Blogs

Efficiency is important. Being more efficient usually means that you have more time. Having more time generally allows additional space for innovation, planning, conversing, thinking, creativity, etc. Technology can be instrumental in making us more efficient. For Student Affairs professionals, efficiency is something that we can usually increase.

I have been thinking about my last post in which (taking a leaf from Mark Bauerlein) I questioned the emphasis we put on quantity of peer-reviewed publications as the primary determinant of who will be recognized as a scholar worthy of tenure. Publications become a kind of currency traded for a safe job – a currency that is suffering from inflation.

I don’t think of myself as Scrooge, but this time of year the endless questions around “secret Santas” and informal gift exchange always crop up. Lesboprof’s take is particularly thoughtful.

MITx is very big news. For a great overview of MIT's plans, check out Audrey Watters' excellent writeup MITx: The Next Chapter for University Credentialing? The MIT student paper The Tech also has a great article. The MIT press release and accompanying FAQ also go into detail about MITx.

Most of the faculty folks I know are either in the throes of grading or just done. The students have mostly gone home and we are finishing up the dregs of this semester as we prepare for the holidays and, before we know it, the next semester. Those of us whose grades are in may also be able to experience just a bit of what our students are going through now by reviewing our own student evaluations from the semester just past.

MIT made a big announcement today by unveiling its plans for MITx, an online learning platform open to anyone that will offer certificates to non-enrolled students that complete the course.

Small island states, because of their small population and limited employment opportunities, face daunting challenges in setting up a higher education sector of their own. They do need qualified personnel and professionals, but economies of scale handicap them in setting up full-fledged training programmes

As I am entering the library earlier this week, I pass by a student on a cell phone and hear the student make the following statement: “I finished all my finals but I still have to write a 60 page term paper which is due in two days.” As hard as it is to believe, the student clearly stated that the paper is due in two days.