On Learning Curves, I read a lament about calculus students having a hard time putting their skills into practice on some basic word problems. This line stood out: They can do the calculus. The algebra slays them. Of late, our CS faculty have been discussing a programming corollary. Students have pa...

This fifty-nine minute podcast features an opening keynote address by Alan Levine, Vice President of NMC Community and CTO for the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Susan M. Zvacek, Director of Instructional Development and Support at the University of Kansas. Their presentation is entitled, "Bala...

The other day, I got an e-mail from an old student sharing ideas after one year of teaching. Though it’s hard for me to figure out exactly who the writer is through an e-mail address and while I have so many students, to a teacher, such feedback is indeed the most precious reward. The following is...

I've been watching an interesting discussion unfolding at DrugMonkey, prompted by a post at Science Bear's Cave, about whether not irritating your lab group's principal investigator ought to be your highest priority. As DrugMonkey notes, such a strategy can have bad consequences: If there is a scien...

In what I would call a major conflict of interest, the book review section of the Sunday Post reviews the new book, Work Hard, Be Nice, written by Jay Mathews (the paper’s education reporter). I haven’t read the book (it’s in my Amazon wish list) but from what I can tell from revie...

Last week, I read a paper on changes how statistics is taught. In the last few decades, more schools have begun to teach stats conceptually, so that the general university graduate might be able to reason effectively about events, variation, and conditions. This contrasts with the older style in whi...

Just finished up a really interesting interview with Carol Dweck, author of the book Mindset, and it’s got me thinking hard about the language I use with my own kids in terms of creating a “growth mindset” in them or a “fixed mindset.” I’ve always believed that we...

EDUCAUSE Now is a monthly podcast, focusing on the intelligent use of information technology in higher education.  Join host Gerry Bayne and Colleen Luckett for this episode that presents some ideas, strategies, and opportunities from leaders in higher education IT. Subscribe to the EDUCAUSE NOW RS...

A student reader sent me a message to say that he didn't click with my talk of 'embracing' failure. He prefers to think in terms of pushing through failure to reach success. So I found it interesting when I ran across a blog entry with a similar them (via The Third Bit) on the same day: I'm writing ...

A while back, I clipped this quote from a university publication, figuring it would decorate a blog entry some day: The thing about a liberal arts education ... is it prepares you to fail successfully and learn from that failure. ... You will all fail. That's OK. -- Jim Linahon Linahon is an alumnus...