I'm remiss in my posting, but in my defense it's been a hectic couple of weeks. Fortunately, I've been able to take today to catch up on email, twitter, blogging, and news.
The biggest new in my world is that my class, ITCS 1600 - Computing Professionals, has started. We're just over halfway through the first team meetings. The groups are diverse; the learning community and the transfer students have very different needs and concerns.
This week's lecture was one I actually gave, and it was, as always, a mix of success and opportunities for improvement. One thing that went well was that students did respond to the idea that they are responsible for developing their identity and they seemed to understand that the class is about teaching them how a successful student operates at UNC Charlotte. I offered them an option: I would pay lots of attention to them in exchange for just $20,000, about half the difference in price between UNC Charlotte and a private school; none of them took me up on the offer. One thing that didn't go well was that I had underplanned the preparation for the blogs, the forum, and the description of the Engagement Scavenger Hunt; fortunately, my trusty TA, Ryan Marsh, was able to backfill much of this information, but the issue with student confusion over the Scavenger Hunt is concerning me. Before I run this class again, I will probably poll some students about what confused them, although I will wait to do this until they have a couple of weeks of activity. I need to make sure that students are making progress on the Scavenger Hunt, so I will rely on my TAs for reports. I really hope that we will have a high number who clock at least one hour this week.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Active Teaching and Learning Workshop
On Tuesday, August 9, 2011, from 09:00AM-10:15AM, I attended a workshop on Active Teaching and Learning taught by Drs. Nancy Cooke and Jaesoon An. One thing that I learned was about using color-coded response cards for large-class engagement. Unfortunately, many engagement techniques are not appropriate for large classrooms, so what I would do in the future is discuss the problem with the workshop leaders before the workshop.
Engaging Millenial Students
On Thursday, August 11, 2011, I attended a workshop on Engaging Millenial Students, taught by Dr. Nancy Cooke, Faculty Fellow at UNC Charlotte. One thing that went well was that I learned from a video about how millenial college students prioritize. One thing that didn't go well was that I was expecting to learn about cultural touchstones of millenials, sort of the opposite of the Beloit List. One thing I would do differently is find and watch some media that are important to millenials; I suppose I would in a sense be paid to watch movies and TV!
Motivating Students Workshop
On Thursday, August 11, 20111, I attended a workshop entitled Motivating Students, taught by Faculty Fellow Dr. Concepcion Godev. The best part of the workshop was learning how other faculty get students motivated, including using high energy, passion, and topic expertise. One thing that didn't go well was that I was that I haven't yet experimented with different styles or looked at my own teaching critically. Before attending another session on the topic, I would like to find and read more about student engagement techniques to take full advantage of the workshop, but I don't yet have reading resources, so I will contact Dr. Godev.
Monday, August 8, 2011
STARS Leadership Celebration
I'm in Raleigh participating in the STARS Leadership Celebration, a conference to coordinate and share information about developing student technology leadership. I've meet a lot of interesting people (including Professor George Thiruvathukal) and had some great discussions. More here later; you can follow me @DrGrossUNCC.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Initial Reflection
If you had told me a month ago that I would be going to a third-world country, I wouldn't have believed you. I was in the middle from the California coast to Charlotte, North Carolina, a modest move of 2,500 miles. I was tired, having rapidly closed my semester at CSUMB, and starting a new job at UNC Charlotte.
If you had told me that I would find something important for me personally in Haiti, especially Tovar and Milot, I would have had you hospitalized. I've seen the pictures of Haiti, and if you are reading this, you probably have, too. In the photos, it's dirty, and that's not wrong (especially Cap Haitien, aka Okap in Creole). The houses are dilapidated shacks, and they often are. There's little functioning economy and people just hope to scrape by, and that's true as well.
So why am I already trying to plan my next trip? I'm already thinking of times to visit Port au Prince; Adam told me about Grassroots United, a group that has a facility for volunteers working in Port au Prince; it's $15 a night, and you bring your own tent. They don't even have dorms, but they have wireless internet; can I just say that as a technologist I find that perfectly charming? And yes, yes, they have showers and potable water and security.
The answer is twofold: people and opportunity. Every travel blogger/voluntourist/etc. talks about the wonderful people they meet, which leads me to believe that the world is full of wonderful people. I do really like the Haitians I've met, but I won't go on about their generosity and hospitality, although they certainly have them in spades.
The people of Haiti are amazing, but still a mystery to me. What should be cognitive dissonance turns out to represent a precarious balance in a precarious situation, and how they do it is something that may take a lifetime to understand. Haitians are generally poor. They are used to seeing NGOs and voluntourists and aid workers and missionaries, and they are appreciative, but they are still poor. However, poverty does not equal despair; they're just as happy as Americans (if not more so, since we are a morose bunch). Poverty also does not equal shame, although they have a legitimate complaint (voiced loudly, but never violently) when an American takes a picture of, for example, an overloaded taptap. Poverty does not equal homogeneity; Haitians are as different from one another as Americans, although it seems that all of these people have pride in their history and country. I would say that the one universal theme that pervades all of the people we met is hope for the future. The Haitians don't want another handout; while they graciously accept the help of NGOs, missionaries, and others, they want to do it themselves.
There are no simple solutions to Haiti's problems. Creating a native economy is a challenge faced by other (and better organized) states, and we can't just try to replicate what India did; Haiti is its own country with its own history and culture. What we can do is what we're good at (as scientists), which is experimenting. We have many protocols in place to ensure that risk to persons is minimized, and we always ground ourselves in theories that predict positive outcomes. We know that Haiti is not a toy or piece of lab equipment, but without experimentation, we're unlikely to find something that works.
It's absolutely essential that this "we" include Haitians. American academia cannot just come in and say "this is how we will do it". I hope to create partnerships with Haitians, not just because hey, it's their country, but because I believe the following about working with and for Haitians: first, it's their culture, second, it's necessary to create sustainable models, and third, because I'm selfish. Yes, you read that right, I'm selfish. I want to get out of this more than I put in, which is one mantra of science. I want at least some of the knowledge they have, I want to learn about the alien world they inhabit between feudalism and postmodernity, and I want to be more than another helping hand, a do-gooder who doesn't leave behind a legacy. I don't care if my name is remembered, but I do want things that will last beyond my trips and beyond even my life.
It's rare that someone blogs about both Martin Buber and the criticality of small-business startups making profit, but I'm going to try. Buber was a German social philosopher whose work can be in part boiled down to the phrase, "all real life is meeting". What is important is interaction; without it, what would science be, and how could we communicate our findings? If we can make the right connections, we can see what can be done.
If you had told me that I would find something important for me personally in Haiti, especially Tovar and Milot, I would have had you hospitalized. I've seen the pictures of Haiti, and if you are reading this, you probably have, too. In the photos, it's dirty, and that's not wrong (especially Cap Haitien, aka Okap in Creole). The houses are dilapidated shacks, and they often are. There's little functioning economy and people just hope to scrape by, and that's true as well.
So why am I already trying to plan my next trip? I'm already thinking of times to visit Port au Prince; Adam told me about Grassroots United, a group that has a facility for volunteers working in Port au Prince; it's $15 a night, and you bring your own tent. They don't even have dorms, but they have wireless internet; can I just say that as a technologist I find that perfectly charming? And yes, yes, they have showers and potable water and security.
The answer is twofold: people and opportunity. Every travel blogger/voluntourist/etc. talks about the wonderful people they meet, which leads me to believe that the world is full of wonderful people. I do really like the Haitians I've met, but I won't go on about their generosity and hospitality, although they certainly have them in spades.
The people of Haiti are amazing, but still a mystery to me. What should be cognitive dissonance turns out to represent a precarious balance in a precarious situation, and how they do it is something that may take a lifetime to understand. Haitians are generally poor. They are used to seeing NGOs and voluntourists and aid workers and missionaries, and they are appreciative, but they are still poor. However, poverty does not equal despair; they're just as happy as Americans (if not more so, since we are a morose bunch). Poverty also does not equal shame, although they have a legitimate complaint (voiced loudly, but never violently) when an American takes a picture of, for example, an overloaded taptap. Poverty does not equal homogeneity; Haitians are as different from one another as Americans, although it seems that all of these people have pride in their history and country. I would say that the one universal theme that pervades all of the people we met is hope for the future. The Haitians don't want another handout; while they graciously accept the help of NGOs, missionaries, and others, they want to do it themselves.
There are no simple solutions to Haiti's problems. Creating a native economy is a challenge faced by other (and better organized) states, and we can't just try to replicate what India did; Haiti is its own country with its own history and culture. What we can do is what we're good at (as scientists), which is experimenting. We have many protocols in place to ensure that risk to persons is minimized, and we always ground ourselves in theories that predict positive outcomes. We know that Haiti is not a toy or piece of lab equipment, but without experimentation, we're unlikely to find something that works.
It's absolutely essential that this "we" include Haitians. American academia cannot just come in and say "this is how we will do it". I hope to create partnerships with Haitians, not just because hey, it's their country, but because I believe the following about working with and for Haitians: first, it's their culture, second, it's necessary to create sustainable models, and third, because I'm selfish. Yes, you read that right, I'm selfish. I want to get out of this more than I put in, which is one mantra of science. I want at least some of the knowledge they have, I want to learn about the alien world they inhabit between feudalism and postmodernity, and I want to be more than another helping hand, a do-gooder who doesn't leave behind a legacy. I don't care if my name is remembered, but I do want things that will last beyond my trips and beyond even my life.
It's rare that someone blogs about both Martin Buber and the criticality of small-business startups making profit, but I'm going to try. Buber was a German social philosopher whose work can be in part boiled down to the phrase, "all real life is meeting". What is important is interaction; without it, what would science be, and how could we communicate our findings? If we can make the right connections, we can see what can be done.
Opening a Bank Account in Haiti
We had two final tasks to accomplish before returning to the hotel for our last night. The first was to get some souvenirs at the tourist market, and the second was to open a bank account.
Opening a bank account in Haiti is odd, and would have been impossible without Bernard. UMCOR and Providence Methodist have an existing relationship with a Haitian bank that allows them to do international wire transfers for a low cost, so I opened an account with them. It's a personal account for me, not a UNC Charlotte account.
We started out by going to get photos taken. An international account needs two people to be opened, so both Bernard and I had to get our picture taken. When I saw it, I realized how haggard I look. There was an adorable little girl (maybe two?) who would peek at me, smile, and then hide; we played this game while Bernard and I waited for the photos to be printed.
An odd realization occurred to me when I saw Bernard pay for the photos (I paid him back); we (SLC folks) came to Haiti with precisely the wrong cash. The amounts were correct, but the bills were terrible. We think of a twenty dollar bill as an effective balance between high value and spendability, but that's not true in Haiti. Almost no one can make change; even the hotel gives us a hard time. What we should have done is changed money regularly into small bills (25, 50, and 100 goud, equivalent to thirty cents, sixty cents, and $1.20) would have upped our bargaining power, made transactions easier, and cost us significantly less. If you pay in US bills, you pay tourist prices; if you pay in goud, you pay less. This isn't true at the hotel or the Digicel store, but everywhere else it's true.
After the photos, we went to the bank. There is no line; people come in and sit down to wait for the next teller. Bernard put on his best BMOC attitude and got us started on the forms. Rather than fill out the entire form, we passed the form back and forth, filling out one section at a time. I couldn't even remotely follow the Creole involved. I deposited $20, filled out a signature card, and voila, I had a bank account. Eddie from Milot came in to do a transaction with Bernard, and it was nice to see him again. The Haitians we have worked with have been more than hospitable, they've been friendly.
Back to the hotel, and we saw Sanchez (our translator) off after a couple of drinks and exchanging email and other contact information. He's our last goodbye until Bernard sees us off. I might write again tonight, but for now adieu.
Opening a bank account in Haiti is odd, and would have been impossible without Bernard. UMCOR and Providence Methodist have an existing relationship with a Haitian bank that allows them to do international wire transfers for a low cost, so I opened an account with them. It's a personal account for me, not a UNC Charlotte account.
We started out by going to get photos taken. An international account needs two people to be opened, so both Bernard and I had to get our picture taken. When I saw it, I realized how haggard I look. There was an adorable little girl (maybe two?) who would peek at me, smile, and then hide; we played this game while Bernard and I waited for the photos to be printed.
An odd realization occurred to me when I saw Bernard pay for the photos (I paid him back); we (SLC folks) came to Haiti with precisely the wrong cash. The amounts were correct, but the bills were terrible. We think of a twenty dollar bill as an effective balance between high value and spendability, but that's not true in Haiti. Almost no one can make change; even the hotel gives us a hard time. What we should have done is changed money regularly into small bills (25, 50, and 100 goud, equivalent to thirty cents, sixty cents, and $1.20) would have upped our bargaining power, made transactions easier, and cost us significantly less. If you pay in US bills, you pay tourist prices; if you pay in goud, you pay less. This isn't true at the hotel or the Digicel store, but everywhere else it's true.
After the photos, we went to the bank. There is no line; people come in and sit down to wait for the next teller. Bernard put on his best BMOC attitude and got us started on the forms. Rather than fill out the entire form, we passed the form back and forth, filling out one section at a time. I couldn't even remotely follow the Creole involved. I deposited $20, filled out a signature card, and voila, I had a bank account. Eddie from Milot came in to do a transaction with Bernard, and it was nice to see him again. The Haitians we have worked with have been more than hospitable, they've been friendly.
Back to the hotel, and we saw Sanchez (our translator) off after a couple of drinks and exchanging email and other contact information. He's our last goodbye until Bernard sees us off. I might write again tonight, but for now adieu.
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