If … there be kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~ Etienne Grellet
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 →
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 →
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 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
In Judaism, when you hear a fire engine’s siren, you cannot pray, “Please, not my house.” When you pull to the side of the road to let an ambulance pass, you cannot pray, “Please not my child.” Someone’s house is burning, and someone’s child is injured, maybe dying or already dead, and the siren has... Continue Reading →