by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 22 April 2011

EAGLE, IDAHO – Michael Blankenship, fellow classmate from the Asheville High School graduating class of ’73 passed away yesterday at the age of 56 from an apparent heart attack while walking to his car after teaching a class at Boise State University where he was a tenured professor. Michael B. Blankenship was a professor at East Tennessee State University and had studied Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University where he received his Ph.D. He had been married for 33 years. Mike’s son, Ian, reported the death of his father on Facebook this morning. We are all saddened by Mike’s untimely death and our hearts and prayers go out to his family. The Boise State University Department of Criminal Justice has posted a Memoriam to Dr. Michael Blankenship on their University Website.

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The Purpose of Critical Thinking

by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 2 November 2010

WEAVERVILLE - The purpose of reading conflicting viewpoints on an academic topic by scholars is to engage the scholar in critical thinking about the subject matter s/he is reading. Through the process of reading conflicting viewpoints on an academic topic, the scholar begins to compare, analyze, and synthesize the viewpoints of other scholars in the field with her own viewpoints, thus allowing the scholar to then compare her own theories, hypotheses, or conjectures regarding the academic subject with that of her colleagues who, in turn, can then debate the reviewing scholar’s position by providing additional facts and literature to support their original claims.

This practice of scholarly engagement is what allows the academic body of knowledge to expand and to be reinforced. Through the understanding of conflicting academic viewpoints and the process of employing academic argument by one or more scholars, the ideas, concepts, and theories that have been heretofore accepted or embraced are further tested to their limits, often questioned, and the inevitable result is either a total change in ideological direction by the scholarly whole or a dismissal of the original theory as potentially being irrelevant, incomplete, lacking in credibility, or requiring further research.
As a graduate learner, I would offer the following tips to others who are struggling to analyze and write about conflicting scholarly points of view. First, and foremost, the graduate learner should conduct research into the scholarly literature on what is available to her on the viewpoints of other scholars in the academic arena. Second, the graduate learner should group the information that is acquired in either a thematic or chronological categorization. Third, she should construct an evaluative annotated bibliography from the references that are obtained on the academic topic that is to be analyzed and written about. And, lastly, the graduate learner should determine the format of the paper that s/he will use to present her arguments either for or against those of other scholars using correct APA format to ensure that all citations used in the paper are properly referenced allowing other readers to follow them properly and to read the supporting documentation for themselves in order for them to compare, analyze, and synthesize their own viewpoints, and to offer their own arguments on the academic topic.
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Republished by DAN CALLOWAY
14 March 2010

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 11, 2010 – The Council for Higher Education Accreditation, a national advocate and institutional voice for self-regulation of academic quality through accreditation, has awarded the 2010 CHEA Award for Outstanding Institutional Practice in Student Learning Outcomes to Capella University, one of four institutions that will receive the award in 2010. Capella University is the first online university to receive the award.

For the last decade, Capella University’s faculty have developed an outcomes-based curricular model that begins with adult learners’ educational needs and builds programs and courses to meet those needs. The university’s assessment system capitalizes on this model to gather data on the learning process and to report on outcome attainment, enabling leadership to target quality improvement efforts. Details on this approach and program learning outcome results are published on Capella’s Learning & Career Outcomes Website (www.capellaresults.com).

“Capella University is a leader in accountability in higher education. Their work in student learning outcomes exemplifies the progress that institutions are making through the implementation of comprehensive, relevant and effective initiatives,” said CHEA President Judith Eaton. “We are pleased to recognize this institution with the CHEA Award.”

CHEA is an association of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities and recognizes 59 institutional and programmatic accreditors. The CHEA Award was established in 2005 to recognize institutions that have been exceptional in developing and applying evidence of student learning outcomes to improve higher education quality and accountability. A committee selected from higher education institutions, accrediting organizations and the public judged the winners on the basis of four award criteria: 1) articulation and evidence of outcomes; 2) success with regard to outcomes; 3) information to the public about outcomes; and 4) use of outcomes for educational improvement.

Capella University is an online university offering graduate and undergraduate education to more than 30,000 working adults. Capella has been active in leading higher education accountability initiatives, including Transparency By Design.

In addition to Capella University, Portland State University (OR), St. Olaf College (MN) and the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith (AR) also will receive the 2010 CHEA Award. The award will be presented at the 2010 CHEA Annual Conference, which will be held January 25–28 in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the 2010 CHEA Award for Outstanding Institutional Practice in Student Learning Outcomes or to arrange an interview with an award recipient, contact Timothy Willard, CHEA’s Director of Communications, at (202) 955-6126 or via email at willard@chea.org.

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by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 27 February 2010

CHRONICLES OF HIGHER EDUCATION

East Stroudsburg U. Suspends Professor for Facebook Posts
An associate professor at the Pennsylvania institution was suspended on Wednesday for comments that she wrote on her Facebook page.

Learning From Culture Pirates
History shows that intellectual property is more complicated than either its creators or copiers care to admit, says Adrian Johns.

Here’s One Way to Curtail Web Surfing in the Classroom
In a moment of classroom theater, a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma freezes a laptop in liquid nitrogen, then smashes it on the floor.

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by JILL LASTER, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Published 27 January 2010 @ 14:44 UTC

WASHINGTON, DC – A nonprofit corporation created to find new uses of information technology in education debuted on Monday.

Congress authorized the creation of the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies in 2008. The New York Times reports that the center could be giving out grants by fall.

The center received $500,000 in funds from the Department of Education–far less than the $50-million that advocates requested when Congress authorized the center in 2008. The center also plans to solicit private funds.

Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS, and Newton N. Minow, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recommended a multibillion-dollar trust that would function as a “venture capital fund” to do research on learning technology in 2001, according to the Times.

The center was included in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and was endorsed by several higher-education associations. It wants to finance projects such as three-dimensional simulations of abstract concepts.

The Federation of American Scientists is excited about the new project, said Melanie Stegman, the group’s director of educational technologies.

“We think there’s a lot more to be learned on how to use technology in education most effectively,” she said. “We also think this center for research in education goes hand-in-hand with training teachers.”

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