Most borrowers owe more than 3 times what Biden is willing to cancel. This is like the difference between drowning in 10 feet of water or 40 feet of water. Either way, you're drowning. We need to bring people to shore, not drown them in half the water.
Last days to read “How the Coronavirus Pandemic Will Change Our Future Teaching” online for free at Religion & American Culture
Free access to this FORUM piece--brief think pieces on current issues--ends tomorrow. Check out contributions by Brandon Bayne, Valerie Cooper, Gastón Espinosa, and me, all scholars of religion writing about the impact of the pandemic on higher education broadly. You can download now and read another day if you don't have time today. In my... Continue Reading →
The Existential Threat to Higher Education is Not What You Think mo
It's not online education. It's a return to physical campuses in the fall. And while this is in part practical--When you kill students, retention necessarily falls.--it goes beyond the numbers of dead and lifelong injured that will result from a physical reopening. Reopening campuses is an admission that science, math, logic, moral reasoning, history, and... Continue Reading →
Why and How to “Handhold” in an Online Classroom–For Students’ Sake and Yours
This post is part of an ongoing series to help you prepare an online course thoughtfully but, if needed, quickly. If you begin at the beginning, I'll take you through the major decisions you need to make to launch a class as quickly as possible while still doing a great job. Today's post is about... Continue Reading →
Curbing Cheating Online: The Problem of Ringers
This post is part of a series designing online courses. We've been at it for awhile now, so if you are new to online course design, you may want to begin at the beginning. This post, the previous few, and the next two will focus on designing to ensure the validity of online assessments (that... Continue Reading →
Be Kinder than You Think Your Students Need
"Be kind to your sibling." "I AM being kind--they're the one being a jerk!" "Be kinder. Be kinder. Be kinder than you think you need to be. Be kinder than you think they deserve." It's a regular interaction in my household. Someone--possible more than one someone--has been a jerk, a meanie, an obnoxious brat. Probably... Continue Reading →
“Please Do a Bad Job…” Highlighted in The Chronicle of Higher Ed
Thanks to Beth McMurtie for reporting on efforts to pivot to remote teaching that are compassionate, reasonable, and realistic. This is part of a larger discussion about the culture of overwork, presence bleed, precarious labor, and more that will likely happen in higher ed as we continue into an economic crisis. The illustration above is... Continue Reading →
The Benefits of Guns on Campus
Though the overwhelming majority of postsecondary educators don’t want guns on their campuses and most states, in keeping with centuries’ old wisdom, have refused to expand guns to their campuses, two more states are set to bring firearms to higher ed. Arkansas and Kansas are joining Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin... Continue Reading →
The Sentencing of Brad Bartelt, Active Shooter
How can we know or trust the intentions of someone with a gun on campus? On Friday, I shared some of the reasons why guns on campus are a threat to public safety. That same day, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Brad Bartelt was sentenced to 18 years in prison—18 years for terroristic threatening (which involves a... Continue Reading →
4 Questions about Teaching in the Time of Mass Shooters
How do I respond to students for whom the presence of a gunman triggers a PTSD flashback? I'm thinking specifically of my many Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans--I usually teach a few in every class because of my discipline--some of whom have PTSD diagnoses, but I imagine this can also apply to those who have... Continue Reading →