By Maggie Gover. As part of my job, I mentor graduate students and early career faculty through the transition to non-academic jobs. These career-changers have usually thought long and hard about their decision to seek a non-academic career. It is not something that anyone seeking my help takes lightly. Read more...

By Melissa Dennihy. Job market candidates can spend months preparing written materials such as research statements and teaching philosophies, but invitations to interview usually leave candidates with only weeks or even days to prepare. Read more...

By Kerry Ann Rockquemore. Six years ago, I wrote The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure Without Losing Your Soul with Tracey Laszloffy because I wanted to give something to new faculty members. It was everything I wish someone had told me when I started out in my academic career. Since then, I created the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity to open up mentoring to a larger group of academics. Read more...

By Katrina Gulliver. In what sense does branching from your original field come with a punishment? Does the academy really want intellectual curiosity?
I am a historian, and I have published in Asian, Pacific, urban and American history. Read more...

By Michelle Miller. In my book Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology, I foreground attention as the starting point for everything designers of college-level online learning experiences should know about human cognition. Read more...

By Scott McLemee. The Greek philosopher and scientist Theophrastus would probably have remained forever in the shadow of Aristotle, his teacher and benefactor (a very big shadow, admittedly) if not for a little volume of personality sketches called Characters he wrote at the age of 99. At least that’s what he claims in the preface. The first character type he portrays is called “The Ironical Man,” so it’s possible he was just putting everyone on. Read more...

By Christopher B. Nelson. In higher education circles, there is something of a feeding frenzy surrounding the issue of assessment. The federal government, due to release a proposed rating system later this fall, wants assessments to create ways to allow one to compare colleges and universities that provide “value”; accrediting organizations want assessments of student learning outcomes; state agencies want assessments to prove that tax dollars are being spent efficiently; institutions want internal assessments that they can use to demonstrate success to their own constituencies. Read more...

By Marie Norman. The results are in. Inside Higher Ed recently released its third annual survey of college and university faculty members, focusing on perceptions of online learning. It showed that faculty:

• Remain highly skeptical about the efficacy of online education
• Consider the instructor-student relationship essential for learning. Read more...

By Pamela Tate. In a research brief by Complete College America called “The Power of 15 Credits,” the group makes a good case (citing data on first-time enrollees) that the larger credit load does, indeed, have an impact -- and improved students’ chances of earning a degree. Read more...

By Alexandra W. Logue. There is a large group of students — often overlooked — whose completion of college we need to better track and encourage: transfer students. We need to do a better job of collecting and following transfer students’ data and of instituting policies that help them to graduate, such as ensuring that their credits transfer. There are many reasons that these students deserve our full attention. Read more...