HIED 808: Discussion Posts
Six-Word Memoir
Throughout this class, you will be asked to develop or refine a variety of skills, including critical thinking, reflection, and writing. We have also designed a series of activities that will give you the opportunity try out these skills firsthand. This initial introductory activity is one example of this.
For this lesson we would like you to write a six-word memoir. Six-word memoirs are short stories that give insight into the writer’s perspective at that moment. We would like you to take a few minutes and reflect on what story you would like to share. You are free to write whatever memoir is meaningful to you.
You don’t grow when you’re comfortable.
Career Paths
Identify a career path or specific job that is most interesting to you and one that you would like to explore more fully in this course. Explain why this area appeals to you. At this point, can you identify a person that you might interview to learn more about this career path? If so, identify this person. Share your response.
Ideally, I would like to become a program leader in higher education working with international students who have chosen to study abroad. Using my experience teaching abroad, I could design a program strategically for these students. I know common problems international students face, and I would be able to inform the RA’s, RD’s and faculty of common problems. In doing so, I could help bridge the gap between comfort in a new country and confidence in the educational path they have chosen. This would increase international student relations, which in turn would increase student retention, performance, and overall success at the college or university. I am interested in it because it would provide a hands-on opportunity for me to help students while also allowing me to stay connected to other cultures.
The second job I am most interested in is the institutional research position. I have a strong background in undergraduate research. Three of my four years during my undergraduate degree I spent in developmental or molecular biology labs. I enjoy using data to help form conclusions. I think these skills would be transferrable to conducting sociological research in a higher education setting because I already use these skills to better me as a high school teacher.
As a teacher, I am constantly looking at my own data in order to improve the quality of my teaching and classroom management. I find comfort in quantifying qualitative data. Additionally, when I have shared my data collection and analysis techniques with other teachers, they often find it helps give them more control over the day to day behavioral issues. I think it is very rewarding to have a positive impact on my coworkers and my students.
Civil Rights Act Draft Proposal
Read the research proposal draft titled “Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Impact of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Offer your critique of this proposal in short discussion post. What is missing from the proposal? What aspects of the proposal could be written more clearly?
The proposal presents three clear research questions because “There has been debate over the effectiveness of title 6”, but why are we asking these questions? Answering these three questions should be helping us answer a larger question, the problem. It states there have been problems in the past, but there should be a clear objective for the study. Perhaps, how effective has title 6 been in providing equal education to minorities? After 50 years, how effective and in what states, regions, and universities is title 6 working or not working?
What is their hypothesis? What does the study expect to find?
Furthermore, the proposal doesn’t outline or even suggest a timeline, proposed data samples, or how they will collect the information to support their hypothesis. For example, their techniques: will it be a survey? Which population in the south and border states will they evaluate? How will they collect the samples? Have they already gathered samples that have presented the need for further study? How comprehensive will the study be? Will it focus on a single HBCU and what is happening there or will it focus on all of the HBCU’s across all of the states? What is the necessary funding, time and resource requirements to conduct the study?
The research questions are clearly stated, but there is no explanation of their process. What is the proposal actually asking for? Are they looking for funding, volunteer staff, or participants? All of these questions would need to be addressed in the proposal for an institution to support them with a grant or other needs.
In short, there is no clear hypothesis or a clearly explained procedure. It is not a well-written proposal without a hypothesis with a clear research plan. How could the recipient of this proposal respond if they do now know what they are being asked to do?
Civil Rights Act Final Proposal
Read the research final proposal titled “Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Impact of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Did the final proposal address all of the feedback identified by you and your fellow students? Do you now have a clear direction on what should be included in an outline for this paper? What additional suggestions do you have regarding the direction of this paper?
As a second draft, I am surprised that the questions and explanations for procedure and resources aren’t more clearly laid out. Maybe I’m wrong, but if I were an administrator in charge of assigning research and I saw this, I would be intrigued by the questions, but also concerned at the lack of focus and clarity for accomplishing this task. As an unbiased observer, I’m still unclear on methodology, money, and most importantly a timeline of expected research results. However, we have narrowed it down to several states, but even within those states, it could be a very expensive research project. I think in the next draft it might be important to narrow it down to 4-5 HBCU schools within these states and to narrow the focus down even further to ensure quality feedback/data.
From a data analysis standpoint, the broader the research the broader the “scope of inference” becomes. However, if there’s no previous research to build upon, it might be good to start with a narrow scope before jumping into a project with a broad scope. In the proposal, it might be good to take someone else’s previous work and look to broaden the scope or build upon their work instead of take on such a huge task.
Research Ethics
In Lesson 4, you began the online CITI training required for all graduate students and faculty at Penn State. For this assignment, you should reflect on this training in the context of appropriate ethical practice regarding the issues of authorship and plagiarism.
Watch the case study titled “Plagiarism (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)” and review other resources found on the Rock Ethics Institute website. (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)Why do you feel that plagiarism is a violation of the ethics of scholarly (and everyday) work? You can also consider examples of plagiarism that have been in the news.
The videos provided gave many examples of making ethical decisions within an academic environment. As a teacher, I have had to address many forms of plagiarism and the reason for taking academic ethics seriously. I really appreciated the video that discussed sharing old tests because the extent that is ethical of using past student’s notes often comes up in my classes. The video very succinctly explained that it is wrong because it gives students unfair advantages, and it takes the opportunity away from the student to learn and grow within that subject matter.
Collaboration is foundational to sharing knowledge and growing academically. Without being able to build on past research and ideas, very little, if anything, could be accomplished. If plagiarism is present in scholarly work, the author is choosing to take credit for work that is not his or her own. They are stealing someone else’s work and ideas rather than using them as inspiration or foundation for their own ideas. Intellectual property must be protected. If it is not, the collaborative environment that is so vital in fostering new ideas will no longer exist. No one wants to share their thoughts or analysis with people who could claim it as their own because they would be vulnerable to their academic property being stolen. I believe that plagiarism is a huge violation of the ethics of scholarly work because an individual’s work must be protected. Academic growth can not occur if the environment is not safe and supportive.
In short, people need to feel protected in sharing their ideas or else ideas will not be shared.
CRA Expert Comments
Review the comments provided by an expert reviewer regarding the paper “From Desegregation to Social Justice: The Impact of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”
Do you agree with these comments? Do you have other constructive suggestions to offer the author(s) of this paper? Post your response.
As many of the comments above have said, I am also impressed with how concise and focused Dr. Terenzini’s comments were. I especially appreciated his comments about the graphs that were in the paper. When I read the paper I had a hard time understanding the purpose the graphs served, but I couldn’t quite determine the problem. His observations included unclear titles, mislabeled figures, and other issues with the graphs.
Reading Dr. Terenzini’s comments also helped clear up the ambiguity and lack of focus I was feeling while reading the paper. I also had to read this paper many times to understand what it was saying, and I had an extremely hard time critiquing it critically because I found very little logic in the argument being presented. The author often said what the paper was arguing but didn’t ever actually clearly present the argument.
Dr. Terenzini is absolutely a seasoned professional in reading a paper critically and providing guidance for the author to convey the argument in an easy to understand way. As some have stated, I also appreciated his attention to APA style. I have so much to learn about proper citations and this analysis showed me how proper APA citations can help me, the reader, understand the author.
Academic Integrity Analysis
In previous lessons, you completed the online CITI training required for all graduate students and faculty at Penn State, which engaged you in a discussion regarding authorship and plagiarism.
For this assignment, you will review the materials on academic integrity found at the Rock Ethics Institute (Links to an external site.), specifically the video vignette on group etiquette.
What are the ethical issues raised in this example? Would you consider the ethical issues to be critical incidents? What would you do to address these issues if you were a member of this group? Post your analysis.
Ethically, if someone is willing to do all of the work, do you speak up against them to voice your opinions, or do you let him do all of the work? Sure, the ladies have great ideas, but they are still content to allow him to do all of the work. The man was so confident in his ideas that he decided to take over the group and did not allow them to add their opinions. From the man’s point of view, perhaps he feels like he is better suited to this topic and he is using his expertise for the greater good of the group.
Despite the efficiency of the work, how much control should one member of the group have? Can the man sacrifice speed and efficiency in the name of collaboration and teamwork? The women clearly have good ideas, and they have responded to the mans’ communication in a negative way. Rather than responding to their subtle criticism, he decided that he was unwilling to sacrifice control in order to allow all members of the group to be heard, respected, and to learn.
I do consider the ethical issues to be a critical incident. Group projects are designed to teach an idea or enforce a concept through communication and collaboration. When one person is allowed to monopolize the group, the purpose of the project is defeated. New ideas that could be identified are left unexplored.
Additionally, professional respect between peers is a vital skill to learn. The women should have demanded that their ideas be heard thus risking losing face, and the man should have respected their ideas risking efficiency. Instead, the ideas displayed in the project will only come from one perspective, and the members of the group lost an invaluable opportunity to communicate and network with likeminded people.
Good Practice
After reviewing the four TED Talks and completing your reflection journal, what things stand out to you? What principles of good practice do you feel the presenters exemplified? Did anything stand out to you as a particular weakness in any of these presentations? From your experiences in presenting to a group, what special tips would you share?
Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership
David Baker, professor of education, Penn State: The Education Revolution and our Digital Future
Ali Carr-Chellman, professor of education, Penn State: Gaming to Re-Engage Boys in Learning
Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are
The speaker about being a leader had a very engaging story that had the viewers engaged by evoking their curiosity about the connection. He spoke very quickly, however, and it conveyed a sense of being nervous. I thought the audience participation was well used because it caused the audience to think about their own experiences and reflect both on if they truly view themselves as a leader or if they think they are not good enough to be considered a leader. The opening activity leads well into his idea that although he now professionally lectures about leadership, he never truly viewed himself as someone who changes lives until he was directly told. His presentation was relatable and inspiring, but I do not feel as though I walked away learning anything new.
The speaker discussing education’s impact on global mindsets utilized an anecdotal hook as well. I think his story was powerful in conveying the message of generational miscommunication, often the main opposing view to his purpose, regarding education. He began the story as an introduction to the topic then continued the story in pieces as he developed his point. The story very simply demonstrated the generational gaps that are often difficult to convey without being perceived as being ageist. I appreciated the natural juxtaposition of lighthearted storytelling and humor against the jarring and hard to face facts that there are still societies facing a total lack of education. As a traveler in Asia, I have often seen heartbreaking poverty and known that there is no education or other opportunities for these people to grasp in order to better their situation. These realizations are devastating when you truly think about them. I think the presentation served the purpose of introducing poverty and lack of education through humor without overwhelming the audience.
Furthermore, I greatly enjoyed the final tie in his story when he talked about his own grandpa thinking that this college graduate was uneducated because he didn’t know how to build a wall. Additionally, the pictures he shared showed him and his research team experiencing an educationally underserved population. They were not graphic or dramatic, but they showed clear differences between educational culture. This is yet another way he kept his audience, both those viewing him live and the viewers online, in mind. Overall, this TED talk was the one I responded to most because it followed all 7 C’s of communication while presenting a strong opinion that was backed it up with facts and accessible examples.
Concerning the power pose ted talk, I appreciated the speakers’ immediate engagement with the audience through having them analyze their posture at that moment. I think the engagement with the audience was lost because she mentioned, “2 minutes in a power pose like this…you will see…”, but she did not follow up with the audience with something like, “okay! That was two minutes, how are you feeling?”. She had supporting research and excellent diagrams and figures, but her explanations were not concise.
The final TED talk discussing boys in education presented important points and she provided clear, concise, coherent, and complete examples. I was a bit unsure of how correct her hypothesis was because her facts and figures came from a study concerning women’s education. Data is often presented in the most effective way to support the cause at hand, so I was left wondering if this data was collected with bias. Furthermore, I think that she did not have the most courteous tone as she was clearly expecting some backlash from the viewers. That being said, I found the knowledge relevant and I have seen support of her hypothesis in my own life while teaching.
From my experience as a presenter, I would suggest to include more pictures and tables, especially regarding a visual representation of data collected. TED talks are meant to share information with the world and are often translated into many different languages, however if a TED talk is not translated into your language, it is important to still consider if this information is accessible, to some point, to viewers without a fluent understanding of the language you are presenting in.
Self-Assessment Reflection
Reply to the following questions:
- What are your takeaways from completing your selected assessment (e.g., what did you learn about yourself or what things were confirmed by these assessments)?
- What were your thoughts on the assessment?
- Think about some of the key transition points in your academic, career and work history. How did you make decisions along those points?
- Who or what most influenced your decisions?
In order to participate in this discussion forum, you will first need to set up a consultation with World Campus career counselor, (Links to an external site.) Lynn Atanasoff or Karen Armstrong to discuss and receive your assessment results. Because World Campus Career Services works with many programs and students across the university, you should be flexible in scheduling your appointment around the office’s availability.
On Tuesday, November 5th I met with Dr. Atanasoff via zoom. When I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I tried to think about the questions in the frame of a professional setting. My result was a ESFJ. I learned that although I am very introverted normally, at work I tend to act extroverted because I find that it is more productive to do so. When I talked with Dr. Atanasoff, we first made a sketch of where I would place myself regarding introversion, extroversion; sensing, intuition; thinking, feeling; and judging, perceiving. I placed myself as a INTJ, but struggled most with assigning thinking or feeling to myself. My results confirmed this struggle as I only scored a 1 on feeling so I was right in the middle.
Regarding the career advice, Dr. Atanasoff and I decided some of it was off because I am not truly extroverted. We did find that the career strengths were spot on. I found this assessment to be interesting and it confirmed a lot that I already was aware of.
Going to an all women’s college is a key point in my academic career because it taught me a lot about being true to myself and being confident in my academic abilities. Moving to China to work 4 years ago is a key transition professionally, as previously I thought I would go to Physician’s Assistant school. Here I learned that I love traveling and I enjoy working with students. Although this was a huge change, I found a lot of fulfillment in being a teacher and know that I would feel this same fulfillment in a higher education setting. I am thankful to have strong family support and they help guide and encourage me throughout many changes in my life. There is very little my family would like more than to have me near enough to visit more frequently, but they always put my happiness and success at the forefront of their advice. Through discussions with family and personal planning of long and short term yields of academic and professional changes, I have made huge decisions, and I’m happy with the current path I am on.
I can see clear connections between my love of planning (Judging) and equal attention to Feeling and Thinking within my daily life. It felt very nice to have these affirmed through a personality test.
Professionalism
How would you define professionalism in higher education?
Can you recall a situation where you felt that a supervisor or a colleague acted unprofessionally?
What are your thoughts about how to project a professional image?
Higher education professionals must be collaborative, communicative, and willing to compromise to find solutions. A higher education professional not only has to do their job, but also consider how the work they do fits into the bigger picture of the university’s culture and mission statement. Lacking the ability to be flexible and collaborative can cause isolation of various departments and make problems bigger rather than smaller. Furthermore, a professional in higher education should want to be known as an employee that is willing to work with others. If one becomes known as a person who is inflexible and only willing to accept their own ideas, invariably people will not want to work with them.
Often administration notices problems with an employee’s performance, but rather than addressing it directly, note it in a file and let it sit. Overtime every mistake is noted but rarely addressed to the employee directly. Only when there is enough evidence against an employee documented to bring severe repercussions is the employee informed of the issues of their performance. This lack of timely feedback on issues fosters lack of trust between both parties. I have seen several coworkers fired for reasons that they didn’t even realize were problems. For example, my former colleague was a chemistry teacher. He got a blood clot in his leg, and this forced him to need to sit while teaching. Over time, his students found his lessons boring and began complaining. My colleague was not notified of the issues until the students were so discontented with the class that it was reflecting poorly on the school itself. At this point, he was told to be “less boring” but not given any direct feedback on how to improve. Unfortunately, the situation was already too far along to fix, and he was fired soon after the first warning.
I consider this miscommunication to be unprofessional because it is the administration’s responsibility to support employees and provide timely feedback when improvement is necessary. Most employees are thankful for their jobs and are happy to develop themselves professionally if there are concerns from their bosses. Furthermore, it is important to be able to trust that those in positions of power will support their employees. Without trust, bitterness grows and the work environment can become toxic.
Many things can project a professional image. Regarding in-person interactions, physical appearance such as being neat, tidy, well dressed, and well postured projects an immediate first impression of attention to detail and pride in oneself. Additionally, speaking with confidence, good grammar, and appropriate tone show comfort in the position one holds and allows those they are talking with to feel comfortable working with them. Timely communication is also vital to be viewed as a professional. Respecting someone’s time through being prompt and prepared in addressing issues fosters trust and respect. Finally, being honest and ethical are necessary qualities of a successful professional. With competition in every field as fierce as it is, people have their choice in who they want to work with. Knowing that they are working with someone who values honesty allows them to trust that you are the best person for the job.