Posted by: Sal Atticum
« on: December 11, 2010, 10:48:38 AM »Cool stuff!
I'm glad of the support for mental health services on all campuses and the library expansion at Dickinson. I just saw a talk on passive geothermal energy (essentially using the heat from the ground to heat things, rather than converting that heat into electrical or mechanical power) for greenhouses. We could do a lot with that here, and even though it's the 'final' phase of NDSU's greenhouse, it would be sweet to see some of that type of energy used. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/greenhouse
I do agree with your comment on "the quality of learning environments." I was just talking to someone in our department who was talking to CILT, and CILT was recommending all of these "technological" changes: chairs with monitors built in, lots of LCD screens in the classrooms, shared laptops, all that jazz. Which is great, if there is really research to back this sort of thing up, but here's the thing: we have intro classes with 300 students and one professor. I'd rather take this "technology" money and use it to hire more faculty to reduce the faculty:student ratio to make learning a more active experience.
I'm glad of the support for mental health services on all campuses and the library expansion at Dickinson. I just saw a talk on passive geothermal energy (essentially using the heat from the ground to heat things, rather than converting that heat into electrical or mechanical power) for greenhouses. We could do a lot with that here, and even though it's the 'final' phase of NDSU's greenhouse, it would be sweet to see some of that type of energy used. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/greenhouse
I do agree with your comment on "the quality of learning environments." I was just talking to someone in our department who was talking to CILT, and CILT was recommending all of these "technological" changes: chairs with monitors built in, lots of LCD screens in the classrooms, shared laptops, all that jazz. Which is great, if there is really research to back this sort of thing up, but here's the thing: we have intro classes with 300 students and one professor. I'd rather take this "technology" money and use it to hire more faculty to reduce the faculty:student ratio to make learning a more active experience.