Bloom's Sixth

By Doug Ward Kansas ranks near the bottom in the percentage of schools offering foundational computer science education, according to a study by Code.org, the Computer Science Teacher Association, and the Expanding Computing Education Pathways Alliance. Nationwide, 57.5% of schools offered a computer science class in 2023. Kansas was more than 20 percentage points below that average, with 36% of schools offering a foundational course. Only three states had lower percentages: Louisiana (35%), Montana (34%) and Minnesota (28%). That has…

By Doug Ward As I prepared to speak to undergraduates about generative artificial intelligence last October, I struggled with analogies to explain large language models. Those models are central to the abilities of generative AI. They have analyzed billions of words, billions of lines of code, and hundreds of millions of images. That training allows them to predict sequences of words, generate computer code and images, and create coherent narratives at speeds humans cannot match. Even programmers don’t fully…

By Doug Ward Canvas will soon be absorbed by KKR, one of the world’s largest investment firms. That is unlikely to have any immediate effect on Canvas users. The longer-term effects – and costs – are impossible to predict, though. Instructure, the company behind Canvas, has agreed to be acquired by KKR for $4.8 billion. KKR and similar companies…

By Doug Ward The future of colleges and universities is neither clear nor certain. The current model fails far too many students, and creating a better one will require sometimes painful change. As I’ve written before, though, many of us have approached change with a sense of urgency, providing ideas for the future…

By Doug Ward Colleges and universities in Kansas will receive more than $100 million this year from congressional earmarks in the federal budget, according to an analysis by Inside Higher Ed. That places Kansas second among states in the amount earmarked for higher education, according to Inside Higher Ed. Those statistics don't include $22 million for the Kansas…

By Doug Ward A short history lesson: April Fools’ Day originated in 1920, when Joseph C. McCanles (who was only vaguely related to the infamous 19th-century outlaw gang) ordered the KU marching band (then known as the Beak Brigade) to line up for practice on McCook Field (near the site of the current Great Dismantling). It was April 1, and McCanles…

By Doug Ward We need to talk. Yes, the conversation will make you uncomfortable. It’s important, though. Your students need your guidance, and if you avoid talking about this, they will act anyway – usually in unsafe ways that could have embarrassing and potentially harmful consequences. So yes, we need to talk about generative artificial intelligence. Consider the conversation analogous to a parent’s conversation with a teenager about sex. Susan Marshall, a teaching professor in psychology, made that wonderful analogy recently in the CTE Online Working Group, and it seems to perfectly…

Something has been happening with class attendance. Actually, there are several somethings, which I’ll get to shortly. First, though, consider, this: Since the start of the pandemic, many students have treated class attendance as optional, making discussion and group interaction difficult. Online classes tend to fill quickly, and students who enroll in physical classes often ask for an option to “attend” via a video connection. Many K-12 schools report record rates…

KU’s big jump in freshman enrollment this academic year ran counter to broader trends in higher education. Around the country, college enrollment has been trending downward (although there was a slight increase in 2023), many campuses have been closing or consolidating, and a lower birthrate after the 2008-09 recession looms in what has become known as the “enrollment cliff.” That is, with fewer births, there will soon be fewer students graduating from high school and thus fewer potential college applicants…

We don’t know the last time the first day of classes was canceled. We’re guessing it was January 1892, when the temperature fell to minus 23, the bottoms of thermometers shattered, and students started using the phrase “froze my bottom off” (or something approximating that). Of course, everyone was hardier back then, having to walk five miles to campus barefoot through the snow and fend off wolves with their bare, frostbitten hands and all. At least that’s what our elders told us. So everyone may have just shrugged off the lethally cold temperatures in 1892 and showed up for class as usual…