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We've reached that point in the semester that can become oppressive for TAs and grad students teaching their own courses. Those essay assignments that seemed like such a good idea back in September are seeming distinctly less so as teetering piles of ungraded papers on your desk. Just as your own semester workload is increasing and deadlines loom for conference abstracts, job applications, travel grants, and summer internships, here comes the dreaded stack of unmarked papers, some of which you know will consume more of your time than they did of their authors.

The advent of Internet-enabled mass access to college level educational content offers a number of opportunities to both consumers and providers. Consumers can shop for any number of content items online from a wide array of providers, choosing products based on the subject, the prestige of the provider, and the subsequent value of participation. Providers will have access to large potential markets with low overhead expense and most importantly without an obligation to validate the preparation and capabilities of the consumers or guarantee a level of successful completion.

A long-suffering correspondent writes: "I'm an IT manager at a community college. [Several] years ago, my college created a CIO (Chief Information Officer) position and united our technology departments under the new CIO. It was a disaster. The CIO was a longtime administrator at the college who, despite being an experienced educational administrator, wasn't able to be an effective CIO (poor communication and project management). The other administrators were unhappy with the performance of IT under the CIO, but they mostly held their tongues until he retired. Once he left, they let their displeasure be known and started clamoring for the technology departments to be split back up so they can have more control."

Every job is in some way fascinating. I'm particularly interested in how you earn your living. Those of us who are in some way associated with higher ed, and who gather in this community to learn and share what we know. Jeanne Marie Laskas is one of us, an associate professor and director of the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh. Maybe in her next book she will turn her attention closer to home (or maybe your campus or office), but the lack of higher ed people in Hidden America should not dissuade you from reading this terrific book.

I had a bad week. And then I played a game on Twitter and gained some perspective. And had some fun, too.

Over the years, I have participated in many telephone interviews of potential candidates for positions at Hofstra as well as for not-for-profit boards that I have participated on. Interviewing candidates in this way has always struck me as second best (but certainly better than not participating).

Over the past week, as we attempt to return to normal after Sandy, the term that recurs most often in conversation with friends and colleagues is "9/11," as in, "Remember after 9/11, when we..." or "People were more eager to volunteer after 9/11."

For the first time in ten years, I was able to devote my entire week to the EDUCAUSE National Conference. Allow me to share some take-aways from the experience.