Starting with Hope
We are in the last block of the first year of the block plan. Block 8 is a good one start with hope. Kevin Gannon’s Radial Hope, to be precise. Then we will mix in some thoughts on educational technology, and end with the words of John Dewey that seem even more pressing today than when he originally wrote them back in 1937.
Not-A-Book Club on Wednesday: Radical Hope
We are meeting this Wednesday, at 1:30pm, in Walter 110 to discuss two sections of the book Radical Hope: a teaching manifesto, by Kevin Gannon. Read the selection and just show up! No need to register. The sections are the Introduction and Chapter 6: Encouraging choice, collaboration, and agency. You can find those sections here: Radical Hope Intro & Chapter 6
Teaching is a radical act of hope. It is an assertion of faith in a better future, in an increasingly uncertain and fraught present. It is a commitment to that future even if we can’t clearly discern its shape. -Kevin Gannon
The Online Overhaul
I’ve spent a lot of my professional years working in all aspects of online teaching and learning, beginning in 2007. I have lots of opinions about online. While I certainly don’t agree with all the arguments in this article, it is still a valuable read considering our model of 4 blocks + 1 online course a semester. The Online Overhaul: Virtual Courses Used to be the Exception. Now They’re an Expectation.
Note: You can access Chronicle of Higher Education articles without a personal account if you are on campus.
So Many AI Stories
AI articles rarely catch my attention, but this week there were several that broke through the noise. There’s one about Canvas integration, one about redesigning course assessments due to cheating, and one about how the struggle is often where the learning happens.
- Instructure Canvas is piloting some aspects of AI integration at a few universities. They are not the only ones. Anthropic launches an AI chatbot plan for colleges and universities
- Dr. Robert Talbert, a well-knowing practitioner of grading for growth, overhauled one of his math courses this spring because of flagrant AI cheating in the fall. The revised course is wrapping up, and here are some of the things (good and bad) he experienced with these changes. My AI-driven grading changes: A 3x3x3 reflection
- An interview with John Warner about his new book, More Than Words: How to think about Writing in the Age of AI. It’s a thoughtful exploration of the value of struggle in writing. More Than Words Interview
A Free Teacher in a Free Society
Dr. Emily Pitts Donohoe has a surprise encounter in the library with the works of education legend, John Dewey, while in search for his quote, “A free education is incompatible with fascism. Education is likely to be one of the great battlegrounds upon which is waged an intense and desperate struggle for power.” A Free Teacher in a Free Society