Blogs

I winced when I read about the Community College of Allegheny County telling its adjuncts that it would cap their hours in order to avoid penalties under the Affordable Care Act. The commentary over the next few days was predictable: conservatives saying “I told you so,” and everyone else saying that this is just another example of evil administrators running a college like a business.

I spent Thanksgiving weekend mostly off the internet and in the company of people and books I love, catching up with both. I was rereading a Dickens novel and spending time with family and friends, luxuriating in the long weekend that made both possible. As my daughter was packing up to return to college for the end of the semester, she asked if I'd be writing about her today. "Maybe," I said. But rather than write directly about her I want to write about three things that I’ve been thinking about both over the weekend and this morning.

Normally I don't read books that feature an introductory chapter from New Gingrich, but I'm very happy that in this case my liberal filter bubble was successfully breached.

It is a title designed to catch attention, but the content has the purpose of drawing an important similarity to what most take as a distinction.

Should community colleges in different parts of a state compete with each other for funding? To me, the obvious answer is “no,” but that doesn’t appear obvious to everybody.

Some thoughts on the job search so far.

Are you currently running or contemplating a one-to-one tablet program, (where every student gets the same device), at your institution? What tablet are you recommending or requiring?

The last several semesters, I have been incorporating Twitter into my teaching style and lessons, and it has quickly become an inextricable part of my teaching tool box. Twitter allows me to stay in touch with my students quickly and easily, it fosters discussion in the classroom, and it helps to create a community among my students. I am able to engage students 140 characters at a time, and it makes sharing cat pictures way easier.