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Category: Students

Approaches to Marking

Take a breath–this is my one non-corona blog this week.  Since it’s exam time and people are experimenting with new ways of assessment in the midst of an emergency, my mind has been turning around the issue of different methods of marking and assessment.  Not different approaches to grading (which is a whole other story – especially since Canada is one of the very few and possibly only country in the world where there is not a standard national approach to grading, and yes Carleton,

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April 2, 2020 1 Comment

Coronavirus (10) – Student Support

One thing that has not yet received a lot of attention is the financial impact of the coronavirus on students.  The obvious answer is that it’s going to be very tough: the shut-down specifically targets the sectors that students rely on for jobs: tourism, restaurants/bars, and other service industries.  Though there may be a surge of temp jobs in the health industry and supply chain (either in fulfillment centres or deliveries of various sorts), it’s not difficult to foresee summer

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April 1, 2020 10 Comments

Coronavirus (9) – September & Big Classes

(Yes, I know, I said I would try to stay off Coronavirus topics.  But it’s bloody hard to talk about anything else, isn’t it?) One of the least attractive features of the modern university is the mega-classroom: the huge, 300-1000 student classes that dominate first-year courses.  These courses, point-blank, are terrible.  I mean, I know, fields of study all have entry points and there are some basics about each one that students need to master before moving on to other

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March 31, 2020 1 Comment

Coronavirus (8) – Scenario Planning

For the last three weeks, life on university and college campuses has all been about doing what is needed to save the semester and move to remote learning/remote working format.  I get the sense that this is the week when everyone’s attention is going to shift to “omg, what do we do now?”  The answer to that question will vary, of course, but if there is just one piece of advice I could give everyone, it is that the absolute

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March 30, 2020 1 Comment

Coronavirus (7) – The Decision

Yeah, I know I said I’d stay off this topic this week, but I think there is something that needs saying. It is finally sinking in that this is a long-duration crisis. Not 2 weeks long, not 2 months long: maybe half a year or more.  And that means thinking about September starts now.  We do not know exactly when this thing will unwind, nor how exactly we will phase back into normalcy.  But the frontier is moving back.  Last

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March 24, 2020 No Comments
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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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