click-bait or legit news?: Contrary to popular belief, school bullies have higher self-esteem, social status and lower levels of depression. Drawing on research in economics, psychology and sociology, study shows how people select their own reality by deliberately avoiding information…
Education – America’s key to democratic sustainability
The Founding Fathers believed that an informed voting electorate was crucial to sustaining democracy. As such they created public education to ensure that all social classes were mixed initially – and that this way a true meritocracy could develop –…
Letter to my students: FA16
It started as a nagging concern that a couple students were about to give up – and needed a kick in the pants, as Grandma would have put it. It turned in to an email sent to all of my…
What I’m learning about Online Classes: FA16
They won’t log in with JCCC student G-mail identity, but be using there personal gmail on devices, therefore using the “walled garden” JCCC-only access privacy setting is problematic. Border between classroom and public is blurred or misunderstood. Need fewer, but…
Curriculum Epistemology
The three biggest challenges facing us related to English Composition are: Privacy/ ownership: this includes shared creation of information on plagiarism and copyright (eg look at the caption on the meme I grabbed. Shouldn’t it read http://cdn.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/1333238359437_4954126.png?) Resource management: that includes…
Fun online reading speed test from the WSJ
Thank reddit for sharing a fun online reading speed and comprehension tool from The Wall Street Journal. I just took the test because I like to say I’ve done everything I ask my students to do, and since they shared…
Using RatemyProfessor.com to Evaluate Courses.
What is the college’s priority, learning or making things easy and convenient? When it comes to parking, I have no problem eliminating faculty parking spaces, but when it comes to the goal of the college, learning should come first. It…
The Choice’s Project
Dr. Maureen Fitzpatrick writes: Dear English faculty & other friends of student expression: Between October 13-October 31, there will be an interactive and evolving display of student and community writing in the Carlsen Center lobby called “The Choices Project*.” This…
The Syllabus Problem
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but when a paving brick can be used for more than one purpose we have to consider the intentions of each diverse intention of any brick. John Oliver has noted…
D2L crash course – challenges and invective.
“Change is a 4 letter word” said a mentor at my last job. No matter how good a new Learning Management System (LMS) is – switching to it will provoke animosity. I also know from my dissertation research that the…