Month: November 2005

Moebius Stripper, always able to supply a nice rant about how integrated calculators in math classes are producing students unprepared for college math, supplies a good set of links to articles about the connections between Texas Instruments and the math textbook industry. For some reason, these articles got me thinking about a related question – how much computer usage in school is a good thing, and how much distracts from real learning? That’s a huge can of worms, so how about just the question of the correct balance of computer usage in my department’s classes?

The NY Times has an interesting article about the trend away from Friday courses on college campuses, and efforts to bring back the serious five-day week. As far as it goes it is interesting, but I think that it misses two points. One, there is a strong implication that it is primarily student pressure to avoid Friday classes – there is only one brief mention that faculty are expected to do much more than teach and having a work day with fewer teaching obligations helps keep on top of research and community obligations. Second, even with Friday classes being common, … Continue reading Bringing Back Friday