As you begin a new term, what do you think about abstaining from social media? I had some friends who fasted from Facebook through Lent and according to Inside Higher Ed a professor offered a class extra credit if they stopped using social media during his course (see Extra Credit: Abstain from Facebook). How many took him up on the offer? 12 out of 35. How many succeeded? 6 out of 12. I wonder how he tracked and/or verified what I assume to be self-reporting. In what manner does social media help you get to … [Read more...] about Abstaining from Social Media
Technology in Higher Ed
En route to campus
I loved the recent Chronicle of Higher Education article The World Beyond MapQuest in which Regina Robbins Flynn, assistant professor of English at Salem State College, begins with this illustration. My older daughter was traveling back to grad school with her car last January, and we had MapQuested her trip from our home in Massachusetts to Pittsburgh, a journey of more than 600 miles, or 10 hours and 20 minutes without stops. And you've probably already guessed that Flynn's daughter gets lost. Turns out that she … [Read more...] about En route to campus
A Land Full of Mystery, Danger, and Wonder
How well does film convey material from classic literature? Can film be used to introduce a book and draw people into reading or does it stall the imagination, even inoculate against digging into the original text? Any classroom or personal experience(s) to share? What brings the question to mind? The recent release of the trailer for Tim Burton giving a stab at Alice in Wonderland (2010) with Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Anne Hathaway (White Queen), Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice). With my … [Read more...] about A Land Full of Mystery, Danger, and Wonder
The Future of Faculty Driven by Technology & Organizational Efficiency?
Some final thoughts on The Faculty of the Future: Leaner, Meaner, More Innovative, Less Secure (Forum, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/10/2009) from a friend who offers his gifts to Christ by serving as a business professor. Do any readers have comments on technological determinism and/or the striving for organizational efficiency in higher education? There are a few elements of the second commentary (TIMOTHY CARMODY) which make sense - but it reads to much like standard technological determinism predictions of … [Read more...] about The Future of Faculty Driven by Technology & Organizational Efficiency?
Who is in your class?
Would you agree with my idealistic enthusiasm for My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student, the story of a professor of anthropology at a large state university who realized that she no longer understood the behavior and attitudes of her students and returned to the classroom? And my uneasiness when reading that some "Online Professors Pose as Students to Encourage Real Learning" (Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/29/09), in the class which they're teaching? Can you offer testimonies, … [Read more...] about Who is in your class?