Connections—April 2009
Connections is a publication of the Hubbard Center for Faculty Development. The purpose of this newsletter is to facilitate the exchanging and sharing of information that promotes the personal and professional growth of faculty.
Articles in this issue:
- Mentoring: Best Practices In the Field and On Campus
- Troubled Students: Understanding Them and Providing Institutional Support
- Using Media in the Classroom: Are You Violating Copyright?
Mentoring: Best Practices In the Field and On Campus
In the November issue of Connections, I talked about the “nuts and bolts” of mentoring for new faculty, whether they were arriving just out of graduate school or whether they were coming with considerable teaching and/or research experience. Whatever their background, there are basics that new faculty need to learn when coming to an institution for the first time.
Beyond “Nuts and Bolts”
For many mentors, providing basic knowledge about faculty life comes easily, particularly in the first few months of the mentoring relationship. After that, however, some mentors and mentees feel more at sea with each other to the extent that they are not sure where the relationship can or should go. Let me share with you some suggestions and experiences from your colleagues who are mentors and what they did at that point in the mentoring process.
Most mentors take the time to get to know their mentees personally as well as professionally. This may take the form of monthly lunches, or bi-weekly coffee breaks, or checking in on a regular basis with office drop-ins or a quick phone call. For many, they feel that it is important to find ways in which to keep in regular and frequent contact with the mentee. When doing so, it is not necessary to have a specific agenda or activity or discussion point in order to justify a contact.
Many mentors have shared that they want the mentees to know their choice to come to Appalachian State University is valued. The mentors want to provide a venue for the new faculty member to find his or her way into the Appalachian community. Sometimes, faculty who are mentoring for the first time feel that they do not want to be intrusive into the lives of their mentees. Overtures that convey interest and caring for one mentor-mentee relationship may be viewed as intrusive by others. What seems to be essential, however, is that the contact between each party be frequent and genuine. Being prepared with a rehearsed agenda is not nearly as important.
Some mentors take the time to become familiar with the mentee's interests beyond the campus. This might include sharing interests in the arts, community service, family activities, and sports. This knowledge not only provides opportunities to talk about areas of mutual interest but also might even reveal off campus opportunities. For example, one faculty member I know has invited the mentee to jam with him and with some of his colleagues with an amateur jazz-rock band on weekends. Another faculty member, knowing that the mentee does not have many friends and does not drive, invited her to join her family on their monthly shopping trips to Hickory. Yet another senior faculty mentor was able to indentify the new faculty member's intellectual and personal interests and was then able to link him up with other faculty from varied departments around the campus with similar interests. Without that help, it might have taken this new faculty member several years before he discovered these shared interests with others not in his department.
The Big Picture
Some mentors step back from the immediacy of mentoring to examine more closely how mentoring fits into their role as professors in community with ASU and in relationship with their particular disciplines. For them, it is not just about the “nuts and bolts” of what is important today, or about remembering what past mentors have provided for them along the way; rather they anticipate what the future will hold for these new faculty members and address those issues or concerns with them. This might involve sharing thoughtful conversation on ways in which to identify what makes the millennial student who she is and therefore how she best learns. It might also involve reflecting on what the content and experience of an education is going to mean to students and their families within the next five years as we confront emerging technologies, newly understood economic relationships, and the impact of world that is becoming more and more “flat.”
Mentoring is not just about the immediacy of addressing practical concerns for new faculty as they make their way on a new campus; it also provides us with opportunities for reflection, for “deeper” conversations about issues held close to heart, and for examining issues of legacy and their impact on how and what we communicate.
At its heart, mentoring is about walking with someone for a time. Unlike the characters in Canterbury Tales, we do not know the endgame. What we do know and what we can do is to share with each other a genuine sense of active listening. When Homer wrote about the character Mentor in The Iliad and The Odyssey, he provided an excellent example for us regarding our relationships with our mentees. We often start off as Mentor did with Odysseus' son, Telemachus, guiding the mentee through the unfamiliar maze of this particular university at this particular time in its history. Once Telemachus grows up, however, it is Athena who shape shifts into the guise of Mentor and now the role becomes one of walking with Telemachus as he journeys into himself.
Not all mentoring that we do will necessarily resonate in quite this way. At the same time, it is often difficult to know what impact we are having on our mentees when the formal relationship has dissolved or morphed into one of collegial collaboration. What we do know is that mentoring can have a strong impact on a new faculty member's professional and personal life choices. To that extent, knowing that fact reminds us that it is indeed a privilege for us to be a part of the mentoring process.
Troubled Students: Understanding Them and Providing Institutional Support
This month marks the two-year anniversary of the most recent large-scale college campus shooting: the Virginia Tech massacre that occurred on April 16, 2007, where the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, wounded 23 more, and then killed himself. This event was extremely tragic and affected not just Virginia Tech, but every college in the country. The event deeply affected the nation and brought new ways of handling troubled students, and the importance of better communication between university offices, into public focus.
Understanding Troubled Students
According to James Alan Fox, a professor of Criminal Justice and Law, Policy, and Society at Northeastern University, in the past 20 years, 79% of fatal multiple shootings on college campuses were committed by current or former students. Of those same fatal multiple shootings, 57% involved current or former graduate students, nursing, medical, or law students, and nontraditional undergraduates. Fox posits that it is due to the tendency for students with those backgrounds to focus entirely on academic achievement as a life-or-death matter, especially international undergraduates whose visas may depend on receiving good grades. When that type of thinking occurs and a student begins to have academic troubles, it can cause a student to react violently towards those that the student perceives to have put them into that situation (i.e., the professor who assigned their failing grade). Furthermore, Fox believes that faculty mentors may be unaware of the immense pressure placed upon students, and a few may even have oppressive relationships with their graduate students. Fox points to the case of Robert Flores who in a letter he wrote before his mass shooting at the University of Arizona in 2002 said, “The university is filled with too many people who are filled with hubris. They feel untouchable. Students are not given respect nor regard.”
Fox makes some recommendations for heading off this extreme reaction. The first recommendation is for admissions committees to screen graduate applicants for “personal resourcefulness” in surviving the many challenges of advanced or graduate studies. Secondly, when assessing academic progress, departments should prepare to withdraw students when they feel there is little possibility of them completing the program adequately. Support in finding alternative career possibilities should be provided if withdrawal is the agreed upon action. One should become aware of ways to deal effectively with problem students and aware of appropriate limits of faculty power. Finally, Fox warns against setting excessive expectations for students that may cause “them to abandon or ignore aspects of their lives.”
Providing Institutional Support
In a parallel article, Elizabeth Stone, professor of English, Communication, and Media Studies at Fordham University, discusses how she helped a commuter student she noticed writing in a depressed and suicidal manner during an in-class writing assignment. She met with the student after that class and the student confirmed her suspicions. Since it was after hours, Stone called the dean of student's cell phone to arrange for security precautions for the student until the counseling center re-opened the next day. Stone elaborates that Fordham has a large number of students who commute; those students' troubling behavior may go unmissed if not caught by faculty since there are no residential life staff or roommates to notice the state of these students' mental health.
Stone came across the interesting term, “information silos,” at a risk-management conference for higher education. According to Stone, universities tend to display this type of organization, with the most dangerous example as the existence of silos of faculty, student affairs, counseling, and campus security who do not share information about troubled students with each other. Stone articulates that “all too often, focused on the slice of the student delegated to us—the brain for faculty, character for student affairs, psyche for counseling, and so on—we're like the blind men who don't recognize the elephant right in front of us.” Several analyses of the Virginia Tech shooting determined that the institution failed “to connect the dots” between the silos—each department (faculty, counseling, campus security) had clues about the shooter, but no silo shared concerns with another until after the tragedy when they were under national scrutiny and review.
Early Intervention Team
To address these campus safety concerns, Appalachian has recently instituted an Early Intervention Team composed of faculty and staff who work in consultation with a number of offices, including Counseling and Psychological Services, the Student Wellness Center, the Institute for Health and Human Services, the Learning Assistance Program, and the University College Academic Advising and Orientation Center. The team is non-disciplinary in nature and assists students in accessing resources available to them at Appalachian in order to guide them toward a healthier and more productive lifestyle.
As a faculty member, you may refer a student to the Early Intervention Team when you notice:
• excessive absences,
• sleeping in class,
• notable decline in academic performance,
• change in appearance (significant weight loss, decline in hygiene, etc.),
• inappropriate and/or extreme changes in mood (excessive tearfulness, etc.),
• appearing intoxicated in class,
• evidence of threats to self or others' well being,
• evidence of self-injuries, and/or
• signs of violence to self and others.
If you wish to refer a student to the Early Intervention Team, you will find information here. Upon referral, the Team will contact you to clarify your concerns. Once the Early Intervention Team contacts a student, their work is confidential; the Team will not apprise you of any outcomes. However if you have continuing concerns with the same student, you may contact the Team again.
Faculty, staff, and students may meet with the team at any time to express concerns or to discuss approaches for working with a troubled student. The Early Intervention Team is not designed to take the place of faculty conversations or supportive relationships with students, or to take the place of referrals to the Counseling Center.
Appalachian's Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) website has excellent tips on how to spot, talk with, and provide support to troubled students, and has information on how to consult with the student counseling center. If a student is showing severe signs that need immediate attention you may refer students to the Counseling Center. If the situation seems threatening or if it appears the student may inflict self-injury or injure others in the immediate future, you should immediately contact the University Police.
Troubled students do not always plan murder; far more commonly they lose motivation in their studies, skip class, drop out, commit suicide, injure themselves or others, or engage in a variety of other undesirable behaviors that may negatively impact the rest of their lives. As faculty, you have the ability not only to teach them about your subject matter, but also about compassion, concern, and appropriate mental health and self care. You have the power to end the era of silos in academia and work together with the University Police, Counseling and Psychological Services, and the Early Intervention Team to protect and enrich students' lives.
Using Media in the Classroom:
Are You Violating Copyright?
We live in a world that is exploding with information and a plethora of various media that are excellent resources for educators teaching in the twenty-first century. However, do you ever wonder if you have crossed “the line” and violated a copyright? In order to make smart decisions regarding copyright material, it is important to understand “fair use” and “transformative use,” and the appropriate use within the classroom and online settings.
What is Fair Use?
The Center for Social Media (2008) considers fair use a user's right under the First Amendment. Though the portion of the law covering fair use is flexible, it also does not specifically describe how to apply fair use. In order to provide more specific direction, the Association of Research Libraries (2007) suggest you weigh the following four factors when considering use of copyrighted material:
“1. Purpose and character: If your use is for teaching at a nonprofit educational institution, this is a factor favoring fair use. The scale tips further in favor of fair use if access is restricted to your students.
2. Nature of copyrighted work: Is the work fact based, published, or out-of-print? These factors weigh in favor of fair use.
3. Amount used: Using a small portion of a whole work would weigh toward fairness. But sometimes it may be fair to use an entire work (such as an image) if it is needed for your instructional purpose.
4. Market effect: A use is more likely to be fair if it does not harm the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. But if it does, this could weigh more heavily against fair use than the other factors.
(Association of Research Libraries, 2007, p.3)
What is Transformative Use?
Transformative use involves adding value by using the copyrighted work for a purpose other than that of the original author (Center for Social Media, 2008). Movies often provide excellent examples of the application of theories and topics that are often difficult to portray verbally. You may consider showing a specific clip from a movie to exhibit an example to your class. In addition, you could transform the work by adding voice over, or altering the sound or picture to accentuate a particular area of the scene. By transforming the work so that it is no longer used for its original intent (i.e., entertainment), ensuring the product uses an appropriate amount of the original material and ensuring the product has a specific educational purpose, a court would likely consider this to be fair use (Center for Social Media, 2008).
However, there are other considerations in how you actually go about manipulating the media for transformative use. Though DVDs are the dominant form of entertainment, manipulating clips from a DVD is illegal because the material is encrypted to prevent copying, and is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Bradner, 2000). However, a VHS does not fall under this act, and can be used for manipulations including voice over, or changes in the picture, light, or sound. It would then be appropriate to post this transformed media on your AsULearn page for use by your class. If you were interested in showing the entire movie, or just a particular clip, the best method would be to rent the DVD and show it in the classroom. However, posting the DVD or full movie on your AsULearn page would be illegal. (J. Church, 2009).
In the Classroom
Section 110 of the Copyright Act provides protections for face-to-face teaching activities that meet criteria of being a non-profit, accredited educational institution (U.S. Copyright Office, 2009). Upon meeting the above criteria, you are permitted to display or perform works, including images, motion picture, recordings, and other performances. Further, the Copyright Act also permits you to copy and distribute works to your class including small portions of larger works, current articles that are needed for rapid application to course concepts, or images to incorporate into lectures (Association of Research Libraries, 2007).
Appropriate Use of AsULearn
Section 110 of the Copyright Act also specifies that digital transmissions of copyrighted material must only be accessible by authorized class participants, and that all efforts should be made to prevent unauthorized dissemination of the material by using a protected network (U.S. Copyright Office, 2009). When sending media to your students electronically, posting on AsULearn is the appropriate method because it provides a secure program that is password protected, unlike your own personal website.
Use Links
The best method for disseminating digital media (including research articles) to your class is by use of a link to the source website. By providing the link to the original sources, the authors of the material still have control of the media, and retain their ability to edit or even remove the document from the website (J.Church, 2009). For example, when providing a link, or even embedding a video from YouTube or TeacherTube on your AsULearn page, you are referencing the original source which is still maintained by the website.
In addition, material found on the Library database must also be disseminated via the link provided on the page, or through e-reserves. The Library has a license that entitles students access to the material without charge; however, this license does not transfer to individual faculty members for dissemination (Association of Research Libraries, 2007). Therefore, you must refer students to the Library in order to obtain the work. Directly uploading the document onto your AsULearn page is not appropriate, but providing the link is appropriate.
The Bottom Line
According to Jeff Church, Learning Technology Consultant with Appalachian State University, the most important question you need to ask yourself prior to using copyrighted material is: “Does my use of the material in any way interfere with the author's ability to profit from their copyrighted material?” When making your final decision, be sure to consider whether the application of the material falls under fair use, and if not you will need to seek licensure or approval from the author in order to prevent violations of copyright.
Where Can You Find Help at Appalachian?
Incorporating media and copyrighted material into coursework adds significant value to the learning experience for your students; however, clearly copyright is an ambiguous topic. So whom do you contact here at Appalachian to be sure you are not violating copyright law?
Learning Technology Services
Jeff Church, Instructional Technology Consultant
Greg Simmons, Instructional Technology Consultant
(828) 262-4357
Room 335 Belk Library
Website: http://lts.appstate.edu/services/
References
American University School of Communication Center for Social Media. (2008). The code of best practices in fair use for media literacy education. Retrieved January 29, 2009, from http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education/
Association of Research Libraries (2007). Know your copy rights: Using works in your teaching—What you can do. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://www.knowyourcopyrights.org/bm~doc/kycrbrochurebw.pdf
Bradner, S. (2000, February 4). DVD and the digital copyright act. CNN.com. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/02/04/dvd.law.idg/index.html
J. Church (personal communication, March 19, 2009).
US Copyright Office. Copyright Law of the United States of America: Chapter 1. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html-110
The Hubbard Center electronically publishes our newsletter, Connections, three times each semester. Please contact Kathy Isaacs, editor, with any comments or questions.
