Technology is without a doubt growing and expanding on a monthly basis. It seems like every time you turn around there is a new computer or processor available. There is nothing wrong with this, as it is keeping the market competitive and exciting, but it really makes things difficult for teachers. In fact, most parents […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
How teachers can utilize technology in the classroom
No surprise: A reverse on affirmative action
Fortunately for me, I teach on a campus where diversity is the norm. New York City College of Technology (one of the campuses of the City University of New York) is 33% Hispanic, 30% Black (non-Hispanic), 20% Asian and 11% White (non-Hispanic). The reversal of Obama-era Affirmative Action guidelines, clearly, is not going to affect me […] … learn more→
What if students were to practice mindfulness meditation?
For the last two years, Mindfulness Meditation has been participating in the IÉSEG School of Management’s “Grande École” program, through a course entitled “Mindfulness & Management”. This course is today one of the highest rated by the students, if one refers to the evaluations that they fill at the end of the session. On the […] … learn more→
Genocide hoax tests ethics of academic publishing
Hate speech is on the rise. In Canada alone, it increased by a staggering 600 per cent between 2015 and 2016 as part of what some have called “the Trump effect.” Academia is not immune to this trend. According to a recent study, some scholars have sought to promote “colonial nostalgia and white supremacy” by using […] … learn more→
The academic FitBit
If academic overwork had a Facebook status it would be ‘it’s complicated’. Academics work hard, in part, because we have to, in part because we love it, and partly because of dedication to our students. But the endemic overwork problem must be addressed. The pressure to work long hours translates through the academic eco-system to […] … learn more→
Things you were taught at school that are wrong
Do you remember being taught you should never start your sentences with “And” or “But”? What if I told you that your teachers were wrong and there are lots of other so-called grammar rules that we’ve probably been getting wrong in our English classrooms for years? How did grammar rules come about? To understand why […] … learn more→
Using more rigorous external examiners would help rein in grade inflation
In 1995, 8 per cent of students left university with a first-class honours degree. By 2013, the figure had risen to 18 per cent, and last year the figure rose again: an astonishing 26 per cent of students now leave with firsts, more than end up with lower-seconds. Some universities seem to have abandoned all sense of proportion: last year […] … learn more→
What you should know about the latest Senate Perkins Reauthorization Bill
With only a few shortcomings, the Senate’s bipartisan Perkins CTE bill could provide better data on outcomes while improving coordination between workforce investments. In a rare showing of bipartisanship, this week the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee voted unanimously to advance a bill that would reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and […] … learn more→
“Connected pathways”: supporting teacher training in digital transformation
The project “Connected Courses” in which my thesis is written is among the 22 winners of the e-FRAN call for projects (spaces for training, research and digital animation). E-FRAN aims to support School transformation projects and the creation of “digital innovation educational territories” by building on research. This call for projects was launched as part […] … learn more→
The great “design thinking” hoax
There’s a big divide between the administrative and faculty caste on campus nowadays. Your typical faculty will interact with admin1 on only a few occasions: hiring, firing, and when a student complains. The gentle reader will note that all three situations involve money: when you’re taking money out of admin pockets, when you’ll stop doing […] … learn more→
