Last spring I published some reflections to my course blog that included some reflections on a talk by Leymah Gbowee, one of three women who won the Nobel Peace Prize today.
Discussion not facilitated by me broke out in The Sociology of War and Peace today, in consideration of Alex Morrison’s contribution to Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace, (Ch. 3), on conflict resolution in the international arena. It seems that this topic has been waiting to break out all…
Discussion not facilitated by me broke out in The Sociology of War and Peace today, in consideration of Alex Morrison’s contribution to Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace, (Ch. 3), on conflict resolution in the international arena. It seems that this topic has been waiting to break out all…
Egypt’s Future: Reflections and Dialogue - A panel discussion at UMass Lowell, February 22, 2011
Egypt’s Future: Reflections and Dialogue
A panel discussion about the amazing recent nonviolent revolution
in Egypt and possible outcomes for the democracy movement.
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011
O’Leary Library, Media Center, Room 222
61 Wilder St., UMass Lowell South Campus
Reception: 5 p.m; Panel: 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Featuring: Provost Ahmed Abdelal; Prof. Deina Abdelkader, Political Science Dept.; Gregory Aftandilian, Associate, UMass Lowell Middle East Center; and Prof. Stephen Mishol, Art Dept.
Moderator: Prof. Paula Rayman, Director, UMass Lowell Middle East Center
Refreshments will be served. Free and open to the public.
Sponsors: Provost’s Office; College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and the Middle East Center for Peace, Development and Culture
“What do you mean when you say that?”
by Krista Tippett, host
On my radio show, which covers issues of faith and moral imagination, I encourage my guests to follow a couple of ground rules: No abstractions about God, and speak in the first person, not on behalf of your group or tradition (or God). This makes statements…
(Source: The Wall Street Journal)
Students who tell professors what they want to say command more respect than those students who tell them what they think professors want to hear. This is refreshing to see. How can we make this more clear?
This semester I have created a Twitter account for my classes, encouraging students to follow me. But I have conceived of this chiefly as a way to extend the course beyond the classroom walls, much as if I were sponsoring an evening film discussion. I do have concerns about privacy and would prefer students “opt in” to such things, even as we educators are experimenting with all of the possible implications.
Moreover I do not have large lectures, much less TAs, but I do have well-developed and continually developing methods for stimulating group discussion. Chief among these are small group methods which obviates the shyness problem. Nevertheless, I do find this experiment-worthy, if, for instance, we could embed a Twitter feed into a Powerpoint presentation. Before you beat me up about Powerpoints, please understand that I use them as outlines to frame discussion and minimize the use of paper in posing discussion questions to small groups.
Greg Ferenstein
Professors who wish to engage students during large lectures face an uphill battle. Not only is it a logistical impossibility for 200+ students to actively participate in a 90 minute lecture, but the downward sloping cone-shape of a lecture hall induces a one-to-many conversation. This problem is compounded by the recent budget cuts that have squeezed ever more students into each room
