October, 2013 // Posts published in October, 2013
“Commodity Courses” and the Joys of Teaching Freshmen
Folks who like to talk about disrupting conventional higher education – and some who offer active alternatives – often focus on the entry-level courses as particular targets for rethinking. They point out that lots of these courses are taught in large lecture formats, with passive learning at best and, not infrequently, high rates of student […]
Family Weekend
This weekend was Mason’s family weekend, and I was asked to make a few welcoming remarks. It’s always a nice occasion. I think the parents involved really do enjoy the chance to look around the school, enjoy various activities. Like many schools we try to provide a mixture of opportunities, including some designed-to-please academic sessions, […]
The Charms and Perils of STEM-H
The current pressure on universities to produce more STEM-H grads is well known. I did have the pleasure of a recent public presentation in which an audience member did not know what STEM stood for, and I wanted to hug him. But the enthusiasm for Science Technology Engineering Math (and Health) is familiar enough. It’s […]
Global Problem-Solving Consortium
I’ve written before on this, but there are some upcoming developments that I hope will be interesting to some readers, even to the point of participation. A reminder: Mason launched the Global Problem Solving Consortium in 2012 with partner universities in India, Turkey, Brazil, Kenya, Russia, China, and Korea. We had a really good kickoff […]
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