writing to analyze

During the last couple of days I got involved in a few discussions with a couple of my students. Writing to learn about an issue is so hard to do, they complained. It takes time and one has to think about so much. One of the students uttered with a sigh that he wishes sometimes not to make things so complicated in his writing. To him critical thinking is a curse, he says, because he constantly reevaluates his writing, doubting his original thinking skills and worrying about meeting the standards he set out for himself. These thoughts appear in a different light when I read in the Harvard Crimson how teachers should focus more on developing critical thinking skills in their students. What this newspaper and others who express similar demands seem to forget is that it takes time to correlate, associate, compare, and contrast issues; that is takes time to see patterns developing and paradigms shifting in a repository of texts. And honestly, tests to enter graduate school do not ask for these problem solving skills. They test dichotomies and their perpetuation in American society. If you can determine the opposite of one then you pass the test.

politics on a t-shirt

Service Learning and Benefits

What a way to address the question about value and benefit! All too often the questions such as the following are brushed aside: Is a painted mural really considered a good example for service learning? Who benefits from it? What are the goals for this service learning process and how have the outcomes been measured? At least participation in such event looks great on a student's resume or vita.

Click here to go the article.

The Decline of English departments in the US

It is worth to attempt to answer some of the questions raised in the argument. William M. Chace makes some good points in hos argument but falls short of to develop a plan of action to counter the shift towards free enterprise and business.

Click here for the article on the website.

Come Dance With Me!

This video makes me want to dance in a public space.

Ironman

Working out at seven in the morning, a group of athletes,
almost every morning ready to push the iron, moan.
Some of them follow the same routines and do not talk much.

Sweaty men over in the corner talk about the football game
from the previous night or the night before.
Newsflash: the baseball coach retires after 17 years.

To them it is old news since they are connected
to the athletic department on campus via their buddies.
A wive rules over the coveted football tickets.

It is funny when they ask you what you know.

Near the mirrors some have water bottles stationed,
which they lift to their mouths often.
The liquid seems dyed to cover up hurting muscles.

Each lifter has their secrets to maximize performance,
and only reluctantly will they offer it up to you.
High intensity training is the formula they swear on.

After the last power-lift one goes down
to the locker room to get ready for work.
He must prefer the same shower stall every day.

Just like I do.

The fifth shower curtain on the right hangs languidly,
and to step inside I push it open and try to place my shower gel.
There it is, again: the protein bar wrapper.

For weeks I encounter these chocolate bar shells tossed
on the soap dish, torn along the back and ripped into two's.
But this time is quite different.

The PowerBar has been replaced with Ironman.
Three parts of the wrapping clutter the soap dish
while a heap of shaved hair assembles around the drainage.

Deal Breaker

breaking deals a chronic disease

transforming our brokenness into oneness,
being one with another is a goal that can
only be achieved by a knotted rope,
connecting all who wish to participate.

creating a community of individuals,
being a deal breaker advances our understanding
of the oneness we seek to foster
despite the interruptions it causes.

living separate lives in a vacuum,
being lost and abandoned from the many,
hurts those with compassion to interact
all the more, all the time.

What is in a name?

Härligt att vara i skog och natur dagtid, men på natten skulle jag aldrig våga.

I doubt my mom knew when she rejected my dad's idea to officially name me Steffen Kurt Otto Guenzel. That is my name. Both middle names are passed on from my grand-dads. She called the names old-fashioned. And I am glad for it. Anyway, I created a couple of years ago my acronym: SKOG. Be assured, I did not know what SKOG stands for but I thought that a little Scandinavian touch would fit my almost blond hair and blue eyes. Then one day I entered the acronym in the search engine at www.urbandictionary.com Who knew that it would produce ten definitions?

1. The active verb for skogging.

skogging is a skateboarding technique requiring both legs to pedal one's skateboard. the word is a mixture of skateboarding and jogging, thus...skogging!

I will refrain from listing the other nine explanations since they are a bit embarrassing and instead marvel in the line below the beautiful image that includes the word skog. So for now and ever, I think of it as the acronym that my mom did not think I should have to suffer from in my later life. A very wise woman indeed.

Ute has appeared in several poems ...

A very good friend and colleague suddenly died in April of 2006. Ute is on my mind a lot and I miss her quite often. While cleaning out another section of the closet I came across the copy of an email that was forwarded to me. Below appears a poem by Hank Lazer who writes poetry and realized one day (April 19, 2006) that Ute has been on his mind as well.

DYING

that which calls
me out of
myself as a

small child after
a bout with
polio she would

insist i can
do it myself
dying is not

as i saw
with my father
something one can

do easily five
light blue eggs
in the nest

after the final
chorus i said
let him live

*

Research Project 002

Hypatia Dejavyu of the Info Island Archipelago talks about library reference questions in Second Life on the opening day of ASIST (American Society for Information Science and Technology) Island, October 27, 2008.

Why So Little Hype About Hybrid Classrooms?: Reflections on Connect Composition Plus in the College Composition Classroom

At the beginning of the twenty-first century we see technology and education merging. Some critics warn that the push for online education becomes now a central concern of education since the learner outcomes often do not measure up to achievements in the classroom. Nevertheless, while on the one hand, online education offers litter the internet and online degrees gradually become accepted educational programs in the mainstream, on the other hand, many students are not much exposed to technology in the classroom or at home due to social status or traditional world views of teachers and adults around them. But the world develops steadily to create a major digital network that connects people and economies in ways unforeseen. At this junction hybrid classrooms provide an opportunity for all students to learn to communicate in this virtual environment. Hybrid course refers to classes that are composed of a carefully balanced blend of both traditional instruction and online learning activities. This balance allows for a more meaningful connection of students to the instructor as well as amongst themselves and enriches the classroom by enabling every student to learn and collaborate.

Initially, "E-Learning" products and classroom instruction including computers and internet access set out to meet this challenge but most pedagogies and technological innovations have fallen short. In the past, software products did very little to engage students in the learning process by demanding only individual mechanical responses. So-called e-books only presented the print content on a digital screen and did not allow for much interaction on the page. Furthermore, several studies have shown that students prefer the print book to the e-copy if available. Without a doubt, the new "E-learning 3.0" is gradually playing a more prominent role in how we acquire and process information. In the future, the learning process as such will not just be limited to learning at school or in college with print media; instead, learning transforms into an activity that accompanies people during their day-to-day routines both consciously and unconsciously. In a world of computer networks and instant wireless connectivity students need to learn to actively participate in the democratic processes of exchanging ideas, collaborating on projects, and developing solutions to problems facing us locally and globally. With all the gadgets and technological innovations this lifelong learning morphs into a digital lifestyle which threatens to render one-on-one human interaction obsolete. And here innovative "E-Learning" applications play an increasingly important role: to help those students with limited computer skills to catch up while allowing simultaneously all students to communicate with each other in a collaborative learning environment that demonstrates how we can use technology to supplement our communication as citizens of the world.
According to WPA guidelines, one of the outcomes of the First Year Writing program is for students to develop into active communicants across campus and in every day life situations. First year students in the composition classroom need to learn to master communication skills in both print and in digital media that empower them to be prepared in both areas. In my paper I will examine student interaction and communication in the classroom of the FYE program at the University of Alabama. Especially, the research will focus on how the newly developed software application Connect Composition Plus enhances and complements the hybrid classroom greatly by providing a virtual platform to collaborate and interact within the group while allowing individual students to customize their online contents and providing feedback to student comments on their writing drafts and learning progress. Developed by McGraw-Hill, the writing handbook and peer-review software application proved in preliminary class-testing to be an interactive and search-able product that fosters the forming of learner relationships. Within learning groups students plan their own revision schedules for drafting their papers and communicate about the progress of their drafts. During the fall semester, I will class test the software in three sections of freshman writing. Besides personal observations and notes on the usability of CC+, student feedback solicited through an anonymous survey on our hybrid classroom activities will help to determine how the new software application actually complements our in class discussions and assists students in navigating the increasingly digital world around us.

An Opportunity to Present Research

________________________________________
From: Karim Gherab Martin [karim.gherabmartin@technology-conference.com]
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 8:23 PM
To: Leggett, Mark
Subject: Technology Conference, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany, 15-17 January 2010 - Call for Papers

Dear Colleague,

On behalf of the Advisory Board, we would like to inform you of the:

SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TECHNOLOGY, KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIETY
Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany
15-17 January 2010
http://www.Technology-Conference.com

Berlin, today, has great influence within the realms of science, technology, commerce, architecture and the arts. No other region in Europe has such a rich concentration of scientific, academic and research facilities, as does Berlin. Adlershof, a district of Berlin, has become one of the world's 15 largest science and technology parks and is named the 'City for Science, Technology and Media'. The focal points of Berlin's research span the depths of medical technology, biotechnology, information and communications technology, optical technology, material sciences and transportation and environmental technologies. Showing testament to the quality of this very research, one of the products of Berlin's research, a digital film recorder, received an Oscar for technical innovation at the 2002 Academy Awards in Hollywood. At the heart of the recorder, a new frequency-stabilized laser diode, was the creation of the Ferdinand Braun Institute for Highest Frequency Technology. Of additional significance, the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy generated the world's shortest light pulse (used to examine ultra-fast chemical processes and primary biological procedures), with a duration of only 3.8 femto seconds - another tribute to Berlin's thriving technological research.

This Conference will address a range of critically important themes in the various fields that address the complex and subtle relationships between technology, knowledge and society. The Conference is cross-disciplinary in scope, meeting points for technologists with a concern for the social and social scientists with a concern for the technological. The focus is primarily, but not exclusively, on information and communications technologies.

The Conference includes plenary presentations by accomplished researchers, scholars and practitioners, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations. Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication in the fully refereed International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society. If you are unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in this fully refereed academic Journal.

Whether you are a virtual or in-person presenter at this Conference, we also encourage you to present on the Conference YouTube Channel. Please select the Online Sessions link on the Conference website for further details.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 13 August 2009. Future deadlines will be announced on the Conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including an online proposal submission form, are to be found at the Conference website - http://www.Technology-Conference.com

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Berlin in January 2010.

Yours Sincerely,

Karim Gherab Martin
Visiting Research Scholar
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
For the Advisory Board, International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society and The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society

pop agenda

flickering messages on electronic boards along the road
guide the driver's eyes away from the slick blackberry
and make him wondering about dinner tonight.

slow moving traffic allows for applying make-up
while sipping on that latte in the morning
that sits between the legs on the driver's seat.

another intersection interrupts the flow of cars
with red and blinking lights hanging across the lanes
when suddenly the board changes its psychology of persuasion.

clearly hackers broadcast an attack on the auto industry
and its gas-guzzling clunkers that led to the taxpayer's bailout
which in the end increased this car's sales price beyond imagination.

Westervelt-Warner Museum

Here is an example for what I have been thinking about in my previous post: The Westervelt-Warner Museum in Tuscaloosa offers two-day seminars for medical students to hone their skills in analyzing an object. Participants will learn to analyze a work of art and the use of a particular vocabulary. The idea is to develop the skills needed in diagnosing a patient's symptoms by "diagnosing" an artist's possible intentions for a work of art. And so far I have not heard that this project has fallen on the way-side; instead, even medical staff at the UA Medical School in Tuscaloosa praised it during a recent talk with me.

research project 001

Research on freshman learning communities focuses on the synergy effects of linking several seminar classes and lecture courses under one particular theme or topic so students will learn to transfer knowledge between those. These learning communities offer faculty involved in the organization and teaching of the communities the opportunity to design assignments and projects together which then become more authentic and more relevant for participating students. The goal is to link the syllabi and content of the various elements of a learning community to achieve a high saturation of theme-specific knowledge. As a result themes of learning communities tend to focus on one particular area of acquiring and applying knowledge while discounting others. For example, in the sciences skills of rational thinking and analyzing are favored over the emotional, creative side of the human brain as well as developing imagination.
As one on the forefront to combine the teaching and learning of knowledge that stimulates both sides of the brain, Sir Ken Robinson argues, for example, for engineering students to study art history and practice painting. Students in the humanities, however, should study math and engineering concepts. I call this truly interdisciplinary studies whereas both parts of the brain are being stimulated and the student is being offered another point of view when solving a problem or analyzing data.

A new beginning.

ED did it again. She twisted my arm just a little bit to go ahead and start another blog despite my "failure" on livejournal a couple of years back. Apparently, I can still log in but all the stuff got deleted since I had abandoned the place. Now a new start. Why not test some ideas and do some writing every day, ED asked me yesterday, so here I am. Perhaps watching the documentary on Hank today provided the impetus necessary to sit down and register here. Hank is Henry Charles Bukowski, a writer I admired years ago for his frank sexy writing on women and the life of a drifter in the U.S.A. The life's story ends tragic, so I think, with him contracting tuberculosis first and later leukemia. (1920-1994) Still, he had something to say to the average man about how to live a life and did not care much for academia and formalism. In fact, there is one quote that stands out to me and while I cannot repeat it verbatim it states that when the writer's spirit wanes his work will become more formalist. And this is something I will attempt to avoid in the weeks and years to come. Let the new conversation begin!