In part this post is just a quasi-official, on the record, symbolic passing of the torch. I really do want Collo to be yours and I really do want it to work. I remember saying when I interviewed for this position that my nightmare was for one of you to ask what the point of Collo was and for me to not have an answer. I believe one way to make it relevant, useful and less redundant is to give some power and control of the course to you. I'm happy to play the Pete Seeger role. I can strum G,C, and D and call out the verses, but you have to sing. So there's that.
The other point of the post is to say to Midways and FPAs, this class is your class too. I think it sometimes happens that UHS folks dominate these discussions (note: not a criticism, still love you all). But it's your class, too, and you may have different ideas/wants/needs for the class. Midways, you tend to be older and don't need to be treated like freshmen, but you are also new to the university and to the program, so you also don't need to be treated like you've been here for two years. You have less time together as a cohort than those in other programs. You likely have other unique needs. If there is something that you think would be helpful or beneficial for you, let me know. Same thing for FPAs. What can we do in Collo that would be beneficial to you in particular?
Part of the goal of Collo is to bring everyone from all of our programs (minus HIDs) together, but that doesn't mean we can't also tailor some things to better suit your individual and collective wants and needs. I can't do that if I don't know what those are, though.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Program of Study
The program of study came up today and that got me thinking about it. It isn't going anywhere and most of you seem to agree that it is an important exercise (at least early in your academic career), even if you don't appreciate it at the time. But it seems to me the format of the program of study could be improved. The bold, italics, underline, and sometimes combinations of those gets confusing, at least to me. It seems to me there ought to be a template we use that has things broken down by semester with the appropriate boxes to check for gen. ed. requirements, intensives, major requirements, minor requirements, etc. Surely such a thing is possible. I'm happy to attempt to make one, but if anyone wants to take that on and get some collo credit for it, that would be great.
Grading Collo
Some thoughts on grading:
1. Grading is a challenge in Collo because, unlike other classes, there isn't really any content to test you on or to master. Additionally, there are few "deliverables." There are some--e.g., the program of study--but others are somewhat artificial and that tends to not work out well.
2. On the one hand, I want to trust you to do what you should be doing. On other hand, there has to be some kind of accountability.
3. I still like this idea, but I don't really know if it would work in Collo.
4. One thing it would allow for is dividing things up so that grades are dispersed throughout the semester. This, I think, is one of the biggest problems with Collo grading. When the majority of the grade is based on things due at the end of the term, many wait until the end of the term to do anything. That's a problem. We need the grades to encourage doing Collo related things throughout the semester.
5. Basing the grade on time spent also reinforces that what's important is what you're *doing,* not the thing you're producing that actually gets a grade. I like that.
6. I also like the flexibility. Within some parameters, you could spend your time how you want. If you get involved in a project that takes a lot of time, that would offset the time you have to spend doing other things for Collo. If you teach a class (more on peer teaching to come), the time you spend preparing would count.
7. Even if this works in principle, I'm still not sure how to make it work in practice. In particular, I'm not sure how to satisfy (2).
8. Also, how many hours should you spend on Collo? Per week? Per semester? This would be good to know anyway, however the grading works out.
9. I'm open to any and all ideas here. I don't like grading to be mysterious and I don't want it to be meaningless. Outside of that, I'm open to trying almost anything.
1. Grading is a challenge in Collo because, unlike other classes, there isn't really any content to test you on or to master. Additionally, there are few "deliverables." There are some--e.g., the program of study--but others are somewhat artificial and that tends to not work out well.
2. On the one hand, I want to trust you to do what you should be doing. On other hand, there has to be some kind of accountability.
3. I still like this idea, but I don't really know if it would work in Collo.
4. One thing it would allow for is dividing things up so that grades are dispersed throughout the semester. This, I think, is one of the biggest problems with Collo grading. When the majority of the grade is based on things due at the end of the term, many wait until the end of the term to do anything. That's a problem. We need the grades to encourage doing Collo related things throughout the semester.
5. Basing the grade on time spent also reinforces that what's important is what you're *doing,* not the thing you're producing that actually gets a grade. I like that.
6. I also like the flexibility. Within some parameters, you could spend your time how you want. If you get involved in a project that takes a lot of time, that would offset the time you have to spend doing other things for Collo. If you teach a class (more on peer teaching to come), the time you spend preparing would count.
7. Even if this works in principle, I'm still not sure how to make it work in practice. In particular, I'm not sure how to satisfy (2).
8. Also, how many hours should you spend on Collo? Per week? Per semester? This would be good to know anyway, however the grading works out.
9. I'm open to any and all ideas here. I don't like grading to be mysterious and I don't want it to be meaningless. Outside of that, I'm open to trying almost anything.
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