Blogs

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.”

In my 20 months as Division chair, I have seen the departure of several male junior colleagues for graduate school in Manila and abroad. It may sound like no big deal, but to any young man few years out of college or who hasn’t lived abroad previously, starting graduate school far from one’s comfort zone is daunting. Like any mother hen, I did the usual “let’s have a serious talk about your academic career” and “what the University expects from you” routine with each one of them. A walk through choices of graduate school and programs, housing, fellowship applications, return service obligations, University clearance -- this process takes a lot of time before they can finally board the plane and begin the next 2-4 years away from the demands of teaching.

Emory’s decision to shut down several programs should not be so shocking as it represents the trend in US higher education to follow, not lead, American society. The decision reminds us that even established, prestigious institutions like Emory are not free from the influence of “the market”. Although Emory’s decision is understandable on practical grounds, this should set off alarms for educators everywhere.

I hope that you will be able to join us on Monday, 9/24 for a discussion of the IHE and Babson Survey Research Group's excellent report Digital Faculty: Professors and Technology, 2012.