Those college rankings crush liberal arts education

Photo: Daniel R. Porterfield, Ph.D.

"For college educators, September now has been shaped by the thunderclaps of rankings, each with its own data, fanfare and false hierarchies." according to Daniel R. Porterfield, president of Franklin & Marshall College. The English scholar previously worked as senior vice president for strategic development at his alma mater, Georgetown University.

For those who believe that liberal arts education forms young adults and fosters freedom — endeavors that are impossible to quantify and rank — it's tempting to curse the skies, Twain-like, about the rise of “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

But we're better off lamenting less and building a better case for the value of liberal arts education for the world we live in now. And this month we have an ideal invitation to do so with the release of the Obama administration's much-anticipated College Scorecard.

This new online instrument allows users to compare institutions based on price, debt, completion rate and average salary of graduates, regardless of major, 10 years after finishing their degrees.

For families exploring financial aid options, it provides helpful information. But as a tool for learning about the value of college, it has two limitations.

It oversimplifies and over-emphasizes salary data that might not be predictive of future earnings and, more problematic, it fails to bring into view many beneficial aspects of the college experience, especially the value of rigorous liberal arts learning.

For example, the scorecard doesn't quantify whether students can take a broad range of core courses (taught by permanent faculty) in subjects like history, math, science, literature, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, government, languages or religion.

Nor does it measure student opportunities to work individually with faculty, improve their writing skills, do independent research or solve intellectual problems with peers of diverse backgrounds...

If we don't teach our children and youth to value America's freedoms, history, literature, culture, political philosophy, pluralism and regional differences, we'll be eroding from within all that we've built at the precise moment that we're being attacked from outside.

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Source: Tribune-Review

St. Vincent instructor makes 'home movie' titled "A Ride Around Roscoe"

Photo: Joe Napsha

Joe Napsha, staff writer for Trib Total Media inform, "David J. Safin grew up in the Mon Valley town of Roscoe, with a father who loved to take home movies of the family's special events, so it is not surprising that his father's passion for filmmaking rubbed has off on his son." 

David Safin, an assistant professor of communication at St. Vincent College, spent a lot of time on his bicycle in his short film 'A Ride Around Roscoe.'
Photo: Tribune-Review

Safin, an assistant professor of communication at St. Vincent College near Latrobe, produced a homage to his childhood and his hometown this spring in a 6-minute, 22-second film, “A Ride Around Roscoe.”

“I would not have been doing this if it had not been for him,” Safin, 37, said of his father, George Safin.

Safin's father had shot more than 200 hours of home movies, beginning in 1984 and continuing until 1996 when David Safin was 18.

Safin tapped that treasure trove of home movies for his film, which he entered into the Johnstown Film Festival, a film shorts competition, that was held Sept. 10-12 in Johnstown.

“If I can hold someone's attention for 6{ ¹⁄₂} minutes, then I did a good job,” said Safin, whose film also has received over 3,000 views on social media.

As the title of his recent film suggests, Safin makes a film of his bicycle ride around Roscoe, with him pedaling on his mother's bicycle, with a basket in the front, and narrating the story of his youth.

“I've always like to tell stories. Film is a new way to tell a story, whether it is fact or fiction,” said Safin, 37, of Harrison City.

The trip down memory lane for Safin, as well as a trip around town, is interspersed with a healthy dose of clips from the home movies his father took. Among the old movies he used were scenes of youngsters walking in the town's Halloween parade that attracted hundreds of people; events at St. Joseph Catholic Church, where he was baptized, had his confirmation and was an altar boy; and his grandparents' house where he and his brother played wiffle ball and held picnics.

The film includes shots of the building that held a tanning salon he was managing when terrorists attacked the United Stations on Sept. 11, 2001; the house where his parents lived when his older brother was born; the Roscoe Presbyterian Church where tickets to Kennywood amusement park were sold; and the Monongahela River, which rose up to flood River Street in November 1985.

Safin offers a touching piece of philosophy near the end of the film...

Beginnings

Safin took a drama class at California Area High School and a series of video classes at St. Vincent College and liked it.

Safin, earned a bachelor of arts degree in communication from St. Vincent College and a master of science degree in multimedia technology from California University of Pennsylvania. He also has a master of fine arts in film and digital technology from Chatham University.

He has been a full-time faculty member at St. Vincent for two years, but starting working part-time in 2003 an adjunct faculty member for the communication and history departments and as director of multimedia services, Safin said.

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Additional resources
Join David Safin below on a bike tour of his hometown of Roscoe, PA. Along the way, he will tell you some stories about the place where he has raised. 
 

A Ride Around Roscoe from David Safin on Vimeo.

Source: Tribune-Review and Vimeo

Philosophy lecturer signs off - Students start petition to reinstate philosophy lecturer

"Victoria University lecturer Dr Jay Shaw is retiring, but his students don't want him to leave." continues Stuff.co.nz. 

Dr Jay Shaw, centre, a lecturer in non-Western philosophy, says he has been forced to retire from his job at Victoria University. Students Thomas Martin, left, Alexander Janet, Joseph Carlson and Thomas Prout, have started a petition to get him back. 
Photo: Stuff.co.nz

A much-loved Victoria University lecturer is bowing out – though not without a last ditch effort to stay.

History, philosophy, political science and international relations associate professor Dr Jay Shaw will teach his last class in November, after retiring from full-time employment in 2011.

However, Shaw, who had been on fixed-term teaching contracts for the past four years, said he was forced into retirement and did not want to leave.

The 74-year-old even offered his to teach the courses for free.

"I was told they couldn't renew my contract and I had to leave at the end of the year. I told them I was willing to teach without any pay, but I got a negative reply."

Shaw was upset he had to leave, as he felt he still had a lot to offer to future generations, he said.

He hoped his students could help reinstate him through a petition.

International student Alexander Janet, who initiated the petition, said he was baffled by Shaw's departure.

"[Shaw] is a treasure for students that cherish philosophy, education and more importantly a comparative approach that sees all philosophy as equally important."

Janet said it would be a big loss to future philosophy students if Shaw was not reinstated.

We honestly think it would be an asset lost for the students. I'm surprised they let someone go who is so passionate, who is so willing to give so much. It's very sad."

A university spokeswoman confirmed Shaw's contract had come to an end, but would not comment on the specifics of Shaw's employment, citing privacy reasons.

The date for a person to retire from Victoria University was always reached by mutual agreement, she said.

Shaw, an Indian philosopher, is believed to be the first in New Zealand to receive a festchrift – a prestigious academic award where a compilation of articles by leading international scholars honouring one's academic contribution are written.

Shaw has studied and taught at American universities, presented more than 100 papers, written 11 books and represented New Zealand at the World Parliament of Religion in 1993.

He is also the founder of many societies in New Zealand and India promoting philosophy and values and is proud of student assessments at Victoria and the University of Hawaii, which have rated his teaching as "perfect".
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Source: Stuff.co.nz

What will the internet look like in 2040?

"We consult 12 industry professionals to gain their views" according to Kathryn Cave, Editor at IDG Connect.  

The World Wide Web was officially born way back in 1991 and has developed considerably since then. So, what will the internet look like a similar distance ahead? We asked a range of industry insiders, and have collated their professional opinions, below. Interestingly, they’re remarkably consistent… 

Photo: IDG Connect

A whole host of competing internets
Nick Lambert, CMO of UK startup Maidsafe
By 2040, global decentralised computing networks running on the spare computing resources of individual users’ machines, mobiles and embedded devices will be common place. Rather than having one internet, there will be several (similar to browsers today) and large technology companies will compete to be the most dominant.

Rings of an onion diced to suit your need
Garry Stevens, business consultant and CEO of Centerprise
The internet could be structured as many different internets by 2040. I can envisage a free-to-go zone for all the personal level information that families collaborate on, and a different area that would be the ‘professional’ social media domain. Perhaps we will see another level of the internet focused purely on business information that companies would need to pay to be a part of... 

Think of the internet as the rings of an onion that could be separated and diced to suit the need, instead of the whole onion as it is today.  With different performance needs, security requirements, fees and uses, the internet could drive the structure of society by the access levels that you need and the ones that you can afford!

The Cloud-of-Things
Peter Cochrane OBE, the ex CTO of BT
If by 2040 we have achieved sustainable societies and smart cities it will be on the back of Clouds-of-Things sustained by a dense infrastructure of low energy optical fibre and short hop wireless.  The internet of today will be a distant memory along with cellular mobile, which already represents a minority carrier.

New generations of Wi-Fi (and more) will provide the primary short-range communication between people and things, whilst networks without infrastructure will dominate along with local storage. Whilst most things will have to be online, they need not communicate beyond some local community or boundary, and even for many apps and services this projection could be the dominant mode.

Wired-up to our everyday lives
Gary Taylor, Business Director of the digital agency, TMWI
In 2040 the internet will be wired into our everyday lives to help in all aspects from ordering food in our home, driving our cars and essentially play the role as our virtual personal assistant. The Internet of Things will have converged and the items we carry on our person will no longer exist as separate entities (wallet, credit cards, phone, car keys, ID) particular advancements in healthcare and education will change the way patients are diagnose and students are taught as the ability to access large data sets and information in real time becomes better and faster. Connectivity in developing countries will have allowed significant investment and commercial growth within those areas, creating a new generation of empowered workers.

The internet of identity
Richard Lack, Director of Sales at Gigya
By 2040, users will experience an entirely fluid internet experience, both online and in the real world with Internet of Thing devices, all communicating and learning via that single digital identity. We are already seeing the likes of Apple, Facebook and Google moving to dominate digital experiences. By 2040, these user experiences will have developed considerably.

Sensors, data and more AI
Robert Ackland, Group Director of Product Development for HEG
My first prediction for the internet in 2040 is that the bar for creating an online presence online will be set lower and lower. In 25 years, I’d expect a huge degree of maturity here, with Artificial Intelligence being used to anticipate needs and customise experiences in real-time based on feedback and trends.

My second prediction revolves around the evolution of the location aware internet that we’re seeing today. In 2040, the environment aware internet will be mature and widely accepted. Vast numbers of sensors with real-time processing capability will instrument every facet of your life - creating wearables that can keep you healthy, cars that can drive themselves, and buildings that can optimise your energy costs. 
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Source: IDG Connect

Blame it on the bossa nova: Music helps students master Portuguese

Emma Greguska, ASU News reports, "Known for his lyrical writing style, 18th-century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called music “the universal language of mankind.”"

ASU senior lecturer Clarice Deal incorporates music into her Portuguese classes to help improve students' memory and mastery of vocabulary. She uses music videos and audio files, sometimes taking requests from her students — but the type of songs used is key.
Photo: Charlie Leight/ASU News

You might say Arizona State University senior lecturer Clarice Deal is taking a page from his book in her unique approach to teaching Portuguese.

Ever since she began teaching at ASU in 1990, the Sao Paulo native has combined her love of music — in particular bossa nova, a style of Brazilian music derived from samba — with her passion for teaching.

“As I began teaching, I quickly realized that music provides an effective tool to assist in the teaching and acquisition of learning a new language,” said Deal, a member of ASU’s School of International Letters and Cultures faculty.

In fact, she found teaching language with music so effective that she decided to make it the subject of her postgraduate work.

“I began doing research on the subject of teaching with music in general, and later focusing on the subjunctive, a verb tense commonly used to express feelings of regret or desire (‘I wish I had’), that often shows up in music,” she said.

“As I researched I found a significant … amount of material on the use of music in the classroom. Experts identify several advantages of language learning through song: Memory is helped by rhythm; many songs are an excellent source of cultural knowledge, representing national characteristics, trends and tastes with astonishing clarity,” said Deal.
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Source: Arizona State University

Organization replaces stolen saxophone after student gets robbed at gunpoint

Photo: Melissa Stern

Melissa Stern, FOX 4 summarizes,  "A sophomore at Alta Vista Charter High School was finally getting a chance to learn music, when his instrument was suddenly taken away. Gerardo Lopez was robbed at gunpoint last week while walking home from school, and the saxophone he was learning to play was among the things stolen from him."
 

Play video

But Lopez was surprised at school on Thursday with a new saxophone.

"We have a little surprise for you today... and this is Mr. Meyer, from Meyer Music, and he has something for you," Lopez's band director, Julie Munro, said as she surprised him in class.

"I heard that you are now needing a saxophone, so I brought you a saxophone today so now you can keep playing your saxophone in band," said Meyer, with Meyer Music.

Lopez usually rides the bus home from school, but it gets home late, so he decided to walk last Friday. He said he was halfway home when a man approached him.

"I just thought to myself, I guess I could walk, I already checked on my phone, it would take 52 minutes, and that`s less than the bus," Lopez said. "He said, 'hey yo, let me see that phone.' Then he pulled out the gun and pointed at my chest."

The robber took his saxophone, computer, and phone. Gerardo went across the street to a restaurant to call 911; his mom came to get him.

"I was relieved I was alive, but I was really worried," Lopez said.

Band of Angels -- a partnership between Meyer Music and FOX 4-- collects donated musical instruments and cash to buy instruments and puts them in the hands of children who want to study music.
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Source: fox4kc.com

Wake County students learn life lessons from dancing

Follow on Twitter as @nckhui

"Students at two Wake County elementary schools came to learn about dancing Friday, but the real lessons they learned were about life and how to show respect to others." writes T. Keung Hui.

Photo: News & Observer

Mary McCatty, an educational liaison with New York-based Dancing Classrooms, taught students at Powell Elementary in Raleigh and Zebulon Elementary the basics about ballroom dancing, swing dancing and line dancing. Along the way, McCatty communicated ideas such as how body language means as much as spoken language and to be respectful in both actions and words.

“In this day and time, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen don’t always treat each other with respect, and that’s part of what we’re doing,” McCatty said. “It’s social, emotional learning. You learn how to partner up and be a teammate and then how to really move together with that person.”

Dancing Classrooms started in 1994 in New York City as a program teaching ballroom dancing to elementary and middle school students. It’s now become a national program that serves 45,000 students a year.

According to Dancing Classrooms, learning the art of social dance cultivates essential life skills in children. The group says teaching children to dance together fosters respect, teamwork, confidence and a sense of joy and accomplishment.

Those attributes were on the agenda Friday as McCatty talked to students about politely asking a person for a dance, showing respect by dancing with someone who they may not want to dance with, and thanking their partner after a dance. McCatty was at two magnet schools, Powell and Zebulon, that offer expanded arts programs.

McCatty used merengue, a type of Dominican dance, to teach ballroom dancing. She then moved to “Rock Around the Clock” to introduce the students to swing dancing before ending with “Uptown Funk” to get the kids excited about line dancing. By the end of the hour, the students were disappointed when they were told the class was over.

Ja-Shiya Spruill, 10, a fifth-grader at Powell, said she wants to continue learning about ballroom dancing.

“It was fun,” Ja-Shiya said. “You can use things to get to know people better.”

Damarion King, 10, a fifth-grader at Powell, was thrilled at being the prince of the court as he led the students in a circle as they waved to “Queen Smith” – their dance teacher Jessica Smith.

“I liked the dancing,” Damarion said. “I like how she set it up.”
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Source: News & Observer

Music teacher buys giant piano for his students

"Justin Neilsen's music class starts the same way everyday -- with a drum circle and a little cowbell." continues WTSP 10 News.

Kids love to play on Justin Neilsen's monster piano. 
Photo: KTVB

Neilsen's School of Music in Eagle has just about every instrument it could possibly need in its limited space.

But Justin will tell you there is one piece he would love to procure.

"Wanted one for a long time but never had one," he said.

It's a gimmicky gadget you may have already seen.

"How old would I have been in the 80s when I saw Tom Hanks do it," said Neilsen.

The FAO Schwartz big piano became almost as big as the movie "Big," carrying a price tag that is also big -- around $300,000.

So where would Justin find a dancing grand piano that didn't break his bank?

"Well we call it the Monster Piano," said Ken Cenell.

As it happens, just down the road.

Ken Cenell considers himself an entrepreneur, marketing almost everything -- from magazines to laser printers to monster pianos.

"Just describes that it's a piano and it's a monster," said Cenell.

It took Ken six months to make his first one out of wood and about a mile of wire.

Now, it's high-grade acrylic and sophisticated software.
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Source: WTSP 10 News

Data against drop-outs: Using big data to manage student attrition

"Most experts agree that recent shifts in educational technology are driving change in teacher-pupil relationships and pupil expectations. With the attendant rise of the concept of the higher education student as consumer, student retention is becoming an increasingly important issue for educational institutions. In the US, decreasing graduation rates are causing concern and damaging President Obama’s drive to make sure that by 2020 the US boasts the world’s highest proportion of college graduates (50% of the population)." according to OEB Newsportal.

Dr Ellen Wagner, Chief Research and Strategy Officer for the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework. Photo: OEB Newsportal

Students failing to complete their education represent a problem globally for already financially challenged higher education institutions. Every student ‘lost’ is seen as a financial loss, as universities miss out on fees, government funding and potential future alumni contributions. And of course for students, dropping out can mean losing initial investments and valuable time, as well as the ignominy of being labelled a ‘drop out’.

As higher education provision continues to grow, so too does concern regarding student ‘attrition’ (the reduction in numbers of students attending courses as time goes by). According to UNESCO, the percentage of adults worldwide who have received tertiary education rose from 19% to 29% between 2000 and 2010. This growth has continued in the first half of the decade, albeit at a slower pace. Such growth is subject to what Philip Altbach, Director of the Centre for International Higher Education at Boston College, has called the ‘law of expansion’. Apart from a small number of elite institutions, Altbach claims that any large expansion in a country’s tertiary education sector will be matched by a decline in quality of both education and students – as students of a wider range of ability are being taught often by less qualified staff under conditions of stretched public funding.

Does the growth of higher education mean then, by necessity, that student attrition rates will grow in turn? Not necessarily. Using the analytical power of big data, the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework is offering an innovative way of understanding student loss, allowing institutions to identify causes and thus halt the flow of students dropping out. With more than 351 unique member campuses, over 2.6 million anonymous student records and 24 million institutionally de-identified course level records, PAR seeks to provide a holistic perspective in order to improve student outcomes on a broad scale across the US.

Dr Ellen Wagner, Chief Research and Strategy Officer for the framework explains: “PAR uses predictive analytics to find students likely to be at risk of dropping out, finds the variables /reasons they are likely to drop out, which then helps target interventions most likely to provide support for that student at the point of need.”

Using predictive techniques usually found in business intelligence settings to aid educational decision-making, PAR does not only seek to predict who is at risk, but also provides analytical data which measures the effectiveness of interventions. According to Dr Wagner, “We spend as much of our energy on intervention measurement as we do on the predictive models and descriptive benchmarks we have developed.”
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Source: OEB Newsportal

Teachers Nurture Growth Mindsets in Math

Photo: Evie Blad

Evie Blad, staff writer for Education Week and author of the blog Rules for Engagement writes, "Despite skepticism from some parts of the mathematics field, new strategies are emerging for teachers to help students develop positive learning attitudes toward math."
 

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A blend of family attitudes, cultural ideas, and frustration often lead students to believe that math ability is a fixed trait like eye color, teachers say. They believe they are either born with the skills necessary to succeed in math class or they're not.

Those pervasive ideas and the way math has traditionally been taught can make it exceptionally difficult for math teachers to nurture growth mindsets in their students, they say.

Photo: Philip Uri Treisman

"There's a cultural mystique in mathematics and sort of salient, counterproductive conceptions about what it is, that it's somehow harder than art, which of course is crazy," said Philip Uri Treisman, a mathematics professor and director of the University of Texas' Charles A. Dana Center, which focuses on math and science education.

"It has sort of cultural baggage with it that is not helpful to the field," he said.

The concept of growth mindsets has gained a foothold in many schools, where teachers emphasize that the brain can grow and change and that students don't enter school with a set of unchangeable strengths and weaknesses. In general, that means praising effort over personal traits and encouraging students to learn from mistakes by developing new strategies to approach problems.

As more schools buy into the research that shows that student mindsets and persistence are linked to academic success, researchers are working to develop more specific strategies for nurturing positive learning attitudes in areas like mathematics.

The key, they say, is changing both the student's ideas about learning and the way teachers approach math content.

The Dana Center's Academic Youth Development program, for example, blends mindsets research with math concepts through both professional development for teachers and summer programs for students as they prepare to enter 9th grade, which is often the year students take Algebra 1. Researchers are studying the effects of the program, which is being used in 1,250 middle and high schools around the country.

'My Favorite No'  

Some teachers are also making efforts on their own to learn about the mindset concept. Stanford University's Project for Education Research That Scales, or PERTS, released a series of online courses about mindsets for parents and teachers last month. It included just one subject-specific course: a series of videos, exercises, and sample lesson plans tailored for math teachers.

That course includes guidance on how to "normalize failure" by encouraging students to ask questions that they may be afraid to ask and to share incorrect answers with their peers.

"Sometimes it's important to simply tell students that you love mistakes because that's how students learn," one sample discussion plan says. "Start the class with a lesson on why you like mistakes and what students can learn from them."

Classroom teachers say many of their students approach math with the expectation that they have failed if they can't quickly solve a problem using a prescribed algorithm.

With a mindset approach, teachers help students focus on learning from that failure and trying the problem from a different angle so that students can understand the underlying concepts.

The Stanford course includes a video of a teacher doing a daily exercise called "my favorite no." At the beginning of class, she has every student solve a problem on an index card, sorting the resulting answers into a pile of correct and incorrect answers. She then copies an incorrect answer onto the board and asks students to identify all of the correct elements before honing in on what part of their classmate's solution led them to an incorrect answer.
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Source: Education Week