It's going to be all write

Spring 2022 is at an end, along with some other things.

In this episode, Seth, Niklas, and Clay talk about the future of the podcast, Seth's departure from the Fulbright program, and the end of Covid distancing measure for students and staff. We recap some of the more interesting experiences we have encountered in the last five months, revisit some ideas from the Season 5 podcast, and discuss the return of physical attendance in classrooms and exam halls.

Episode 8 is our final podcast for Season 5, although Niklas and Clay are uncertain about the podcast's future. Clay's Ph. D. contract terminates August 31, 2022, and while we hope to keep the podcast going the future depends on where Clay ends up after his Ph. D. is complete.

If you have enjoyed the podcast, please contact us at [email protected] and tell us! If you want us to continue with Season 6, get in touch and let us know so we can find a way to continue offering It's going to be all write.

If there is one thing we can agree upon, it's that nobody likes exams. If there is one thing to think about, it is what is the real purpose of an exam?

Not all exams are made equal, and not all exams test you on the same knowledge or skills. That's why we have different exam formats: multiple choice, written, oral, formative, summative, ongoing, home, open-book. In this episode, Seth, Niklas, and Clay break down some of these exam types and discuss what the real purpose of some of these exams are, and how you can better prepare yourself knowing what the exam is actually testing you on.

Resources

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymaker-collegesuccess/chapter/text-common-types-of-tests-in-college/  

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/academicassessment/repository/files/Matching%20Assessment%20to%20Learning%20Outcomes.pdf  

There are more ways to conduct and communicate research than merely reporting experimental results.

Kerime Opijnen is a recent Ms. Sc. graduate from Lunds University and she shares her experiences using poetry and creative writing as a research format in this episode. Her work focuses on The Power of Poetry to bridge gaps between human rights and environmental devastation in the Niger Delta and oil consumers in the Netherlands. Kerime was kind enough to discuss the role that poetry and creative writing can take as a research method, as a writing form for Master's research, and why non-standard research and writing have value for people across the world.

Show Note: Clayton asked Kerime to share some additional information about some of the positive work being done in the Niger Delta by activists. Here is what she said:

"When I spoke to Nnimmo Bassey, he was in Port Harcourt in the heart of the Niger Delta. He was there to visit polluted location and the places where contamination is being cleaned up. Particularly in Ogoniland, the clean-up process has started, which in Bassey's eyes vindicates the work and position of Ken Saro Wiwa who was assassinated in 1995. Bassey said that, to him, this clean-up is "a sign that, no matter who has suffered in the past and no matter what was done in the past, one day truth will prevail." Bassey also spoke about the hope that took from the took from the judgements in the Hague and also a recent UK Supreme Court ruling which held Shell accountable for environmental damages."

Resources

Kerime's Thesis: https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=9044288&fileOId=9044291  

Rob Nixon's book Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor: https://books.google.no/books/about/Slow_Violence_and_the_Environmentalism_o.html?id=bTVbUTOsoC8C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Social Science Research Council - What is activist research?: https://items.ssrc.org/from-our-archives/what-is-activist-research/

This is an English article about the Dutch court case which Kerime also talked about: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shell-nigeria-court-idUSKBN29Y1D2

Nnimmo Bassey Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nnimmo_Bassey

A.D. Carson, Ph.D - Seth mentioned A.D. Carson's successful Ph.D. Album thesis: https://aydeethegreat.com/

IMRaD, or Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (and Conclusion) has become something of a Gold Standard for scientific, peer-reviewed writing. Because of this 'standardization' of science writing structure, IMRaD can be taken for granted, meaning that students might not receive enough information on when and why to use IMRaD.

So why do we use IMRaD? How much flexibility is there in the IMRaD structure? What if I don't have explicitly research methods? Are there any alternatives to IMRaD, and if so, what are they and when should I use alternative structures?

If you have ever wanted an answer to such questions, you've come to the right place.

Resources

A fifty-year study of IMRaD (Article Clay cites in the episode): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC442179/

Visual resource of IMRaD construction: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257616774_Improving_the_writing_of_research_papers_IMRAD_and_beyond/figures?lo=1

Writing a Research Paper in the Natural Sciences: http://ctl.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Schultz_ResearchPaper_NaturalSciences_formatted.pdf

Research Guide for Writing in the Social Sciences (Use the Left side Menu to access resources on the page): https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/purpose

Everyone has heard the term 'literature review' or 'reviewed literature' or perhaps you've been told to 'read the literature on the matter.' Well, not all these things are the same and trying to figure out what a 'literature review' is can be complicated.

Niklas and Clay break down the various different types of literature reviews, and the different reasons to review literature. Knowing how to effective use literature you have reviewed and when you are writing a literature review will not only reduce confusion, but will help you to identify when reading the differences reviewed literature and literature reviews. Both are valuable for us as researchers, but not all reviewed literature is a literature review, and not all literature reviews are the same either.

Resources

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01295-x.pdf?origin=ppub 

https://www.evidera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Whats-in-a-Name-Systematic-and-Non-Systematic-Literature-Reviews-and-Why-the-Distinction-Matters.pdf 

https://guides.lib.odu.edu/c.php?g=966167&p=6980532 

https://guides.lib.odu.edu/c.php?g=966167&p=7021861 

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-26837-4_8  

Educational instruction has a lot more under the surface than giving class assignments and final exams. In this episode we try to understand how Didactics informs teaching approaches, and what makes didactics different from pedagogy. Niklas shares his knowledge and experience in didactics, while Seth and Clay talk about pedagogy's relationship to didactics.

If you are interested in teaching theories and learning objectives, or you are a student who simply wants to understand why teachers might teach in certain ways, this is the episode for you.

Resources

Clay references this website post on Didactics vs. Pedagogy: https://reflectiveteachingjournal.com/difference-between-didactics-and-pedagogy/

Culture shock is an interesting phenomenon, and what often shocks us are at first the BIG difference we see. But, after enough time, we might find there are many small shocks that we may continue facing long after the big shocks have passed.

In this episode, we talk about how different cultural expectations about education shape how we think and behave inside and outside the classroom. Clay and Seth share their educational culture shock experiences as foreigners in Norway. Collectively, we share ideas about how we think other international students can overcome educational culture shock and improve their experiences at a Norwegian University.

We are back in 2022 for another season of It's going to be all write.

This season, Clay and Niklas are periodically joined by the Writing Centre's new Fulbright candidate, Seth Travoa.

To start the season, the three of us sit down and discuss how education has been for the last two years, how we've coped with university life on Teams, Zoom, and other digital platforms. We talk about the good, the bad, and why we think that there are mixed feelings about how successful digital or hybrid teaching has been.

Resources

The Camera-On/Camera-Off Dilemma: https://www.edutopia.org/article/camera-oncamera-dilemma?fbclid=IwAR3XGuIlY0kZJtuQfb2U1pUCHWdguu_YcrhRDiVyOfI3ff53xUQUGmPIq10

Another year is winding down and another season of It's Going to be All Write is coming to a close.

Niklas and Clay talk about what to expect from Season 5, new topics and ideas we want to address, and summarize what we've been up to for the past five months. We'd really like to hear from out listeners, so let us know what you like, what you want to hear us podcast about, or any questions you have.

Send your questions or comments to us at writingcentre(at)nmbu.no

A big thank you to all of our listeners, and we will be back with new episodes for Season 5 in February 2022.

English is the lingua franca of science and academics. Writing in English opens your research to a wider audience of students and researchers, but for many of us, English is not our first language. Instead, academic English may be a second, third, or even fourth language for students and researchers, which presents a unique set of challenges.

In this episode, Clayton is joined by his Fulbright colleauge, Seth Trovao, to discuss the value of international educational exchanges, second language learning, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and using English as a Second Language (ESL) to communicate research. With shared educational backgrounds in English language instruction, Clay and Seth offer ideas and advice on how to approach developing your Academic English.

Resources

For more information on the Fulbright Exchange Program, please visit: https://fulbright.no/

Three tips to improve your English for university: https://www.linkschool.co.uk/academic-english-skills-for-university/