Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
New York Times
George Washington University English professor Margaret Soltan writes a blog called University Diaries, in which she decries the Twilight Zone-ish state our holy land’s institutes of higher ed find themselves in these days.
The Electron Pencil
It’s [UD's] intellectual honesty that makes her blog required reading.
Professor Mondo
There's always something delightful and thought intriguing to be found at Margaret Soltan's no-holds-barred, firebrand tinged blog about university life.
AcademicPub
You can get your RDA of academic liars, cheats, and greedy frauds at University Diaries. All disciplines, plus athletics.
truffula, commenting at Historiann
Margaret Soltan at University Diaries blogs superbly and tirelessly about [university sports] corruption.
Dagblog
University Diaries. Hosted by Margaret Soltan, professor of English at George Washington University. Boy is she pissed — mostly about athletics and funding, the usual scandals — but also about distance learning and diploma mills. She likes poems too. And she sings.
Dissent: The Blog
[UD belittles] Mrs. Palin's degree in communications from the University of Idaho...
The Wall Street Journal
Professor Margaret Soltan, blogging at University Diaries... provide[s] an important voice that challenges the status quo.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, Inside Higher Education
[University Diaries offers] the kind of attention to detail in the use of language that makes reading worthwhile.
Sean Dorrance Kelly, Harvard University
Margaret Soltan's ire is a national treasure.
Roland Greene, Stanford University
The irrepressibly to-the-point Margaret Soltan...
Carlat Psychiatry Blog
Margaret Soltan, whose blog lords it over the rest of ours like a benevolent tyrant...
Perplexed with Narrow Passages
Margaret Soltan is no fan of college sports and her diatribes on the subject can be condescending and annoying. But she makes a good point here...
Outside the Beltway
From Margaret Soltan's excellent coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal comes this tip...
Money Law
University Diaries offers a long-running, focused, and extremely effective critique of the university as we know it.
Anthony Grafton, American Historical Association
The inimitable Margaret Soltan is, as usual, worth reading. ...
Medical Humanities Blog
I awake this morning to find that the excellent Margaret Soltan has linked here and thereby singlehandedly given [this blog] its heaviest traffic...
Ducks and Drakes
As Margaret Soltan, one of the best academic bloggers, points out, pressure is mounting ...
The Bitch Girls
Many of us bloggers worry that we don’t post enough to keep people’s interest: Margaret Soltan posts every day, and I more or less thought she was the gold standard.
Tenured Radical
University Diaries by Margaret Soltan is one of the best windows onto US university life that I know.
Mary Beard, A Don's Life
[University Diaries offers] a broad sense of what's going on in education today, framed by a passionate and knowledgeable reporter.
More magazine, Canada
If deity were an elected office, I would quit my job to get her on the ballot.
Notes of a Neophyte
November 25th, 2012 at 1:40PM
A description of the physical education exam, with sample questions, is here.
The questions are the “have you memorized our textbook, which is mostly propaganda for buying our other textbooks” kind:
“According to most sport sociologists, a sport is primarily described as what kind of activity?
“(A) idealized
“(B) institutionalized
“(C) masculinized
“(D) professionalized”
…
“The best choice of available fitness tests for a teacher to use to assess students with disabilities is the
“(A) Brockport Physical Fitness Test (BPFT)
“(B) Fitnessgram
“(C) President’s Challenge
“(D) Activitygram”
“The correct answer is (A). The Brockport Physical Fitness Test (BPFT) is a criterion-referenced, health-related test of physical fitness appropriate for students with disabilities. The BPFT is customized to meet the needs of all students with varying abilities.”
…
“Which of the following would be the best example of authentic assessment for a basketball skills unit?
“(A) Using standardized instruments on basketball skills at the end of the unit
“(B) Using district-devised assessments of skills at the end of the unit
“(C) Developing a rubric to assess learners as they move through the unit
“(D) Counting the number of baskets made in a class game”
“The correct answer is (C). Authentic assessment uses a rubric. Choices (A) and (B) are incorrect because neither mentions the use of a rubric, while choice (D) is not a recommended best practice in physical education.”
So there you have it: authentic assessment uses a rubric. If that’s too hard to remember, have someone else take your test!
November 25th, 2012 at 2:56PM
Thanks, Dom. I did wonder…
November 25th, 2012 at 3:32PM
Ouch. What a test. No wonder people had to cheat to pass it.