If you haven't already heard about Stitcher, it's pretty cool! This is a service that's free and can stream to a mobile device or a desktop computer. It takes what you like to listen to and suggests similar shows -- sort of like Pandora Radio's "Music Genome Project." There are lots of well-known podcasts like This American Life,  and The Onion's (fake) newscasts, and Stuff You Should Know, as well as more obscure, but related, shows. 

There are podcasts in a variety of languages, on a variety of topics, so there's bound to be something that suits you. Happy listening!

I recently had the honor of attending the Pioneer Natural Resources gift recognition ceremony on UK’s campus. The Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences (EES), in partnership with UK alumnus and Pioneer’s Vice President of Technology Tom Spalding, accepted a $600,000 gift from the company. The gift, which is intended to be spread over the next three years, will fund the Pioneer Natural Resources Research Professorship in Stratigraphy, as well as a three-year recruiting fellowship. Ellen Kaiser a first-year student in EES is the first recipient of this award.  Pioneer is a large independent oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas, with operations in Texas, Colorado, Alaska, and South Africa.

Carl Nathe recently interviewed one of our own faculty members for his UK at the Half segment, which airs during each UK football game. He spoke with Ann Kingsolver, Director of the UK Appalachian Center and anthropology professor, about her work in the area. Kingsolver is excited to be part of the Center and the Appalachian Studies Program and is busy exploring ways to become more involved in the community – for the university, faculty, and students. She stresses the importance of interdisciplinary work and research at the Appalachian Center in looking at complex issues throughout the region. Her hope is to build strong partnerships with local communities which would also allow students attending classes at UK to work in their local communities in the region.

Look for the interview during the UK at the Half segment during this Saturday’s UK vs. Mississippi State football game!

I found this eye-opening article from Wired Campus (link at end of article).  It discusses how synchronous online classes are raising questions about what is appropriate "Netiquette," since people are eating or lying down while on the webcam, and in one instance, a nude spouse walked by in the background!  I have experienced similar things in my online courses, where students leave their mics on while talking to their children or spouse, or have a TV playing behind them.  Part of the benefit of taking online courses is being able to interact from the comfort of your own home, but how "comfortable" do we really want students to be? I think it's obvious that students probably shouldn't eat or watch TV while in the class session, but can we really restrict whether or not their children cry or dogs bark in the background? Didn't we offer them online courses so that they could still take care of their children or other responsibilities and stay home? I've also noticed several students who log in from work, and you can see other employees in the background.  Is this acceptable?  Do we need to accept it because we want online courses to be accessible for stay-at-home moms or working professionals, even if it is distracting and detracts from their and others' education?