Blogs

In light of Vladimir Putin’s American adoption ban, a professor shares her Russian adoption experience.

The last cliffhanger episodes of Democracy Theatre: 112th Congress have been disappointing to say the least. With these shenanigans, it’s hard to believe that government ever works, but sometimes it does. Today I’m remembering a man who could make it work really, really well.

When I was in grammar school, I used to say that I wanted to grow up to be an archeologist. Having not yet discovered Economics, I could not think of any other way to combine my love of social studies, math and science all at once. Had I pursued that line of study, I hope that I would have had some intelligent things to say about the idea that the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world on December 21, as did others. Since that day has come and gone, I think it is safe to say that any predictions based on those calendars foretelling the end of the world as we know it were incorrect. Now that we know that the world is not ending quite yet, I want to share some thoughts on what we did not lose on December 21, 2012, as the New Year unfolds.

1. Copyright Reform balancing innovation with incentive. 2. Electronic Communications Privacy Act reform updating legislation technologically while retaining Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.

I still remember the terror and thrill of having my own class to teach for the first time.

The fact that MOOCS and online courses have sparked new conversations on your campus about teaching and learning is a terrific development. We should be grateful whenever attention is paid to teaching. The problem is that neither MOOCS or online courses are, in themselves, a strategy to meet the challenges we all face in higher ed. MOOCS and online courses are a means, not an end, and should be understood as such.

In the last year or two, many challenges have been made to lower the cost of earning a degree, create differential pricing based on major, or allow individual professors to set the cost of their on-line courses. A high quality blend of liberal arts and professional training will never compete with pressures for new, low-cost options if price alone is considered. When playing the game Let’s Make a Deal, many excellent institutions will lose out to these economic pressures unless they respond with much more than good economic arguments.

Here are my suggestions for what higher education might resolve to do in the New Year. What are yours?