By Jennifer Polk. A few weeks ago I flew to the U.S. for a vacation with my parents. The customs agent I spoke with at the Toronto airport asked me what I did for a living. For nearly a decade, I would have said, “I’m a PhD student.” This time, I said without hesitation, “I’m a coach!” When he inquired further, I told him I worked with graduate students and PhDs changing careers. Doing a doctorate could be crushing, I said while squeezing my hands together. As a coach I help these incredibly smart, creative, motivated people get un-crushed so they can do better for themselves and for the wider world. I opened my hands and spread my lower arms. He seemed convinced, wished me a nice trip, and sent me on my way. More...
How much do you owe your mentors?
By Liz Koblyk. If you’re lucky, you have mentors. They may have come into that role officially – as supervisors or dissertation committee members. They may be personal Yodas you’ve picked up unofficially – that grad student whose unflappability you’d like to cultivate, or the colleague who knows how to make meetings useful.
The balance of giving and receiving is pretty obviously tilted in mentor-mentee relationships. You get to bask in the sunny rays of your mentor’s time, energy and advice. So, what do you owe your mentors in return? More...
Sifting through the scant data on contingent faculty
By Léo Charbonneau. According to the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association, contract academic staff on temporary, per-course contracts taught 52 percent of all students registered in classes, tutorials, labs and seminars at the university in 2012. That 52-percent figure is interesting by its mere existence, since data on contract faculty (also known as contingent faculty or sessional instructors, among other terms) is difficult to come by in this country. We also discover, via a quote from university spokesman Kevin Crowley in a story in the Waterloo Region Record, that there are 376 part-time faculty teaching at Laurier this fall. The number of contract academic staff cannot exceed 35 percent of full-time faculty, which number 600, Mr. Crowley said, adding that this rule was negotiated by the union and the university during the last full-time faculty contract. We also learn that a part-time instructor is paid about $7,200 per course (for one term, typically three months). More...
Why do PhD students persist?
By Adam Kingsmith. Ever since I declared my intent to pursue a PhD I have been inundated with articles by academics and disgruntled graduate students warning me of the dangers of a doctoral education. I've read all of the editorials from all of the major academic publications. Yet regardless of how many "there are no jobs," "you'll be a poverty-stricken adjunct forever," "MOOCs are making traditional academics irrelevant," and "you'll be brainwashed into thinking all non-academic jobs are a failure" are thrown at me, here I stand, stubborn and starting a PhD in political science at York University this fall. Granted, the situation is not quite so dire here in Canada as in the U.S.. According to a recent report by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (PDF), student support is more accessible, the job market is less saturated, funding is granted for longer periods, and sessional faculty are paid more—an average of $5,000 to $6,000 per course versus $2,500 to $3,000 in the United States. However at last count, fewer than 20 percent of PhD graduates in Canada manage to secure full-time academic positions, and that number has been dropping annually. More...
Access Copyright lawsuit against York is first test of fair-dealing guidelines
By Rosanna Tamburri. The outcome of the case could have wide-reaching implications for Canada’s educational institutions. A lawsuit launched by Access Copyright against York University will serve as the first legal test of new fair-dealing guidelines adopted by many universities, colleges and schools. The outcome of the case could have wide-reaching implications for Canada’s educational institutions as well as the copyright collective. More...
Cours en ligne : la Chine se lance petit à petit dans les MOOC
L'enseignement chinois ne cesse de gagner des points… mais il lui faut encore se mettre au goût du jour ! Une nouvelle étape est en passe d'être franchie, avec l'arrivée prochaine des fameux MOOC, ces cours en ligne massifs et gratuits, dans l'empire du Milieu.
Les MOOC enthousiasment les universités… jusqu'en Chine ! Après notamment le gouvernement français, avec France Université Numérique -, la Chine s'y met petit à petit. Le gouvernement encourage ainsi l'importation de MOOC en Chine, à condition toutefois que ces cours en ligne ne comportent pas de contenu politique pouvant offenser. L'exportation de MOOC est également en projet, selon le professeur Huang Ronghuai, vice-doyen de la Beijing Normal University, cité par University World News. Et le marché est porteur, entre les jeunes qui étudient le chinois à l'étranger- toujours plus nombreux -, et les Chinois obligés initialement de se tourner vers des MOOC en anglais. Suite...
2ème salon des Quadras-Quinquas+
Nous avons déjà que de nombreuses structures exposeront pour présenter leurs activités. Nous vous invitons à nous rendre visite sur notre site internet ou nous présentons cette action.
L'offre de formation Arcade - Programme 2014 de formation professionnelle
En 2014, l'Arcade propose plus de 60 modules de formation programmés tout au long de l'année, ouverts à tout professionnel du spectacle et de la culture, pour renforcer et développer ses compétences dans les domaines de la production et diffusion du spectacle, du management, de l'administration et de la gestion des projets et des entreprises culturelles ou les métiers de la communication et des relations avec les publics.
Six nouveaux modules viennent enrichir le programme en gestion des entreprises culturelles, et un programme spécifique de 20 journées est à présent proposé autour des repères esthétiques et programmations contemporaines.
Les sessions sont accueillies comme chaque année dans nos locaux à Aix-en-Provence, mais également à Marseille et à Nice.
Les artistes-auteurs ont depuis peu acquis un droit à la formation professionnelle. L’Arcade inaugure cette année avec l’Agence régionale du Livre un module de formation qui leur est consacré, pour les aider à organiser leur statut juridique et leur pluriactivité.
Le programme des formations professionnelles 2014 est en ligne.
Bienvenue au Salon Virtuel Africain de l’Enseignement Supérieur
PERSPECTIVES vous propose pour la première fois son salon virtuel Africain dédié à l’enseignement supérieur. Véritable outil et vecteur de communication, ce salon 3D vous offre la possibilité d’assister à l’événement le plus complet consacré à l’éducation en regroupant, sur une seule plateforme interactive, tous les outils d’un salon physique : présentation, obtention de brochures, vidéos, photos, demande de renseignements, échange, candidature, conférences…
www.perspectives.tn.
Le design du salon et ses fonctionnalités avancées vous feront presque oublier que l’on évolue dans un environnement virtuel !
Prochaines ouvertures les 19, 20 et 21 décembre 2013 & les 10, 11 et 12 juillet 2014 Ouvert 24H/24
Three Pillars for Open Education
By Elliott Hauser. Open source software has shown the world something amazing: that thousands or even millions of people can collaborate in a relatively uncoordinated way to achieve something remarkable. Many of us are thinking about how open education might replicate this staggering success. I want to share some of the thought we're developing at Coursefork.org with the HASTAC community and invite comments, feedback, and help making open education a reality.
Despite the ambitious title, I can't claim I know for sure how we'll build education's open future. But by examining the history of open source, I think we can see what shape the answer will take. And so this is the approach we're taking with Coursefork: the hypothesis that the future of education looks a lot like the present of software and that both are inexorably becoming open.
There are three areas that we believe educators must develop if we are to make this future a reality: Community, Leadership, and Technology. More...