Link to supplemental blog

Here's the link to my China blog: http://deloresinchina.wordpress.com/ ... According to information provided on the Great Firewall of China Blogger, Blogspot, and even Google will likely not be accessible to me while I'm in China. Wordpress looks like it is ... so to help document my experiences & keep everyone at home up to date, I created a new blog. Come on over to Wordpress for the journey!

Teaching in China

...just learned that I won't be able to access blogspot while teaching in China this summer ... I need to find a new blog home for the trip ...

End of Semester

The last two weeks have flown by. I returned from NOLA just two weeks ago, came down with a terrible cold, and now we're at the end of the semester. Funny thing is that at week 15 of the semester, I feel like I'm just hitting my stride with the class I'm teaching (two sections of organizational theory). I have a lot of great ideas for how I'll approach this class the next time I teach it -- including changing one of the texts in favor of another. The students are so inspiring: They are curious, honest, supportive of our learning community, and committed to our shared success. I appreciate the joy of teaching even while it's often a challenge.
I'm going to take my own advice regarding writing and work on the "at-least-one-hour-a-day" approach. I'll need to schedule the time just as I'll schedule time for yoga, blogging, and so on. But I know for sure that if I don't put it on the calendar, it doesn't happen.
Thanks, everyone, for a great semester!

Ready to Head Home

I've been here in New Orleans since last Wednesday night. The two conferences have been great: the first focused on research, the second on practice. Both provided opportunities to network, learn about research, and hear about some of the innovative practices at community colleges. Most colleges are facing the same issues no matter where they are in the U.S.: increasing enrollment, shrinking revenues, and vacancies at the executive leadership level that they can't fill. There are really some tremendous opportunities for people who want to become college Vice Presidents and Presidents; yet, the daunting challenges are keeping many away. I'm looking forward to studying (and reporting on) those colleges that are investing in professional development and succession planning. It's so important to develop folks who are really excited about stepping into these key leadership positions. So, future leaders ... think about it. What do you need to do to prepare yourself for the next steps? There are lots of professional development activities -- check out AACC: there's the Future Leaders Institute and other activities. For student affairs professionals, look to NASPA: there's the Stevens Institute, new SSAO institute, and many others. Develop a strategic plan for your professional development -- we need you!

Conferences!

Disclaimer: I'm typing quickly before a lunch session with sun glaring on my screen. I apologize in advance for typo's -- I'll come back later to edit but wanted to post an update from the last two days as soon as I could and while my thoughts on the sessions were fresh. (It's later now & I'll add the links and correct typo's!)

Here's why I love conferences: I learn so much!!! Yesterday the CSCC conference ended at 3:00 and by 3:30 I was in the "new attendee" session for AACC. I even managed to find people I know from my former district :-) This morning I attended a session on connecting research and practice -- here are the positive outcomes from that session: networking with other researchers (I feel like I'm really a scholar now ... it's hard to explain...but it's about identity development: my sense of who I am as a university faculty member is really deepening this year) and talking about ideas for projects...and here's the thing: they are excited about my research on leadership development and succession planning -- and practitioners are also excited about this. Larry Ebbers from Iowa State is a great mentor and colleague. The second session was on using social media to help shape a college's image. Check out Fox Valley Technical College to see how they're using social media. I started thinking about how I could apply the strategies on an individual level -- to network, find out about other research, and to (quite frankly) promote my own work. So many ideas and way too little time to write before lunch ...

First Conference Session

Great start to the CSCC conference: This afternoon was the first (ever -- and hope the first in a series) of sessions on internationalization. Got some ideas on how to "internationalize" just about any course I'm teachin! It's actually not that hard -- we just need to expand our thinking a bit as we think about our courses.

The next session was a panel presentation that included an overview of the emerging community college system in Hong Kong, efforts in East Africa, higher ed in Brasil and where community colleges fit in, and the community college movement in India. Speakers stressed the importance of equity and access over structure ... and cautioned western educators against imposing our system (of education, values, etc.) on other countries and, instead, meet those countries where they are -- with a focus on equity and access.

Following the two panel presentations, we had a "new member" reception. It was nice to meet some of the new attendees (easily identifiable by their red ribbons) and to see returning members. CSCC is a great organization! It's so nice to talk with colleagues and look for ways to support each other.

Returned to my hotel and am having dinner in the restaurant here ... a bowl of jambalaya so I could save room for the warm biscuit sundae dessert. Oh, my, it's quite delicious.

Morning in the Big Easy

Cafe au lait & beignets by the river this morning followed by a walk around the area to get my bearings. Convention Center is a few blocks from my hotel; CSCC conference starts later today at the Center. Not a long walk from here, but I'm already wondering about the comfort index of the shoes I brought along.

Life is a mix of things here -- tourists, convention goers (all so very conspicuous with their name badges!), locals, and people wanting to make some money. I'd prefer a quieter look at NOLA -- off the beaten path. But today has been a good introduction. Even though I don't have my camera I've looked at things through a photographer's eye & have enjoyed the beauty of the architecture, the kaleidescope of people, the street artists & tarot card readers, and even the guy trying to make a buck hustling tourists for a shoe shine.

As I looked at the river today, I tried to imagine what it must have been like as Katrina approached, followed by the levee failure ... hard to see evidence of the devestation, but this is my first visit to NOLA and I don't have a sense of the before/after.

I'll be blogging about the conference(s) & conference sessions over the next few days. Hope you join the conversation ... You can also find me on Twitter (@dmcnair) where I'll be microblogging ;-)

Progess: Time Management Tip

I talked with colleagues the other day about ways they manage their time. Each of my colleagues had a slightly different approach, but the common theme was a real commitment to scheduling specific time for specific projects. For example, one said, "On Monday, I prep for class; on Tuesday, I write; on Wednesday, etc." The benefits were obvious: schedule a project and it's likely to be completed. Not exactly a new revelation, but for some of us who are less structured, the idea may be novel. As I continued investigating this, I read Julie Morgenstern's Time Management From the Inside Out while traveling. The ideas were great and seemed very do-able. I had the opportunity to try out one of the ideas last week after students submitted case study analyses. Following Julie's guidelines, I timed myself to see how long it took me to review a paper and provide feedback. I made sure to include all of the steps involved: download the document, review the document, add the rubric to the end of the document, type narrative comments, complete the rubric, and upload the document back to our course site. I allowed myself 40 minutes for each paper. I further divided the task by determining the number of papers I'd review each day. I planned to complete 3 - 4 reviews per day. By having this goal in mind, I could complete a review, move on to other projects, and later come back to another review. I also set a timer for myself using an on-line stopwatch. This kept me on track throughout the week. By the end of the week, I was completing the reviews in much less time than I had allocated. The feedback was substantial and focused on "big picture" issues (i.e., the overall analysis and conclusions). I kept track of some common areas that need attention, such as APA formatting, and will provide general comments to the entire class regarding these issues. I finished the reviews a day earlier than I had expected, which means students received timely feedback that will help them as they work on their next paper. The success of this effort is, of course, self-reinforcing! I feel great, the project wasn't nearly as daunting as it has felt in the past, and I have a much better sense of how to manage similar projects. Next up: scheduling different types of projects & adding them to my planner!

The Magic of Teaching

I was reviewing students' papers tonight -- an analysis of an educational current event -- and noticed the analyses weren't coming out quite as I had expected. It was clear that there's some confusion about the assignment as well as the theoretical frameworks being used for the analysis. I started to see some patterns and realized the potential for some really great teaching & learning here. So tomorrow we'll talk about theoretical frameworks and how they affect our interpretation of an event. What happens when we apply a positivist/rationalistic framework? How does the analysis change when we apply a critical theorist perspective? What impact does a postmodern framework have on our understanding? I have to say that I like being able to take something and identify where more teaching & learning can occur. This is really the magic of teaching, I think ... noticing patterns of understanding or not-quite-understanding then building on that to help develop new insights. It's late and I'm not as insightful about this as I might otherwise be ... but I'm feeling this. It's like ... "Hey, I can make a difference here in helping others understand these concepts." That's a nice place to be.

They say it gets easier...

In the university's Faculty Center today I overheard two people talking about the pace of teaching. One mentioned she thought things were supposed to be easier in the spring semester because you had some time before you had to start planning & developing courses for the next semester. Both noticed they were already planning for their fall classes and were voicing the common concern: How can I get everything I need to do done? How do I prep for class, read papers, stay current for this course, engage in university service, and become a productive scholar? In an odd way, I was relieved to overhear their conversation -- they confirmed that what I so often experience is a common experience. It doesn't make it any easier, but it does help to know I'm not the only one who hasn't figured things out.
One thing that causes me a lot of extra work is that I often make changes to a course after I meet the students and we get underway. Many students have said they appreciate this flexibility, while others say it makes them a bit crazy. I do think we need to be flexible and that doctoral students who plan to become high level administrators need to develop a disposition for change & ambiguity. When I make changes, I try to make them in the students' favor -- that is, I prefer to extend a deadline rather than to move it up; I'll reduce, rather than increase, reading assignments. But what I've realized is something so elementary, so essential to good teaching I'm really embarassed to admit it ... I need to do a better job planning the course up front. But I don't want to develop such a rigid plan that we have no flexibility in the schedule. I think there's room for both of these values -- structure & flexibility. A flexible structure.
So today I've been very intentional as I think about our class session. I identified a learning outcome for the day, identified how I could assess the learning, and then developed specific activities that will get us to that learning outcome. Okay -- not a new revelation for some of you, but yesterday in our First Annual Symposium on Celebrating Teaching & Learning at Pacific, something clicked for me. The concepts connected for me in a way they hadn't before. I recall working through similar exercises in a class on curriculum development in my doctoral program, but at that time I wasn't planning on a career as a faculty member, so perhaps the assignment didn't have much relevance for me. In yesterday's session, though, it was like I really got it. So today, in painstaking detail, I've mapped out our session ... and I can see the pieces connecting together like a well-designed puzzle.
It's a bit awkward to publicly describe my learning, but I suppose even this is part of the process. Earlier this week I read an autoethnography of a new faculty member -- someone who, like me, moved from an administrative position in student affairs to a full-time faculty position. Her narrative, published in the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching (Vol 21, 1, 2010), was so honest that it inspired me to risk the same level of honesty here.

It happens every semester...

...or so it seems. By the second week of the semester, I'm searching for the elusive clarity that was evident during the semester break. You know, semester break -- that time of the year when you can reflect on the past semester, gain insight from said reflection, and use said insights as you prepare for the next semester. This semester I'm teaching two sections of a course on organizational theory. I taught the course once before and as often happens, the second time around, I'm completely changing things. These changes reflect what I learned from the prior teaching experience and other new ideas that generate from conversations with colleagues. What makes things different this semester is that one of the sections meets in person every Wednesday afternoon. The other class is a hybrid (online/in person) class that includes four in person sessions. The content and course schedules are pretty much the same for both sections but I definitely feel that I don't have the materials quite as organized as I'd like. Once the classes started, so did all the rest of the semester's business and suddenly I'm juggling a lot of very different projects. This is a common experience and happens every semester. On my drive home today it occured to me that I'm good at seeing the big picture in situations. All of these projects, however, seem like a lot of little pictures that aren't connected. So, I asked myself: If I'm good at the big picture stuff, what is the big picture in this situation? What connects all of the projects, timelines, small tasks, paper work, blog updates, course updates, advising students, and so on? Perhaps if I can identify the big picture in all of this, I may see things come together a bit sooner ... I need to think more about this and try on some ideas ...

This semester's syllabi

This semester I'm teaching two sections of a course called EADM 368: Administration of Complex Educational Organizations. One class is "face to face" meets on the Stockton campus of University of the Pacific. The other section is a hybrid course (face to face and online) that meets monthly (3 times in Hanford, once in Stockton). I'm teaching it as an organizational theory class with a history of org theory by Scott & Davis and Reframining Organizations by Bolman & Deal. In the middle of the semester I'll add an article on Afrocentric organizational theory and some readings on feminist organizational theory. Then I want to think about the future: how will technology and social media impact organizational structure and design? Our immediate access to college presidents via email (or even Facebook) has, for example, allowed us to cross, skip, navigate traditional organizational boundaries and "go right to the top." In some sense, then, the structure has flattened out. Other times, we find ourselves copying more and more people, hitting "reply to all" and getting pulled into issues that may not actually be ours to address, thus creating some confusion in the organization. I'm looking forward to working with the two seminars to consider future organizational structures.

New Year's Resolution?

Perhaps this is my new year's resolution: work on my blog. I've started and stopped a few times (you can tell from prior entries). This year a few big things have happened that merit reflection -- even if no one ever reads this! LOL. So, the first big professional thing that happened is that I was appointed to a tenure track position. Yippee! After reading camperkev's blog, I realized the power of the blog to track important life events, learning, and so on ... As I move through the next few years of the tenure and promotion experience, this blog can help document my own learning and professional development. So, that's what I'll blog about without worrying about perfect language, interesting insights, or re-tweetable ideas. The next big event this year is having an article published in the Community College Review (January 2011) issue. Woohoo! I've started on the next article by submitted a proposal for the upcoming annual conference for the Council for the Study of Community Colleges. I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of being a faculty member. While there are challenges and I often doubt myself, I never doubt that I'm where I'm meant to be.

So much technology, so little time...

I'm re-reading for the third or fourth time Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, & Podcasts ... and I must say that every time I read it, I'm inspired to learn more about the power of technology in education. We're truly in a new world -- one where we access and create information in different ways. Richardson's focus on the potential of technology is what sparks my interest. I want to become part of a larger community of folks developing content on the web & I want to use the web to develop scholarship. I see possibilities in how students conduct their dissertation research even as I see how I might expand conversations about my research interests ... What I realize today is that even though the task may seem daunting, it's time to jump into the deep end of the pool and start paddling.

More good news...

This week I was also notified that a proposal I submitted to present at the NASPA national conference was accepted (yay!) and that a book review I wrote was published in the NASPA Journal. What a great week overall ... Looking forward to seeing students in class again tomorrow - lots of interesting presentations: one, an educational partnership called Careers through Culinary Arts and another Enough is Enough dedicated to ending violence on schools & campuses. Great stuff! In the other class, we're considering the use of technology in classrooms -- blogs, wikis, and podcasts, oh my!

Woo-hoo!!

This week I got the email every new faculty member hopes for ... you know, that one that tells you your manuscript has been accepted for publication in a (peer-reviewed) journal. I had to read the email several times to make sure I was actually reading it correctly -- happily, I was! This notice oddly brought to light the solitary nature of faculty work: I was in an office alone reacting to this great news & no one was close by to celebrate with ... Email and social networks have alleviated some of this isolation -- within minutes I was sharing the news with others and getting virtual hugs back from them. I've saved all the messages! Sharing the news on Facebook brought feedback from friends near & far ... another example of how we create online communities that come together just when we need them.

BTW, this is the first peer-reviewed publication I've submitted and the first that was accepted. I hope this sense of elation never gets old ... And while I know that rejection notices linger in my future (as they do for everyone), I know that even a rejection or revise & resubmit notice helps me move forward in creating solid, meaningful research. For now, I'm basking in the glow of the accepted publication & am looking forward to completing my next article.

Time to update my resume/CV so the article is listed as "forthcoming" instead of "under review" ... Woo-hoo!

A Teacher who Researches or a Researcher who Teaches?

At the bottom of it all, I think I'm a teacher ... I love this aspect of my work, perhaps because it allows me to engage with students in ways that help us both move forward. Getting feedback from students is always a learning experience - a way to confirm that I'm doing some things well and to point me in the direction of how I might do better. It's fun to introduce new topics and watch students make connections about how this information can help them in their own work or research. Or, when someone says, "Ah, now I understand..." These are the moments that keep us going. Research, for me, is a way that I teach myself about new & emerging topics; I have the good fortune to be able to pick a topic and learn as much as I can about it. Then, when I write about it, I'm provided the opportunity to test my learning, hear from others, and learn from their perspectives. This constant circle of learning and teaching is what inspires me everyday!

When do we rest?

I know, I know ... it sounds like whining, but really, I'm just trying to figure out the balance in my life. As an administrator, I found it easier to walk away from work stuff on the weekends and in the evenings. As a faculty member, I feel like my time has expanded ... while I don't have to go to an office every day, I'm online every day working with students, working on research, prepping for a class, or involved with a current class. Don't get me wrong; I love the variety and the fact that I'm in more control of my own time & activities. I just am working toward finding balance so I don't feel guilty when I'm "away" from work and focusing on other parts of my life. Any ideas?

Muliple Priorities

This work as a faculty member is really the work I'm meant to do... Even as I continue to learn what it means to be a university faculty member, I find the work quite rewarding. The teaching is great, the writing always challenges us to move beyond what we know, and learning while doing all of this is invigorating. Every day I feel I've come so far, even while I realize how much more there is to learn -- I made a vow to stay off the computer for two complete days. I realized that being a faculty member has become a 24/7 experience, so to "walk away" from the computer for awhile was good, though I did feel guilty about it as though I were shirking my duties to the university and students. Being away helped me focus on home, hubby, and peace of mind in general. Good to make a break now and then.

Starting Over

Well, I began a blog in 2007, then strayed from it, tried to start up again in 2009 (inspired by students in my Summer class at University of the Pacific) ... I changed the title but realized the blog URL didn't match my new title; ditched the whole thing and am now beginning my journey anew! Thanks for joining me.