Would You Be the First Person to Do The Right Thing?

graffiti

Reading Time: < 1 minuteA while back, a crowd of people boarded a subway car in New York City and discovered Nazi symbolism written everywhere.  Many riders did nothing, but one person stood up and started cleaning off the graffiti. His courage enabled everyone else to stand up and help until all of it was gone. This is a […]

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Proof That Exercise Defeats Dementia – Or Is It?

health care worker helping a senior

Reading Time: 2 minutesYou’ll often read an article saying that there is “proof” or that researchers have “proven” a connection between two things, but researchers actually use the word “proof” very hesitantly. Here’s a study on the topic of exercise and dementia that might make you think carefully about how this term is used. The study appeared in […]

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Using Social Media to Support Professional Development in Higher Ed

graphic of students studying around a giant computer screen

Reading Time: 3 minutesAs college institutions move quickly to adopt new tools and methods for distance learning in response to COVID-19, in-person professional development opportunities have become scarce. Nearly all of today’s college educators use one form of social media or another, making its ability to supplement professional growth and training more important than ever. Here are just […]

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Painting the Founding

Painting of founding fathers

Reading Time: 2 minutesAuthor: Emily Farris, Texas Christian University On Twitter recently, I came across a viral tweet by documentary filmmaker Arlen Parsa, who edited John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence. Parsa placed red dots over the slaveholders present in Trumbull’s painting, which depicts the drafting committee presenting their work to the Second Continental Congress. Dots cover all […]

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What Can Barbara Jordan Teach Us About Impeachment?

judge's gavel with "impeachment" in name placard

Reading Time: < 1 minuteAuthor: Emily Farris, Texas Christian University President Donald Trump was impeached on December 18, 2019. Impeachment can be a tricky topic for an introductory class to cover, particularly as it unfolds in the news. One way I would approach talking about impeachment is through the great speech by Barbara Charline Jordan, from the 1974 House […]

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DON’T Use Passphrases for Passwords

notebook with password

Reading Time: 2 minutes[Reading Time – 1 minute 44 seconds] When I am speaking to users about passwords, towards the end of the presentation I give my three password principles: Any password that can be memorized is a weak password  (This is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it is to remind everyone that long passwords are more important than complex […]

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