Tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.

Author Archives: Prof. Hacker

The Downside of Depression

March 10, 2010 in Life by Prof. Hacker

Guest author Heather Munro Prescott counters the trendy argument that depression offers important mental benefits--after all, clinical depression is debilitating! Nothing beneficial about that. Heather also offers strategies for getting through depression.

Scrivener, Scrivening, Scriverastic

March 8, 2010 in Productivity, Products by Prof. Hacker

Guest author Ryan Cordell returns to explain the Mac-based word processor, Scrivener.

Multiple Choice Questions on Exams

March 5, 2010 in Pedagogy by Prof. Hacker

Guest author Derek Bruff explains that multiple-choice questions, when properly designed and integrated into a class, can provide a useful way to assess how well students are learning concepts.

Teaching Graduate Students

March 4, 2010 in Pedagogy by Prof. Hacker

In college, we can learn a bit about how to teach high school courses. In a master’s program, we can learn a bit about how to teach undergraduate courses. As TA and Ph.D. students, we can learn how to teach undergraduate courses in our specialty areas. It turns out, though, that we never really learn how to teach a graduate course. And then we are plopped into the middle of one.

Scheduling 101: Using Acuity for Student Appointments

February 24, 2010 in ProfHacker 101 by Prof. Hacker

Guest author Todd Stanfield explains how to use Acuity Scheduling to simplify the process of scheduling appointments with students.

When “Hacking” Is in Your Lungs: Preparing for Sickness

February 12, 2010 in Productivity by Prof. Hacker

Being sick can easily throw off your best-laid plans for the semester. Guest author Heather Whitney offers some strategies for minimizing that disruption.

Hacking Your Home Library with LibraryThing

February 9, 2010 in Productivity by Prof. Hacker

Got books? 'Course you do! Guest author Amanda Watson explains how to organize them with LibraryThing.

The iPad and Higher Education

February 8, 2010 in Pedagogy by Prof. Hacker

I have been accused of being an Apple FanBoy. I will not be buying an iPad. What's more, I am going to make the case that you shouldn't either, or at least if you are in education you shouldn't be lying awake at night trying to think of a way to convince your dean that these need to be purchased for you or your students.

Keeping Up With Journals

January 26, 2010 in Productivity by Prof. Hacker

If you’re an academic, you have to read lots of journals to keep up with the research in your field. You’ve probably learned how to search JSTOR or other academic databases to find articles and book reviews in back issues. But keeping up with the most recent issues is a different matter. You’ll have to find the most recent issue online and sign up for reminders when new issues are published, which I’ll describe how to do in this post.

The Academic Wardrobe: Planning

January 15, 2010 in Life by Prof. Hacker

In the second part of her series on dressing for academic life, guest author Courtney S. Danforth discusses various ways to simplify and plan your wardrobe.

Putting the THINGS in GTD: Managing an Academic Life with Cultured Code’s Things

January 14, 2010 in How-To, Productivity, Products by Prof. Hacker

Guest author Ryan Cordell gives ProfHacker readers a detailed guide to Cultured Code's "Things" task management desktop and iPhone applications.

GoogleDocs Forms

December 14, 2009 in Pedagogy, Productivity by Prof. Hacker

Guest author Thomas Burkholder explains the simplicity and flexibility of Google Docs Forms, and suggests some classroom uses.