Lori Isbell has a story that I would file under “you can’t make this stuff up”: Recently, I received an email from a student asking me the name of a writer — a writer whose book we’d been reading for two weeks….I knew that the student owned the book, because I had seen her with […]
Teaching
You’re No Prize Either
I’m the department chair now. It’s my first annual evaluation season. I’m thinking this is going to be hard for me. Two main reasons: I take things literally. My university uses a five point scale where 3 is “meets expectations.” But there’s a wink-wink use of the scale where 4, “exceeds expectations,” means “you are […]
Emailing Professors
How confident are you that you know how to write an impeccable email to a professor? If you aren’t confident, or maybe even if you are, please read this excellent article on how to email your professor. Please. The author (Laura Portwood-Stacer) breaks it down for us into ten easy steps. I’m often skeptical of […]
Junior High School Superlatives
That’s me in the picture. Eighth grade. I was voted Most Intellectual by my classmates. This title was part of a larger slate of superlatives: Most Likely to Succeed, Best Looking, Most Athletic, Prettiest Eyes, Best Smile, Class Clown. I wonder if these elections are still in practice today and if so, whether the categories […]
Business School Teachers
Over the summer, my department held a series of teaching workshops. These workshops gave us a chance to come together and reexamine classroom practices such as in-class exercises, group projects, and educational simulations. The workshop I have continued to think about most was the one on the role of academic research in teaching business students. […]
Leaving Your Kid at College
I was asked to give some remarks to the incoming freshmen and their parents this week. Here’s what I said. (I changed the name of my son’s friend to protect her well-meaning mother). Good morning and welcome. On behalf of the faculty, I welcome all of you to our Leeds family. One of the reasons […]
Jonah Lehrer’s Immodest Proposal for College
In my office, I have some newspaper clippings taped to the wall. One of them has been there a few years, a column by Jonah Lehrer in The Wall Street Journal called “Taking Knowledge Out of College” (2012). Lehrer cites an argument by economist Bryan Caplan that “colleges are more about certifying their students than […]
Study of Online vs. In-Person Classes
I read an interesting study recently, “A Randomized Assessment of Online Learning,” published in the American Economic Review. The authors studied the difference between student performance in three formats of the same class: an online format, a fully in-person format, and a blended format. Students were randomly assigned to one of the formats. The result? […]
I’m Never Going to Use This
“I’m never going to use this.” This statement is the battle cry of the reluctant student. It’s hard to argue with this objection because it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The problem with the claim is that we never know what we are going to use. I’m a bit of a romantic about education. It broadens […]
Cheating in College
Last semester, for a change, I instructed my students not to cheat on the final exam. Does that strike you as strange? Some people might think it would be a strange instruction because students know they shouldn’t cheat, so what good is telling them not to? Other people might think it’s strange that I don’t […]