Higher Education Observer

Recently we (i.e., the faculty at our college) had to redo all of our student learning outcomes to conform to our authorizing agency. To some extent we had to put the SLOs in a format that showed our classes taught Global Perspectives, U.S. Perspectives, and Critical Thinking. It was, as many things are, tedious, but it got done, and we are satisfied with it. But the process raised a number of questions for me, as did a project I am working on with a colleague in another discipline. Critical thinking is the buzz word for the ages in higher education, but do we even know what we are talking about? Below are my musings about the subject, which I put out here in cyber space to see if anyone want to comment upon them. First, critical thinking is a process, not an outcome. It is a system for getting to a conclusion, not the conclusion. The best definition I've read is this one, from the website critical thinking.com, "the skillful application of a repertoire of validate...

I have to mention that my colleagues in the Humanities Department at Dalton State College nominated me for two awards yesterday. One is Excellence in Service and one is Excellence in Professional Development. I am very thankful for such thoughtful folks to work with.

http://educationtechnews.com/students-use-facebook-to-oust-teachers-blog/ I am conflicted on this one. As long as names aren't given, it's not a confidentiality issue. However, it's less than professional in general. I have had a similar experience, where students didn't like what I posted and responded as if I didn't have a right to my opinion or free speech. However, I am not sure what I posted was overly appropriate. Measure twice, cut once; think three times, post to your blog once.

Barbara G. Tucker Associate Professor, Communication Dalton State College Abstract The growing awareness of Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome and the improved early intervention strategies for those affected by the disorders mean that the college instructor is more likely to deal with neurodiverse students in the classroom. Neurodiverse students face particular challenges in the college classroom, especially one where the focus is oral communication skills. The college instructor should understand the disorders and how effective teaching and learning strategies can be used. The writer interviewed six male college students, three with autism and three with Asperger’s, to ascertain what would help them learn. Introduction Any college instructor knows that sometimes students will reveal information that is, to say the least, unplanned. This type of incident happened to me in Spring 2010, but it has had fortuitous results. In a lecture on audience perceptions of public messages, I m...

DIY U by Anya Kamenetz. I like her analysis of the problem but not her solution. (Throw more federal money at the problem). Any one who works in an open access environment knows many students waste a lot of money by not being successful, and some actually scam the system. By many, of course, I don't mean most. Most are hard working people. But the system needs more than money thrown at it. It needs better teachers and methodologies and a reality check for all involved. I think this book does this.

http://partsofspeaking.blogspot.com/2011/01/was-jesus-model-teacher-addendum.html

I have really nice students this semester. That is usually the case. I like where I work very very much. However, I got a memo from our VP today about the averages on teacher evaluations. There are faculty in my department that actually get perfect scores on those things! I don't see how that is possible, how every student in a class would rate any instructor perfectly on every category! I average about 4.6 out of 5, which I think is pretty good, but not in my department. So I really don't know what the problem is. The students' comments are very positive, except that I may be too demanding, and some think they should get As on their speeches. So this is a little bit of a downer, My average is the departmental average. Well, I guess I shouldn't think that's so bad. But I'd like to think after 33 years that my teaching is a little bit better than average.