Blogs

A few years ago, my college started a January intersession in which students take a single course for two weeks. It was a runaway hit; enrollments have grown every year, course completion rates have hovered around 90 -- off the charts by community college standards -- and faculty feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

What are some of the dumb things you have done with e-mail?

News broke this weekend about the University of Florida's plans to restructure its computer science department. What are the ramifications -- on the department, on the discipline -- of this decision?

In a recent post, David Roberts describes the downside of being reasonable during discussions about ecological sustainability and climate change. His main point is that in order to win (effectively, if not technically), all that unreasoning climate denialists have to do is to refuse to budge regardless of the evidence and logic against their position. Eventually, any reasonable person gets to the point of walking away or dismissing them as stupid or agreeing to disagree. Any of those leaves them as the last combatant in the arena, such that the last man standing wins by default.

A regular correspondent writes: "My state wants cc administrators to be able to change grades if faculty demonstrate 'error' or 'unfairness.'"

When was the last time that you got angry with one of your edtech vendors? Did you express your anger to your contact at the company?

Graduate school can make you feel “less than,” but every step of grad school (and venturing beyond it) requires the knowledge of your unique advantages. When suffering from imposter syndrome or some other discouragement, take a lesson from Business and count your assets. Otherwise known as counting your blessings, listing your assets can help you feel better, come to a better knowledge of yourself, and—best of all—it only takes a few minutes (no accounting required!).

I know I’ve said in the past that I like April, despite all the things that go on during that month. And I still do. But what I like least about April is filling out the college financial aid forms that are always due some time this month. (Well, except for the first time, when they were due on the 1st of February, before I’d even finished doing the taxes.)