Fail: How NOT to do user experience design (II)

Approximate Reading Time: 4 minutesPerhaps I should be more forgiving of people who really don’t know how to use “technology” yet. I try very hard to do that – when it is someone like my mother who’s never really had any need or use … Continue reading

Deconstruction and Takeaways (games)

Approximate Reading Time: 2 minutes5 Lessons Professors Can Learn From Video Games – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education Nice article. via 5 Lessons Professors Can Learn From Video Games – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education. The author suggests we might … Continue reading

Students fail at writing.

Approximate Reading Time: 2 minutesStudents failing because of Twitter, texting – Canada – Canoe.ca “Thirty per cent of students who are admitted are not able to pass at a minimum level,” says Ann Barrett, managing director of the English language proficiency exam at Waterloo … Continue reading

Fun with Google Docs (Part 1)

Approximate Reading Time: 4 minutesOK, this is just too much fun. It also has the potential to shift how we work together in some interesting and fundamental ways. This is the first of a multi-part post outlining my experiences with Google Docs in the … Continue reading

University of Calgary takes another lap around the metaphorical toilet bowl on its way down.

Approximate Reading Time: 2 minutesI put this together some months ago, but in light of recent events, I felt like posting this now. The U of C is going through another round of DEEP cuts. The primary reason for the cuts, says Weingarten, is … Continue reading

How important is it for teaching faculty to actually know how to teach (and to actually care about the success of their students)?

Approximate Reading Time: 2 minutesThanks Mark for once again posting something that makes me think (and that gives me an opportunity to tough on a favorite topic: the importance of teaching quality in higher ed). Boredom vs. Failure Part 2: The New Demographic From Mark’s … Continue reading

…a short and miserable life…

Approximate Reading Time: 13 minutesMy husband and I had dinner with a friend last night whom we both like and respect a great deal. We talked about many things, among them our attitudes about the human use of animals. My friend is a vegan, and we’re not.

I struggle with the moral issues involved and so I continued to think about this after dropping our friend off at his hotel. I try very hard to be logical and reasonable in my arguments. I suspect I may have not succeeded entirely on this one. But neither did my friend.

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“Venality, Pretension, Irresponsibility and Risible Claims”: That sounds just like the UofC

Approximate Reading Time: 2 minutesStanley Fish is really hit and miss for me: sometimes I agree with him, and other times really, really not. This is one of those times I agree: Stanley Fish: Academics Under Siege By By Stanley Fish Published: October 19, … Continue reading