Craving Real Learning?

 

What is a university? A set of buildings and grounds, or an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills, and share widely?

Judging from my students’ comments about their online learning experience in the pandemic, the majority cannot wait to be back on campus. Some have never even seen the university and want to see it as soon as possible. While eager to engage online in a multitude of ways, they crave physical interaction and university social life generally. They are starry-eyed about the prospect of getting back to “normal”. In the past fall semester, only a quarter of my students felt their online learning was “real” as opposed to virtual – and in the spring semester, even fewer did. Will these same students yearn for the flexibility of the online environment once back in class, one wonders? Will some even demand online sections of their own? It is hard to tell at the moment, but what is clear is that higher education will not be the same after Covid-19.

A Vice Dean at a Moroccan university, Dr Jamal Eddine Benhayoun, has rightly noted, “There is no better time for rethinking the idea and future of higher education than today, as the world seems to have realised that universities matter the most not as buildings but as global networks for the production and exchange of skills and ideas.” Going beyond that, he coined the term NGU – New Global University – for a vision of the best institutions of higher education merging online, regardless of place and culture, allowing open access to high quality learning across the world.

AUB is also changing. As with many other institutions of higher education, learning at AUB will still generally center around face-to-face interaction in the short term, but it will gradually allow for more online opportunities with time. Perhaps people are realizing that, for example, learning to construct a building may be more important than which building you happen to be in at the time.

Lebanon: Weathering the Storm

Visitors to Lebanon tend to wonder why the country is in a chronic and growing mess despite the high level of education in the country – and the large proportion of people with advanced degrees. Is it just “corruption” that is causing the retardation, or is it something deeper? Let us try to define a proper education.

The UNESCO International Commission on Education for the 21st century has identified four pillars of learning:

1. Learning to know (acquiring relevant knowledge)

2. Learning to do (preparing to contribute to economic development)

3. Learning to be (developing personality/ individual self-reliance)

4. Learning to live together (promoting social harmony)

Education in Lebanon has traditionally been very strong on knowledge - perhaps too strong in the sense of emphasizing memorization and cramming rather than true comprehension, analytical and critical thinking. Could it be that practical knowledge, personality development, and a sense of community have not been accorded enough attention, compared with theoretical knowledge? Possibly, at least in the distant past – and such matters take time to change. Even though there may be greater awareness now of the importance of self-reliance, we still see passiveness, attitudes of dependency, and a waiting for Godot tendency rather than concerted efforts for change. The generations that lacked the important skills are still in power, steering a heavy ship in the middle of a stormy, polluted sea. 

With the Covid-19 pandemic impacting education, UNESCO has recently recognised the importance of resilience as a component of learning, resilience being the ability to succeed despite serious threats. Therefore, resilience may be added to the four pillars of learning soon, as mentioned by two bloggers at UNESCO’s International Portal for Educational Planning (“21st Century Skills in the Time of Covid”). The Lebanese will certainly need resilience to weather the current storm.

From Pandemic to Infodemic

 

The term infodemic ( a blend of information and epidemic) is not very new. However, it has become popular lately, with the spread of Covid-19 related news. The Cambridge dictionary has incorporated it.

The Merriam-Webster editors commented last spring that they were “watching” this word although it had not yet entered their dictionary. In fact, almost a year later, a search for it in Merriam-Webster still produces no result. Where it is discussed, here is how they define it: “a rapid and far-reaching spread of both accurate and inaccurate information about something, such as a disease. As facts, rumors, and fears mix and disperse, it becomes difficult to learn essential information about an issue” (“Words We’re Watching: Infodemic”).

According to Merriam-Webster, the term was coined by Washington Post journalist David Rothkopf in relation to SARS back in 2003:

What exactly do I mean by the "infodemic"? A few facts, mixed with fear, speculation and rumor, amplified and relayed swiftly worldwide by modern information technologies, have affected national and international economies, politics and even security in ways that are utterly disproportionate with the root realities. It is a phenomenon we have seen with greater frequency in recent years—not only in our reaction to SARS, for example, but also in our response to terrorism and even to relatively minor occurrences such as shark sightings.
David Rothkopf, The Washington Post, 11 May 2003

Last spring, the World Health Organization warned about misinformation and disinformation surrounding Covid-19 in “Let’s Flatten the Infodemic Curve”. The site encourages information literacy, from checking sources, authors, and dates, to examining evidence and biases. More recently, The Guardian newspaper published an opinion piece by Oxford Professor Melinda Mills entitled “We Must Prevent a Vaccine 'Infodemic' from Fuelling the Covid Pandemic”. Mills fears that researchers’ work on the vaccines will be wasted if anti-vaccination campaigners’ misinformation is not counteracted using effective communication with the public, including local dialogue rather than one-way information-heavy communications.

Similarly, the World Economic Forum is concerned: “There's No Vaccine for the Infodemic - So How Can We Combat the Virus of Misinformation?”. Information literacy is the key, as opposed to – for example - “plandemic” conspiracy theories.

Is Online Learning “Virtual” or Real?

The term VLE (virtual learning environment) has been with us since at least the 1990s. Back then, academic institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. started using not only e-mail but also “distributed learning environments” such as course web sites for teaching. AUB began using a course management system called WebCT twenty years ago, later moving to Moodle. Until recently, these VLEs were considered complementary to classroom teaching and learning at best, more often merely supplementary, or extra. Most teachers (and their students) could easily do without them. Currently, however, with physical distancing measures due to COVID-19, most education is taking place online. Should VLEs therefore continue to be considered “virtual”? Shouldn’t we consider a new name for them perhaps?

If we consider synonyms (or near synonyms) for VLEs, we will come across the following:

• CBI (Computer Based Instruction)
• CMC (Computer Mediated Communication)
• CMS (Content Management System)
• Distance Learning/ Remote Learning
• E-Learning
• LCMS (Learning Content Management System)
• LMS (Learning Management System)
• LP (Learning Platform)
• MLE (Managed Learning Environment)
• OLC (Online Learning Centre)

Of course, there are multiple ways for teachers to use VLEs; for example, focusing on one platform, such as the institutional Moodle or Blackboard, or integrating several platforms for one course. An example would be using Zoom or Webex along with one of these course management systems. Going as far as allowing Facebook or Whatsapp as supplements may be considered extraneous or peripheral, and probably unofficial by the institutions hosting the courses. Still, this has become part of many students’ lives, along with their teachers'. In fact, some educators may dislike using their institutions’ central VLE, finding it restrictive, opting for “loosely coupled teaching” as noted by Martin Weller back in 2007 in “The VLE/LMS is Dead”. 

This is all real life for large numbers of students and educators these days, day in, day out. Should it continue to be referred to as “virtual” teaching and learning? Give it a thought and let me know what you think. It is a bit like wondering whether the novel coronavirus should continue to be referred to as “novel” indefinitely.

Word of the Year 2020

 

Unsurprisingly, the Merriam-Webster word of the year is pandemic, a word defining this era, as the dictionary editors put it. It earned this status not only due to an extreme number of lookups, but also based on increasing lookups year after year. There was a peak of interest in it in February 2020, after which there was no decline. By March 11, when the WHO confirmed that COVID-19 was a pandemic, searches had multiplied by over 115,000% compared with March 2019. The Greek origins of the word may be of interest: pan, meaning all, and demic, relating to demos, people. As one would expect, coronavirus was next on the list of Merriam-Webster, having multiplied more than 162,000% in the past year.

The Oxford English Dictionary could not settle on just one word of the year this time, publishing a report entitled “Words of an Unprecedented Year”. These include, besides terms such as coronavirus, COVID-19, lockdown, superspreader and social distancing, entries such as bushfire (mainly relating to Australia); impeachment and acquittal (mostly surrounding Donald Trump), and black lives matter, which spiked after the recent killing of African Americans.

Here are the words of the year of some other dictionaries:

Collins: lockdown

Dictionary.com: pandemic

Cambridge: quarantine, which – according to the editors – has gained a slightly new sense, synonymous with lockdown.

Let’s hope that, with the vaccine around the corner, the 2021 words of the year will revolve around vaccination, recovery, and brighter prospects for the world.

Brave New World of Online Teaching

                                                                                                                     

This is the first academic year at AUB that has started completely online. Teaching online allows one some freedom, but is it fun teaching in semi self-isolation because of widespread corona measures? Isolation can help you focus on your work as a teacher, promoting productivity, but that is where the fun ends. You would hope that your students, too, are not going out too much or being distracted otherwise, but you feel sorry for them, just as you do for yourself. Often you can sense from their work that they do actually have time to read and write, possibly more than they did before corona. The quality of their work is not too bad either. 

Every week, I try to include at least one synchronous session, where we are together in class for a lecture, or for discussion or student presentations, just like in a face-to-face university classroom. Lecture summaries and recordings are made available for those who cannot be with us live, whether due to technical reasons or because of a time difference - a number of students may be currently living in a different time zone. The rest of the sessions are asynchronous, involving active learning on the part of the students, either individually or in teams, with flexible deadlines. Not everything is graded; there is practice work and self-assessment where students get credit for trying rather than for how much they score. Plus, learners are never entirely on their own. They may contact me live or by email whenever they need to talk or ask questions.

There are some weird aspects to teaching online though. You feel let down when a student admits his aunt searched the web for him, for example. You feel alarmed the first time you hear someone doing dishes in the background while you converse with a student. A bit like parents walking into your classroom with pots and pans. Your whole course is out there for families and friends to see. They can hear your voice, see you, and watch your every move in the course. It can feel creepy, but you get used to it, just as everyone is getting used to living with this virus.

There are amusing incidents too. The other day, a young child took over a pupil’s microphone while she was out of the room. Having unmuted the microphone, the little girl addressed the class, almost hijacking the lesson. At first, we wondered whether it was a hacker, but it turned out to be a child playing. We smiled and continued with the lesson. This is what this virus has done to our lives – to teaching and learning. Yet, life goes on. More later.

Corona Times: War or Journey?

Among the figures of speech used for responses to corona are the usual war ones often borrowed in medicine from the military, as in Trump’s “war against the invisible enemy” and Raab’s “fighter” (in reference to Boris Johnson when the latter was in hospital). Michael Skapinker recently commented in The Financial Times that the journey metaphors in use in the UK are better as they remove blame from the victim who may be seen as not having fought well enough to “defeat” the virus. Skapinker notes that war metaphors for illness have been criticised for decades: in 1978, the American writer Susan Sontag had warned that the battle approach could “assign to the ill the ultimate responsibility both for falling ill and for getting well”. Skapinker refers to the observation by Nottingham Professor Brigitte Nerlich that UK ministers are starting to use journey metaphors, implying cooperation, as in going “the extra mile”, “keep going”, and moving “beyond the peak”. Still, he notes that King’s College language specialist Tony Thorne believes that battle metaphors must not be disposed of altogether due to the need for national mobilization.

On this subject, Patrick Cox of The World radio program interviewed Seema Yasmin, who teaches medicine and journalism at Stanford University. According to Yasmin, war metaphors have been used in epidemics since at least the 1600s when Thomas Sydenham, a British physician, declared, “I attack the enemy within. A murderous array of disease has to be fought against, and the battle is not a battle for the sluggard.” Subsequently, Louis Pasteur spoke of “invading armies that lay siege to our bodies.” Then in the 1920s, cancer cells were referred to as anarchists or Bolsheviks, after which Richard Nixon waged his own “war on cancer” by signing the National Cancer Act of 1971.

Ian Buruma of The New York Times warns that there’s a long history of illness being used to inflame hatred and that we mustn’t let this happen with corona by calling it a “Chinese virus” or a “foreign virus”: “Nationalism should have no place in medical discourse. And medical language should never be applied to politics. Coronavirus isn’t Chinese or foreign; it is global. Blaming alien forces, whether in the name of God, or science or simple prejudice, is bound to make things a great deal worse.”

A Virus Gone Truly Viral!

When news spreads like wildfire on social media, we say it has gone viral. How many of us had ever reflected on the origin of the adjective “viral”: well now there’s no doubt about it since Covid-19 has illustrated the phenomenon perfectly to the world. One can already envision "Word of the Year 2020" in most dictionaries: corona, ventilator, epidemic, pandemic, PPE, self-isolation, social distancing, etcetera, etcetera! Words galore: Heaven for many English teachers and Hell for the majority on this planet!

One can envision google searches such as epidemic versus pandemic and social distancing versus physical distancing.  Actually, the latter distinction is worth some reflection. When the World Health Organization adopted physical rather than social as the adjective, many - including psychologists and sociologists -  lauded the decision, affirming the fact that while physical distance was "absolutely essential" during the global pandemic, "it does not mean that socially we have to disconnect from our loved ones, from our family."

WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said on March 20, "Technology, right now, has advanced so greatly that we can keep connected in many ways without actually physically being in the same room or physically being in the same space with people," adding, "We're changing to say physical distance and that's on purpose because we want people to still remain connected." 

London School of Economics social psychologist Martin Bauer had rightly questioned the “unfortunate” phrasing from the start, pointing out in an interview with Al Jazeera that the WHO terminology change had been overdue when it happened in late March; the phrasing error should not have been allowed to happen: "In these strange times of the virus, we want clear physical distance (minimum two metres), but at the same time, we want people to remain close to each other 'socially'."

The next time you listen to television news, try to observe which of the above expressions is used. At the time of writing this blog post, many channels are still using the older terminology. Perhaps they take it for granted that people understand – or perhaps they don’t consider that changing a word here and there will really make a difference. I wonder what my readers think. For example, do students feel socially dispersed or disconnected when they are physically remote from their teacher and classmates, or do they still feel united by common learning objectives and common online work areas and discussion forums? I look forward to hearing your views.

Word of the Year 2019

The dictionary words of the year 2018 included many that were environment related, whether as top scoring words or runners up. This past year, the scenario has not changed; rather, there appears to be even more concern with the environment.

The Oxford Word of the Year is climate emergency. According to the dictionary’s editors, the term was used a hundred times more frequently in 2019 than in the previous year. The Cambridge Word of the Year, chosen because it was the most popular Word of the Day once, is upcycling, meaning “the activity of making new furniture, objects, etc. out of old or used things or waste material”. According to the Cambridge Dictionary blog, while reversing climate change, or even stopping its progression, appears difficult, upcycling is a concrete step towards that which could be taken individually. Lookups of the word have risen 181% since 2011, when it was introduced into the dictionary. Other terms on the Cambridge shortlist for 2019 also reflect environmental concerns: carbon sink, compostable, and preservation. A new addition is plastic footprint, meaning the amount of plastic wasted rather than recycled, hence damaging the environment. Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year is existential, also due to frequent lookups. Among other things, the term has been used in relation to climate change as an “existential crisis” and an “existential emergency”. The Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year is “climate strike”, first registered in 2015; lexicographers noted a one-hundred-fold increase in its lookups in 2019.

On a different note, the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year is they in its relatively new non-binary sense. The new sense entered the Webster Dictionary in September 2019 due to increased lookups, and the American Psychological Association blog endorsed the use of the pronoun in October in a post entitled “Welcome Singular They”. The use is now officially accepted in academic writing after gender experts updated the APA’s bias free language guidelines. “They” may be used as a generic pronoun to replace “he or she” or to refer to individuals who prefer not to be referred to as either.

Thou Shalt Not Bore Thy Readers

It is always good to blog out of the blue, spontaneously, even verging on “stream of consciousness”, letting your thoughts flow on the page. Better still is writing in response to the writing of others, such as colleagues; or in response to others’ concerns. That way you may abide by the commandment “Thou shalt not bore thy readers.” Today, I would like to reflect on blog entries by colleagues of mine, fellow composition instructors at the American University of Beirut.

Two of my colleagues have recently written on the subject of ghost writing. Having reflected on the subject myself in the past, their postings grabbed my attention. One of them mentioned that public figures set a bad example by using ghost writers while behaving as if this were normal practice. She reminded us that it happens at both the undergraduate level and the Master’s and PhD thesis levels. Then she compared cheating in writing to cheating in relationships: when trust is shaken, that undermines the student-teacher relationship, discouraging teachers. It creates a “disconnect with students” and, in her words, is “why we hate going to work, or not love it”.

My other colleague took photographs of advertisements posted on both roadside billboards and less obvious university walls. Ghost writers are not ashamed to advertise publicly while working in the shadows and claiming no credit for their writing. She wondered what drove students to avail themselves of their services. Was it the economy, the job situation, or desensitization to corruption; a combination of these factors; or some other mysterious reason?

Today as I write, students are protesting the economy and the corruption of leaders. Let us hope they return to their classrooms soon and remember that all forms of corruption are to be frowned upon, not merely that of the leaders they are accusing in their demonstrations. It is wise to look closer to home as well.

Guest Bloggers Invited

Inviting guest bloggers with similar interests can add diversity to one’s blog. Guest postings are useful for both the host and the guest. Additionally, they could break the monotony for the audience.

If you would like your writing to be hosted on this blog, please get in touch. Submit a brief biography along with your topic proposal. Whether you prefer to post as  an anonymous teacher or not, please don’t hesitate. In fact, The Guardian’s “Secret Teacher” blog has inspired me to encourage anonymous blogging. The Guardian promotes critical posts among frustrated teachers who prefer not to reveal their identities. While aimed mainly at school teachers, the idea of that blog could also be relevant to those at the tertiary level with its emphasis on “the trials, tribulations, and frustrations of school life”. Here are some topics tackled by the secret teachers, to give you an idea:
- Disappointment with school focus on structured learning and assessment rather than enjoyment. A believer in play based learning found that approach soul destroying.
- A teacher suffering physical violence at the hands of a school child.
- Dyslexic students not receiving sufficient support on exams.
- Mental health issues amongst pupils under pressure to perform.
- A teacher bullied by her superior.

University students with ideas worth sharing are also welcome. I look forward to hearing from you.

Blogging After a Break

Taking a long break from blogging can seem strange after years of regular postings. You may feel awkward yourself, and your readers may rightly wonder what is wrong or whether you are still around. Still, hopefully you will not lose your audience but rather keep them in suspense! And more importantly,  you will gain rather than lose momentum.

Actually, I look forward to receiving comments from my readers on their thoughts during my absence from the blogosphere. Perhaps some readers needed a break themselves from reading the blog! Perhaps others could have served as guest bloggers here had they been invited. In retrospect that seems to have been possible and preferable to keeping the blog idle for so long; apologies to my faithful readers near and far.

In any case, when you feel uninspired, in need of recharging, or simply too busy with other concerns, by all means take a break from blogging. I am not suggesting you stop altogether. Just press pause.

A teacher with interesting students and exciting work will naturally want to return to blogging when time allows. Don’t force it. Just let it flow. A blog is like a stream, uneven at times but flowing again when the time is right – a quiet stream that fades into the deep blue ocean.

Word of the Year 2018

A look at the past year’s English words of the year sheds light on people’s current interests and concerns globally. Merriam Webster’s words of the year included justice as the most frequently looked up word – and one whose hits rose by 74% over 2017. According to the dictionary’s web site, the popularity of the term reflects U.S. concerns with all kinds of justice – racial, social, criminal and economic. Additionally, the Department of Justice has frequently been in the news, besides the use of justice as a synonym for judge, as in the Supreme Court’s Cavanaugh hearings.

The Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year was toxic. Not only had it been looked up 45% more than the previous year, it had also developed new meanings, spanning a broad variety of contexts: “The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.” Including both literal and metaphorical senses, the term had been applied to the following ten contexts, in order of frequency, based on the Oxford Corpus:

· Chemical

· Masculinity

· Substance

· Gas

· Environment

· Relationship

· Culture

· Waste

· Algae

· Air

The Collins Dictionary chose single-use as word of the year as it had seen a four-fold rise since 2013. The term refers to products, especially plastics, that are used only once rather than recycled, such as straws, bottles and bags. Images of plastic items floating in the oceans became popular on television this past year, with channels such as the BBC raising awareness on the issue. Another term that was high on the list for Collins also reflected environmental concerns: plogging, derived from Swedish, meaning picking up garbage while jogging.

Finally, the Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year based on a public poll was nomophobia: “fear or worry at the idea of being without your mobile phone or unable to use it.” A runner-up was ecocide, emphasizing people’s environmental concerns. The dictionary editors had chosen the most popular new additions to the dictionary then asked their online readers to vote. The result was therefore referred to as the “People’s Word of 2018."

Are You a Perfectionist?

Having tutored at the AUB Writing Center, I can confirm that tutoring is a different ball game than classroom teaching in many ways. It is more focused and intense, and it can be more enjoyable than lecturing, especially when tutees are perfectionists!

One challenge for writing tutors is that students do not always seek writing help voluntarily. Their teachers often require it; it may even be part of the syllabus for everyone – and therefore a form of drudgery for some. Those who gravitate to the Center voluntarily, though, appear more involved, and they often return. Some even seem to enjoy it: they become animated when telling a story; excited when considering alternatives; and genuinely satisfied with their enhanced products. The best scenarios are where a student seeks advice from the beginning of a project till the end, returning to develop ideas, polish phrasing and finalize everything, including presentation material. The tutees are not rushed in those cases. They are relaxed and confident – and eventually proud of their efforts.

Of course, tutoring has other challenges for tutors: breaking the ice and setting realistic goals for short sessions is not always a piece of cake; handling students with personal problems can be daunting; and tutoring when the writer does not have a draft or a prompt can be stressful and mystifying. With time, tutors learn how to handle these situations, overcoming hurdles more smoothly.

Not all tutees are struggling with their writing, mind you. You get the occasional perfectionist, the quality of whose writing and research is already high. They simply seek perfection and work hard at it. Best wishes to them. They deserve special mention for their drive and perseverance.

Seeking Advice on Your Writing

Last week some university students who had read my recent blog post on ghost writing jokingly commented that they were tempted to try using a ghost writer after reading it since the latter are hard to catch! Clearly my warning had not been strong enough; reader beware: you may still be caught. Besides, what do you learn when others do your writing for you? Almost nothing – right!

An experienced teacher can sense it when a document is not written by you as they will know your level and style from in-class participation and writing, as well as other activities. Do not forget also that your writing should reflect your voice – not someone else’s. In any case, you need to improve your writing skills as that will help you in career-related course work and various contexts other than university. It is well known these days that employers seek and promote skilled communicators, especially skilled writers.

Finally, you are already paying a high price for your tuition in most cases. Why pay extra? If you feel you need extra help with your writing, ask your course instructor. Additionally, a librarian might help with sources and a writing tutor (such as those of the AUB Writing Center) may provide a second opinion, with specific advice on how to improve your writing. Writing centers such as this usually provide free consultations and may allow walk-ins though there is usually an organized appointment schedule. Writing tutors can comment on the clarity and organization of your ideas, or on your style, or both. Additionally, they can show you how to polish up formal citations for academic essays.

What would be shameful is asking others to do your writing for you. Asking for a second opinion on your own writing, however, should not be considered shameful or embarrassing.  Academics and professional writers very often ask others to read through their work before it is published. Another pair of eyes rarely hurts. Failing a course hurts far more!

Ghost Writing: Not Yet Dead and Buried

Reading student essays is usually a pleasure for writing teachers, especially when students research fresh topics, argue effectively, or share original points of view; occasionally, however, it is not so easy. Back in 2013 I blogged twice on ghost writing at universities, having been interviewed about it by a Daily Star reporter then. Now in 2018, despite greater awareness and heightened vigilance by teachers and other stakeholders, the spectre of ghost writing continues to rear its ugly head. The ghost writers have picked up on the fact that many teachers require “process” submissions rather than merely a satisfactory “product”, so they have adapted their work accordingly.

To what extent these unscrupulous individuals (and companies) are now outmanoeuvring experienced writing teachers remains a mystery. It appears that some invisible writers do nothing else for a living, so they do their work very “professionally”, if you will excuse the expression. The Daily Star last year reported again on the issue under the title “The Lucrative Business of Selling Essays”:

The ghost writer was quick to add that the projects would be done in a way that would not raise any questions from professors. “We give you things step by step and we upload [the work] to ‘Turnitin’ [an online tool used by universities and students globally to check for plagiarism]. We’ve been doing this for 10 years, it is guaranteed and confidential.” (reported by Ghinwa Obeid)

Universities such as AUB penalize plagiarized and inauthentic student writing very heavily, with assessments ranging from a zero on the essay to a zero on the course, including the possibility of a dean’s warning, suspension or expulsion. The pressure on students to achieve high grades is high, but the risk is higher. If you are a student under pressure, my advice is to do your own work properly and not take the risk. It isn’t worth it.

And teachers beware: the ghost writers seem to have become slyer than ever! 

The Lebanese Blogosphere

It is good to be blogging about language and teaching. A University of Westminster PhD dissertation by Maha Taki analyzing blogging in Lebanon shows that some Lebanese had started blogging by 2004. However, by 2008 at least, it appears there were no identifiable bloggers focused on either teaching or language ("Bloggers and the Blogosphere in Lebanon & Syria: Meanings and Activities"). Most of the early blogs, Taki reports, were political, triggered by the assassination of our Prime Minister in 2005 and the 2006 summer war in Lebanon. Here are the topics the Lebanese blogged about in 2008, based on Taki’s survey back then, in order of frequency:

• Activities, private thoughts and reflections
• Poetry, literature and art
• Social issues in country of origin
• Political issues in country of origin
• Local current affairs
• Religious and spiritual matters
• Human rights issues or development
• International political issues

Unfortunately, the early blogs, as reported by Taki, reflected the political divisions in the country. Many did not sound neutral. Also, there were more male than female bloggers, and the age distribution was mainly concentrated in the 20s and 30s. The vast majority of bloggers had university degrees, including a high proportion of postgraduate qualifications. Interestingly, nearly half the Lebanon bloggers had had some university education outside Lebanon, and the majority were single.

One hopes that blogs are now more inclusive in terms of who is blogging, what for, and what topics they tackle. Still, the microblogging site Twitter does not provide a topic category for teachers/teaching or education when one first registers one's profile, nor do some blog aggregators like a Lebanese one that currently exists. This would force teachers, initially at least, to identify their blogs under titles such as “lifestyle”, “personal/reflections”, etc., which may not be enough to distinguish the blogs. Tagging and hashtags for teaching etc. can help of course, but the options given upon registration reflect an older mentality where certain categories did not really exist on their own.

Teacher bloggers need to get their voices across as teachers. In any case, it is good to be part of a community of bloggers united by common interests and concerns.

Information Pollution

When the Collins Dictionary announced “Fake News” as Word of the Year 2017, Human Rights Watch rightly expressed concern. Defined as “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting”, the term has apparently seen a more than three-fold increase in use in one year. Whether as a statement of fact or as an accusation, “fake news” has become ubiquitous. On the other hand, if you report on human rights violations, you do not want your serious news to be confused with fake news! “With each encounter with victims, human rights activists must bring a commitment to meticulous fact-finding, the sifting of evidence, the corroboration of details, and the pursuit of a truth that will ultimately lead to justice,” warns Iaine Levine in “Why ‘Fake News’ as Word of the Year is Bad for Human Rights”.

The Collins Dictionary was not the first in this choice. The Australian Macquarie Dictionary had announced “fake news” as Word of the Year for 2016. The dictionary defined it as “disinformation and hoaxes published on websites for political purposes or to drive web traffic” and “the incorrect information being passed along by social media”.

Facebook is attempting to combat the viral spread of untrue stories in many ways, including alliances with various organizations such as FactCheck.org, yet the challenge is endless with myriads of sites encouraging pranksters and others to create their own genuine looking fake news stories. The list of such sites is long; here are just a few

  https://newspaper.jaguarpaw.co.uk/ (free newspaper generator)

· http://breakyourownnews.com/ (the breaking news generator)

· http://www.classtools.net/breakingnews/

· https://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp (the newspaper clipping generator)

The Council of Europe recently published the report Information Disorder :Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy Making. The report authors, Wardle and Derakhshan analyze the problem of what they refer to as “information pollution”, avoiding the term “fake news” because of the way it has been appropriated by politicians lately. Rather, they emphasize the need to tackle “mis-, dis- and mal-information”. They rightly stress that the solution should involve everyone: technology companies, national governments, media organisations, civil society, education ministries and funding bodies.

 

At AUB, teachers of English work hand in hand with librarians to promote information literacy among students. News literacy and critical thinking are part of this, and they are increasingly relevant to people’s everyday lives – not just their academic work. 

Class Attendance Miracle

This semester I told one of my classes that they had broken an attendance record. Several weeks had passed and not one of the students in that class had been absent. This is a very rewarding occurrence as, on average, students unfortunately do have a tendency to skip classes every now and then: they are allowed a certain number of absences before the teacher can consider dropping them.

Empirical studies in education have shown that student performance is inversely correlated with absenteeism. Another question arises though: whether making attendance mandatory improves performance. Some studies have shown that it does.  One may add that logically it should, as long as the students are focused. However, other studies have revealed that “forced attendance” can lower student performance. Oosterveen, Kapoor, and Webbink reported recently in “The Price of Forced Attendance” that a long-term study at a large European university had proved this. The detrimental effects were more pronounced in younger students and those that lived far away from the university. These sorts of observations are not entirely new though. Back in 1999, Karen St. Clair argued “A Case Against Compulsory Class Attendance Policies in Higher Education”. It has also been argued – and observed – that student success is only strongly correlated with voluntary attendance.

Some educators – and students - have protested that taking attendance in class is a waste of time, reducing efficiency. However, from personal experience, it can help teachers get to know the students one by one, personalising teaching and learning. In any case, technology can assist disbelievers in checking attendance. For example, ID cards with radio frequency identification can be used – though of course these can be misused if the students are not attending out of conviction.
On another note, the reputation of academic institutions can be tarnished by low student attendance. As long as institutions require attendance data, teachers will gather it. The hope is that classes will be engaging enough for students to attend of their own free will rather than due to fear of punishment.

What a Mess!

Handwriting is dead! Studies comparing people who are used to handwriting with those more accustomed to typing have shown a relative deficiency of fine motor skills in the latter. The younger generation are no longer equipped with the skills to write neatly by hand, and teachers are complaining. How many of us teachers have stared in astonishment at illegible student handwriting over and over again? Experts are recommending replacing hand-written in-class tests with typed ones. The University of Cambridge, for example, is considering allowing laptops and tablets in examination rooms. It has launched consultations around the problem of students’ fading ability to write by hand.

Eight hundred years of tradition may soon end at Cambridge when typed exams replace handwritten ones. Academics there have complained about illegible handwriting influenced by reliance on computers in lectures and outside, and some departments have piloted computer-typed tests. Similarly, Harvard academic Eric Mazur encourages his students to use computers and smartphones in exams. Speaking at the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit, the physics professor admitted that he allows pupils to look up information during tests in order to promote creative, analytical thinking rather than content recall. There is no need to memorize, he believes, with all this technology at our fingertips.

On another note, poor handwriting can affect grades. A study commissioned by stationery firm BIC concluded back in 2014 that the majority of teachers had marked down A-level and GCSE papers with illegible handwriting; it also revealed that more than a third of teachers had seen emoticons in exam answers or coursework.

Should we all downgrade papers with illegible wriing? Or should we follow the new fashion? Let me know what you think.

Writers and Audiences, Including Mysterious Ones

How much attention do you pay to your audience when you write? Linda Flower, a professor of rhetoric at Carnegie Mellon University once wrote that it is the writer’s job to “create a momentary common ground between the reader and the writer….Even if the reader eventually disagrees, you want him or her to be able for the moment to see things as you see them.” As Fowler put it, you should try to bridge gaps in knowledge and attitudes while paying attention to readers’ needs.

When writing these blog posts I often wonder what goes on in readers’ minds when they see them. The Google stats engine indicates readers in various parts of the world, including North America and Europe, Ukraine and Russia, the Far East and Africa, even places like Vietnam and Turkmenistan. Do all these readers find these blog postings interesting, one wonders? There is always the question of how to connect with readers with specific interests without boring too many others. Whether the readers really need to know all this is a good question to ask oneself before publishing anything. Upon reflection, some of my posts appear duller and possibly less thought-provoking than others – yet for some mysterious reason Google reports that people are reading them all over the world. The world of online audiences is a world of mystery compared with that of more tangible, defined audiences such as those of face-to-face classrooms.

One wishes there were more interaction with these mysterious, far-flung audiences - more feedback so that one could improve or better adapt to readers’ needs. For some writers, it is a challenging, puzzling world out there!

The Story of Mascara

When you see mascara do you think “maskhara”? Well, you are not too mistaken if you do: that is the Arabic origin of the word! Most etymological dictionaries trace the English word back to Spanish mascara or Italian maschera, meaning mask, indicating a connection with makeup (and, similarly, in Portuguese mascara means mask). Some dictionaries go a step further, tracing it from there back to its Arabic origin.

 Arabic maskhara refers to someone or something that is ridiculous, or to mockery. Interestingly, in both Urdu and Hindi the word means clown. In Pashto it means funny or ridiculous; in Persian, mockery; and apparently, in Swahili, to mock or scoff.

 One Standard Arabic word for mascara is actually kohl, not mascara; the latter tends to be used more in spoken colloquial Arabic, as if it is borrowed from English. Technically, it may be argued that the two words are not synonymous: the first is used more for eyeliners while the latter is generally used for lash makeup. Merriam Webster defines kohl as “a preparation used especially in Arabia and Egypt to darken the edges of the eyelids” although various sources indicate that in ancient times kohl was used for lashes and eyebrows as well as eyelids. Similarly, various sources trace alcohol back to al-kohl (or al-kuhul) as indicated in my previous blog post – but that is another story.

 In Arabic, al-kohl was originally used to refer to the fine powder used for makeup, and in English it also referred to the powder in earlier times. The word was later used to refer to alcohol the liquid since the formation of kohl through vaporization involves a process similar to that of alcohol formation.

Most sources see eye to eye on all that.

Telephone Arabe

A fellow blogger colleague recently wrote on uncommon words in English. My post here, on the other hand, is on commonly used English words that originated from Arabic:

•  Admiral: Amir Al-Bahr
•  Alchemy: Al-Kimia
•  Alcohol: Al-Kuhul 
•  Alcove: Al-Qubba
•  Algebra: Al-Jabr
•  Coffee: Qahwah
•  Cotton: Qutn
•  Gazelle: Ghazal
•  Ghoul: Ghoul
•  Giraffe: Zarafa
•  Sahara: Sahraa
•  Sugar: Sukkar 
•  Sultana: Sultana
•  Syrup: Sharab
•  Zero: Sifr

Most of these words reached the English language by indirect integration from other languages, mainly European, such as French, Spanish or Italian, often though not in every case, through Latin. Some words, such as coffee, reached Europe through Ottoman Turkish (kahve in this case). Along the way, as expected, and as in the game Chinese whispers (literally “telephone arabe” in French), the words were distorted or adapted to fit the integrating language, as in admiral (admiralis in Latin).

  

Beyond words, there are numbers from Arabic. The numeric system using numbers from zero (sifr) to nine originated in the Arab world, replacing the relatively awkward system of Roman numerals that were used before.

 

Stay tuned for more.

More on Word of the Year

Merriam Webster finally announced its Word of the Year 2016 as surreal, subsequent to rising lookups following various shocking world events. Defined as “"marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream”, the largest spike in lookups for it followed the US presidential election in November, as reported by Webster.

If I were to personally choose a word of the year for 2016, it would be sympathy. There have been many unfortunate events around the word this year, including serious human tragedies. The least one can do in such circumstances is sympathize – not in the sense of pity, but more in the form of empathy, putting oneself in the sufferers’ shoes as opposed to carrying on with one’s life as if nothing were wrong. Among the dictionary definitions of sympathy are the following:

• Webster: “the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another/ the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity”
• Cambridge: “understanding and care for someone else’s suffering”
• Oxford: “understanding between people; common feeling”

My colleague and fellow blogger Jessy Assy has already chosen her 2017 word of the year, as a sort of New Year’s resolution: balance (Jessy Assy’s Writing Diary). In a busy, frantic, multi-tasking world, one needs balance – one can definitely sympathize with that!

What is your word of the year? Why not share it with us?

Word of the Year 2016

Mashable recently reported that Merriam Webster had not yet announced its Word of the Year although, by the end of November, “fascism” had been the most frequently looked up word; unhappy about this, those in charge of the dictionary are encouraging users to look up other words in an apparent effort to change the results! On the other hand, dictionaries such as Collins, Oxford, Cambridge, and dictionary.com have already announced their words of the year.

 

The Collins Word of the Year is Brexit: “The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union”. The word showed a high increase in usage, unsurprisingly, as the UK referendum results shook the world.

The Oxford Word of the Year is Post-Truth: “an adjective relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. Apparently, interest in it spiked in relation to both the EU referendum in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States.

The Cambridge Dictionary saw a fourfold increase in searches for its Word of the Year, paranoid: “feeling extremely nervous and worried because you believe that other people do not like you or are trying to harm you”. While the editors say they cannot be certain why readers were looking up the word, they assume it must be the uncertain times we are living in, where people no longer have faith in the institutions they have traditionally trusted. Similar words have shown similar increases: anxiety, chaos, breaking down, prejudice, bigotry, bullying, and nostalgic. On a brighter note, adorable has seen a high increase in searches as well. The editors believe readers must be trying to comfort themselves by watching videos of cute animals!

Xenophobia is dictionary.com’s Word of the Year: “fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers”. Apparently, lookups spiked by 938% just after the Brexit referendum results, on June 24. In July, searches for hate crime multiplied as newspaper coverage of hate crimes rose post-Brexit.

A snapshot from the dictionaries – a snapshot of our world today.

Wishing my readers a happier new year!

 

Open Access Week

Academics worldwide will soon be celebrating International Open Access Week, from October 24 to 30. When I first blogged about Open Access in 2012, the movement had been likened to the Arab Spring, having been referred to as an “Academic Spring”. Since then, it has picked up momentum, as can be seen from the Web site of International Open Access Week.

Events are taking place globally in celebration of this movement opposing traditional, commercial publishing. Workshops, presentations, seminars, discussions and conferences are actively promoting Open Access, and a number of Arab countries have become involved over the years, including Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Online groups have formed in celebration - from Egypt to Taiwan, and from Portugal to Tanzania. In Glasgow, Creative Commons UK will be launched as part of the celebratory week, another interesting development.

New terms are gradually being coined to refer to various aspects of the open access movement: gratis open access versus libre open access; gold open access; hybrid open access; delayed open access, etc. I will not bore you with the differences now as some readers may not care and others may find this unnecessarily complicated. For those interested, these concepts may be worth following up.

The Directory of Open Access Journals has a news section where you may read up on the various developments. Currently, for example, it shows an article on the open access strategy in Algeria: academic researchers are involved, and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is in favour. Interestingly, the Directory includes the Lebanese Science Journal, published by the National Council for Scientific Research, which was added in July 2016, including articles in English and French, and this journal is not the first. UNESCO notes that the DOAJ indexed a Lebanese journal in 2015, Journal of Numerical Mathematics and Stochastics published by Euclidean Press, and that a few other OA journals are published in Lebanon. Additionally, UNESCO states that the Lebanese Library Association supports the OA movement through a variety of activities that promote it among faculty, students and librarians (Global Open Access Portal). However, UNESCO identifies challenges for the Arab world, including lack of OA journals in Arabic, lack of staff qualified to manage OA databases, insufficient government regulation and donor mandates, and general lack of awareness.

 

 

The Challenge of Fairness in Student Assessment

It may seem easy for teachers to judge students; in fact, it is part of their job. How fair the teachers are in their assessment is another matter. This is where assessment of students needs assessment!

The reason why fairness in student assessment is important is obvious: every student should be given an equal opportunity to show what he or she has understood, knows, and can do. Both ethically and legally, tests (and other assessment instruments) should be culturally inclusive, unbiased, and accessible to students with special needs, such as second language learners and people with disabilities.

Culturally sensitive assessments are based on content and scenarios that cater to diverse populations. They attempt to give equal chances to students regardless of gender, place of origin, and socio-economic background. Biased tests, on the other hand, give unfair advantage to some. Unfair advantage privileges those with a certain background or experiences (rather than those with better aptitude or preparation for a test). The presence of bias invalidates scores because of irrelevant components that affect student performance across groups.

Accessibility of assessments is important based on an individual’s right to a quality education. This involves the use of tools, devices, and accommodations that allow students with special needs to take either the same tests as others or suitable equivalents. AUB is a good example of an institution that is showing greater sensitivity to students with special needs by providing special staff and accommodations to facilitate the academic experience of these students.

The type of assessment given is also important. For example, “performance assessment” in the form of projects may be considered fairer than traditional testing because it is more individualized; students may choose their own topics and may receive formative feedback as projects take time.

Of course, the teaching experience - before any evaluation – should also be fair. Fairness in assessment includes both what precedes assessment (such as resources and access) as well as the actual assessment design.

Grammar Police?

There seems to be a renaissance of language pedantry with the advance of technology and social networking. Not only does Google try to correct people's grammar by asking them what they mean, Facebook groups such as “I judge you when you use poor grammar”, are quite popular. English teachers, especially teachers of writing, are expected to behave as language police. If students make grammar errors in other courses or later, in their careers, their English teachers are often blamed. No one likes to be viewed as a scary police officer though, just as students resent being viewed as criminals for violating grammar rules. In fact, a recent study concluded that "People Obsessed With Grammar Aren't as Nice as Everybody Else". While language attitudes have been correlated with personality traits before, this study interestingly focused on attitudes towards typing errors and grammar variation through confused homonyms (words that sound the same but that should be spelled differently). Details of the study were published in the article “If You’re House Is Still Available, Send Me an Email: Personality Influences Reactions to Written Errors in Email Messages”.

Split verbs are known to be particularly irritating to language purists, yet Steven Pinker defends them as follows:

Any speaker who has not been brainwashed by the split-verb myth can sense that these corrections go against the rhythm and logic of English phrasing. The myth originated centuries ago in a thick-witted analogy to Latin, in which it is impossible to split an infinitive because it consists of a single word, like dicere, 'to say'. But in English, infinitives like 'to go' and future-tense forms like 'will go' are two words, not one, and there is not the slightest reason to interdict adverbs from the position between them.

Let us not be thick-witted and mean when it comes to grammar! Besides, effective communication is not merely about grammar: it is about content, logic, general clarity of expression, relevance, and overall fluency. If grammar is also “polished”, all the better; if not, it is not such a disaster – or is it?