Saturday, February 10, 2007

What Works and SS and Tech, 2/09/07

81 minutes of writing

What Works:
I received word back from Jonathon that the manuscript is ready to send to the editors, but I'm still concerned that the CAST screenshots represent professional development courses instead of K-12 classes (the audience of and title for the book). I've emailed the remaining authors with a request for them to give their final approval on the chapter and respond to my concern about these screenshots. I stated that I will await sending the final draft to the editor until I receive approval from Mark and Lynne.
I'm really tired of this paper.

SS and Tech:
I spent time making the changes recommended by my writing group. There is one paragraph that still potentially needs work, but I'm not confident about their recommended suggestions. I'm considering asking Greg Levitt to read the paragraph to see if he thinks it should be changed.
This paper is definitely getting closer to having an updated draft, but still has a long was to go. I need to revisit the Moersch/SS connection and then relate items in the tables at the end to the framework. This will take substantial time.

SSM and Tech Research:
I met with Leora Baron at the TLC to discuss moving from scholarly teaching to scholarship of teaching and learning. She suggested some research questions I may wish to use to drive my NECC paper, but I'm not ready to commit to any specific question. She did convict me to complete the human subjects online course and begin communicating with one of the IRB members about whether this research would be exempt from review. I'm sure it will be, and since I don't have my RQs yet, I'll wait until I get further along in my proposal.

For next week:
It's critical I start thinking about my CUE presentation (and the paper I hope to write to go along with it). Also, the SSM book chapters are due 3/1. I'm thinking that revisiting literature on 21st century skills would be a good start for both works. I wish, though, that I could begin writing the first draft of the SSM chapter before Monday's writing circle.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

What Works, 2/07/07

27 minutes of writing

I received the CBSS and CAST screenshots from Jonathon yesterday, but didn't have time to integrate them into the What Works paper until today. I added them into the paper and sent the paper to Jonathon for final review.

I also spent time with Leora Baron today at the TLC discussing issues related to teaching and research. She assisted me in conceptualizing the NECC paper that will focus on research related to my social studies methods course. She recommended I quickly begin the human subjects course and IRB process so I can collect survey data at least twice this semester. It is critical that I begin developing my research agenda, get IRB approval, and conceptualize all pieces of the research process ASAP for this study. Otherwise, my paper will simply be descriptive.

I also would like to talk with Neal to see if he will help me with the conceptualization process.

Monday, February 5, 2007

SS and Tech, 2/05/07

51 minutes of writing

I worked on editing SS and Tech based on the suggestions from my Writing Circle colleagues. I was disappointed to realize that I had forgotten some of their valuable comments and did not clearly write the suggested corrections on my hard copy. Clearly, I should revise drafts immediately after (or within 24 hours) I meet with my Writing Circle.

I've still not received the screenshots for What Works.