Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs died this week, and there's been a lot of talk about his life and his work. This was clearly a man who knew what he wanted and went out and got it (or, in his case, made it). I am often intrigued by how much we, as a society, hold a...
Over the last year or so, I have had numerous conversations with faculty using the IF method in the classroom and lamenting that, too often, it is difficult to get their students to go deeper and think harder when engaging more abstract topics. On the concrete...
Last post, I asked you to talk about the criteria and process you used to set up your student groups. This time, now several weeks in, I'd like you to reflect upon how well the group set-ups you created are working. In cases where the group is working well, what...
If you click on the hyperlinks, the file will download onto your computer (check your Downloads file). Evaluation Rubrics -- Allow students to assess their communication skills Communications Exercise -- Provides an opportunity for students to think about different...
For those of you teaching an IF sponsored course this Fall (2010) semester, we’d like you to post blog entries at least 4 times during the semester. We invite you to use these blog posts to reflect upon and share some of your course experiences. We hope that the...
As our nation celebrates Independence Day, I am reminded that much of American history is based in conflict. The crucible within which we forged our independence was a war fought mightily against a more powerful enemy, anchored in the energy of a righteous...
For a long while here at IF, there’s been quite a bit of internal debate as to how our reports should be written, how much detail they should engage, and who their intended audience should be. A couple years ago, public discussion reports were more than a hundred...
President Obama recently suggested that it might be: "With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the...
I bought my first IF easel about a year or so ago, and the plastic "bolt" that secures the extended leg broke recently. That easel cost $100, and it only lasted a year-- very disappointing. I found another easel at Staples (online) that looked really durable....
The most recent edition of Frontline offers an exceedingly disturbing look at the for-profit college world. The people who are driving this world brazenly talk on the record about what a wonderful world this is. Their greed and callousness is stunning: "Well,...