Signal to Noise Ratio in Learning
I think those of us who are educators would agree that, since the start of the pandemic, our students are more distracted than ever. In fact, I think most of…
Experiencing Awe
We are in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) is approaching Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. Astronomers discovered it in March 2022…
Obsession, Learning, and Teaching
I didn't write a single blog post during the Fall semester. My blog post from the end of July gives a little bit of a hint about the reason. In…
Astrophotography and Teaching
I have been interested in photography for years. I have a good understanding of composition, the exposure triangle, depth of field, and many other photographic concepts as well as how…
Teaching, Learning, and Atomic Habits
I wrote earlier this year about using the book Atomic Habits by James Clear to think about how to help students develop good academic habits. This summer, group of faculty…
Developing Academic Habits
Last semester, I had a student who told me that he had been the kind of student in high school who just sort of skated through his classes, not taking…
Teaching Philosophies
In June, a group of Plymouth State University faculty members, including me, participated in "a month-long emergent exploration about the intentional design of teaching and learning," called Design Forward. At…
The MDA Framework and Teaching
I've been thinking a lot about instructional design lately because I'm participating in Design Forward, "a month-long emergent exploration of the intentional design of teaching and learning" created by Martha…
What Can I Salvage?
I don't think anyone would disagree that this has been a challenging year. As part of the work of the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community at Plymouth State University, my colleague…
Adventures in Ungrading
I have been moving away from traditional grading schemes for a while. In teaching the INCAP course in Spring 2019 and Tackling a Wicked Problem in Fall 2019, I have…
The Vulnerability of Learning
I spent the last three days talking about learning and teaching at Plymouth State University's January Jamboree and the University System of New Hampshire's Academic Technology Institute meeting. Both events…
Complex Lives, Tragedies, and Empathy
As the General Education Coordinator at PSU, I've been working on the First Year Seminar Poster Symposium since before the Fall semester started. Like everyone else involved in the event,…
The New Education
I recently read The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University and Prepare Students For a World in Flux by Cathy N. Davidson. Davidson has long been an academic hero…
National Survey of Student Engagement
Plymouth State University participates every other year in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which measures student participation in meaningful learning experiences. The survey is given to first year…
Creating OERs with Students
With the end of the Fall 2017 semester, I want to record my thoughts about creating the open educational resource (OER) Introduction to Media Studies with students in CM2770 (Intro to Media…
Disruptive Innovation in Education
I went to a conference sponsored by UBTech a few weeks ago. It was advertised as a "national summit on technology and leadership in higher education" and had a tag…
When is Failure Really Failure?
If you are involved in higher education in any way, you have heard about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). I first heard of them back in the Fall of 2011…
Gamification and Education
A trending buzzword in today's digital culture is gamification. According to most sources on the Internet, the term was coined in 2004 by Nick Pelling, a UK-based business consultant who…
The Problem with Educational Technology
I don't think anyone would accuse me of being a Luddite. I began to learn to program in the late 1970's when I was in high school, majored in computer…
Technology in Education
I just got back from a three day workshop on academic technology. As a computer scientist, I was intrigued by the idea of this workshop but I was worried that…
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