Carrie Nugent receives 2019 Carl Sagan Medal

Carrie Nugent, producer of Spacepod and assistant professor of computational physics and planetary science at Olin College, has been awarded the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

Professor defends facial recognition research project that captured photos of students on Colorado campus [9news.com]

Billionaire Robert F. Smith Pledges To Repay Loans For 2019 Morehouse College Class [NPR]

University professor fired for having sex with 2 female students must be reinstated, Pa. court rules [pennlive.com]

The flava:
Concluding he didn’t violate any school policy, a state appeals court panel has backed the reinstatement of a Bloomsburg University professor who was fired for having sexual relationships with two female students.

The Commonwealth Court ruling upholds a June 2018 arbitrator’s decision that voided the termination of Assistant Professor John Barrett. University officials had appealed that award, which the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties union secured on Barrett’s behalf. The arbitrator ordered Barrett’s reinstatement with full benefits and back pay.

In the state court’s opinion, Judge P. Kevin Brobson noted the relationships between Barrett and the women were consensual, that neither woman was taking classes from Barrett at the time, and that the relationships were not barred by the university’s sexual harassment policy.

The article:
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/05/university-professor-fired-for-having-sex-with-2-female-students-must-be-reinstated-pa-court-rules.html

Note-taking [from Aca Deme]

I have been particularly frustrated this past semester... students never seem to take notes. I've tried a number of approaches... including requiring note taking, and doing weekly notebook checks, but I feel this is a bit ridiculous for college-level work. Taking notes should be a given. And why should I have to make more work for myself, policing students.

Besides, when I did notebook checks, I'd say students averaged 1/2 page of handwritten notes per hour or hour and a half of lecture. Pitiful.

I do give some handouts, but I do not provide everything via handout as I feel the act of writing things down (or typing them) helps one learn. I wonder is this because students don't learn cursive any more? In which case, they sit at computer workstations, so they could type their notes. Do they know how to type? They could ask to record my lectures but they don't.

They claim they are "visual learners". Well, so am I, but I still take notes. How would they feel if I lectured/demonstrated without notes, meandering through the material at will, covering some things but not others? Clearly they don't remember things from one class to the next. Final projects were just turned in, and one student still couldn't perform a simple task (which consisted of choosing a command from an application menu) even though we had been doing it for every assignment for the past 4 weeks, and I'd showed this student many times. But I never saw her write it down. Or look it up on the Web?

What gives? Or am I just getting old and grumpy.

--Aca Deme

My Turn: High-stakes testing leads to high-stakes cheating [concordmonitor.com]

The flava:

By KRISTIN TICHENOR
For the Monitor

Published: 5/12/2019 12:30:16 AM

The University of New Hampshire announced on Monday that it will no longer require applicants to provide SAT/ACT scores during a three-year pilot program.

The public university is the latest in a growing roster to recognize that the standardized test is not a reliable predictor of college success. This is a step in the right direction – for both applicants and the university.


The article:
https://www.concordmonitor.com/High-stakes-testing-leads-to-high-stakes-cheating-25384419

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