Category Archives: Teaching

Actors Replacing Instructors?

Campus Technology has an article in a recent issue about Purdue using actors instead of instructors to present video content. At first I had a knee jerk “The Apcolypse is here” reaction, but the article raised some interesting points worth… More On: Actors Replacing Instructors?

Posted in Accessibility, Multimedia, Teaching | Leave a comment

Why Don’t Students Like School? (Book Review)

About the Book Willingham’s goal for this book is explain how findings from cognitive science can be used to explain how learning works. Topics include memory, a review of learning style theory (partly to debunk it), and the importance of… More On: Why Don’t Students Like School? (Book Review)

Posted in Cognition/Linguistics, Teaching | Leave a comment

Breaking and Mending Your Students’ Heart in Anthropology

One of the more interesting themes I’m seeing in my music Coursera course is the theme of re-examning world music through different eyes. Like most students in the course, I decided to join the course because I am interested in… More On: Breaking and Mending Your Students’ Heart in Anthropology

Posted in Globalization/Diversity, Teaching | Leave a comment

Cupcakes, Creativity and Women in STEM

An issue that I and other continue to ponder is why it remains difficult to attract women to STEM fields (math, engineering, science). Despite Larry Summer’s unfortunate remarks, I do think that there are more women capable of participating in… More On: Cupcakes, Creativity and Women in STEM

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment

Signing Off On Group Problem Submissions?

In one of the engineering courses I’m working with, students are grouped into teams of four and asked to submit one joint homework assignment (usually with at least four problems). The instructor likes this structure because 1) students are able… More On: Signing Off On Group Problem Submissions?

Posted in Teaching | 2 Comments

Teaching at the Primate Level

I’ve been seriously distracted by this WGBH/PBS NOVA interview with primatologist Rebecca Saxe, but it was so fascinating. I’ve watched enough chimp documentaries to know that they actually do use tools (like a stick to pick up a horde of… More On: Teaching at the Primate Level

Posted in Teaching | 1 Comment

Import/Export Literacy?

I know we probably don’t need a new literacy, but today I’ve been contemplating the task of possibly transferring large repository of links into del.icio.us. I could hand-enter the links, but the repository does number in the thousands (in other… More On: Import/Export Literacy?

Posted in Standards, Teaching | Leave a comment

Introducing Embroiderers to their Inner Math Wizards

Anyone familiar with embroidery, quilting, or knitting knows that some heavy duty math can come into the craft, depending on the pattern. Last night I was teaching a project called Optical Color Blending which is a showcase of mixing colors… More On: Introducing Embroiderers to their Inner Math Wizards

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment

Is Independent Learning Really Learning?

A few summers ago, I was very interested in getting FileMaker to convert hex numbers to decimal numbers and vice versa. This was an arcance enough question that I could not find a ready answer either online or in the… More On: Is Independent Learning Really Learning?

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment

Don’t Forget the Definition Box

Now that I’ve worked with several technical courses, I realize that one of the more important and tricky parts of building a course is making sure students are properly introduced to new terminology in the correct sequence. This may seem… More On: Don’t Forget the Definition Box

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment