Wired Ivy

In ages past, information distribution was a problem with few solutions. True, a printing press could be gleaned by a man of means and esteem, but with literacy scant, and paper steep, the dispersal potential, while intensified, remained circumscribed… and not cheap.

Which is why the best shot for knowledge dropped by a founding father, or a scholar, to spread a lot farther was to assemble a conclave. Rooms were not prerequisite for compromise and understandings to happen, but they happened with greater haste when meetings took place, so the place to be was in the room.

But now we're living in the Information Age and a physical room is just one of many options. You’ll find millions of minds at work in virtual classrooms, and some in inspiration from Kieran (and Lin-Manuel Miranda) for taking a mix-tape approach to course design.

Dan wants to know... how long can you hold your breath?

Sperm whales broadcast songs of nested digital clicks twice as loud as a rock concert to communicate over thousands of miles of open ocean. With their large-brained, digital, long-range connections, these marine mammals are the original online educators. Plus, they can dive to 7,000 feet and hold their breath for an hour and a half.

But even a sperm whale comes up for air, and Dan assures us he has to catch his breath much more often. Teaching online courses can be an all night swim so it’s important to manage your time and not stay underwater too long. You don’t want Anytime, Anywhere to become everywhere, all-the-time. 

Dan's just back from an annual family pilgrimage to Cape Ann on the Massachusetts coast, where spending time with his four-year old grandson means roaming outdoors, digging in the garden, sleeping under the stars, and swimming. Maybe that's why Dan decided this week's topic would be suggestions for swimming in the ocean of online learning.

Many faculty, especially those of us who trained in the previous century, have never taken an online course. But it’s never too late to learn to swim, and this summer might be just the time to enroll in an online course as a learner. Dan is thinking about brushing up on his college Italian, or maybe learning how to actually use the expensive digital SLR camera he bought after deciding it was time to transition from film.

Regardless of what you'd like to learn, there are plenty of options available for exploring your subject-of-interest, and since becoming an online learner will help you become a better online teacher, you get to call it work while also having some fun!

When you think about it, terminology is a kind of short-hand. Having an established, defined vocabulary allows academic colleagues to discuss their discipline without having to explain what they mean by every technical word they say, every time they say it. 

So isn’t it odd that,125 years since Wolsey Hall, Oxford, became the first college devoted to the practice, we’re still struggling to agree on what to call teaching and learning that doesn’t take place with everyone together in the same room?

Throughout Season One, our conversations with faculty and program directors have centered on the role of virtual learning communities and our efforts to encourage students to connect with one another. 

Well, the academic year has ended so you know what that means--time for teacher evaluations! In Wired Ivy’s first ever panel discussion, Dan spoke with a current student and two recent alumni from the online graduate programs we featured this spring: Gonzaga, Johns Hopkins, and University of Florida. During this lively exchange, the learners became the instructors, schooling us with thoughtful suggestions and observations about the online student experience. The panelists were also quick to remind us that for learning communities to thrive, educators need to be active participants, not just spectators observing from the sidelines.

The same can be said about the Wired Ivy community. We want to hear your comments, questions, and ideas for future episodes. You can connect with us on LinkedIn, on Twitter @wiredivy, or leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/wiredivy.

If you enjoy this podcast, help Wired Ivy grow by sharing, subscribing, rating, and reviewing us on your favorite podcast app. It’s really, truly is the best way to help other online educators find the show and join our virtual salon.

Can a 500-year old teaching philosophy translate to online learning?   Saint Ignatius of Loyola articulated a series of spiritual exercises, which became the basis of Jesuit learning.  Central to this philosophy are the learner has primary agency in the learning, and the process of discovery and reflection will unsettle old ideas.  Isn't unsettling old ideas exactly what innovative online higher education does?

Kieran and Dan talk with Michael Carey, chair of the Department of Organizational Leadership in the School of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, from his home in Spokane, Washington.   Mike discusses how leadership is learned through an online curriculum.  Kieran and Mike also share the importance of communication skills acquired in the online learning process and how they carry over to professional work.  And since Mike also served five years as the Dean of the Virtual Campus at Gonzaga, he has plenty of advice about creating online learning communities.  

If you like this show, if it helps you feel like part of a larger community, please invite friends and colleagues to our virtual salon by sharing, subscribing, rating, and reviewing us on your favorite podcast app. It helps other educators find the show, you are our best ambassadors. 

We want to hear your comments, questions, and ideas for future episodes. Contact us on LinkedIn, tweet us @wiredivy, or leave a voice message at Speakpipe.com/WiredIvy.

Moving a lecture from face-to-face classroom to virtual conferencing is a pretty straight-forward conversion. That doesn’t mean the switch is seamless or ideal, but it is feasible. Activities that are inherently welded to synchronous delivery in a physical space, like studio and field trips... that’s a different story. Or is it?

While we’re on that topic, are online courses welded to the screen or is it possible to think outside the laptop and tablet to provide high quality active learning experiences while also fostering a sense of community among students?  

Dan explores these and related subjects in his conversation with Thomas Hawkins, Program Director for University of Florida’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning online.  Oh, and Socrates makes a cameo appearance to add his take on instructional design.

By the way, if you like this show please share with friends and colleagues, and subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcatcher app. Thanks to everyone who’s done this already. It really does help other educators find the show. 

Also, we’d love to hear your comments, questions, and ideas for future episodes. Share your thoughts and ideas with us by joining our Wired Ivy LinkedIn Group, tweet us @wiredivy, or look for the bright blue tab on the right side of this screen (your choice of desktop, laptop, or mobile device), and click to leave us a voice message — it’s as easy as raising your hand in class.

Now that many institutions have closed the book on their spring term, educators may finally have some time to catch their breath, reflect on the emergency remote instruction experience, and think about how to prepare for various teaching contingencies in the fall. What better time to talk with an experienced educator on the front line of the sudden switch from brick-and-mortar classroom to digital delivery necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Our interview with Elisabeth Hamin Infield was recorded on April 10th, about 3 weeks into UMass Amherst's abrupt transition from classroom to cloud, and with about 3 weeks of class remaining in the term.

Elisabeth's experiences will likely sound all too familiar to many new-to-online faculty.  What unique challenges has COVID-19 created for you, as an educator, and how are you addressing, or trying to address, those issues?

Share your thoughts and ideas with us by joining our Wired Ivy LinkedIn Group, or by tweeting us @wiredivy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly all higher ed institutions in the U.S. to switch their campus-based courses to remote delivery, and on very short notice. There’s already been quite a lot of media coverage on the challenges this change poses for instructors and institutions. 

Later in this season of Wired Ivy, we’ll be talking to a friend and colleague about her experiences making that transition from decades of experience as a face-to-face educator to remote delivery, mid-way through the term, and with very little time to prepare.  But we felt it would also be instructive to hear a variation on that story... by speaking to Dr. Olivia Marcucci, a newly minted PhD who accepted a full-time faculty position with an online doctoral program in Fall 2019. 

The novel coronavirus pandemic is disrupting families, communities, and workplaces everywhere. Famously, it’s disrupting higher education as well.  Because for the foreseeable future we cannot gather in groups like classrooms, professors and students involuntarily had to move online.   Emergency remote higher education is just that — a quick pivot.  Still, we expect many professors adapting to this new reality will welcome lessons from best online practices. 

In this episode we’ll hear from Wired Ivy’s own Kieran Lindsey, who has been connected to online higher education as a graduate student, instructor, and program director, has seven questions new-to-online faculty should ask before switching their courses to remote instruction.