Thoughts on Learning, Teaching and Life
by Leo Casey
There is much anger in the world today. People rage against injustice and inequality. Tempers flair as we struggle to protect the planet. Societies change and evolve and our values are transformed over time. Many practices such as slavery, colonialism and capital punishment were deemed acceptable in the past and considered abhorrent by today’s standards….
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What makes a good person? This is an old and important question. Philosophers and theologians through the years have sought an answer including Aristotle, Aquinas, Hume, Kierkegaard, Newman, Nietzsche and others. Alasdair MacIntyre provides a useful analysis of the history of thinking on this question and the current state of moral philosophy in his books…
Some people are natural teachers. I don’t mean ‘teachers’ in the everyday sense as in those who work in schools or colleges. I mean people who show us things and who we learn from in all manner of ways. Richard Hannaford was such a person. I noticed this many years ago when I first met…
In the further and higher education sectors we often come across the phenomenon of the disengaged student. Typically a small number of students who register for a course seem to drift away – they are characterised by poor levels of engagement in class, infrequent attendance and lack of compliance with assignment deadlines. This is very…
Plato’s Meno One of the first accounts of the troublesome nature of learning outcomes is given in Plato’s Meno. Plato used a series dramatically constructed dialogues as vignettes to illustrate philosophical points he wished to make. In the Meno Plato describes a conversation between Socrates, Meno (hence the title), a slave boy and Anytus. Meno…
Where we find learning outcomes All learning outcomes are descriptive, they are attempts to capture in a series of statements the results and consequences of instruction or experience.For anyone taking on a course of study, particularly a third level course, they are likely to want access to a description of that course and the modules…
Maire and I have just experienced an earthquake! We are here in San Diego for the weekend after the SITE conference. We had just been on a boat tour of the harbour and at some time before I was due to pick up a rental car. We decided to go to Borders bookshop to have…
Ryanair have a lot to answer for.A few weeks ago Eamon, a good friend of mine, rang me to say that he had spotted cheap flights to Paris for the last weekend in September – the Arc weekend. Eamon and I both had busy Septembers so this was great timing for a short break. Our…
La mia moglie Maire ed io ha deciso di imparare insieme l’italiano questo termine. Poichè siamo entrambe l’implicato nella formazione abbiamo pensato che fosse una buona idea imparare insieme la lingua. Dopo che molto cercando abbiamo trovato che il nostro istituto universitario della comunità locale ha fatto funzionare un corso di sera su Wednesday’ s…
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