Blogs

This is not about the election, Instead, it’s about next week’s Big Announcement.

What are your goals for EDUCAUSE 2012? What do you hope to learn at the conference? What insights and information do you hope to take back to your campus?

Recently, a supervisor remarked that I am “too Americanized” and lacking in good-old-fashioned sensitivity [pakiramdam] as Division chair. Clearly, my brand of managing has critics. But as I constantly remind myself and my superiors, I only get half semester load credit for my administrative job. To live the other half of my academic life teaching, doing research and publishing, I have to follow work practices that will get the admin job done in a University machine that is in “low” gear (read: slow decision-making).

As grad students, we face numerous pressures – from academic deadlines to family commitments and maintaining our own health and well-being. However, as many have written before, we struggle to find a balance, tend to give up those things that are healthy but aren’t “productive” and even feel guilty when we take a little time for ourselves.

Digital Writing Month has me reflecting on the value of print - and keeping it looking like print.

As I write this, it’s Election Day and, depending on the outcome, we might all need a little comfort food this week. When the days are dreary, stress is heavy, and everything looks bleak, sometimes the best way to mother oneself is to cook up a pot of sustenance that warms the house and sends odor plumes wafting out the door. Of course exercise, fresh air, hobbies, cuddles with pets or kids, wine, and outings with friends are all great for stress relief. Food certainly isn’t the solution to all woes. But a nice meal doesn’t hurt.

A few thoughts on how venture capital investment works -- and doesn't work -- to fund open education projects.

I had to smile at this piece in Inside Higher Ed. It recommended a more open-minded attitude towards administrative careers...