Academia
drorzel | September 19, 2007A philosopher at McGill University has stirred up a controversy by requiring students to get perfect scores on a quiz about the Greek alphabet or drop her class on Plato:
The course, which at times refers directly to original texts, requires students to gain a familiarity with the Greek alphabet. To make sure that would happen, Laywine tested them on the subject last week -- with the requirement that anyone getting less than 100 percent correct would have to drop the class.
To be sure, the exam was given during the add/drop period, no knowledge of Greek was presumed and Laywine spent the…
catdynamics | September 18, 2007should K-12 students keep the same teacher for several grades, especially in lower grades?
My current limited contact with the US K-12 system made me ponder the differences I see locally compared with my anecdotal experiences in Europe.
Specifically, the local practise, which seems to be widespread in the US, is to have the teachers stay with the grade level, passing classes through to another teacher in the next grade, and to mix up the students in each grade, rather than to make an effort to keep the same basic grouping of students in a class within each grade as they progress.
There are…
catdynamics | September 17, 2007Should teachers track "their class" between grades, and
should students stay with their classmates between years?
So, my exposure to the US K-12 educational system is increasing, and I am intrigued by some of the differences. What I don't know is whether these are broadly general across the US school system, or local curiousities - a hard thing to determine, since school policies are local to districts, not States and certainly not Federal.
When I were a lad, in elementary school you had teacher - call it a "homeroom teacher" if you like, and that teacher stayed with you for several grades,…
clock | September 17, 2007There have been a couple of recent posts about textbooks lately. Jim Fiore started it all with a look at the textbook business from the perspective of the authors and students, looking primarily at the problem of money. One sentence really hit me, though:
The problem with a large, institutionalized used book market is that it completely cuts out the publisher and the author.
In a larger economy, it is called 'stock market'. When you buy stocks, most often you will be buying them from a broker, not directly from the company. In other words, you are entering the used-stocks market. You…
catdynamics | September 17, 2007DHS excludes revokes Mills College Prof and Elgar scholar visa.
Prof Ghuman, british musicologist, Berkeley PhD expelled from the US
I personally find Elgar to be a ponderous and rather tiresome, not to mention heavily abused at both the Proms and US graduations, but this seems a bit of an overreaction.
Land of Hope and Glory, or sheep?
At the very least Prof Ghuman, or her US host institution, should be given an account of the what the charges against her are, and, some hint of the proferred evidence.
...
Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long;
By Freedom gained,…
catdynamics | September 17, 2007Total Drek: Unhelpful Hints
5!
and 6!!
15 - you're ALL smart
20 & 21
ignore 22, obviously.
But 3 is the one you really need to think about as a first or second year
h/t Chad, again
drorzel | September 17, 2007Via Matt McIrvin, Total Drek's Unhelpful Hints for Graduate Students:
(1) It is important to realize as soon as possible that you are not an undergraduate any longer. In fact, you're not really even a student. Grad school is more like an apprenticeship program than traditional schooling. As such, you're here to learn by doing. Stop thinking about what you do as "school" and start thinking of it as "work" and particularly as "your career." You're no longer practicing for your future- you're doing it right now.
(2) Along these lines, keep in mind that nobody is impressed with your ability to…
tsmith | September 17, 2007Do you have a few minutes? Care to lend you time by completing a short survey to help answer the titular question?
[EDITED TO ADD: thanks! We reached 1000 survey responses in just about 10 hours' time, so the survey is now closed...we really appreciate your participation!]
This survey attempts to access the opinions of bloggers, blog-readers, and non-blog folk in regards to the impact of blogs on the outside world. We're examining the impact of science blogging and this survey will provide invaluable data to answer the following questions:
Who reads or writes blogs?
What are the…
drorzel | September 14, 2007The particle physics community in the US has rolled out a new site promoting the Large Hadron Collider, because, you know, there was a danger that we might forget that it's there. As part of the site, they're featuring four new physics blogs, by Monica Dunford, Pam Klabbers, Steve Nahn, and blogosphere veteran Peter Steinberg.
They really need to work on getting a blog interface that doesn't suck, or at least an RSS feed, but this has the potential to be an interesting site. It's also the second time that the particle physics community has organized a blogging effort (the first was 2005's…
clock | September 14, 2007Unfortunately, due to the Murphy's Law of conference dates, I will have to miss this fantastic meeting, because I will at the time be at another fantastic meeting, but if you can come, please do - registration will be open online in a few days.
Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity
The conference theme is about bringing scientists and humanities scholars to talk about ways that science is changing human life.
November 8th, 9th, and 10th, the National Humanities Center will host the second ASC conference.
And the program features a Who's Who list:
Thursday, November 8th
Frans de Waal
Martha…
drorzel | September 14, 2007One of our senior physics majors has made a video promoting sustainability to students, and posted it on YouTube. I need to figure out the best way to link it from the department web page, but it occurs to me that I have this big Internet platform I can use to plug it:
It's a good piece of work. Amazing what kids these days can do.
drorzel | September 13, 2007Via Steinn, the Incoherent Ponderer ponders academic clothing:
For some strange reason, whenever it is not clear whether the attire is formal or informal, I am much more concerned about overdressing, than dressing too informally.
I think that this is because it's very difficult to be dressed too informally in academic environment - unless of course it's a fancy dinner or cocktail party or something. Even if I err on the side of informal dress code, chances are - there is still someone dressed even more informally, likely a senior faculty member. I know some people who seem to be wearing…
scientificactivist | September 12, 2007Earlier this year, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article for The New Yorker called "Open Secrets" in which he discussed the distinction between two types of problems: what he called "puzzles", which are simpler, and "mysteries", which are more complex. Building on the work of national security expert Gregory Treverton, he wrote:
"Osama bin Laden's whereabouts are a puzzle. We can't find him because we don't have enough information. The key to the puzzle will probably come from someone close to bin Laden, and until we can find that source bin Laden will remain at large."
"The problem of what…
jstemwedel | September 12, 2007Perhaps you've already seen the new(ish) AAUP report Freedom in the Classroom, or Michael Bérubé's commentary on it at Inside Higher Ed yesterday. The report is such a clear statement of what a professor's freedom in the classroom amounts to and, more importantly, why that freedom is essential if we are to accomplish the task of educating college students, that everyone who cares at all about higher education ought to read it.
Some of the highlights, with my commentary:
On concerns that professors "indoctrinate" rather than educate:
It is not indoctrination for professors to expect…
catdynamics | September 12, 2007A WaPo op-ed unveils a new skulk of the usual suspects.
On the starboard side, mateys.
MindingTheCampus.com
"Dedicated to the revival of intellectual pluralism and the best traditions of liberal education at America's universities."
"best"? "liberal"? Really?
With a Horowitz article right on the frontpage...
Sponsored by The Manhattan Institute - http://www.manhattan-institute.org
and its "Center for the American University" - http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cau.htm
I never knew they cared.
Why .com, and not .org for the subsidiary?
On a completely unrelated issue UC Irvine hires…
catdynamics | September 12, 2007the incoherent ponderer ponders the (male) scientist dress code
he likes to dress up, but no bowties
Hah! Like I should talk.
I currently stay away from the default bland slacks and not-too-boldly striped shirt uniform (no tie, natch), in favour of extreme utilitarian mottled grey t-shirt and comfortably worn jeans.
This is primarily currently driven by high odd of splatter from either of the munchkins, whether the Big Boy or his Big Girl sister.
I might reconsider and conform, as they are actually older and less likely to randomly project splodges, but I deeply don't care enough to bother…
jstemwedel | September 11, 2007We're going to discuss this at a Socrates Café gathering next week, but I suspect there are current and former students and educators reading who have a view, so I'm opening it up:
Is extra credit fair?
You're free to consider the question from whatever angle you like -- fairness to the person creating and evaluating the extra credit assignment, or to the other students in the class (or in other sections of the class whose meanie instructors don't offer extra credit), or to the person electing to do the extra credit assignment.
You're also free to draw distinctions between situations in…
jstemwedel | September 11, 2007The good news: My department chair really likes the project I've proposed for my sabbatical leave.
The bad news: The smart money says that my leave won't be approved unless I cut down the amount I say I'll accomplish during the year off.
That's right. If you have a lot you want to get accomplished, you can't have time off to accomplish it, whereas if you have only a wee bit to do, you are most welcome to a leave.
Cue the dinosaur with the voice of Rob Knop to remind me to stop expecting things in academia to make sense. Meanwhile, I have some cuts to make.
catdynamics | September 9, 2007The Bitch, PhD is back on form
But, I thought we were rich!
Disposable income on the left coast, versus income in the flyovers
How the hell have we been doing it
After much informed debate, the gory details of the affluent ex-academic life.
Not buying books will not save enough money for a down payment on a house in LA.
No, don't go for the adjustable, interest only loan!
If you want to live in Ca you either need to: have lump sum to get into housing; or, make good double income (and little or no kids); or, live like a student all your life.
This is of course the academic perspective. YMMV…
jstemwedel | September 6, 2007The bullets are addressed to different people and organizations, and I doubt very much that some of them would recognize these were addressed to them even if they received an actual memo. (It's been that kind of week.)
Be it known that:
I do not at present have the power to be in more than one place at a time. If I did, rest assured that I would find more interesting ways to use it than simply getting two kids to soccer-related activities in different locations at the same time.
I wrote a detailed FAQ for my online class for the express purpose of helping students locate the answers to…