The LSU Top 5 #31
This is the 31st of our weekly links to the top 5 bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) Policies, not funds, stymie development of universities – Thanh Nien While other countries in the region have top-ranked universities, Vietnam has none. The country is […]
The LSU Top 5 #30
This is the 30th of our weekly links to the top 5 bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet.
(Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!)
The Slowest Distance Between Two Points – This American Life
At the age of 23, Andrew Forsthoefel fails in keeping his job and is left without a job or a plan. He decides to walk across the U.S. and learns about learning in life. This podcast is his story and features interviews of people from all walks of life giving the advice they would tell the 23-year-old version of themselves. The advice here is likely to apply to university students as well, particularly when they’re not sure where they’re headed and whether they should keep going.
Are university lectures doomed? – The Guardian
In this article, two academics (and lecturers!) debate the value of the lecture. Does learning require “students participate, interrupt, ask questions, disagree, [and] talk back” – best done somewhere other than the lecture theatre – or do lectures provide “50 minutes of pithy introduction from someone who has sorted the wheat from the chaff on the students’ behalf,” putting students “in a position to sit in class and have an informed discussion”?
Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion – TED
A 40 year veteran teacher talks about building connections with students and keeping it all in perspective (and changing it when need be!) in this inspiring TED talk. Although it’s about school kids, these aspects of learning are the same at all levels.
Autonomy needed for Vietnam to have world-class universities – Tuoi Tre
A retired French astrophysicist who taught in Vietnam for more than ten years has said that autonomy is prerequisite for Vietnam universities if they are to become world-class. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government has been running a national project to upgrade its higher education system, including building partnerships with foreign governments such as Russia, Germany, France, the US and Japan. In the case of the Russian project to establish a technology university here, curriculum, books and lecturers will come from Russia.
Some Papers Are Uploaded to Bangalore to Be Graded – The Chronicle of Higher Education
Some US universities are outsourcing grading and feedback on student papers. The graders, mainly from India, Malaysia and Singapore and all holding master’s degrees, provide a level of feedback that simply wouldn’t be possible if the universities relied only on the lecturer and teaching assistants. Some, though, say that outsourced grading and feedback necessarily ignores the context of the essays:
“An outside grader has no insight into how classroom discussion may have played into what a student wrote in their paper,” says Marilyn Valentino, chair of the board of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and a veteran professor of English at Lorain County Community College. “Are they able to say, ‘Oh, I understand where that came from’ or ‘I understand why they thought that, because Mary said that in class’?”
We love hearing your thoughts on these articles, so feel free to comment below!
The Top 5 #29
This is the 29th of our weekly links to the top 5 bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) Asian Higher Education Revolution a Long Way Off – University World News This articles gives a description of The Times Higher Education Asian University Rankings, of […]
The Top 5 # 28
This is the 28th of our weekly links to the top 5 bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) New Model for Business Education – Inside Higher Ed In this interview, the editors of Shaping the Future of Business Education: Relevance, Rigor and Life […]
The LSU Top 5 #27
This is the 27th of our weekly links to the top 5 bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet.
(Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!)
To (All) the Colleges That Rejected Me – The Wall Street Journal
This is a cutting satire from a student who was rejected from her top picks for university in the US. Is she right or just precious?
Colleges tell you, “Just be yourself.” That is great advice, as long as yourself has nine extracurriculars, six leadership positions, three varsity sports, killer SAT scores and two moms. Then by all means, be yourself! If you work at a local pizza shop and are the slowest person on the cross-country team, consider taking your business elsewhere.
Could meditation be the answer to exam nerves? – The Guardian
This article looks at the introduction of mindfulness meditation to some schools in the UK and beyond.
A “7/11″ is not the latest in teenage kicks, but a breathing exercise characteristic of a movement that is undergoing a surge in popularity in schools, known as “mindfulness”. The 7/11 is a relaxation breathing exercise. Matching the counting to the breath, you breathe in for a count of seven, and out for a count of 11. It works for teachers, too.
…
Ally, a student at my school, explains why she attends mindfulness club at lunchtime. “It’s just 15 minutes of quiet under a table,” she says. “I don’t necessarily find solutions to problems or anything, but I do come to terms with what’s happening around me.”
And hey, if simple improvement in well-being isn’t enough to convince you, this article explains how it increases exam results.
American Universities Infected by Foreign Spies Detected by FBI – Bloomberg Businessweek
Some governments, notably China, are infiltrating US universities to get hold of valuable research before it is published. Often, getting sensitive information is as simple as asking, with universities prioritising openness and transparency, and being weary of government organisations like the FBI. Interestingly, the spies aren’t always sent by the Chinese government, but are instead often recruited from students already studying in the US. David Major, president of the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies, said:
China has “lots of students who either are forced to or volunteer to collect information,” he said. “I’ve heard it said, ‘If it wanted to steal a beach, Russia would send a forklift. China would send a thousand people who would pick up a grain of sand at a time.’”
Expertise and Meta-Lessons: Two Elements of Great Teaching – HigherEd Jobs
This article argues that great teachers don’t just have to be skilled at teaching, but need to be experts in their field.
…teaching is not a separate art, but an aspect of being an expert in a field, be it doing carpentry, playing the infield, or reading Shakespeare. Many teacher credential programs seem based upon the premise that teaching is a separate and learnable skill, and that having learned to teach, one then learns an academic subject – math, for example, or history – to supply the content for the teaching skill. (As if one could learn to cook without food.)
Even if students forget the expertise that is passed onto them, they should (the author says) maintain the meta-skills of the field.
Why Khan Academy Is The Wrong Answer – Looking Up
This blog post says that for all the talk about popularised online and technological learning, it’s little more than TV in a different form. The shame is that there are so many ways that online learning could be truly interactive.
Popular efforts to improve education are focusing on the wrong problem. Millions of dollars and hours of innovation are being spent on improving how we deliver content in an era when content matters less and how we interact with it matters more.
This isn’t a new piece, but it was recently reposted on TVO.
We love hearing your thoughts on these articles, so feel free to comment below!
The LSU Top 5 #26
And now to celebrate half a year of the Top 5 bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet! (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) Teacher Knows if You’ve Done the E-Reading – New York Times Would knowing everything about how your students use their textbooks be useful in guiding their […]
LSU Top 5 #25
We’re a quarter of the way to 100! This is the 25th of our weekly links to the top 5 interesting bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) Can ‘Mindfulness’ Help You Focus? – Time After just eight 45 minute meditation sessions over two […]
The LSU Top 5 #24
This is the 24th of our weekly links to the top 5 interesting bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) The dirty little secret of online learning: Students are bored and dropping out – Quartz With incredibly high drop-out rates, there’s something not quite […]
The LSU Top 5 #23
This is the 23rd of our weekly links to the top 5 interesting bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) Local students don’t know what plagiarism is: experts – Tuoi Tre This article gives an insight into plagiarism in Vietnam. Dr. Pham Quoc Loc, of Hoa Sen University, […]
The LSU Top 5 #22
This is the 22nd of our weekly links to the top 5 interesting bits and pieces we’ve found from around the internet. (Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!) Are you smarter than a 5th grader? – Behind Frenemy Lines Texas State Representative Gene Wu found fifth grade exams confusing so challenged his colleagues to see how […]
