A quick tech tip to improve student learning

By Gayle Golden

We should all take time to embrace technology when it leads to better interaction with students.

Claire Segijn

The university suggests many technologies you can work into your classes, including helping you with the transition to Canvas that will be inevitable next fall. (Psst. Canvas is mucho easier and more effective than Moodle, so you've got nothing but fun ahead of you.)

But using technology in a way that benefits students -- without overwhelming them or you -- can sometimes get tricky. Here's a quick blog post with a simple tip you can use from Assistant Professor Claire Segijn.

Segijn has figured out a way to use technology to help students do a better job remembering what she teaches them. (And that seems pretty relevant.) Using an open-source presentation tool called mentimeter.com, Segijn creates interactive polls, word clouds and banner displays to give students immediate in-class feedback on their understanding after a lecture. She can also use it to spread awareness among the class about their questions or even just their positions.

Sometimes she just breaks ice with it. On the first day, for instance, she might ask students to pull out their laptop or smart phone, go to the menti site and then input a special code she gives them for that exercise. When they put in the code,  they'll see a place they can enter their answer.

Once the class finishes answering, up pops the word cloud:

That sounds like fun, doesn't it?  But the tool can also be used to reinforce learning. (And yes, this is similar to the clicker approach. The CLA also has a tool called ChimeIn that allows similar polling in class.)  After lectures, Segijn will sometimes create polls about key points she tried to convey. She then gives asks those polls to see whether she got through to them.  If a sizable number of students do not understand a concept, she knows to reinforce it.


Segijn also wants to know what students are curious about too. So at the end of the term, she uses the tool to solicit open-ended student questions about the course and about the upcoming final exam. The questions help her address gaps she might not see otherwise and give voice to what students might not feel comfortable raising in class.

The power of the technology is evident, she said, in the feedback she gets about it, especially in a large class where it's sometimes hard to get student input.

"In my student evaluations, almost every student writes that this was helpful in retaining information in the class and in retaining information for the test," Segijn said.

These tools are useful when used in small doses. But here's something to consider: Although it may be hard to fathom, some students may not have smartphones or laptops. No policy at the university requires students to have these devices in class. So it's important to be sensitive to the students who will surely not call attention to the fact they rely on university computers, not their own bank accounts, for their technology needs.

In Segijn's case, none of these interactive quizzes count for a grade. One can always provide index cards or ask students to confer with others for input as well to capture the full range of student response.

For more information on courses or resources on innovative technology in the classroom, visit the Center for Educational Innovation website.

Do you have a tip for using technology in the classroom? If you have a question or a comment for ProActive Teaching, please post one below or email me at ggolden@umn.edu. I'll be back at you soon.

Boiled-down syllabus boilerplate

By Gayle Golden

Welcome to another semester. We at HSJMC of course want to help you with all your teaching needs, from keys to email to room assignments to instructional advice, Canvas training or copy access. Whatever you desire or need.

And, of course, there's always this request we send every semester in an email:

Please paste the accompanying massive block of boilerplate text as an appendix to your syllabi. 

Thank you. 

Syllabi have become pretty long and complicated, it's true. By the time you finish detailing the course's descriptions, competency expectations, competency goals, textbooks, grading standards, schedule and long list of policy statements, it's not unusual for a syllabus to be more than 10 pages, and often too long for students to absorb fully.  (As a side note, last semester I wrote about Professor Kathy Hansen's habit of creating a syllabus quiz to help students master the details of it, which is a great strategy to review.)

The syllabus is a contract
It's obviously critical for faculty to take syllabi seriously as a contract with students. So paying attention to the details of what's in a syllabus is important. Students might not pay attention to a syllabus' details on deadlines or file name requirements, but they are quick to point out when something in it -- especially something not stated clearly -- disadvantages them.

To avoid problems, put all your policies in writing. The boilerplate material is no exception.

Yet some adjunct instructors who don't teach every semester are confused by updates in university policy or whether they can amend some parts of the boilerplate to mesh with their classroom style. Frankly, the boilerplate seems like a giant tangle of something vaguely important trailing after all the main stuff you tell students.

Fair enough.  That's why I thought it might be fun -- well, useful -- to unpack the boilerplate to give a little context before you begin teaching.

Why so much information about grades?
It's probably not surprising that grades are of great interest to students. Using the syllabus to spell out the details of how you grade will NOT be a waste of paper, I assure you. In general, you should:

• Reinforce the university's grade policy, which governs faculty decisions but leaves the details, such as what constitutes outstanding, to your discretion. 
• Add specifics about your point calculations that relate to your course
• Detail how you calculate plus or minus grades, which are not specified in the university's policy. (For example, I tell students I calculate minus grades within each letter grade from .00 to 3.5; and plus grades from 7.5 to .99. I also tell them that, as a rule, I don’t round up. You are free to decide whatever you wish or to not give minus or plus grades at all. Just tell them what you do.)

What if I want to let them use laptops?
You'll notice statements banning laptops and mobile devices from classes. Those are to discourage technology disruptions, which are increasingly a problem in classroom environments. (See my conversation last semester with Assistant Professor Amy O'Connor on the subject.)

But if you want to allow students to use those devices in your class, you are free to change those policies. Just be thoughtful about the impact of technology on other students as well as the learning environment. There's no one solution for every class.

What policy statements aren't optional...and why?
Good question. It's very important every syllabus include the university policy statements on the following (and here's why, with some links that might help you understand how to understand them):

• Academic freedom and responsibility: This sets the groundwork for open, civil discussions in your classroom.
• Student conduct code and definitions: This establishes the students' responsibilities to act in compliance with the Student Conduct Code.
• Grades (we've mentioned this, so nuff said)
• Extra credit: This makes sure they know you won't secretly offer extra points to one without offering the opportunity to all.
• Attendance and excused absences: This outlines when they can expect makeup work for legitimate absences -- a policy that was changed last spring to include one "single-episode medical absence" that does not require a note but is eligible for makeup work.
• Adviser access to Moodle/Canvas gradebook: This tells them we will be tracking Moodle or Canvas grade book to assist students who fall behind.
• Disabilities: This is an important statement about access to accommodations, which you may receive for mental health or other disability reasons. Read my earlier post about how to handle those.
• Student mental health and stress management: This is a university policy to urge students to seek referral for stress and mental health concerns.
• Sexual harassment: This is a university policy statement notifying students where they can relay concerns about harassment.
• Equity, diversity, equal opportunity, affirmative action: This is notifying students about the university's policy of inclusiveness and equal access.
• Email protocol: This is a reminder that students must communicate with faculty only via the official university email account.

Why so much on HSJMC writing expectations? 
Our school has spent a great deal of time as part of the university's Writing-Enriched Curriculum program thinking about our writing expectations for our students. Those statements are a product of that process. In other words, this is truly what we value and what we expect students to understand about writing in our program.

The statements should be in every syllabus so students understand how seriously we view these expectations. We also want our instructors to use those expectations to teach and grade writing assignments.

Why the strict syllabus format?
Finally, you might wonder: What's the big deal with putting this in a format? Why can't I create a graphic novel depicting my class? Or just write a few sentences in haiku telling students the essence of what they'll learn.

The truth is that such approaches may indeed enlighten students about your class. However, the university has a syllabus policy. And we must follow it. For further information, you may read the policy here.

Whatever you do with your syllabus, be sure it's a clear contract with your students. And if you find you need to clarify something once the semester begins, don't worry about making additions or corrections, as long as you put it in writing and it doesn't disadvantage the students.

The point is to be transparent and fair.

If you have a question or a comment for ProActive Teaching, please post one below or email me at ggolden@umn.edu. I'll be back at you soon.

Reminders for Spring 2018: Orientation and Canvas

By Gayle Golden

Greetings! I hope you are enjoying the rest and staying warm. Just a couple of quick reminders as you look ahead for a new year of teaching excellence.

Canvas transition
The university is switching its online course management system from Moodle to Canvas, which is really pretty easy once you get the hang of it. To make change easier, IT staff is holding an online training session on Jan. 4 from noon to 1:30 p.m. on the basics of using Canvas. I urge all adjuncts to register for it at Discover Canvas: Basics Workshop.

Canvas is not required for your spring courses; you may still use Moodle if you wish. But as some of you may have noticed, Moodle's usability is becoming an issue, and the switch to Canvas will be mandatory in fall. Why switch? Many students will expect the transition this spring. It's also inevitable. It makes sense to consider making the move now while so much technical support is on hand to help you do it.

Get oriented
Please join us for our orientation/reorientation session on Jan. 9 in Murphy 100. New adjuncts will come at 10 a.m. for the full scoop, and returning instructors will join us at 11:45 a.m. for lunch and a discussion session. We look forward to seeing you all.

If you have any questions about logistical details on the orientation, your email or other such details, contact Julie Golias at golia001@umn.edu. If you want to discuss teaching issues, policy matters or any other concerns, don't hesitate to contact me at ggolden@umn.edu.

See you in January.

Off the News in 2017: Faculty perspectives

By Gayle Golden

A lot has happened in journalism and communications in 2017.

You might say it's been huge.

So for a final blog post this semester, I asked a few HSJMC faculty members to help us navigate by reflecting on the year's events and offering thoughts on an issue in journalism or communications from 2017 that would make good fodder for class discussions -- especially during this final week of the semester.

The responses were varied and intriguing, as one would expect from a faculty with the same qualities. We've seen issues about entrapping journalists to net neutrality to big data to corporate activism, chat apps and social media diplomacy. You'll find all their thoughts here. We've also included resources you can use if you want to move any of this into the classroom. 

Project Veritas' Hoax Attempt on WaPo
Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law Jane Kirtley said she would pick the recent Project Veritas' attempt to hoax the Washington Post into believing a woman's false claim she was a childhood victim of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore -- and why the hoax failed. 

"It's a rich, rich topic ranging from deception in the course of 'news gathering' by so-called journalists who are really working for advocacy groups, to how news organizations fact-check, to whether there are appropriate legal sanctions -- the New York Attorney General is talking about suspending Project Veritas' license to do fundraising in the state -- to altering videos to FAKE NEWS," Kirtley says. "It's a textbook example of how journalists should (and do) practice what Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel call the "journalism of verification." But it also could be used to discuss whether undercover techniques are ever justified -- when and why and under what conditions. Even the issue raised by Marty Baron about why the Washington Post did not feel bound by its reporter's promise of anonymity is good fodder for discussion."

What's your trustworthiness score?

Assistant Professor Valerie Belair-Gagnon takes us to China with an expansive, intriguing story titled “How Big Data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens,” which discusses the Chinese government’s plan to launch a “social credit system” to judge the “trustworthiness” of its citizens.

"It is an important topic about big data, distributed trust, and international contexts." Belair-Gagnon says. "The connection with my new media and culture course is obvious, but from a journalistic standpoint, it is a story that shows how the technological materiality and the application of technology, as well as the agency of users, leads to different contexts or even forms of reporting, which I think is relevant to teach to our journalism students who will go on reporting with these tools."

Tweets and pizza dances

For Associate Professor Giovanna Dell'Orto, two things come to mind. The first one? "President Trump's use of tweets for major policy statements (and everything else, too)," she says. "Scholars have debated for a while what social media would do to diplomacy, but this is a whole new level. The North Korea case is a good example." 

The second example, she says, doesn't really involve history or international affairs, which are her areas of specialization. "A student brought up one other issue in my class that I thought it raised all sorts of good questions straddling journalism and strategic communications: the whole NFL anthem protests/PapaJohn's controversy, specifically the social media frenzy after the pizza mogul blamed the protests for a drop in sales, and then (and this is the crucial part for our purposes) tried to dig itself out of the hole by tweeting: "We will work with the players and league to find a positive way forward. Open to ideas from all. Except neo-nazis — those guys." In class we had just discussed the concepts of freedom of expression and whether any limits apply, and that's why the student brought up the tweet."

Science, politics and the public

Assistant Professor Rebekah Nagler offers some broad considerations for how this year has challenged how we think and discuss scientific evidence. "In my context courses, I underscore how important it is for us not only to understand scientific evidence, but to appreciate that, for a multitude of reasons, science and health (and the very notion of evidence) are increasingly becoming politicized. We talk about the origins of and explanations for this phenomenon -- discussions of biased processing (in other words, motivated reasoning) are central to this conversation -- as well as potential solutions/interventions. A few readings that might be of interest, though there are many more: on effectively communicating a research agenda, on education around climate change and on the public perception of science.

Corporate conscience? 

Assistant Professor Amy O'Connor is struck by the number of corporations who have taken public stands on controversial social issues. 

"It's interesting because a number of the companies are not known for being social issue advocates." O'Connor says. "Notable was Lumber 84 ads during the Super Bowl regarding the company's opposition to the border wall. More recently, Patagonia and REI have made public statements about their opposition to the Trump administration's take back of public lands. Other companies have equivocated (e.g., Keurig and their rebuke of Sean Hannity.)" 

Why is this big? "Corporations commonly reserve their opinions for non-controversial issues. I think we are seeing a new era when corporations are willing to enter into public discussion about issues that are controversial. This could be a big game changer in terms of influencing public opinion, challenging different public policies, and re-orienting what corporate social responsibility means."

More on corporate activism

Steve Wehrenberg, a teaching professor of strategic communication, sees the same trend among corporate action on social issues as a great a discussion topic. That proved true this fall when he introduced the topic of corporate brand activism while substituting in the Professional M.A. course Factors in Strategic Communication.  “We brought in one of our alumni, Maggie Collette, who wrote her Capstone paper on the topic.  And we also brought in Jim Scott, whose agency Mono, has done that type of advertising for Walmart,” Wehrenberg says. 

“Mono had quickly produced a TV spot for their client at the CEO's behest right after the Charlottesville incidents and Trump's response to them.  Walmart's CEO had resigned from Trump's CEO council and wanted to make a statement. Maggie's research, however, showed that a lot of consumers think it's weird for a brand to take a stand on political issues, even when they agree with it. We had a pretty robust and fun discussion about the topic, which is evolving pretty fast. To me this is a great issue for us to explore in courses like Campaigns and Account Planning.”

Chatty sources
The continued growth of chat apps is on the mind of Assistant Professor Colin Agur. In particular, he is thinking and writing a great deal about the challenges reporters face when chat apps become an important source of information -- for example, when reporting on political unrest. 

"In the coming years, journalists will make more extensive use of mobile chat apps for sourcing and news gathering, and the features and culture of existing and yet-to-be-created chat apps will create new challenges for reporting " Agur says in an upcoming book based on interviews with reporters covering political unrest in Hong Kong and China. 

Among those challenges: The apps will become more hybrid, more multifaceted, more closed and harder to access. Content will disappear by design, as it does with Snapchat. "And due to the popularity and convenience of chat apps, they will be the preferred sites for protest organizers and for dissemination of protest-related content. More and more critical discussions (protest planning and coordination) will take place on chat apps." As a result, he writes, "these spaces will be of greater significance to reporters."

Sexual harassment ethics

The growing number of sexual harassment allegations in entertainment, politics, media and elsewhere presents ethical and reporting challenges, says Teaching Associate Professor Chris Ison.

"My reporting class has discussed how to cover sexual harassment allegations and whether to report them. We talked about how to negotiate the pressure to believe women when they come forward against best practices in reporting, which requires us to question those who come forward and ensure we have appropriate evidence before publishing. It's one of those cases when sound ethics requires sound reporting, and vice versa."

The Poynter Institute offers guidelines for reporting on sexual harassment, and Neiman Reports has recently talked to eight journalists reflecting on the challenges of writing about men who abuse their power in this fashion. 

Net Neutrality Lost?

Net neutrality was the biggest communication news of 2017 for Assistant Professor Chris Terry – specifically, the November announcement by the Federal Communication Commission to repeal net neutrality rules that required broadband providers to give consumers equal access to internet content. That FCC decision to repeal a 2015 Title II order, once it's implemented and past judicial review, "will fundamentally alter the internet as we know it today,” Terry says. “Content production, distribution and the ability and methods used to access content online are all about to undergo a radical transformation.”

It's an important issue that will face a vote Dec. 14. So if you want the lowdown from Terry, here are a few questions with his answers about the key issues:

Why is the FCC doing this? 

“The action to repeal the order is being done now to stay ahead of the appeal of US Telecom v FCC to the Supreme Court. The courts have upheld the 2015 decision by the agency twice on appeal. If the U.S. Supreme Court were to do the same, revoking that order would be problematic for the agency. This is not being discussed openly in much of the media on the topic.”

Why will this fundamentally alter the internet as we know it today? 

“Everyone is used to the idea that they can simply access whatever content they desire at any time using a relatively stable process. If the provisions of the draft order become the regulatory approach of the FCC, that will no longer be the case. Comcast has a documented history of blocking certain content and applications, and Verizon said it would already be doing so if it were not for the various (net neutrality) regulations that have been in place between 2005 and 2017.

So I guess this means costs will go up, right? Can you explain? 

“There are three sets of players in the internet environment. End users: the consumers, you and me. Providers: The ISPs (Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, etc) and "edge providers" (websites not owned or operated by an ISP). Currently the ISP connects the end user to the edge provider and makes no choices about that connection. In other words, the user (you or I) is in charge. But after the Title II rules go away, the ISP will be able to dictate which edge providers are available, what speed you can access those sites at, and whether you can access them at all. Since in many areas ISPs are left over monopolies of the local cable franchises, you'll have little opportunity to find another, competitive provider. If Netflix or something similar doesn't pay the tax for a fast lane, it will become unusable (as it did in 2014). That means an increase in cost to a consumer, both for the tax Netflix has to pay to the ISPs, and from the ISPs who will able to charge the consumer more to use a service like Netflix that competes with a service the ISP owns as part of its integrated structure.”

Aside from cost, is there a more fundamental concern? 

“This is fundamentally a debate between who gets to choose the content. In the current neutral model, the consumer has the ability to decide what content or applications to access. In the proposed model, your ISP will be able to make that decision for you as long as it explains to you that it is doing so. Problematically, ISPs are not state actors, so the First Amendment would not protect either people who wish to speak nor people who choose to receive speech/content. In practical terms, that means your ISP becomes its own board of censorship, and consumers have little to no ability to challenge the decisions made by the ISP on what content is available.” 

On that note, from all of us at HSJMC, we wish you a very happy and peaceful holiday with family and friends. Thank you for all the hard work you've done with our students. We'll see you in the spring.