Dancing with the Divine John Friend Kick Off Workshop

Anusara, in Sanskrit, means “flowing with Grace.” This is the name given to master teacher, John Friend’s, style of yoga. I had the great opportunity of recently studying with John at his kick off workshop in San Francisco. It was the start of his 2011 global tour called Dancing with the Divine. Several hundred people congregated at the beautiful Jewish Community Center and delved into the practice and philosophy of Anusara Yoga.

John has an amazing gift for teaching. He has a way of offering deep philosophical ideas and distinct alignment principles in a way that is accessible to a wide variety of people and is very fun, playful, and humorous.

The main theme of the conference was that the practice of yoga is one of relationship. There are various relationships explored in yoga; the relationship one has with the physical body, the relationship one has with the people around them, such as family and friends, and the relationship ultimately with Divine spirit or Nature, depending on ones belief system. These relationships are a dance, a play within life and like dancing, can be fun and full of joy.

The overriding intention of the yoga practice as John teaches it, is to flow in a positive way with Nature. We choose to act in a way in the physical yoga practice and in the practice of life, in a way that is life affirming and looks for the good in all of what life has to offer. We commit to look for the divine beauty in all things, all situations, and all people and commit to totally serve that good.

During this workshop Johns spoke extensively on letting go of past grievances, not in a way that causes you to forget, but not letting that negative energy accumulate inside your body. Ultimately, it is you that is hurt by carrying those negative tensions. He reminded us that many people live their whole lives in this debilitating state of unforgiveness which often manifests into physical illness.

The highest intention of the practice is to align with the Divine. Each pose is both an offering of that divine energy and a celebration of it. In this connection, we as individuals can more fully radiate our light and love into the world to add more beauty and goodness to it. That is the ultimate purpose of the yoga practice.

EMS Symposium & Trade Show Lives up to Its Mission

Liz Owen, top row, 2nd from left, hangs out with Easterners at the EMS Symposium

EMS Director Mike Trujillo, Clinical Coordinator Ken Rogers and Paramedic Professor Liz owen attended the 16th Annual Educational Symposium and Trade Show Sept. 13-18 in Reno, Nevada. The National Association of EMS Educators (www.naemse.org) puts on the event. Their mission is to "Inspire Excellence in EMS Education and Lifelong Learning" and they did just that with this national conference.
Randy Mantooth was the keynote speaker. He portrayed Firefigher/Paramedic Johnny Gage from 1972-1979 on the popular "EMERGENCY" television series. The series helped advance the fire-based paramedic career field across the nation.
With so many sessions to choose from, it is no wonder the CMC team came back with great ideas to implement. Here are just af ew of the best practices learned at the Symposium.

Simulated Scenarios in the Lab--A How to Session with Dennis Edgerly:

• Do not give students more than 4 choices for different diagnosis.


• Use a pocket recorder for patient assessments.


• Re-run: Run call, critique call then re-run the same call. Gives students a chance to re-do. It can make them feel better and improve the grade.


• Completely write/script simulation scenarios with no wiggle room for instructor creativity.


• Do not include skill sstudents do not have.


• No "pretend" procedures or equipment.


• Make jump kit organization part of the grade.


• Add siren noises when going emergent.


• Shop moulage supplies after Halloween.

Continuing Education: The Biggest Challenge to Teaching with Twink Dalton:
"Twink Dalton's lecture was important because I realized that I've gotten too weighted down with the minutia of Paramedic. There are a lot of things that I did 20 years ago that still apply and actually help those students learn. She went back to some great teaching techniques that don't go out of fashion. It was a good class on how to make your students remember some very complicated information. I'm going to use the stories to explain Pathophysiology."--Liz Owen
Trading Post: "I think this is one of the most valuable sessions. I gathered a great deal of new material that I can put into the program. This material can be inserted into Powerpoints or uploaded as video for learning."
Made contact with Laerdal and their new rep will be coming for a visit.
Made contact with reps from publisher Jones and Bartlett and learned about the new textbook and its Learning Management System, Navigate. Thanks to this contact, Liz and Ken will be attending a webinar detailing the setup of the LMS.
Hybrid EMS Education: One Programs Journey to Success (Matthew Scott and Chris Corson from Virtua School of Paramedic Science, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ): Colorado Mountain College's paramedic program is converting to hybrid format in January and this session underscored the importance of planning! Several other conference sessions contributed to Liz's journey to success.
Next year's event will take place Aug 6-11 in Orlando, Florida. Perhaps one or more of our faculty will give a session to benefit the many attendees hungry for new or better ideas!

-Peggy Curry, 9/30/11

NISOD's International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence

Once classes ended in May and grades were submitted, I packed my bags and headed to hot and humid Austin, Texas, for NISOD's annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. The conference was inspiring, and I wanted to use this space to share some of the highlights from my experience.

This was the first professional conference where I attended one of the preconference seminars, and it was well worth the small fee charged for attendance. Karla A. Fisher and Meg McGranaghan of Butler Community College, C. Jason Smith of LaGuardia Community College, and Kerry Keith Mix of San Jacinto College presented on Engaging Students with Technology. It was a fabulous session. Some of the key points from that session include the following:

• Age gaps still remain for Web 2.0 technologies, and the 2009 CCSSE data tells us so; however, since data consistently reveals that a student having connections with other students helps them persist, social networking tools like Facebook can be a great way to help students build relationships with one another.
  
• The question the facilitators asked us over and over were "Does your institution effectively use technology to engage students?"
• Suggested ways instructors can employ technology in our classes include Google Groups and Blogs--using a blog as a way to link students in different classes, helping student interact with others in a tutoring capacity, peer mentoring capacity, or for online projects, online critiques, and online discussion across classes. Check out the way C. Jason Smith visually represented how he uses this in his classes in his blog post about the conference. And, while you're there, look at all that LCC's Community 2.0 has to offer. This is an excellent example of how one college took building learning communities to a whole new level.
  
• I was introduced to Pecha Kucha. When I have students complete presentations in my classes in the future, I think this would be a great way to help them structure presentations and force them to think carefully about the information they want to present. It would eliminate all that reading directly from the slides that we see so often in our classes. Not sure how to pronounce this, watch this video. Love it!

• Meg McGranaghan made an excellent Symbaloo to show various Web 2.0 tools instructors can use, and she did this by ordering the Web 2.0 tools using Bloom's Taxonomy. A super cool idea! Check it out!
• Kerry Keith Mix, of San Jacinto College, discussed his institution's work with social media, and how the college worked diligently to harness the power of social media while also framing that power so that it didn't get out of hand. They hired a full-time social media coordinator and developed guidelines for all employees to follow when employing social media. I found this incredibly relevant to our work here at CMC.

At the general conference, I left several sessions with ideas I want to incorporate into my classroom at CMC. David Katz III, Associate Professor of Political science and Coordinator of Professional Development at Mohawk Valley Community College, shared a positive message with participants in his session Emotional Intelligence, Student Efficacy, and Student Success. He talked about creating resonance with our students because a student's success at college is based on what we believe and what we expect to happen. "What we and our students focus on develops a physical connection in our brains and creates a biologically self-fulfilling prophecy," Katz said. "We have to groove the idea that they have strengths. We have to be flexible. And, we have to assess in multiple ways." Essentially, Katz reminded me that if I want students to believe they can achieve, I have to reinforce their strengths, pointing out 7 strengths for every 1 weakness because every communication creates an emotional impact. This is the kind of knowledge that will improve any relationship--not just those with students. I think Katz would be a great person to bring to CMC for an all-faculty in-service. His positive attitude and enthusiasm for student success is contagious! It's no wonder he's been such a successful college coach!

Another excellent session was presented by Gail O. Lancaster of St. Petersburg College. She spoke on strategies instructors can use to improve students' critical thinking skills, and she modeled those in her presentation. Citing the research of Spence Rogers, L.D. Fink, and Gerald Nosich, she reminded those in attendance that critical thinking isn't something you add to the curriculum; it is conveyed in HOW you teach. And, perhaps more importantly, she noted that students have to WANT to acheive intellectual traits. Then, Lancaster provided her Top Ten Strategies for engaging critical thinking:

1. Create a safe environment.
2. Get students to know each other.
3. Assign outside reading, but do not review the reading in detail in class.
   
4. Conduct 5-minute quiz at the beginning of each class.
   
5. Do not lecture more than 20% of the total class time. She recommended the "Involving Course Model": Preview and Review > Lecture (20%) > Real World (20%)--guest speaker, case study, current events > Excercise (20%)--application > Conversation (20%) > Assignments > Quiz and Evaluation
   
6. Involve all students in discussions, and when they are discussing in groups, assign individuals in the group the roles of stating (in your own words), elaborating (saying in different words), providing example (give an example within the content/life experience), and illustrating (draw an analogy, metaphor, chart, diagram, cartoon).
   
7. Ask essential questions (analytic, evaluative, questioning within disciplines, questioning for self-knowledge and self-development).
   
8. Employ Socratic Questioning (see "The Art of Socratic Questioning" by Paul and Elder)
   
9. Ask students to write the logic of an article or chapter in the text. (see "The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools" by Paul and Elder)
10. Relate the current topic or course to the whole (system, discipline). For instance, how/where does this fit in with our field of study? How does this topic relate to other topics we have studied? What information are we still missing? What information do we need next?

I also presented at the conference, in a session titled, "It's a Wiki Wiki World: Collaborating Across the Digital Divide." In my session, I focused on the conundrum many faculty face when it comes to teaching with technology: How do we use technology to enrich the learning experience when some of our students are tech savvy, and some are not? In addition, we discussed the reponsibility faculty have to learn and employ technology, and then I showed some of the ways that I have employed Web 2.0 technologies (like wikis, cell polling, screencasting, and social networking tools) in my classrooms at CMC.

To the Roaring Fork Campus Professional Development Funds Committee, I want to say a big Thank You for funding my travel to Austin for this excellent conference!

CMC represents at COLTT 2011

We are in the most exciting time in Education! Just think, how many students had cell phones in class ten years ago? Did you ever imagine that these Mobile Devices could develop to a point where they were actually an asset to learning & teaching? Back then I had no idea. But, believe it or not, the time is here. And the place for learning is EVERYWHERE!

Amazing innovations in Learning and Teaching were presented at the Colorado Learning and Teaching Technologies (COLTT) conference, at the University of Colorado at Boulder this week. We saw anything from cellphones used in the place of “clickers”, how easy it is to us to present, and students to take notes using their iPad, to how powerful posting your podcasts or vodcasts (video podcasts) into iTunesU can be.

Did you know that 62.7% of students entering college today come with a Smart Phone? And, that by the year 2014 more people will be accessing the Internet via Mobile Devices than the traditional computer? These devices are invaluable in our student’s lives. They use them for everything, yet at present only 11% of them are able to use these devices to access school related work. And they would love to use them more! They are connected, and now have the capacity to be learning everywhere they go. Students could engaged in your interactive assignments (produced by the textbook publishers) or be reviewing your lecture, on their Smart Phone while waiting for the bus. They could be listening again as they drive to school. The possibilities are only expanding.

We all strive to engage our students, and give them ownership of their learning, and the advent of new technologies is only making it easier for us to reach them, them to reach each other, and for us to collaborate! Ask any student, their Mobile Devices are personal to them, and they’d rather loose their wallet than Smart Phone. Thank goodness they are easy to backup, and even locate using GPS and apps like “find my iPhone”. To many of our students, these devices are not even considered technology; they’ve always been here. After all technology is really anything that came about after we were born. So, lets choose to get on the same wave our students are riding, speak to them from where they are, and have a huge impact on their learning. After all CMC is a student centered Learning College.

You can stand on the shore and watch the wave grow, or you could really have some fun and excitement and get on for the ride before it gets too big. Kick up your class and continue the learning! Check out some of the excellent workshops that are offered by our folks at the Office of Innovations in Teaching and Learning. You’ll be hooked!

Here are just a few of the great resources I was turned onto at COLTT:

• Add formative assessment to your online or classroom course by having students use their own cell phones as a "clicker" using Polleverywhere Demo Video
• Present Hand Drawn Diagrams or notes to your students from anywhere in the room or in your online course using the Penultimate App
  
• Check out the INKLING App which brings many textbooks right to your student's Mobile Device, and bring with it interactive quizzing and study tools.
• Sign Up for "Ask a Biologist" podcasts in iTunesU

ANT 275-The Snowmastodon Project: Video Blog

ANT 275 - The Snowmastodon Project; Paleontology/Archaeology internship with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Six CMC participated in an immersive, week-long, field-based internship with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) at the Zeigler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, CO.

Through daily interactions with DMNS paleontologists Kirk Johnson, Ph.D. and Ian Miller, Ph.D., as well as other scientists, students learned about the historic significance of this “Ice Age Discovery,” including the importance of the find within the scientific (paleontological) record, the implications of the find to contemporary climate science, and the (albeit unlikely) possibility of prehistoric human presence at the site.

This site is the highest elevation site containing mammoth and mastodon in the world. The students made discoveries right alongside world class scientists, who provided interpretations of evidence uncovered on a daily basis, as well as hypotheses to test by further investigation; in short, CMC students and world-class scientists learned together as they explored the magnitude and richness of this find.

Due to the intensive nature of this field experience the students were asked to record their observations daily using a Flip Cam rather than producing a traditional research paper.

James Callahan's Video Blog, Day 1:




Ronnie Hendricks' Video Blog, Last Day:




Each student recorded approximately 5 minutes per day of video describing their learning opportunities, events, lectures, and reflections of their experience.
The video blog included scientific as well as personal observations.

Each day began with a morning meeting at 7, followed by 10 hours at the excavation site, and concluded with an evening meeting after dinner at 8:30 pm.

Conversations between the students and the instructor continue over the course of the summer and early fall as the full impact of their experience develops.

For more information visit:
http://www.livescience.com/14958-mastodon-mammoth-excavation-snowmass-teachers.html

By: Sandy Jackson

Summary from APUS Webinar on Teaching Online in the Community Colleges

Mary Dereshiwsky on Keys to Becoming an Effective Online Instructor: Dealing with Challenging Students... and More

Seven Keys to Success

Key 1:  You shouldn't have to be a techie -- find some support.

Key 2:  It's all about continual engagement.  Review the post from her last presentation.

Key 3:  Let them see you mess up -- humanizes you, lessens student fear.

Key 4:  New can be better -- this one might resonate with everyone looking at a change in LMS.  It's a chance to review your course, make some of the changes you have been thinking about.  Stretch is good.

Key 5:  Empathy - walk a mile in their shoes.  Keep being a student, keep taking seminars, keep taking classes.  Be very visible to your students, especially at the beginning of the term.  Respond promptly, post a FAQ, login frequently.  Use a lot of "I" statements.

Key 6:    Be yourself and convey your own personality in your classes.

Key 7:  Get a life!  You need to take one day off each week.  Don't stay online 24/7

Challenging Students

Susan Ko: Profiles of Difficult Students, http://deoracle.org/online-pedagogy/teaching-strategies/managing-difficult-students-in-the-online-classroom.html

Mary Bart: Dealing with Difficult Online Students, https://sites.google.com/site/difficultonlinestudent/

Trigger #1: Start-up jitters

Your course is different from the last one they took.  Can generate an avalanche of email. Consider reaching out via phone.  Work on humanizing yourself.  Be sure you field questions as quickly as possible - move email to discussion area so everyone can see answers.

If they are "lost" ask them to tell you one thing that is confusing, so you can untangle that one thing. 

Trigger #2: Technology

Ask students to make a back-up plan for getting to class if their computer breaks down (car analogy).  Give them locations of labs, but also help them come up with other alternatives - library, friend, work, etc.  

Make sure students know about extra software early.

Be careful of timezones.

Trigger #3:  Communication Related

Text only causes issues.  Remember you are dealing with a real person.  Bring up hot-buttons early - include a plagiarism discussion.  Share netiquette links.  Walk away if a student slams you and think about it.  Stay polite!  Reach out to the student, use the phone.  Post a reminder to all students. "It's okay to disagree with an idea, but it's not okay to attack a person."

Call on students in the discussion area.  Help them stay active.

Alicia Shepard "A's for Everyone"  at the Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/02/AR2005060201593.html

Trigger #4:  Challenges of Group Work

Use a group contract. (Developed by the groups.)  It should include an initial plan for conflict resolution.

Trigger #5: PTSD

As many of 31% of the military population who has been deployed my have PTSD.  Many of the 400,000 military students taking classes are taking online classes.  These students may have trouble staying on topic and may have high anxiety.  Habitual flaming may be a signal.  Reach out to them and ask what is bothering them.  Be able to recommend your school's support center.  Call the support center yourself and find out what they recommend.  VA also has resources available online. (APUS is 70% military students, so this is an important topic for them.)

Closing

It's not about you.  Keep problems in perspective.  Don't make them personal.  Do some reading and investigation.  Most of the triggers are not about you, they are a part of the student's situation.  Reach out to difficult students in a positive way. 

Lisa

Estes Park 2010

I was honored to attend the Fall 2010 yoga conference in Estes Park. Hundreds of yoga students and a collection of top yoga teachers from around the world congregate annually at the Estes Park YMCA for the annual Yoga Journal conference. I go to these conferences to stay current in the world of yoga and to enhance my teaching by being with these great teachers.

John Friend, one of the leading teachers in the world, taught to a class of almost 700 people. The energy in the room where 700 yoga practitioners are moving through a challenging and dynamic practice is exceptionally vibrant. John teaches what he has coined Anusara yoga. Anusara translates from sanskrit as “stepping into the currents of grace.” The primary intention of this form of yoga is a spiritual one, to connect with something bigger than ourselves, grace, and then move through the challenging poses with serving that intention as the ultimate purpose. It is a very inspiring and uplifting practice.

At the conference, John discussed the three A’s of the Anusara teaching method, attitude, alignment, and action. Attitude is the intention you do the practice with. There are two motives for doing yoga: simply to express the radiance of the heart in each pose and to reunite with the bliss and love in your heart if you are feeling disconnected from it. Alignment refers to the outer form of the pose as well as the how the physical pose reflects the attitude. The openness of the heart is expressed in the physical pose. Action refers to the balance of muscular energy and the organic energy of the pose. The muscles draw in to the skeletal structure to create stability and organic energy carries the expansive, energetic qualities of the heart and radiates from within the pose outward and represents freedom and expansion.

John discussed in depth that the teacher in yoga is not better than the student. They are of the same divine nature, yet the teacher has been on the path up the mountain before and is the guide. The teacher guides the student safely up the mountain with the intention that the student will feel better about themselves along the way. The teacher sees the beauty in all students serves that beauty and recognizes that we all are on our own path to free ourselves from pain. Without judging, there is recognition that each person moves along their own path to free themselves from suffering.

The teachings that John offers are woven amidst a strong and dynamic yoga practice which at this conference focused on deep backbends and intense hip openers. It is fun to contemplate these bigger, spiritual ideas that he offers while walking around on your mat upside down in a back bend. It is hard to do anything but breathe and possibly laugh.

Jill Barker