Wired Ivy

September is a great time to look at our syllabi, course designs, our delivery strategies, and our degree programs with fresh eyes.  Often, when we undertake this kind of review, we tend to focus on what’s missing, what doesn’t work.

Carey Borkoski of Johns Hopkins University and Brianne Roos of Loyola University - Maryland make the case for a different approach in a recent paper, published in Impacting Education, entitled “Listening to and Crafting Stories:  Cultivating Activism in Online Doctoral Students.” By using what Carey and Brianne call “deficit-free language,” teachers can see what is actually happening in their classroom, school or college, campus or district, rather than focusing on lack. As a result, these educators can advocate for change.

In this episode, conversation, Dan and Kieran learn how their guests have applied this strategic lens to academic advocacy as a key component of the online Doctor of Education program at Johns Hopkins, how it has been received by their students and colleagues, and how they plan to build on what they’ve learned along the way.

We also want to learn from our listeners! If you have an innovative online program, or a creative approach to teaching in a virtual classroom, we'd love to hear about it. And if you have questions about teaching online we want to hear those, too.  Leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/wiredivyor send an email to [email protected].

One would have to assume that if ever there were academic subjects, and student audiences, that lend themselves to at least a flipped classroom approach to teaching, that list would have to include mathematics and computer science.  After all, math and computer science provide the infrastructure that make virtual classrooms feasible.  And yet, as we learned during a lively conversation with  Gunes Ercal of Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville and Stacey Levine of Duquesne University, both of whom teach these subjects, the pivot to online hasn’t always led to a slam dunk. 

It’s summertime, and the living is… well, easier than last year, at least.  With the start of a new academic year on the horizon, a mere two months and change away, we decided this is the perfect season for an episode that begins to explore the choreography of moving from learning objectives to lessons to assignments that will resonate with an online audience.  

And since our very own Dan Marcucci consistently garners standing ovations from students for his innovative approach to online course design and delivery, I convinced him to sit for an interview with me about his creative process.  

It’s one thing to encourage faculty to stretch out and take full advantage of the virtual classroom, and another thing entirely to actually waltz on the walls, cha-cha on the ceiling, and boogie in the balcony.  So Dan’s going to help us trip the light fantastic.  In no time at all you’ll be dancing like everyone is watching their smartphone!

But before you buckle up your tap shoes, please take a moment to share your online teaching stories with us. Leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/wiredivyor by sending an email to [email protected].