Voice

Burgsma: So you’re retiring as president. Congratulations. How does that feel?

Representing your country in a large international sporting event like the Olympics, in the summer or winter games, and understanding what it feels to win gold, stand at the top of the podium and have the national anthem play, is an experience majority of us will never have. Back on July 2, 2003, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Prague selected Vancouver as the host city for the 2010 winter games. I remember distinctly when not only Vancouver, but also Canada was awarded with such an honor.

I feel that having laptops in class can be a very positive addition to a class.  I've had students read back questions that I've stated verbally that they've keyed into their word processor, look up information and report back to the class, and even check out on-line resources in small groups.  A colleague of mine has used laptops very effectively to conduct in-class polls (students responding to questions via Google docs or other applications) and to have students engage in web-based activities.

Simple answer to this question: yes.  There are many benefits to using laptops. I won’t list them here.  However, maybe it's better for me to say that I support the idea that students should be able to choose what type of notes they will take but also that students should know the arguments for and against laptops in the university classroom.

A number of people have complained about professors banning, or at least limiting, laptop use in the classroom but aren’t the various degrees of outrage misdirected? After all, did we not abuse the privilege in the first place?

In just a few short weeks, we will be bidding “peace out” to the only decade most of us can fully remember. In that spirit, The Crown has decided to throw down our personal favorites. While websites and blogs the net over have been naming their ten bests from the 00’s, we have done something a little different. Our editorial staff has put together our best experiences from the past ten years; our encounters with films, books, and a host of other cultural phenomena that are mostly, but not entirely, from the 00’s.

10. I saw Rat Race three times in theatres. Don’t ask me why, because all I can say is that I wasn’t the hippest preteen in rural Ontario.

9. Watchmen was one of the most disappointing films, poorly reflecting all the super-powered hype. I read the graphic novel, so I was a bit more prepared, and I can tell you that it wasn’t that bad; I just wished that Veidt had looked like a little less of a small child.

Another decade has come and gone. I feel old. It is a little funny to think that, as the new millennium rolled in, I was ten years old. And what was I doing? I was reading. When the year 2000 rolled in, I was reading Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat to my one year old cousin. I will admit it, I am a literary geek. Looking back over the last ten years, there are certain books that have stood out. Here’s my list.

Learning Communities are school wide congregations of students and teachers in a specific major who embark on trips and engage in events related to their area of study. These opportunities are designed to broaden a student’s understanding of his/her discipline and to relate it practically to the “real world”. However, learning commun