Blogs

During the summer, I committed to running a short program on Strategy and Competition in Higher Education – essentially a two-day non-credit version of the full length Strategy and Competition in Higher Education course - and asked people what they thought were the most important topics for discussion during such a program. And there was definitely some consensus.

Right now I am right smack in the middle of writing my dissertation proposal. Talk to any graduate student at this phase of the process and they will groan in recognition of the long slog it seems to be. At this point in my writing I have successfully organized my closets and my bathrooms have never been so clean. In spite of all this, I'm still managing to eke out a few pages a day and, slowly but surely, I am getting there.

You know how the hook of a song can get stuck in your head, or how you sorta, kinda recognize an actor in something and you can’t stop trying to remember where you’ve seen him before? (Actual conversation at home: “Hey, it’s that guy from...uh...” “Oh, yeah! That one with the girl from the show?” “Yeah, that’s it...”) Some questions have that same effect on me. Once I’ve either heard or asked them, I can’t let them go. This is one of those. Why don’t men return to college?

A recent piece elsewhere reminded me of my own experience teaching Developmental Writing.

I had some writer’s block recently, a particular kind of writer’s block: I was trying to revise a short section of my dissertation to present at a conference. I spent the whole month of February and part of March thinking about it, but it wasn't until the conference was a week away, that I realized that I have a case of academic writer’s block.

We have become spoiled for choice in the world of online meeting platforms for synchronous teaching and webinars. We can choose between Adobe Connect, Blackboard Collaborate, WebEX, GoToMeeting, Zoom, FuzeBox, BigBlueButton, Lync, Skype and I'm sure others (what am I missing?).

There are many occasions when we question our abilities and decisions as parents, even when we know we’re being silly. Do I push too hard; am I not pushing enough? Do I let my children eat too little; do I let them eat too much? Am I giving them too much time on their own; am I suffocating them by not letting them have more time on their own? Would they be healthier if I’d done x; would they be healthier if I hadn’t done x? And on and on.

Obviously time has come for Harvard to have a community conversation on access and privacy of electronic content. This conversation should address conflicts among and between policies and especially those rules that vest permissions and authority differently per campus constituencies.