By: Jess Bashioum on January 23, 2025
I reached a liminal space trying to understand what threshold concepts are. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge and its companion book[i], feel like a whole lot of learning and knowledge about a whole lot of learning and knowledge (which I think may be what metacognition is about). In perfect timing,…
By: Darren Banek on January 23, 2025
There has not been a time that I can recall when I was unaware of Jesus, sin, and forgiveness. I was born to “bush missionary” parents in rural Alaska and am the youngest of three siblings. Though we moved from Alaska to Montana shortly after I was born, my earliest recollections are still of my…
By: Robert Radcliff on January 23, 2025
This week, I read two books edited by Ray Land and Jan Meyer on Threshold Concepts: Threshold Concepts in Practice and Overcoming Barriers to Student Learning: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. The article by Syed Mohamed et al. about soldiers, liminality, ambivalence, and hybridity stood out to me. I want to share a little of…
By: Joff Williams on January 22, 2025
Around 10 years ago, I recognized the significance of the idea of shalom. Where I used to know a Hebrew synonym for “peace,” I now understand a core thread that ties together the Old and New Testament writings, is equally applicable throughout history, and addresses the common existential questions of life. Shalom as a threshold…
By: Rich on January 20, 2025
Over the past 30 years, I have developed a specialty in tubular design. No, I’m not a surfer or valley girl asserting that my designs are cool. ‘Tubular’ is short for tubular goods, the pipes used to contain pressurized fluids in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. The industry has tens of…
By: Ivan Ostrovsky on January 20, 2025
Growing up, I hated reading. It has always been difficult for me to pick up a book and start reading. However, I became increasingly interested in books during elementary school. I realized that when I am required to read a book, I am less likely to do so; but when I find a book I…
By: Linda Mendez on January 16, 2025
As a child, when solids are introduced, you’re taught things like chewing with your mouth closed, chewing enough times so you don’t choke, etc. You are not trained to eat to savor your food; you’re not taught to enjoy the different flavors you’re experiencing, probably for the first time, or the colors of the foods…
By: Jess Bashioum on January 16, 2025
I love reading! I love reading anything from pop novels to theoretical physics, from biblical commentaries to Si-Fi. I have often read 3-5 different style books at a time, options for whatever mood I may be in that moment. Despite this love of reading, I have never enjoyed reading books that go into detail telling…
By: Christian Swails on January 16, 2025
It’s pretty tough to experience astral projection with one eye open. Just for clarity, astral projection is “a practice in which an individual aims to consciously separate their ‘astral body’ or spirit from their physical body, often to explore non-physical dimensions or realms.” Afghanistan It may not surprise you as much as it did…
By: Michael Hansen on January 16, 2025
Years ago, during my stint with Amazon, I flew with my MBA intern to the Seattle Headquarters to present his summer internship project to the Senior leadership team. I had worked with him over the past 3 months, and we were both extremely proud of his efforts. While he waited patiently outside, I entered the…
By: David Weston on January 16, 2025
Reading Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren’s book, How to Read a Book brought to mind a quote I read years ago by Petrarch, “Books give delight to the very marrow of one’s bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join us in a living and intense intimacy.” Being a lifelong bibliophile,…
By: Mika Harry on January 16, 2025
I am a recovering control freak. For years, I have posed as an organizer, especially in academic settings, but control remains the dark underbelly of my organizing. As I learn new rhythms of reading, writing, and thinking, I face the disorienting challenge of loosening my grip on control. Questions swirl: How can I ensure I’m…
By: Darren Banek on January 16, 2025
It was intended to be a fun afternoon trip for a young boy and his mom—a special time when just the two of them could go and explore. For many boys, exploring is at the top of the fun list. Sticks, rocks, and a pond full of frogs quickly pop into their minds. But this…
By: Jeremiah Gómez on January 16, 2025
I grew up on my grandparents’ tiny dirt farm of a ranch in Arizona. Most of life there was hard-fought, trying to cultivate and sustain life and growth in the desert. In many ways, fostering something verdant out of the caliche clay of Cochise County seemed an impossible task: fires, floods, competition with big ranchers…
By: Alex Mwaura on January 16, 2025
There is so much happening in the world we live in. We often seem to be moving from one level of information to another at a very rapid pace. With Artificial Intelligence, (AI) facts and information on the widest range of topics is right at our fingertips. Sometimes when I listen to a show on…
By: Betsy on January 16, 2025
I love books, their smell, their feel, and ordering them in categories. I love my library, which is in a wooden shed office in my garden overlooking the sheep that are scattered over the nearby field. The first hour of reading Adler’s and Van Doren’s book, ‘How to Read a Book’, was like being thumped…
By: Robert Radcliff on January 16, 2025
I’m from Iowa, so let me start with a parable about planting crops: One early spring day, a man didn’t know if he should plant corn or beans. So, he went to the village elder. He told the elder all of his thoughts on the weather, the heartiness of corn, the economy, and the price…
By: Rich on January 15, 2025
I studied mechanical engineering at Rice University. Dr. Pol Spanos taught my statics and dynamics classes. He was a brilliant engineer with a huge smile and an endearing Greek accent. I found the material quite difficult, yet he had a way of bringing joy to my state of impending failure. He gave me two quotes…
By: Joff Williams on January 14, 2025
After riding bicycles through the Piney Woods of East Texas, my friend Justin commented on a popular maxim. “You know how they say ‘time is money?'” he asks, sweaty helmet in hand. “I think we have it the wrong way around. Time isn’t money. Money is time.” What he described that day has remained with…
