461 research outputs found
George W. Schumaker family group
No full textThis home portrait shows the George W. Schumaker family at 3454 Carrollton Avenue in Indianapolis. A check of the city directory shows George was a newspaper writer and his wife was named Hazel. The younger man in military dress is wearing a black armband, a symbol of mourning.This image is a preservation copy made from an unstable original nitrate negative. The image is part of Series III
Critical Pluralism, Democratic Performance, and Community Power
No full textPaul Schumaker is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Kansas, where he taught for 45 years. He is the author or editor of several books, most recently The Twenty-Eighth Amendment?: Beyond Abolishing the Electoral College.
With a New Preface by the Author.This Kansas Open Books title is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.A central question in political science is who governs and how.
Typically political scientists attempt to answer this question by relying upon either empirical analysis, which explains existing political practices, or normative analysis, which prescribes ideal political practices.
Political scientist Paul Schumaker rejects this distinction between empirical and normative theory. Instead, he weds the two approaches to create the new analytical mode he calls critical pluralism. With it he can measure variances in government from pluralist/democratic ideals and still provide theoretical explanations of why the variances occurred.
Schumaker uses critical pluralism to describe, explain, and evaluate variations in three key measures of democratic performance: responsible representation, complex equality, and principle-policy congruence. To test his framework and methodology he analyzes 29 community issues that arose in Lawrence, Kansas, between 1977 and 1987. The results of his study—one of the most comprehensive databases ever in the study of community politics—will be of interest to those who study community power. The conceptual framework itself and methodology used in assessing democratic performance will have a lasting impact on the way community government is studied
Scattered data fitting on surfaces using projected Powell-Sabin splines
No full textWe present C1 methods for either interpolating data or for fitting scattered data associated with a smooth function on a two-dimensional smooth manifold Ω embedded into R3. The methods are based on a local bivariate Powell-Sabin interpolation scheme, and make use of local projections on the tangent planes. The data fitting method is a two-stage method. We illustrate the performance of the algorithms with some numerical examples, which, in particular, confirm the O(h3) order of convergence as the data becomes dens
The Importance of Conference Design in WebTycho - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
The Importance of Conference Design in WebTycho
Richard Schumaker
Manager, Worldwide Training
Center for Teaching and Learning
Published: January-February 2005
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-communication
Most online instructors realize that academic rigor in an online course comes from a combination of
scholarship, interaction, presentation, and the course syllabus itself. Often, however, a vital element in
this enumeration tends to get left out--conference design.
In this brief article, I would like to present three different patterns or models for designing WebTycho
conferences. These models have at least three virtues. First, they assist the teacher in presenting
material of considerable cognitive complexity. Secondly, they ground and provoke rich student-instructor
and student-student interaction. Thirdly, these models are all exceedingly flexible: they can
be altered by individual instructors to fit a wide range of teaching situations; they can also be modified
to suit individual students or groups of students. None of what follows is offered dogmatically; on the
contrary, teachers are encouraged to modify, experiment with, and expand all three of these patterns.
For the sake of simplicity, I am going to name the three patterns as follows:
The Problem Analysis Model (#prob)
The Devil's Advocacy Model (#adv)
The Information Literacy Model (#model)
In order to better present the three models, I would like to refer to single topic—the current decline in
the dollar vis-à-vis other major global currencies—throughout this article.
The Problem Analysis Model
Let's begin by taking a look at the Problem Analysis Model for organizing conferences.
1 The Instructor Introduces: the Demise of the Dollar?
Richard
Schumaker
2 >Team 1: A Disaster Waiting to Happen (12 responses) Warren Wade III
3 Team 2: American Economic Power Will Prevail (56 responses) Raoul Speranza
4 Team 3: Bravo--Good for Exports! (12 responses) John Dollops
5 Team 4: OK for Now but Current Accounts Need Strengthening (54
responses)
Paula Halston
6 Team 5: American Hubris from the Global Perspective (34 responses) Jan Smythe
The Importance of Conference Design in WebTycho - DE Oracle
7 Instructor's Wrap-Up: Strong and Weak Points of This Discussion (6
responses)
Richard
Schumaker
8 Transition: Now Let's Look at the Political Dimension (1 response)
Richard
Schumaker
The instructor, Richard Schumaker, has chosen an especially complex problem from his course material
and has designed a conference around the problem itself. As one sees from the title of the first Main
Topic, the instructor has emphasized the problematic nature of the issue; hence the title—"The Demise
of the Dollar?" The instructor is communicating that this is an issue with different, opposing points of
view. Isolating a single topic and devoting an entire conference to it enhances the focus of the
teacher's presentation.
Looking at the conference as a whole, one readily sees that the teacher is striving for a balanced
approach. On the one hand, he is in firm control of the discussion. The instructor presents an
introduction to the problem itself; the instructor also recapitulates at the end of the conference; finally,
the instructor also supplies a transition to the next part of the course. On the other hand, the student
teams are responding to the question in the first Main Topic: they are taking clear positions on "the
demise of the dollar" and attempting to give a rhetorical spin to their ideas by altering the title line of
their Main Topic.
In this conference, the teacher is using teams. Obviously this does not have to be the case and will
vary from course to course and teacher to teacher.
In my experience as an online instructor this approach to conference design has a somewhat hidden
advantage; it accustoms the students to the focused discussion of complex issues; it sets a high
standard of intellectual rigor for later discussions.
The Devil's Advocacy Model
The second model might be called "The Devil's Advocacy Conference." Here is a typical example of it:
1 The "Devil" Speaks: The Dollar Will Crash--Very Soon!!! (4
responses)
Richard
Schumaker
2 Team 1: A Crash is Possible but Not So Soon (34 responses) Samuel Squall
3 Team 2: This Will Never Happen (23 responses) Janice Walls
4 Team 3: What Does the Devil Know? (17 responses) Fran Lositz
5 Team 4: The Devil's Squad: Let It Fall!!! (43 responses) Walt Koblenz
6 Team 5: It's All Politics, Stupid!! (12 responses) C.D. Roberts
7 Student's Recapitulation of This Discussion Jamie Rice
In this conference model the same teacher maintains at once a stronger and weaker presence than in
the first conference model. The instructor is stronger because his introduction to the conference is
much stronger: "The "Devil" Speaks: The Dollar Will Crash—Very Soon!!!" No longer is he merely
The Importance of Conference Design in WebTycho - DE Oracle
presenting a problem; he's taking a very controversial, time-sensitive, and speculative stand. He is
somewhat weaker because he doesn't personally frame the conference with a summary and transition
material. His goal here is to give the students the opportunity to analyze the problem and propose their
own solutions. By taking a hyperbolic stand, he is being playful, urging the students to think for
themselves and express themselves in a decisive manner. This kind of discussion, in almost all cases,
becomes spirited, interesting, and inventive.
Different teachers will handle "devil's advocacy" conferences differently. Some will give precise
guidelines for administering the groups; some will let the students organize themselves. Some teachers
will intervene frequently; some will stand back and let the students debate amongst themselves. As in
the first conference pattern, using teams is not necessary. Each student in the course might have
posted their own Main Topic. It is also possible to appoint student moderators.
In my experience, this pattern of conference inevitable energizes a course; it adds intellectual
atmosphere and creativity to even a sober topic. It is also an ideal model for the middle of a long
course, at a point when tedium might tend to set in.
The Information Literacy Model
The following model offers an approach for integrating sophisticated skills in information literacy into
the natural flow of one's online class.
Here is the sample conference in WebTycho:
1 Instructor: Guidelines for This Conference (6 responses)
Richard
Schumaker
2 Team 1: The Economist Passes the Buck (2 December 2004) (32
responss)
Will Rasperly
3 Team 2: Morgan Stanley and the Infamous Soft Landing ( 4 June 02)
(32 responses)
Henry Bail
4 Team 3: Niall Ferguson's Historical Point of View Post ( 06.19.04)
(12 responses)
Martha Sparks
5 Team 4: Comparative Analysis of Our Three Sources (45 responses) Neal Netherby
6 Instructor Suggests Some Additional Sources (6 responses)
Richard
Schumaker
Once again, this conference is carefully designed by the instructor, who is attempting to maximize
student interaction without jeopardizing order or intellectual content. Guidelines are given in the first
Main Topic to give direction to the students' research. These directions, not visible in the above screen
shot, are precise without being patronizing:
In order to deepen our discussion of the current instability in international exchange rates, it is
necessary to locate incisive, informative sources and to evaluate them carefully. In conjunction with
your team, please survey library and WWW material on this situation. Find a single source that in the
opinion of your team contains all the criteria that your textbook author developed in Chapter 3. As a
Main Topic, give the source (live link or directions how to find it) and in a carefully written single
paragraph of under 300 words, explain why the chosen source is a valuable contribution to this
The Importance of Conference Design in WebTycho - DE Oracle
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discussion. Change the subject line to name your source and, additionally, to reflect the thematic
content of your evaluation Please post your evaluation before 3 November 2004. Once the groups have
posted their evaluations, as individuals please post a response to one of the Main Topics.
The instructor also concludes the conferences by offering some key sources that he finds germane to
this discussion.
In a conference like this, the student discussions in fact serve double duty; the instructor can not only
discuss the economic issues themselves but can also assess the students' research skills and methods.
Conclusion
Each of these three model conferences enhances the cognitive complexity of the course discussions by
requiring students to carefully analyze thematic material. Because of the way the conferences are
designed, students must think for themselves, evaluate current sources, draw on their own experience,
and evaluate the points of view of others. All three of these conference designs act as springboards to
personal involvement on the part of the students and spirited, probing, and creative student-student
and student-teacher discussions.
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The Importance of Conference Design in WebTycho - DE Oracl
Error bound for radial basis interpolation in terms of a growth function
No full textWe suggest an improvement of Wu-Schaback local error bound for radial basis interpolation by using a polynomial growth function. The new bound is valid without any assumptions about the density of the interpolation centers. It can be useful for the localized methods of scattered data fitting and for the meshless discretization of partial differential equation
Schumaker (Birth, 1896-01-16)
No full textAddress: Carthage337/Pg.8/1896/CARTHAGE/F W/Amer/Amer/Dr. T. S. Potter/Rec. Feb.1, 1896Original record filed in drawer labeled 'SCHULTEAN-SCHWARTS'
Schumaker, Hilda (Birth, 1901-03-03)
No full textAddress: 1618 Hewitt Ave.933/Pg 101/1901/F W/Ind/Ind./Dr. F. W. SmithOriginal record filed in drawer labeled 'SCHULTEAN-SCHWARTS'
Schumaker (Birth, 1899-06-10)
No full textAddress: Carthage465/Pg.11/1899/CARTHAGE/F W/Amer/Amer/Dr. O. D. SimmonsOriginal record filed in drawer labeled 'SCHULTEAN-SCHWARTS'
Schumaker (Birth, 1900-09-30)
No full textAddress: Lockland Ave.515/Pg.12/1900/CARTHAGE/M W/Amer/Amer/Dr. T. S. PotterOriginal record filed in drawer labeled 'SCHULTEAN-SCHWARTS'
Schumaker (Birth, 1898-01-01)
No full textAddress: 1912 Race369/Pg 33/1898/F W/Ger./Cinti/Mrs. P. GotzeOriginal record filed in drawer labeled 'SCHULTEAN-SCHWARTS'
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