Let's give them something to think about....

Just came across this brief article from economist Thomas Sowell and wanted to share it with you. Sowell’s observations confirms my postings at the beginning of each of my Discussion Units when I say, Remember, this class is about your views and observations. It's not about me and what my political views/agendas are.

“It was once the proud declaration of many educators that 'We are here to teach you how to think, not what to think.' But far too many of our teachers and professors today are teaching their students what to think, about everything from global warming to the new trinity of 'race, class and gender.' Even if all the conclusions with which they indoctrinate their students were 100 percent correct, that would still not be equipping students with the mental skills to weigh opposing views for themselves, in order to be prepared for new and unforeseeable issues that will arise over their lifetimes, after they leave the schools and colleges. Many of today's 'educators' not only supply students with conclusions, they promote the idea that students should spring into action because of these prepackaged conclusions -- in other words, vent their feelings and go galloping off on crusades, without either a knowledge of what is said by those on the other side or the intellectual discipline to know how to analyze opposing arguments. A philosopher once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of one's own ignorance. That is the knowledge that too many of our schools and colleges are failing to teach our young people.”

It’s my hope that Sowell’s comments helped you reflect on what we are doing as professionals in the field of education.

Is your grade book adding up correctly?

I’m sure many of you are already doing this. So, I just wanted to let everyone else know too. :)

First, I’ve entered perfect scores for all of Jenny’s assignments for the entire semester. Then I checked her Final Grades column and compared her score to the final grade score listed in my Grading & Evaluation link under Content. They should match. As you know, this helps avoid problems at the end of the semester.

Saving assignments from the Dropbox folder

Do you save students assignments to your HD or thumb drive after you have graded them? Or, do you just delete them? Or, are you planning on leaving them in the student’s Dropbox folder for the semester?

Here's what I've been doing. For those students that are writing below a C level, I've created individual folders on my thumb drive. For those students writing at the A & B level, I delete after I have posted their score.

Any thoughts?

Are eBooks the future? Or is it just a fad?

As a follow-up to my earlier blog on ebooks, I’ve recently noticed Publishers’ have been marketing their books as PDFs, i-phone versions and paperbacks too. And it appears there is a significant cost savings to the student.

I wonder if this just a fad or a trend? I’m sure the Publishers know that if all their books go digital; there won’t be anymore jobs for publishers or for the people who work in the industry. Or, should we as educators even care what happens to the Publishers?

Do you see this fad/trend changing our culture too? Are the days of cuddling up to a good book at night gone? It’s hard for me to image cuddling up to an i-Pad. :)

Beep! Beep! Thanks Roadrunner!

So, I've been using our Pager Tool to communicate with my students besides email.
Do you also use the Pager to communicate with your students? And if you do, can you please share with us how you utilize this tool?

e-books

So, I'll be moving to an ebook this summer.

Do you think it's time all our classes move to ebooks? Or, is there still a place for the good 'ol text book?

Calling your online students on the phone to welcome them to your class

I recently heard of an online instructor calling students to welcome them to his class. This was in addition to the welcome e-mail message.

So, I started thinking about it and I’m wondering. Is this something you would do? Why? Why not?