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Entry tags:
Presentations, a trend, and talking with strangers
Today I took some vacation time to attend an "Assessment Showcase" put on by the university's Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment. I did this because assessment is a part of course development, and that's where I'm trying to go next.
It turns out that, at least in this context, "showcase" means fifteen-minute presentations. (This is in contrast, I suppose, to a conference, which has hour-long presentations.) At first I thought that fifteen minutes is not enough time to communicate much, but then I learned that I was wrong. I would say that I learned almost as much in these fifteen-minute sessions as I normally learn in fifty-minute sessions, and it took much less time. They just left out all the hemming and hawing and got right to the point.
Sometimes I don't want people to come right to the point because they tell a lot of stories that really round out the information. But most of the time, this would really be much better.
There was one presenter with a drawl, so he was talking much more slowly than everyone else, and I didn't think he'd be able to make his time limit, and he really didn't. But no one else seemed to have any trouble, and some even had time for one or more questions afterwards.
Another thing I learned is that even though the word "instruction" is all over the area who put on this showcase, they actually spend about as much time working with project managers as they do with instructors. (One of the presentations was by someone from the fine arts library who had used their services to plan their renovation.) And they have a whole web site clearly spelling out the steps you need to do this yourself. Which means my boss wants to know. And his boss. And that guy's boss. And our researcher.
And this is all because "outcomes-based assessment" is all the rage now. I thought it was just something our new Dean of Student Affairs was into, but, as all of you who, well, have jobs, probably already know, everyone is being subjected to it now.
During the first break, one guy made a smart remark about the presentation of the fruit, and I made a smart reply and we ended up talking and it was nice.
During the other break, another guy got me started talking and we talked a pretty long time, and then he introduced me to his co-worker who I then talked to for a while. All three of these guys work for the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA, pronounced DEE-uh). At least two of them were sociologists--one had the same professor for his dissertation adviser as I had for my thesis adviser.
I never noticed hitting it off with sociology types while I was in school, but back then I made all my friends from the dorm, and I definitely hit it off with computer types.
But now I'm thinking that maybe I also need to look into the kinds of jobs they have at this DIIA place. Any place where I can hit it off with three total strangers in one afternoon, well, that's rare. It may never have happened before in my life. And so maybe I should look into that a bit more.
Like I said, they mostly don't work with academic content, but even the programs they work with are mostly academic, and academia is, after all, my favorite industry. And they've decided that the psychologists and educational psychologists who normally apply for their jobs don't quite have the right skill set. And that's because those guys are trained almost exclusively in quantitative research skills rather than qualitative skills. Which means they're not that good at writing surveys. And which means they'd rather be sitting at their computers than interacting with people.
So, my sociology degree looks good to them, and although they prefer doctorates over master's degrees, one of the guys I talked to does have a master's degree.
All told, a very interesting afternoon.
It turns out that, at least in this context, "showcase" means fifteen-minute presentations. (This is in contrast, I suppose, to a conference, which has hour-long presentations.) At first I thought that fifteen minutes is not enough time to communicate much, but then I learned that I was wrong. I would say that I learned almost as much in these fifteen-minute sessions as I normally learn in fifty-minute sessions, and it took much less time. They just left out all the hemming and hawing and got right to the point.
Sometimes I don't want people to come right to the point because they tell a lot of stories that really round out the information. But most of the time, this would really be much better.
There was one presenter with a drawl, so he was talking much more slowly than everyone else, and I didn't think he'd be able to make his time limit, and he really didn't. But no one else seemed to have any trouble, and some even had time for one or more questions afterwards.
Another thing I learned is that even though the word "instruction" is all over the area who put on this showcase, they actually spend about as much time working with project managers as they do with instructors. (One of the presentations was by someone from the fine arts library who had used their services to plan their renovation.) And they have a whole web site clearly spelling out the steps you need to do this yourself. Which means my boss wants to know. And his boss. And that guy's boss. And our researcher.
And this is all because "outcomes-based assessment" is all the rage now. I thought it was just something our new Dean of Student Affairs was into, but, as all of you who, well, have jobs, probably already know, everyone is being subjected to it now.
During the first break, one guy made a smart remark about the presentation of the fruit, and I made a smart reply and we ended up talking and it was nice.
During the other break, another guy got me started talking and we talked a pretty long time, and then he introduced me to his co-worker who I then talked to for a while. All three of these guys work for the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA, pronounced DEE-uh). At least two of them were sociologists--one had the same professor for his dissertation adviser as I had for my thesis adviser.
I never noticed hitting it off with sociology types while I was in school, but back then I made all my friends from the dorm, and I definitely hit it off with computer types.
But now I'm thinking that maybe I also need to look into the kinds of jobs they have at this DIIA place. Any place where I can hit it off with three total strangers in one afternoon, well, that's rare. It may never have happened before in my life. And so maybe I should look into that a bit more.
Like I said, they mostly don't work with academic content, but even the programs they work with are mostly academic, and academia is, after all, my favorite industry. And they've decided that the psychologists and educational psychologists who normally apply for their jobs don't quite have the right skill set. And that's because those guys are trained almost exclusively in quantitative research skills rather than qualitative skills. Which means they're not that good at writing surveys. And which means they'd rather be sitting at their computers than interacting with people.
So, my sociology degree looks good to them, and although they prefer doctorates over master's degrees, one of the guys I talked to does have a master's degree.
All told, a very interesting afternoon.