Higher Education Observer

I had an interesting experience last semester. In a lecture on perception, I mentioned (because I had been reading so) that people with autism (my brother has it) do not perceive less than others, but they perceive more and that their behaviors are to block out or filter or deal with the overload. One boy in the back of the room said, "I know that's true because I'm autistic and .... " That's one of those "moments of truth." I often do not handle them well, but this one I did. Since the young man had not done anything that indicated autism to me (other than being nerdy), after he talked about himself I said, "Do you have Asperger's?" to which he said, "Yes, and ADD." Another young man in the class was giving me signals that he was in the same boat. There is something ironic and yet appropriate about this incident--only a student with Asperger's or Austism Spectrum Disorder would just announce it so boldly in class. ...

The 18th and 19th Centuries As usual, the text does what it does very well but eliminates some crucial elements of this period, called The Age of Reason or The Age of Enlightenment. This study guide is designed to guide you through what in the book you will be held responsible to know (that is, what I want to emphasize) and will at the end do the same in reference to the PowerPoint, which as you see is simplified but still important. The Age of Reason actually started about 1680 with Isaac Newton’s work called Principia Mathematica and with the English Glorious Revolution. One of the ideas Newton and his contemporaries proposed was that the world, nature, or natural phenomena were measurable and could be recorded in mathematical formulas. If measurable, then it was understandable and controllable. Nature was now the primary field of study, as opposed to human beings alone; human beings were increasingly being seen as a part of nature, not separate from it (as Christianity taught)....

Thursday was my last official Teaching and Learning Center activity. For me, it's all over but the shouting--and the annual report. But not the end of this blog, which will chronicle my teaching experiences and put out questions in case people want to respond. I have a policy. I am all business for the first 8-10 weeks of my COMM 1110 class, the one I teach the most. By then, I have "run off" (don't take that literally) the students who aren't going to stick around, either because they never planned to in the first place, or they have had personal issues (which I never condemn them for--it happened to me in a Ph.D. program), or they can't (choose not to) do the work. After that, I lighten up and shift the burden to the student. I bloviate less, leave the learning up to them, have more fun. The nature of our students makes it unwise to lighten up any earlier than that. What about you? do you follow a similar pattern? Or are you warm and fun all the way...

Do you take attendance in your class? I can't imagine not, for the following reasons: 1. We are responsible for knowing when the students stopped attending, etc. for financial aid purposes. 2. I want them there to participate and listen to other students' speeches. 3. I can't trust them to make the right decision about attendance without an external motivator. I'm not proud of this one, but I do know about our current generation of students is that they do very little without an external motivator. We have created them, so we have no reason to blame them. 4. It motivates me to learn their names. After the second week I do not call role. I find that demeaning and a waste of time, and there are ways to get around it. I understand why some instructors do not take roll, however. Yes, it's really the students' responsibilities to learn, absolutely. I agree with all that but don't plan on stopping my practice. Next post: millennials--a myth?

The biggest advantage of Teaching and Learning programs is that it causes, or allows, professors in different disciplines to leave their buildings, their wings, or departments, and talk to people who teach--and more importantly, think--in terms of different disciplines. I had a great book discussion today with a biology professor, who was the only other one who showed up. On top of that, she was from another culture. Fascinating. I learned so much. But I have also found that many academics are either unwilling to learn or listen to someone in another discipline, or frightened by the prospect of it. Or just plain intellectually lazy, or afraid some turf will be surrendered by talking to someone from across campus. I have read the research that professors are more loyal or committed to their disciplines than to their institutions. I understand some of that. But that shouldn't prevent us from (and here's the cliche I have come to disdain) "thinking outside the box...

Perhaps no practice in higher education pushes veteran faculty to cynicism and younger faculty to frustration more than SET—student evaluation of teaching. If you have ever received SETs that left you angry, scratching your head, or laughing at the irony of it all; if you have ever wished there were other ways to evaluate your teaching; if you have ever wondered about the reliability and validity of the SET process, you are not alone. Although over thirty journal articles went into the preparation of this essay, that number represents only about 1% of all that have been published on the subject. According to Al-Isa & Suleiman (2007), 2988 journal articles on SET in higher education appeared in professional journals from 1990 to 2005. Furthermore, the ones published 30 years ago address the same concerns as the ones written in the last few years. As many of the articles echoed, faculty members routinely question the practice of SET. Until I came to DSC, my experience with SET a...

I was praying today for the other Christian faculty members on my campus. Not that I don't pray for the nonChristians--I do--but I pray that the Christians would be strong and winsome and wise. The ones I know are nice people and good colleagues and, while perhaps not the coolest people on campus, have good reputations. I would hope for more than just a good reputation, though, but spiritual influence. Being a Christian on a secular campus means conflict in a couple of areas. Sometimes it's in terms of politics, but it shouldn't be. I really try to keep my conservatism under raps because I don't want it confused with my faith. While there are connections between the two, I don't have a "what would Jesus do" view of how I vote. Perhaps I should, but I don't, at least not totally. I don't know how Jesus would vote on health care reform. I suspect He would prefer a fiscally solvent government system, no way for irresponsible women to kill the...