Farewell for now.

You may have noticed that there’s not been much posting activity lately here on Peabloggy…and it’s not for lack of readership – there were a record number of visitors to the site this month!

After much discussion and reflection, it has been decided that Peabloggy will go on hiatus – for how long, at this point, we are not sure.

In the meantime, if you are interested in Peabody College, the programs that are offered, insight on student life & activities and glimpses into what we do here at Peabody, I encourage you explore the links below.

Peabody website:  www.peabody.vanderbilt.edu
Peabody on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47180776197
LPO on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2508031603
Peabody Graduate Student Association on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2236266954

 

Blessings!

 

-April L. Mollerberg

Maymester

In all the years I’ve been in school, this is the first Maymester in which I have participated. I was always hesitant in undergrad, not only because I wanted a break before summer classes but also because the mere intensity of the courses discouraged me. Although the course load this May was intimidating as I looked at my syllabus the first day of class, it has been a surprisingly  good experience. Peabody mixes the brevity/intensity levels quite well, so I have felt challenged, but not overwhelmed. I have felt a drastic change from being in the midst of a full semester load, and I have felt while also beginning much more work on my thesis and looking into doc programs. All in all, I would give my Maymester experience a big two thumbs up! 

-Kristina DePue

Statistics and the Ecological Fallacy

I will admit that I was DREADING statistics.  I have never taken a statistics course.  The pre-cursor course was so much information in such a short period of time, that I knew I wasn’t able to absorb it all, and I was pretty sure my head was going to blow-up.  So, heading into this course, I was expecting total brain annihilation.

But hey, I actually really enjoyed tonight’s class.  The homework wasn’t too bad.  The information was easy to follow.  And he talked about something I have never heard of before. . .ecological fallacy!

Here it is in short – and don’t trust me because I just learned about it – but it is when we see a state-wide (or large-group) average, and then make assumptions about individuals in that state (or group) that end up being false.

For example, (again – do NOT quote this as accurate) states where there are large numbers of immigrants have higher literacy rates.  Some interpret this to mean that immigrants actually have a better grasp of the English language than native speakers.  *I have actually heard this quote in a training for ESL students, so I know people have done this.*  So you see, they took a state statistic, and then made assumptions about the individuals within that state.  However, a closer look at the data revealed that the immigrants did NOT have higher literacy rates (not to say no immigrants do.  Again, we are talking averages.  Don’t make an ecological fallacy!).  It would appear that states with higher literacy rates have more jobs and attract immigrant populations to the jobs.
I found this whole concept absolutely interesting!  Something to chew on.  Which makes me think again about all those red and blue states I see during election season. . .

-Ted Murcray

What Works in Education?

Did you know about What Works Clearinghouse?  I didn’t until Dr. Goldring showed us.  Apparently it was started in 2002 by the US Department of Education to help educators sift through research.  Follow the link to explore the web site.

Anyway, I discovered that the math program that I was a huge advocate for has been shown by research to have a negative effect on student achievement.  That means kids who receive the math program perform less well than those receiving the base program the school was already offering.  That is not good.  So, I looked up a competing math program that a colleague of mine was suggesting – one that I had immediately dismissed as not being good – only to discover that it was the only math program with positive gains.  

Huh!  This is why we as educators need to have the ability to understand and learn from research.  Until that time, I was SURE that one program was better than the other, just based on what I thought about teaching from my 10 years of experience. 

I am a thankful convert to What Works Clearinghouse.  They don’t have all the information that I want right now because they are being careful to only include research studies that meet a rigorous set of criteria.  However, there is enough information on there to get you thinking.

-Ted Murcray

Days of rest

So I officially had some rest over the last week. The semester ended with the normal routine of finals, papers, stress, and more stress. But as all the work faded, the smiles and laughs began to surface around campus and in my classrooms. I found myself sitting at home, not having work to do, and not quite knowing what to do with myself. Should I actually go out guilt-free with my friends? I’m kidding, of course; classes are not always stressful, and there are plenty of times for play during the semester. It just happens to be those few tension filled moments (mid-terms and finals) where I, and so many others, happen to forget that moments of play ever existed and begin to wonder, “How did I get here?” But after trudging through, relaxation was wonderful over the past week, and I am officially ready to start May-term tomorrow. Here we go again!

 

-Kristina DePue

Counterpoint: More = better?

This compelling post discusses the goals for increasing the US population’s attainment of college degrees.

The very first thought I had after reading the research was, “College degrees are great – but is granting more of them the solution?”

Here’s a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. I’ve excerpted below:

In the midst of the Asian financial crisis (1998), China’s government decided China needed bold measures. On government orders, China’s universities — most of which are state-controlled — boosted enrollment by up to 30% a year, year after year for most of this decade (In 1998, 3.4 million Chinese attended university. By 2008, the number was 21.5 million.). A more skilled Chinese work force, it was reasoned, would jump-start domestic consumption, helping to wean China’s economy off exports.

China is now suffering from a higher-education equivalent of the global credit bubble. “Objectively there was a need to expand education,” says Yang Dongping, head of a nongovernmental organization dedicated to education reform. “But we’ve just experienced an educational disaster.” The problem: many of the schools turned into diploma mills, churning out poorly qualified students leaving all to wonder “is this education was of any value?”

Here are just a few of my concerns about any similar proposition for the US:

1. Is the goal of increasing college degrees to make people more competitive in the workplace? If so, wouldn’t granting too many bachelor’s degrees dilute the value of all bachelor’s degrees? Will the Master’s degree become the new bachelor’s degree?
2. Is the goal of increasing college degrees to guarantee work for citizens? If so, then urging more to receive college degrees assumes unlimited demand (ie – jobs) and that’s just not a realistic expectation, no matter how good the economy. Only in a Utopian society would a college degree guarantee a job (much less a higher paying job).
3. Is the goal of increasing college degrees to make people better off economically? If so, can we believe that this will disrupt the natural macro-economic equilibrium? For instance, an increase in the minimum wage drives up the cost of labor, which directly translates into an increase in cost of goods & services. So, yes, while workers are earning more, the prices of goods and services are now higher as well. This often results in a net sum zero in overall “better off-ness.”
4. Where will these new students come from? A majority of the students whom colleges admit are grossly underprepared. Only 23 percent of the 1.3 million high-school graduates of 2007 who took the ACT examination were ready for college-level work in the core subjects of English, math, reading, and science.
5. Is forcing an increase in college degrees to increase employability the equivalent of printing more money to pay for a national budget? (Please note that this is not a political statement as every administration has done this – this is why what did cost $1 in 1913 now costs $22.43 in 2008). More dollars chasing fewer goods & services is the definition of inflation, and this always results in the dilution of the value of the dollar…and this leads me back to concern #1.

These are just my personal concerns – and, admittedly, I’ve not seen any documents detailing what the implementation of the goals for attainment would look like. Please post/reply or email me as you come across additional discussions on these important issues – I welcome it!

 

-April L. Mollerberg

 

Sources:

 China Faces a Grad Glut After Boom at Colleges, Wall Street Journal (By IAN JOHNSON) 4/28/09

America’s Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor’s Degree, The Chronicle of Higher Education (By MARTY NEMKO) 5/2/2008

Congrats to Vanderbilt’s Peabody College

You may recall this post from a few weeks ago where I enumerated the reasons I chose to attend Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education & Human Development.

UPDATE: This morning I saw the great news – Peabody College is ranked #1 in the nation for 2009!

Congrats!

 

-April L. Mollerberg

It’s that time again…

You know it’s that time of the semester again when you start seeing blogs about comps and facebook status messages about final exams and papers. Everyone’s definitely feeling the crunch – no one is exempted.

Here’s what I want to know – does anyone else have a problem getting motivated sometimes?

How do you deal when you’re tempted with procrastination?

I have a major paper due this Friday that’s worth more of a percentage of my grade than I’d like to admit; I just put in another 10-hour day at work and I’m having just the most awful time getting motivated to write.

Here’s a rundown of things I’ve done to avoid writing:

• Answering high-priority work emails
• Answering medium-priority work emails
• Answering low-priority work emails
• Ordering textbooks for summer classes
• Completing some of my Junior League project commitments
• And, tonight, I went here. That’s right – I toured the Shiloh Battlefield. I’d never been before and since I am in Corinth, MS on business, I decided to check it out! It wasn’t something I’d planned in advance, clearly, as 6pm saw me hiking through the woods in my suit and high heels to go check out a monument .2 miles off the tour route.

Now I’m back at my hotel & thinking about going to bed so I’ll be ready for my 6:30am meeting. One thing is for certain – tomorrow night I’ve really got to f-o-c-u-s!! I know that Dr. C reads this blog from time-to-time (Hi Dr. C!) and he’s probably less than enthused about my lack of get-up-and-go…

 

-April L. Mollerberg

The Effects of a Recession on Learning Organizations

Companies have aggressively scaled back the number of employees in their ranks. The amount of jobs lost to date is staggering. But aside from the obvious immediate impact of this, there could be even greater negative effects on future productivity and competitiveness of our nation’s businesses.

So says this recent article from Reuters.

When people are fearful or uncertain about the safety and security of their job, they naturally engage in behaviors aimed at showcasing their talent, hard work and expertise. This is referred to as “managing up” in the article and the primary goal of these activities is to communicate worth and value in such a way as to hopefully minimize the likelihood of termination of employment.

Aside from “managing up” there are other behaviors that employees may also engage in: “sucking up.” Unconditionally agreeing with the boss, complimenting the boss, failing to challenge or confront plans or ideas from higher up in the organization are some of the most common examples of this kind of behavior.

Why is this bad? Isnt’ increased employee productivity a good thing?

Organizations flourish whenever open and authentic dialog occurs, and, whenever ideas are allowed to exist unchallenged, there is danger. Where fear is present (fear of repercussions or consequences) organizational learning is often absent and the contributions and insights of the collective are lost.

Let’s hope that today’s leaders stay focused on the long-term and don’t fail to harness the power and creativity of employees by allowing a culture of fear to permeate.

 

-April L. Mollerberg

Sources: Workers ‘”sucking up” bad for business: experts. Reuters 4/14/09 http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE53D47D20090414

Alcohol abuse in college students

With the ever growing number of alcohol related incidents on and off campuses across the US, I found this article that was just sent to me quite interesting and very telling. I think if we understand the magnitude of this problem, then we can pace students as they enter college campuses, addressing this very real issue. We cannot simply focus on prevention measures; treatment on college campuses and safe places are necessary for students who get mixed up in this lifestyle, needing help and normalization from their peers when they choose alternative lifestyles that do not include heavy drinking. 

Social Contexts of College Drinking Explored

Heavy alcohol consumption is known to be a problem for college students in the United States. Understanding more about the social context of college students’ drinking patterns—where, when, why, and with whom they are drinking—may help with earlier identification of students at risk for alcohol problems and aid in the design of better interventions to prevent problem drinking. Researchers funded in part by NIDA performed a study examining six social contexts of drinking among college students: social facilitation, peer acceptance, emotional pain, family drinking, sex seeking, and motor vehicle use. The researchers screened 3,401 first-year college students and recruited 1,253 to participate in the study. Of those students, 728 were current drinkers, 108 (about 15 percent) met the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse, 121 (about 17 percent) met the criteria for alcohol dependence, and 168 were non–problem drinkers. The remaining 319 students met 1 or 2 of the criteria for dependence but none for abuse. Over half of the current drinkers reported that they had been a passenger in a car where the driver was under the influence of alcohol, and 50 percent had driven after drinking. “Both alcohol abusers and alcohol-dependent drinkers were more likely to drink in a motor vehicle context than were non–problem drinkers,” explained the authors. Overall, students reported drinking most frequently in the context of social facilitation. However, about 7 percent of the current drinkers were classified as being depressed and reported that they were more likely to drink to relieve emotional pain than to facilitate social interactions. The authors concluded that future research is needed “to determine the extent to which the social contexts of drinking can be manipulated to reduce adverse consequences of drinking among college students.”

Beck KH, Arria AM, Caldeira KM, Vincent KB, O’Grady KE, Wish ED. Social context of drinking and alcohol problems among college students. Am J Health Behav. 2008;32(4):420–430.

 -Kristina DePue