By Rob Jenkins - Chronicle Vitae. Besides death and taxes, tenure-track faculty members can count on at least one other certainty in life: committee work.
Some committees can actually be enjoyable and accomplish great things. Others are tedious, boring, and of questionable value, seeming to exist for no other reason than to check off a box on somebody else’s chart. See more...

By Allison M. Vaillancourt - Chronicle Vitae. Over the last couple of months, I’ve heard from several colleagues, friends and acquaintances—both inside and outside my institution—about how they felt when they were notified that their services were no longer needed. Many of them used a particular word: “blindsided.”
As I have listened to their stories, some of which I’ve watched unfold before my own eyes, I’ve been reflecting on how they could be so surprised by their bad news when I was not surprised at all. See more...

By Sydni Dunn - Chronicle Vitae. New York—Inside a classroom at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, nearly 30 contingent academic workers debated which verb was more powerful: “shape” or “animate.”
It may sound like a trivial matter, but the group had a job to do. By the end of the two-hour session, participants had to craft a 100-word proposal on how higher-education laborers could build a national strategy for change. Every word counted. See more...

By Audrey Watters. It’s that time of year again – whee! – for my annual back-to-school tech survey, and teachers, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what new technology you’re most looking forward to bringing into the classroom with you this school year. The technology itself doesn’t have to be new. I’m interested, rather, in what’s new in your teaching practice.
(My coverage of teachers’ favorites from 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.) More...

By Audrey Watters. Ideology and Ranking
But even if we did know the algorithm that drives the Klout score, I’d still want to ask questions about the meaning of the measurement and the weight that the number – any ranking system, really – carries. Why, if nothing else, are we so obsessed with ranking?
What purposes does Klout serve? Whose purposes does Klout serve? Why is Michael Petrilli or Forbes or Rick Hess or any of the other popular list-makers interested in a ranking or rating system for those in education?
See, this isn’t simply about “influence”; it’s about ideology.
I’m in the middle of writing a chapter for Teaching Machines that examines the histories of “intelligence” and ed-tech – intelligence testing, artificial intelligence, “intelligent tutoring systems.” Much like “influence,” “intelligence” is something difficult to define let alone quantify. More...