I went to a meeting earlier this week with a bunch of other faculty members and students. Before the meeting proper got going, a few of the other faculty were discussing whether they should cancel their mid-day Tuesday classes because of the Inauguration. This struck me as an obvious “No,” but they seemed to be… Continue reading Are You Excited About the Inauguration?
links for 2009-01-17
Emptywheel » This Miracle Brought to You by Americaâs Unions "They’re calling it a miracle–the successful landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of all 155 passengers. They’re detailing the heroism of all involved, starting with the pilot and including cabin crew, ferry crews, and first responders. What they’re not… Continue reading links for 2009-01-17
Pros and Cons of Interactive Classes
A number of people have commented on the big New York Times article about the new intro physics classes at MIT: At M.I.T., two introductory courses are still required — classical mechanics and electromagnetism — but today they meet in high-tech classrooms, where about 80 students sit at 13 round tables equipped with networked computers.… Continue reading Pros and Cons of Interactive Classes
Thursday Baby Blogging 011609
This week, SteelyKid shows that she takes after her parents: “I like books!” she says.
links for 2009-01-16
Simple Checklist Makes Surgery Safer – NYTimes.com "The researchers reviewed the outcome of 7,688 patients who were undergoing noncardiac surgery at the hospitals. About half the patients had surgery before the checklists were adopted, and half after. At the end of the study, the average death rate dropped to 0.8 percent from 1.5 percent, and… Continue reading links for 2009-01-16
What’s in a Name, Anyway?
Over at Dot Physics, Rhett is trying to learn his students’ names: I have students sitting at tables (in this class and in labs). As they are working on something, I go around and write down who is sitting where. Yes, this means that you have to actually ask each student what their names is… Continue reading What’s in a Name, Anyway?
Pop-Science Book Racing
Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean writes: You know what the world really needs? A good book about time. Google tells me there are only about one and a half million such books right now, but I think you’ll agree that one more really good one is called for. So I’m writing one. From Eternity to… Continue reading Pop-Science Book Racing
links for 2009-01-15
slacktivist: Gerbils and polar bears "What I’m trying to say here is a bit tricky, because it involves to some extent comparing those Palin supporters to Grandin’s neurotic gerbils, and I don’t suppose anyone likes being compared to neurotic gerbils. And it probably doesn’t help that I’m prefacing this by saying that I mean no… Continue reading links for 2009-01-15
With Advisors Like These, Who Needs Policy?
A few years ago, the after-dinner speaker at the DAMOP conference banquet was Presidential Science Advisor John Marburger. As I wrote at the time, I think it’s safe to say that he didn’t make a positive impression on the audience. It also sparked a rather lively discussion afterwards, that some people speculated was the reason… Continue reading With Advisors Like These, Who Needs Policy?
Building a Better Student Evaluation
If you’ve been a student or faculty member at an American college or university in the past twenty years or so, you’ve almost certainly run across student course evaluation surveys. They’re different in detail, but the key idea is always the same: toward the end of the term, students in every course are asked to… Continue reading Building a Better Student Evaluation