Improvement in Higher Education, Circa 1912
One of my great interests is reading books from the early 1900s that describe the troubles in higher education and the means by which people thought to eliminate problems and improve processes. The...
View ArticleFinal Exams, Final Mistake
A recent op-ed article in my university’s student-run newspaper, written by a soon-to-be graduating senior, questioned the wisdom of cumulative final exams (click here to read the article). It’s great...
View ArticleHigher Education’s Ultimate Failure
Who would have ever thought that tenure’s undoing in public higher education would be caused by higher education’s failure to achieve one of its most fundamental objectives: Teach people how to think...
View ArticleHandmade Visual Controls
In a previous blog post, “Final Exams, Final Mistake,” I described how students in my courses make two types of visual controls to help them remember and apply what they learned. One visual control is...
View ArticleProfessor Emiliani’s “Nos” for Teaching
Kaizen is practical method for improving any processes, and thus it can also be applied to the design and delivery of courses. In order for kaizen to be effective, kaizen participants must be given...
View ArticleIt’s Time for Colleges to Cut Costs
Higher education thought leader Jeffrey J. Selingo has a new thought: It’s time for colleges to cut costs. Hasn’t this been obvious for the last 10 or 20 years? (See my 2005 article, “Lean in Higher...
View ArticleFeedforward to Students
Professors typically give lots of feedback to students over a semester to help them learn and improve. Professors, however, often complain about the feedback that students give concerning the...
View ArticleExcellence in Teaching
Excellence in teaching? Not quite. The results of the U.K.s 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) have been released. Click here to view the results of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze university awards...
View ArticleThe Toxic University
John Smyth, the author of The Toxic University, talks about his book in this interesting article: “Author discusses ideas in his new book, ‘The Toxic University’” (IHE, 12 July 2017) My key takeaway is...
View ArticleCreative Graduation Ceremony
My father, Cesare Emiliani (Dott., Ph.D), was a long-time chair of the Geology department at the University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida. He was a creative, outgoing, and fun person who applied his...
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