Moore's Musings: Guilty Bystanders

(This article is a reprint from June 1998)

For those of you completely disconnected from current pop culture, I take my title from the final episode of the TV show "Seinfeld," which aired May 14, 1998 (I can't even claim to be the first to shamelessly ride the "Seinfeld" bandwagon--Bob O'Brien Hokanson from Alverno worked a similar reference into his closing comments at the statewide assessment conference Friday, May 15! For the handful of you who haven't seen the episode, here's the relevant context:

Under a new "Good Samaritan" law, Seinfeld and his friends Elaine, Kramer, and George have been arrested for not coming to the aid of a man being carjacked (while videotaping the incidents and making wisecracks about the victim--but that's another story). Their lawyer's defense strategy is to argue that they were "bystanders," and thus by definition, "innocent," as those terms are inherently linked--"whoever," he says, "has heard of a guilty bystander?" The trial then becomes an opportunity for the show to reprise a seemingly endless of petty and puerile offenses on the part of Seinfeld and his friends, ultimately ending in their conviction and sentencing to a year in jail. [read more]

It Builds Character, But How Can We Tell?

John M. Yeager and Sherri Fisher
Essay for the First-Year Assessment Listserv (2006)

Psychological testing is the ultimate heuristic to simplify the complexity of being human. Such assessment comes in many flavors: cognitive, achievement, temperament, processing, perceptual, and affective are just a few. Nearly everyone wants to know what their test results really mean -- to be spared both the mystery and misery of self-discovery -- and be told the pathway to true happiness. Positive psychology, the study of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and the institutions enabling both of these, is rooted in the belief that people can become happier. Why be happy? Beyond the good feelings that happiness confers, happy people tend to have increased mental and physical health, and are more cooperative and “other-centered”. [read more]

Assessment:

Web-based Learning Outcome Tracking System –In his keynote address at the recent Student Success conference, Lee Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, stated that colleges would do well to take ownership of the student learning outcomes challenge and solve it on our terms. For those who are willing to accept this challenge, the overriding question is "how, in actual practice, can an institution actually do this? [read more]

College Ready:

A New Tack to Help High-Schoolers at Risk: College:At No Cost Students Earn Diplomas Along with 2-Year Associate's Degrees - At Bell Multicultural Senior High School in Washington, some sophomores have a schedule like this: first period, geometry; second, world history; third, English; fourth, college. Twice a week, a group of students, a few with Michael Jordan or Hello Kitty backpacks, catch the Metro and dash to a criminology class at the University of the District of Columbia. [read more]

Students Fall Short on 'Information Literacy,' Educational Testing Service's Study Finds - The National Forum on Information Literacy, a group of academic, government, and professional organizations, announced the creation of a panel to set national standards for proficiency in information literacy and to review exams in the field offered by the Educational Testing Services. The announcement comes just one week after ETS and other organizations held an information literacy conference in Washington (The Chronicle, October 27). "Policy makers, business leaders, and educators need to address the reality that America's competitive advantage, continued economic growth, and status as a world leader depends on its ability to produce a highly skilled, information-literate workforce" said Lana W. Jackman, who helped organize the conference in Washington. The new panel will meet this month.

Lower Columbia Seeks a Reading/Literacy/Basic Skills Instructor –This full-time, tenure track position will be responsible for teaching courses in pre-college reading, writing, study skills, as well as supervising the activities of the College’s Learning Center [read more].

Learning Assistance:

Call for Manuscripts for The Learning Assistance Review (TLAR) - Manuscripts for the Spring 2007 TLAR, the official publication of the National College Learning Center Association (NCLCA). The Learning Assistance Review (TLAR) seeks to foster communication among learning center professionals. Its audience includes learning center administrators, teaching staff, and tutors, as well as other faculty members and administrators who are interested in improving the learning skills of postsecondary students.
 
The Learning Assistance Review aims to publish scholarly articles and reviews that address issues of interest to a broad range of academic professionals. Primary consideration will be give to articles about program design and evaluation, classroom-based research, the application of theory and research to practice, innovative teaching and tutoring strategies, student assessment, and other topics that bridge gaps within our diverse profession. All submissions are subject to a masked review process. Guidelines can be found at http://www.nclca.org/guidelinesforsubmissions.htm.

Links to Articles of Interest to Educators

Scaring Seniors Straight - The University of Washington in trying to combat the problem of high school students frittering away their senior year is adopting a policy this year in which it is reviewing the senior year transcripts of all applicants and systematically withdrawing the acceptances of those who seriously flopped or fooled around.

Age and Remediation - A new study ""Stepping Stones to a Degree: The Impact of Enrollment Pathways and Milestones on Older Community College Student Outcomes" examines how younger and older students respond to remediation.

From the National Symposium on Postsecondary Student Success:
Does 'Value Added' Add Value? - Three administrators of public universities — none of them flagships — speak to how assessment actually works on their campuses.

Mark these Dates

May 2-4, 2007
Pacific Northwest Higher Education Teaching & Learning Conference

Creating Significant Learning Experiences

Vancouver Hilton
& Conference Center
Vancouver, WA

Bringing together educators to broaden their understanding of teaching, relate effective practices, and exchange insights, methods and strategies that promote and support student learning.

In this issue of eWAG we again link to one of Louis Schmier's "Random Thoughts." Inspiring and thought provoking, Louis Schmier calls attention to the too often lacking but needed human dimension of education, showing that the heart of teaching is to care about each student as a unique, sacred human being. "What It Is About Teaching That Makes Me Happy" (August 30, 2006).

Innovation-Change

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."

Western Union Internal Memo, 1876

Publications:
Eric Jensen, (2006), Enriching the Brain: How to Maximize Every Learner's Potential; Jossey-Bass

Patricia Cranton, (2006), Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning: A Guide for Educators of Adults, 2nd Edition; Jossey-Bass

Jonathan E. Finklestein (2006), Learning in Real Time: Synchronous Teaching and Learning Online; Jossey-Bass

Student engagement and information literacy. Edited by Craig Gibson. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association, 2006. Order this book.

A Wise Teacher!

At Texas A&M University, there were four sophomores taking chemistry and all of them had an "A" so far. These four friends were so confident that the weekend before finals, they decided to visit some friends and have a big party. They had a great time, but after all the hearty partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to A&M until early Monday morning. 

Rather than taking the final then, they decided that after the final they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends but on the way back they had a flat tire. As a result, they missed the final. The professor agreed they could make up the final the next day. The guys were excited and relieved. They studied that night for the exam. The Professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem worth 5 points. Cool, they thought!

Each one in separate rooms, thinking this was going to be easy....

Then they turned the page. On the second page was written.... 

For 95 points: Which tire? _____ 

To submit an article or to subscribe to eWAG, please email:
Anna Sue McNeill

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to rack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the engagement of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty."

Einstein