College

Read, Watch, Do, Play

In working to set up my fall online class, I eventually made it to the point where I needed to get serious about getting the schedule organized. Now, a typical syllabus would normally have a table that includes the date, topic, readings, and whatever might be due. It’s perfectly…

The Importance of Failure

Recently, I came across this article which discusses the importance of normalizing failure as a part of the learning process. Failure, the author argues, is a part of the learning process. However, from the moment we first enter schools failure is treated as something to be avoided…

Examining The Points-Based Grading System

Recently, I came across this article on point-based grading systems. The ideas in the article were nothing new, and I’m sure you’ve heard most (if not all) before. This includes things like:

• students expect and are used to points

The Problems with Competencies

I’ve been reading College Disrupted: The Great Unbundling of Higher Education. Because I am in the middle of reading it, this post isn’t meant to be a review of the book (which I am thoroughly enjoying). The point of this post is to bring us back around to discussing issues…

I recently read a piece in the Chronicle on high-impact learning. Before you ask me what high-impact learning is I have to tell you — I’m not sure. At least, I’m not sure how it’s being defined in the piece cited here because I cannot locate an explicit definition. However, I found a…