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"At the college level, there are three crucial blockages to helping students with their writing. First, professors do not see themselves as teachers of basic skills. They believe that they should teach the content of their courses, not engage in mundane tasks like grading student writing.
Second, correcting writing is hard, time-consuming, and a possible source of conflict. Third, there is no incentive to do it. Almost never will a professor find himself earning any rewards, much less additional compensation, for devoting time to working with students on their writing." http://www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2951 From the article: Behold the wholly sanitized childhood, without skinned knees or the occasional C in history. "Kids need to feel badly sometimes," says child psychologist David Elkind, professor at Tufts University. "We learn through experience and we learn through bad experiences. Through failure we learn how to cope." Whether we want to or not, we're on our way to creating a nation of wimps. Challenge Me! A student at UNC-Chapel Hill is surprised to find that his freshman courses were less rigorous than many high school classes. Aftab Aslam Accused Of Faking Kidnapping To Avoid Telling Parents About Failing Grades
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/aftab-aslam-accused-of-fa_n_3295365.html An interesting article re: some professors not allowing students to use laptops in class. It's interesting only it that it demonstrates many of the different arguments regarding the validity of using laptops as a note-taking tool. I generally disagree with the author who somehow equates those professors with concerns about laptops as luddites. I'm far-far and away from a luddite. In fact, I'm generally fascinated by the many tools available to students and wished I had had them when I was undertaking coursework. However, I do notice that classes have a tendency to become much less "interactive" in relation to how many laptops are being used. Some students never look at me the entire class and type furiously whether I'm lecturing OR NOT. I'm fairly adept with technology (moreso than most of my students, probably, given my background and higher purchasing power), and I can tell when students are concentrating on me, or their laptops. I have VAST amounts of experience with the "techno stare," since I've been guilty of it so very often, myself. I haven't yet decided to ban laptops from my classroom, but every semester I teach, I inch ever closer to doing so. http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2012/09/13/nyu-professor-put-away-your-laptops-or-go-enroll-in-the-university-of-phoenix/ Some interesting quotes from the article: [If one wants to use a laptop in school, one should] “Drop out of NYU and go enroll in the University of Phoenix.” [There is some wrongness to this quote--no one with a heart should ever tell anyone to enroll at that particular university.] And… just so the college kids know… professors have been lecturing for millenia. Get over the “I’m bored” rant. Learn to concentrate and glean what you can from these people who know their subject far better than you do. You’re not paying them to entertain you. You’re paying the university for an EDUCATION. If you’d rather be entertained while educated, go home and watch Sesame Street and Magic School Bus. |
Article Blog
From time-to-time I find interesting articles about the state of universities, the field of history, etc. I'll post them here just in case anyone else is interested. Archives
February 2016
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