Change, Challenge and Communication

The planets aligned around three themes in my twitter feed and my classroom this week: change, challenge, and communication.

Inside Higher Ed reported on what Provosts' think about the future of higher education. The times they are a' changing. But Provosts' still believe in liberal arts and learning. They believe that their institutions are healthy despite financial challenges. Perhaps classrooms will continue to exist -- at least for the remainder of my career.

My first full week in the classroom this semester brought both change and challenge. I struggled with new-to-me instructional technology. But I managed to muddle through by pushing buttons until things worked. I even digitally brought a former doctoral student (@kfreberg) into @461SocialMedia with a new-to-her online teaching tool that allowed me to record her presentation and post it online for students who were absent because of snow and travel. Despite all the technological delivery, I think the classroom added value to learning for those who were there. I hope so.

Perhaps the biggest test of the classroom as a value-added proposition will be for students in my Advertising Media Strategy class. Less than half of them were in the classroom yesterday. Many were iced into their apartment complexes. Almost a dozen were in New York on a @utadpr excursion: #utkadclubnyc16. All the readings and lecture notes are online. But will those students who missed class learn the tough stuff of audience and cost metrics as well as those students who were in the classroom to talk about gross impressions and GRP and reach and frequency and CPM and CPP?

Communication is where the classroom and twitter feed really aligned. Bob Blaisdell compared writing and dancing. Learning both can be a challenge. Students in my public relations writing class want more structure. I am grateful they were able to express their frustration in a constructive way. I'm revising future assignments to add more specific instructions and examples. I'm a free-form kind of dancer. Never took a dance class. Never wanted to waltz. But my dance style doesn't translate well for my writing students.

@markwschaefer wrote about the future of blogging. It is changing and challenging. Timely article for #461social students who are just starting their blogs.

@joshmkim suggested that an increase in social media outlets might help professionals listen more and talk less. Good advice for educators whether they are in the Provost's office or the classroom.

@nytegan reminded me what the 8-second attention span means for me as a writer and a teacher. As a writer, I'm lucky if you've gotten this far in my blog post. As a teacher, I need to listen more and talk less to make the classroom a valued place of learning.

Time and Control for Faculty and Administrators

As I prepare for my first semester of full-time teaching after 10 years of academic administration, I find myself reflecting on differences in both #time and #control for faculty and administrators.

At one level, faculty have limited control of their time. They have to meet students at the same times each week. They have to schedule vacations around breaks and holidays. They have no sick days. But in another way, faculty have significant control over their time. They can schedule personal appointments in mid-day. They can work on research projects at any hour of the night or day. They often have teaching schedules that make long weekends easy to create.

Administrators have little control over their time. Someone else manages their calendars They are usually expected to be on campus from at least eight to at least five for at least five days a week. They often move from meeting to meeting with little time for the most personal of needs (e.g., bathroom breaks). But they do have sick days and vacation days. And vacations don't have to coincide with the academic calendar. Their offices often set the times of meetings, so they have some control over the rhythm of their work lives.

I am readjusting to "faculty time." I got my hair cut in the middle of the day. I finished drafting my syllabi in the early morning hours when I have the most energy. And I look with joy on my calendar for the next few weeks. It is blissfully almost blank on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  As I remember a task force I recently chaired on managing classroom capacity, I feel vaguely guilty. But you won't find me complaining about my Tuesday/Thursday classes that are scheduled either in the same building as my office or in a building about a block away.

Faculty and administrators both have challenges in controlling their time. But, at least for now, I'm happy to be back on faculty time.

Bags, messaging, culture, policy, structure, and change

During the academic year, I live in Knoxville, TN where bags are free and plastic is plentiful. During the summer, I live in Seattle, WA where retail outlets are required to charge a minimum of $.05 for every bag supplied to customers and plastic bags are forbidden.

Knoxville uses messaging to support a "green" culture. I work at a university that prides itself on improvements it has made on reducing, recycling, and reusing. We rally around the slogan "Make Orange Green." Posters at grocery stores remind shoppers to bring bags in from their cars. I care about the environment. I have canvas bags in Knoxville. But those bags rarely make it into my car when I drive for my weekly grocery shopping trip and return home with numerous plastic bags.

Seattle uses public policy and urban design to support a green environment. In the summer, I carry a collapsable ChicoBag on my key chain. I never leave home without "carrying capacity" for purchases I might make. I walk to stores that are close to where I live. I buy fewer items at a time. They usually fit in my ChicoBag. And if I somehow find myself in need of a shopping bag, I cringe at paying for it.  Does $.05 break my bank?  No. But that charge, along with other structural factors that support a "bagless" society, makes me change my behavior.

Sometimes messaging and culture building is not enough. Slogans and posters can raise awareness. But they are less likely to change behaviors. Communicators need to know their limitations. If behavioral change is the desired outcome, they need to do the hard work of shaping policies and structures.

Turning and Timing

It turns out that turning a new leaf on January 1 is a fairly new phenomenon. The Georgian calendar, introduced in 1582, placed the start of the year at the start of of the month named for the Roman god of transitions, Janus, who looks both backward and forward. But neither the Brits nor the colonists in North America really accepted that date until the mid 1700s.

The Georgian calendar is based on the sun. But many cultures still honor a lunar calendar and celebrate the new year with the arrival of the second new moon after the winter solstice.

What drives us to track time? And why do we track those cycles based on orbs of light that mark the day and night? Why are we compelled to "wrap up" the old year with lists of highlights and plan for the new year with lists of resolutions?

To everything, turn, turn, turn....
There is a season, turn, turn, turn....