Updates to the Adjunct Resource Page

The Adjunct Resource Page in eCollege is growing!  I have recently added instructional videos on some different functions in eCollege and a module on the flipped classroom from Ted Scholz.

The page has many great resources, so please make use of it to supplement and inform your teaching. 

 

April Announcements

Here are some very important updates for April:

• You should have received an email this morning to complete the Adjunct Satisfaction Survey.  Please take a few moments to tell us how you feel.
• Adjunct Appreciation Event at 5:30pm on Tuesday, May 8.  We are celebrating another successful term together!  I sent an invitation out last week, but if you did not receive and would like to attend, feel free to email me.

• Won’s Seeds for Innovation blog.  Late last week, Ted Scholz, AVP of Faculty Development, sent out a new blog entry that I contributed.  I wrote about creative approaches to teaching.  Take a look here and leave some comments!

• Password change site.  Need to reset your password?  Last month, our IT department created an easy-to-use password reset/change site.  Check it out here!

• Use GoToMeeting!  Did you know that you could have a free videoconferencing account?  It’s true!  As adjunct professors with limited office space on-campus, meeting with students can be difficult.  GoToMeeting (G2M) can help you hold virtual office hours or meet with students with greater convenience.  They also have very helpful tutorial videos on their website.
  Email me if you are interested in creating your own account.

• Finally, continue to reference the Adjunct Resource Space eCollege page.

 

irony

it’s been so long since i’ve posted on this blog that i think it will function, more or less, as a journal. i’m okay with that. if you happen to stumble upon this, i highly recommend reading the essay “T is for True” in the book, Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman. it’s one of the better essays in a collection of wonderful essays. he mentions David Foster Wallace in the essay, and a friend of mine had actually sent me a link to a commencement speech that Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005: http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/story/david-foster-wallace-in-his-own-words

i also highly recommend reading this speech. it’s a bit long, but well worth the read.

until next time.

 

Interesting Link

Good Wednesday morning!

My boss, Brian, passed along this interesting link: http://academicmaps.blogspot.com/2009/07/4-ways-to-make-irritated-students-less.html

I found the blogger to be quite insightful, not only about college students, but about our culture in general. Peruse the entry.

 

It’s been a long time/now i’m/coming back home

Where to begin? I haven’t blogged in a while, but mostly because I haven’t had much to say. And I guess I still don’t, but this is a good habit to get into.

Went to the Cubs game last night with my buddy, Andy. We definitely had a pole directly obstructing our view of home plate. What’s with Wrigley’s design having poles in key viewing places?

As you may or may not know, the Cubs won in extra innings on a Soriano grand slam. However, we left the game after 9 innings because it was pretty late. Despite the crazy finish, I wasn’t disappointed that we left “early”. I heard the Soriano slam on the radio just as I was pulling into my driveway. These days, going to games tires me out so much that I’d prefer to watch on TV or listen on radio. I don’t need to hear “Go Cubs Go” live anymore.

Something else that I’m on the cusp of starting is the “P90X” exercise program. For those familiar with it, I don’t plan on going all out with it due to time constraints. As I read the manual yesterday, I found myself both excited and already exhausted. The guy who started it and stars in the video, Tony Horton, is a machine! Just watching him makes me tired.

Anyway, my plan is to do this three times a week. Even though it doesn’t sound like much, it is fairly ambitious for me. I have precious few hours to myself and I typically prefer to spend it in the following ways (in no particular order): NBA 2k9, reading (started Audacity of Hope), catching up on Naruto, or doing nothing.

Each P90X session takes a little more than an hour. Like most things in life, I’m excited for the results but also dread the road to get there. One strong motivating factor these days is that I’m more tired than I’ve been in the past. I think this is directly correlated to my decreasing physical activity. It’s time to make a change!

I’ll try to update this blog regularly on progress with P90X. Maybe it will serve as some sort of accountability.

Speaking of which, I’ve been listening to Truth For Life (Alistair Begg) and Let My People Think (Ravi Zacharias) podcasts again lately. It’s been really good to hear God’s Word in the morning. I’m starting to recognize just how polluted my mind is worldly thinking, particularly regarding money matters. I won’t go into it, but working full-time for two years now has really brought about some interesting challenges. Life isn’t so cut and dry once college ends. It’s been good.

Until next time…

 

Just Another Blog about Obama

I wasn’t planning on blogging about this but I guess you can say that the feeling has me gripped. I’m not going to comment on the historical significance of this event because I cannot even begin to understand what this means to African-Americans in this country. I won’t even pretend to try; this is more about personal impressions…

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t and still am not the most sold out supporter of President Elect Barack Obama. HOWEVER, I will also just as quickly admit that tonight’s event swept me away. Coming into tonight’s festivities, my intentions were to maintain the role of an observer as much as possible. (I did vote, so I guess I wasn’t completely an observer but also a participant). Anyway, despite my best efforts to remain objective, I was quickly swept up into the competitive spirit of seeing “my guy” win.

My feelings swung several times in several ways during the last five or six hours. Hope was and is the prevailing sentiment. But reality slapped me upside the head at least a few times and I remain cautiously optimistic. Questions like “what can one man do?” and “can anyone possibly do what he promises to do?” have plagued me for many months and tonight was no different.

Then he spoke. It was only a speech—but somehow, it felt like more than that. His words were poised and well-articulated; his delivery was accurate and poignant; but the most striking impression to me was the focus in his eyes. From what I saw, I did not see a man who was overwhelmed by the situation or who was too big for the moment. He seemed to understand the burden as best as anyone possibly could, but he also seemed very humbled by it. He was also quick to share the credit and the spotlight with those who contributed to his journey. I think for the first time, the hope that I dared not dive into became a realistic step.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not ready to crown President Obama the messiah just yet. However, I do believe that he represents exactly what this nation needs: something to believe in and rally around. Although he hails from one party, he seems to have a bipartisan approach, a collectivist attitude, and a diplomatic spirit. If nothing else, the rest of the world may start to see Americans as something more than militaristic, naïve, and air-headedly arrogant.

Still, it’s not enough. My hope is not in a man. As Derek Webb put it in his song A King and a Kingdom: My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man/My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood/Its to a King and a Kingdom. My hope is not in change or in America. I’m not saying that Obama was or was not “God’s choice.” Let’s please not be so simple-minded. This election has taught me that the issues are far more complicated than I thought. God spoke to me in a different way tonight.

Here’s what I mean. I was harshly rebuked at the election booth this morning. After the presidential candidates and the U.S. Senate candidates, I had absolutely NO idea who I was voting for. In reality, the local and state elected officials have far more practical impact on my life than the nationals ones, so why don’t I know who they are?! I’m sick of being voluntarily oblivious. What’s more, I realized that I am also largely unaware of and uninformed about national issues. As I felt personally convicted, my thoughts turned to the Church. A change in office is all well and good, but what will the Church do? Can we engage people in honest and open discussion on political issues without attacking or getting defensive? Will the Church change? Will we wake up this slumber?? I think God is concerned about the state of His people just as much as He is about who is leading the “Free World”.

Above all, I believe in God’s sovereignty. I certainly don’t understand it, but I do trust and believe in it. The world appears to be falling apart around us. What will the Church do? What will you do? What will I do? These are the questions that this election has forced me to confront. I know that God is building His Kingdom through ways seen and unseen. Will we take part or stand on the sidelines and watch our chance pass by?

I’m still cautiously optimistic, but I can say that the flicker of hope in my heart is sparking brighter than it was. I hope that these next years will be interesting because we will step up to die in prayer on our knees, answer God’s call, sell out to His mission, and make them unforgettable years. It’s for a King and a Kingdom.

 

Response to…

I was initially going to just comment on Pastor David Swanson’s post but it ended up being too long-winded, so I am just creating a new entry.

Even though I read the book with David, reading his summary makes me want to re-read those chapters! So I highly encourage you all to read The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson as well. This is the first book of his that I’ve read and it has prompted me to also start reading through The Message, Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible. I’ve been using it as my text for an intensive Bible study that I’m involved with at church and it’s been fruitful so far.

Anyway, my general feeling on his question:

A reoccurring idea in The Jesus Way thus far is the importance of the community of God to be distinct. Distinct in the stories we tell, our robust imagination, the language we use to describe the world, etc. This of course raises a question: In your experience, are the people of God a unique community formed by our pursuit of Jesus? Or, does our life together more closely resemble our surrounding culture?

is that we seem to operate out of a fear of being too different from the surrounding culture. Being too different runs the risk of lower church attendance and attracting controversy and scrutiny. However, sadly, it also keeps us from really living to the full as Jesus did. This is the very way that God has challenged me as I’ve made my way through the book. Am I any different? More importantly, is Jesus a means or an end to me? Am I using Jesus as a more effective means of achieving what I selfishly want in this life-acceptance, significance, a sense of purpose-or is He my end and my means? It’s been a difficult question to confront but a wholly necessary one.

I believe that it takes a lot of soul searching and honest inquiry of our hearts to determine whether Jesus is THE way or is just a way for us. Is He the only Life that we want or is He a genie that we try to conjure up from time to time to grant our wishes? So far, all of my answers to these questions haven’t been pretty.

 

Medication Ruling the Nation

This post was inspired by a story I came across on MSNBC (for full story). Basically, psychiatrists (MDs) have been increasingly relying on medication and less on psychotherapy (or just talk therapy). Apparently, insurance companies reimburse at higher rates for 15-minute medication visits compared to 45-minute talk therapy visits. I’m sure that has a lot to do with this trend.

This is disturbing news to me. Not because I wholeheartedly believe in the merits of psychotherapy or because I work at a school of professional psychology (our graduates aren’t allowed to prescribe medication because they’re not MDs), but because it confirms my rather unscientific theory that America is relying too much on medication. There’s more to our selves than pills can “fix” or adjust. What does this say about our nation and culture?

Anecdotally speaking, I’ve observed that a lot of people these days seem to feel isolated. It’s something of a paradox considering that the world is shrinking and that we can stay in communication with each other digitally 24/7 without ever seeing each other face-to-face. But perhaps what is hurting some of these people who seek therapy is not only physiological but also emotional and spiritual. I can point to a number of times in my life where I’ve talked to a friend about something that had been bugging me and I felt a million times better. It wasn’t always because the issue was resolved but because being in contact with another person provides some energy, boost, or vitality that cannot otherwise be obtained.

Recently, I’ve discovered just as poor I am at communicating my thoughts clearly. This tends to magnify with less personal forms of communication. I stink at having serious conversations on gchat and am only slightly better on the phone. Face-to-face is the way to go! To support my point:

Psychotherapy uses verbal methods to get patients to explore their emotional life, thoughts or behavior. The goal is to ease symptoms, sometimes through getting the patient to change behavior or mental habits.

Its benefits can be seen in brain imaging studies, said Dr. Eric Plakun, who leads an American Psychiatric Association committee working to restore interest in psychotherapy by psychiatrists.

“The couch is far from dead,” Plakun said. “The couch turns out to be an effective 21st century treatment.”

Whether you take this as an advertisement for my school or not is up to you! But seriously, why are we so obsessed with quick fixes? Talking it out may take longer, but chances are, the healing will be more long-term than a pill can promise.

 

Monday morning post

On the train this morning, I was reading the last two chapters of Searching for God Knows What to prep for Wednesday’s first community group discussion. Donald Miller points out that perhaps, as Christians in America, we have become overly concerned about how we are perceived by the world. We are trying to be so cool that our acceptance by the world has become more important than showing Christ’s love. As I thought about myself, I think there is some merit to that thought. Then as I was walking to work from Union Station, I was in the mood for Switchfoot. I found the songs I heard to be oddly appropriate; although, because most of their songs are about this theme of the world lacking what only Jesus can offer and provide, it’s not a huge coincidence. Anyway, here are two of my favorite snippets from the two songs:

The Blues

Is there nothing left now?
Nothing left to sing
Are there any left who hasn’t kiss the enemy?
Is this the New Year or just another desperation?

Does justice never find you? Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?

And nothing is okay
Till the world caves in…

Awakening

Face down with the LA curbside endings
With the ones and zeros.
Downtown was the perfect place to hide.
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky, but man- made never made our dreams collide,
Collide.

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,
We’re awakening
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain,
We’re awakening
Maybe it’s called ambition, you’ve been talking in your sleep
About a dream, we’re awakening

So that’s it. I guess it’s learning these days that ministry is more than discipleship or even having correct theology. If we don’t work to change this world by loving people, Scripture will fall on deaf eyes.

 

Changes

Recent developments in the sports world and listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning today sparked a thought about change. I feel like one of the consequences of a fast-moving culture is that we expect change to happen quickly, we expect it to last, and we expect it to vault us to new heights in record time. I mean this on every level possible.

Take the Willie Randolph firing by the New York Mets in baseball. I mean, sure, the team has a lot of talent and should probably be doing better than they are, but honestly, it’s been 1 1/2 years! It’d be one thing if the players weren’t responding to him or if they were losing games because of his in-game decisions, but I don’t know that that was the case.

Now the Celtics situation is quite different. They made huge trades involving players but stuck with a much-maligned coach and seemingly incompetent general manager from a year ago. Look at them now, they went from worst to first. The fear, as Mike Greenberg points out, is that other teams will learn the wrong lesson from that situation. On the surface, it appears that the C’s turned it around due to huge changes, but in reality, what really happened? Pieces were moved but the whole was not disturbed. On the court, what won the championship? It was their DEFENSE. Dominant team defense doesn’t come about from simply adding good individual defenders. It comes from building a philosophy, a culture that commits to playing team defense, to communicating with each other, and to sacrificing individual glory for the team good.

Contrast that with what we saw from the Bulls this year. It looked like a bunch of individual players who are simply not good enough to achieve without buying into a team philosophy. The odd part is, the Celtics players were probably good enough to get pretty far by trying to play individually. But you see, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen had all tried that way on their previous teams and learned that that approach doesn’t get you anywhere but consistently booted out of the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs against a TEAM like the Spurs or Pistons.

All that to say, it takes time for lasting change to settle in and it takes some serious sacrifice to achieve it. Now, in sports, it seems a bit dramatic and yet inconsequential to “real life”. But take my life. I’m definitely one who tries to hurry change. I want to change…but I want it now. God knows this all too well. However, it is slowly dawning on me that that same principle holds true in life. Lasting, meaningful change takes time. It doesn’t come by saying you will change. It comes from committing to follow God’s way and not my own. It comes from accepting that it will take time and it will require learning humility and learning to admit that I’m wrong.

It struck me this morning as I was journaling in just how many areas of my life I don’t know what I’m doing. Even after 10 months on this job, I’m still learning new things and consistently realize that I’m clueless. To be frank, I don’t know how to lead a small group; I don’t know how to be a loving person to those around me and close to me. The bottom line is, I don’t know what I’m doing at all and must rely on God and go on in faith. I’m sure it only gets tougher as we go. I won’t know the first thing about being a loving husband or father. I have no idea how to “do” ministry. But you know what? That’s okay. I’m learning to cut myself some slack because it was never about me anyway.

This morning, I really felt God urging me to stop and look up. There is something much greater happening. I’ve been so busy trying to perfect my own tune that I’ve stopped listening for God’s great symphony that’s been playing from before the beginning of time. God doesn’t expect me to perform alone or want me to impress Him with my creativity or talent; He wants me to get in line with the music that He’s already making. It may sound cheesy but it’s true. There’s no sense in kicking against the goads any longer. And sure, I say this now but I also understand that I will falter and I will fail. But over time, God is changing me. It may not be in my timing or at my desired pace but the change He brings about is real and it’s lasting.

So how about a little patience? Perhaps then our lives will also play out like the Boston Celtics 2007-08 season.