Higher Education Observer

Good interview of a person I just learned about.  This is the kind of Republican and republican we need.  Not whatever passes for one in Washington now. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/may-web-only/ben-sasse-adolescence-is-gift-but-extended-adolescence-is-t.html

The other day one of my students was talking about his job at Walmart.  He said customers bring their dogs into Walmart all the time. "You mean service dogs, right?" I tried to clarify. "No, just dogs.  I just leave them alone," he answered.  "Are you serious?" I asked. "Walmart just lets them, and we leave them alone.  I'm not getting in trouble over someone's dog." I was flabbergasted.  What are these people thinking?  Why would you think bringing a dog into a grocery store is your right or need? First, I grew up when dogs, except for what was called "seeing-eye dogs" never went anywhere.  Second, dogs are not all house-trained and might go when they feel the urge.  Yuck.  Who gets to clean that up?  Third, children often walk up to dogs they don't know and get friendly--they shouldn't but they do.  As the owner and daily walker of a pitbull, I am extremely vigilant about children who have not been trained ...

Excellent article in Inside Higher Education , which I read more than The Chronicle of Higher Education simply because IHE comes to my box everyday for free, but I also find the articles valuable. https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1806-tread-carefully-with-the-socratic-method?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_9 This writer works in the same system I do and I know his situation.  I also have had the same kind of thing happening. Sometimes when we play "devil's advocate" we are both trying to challenge critical reflection and expressing a viewpoint, or a half-way one.  I had a student skewer me on a student evaluation a few years back because I had the nerve to suggest that being a stripper was not a good career choice for women. What I get from this is the granularity and care we must take with our language.  I am very guilty of letting my subconscious speak.  Sometimes this serves me well with some amazingly creative insights.  Other times I put my foot in it, and I'm ...

Having recently finished leading a (small) book group with colleagues on Mindse t by Carol Dweck, I have a few thoughts--well, more than a few, but I'll just share the most useful, in my thinking. First, I would recommend the work of Angela Duckworth and David Yeager.  This video on YouTube is a good start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUrkU4yjZu4  This is one of many you could find (Angela has done Ted Talks and is the "grit" lady) but I think this one combines them in a coherent way.  I heard David Yeager speak at AASCU last year and he has a lot to say to serious college teachers.  By serious college teachers I mean those who really want to attain student learning outcomes and are willing to set aside ego and biases to achieve that goal. My major take away from Mindset : the myth of easy Learning is supposed to be fun, right?  And everyone can be whatever they want to be, right?  And everyone should have great self-esteem on the basis of jus...

Reading this book because it was recommended by a higher up at the college who wanted to lead a book group on it, and the book group is this week.   I am slow to recommend books like this, but I found it helpful.   It took me a while to get into it, and it’s pretty anecdotal and of course, like all these books presents its ideas as the salvation of the organizational world.   Essentially, it posits five levels for organizations. Stage 1 – Members say, “Life sucks.” Stage 2 – Members say, “My life sucks.” Stage 3 – Some members say, “My life is great.”   Here we have people performing well but only for themselves. Stage 4 – Members say, “We are great,” which is an us-them mentality but is preferable to Stage 3, where everyone is about themselves and their own success.   At this stage the leaders have had epiphanies that show them the organization is bigger than individual members, etc.   Sort of a Jack Mezirow transformative le...

I take a very conservative view of Academic Freedom.  By that I mean that as far as free speech for the faculty member in the classroom, the less the better.  This is odd for me because I am libertarian in regard to free speech, but I also know the issues of power in the classroom and that the classroom has one goal, and that is not to allow the professor to spout off and pontificate. The goal of the classroom is student learning, not indocrination into a faculty member's viewpoints.   There is too much to do in a classroom to spend time on your own tangents.  Does this mean the faculty member is a blank slate, with not opportunities for self-expression?  Of course not.  We should be and are free to state our opinions, as long as we present them as such.  And we all know faculty who state their opinions as facts and as the sum total of the issue.  Admit it.  Just because you agree with someone's viewpoint doesn't mean it isn't their ...

--> The following is an excerpt from a guidebook I am co-authoring with colleagues on implementing High Impact Practices in a classroom.  I wrote this part so I think it's ok to post; our final book is going to be an open resource anyway and under Creative Commons.  This section is under the part on one of the quality matrices, "Periodic and structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learning."  One of the examples of this essential element, provided by the AAC&U literature, is “A capstone course in which students submit a portfolio and explain the relative contributions of the artifacts contained therein that represent the knowledge and proficiencies attained at various points during their program of study.”   Although this is one way to use reflection in a significant way, there are many ways that reflection can be used.   Unfortunately, reflection is a word more talked about than understood and done, as Shakespeare would say, “a cu...