By Joshua Kim. If there is an alt-ac conference, I’ve not been invited. My academic library does not subscribe to the journal of alternative-academics, mostly because I don’t think that it exists. If my institution ever had an alt-ac department, or a major in alternative-academic studies, then perhaps it was closed down before my time. Nobody I know has a PhD in alt-ac. More...
Why Alt-Acs Go to Conferences
By Joshua Kim. On messy careers, liminal roles, and building cross-institutional communities of practice. More...
EdTech and the Demise of the iPod Nano
By Joshua Kim. We learned today that Apple has discontinued the iPod nano and iPod shuffle. More...
Business Officers and Learning Innovators
By Joshua Kim. Why maybe we should talk less about learning, and more about money. More...
3 Lessons from the UVM Medical School Active Learning Pivot
By Joshua Kim. Are you talking on your campus about the UVM Larner College of Medicine’s transition to an all active learning program?
You should be. More...
The Decline of the Laundromat and the Future of Higher Education
By Joshua Kim. On the historical price of appliances, the disappearance of computer labs, and the concentration of privilege. More...
What Would An Online-First Academic Library Look Like?
By Joshua Kim. It is always fun when ideas and trends also catch the interest of a colleague, and that independently you both try to make sense of what you both are seeing. More...
'Grocery', the Amazon-Whole Foods Deal and Higher Ed
By Joshua Kim. If you read Grocery with a higher ed lens - and in particular in light of the Amazon purchase - you might draw a few conclusions. More...
Whatever Happened to French? And German? And Arabic?

This one isn’t my field of expertise, so I’m hoping folks who know it at a deeper level than I do will chime in.
At the three community colleges at which I’ve worked, I’ve seen the same trend in language departments. Spanish dominates the field, and American Sign Language is picking up strength. Every other language is niche, declining, or dead.
It wasn't always so. There was a time in my memory when French was vital. At many colleges, undergraduate German was, too. Now, we can’t run enough sections to justify a hire.(If you follow Rebecca Schuman’s darkly comic series about job postings in German, it’ll become clear quickly that this isn’t just a quirk of a few places.). At various points, Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, and even Latin have had flashes of interest, but none has lasted. The jury is still out on Chinese; we haven’t been able to get steady instructors to really find out one way or the other. More...
MOOCs Are "Dead." What's Next? Uh-oh.
By John Warner. One overhyped technology fades as another surges. More...