Technology and Distracted Students: A Modest Proposal

A few days ago, news broke in the higher-ed sphere about a new paper in the Educational Psychology Review, “How Much Mightier Is the Pen Than…

The Fallout from Paradigm Shifts; or, Scaling Kuhn Up.

Earlier this week, a cool Twitter thread happened, started by @_Varsha_Venkat’s query to historians about any pivotal, paradigm-shifting (for them) books they’d read

Solving the Silent Sam Problem: A Speculative Account

By now, all of the higher-education world is familiar with the saga of Silent Sam, a statue of a Confederate soldier erected on the UNC-Chapel…

An Ambivalent Milestone; or, How’s the Book Coming?

The fear that hangs over all of my writing is that I will never finish the big projects. Actually, it’s even worse than that: I fear not…

Some Thoughts on Pedagogy and the Problem of “Empathy”

Last week, my provost asked me about the research on “empathy” in teaching and learning. He’s interested-as I am-in how my university can improve student…

Pedagogy is not a Weapon: Defending Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces

[CW: discussion of sexual assault, trauma] Ever since Socrates upbraided his followers in the Agora, there has been a strong tradition among educators to bitch…