#information competence

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The Driving Life And Death Of Philando Castile

Philando Castile spent his driving career trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of traffic stops, fines, court appearances, revocations and reinstatements, raising questions about bias, race and luck.

This NPR blog post from July 2016 could provide the opportunity for a very rich ethics discussion, with obvious connections to Between the World and Me. As usual, ethics and critical thinking go hand in hand here. The post also includes all kinds of data and many other kinds of evidence (chiefly quotations) which might allow for some information competence discussion, too. The police officer in this case was found not guilty in June 2017. I was going to suggest that you handle this with care; but I think it's equally right to say we might have a moral imperative to ask students and ourselves to think through this story. Up to you. (Submitted by Cheryl...)

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The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever

We’ve hand-picked over 350 addresses going back to 1774. Search by name, school, date or theme.

And not only that: "Search over 350 speeches by name, school, date or theme — and find out what they have in common with pop songs — on our blog: n.pr/ed." By Jeremy Bowers, Emily Davis, Danny DeBelius, Christopher Groskopf, Anya Kamenetz, Meredith Rizzo, and Sami Yenigun. Could be a fine resource for thought-provoking quotes. Or a research assignment; or a place for practicing how to cite a source. They also do word frequency reports.Here's the blog post (7.2.15) where I first read about the data base: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/02/417442540/the-top-words-of-wisdom-for-new-graduates

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Because we know you'll listen to a government official.

This list (illustrated with GIFs and such) is U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's take on what matters for new college students.

I think it might make a good assignment for SECOND-semester freshmen taking U100 in the spring, with the prompt, "Do you agree?" or "Pick the best one and explain why." Or something like that.

Source: BuzzFeed (which I'm sure would give me pause if I were better acquainted with BuzzFeed). Brought to my attention by CSUN faculty member Beth Lasky.

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Students can download the Student Guide to Academic Advisement. It's available for download as a pdf document from Undergraduate Studies at http://blogs.csun.edu/ugs/academic-advisement/. Includes an advising overview, a list of student responsibilities, a checklist, advice, and contact information for CSUN advisors.

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Helping Students Understand the Role of GE Courses

Submitted by Wayne Smith.

Citation:

Cohen, J., and White, E. (2004), “Creating shared student responsibility for general education”, Peer Review. 7.1 Fall, p8.

(Disclaimer: I am on the CSUN GE Council, but the views expressed here are mine alone and are not endorsed by any other person or organizational body including GE Council.)

To be fully honest, I believe that some student conversations regarding General Education (GE), especially specific GE course selection, are probably best managed on a one-on-one basis with a faculty member or academic advisor.  However, it is also possible that faculty who teach freshmen can help those same freshmen approach GE with the right attitude and perhaps more important, a keen sense of intellectual serendipity.

The reading above is certainly not the only reading on GE that is interesting and relevent to undergraduates, but it’s short and readable.  It gets the students thinking about the subject.  As to the course calendar, I time my discussion of GE to be just before the student enrolls in Spring courses via SOLAR.  I also use a short Powerpoint presentation to spur engagement and discussion in class.  Specifically, I go into more detail about 1), our GE “subject exploration” model, and 2), my own views regarding the principal role of “interdisciplinary thinking”.  See:

http://ocw.smithw.org/general/success-ge-courses.ppt

While no two U100 faculty will likely agree on all issues regarding our GE curriculum and structure, my hunch is that U100 faculty can positively influence the students’ perspectives and ability to flourish in GE courses that will begin in earnest their following semester.

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"In Room for Debate, The Times invites knowledgeable outside contributors to discuss news events and other timely issues. " Discussion Topics: AFGHANISTAN AIRLINES AND AIRPLANES ASIA BANKING SYSTEM BANKS BUSINESS CHINA CONGRESS CULTURE ECONOMY EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT EUROPE FOOD HEALTH HOUSING IMMIGRATION INTERNET JAPAN LAW MIDEAST NEW JERSEY PAKISTAN POLITICS RELIGION REPUBLICAN PARTY SCIENCE SPORTS SUPREME COURT TAXES TEA PARTY MOVEMENT TECHNOLOGY TERRORISM TRANSPORTATION WALL STREET WORLD

[u100facultyfavorites]

Nice, breezy style; pitched at the upper-division level reader (I think) but certainly good advice. Find something better and we will use it instead. Here's your link to "Electives: Tough & Interesting vs. Easy & Boring". By the way: most of my posts also are linked via their TITLE. Format is an advice column; "Sandeep" has written in to ask whether he should sign up for a really challenging history elective. He wants to because he's really interested in it; but he's also concerned. Bottom line of the reply: "I know college is a serious endeavor, and you gotta work hard, etc., but you also have to make some time for yourself and your interests; that’s important personal development as well." And the blogger ends with questions for the reader, which I do like.

[u100facultyfavorites]

Fabulous short piece by Vivek Wadhwa, "an entrepreneur turned academic." Essentially a blog post with superb further links to an ongoing debate about whether students should major in engineering (and math/science) or liberal arts/humanities, and why. Excerpt: "My advice to my students—and to my own children—is to study what interests them the most; to excel in fields in which they have the most passion and ability; to change the world in their own way and on their own terms." Again, here is the link: http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/21/engineering-vs-liberal-arts-who%E2%80%99s-right%E2%80%94bill-or-steve/