Group items tagged

An interesting look at what drives people to adopt a particular statistical package, and what the future might hold for R, SAS, SPSS, and Stata.

From the article: "Exam wrappers are short activities that direct students to review their performance (and the instructor's feedback) on an exam with an eye toward adapting their future learning... Exam wrappers ask students three kinds of questions: How did they prepare for the exam? What kind of errors did they make on the exam? What could they do differently next time?"

Many students don't know who the real audience is for their course evaluations. Brian Croxall has an interesting solution for that - tell them that the audience is the students in the next class.

Thomas Carey argues that "depth vs. breadth" is an insufficient model for understanding the possible contributions of the liberal arts. (Plus, K is for Kenyon, that's good enough for me.)

"We are very good at helping people to find the articles they are looking for and can describe. But the next big thing we would like to do is to get you the articles that you need, but that you don't know to search for. Can we make serendipity easier? "

Jose Bowen, president of Goucher College and author of the book _Teaching Naked_, is starting a 5-part series on liberal arts education as the "degree of the future". In part one, I'd note the implied difference between "critical" and "creative" thinking.

Curating your own portfolio can be a valuable metacognitive exercise, helping students cement their learning and plan for the future. Or it can be an exercise in checking off boxes. Which sounds like a better use of student time and tuition dollars?

Ric Sheffield discusses past and future projects to engage students in learning about racial and ethnic diversity in Knox County, Ohio on the GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning website.

A challenging list, but worth deep consideration. The reading list at the end might be good sources for future CIP book clubs.

It may be a little late for this, but tomorrow it will be even later. Take a relaxed summer moment to jot down some reflections for your future self.

Molly Appel describes a strategy she uses to teach students specific critical analysis and close reading skills, allowing them to relate more deeply with diverse texts and the diversity of the classroom. While the examples are from literature, I can imagine the approach being adapted for the reading skills of any discipline.

Academic publishing house John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has teamed up with TED to produce instructor material for a recently launched series of videos called the "TED Studies." The link takes you to a press announcement from Wiley, in which there is a link to the first two inaugural courses. One of these is in psychology, the other is in statistics. The instructor material is online in these first two cases, but I cannot see where Wiley precludes potential print material in the future. I also cannot find the TED Studies area of the TED web pages, and I am trying to discover the difference between TED Studies and the previously announced TED-Ed initiative. I will update this comment when I can find more information.

Clay Shirkey, author of "Here Comes Everybody," examines the challenge posed to U.S. higher education by massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Shirkey is the author of "Here Comes Everybody," a book he says is about "what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures." In this article, he describes the same dynamic at work in the disruptive potential of MOOCs to all but the most elite institutions of higher education in America. 

This is a question we need to start asking up-front. When a textbook vendor calls, ask about accessible materials. When you see a documentary, ask if it's closed-captioned. When we think about new technologies, ask about screen readers and other accessibility tools. Better still, ask vendors (and colleagues) what accommodations they'd make to get all students an equivalent educational experience.

If the point of online discussion boards and collaborative projects is to get students discussing course ideas with each other, does it make sense to move those discussions to the social media venues they're already using?

An interesting balanced look - dare I call it a "middle path"? - at how to move toward wise, effective use of technology in the classroom.

Lots of good thoughts in this issue of AAC&U's _Diversity & Democracy_ about different ways students can work in and with off-campus communities.

Check out this sample flipped lesson that I created in just a few minutes on the TED-Ed (or is it EdTED) site. Currently TED-Ed has only a limited number of videos, but perhaps all TED lectures will be available for flipped lessons in the future. Interested in seeing what you can do yourself? Then go to http://ed.ted.com/ and click on the tour (or Learn More) links. Next, create your own account and get started. This speaker brings together the fields of mathematics, marine biology, feminine handicrafts, and environmental activism. Seriously!

Seth Godin turns his attention to the purposes of education, and whether we are preparing the learners which our society and economy need. It's a dense "manifesto", but there are important considerations in it.

A thought experiment about the risks of change and stasis in the college curriculum.