Happy New Year! New Publications in 2020 and 2021

Happy New Year,

I have not kept up on my post…so as you may have guessed, one of my New Year Resolutions is related to writing. To hold myself accountable, I enrolled in a writing class. However, I should mention that just because I haven’t shared a post hear in a while does not mean I have not been productive (writing wise anyway: see Google). My most recent publication is an edited book that I was fortunate enough to work on with Dr. Erik Byker. The Title is Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century.

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The book is organized into three sections: (1) context, (2) competencies, and (3) content. The context section examines the historical and current context for elementary education from international perspectives. The competencies section focuses on the skills and dispositions necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to navigate the contours of elementary education in a global age. The content section explores elementary education subject matter—largely in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)—that will continue to eminent throughout the twenty-first century. Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century is a timely book for internationally-minded educators, government leaders, parents, practitioners, and policymakers for gaining deeper insight into the critical role of elementary education in preparing children for our dynamic, interconnected, and globalized world. For more information on this book, click here.

Quick Updates - March 2017

At the beginning of this month, I was elected to serve as president of the Culture, Learning and Technology Division of AECT. I have served as VP of Communications for the past few years and am grateful for this new opportunity.  Also, I am happy to be part of the following edited volumes released this year:

I have four more publications in progress and look forward to sharing more about them later this year.

 

Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA)

A colleague ( C. R. Wright ) recently shared with me the recently published report on the Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership, by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). Below are the key leadership qualities identified in the publication:

  1. Advocacy and Leadership within the University: Those charged with leading an enterprise must build internal alliances, and reflect the larger goals, values, and strategies of their institutions.
  2. Entrepreneurial Initiative: Recognizing that online education is inevitably about innovation, experimentation, risk, and imagination, emerging leaders must have the skills and creativity to facilitate responsible change.
  3. Faculty Support: Leaders must envelop their faculty with the tools they need to create education equal to, if not exceeding, that of the traditional classroom.
  4. Student Support: Recognizing that online students demand a learning experience at least comparable to that on-campus, leaders must be ongoing advocates for students earning their degrees remotely from their institutions.
  5. Digital Technology: Leaders must provide an environment that is current, dependable, and rich in the creative use of tools to enhance learning, interaction, and program integrity.
  6. External Advocacy and Leadership beyond the University: Since online enterprises must represent their institutions to an often skeptical public, leaders must be an authoritative voice to regulators, accreditors, alumni, members of the business community, and many others.
  7. Professionalism: Recognizing that emerging entities need policies and practices that demonstrate the integrity of a profession still establishing itself, those leading the growth of online learning must exemplify the highest ideals and contribute to a growing professional community on a national scale.

While all of these ideas are paramount, I have been spending quite a bit of time examining the idea of what the term "Entrepreneurial Initiatives" means not only for institution of higher learning , but the student. While the report focuses in on the online class as part of the brand of a university (the concepts and ideas of which are worthy of its own blog post), considering how authentic assessments can be used by students in a similar type of branding can be valuable in certain educative contexts. I work with educators and help them think through not only how their work in the online environment can be applied in the real world, but how how representations of their work can be used to create their personal brand beyond web portfolios. I am interested in how other disciplines view this idea, as well as more perspectives of what it looks like in the K-12 setting. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments.

MSU Urban STEM

I have been fortunate to work with this program for the past two years as an instructor and contributor to the curriculum. I have learned so much from the teachers and look forward to see their projects continue to grow, as well as share the ideas with more educators.

The MSU-WIPRO STEM & Leadership Teaching Fellowship program is the culmination of the partnership between global tech giant Wipro, Chicago Public Schools and Michigan State University's College of Education. Fellows participate in an innovative year-long integrated learning experience to build STEM teachers' capacity to lead and inspire innovative practice in urban K-12 schools. This video highlights some of the experiences and takeaways of the 49 members of the second cohort. For more information on this project, please visit http://www.msurbanstem.org/.

 

AACE SITE 2016

Last week I was honored to present at my second SITE conference. This year it was in Savannah, Georgia. SITE is always a wonderful opportunity to share work and to connect with colleagues. I was involved in a symposium with the amazing MSU Urban STEM team.  Our symposium was titled: Reinventing TPACK, STEM Teaching and Leadership in an Urban Context

This symposium discusses the pedagogical make up and impact of the MSU-Wipro UrbanSTEM & Leadership Fellowship program on teacher practices, efficacy, and competence. We will describe our instructional approach, which uses the educative experience (Dewey, 1938) involving real world, hands-on engagement with technological devices, pedagogies, and teachers’ relationships to STEM content. Our fellowship program is driven by TPACK (Technology Pedagogical Content Knowledge) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) framework. We will discuss curriculum and practices highlighting several teachers from program. Specifically, we will focus on their teaching experiences showcasing how they creatively integrate technology into their pedagogical practices, with an emphasis on creativity and aesthetics. Among the presenters in this symposium are the leaders of the project, members of the instructional and research teams from the university, and participants from Chicago Public schools.

I have included my section below:

It was also great to catchup with several MSU College of Education alumni

AACE SITE 2016 - Savannah, GA