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Hello and welcome to What's on my Mind
today I have three things I'd like to talk with you about
first of all a quick update on our progress on our Higher Learning Commission self-study
secondly, share with you a bit about my visit to professor Jenny Weitz astronomy
class and lastly
share a few insights from Nicholas Carr's new book called
The Shallows, which is an amazing read. Well first of all. Friday of last week
Dr. Mike Hamm and Jennifer Henderson gave a great presentation on the progress
of the evidence gathering
for criterion number three which basically talks about the quality of
our institution
the quality of our programs, our degrees, our general education program
our faculty and staff and our learning outcomes, they did a marvelous job
if you missed that session you can watch it live, watch it on tape, I should
say at our HLC website just got to the college website and check it out they did a
great job
secondly I had great pleasure
this week to visit Professor Jenny Weitz astronomy class where I had the opportunity
to judge 6 student presentations as they discussed
influential thinkers and scientists in the field of astronomy
Jenny did a great job of engaging her students the peer to peer learning was obvious
her feedback was
on target and timely a great example
of active engaged student learning and then lastly I'm reading
a great book. Dr. Tom Butler before he retired gave me a book called The Shallows by
Nicholas Carr
it talks about how technology over the years is impacting the plasticity
of our mind and our brain, things as simple as the map
the clock, a book, the Internet how we think about things
has changed our thought patterns in this synergy that occurs in our brains
So how do all these connect? A number of the students
in Jenny's class in their presentations talked about the evolution of technology and the study
of astronomy
from philosophical wonderings to paper
and pencil mathematical computations to the use of primitive
telescopes to the use of multi-million-dollar telescopes that have been blasted into space
now the students may not have realized the level of critical thinking they exhibited
but their insight about how technology has
changed our world view changed our vision of the stars
truly shows to me that critical thinking is occurring and that learning
was alive
in Jenny's class... Remember
Paradise Valley Community College, a Learning Centered college
through the power of learning we transform lives and enable positive
social change... Take care... (music)