So what should 2015 bring?

So here we are: 2015 starts tomorrow.  It's crazy.  For the first time in a long time I look ahead, and I can't really see what my focus is going to be.

Why?

Well, most importantly, the tenure thing is finally going to happen.  It's been A LOT of work and A LOT of years coming.  And, just because I work in higher education, of course there were shenanigans.  However, it's going to happen (just awaiting the Board of Regents' approval), so I don't want to give those shenanigans any more thought.  It's over; I'm going to be here.

And I'm happy about that.

I'll for sure work for promotion to Full Professor, but that's still a bit away.  Tenure doesn't go into affect until August.  So I have seven months of . . . what?  One of my colleagues calls this my "wasted year."  It's because nothing I do counts for tenure and nothing counts for promotion.  So it's just kind of . . . there.

But I don't want to just sit on my laurels and do nothing.

So here's what I plan on making this year about:

First of all, FAMILY.  I've been gone so much so long under the pressure of working on tenure, that many thing have gone the way side.  It's not that I haven't been there for concerts, ball games, etc., but more than anything, I haven't been mentally there.

I think of what I wrote in the dedication of my dissertation (back in 2005):

I dedicate this work to my wonderful wife, Lori, and my two children, John and Natalie.  Thanks for putting up with all these years of school.  Guess what?

Daddy's coming home now . . .

So here we are ten years later, and I could write the same thing today.

I've got to get priorities all together.

Now don't get me wrong: I help coach my son's archery team, I'm going to coach his baseball team, and I volunteer in the schools.  I'm on the Curriculum committee at the elementary school. But I can do better.  And I will.

Next, SPIRITUALITY. It's not that I am not a spiritual person.  I am.  I attend church every week; I teach Sunday School.  I try to pray and read my scriptures.

I want to be better at my scripture study this year.  For Sunday School, I'll be teaching the New Testament, so I know I'll be reading that.  But this year I want to read the entire Holy Bible (we use the King James Version in the church I attend).  I've read the New Testament in it's entirety more than once.  The Old Testament?  Well . . . I've read most of it, many times.  But never the whole thing.  I also want to read (again) the entire Book of Mormon.  I've read that many times as well.  This year I want to read them all.  That comes out to about four chapters a day.

If you'd like a free copy of the Holy Bible, click here.
If you'd like a free copy of the Book of Mormon, click here.

Like I said before: I've done well, but I can do better.

Next, I want to get ORGANIZED.  I'm not talking all crazy organized, because that's just nuts.

But I just need to organize my thoughts and stuff I need to do.  So what I've started doing, and it's helping is cataloging my projects and what I need to do according to the Getting Things Done method.  I haven't read the whole book, but I had a student who used it as a framework for her dissertation (shout out to Dr. Amy Johnson).

I like the process, and it's helping me get organized.  So that's good.

So I'm improving, but I can get better.

So all in all, what should 2015 bring?  Hopefully a better me.  I'm not a bad guy, but I can get better.

I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.  He's a prophet just like Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, or Jeremiah. 

I like what he said:

So like President Monson says, and since I know I can always be better, 2015 is my year of "I'll try again tomorrow."

I'm going to take my "wasted year" and make it my year of a better me.  And if I mess up?

I'll try again tomorrow.

I hope your 2015 is successful as well.  May God bless you, and may you have all you want and need.

Where've I been?

This post could go a couple of ways, so I'll do my best.

We've moved to Morehead, Kentucky, and I now teach at Morehead State University in their Educational Technology program.  I've been here six months, but I also taught as an adjunct for them last fall.  I love it here, and the best thing I can say about it is that I forgot what it was like to go to work and be appreciated and have people support you.

So why did I leave Oklahoma State?  Well, it wasn't by choice.  The short answer is I didn't get tenure. Why? Well, that is a complicated question.  Anyone who has worked in higher education knows that tenure is a tricky thing.  Those with it can wield it over those who don't.  Suffice it to say that a certain faculty member told me about four years ago that she would do everything in her power to see that I didn't get tenure.  And she succeeded.  Now, to be fair, there was plenty I could have done differently, but I had met the requirements, and I should have been awarded tenure.  I went through the appeals and everything (I wasn't the only one who appealed that year), and the official answer I was given was, "We see exactly what she is doing and has done, but the tenure committee is sticking to a common narrative.  We're sorry, but there's nothing we can do."  So nevermind the fact that I had documentation that the tenure committee never even looked at my file (only the aforementioned faculty member) and my school head even admitted (I recorded our conversation and presented it as evidence as well) that he didn't look at it, he only read her recommendation, I had to go.  So in reality, here's how I feel about it: I could have done more, yes, but I met (and according to the documents exceeded) the published guidelines.  Yes, I had a tenured faculty member who marked me (for whatever reason--I've asked her repeatedly over the years what I did and asked how to fix it and she would never tell me.  Even during my appeal the University asked what her beef was with me and she refused to answer).  But I am most discouraged by the faculty members who are good people who told me in private they could see what she was doing, they knew about it, they had an opportunity to speak up and stand against, and didn't.  Cowards.  Every last one of them.  

Am I bitter?  I was.  I was really upset. But then I came to this conclusion: If my Heavenly Father needed me to still be in Stillwater at Oklahoma State University, then there is nothing any of them could have done to keep me from being there.  So that must mean that He needed me somewhere else.  I have faith in His plan, so this must be part of it.  And if it is part of it, then I will do no good being bitter or angry.  So yes, I'm disappointed. Yes, it's been hard on my family.  But I'm grateful to have a job in this economy, and not just any job, a better job than the one I had.  I got a raise, and it is a very supportive environment.  Most of all, I guess I feel sorry for her.  How sad and lonely must a person's life be to make it your mission to try and destroy another?  I hope she can get past it one day, but as far as I go, my conscience is clear, and I will let God judge the situation in His perfect way.

So there you have the VERY CONDENSED version.  I'm healthy, the family is healthy, and we're happy.  It took eleven months, but we sold the house in Oklahoma and we were able to buy the house we wanted here in Kentucky.  It hasn't been easy, but I thought often of the story of Abraham and his going to sacrifice Isaac.  Isaac kept asking what they were going to sacrifice, and Abraham kept responding that God would provide.  I didn't know how my story would end, but I knew God would provide for me and my family.  My job was to keep moving towards the top of the mountain and demonstrate faith in Him and His plan.  I hope I passed the test in a way pleasing to Him.

With that said, I'm happy to have my new domain name: dctrcurry.com, and to have it linked directly to the blog here.  I first started blogging when it was cool, and I wrote a lot. It came and it went a couple of times.  But now I just want to write for me.  So there will be random thoughts on anything I'm randomly thinking about: work, politics, pop culture, religion, family, etc.  But they're just my thoughts.  Those who know me personally know I can be pretty opinionated, but most of all, I just enjoy the conversation.

See you online!

jhc 

Why the blogspot blog?

Simple answer: I use everything else Google, so why not?

I'm tired of paying for a domain that I just don't think I'm getting my ROI on.

Simple enough.

Publish or Perish: The plague of academia

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been some discussion online about the worth of peer review.  Is it valuable, or is it antiquated?  As an Assistant Professor who goes up for tenure next fall, allow me to contribute my two cents.

I guess the real question behind this whole publish or perish (which leads to peer review) comes back to the idea that if a university is going to grant tenure to a faculty member, they want to ensure that the faculty member is actively participating in their field and contributing meaningfully to the field's body of knowledge.

Do we have a problem there? Not me, I'm good.  I look forward to tenure and the security it affords me, so I can see it as a valuable right of passage for a faculty member.

What in the Wordle are my research interests?

I was talking to one of our graduate students, Mark Jones, and he showed me a Wordle cloud he made using his dissertation literature review. I thought it was a cool idea, and I thought I'd show you the cloud I made using my dissertation, Can advance organizers reduce computer anxiety in preservice teachers?.

The power of viral video

Three videos I came across today that cracked me up.  I just thought I'd share.  I guess only two would qualify as viral, but I thought it was a good title.

Star Wars: An a capella tribute to John Williams



Rhett and Link's Facebook Song:



Miami Univ. Facebook Song:

I love the smell of books . . .

One of the things that I love the most about Oklahoma State University is our own Edmond Low Library.

Some of the other schools that I've either attended or taught at had old libraries, but none of them was as cool as Edmond Low.  It SMELLS like old books.  As I was thinking about it today, I wondered: What books are you reading (or planning to read)? Here's what I've got going on right now (not counting my daily scripture reading):

Books I'm reading:

• Men of valor: The powerful impact of a righteous man, by Robert L. Millett


• Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate, by Ernest L. Boyer


• The ID case book: Case studies in instructional design, by Peggy A. Ertmer and James Quinn


• Golf: Lessons I learned while looking for my ball, by John Bytheway

Books I'm soon to pick up:

• Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer (and I don't mind admitting it!)


• Leadership, by Sterling W. Sill


• Jesus the Christ: A study of the Messiah and His mission, by James E. Talmage


• What engineers know and how they know it: Analytical studies from aeronautical history, by Walter G. Vincenti

So what about you? I know you must love books, too. What are you reading? What are you going to read? Any suggestions for me?

In the meantime, smell a book and enjoy!

Here's one way to work around the writer's strike!

If you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend it. Joss Whedon is my favorite TV/movie writer, and this thing is absolutely brilliant!



It's only available for free until Sunday, July 20, 2008. So hurry up, and be prepared to laugh!

****UPDATED**** Dr. Horrible is now available via HULU. But go buy it at iTunes as well, I did! Support the cause!

Sorry, Barack, but teachers aren't the saviors you think they are . . .

Let me start off by saying I don't think anyone who reads this really cares or should care what my political leanings are. But to be fair, I'll state that I am a registered Republican who probably needs to re-register as a Libertarian. Yes, I am a conservative. My family has always had something to do with politics.  I was in student government at Utah State University. My father ran for local office a couple of times (never won), and he recently served as campaign manager for two or three different people in his neck of the woods (Pottsboro, TX--and they did win). My mother worked on the campaigns of Barry Goldwater, Howard Baker, and Ronald Reagan, and was Lamar Alexander's secretary when he first won the governorship of Tennessee. However, despite our family's party affiliation, my parents have always taught me to vote for the best candidate--REGARDLESS of party affiliation. As a matter of fact, the best congressman I've ever had was a Democrat, Bill Orton.

As far as this presidential election goes, let's just say I've been completely underwhelmed by them all.

But Barack Obama said something in a speech to the American Federation of Teachers that is too much to let go by. He said (and this is a DIRECT quote):

"Real change is finally giving our kids everything they need to have a fighting chance in today’s world. That begins with recognizing that the single most important factor in determining a child’s achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it’s not who their parents are or how much money they have. It’s who their teacher is."

Sorry, Mr. Obama, but you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

Teachers aren't going to be the ones to give our kids a fighting chance.  On the contrary, it has to come from home. It has to come from the parents.  Too many people in our country expect teachers to raise their children. And quite frankly, teachers have enough to do.  Teachers need to cover content. They need to teach math and science. They should teach our children how to write well. But it is NOT their job to raise our children.

Now I know that as teachers sometimes we have to become involved, but in my experience, those times are few and far between.  And when we do, it is to point the students to someone who is trained to help with whatever situation. These teachers aren't trained psychologists and sociologists. They aren't planned parenthood or drug counselors. They are content-area specialists (to a degree) who've had a few classes in teaching methodology.  Yes, they care about their students, but they are about as equipped to help them as the cashier at Wal-mart.

For the record, I purposely wrote that last comment to sound harsh. You see, you can't take a course in how to be a parent and give your kid a fighting chance in the world. The course doesn't exist.  But if it did, the syllabus would cover topics like "Quit worrying about what you want to do, and do what's best for your kid", "Get a job and stay employed", "Quit playing softball or golf so much yourself and start coaching your kid's team instead", "Stay married", "Hold your child responsible for their actions", or "Don't reward bad behavior." Being a good parent is about making your kids what is most important, teaching them right from wrong, and holding them and you accountable for your own actions.

So Mr. Obama, if you think the way to give kids a fighting chance is to get better teachers, you're wrong. It's to have strong families, and to keep those families together. Unlike what you said, the single most determining factor in our child's ability to achieve comes from within the walls of the home. In 1964, David O. Mckay said "No other success can compensate for failure in the home." The disintegration of the family unit is the problem, sir, and that has NOTHING to do with our teachers.

If you want to see more about what I think about families, go read the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. For the complete text of Senator Obama's speech, go here.

There's a difference between being right and being nice

Here's a funny clip from the Simpsons.

I have to admit I love how our world is changing.

An unexpected honor

Last night, my wife, Lori, and I attended the Oklahoma State University Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Greek Awards, a dessert banquet put on by the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils. I had apple pie. She had carrot cake.

I was never a Greek. As a matter of fact, BYU (where I got my undergrad) doesn't have the Greek system, USU (where I did my graduate work) barely has it, UHCL didn't have the Greek system, and neither did BYU-Idaho. OSU is the first school I've been that had a big Greek community. As a matter of fact, the building where I teach and where my office is, Willard Hall, is right next to Theta Pond, and is across the street from the Greek neighborhoods. So I don't really know a lot about the Greeks.

Well, last night we went to the banquet because I was named the Outstanding Faculty Member for the College of Education for the 2007 calendar year.

WOW.

There are six colleges at Oklahoma State University: Agriculture and Natural Resources (Honoree: Dr. Shannon L. Ferrell); Arts and Sciences (Honoree: Dr. Ricki R. Wingate); the William Spears School of Business (Honoree: Dr. Lanny G. Chasteen); Education (Honoree: ME!); Engineering, Architecture & Technology (Honoree: Dr. AJ Johannes); and Human and Environmental Sciences (Honoree: Dr. Mona Lane).

Here's how these are awarded: each house (whether it be a fraternity or sorority) makes one nomination per college. Then, when all nominations are tallied, he (or she) who was nominated by the most different houses wins. So apparently, this year I did. Me? I'm guessing I was the only one with two nominations . . .

But I really do feel honored. You know, it's one thing to get a pat on the back from the dean or your school head, or maybe you get some sort of research award, but this one comes straight from the students. And to me, that's what makes it so cool.

I've attached a picture of the plaque I got. See it after the jump.

Links 3-08-08 to 3-25-08

Spring break and the later part of the semester have been absolutely KILLING me for time. And that doesn't even factor in the time I've been spending coaching my son John's 12 and under travel baseball team, the Perkins Patriots. So besides being woefully behind on grading, trying to pass third year reappointment, trying to get a couple of articles written, learn to make my own golf clubs (and then get to actually use them), and being completely distracted by Twitter, I haven't blogged much. BUT I'M RESOLUTE; I'm back in the game . . .

So here are the links from the last three weeks. I think I'm going to have to start just doing a daily links post (when necessary) like the Cool Cat Teacher does.

From my del.icio.us account:

• Top Podcast Tips for a Great Sound


• 50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily - Lifehack.org


• How to Use the Web to Build A Powerful Reputation In Any Industry


• Feature: Manage Your Online Reputation


• Luminotes: personal wiki notebook


• Virtual Hosting Blog » Top 5 Sub-$300 Laptops Compared


• 50 Habits of a Highly Effective Blogger » EdithYeung.com


• Gumption: The 8 Blogging Habits of Highly Effective People


• 8 Rules to Develop the Habit of Blogging at Weekly Articles About Blogging - NxE


• The Best Web Wideos


• IT 570 Course Calendar


• Present - The Foundations of Instructional Technology


• YouTube - Don Tales Two - Lincoln Hires Ninjas! (Drillbit Taylor)


• The Professor as Open Book - New York Times


• Have You Climbed the Twitter Life Cycle Curve? George Did! Join the Club » CogDogBlog


• A Swimmer’s Different Strokes for Success - New York Times


• Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs: Feature-by-Feature Comparison - ReadWriteWeb


• YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 2007 awards


• Smart Image Resizer — Shifting Pixel


• DEfusion.org.uk » Demo » Prototype JavaScript Image Cropper UI


• The Top 100 Productivity and Lifehack Blogs - College Degree.com


• Do Generational Differences Matter in Instructional Design? Tom Reeves ITFORUM (application/pdf Object)


• PBS Teachers | learning.now . Student Dodges Expulsion Over Facebook Study Group | PBS


• PrimeTimeRewind - The TV Cube

You can see what I tagged in my Google Reader after the jump.

Two weeks of links! 2-16-08 to 3-7-08

I've gotten behind on my links posting, but here they are for the last two weeks. I'm swamped, so no annotations this week. We'll start with the links from my Google Reader:

• 11 Solid Ways to Improve Your Time Management Skills from Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life


• Aggregate your Favorite Websites on One Page from MakeUseOf.com


• 5 Free Screencasting Apps for Creating Video Tutorials from MakeUseOf.com


• Do You Thumb Drive On-the-Go? from Lifehacker


• Dock Your Old Drives with the Hard Drive USB Dock from Lifehacker


• List of Adobe AIR Applications that you may or may not need... from GO2WEB20 Blog


• Cool Websites and Tools (edition #120) from MakeUseOf.com


• Cool Websites and Tools (edition #121) from MakeUseOf.com


• 2-Step DVD-to-PC or iPod Video Conversion using Free Software from MakeUseOf.com


• uTipU from Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day


• 31 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing from Write to Done


• Effortlessly Document Your Party with Simple Photo Projects from Lifehacker

See my del.icio.us bookmarks after the jump.

Getting to know me a little better

As I've said, more and more people have been coming to this blog as of late. However, most of you don't know me, so I thought I'd pass on this meme that was sent to me from an old student of mine, Tyler Wardle. I'm not going to tag anyone else with this, but I thought it might give you a little more insight into who I am.

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Ice cream scooper
2. Custodian
3. Juvenile Corrections Officer
4. College Professor

Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. That Thing You Do!
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. The Man From Snowy River
4. The Breakfast Club

Four places I have lived:

1. Oklahoma
2. Tennessee
3. Guatemala
4. Texas

Four TV Shows that I watch:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Angel
3. Survivor
4. Lost

Four places I have been:

1. Live Oak, FL
2. Parker, ID
3. Okeene, OK
4. The bottom of Lake Tenkiller, OK

Four people who e-mail me (regularly):

1. Sue Reese (my mom, and surprisingly, she’s not the one that forwarded this to me!)
2. Kay Green (one of my six sisters, who knows better than to forward something like this to me)
3. Susan Stansberry (colleague at work)
4. Jamie Murray (colleague from church)

Four of my favorite foods

1. Chicken Fried Steak
2. Mashed Potatoes with white gravy
3. Green beans (the way Mom makes them with bacon, tomatoes, onions, etc.)
4. green kool-aid

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. golf course
2. fly fishing in Montana
3. Home - with my family
4. teaching my classes

Four things I am looking forward to.

1. Seabase (SCUBA diving in the FL Keys)
2. Meeting my grandfather I’m named after
3. Growing old with my wife, Lori
4. Seeing my children grow into adulthood and have children of their own

Four of your favorite pets

1. HR (my German Shepherd growing up)
2. Pedro, Paco, Pablo, and Pancho (my four pihrana I had in college)
3. Spark (our current Beagle mix)
4. Bear (our Chow growing up)

So there you have it, a little more about me . . .

Wanna see some INCREDIBLE artwork?

Check out Brandon Dorman's blog. He was a student worker of ours at BYU-Idaho when I was there. Now he's a professional illustrator with a book on the NY Times Bestseller list. He's amazing. For more, check out his website.

Below is his illustration of my favorite baseball player of all time, Ted Williams.

Are we really *THIS* desperate?

So I love movie trailers, and I ran across the trailer for Never Back Down. And I have a serious question--so I found a copy of it on YouTube. Watch the clip, and after the jump, answer my question.

Meeting famous people online

Now that I have your attention, I'll tell you how of an experience I've had over the last couple of weeks.

I'm constantly amazed at how Thomas Friedman has it right that the world is flattening. With the advent of all the new web 2.0 technologies, we are truly coming to a point where the majority of the people have the same opportunity for voice. Granted, there may be technological issues keeping some from being able to share their voice or opinion, but given the opportunity, we are coming together.

So, if you actually read this blog, you know that I really enjoy the web 2.0 technologies. And my world has been flattened!

Is anyone out there?

UPDATE: I understand there has been issues with the comments. I'm trying to fix it, so if you have tried and had an error, please try again! Now back to the original post:

I got to wondering today . . .

Is anyone out there? Does anyone actually look at what I write here? Google reader tells me that there are four(4) people subscribed to my feed. I at first thought that it must be my sisters, but none of them are tech-savvy enough to have a feed reader.

So, I'm just curious who actually reads this blog? So, if you would, post a comment here for me and answer the following questions:

• Um, who are you and how did you find me?


• What do you like most about my blog?


• What do you think I could do to increase my blog readership?

I've just installed reCAPTCHA to help with SPAM comments on my blog (thanks to Ed at EdTech for the idea), so we'll see how that works.

So if you're willing to help out, thanks! If you're not willing to stroke my ego and let me know who actually cares (to at least a marginal degree) what I write, to you I say, "COME ON!" Seriously, though. I'm interested, and I'd appreciate it.

Welcome to 2008!

Here are some random thoughts that have been going through my head:

• Biggest memory from Christmas? High School Musical. My daughter, Natalie, had a HSM and Hanna Montana Christmas, and we've listened to the soundtrack over and over again. Not only that, Andrew, the two-year old, has learned to change the CD to track 8 of HSM2, so he can listen to Troy sing "Bet on it" and dance around the room like him. Hil-ar-i-ous!


• Best football game? OSU defeats Indiana in the Insight Bowl. I teach a lot of the football players, and I was proud of how they played. I'll miss seeing Dantrell and AD. You guys were great, and good luck in the NFL! Don't forget Tommy, Mo, and Jeremy. I hope we see Bobby and Brandon back, though I would understand if we didn't. Also, farewell to two great Cowboys both on and off the field, Donovan Woods and Martel Van Zant.


• Worst football game? Dallas at Washington. Why even show up?


• I'm going to work on this blog more. I've been killer-posting to my del.icio.us account, and I've added the del.icio.us widget (seen on the right). I've also been starring and sharing a lot of things from my Google reader account, but I want to make more regular posts. So I've started tagging items by week, so I can make a weekly post of what I found interesting.


• I'm going to Phoenix tomorrow to see my brother, David, get married. I don't really want to go, but I love my brother, so I'm going to support him. He's getting married in the Mesa, Arizona temple. I'll be back on Sunday.


• School starts Monday. I'm needing to update the EDTC 3123 wiki with all the teaching resources for our undergraduate preservice technology course. I'm behind on it.


• I'm still worried about 3rd year review. I can't even write about it . . .

That's enough for today. I'm outta here . . . The video below is for Andrew.

"Bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it . . ."

YIKES! What does this mean?

So I ran this blog through the Blog Readability Test, and here's what it told me:



Then I ran my Facebook profile through it, and here's what it told me:



So again, I ask: What does this mean?