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A report on studies which show the positive impact of exercise and being in nature on subjects' creativity and mood. Next time your class begs "can we have class outside", why not suggest a discussion during a walk to the other end of campus?

Other possible tags: Roy_Orbison and Nude_Models During a recent demonstration of software for creating video clips from DVDs the subject of copyright naturally arose. I shared some notes on copyright that I took while watching a webinar that highlighted the court decision in the Georgi State U. case in May. This article fits in nicelywith this thread of a conversation in that it illustrates the touchy/controversial nature of what exactly is meant by the term "transformative."

Good thoughts on how we teach students to think about writing rules, beyond just following them. "What begins as a technicality can end up going pretty deep into the very nature of the writer's task."

MOOCs are in the news -- not surprising. I decided to pass along two articles from yesterday's Chronicle of Higher Education; this is the first. The title basically tells the story, but underlying the main point are two sub-points. First, the ho-hum nature of the GSU attitude: "the Georgia State University Senate had little difficulty in finding a way to provide credit for MOOCs." I wonder about that. Second, the offhand announcement of what could significantly ratchet up departmental work loads: "academic departments (will) determine if (students completing MOOCs) have the required understanding of the material."

This Chronicle blogger concedes that "modularity" will not work at residential colleges -- at least not for all courses. Personally I think this reductionist trend is going too far. Students choose a major discipline. Students (often) choose a sub-discipline. Students choose which courses to take among all the possibilities. Students choose from among professors teaching those courses. The post takes this down to the level of the 10-minute video (or lecture). Really? What can one learn in ten minutes that stands alone so much that ALL the related knowledge can be ignored. Here's an example. A student watches a 10-minute video on coral reefs and learns that reefs are in danger due to rising ocean temperatures. Fine. But what is the reason? Does the threat to coral stem from the fact that they build their skeletons out of calcium carbonate? From the fact that modern corals are aragonitic and not calcitic? Does the symbiotic nature of corals and zooxanthellic algae play a role? Is there something else involved here? A combination of factors? Factoids? Do we really want our future generations making decisions about important matters based on what they remember from a 10-minute lecture or video?

"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? "

This article is very consonant with the work being done to support inclusive excellence in Kenyon's natural sciences division.

Interesting study showing the importance of consistent sleep in the weeks and months before exams, and not just the night before or catching up on weekends. Your bleary-eyed colleagues at the CIP suspect we would see this effect among faculty and staff as well.