Bloom's Sixth

A colleague pulled me aside this week and said she wanted my thoughts about something. She seemed apologetic. She is relatively new to college teaching, having made the switch to academia after a distinguished professional career. Students rave about her. She pushes them to think creatively and to stretch their abilities through hands-on projects. She holds students to high standards, but she is also accessible and serves as a strong mentor. When we talk, I always leave feeling energized and hopeful. This week, though, she seemed uncharacteristically down, and she wanted my advice. “How do…

Thoughts from two speakers I’ve listened to in the last week have been bouncing around my brain. At Journalism Interactive last week, Richard Hernandez of the University of California, Berkeley, pressed conference participants to experiment with technology that allows new forms of expression. To illustrate his point, he held up a smartphone and said: “You have more information in your pocket than Ronald Reagan had as…