Well-Swept Yard

What is wrong with this picture At our (university) faculty meeting today we were given permission to skip teaching our classes tomorrow so that we can catch up with paperwork.

Pannapacker at MLA: Digital Humanities Triumphant? - Brainstorm - The Chronicle of Higher Education : "I wouldn’t worry about community colleges. Although two-year schools sometimes show little interest in theory, they have been ahead of the rest of us in using new technologies, at least in pedagogy." That is a comment by Henry_Adams on Pannapacker's post in the Chronicle. The comment is right on target. I made the same observation when I was directing a tech center for faculty (some years ago--during that fuzzy time between Web 1 and Web 2). The two-year faculty had pedagogical question but mostly they had questions about how to stretch capabilities of common software--from presentation media to web work. As Blackboard made its appearance at the four-year campus, the community college regulars asked for accounts. I gave permission and even assisted in moving content from their WebCT LMS to our Blackboard system. The reasons? I find them embedded in the post a

As the higher education crisis grows worse I see more clearly the characteristics of the mid-sized state university. Wish for respect Lack of respect Imitation of perceived grand characteristics of the grand state university Long mission statement marking out all territory that might be useful in the future Tolerance of salary inequity justified by a vague concept of market value Insistence to have what real universities have: sports at high level, research, terminal degrees, highly paid administrators Budgets out of control Reduction of the institutional mission to one item: survival