Page 4 of 10 FirstFirst 12345678 ... LastLast
Results 91 to 120 of 292

Thread: The Higher Education Thread

  1. #91
    Five-O Diehard Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Salt Lake City
    Posts
    4,894
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    .

    For example, the data are showing that Millennials are generally not interested in what we consider "paying dues," or starting at the bottom, doing the grunt work and moving up. (My own anecdotal experience supprts this.) There are exceptions. It's just part of the landscape and we're making an mistake if we don't recognize it. In my humble opinion, of course.
    In my line of work that can get someone else hurt or killed.

    We don't have the ability to "change" in terms of working your way up and learning from those before you.

    How we deal with that is still a work in progress.

  2. #92
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    17,726

    The Higher Education Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Diehard Ute View Post
    In my line of work that can get someone else hurt or killed.

    We don't have the ability to "change" in terms of working your way up and learning from those before you.

    How we deal with that is still a work in progress.
    Yep. I think the millennials who are willing to pay dues and work hard will rise. Not sure what will happen to the others or how that will impact everyone else. It seems to me am iron rule of life that if you want to be really good at anything complex or challenging you have to be willing to start at the bottom and learn the basics.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  3. #93
    Five-O Diehard Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Salt Lake City
    Posts
    4,894
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    Yep. I think the millennials who are willing to pay dues and work hard will rise. Not sure what will happen to the others or how that will impact everyone else. It seems to me am iron rule of life that if you want to be really good at anything complex or challenging you have to be willing to start at the bottom and learn the basics.
    Yup you do.

    And that often correlates to pay. Which also tends to keep that generation from being interested. I think much of this is the instant nature they've been raised with. They want what they want now. The idea of waiting is somewhat foreign. Email, cell phones and text messages etc have changed what the younger generation expects and sees as 'normal'

  4. #94
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    One thing I do to fight this in my children is to give them chores, even pointless ones like picking up pine cones in the yard (we have about 40 pine trees, so it can be a wheelbarrow load after a storm). As punishment for doing bad stuff, I make them move a stack of 50 bricks from one side of the yard to the other (and then back again, a la Cool Hand Luke---"What are your bricks doing in my yard?"). I will also make them get jobs when they're teenagers unless they are otherwise engaged in something character building.

    But, my kids already say "sir" and "ma'am" after "yes" and "no" so we're off to a good start with them. I think one of the reasons why I liked the movie Mud so much was that I felt like the dialogue and interactions were absolutely spot on for the culture it sought to recreate.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  5. #95
    Malleus Cougarorum Solon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Lost in the Flood.
    Posts
    1,294
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    No, you are right - there is a fundamental change. There's one every generation, which is why every generation's old people ask what's wrong with the kids today.
    I agree with this.
    My students today can track down information in the blink of an eye. However, they often struggle to know what to do with that information.
    Having realized this, I am constantly trying to modify the way I teach to capitalize on their skills and to improve their deficiencies.

    For instance, for the last two weeks of this past semester I tracked down an old (30 years) exercise book that is out of print and assigned some pages from it. Since the book is old and obscure, the answers are not available on the internet. It was a nice reality-check for the students to assess what they've really learned over the semester, and what they've just learned to look up online.

    There's a lot of promise in this generation, but they'll have to work for it (like every other generation). Information is not knowledge.

    Quote Originally Posted by wuapinmon View Post
    Can you post that section? You shared it once before, and I meant to use it, but it slipped my mind.
    Help yourself:


    Professionalism and Respect:

    Among other things, one of the principal goals of a university education is to prepare students for professional careers. As part of this transition to professional life, personal demeanor and conduct will play an important role in creating a suitable atmosphere for teaching and learning.

    All members of this class – instructors and students alike – should use courteous and respectful language in all communications, written and oral, as befits professional interaction. This is especially necessary in this digital age where communication is virtually instantaneous. Informality in e-mail messages (content and format), slangy abbreviations, “SMS” language/“textese,” and disregard for fundamental grammar are inappropriate in a professional context.

    In addition, please refrain from disrespectful activities while in class, since they can distract both the instructor and other students. These activities include, but are not limited to, chronic tardiness, eating, sleeping, sending/reading text messages, reading the newspaper, doing crossword puzzles, etc. Engaging in such activities will negatively impact the student’s participation grade. Obviously, abusive or harassing language and behavior will not be tolerated.
    σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἑλλὰς πάντα.
    -- Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.35.2.

  6. #96
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    17,726

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  7. #97
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Salt Lake City
    Posts
    5,526
    How the incentives for universities these days lead them to give financial aid to those who can otherwise afford it, while not giving it to those who can't.

    As these data suggest, colleges are not just looking for the best and brightest students. They are also working hard to bring wealthy students to their campuses in order to maximize their revenue. The schools generally try to achieve this goal by offering generous institutional aid awards to these otherwise “full-pay” students — that is, students whose families can afford to pay advertised tuition rates. After all, it’s more profitable for schools to provide four scholarships of $5,000 each to induce affluent students who will be able to pay the balance than it is to provide a single $20,000 grant to one low-income student.
    The competition for the wealthy is so strong that 10 percent of college admissions directors at four-year colleges (and nearly 20 percent of those at private liberal arts colleges) reported that they give affluent students a significant leg up in the admissions process — meaning that they are admitting full-pay students with lower grades and test scores than other applicants. These colleges are, in other words, providing affirmative action for the wealthy, despite all of the extraordinary advantages that these students have over their less-fortunate peers.
    Full study

  8. #98
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Quote Originally Posted by U-Ute View Post
    How the incentives for universities these days lead them to give financial aid to those who can otherwise afford it, while not giving it to those who can't.





    Full study
    This is why all the small colleges in the South suddenly have lacrosse teams.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  9. #99
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    17,726
    Georgia Tech will be offering an online master's degree in computer science:

    http://www.cringely.com/2013/07/10/g...puter-science/

    Georgia Tech is a major research university. In big research universities research and publishing count for everything and teaching counts for close to nothing, which is why there are so many bad teachers with endowed professorships. . . . Research grad students are slave labor while professional grad students are cash cows for their institutions and matter mostly for the money they can pay. Computer science is a research field but this new degree at Georgia Tech is specifically branded as being a professional degree. While that sounds extra-important what it really means is the students won’t matter at all to the University, which sees them strictly as cash flow — up to $18 million per year according to the business plan.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  10. #100
    Every generation brings behavioral & attitude peculiarities that defy their elders. We all did.

    This generation is running headlong into a general shift in the employment landscape since about 2000, and some (hopefully) short term imbalances between productivity and employment. (Corporations and the wealthy are awash in money, productivity is very high, but aggregate demand is not rising enough to generate enough jobs, especially "good" jobs, which is in turn contributing to the overall sluggish demand).

    A couple of MIT professors, McAfee and Brynjolfsson have tracked the impact of technology on employment, with some sobering explanations for some of the current displacement, and potentially highly disruptive trends for the future. http://www.technologyreview.com/feat...stroying-jobs/

    The stagnant labor market either dampens the Millenials' sense of entitlement, or it will help fuel upheaval, among Millenials and a lot of folks who've been displaced and not fully recovered in the last 10 years.
    Last edited by Ma'ake; 07-13-2013 at 12:08 PM.

  11. #101
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    17,726
    Who Ruined the Humanities?

    Of course it's important to read the great poets and novelists. But not in a university classroom, where literature has been turned into a bland, soulless competition for grades and status.

    http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001...95803296798048

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  12. #102
    Malleus Cougarorum Solon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Lost in the Flood.
    Posts
    1,294
    The MOOCs are coming!!!

    http://www.economist.com/blogs/econo...omist-explains

    According to RUMOR, small colleges are investigating registering their own students for MOOCS, then hiring graders to assign & score quizzes based on the content. They pay a nominal fee to the folks who are doing the MOOC (and/or their institution), but essentially the small colleges get to rent the courses of a Stanford or MIT professor and pay a TA $10/hr. to run the class's logistics. The underlying assumption that knowledge & teaching can be boiled down into little single-serving packets, and that once an online course is in place all a school has to do is hire a cafeteria worker to sling the slop onto the students' plates is a pretty naive way of looking at education.

    Don't get me wrong. The MOOC phenomenon is cool for some reasons. The access to MOOC information can vastly enrich a teaching experience, and obviously online teaching & learning have revolutionized access to higher education.

    But the predictions of the inevitable demise of the university system are a bit premature.
    σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἑλλὰς πάντα.
    -- Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.35.2.

  13. #103
    Quote Originally Posted by Solon View Post
    The MOOCs are coming!!!

    http://www.economist.com/blogs/econo...omist-explains

    According to RUMOR, small colleges are investigating registering their own students for MOOCS, then hiring graders to assign & score quizzes based on the content. They pay a nominal fee to the folks who are doing the MOOC (and/or their institution), but essentially the small colleges get to rent the courses of a Stanford or MIT professor and pay a TA $10/hr. to run the class's logistics. The underlying assumption that knowledge & teaching can be boiled down into little single-serving packets, and that once an online course is in place all a school has to do is hire a cafeteria worker to sling the slop onto the students' plates is a pretty naive way of looking at education.

    Don't get me wrong. The MOOC phenomenon is cool for some reasons. The access to MOOC information can vastly enrich a teaching experience, and obviously online teaching & learning have revolutionized access to higher education.

    But the predictions of the inevitable demise of the university system are a bit premature.
    honestly I can see them go further. How about a gigantic e-book that has video lectures, assignments and virtual "learning activities"? A bunch of professors get together and compile a whole humanities or economics coures load. Skip the whole university all together.
    "Be a philosopher. A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, within limits, follow his inclinations within the arms of the Church if he does so discreetly." - The Walking Drum

    "And here’s what life comes down to—not how many years you live, but how many of those years are filled with bullshit that doesn’t amount to anything to satisfy the requirements of some dickhead you’ll never get the pleasure of punching in the face." – Adam Carolla

  14. #104
    Malleus Cougarorum Solon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Lost in the Flood.
    Posts
    1,294
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    They did this in "Diamond Age" by Neil Stephenson, and it led to world war.

    Harvard, Stanford, and MIT are loving the MOOC "revolution". They have nothing to fear. People assume that their lectures are of the highest quality. But you don't become a professor at those schools for your teaching ability. There are many great lecturers out there who could do a better job.
    You make a fine point, my friend.

    The research is ongoing, but it seems like online education can be just as effective as face-to-face teaching if the students are motivated, capable, etc.
    If the students are marginal, or don't put in the work, or whatever, they do worse in online courses than in a classroom setting.

    To me, this suggests that putting more graduate courses online might be a useful tool for certain programs. Unfortunately, it seems like most schools prefer to put the lower-division classes online, thus putting the beginning students in a potentially tougher spot.

    At my school, I had a meeting last week with the Director of Continuing Education who wants to adapt one of my upper-division face-to-face classes to offer it online (I developed the class as an Interdisciplinarity seminar, and the folks who paid me to develop it turned it over to him). I gladly handed him the syllabus, readings, powerpoint slides, handouts, exams, etc. and told him to go for it. His goal was to develop a class that essentially a trained monkey could run by unlocking the modules on the correct days. I think he was stunned by the amount of knowledge and preparation that go into an upper-division course, from both instructors & students. He is now looking for another class to put online.
    σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἑλλὰς πάντα.
    -- Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.35.2.

  15. #105
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    I'm not worried about the end of higher ed. Andrew Wiggin was a professor on Trondheim, and that's like 3,000 years from now.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  16. #106
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Recent research suggests that reading literary fiction makes you more empathetic, which speaks volumes about my switch from die-hard conservative to left-leaning moderate since I studied literature for 12 years, and have been teaching it for 15.

    http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-beh...ead-good-books
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  17. #107
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    The study's conclusion seems almost obvious. I credit literature for a good portion of my (albeit limited) understanding of people.

    But I don't see a strong connection between empathy and political leanings.
    Well, the connection I see, in my own life, is that I tie empathy in with understanding the viewpoint of someone else enough for it to modify my own opinions if I find value in what their experience is. I'm sure I mentioned this ad nauseum for most of you on CUF, but it changed me. I saw how the government reacted to the suffering of those people, how the media addressed the suffering, how the people at church described the suffering, and something inside of me changed. I knew many of those people, including scores of folks in the Superdome, and they were not what everyone was describing, and I began to not buy what the mainstream/party line was selling. I really truly began to question everything and to listen to and read about the perspectives of others after that storm; it left a scar on me that will never heal. Without all of the literature I read, I'm not sure that I would've arrived where I am now because it opened my eyes to the experiences of other people that I will never have as a Southern white male American. That's not to say that I agree with all of the stuff I read: Rigoberta Menchú annoys me. But, I think I understand where she was coming from.

    Does that help clarify what I meant? I don't mean to say that there aren't empathetic conservatives; I do mean to say that my personal conversion away from conservatism was borne on the backs of a flood of empathy in my heart and mind.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  18. #108
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    17,726
    Quote Originally Posted by wuapinmon View Post
    Does that help clarify what I meant? I don't mean to say that there aren't empathetic conservatives; I do mean to say that my personal conversion away from conservatism was borne on the backs of a flood of empathy in my heart and mind.
    Yes, it does. Where reasonable people disagree is on the role of government in reducing human suffering. That issue has been at the center of the debate ever since the New Deal. In that debate I'm a Jack Kemp Republican.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  19. #109
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    That makes a lot more sense. Thanks.



    This is true of everyone I met while in NOLA. I've never had first hand experience with anything else like it.

    Your NOLA group is an inspiration. I didn't get there until a year after the storm (right after you left for South Carolina), but I know the people and their stories well. The examples of willingness shown by the NOLA branch after the storm are something I think about every time someone asks for volunteers in a priesthood meeting.
    Thank you. I love those people: Van Dams, Bradys, Lindseys, Alldredges, Hansens, and so many others. It was the best time I've ever had as a member of the Church. But, damn! It was hard to live through.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  20. #110
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Those are my people too! There are so many things about that unit and that city that are irreplaceable. I have loved every place I have lived, but I really only miss NOLA.
    These videos will kill you then.

    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  21. #111
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  22. #112
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  23. #113
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  24. #114
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Some of the events I've come up with this semester.

    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  25. #115
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    17,726
    I suspect you are a fun professor to have, Don Mac, and probably quite beloved. I love the Fund Razor idea.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  26. #116
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Those are my people too! There are so many things about that unit and that city that are irreplaceable. I have loved every place I have lived, but I really only miss NOLA.
    Did you go to the building in the garden district? If so we went there for about a month and a half when I was working down there.

    There was one member who was like ray (the fire fly) in the princess and the frog. In fact I'm pretty sure he was the voice.

    Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
    Last edited by Mormon Red Death; 10-19-2013 at 09:03 AM.
    "Be a philosopher. A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, within limits, follow his inclinations within the arms of the Church if he does so discreetly." - The Walking Drum

    "And here’s what life comes down to—not how many years you live, but how many of those years are filled with bullshit that doesn’t amount to anything to satisfy the requirements of some dickhead you’ll never get the pleasure of punching in the face." – Adam Carolla

  27. #117
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Yes, after the hurricane, that was the only game left in town. Brother Charles is the Ray voice you're talking about.
    Charles Young, St. Charles, the best damn usher the Church has ever or will ever have. He joined while we lived there, and the branch presidency decided that usher was the perfect calling for him. I'll never forget the look in his eyes when I extended the call to him, "You want meeeeee to be the usher?" Joy, complete and pure, was his.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  28. #118
    Senior Member Scorcho's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    right here, right now
    Posts
    1,448
    Last edited by Scorcho; 11-11-2013 at 01:40 PM.

  29. #119
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    Here's my latest project: The No Shave November Fund Razor. This year an anonymous donor has pledged to match all donations to the scholarship (up to $500) with a corresponding donation to Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts. If we raise $1000, and the Heisenberg wins, then all participants at the "Sir" level, as opposed to the lesser "Mister" level, will shave their faces and heads into The Heisenberg. Anyone wishing to vote online may do so via this website: https://www.coker.edu/gifts



    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

  30. #120
    Educating Cyrus wuapinmon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    497
    It's a simple rule. No translation programs. Open book final. No translation programs. Yet, they still do it.
    "This culture doesn't sell modesty. It sells "I am more modest than you" modesty." -- Two Utes

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •