Comment on Who gets to draw the line anyway? Science and Humanities are simply human endeavors by Patrick Salmons

I really enjoyed reading this. As someone in the college of liberal arts I enjoy having these kind of conversations with people outside my field. I believe that we should have these sorts of conversations in an academic environment at least once a week. Expanding across fields is important to continued education.

Comment on Just do your (art)work! by Patrick Salmons

Sarah, I really enjoyed your discussion. Your students do not understand how lucky they are in terms of having a teacher that creates these creative assignments. I think what is happening is very similar to what happens in many classrooms. Students are not creative, they do not want to be. I found that engaging with them throughout the semester, but even then some of my students are uninterested. Yeah solving a single problem is, pardon my English, problematic. We need to get involved!

Comment on Can discomfort be taken seriously? by Patrick Salmons

Great post!
I think this is interesting and unfortunately true in most academic fields. If you go to a major university faculty page more than likely you will see a saturation of white males in any department. That is not to say they did not earn their tenure, but it makes one think about the department. For instance, the Political Science department has one African American faculty member. Granted there are quite a few females in the department, but noone in the department works primarily with racism, and as I said before the department is very white. There needs to be more research on this but I think it can be problematic for many students.

Comment on Grades-what are they good for?!?! by Patrick Salmons

I completely agree with you here! How we grade, why we grade, and the affectual nature it has on the student are things we rarely consider. I do similar things in my course, encouraging teamwork and time management as keys to retaining the knowledge necessary to do well in the course. They always seem bored, but I try my hardest to have fun with the gloomy forecast of our economic climate. Hey kids at least you are still alive and can go buy your food rather than scavenge. Yeah, I try, but why should I? And why should they? Great post!

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Comment on Grades-what are they good for?!?! by Patrick Salmons

I completely agree with you here! How we grade, why we grade, and the affectual nature it has on the student are things we rarely consider. I do similar things in my course, encouraging teamwork and time management as keys to retaining the knowledge necessary to do well in the course. They always seem bored, but I try my hardest to have fun with the gloomy forecast of our economic climate. Hey kids at least you are still alive and can go buy your food rather than scavenge. Yeah, I try, but why should I? And why should they? Great post!

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Comment on Mindful vs Mindless: A no brainer by Patrick Salmons

Cool post. Yeah the randomness of our knowledge definitely comes to forefront more often than naught. We have to understand that people learn differently, people think in different ways and have different learning styles. I know I have a stupidly complicated random learning style I remember things I shouldn’t, forget things that I shouldn’t and many times I find myself at a loss for words. I am just glad my professors are mindful of this and they do not judge or attack my style of learning. I am rambling, so yeah adaptation is key in teaching and learning.

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Comment on Facts & Reliability by Patrick Salmons

I agree with you here! However, I will say there is merit to a baseline of knowledge. For instance, students need to know what GDP, capital inflows (outflows), Kuznets curve, etc. are in order to go on further in political economics. I think having introduction courses that teach facts are not absolute, but maybe necessary. That does not mean these terms and ideas have to be taught as a dogma, rather, I teach as if I am providing them with tools, giving them examples to make their own observations about the world and how it operates in certain political climates. I think having background terminology is important, and I agree that we should teach alternatives and instill a sense of exploration and wonderment in the terms. It is a dense subject, and I agree that they should explore it rather than be anchored to my soggy knowledge.

Patrick Salmons

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