Stuff

Chronicopia

This one goes to 31, because that’s how many days there are in March. Enjoy:

~Emma Goldman was cool. Still is, actually.

~In my dreams, I write this well. One of the best essays I’ve read this year, in terms of its writing at least. Glorious.

~On Math and Magic.

~How research on memory should affect the way you teach (this is actually the second of two parts, but the first part is linked in the article; I’m sure you can do it)

~Barry Schwarz (who’s awesome) and a co-author argues that colleges should focus on teaching intellectual virtues

~Badges as the real, looming higher ed disruption

~How the presence of uninformed individuals can spontaneously inhibit a large group from being swayed by an opinionated minority, a fish study (or, why momentum is so hard to maintain)

~Critical University Studies would be an awesome research field, I think. Oh, wait. It is.

~Nessie says that Business majors study the least (insert joke here).

~MIT says we should pay extra attention to re-admitted students and makes some suggestions for doing so

~On a fascinating aspect of Wikipedia (and another reason to steer students from it as anything but a starting place)

~The Accidental Activist: A piece about Jonathan Boldt, the adjunct who started the Google doc on adjunct working conditions

~A Consideration of the Public Discourse on Education

~Politicians insulting professoriate.

~This is about typewriters. Sort of.

~Interesting research about death and death rates.

~On the study of foreign language and internationalization (or, shut your data portal, Larry Summers)

~Work on the value of college (as defined narrowly–as earning power)

~Is new, better? It seems not to one who once thought maybe so.

~An Academic Abroad: this made me laugh out loud twice.

~Upper class and non-upper class terminology tells

~On the Freshman Reading Experience (or class-wide books)

~Tenure under attack–an explanation

~Another thing on college and work

~Ostensibly about philosophy and the urgency to “make it matter,” you can substitute other disciplines in there, too.

~Turns out “Rate My Professor,” Chili peppers aside, provides a more reliable picture of students’ consensus view of what’s going on in the classroom than typically suspected.

~Just in case anyone is on the academic job market…some advice.

~Texas phases out an astonishing number of degree programs

~Advice for getting published.

~On the current campus culture–how (traditional) students live their school lives and how that’s changed from 20 years ago.

~Beauty.

A Potpourri of Reading

Here’s eleven stuff:

~Did you know that in Brazil, a 2008 law requires the teaching of philosophy in all high schools? Me neither; it’s fascinating;

~On Why the Posse Foundation is the best “reform”/intervention program in all of higher education;

~This Year’s National Humanities Medalists (including two of my favorite (top five) working philosophers–Kwame Anthony Appiah and Amartya Sen;

~Seven Equations that Rule Our World (and here’s the link to the specific equations without the video and text);

~On “Linsanity” (associated, the author’s website called, “Yo, Is This Racist?”) also, this is interesting, and this is great, and if you want more background, go HERE;

~Education in Sparta–and what it suggests about contemporary reforms;

~Texas’ plan to raise graduation rates (insert Texas joke here);

~A great list of excuses (found on Crooked Timber)–I am making a late new year’s resolution addendum to try to use at least 70 of these before the end of the year, so if you hear me say, “I can resist everything but temptation” or “the stony grey soil of Monarghen” you’ll now know why;

~On DIY Science–about a dude who tried to split the atom in his kitchen. Seriously;

~Campus Themed Internet Memes (featuring a poster about Philosophy that made me laugh);

~Looking for cool ways to present (and visualize) your data? Try THESE;

(Yes, that first sentence was on purpose. I like it.)