Author: Lindsey Downs

Extra Extra! Read All About It (these books)

By Lindsey Downs

April 2, 2021

There are always new books.

Several books have either come across my desk or caught my attention this year. Wish I (and all of you) had more time to get all the reading done that we would like to accomplish.

Today, I will share some of the new books that you might enjoy considering for your eBook reader or bedside table. We also invite you to participate in the following ways:

Suggest other books that you have just read or have on your short list that you think would benefit others in the WCET community.
Volunteer to write a short review of a book that you think would benefit others in the WCET community. Contact Lindsey Downs if you would like to do so. We have some complimentary books to send to the first few reviewers as a thank you!

Enjoy!

Looking to the Future for Institutions and Instruction

Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity
Scott Galloway

In a review in this ZDNet article, the reviewers say that the author “outlines the real threats and opportunities that lie ahead. The book identifies some businesses that will grow and thrive post-pandemic and others that are currently on a slow death spiral. One of the industries that will struggle in the new normal will be higher education, an industry that may not be able to maintain a value proposition that makes sense in a decentralized and digital economy, where scale, speed, and personalization are the new relevant currencies.”

Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet
Michelle R. Weise

From the Wiley site:

“Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs That Don’t Even Exist Yet offers readers a fascinating glimpse into a near-future where careers last 100 years, and education lasts a lifetime. The book makes the case that learners of the future are going to repeatedly seek out educational opportunities throughout the course of their working lives — which will no longer have a beginning, middle, and end. Long Life Learning focuses on the disruptive and burgeoning innovations that are laying the foundation for a new learning model that includes clear navigation, wraparound and funding supports, targeted education, and clear connections to more transparent hiring processes.”

Leading the eLearning Transformation of Higher Education: Leadership Strategies for the Next Generation
Gary E. Miller & Kathryn S. Ives

“eLearning has entered the mainstream of higher education as an agent of strategic change. This transformation requires eLearning leaders to develop the skills to innovate successfully at a time of heightened competition and rapid technological change. In this environment eLearning leaders must act within their institutions as much more than technology managers and assume the prime role of helping their institutions understand the opportunities that eLearning presents for faculty, for students, and for client organizations in the community.”

The Agile College: How Institutions Successfully Navigate Demographic Changes Kindle Edition
Nathan D. Graw

From the Johns Hopkins Press website:

“Demographic changes promise to reshape the market for higher education in the next 15 years. Colleges are already grappling with the consequences of declining family size due to low birth rates brought on by the Great Recession, as well as the continuing shift toward minority student populations…In this essential follow-up to Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education, Nathan D. Grawe explores how proactive institutions are preparing for the resulting challenges that lie ahead. While it isn’t possible to reverse the demographic tide, most institutions, he argues persuasively, can mitigate the effects.”

What Teacher Educators Should Have Learned From 2020
Richard E. Ferdig & Kristine E. Pytash

From the LearnTechLib site:
“This book begins the hard work of synthesizing what the experiences of 2020 can show us about how to remake education for the future. As we look back and look ahead, it’s clear that education is not going to return to anything like pre-pandemic schooling. Instead, a workable balance of in-person and digital learning must be found to motivate and educate all students. While many people yearn for a “return to normal,” the shift to emergency remote teaching, accompanied by a resurgence in the civil rights movement, made clear that “normal” really only worked for the privileged few. We must see 2020 as an opportunity for an educational revolution. There is great value in what we can learn, uncover, unpack, and change from education in 2020, and this book invites us to do just that.”

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Sum of Us: Why Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
Heather McGhee

many books in a large book case — *Photo by Alfons Morales on Unsplash*

The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here: divided and self-destructing, materially rich but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to paint an irrefutable story of racism’s costs, but at the heart of the book are the humble stories of people yearning to be part of a better America, including white supremacy’s collateral victims: white people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game.

From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education
Tia Brown McNair, Estela Maria Bensimon, Lindsey Malcolm-Piqueux

From the Wiley website:
“From Equity Talk to Equity Walk offers practical guidance on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. Drawing from campus-based research projects sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, this invaluable resource provides real-world steps that reinforce primary elements for examining equity in student achievement, while challenging educators to specifically focus on racial equity as a critical lens for institutional and systemic change.”

Advancing Online Teaching: Creating Equity-Based Digital Learning Environments
Kevin Kelley & Todd Zakrajsek

an ebook reader on a table — *Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash*

From Stylus Publications:
“The goal of teaching online is fundamentally the same as teaching face-to-face: facilitating the learning of all students to the greatest extent possible. This book differs from other books on online teaching in that, in the process of offering guidance on course design and planning, developing outcomes and appropriate engaging activities, managing the workload and assessment, the authors pay explicit attention throughout to the distinct and diverse needs of students and offer effective strategies to accommodate them in a comprehensive and inclusive way by using the principles of Universal Design for Learning. By following those principles from the outset when planning a course, all students will benefit, and most particularly those whom the research shows have the greatest achievement gaps when taking online courses — males, first generation and low income students, those from underrepresented minority groups, the academically underprepared, students with disabilities, and those with limited online access or lacking readiness for online learning.”

Promoting Inclusive Classroom Dynamics in Higher Education: A Research-Based Pedagogical Guide for Faculty
Kathryn C. Oleson

From Stylus Publications:

“This powerful, practical resource helps faculty create an inclusive dynamic in their classrooms, so that all students are set up to succeed. Grounded in research and theory (including educational psychology, scholarship of teaching and learning, intergroup dialogue, and social justice theory), this book provides practical solutions to help faculty create an inclusive learning environment in which all students can thrive.”

Let us know if you have other books that have helped you.

Happy reading!

Russ Poulin
Executive Director
WCET – The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies
rpoulin@wiche.edu @russpoulin

Professional Development, WCET

Event Practice

Modern Mentoring – and Thoughts on What That Is

By Lindsey Downs

March 26, 2021

Later today WCET will be hosting the first of its new member only events called Closer Conversations. These events are meant to foster active engagement and discussion between several higher education digital learning experts and attendees. in honor of International Women’s Month, today’s Closer Conversation is focused on mentoring women in digital learning. The session will be hosted by several incredible experts to discuss how to support women working in digital and technological fields. One of those discussion leaders is someone who I not only view as a wonderful friend, but definitely as a role model and mentor. I’m so thrilled she accepted our invitation to write today’s post and is involved in today’s conversation!

I hope you’ll join us this afternoon! Enjoy the read,

Lindsey Downs, WCET

Mentoring is…

The traditional practice of mentoring is one-directional, as the Google definition says, it is to “advise or train (someone, especially a younger colleague).” Mentoring as solely a match between a senior employee and a junior employee who aspires to the same position will do nothing more than continue to promote the status quo. This mental model of mentoring harkens to the days when careerists worked 30 years for the same company, climbing one rung of the ladder at a time, until they retired from the same company. This mindset no longer matches with the reality of a volatile job market, where employers are looking to match skills to problems rather than simply filling vacancies. This type of top-down mentality is not enough to meet the needs of women in educational technology today, or really the needs of anyone in any career path in 2021 and beyond.

Modern Mentoring is…

Modern mentorship is built on mutual benefit which is neither directional nor disciplinary. It is not age dependent or title dependent. It does not require a formal agreement, though it may have one in place. At its heart, mentorship is leadership personified. It is taking the time to share wisdom, coach, guide, reflect with, advocate for, and proactively take steps to support the talent surrounding you and that exists within you.

Women’s History Month gives me an opportunity to pause and reflect on what I’ve learned as a mentor, a mentee, a professional coach, and a human, and today, to share that with you.

Modern Mentoring is…Trust

a hand holding orange slime — *Photo by Kyle Brinker on Unsplash*

Mentoring relationships are built on mutual trust and on the faith we each put into the relationship. I became a formal mentor in 2001, when, fresh out of my undergrad program in a new city, I sought an opportunity to connect with and give back to my community. I volunteered with Thrive and was paired up with a shy 7^th grader to meet once a week, during school, to be her CAP mentor. In over a 15 years as a CAP mentor, I had a half dozen CAP pals. While each had different reasons for joining the program, the first step with each new mentee was to build trust. For kids and adults alike this means showing up, maintaining confidences, and following through on what you said you would do. With my CAP pals, that meant if I promised we’d make slime at our next meeting, I showed up with the supplies to make slime. As I have entered into adult mentoring relationships – both formal and informal – that hasn’t changed. Building trust means maintaining confidences – my personal cone of silence. Unless I suspect harm, what is said between a mentee OR a mentor and myself stays between us. And it means following through with what we each committed to do.

Modern Mentoring is…Listening for Understanding

Too often when we are having a conversation – inside a mentoring relationship or otherwise – we are listening with the intent to respond. Our brains are formulating the nugget of wisdom to pass on before the person we’re engaging with is even done talking. It takes a conscious act to help our brains stop and focus entirely on listening, on understanding the words with all of the meaning and undertones contained within. When you listen for understanding, you might find the problem the person thinks they have is not the problem at all but rather a symptom which can help you guide them forward.

confident elegant lady in eyeglasses looking at a computer — *Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com*

Oscar Wilde is credited (on Good Reads so, mildly questionable) with saying “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.” Plainly stated, wisdom does not come from age alone, but rather from lived experiences. There are ten-year-olds with great wisdom and 90-year-olds with none. In any mentoring relationship, sharing wisdom – what you have learned through your lived experiences and your reflection on them – is essential to helping your mentee grow. However, sharing wisdom with an unwilling participant is a fool’s errand. The recipient must be open to receiving wisdom before it can truly help them learn and move forward.

One of the hardest lessons I have learned in my coaching practice is to know the difference between sharing wisdom and giving direction. In coaching the goal is to guide the client to the answer buried within themselves, sometimes through the example of your own lived experience, rather than giving the client direction on what choice to make. This is where coaching and mentoring differ – mentors can be more direct in making suggestions, offering solutions, if they so choose. Both can be beneficial, however different based on the goals of the relationship.

Modern Mentoring is…Investing in Others

Mentoring is investing your time, your mind space, and your caring in others. To build a strong relationship those investments must be made over time, not in one-time wisdom drops. However, what I’ve found is that by investing in others, you recognize the return on that investment in yourself. My life has been so positively impacted by those who’ve come before me and reached a hand back and those I turn back or to the side to reach for in this game of life. Mentoring is advocacy – it is bringing to the forefront a voice that doesn’t match the status quo or that is being talked over by an ostentatious individual. It’s saying, “I’m speaking” or “Please allow this person to finish their contribution.”

In my career, and in my life, I have serendipitously fallen into mentoring relationships in the hallways of WCET conference and I have banged on doors to seek out the wisdom closed behind them. I have answered the call, the knock on my {virtual} door, and I have shared my lived experience with others so they may learn from my mistakes, from my successes and from my epic fails. That shy 7^th grader is now a confident young woman who holds two degrees and has dedicated her life to serving others through nursing. I couldn’t be prouder, seeing the woman she’s become and thinking that maybe my investment contributed to who she is today.

So, in celebration of Women’s History Month, I invite to take your own moment of reflection about those you have mentored and those who have mentored you. Cherish the investments you have made and received. And bring your learning and your questions to the WCET Closer Conversation today as we talk about Mentoring Women in Digital Learning.

Digital Learning, Professional Development, WCET

Practice

“What is Past is Prologue”: Reading Thelin During a Pandemic

By Lindsey Downs

March 19, 2021

Image of Aitken's statue "The Future" — *Highsmith, C. M., photographer. Sculptor Robert I. Aitken’s statue, “The Future,”*

Recently, Josh Kim in his Inside Higher Education blog, Learning Innovation, suggested that any discussion of the future of higher education should be informed by an understanding of the past. The solution, according to Kim, is reading John R. Thelin’s seminal A History of American Higher Education, 3^rd edition.

As a historian I have long ascribed to the adage “What is past is prologue,” which is carved into the base of Robert Aitken’s statue Future located at the northeast corner of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. But Kim’s admonition nudged me to revisit the latest edition of Thelin’s updated work and read it through the lens of what his history of American higher education can tell us about the post-pandemic higher education world.

A few general thoughts on A History of Higher Education

I agree with Kim’s assessment that there are two large oversights in Thelin’s work.

First, there is little on the role that teaching and learning play in the history of American higher education save conversations about the tensions between formal academic curriculum and the extracurricular learning of students. The work focuses almost exclusively on the structural aspects of American higher education with special attention paid to the changing roles of presidents and boards with the occasional mention of faculty. For a work that purports to chronicle higher education there is very little education going on.

Second, and most disappointingly, the work is virtually silent on the role of technology in American higher education save a cursory conversation about MOOCs. This is especially problematic and disappointing since Thelin spends time discussing the changing demographics of students and the need for institutions to expand how they think about the “typical” undergraduate student, including their needs and their experience of college. One can’t help but wonder how the rise of digital learning during the 2000s impacted not only the students enrolled in higher education but the missions of colleges and universities as many strive to expand student access to postsecondary education for a broader array of students.

None of this is to detract from Thelin’s work, however. It remains eminently readable and engaging as well as superbly researched. And although the work is a broad survey, what it misses in depth is more than made up by the breadth of Thelin’s analysis.

What is “past is prologue”

What most struck me reading Thelin this time around are the longevity of higher education’s retention problem and the tensions around the purpose of a college degree. Retention and success are such dominate themes in our current conversations around higher education that it is easy to believe they have always been concerns and the focus of higher education reform. Thelin, however, paints a very different picture as he lays out the ways in which, as early as the colonial period, higher education did not adhere to a four-year model. As Thelin writes, “One peculiar characteristic of the colonial colleges in their first decades is that there was little emphasis on completing degrees” (Thelin, 2019, p. 66). He goes on to suggest that by the end of the 19^th century, “The completion of a bachelor’s degree was hardly a universal accomplishment, nor was it expected to be so” (Thelin, 2019, p. 163) and that even during higher education’s “golden era” of the early 20^th century renowned institutions such as Harvard, Amherst, and William and Mary routinely experienced high dropout rates and low levels of bachelor’s degree completion (Thelin, 2019, p.264). Our focus on college completion is, historically, a rather recent phenomena of the late 20^th century.

Debates over the purpose of college and the resulting economic tensions also struck me as prescient in this reading of Thelin. Chronicling the writings of Francis Wayland, a nineteenth century president of Brown University, Thelin explores criticisms that nineteenth century American colleges were “out of touch with the demands of an energetic, industrial society” (Thelin, 2019, p. 152).

These debates over the purpose of college continue and intensify into the 1940s and 1950s as debates over who should access higher education intensify. Nowhere is this more evident than in Thelin’s discussion of the 1947 Truman Commission Report, “Higher Education for American Democracy,” which eloquently advocates for the “ultimate goal [of] an educational system in which at no level—high school, college, graduate school, or professional school—will a qualified individual in any part of the country encounter an insuperable economic barrier to the attainment of the kind of education suited to his aptitudes and interests” (Thelin, 2014, p.225).

These calls culminate in the 1971 Newman Report on Higher Education’s admonition, “We must enlarge our concepts of who can be a student, and when, and what a college is. We need many alternate paths to an education” (Thelin, 2014, p. 267).

**What Thelin’s History can tell us about post-pandemic higher education**

If we agree with the adage “What is past is prologue,” then what lessons can we take away from Thelin’s comprehensive history of American higher education? I was struck by two significant lessons.

Higher education has been remarkably resilient.

Higher education has faced significant challenges from the colonial period to the present. Institutions have struggled to survive economically, have grappled with who they serve and how they serve those students, and have long been asked to justify their existence. Despite all of these crises, American higher education has been highly resilient as long as it never lost sight of its educational mission.

We can’t afford to lose sight of educational mission and the needs of students.

The extent to which American higher education has stumbled has often corresponded with losing focus on its fundamental mission of educating undergraduate students.

The extent to which American higher education has stumbled has often corresponded with losing focus on its fundamental mission of educating undergraduate students.

As Thelin observed about the higher education crisis of the 1970s, “The problem was not that the center [of higher education] had failed, but rather that the modern American university had no center at all” (Thelin, 2018, p. 436). The 1971 Newman Report was even blunter in its assessment of higher education’s mission: “It is not enough to improve and expand the present system. The needs of society and the diversity of its students now entering college require a fresh look at what ‘going to college’ means” (Thelin, 2014, p.266).

The pandemic has exposed higher education’s fault lines that we must all grapple with—access without equity, challenges around student success, and the changing nature of who our students are. These are all profound challenges. However, the good news is that Thelin paints a picture of higher education as a resilient, vital institution capable of meeting these challenges. As he concludes, “higher education remains vital, its remarkable past worthy of connecting with its complex present and its promising future in American life” (Thelin, 2019, 592).

Van Davis
Policy and Planning Consultant, WCET
Principal, Foghlam Consulting

References:

Thelin, J. R. (2019). A history of American higher education, 3^rd edition. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Thelin, J.R. (Ed.) (2014). Essential documents in the history of American higher education. Johns Hopkins University Press.

COVID-19, Credentials, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, Futures

Looking to the Future for Institutions and Instruction

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Mentoring is…

Modern Mentoring is…

Modern Mentoring is…Trust

Modern Mentoring is…Listening for Understanding

Modern Mentoring is…Sharing & Receiving Wisdom

Modern Mentoring is…Investing in Others

A few general thoughts on A History of Higher Education

What is “past is prologue”

What Thelin’s History can tell us about post-pandemic higher education

**What Thelin’s History can tell us about post-pandemic higher education**