Death by PowerPoint – Fact or Fiction?

http://mededelearning.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/death-by-powerpoint-fact-or-fiction/

David Andrew

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Buzz from AJ Cann

 Link to this post:
 http://www.google.com/buzz/107962914038670635598/8G9Z73idCir/The-short-view-In-a-well-argued-and-thought

18:58 AJ Cann: The short view
In a well argued and thought-provoking piece a few days ago (Science and Web 2.0: Talking About Science vs. Doing Science), David Crotty argues that:
"Tools for communication are the low-hanging fruit, the obvious things to build based on Web 2.0 ventures that have worked in other areas, but so far they've failed to capture the interest of most scientists."
This is undeniably true, but it leads David to the conclusion that:
Every second spent blogging, chatting on FriendFeed, or leaving comments on a PLoS paper is a second taken away from other activities. Those other activities have direct rewards towards advancement.
and:
Finding ways to help scientists spend more time at the bench and to get more out of that time will succeed where the current crop of peripheral distracting tools have failed.
While presently true, this is the short view, which fails to recognize the change that these tools are bringing, in science as in society. Scientists may not like them, but they're not going away. Just as in the last week Friendfeed has enabled us to set up a research collaboration with someone in Australia we have never met face to face, these tools will bring great changes to education. If people think the professional qualities we are instilling via Friendfolios are not significant, then they have truly missed the point of social tools

Fwd: Thinking Writing Events

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sally Mitchell <s.mitchell@qmul.ac.uk>
Date: 9 February 2010 13:34
Subject: Thinking Writing Events
To: Sally Mitchell <s.mitchell@qmul.ac.uk>

Dear Colleague

In the week beginning 8th March, we are hosting visitors from Quinnipiac University, Connecticut as part of an exchange fellowship, designed to enable the two institutions to compare institutional, departmental and individual approaches to developing writing and thinking in the disciplines.  During this visit there'll be two Thinking Writing events and I 'd like to invite you to participate in these:

1) EXCHANGE OF PRACTICE FORUM   -  "Developing disciplinary thinking in the first year – uses of writing"

 Tuesday 9th March 2-3.30 in G.O.Jones Building, Room 6.02

We'd like to hear about how you have used, or are planning to use, writing to encourage your students to engage with ways of thinking in your discipline or field. We're placing the emphasis on the First Year in recognition of the significance in students' learning development of transition from A level (or equivalent) to higher education. However we are also interested to discuss approaches or activities used at other levels that could be adapted or adopted in the First Year. We hope that colleagues will come forward with their ideas and experiences and be prepared to share them in this informal forum.

Please get in touch if:

•  You have something you would like to talk briefly about. It can be a small, simple activity, or a more elaborate one; it can also be something that doesn't quite work that might benefit from discussion.... (If you can't make the date but nonetheless have something others might benefit from hearing about, please still get in touch -  we'll disseminate for you)

•  You would like to come along and hear what others do.

2) WORKSHOP -  "Critical Thinking: What is it and can it be taught?"

Wednesday 10^th March  2-4pm in Laws Building, Room G5

Led by Professor Bob Smart, Faculty of English and Co-chair of Writing Across the Curriculum,  and Andy Delohery, Director of the Learning Centre, Quinnipiac University.

Please let me know (by 26th February if possible) if you would like to take part in either or both of these events. All welcome, so do circulate this invitation to other colleagues, including teaching assistants.

Best wishes
Sally

--  Sally Mitchell Thinking Writing  Language and Learning Unit Queen Mary, University of London Mile End Road London E1 4NS  Tel: 020 7882 2833 www.thinkingwriting.qmul.ac.uk  

The Hidden and Informal Curriculum During Medical Education

 

 

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The Hidden and Informal Curriculum During Medical Education

via Dr Shock MD PhD by Dr Shock on 07/02/10

Both the hidden and informal curriculum take place after or next to the theoretical teaching, the formal teaching and has an important part in the shaping of the medical students' professionalism and professional values. Moreover, these forms of the curriculum have a major impact on the learning potential of med students. Yet little is known about this subject. A lot has been written but only from a theoretical stand point.

The hidden curriculum is the physical and workforce organizational infrastructure in the academic health center that influences the learning
process and the socialization to professional norms and rituals.

The informal curriculum is the student's immersion in the interpersonal processes in the academic health center, including
interactions between students and their teachers, interactions among the interprofessional participants in medical care processes, and interactions that students experience with patients and their family members.

Recent published research studied the informal and hidden curriculum by using medical students' critical incident narratives. Medical students were asked during their third year clerkship in internal medicine to report professional critical incidents, events that thought them something about professionalism and professional values or the lack thereof.

reflect on and write about events, either positive or negative, that "taught you something about professionalism and professional values."

Each students had to write at least two such narratives online in a web based password protected web site. These narratives were printed and discussed anonymous in focus groups, monthly small group reflection sessions. From the 272 experiences described by the students, 63,4% were positive and 29,1% negative. The other stories were not positive nor negative. The main domain about which these narratives were focused were about medical clinical interaction (81,3%) and 18,6% about educational situations.

Most common themes:

• manifesting respect or disrespect in clinical interactions with patients, families, colleagues, and coworkers. For instance face to face contact with patients or conversations about colleagues in their absence
• managing communication challenges with patients and families. Mostly positive stories about the positive amnner in which professionals handled these contacts. Some stories were clumsy in handling sensitive conversations about important topics
• demonstrating responsibility, pride, knowledge, and thoroughness. Role models showing actions that either were poor or exemplary behaviors.
• stories about professionals taking time to understand their patients' concerns and needs and making certain that patients understood what was being said about their illnesses
• going above and beyond, caring and altruism in taking care of patients and/or family members
• stories concerning communicating and working in teams and about the issue of teamwork
• creating an (un)welcoming environment. This is mostly about teaching and the learning environment. The feeling to be actively taught and cared for is extremely important for students
• The teacher asking questions and providing explanations, using all opportunities to teach values and manners, also an important educational theme for the students.

These themes show how utterly important it is to be a good professional role model to medical students. They focus mainly on interaction and communication. They mostly have their attention on the respectful or lack thereof interactions in teams and towards patients and many others. Obviously med students are very sensitive to these communications and dependent on role models for their future. They observe very closely how their mentors interact with various others, both visible and behind closed doors.

I don't think negative interactions or incidents will have a negative effect, these things happen. What counts is the way we solve these negative behaviors, how we deal with them. If we succeed to deal with them in a positive manner, these incidents become educational. What do you think?

Karnieli-Miller O, Vu TR, Holtman MC, Clyman SG, & Inui TS (2010). Medical students' professionalism narratives: a window on the informal and hidden curriculum. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 85 (1), 124-33 PMID: 20042838

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Beyond Bullet Points: Interview with Nancy Duarte

 

 

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Beyond Bullet Points: Interview with Nancy Duarte

via Duarte Blog by Paula Tesch on 05/02/10

If you're interested in presentation design, you've heard of Cliff Atkinson. His best-selling book, Beyond Bullet Points, has inspired many people to break away from the traditionally bullet-heavy presentation format.

His book has also inspired a blog, to which Meryl Evans is a frequent contributor. Meryl recently interviewed Nancy Duarte on behalf of the Beyond Bullet Points blog. (Say that ten times fast.)

Nancy and Meryl chatted about what makes a presentation effective and memorable (a story), what makes a story good (it moves your audience), and why sketching and drawing at any skill level can make you a better presenter (it gets you thinking outside the box.) Nancy also shares a few of her favorite presentations, all of which can be viewed online.

Check out the interview here:
http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com/blog/?p=365

 

 

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from Piaget

People 'have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves'  (he actually said children but applies to everyone) from this website - http://www.leading-learning.co.nz/famous-quotes.html#teaching

Here's a Thought: Let's Banish Critical Thinking

 

 

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Here's a Thought: Let's Banish Critical Thinking

via The Window by Kevin D. Washburn, Ed.D. on 2/4/10

I've been thinking about thinking lately, and I've had it with critical thinking. Note the italics. I've had it with the term critical thinking, not the actual practice. From a recent immersion in thinking-related research, I've concluded that critical thinking is like the weather: everybody talks about it but few do anything about it.

No arena bandies the term about as widely as education. Few conferences fail to include at least one session devoted to the topic, and book vendors at these events hawk the latest tomes dedicated to it. Educators seem to agree on the need for students to learn to think critically, but that seems to be the end of their consensus. Ask three different educators for their definition of critical thinking and you're likely to get at least four different ideas, and at least half of them will include a nod to Bloom's Taxonomy. Somewhere in our history, many of us were convinced that if our questioning climbed a ladder and we called on students whose names we wrote on popsicle sticks and pulled randomly from a styrofoam cup, we were teaching students critical thinking.

Because of the confusion all these preconceived notions create, I propose that we stop talking about critical thinking and instead just think about thinking. To that end, I've started referencing a different model. Imagine thinking as a target. As any marksman knows, the center of the target is where you aim if you want the best result. However, though the center of this target represents the ultimate goal, the outer circles are not without value. Let's examine the first of these outer circles: memorize.

Wait, don't stop reading! I know memorizing lacks the flash and appeal of the target's other circles, but our brains do indeed memorize information, sometimes without our consent. For example, I know every lyric to the 70's classic but somewhat mind-numbing "Funkytown." I never intentionally sat down and used flash cards to learn the lyrics. They just got stuck in my head, which is one way to define memorizing. We memorize when things get stuck in our heads, on purpose or otherwise.

When educators talk about memorizing, it's usually with a scowl on their faces and the taste of battery acid on their tongues. Memorizing is so beneath us. We don't have students memorize anything. Everything we teach is meaningful. It's all the others—teachers who teach other disciplines—who make students memorize unnecessary information. We're above such an approach. We climb questioning ladders and pull popsicle sticks, for pete's sake!

But let's be honest. Despite the fact that most everything factual can now be found quickly via technology, some information still possesses its greatest value when it's memorized. At its best, memorizing enables efficiency in thinking and acting. For example, knowing how to spell the words critical and thinking saved me plenty of time in developing this post. If I didn't know instantly how to spell most of the words I use in writing, I'd probably have far less to say. (I know what you're thinking: that'd be a bad thing?) Can you imagine trying to compose any significant passage of writing if you had to stop and check your wireless device for the correct spelling of every word?

I once had an experience that provides a picture of what this might be like. My wife and I love going to the theater for live performances. One time, just before the curtain was raised on a new drama, the announcer spoke via the public address system: "Today the role of Countess Calista will be played by Jane Smith, script in hand." Apparently the lead actress and her understudy were unavailable. Sure enough, Ms. Smith waltzed onto stage with "script in hand," and read her lines throughout the performance. It was disjointed and distracting. So much so that I can't even remember the name of play, let alone what it was about. Memorizing has its place, even when technology that can provide the next line or correct spelling exists.

However, at its worse, memorization becomes merely testable material that lacks any use beyond the end of an instructional unit. With such material, its measurability is often its sole benefit, and it's a benefit for the teacher not the student. Unfortunately it seems that many schools would rather aim for this outermost circle, decreasing the likelihood of hitting any part of the thinking target. But if we aim for and even hit this outermost circle, we have problems. Memorizing, while valuable when engaged selectively, has its limits.

First, students who only memorize remain subject to dogma's sway. Parroting is evidence of memorizing, and a student who has highly developed memorizing capacity without equally developed processing abilities will tend to repeat the ideas of others, often without understanding.

Second and relatedly, students only equipped to memorize tend to accept without question. Such individuals tend to take the words that fall from the mouths of people they like and repeat them whether they are true or not. Since they lack the ability to process the ideas the words represent, accepting and repeating those words become the individual's way of "thinking."

Third, individuals who rely solely on memorizing as thinking cannot entertain or even understand conflicting ideas. That which they've memorized becomes their sole reference, so anything new must conform with the previously memorized information.

In short, merely memorizing severely limits an individual. So, while hitting the outermost circle represents one element of mental activity, always aiming there produces individuals I don't think most schools and teachers would claim as their intended outcome. We need to consider the inner circles (and we will in future posts) and actually teach students the cognitive skills associated with them. Popsicle sticks and questioning variety alone won't get us there.

Let's think about thinking—teaching it, increasing it, developing students who actually can do it—but let's leave our confusing dance with critical thinking behind.

Top Image: 'la linea della vita, nichilismo' http://www.flickr.com/photos/32347849@N08/3269623518

 

 

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