Book Talks
In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss, and the Fight to Stay Alive (2006) by Yvonne Latty
Tuesday, October 2, 2007, 2:00–3:30 pm, Mississippi , Atwood.
A significant number of students currently at SCSU are veterans. If the rumored withdrawal of 30,000 troops becomes a reality, SCSU will have an increase of students who are veterans. This has important implications for practical matters as well as more complicated matters associated with the life of the mind in the process of teaching and learning. Jayne Lokken (Ph.D., L.P.Counseling and Psychological Services) organized the well-attended panel during convocation “Responding to the Needs of Students who are Returning from Deployment or Military Service: A Panel of SCSU Students Who are Veterans,” which was written up in the St. Cloud Times (31 August 2007, p. 1 B+). Jayne and her colleague James McAuley, would like to continue that discussion into a book talk on the following:
Yvonne Latty, In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss, and the Fight to Stay Alive (2006).
Images of the West by Dr. George Farrah
Thursday, October 25, 2007, 2:00-3:30 pm, Mississippi, Atwood
Dr. George Farrah, Professor Emeritus, Emeritus Director for the Graduate Field Studies, at the Center for Educational Administration and Leadership at St. Cloud State University
For over 30 years, Dr. Farrah has inquired into the human condition with specific interest in its cultural manifestation in the “American Way of Life.” He argues a perspective that addresses the constituent elements in and the state of our “cultural vitality.” He sees education as coming to the forefront in the process of acculturating productive citizens in American democracy.
Dr. Farrah will discuss how he came to write the book. Professors John Palmer, Les Green, and Giovoni Antanez will provide reflections on the book followed by Q & A involving the audience.
What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain
Wednesday, November 7, 2007,
12:00 noon – 1:00pm,
Atwood Ballroom 114-115
Ken Bain is Vice Provost for Instruction and Director of the Teaching and Learning Center Montclair State University. His book “What the best college teachers do” is the conclusion of a fifteen-year study of nearly one hundred college teachers in a wide variety of fields and universities. The short answer is--it's not what teachers do, it's what they understand. The best teachers know their subjects inside and out--but they also know how to engage and challenge students and to provoke impassioned responses.
Ken Bain will be the speaker at the Opening Session of the Collaboration Conference on November 16th, 2007 in Bloomington, MN.
The Virtual Student, By Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt
Facilitators: Richard Josephson and Jennifer Quinlan (Pre-registration required)
November 27, 2007
MC 114/115, 2:30-3:30pm
The Virtual Student: A Profile and Guide to Working with Online Learners, by Rena M. Pallof and Keith Pratt, Palloff and Pratt are faculty members at Capella University, an accredited for-profit online university. With their book, The Virtual Student: A Profile and Guide to Working with Online Learners, the authors provide educators who wish to teach online courses in the postsecondary education environment with a cookbook full of good recipes and ingredients. The book is well organized around central principles, logical, practical, and easy to read. It is an excellent introduction to the topic of online teaching and learning and has a good balance of research and personal stories. For faculty with substantive online teaching experience, some of the book’s contents might seem basic and obvious.
The Virtual Student is most useful to individuals who wish to be learner-centered and desire to engage students. With the historically high student drop-out rate in distance education, students must be engaged in order to be satisfied with their learning process. Their engagement will lead to retention. The authors give readers an understanding of the “typical” online student and provide practical resources that can facilitate dynamic learning online.
The book has 11 chapters organized into two sections, and three appendices. Part One of the book is comprised of the first five chapters and focuses on who the students are that enter our virtual classrooms. The remaining six chapters make up part two, which serves as a useful guide to online instructors. The appendices contain a “Toolkit,” which is one of the strengths of the book.
Many techniques recommended in this book can be used for face to face instruction as well.
The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein
Facilitators: Polly Kellogg, Andrew Larkin
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Voyageurs South, 2:00-3:30pm
In her new book, author and activist Naomi Klein argues that behind the war in Iraq and the rebuilding of hurricane-devastated New Orleans is an attempt to promote radical economic policies that she terms "disaster capitalism."
Naomi Klein: Author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism." She is an internationally syndicated columnist for The Nation.
you can listen to her Audio under this website or http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/12/05/midmorning2/ or
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ka3Pb_StJn4
Reading Circles
Globle Feminisms: information coming soon....
