Tag Archives: teachers

Do MOOCs Spell the End of the Traditional College Experience?

At The American Interest Nathan Harden, playing prophet, makes a pretty alarming prediction: In fifty years, if not much sooner, half of the roughly 4,500 colleges and universities now operating in the United States will have ceased to exist. The technology … Continue reading

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Changing the Education Paradigm

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Santi Tafarella: Why I Blog

The following was recently posted at the Antelope Valley College website, and I thought I’d put it up here as well: Santi Tafarella Talks About the Ultimate Freedom: Uncensored Thinking Recently AVC faculty member Santi Tafarella passed an amazing number. … Continue reading

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Community Colleges, the Enrollment Bottleneck, and a Dirty Little Secret

On April 8, 2011, the New York Times ran a piece on students making: . . . a strategic financial decision to attend community college first as a cost saving measure. The cost savings can be large (perhaps somewhere in the … Continue reading

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Critical Thinking in the Classroom Watch: What Miguel Aguilar Does

In the Los Angeles Times this weekend is an article about an unusually successful 5th grade teacher in LA Unified, Miguel Aguilar, and I notice that he very specifically teaches critical thinking to his students. Here, for example, is how the Times describes … Continue reading

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Sarah Palin Shows Disdain for a Middle Class Teacher

In the following clip, Sarah Palin doesn’t even try to conceal her contempt for a teacher (that is, someone devoted to developing the life of the mind and a love of books in her young charges). It’s as if Sarah Palin were saying to this … Continue reading

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Why Read Literature or Watch Good Films? Martha Nussbaum on the Role of the Imagination in the Cultivation of Empathy

Here’s a great quote from Martha Nussbaum’s new book, From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law  (Oxford 2010, xvii): That ‘terrified’ gay teenager needs, and deserves, equal respect, and a sphere of liberty equal to that enjoyed by … Continue reading

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Should community college professors watch what they say?

If community college professors are any indication, United States citizens, who normally pride themselves on their freedom of speech, are not quite as free to speak their minds as they might like to believe. Academe Online says community college professors are … Continue reading

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Reach out and touch someone

Literally. This recently in the New York Times: Students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not, studies have found. A sympathetic … Continue reading

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