Blogs

One of the best aspects of working an academic technology gig is the opportunity to work with edtech companies. Even if you are a hardcore roll-your-own / build it local / open source / edupunk true believer, eventually you'll find yourself scouting around for an edtech vendor partner to meet your campus IT needs.

This past Sunday we went out for breakfast and found our favorite local diner crowded with after-church families. In Green Bay, WI the number of patrons reflects the times of church services and football games. If you don’t attend either, you feel out of step with a powerful community rhythm.

There has been so much written about Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) lately. Time to jump in.

The first assignment has come in. We all have some explaining to do.

My mom majored in English…. I did not. Articulating jumbled packages of thoughts into a coherent story ... sometimes I struggle with that. When I stroll through myriad posts within the student affairs blogosphere, I am consistently impressed with the level of thoughtfulness, vulnerability, forward-thinking, and love. Love for the profession, care for colleagues both near and far… it’s energizing to read so many wonderful posts. There are so many great writers within the student affairs profession.

Everyone’s jumping on the MOOC bandwagon, it seems, with the announcement today of 17 more universities partnering with Coursera. But why the rush when it seems clear that these online experiments are just that -- experimental? Certainly universities see this as a marketing opportunity. I argue that it’s also “FOMO” -- the fear of missing out.

By this point in the semester you're beginning to get the lay of the land. You've navigated the administration of classes, bookstores, parking passes, and coordinated the eight different campus offices required to pay for it all. You are likely carrying several more pieces of plastic in your wallet and have dozens more passwords floating around in your head than you did a month ago. You've hopefully also gained at least a vague sense of what is expected of you as a student, as a TA, and as a colleague. Often such expectations are not written down anywhere and get relayed inconsistently if at all.

Economists aren’t known for being funny on purpose, but this one isn’t bad.. An economist and his grad student are walking across the quad when they spy what looks like a twenty dollar bill on the sidewalk. The grad student looks at the professor for cues, and notices that the professor is still walking. The grad student asks “aren’t you going to pick it up?” The professor responds “if it were really a twenty, someone would have picked it up by now.”