tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post275927904205802320..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: The End of the University as We Know It. From The American Interest.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-79028397335542727372013-01-14T15:30:37.077-05:002013-01-14T15:30:37.077-05:00@neilhimself (Neil Gaiman) on Twitter, not too lon...@neilhimself (Neil Gaiman) on Twitter, not too long ago: “Google can bring you back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.” <br /><br />So, yep, we're in the same boat. Could you become an expert on modern art without a professor's help? Maybe, if you read the right books. But how would you know which were the right ones?<br /><br />Boggles the mind.BurntChromehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055976331443607569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2628165047333891692013-01-14T15:21:12.610-05:002013-01-14T15:21:12.610-05:00I'm on the planning committee for our spring c...I'm on the planning committee for our spring curriculum/planning/edubabblewankery meeting and I am totally going to try to use this phrase in some way.<br /><br />BurntChromehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055976331443607569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-45699310045514840142013-01-14T11:08:27.121-05:002013-01-14T11:08:27.121-05:00Competence without comprehension. This is the way...Competence without comprehension. This is the way the natural universe works, so why should it be any different in the classroom? How likely is it that software such as ALEKS will be able to teach an entire 4 year plan on Math? Certainly not within 10 years, but what about 50? Kugelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07548252541363281605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-86934200450593131742013-01-14T06:50:09.307-05:002013-01-14T06:50:09.307-05:00Can we just put the MOOCs-will-revolutionize-every...<i>Can we just put the MOOCs-will-revolutionize-everything and the retention-via-maximum-handholding people in a room together and let them fight it out, or spontaneously combust, or whatever? That would take care of at least part of the problem, by eliminating a bunch of the least useful administrators. </i><br /><br />This image made my morning. I think I'm going to quote it at our next Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-61865349008540874242013-01-14T00:31:47.403-05:002013-01-14T00:31:47.403-05:00Or maybe it's not a college bubble, but a MOOC...Or maybe it's not a college bubble, but a MOOC bubble. The online thing maybe works for certification (as opposed to learning), or for very elementary material. But pretty soon people will realize that to actually learn slightly more advanced (upper division) stuff you need labs, face contact with experts, etc. Face time with people who know what they're doing will be at a premium, and Peter Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00754472537710161295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-30072119683099154402013-01-13T23:28:16.219-05:002013-01-13T23:28:16.219-05:00If the article didn't recognize that there are...If the article didn't recognize that there are too many administrators (it gets a few things, e.g. that and overspending on buildings and other peripheral infrastructure, right), I'd say that this sounds like some administrator's wet dream. <br /><br />Although the article gives lip service to information delivery vs. actual teaching, it doesn't seem to recognize the actual Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81763052503854474822013-01-13T23:02:58.783-05:002013-01-13T23:02:58.783-05:00That's the big thing I can't figure out: r...That's the big thing I can't figure out: research has to be separated from teaching somehow, because teaching will no longer be able to support research but without research we're all lost.Academic Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07086078244493768565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2139521782798927462013-01-13T18:06:03.430-05:002013-01-13T18:06:03.430-05:00"teaching will be a $20,000/year job with min..."teaching will be a $20,000/year job with minimal training" - okay, so teaching will be done by grad students then, or the equivalent. But everyone who can get a better job somewhere else will do so, and the result will be that you won't have anyone around capable of actually designing or running courses that produce and measure student success; because all those people will be Merely Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00452389428113097744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-12701202138941987062013-01-13T17:09:32.815-05:002013-01-13T17:09:32.815-05:00"Why do we need librarians when we have the I..."Why do we need librarians when we have the Internet and Google?"<br /><br />That's what people are arguing. Librarians and professors are in the same boat. :(Ripbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01685894007541567391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-86558601128521182712013-01-13T16:57:39.857-05:002013-01-13T16:57:39.857-05:00@Curmudgeon,
I have a niece in a community colleg...@Curmudgeon,<br /><br />I have a niece in a community college who admitted that her geography professor isn't even allowed to design his own quizzes and exams. It's all designed by the college and the students have to go online to do it so it goes through various software that grades them. If that's the way things are going, colleges will start to question why they even need Ripbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01685894007541567391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-20892807162990811932013-01-13T16:01:47.471-05:002013-01-13T16:01:47.471-05:00This is going to sound cynical, but I've been ...This is going to sound cynical, but I've been saying this same thing for about four years, ever since I got my first online teaching gig.<br /><br />Online teaching can be really terrible. It can be phoned in and ignored and people can fail to learn anything at all.<br /><br />But on occasion, online teaching can be more effective than a classroom teaching situation. Lecture is so easy to flyAcademic Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07086078244493768565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-54554140153985878352013-01-13T14:07:33.989-05:002013-01-13T14:07:33.989-05:00Notice the Golliwog doll in the back at 1:35.Notice the Golliwog doll in the back at 1:35.Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-66837909829706109382013-01-13T14:00:35.167-05:002013-01-13T14:00:35.167-05:00"This is so DUMB." - Frog and Toad
Dumb..."This is so DUMB." - Frog and Toad<br /><br />Dumb is normal in futurism, you should've read "Wired" magazine during the "New Economy" boom; they were either promising the Jetsons meets Mad Max, or an all stock-market economy with robot maids. <br /><br />I still want my flying car.Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-29386266704364508312013-01-13T09:25:08.289-05:002013-01-13T09:25:08.289-05:00Not if you make all the assignments multiple-choic...Not if you make all the assignments multiple-choice and short answer questions graded by a computer program. Not the most pedagogically sound method for most disciplines, but it's painfully obvious that the people advocating for these solutions are not looking for quality.Curmudgeon in Traininghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07524725236168917391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64444488461683299252013-01-13T07:26:49.998-05:002013-01-13T07:26:49.998-05:00Well, there go my dreams of meeting an efficient h...Well, there go my dreams of meeting an efficient housewife<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W4SkJjA_FQ Cambridge0101https://www.blogger.com/profile/12153435765355501551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-60222691838181560582013-01-13T01:34:57.299-05:002013-01-13T01:34:57.299-05:00I agree, but there's no shortage of university...I agree, but there's no shortage of university administrators who don't realize this, and of course very, very much want it to happen, at least to the extent that they can get rid of faculty while covering their own hindquarters. We faculty therefore may well be facing many years of having to fight this. It may get fierce 5-10 years from now, when the dip in the birth rate arrives after Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-65249637969606618002013-01-12T23:25:07.710-05:002013-01-12T23:25:07.710-05:00Egg-zactly. Egg-zactly. StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64936757509343789932013-01-12T23:16:34.111-05:002013-01-12T23:16:34.111-05:00This is so DUMB. If content delivery were all tha...This is so DUMB. If content delivery were all that was needed for an education, then libraries would have made college professors obsolete from the get-go.Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-65342274542001899002013-01-12T22:40:31.716-05:002013-01-12T22:40:31.716-05:00Knowledge may be free. But teaching is not.
And ...Knowledge may be free. But <i>teaching</i> is not.<br /><br />And grading is pretty damned expensive. StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-40253868374879567982013-01-12T19:50:45.609-05:002013-01-12T19:50:45.609-05:00If technology advances to the point where 90% or m...If technology advances to the point where 90% or more of college professors are obsolete, then something similar will likely be happening to most of the other white collar/middle class professions. So the online colleges will be preparing countless millions for jobs that barely or no loner exist. At this point the snake will be eating itself in earnest...<br /><br />This article reminds me of allTimuridhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11536009947822850606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-77049702355944035342013-01-12T19:27:16.396-05:002013-01-12T19:27:16.396-05:00Strel, that may happen but many schools currently ...Strel, that may happen but many schools currently don't distinguish between the online, hybrid and fully in-person courses.<br /><br />The article makes a big deal of MOOCs and EdX but notes that better education is gained through a mixed presentation, not a fully online version. Therefore, we'll still need lots of faculty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-19690652743728003522013-01-12T18:20:14.228-05:002013-01-12T18:20:14.228-05:00If all this futurist babble is true, then this is ...If all this futurist babble is true, then this is what is going to happen: business will begin to distinguish between the people who were taught in real classrooms, and the people who did everything online. You will begin seeing little "o"s and "r" on transcripts after classes switch over to mostly online, and the sort of "humans in a room" education will become the Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.com