Antiquitopia

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article weighing the pros and cons of using Blackboard software or using free blog software (such as blogspot or wordpress). It is a discussion that recently occurred at CUNY. I know the link may not be accessible if you do not have an account (personal or institutional) with the Chronicle, so here are some snippets: Instead of using a course-management system to distribute materials and run class discussions, why not use free blogging software — the same kind that popular gadflies use for entertainment sites? The approach can save colleges money, for one thing. And true believers like Mr. Groom argue that by using blogs, professors can open their students' work to the public, not just to those in the class who have a login and password to a campus course-management system. Open-source blog software, supporters say, also gives professors more ability to customize their online classrooms than most commercial course-management software does...

Let me excuse myself for saying what I often repeat, that I rarely repent, and that my conscience is content with itself, not as the conscience of an angel or a horse, but as the conscience of a man; though always with the addition of this refrain--which is no formal refrain but a true and sincere confession--that I speak as one who questions and does not know, referring the decision purely and simply to common and authorized belief. I do not teach, I relate. (Michel de Montaigne, "On Repentance," Essays 3.2; trans. J.M. Cohen) Sounds like he is using Socrates as his model here as one who claims not to know, and as one who does not teach, but always questions.

The chair of my department just sent this out to the entire department. It is an article from the NYTimes on grades and student expectations, particularly the increasing sense of entitlement to high grades that students have: February 18, 2009 Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes By MAX ROOSEVELT Prof. Marshall Grossman has come to expect complaints whenever he returns graded papers in his English classes at the University of Maryland. “Many students come in with the conviction that they’ve worked hard and deserve a higher mark,” Professor Grossman said. “Some assert that they have never gotten a grade as low as this before.” He attributes those complaints to his students’ sense of entitlement. “I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.” A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, foun...