Recently in Teaching Category

"In 1922, Matthew Luckiesh wrote an optical illusions book titled - Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications. It was probably the first book to comprehensively cover the topic of Optical Illusions, or Visual Illusions, as they were called then.

On this optical illusion web site, we present this book to you, chock full of optical illusion information. It will be of interest to both the person who is fascinated by optical illusions and asks, "How do optical illusions work?" and also to the person doing serious research on the science of optical illusions. Some editing of the book has been done."

http://www.visualillusion.net/

This is an interesting site about a bet between two very bright people. The bet is based on the Turing Test.

It relates to my classes becasue I have often used the example of the turing test when evaluation student work.

Background on the "Long Now Turing Test Wager."
Ray Kurzweil maintains that a computer (i.e., a machine intelligence) will pass the Turing test by 2029. Mitchell Kapor believes this will not happen.

This wager is intended to be the inaugural long term bet to be administered by the Long Now Foundation. The proceeds of the wager are to be donated to a charitable organization designated by the winner.

http://www.longbets.org/1

Bennington president Liz Coleman delivers a call-to-arms for radical reform in higher education. Bucking the trend to push students toward increasingly narrow areas of study, she proposes a truly cross-disciplinary education -- one that dynamically combines all areas of study to address the great problems of our day.

http://www.ted.com/talks/liz_coleman_s_call_to_reinvent_liberal_arts_education.html

To be liberally educated is to be transformed. A liberal arts education frees your mind and helps you connect dots you never noticed before, so you can put your own field of study into a broader context. It enables you to form opinions and judgments, rather than defer to an outside authority.

http://ls.berkeley.edu/?q=about-college/liberal-arts-education

What does liberal learning have to do with the harsh realities that our graduates are going to face after college? The development of the capacities for critical inquiry associated with liberal learning can be enormously practical because they become resources on which to draw for continual learning, for making decisions in one's life, and for making a difference in the world.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-roth/whats-a-liberal-arts-educ_b_147584.html

When they first arrive at college, many students are surprised at the general education classes they must take in order to graduate. They wonder why someone who wants to be an accountant or psychologist or television producer should study subjects that have nothing directly to do with those fields. And that is a reasonable question--Why should you study history, literature, philosophy, music, art, or any other subject outside of your major? Why should you study any subject that does not help to train you for a job? Why should you study computer programming when you will never write a program? Why study logic when all you want to do is teach first grade or be a church organist?

http://www.virtualsalt.com/libarted.htm

Even if you're enrolled in a traditional college, you'll probably have the opportunity to learn in an online environment.  That's because many of today's traditional classrooms are starting to use online instruction to enhance the classroom experience.  This is good news for students, as it gives them access to the benefits of both learning methods.

http://www.distance-education.org/Articles/Today-s-Classrooms-Are-Going-Hybrid--Six-Ways-You-Can-Benefit-31.html

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- Ariana Leonard's high school students shuffled in their seats, eagerly awaiting a cue from their Spanish teacher that the assignment would begin.

"Take out your cell phones," she said in Spanish.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/28/teachers-using-cell-phone_n_372710.html