A good college education, even in the best of times, requires having difficult conversations. We can only learn and grow when confronted with new ways of thinking; engaging diverse and challenging ideas in an inclusive educational community is central to a liberal arts education and essential to the University of Portland Core curriculum. These particular…Continue Reading Difficult Conversations and Liberal Arts Ideals
These are the times that try our souls. After the year went sideways, and a fire was in my head, I went to the Wise to seek solace. But the Prophets were occupied on Zoom. The Oracle of Delphi was working with tech support. The Village Elders were social-distancing. Buddha was doomscrolling. And Professor Google…Continue Reading Literature’s Thoughts for Covidian Times
By Jeffrey White In my role directing the Learning Commons, I have had the opportunity to connect nationally with practitioners and researchers in the field of peer-led course-based learning assistance (CLA), such as Supplemental Instruction (SI) and its variation Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL). Both SI and PAL focus on difficult courses, especially those in which the…Continue Reading What Peer-Assisted Learning Can Teach Us
We’ve all been in a crunch over the past week and a half as the spread and unknown reach of the Coronavirus sent us all on many directions. During this time, our colleagues have been learning new systems like Microsoft Teams and TechSmith Relay, and our students have been trying to adjust to our online…Continue Reading Teaching and learning resources for these trying times
