New article ideas for 2022

It's been awhile since I have written an academic article.  (Insert gasp here).  I know.  I know.  The shame!

In reality, I took a break from higher education for about three years to work in the K-12 environment.  The problem? When you are an academic or a researcher and you switch from higher education to private industry or government work, there is no tutorial on how you can continue your research in these settings.  Where is the internal reviews board (IRB)?  Am I allowed to conduct research since I'm no longer in higher education?  Will I even benefit from it later on?  So many questions, yet too little answers.

Now that I have returned to higher education, I look forward to returning to my writing roots and getting some publications out there.  No longer will I have to suffer through those questions of mine. My next steps will be to decide on a topic I want to research.  I've been out of the game for so long, so returning back to this process will take me a while.  

Hmm, maybe I should write an article on researching outside of a higher education environment...

Where are all the instructional design programs in Seattle?

With so many tech companies looking for instructional designers in Seattle, I find it odd that none of the colleges nor universities here offer any programs in Instructional Design (ID) or Educational Technology (EdTech).  Why is it that so many companies in Seattle are looking for instructional designers, yet no higher education programs in Instructional Design exist here?  As an instructional designer who moved to Washington from Hawaii, this was a dream come true for me. So many jobs to choose from, so little time.  However, once I received my PhD (with an emphasis in Educational Technology) from the University of Hawaii and was looking to potentially teach in the field of Instructional Design, this situation was a bit confusing.  Let me explain.

When I first arrived in Washington from Hawaii around the fall of 2010, I promptly searched for Instructional Design positions within the area.  I had my Masters degree in Educational Technology and was towards the end of completing my PhD.  I was astounded by how many ID positions I could apply for.  I remember when scanning the job sites, I applied to around three positions every day.  In Hawaii, an Instructional Designer was fortunate to even see an ID position appear once every six months.  In Washington, I applied to  several places including Bellevue Community College (now Bellevue College) and the Washington State Bar Association.

Eventually, after a brief stint of working as an office assistant at Nintendo (which I might add was one of the greatest jobs EVER, just for the fact that they have meeting rooms named after characters from the Super Mario series and video game consoles in each building that you can play with on your break), I landed a job with a company called Ellucian, which was providing IT and instructional design services for Seattle University.  I worked with a few great instructional designers there, all of whom previously lived in another part of the US, and had a wonderful time providing training services for faculty and staff.

Unfortunately, within two years, Seattle University decided to switch their instructional designer services to another office in-house.  Therefore, I was laid off and back looking for another job.  Fortunately, I was able to find many instructional design jobs to apply to every day.  I was still astounded with the amount instructional design positions available within Seattle and the Eastside, even two years later after my first job search within Washington. Within six months, I found another job at the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and was working again with another great group of Instructional Designers. Interestingly, all of them were from outside of Washington.

Another two years roll by, and I then applied for an Assistant Professor/Faculty Lead position at Northwest University in Kirkland, WA.  Basically, they needed someone who had a background in Educational Technology/Instructional Design who could not only teach EdTech courses, but to coordinate the design and review the new online Education programs they were about to launch.  I worked with one other person from Washington State who was an instructional designer, but had received her degree in Educational Technology from outside of Washington State.  However, three years, after launching these programs, I was informed, again, that I was about to be laid off.

And now here I am back on the hunt for a new job again.  I am excited about the new possibilities out there and the new adventures I am about to take in my field.  I am not worried about finding another job since there are so many opportunities available where I live, whether it involves designing, teaching, or both.  However, my question is, why are colleges and universities around here not taking advantage of this need?  Why are there no ID programs around Washington State?  This is a big need that colleges and universities can fill and would greatly benefit many technology companies here as well as those looking for jobs in the education field.

I realize that I haven't included any hard data in this post.  Hopefully, in the near future, I can research this issue a bit more and find more information about this topic.  Maybe turn it into an article to submit to the Seattle Times?  We'll see.  For now, I need to return back to searching for that perfect ID job.

Tenure Differences for Private vs. Public Higher Education Institutions

Learning about faith integration into our curriculum #faithandlearning

A photo posted by Dr. Meeder (@drmeeder) on Sep 29, 2016 at 1:37pm PDT

Having worked at both public and private institutions, I have noticed a few differences here and there.  Private institutions tend to have smaller campuses and smaller class sizes.  Public institutions tend to have more resources and funds for infrastructure and specific projects.  Both have differences regarding student and faculty diversity, student conduct, faculty conduct, and so on.

One of the noticeable differences on the faculty side, at least at the small, private Christian college I work at currently, is that tenure is viewed differently.   Currently, I am taking a class with other fellow instructors who are planning to apply for tenure.  I have only attended one meeting so far, so I cannot thoroughly explain the differences between the tenure process at my college verses the tenure process at other institutions.  However, one of the main differences, at least at my college is the requirement for faculty members to address faith and/or ethics in their curriculum.  This is very different at other colleges I have worked at where the only requirements included whether or not the course was writing intensive or whether or not the course incorporated global and/or multicultural perspectives.

To help aid us with our "faith" integration, the facilitators of the tenure class have assigned my colleagues and me our first book to read, Faith and Learning: A Guide for Faculty by Patrick Allen and Kenneth Badly.  I have only read the first couple of chapters, so I cannot provide an accurate description of what the books is about or whether or not I like it.  However, I am looking forward to learning about integrating faith into my curriculum and instruction.  I will keep you posted on my thoughts later on.

Gamification Infographic

Recently, I created a poster about Gamification to place on the bulletin board outside of the my office.  I designed it similar to that of an infographic and decided to post it here for whoever wants to use it.  Note the Creative Commons License at the bottom of the page.  For a larger version of the poster, feel free to email me.

If I were to go back and work on the poster again, I would probably change a few of its features.  First of all, I wouldn't have used so much text.  Just a single sentence or two below each point would have worked.  Also, the text is too small; I would have made it bigger.  Secondly, I would have picked a more neutral background.  Even though most of the infographic is fairly neutral as is, the floor part at the bottom is a bit distracting.  Also, the pictures inside of the shapes are a bit distracting as well.  I would have went with more basic shapes (maybe with some gradient) and not placed pictures inside of them with huge borders wrapped around the shapes.

However, this was my first attempt at an infographic/education poster, so I applaud myself for even trying.  After all, failing is a part of the gamification process, right?  Any feedback for this infographic is welcomed as well.

Messy office = productive genius?

Office clutter. Is it too late for spring cleaning?

A photo posted by Dr. Meeder (@drmeeder) on Sep 12, 2016 at 11:27am PDT

According to an article in the Huffington Post last year, messy people are actually productive geniuses.  I have always been a messy person, so does that mean I'm a genius?  On the other end of the spectrum, researchers at Princeton University conducted a study a few years back that found that physical clutter prevents your ability to focus. So which is it?

Many of the professors I worked with in the past were messy for the most part.  In some of their offices, I had to climb over boxes of unorganized papers and books to eventually arrive at an actual chair I could sit on.  Still there were others that managed to keep their "mess" at a moderate level.  I've never really entered an office of an academic that was completely uncluttered and pristine.  However, this could possibly change with more and more professors relying on the cloud for document storage and utilizing ebooks for their texts.

For now, I'll stick to staying messy.

Book of the Semester: The Slow Professor

Reading a new book this semester, "The Slow Professor" by Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber #slowprofessor

A photo posted by Dr. Meeder (@drmeeder) on Sep 2, 2016 at 12:18pm PDT

Recently, my dean at the college I work at assigned my fellow coworkers and me a new book to read for the semester.  We always read a new book each semester, so this was not a big surprise.  Last year was Whistling Vivaldi by Claude M. Steele, which I found quite interesting and learned a lot from.

This year we are reading a new book called The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy by Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber.  I've only read the Preface and part of the Introduction so far, so I can't provide an accurate review of the book yet, but I love the premise.

A few months ago, I was reading an Education blog that noted how most of the work Professors are engrossed with is more managerial rather than actual teaching.  I find this sad and I wonder if this book will actually address this.  I'm noticing this occurrence more and more everyday from the interactions I have with other professors as well.  I'm curious as to how the book will suggest we slow down, yet keep our jobs at the same time.  I believe that as professors and academics we need to place our focus back on academia and provide the best for our students by having colleges provide us more time for reflection, professional development, and growth in our field.

Getting hired as a PhD.

Finding a job is rough, even when you have a PhD.  It took me 3 years after I graduated to even find a job as an assistant professor.  Below is some advice for those still on the hunt for that higher ed position.

Location, location, location

What goes for real estate and for business, also goes for finding a job in academia.  The hard truth is that some locations have more jobs available in your field than others.  For example, when you want to become an actress, you go to Hollywood or New York.  When you want to work in the tech industry, you apply for jobs in Seattle, Silicon Valley, or Austin.  Want to be a professor?  Well, those jobs are in every state. Yet, believe it or not, some states contain universities or colleges that favor certain programs over others.

For instance, the University of Hawaii has a lot of programs involving Asian-American and Pacific Islander culture.  If you specialize in a field that involves Asian-American languages, literature, history, etc... the University of Hawaii or other colleges around Hawaii might be the right place for you.  Do a Google search and you'll find that other colleges and universities across the United States, outside of Hawaii, are less likely to have programs that focus on Asian-American and Pacific Islander culture (although I'm not saying those colleges don't have any at all, just less likely).

However, let's say you are an Instructional Designer, like I am.  You can find tons of jobs as an instructional designer in Seattle and the surrounding area, yet the majority of colleges around the area have no Instructional Design programs whatsoever (interestingly, the majority of instructional designers around Washington that I have encountered are transplants from out-of-state or had to travel elsewhere to obtain a degree in Instructional Design).  Therefore, you may not want to focus your job search in Washington if you want an Instructional Design teaching job.

My advice: Think about your specialization and then think about the location where these jobs are most likely to occur.

Vary your search

Interestingly, right before I found my current job, I wasn't actively looking for another job.  I was simply browsing college sites here and there looking at their job listings, not really expecting to find an opening.  But lo-and-behold, there happened to be an opening for an Assistant Professor in Education at the university I am working at now.  I then asked the person who hired me what places online this position was listed in, and interestingly, it was only listed on their website and one other job board online.  And the position didn't even show up on the traditional job aggregator sites for higher education jobs.

Only relying on one or two sites is not going to find you a job.  You need to vary your search.  Don't only look on job boards, but look at the colleges and universities themselves.  And even though they don't list a job that matches you right away, take a break, and look again at a later time.  Your job is out there for you!  You might just be looking in the wrong places.

Be flexible and think beyond your job title

Although my degree is a PhD in Education with a specialization in Educational Technology, my current position is mainly an Assistant Professor in Education.  I am teaching an Educational Technology course, but I am also teaching a Multicultural Education class since I have experience working with students from diverse backgrounds.  Be flexible when offered certain classes to teach.

What it comes down to is being flexible.  Sure, my job title isn't exactly Assistant Professor in Educational Technology, but I am okay with that.  A lot of what I learned as an instructional designer and teacher also applies to other areas of Education.

Be Patient and Get Some Experience (or more experience!)

If you can't find a job right away, don't be afraid to work in other non higher education industries.  After I moved to Washington State while completing my research online, I worked as an admin assistant (temporarily) at Nintendo and as an Instructional Designer for two other organizations.  Those years were very valuable to me in regards to the experience I received working in these industries.  Working outside of higher education helped me with my management and Instructional Design skills, much of which I apply to my current job.    I feel that I am now a better instructor and coordinator because of these experiences and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Therefore, remember to keep your location in mind, vary your search, be flexible and be patient.  You never know what job will come your way or which job you may find.  Feel free to contact me for more advice.