Based on your Olympic scoring observations and yesterday’s blog, what does any of that have to do with education? NOTHING! Kidding. Here are a few thoughts.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
The process for improving the objectivity of scoring and grading in classroom assessment, evaluation of teaching performance, and program evaluation has been fraught with many of the same challenges, just maybe not a cauldron, but certainly a large bucket.
Student Assessment. The methods have ranged from multiple-choice tests to essay tests to performance tests to student portfolios (to OSCEs with standardized patients in medicine and nursing). The increased precision of the judgmental scoring systems with explicit rubrics has reduced bias and improved the validity and reliability of the scores to measure learning outcomes.
Faculty Evaluation. Among 14 potential sources of evidence to evaluate faculty teaching, most ALL are based on the judgments of students and “informed” professionals. There are more than 10 possible types of bias that can affect those judgments. However, the triangulation of multiple sources can compensate to some degree for the fallibility of each measure. This approach can also be generalized to promotion and tenure reviews based on the faculty portfolio.
Program Evaluation. Any of the preceding measures plus a collection of other quantitative and qualitative sources are used to determine program effectiveness based on specific program outcomes. Tests, scales, questionnaires, and interview schedules provide complementary evidence on impact.
STATE-OF-THE-ART
Unfortunately, let’s face it: Complete measurement objectivity has eluded educators since Gaul was divided into 4.5 parts. It’s an intractable problem in evaluating faculty, students, and programs. Psychometrically, the state-of-the-art of behavioral and social assessment indicates it is just as fallible as Olympic scoring, but it’s the best that we have.
If we could just balance these scoring systems with a speed-teaching, speed-learning, or speed-mentoring, time-based approach, we could come closer to what we observed in the Olympic events. Also, there may be a lower risk of injury and wipe-outs in the classroom.
What do you think? Any ideas on any of the above are welcome. If you come up with the solution, you could receive a medal! However, I’m not sure of the scoring rubric for that medal, but I know it will be fair.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Beyond the incredible inspirational moments of these Olympic games, I’ve learned sooo much from these athletes and they’ve reinforced thoughts and feelings I already had. I thought I’d share a few thoughts on scoring today.
MEASUREMENT OF ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
Measurement-wise, we observed 2 basic approaches to the evaluation of athletic performance to award 3 medals: (1) the 3 best times and (2) the 3 highest scores by a panel of judges.
TIME-BASED
The time-based event is the objective “gold standard,” with which no one can quibble, even the 4th place skier who was .02 sec behind the bronze medalist. Unless the stopwatch or clock is miscalibrated or starts at the wrong time, it’s the most accurate measure available.
JUDGMENT-BASED
In contrast to the clock, the judgment-based approach for Olympic sports, such as freestyle skiing with aerials and figure skating, has been a percolating Olympic cauldron of controversy for as long as teachers scored essay exams in ancient Greece. It seems that no matter how detailed the Educational Testing Service-type scoring rubric is structured, for figure skating, in particular, there will still be a deluge of criticism by some who consider the system flawed and unfair, even with a really manly quad jump.
In fact, the NEW figure-skating scoring system has benefitted those skaters (don’t forget to credit their coaches) who can wring every point out of the rubric. Gold medalists Evan Lysacek and Kim Yu-Na played the system with panache. Those skaters who are still struggling to master the system weren’t as successful. It’s kind of skating to the answer key; assessment-driven skating. Hummm. Does any of this ring a bell in our world? As the commentators noted, however, something is missing in the new scoring system. In skating, the program falls short on artistic grounds; it’s all about the technical elements, as silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko would vehemently argue.
Despite the illusion of objectivity in the scoring process, it’s all about human judgment. In fact, the interpretation of each jump, spin, and footwork and the corresponding assignment of points are judgmental, even with video replay. Can bias creep into that scoring by the panel of judges? You bet, but the impact is less pronounced and evident than in previous scoring methods. The current system is probably the best to date.
Can we learn anything from these scoring procedures in the Olympics? How do they relate to education and the testing issues with which we struggle? Those educational implications will be examined tomorrow.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
HOW DO YOU RESPOND?
Professionally, we get smacked and whacked all the time from end-of course student ratings, peer evaluations, annual reviews, promotion and tenure reviews, journal article and book rejections, and grant rejections, to name just a few. Some of these can be difficult to swallow on a regular basis and you may scratch your hairy or bald heads for answers; others can be devastating to your career path. We encounter all types of disappointments and failures on our academic journey. (See September 6, 2009 blog on “Rejection and Failure in Academe.”)
As noted in a previous blog, the issue is not whether we will fail, because we will; it’s how we respond to failure that our bosses, colleagues, family, and friends will be watching. It’s our response that counts.
ARE YOU A RISK-TAKER?
The athletes we watched for 16 days are risk-takers, baring it all mentally and physically for us to observe. They push the largest envelope you can imagine on the slopes, rinks, and halfpipes. When they cross the finish line, most wear their emotions on their tights.
What about you? Do you consider yourself a risk-taker or do you usually play it safe and operate within your comfort zone? Those of us who teach, write, and conduct research on the edge will take more hits than the rest of you.
A FEW LESSONS ON LOSING:
So what can we learn about “losing” from observing Olympian winners and losers? Although we’re not wearing their skates or ski boots, their messages are loud and clear:
1. A bad loser is always ugly.
2. Take risks, but be willing to take the hits.
3. Put 200% effort into anything of significance worth doing.
4. See beyond your failures. Don’t dwell on your failure; look toward your next event.
5. Learn lessons from your failures. Make adjustments before your next attempt.
6. Don’t let your failure define you. Failing is just a single event; you’re not a failure. Even a long string of failures does not define who you are.
7. After you fail, “KEEP MOVING FORWARD.” Persevere in spite of any setbacks—large or small.
BOTTOM LINE: Maybe this blog said nothing new to you. Sorry about that. Perhaps, at minimum, it’s just a reminder that if you’re a player in the academic game or any other game, you should play because you love it. It’s not just another job, like greeter at Walmart; it’s more of a calling. The operative word is “passion” for teaching, writing, research, clinical practice, or service. The sacrifices are too great and the journey is too hard if you’re only in it for the awards. There are so many winning gold medal professors, but so few awards that recognize them.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
DOES LOSING MEAN FAILURE?
Of course! That’s the way many of us see it, except in the context of “The Biggest Loser” weight loss program. And even those losers fail.
After years and, in some cases, possibly a lifetime of commitment, training, and limitless personal sacrifices, what happens when you attain a medal other than gold or rank 4th or below? How do Olympians perceive that performance? How do they feel? As we heard in interview after interview, any of those performances can be extremely disappointing. But frequently, that disappointment may be tempered by the circumstances and whether the athlete felt he or she did his or her best. How did it happen? Is any rank less than gold seen as “failure”?
Perhaps, some athletes perceive it as failure, especially when their country heaped tons of pressure on top of them to bring home gold, as in the cases of the Korean and Japanese medalists in the women’s figure skating and every Canadian athlete, particularly the hockey team. Probably the media from most countries piled high expectations on its athletes, which were usually not attained, at least, by medal count. However, putting the event into a broader perspective, it’s only a few minutes in the life of an athlete, albeit significant, possibly life-changing minutes. Most athletes may have failed to achieve their goal in their respective events, but they are not failures. Failure does not define who they are.
REACTION TO FAILURE
Unfortunately, there are a few athletes who receive silver or bronze medals who exhibit screamingly bad sportsmanship because they feel they deserved gold. One example is Evgeni Plushenko in the men’s figure skating. His behavior was reprehensible. His verbal comments and body language were ugly. The net result: His distinguished quad performance among his competitors will be dwarfed by his bad sportsmanship in the memories of the viewers. Despite his skating virtuosity, his bad behavior may be his legacy in his attempt for gold in successive Olympics.
Contrary to Plushenko’s previous Olympic success, many 2010 Olympians failed miserably in their previous Olympic appearances. Others who prepared just as much never made it to the Olympics? How did those athletes overcome those failures to try again? Their reaction to persevere instead of giving up in spite of the major hits that they already experienced is what the Olympic spirit is all about. That’s what can inspire all of us to tackle our daily challenges in the workplace and at home, which are not nearly as grueling, maybe.
So how do you respond to disappointments and failure in your professional world? Some suggestions for how you might respond will be offered tomorrow.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
What an amazing 2 weeks! I am so pumped. I finally shoveled the snow out of my driveway here in Snowmageddon without having an MI or any other abbreviation for a cardiac event. I almost feel like an Olympic shoveler. Kidding, of course. I’m such a jokester.
WHY "MOMENTS"?
I’m referring to watching the Olympic events. I try to grasp inspirational moments at every opportunity. I simply need them; I love to experience them. They recharge and turbo-charge my motivation to keep doing whatever I do at the level I do it—speaking, writing, shoveling. Although I’m not an Olympian, I can feel the spirit, admire the skill and determination, and empathize with the elation and heartbreaking disappointment of the athletes, as I’m sure you can.
MY FAVES
And, as these last 16 days of Olympic games unfolded, I wasn’t disappointed. The performances of the athletes were spectacular, gasp-inducing, toe-nail biting, riveting, and just adjective-generating. A few of my faves were Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Apolo Ohno, Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, The Flying Tomato (Shaun White), Kim Yu-Na, Evan Lysacek, and the Nordic combined team of Johnny Spillane, Bill Demong, and Brett Camerota. And who can forget the tears we shed together over Joannie Rochette’s 2 figure skating performances and the moment she looked upward? How emotional was that? Remarkable.
The athletes from all over the world and the final U.S.-Canadian hockey game (I never watch hockey), especially, were incredible! I’m even considering changing my professional motto which is posted on my Website. Naaah.
I know you have your faves as well. The fact that we shared these same inspirational moments together is really special. Please let me know your fave athletes, events, and moments. Also, try to get some sleep this week.
I am dedicating this week of blogs to postmortum reflections on what I learned from the athletes about “losing” and the “scoring system.” I look forward to hearing your reflections as well.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Here we are again. We should stop meeting like this. Bloggers will talk. Yup, it’s doozy time! Below is number “you know what”:
FINALE STRATEGY
8. Use word play with a cultural link. Write a clever spin on a familiar hot book title, TV program, movie title, proverb, popular expression, etc. Newspaper headlines do this all of the time. They can give you loads of ideas. Those heads stop me in my sneakers.
For example, a recent headline for an Olympic ski event where one or more skiers crashed, but without injury, was “Skiing’s a Glitch!” (Note: It also could have been “Ditch.” However, I try intentionally to avoid any heads with an implication of profanity or vulgarity in the original. But that’s just me. I want my title to be clever AND squeaky clean.) There are word play and anagram generators listed on Google that can help.
My 1st humor book title was Professors Are from Mars, Students Are from Snickers; my 1st conference presentation on humor 15 years ago was “The 7 Humorous Habits of Highly Effective Professors.” I wish all my titles were as memorable as those. BTW, in keeping with my self-deprecating humor-style, my professional motto is “Go for the Bronze!”
Do any of your current titles need a throat-grabbing makeover? Draft some new titles based on any of the 8 strategies. Let your imagination fly. This isn’t about content. You already have that.
Bounce your draft titles off of your colleagues. Check out their first reactions. Do they take a big gulp or do their eyeballs roll back into their heads? Which ones strike them in the throat, spleen, or another anatomical part? Are they better than your original titles? Go with them. "May the gullet be with you!"
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Olympic Curling has been an official Olympic sport since 1998, but was invented in 16th century medieval Scotland. It’s just taken a little time, about 400 years, give or take a month, to build its own audience following like “American Idol.” It’s a team sport in which 40 pound stones are slid across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It’s like frigid shuffleboard. Two sweepers with brooms accompany the boulders to their final resting place.
It’s important for U.S. professors with an interest in medieval ice sports to support the curling competition in this final week of the Olympics. Below are 10 reasons to consider watching Olympic curling as opposed to just your own neighborhood variety.
TOP TEN REASONS
10. It’s the number one ranked broom-based event at this year’s Olympics
9. The thingamagig swept on the ice is like a hockey puck on steroids
8. It’s the only Olympic sport that takes February “sweeps” literally
7. It’s Bob Costas’ fave sport named after an iron
6. It’s the only event that cleans up after itself
5. It’s the cheap forerunner to the Zamboni ice resurfacer
4. It’s popularity waned under its former name: “Bowling with Boulders”
3. It’s as entertaining as a scholarly presentation
2. Watching it can catapult its Olympic viewing audience into double digits
AND THE NUMBER 1 REASON TO WATCH IT:
1. It’s just as exciting as most of our colleagues’ lectures
Please tune in this week for all of the curling festivities as well as all of the other amazing events and your faves. Enjoy the rest of the Olympics. I can really relate to these sports, living in Snowmageddon these past few weeks.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
As promised, here are the profs’ fave events over the past week. Hopefully, some of them are your faves too.
TOP 10 FAVE EVENTS
10. Halfpipe Blackboarding
9. Freestyle Lecturing
8. Collaborative Bobsledding
7. Think-Pair-Skate
6. Cross-Country Mentoring
5. Overhead Ski Jumping
4. Multimedia Biathlon
3. Skeleton Meetings
2. Small-Group Hockey
AND THE NUMBER 1 FAVE EVENT:
1. Speed Grading
What are your faves? Let me know your reaction or comments. I can’t wait for this next week of faves. If you behave yourself this weekend, I might do another survey next week. Enjoy the rest of the Olympics.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Yup, the results are finally recorded. Everything has been tabulated by the certified public accounting firm of Price-Is-Right, Namby, & Pamby. I know what you’re thinking. “What in the world of CPAs are you typing about?” Well, sentence-with-ending-preposition person, a survey was recently conducted and the results were just reported for your amusement.
SURVEY PURPOSE
One hundred college professors across this vast wasteland with a few cities sprinkled in for change of scenery were surveyed on their favorite 2010 Winter Olympic events in Vancouver. This is kind of an academic version of the popular TV game show “Family Feud,” just without the family, the feud, and the game.
RESEARCH STANDARDS
For those of you who are quantitative researchers, the technical aspects of this survey study are described below to allay any concerns you might have about its quality. The rest of you probably don’t care because you know of my incessant longing to write fictional, humorous blogs.
SURVEY DESIGN
Here are the steps in the execution of the study:
1. The sample was nonrandomly and wildly selected from the subscriber list of The Chronicle of Higher Education to yield an unrepresentative, biased collection of professors.
2. The survey was administered online by MonkeySee-MonkeyDo.com to maintain anonymity with a 24-hr response window (Is there any other?).
3. Faculty members only were asked one question: “Have you renewed your subscription to The Chronicle?” Wait, that wasn’t the question. It was: “What are your 3 favorite events you have watched during this 1st week of the Vancouver Olympics? (If you haven’t seen anything, wing it.)”
4. Respondents clicked their 3 faves from a list of all events to avoid spelling errors with words such as loogy, kurling, slalhom, moogles, and bathalonlon.
5. Based on an overall response rate of 39% (similar to my anticipated approval rating for this blog), frequency distributions of all events were computed. (Note: Stat has to be included somewhere here, right?)
6. The top 10 events were identified so they could be presented because I’m running out of blog material.
OOPS! I’ve just exceeded my word limit. The Top 10 will be presented tomorrow. Sorry. The bylaws of bloggering tell us not to exceed 300 words or we can be smacked by the owner of this network.
I bet you’re really excited. You don't want to miss this list. I've probably spent more than 5 minutes writing it.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
This blog continues my tribute to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Faculty training and athletic training is not a match made in Olympic heaven! Among the vast array of occupations represented by the athletes from 8000 countries, the number of college professors is, according my latest calculations, 0. There are probably a lot of reasons we’re not found in the Olympic gene pool. After minimal thought and no research on Google, I generated the following “twisted” top 10. Enjoy!
TOP TEN REASONS YOU WON’T FIND U.S. COLLEGE PROFESSORS ON THE 2010 OLYMPIC TEAM:
10. PowerPoint is not permitted in Olympic events
9. Teammates refuse to complete assignments on Blackboard
8. No one will attend a faculty development workshop at the Olympic Village
7. Home institution will not reimburse “foreign” travel expenses to Vancouver
6. No meetings with agendas and minutes to attend for 2 weeks—what a bummer!
5. Events on snow and ice are too much fun to be scholarly
4. Lecturing to “non-student” teammates will put them in a coma
3. Forbidden to use NIH research funding to support training at Vail
2. Olympians text and tweet; they don’t like to e-mail
AND THE NUMBER 1 REASON:
1. Your department chair or dean will never understand
Maybe by the next Olympics in Russia, a professor will find a way to conquer the above reasons and represent us proudly on the “speed lecturing downhill” team. With the increasing number of furloughs many of you are experiencing, you’ll have more time to practice. Go for it.
Blog-wise, please let me know what topics you would like me to address that I haven’t covered in the last 7 months and whether you prefer “humor” blogs. I want them to be useful and/or entertaining for you. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
(BLOG ALERT: If you would like to send this list to your faculty, PLEASE DON'T COPY and send electronically. It will be detected by COPYSCAPE. Send faculty the blog URL: http://ronberk.blogspot.com/.)
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Based on the Olympians’ job requirements listed in the previous blog, how different are they compared to an academician’s, a business leader’s, or another professional’s with an apostrophe "s"?
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OLYMPIANS AND YOU
The differences between those requirements are matters of both form and substance. They are manifested primarily in physical form for the athletes and mental form for most of us, except those of you who jog, bike, or snowboard to work everyday. However, there are mental and physical elements in the performance of all of our tasks, even blogging (Ooch, my butt is sooo sore!).
Although there are clear differences in how the requirements are translated into practice, at the most basic level, are the requirements actually that different? “Yup, you bet!” WROOONG! They are generic to many, but probably not all, professions. They transend the characteristics and skills for any specific job and, instead, focus on your attributes and approach to the job.
Here are 3 examples:
Professional Training: An Olympian spends thousands of years in training and national and international competitions and trials to qualify to participate. By comparison, you spent thousands of years in school and other educational activities to qualify for your job and then another thousand in class preparation and teaching, grant writing and research, publishing your work, and professional development events you didn’t want to attend to reach the position of professor or dean.
Competition: We are typically not in direct blood-‘n-guts competition with our peers for recognition and awards like car and real estate salespersons. (Recession Note: The economy has kinda put the kibosh on that competition, at least temporarily.) Ironically, we are usually competing against ourselves, striving to set a personal record or PR (a term coined by athletes) of sorts in our teaching, research, publications, and service.
Awarding of Medals: Although academia doesn’t award medals, there are appropriate awards, such as “Teacher of the Year!,” Nobel Prize in physics, “Most Boring Committee Chair,” and the Mary Kate & Ashley Research Award. However, these awards are few and far between compared to the ton of Olympic medals every 2 years and the bazillion awards in the sports and entertainment industries.
RECOMMENDATION
So what does all of this mean? If you don’t like your job or any of the generic requirements, you have 2 choices: (1) find a better job that doesn’t require commitments, abilities, attitude, training, and sacrifices, or (2) you have 4 years to get on the stick and start training for the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Otherwise, stay focused on the M K & A Research Award.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
ICE HOCKEY
This blog continues our journey through Olympic-land. In addition to the events listed previously, one of the most popular is ice hockey. It has generated a fierce following ever since the famous U.S victory over the former Soviet Union in 1980 in Lake Placid, home to 30-foot-long, man-eating crocodiles. In fact, it (the hockey game, not the crocs) led to the movie featuring the story of the U.S. coach Herb Brooks--Miracle on 34th Street. (Olympic Sidebar:You may not know this, but although many countries have their own ice hockey team, in recent decades their athletes actually train in Frostbite Falls, MN, home of Rocky and Bullwinkle. I was as shocked to hear this as you are right now. Try to deal. End of R & B Sidebar.)
THE MEDAL ROUND
I am always on the edge of my La-Z-Guy lounge chair seat for the timed events, such as speed skating, ski races, luge, bobsleigh, and curling with crocs. I am still amazed at the differences among the 3 medalists in these events. Those differences are usually fractions of a second, rounded to 6 decimal points, which occasionally are so close that they can only be decided for the men’s events by a paternity test.
PROFESSIONAL MOTTO
My Olympic mindset prompted me years ago to adopt the professional motto: “GO FOR THE BRONZE!” It’s self-deprecating, but mildly amusing. It takes the pressure off of always striving to be the best. What’s so bad about mediocrity? Should I bite my keyboard? Of course, in practice, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
WHAT’S YOUR STANDARD?
So what medal do you have in your cross-hairs as you tackle a professional task, such as preparing for class, a publication, a conference presentation, a grant proposal, chairing a committee, or your administrative step toward world domination? Where do you draw the line to set your standard of performance? Consider that line in everything you do. Your reputation and integrity are also on that line.
ARE YOU IN CONDITION?
Stay in shape. Ya never know—when someone is disqualified in any Olympic event, you may get the call. Keep your mobile phone charged. See my conditioning for the men’s downhill in the link below:
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/DozP2W50O6NxV9VP
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
We’re less than 2 weeks away. I’m sooo excited. I’m finally going to replace the 2 rear tires on my SUV. WAIT! That’s not that exciting. It’s the Super Bowl! “WROOONNG AGAIN!"
It’s the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! Where have you been? In a Peruvian rainforest? And this February 12th, guess what? The organizers don’t have to ship in dump-truck-loads of snow for the skiing events from a neighboring country like Seattle.
OLYMPIC SCHEDULE
I love the Winter Olympics—“the thrill of victory, the agony of frigid temps!” Hand warmers galore! It starts with the stimulus package-like, AIG CEO bonus-type, wastefully-expensive, opening ceremonies that last for 3 days, except in Siberia, where, due to the time-zone difference and the excessive use of commas in this sentence, it lasts 3 months. The colorful parade of athletes and Olympic flame-lighting are followed by the closing ceremonies with a few events and buckets of commercials in between.
Unfortunately, this spectacle only rolls around every 16 years, except when it falls on the Jewish New Year or Kwanza. In those cases, it’s rescheduled during spring break in an extremely cold country like Antarctica.
OLYMPIC HIGHLIGHTS
My fave dozen events this year are the following:
• 8m snowball fight
• 2-man windshield scrape
• 15.75m snow shovel toss
• 6-man bobsleigh with only guys named bob
• ladies 500m taser speed skating
• 10km jet-propelled ski jump
• individual men’s Olympic village cafeteria-tray luge
• Whistler Blackcomb Mountain alpine snow-eating contest
• women’s round robin boulder curling
• men’s pairs Super E-F-G downhill skiing
• psycho-aerial men’s drainpipe snowboarding
• 4 x 7.5 x MC square km women’s biathlon with 81mm mortars
It is so exciting to watch event after event, while trying to pronounce the names of the athletes. Eventually, the star athletes become deeply etched in our memory along with the theme song “Ode to Frosty the Snowman.”
Tomorrow I’ll continue this rollicking romp through the 2010 Olympic events and, maybe, just maybe, get to the point of the blog title.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
