Category Archives: Higher education

Why this year’s Best Picture award dooms the Oscars to irrelevance

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

The last film that students watch in my film and media studies course is whatever has won the Best Picture Oscar that year. I was a little nervous to see what won this year because some of the nominees were … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Higher education, Media studies, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Back after a long absence (blamed entirely on the pandemic!)

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Katherine Wikoff

This is my first post since February, so hello! The details behind my long absence don’t really matter, because, really,  haven’t we all been dealing with the same troubles for months now? But basically, long story short: I teach college, … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Higher education, Life, Nature, Technology, Travel, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Better research using Google’s lesser-known search tools

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

Research is so boring. Except when you find amazing stuff that totally elevates your work. Then it’s actually cool. People like learning new things, gaining new insights, pulling back the curtain to see who’s really pulling the levers behind the … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Learning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A tour of public sculpture along Milwaukee’s RiverWalk and Wisconsin Avenue

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

A photo of my colleague, Margaret Dwyer, and me with “The Bronze Fonz,” taken during last Saturday’s walking tour of public sculptures along the Milwaukee RiverWalk and Wisconsin Avenue. We led a group of MSOE students on the two-hour walk … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Higher education, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Atrium staircase, late afternoon

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I am in the middle of grading midterms today. That involves lots of sitting, punctuated by the need to get up and stretch my legs more often than I usually think to remember. There is lots of late afternoon sunshine … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Higher education, Life, Milwaukee, Photography, Teaching | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What’s in a tagline? My blog’s identity: Version 4.0

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m developing a new course at MSOE called “SS 3700 Digital Society.” To say I’m excited is to understate my enthusiasm for this topic. As a political science major who took computer programming classes in the late 1970s using a … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Learning, Life, Popular culture, Science, Teaching, Technology, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Changes at MSOE – A snapshot of the old and the (very) new

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Walking back to my office from the scholarship luncheon today (a really nice event where MSOE scholarship sponsors and recipients get to meet over a meal), I noticed the old Blatz Brewing Company logo atop MSOE’s Alumni Partnership Center. The … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Food, Higher education, History, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Functionality in search of purpose

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Although I’ve noticed this item in the corner of a classroom I teach in this quarter, I never looked closely at it until today, when it was in a slightly different location. I almost didn’t recognize what it was. That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, History, Life, Milwaukee, Popular culture, Teaching, Technology | Tagged , | 4 Comments

How Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer teaches like a humanities professor

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

As yesterday’s 59–0 Ohio State victory over Wisconsin shows, something is working very well in the Ohio State coaching strategy.  A story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal provides some insight into what that might be. “Taking the Buckeyes to School” talks about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Learning, Life, News, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Does penmanship matter?

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Two handwriting stories. One:  After I got a D in penmanship in third grade, my parents made me sit at our dining room table every night practicing my handwriting. The reason I’d gotten a similarly bad grade in arithmetic was that … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Life, Music, Popular culture, Teaching, Technology, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments