Rob Knop is leaving academia to design galaxies for Second Life (or some such). On his way out, he’s getting a lovely parting gift: a share of the Gruber Prize in Cosmology. Stop by and offer congratulations, or condolences, or both, as you feel appropriate.
Category: Academia
Peer Instruction
The Paper of Record today features an interview with Eric Mazur of Harvard, a physicist who is probably best known for his pedagogical work. He talks aabout how typical science teaching sucks, and why we need to change it: From what I’ve seen, students in science classrooms throughout the country depend on the rote memorization… Continue reading Peer Instruction
Small Talk, High Stakes
Inside Higher Ed today features an opinion piece by a lecturer about the excruciating awkwardness of job interviews: [T]he banal yet innocuous questions faculty members do ask — “Where was I from?” “How did I get interested in this topic?” — become loaded with a significance out of proportion to their actual content. Together, my… Continue reading Small Talk, High Stakes
Political Bias of Faculty
There’s a new Zogby Poll on political bias in academia that should warm whatever it is that David Horowitz uses as a heart: As legislation is introduced in more than a dozen states across the country to counter political pressure and proselytizing on students in college classrooms, a majority of Americans believe the political bias… Continue reading Political Bias of Faculty
High Stakes Cheating
From EurekAlert, we learn that corporate executives are a bunch of cheaters, when the incentives are right: According to the authors, “Our results demonstrate two factors substantially increase the likelihood of financial misrepresentation: extremely low performance relative to average performance in the firm’s industry, and high percentages of CEO compensation in stock options.” The study… Continue reading High Stakes Cheating
Biological SF and “Getting” the Web
Andre at Biocurious points out an interesting piece in Nature. They interviewed four prominent SF authors–Paul McAuley, Ken Macleod, Joan Slonczewski, and Peter Watts about biology in science fiction. The resulting article is a good read, with lots of interesting anecdotes and examples, and if you go to the supplementary information page for the article,… Continue reading Biological SF and “Getting” the Web
Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke
Inside Higher Ed reports today on a new brainstrom from the ETS With criticism growing that standardized tests and grades fail to convey the full picture of applicants, the Educational Testing Service is preparing a standardized way for graduate schools to consider students’ non-cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Under the “Personal Potential Index,” which was developed… Continue reading Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke
Summer at ACME College
“Ahhhh… summer at last. No more classes. No more committee meetings. Do you realize what this means?” “Ummmmm…. no. What does it mean? What are we going to do this summer, Brain?” “The same thing we do every summer…. Try to do PUBLISHABLE RESEARCH!!!” ———— “Are you pondering what I’m pondering?” “I think so, Brain,… Continue reading Summer at ACME College
Endangered Scientists
It’s really difficult to come up with new ways to frame crisis stories about the dwindling number of science majors in the US, but people keep finding them. The latest is from Marc Zimmer writing in Inside Higher Ed, who makes a number of biology analogies: The numbers indicate that the American scientist population is… Continue reading Endangered Scientists
Consider the Source
Inside Higher Ed today offers an opinion piece about “assessment” which is the current buzzword in academia. It correctly identifies a split in academic attitudes toward internal (“for us”– assessment of classes and programs within the academy) and external assessments (“for them”– assessments to be used in comparing institutions, as called for by the Spellings… Continue reading Consider the Source