The purpose of Prof. Cindy Gueli’s course Ethnicity in America is to evaluate the role of ethnicity in American life from 1607 to the present. Students will look at specific issues that were relevant in the past and still are today such as scientific racism, or racism in stereotypes, sports and media. She believes that by examining the different aspects through which racism is present in our society, students will be able to look at racism in a bigger spectrum and be aware of the presence it has on society.
Prof. Gueli will bring guest speakers to her classroom but they are not the common scholars or experts. She invites speakers that have lived or experienced racism, therefore allowing the students to get a first person account for what it means to be a part of ethnic groups nowadays. She believes that these presentations have a bigger impact on the students, allowing them to learn in a more interesting and engaging manner.
Besides the use of guest speakers, Prof. Gueli will also introduce videos and documentaries to “bring the past visually alive.” This, as Prof. Gueli believes, helps the students understand ethnicity better, because it being an intangible concept it is easier to observe than to define in words.
To introduce contemporary events, the students will for example study the current lawsuit against the Washington Red Skins. A woman has taken legal action so that the team changes what she believe is a racist team name. This allows the students to immerse themselves in the concept and analyze racism in their own context because it involves a subject that they can relate with.
Prof. Gueli believes that her class gives her students a good base and reference point that allows them to be critical of their surroundings. This course delves deeper into different, rarely discussed aspects of ethnicity, giving the students a broader perspective on such an influential and significant concept.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Culture: The Human Mirror
This week I visited Prof. Vine who teaches the course Culture: The Human Mirror. When I asked him about his strategies as a Professor, I was once again shocked by the answer. He told me cutting edge technology didn’t play a big role in his classroom, he actually preferred older methods. This is why Prof. Vine uses the overhead projector to teach most of his classes. He believes it is better than PowerPoint and it is easier for him to use. Although he uses the overhead projector quite often, Prof. Vine says he uses “a mix of various teaching strategies”. He therefore also uses videos, but most importantly conversations and questioning strategies are the ones that take up a big part of the class time. When I asked about his class size he told me that even though they were 40 the class still managed to have engaging conversations where all the students participated.
After talking about his class we started discussing the general education here at American University and how he thought his class reached its goals. First of all, he defined three specific ways on how he tried to incorporate the goals. First, he includes contemporary issues in all his classes so that the students are aware of current events and the world they live in. Second, he makes his classes writing intensive which helps the students practice their writing and develop skills that help them express their ideas clearer through paper. Finally, he engages the students as active learners making them involved in class though their opinions, comments and beliefs. Prof. Vine further tries to convey an introduction to anthropological ways of thinking so that students gain a different perspective on daily events. He encourages his students to look at issues and topics through perspectives of race, gender, poverty etc.
Overall, Prof. Vine believes that general education works to create more informed human beings that can solve problems through many different angles. However, he thinks all students should have a liberal arts education where the program doesn’t require students to take certain courses but rather it encourages them to have exposure to a field outside of their own.
After talking about his class we started discussing the general education here at American University and how he thought his class reached its goals. First of all, he defined three specific ways on how he tried to incorporate the goals. First, he includes contemporary issues in all his classes so that the students are aware of current events and the world they live in. Second, he makes his classes writing intensive which helps the students practice their writing and develop skills that help them express their ideas clearer through paper. Finally, he engages the students as active learners making them involved in class though their opinions, comments and beliefs. Prof. Vine further tries to convey an introduction to anthropological ways of thinking so that students gain a different perspective on daily events. He encourages his students to look at issues and topics through perspectives of race, gender, poverty etc.
Overall, Prof. Vine believes that general education works to create more informed human beings that can solve problems through many different angles. However, he thinks all students should have a liberal arts education where the program doesn’t require students to take certain courses but rather it encourages them to have exposure to a field outside of their own.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Our Dependence on Technology
After going home for spring break I realized just how much our society depends on technology. Although Ecuador does have the latest technological advances, they still don’t reach every corner of the country, so the few times I did use the internet, it was dial up connection that took hours to load. When I came back to the university and once again experienced the efficiency and convenience of wireless high-speed internet, I realized how dependent on the web I had become. Furthermore, most of my professors also relied on the internet for communication with their students. After recognizing American University’s dependence, I was surprised at Prof. Dolores Koenig’s responses to some of my questions.
Prof. Koenig teaches the course Living in Multicultural Societies. When I asked her about technology and how she includes this in her classes, she told me she was skeptical about this whole matter. She said she does not and will never use neither blogging nor podcasts because she believes that “it is important for people to continue to engage in face to face present basis.” Although she does not use them in her classroom, she still believes that those resources are very helpful to share information and to create study groups.
Prof. Koenig will therefore base her classes on discussion and interaction. She presents a series of films throughout the semester that as she believes, engage the students as well as teaches them. She will also refer to current events and even bring newspaper articles to the class, helping her students be aware of their surroundings and making them connect their learning to the events of the world. This demonstrates how important she believes it is to address the students through different formats of information.
Prof. Koenig believes we live in a fast pace multicultural world where her course helps her students learn more how to analyze the world rather than experiencing it. Through this perspective she teaches to create literate and well-rounded human beings.
Prof. Koenig teaches the course Living in Multicultural Societies. When I asked her about technology and how she includes this in her classes, she told me she was skeptical about this whole matter. She said she does not and will never use neither blogging nor podcasts because she believes that “it is important for people to continue to engage in face to face present basis.” Although she does not use them in her classroom, she still believes that those resources are very helpful to share information and to create study groups.
Prof. Koenig will therefore base her classes on discussion and interaction. She presents a series of films throughout the semester that as she believes, engage the students as well as teaches them. She will also refer to current events and even bring newspaper articles to the class, helping her students be aware of their surroundings and making them connect their learning to the events of the world. This demonstrates how important she believes it is to address the students through different formats of information.
Prof. Koenig believes we live in a fast pace multicultural world where her course helps her students learn more how to analyze the world rather than experiencing it. Through this perspective she teaches to create literate and well-rounded human beings.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Human origins vs. Early America
Prof. Richard Dent is an anthropology professor here at American university, and amongst his classes are two specific general education courses, Human origins and Early America: The buried past. Because he has experienced with these two completely different classes, he realizes that teachers have to approach their courses differently to reach common general education goals and it all depends on the subject being discussed.
On one hand, in his Human Origins class, Prof. Dent is able to apply the “global perspective” easily to the course. He accomplishes this by demonstrating to his students the different perspectives on human origins and where they were developed. Students will look at research on primatology, both by the Japanese and by the American institutions, and realize how these two opposite cultures differ on their approach to research. This allows the students to critically look at the problems faced by the researchers and come up with their own conclusions about human origins.
On the other hand, in his Early America class, Prof. Dent finds it difficult to apply the “global perspective”. Therefore, he will present historical events in 15th and 16th century America and reveal how largely related these events were to events going on elsewhere in the world. This will demonstrate to the students that the idea of a global community is not necessarily new.
Prof. Dent uses a lot of videos in his classes to engage the students in the course. Although he believes PowerPoint presentations can be helpful in some cases, he considers that after too many of them they can become deadening and hypnotic. By showing videos Prof. Dent is able to make the class more interactive and engaging. Prof. Dent also believes that taking notes is an important part of his students’ learning. He has observed that through this process ideas are filtered and added, making the learning more effective. Although the class is mostly based on lectures, Prof. Dent engages the students through discussion on small case studies, which he believes are more effective for that class than traditional textbooks.
With anthropology, as Prof. Dent sees it, “it is not hard to incorporate outside views”, therefore he believes the general education goals are well met.
On one hand, in his Human Origins class, Prof. Dent is able to apply the “global perspective” easily to the course. He accomplishes this by demonstrating to his students the different perspectives on human origins and where they were developed. Students will look at research on primatology, both by the Japanese and by the American institutions, and realize how these two opposite cultures differ on their approach to research. This allows the students to critically look at the problems faced by the researchers and come up with their own conclusions about human origins.
On the other hand, in his Early America class, Prof. Dent finds it difficult to apply the “global perspective”. Therefore, he will present historical events in 15th and 16th century America and reveal how largely related these events were to events going on elsewhere in the world. This will demonstrate to the students that the idea of a global community is not necessarily new.
Prof. Dent uses a lot of videos in his classes to engage the students in the course. Although he believes PowerPoint presentations can be helpful in some cases, he considers that after too many of them they can become deadening and hypnotic. By showing videos Prof. Dent is able to make the class more interactive and engaging. Prof. Dent also believes that taking notes is an important part of his students’ learning. He has observed that through this process ideas are filtered and added, making the learning more effective. Although the class is mostly based on lectures, Prof. Dent engages the students through discussion on small case studies, which he believes are more effective for that class than traditional textbooks.
With anthropology, as Prof. Dent sees it, “it is not hard to incorporate outside views”, therefore he believes the general education goals are well met.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Philosophy in the arts
Prof. Erfani teaches the course Meaning and Purpose in the Arts, a course far different from the other general education classes. It is a philosophical 200 level class inserted into cluster number 1, making it hard for Prof. Erfani because students will reach his class with no previous philosophical knowledge. Because it has no supplement, and therefore students enter with no foundations, Prof. Erfani can’t make any assumptions and has to structure the syllabus so that the students will understand the subject even if they know nothing about it. Through different teaching techniques, and a very specific syllabus, Prof. Erfani is able to reach the goals he believes come with teaching a general education class.
Prof. Erfani believes that the goal of the class is to teach students what philosophy can do within the arts, but more importantly to get students to become critical learners and take responsibilities for their beliefs. At the beginning of the semester, Prof. Erfani will start by covering different philosophers with different theories on what art is. He will then narrow the topic into specific definitions of art, all of which eventually fail. This, he believes, will demonstrate to students how complicated the matter is and will encourage them to come up with their own definitions and approaches to what art is.
Due to the difficult structure of the course, Prof. Erfani relies on Blackboard for everyday readings, instead of using a specific book. This allows the professor to choose the correct readings that apply to that day’s lecture because he believes that no single text comes close to what is needed to understand the class. Students will have to come to class prepared for discussion, by answering two questions about the reading, all of which are included in the syllabus. This gives students that have not studied philosophy a second chance each day; if they did not understand one of the readings they have another chance because next day’s topic is completely different.
He will also divide the course into different segments where he will go into the different types of art, such as music and film, and read philosophical approaches to these subjects. He will also leave 2 to 3 days open in the syllabus, where he will allow students to choose their own art forms for in depth study. This semester, the students chose theatre/musicals and graffiti. Prof. Erfani found that this helped engage the students in the course, it made many usually quiet students speak up and it allowed students to guide their own learning.
Prof. Erfani believes one of his best strategies, which he also uses in all his other gen ed classes, is an essay which is done at the beginning and end of class. The first day of class, he will ask his students to write a two page essay and tell what art is; this will be done with no research, just the student’ perspective. At the end of the semester, students will then review this essay in a three to four page assignment, where they will be able to apply the knowledge they acquired throughout the semester. Students can either change their minds, and will have to explain why they did, or stick to their original conclusions and defend their perspectives with better support. Prof. Erfani thinks this essay will demonstrate to the students how much they have learned and their particular evolution after the class has ended.
Prof. Erfani does not focus his class on getting students to be critical thinkers, but rather get them to be critical thinkers through good writing. He will reach this goal by sending several assignments throughout the semester. Students will have to write responses to readings and different assignments which will make them read the required articles more carefully and therefore come prepared to the class with discussion comments and questions.
Although a difficult class to teach, Prof. Erfani has managed to structure the course so that students are focused on the topic and engaged on the subject. He believes it is the teacher’s job to make cohesion of the topic, and he achieves this through a complex syllabus that clarifies where the course is going.
Prof. Erfani believes that the goal of the class is to teach students what philosophy can do within the arts, but more importantly to get students to become critical learners and take responsibilities for their beliefs. At the beginning of the semester, Prof. Erfani will start by covering different philosophers with different theories on what art is. He will then narrow the topic into specific definitions of art, all of which eventually fail. This, he believes, will demonstrate to students how complicated the matter is and will encourage them to come up with their own definitions and approaches to what art is.
Due to the difficult structure of the course, Prof. Erfani relies on Blackboard for everyday readings, instead of using a specific book. This allows the professor to choose the correct readings that apply to that day’s lecture because he believes that no single text comes close to what is needed to understand the class. Students will have to come to class prepared for discussion, by answering two questions about the reading, all of which are included in the syllabus. This gives students that have not studied philosophy a second chance each day; if they did not understand one of the readings they have another chance because next day’s topic is completely different.
He will also divide the course into different segments where he will go into the different types of art, such as music and film, and read philosophical approaches to these subjects. He will also leave 2 to 3 days open in the syllabus, where he will allow students to choose their own art forms for in depth study. This semester, the students chose theatre/musicals and graffiti. Prof. Erfani found that this helped engage the students in the course, it made many usually quiet students speak up and it allowed students to guide their own learning.
Prof. Erfani believes one of his best strategies, which he also uses in all his other gen ed classes, is an essay which is done at the beginning and end of class. The first day of class, he will ask his students to write a two page essay and tell what art is; this will be done with no research, just the student’ perspective. At the end of the semester, students will then review this essay in a three to four page assignment, where they will be able to apply the knowledge they acquired throughout the semester. Students can either change their minds, and will have to explain why they did, or stick to their original conclusions and defend their perspectives with better support. Prof. Erfani thinks this essay will demonstrate to the students how much they have learned and their particular evolution after the class has ended.
Prof. Erfani does not focus his class on getting students to be critical thinkers, but rather get them to be critical thinkers through good writing. He will reach this goal by sending several assignments throughout the semester. Students will have to write responses to readings and different assignments which will make them read the required articles more carefully and therefore come prepared to the class with discussion comments and questions.
Although a difficult class to teach, Prof. Erfani has managed to structure the course so that students are focused on the topic and engaged on the subject. He believes it is the teacher’s job to make cohesion of the topic, and he achieves this through a complex syllabus that clarifies where the course is going.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Dave Chappelle's role in our general education
When I asked Prof. Rachel Watkins how she believed she was reaching the general education goals in her Roots of Racism course, she told me she had many techniques to incite critical thinking and develop student’s intuitive, creative and aesthetic faculties.
She focuses on getting students to take a second look at ordinary things, and getting them to reflect on their effect on our perspectives and our values. At the beginning of the semester, she will teach her students on racism in general. Towards the end of the semester, she will make her students apply their knowledge to the world around them, therefore making them use their critical thinking capabilities. Students will look at TV shows, such as Comedy Central, and address the issues related to racism that this show portrays. They specifically discuss Dave Chappelle, a popular comedian amongst the students. Prof. Watkins will then encourage her students to look past the jokes, and, instead of looking at it mindlessly to get a good laugh, they will investigate on the critique of race relations this show discusses. They will look at the different layers that Dave Chappelle puts into his sketch, and demonstrate how this affects the audience through its racist comments.
Prof. Watkins also devotes a whole module of her class to talking about how celebrities, being an important influence to our society, also demonstrate racist behaviors. They will look at cases such as Mel Gibson or Michael Richards to demonstrate that racism is still part of our society, and to analyze its different representations.
To teach students intuitive, creative and aesthetic faculties, Prof. Watkins separates the class into small groups and requires them to develop their own research project. They will have an in depth study of any concept or idea that they see fits with the topics discussed in class. This, as Prof. Watkins believes, “will facilitate their own, self directed second look”.
Prof. Watkins believes that one of the most important parts of her class is getting rid of the students’ tendency to believe that racist ideas have been around for a long time. Her main goal is to make students realize that these racist processes are not natural, but created by specific social relations, political situations and economic conditions. This will enable students not to take things for granted, and question everyday events. They will eventually develop a method of thinking, where instead of saying “this is just how it is”, they will question processes by asking themselves “how did this stuff come to be?” or “ where did this process come from?”.
She focuses on getting students to take a second look at ordinary things, and getting them to reflect on their effect on our perspectives and our values. At the beginning of the semester, she will teach her students on racism in general. Towards the end of the semester, she will make her students apply their knowledge to the world around them, therefore making them use their critical thinking capabilities. Students will look at TV shows, such as Comedy Central, and address the issues related to racism that this show portrays. They specifically discuss Dave Chappelle, a popular comedian amongst the students. Prof. Watkins will then encourage her students to look past the jokes, and, instead of looking at it mindlessly to get a good laugh, they will investigate on the critique of race relations this show discusses. They will look at the different layers that Dave Chappelle puts into his sketch, and demonstrate how this affects the audience through its racist comments.
Prof. Watkins also devotes a whole module of her class to talking about how celebrities, being an important influence to our society, also demonstrate racist behaviors. They will look at cases such as Mel Gibson or Michael Richards to demonstrate that racism is still part of our society, and to analyze its different representations.
To teach students intuitive, creative and aesthetic faculties, Prof. Watkins separates the class into small groups and requires them to develop their own research project. They will have an in depth study of any concept or idea that they see fits with the topics discussed in class. This, as Prof. Watkins believes, “will facilitate their own, self directed second look”.
Prof. Watkins believes that one of the most important parts of her class is getting rid of the students’ tendency to believe that racist ideas have been around for a long time. Her main goal is to make students realize that these racist processes are not natural, but created by specific social relations, political situations and economic conditions. This will enable students not to take things for granted, and question everyday events. They will eventually develop a method of thinking, where instead of saying “this is just how it is”, they will question processes by asking themselves “how did this stuff come to be?” or “ where did this process come from?”.
Friday, November 9, 2007
A student's perspective
Why are students still reluctant to take general education classes if such new interesting techniques are being implemented? I’ve been interviewing professors about the teaching methods they use and every time I hear innovative and creative methods, so why is the general education program not as successful as it should be? I decided that before investigating any further into these teacher’s techniques, I needed a student perspective that could help me get an answer to my question.
I talked to Vanessa Garber, a senior here at AU, who is also involved in the general education program. When I asked her if she believed that her general education classes were interesting she told me that the only classes she found helped her, where the ones that counted towards her major. Although she is a firm believer in general education, she thinks that because classes that counted towards her major seem to have a focused purpose, they are better developed and better structured. This does not imply that students should take general education courses that only count towards their major; it implies that the general education courses that are not towards a major are “place holder classes”. These don’t seem to be working because they do not have a defined purpose and teachers therefore do not know how to approach the class. She also told me that many times professors that teach these classes are first of all in many cases adjuncts and second of all do not have control over the assigned readings or the syllabus. This creates a big problem because professors are therefore deprived of their teaching methods causing them to conform to methods that may not play to their strengths.
She also told me that the general approach of students towards a general education course is a “simple class”. This may imply that there is something wrong in the program because it is making the students not take their general education courses seriously. When I asked Vanessa what she thought about this, she told me that she believes that it is because the administration is “trying to keep a structure that is no longer viable”. She told me that she believes professors should have more teaching creative freedom and that the administration should have more detailed structures of the courses so that they have a clearly defined purpose that lets the teacher know where he/she needs to arrive at.
Although a difficult problem to attend to, she also believes that it is important to have smaller classes to allow for dialogue between the students and the professor. Because of the nature of the general education classes, they require dialogue or else they will become one more factual class. As I mentioned on a previous blog, I believe that general education classes teach more than just facts, they create a way of thinking. If there is no dialogue students will never develop critical thinking skills that they should acquire from their general education courses.
There are remarkable professors involved in the general education program, but although they are doing their best, students don’t seem to appreciate them. So far I believed that it was a problem with students; thinking that general education is not important. Now my opinion has changed. I believe that students are not interested because they are actually not getting much out of the general education classes. This mainly occurs because the structure is failing to accomplish its purpose: teaching the students about a topic while developing their critical thinking skills. Therefore, I believe the administration should look at the syllabi to determine a specific purpose for the class and at the strengths of each professor and join these two concepts together to be able to develop successful class structures.
I talked to Vanessa Garber, a senior here at AU, who is also involved in the general education program. When I asked her if she believed that her general education classes were interesting she told me that the only classes she found helped her, where the ones that counted towards her major. Although she is a firm believer in general education, she thinks that because classes that counted towards her major seem to have a focused purpose, they are better developed and better structured. This does not imply that students should take general education courses that only count towards their major; it implies that the general education courses that are not towards a major are “place holder classes”. These don’t seem to be working because they do not have a defined purpose and teachers therefore do not know how to approach the class. She also told me that many times professors that teach these classes are first of all in many cases adjuncts and second of all do not have control over the assigned readings or the syllabus. This creates a big problem because professors are therefore deprived of their teaching methods causing them to conform to methods that may not play to their strengths.
She also told me that the general approach of students towards a general education course is a “simple class”. This may imply that there is something wrong in the program because it is making the students not take their general education courses seriously. When I asked Vanessa what she thought about this, she told me that she believes that it is because the administration is “trying to keep a structure that is no longer viable”. She told me that she believes professors should have more teaching creative freedom and that the administration should have more detailed structures of the courses so that they have a clearly defined purpose that lets the teacher know where he/she needs to arrive at.
Although a difficult problem to attend to, she also believes that it is important to have smaller classes to allow for dialogue between the students and the professor. Because of the nature of the general education classes, they require dialogue or else they will become one more factual class. As I mentioned on a previous blog, I believe that general education classes teach more than just facts, they create a way of thinking. If there is no dialogue students will never develop critical thinking skills that they should acquire from their general education courses.
There are remarkable professors involved in the general education program, but although they are doing their best, students don’t seem to appreciate them. So far I believed that it was a problem with students; thinking that general education is not important. Now my opinion has changed. I believe that students are not interested because they are actually not getting much out of the general education classes. This mainly occurs because the structure is failing to accomplish its purpose: teaching the students about a topic while developing their critical thinking skills. Therefore, I believe the administration should look at the syllabi to determine a specific purpose for the class and at the strengths of each professor and join these two concepts together to be able to develop successful class structures.
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