Blogs

Digital Writing Month has me reflecting on the value of print - and keeping it looking like print.

As I write this, it’s Election Day and, depending on the outcome, we might all need a little comfort food this week. When the days are dreary, stress is heavy, and everything looks bleak, sometimes the best way to mother oneself is to cook up a pot of sustenance that warms the house and sends odor plumes wafting out the door. Of course exercise, fresh air, hobbies, cuddles with pets or kids, wine, and outings with friends are all great for stress relief. Food certainly isn’t the solution to all woes. But a nice meal doesn’t hurt.

A few thoughts on how venture capital investment works -- and doesn't work -- to fund open education projects.

I had to smile at this piece in Inside Higher Ed. It recommended a more open-minded attitude towards administrative careers...

If you are reading Nate Silver's awesome book The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't you know that: a) The track record of forecasters for predicting future events is abysmal. b) There is no correlation (and indeed an inverse correlation) between the confidence that one makes predictions and the accuracy of these prognostications.

This post will go up on Election Day in the US. I'm writing it on the afternoon before, and I have not yet voted. Virginia doesn't have early voting without a valid excuse, and I have to confess that even if it did, I would probably have waited: I like participating in a civic duty along with my fellow-citizens. There's always a festive air at the polling place, a sense that something important is going on, and I like to be a part of that. I also like wearing my "I Voted!" sticker to class, reminding my students (many of whom will have voted by absentee ballot already, I hope) that there's still time.

Any observer of higher education in Africa would immediately realize that African universities, with the exception of a handful, stand no chance of appearing under the THE Rankings; or for that matter under other global university rankings that use criteria with a heavy bias on research, publications in international refereed journals and citations. African universities have to cope with huge student enrolment with limited financial and physical resources. They are short of academic staff, a large proportion of whom do not have a PhD. Not surprisingly, their research output and performance in postgraduate education are poor. It is clear that in the rankings race, they are playing on a non-level field.

Given the critical need for change in American higher education, many schools would gain a strategic advantage if they genuinely provide connections between educating for the liberal arts and the professions.