From Rubrica To Rubric To Grading Papers With a Red Pen

I will doing another rubric workshop for faculty next month and I like to include a slide in my presentation and just touch on the origin of "rubric" as we use it in academia today.

The word has origins in late Middle English rubrish which was the original way to refer to a heading, section of text. Earlier Old French rubriche had the same meaning and came from the Latin rubrica (terra, red clay or ink as in the red ocher/ochre color).

Medieval printers had few ways to give emphasis to text on headings and the first character of a paragraph. Illuminated manuscripts could be quite elaborate and beautiful, but fonts were not standardized and there was no italic or bold.  That left them to use color.

Ochre is a naturally occurring pigment from certain clay deposits containing iron oxides, used since prehistoric times to give color to dyes, paints and inks. Ochre colors are yellow, brown, red and purple. The most common in printing colored text was red ochre. In Latin, red ochre is rubrica and that is the origin of the word rubric as these red emphasized headings.

Take this a bit further in the many religious texts that were reproduced. Those texts, used by clergy, included a kind of "stage directions" for the clergy reading. These were printed in red while the text for the congregation was printed in black ink. This gave an additional meaning to the red rubric writing as instructional text.

As universities are created and books become more commonly used, scholars grading student papers would use red ink to leave instructions, suggestions and corrections on student papers. The practice has survived, although in some educational settings it is frowned on.

You'll often see a rubric used in academia as a guide listing specific criteria for grading or scoring academic papers, projects, or tests. That is the focus for my presentation and I have collected some information and links on rubric use on my NJIT website.

Making Learning Visible to Increase Student Engagement

On March 13, I will be presenting on "Making Learning Visible to Increase Student Engagement" at the NJEDge Faculty Showcase. This "Best Practices" presentation was inspired in part by the educational research from the Project Zero group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

I will be talking about the practice of using a public forum in both undergraduate and graduate online and face-to-face classes (at NJIT and at Montclair State University) and having students publicly reflect on their learning experiences.

Requiring students to document their work in a class forum immediately changes student ownership of their work. This type of documentation makes learning visible, rather than the private 1:1 relationship that assessment and evaluation often has between a student and instructor.

I will explain the documentation and process reflection methodology and show student examples. This practice borrows on earlier use of and the pedagogy of portfolios.

The Making Learning Visible (MLV) Project was based on collaborative research between Project Zero researchers and educators from the Municipal Preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. MLV investigated how best to understand, document, and support individual and group learning for children and adults. I read about it in Making Thinking Visible and Visible Learners. The five key principles are that
learning is purposeful, social, emotional, empowering, and representational.

In particular, the aspect of learning and teaching in MLV that I identify most strongly with is the role of observation and documentation in deepening and extending learning.

Documentation involves one or more specific questions that guide the process, often with an epistemological focus (questions on learning).

Documentation also involves collectively analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating individual and group observations. (It's interesting that the keynote speaker at the Showcase next month will be Etienne Wenger-Trayner who is a leader in the field of social learning theory, and coined the term "communities of practice," and their application to organizations.)

This process is strengthened by multiple perspectives and so it is necessary to make the learning visible. It becomes public when it is shared with other learners, parents, teachers or the public.

Prompting reflective thinking during learning helps learners develop strategies to apply new knowledge to the complex situations in their day-to-day activities. Reflective thinking helps learners attach new knowledge to prior understanding, and also understand their own thinking and learning strategies.

I find that this practice is also very beneficial to me as an instructor in grading student work as it reveals the hidden process that cannot be seen in only grading a final product.

Ultimately, I have found that this is another way to promote student engagement. Teachers in K-12 have known intuitively that displaying student work lets students know that their work is valued and that the classroom space is shared.

Technical Writing Across Disciplines

I will be at the New Jersey Writing Alliance Spring (NJWA) Conference at Georgian Court University in New Jersey on Thursday, May 29, 2014. The conference theme is "Achieving College-Ready Writing: The Common Core and Beyond"

This will be their 15th annual conference to focus on the practical pedagogical, institutional, and economic issues that face us as we help students make the transition from writing in high school to writing in college. What I like about these events is that it a real mix of secondary school and college teachers.

My presentation is on "Technical Writing Across Disciplines" and will examine how a technical writing course can emphasize a research approach and problem solving unlike the academic writing done for most classes.

This semester I am teaching technical writing at New Jersey Institute of Technology and at Montclair State University. The class at NJIT is made up of primarily engineering students and the MSU class is approximately half English majors and half a mix of biology, computer science and psychology majors.

In my class, students learn to do audience analysis, work in collaborative environments and gain familiarity with tools used for writing in digital modes. While designing professional documents, such as proposals, they become familiar with the cultural and ethical concerns of a global workplace. The writing tasks are all based on the content of their majors.

But how different is it to teach technical writing at a science and technology university and at a comprehensive liberal-arts university?

Keeping with the conference theme, I'll also examine how secondary school teachers can teach writing about science and technical subjects  which is a strand of the English Language Arts Standards that are part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative as adopted in NJ..

The MOOC Experience: Faculty Reflections

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are growing in popularity at colleges and universities across the country at a rapid pace. They are the newest type of online learning experience open to people around the world.

I will be part of a panel discussion at William Paterson University offered by the Technology Across the Curriculum and Instructional Research Technology group and Co-Sponsored by the NJEDge Academic Technology Group. The event, "The MOOC Experience: Faculty Reflections," is on October 29, 2013. We will discuss the brief history of the MOOC, design principles, and the experience of teaching/facilitating a MOOC.

After light refreshment at noon, the panel discussion will  start at 12:30.  Following the discussion, the NJEDge Academic Technology Group will continue this discussion its first meeting of the academic year.

SITE: William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Road, Library Auditorium, Building 10, Wayne, New Jersey 07470

For registration information: http://njedge.net/events/

The event will be streamed live and later archived at NJVID.Net.

About the Panelists

I have been designing and teaching online courses since 2000. I was the Manager of Instructional Technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology for seven years where I managed the design of online courses for the University as well as for corporate clients. From 2008-2012, I directed the Federal writing grant at Passaic County Community College. I continue to teach at PCCC and also online for the graduate program in Professional Technical Communication at NJIT.  I have taught and learned in a MOOC environment forp2pu.org since 2011 and this year I taught the “Academia and the MOOC” course offered by the Canvas Network in 2013. I started my career in education in 1975 as a secondary school teacher of English.

Also on the panel is Mary Zedeck, an Instructional Designer with Seton Hall University’s Teaching, Learning and Technology Center where she is responsible for supporting faculty in the design, integration and assessment of technology resources for courses and programs on campus, as well as hybrid and online. Mary was a designer and facilitator with me on the "Academia and the MOOC" course this past spring. She also manages the Freshman Studies ePortfolio program and is leading the campus Early Alert Retention Initiative.

Dr. Sandra. L. Miller provides leadership and vision for the departments of Academic Technology, Media Services, and Broadcast, Production and Support for Cable, Satellite, and Videoconferencing. Miller was the PI for NJVID, an IMLS National Leadership Grant in 2007-2011. Miller’s recent conference presentations have included: Lilly Conference on “Creating a Video Dialogue Using Video Clips” in 2013, EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference in 2012 on “Planning for Informal Learning Spaces”, EDUCAUSE National Conference in 2010 on “NJVid: A Collaborative Portal for Statewide Video Access” and “Focus Groups as Formative Assessment” at CCUMC in 2008. Miller (2013) currently has a chapter on “Creating a Video Dialogue” in the Plugged-In Professor, Eds., Ferris, S. and Wilder, P., has published with Felson, J. “Student response systems: Are they for large classes only?” in the College and University Media Review 2009, “Faculty Focus Groups” in the College and University Media Review 2007-2008, “Video as process and product” in EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 2005 and numerous other technology articles. Miller was awarded the Innovation Technology Award by NJLA-CUS in 2011 and along with NJEDge, the 2012 WOW award from WCET. Miller has served as an NGLC Grant Reviewer, EDUCAUSE Review article reviewer, and is President-Elect for CCUMC. Miller received her doctorate in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University.

Mung Chiang is the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University. His research on networking received the Alan T. Waterman Award (2013) and the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2012). A Technology Review TR35 Award recipient (2007) and founder of the Princeton EDGE Lab, his technologies have resulted in several commercial adoptions. His education activities received the Frederick Emmons Terman Award (2013) from ASEE. He started the “3 Nights and Done” learning platform, and his MOOC reached 90,000 students in 2012-2013. The corresponding textbooks, “Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers,” which received the PROSE Award in Engineering and Technology (2012) from AAP, and “Networks Illustrated: 8 Principles without Calculus”, adapted to individual readers via a mobile app. He chairs Princeton University’s Committee on Classroom Design, the founding steering committee of the IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, and co-chaired the U.S. NITRD Workshop on Complex Engineered Networks.

Dr. Bela Florenthal graduated from the Smeal College of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University with a Ph.D. in Marketing. Her professional areas of interest include social media, e-learning, e-tailing/retailing, and culture-based behavior. Her teaching experience is in Marketing Management, Consumer Behavior, Introduction to Marketing, and Marketing Research.

Loretta C. Mc Laughlin Vignier is an Assistant Professor of Media Production and Broadcast Journalism at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey specializing in television production. She has served as the chairperson of the Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) Committee since 2011. In 2012, she moderated a campus-wide forum on E-books. In spring 2013, Loretta co-presented at an iPad teaching circle. She is currently doing research on the use of cell phones to alleviate test-taking anxiety.

Christopher Brinton is a third year PhD Candidate at Princeton University in the Department of Electrical Engineering. His primary research focus is on developing machine learning and social networking techniques to enhance the efficacy of massively scalable digital and online education. He is a MOOC co-instructor, reaching out to over 90,000 students from 2012-2013, and co-author of the textbook Networks Illustrated: 8 Principles Without Calculus, which became a best-seller on Amazon, and also adapted to individual readers in a mobile app format. Chris received his Master’s Degree in EE from Princeton University in May 2013, and his BSEE from The College of New Jersey (valedictorian and summa cum laude) in May 2011.

Engaging Students in an Age of Disengagement

Some studies and the popular media tell us that students are increasingly disengaged in school and that that disengagement increases with every year they spend in school.

And yet, we are also hearing that students live in a very connected, networked world outside of academia where they are more engaged than ever.

I will doing a presentation on May 9th titled "Engaging Students in an Age of Disengagement" at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ as part of their Learning Technology Exposition.

Professors are told that they need to design curriculum to support student success and also create an engaging classroom whether it is face-to-face, online, or in a blended learning environment.

Can educators hijack social media engagement design and tools for academic engagement?
Can we meet student expectations within academic objectives?
Can we (re)design curriculum using pedagogy that encourages engagement?
How does engagement differ F2F, online, in hybrid and MOOC settings. 

The 21st Century Professor: Challenges of Digital Learning

If what you read is true, then the 21st century professor designs curriculum to support student success and creates an engaging classroom whether it is face-to-face, online, or in a blended learning environment.

This professor engages students through a variety of learning strategies, creates effective instructional materials and assesses student learning with a variety of tools and strategies.

That's quite a professor.

This week, I will be doing two workshops at Union County College in NJ examining the professional practices of the 21st century professor and looking at some of those tools and strategies that are being used.

"The 21st Century Professor: Challenges of Digital Learning" will include mobile learning, apps, learning networks, open education resources (including open textbooks), and collaborative learning online. We'll look at many tools from Google Docs to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).

We will also consider what the evolving qualities of a professor in the 21st century seem to be. Any nominations?

NJ Faculty Best Practices Showcase

Next Friday (march 15, 2013) is the 14th Annual NJ Faculty Best Practices Showcase at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey, sponsored by the Academic Technology Group (ATG) of NJEDge.Net.

The showcase features presentations and poster sessions on technology-mediated instruction by faculty, researchers and professional staff on the newest applications and the latest ideas about learning activities for on-ground, blended and online courses.

Some of my colleagues from PCCC  and NJIT will be presenting on adaptive learning in math, using Wikipedia effectively and the flipped classroom.

I will be the luncheon speaker this year, and I will be speaking about “Academia and the MOOC.” Many of the elite universities are offering these Massive Open Online Courses, but most colleges and educators are still unsure about what MOOCs are and if they are worthwhile. Although MOOCs have gotten a lot of attention, there is still a lot of doubt that a course where the participants and the course materials are distributed across the web, and the courses are "open" and offered at no cost to a very large number of participants who do not receive institutional credit, can  be a worthwhile venture for a college.

I will be previewing a MOOC by the same name that I will be "teaching" for NJEDge using Canvas Network. That MOOC will be open to anyone interested in the use of MOOCs in academia.  More about that next week.

For information and Showcase registration:  http://njedge.net/activities/facultyshowcase/2013/

NJEDge.Net 14th Annual Faculty Best Practices Showcase

Royal Geographical Society lecture, Brisbane, November 1946 - Flickr Commons

The 14th Annual NJ Faculty Best Practices Showcase will be held at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey, on Friday, March 15th, 2013.  The Academic Technology Group (ATG) of NJEDge.Net sponsors the event.

The showcase features presentations and poster sessions on technology-mediated instruction by faculty, researchers and professional staff on the newest applications and the latest ideas about learning activities for on-ground, blended and online courses.

I will be the luncheon speaker this year and I will be speaking about “Academia and the MOOC.”

The New York Times said that 2012 was “the year of the MOOC” and EDUCAUSE said that they have “the potential to alter the relationship between learner and instructor and between academe and the wider community.” Many of the elite universities are offering these Massive Open Online Courses, but most colleges and educators are still unsure about what MOOCs are and if they are worthwhile.

Can a course where the participants and the course materials are distributed across the web and the courses are "open" and offered at no cost to a very large number of participants who do not receive institutional credit be a worthwhile venture for a college?

In this presentation, I will briefly cover some history of the development of  MOOCs, and talk about the possible benefits and problems for schools and students.

Rutgers - Technology in Learning Showcase

I did a plenary presentation at Rutgers University's OIRT’s 2012 Technology in Learning Showcase on December 12, 2012 sponsored by the Office of Instructional and Research Technology.  

The talk, "2013: The Beginning of the End of the University," looked at some of the issues and trends in technology that have emerged this year that some are saying will lead to the end of the traditional university and/or the traditional degree. Is 2013 the beginning of the end of the university, or the starting place for University 2.0?


Information on the event at oirt.rutgers.edu/showcase/

2013: The Beginning of the End of the University from Ken Ronkowitz

NJEDge.Net Conference

I will be presenting Friday at the NJEDge.Net Annual Conference (November 28-30, 2012) in an IGNITE session titled "It’s the End of the University as We Know It (and I feel fine)."

The next ten years will transform universities in ways that will be frightening for anyone hoping to hold onto the university model that has existed for almost 900 years. It is very likely that, powered by technology, movements such as open educational resources, MOOCs, big data, non-degree programs, badges and alternatives to a university degree will lead to the end of University 1.0. What will be the tipping point that brings about University 2.0?

"Life after Composition: Improving Student Learning with Writing." - TYCA Northeast

I presented with Elizabeth Nesius at the TYCA-NE (Two Year College Association - Northeast) 47th Annual Conference in Syracuse, New York which was held October 25-27, 2012.

Our presentation, "Life after Composition: Improving Student Learning with Writing," is about the Writing Initiative at Passaic County Community College which we developed over the past five years.

This Title V grant program of student and faculty support and collaboration across disciplines at the general education course level. The Writing Initiative, which received a NCTE Diane Hacker 2012 Award, solidifies a targeted approach to student success by focusing on reforming curriculum using writing-intensive courses and providing ample academic support, and creating opportunities for faculty professional development.

Life After Composition: Improving Student Learning with Writing from Ken Ronkowitz