workplace. </div><div>You can put them all under the umbrella of personal growth and cultural change ... It's probably going to be eclectic :-) </div><div></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-66998825243058431102015-02-07T07:42:00.001+00:002015-02-07T07:42:14.525+00:00Springboard<p> It's not just my blog which has been pretty intermittent. It's been awhile since I've really had a chance to do anything positive about my own professional development. Somehow or other the grind of the day job has put anything developmental onto the back burner.</p><p>This is ironic because as a one-time educational developer and they and a frequent advocate of developmental activities, Iseems to have been subjecting myself to what is effectively, personal neglect.</p><p>Enough of the ringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. The University has finally got its act together and resumed its development program for women using the fabulous resources produced by the springboard consultancy.</p><p>My immediate reaction on experiencing the first session, was great great anger directed at the university itself thinking… So great thank you very much only 10 to 15 years too late! </p><p>In gallipots my academic career because the project I was involved with if I was able to take advantage of many many different developmental opportunities. The daily grind of being a grant Academic is actually about doing teaching and getting the papers published. It is possible to argue that you learn onThe job and course for many years in my annual review I have done just that .</p><p>However when it comes to investment, the universities long ago realised that it needed to invest in its profs and senior managers is just as anybody else had to get on and do things as best they could.</p><p>So well done to the university for finally getting its act together, and note to self look after your own development whenever you feel the need</p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-5226997345203716492014-04-25T11:25:00.001+01:002014-04-25T11:26:28.323+01:00Thinking about student ratings<div class="separator" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There are many ways in which student ratings cause controversy</span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seldom do those who collect such ratings do not subject their planning, delivery or data analysis to the same rigorous critiques which might be applied to research survey data, yet too often the "findings" are appropriated to measure or manage teachers, or to shape and revise the curriculum.</span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This area needs a lot if thought, and is worthy of greater, more considered, discussion. As ever our reliable commentator at <a href="http://(null)" target="_self" title=""></a><a href="http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1326" target="_blank" title="Tomorrow's Professor">Tomorrow's Professor</a>, is waiting in the wings to point to some insights.</span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: start; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="assets-library://asset/asset.PNG?id=5753A604-D0A5-4E41-9B99-685A7931581E&ext=PNG" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img src="file:///var/mobile/Applications/33007055-1BCF-4C56-A49F-94174E488810/Documents/temp/offline_image_2014-04-25%2010:08:43%20+0000.jpg" id="blogsy-1398421461012.0046" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="667" alt="" style="text-align: start; border: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin: 0px auto;"></font></a></div><p class="blogsyText" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px; background-image: url(file:///var/mobile/Applications/33007055-1BCF-4C56-A49F-94174E488810/Blogsy.app/typing_icon.png); background-size: 10px 25px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-17001972829534166852014-04-09T11:09:00.001+01:002014-04-09T11:09:12.141+01:00Another test postFrom a different mobile device Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-42938048278062303672014-04-09T11:07:00.001+01:002014-04-09T11:09:49.289+01:00Checking out mobile postingsThe blog has been a bit too moribund of late, so I am checking out mobile posting <div><br></div><div>This one was save to draft :-)</div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-32160960131280743272014-04-09T09:00:00.001+01:002014-04-09T09:00:17.363+01:00Test title <p> Test text</p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-23071366342442528802013-06-24T16:41:00.001+01:002015-06-16T14:13:17.613+01:00Project Students - its that time of year againthis is the time of year that I get to meet a whole new batch of project students. Its interesting, but also reminds me that these folk may be new to academic conventions.<br />
<br />
I place a big emphasis on developing writing, because so often folk are let down by their written communication of good work.<br />
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Today I chanced on a very excellent web site which provides concrete examples of good referencing style<br />
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<a href="http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxc/refs/index.html">http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxc/refs/index.html</a><br />
<br />
well worth a good lookSuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-91381141243934549192013-05-17T16:39:00.001+01:002015-06-16T14:39:30.856+01:00Its been a while - visualisation stuffNot sure why life has got the better of me, but hey ho!<br />
occasional readers (for there can be none other given the paucity of posts) will understand I have an interest and passion for visualisations<br />
<br />
<img alt="Screen Shot 2013 05 17 at 16 37 23" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-WvZvx7G5uHo/UZZPQgjiHTI/AAAAAAAAAqk/wmYNF4FBuH4/Screen%252520Shot%2525202013-05-17%252520at%25252016.37.23.png?imgmax=800" height="404" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Screen Shot 2013-05-17 at 16.37.23.png" width="574" /><br />
The Importance of Visual Literacy<br />
today, in an effort to express myself I found an update on the visual literacies website and also stumbled on this blog while trying to work out the right way to represent some tricky information<br />
<br />
<a href="http://wilgengebroed.nl/visual-literacy-should-be-equally-important-as-textual-literacy-in-our-educational-systems/">http://wilgengebroed.nl/visual-literacy-should-be-equally-important-as-textual-literacy-in-our-educational-systems/</a><br />
<br />
on top of that The good folk at <a href="http://www.visual-literacy.org/">http://www.visual-literacy.org/</a> have got some tutorials online. I shall certainly be pointing all my project and phd students and the one on Business visualisations. The general principles outlined there are, I think, just right for an undergraduate student project and for first year post grad work too.<br />
Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-52158043056789746942012-11-15T08:25:00.000+00:002015-06-16T14:13:45.080+01:00just-in-time vs just-in-case - useful stuff from Tomorrow's ProfessorManaging your email is always an issue. Information overload is a peril to academics. that said, keeping up to date is important too.
<br />
<br />
A few mailing lists make it into my in tray - their use comes in part from careful and occasional (though regular) posts.
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<br />
Tomorrow's Professor fits the bill, and to illustrate what you get I have included a full copy of a post which arrived in my inbox just today.
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Topics vary, but the structure and format of the mails are well thought out. A lesson to all would be spam generators.
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The emphasis in the workshop is on "just-in-time" information as opposed to the "just-in-case" material that comprises most new faculty orientations. Besides tips on starting and building a research program and designing and delivering courses, sessions are devoted to dealing with common headaches in the life of a faculty member, including difficulty getting proposals and papers written and accepted; setbacks in research projects such as equipment breakdowns, unproductive research assistants, and loss of funding in mid-project; a wide variety of classroom management and academic advising problems; and cheating.
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Archives of all past postings can be found at:
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Check out the Tomorrow's Professor Blog at:
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Folks:
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<br />
The posting below looks describes a very effective four-day orientation workshop for new faculty in the College of Engineering and the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at North Carolina State University. It is by Rebecca Brent, Education Designs, Inc., and Richard M. Felder, North Carolina State University. Check out Felder's website at:<a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Rich.html">http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Rich.html</a>
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Regards,
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Rick Reis
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<a href="mailto:reis@stanford.edu">reis@stanford.edu</a><mailto:<a href="mailto:reis@stanford.edu">reis@stanford.edu</a>>
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UP NEXT: Grammar and Syntax Make Their MOOC Debut in Course Taught by Stanford Scientist
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Tomorrow's Academic Careers
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Just-In-Time vs. Just-In-Case: Effective Orientation for New Faculty Members
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The standard way to prepare people for a faculty career is not to. At most universities, new faculty members go to a campus-wide orientation workshop to be welcomed by the Provost and hear about their insurance and retirement options and the locations and functions of various campus administrative units, and graduate students learn how to work on a research project someone else has defined, but that's about it for academic career preparation. Little or nothing is generally said to either future or current professors about the three questions all new faculty members at research universities have uppermost on their minds: (1) How do I start and build an effective research program? (2) How do I teach? (3) How can I manage to do everything I need to do to get tenure and promotion and still have a life?
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This is an absurd state of affairs. Being a tenure-track faculty member at a research university requires doing many things graduate school does not routinely teach, such as how to identify and approach funding sources and write successful proposals to them, compete with famous and well-funded faculty colleagues for good graduate students, design courses and deliver them effectively, write assignments and exams that are both rigorous and fair, deal with classroom management and advising problems and cheating, and learn a campus culture and integrate smoothly into it. Figuring out all those things on one's own is not trivial, and while there is something to be said for trial-and-error learning, it's not efficient. Robert Boice [1] studied the career trajectories of new faculty members and found that roughly 95% of them take between four and five years to get their research productivity and teaching effectiveness to levels that meet institutional standards. A 4–5 year learning curve is long and costly for universities, which invest as much as a million dollars in each new faculty hire, and the costs continue to mount for those faculty members who never manage to become effective at either research or teaching.
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Boice also observed, however, that 5% of new faculty members meet or exceed their institutions' expectations for both research and teaching within their first 1–2 years. These quick starters do several things differently from their colleagues, including scheduling regular time for working on scholarly writing and sticking with the schedule, limiting lesson preparation time to less than two hours per hour of lecture (especially after the initial course offering), and networking with colleagues several hours a week, which helps the new faculty members transition into their institutional culture and cultivates advocates for them among those who will eventually vote on their promotion and tenure.[1] The problem is that new faculty members are seldom made aware of those strategies and other things they should be doing to get their research and teaching careers off to a good start. In the absence of appropriate orientation and mentoring, most make the same mistakes 95% of their colleagues make in their first few years, and the 4–5 year learning curve, tremendous stress and anxiety, and sometimes failure to earn tenure are the consequences.
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As part of its comprehensive faculty development program,[2] shortly before the start of the Fall 2000 semester the N.C. State University College of Engineering (COE) gave a four-day orientation workshop to its new faculty members, covering essentially all of the topics mentioned in the second paragraph of this column. Since 2001 the workshop has been given jointly to new faculty in the COE and the NCSU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (PAMS), and it has now reached 257 faculty members (171 from COE, 86 from PAMS). Most participants were concerned about spending four days at a workshop shortly before the start of their first semester, but they were assured by their department heads and faculty colleagues that it would be worth their time. Those who participated clearly felt that it was: end-of-workshop rating forms have been completed by 238 attendees, who gave the program 209 "excellent," 29 "good," and no "average," "fair," or "poor" ratings.
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Open responses in the post-workshop evaluations include many positive comments about the following workshop features:
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• Practicality. The emphasis in the workshop is on "just-in-time" information as opposed to the "just-in-case" material that comprises most new faculty orientations. Besides tips on starting and building a research program and designing and delivering courses, sessions are devoted to dealing with common headaches in the life of a faculty member, including difficulty getting proposals and papers written and accepted; setbacks in research projects such as equipment breakdowns, unproductive research assistants, and loss of funding in mid-project; a wide variety of classroom management and academic advising problems; and cheating.
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• Interactivity. While there is some lecturing in the workshop, a substantial portion of the four days is occupied with activities. The participants critique research descriptions, proposals, learning objectives, and examinations; work in bi-disciplinary pairs to outline a research project that involves the areas of expertise of both team members,[3] and find resolutions to hypothetical research, teaching, and advising crises. By the end of the first day the participants have clearly formed a learning community that continues to strengthen as the workshop progresses.
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• Relevance to the participants' disciplines. Illustrative research and teaching scenarios and a mock NSF panel review are all STEM-related. In fact, a comprehensive workshop like this could not be given to a campus-wide audience, since many of the things faculty members need to know (especially where research is concerned) differ significantly between STEM and non-STEM disciplines.[4]
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• Relevance to the local campus culture. The participants learn about what they really need to do to succeed at N.C. State, with the message coming from engineering and science deans and department heads, research support staff, and some of the best STEM researchers and teachers on campus. Most participants leave the workshop with a strong sense that their administrators and senior colleagues are firmly committed to their success. They know where to go when they need help, and they feel comfortable asking for it.
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To gauge the impact of the workshop, 32 attendees and nine non-attendees were surveyed three years after they joined the faculty. Attendees outperformed nonattendees in both research productivity and teaching evaluations. When asked to rate their orientation to their new profession, the attendees gave it an average rating of 4.6/5 and the non-attendees rated it 3.4/5. The workshop also plays an important role in faculty recruitment efforts in the two colleges. Candidates have said that its existence was a major factor in their decision to come to N.C. State, since none of the other universities they were considering offered anything comparable.
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When we visit other campuses to give teaching seminars we generally mention the workshop to our hosts, observing that its benefits to both new faculty members and their institutions are significant and the total cost of food and facilitators' fees is in the noise level of most institutional budgets. The overhead from a single substantial grant that would not have otherwise been awarded would more than cover the cost, and based on the feedback we have received, there have been many such grants. We don't understand why every research university is not doing something similar for its new faculty members. Does yours? If not, why not?
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References
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1. R. Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
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2. R. Brent, R.M. Felder, and S.A. Rajala, "Preparing New Faculty Members to be Successful: A No-Brainer and Yet a Radical Concept," Proceedings, 2006 ASEE Annual Meeting, June 2006. <<a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/ASEE06(NewFaculty).pdf">http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/ASEE06(NewFaculty).pdf</a>>.
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3. D.F. Ollis, R.M. Felder, and R. Brent, "Introducing New Engineering Faculty to Multidisciplinary Research Collaboration," Proceedings, 2002 ASEE Annual Meeting, Montreal, ASEE, June 2002. <<a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Bidisciplinary.pdf">http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Bidisciplinary.pdf</a>>.
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4. R.M. Felder, R. Brent, and M.J. Prince, "Engineering Instructional Development: Programs, Best Practices, and Recommendations," J. Engr. Education, 100(1), 89–122 (2011).
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<<a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Instruct_Dev(JEEv100).pdf">http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Instruct_Dev(JEEv100).pdf</a>>.
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<a href="https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/tomorrows-professor">https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/tomorrows-professor</a>Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197735451337541838.post-25540095125929334202012-09-28T16:39:00.001+01:002015-06-16T14:14:41.971+01:00Tools and Tips: getting to grips with writing<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A slightly more academic aspect of the sorting out your working life theme is my efforts to make a dent in the academic writing task.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have always found writing an abstract a great way to kickstart the writing effort, but over the past few weeks I have been working on a rather more systematic approach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The effort was triggered by good intentions; but the arrival of an email from the Tomorrow's Professor list titled <a href="http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1191">" </a><span style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1191">Want to Publish More? Then Train Like an Athlete"</a>. really caught my eye, and, I have to say, my imagination….</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Optima; font-size: 16px;">Perfectionism is a deadly enemy of good performance. It’s like being judged every time you write a sentence or paragraph. It’s far better to go ahead, make mistakes and learn from them. Rather than expecting great output from a burst of frenzied inspiration, the idea behind Boice’s brief regular sessions is to work with moderate daily expectations, knowing this will lead in time to better results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">to be continued...</span></div>
Suhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505736296826233394noreply@blogger.com0