Monthly Archives: October 2012

MOOCs: Excitement and apprehension

It is hard to review any current news articles or listserv postings on the future of higher education without finding a few prominent references to the potential impact of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Every time I see this acronym, I find myself filled with some combination of excitement and apprehension. The roll-out of MOOCs […] … learn more→

Scholarly publishing\’s gender gap

When Jennifer Jacquet first visited Carl T. Bergstrom\’s evolutionary-biology lab at the University of Washington last year, she was surrounded by men. Men staring at data on the 27-inch Mac Pro computer screen that takes center stage in the lab. Men talking about mathematical proofs, about a South Park episode on evolution, about their latest […] … learn more→

The use of checklists in research

We may not like to admit it, but many of us can describe a time when we’ve made a mistake during the progress of a study. These mistakes can range from mixing up wires or forgetting to turn on an amplifier to forgetting to collect an essential piece of information that either requires additional processing […] … learn more→

3 Questions: A Web for everyone

During the opening ceremonies of this summer’s Olympic games in London, a musical performance culminated with a stage-set house rising into the rafters to reveal Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, sitting at a computer and typing the words “This is for everyone.” That message was not idly chosen. The World Wide […] … learn more→

Daydream Believer

As someone who is pursuing a deferred dream later in life, I got a kick out of this piece about Heidi Hansen, a 42-year-old nursing student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who is a finalist for the school\’s Homecoming Queen. My father went to college to prepare himself for a good job; a \”good job\” […] … learn more→

For-profit Higher Ed and the MOOC opportunity

A colleague sent me a note today wondering if the news of for-profit EDU financial difficulties and the concurrent rise of the massively open online courses (MOOCs) are related. Correlation or causality? The Apollo Group, owner of the University of Phoenix, has seen its stock price decline by almost half since the beginning of the […] … learn more→

Mark it up

As an undergraduate, I did not often annotate the texts I was assigned to read for class. Nor was I encouraged to. When I look back through the books I read as a freshman, I find they are utterly devoid of notations. A survey of my texts from sophomore and junior year yields a small […] … learn more→

Phoenix or Canary?

The University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit higher education provider in the country, is closing over a hundred sites. That’s over half of its physical locations. Part of the move is driven by enrollment decline, and part by an increased emphasis on online course delivery. Although many in traditional higher ed may feel a certain […] … learn more→