Monthly Archives: February 2009

My current tech crush: Dropbox

Anyone who regularly accesses multiple computers knows how hard it is to keep track of files.  That’s why Zotero now offers online syncing & backup, why MobileMe offers Back To My Mac, why flash drives are so popular, and why, … Continue reading

Posted in productivity, software, things I love | 12 Comments

Take attendance with your phone

I have a review of the iPhone app Attendance up at Macworld, which is pretty cool.  (More to come, too!) A taste: Ever since I moved to an electronic gradebook, keeping track of attendance has been a nagging problem. Usually … Continue reading

Posted in gadgets, iphone, review | 3 Comments

A miracle of the Force

I was gobsmacked on Friday when something happened for the first time in 10+ years of teaching: A student produced a reasonable definition of the word canonical.  It was a first-year student, in a composition class. And how did the … Continue reading

Posted in family, higher education, star wars, teaching | 1 Comment

An offer to UConn

Readers outside CT may not be aware that there is currently a mini-scandal in the state about retired employees, including faculty members, who keep working and are thus drawing both pension and pay from the state.  Sometimes this is fairly … Continue reading

Posted in connecticut, education, higher education, silliness | 7 Comments

Stanley Fish is irritating, and not in a good way

Today’s Stanley Fish column about academic freedom & fantasies of academic exceptionalism offers a good example of his strengths and his considerable weaknesses as a columnist. For example, I think this is both true and too-infrequently said: But this is … Continue reading

Posted in academic freedom, education, first amendment, higher education, Victorian literature | 3 Comments

Should MLA members be experts in electronic environments?

Alex Reid has a typically thoughtful post this morning on the MLA’s recent white paper on the undergraduate major in language and literature.  There is something a bit embarrassing about the MLA’s assertion that competencies in reading and writing translate … Continue reading

Posted in education, English major, higher education, mla, teaching | Comments Off on Should MLA members be experts in electronic environments?

The true meaning of a Ph.D.

In the Feb. 16 issue of The Sporting News, Shaquille O’Neal explains what a getting a doctorate means to him: SN: I understand we’ll soon have to call you Dr. Shaq. O’Neal: That’s right. SN: When will that be? O’Neal: … Continue reading

Posted in higher education, silliness | 2 Comments

Teaching Carnival 3.1

Once, long ago (before Twitter!), a man named George had a simple idea: since so many faculty members blog, why not start a carnival “devoted to gathering select blog entries related to teaching issues in higher education”?  And so he … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments