By John Warner. The world will never be short of “kids these days” essays.
Two recent examples got on my radar: Mark Bauerlein’s lament in the Times and Prof. Keith Parsons’ “Message to My Freshman Students” where he drops some knowledge on the youth today about the difference between a “teacher” and a “professor.” Read more...
01 juin 2015
Professors These Days
Ask the Administrator: Should I Participate?
By Matt Reed. A returning correspondent writes:I'm a faculty member at a not-particularly-prestigious university with ambitions / pretensions as a research institution. Management has recently proclaimed a series of new strategic goals, all of which sound to me like so many meaningless management platitudes. Read more...
Fenway
By Matt Reed. One day last week, I got the call that many New England parents crave. “A friend has two extra tickets to tonight’s Red Sox game. Can you take The Boy?”Uh, that would be “yes.” Especially since our stay in New England will be over soon. Any excuse to visit Fenway with TB is a good excuse. Read more...
When Shorthand Attacks
By Matt Reed. “We’re capitalists, and we have to look at what the demand is, and we have to respond to the demand.” -- Steven Long, Vice Chairman of the Academic Planning Committee, University of North Carolina Board of Governors. Read more...Pedigree
By Matt Reed. Over the weekend we caught up with some old friends, many of whom have kids the same ages as ours. Without my bringing it up, the conversation shifted at one point to dual (and concurrent) enrollment programs in high schools. The general sentiment was in favor, with broad agreement that the senior year of high school is often relatively unproductive for many students, and presents an opportunity to do something better. Read more...All “A’s” By 2064?
By Joshua Kim. Before I share with you some of the writings of biology professor Mark McPeek, I’d like to amplify an invitation that Mark made:
How do you set grading standards in your class, and what do you expect a student to do to meet each of those standards?
Mark is the head of a committee on my campus that is looking at both local and national trends in grading. Read more...
Mary Meeker’s Internet Report
By Joshua Kim. Take a few minutes to look at Mary Meeker’s deck on Internet Trends 2015.
What are the Internet trends that matter most to higher ed?
1. The number of Internet users has increased from 35 million in 1995 to 2.8 billion in 2014. Read more...
4 Reasons Why I Finally Said Yes to a Twitter Chat
By Joshua Kim. Are you planning on participating in the UPCEA #HigherEdAhead Twitter Chat today (Wednesday, 5/17) at 2:00pm EST? The topic - Balancing the Urgency of Revenue Performance with Mission and Quality Online Imperatives: What's Ahead?
This will be my first Twitter Chat. I’ve been asked a bunch of times before, but up until now I’ve always said no. Read more...
5 Reasons To Hold an EdTech Conference in Montreal
By Joshua Kim. What city would you nominate for our next big educational technology conference?
I’m spending the weekend in Montreal, attending the Event Horizon: Exploring Higher Education in 2050 convening at McGill University. Fabulous gathering. Read more...
To Agency or Not to Agency
By David Baker. Market position, branding, messaging: these terms were once reserved for big corporations hawking everything from soft drinks and toothpaste to luxury cars. But such words now echo inside the halls of academia. While reasons for this are a complex stew of rising costs, declining state funding and fierce competition, it’s plain to see that universities are spending more money to attract students using media channels that didn’t exist within academia a few years ago. More...
