Tomorrow's Professor Blog

Read the full entry for "879. China's Learning Curves"

"This was not the case in mainland China, however. There, the predominant educational strategy, teacher-centered instruction, correlated with deep learning strategies. Indeed, students in the mainland Chinese programs, and especially those in what are considered the top 10 universities, were less satisfied with a student-centered orientation, as opposed to their counterparts in Hong Kong."

Posted by markep on June 10, 2008

877. Venturing Abroad: Delivering U.S. Degrees through Overseas Branch Campuses and Programs (Review)

June 03, 2008

Read the full entry for "877. Venturing Abroad: Delivering U.S. Degrees through Overseas Branch Campuses and Programs (Review)"

Not surprisingly, the authors identify Asia as the primary destination for cross-border education and, in particular, the countries of China, Singapore, and India. In each case, the authors identify the types of cross-border programs currently in place, provide examples of institutions involved, and describe the current status or opportunity for establishing a cross-border educational program there.

Posted by markep on June 3, 2008

872. The College as Campus (Review)

May 20, 2008

Read the full entry for "872. The College as Campus (Review)"

"Chapman's book is distinguished by his emphasis on how higher education fits within society, figuratively and literally. His thesis is that American higher education has from its inception conceptually positioned itself in relation to the natural landscape and urbanity."

Posted by markep on May 20, 2008

868. Conflict Management and Problem Solving as Chair

May 08, 2008

Read the full entry for "868. Conflict Management and Problem Solving as Chair"

"We believe that basic conflict resolution and problem-solving tenets go hand in hand when dealing with the human condition. For example, let's look at some basic premises behind dealing with the eclectic members of academic departments. They may all be in the same discipline but higher education by its very nature promotes and encourages the individual. How best to live and work together as a group becomes the primary question. This is a huge challenge for department chairs, and for all administrators as well."

Posted by markep on May 8, 2008

867. Characterizing the Bully Culture

April 24, 2008

Read the full entry for "867. Characterizing the Bully Culture"

"With all the funny business going on, I requested to see my personnel file. The HR guy went into a state of panic and stalled me. After I returned from leave, I asked the HR guy for my folder again, and he said he would ask the VP if I could see my file. I wanted to see what was in there.-Ben"

Posted by markep on April 24, 2008

865. Tenure as a Tarnished Brass Ring

April 18, 2008

Read the full entry for "865. Tenure as a Tarnished Brass Ring"

"So why would Potter recently have approached her provost to inquire about the possibility of trading in tenure for a renewable contract? "

Posted by markep on April 18, 2008

862. Activities That Foster Intellectual Communities

April 10, 2008

Read the full entry for "862. Activities That Foster Intellectual Communities"

"A department with a healthy intellectual community is marked by the level to which students are engaged in all of the activities of the department: serving on committees, hosting outside scholars, planning events, mentoring more junior students, and shaping policy. "

Posted by markep on April 10, 2008

861 College Unranked, and Remaking the American University - Review

April 02, 2008

Read the full entry for "861 College Unranked, and Remaking the American University - Review"

"Of course, the world has changed since 1945 and rankings, not research issues, now appear to dominate policy considerations at many of the most highly selective colleges and universities."

Posted by markep on April 2, 2008

850 10th Anniversary of TP Mailing Lis

February 28, 2008

Read the full entry for "850 10th Anniversary of TP Mailing Lis"

Over the last 10 years, the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List has developed a reputation for brief, compelling, and useful postings of interest to a broad community of academics. The task ahead is to bring the benefits of the List to more students and faculty, particularly those outside the United States and Canada. Subscriber thoughts in this regard are most welcome.
-----------------

Posted by markep on February 28, 2008

847. Top 25 Strangest College Courses

February 14, 2008

Read comments[9] Add comment[!]

12. Finding Dates Worth Keeping: Relationship therapist and teacher Laurie Chaplin admits that "some people may think it's a slack course" but is hoping her University of Sioux Falls students will "come out with something that changes their lives." Dating tips, lessons in recognizing infatuation, and knowing when it's time to break up will be discussed.

Read the full entry for "847. Top 25 Strangest College Courses"

Posted by markep on February 14, 2008

846. Working Effectively with the Dean

Read the full entry for "846. Working Effectively with the Dean"

The chair needs to recognize the limits of argument and persuasion and when to yield or concede issues. This does not mean compromising principles, but it does mean understanding the balance between authority and principle. Sustained conflict is not an asset to the chair-dean relationship. Finally, because the chair has the advantage of knowledge of local detail and culture, it can be tempting to overstate a case in order to win a concession or gain resources. In the long run, however, accurate and honest assessment is best.

Posted by markep on February 14, 2008

843. Inside the Undergraduate Experience - Assessing Personal Growth

January 31, 2008

Read the full entry for "843. Inside the Undergraduate Experience - Assessing Personal Growth"

"Students want to learn about the world, about themselves, about their friends, about knitting and kayaking, about whether God exists, and which fork to use at a formal dinner party. They want to learn how to talk to people unlike themselves and what it feels like to grow up on a farm. They correctly see college as a place that offer them the chance to learn about all these things and more, and to a large extent, they measure their own academic success by how many of these aspects of learning they acquired and experienced while they were undergraduates."

Posted by markep on January 31, 2008

838. Lessons Learned as a Department Chai

January 18, 2008

Read the full entry for "838. Lessons Learned as a Department Chai"

"Administration is critically important to a successful department, school and university and involves a lot more than most of those who aren't administrators think. "

Posted by markep on January 18, 2008

832. College Learning for the New Global Century

November 20, 2007

Read the full entry for "832. College Learning for the New Global Century"

College Learning for the New Global Century is a report about the aims and outcomes of a twenty-first-century college education. It is also a report about the promises we need to make--and keep--to all students who aspire to a college education, especially to those for whom college is a route, perhaps the only possible route, to a better future.
-------------------

Posted by markep on November 20, 2007

826. Advice for Future Department Chairs

November 01, 2007

Read the full entry for "826. Advice for Future Department Chairs"

"A chair cannot fix every problem or advance every initiative.Those who try either scatter their energies too widely or make the department nervous that everything is going to change. (New chairs will learn that no department is ever ready for as much change as they claim to be.) It is more productive for chairs to focus their attention on a few important improvements than to try to do too much.After your term as chair is over your legacy is likely to be only one or two significant achievements any- way. Do those well and you will have made the best contribution possible."

Posted by markep on November 1, 2007

820. Back from the Brink: Harvard Gets It Right

October 11, 2007

Read the full entry for "820. Back from the Brink: Harvard Gets It Right"

"Having studied the history of curricular reform with some care," writes Bok in his annual report, "I can say with confidence that, taken as a whole, the measures just described represent the most comprehensive group of proposals to improve our undergraduate program in more than a hundred years." Not bad for a year in which the same faculty had not long before voted no confidence in President Summers and ultimately forced his resignation.

Posted by markep on October 11, 2007

815. Is Post-Tenure Review Worth It?

September 20, 2007

Read the full entry for "815. Is Post-Tenure Review Worth It?"

"Overall the purpose was worthwhile-it gave more understanding of how peers viewed work; it enhanced communication and understanding. It keeps people on their toes and eliminates suspicion of deadwood; and it helps individuals think about his/her role in the department and contributes to strategic mission."

Posted by markep on September 20, 2007

814. Components of Positive Student-Faculty Relationships

September 13, 2007

Read the full entry for "814. Components of Positive Student-Faculty Relationships"

Active listening involves using our eyes, voice, gestures, and body language to convey our interest, and being fully present to the speaker. This kind of attention demands restraint. It means no doodling, no thinking about tomorrow's class, this evening's dinner, or that interesting and upsetting luncheon discussion. It means deliberately tuning out the "static," such as our own counterarguments and opinions, and concentrating so intently on what the student is communicating that we can paraphrase it accurately.

Posted by markep on September 13, 2007

813. Stronger Presidents for Tough Times?

Read the full entry for "813. Stronger Presidents for Tough Times?"

The independent Commission on the Academic Presidency proposed more effective presidencies as the antidote to "academic anarchy." It claimed that "Faculty loyalties and the faculty reward system increasingly focus on achieving eminence in (and protecting) a particular discipline, rather than supporting the goals of the institution"

Posted by markep on September 13, 2007

809. The Beloit College Mindset List

August 30, 2007

Read the full entry for "809. The Beloit College Mindset List"

"Food has always been a health concern. Consumer awareness about ingredients and fats has always been energized. They've never "rolled down" a car window, and to them Jack Nicholson is mainly known as the guy who played "The Joker."

Posted by markep on August 30, 2007

808 The Graduate Dean as Pope?

June 19, 2007

Read the full entry for "808 The Graduate Dean as Pope?"

NOTE:

The Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List will be taking a break from postings for the summer. This break will allow us to replenish the 'bank" of potential postings The next posting will appear on September 4, 2007.

Have a great Northern Hemisphere summer and Southern Hemisphere winter and we will be back in touch in early September.

Regards,

Rick Reis

"Nevertheless, graduate education requires a campus advocate who can speak and work for all graduate faculty, students, and programs. Such advocacy is needed because responsibility for graduate education is so fragmented across the university. With such fragmentation, how can the university address such pressing and troubling concerns as the dual role graduate assistants play as students and as university employees?"

Posted by markep on June 19, 2007

807 How Professors Become Administrators, or, Where Did We Go Wrong?

Read the full entry for "807 How Professors Become Administrators, or, Where Did We Go Wrong?"

"If you can live comfortably with that characteristic of universities, you might find administration interesting, and perhaps even rewarding. If you cannot accept it, but still choose to become an administrator, the university will eventually break your heart."

Posted by markep on June 19, 2007

806. Developing Faculty for New Roles and Changing Expectations

June 12, 2007

Read the full entry for "806. Developing Faculty for New Roles and Changing Expectations"

"For faculty members to be able to meet the learning needs of their students effectively, they must stay abreast not only of new developments in their fields, but also of the characteristics of their students, the various strategies for multiple learning styles and levels that can enhance learning for a diverse group of students, and the possibilities for facilitating learning offered by technology. Faculty members must couple dedication with flexibility and willingness to continue their own learning."

Posted by markep on June 12, 2007

805. The Dilemma of the Friendly Dean

Read the full entry for "805. The Dilemma of the Friendly Dean"

"The dynamic between the dean and faculty poses a problem for department chairs responsible for prioritizing initiatives and allocating department resources. The same dean who is personally interested in individual faculty projects and activities holds the chairs accountable for investing finite resources in programs that best serve the institutional mission and/or help grow student enrollment."

Posted by markep on June 12, 2007

803. First, Do No Harm

June 05, 2007

Read the full entry for "803. First, Do No Harm"

"Higher education institutions must systematically assess and improve their performance. But not all diagnostic information is suitable for accountability and consumer information, and a ham-fisted approach like this could sabotage important efforts to diagnose and improve colleges and universities."

Posted by markep on June 5, 2007

799. Defending the Community College Equity Agenda (review)

May 22, 2007

Read the full entry for "799. Defending the Community College Equity Agenda (review)"

"So then, should community colleges be praised for the important role they play in expanding opportunity for low-income, minority, and nontraditional-aged students? Or do they deserve the criticism they receive for diverting students from their ultimate goal-a four-year degree?"

Posted by markep on May 22, 2007

796. A Baker's Dozen Ideas to Foster Engagement

May 08, 2007

Read comments[3] Add comment[!]

"Curriculum played little role in student success. It was student involvement, fostered by student/student interaction and student/faculty interaction that predicted student success."

Read the full entry for "796. A Baker's Dozen Ideas to Foster Engagement"

Posted by markep on May 8, 2007

795. Motivating Today's College Students

Read the full entry for "795. Motivating Today's College Students"

"Rather than expend the time necessary to encounter new ideas, reflect, and make connections with their existing worldview, many of our students carefully budget the minimum amount of time necessary to allow them to achieve the grades they desire while fitting in as many other activities as they possibly can."

Posted by markep on May 8, 2007

791. Birthright

April 24, 2007

Read the full entry for "791. Birthright"

When I first did this calculation, my reaction was, "Is this a great country, or what!" Sure, but there was also a lot of luck involved. We caught the wave: the GI Bill and the subsequent knowledge explosion created both opportunity and demand for learning. And we were lucky to have teachers who believed in us and created an atmosphere of expectation that, "of course you're going to go to college."

Posted by markep on April 24, 2007

784. Integrative Learning: Putting the Pieces Together Again

March 12, 2007

Read the full entry for "784. Integrative Learning: Putting the Pieces Together Again"

SPECIAL NOTE: the TP Mailing list will be taking a short spring break. The next posting will appear on Tuesday, April 3, 2007.

"To be sure, there's a sense in which all learning is integrative, if only because new ideas must somehow connect to prior ones. When educators single out integrative learning for special attention, however, they are usually talking about larger leaps of imagination-about linking ideas and domains that are not easily or typically connected. "

Posted by markep on March 12, 2007

782 Managing a Career Versus Managing a Program or Department

March 06, 2007

Read the full entry for "782 Managing a Career Versus Managing a Program or Department"

"This briefing explores one of the most common leadership roles in academe-that of a department chair. It draws distinctions between the skills and knowledge necessary for successful management of an individual career and those required for farsighted departmental leadership, which calls for a holistic, organizational-level view of a program or a department as part of the larger institution."

Posted by markep on March 6, 2007

779. Change Management

February 26, 2007

Read the full entry for "779. Change Management"

"Change can be managed in a number of ways and is usually drive by an implicit or explicit model. This briefing suggests that an eight-stage model is a useful guide. The eight stages are (1) establishing a sense of urgency, (2) creating a guiding coalition, (3) developing a vision and strategy, (4) communicating the change vision, (5) empowering broad-based action, (6) generating short-term wins, (7) consolidating gains and producing more change, and (8) anchoring new approaches in the culture."

Posted by markep on February 26, 2007

777. Inside and Out: Universities and Education for Sustainable Development

February 20, 2007

Read the full entry for "777. Inside and Out: Universities and Education for Sustainable Development"

"Inside and Out speaks to three of the greatest challenges currently facing higher education (and academic affairs, in particular). First, student learning has evolved from a passive activity to one of collaboration, engagement, and self-empowerment, and, consequently, learning traverses the entire campus and often the community surrounding the campus. Given the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability, the second challenge questions how (and where) do we share and teach the principles and practices of sustainability? The third challenge addresses the university's role as a collaborative community partner that cultivates sustainable development practices."

Posted by markep on February 20, 2007

774. Without Followers, Leaders Are Just Out for a Walk

February 02, 2007

Read the full entry for "774. Without Followers, Leaders Are Just Out for a Walk"

"Managers are accountable for various processes that help an organization accomplish its mission. However, if every manager, from a president on down, does only what is in his or her job description, the organization will still eventually grind to a halt. Throughout the organization there are opportunities to find better ways to accomplish whatever tasks or services are required, and the college needs leaders in these places to move college forward."

Posted by markep on February 2, 2007

772. Academic Freedom

January 29, 2007

Read the full entry for "772. Academic Freedom"

"But constitutional free speech is not coterminous with academic freedom: It applies only to the public sector; and it subjects the speaker to a judicial balancing test that weighs the speech against its potential for bringing "disharmony" to the workplace."

Posted by markep on January 29, 2007

768. Turning Good Intentions Into Educational Capital

January 12, 2007

Read the full entry for "768. Turning Good Intentions Into Educational Capital"

"Central to the book that resulted from this collaboration is the concept of "educational capital," the accumulation in useable form of tested and validated experience and knowledge about successful ideas and strategies to improve teaching and learning. By designing and funding projects that build on relevant research and examined experience, a body of assets can be built that will add to the knowledge about what really works."

Posted by markep on January 12, 2007

758. Challenging Racism in Higher Education: Promoting Justice

November 09, 2006

Read the full entry for "758. Challenging Racism in Higher Education: Promoting Justice"

"Overall, the authors do an excellent job of integrating conceptual frameworks, empirical findings, and program descriptions into a relatively comprehensive portrait of the need for and the ways by which to change America's colleges and universities into multicultural institutions. They recognize that the road to multiculturalism is fraught with pitfalls, traps, and immense challenges, but they also fully understand that the nation's welfare depends on how far colleges and universities move toward multiculturalism. All members of the academy, from regents to students, would benefit from a close reading of this book."

Posted by markep on November 9, 2006

751. The Future of Higher Education: Rhetoric, Reality, and the Risks of the Market

October 11, 2006

Read the full entry for "751. The Future of Higher Education: Rhetoric, Reality, and the Risks of the Market"

"External forces are at work and are changing "the basic nature of the higher education system" (p. 2). Most notably among these forces are the evolution of numerous new sources of competition and the emergence of a market structure as a means of regulation."

Posted by markep on October 11, 2006

741. Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be

September 11, 2006

Read the full entry for "741. Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be"

"While you were a faculty member, you probably had at least one colleague whom you were in the habit of avoiding. As chair, you cannot continue such conduct. You are obligated to maintain the same standards of fairness and professionalism toward every member of the department, regardless of your personal preferences."

Posted by markep on September 11, 2006

732. Whatever Happened To Undergraduate Reform?

June 13, 2006

What's at stake? Does this matter? Does it matter that university completion rates are 44 percent and slipping? That just 10 percent from the lowest economic quartile attain a degree? That figures released this past winter show huge chunks of our graduates who cannot comprehend a New York Times editorial or their own checkbook? That frustrated public officials edge closer and closer to imposing a standardized test of college outcomes? Does it matter that we look to our publics like an enterprise more eager for status and funding than self-inquiry and improvement?

Posted by markep on June 13, 2006

731. Challenges to the Academy - New Colleges, New Students, New Challenges

June 08, 2006

"As higher education has expanded, the student body has become much larger and more diverse in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and cultural background (Marcy, 2002; Newton, 2000). Now only 16 percent of the student population may be described as "traditional"-that is, ages eighteen to twenty-two, attending college full-time, and living on campus. Many now attend college part-time. More that 70 percent work, and 41 percent are over the age twenty-five (Marcy, 2002). Many of these new students are the first generation in their family to attend college. The majority of the new students are women."

Posted by markep on June 8, 2006

728 Are You a 21st Century Library-Ready Instructor?

May 30, 2006

"No unit within the university has been transformed more by technology than the library. Reorganizing the library's physical space to make technology-enabled resources both more readily available and more wisely utilized is a laudable action made all the more challenging by 21st Century Learners' desire for highly social interaction with their peers. If convenience, comfort, and social activity bring students into the library, then so be it. They are in the right place to locate and gather the best data. Through close collaboration with the library, and thoughtful inclusion of the library in course assignments, faculty can play matchmaker, bringing together students and library resources in ways that result in meaningful scholarship."

Posted by markep on May 30, 2006

726. The Scholarship of Engagement: What Is It?

May 23, 2006

"In sum, the scholarship or engagement, therefore, is a set of activities. At its core are four dimensions of scholarship-discovery, integration, application, and teaching. It becomes the scholarship of engagement through its active and interactive connection with people and places outside of the university in the activities of scholarship, setting goals, selecting means and methods, applying means and methods, reflecting on results, and dissemination of the results."

Posted by markep on May 23, 2006

723. The Creativity Imperative: A National Perspective

May 11, 2006

"At one of our recent meetings, John Young, the founder of the Council on Competitiveness and former CEO of Hewlett Packard, explained, "Our standard of living is not a birthright. We have to earn it in the marketplace every day." Today the United States has the highest standard of living in the world. The flip side of this is that we also have very high labor costs compared to other countries. We will never be able to compete directly with countries like China and India on the basis of cost, and, as low-wage nations around the world develop skilled workforces and adopt cutting-edge technology, we can no longer assume that we will win on quality either."

Posted by markep on May 11, 2006

717. Proof and Prejudice: Women in Mathematics

April 20, 2006

"Margot Gerritsen, a Stanford assistant professor who teaches mathematics, said there are no differences in ability between her male and female students but that there are differences in attitude and perception."

Posted by markep on April 20, 2006

715. INCREASING ACCESS TO COLLEGE (book review)

April 13, 2006

"Most illuminating in this section is the description of a college readiness program at University of California, Los Angeles that concentrated on taking tenth-grade students into an intensive social research project."

Posted by markep on April 13, 2006

714. DEPARTMENT MEETINGS

April 11, 2006

"Chairs must understand, however, that before the department meeting is held, it is important to consider the setting, the agenda, the nature of the business to be conducted, and the probable reactions of those in the meeting. Given a moderate-size faculty, an hour department meeting costs thousands of dollars of professional time. The chair must recognize just how important this time is to the faculty in the room, and to the institution, and to make the best use of the department meeting".

Posted by markep on April 11, 2006

708. THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS: HOME BASE FOR DOCTORAL

March 21, 2006

"Departments are rarely equal in power. Some command larger shares of resources, have an easier time getting their people hired and promoted, have lighter teaching loads or more teaching assistance distributed to them. Different groups dominate in different universities."

Posted by markep on March 21, 2006

706. QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER

March 14, 2006

Read comments[4] Add comment[!]

"The Baldrige National Quality Award program is a powerful management system because it challenges
organizations to identify and recognize existing systems within their organization. Systems encompass every aspect of any organization from student recruitment to delivery of instruction, from planning to human resource management. Once systems are documented, work can begin in continuous improvement on an organization-wide scale."

Posted by markep on March 14, 2006

701. THE GENERIC CHAIR HYPOTHESIS

February 24, 2006

"Like any good hypothesis, the generic chair concept is testable. This is consistent with Donald Campbell's concept of the university as an Experimenting Society, in which the experimental method is used to evaluate existing and proposed practices. Currently, most program changes and new technologies at universities are introduced ad hoc. An administrator hears of a program at another institution and decides that it would be of local benefit. If the implementation is made, there is no systematic evaluation of cost or effectiveness. Often the administrator has moved on to another position or campus, and no longer involved with the program."

Posted by lagace on February 24, 2006

700. IS THERE A GLOBAL WARMING TOWARD WOMEN IN ACADEMIA?

February 21, 2006

Even though there are increasing numbers of women graduates in the pipeline, the statistics for women's representation at the higher ranks and in the SET (science, engineering, technology) colleges have been largely unchanged for the past twenty years. The situation is no better in Europe. "Although women constitute more than half of the student population across Europe, they hold fewer than 10% of the top positions in the academic system" (Dwandre 2002, 278).

Posted by lagace on February 21, 2006

695. A NEW SET OF LENSES FOR LOOKING AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

February 03, 2006

"The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education developed some 35 years ago has become a familiar and useful tool for many of us. So why change it? Why develop a set of classification schemes instead of one? We made a choice. Much as we tried, the single classification had become creakier and creakier. It was increasingly clear that attempting to shoehorn all institutions of higher education into a single classification system introduced distortions, inaccuracies, and obscurities that could be avoided. Thus, the new systems were born."

Posted by lagace on February 3, 2006

683. THE INTERNATIONAL PROFESSORS PROJECT

November 29, 2005

Read comments[4] Add comment[!]

"In an era when the developing world has begun to recognize that it must expand its university faculty numbers if they are to educate more of their citizens, we believe that the time has come to fully internationalize higher education, one academic at a time."

Posted by on November 29, 2005

679. REINVENTING THE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

November 10, 2005

"Rhodes, former president of Cornell University, introduces the collection by questioning whether the university is actually in need of reinvention: "I think reinventing the university is at the extreme end of a spectrum of possibilities. . . . These possibilities go all the way from reinvention-and presumably replacement-through reform, renewal, refocus to retention and reinforcement" (p. 3)."

Posted by on November 10, 2005

670. HEALING TIME: PEACEMAKING IN TWO TROUBLED DEPARTMENTS

October 11, 2005

"The Widget Department resembled Beirut of the early 1980s, a city in
anarchy, where armed militias roamed, took hostages, made demands,
and terrorized the civilian population. Cease-fires were declared
and broken with regularity. Snipers operated on both sides of the
green line. Using Beirut as metaphor, I developed an agenda for the
Widget Department based on a sequence of tasks: stop the shooting,
disarm the militias; free the hostages; comfort survivors; neutralize
snipers; locate booby-traps and mine fields; develop common projects
for the two units; cope with outside threats; find indigenous
leadership; ratify a formal peace treaty; and create a new structure."

Posted by markep on October 11, 2005

668. RISING ABOVE COGNITIVE ERRORS: GUIDELINES FOR SEARCH, TENURE REVIEW, AND OTHER EVALUATION COMMITTEES

October 04, 2005

"Cognitive scientists are proving definitively that many of the selection and evaluation tasks we undertake on a daily basis are alarmingly "contaminated." The contaminants-what can be generically termed cognitive shortcuts and errors-are present in academia as we gather and sort through information, interpret it, and then come to decisions and evaluations about, for instance, job candidates, tenure and promotion cases, grant and fellowship applicants."

Posted by markep on October 4, 2005

664. BUILDING ALLIANCES - COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR DEPARTMENT CHAIRS

September 20, 2005

"The campus is a political environment in that departments compete for finite resources. Unlike life in corporate America, competitors are not usually eliminated. To fare well from one year to the next, academic departments need effective alliances. Academic departments that provide important services to other units on campus are difficult to cut. Similarly, departments that enjoy a positive profile with important off-campus constituencies find it easier to demonstrate their value to the institution."

Posted by markep on September 20, 2005

659. DECLINING BY DEGREES

September 01, 2005

"Nate had succeeded in high school by figuring out what was going to be on his tests and doing as little as possible. And since that approach also got him into college and was now earning him a solid B average, he saw no reason to change. Ask Nate the purpose of college, and he would probably say something about "getting a good job." The learning part wasn't necessarily what he was paying good money for."

Posted by markep on September 1, 2005

657. STUDENT SERVICES FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENTS

August 25, 2005

"As noted, traditional age students have grown up in a technological era, comfortable communicating in online chat rooms, surfing the Internet for information and using email, Palm Pilots, cell phones, and instant messaging. Many adult students have become accustomed to relying on technology because of their experience in the work arena. However, this doesn't mean that all traditional students and adult learners will know how to take an online course and will have a positive attitude toward doing so."

Posted by markep on August 25, 2005

649 HONORING THE TRUST: QUALITY AND COST CONTAINMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

July 28, 2005

"Americans continue to enjoy the most envied, most copied system of post-secondary education in the world." And yet, "American colleges and universities are openly troubled by a sense of diminished opportunities and lessened capabilities. Fundamental questions about quality, content, and cost of colleges and universities are rife, both within and without the academy."

Posted by markep on July 28, 2005

646. ENGAGED AND ENGAGING SCIENCE; A COMPONENT OF A GOOD LIBERAL EDUCATION

July 19, 2005

"The lack of clarity of purpose in undergraduate education is the outcome of a complex set of changes in higher education that need serious attention. Among these crucial elements are (a) changes in faculty career pathways as well as faculty roles and responsibilities; (b) changes in the demographics of the student body and patterns of enrollment and participation in postsecondary education; and (c) escalating demands created by changes in both the campus experience and the workplace that are driven by widespread use of technology and the emergence of high-technology industries and applications."

Posted by markep on July 19, 2005

645. A CALL FOR THE MIRACLE MODEL

July 14, 2005

"Public colleges and universities, which enroll 77 percent of all students in higher education, drew more than half of their operating support from taxpayer sources in the 1980s; today money from state coffers provides about 30 percent of funding. At some of the nation's most prominent public universities, such as the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado, state funding contributes less than 10 percent of university operating support."

Posted by markep on July 14, 2005

642. INSTITUTIONS WITH FIRST YEAR EXCELLENCE - FIVE CRITERIA

July 05, 2005

"It is also important that campuses have a clear rationale for the first year-what the first year is intended to do that goes beyond a low-level functional purpose (for example, making money for the institution, weeding out undesirable students) to a first-year philosophy that serves as a platform for the achievement of institutional mission."

Posted by markep on July 5, 2005

641. LESSONS LEARNED IN THE ASSESSMENT SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

July 01, 2005

"As the authors point out, getting faculty engaged in assessment is a matter of understanding faculty concerns, finding ways to address these concerns, and taking the time to educate faculty about the purpose, methods, and value of assessment. Here are specific guidelines for doing just that."

Posted by markep on July 1, 2005

639. TEN MYTHS THAT STUDENTS BELIEVE ABOUT COLLEGE

June 28, 2005

"Students need to file a federal form for aid prior to when most colleges send out their acceptance letters. This applies to students who attend community colleges, too, even though they can apply and enroll in the fall of the year they wish to attend."

Posted by markep on June 28, 2005

637. THE GLOBALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

June 21, 2005

"In an important but generally overlooked development, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is now proposing to regulate higher education as part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), as it would any other form of trade-by removing barriers to its traffic. The goal of GATS is gradual liberalization of the trade in services, which is likely to have a broad and troubling impact on the nature of higher education by affecting such issues as subsidization of higher education, quality assurance, financial aid for certain students, and the ability to gear teaching and research to local culture and needs."

Posted by markep on June 21, 2005

633. STUDYING IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES

June 07, 2005

"But, more importantly, we need to be much more sensitive to and better-informed about the choices that billions of individuals and thousands of institutions around the globe are making even while, like Candide, we tend to our gardens"

Posted by markep on June 7, 2005

631. THE MANY FACES OF ACCOUNTABILITY

May 31, 2005

"Like most compacts, the one between American society and higher education became strained when rights and responsibilities moved from vague generalities to specific demands and competed for funding with other public services. Specifics always strain consensus, as do funding constraints. In addition, external complaints about the rampant costs, questionable outcomes, inadequate outputs, and the internal focus of colleges and universities raised successive questions about their economy, quality, productivity, and responsiveness to societal needs (McGuinness, 1997)."

Posted by markep on May 31, 2005

628. TALKING WITH SIR JOHN ABOUT THE COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING

May 20, 2005

"The Indira Ghandi National University in India* now has 1 million students. Twenty percent of all Indian students are in distance education programs, and the Indian policy is to raise that to 40 percent. So this is a different kind of phenomenon, far from the phenomenon of online learning. I don't mean innovation isn't like that. People do things, and then they discover the consequences were not exactly what they expected."

Posted by markep on May 20, 2005

627 WHAT IS A GENERALLY EDUCATED PERSON?

May 17, 2005

"Labor economists have determined that, for a knowledge-based economy where many people work on solving unscripted problems, a liberal education is excellent preparation for the best careers (Carnevale and Strohl 2001). These views reverse the old saw, derived from the time of the industrial economy, that liberal and general education are impractical, irrelevant, or unnecessary and that only the major or professional preparation is of value. Indeed, a contemporary liberal or general education may be the most useful career preparation for the knowledge-based economy."

Posted by markep on May 17, 2005

626. COMMONWEALTH COOPERATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: POTENTIAL BENEFITS FOR SMALL STATES

May 13, 2005

"Our overall aim is to help countries in their development by making it easier for people to learn. When you think about it the attainment of any one of the Millennium Development Goals will require a massive increase in human learning."

Posted by markep on May 13, 2005

618. WHY DO STUDENTS ATTEND MULTIPLE INSTITUTIONS?

April 14, 2005

"It is increasingly common for students to attend multiple institutions, and this involves more than transfer between institutions. Although sophisticated bureaucratic mechanisms for dealing with course-taking at other institutions have been developed, there is an urgent need to understand its educational implications and to develop ways to enhance educational coherence."

Posted by markep on April 14, 2005

614. WORLD'S TOP 500 UNIVERSITIES

April 01, 2005

Read comments[3] Add comment[!]

"Many students, faculties, institutions, governments and the public in general are interested in rankings of universities for different purposes. However, there is no ranking of world universities using multiple criteria. Upon the request of colleagues from different countries, we decided to publish our ranking on the website."

Posted by markep on April 1, 2005

612. ORGANIZATION OF A 'TYPICAL' UNIVERSITY

March 29, 2005

"Although the major goal of the U.S. universities is the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, universities also need funding to support their activities. A university must seek revenue from a variety of sources and more and more, faculty members are encourage to generate income. You will need to make your research program either self-supporting or demonstrably worth its cost in some other way."

Posted by markep on March 29, 2005

610. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPREHENSIVE FACULTY EVALUATION SYSTEM

March 22, 2005

"Make certain that for every element of the faculty evaluation program there is a corresponding and concomitant element in the faculty development program. For example, if an instructor's syllabus is going to be evaluated as a part of the overall evaluation of teaching, make sure that workshops, seminars, or materials are available in the faculty development program to show an instructor how to construct a syllabus. This approach ensures that faculty have institutionally supported recourse when the evaluation system detects a weakness in their performance."

Posted by markep on March 22, 2005

603. MARGINALIZED STUDENTS

February 24, 2005