Thursday, August 29, 2013
8 common grammar & punctuation mistakes
https://www.openforum.com/articles/8-common-grammar-mistakes-you-should-never-make-again/?extlink=of-social-moran-p
Friday, August 23, 2013
Local politics and the 'Alinsky Effect', with a handy link to HRC's senior thesis
http://bigjollypolitics.com/2013/07/05/montgomery-fort-bend-harris-counties-and-the-alinsky-effect/
Several links in this, but the one that goes to Hillary Rodham's senior thesis is worth having.
Several links in this, but the one that goes to Hillary Rodham's senior thesis is worth having.
A primer on the goals of community organizing
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/alinsky-for-the-left-the-politics-of-community-organizing
A very interesting piece written by someone who was 'in the trenches' as an organizer for fifty years.
A very interesting piece written by someone who was 'in the trenches' as an organizer for fifty years.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
New plan to lower the cost of college
The New York Times today has a story previewing the administration's new plan to rate colleges based on student outcomes.
Never fear, though - it has to get through Congress. Good luck w/that.
Never fear, though - it has to get through Congress. Good luck w/that.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Millennials are just tragically misunderstood!
I just had to post one of the closing paragraphs from this article I saw on Salon today (via Fark). It sounds like this guy has figured out the secret of life at 25 (seriously).
For all their being dismissed as entitled, millennials have to channel more and more of their resources toward succeeding in any field.
Jason Ritzke, a 25-year-old operations manager in broadcast television, says he and his wife sent out 400 job applications and received four interviews. He managed to find a job. She’s still looking. He doesn’t take many risks as a result. He says, “As difficulty scales, as it becomes more and more difficult to elevate yourself, you find yourself giving up things. You find yourself asking, ‘Can I ride this bike without a helmet? What will happen to my wife if I lose my job? Can she provide for herself? Can she get a job fast enough to do it?’ Every day I have to lean on every single one of my faculties at work to haul myself just a tiny bit higher. Then I come home and work to fight the forces of entropy on my life, to fix things, to pay bills. I do everything by the straight and narrow because the penalties for falling off the track are so steep.”
Does he wish he was out partying? Maybe a little. Does he feel less cool because he’s not doing so?
“Do I feel lame?” asks Jason. “No. I feel like Hercules.”
Most of the piece is about how Millennials are so much more giving and attentive, etc. but this part really stands out.
I humbly submit that Mr. Ritzke has figured out the meaning of life - acting responsibly. He's probably going to make it to adulthood successfully in a few years.
For all their being dismissed as entitled, millennials have to channel more and more of their resources toward succeeding in any field.
Jason Ritzke, a 25-year-old operations manager in broadcast television, says he and his wife sent out 400 job applications and received four interviews. He managed to find a job. She’s still looking. He doesn’t take many risks as a result. He says, “As difficulty scales, as it becomes more and more difficult to elevate yourself, you find yourself giving up things. You find yourself asking, ‘Can I ride this bike without a helmet? What will happen to my wife if I lose my job? Can she provide for herself? Can she get a job fast enough to do it?’ Every day I have to lean on every single one of my faculties at work to haul myself just a tiny bit higher. Then I come home and work to fight the forces of entropy on my life, to fix things, to pay bills. I do everything by the straight and narrow because the penalties for falling off the track are so steep.”
Does he wish he was out partying? Maybe a little. Does he feel less cool because he’s not doing so?
“Do I feel lame?” asks Jason. “No. I feel like Hercules.”
Most of the piece is about how Millennials are so much more giving and attentive, etc. but this part really stands out.
I humbly submit that Mr. Ritzke has figured out the meaning of life - acting responsibly. He's probably going to make it to adulthood successfully in a few years.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Proctoring update! And the Capstone Game.
For those of you who have expressed some interest in the whole online course integrity issue at UHCL (and you know who you are) I wanted to post a little update.
As you already know, Dr. Williams, Dr. Rusth and I are proctoring this semester. They proctored a bunch of things, and I only required ProctorU.com for the final exams. Funny enough: when I gave students the choice of taking the exam, online, with a proctor, or coming to campus to take it on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, most students (overwhelmingly) chose to simply come to campus.
The pilot study for ProctorU in the School of Business continues over the summer and into the fall, when we have our AACSB (accreditation) visit. The university will also be testing two or three other systems including RemoteProctorNow and one other. All of these include some "lock down" of the browser and remote system during the exam, but I'm not sure they all involve live proctors.
We haven't moved forward on instructing students to pay for their proctoring sessions yet - I'm not sure what folks are waiting on at the university. I figure that when local students figure out that university resources are being used to pay for online student testing they'll probably blow a gasket. Who knows? Seems very unfair to ask local students to pay for (directly or indirectly) the cost of online student exams. Seems unethical, almost.
One more issue for the alums: Some MS Finance students have started complaining that advisors are letting other students "skip" the seminar class. I'm not sure how that happens - it's the capstone course for crying out loud. I'll have to check into it and report back as to whether that is actually happening, and whether it's become some kind of game ("but my roommate got to do it..." etc.). Dr. Kathleen Williamson is responsible for that kind of thing, so I'll have to ask her about it once I get some more of this grading stuff behind me.
Watch this space for updates.
As you already know, Dr. Williams, Dr. Rusth and I are proctoring this semester. They proctored a bunch of things, and I only required ProctorU.com for the final exams. Funny enough: when I gave students the choice of taking the exam, online, with a proctor, or coming to campus to take it on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, most students (overwhelmingly) chose to simply come to campus.
The pilot study for ProctorU in the School of Business continues over the summer and into the fall, when we have our AACSB (accreditation) visit. The university will also be testing two or three other systems including RemoteProctorNow and one other. All of these include some "lock down" of the browser and remote system during the exam, but I'm not sure they all involve live proctors.
We haven't moved forward on instructing students to pay for their proctoring sessions yet - I'm not sure what folks are waiting on at the university. I figure that when local students figure out that university resources are being used to pay for online student testing they'll probably blow a gasket. Who knows? Seems very unfair to ask local students to pay for (directly or indirectly) the cost of online student exams. Seems unethical, almost.
One more issue for the alums: Some MS Finance students have started complaining that advisors are letting other students "skip" the seminar class. I'm not sure how that happens - it's the capstone course for crying out loud. I'll have to check into it and report back as to whether that is actually happening, and whether it's become some kind of game ("but my roommate got to do it..." etc.). Dr. Kathleen Williamson is responsible for that kind of thing, so I'll have to ask her about it once I get some more of this grading stuff behind me.
Watch this space for updates.
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