Blogs

As we reported earlier this month, we have started rolling out the results of our fall surveys with those newer-to-higher ed (“newbies”) and those that have been in higher ed for a longer period of time (“veterans”). Today we’ll let you know what respondents told us the most significant change (positive or negative) that they have seen since they started working in higher ed.

In the past, when the University of Michigan (U-M) hosted a reception in Shanghai for admitted students and their families, about 80 people attended. Last year, the university used its profile on the popular Chinese microblogging site, Sina Weibo, to promote the event and 200 people showed up. With 400 million users, Weibo is similar to Twitter.

Contrary to what Dr. Reisberg implied in her recent blog, successful cross-border partnerships do exist. In fact, the overall percentage of unsuccessful projects is very low. The Observatory for Borderless Higher Education indicates that of over 200 international branch campuses currently in operation around the world, only a handful have “bit the dust.” Some may be surprised by this low rate of failure, considering the steady coverage of failed branch campuses, faculty discontent over efforts to internationalize across borders, etc. Stories of successful cross-border initiatives, though far more common, do not make for sexy headlines.

My older daughter and her best friend were going to an ice skating birthday party and I was the designated driver to the rink. We were ready to leave and my daughter texts her friend to let her know we will pick her up in a few minutes. But there was no imminent response. So what were we to do?

I was going to write about this article, but Jill at Feministe beat me to it, providing a much more articulate and witty takedown than I would have managed. My only quibble is her reference to this article, which she and other writers cite as evidence that having children is detrimental to emotional health and well being.

So I enrolled in my first MOOC last week. Having exactly no experience with courses that are a) massive b) open or c) online, this is my novitiate. I did so not out of an entrepreneurial zeal; simple curiosity won me over. There hasn't been such a fuss over higher ed technological innovation since they invented chalk. So I’m enrolled in a history course with hundreds of thousands of other seekers worldwide.

I don’t know if I’m just the fluky exception or if this is indicative of a larger truth, but I don’t Google job candidates.

So, I’m teaching this course on the rather absurdly broad topic of books and culture. It’s not that easy to discuss the book industry (or, more properly, industries) with students who are 18 or 19 years old and don’t have a big stake in it. It’s all pretty new to them, but they know what they don’t know - unlike many seasoned scholars.