Feb 27, 2009

Candy in the box

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Two full days: that is how long it took me to do evaluations this year. It is a tense time of the year, because of the spring fatigue and th...
Feb 20, 2009

How to lose $240,000 in 30 days

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On Jan 14, which is actually 36 days ago (30 just sounds better in the title), I sent this e-mail to one of UNC administrators: If we "...
Feb 13, 2009

On the future of higher education

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There are at least three paradoxes inherent in the current higher education system: Professors give grades to students, and grades are the m...
Jan 30, 2009

Being a student

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This semester, I am a student again. I am taking GER 202, Intermediate German II . This is a hopeless attempt to remember the language I hav...
Jan 24, 2009

On laziness and long-term perspective

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My brother Konstantin is an engineer, a creative mind, and a pub philosopher. He likes to tell people that all progress in the world comes f...
Jan 18, 2009

Flipcharts and Brainstorming

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In the last few months, I have found myself at a table with a few other people, a flipchart stand with markers beside us. We were either bra...
Jan 8, 2009

Hard times ahead

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I am back from vacation and glad to find all things in decent shape. We are ready for the next semester. It is nice to see colleagues trickl...
Dec 18, 2008

Ode to simplicity

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Svetlana, Gleb, Prosha and I took a walk in the snow – a mile, maybe a mile and a half. It was one of those experiences that take you back i...
Dec 14, 2008

The grading season

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It is this time of the year, when our kind spends hours and hours over student papers, portfolios, and exams. As I school director, I get to...
Dec 6, 2008

The Year of the Bear

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One of the highlights of my week was the gift wrapping party, organized by Susan and Jenni. A few early childhood students and some faculty ...
Nov 14, 2008

Reality Check

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Just a couple of weeks ago, I was writing on problem solving , and mentioned a small problem we were able to solve, and the sense of satisfa...
Nov 6, 2008

The eventness of being

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The eventness of being (событийность бытия) is a term invented by Mikhail Bakhtin , my favorite philosopher. It does sound rather highbrowe...
Oct 24, 2008

The Russian Method

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The group of Russians just left UNC a couple of days ago; they were here for a conference on teacher education. The visit was a lot of fun; ...
1 comment:
Oct 9, 2008

Problem Solving

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I greatly value people's ability to solve problems. It brings me great pleasure to see how an unexpected solution emerges. There is a li...
Oct 3, 2008

The theory of set

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In the first half of the 20s century, a great Georgian psychologist Dmitri Uznadze developed the theory of set. He and his followers measur...
Sep 20, 2008

In Praise of Email

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Yesterday, Friday 9/19/2008, I have sent 51 emails. The first one, at 9:30 AM, was to Vicky. She told me than Layne is out ill today, and in...
Sep 13, 2008

A Study of Human Nature

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The most challenging and the most interesting part of my job is dealing with people, with their quirks and peculiarities. Sometimes I think ...
3 comments:
Sep 6, 2008

On Academic Ethics

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Last night (yes, Friday night), I met with my doctoral class, EDF 670, Introduction to Research Literature. We had four guest speakers – fa...
Aug 29, 2008

Till When?

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I was trying to rent a van from UNC facilities, for the Nomadic conference in October. No problem, but they require each driver to take a 75...
Aug 22, 2008

White Privilege

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This week, we had a diversity workshop for college faculty on white privilege. By all accounts, it was very well done. The conversation was ...
Aug 15, 2008

Ten Profound Truths about the Japanese culture

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Can one visit a country for a week or two and then claim any level of understanding its culture? Not really; it always annoys me when peop...
1 comment:
Jul 30, 2008

Plagiarism

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A happy week was completely ruined by plagiarism cases I discovered in my graduate class. I don't really know why, but it always makes m...
Jul 17, 2008

On stupidity

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Two nights ago, I was building a headboard for our bed; something I promised Svetlana to do for a very long time. Like most men, I have to ...
Jul 9, 2008

Virtual course

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We had a great slowtalk with Elementary PTEP program this week. It is good to talk about the nitty-gritty of curriculum, and not about data...
1 comment:
Jul 5, 2008

Summer reading

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Summertime, and the living is easy. I don't know how other people spend their down time. I was reading (and also listening to podcasts) ...
Jun 28, 2008

Silentium!

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By Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, 1830 Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal the way you dream, the things you feel. Deep in your spirit let them r...
Jun 19, 2008

What is happening to public higher education?

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As we are testing waters in various off-campus ventures, I get a sense that some rules of the game are changing. Mainly, it is the kinds of ...