Johann Neem
by Johann N. Neem
In the fall term, I often teach an introductory, general education course called “Going to College in America.” Although grounded in my discipline—history—the assigned readings draw from economics, philosophy, sociology, and other fields. My goal is to allow students,…
Last month a professor at Weber State University in Utah asked a new artificial-intelligence chatbot to write a tweet in his voice.
Within a few minutes the application, called ChatGPT, had spit out a dozen messages that captured Alex Lawrence’s tone and personality. His first reaction…
Remind Students to Think.
Johann N. Neem, professor of history, Western Washington University
With ChatGPT, a student can turn in a passable assignment without reading a book, writing a word or having a thought. But …
It was the evening before the Fourth of July in the last year of his tumultuous presidency, and I sat in front of my television transfixed and horrified as Donald Trump delivered a speech at Mount Rushmore, ostensibly a celebration of American independence but in fact a call for resistance.…
Dr. Johann Neem, a history professor at Western Washington University and author of What’s the Point of College? Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform, stressed the importance of understanding the history of standardized testing versus its controversial reality today.…
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered business as usual for colleges and universities. With campuses shifting to remote learning, students, instructors, staff, and administrators were made to grapple with a set of new challenges. Western Today recently talked with WWU Professor of History…
They were honored with grand memorials in the nation’s capital and hailed as two of the greatest American presidents but George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are no longer welcome as names of San Francisco public schools.
The city’s board of education on Tuesday approved renaming 44…
They were honored with grand memorials in the nation’s capital and hailed as two of the greatest American presidents but George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are no longer welcome as names of San Francisco public schools.
The city’s board of education on Tuesday approved renaming 44…
The last four years have taught us just how fractured America is. After a decisive but divisive election, President-elect Joseph Biden now begins the most difficult work ever: trying to weave back together a social fabric that has, after years of neglect, come unraveled. Biden has promised…
The last four years have taught us just how fractured America is. After a decisive but divisive election, President-elect Joseph Biden now begins the most difficult work ever: trying to weave back together a social fabric that has, after years of neglect, come unraveled. Biden has promised…