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As an administrator, some victories are so subtle that you’d miss them from the outside. This week we had one of those, and I just want to write it down before I forget it.

At NASPA's Annual Conference, there appeared to be only a single session that was dedicated to the conversation around supporting online students. I'm hoping for an increase in sessions on this topic at next year's conference.

On Monday morning, I checked my Inside Higher Ed email and was reminded of the website "100 Reasons NOT to go to Grad School." I've been following 100 Reasons for a while now, as I am the type of person who can't help but click on any and all links promising information about what has been dubbed "The Higher Ed Apocalypse." As I understand the HEA, it is basically the idea that institutions are vastly overproducing Phds for fewer and fewer tenure-track (and even alternative-academic) jobs. Other hallmarks of the genre include the idea that academia is really not the best place to work anyway (see College Misery). But mostly, I read the ones that tell me my choice to pursue a terminal degree is foolish, the jobs are impossible to get, and, if I am of the lucky few to land one, I will hate it. So here's the truth: I have no idea how to assess the actual hiring situation for people like me who are coming out of Phd programs.

Always On is one of those books that I flirted with buying (downloading?) for a few months. Up until last week I could never convince myself to pull the trigger (add to the cart?).

I often laugh at the politics of taking coffee from a shared coffee maker. The person who takes the last cup needs to make a new pot, so no one wants to be the person to take that last serving. To avoid this, people often take only half of a cup, leaving a half of a cup for the next (and presumably last) person. This can go on for a while, and could, in theory, go on indefinitely, as dividing by two with each thirsty but lazy person will never actually result in an empty coffee maker.

"Flipping the classroom" has become one of the most popular catch phrases of the year. The idea: watch the video as homework and use the time in class -- the face-to-face time -- to hold discussions, work together, build and solve problems. Let's extend that to the conference. Why do we sit and listen to lectures and panels when what we want most out of our time together is, well, time together?

In 2009, when the clouds were just emerging on the horizon of higher education, I drafted a windy document which...

The 2012 Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings were released at 00.01 today by Times Higher Education via its website. It was intensely promoted via Twitter by the 'Energizer Bunny' of rankings, Phil Baty, and will be circulated in hard copy format to the weekly magazine’s subscribers.