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Has anyone out there been part of a large scale experiment with Open Educational Resources?

Like entrepreneurs in other sectors of our modern economy, many universities are in a rush to fill a relatively new and expanding market. Despite the significant increase in the number and type of international activities—from branch campuses, to MOOCs, and aggressive international student recruitment—many efforts appear to be launched without a clear idea of best practices or how specific activities might be productive and meaningful for a particular institution.

Why should MOOCs get all the ink? Let's coin a term, a phrase, a meme. Will the MTOP - the Micro-Targeted Online Program - go viral?

Writing is hard. Yup. That's it.

Sheryl Sandberg advises women to “lean in;” the dangling preposition in her book title tells me that Sandberg offers little substance. She offers process without a predicate. Yes, I just judged a book by its cover.

An important requirement for a country to successfully promote transnational education (TNE) and seek to become a knowledge hub is to have a strong, local higher education sector. This is the situation for countries such as Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Singapore that have successfully developed knowledge hubs. But what about countries such as Botswana, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, aspiring to create knowledge hubs? Is their higher education sector robust enough to compete with TNE institutions? Will TNE in those countries help to strengthen the local sector, or weaken and marginalize it?

One of our leading faculty members announced last week that he would be retiring and relocating at the end of this academic year. The deciding factor seems most likely to be the impact of Hurricane Sandy on his house and on his life. I hoped he would change his mind. His retiring is certainly not in the best interests of his department and his school; it likely is in his best interest, given the circumstances.

Last week I took part in a musical improv scene in which my friends A and L were the protagonists. The premise of the scene was that they had murdered A's husband (played by J) to clear the way so they could get married. J's body was sprawled on the floor, and it was creeping A out, so L called offstage for the butler (played by me) to "get rid of this mess, will you?" I answered, "My pleasure, sir," and went to drag J offstage.