Opinion

MOOCs seem to be gathering a lot of media attention lately, particularly on the heels of the popularity of Stanford's AI class. But how do these new computer-science focused classes, several of which are being offered now by for-profit startups rather than non-profit educational institutions, differ from earlier MOOCs? Are these new manifestations centered on the learner and the learning? Or something else?

A returning correspondent writes: I am trying to figure out whether and how to give advice to colleagues at another public institution in my state, in my field, where it's fairly clear the chief academic officer has set up insane internal incentives ...

What's the appeal of a massive open online series of lectures? Why did I agree to do it?

New Ph.D.s in the social sciences enhance their job prospects by thinking beyond their doctoral disciplines, writes Adam Fish.

It was a good day in class. We’ve reached the end of the “here’s how things get published and how libraries deal with all those publications” section of the course (a semester long workshop on how information works) by tying off a couple of loose ends. We visited the college archives to get a sense of how archivist organize things and what researchers might get out of using archival materials. Then we took a quick cruise through the reference section, with a special focus on specialized encyclopedias.

What do we really mean when we say that we're being ourselves?

Are you a "Downton Abbey" fanatic? I finally succumbed after seeing The Onion headline that "Watching Episode of 'Downton Abbey' Counts As Reading a Book." That, and the fact that all my colleagues seem to be able to talk about is Downton Abbey.