Wow!
The Georgia Institute of Technology is today unveiling what some experts believe is a much broader approach to the problem. The institute has abolished the core curriculum for computer science undergraduates — a series of courses in hardware and software design, electrical engineering and mathematics. These courses, in various forms, have been the backbone of […]
I have mixed feelings about this, from Joanne Jacobs:
According to a new report, “What Education Schools Aren’t Teaching About Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren’t Learning,” by the National Council on Teacher Quality, 85 percent of education schools aren’t teaching prospective teachers how to teach reading effectively.
On the one hand, it’s clear to me that […]
We’ve finished day three of our Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning. Tomorrow is wrap-up day.
The plenary sessions with Donna Llewellyn have been good. The information she has presented is not earth-shattering, but the discussions that she has encouraged, both in small groups and as one large group, have been edifying.
One of her […]
Next week, our university will be hosting the 4th Annual Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning (SITL). This is a three and a half day workshop for Western faculty. Part of the time is spent in plenary sessions with a guest facilitator. This year, our facilitator is Donna Llewellyn, Director of Georgia […]
The semester ended last Friday with exams. I am through with classes for another year.
It wasn’t my best semester.
My Theory of Computation class went off pretty well. It was a smaller than usual group, which allowed for a great deal of interaction. I lectured for the most part (as usual), but there […]
M, W, and F.
I had a sort of epiphany this semester. Modern higher education is premised on the idea that every academic topic can be fit into a three hour teaching box once a week for 15 weeks (or 10 in a quarter system). This has two significant results:
It assumes that all […]
No, not that kind. Bear with me.
The Carnival of Education is up over at The Education Wonks. EdWonk does his usual superb job. I’ve visited a number of the entries mentioned in this week’s carnival, including MathAndText’s description of a humorous exchange concerning the spelling of checkup.
My title above refers to an entry […]
What is the purpose of college? And I think it has to be more than just “educate students” or “encourage student learning.” Those kinds of answers are really just begging the question, and they don’t distinguish college from, say, high school.
I really want to know.
I haven’t blogged much about my experiences with my liberal studies math class. Mostly because it’s been a less than satisfying experience. I don’t feel like I’ve really “clicked” with most of the students at all. I could write all about it, but I’m afraid it would come off sounding like whining […]
The 14th Carnival of Homeschooling is up over at Why Homeschool? I’ll be honest, I haven’t been following the CoH very closely. But I thought I’d take a look to see what’s happening at the Carnival.
There are some worthwhile comments on textbooks over at Farm School. Becky’s not terribly keen on them (”committee-written, dumbed […]