By Steven Mintz. In recent years, a succession of new educational models have been held up as the future of higher education.
The next-generation university, we are told, will be built around flipped classrooms.  Or competency-based education. Or, perhaps, clicks will replace bricks, with instruction moving online.
Team-based learning, mentored research, collaborative education emphasizing peer-to-peer instruction, or problem-based learning – these, too, have been called the future of a post-secondary education. More...

By Matt Reed. Sometimes, the dog that doesn’t bark is more telling than the dog that does.
Massachusetts has a gubernatorial election next month. The incumbent is term-limited out of office, so in terms of incumbent effects, it’s an open seat.
But from walking around campus, you wouldn’t know it. Read more...

By Matt Reed. I try not to subject the kids to too many of my pet obsessions. Last weekend, though, I just couldn’t resist.
How often do you get to see the Magna Carta?
We took the kids to the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, to see the “Radical Words” exhibit. It’s there for a few more weeks, and I really can’t recommend it highly enough. Read more...

By Shira Lurie. Katy Meyers Emery has ingeniously compared graduate school to a zombie apocalypse. She is certainly correct that “the rise of the undead serves as a great metaphor for grad school.” As my doctoral career gets underway, I have personally likened success in grad school to a high-security bank vault. You need a good plan, a special set of skills, and a lot of hard work to break in, but the treasure inside will pay off big. If you have ever seen a heist movie, you know that the first thing every good heist leader must do is assemble a crack team. Read more...

By Hanna Peacock. Much of what we do as STEM grad students is creative. Troubleshooting experiments, planning a talk, or designing a poster all require imaginative thinking in some form. Oftentimes, our best ideas aren’t produced when sitting behind our laptops. They come to us while washing dishes, daydreaming, or in the shower. That is, some of our best ideas happen when we are not in the lab or the office. Read more...