Blogs

The conversations and presentations at this year's Boise Confab were cerebrally exhilarating. One particular session really piqued my interest. Jeremiah Shinn, Director for the Student Involvement & Leadership Center at Boise State University, gave an extremely honest presentation about how we conduct hirings in student affairs. Whether you agree with Shinn, disagree, and/or take umbrage, I bet you have an opinion. Here's a quick Q and A where he discusses his thoughts about "bad hires" and "good people":

In recent years the higher education community has focused more on the role institutions’ play in student success. For a long time the blame for failure has been laid squarely at the feet of students. If a student dropped out of college it was assumed that they were unmotivated, under-prepared, or lacked the aptitude required to be a college graduate. The fact that dropouts were admitted meant that they somehow fell through an admissions crack undetected.

That the Internet is a game changer is well-known phenomenon. In fact, the word most usually associated with this phenomenon is "disruptive," and it is a good one because more times than not it is truly a neutral, descriptive term. Depending on what side of the fence you are on at the time of the disruption, you might think it either a good or bad thing. Think content industry: bad. Think people without money who want access to content: good. Of course, life, law and technology are infinitely more complicated than those Manichaeism terms, but you get the idea. Let's see how it applies to academic integrity.

That the Internet is a game changer is well-known phenomenon. In fact, the word most usually associated with this phenomenon is "disruptive," and it is a good one because more times than not it is truly a neutral, descriptive term. Depending on what side of the fence you are on at the time of the disruption, you might think it either a good or bad thing. Think content industry: bad. Think people without money who want access to content: good. Of course, life, law and technology are infinitely more complicated than those Manichaeism terms, but you get the idea. Let's see how it applies to academic integrity.

This one is particularly for the experienced adjuncts, especially those who frequently teach in multiple settings. What materials do you find the most useful, when you get a class at a new department?

The very term "productivity system" makes me happy -- I like to think systematically in order to design solutions to problems and I enjoy learning about and creating new systems for doing things.

Thanks to my membership in the Library Society of the World, an anarchic group of librarians who pay no dues and have no rules (my people!), I get useful information (and many moments of laughter and delight) on a regular basis. Two bits of recent news made me think about how quickly things can change in the mostly-digital library.

Who are the media companies dipping into the education business? They include: Discovery (the cable TV company), News Corp, NBCUniversal, and Walt Disney.