Mae Jamison On Fear, Audacity, and the Importance of Inclusion

Dr. Mae Jemison at Auburn University

This year's Tuskegee Auburn Women's Leadership Alliance had as its keynote and one of its highlights Dr. Mae Jamison talking about fear, audacity and the importance of inclusion.  If you have seen her TED talk:


you know that she wants us not to focus exclusively on STEM, although this is important, but to teach the arts and sciences together.

At her talk at Auburn this week, this point was still an important thread, as her examples of how Star Trek fiction foreshadowed certain technologies we have today, like tablets or cell phones.  However, her focus was on how important inclusion is when it comes to achieving full human potential (as in, all of us achieving this together).  Inclusion is essential, but not necessarily embraced by all people.  Her example of how legislation can shape inclusion was fascinating -- with the signing of the Equal Rights act, Lyndon B. Johnson forced companies, universities, any other institution receiving federal funding to hire more inclusively.  Considering that many of the U.S. space research centers are housed in the Southeast, this must have led to some very interesting discussions -- do we take the money and hire experts we have never hired before or do we not take the funding and stay stuck in our outdated mindset of how the world works?
Her second point I thought was interesting was that while working out the science of how to get us to the next solar system is of course important, what is more important is to figure out human behavior -- how can we ensure that on that long journey, people will stay positive, stay focused, stay a member of the community?
The third point I took away from the talk was the reframing of certain jobs as being part of STEM (and thus important) -- we do not only need folks with graduate degrees in the natural and social sciences to make all of this happen; we need to value just as much the electricians, the carpenters, the builders who transform the ideas into reality on a daily basis and who know how to troubleshoot this new reality.

Inside the RBD Library

The construction outside of the RBD Library has shifted the energy on the second floor considerably.  No longer the main entrance, the area towards Mell, marked off with posters and indications not to go any further has quieted down, so that a cup of coffee has become a peaceful affair.  For some reason, looking out these windows now makes me feel really high up.

What you also get in this corner of the library are a couple of posters that give you a better sense of what is coming -- and the library has set up a feedback bulletin board where folks can ask questions and leave comments about the construction.

Feedback Bulletin on 2nd Floor in RBD Library

What Mell Classrooms will look like

The next interesting aspect of this project is to make sure we gather feedback from faculty on how they want to be prepared to teach in these new spaces.  What kinds of resources and support would folks be interested in having available to them before this building opens and once it is open?

New Learning Space in the College

Our latest addition of new learning spaces in the College of Liberal Arts is the remodeled Mac lab for the School of Communication and Journalism.  With the help of our great friends in Facilities and OIT's Classroom Design group, we were able to get a more collaborative work space implemented, a space that not only moved away from rows of tables that folks had difficulty getting in and out of, but that also opened up the space.

Here a couple of pictures of the redesign:

One of the collaborative tables

larger room view

And so often, a little color makes all the difference -- look at those cool orange table legs!

And the Earth is Moving

aka, the building of the new Mell Classroom Building has begun.

While it was of course painful to see the trees disappear, and I am sure it is not fun at all working in the library or Mary Martin Hall right now, it is exciting to see the new classroom building starting to take shape -- ok, starting to see the hole dug that will turn into this new building.

If you want to follow along in real time, here is the direct link:

The building will contain, when finished, two lecture halls that are designed to make engaged and active student learning possible, and a number of EASL and EASL Lite rooms.  Informal learning spaces will round out the building, and the close connection to and integration into the library will allow classrooms to be moved into that space as well, while students will be able to take even more advantage of the Learning Commons in the library.

Construction begins -- and students have how many devices?

The road is closed for construction.

Road closing

Dec 14

Construction

The adventure begins -- of course one of the questions I get is, well, will all of the students have mobile technology or will I need to provide some technology for the folks who don't have a device?


The latest ECAR Report on Undergraduate Students and IT, reviewing student responses from 161 institutions around the world gives hope that in a couple of years, when the new classroom building opens its doors, this is no longer an issue.\

Some of the numbers on the report:
92% of all surveyed students have at least two internet-capable devices, and only 2% have none. (Figure 5).  Over 56% of students would like instructors to take advantage of the fact that students have laptops.  As Auburn University tends to have fewer minority and lower-income students than many community colleges or urban higher education institutions may have, this interest of students to use laptops in class is probably going to be even higher - because more students will have laptops.  Lower-income students tend to rely more heavily on their smartphones as that may very well be the only truly mobile device they own.

For the full report, please consider going to http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ss15/ers1510ss.pdf.  What other information from the report do you find relevant for your teaching or for your institution to consider?

Mell Classroom Building: First Sign

Sign on Mell Street

If you are walking past Spidle Hall, you may have notice the new sign that has gone up.

The first visible sign that Auburn University is soon starting on the new Mell Classroom building is, well, a sign.  Its location may be a little misleading, because the location of the actual building will be right outside the library, on the current brick plaza.  Plans are that ground will be broken in December, and that the connection to the library that will also house a number of classrooms will start happening in May.

Come Fall 2017, Auburn University will have a new classroom facility with lots of EASL and EASL Lite rooms.

One future of active learningWiebke in

Simulations have been around for a long time when it comes to active learning.  Whether we participate in mock trials, sit in a fake cockpit to practice flying, or resuscitate a dummy, all of these and more are simulations that allow us to practice skills that would be too expensive or too dangerous to practice in real time, with real equipment and real people.

Simulations have also been around for a while when it comes to STEM learning.  One new player in the field is labster.com, a Danish company that specializes in creating modules for learning important concepts in bilolgy, chemistry, engineering, and physics (at least at this moment in time).

Labster combines the elements of story telling, lab and experiment, and visualization and manipulation of microscopic elements.  For example, the narrative may be a criminal case where the participant collects relevant evidence, takes it to a lab, where the participant uses simulations of expensive, fully functional lab equipment for analyses, and then gets immersed into these analyses to see the elements and actions of atoms, molecules, genetic material, etc.

The narration and simulation create an authentic learning experience, while the experience of swimming between molecules visualizes this otherwise invisible level of science.

The research so far conducted indicates a higher number of students successfully learning complex science material.  The look and feel of a game may make it easier for many of the students to be comfortable moving through this environment.

The online content can be viewed and interacted with through one of these devices.

Wiebke in a virtual lab

Yesterday's release of this device (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/09/24/samsung-and-oculus-announce-99-gear-vr-headset-for-galaxy-phones/?mod=WSJ_TechWSJD_productReviews) nicely coincided with the demo.  Note that the smart phone is put into the head gear to connect and create the experience.

What other educational simulations have you seen that could become game changers?