Nine Shift

Teaching On the Train

Taking the train to do an in-person seminar this spring,
my brilliant co-author Julie Coates teaches her online class.
Across the aisle another passenger is also
working online on the train.

 

Only Trains Can Save Suburbs

My latest brainstorm: conservative Republican suburbanites will soon start advocating for trains. Whaddya think?

Suburbs are in decline, except for suburbs with train stops.  That according to a study by Robert Lang, professor of urban affairs at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (USA Today, June 28, 2012).

He studied 76 suburbs and found that those with rail lines gained more people.  Overall, suburbs are predicted to decline.  And Lang then predicts what NineShift predicted 10 years ago, that suburbs will grow if they have mass transit within walking distance, and they will "grow up around station stops."  (Note, grow Up,  not out).

So, will conservative Republican suburbanites start advocating for trains?  Tell us your thoughts.

Photo from train leaving Chicago.

When Football Kills Good Pedagogy in College

Here's a disturbing story about how good teaching and learning is being killed by college football.

Calstate was put on NCAA probation for practicing good teaching and learning!  Here's the deal, according to a story by New York Times columnist Joe Nocero.  "Part of being a student at Caltech means “shopping” for courses for the first three weeks of each trimester. Students are allowed to sample classes before they have to register for them." 

This is good educational practice, right?  Yes, Yes it is.  But it violates NCAA rules for student-athletes,  I mean  athlete-students.  So Calstate is being punished.  Calstate is one of the nation's top engineering schools.  Football over STEM college graduates, there's a priority.

Kids this fall kayaking on the river running through our town.

 

Outrage of the Year in Education

This has to be one of the top outrage of the year in education.

Many of the students at the University of Central Florida (UCF) say UCF stands for "U Can't Finish."
So UCF student Tim Arnold created a free website to help students find and enroll in those courses needed to graduate. He called the free service U Could Finish.

And what did the university do? Suspended him.  Shut down the web site.  He broke no rules. Did nothing illegal nor unethical. Really, for helping students complete college we punish him? The outrage of the year in education. Here's the link to the story (thanks for suggesting it Harold)

 

How to Prevent Students from Graduating

Schools and colleges are getting even more inventive in their ongoing attempt to prevent students from graduating.

-Willie signed up for a Spanish class, then his college cancelled it even though there were a ton of students, and of course then it was too late to get into another course.

-Then there is a German student who completed college in 3 years, and the college successfully sued him for a fourth year of tuition.

Next up: the outrage of the year.

Photo: Albino deer on our road up north. We see her several times a year. Kinda restores one's awe in the spirit of the universe.