Censorship on campus

Welcome back everyone! It has been a nice, productive summer for me. Unfortunately, I haven't been posting on the blog. I have even been thinking of turning it off.

However, today I was glad that I haven't. Our lovely IT department has implemented a "virus prevention tool" that blocks access to all sorts of perfectly legitimate websites.

I was trying to follow a link to a blog on wordpress.com. It was blocked because of a "suspicious embedded link." I am not quite sure what that means except that I couldn't visit a completely innocuous site.

Apparently, I am then supposed to send an email to IT and tell them what my legitimate, academic reason was for visiting the site. Then, sometime in the future, they will unblock that blog for me.

I was just reading some web-commentary in passing, but this has happened to me several times. It looks more like a problem. Are viruses an excuse for broad-based exclusion of blogs?

The web is a dangerous place, but I am not sure the drastic measures which make following blog links impractical does our community any good!

Why do students study less?

Here is a great article from the Boston Globe about how little students study. The average has dropped from 24 hours a week in 1961 to 14 now.

Whether the numbers are right, we all know how little our students study. The bigger question raised by the article is about the nature of college. Having only 3 hours of class a week was premised on the notion that students would do much of the work needed on their own outside the classroom. Now that they are not doing that, should college become more like high school?

The Atlantic offers some theories. The first on their list is professor apathy. We don't want to challenge students and they don't want to be challenged.

Obviously, I haven't been posting much of late, but it still seems like a good place to post interesting links. . .

MU Dean's Search Turmoil

This is an interesting story that I have been following:  Marquette offered and then rescinded an offer of deanship, seemingly because she is gay.

It seems shameful to me and a sign of the turmoil within Catholic higher education.  It is, however, nice to be following a scandal on someone else's campus!

UW system's new growth agenda hits the press

You can read about it in the Journal-Sentinel; the latest plan promises increase in graduates by 30%.   

Do you think it stands any chance of getting real support in Madison?  I doubt it!

Should we ban laptops?

The reaction against laptops in the classroom has hit the Washington Post.  It lists professors banning laptops at George Washington U, American, William and Mary, and Virginia.

I tend to agree--too often it is clear that students are simply surfing the web or doing something else.  The bigger question is whether typing is as good for memory as writing.

I find writing notes is the best way to remember what I have read or heard.  I don't think typing does as well.

Do You Think They'll Mention She's a Professor?

The feeding frenzy over the biologist at University of Alabama -- Huntsville has been as exaggerated as we could have expected.

She even made the front page of the New York Times today.  

It is a horribly tragic event, but much of the focus is driven by the fact that she was a professor.  It is not an uncommon occurrence when something like this happens.  Should we be flattered that her profession matters so much in a case like this?

Maybe the Northwestern can refer to us all as Amy Bishops instead of Jeffrey Dahmers!

LERT evaluation process flawed?

A commenter wrote this:

How about the necessity of defining what we try to do in each class as part of the ongoing LERT reform? Since we are restricted to only three choices, I was very disappointed to have to say that I DON'T teach writing in my class, and that I DON'T teach critical analysis of concepts, etc., etc. The process seems ridiculously reductionist.

These are good questions--we looked at the descriptions as a department last month.  People were disturbed by the language that told us all that we do not teach writing in our classes.  It looked like the English department convinced LERT that only they could teach writing!

New Social Order on Campus?

The New York Times Style section has a story about the changing nature of gender relations on campus.  In it, the author describes how partying has changed because of the decreasing percentage of men on campus.

The NY Times seems to run these kinds of breathless stories about shocking changes on a fairly regular basis. The author (Seems like a man, but I can't be sure since the name is Alex) seems to be imagining how great it must be to hook up without dating.

Welcome back -- with another report of poor student preparation

Welcome back everyone.  I have been slow at posting as of late.  I haven't found a good campus issue to sink my teeth into.

Instead, I have a complaint out of Canada about decline grammar skills among freshman.  This is not a surprising phenomenon, but it is always fun to see it in the news.

Perhaps this semester, we will see the beginnings of the move toward unionization.  That should be a nice way to get the blog moving again.  Anything else?

National Textbook Rental Coming?

Barnes and Noble getting into the textbook rental business.  Read the story here.

The rental fee will be 42.5% of the new cost.  This seems worse than the used book market, but if there is a new edition, I suppose it might work.

How is our own local rental business doing?  Is it still here? 

Colleges need more accountability

The left-wing journal Democracy Now calls for more accountability in higher education.   The author argues that IT can provide the information needed to improve college performance.  

The article claims that NSSE and the CLA are going to be saviors for higher ed.  I guess the assessment gurus got to him.  Oh, wait, he is a think tank director in DC.  . . I'm sure they have.

We know all problems can be solved if only we have a rubrik!

 

Sad Statistic: Youth less educated than their parents

In the US, younger generation is less educated than their parents. A Washington Monthly Blogger highlights this information. Apparently, Germany is the only other country in the world where this is happening.

It doesn't seem to bode well for the future. . .

How's this for a bad idea?

Cash-strapped communities talk of "student tax."  Several cities in Pennsylvania look at taxing student tuition as a way to raise additional revenue.  It appears as yet unclear if it is actually legal.

I hesitate to post it, because I can imagine some of our local officials who dislike the university might find this to be a good idea. . . 

Debate over how to handle the big cuts.

The New York Times hosts an interesting forum today about the future of higher education, on the heels of the massive tuition increases in the California Universities.

The panel seems to be almost unanimous that it doesn't matter.  They seem to all think that tuition was too low in CA anyway. . . 

Are too many students going to college?

The Chronicle of Higher Education posts this discussion.

It seem particularly relevant for us, with our highest enrollment ever and a failure rate of first year students approaching 20%.

With the growing burden of college costs, is there any surprise that students are struggling?  How many students are forced down the college path without ever confronting the reality of debt and failure?

Obscene Pay for University Presidents

You may have seen this story, as it seems to be showing up everywhere today. 23 college and university presidents make over $1 MILLION dollars a year.

It is phenomenal that this continues to get worse. These institutions take their students' money and throw it at their administrators. If the president makes this kind of money, how much do the lower ranking bureaucrats make?

This will, of course, trickle down to public institutions, as the consultants all claim that we have to be "competitive" with such a ridiculous waste of money.

I bet they didn't have to take any "furlough" pay-cuts!

Are student loans like indentured servitude?

I found this interesting article in Dissent.  Jeffery Williams argues that the nature of student debt binds students for years afterward.    He argues that the debt reinforces class discrimination, and counteracts the notion that the U.S. can be a meritocracy.

Although Dissent is very left-wing venue, I think that Williams raises some very interesting points.

If Rupert is against it, it must be a good idea!

The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the unionization of the faculty here in Wisconsin. Can you guess what they think?

It is a discussion that we should be having on campus, but this is not really the place to start. You can read about how unions have destroyed higher education in the United States--oh wait, that hasn't happened even though a quite substantial percentage of faculty is already unionized!

It is worth a weekend read.

America shouldn't be firing teachers

Paul Krugman writes about the cuts to education that are coming because of the economic decline we currently face. 143,000 teachers have been fired in the last 5 months. He argues that these kinds of cuts foreshadow big trouble in the future, because education is what used to set us apart from the rest of the world.

It is a sad story for Friday afternoon, but worth pondering. . .

New Nutty Northwestern Criticism of Academia

Yesterday, the Northwestern ran an editorial that is a tongue-in-cheek criticism of a UWMadison business professor who bought DVDs to show in his class.

The jocular nature of the commentary--ha-ha Seinfeld would be better--covers another slam of our profession.

They have no idea about what the prof. teaches, but only see fit to cast aspersions. As you can see from the few comments here is that you get outrage that professors waste "our" money like this.

It is a far cry from equating professors to Jeffrey Dahmer, but it continues their theme of anti-intellectualism.

Edit: Link is now fixed! Thanks to the commenter who noticed!

Another Problem with Standardized Tests

I loved this article. Todd Farley writes about the grading of standardized tests in an op-ed piece in the New York Times yesterday.

He points out the arbitrary nature of how writing samples are graded for standardized tests.

When I was a graduate student, I spent a couple of months grading MCAT essays. It was a horrible experience. (I imagine I signed a non-disclosure agreement. I hope it has expired!) What I discovered was just what Farley is talking about--scoring was, it seemed to me, completely arbitrary. I spent my summer trying to guess what score (1-6) the bosses would give the essays I was reading.

I could never discern exactly how to interpret their criteria. I usually could get close, but much of my summer was taken up by conferences trying to figure out why my scores were so far out of whack with others. I wonder if my students today would say that about my classes?

I suppose you could chalk it up to me being a 22 year old graduate student who didn't know what good writing was. You could also blame it on poor training by my supervisors. I don't know why I couldn't understand the rules, but I stuck it out because it paid pretty well.

It also gave me an immense amount of skepticism when it comes to looking at test scores. It made doubt their ability to tell us much about a person's competence.

$99 a month to replace us

Washington Monthly runs a piece hyping a new internet startup company that promises a college education for $99 a month.

I've seen this company hyped in a few other places recently. The argument is that education is just another commodity that can be traded on the internet. He argues that we are caught in a "debt fueled tuition spiral" and that we only traffic in information.

It hardly seems worthwhile to refute the ridiculous assumptions that underlie these claims. Whoever the PR people for straighterline.com are, they are doing a good job getting their message out.

We have always known that there is room for on-line courses in higher education. To imagine that there will be only on-line courses is a vision of education that promises a truly uneducated world.

We need a little content!

I have been meaning to post more often, but as usual, these first few weeks are always hectic.  

For example, I really wanted to sit down and write something about the COLS strategic initiative.  Koker talked about it on opening day.  I discovered that 65 people went on the retreat this summer to discuss it.  65?  I want to know how 65 people can get anything done, especially a room full of academics with agendas of their own!

I suppose we will hear more about it at the upcoming COLS meeting.

Anyway, I logged in to post this article from the Boston Globe.  It is an education professor complaining that knowledge has again gotten lost as the latest "skills" movement takes hold.  How can you "critically think" if there is nothing to think about?  

I feel this way myself -- students love to discuss, as long as it doesn't involve any preparation or careful analysis.  If you ask them to critically analyze an article, they balk.  If you want to talk about something without data, they are good at that.

Colleges 'failing' to graduate students

The New York Times ran a story criticizing US College graduation rates.  They note that the national average at public universities is abysmal.

This isn't particularly new, as our own 6-year graduation rate is just over 50%.  However, the article notes that many good students are not going to the best schools they could, with high graduation rates.  Instead they opt for the nearby choice, thereby greatly diminishing their chances of success.

The example would be, I suppose, that an excellent student would decide not to go to UW Madison (graduation rate 78%) and choose to stay nearby, say at Oshkosh.  They would then be much less likely to finish.

The article goes on to note that better finances would help, as low income students drop out more often when tuition increases.  There is even a suggestion that colleges don't mind, because freshmen are cheaper than upper-class students, because they get stuck with pit-classes.  Failure generates more income--a perverse incentive!

They also raise the issue of culture, in that failing out of college has become acceptable.

Read and contemplate as we begin our new semester.

Opening Day 2009

Get ready for a new year!  Opening day ceremonies have wrapped up and we are starting tomorrow!

A few observations:  number of the day:  13.6 million cut from our operating budget over the next two years.  Pretty traumatic, but seemingly manageable.

Wonderfully short speeches from the administration today.   Art Rathjen didn't offend anyone. Petra didn't do her "I'm so hip" schtick.  No hoohaa from Tom Sonleitner. 

In the COLS meeting, John compensated for the lack of humor with his stories about probability and his mom.

It was also nice to see all the new hires this year.  John said there were 25 new tenure-track people starting this year.  

Finally,  a little reading.  The New York Times ran short comments by professors to introductory students about how to prepare.  

My own addition for UWO:

1. Make your own education.  Take the initiative and find the hidden gems at a place like ours.  The faculty do great work, but you have to work harder to make the kind of contacts that you need to be really successful here.

All advice is welcomed in the comments!

Stanley Fish likes a Core Curriculum

Welcome back! With school starting soon, I am spending more time on the internet again and find much interesting to read. Here are just a few:

This morning's NY Times has Stanley Fish calling for a core curriculum so that students and faculty can have a common conversation.

Yesterday, I was reading the interesting discussion about whether teachers need an education degree.

And finally, Maureen Dowd writes about anonymity of bloggers. With the beginning of new year, I wonder if I should continue my own anonymity. . .

Student Sues Her Alma Mater

This is too good of a story to pass up.  A student who hasn't found a job three months after graduation is suing.

It seems like a nice case of litigation out of control, but at least no real lawyer took the case.

I haven't been posting much this summer, but this made me laugh!

Students DO drink more than we did!

When we talk about student parties and drinking on campus, I often fall back on the idea that I was a fairly big partier in college myself.  I think I survived and have done alright.  

However, a new study suggests that problems have actually gotten worse in the last decade.  Higher binge drinking, drinking and driving, and alcohol-related deaths make me think that this is a problem beyond those of my day.

When we think about educational reform, standards, and accountability, we have to think about this huge problem.  How can we break the cycle of drunkenness and disrespect for education that is becoming every more pervasive?

Figuring out Furloughs

The Journal-Sentinal has an article today about how confusing the Governor's furlough program is for universities.

It outlines the complications that come from trying to furlough those of us who do not punch a time clock, are paid only 9 months out of the year, and deal with the pay cuts.

Most interesting is that the state is demanding the universities give back 2% for all employees, including unionized members who have not agreed to the cut.  I don't know what percentage that is for us, but it is another base budget reduction, according to the article.

Legislators agree to cut our pay

Just in case you haven't been paying attention, the legislators have officially rescinded our promised pay increase and voted to increase our health insurance premiums.

Although the media seems to be reporting it as a pay freeze, it is really a cut.  

As our last paycheck for the academic year is on the horizon, enjoy it!  You won't see as much when we finally get paid again on October 1.

$7 million more in cuts for UW system

The Joint Finance Committee decided today to take $7 million more back from UW auxiliary funds.  They already had taken $16 million, so the new total is $23 million.

Unfortunately, I don't have the budget figures that were circulated last month in front of me, but this will surely mean another significant cut here on campus.   Our share of the $7 million will go up because UW-Lacrosse's share was reduced.

It is a nice way to start our summer, knowing that the state is stripping even more from higher education here.   What more will we lose before the semester starts again in the fall?

e-cheating ahead?

The NY Times loves these stories, and so do I.  They report on the websites that are now specializing in class notes and tests.

I haven't checked to see if I am up there, but it is an interesting new electronic twist on the fraternity test bank.

Sad Saga of a Georgia Professor

As the semester winds to an end, I am taking a break from grading to mention one of the interesting sagas of the last few weeks.  

Only if you live in a hole could you have failed to notice the media reports of the man in Georgia who apparently shot his wife, a couple of her acquaintances, and then himself.

The story itself is sad, but I have been fascinated by the fact that we heard endless about the story because the shooter was a professor.   It shows us something about professors strange place in modern culture.

The fact that the suspect was a professor drove this to the newspapers -- after all how often do you see the headline "Police manhunt for plumber underway . . ."  

The fixation obviously has to do with the seeming incongruity between "professor" and human being.  In the same way that students seem surprised to run into us in the grocery store or mall, the fact that a professor might be driven to fits of murderous rage caught the media's fancy.

At the same time, how often are we ridiculed by legislators and others because we aren't in front of students 40 hours a week?  How many times can they cut our pay in Madison and then insist we have no grounds to complain?  How often are we lampooned by radical right activists as communists in cardigan sweaters?

My father always insists that professors also carry special respect in society because of our position as experts and scholars.  

The case of the murderous Georgia professor crosses all of these stereotypes and cultural images.  Here is the erudite, liberal, respectable, wimpy professor shockingly acting out in rage and violence.

Professors lie at a strange intersection of respect, fascination, and derision.   If only there weren't so much grading to go with it. . . .

Furloughs on the way!

Gov. Doyle just announced big new cuts to the state budget, including over 3 work weeks (16 days) of furloughs over the next 2 years.  

It is sort of a joke to call it a furlough, since it really is a temporary 3% pay cut.  I wonder if it won't be even bigger for us since technically we are paid on a 9 month schedule.  That means it could be almost 5% [updated from higher figures, because I did my math wrong].

He also is cancelling our small pay raise and raising health insurance premiums.   

There will most likely be bigger cuts in the overall budget too.

State revenue has dropped at a precipitous rate, they tell us, for 2009.

It is going to be an ugly couple of years around here.  

Faculty Advocacy Committee Tries to Create Buzz

I was looking at the Northwestern this morning to see if any schools had closed because of swine flu, and noticed that the Faculty Advocacy Committee has created a blog on that website.

So far, it contains interviews with Merlain Angwall and B. S. Sridhar.   They are, of course, very nice profiles of two interesting members of our community.

I don't know whether these blogs gather much attention, but it looks like a nice beginning foray into the world of electronic promotion for this group.

Change the University?

I read this op-ed piece in the NYTimes yesterday.   A religion professor from Columbia proposes completely rethinking the university.  Although much of his focus is on graduate education, he proposes sweeping changes:

1. Change curriculum to make it like the web, cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural

2. Abolish permanent departments.  

3. Stop overlap between universities

4. Get rid of dissertations

5.  Change graduate training

6. No tenure and forced retirement

The core of his argument is that universities produced graduates, both undergrad and PhD, that nobody wants.  He thinks that current training and scholarship in the humanities is basically worthless.  For him, it won't be worth anything until it is "relevant."

On top of that, he believes that old faculty are useless.   In his vision, everyone gets tenure and then never changes.  He obviously doesn't think much of younger faculty either, because of their over-specific research agendas. He describes newly minted PhD's as clones of their advisors.

Since we are in the midst of our own discussions about reform, centered around LERT and general education, this article does give us something additional to ponder.

Reform and adaptation are important, but eliminating the entire system?  Expecting everyone to be generalists who change topics every 7 years?  Increasing the pressure on faculty and strengthening the hands of administration?  

The religion professor seems to have gotten business, rather than the other way around! 

UW Steven's Point chancellor resigns -- Earn headed North?

This article appeared in the Journal-Sentinel yesterday.  The Stevens Point chancellor, Linda Bunnell resigned, primarily because she was involved in an accident in a state car.  She didn't report it and had been drinking at a private club before it occurred.

She had apparently already made plenty of enemies, so this was the straw that broke the camel's back.  

I doubt Provost Earns will be leaving again, since they appointed their own provost to be the interim chancellor.  It seems like a good way to tie the story into our own campus.

The incident, however, raises the continuing question as to why these leaders think they live in a different world than the rest of us.  Dr. Bunnell didn't feel like laws applied to her.  I have complained about the way that academia has aped the worst of wall street in insisting that their leaders have to be grossly overpaid to be effective.  They also seem to have imbibed the spirit of being untouchable, no matter what they do to their institution.  

The average pay for presidents is $427,000 a year.  Now I know that UW system does not pay nearly that much, but they insist that they need to increase the range to "stay competitive."

Perhaps the economic downturn will bring some sanity back to the pay scale for administrators and a bit less arrogance. 

Finally, I might put in a good word for our own Chancellor Wells.  He has avoided such crazy scandals and has worked hard defending our insititution in Madison and in public.   There are things that could be better, but thus is life.

Facebook linked to lower grades in college

I just had to post this link.  An education researcher at Ohio State found that facebook users haver lower GPAs than non-users.

Facebook has been getting all the hype lately, as old folks are flocking to it.  Now, we find a connection between facebook and performance in college.

I have a feeling that heavy facebook users would not be doing better without it, as they would find some other way to avoid studying.  It is fun nonetheless!

In Wisconsin, all professors are below average. . .

The Journal-Sentinel is on an education kick and published an article today about how we are all paid much less than the national average.

A nice chart accompanies the article and you can see that UWO's average is about 90% of the national average.  We are, however, in the top half of UW system schools.  

There is really no news in this--even the regents acknowledged how far we were behind other comparable institutions--before they reneged on our small pay increase.

In these budgetary times, nothing is going to change, but I like to see our situation appear in the newspapers.  

Grades at UW-Milwaukee

The Journal-Sentinel ran an story examining the grades given at UWM from 2006-2008.  They filed an open-records request and present the data.  

The average grade at UWM is apparently a B.  The lowest grades given were in math classes, the highest in education.

The paper also gives also sorts of charts, even by name of professors, with top 10 highest grades, lowest grades, GPAs, etc.  I think we actually collect data like this, but it has never run in the newspaper.  We might expect this coming soon from the Northwestern.

The J-S particularly goes after the school of education, whose average grade given is an A-.  It is fun reading about the squirming ed. profs trying to explain why every student they teach is excellent.  They claim that their national ranking  (96th--is that actually good?) justifies their easy grading policies.

We have had our own discussions of this topic, but it takes on a new dimension when grades are the lead story in the local newspaper.

Snarky Northwestern article impugns integrity of staff

The lead story in the Northwestern this morning reported on the Chancellor's meetings about the budget cuts we face.  Jeff Bollier writes, "it became clear each established and entrenched segment of the university population is looking to others to bear the brunt of cuts."

This, of course, implies, that we all are only looking out for ourselves.  I haven't seen the report, but I am not quite sure how this kind of sloppy reporting helps anyone.

Not surprisingly, there were an incredible diversity of opinions as to what should be cut to deal with a significant cutback.  The fact that people like we "entrenched" faculty members value what we do and think that student instruction and faculty research should be protected is somehow problematic.  The fact that some who answered the anonymous survey want big cuts represents division within our community.  

Perhaps Chancellor Wells gave the impression that he has grand innovative ways to reshape the university and is being blocked by the curmugeonly established segments.

Is is surprising that faculty believe that students already face classes that are too large, that creating new knowledge is a key component of our jobs, and that the constant reduction of our pay in real dollars is a bad thing?   Talk to student leaders on campus: they believe the same thing.  

The anti-education people who answered the survey by arguing for lower quality in order to save money are the same ones who argue that universities are useless in modern society.    

No Laptops in Class?

In honor of TechFest going on over in Reeve this afternoon, lets talk the most ubiquitous technology in the classrooms:  student laptops.

I spotted this story a few days ago:  Students do worse with laptops.  A prof. at UC Boulder did her own study and found that students with laptops did 11% worse than those without.

While observing a classroom not long ago, I noticed that the students who had laptops were by and large doing something unrelated to the material being presented.  They were surfing the web, reading e-mail, and worst of all, playing some sort of game.  The students themselves were not engaged, while those surrounding them were clearly distracted by all the activity.   A few of the laptop owners would stop what they were doing to type in the bullet points from the powerpoint, but only for a brief moment.

It was pretty pathetic and a demonstration, for me at least, that computers don't really help.  The little data in the story above also suggest that the students are not benefiting.

There are many ways to check out when in class, from dozing to doodling, but the massive distraction generated by laptop users increased the problem by sucking in those nearby.

A quick google also gives me this:  The Volokh Conspiracy surveyed students after banning laptops in his class.  They surveyed students in a first year law class and found that the ban was generally appreciated, in a context where there would be dozens, if not a majority of computer users.

I think I am going to add some sort of restriction to my classroom policies.  I wonder if it should be a complete ban or rules about use and abuse. 

Buy your Paper in Manila

The Chronicle of Higher Ed has an interesting article about the international market for college papers.

In it, we learn that a company in the Philipines is having great success writing student essays for Americans.  The students here pay  $20-30 a page to have writers somewhere else to their homework for them.

I posted on a similar topic a few year ago --google banned links to paid term papers, but obviously students are finding their way without google's ads.

The article gives an interesting look at the shady world of having your papers written by someone else.   It is just another sign of the issues that we have written and talked about--the devaluing of a college education.  Those who hire someone to write their papers don't think of college as anything more than a a path to a necessary piece of paper.

Pass more or drink more?

It is a schiztophrenic day in the news today, in that President Obama called yesterday for colleges to increase completion rates for students.  The article tells us that he will " focus more than he has to date on the administration's intent to hold states and colleges more accountable for ensuring that students who enter college succeed once there."

At the same time, USA Today reports that college freshmen spend more time drinking that studying.  A study shows that students spend over 10 hours a week at parties and only 8 studying.

How do we reconcile these two disparate understandings of college?  Clearly these two things are connected.  How do we get students to stop partying and start studying?  

If students took college seriously, they wouldn't spend so little time studying.  If they thought they wouldn't pass on 8 hours a week, they might study more.  Raising our own standards would decrease our retention rate, making the Federal bean counters (not to mention our own administration) upset with us.

We face the same issues with the imposition of standardized tests.  If we didn't pass so many marginal students, we wouldn't be under pressure of having someone else provide the backbone which we seem to be lacking. . .

Feedback on the Budget?!

The chancellor is asking for feedback from the university on his budget priorities.  

The survey asks if we think that his list is appropriate and what we would select as the highest priorities.

It also asks for suggestions about ways to deal with the ensuing cuts.

I think that we should focus on keeping class sizes small and increasing the quality of our student body instead of continuing to grow for growth's sake.

They keep telling us that we have low administrative costs, but it sure seems like there are a lot of vice/deputy/assistant deans/chancellors/provosts running around.

Do We Need A Sustainability Director?

A mini-controversy has appeared in our town & gown relations over the past week.  A few days ago, the Northwestern editorialized that the newly hired Director of Sustainability was an unnecessary luxury in these sour economic times.

They suggest that sustainability is just a buzz-word and is too fuzzy to hold much meaning.  They then claim the unversity is out to destroy local agriculture in some way because of this initiative

The chancellor fired back with a memo defending the need for this position.  In it, he emphasizes the savings that have already come from focusing on sustainability.  He also points out that the new director brings both specific experience in helping better use our resources and academic knowlege that will be shared in the classroom.

I thought that the attack on sustainability was gratuitous and ungrounded, meant mostly to attempt to get someone to read their editorial page.  If we are serious about reducing our environmental footprint, having an expert on staff seems worthwhile to me.   

That being said, I am skeptical about the increasing number of administrators on campus, of which the sustainability director is just one.  I would hope that when we have to make the next round of cuts, they will find money to cull from that area rather than from the instructional side of things.

Students deserve B's

This article from the New York Times raises the question of student's feelings of entitlements towards grades.  It starts with a survey of students that found that almost 50% expected a B just for showing up.   The author also interviews students who expect that effort alone should raise their grade.

Gerry Gzyrb posted this to the COLS discussion list a few days ago and I noticed that it is on the list of most commonly e-mailed at the Times website.

I think that this expectation generally holds on our campus as well.  

In my classes, I think the average is a low BC. 

This means that many students who show up and do passable work get a low B.  Only students who truly excel make A's.

Thus, I am guilty of fostering these expectations -- I often wonder if I should be tougher.  I am not sure what I would gain from it. . .

Good news! University budget avoids big cuts!

Governor Doyle announced his budget proposal tonight and it contained good news for us.  He proposed that the university budget remain flat for the next two years.  The problem is, of course, that it doesn't contain $120 million we need to cover "costs to continue" -- ie heat, light, health care costs, etc.  It also takes other fees to the tune of $54 million.  Some of this would be made up by a 5-6% tuition increase.

These are significant, but much better than I hoped.   There will be another round of belt-tightening, but it shouldn't be too traumatic.  It can't be as bad as the $250 million cut from a few years ago, though we are clearly leaner than before.  Students also are protected somewhat, by an increase in financial aid to keep tuition flat for families with income under $60,000.

Here are two different stories:

The Journal-Sentinel reports it as a $174 million cut.

The Wisconsin State Journal calls university funding flat.

The Solution: Furloughs?

A rumor has just come my way that administrators are thinking about furloughs of faculty members to cut costs.

The suggestion is that UWO would save hundreds of thousands of dollars by not paying faculty members who do not teach during interims.

Pretty scary thought!  As if our pay weren't low enough!

The cutting starts soon, as the Gov. gets ready to reveal his plan to fix the $600 million shortfall for this year.  Then, we'll have to deal with the cuts of the next biennium.  

With the 'moderates' removing support for states from the stimulus bill in Washington, we should be prepared. . . .

Wells a finalist again!

The newest addition to the chancellor's annual search for a new job has Dr. Wells in the running for the leader of SUNY-Albany. The Northwestern reported this story on Saturday.

Here is the story from the Albany newspaper, which lists the other candidates. Apparently this search was supposed to be undertaken with the stricted secrecy, but someone didn't think that was appropriate for a state institution.

Even more interesting (sort of) is that they supposedly were on the verge of hiring someone else just a few weeks ago.

It also reports that Albany took a 14% budget cut, so finances are pretty ugly there.

It is not particularly surprising to discover, as the Chancellor has been on the job market for many years now. The question is whether he will pull himself out of the running again, declaring that he couldn't tear himself away from us. . .

Breaking: Internet Contains Errors!

Here is an important story for all of our students:  The internet may contain mistakes!

Factual Error Found on the Internet

I couldn't resist--enjoy!

Understanding and Explaining

 “There is an important difference between learning which is concerned with the degree of understanding necessary to practice a skill, and learning which is expressly focused upon an enterprise of understanding and explaining.” -- Michael Oakeshott

The university is, of course, supposed to be devoted to the second, not the first, writes Stanley Fish.

He writes about the nature of higher education in his NYTimes blog this week.  He discusses a new book that hopelessly chronicles the transformation of universities into institutions that only train young people for specific occupations.

The author of the book, Frank Donogue, describes how the "life of the mind" has been disparaged in American culture since the turn of the 20th century.  It is a sad story, without a happy ending, and raises the question as to whether there will be another generation of professors in the humanities.

Spending on Teaching in Decline

The news story of the day is a report that show that spending on instruction has declined even as the student share of costs has risen.

On our own campus, we know that our salaries have not risen more than a hair, instructional staff numbers have increased, and new administrators seem to appear on a regular basis.

I wonder what the numbers are like on our own campus . . . 

State Colleges on verge of trouble

I haven't been posting in a while--I hadn't realized that it was so long.

Perhaps my enthusiasm is starting to wane, but I don't think I'm ready to give up.

So in that spirit, here is an article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal about state colleges in trouble:  http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/37546019.html

There is not much new news in the story, but it is a reminder about how precarious the finances are at private colleges.  It also warns of the coming cuts state institutions are likely to see in the next budget.

Prisons defeat Higher Ed

The media has been filled with reports (see the Journal Sentinel, for example) about the decreasing affordability of a university education.  I have been meaning to post a few observations about this, but instead, I came upon this blog entry by Juan Cole.

He points out that legislatures across the country have decided that imprisonment is more important than education.  As he notes, prison populations have skyrocketed since 1980.  By and large, the money to pay for this has come from support for universities.  Now, Cole argues that the solution is to decriminalize marijuana and use the tax revenue for education.  This, of course, is not very likely.  

However, his post reminds us of the choices we have made as a society.  Education has lost and continues to lose to punishment.

What politician will stand up and say that non-violent offenders should spend less time in jail so students can get a college degree?  Being "soft on crime" is a death sentence for a politician in this age of nasty, negative campaigning. . .

Are students really nuts?

A new study claims that 1 in 5 young American adults has a personality disorder that disrupts their lives and 1/3 abuse alcohol and drugs.  

The study also goes on to claim that only 25% of those seek treatment.

I suppose this means the researchers think that an even larger percentage have disorders that don't yet affect their daily lives.

If our students are a disfunctional as the researchers claim, where does this leave us?  Should we all be replaced by guidance councillors?  

Internet rathole for research

I feel bad for not posting, but the semester is dragging me down man . . .

Here is an interesting article about the way that academics follow links as they use the internet for research.  One study argues that the internet has led to a narrowing of citation, presumably because scholars only cite papers they find on-line.  Others dispute those claims.

The ease of internet searching certainly is enticing, making it easy to forget the vast world of printed information out there.  For students, this certainly is true, as it is hard to get them into the library to experience the vast knowledge accumulated on the shelves.  Too often it seems for them that if they can't google it, it doesn't exist. . . .

Budget hole gets deeper. . .

Chancellor Wells sent out a carefully worded, yet ominous memo yesterday. The planning is already underway for serious cuts here on campus. He seems to be hinting that new searches are going to be put off while the student body will continue to grow. He also may be preparing us for a claim that he can not reduce administrative costs. The brief discussion about the new Director of Sustainability on the COLS list suggests this is the case.

Unfortunately, this is probably what we all expected. We are expected to deal with more students. I wonder when our whopping raise will be postponed.  How big will the tuition increase be?   

From the note:

As many of you know, while the Higher Learning Commission evaluation team lauded UW Oshkosh, they raised a serious concern regarding our all-too-thin administrative support — something unheard of in such reports. We have also acknowledged our need to appoint more tenure-track faculty and we realize our classified staff has been hit hard by earlier budget cuts. Much needed Growth Agenda funding was provided this year to help offset millions of dollars of earlier state funding cuts and to serve the recent and projected increase of more than 1,400 students. While we may have to delay some of the Growth Agenda searches, we will do our best to protect our base funding. It is obvious that we will have to continue to make tough budgetary planning decisions during six to nine months of budget planning uncertainty.

Obama!!

Obama won a decisive victory yesterday and riding on his coattails came the Wisconsin Assembly!

This change in political leadership may have profound changes for us here at UWO.

1. With democratic majorities in both houses here in Wisconsin, faculty will soon be deciding if we want to unionize.
2. When it is time for the state budget discussions, UW-hater Steve Nass (though he did win re-election)will not have the kind of control that he used to.   When it comes to the hard choices of how to allocate state dollars, perhaps education will be higher on the list than more prisons.
3. Obama has promised more support for students going to college.  How he can accomplish this in the midst of all the other budget issues he will face is unclear.  However, we might have a new discussion about how this can be accomplished.
4. The push for "accountability" for higher education will clearly move in different directions.  I don't think we will be able to avoid the standardized-testing craze that dominates the political sphere.  We should be able to slow down and have a rational discussion as to how this can be done.  The threat that "they will do it to us if we don't hurry up and do it to ourselves" should recede.

As even David Brooks has pointed out, the Republicans have been running on an anti-intellectual platform for years.  With a new Democratic administration in Washington, I hope for a new tone, less derisive towards academia and science in general!

P.S.  Great Job WRST election night coverage!  I spent much of the night with the sound of the TV off and the radio on.  The students did an excellent job bringing our own experts to the airwaves!

Study show Profs can't change student's poliical views

The New York Times reported today that two new studies show that student's political views are not changed by their professors.

This is an argument that I and many others have made throughout the last several years of this right-wing attack on the academy.  I like seeing a few studies to back it up.  Whether or not the statistics are any good is, of course, a different question.

All this worry about professors and proselytising seems to be a lot of noise.  I guess I should wear my political button tomorrow!

Student Petition Signature Drive

I have been meaning to post about this for awhile, but I have been obsession about the Presidential election.  

Our own student association has put together a petition demanding that politicians put more resources toward higher education.  It is a very nice idea, but I am not sure what they want to accomplish with the vague statements laid out here.

I've signed it, but I don't think it will make a bit of difference.  Just like our LERT principles, when you make something this vague, it is hard to find anyone who disagrees.  It also makes it difficult to see a course of action ahead. . . . .

Were in Big Budget Trouble!!

Doyle announced yesterday that he expects there to be a 3 billion dollar hole in the budget for the next biennium. 

Chancellor Wells informs us that he has been asked to reformulate the budget with a 10% reduction.  He mentions that there is also a good possibility that our budget will be reduced for the final year of this budget cycle.

Even though we know well that universities play an especially valuable role for the state when the economy slows and citizens are looking for retraining, I don't think the legislators are going to give us much protection.

What do you think we will lose this time around?  

1. Cancelling of current searches?

2. Losing our miniscule raises?

3. Increasing class size?

4. Cancel the new building?  The My Two Cents blog at WOSH radio proposes that (he also posted nasty comments about the "rich, spoiled" students who attended the John Kerry rally yesterday).

Any other speculations?

Whoops! No more ban in Illinois!

Just when I thought I found an interesting story about academic freedom, I find out that it was already old news.

Illinois took it back last week.

The Chronicle also reports that several other state institutions have reversed themselves in trying to ban campaign advertisements.  The University of Missouri at St. Louis and Texas-Austin both reversed themselves this week on the same question, involving both classrooms and students.

Maybe it is because Obama is surging in the polls -- it no longer looks less like political advocacy and more like preparation for the next presidency. . . .

Ban those Bumper Stickers!!

Although I have plenty of more important things to do, I just came across the story about the Ethics office of the University of Illinois system that tells all employees that they are not allowed to display political buttons, bumper stickers, or anything else.

You can read Stanley Fish's take on it from the NYTimes.  He argues that legally, the state can ban whatever it wants from the classroom, as long as they claim it is "political."

It is a complicated issue, but the state of Illinois absolutism (as well as Fish's) seem to be absurd.  We all should try to make sure the core knowledge of our discipline is passed along, but analysis and advocacy are part of making students think about that knowledge.   

We know that our system does not allow partisan political activity from state employees, but now Illinois is trying to ban even the expression of an opinion from campus?!

Will we soon see such draconian suppressions in our state?  I guess I'll have to get out my scraper . . . 

Flaws in U.S. News Mathematics

I know that for a school like ours, the U.S. News rankings aren't very relevant (3rd tier regional, if I remember correctly).  However, it is interesting to see a report about how flawed the statistics are that create the rankings.

With statistical profiles like the VSA on the way, it is a good reminder that these numbers are easily gamed and essentially meaningless.

Angry Republican Student Letter in Northwestern

This letter ran in the Northwestern on Tuesday.  The student complains that there are no Republican events on campus.  

I don't know what is going out on the student email lists, but the biggest initiative on campus is the American Democracy Project, which is a non-partisan attempt to register students and get them engaged in the process.   I have seen the posters around campus, so I imagine they are one of the tables in Reeve that the author is complaining about.

Ironically, when I look at this campus I see apathy across the spectrum.  Compared to almost every other campus that I have been on, there is NO student activism.  It would be great for the atmosphere around here if there were really were raucous rallies in support of candidates for president.   To see students join in something with real passion and enthusiasm would make my day!

Instead, we see most of our students sort of shuffle through class with little emotion or engagement--too busy with jobs or sports or parties to pay much attention to the large, important issues we face.

This student should get involved with the Campus Republicans, organize some speakers, and make her voice heard on campus.  If she had the energy to write the paper, why hasn't this turned into activism here??

Bad Evals = No Job?

The New York Times education section had a long article about teaching evaluations last Sunday.  It starts with the story of an adjunct who did not have her contract renewed because she did not have over 85% good or exellent marked on her student evaluations.

It uses this to launch into an extended discussion about the worthiness of student evaluations.  

The article dwells on the vast differences between student perceptions, especially in classes that challenge students assumptions about their world.  It also includes an upper-class white male student bashing segment, accusing them as a group of ruining a professor's class on "whiteness."

In the end, there are no definitive studies that show that they tell us much of anything.   We have had our own debates over evaluations over the years here, so this made for an interesting read. 

I have never been much of a fan of  student evaluations, because they don't really seem to tell us much.  I occassionally look through the written comments, as those are the only things that hold potential interest for me.  Student evaluations have something to tell us about the shape of a class, but perhaps more about the students than the professors.    

Do Professors Need Technology?

The Advance-Titan ran this mocking editorial today about a professor that could not get youtube working in his classroom.  For Dan Shafer, the fact that there was some sort of technological glitch demonstrates that Professors need to be more tech-savvy in order to properly teach students.

Interestingly enough, the chronicle had an article on a similar topic this week.  In it, Mark Bauerlein argues that internet reading is shallow and less than reading on paper.  Studies suggest that reading on the computer involves much skimming and skipping.   He argues that we need to get technology out of the classroom and insist on the more careful reading that can be done with paper.

Is it obvious that I am sympathetic to the second view?  Technology is something that can help, but in measured doses.  It doesn't improve learning automatically and can very easily hamper what we are trying to do.   Youtube may provide a nice demonstration of something, but hardly seems essential to the educational mission of our university.  

The contemplative nature of learning and education is too often lost in the instant gratification of a google search.  How can we truly reflect on what is important and come to our own understandings if we don't take time to think and understand for our selves?

If anything, a liberal education is about instilling that need for critical thinking and contemplation in our students.  Technology can be a tool, but that is all it is.  It is not the utopian solution to all the problems we face.

Right Wing Internet Site attacks LERT Learning Outcomes

I was googling around this evening and came across this site, called The Torch.  They have an article criticizing the new learning outcomes because it has sustainability listed there.

Apparently, sustainability is part of a secret attempt to repress freedom of speech at UWO.  Who would have thunk it??  Those environmental studies types are taking over and we never even noticed.  Wait until the Torch get wind of the fact the we are now a fair trade university. . . 

Standardized Testing is Here!

Get ready, campus community, because soon we will be teaching to the test--one more cog in the giant testing industry.

Chancellor Wells announced today that we are beginning to "pilot" the CLA exams for graduating students.  As many feared from the beginning, the VSA looks more and more like a backdoor entrance to standardized exit exams for UWO students.  

I think it is almost a foregone conclusion that within 5 years, we will be hearing incessent reminders from the administration that we need to change our classes to improve the schools CLA scores.   

For information, you can look at the CLA propaganda here.  It seems that the CLA was developed by the RAND institute and will be computer graded.  Lucky us!

Here is a critic of the whole VSA and CLA approach. 

Finally, here is the Memo:

From: Chancellor Wells and Provost Hartman  
 
To: Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff
 
As you may recall, UW Oshkosh joined the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) last fall, and we have since posted a link on our homepage to the College Portrait, which provides information on UW Oshkosh to prospective students and their families, public policy-makers, legislators, campus faculty and staff, and other key higher education stakeholders. Evidence of student learning outcomes, which is not scheduled to be posted on the VSA College Portrait for three years, is one of the data elements included in the College Portrait. The VSA has approved three instruments (CLA, MAPP and CAAP) to measure student gains in critical thinking, including analytic reasoning, and written communication.
 
Colleges and universities across the US are piloting various assessments in order to make a decision on which instrument best aligns with their learning outcomes. UW Oshkosh has already administered the MAPP and the CAAP assessments on a limited basis. We have been given an opportunity to join other UW system schools to pilot the CLA in 2008-09 to evaluate the test and to analyze any changes in the results. We will pilot the CLA by administering the test to one hundred freshmen students this fall and to one hundred senior students in the spring semester.  
 
An important criterion for the selection of an assessment instrument is the alignment of that instrument with learning outcomes. The current version of the CLA aligns with major components of the LERT outcomes. The administration of the CLA at this time will provide us with additional data regarding student learning at this university. These data can be used to inform the process used to determine performance indicators for our learning outcomes. Such a process promotes continuous improvement practices on our campus.
 
The selection of the CLA as a pilot also allows us to participate in a large scale research project sponsored by a FIPSIE grant. This research focuses on the development of an assessment of learning outcomes such as ours that is both valid and reliable.
 
E. Alan Hartman 
Interim Provost & Vice Chancellor
 
Richard H. Wells
Chancellor

Are students getting dumber?

Thomas Benton, a columnist for the Chronicle of Higher Education, suggests they are.  I have students who exhibit all of these characteristics.  What does it mean and who is responsible?  He reviews a series of books that discuss this topic.  His emphasis is on the customer service mentality that seems to dominate universities these days.

If you watched the Republican National Convention, you could also see the anti-intellectualism run rampant there.

Here is his core list of troubling attributes he finds in his college students:

• Primarily focused on their own emotions — on the primacy of their "feelings" — rather than on analysis supported by evidence.
• Uncertain what constitutes reliable evidence, thus tending to use the most easily found sources uncritically.
• Convinced that no opinion is worth more than another: All views are equal.
• Uncertain about academic honesty and what constitutes plagiarism.
• Unable to follow or make a sustained argument.
• Uncertain about spelling and punctuation (and skeptical that such skills matter).
• Hostile to anything that is not directly relevant to their career goals, which are vaguely understood.
• Increasingly interested in the social and athletic above the academic, while "needing" to receive very high grades.
• Not really embarrassed at their lack of knowledge and skills.
• Certain that any academic failure is the fault of the professor rather than the student.
  
  
  

Opening Day Observations

Welcome back everyone! We are officially back in session, with classes beginning tomorrow.

I thought I would share a few of my observations of today's opening festivities. I was unfortunate enough to attend the 1 hour and 40 minute administrative song and dance show.

Some negative highlights:

I decided to count and noticed that out of the new hires this year, 69 were lecturers and only 22 were assistant professors. UWO seems to be continuing its slide toward over-reliance on non tenure-track teachers.

Art Rathjen, head of the foundation, decided to end his address by undermining all the talk of selling the liberal arts at UWO with an old joke about arts majors working in fast food restaurants.

Petra Roter went on forever, first with her joke shtick (Abba songs this year, rather than internet abreviations), followed by a laundry list of activities that didn't seem to have any connection to the rest of the reports.

Chancellor Wells introduced new and even more ridiculous terminology to the LERT initiative, by talking about our opportunity to review the draft "meta-rubriks" from some national organization before we develop our own rubriks for assessing learning outcomes through the VAPA program to be placed on the upcoming VSA.

Finally, and one that shocked the audience, Wells succeeded in offending everyone who thinks that we need to get beyond casual mysogyny. A group of 5 female staff members presented several gifts to him for his support of the classified staff. His first, off-the-cuff, response, "There must be men who are classified staff--they must be out doing real work. . . "

On the plus side:

The growth agenda is helping UWO replace faculty members and stabilize our finances.

The COLS meeting was efficient and got us out of there in a hurry while still allowing us to briefly meet new hires. (Though John never told us what the 3rd perfect number was)

The incoming class has higher grades, test scores, and is more diverse.

UWO Continues to Grow. Is This a Good Thing?

UWO issued a report yesterday about the continuing student growth of UWO.   It made the Northwestern this morning and more details can be found in the university's press release.

The report emphasizes that we have grown by almost 1000 students since 2000.   They also note that the incoming class is slightly stronger academically than it was last year.

My first reaction in these reports is the missing information about increasing the number of faculty to support this growth.  There were multiple positions as part of the growth agenda, but the basic number of teachers remains stagnant.  Many tenure-track lines are still filled with staff people, undermining the basic principles of quality college education.

It is good PR to emphasize the growing number of students.  The quality of their experience remains in doubt as classes overflow and we do not talk seriously about reducing our faculty to student ratio.

Momentum for open-source textbooks building?

The LA Times is running a story about an open-source economics textbook, where the author turned down $100,000 to sell it to a publisher.

Is the profit motive the key reason academics write textbooks?  That seems to be the key question--will people do it if they don't get paid?

Illegally Download your textbooks?

I came upon this technology news link this afternoon that pointed me to a new website that allows you to download textbooks using bittorrent.   I also saw an article in the New York Times about this several weeks ago.

Clearly this is a violation of copyright law, but it is interesting in several ways:

1. Textbooks are becoming increasingly available electronically.

2. Once books become digital, they will be traded legally or illegally like music.

 There may be even more incentive to illegally download your textbook, since it is quite a bit more expensive than an album.  The slogan of Textbook Torrents is "Because you can't torrent beer."   Will this reshape the textbook market like it has the music market?

If textbooks more toward an open-source model, everyone might be better off.  I suggested before that we needed something like the PLoS model for textbook production--this might push things in that direction. . .

Alan Hartman to be interim Provost

The Chancellor announced that Alan Hartman, Dean of COB, is going to be the interim provost next year.

I don't know anything about him.  Has he done a good job for business, from a faculty perspective?  Should we look forward to any big shakeups next year?

Provost Earns Flees!

The Chancellor announced today that Lane Earns will become the interim chancellor at UW-Parkside!

I remember seeing that the person chosen to be chancellor recently withdrew because he was under criminal investigation at his own school.

Now we are losing a very important person here on campus for the next year, at the least. Whatever my disagreements with Lane have been, he has generally defended academic interests on campus.

This loss worries me, as it may bring even more turmoil for LERT and other important initiatives on campus!

Liberal Faculty Dying Out?

The New York Times ran a story yesterday about the generational change in college faculties. Some of the most prominent university radicals of the 1960s are retiring, bringing younger faculty on to the scene.

The folks interviewed see a new generation less committed to social activism, while younger scholars see different pressures shaping the academy. I am not sure there is anything new here, but having the national media talk about how we are not as wacky as the last generation probably won't hurt our standing!

Now you can outsource your education!

I was browsing the web this afternoon, and came upon this article about students who hire Indian programmers to complete their computer programming assignments.

The article claims that it is not uncommon for British students to do this--it probably is already occuring here too.

Does Turnitin.com check computer programs??

Another Slap in the Face to Faculty from Madison

Once again, the legislature and governor decided to make faculty pay for the budget shortfalls in Madison.  

We had our promised 2% pay increase reduced to 1%.  We are the only group of state employees who can have their salaries unilaterally changed by the legislature and the governor.  Thus, it is easy to break promises made to us.  The unionized state employees are protected by such action because of their ability to negotiate with the state as a collective.

This, of course, is on top of the fact that our pay runs far behind the national and regional averages for professors across the country.  We will only slip farther behind with this latest move.  

As the year comes to a close, this problem is made ever clearer as we find some of our most promising scholars pick up and move to other institutions where the pay is better.  There has been some discussion of the pay levels for chancellors, but we in the classrooms and laboratory never seem to make it into the discussion.

The repeated disrespectful attitude that comes from our elected leaders toward the UW system and the faculty damages our ability to education students and bring the latest, most sophisticated research to Wisconsin. 

 I have talked to many people, all of whom express great anger at once again being treated like this.  Even if people aren't leaving, they lose respect for our institution and are less likely to become involved in just the kind of projects that can make us a great place.

New "Learning Outcomes" Approved

I have been too busy to blog the last few weeks as the semester wound to a close, but today I'll post the new learning outcomes that seem to be official.  These are supposedly going to serve as the new basis for what we do here on campus.

These categories are broad and seemingly all encompassing.  I suppose they suggest that very specific, technical knowledge is secondary to more general competency, but it is hard to find much to talk about here.

According to LERT, these are going to lead to some significant changes in the way that we operate over the next couple of years.  The real issues are yet to come--will we really change the nature of General Education because of these outcomes?  Will these lead to some sort of standardized exit testing for UWO students?  Can reforms that failed twice before be accomplished now?  Will the Chancellor even stay around long enough to find out??   

Will we arrive back on campus in the fall with an agenda for real change?  Stay tuned. . . .

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

• Through study in fine and performing arts, humanities, mathematics and science, and social science
Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Skills, both Intellectual and Practical, including

• Identification and objective evaluation of theories and assumptions
• Critical and creative thinking
• Written and oral communication
• Quantitative literacy
• Technology and information literacy
• Teamwork, leadership, and problem solving
Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Responsibility, as Individuals and Communities, including

• Knowledge of sustainability and its applications
• Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global
• Intercultural knowledge and competence
• Ethical reasoning and action
• Foundations and skills for lifelong learning
Developed through real-world challenges and active involvement with diverse communities 

Learning: Integrated, Synthesized, and Advanced, including

• Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies
Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems.  

Spending on Instruction Down

I spotted this story over at InsideHigherEd.com:  the percentage of tuition spent on direct instruction has dropped over the years.  The national average for institutions like ours is about 44%.  

As this has been declining relative to other spending over the years, the additional spending tends toward things like academic support services, new facilities, and administration.

As often as people have complained about faculty productivity, these figures suggest that this is not the driving factor in cost increases for college.

This post feels a little like deja vu, and it is.  I blogged about a similar story over 2 years ago!

Liberal Arts are Actually Up!

I want to highlight the work Bill Wresch did for us last week in the comments.  He found statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics (this link goes to a chart) that show that liberal arts majors are actually increasing:

Here are some changes since 1985 -
Total graduates - up 50%
ethnic studies - up 160%
performing arts - up 123%
psychology - up 116%
liberal arts - up 110%
philosophy - up 87%
biology - up 85%
comm/journalism - up 77%
history - up 72%
English - up 61%

Business - up 34% (less than the 50% general growth)
Computer science - up 12%
math - down 9%
physics - down 9%
engineering - down 14%

As she shows us, students are moving toward the liberal arts quite significantly.  What does this mean for the entire LERT initiative?  Are we preaching to the choir? 

Does that mean there is some sort of hidden agenda behind the larger liberal arts initiative of the AAC&U?  Our hidden agenda is really general education reform, but that isn't much of a secret.

Is the broader initiative really about different standards or more testing, using Liberal arts as a cover?

Chancellor Withdraws from Search

Chancellor Wells announced this afternoon that he is no longer a candidate to head the Pennsylvania State System.   He writes that the position was not a good fit for him.

Wow!  I am surprised!  The comments here reminded me about what a big promotion this would be for him.

For the campus, I would say that this is a good thing.   The continuity that this means for us on campus is surely a good thing, whether we fully agree with his policies or not.  All of the unfinished initiatives on campus need someone to keep pushing.

Here is his announcement:

To the UW Oshkosh Campus Community
 
I have just returned from several days of discussions with the Pennsylvania State University System of Higher Education (PASSHE) regarding the position of System Chancellor. These conversations were positive and fruitful, and the Board of Governors, which has not yet made a decision, has encouraged my continued candidacy. However, it is my impression that this leadership opportunity is not the best fit for me or perhaps PASSHE. Therefore, I have withdrawn my candidacy. I would like to take this opportunity to wish continued success to PASSHE’s outgoing Chancellor, Judy Hample, and her successor.
 
I suspect that my candidacy for this position has understandably raised concerns among some members of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh community. Therefore, I think it appropriate for me to briefly explain why I initially decided to become a candidate.
 
As you may know, experienced university chancellors and presidents are routinely recruited for other positions. In my case, I have been heavily recruited for more than a dozen such leadership roles, many of which have been excellent opportunities. With a few exceptions, I have chosen not to pursue these opportunities because of the outstanding support and success we are experiencing at UW Oshkosh.
 
One such exception was the Chancellorship of the Pennsylvania State University System. PASSHE is the fifth-largest system of higher education in the nation, comprised of 14 excellent public comprehensive universities.
 
It is important for me to acknowledge again how much I enjoy and appreciate being the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. I have always considered it to be a great honor to serve as your Chancellor.
 
I greatly appreciate the patience and understanding many of you demonstrated this past week. I will continue, with your help and understanding, to work with you and to remain committed and focused as we move forward the priorities of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
 
 
Richard H. Wells
Chancellor

Publishers shift blame for high book prices

The A-T ran this article last Thursday--I just spotted it on-line this morning.  The bold headline, "Publishers: Professors drive up book prices," leads us to a story about the publisher's attempt to blame someone besides themselves for textbook prices.

There was a forum somewhere on campus last week that discussed textbook prices.  Apparently, representatives of the textbook companies claim that we are driving the prices of books up by reselling the copies that they deluge us with.

It looks like a tactic to try to get the students to look away from the other, much more significant issues in the textbook market. 

Let's start with unnecessary new editions.  Companies produce them on average once every three years--obviously in order to undercut the used book market, not because basic knowledge in any discipline is changing that rapidly.

Next, we might add unnecessarily elaborate printing--do we really need glossy paper, color on every page, exaggerated graphics, to get across the essentials of our discipline.  How much does that raise the cost?

How about profit?  According to the National Association of College Bookstores, 32% of the cost of each book is profit for the publishing company.  How much could we add to this for marketing costs? 

These are just a few elements that pop to mind. 

What we really need is a textbook service that looks like PloS.  Lets make the textbook knowledge available for public use and find a publishing track that can eliminate the worst excesses of the academic book market.

Will the Chancellor move to Pennsylvania?

Chancellor Wells announced today that he is a finalist for chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System Chancellor.

Sounds like a big promotion--moving to be the equivalent of President Reilly [EDIT: I called him Wiley in the first version] of our own system.

The chancellor does like to keep his hat in the ring--always looking for something better.

He seems to make the short-list about once a year. The last time we heard about his attempt to leave was back in October 2006. He thought about California in 2005.

I suppose I should have more of an opinion about this, but it is hardly surprising.

On-Line Textbooks Better?

The New York Times editorializes today that we should all think about using on-line textbooks, to cut back on costs for students.

This is based on a study that claims that students to no worse using them than using regular printed books.  The cynic in me says its because they don't read either. . . .

I asked my students about it, and about 40% said they would buy an on-line version if it cost less.  I may look into it.

Are international standardized tests the new frontier?

As if the US Dept. of Ed. wasn't bad enough, now the OECD is thinking of developing standardized tests. 

Luckily, the crowd in Washington doesn't like the idea of international organizations having input into education more than they do in any other area.

But if you are going to argue that standardized tests tell you something useful, why not make it an international comparison??

You can also see the anti-standardized testers in action in the Ivy league.  Apparently, Brown, Harvard, and Princeton are admitting a portion of their students at random.

Food for thought on Earth Day!

Publishers go after E-Reserve

In copyright-holder's never ending quest to crush fair-use, we find a new chapter.  Publishers are suing Georgia State for their e-Reserve.  Here is the story from the NYTimes.

The publishers claim that some material available on campus electronically contains too large of a percentage of copyrighted material.   I am sure that by filing the lawsuit, they hope to convince skittish administrators to tighten e-reserve policies across the country.

Our library's e-reserve policy strikes a good balance at the moment, but I wonder if they won't be pressured to change now that lawsuits are in the air. . . 

Support for grading change substantial

The vote is in.  Faculty strongly voted in favor of changing the grading system.  65% of those who voted said yes to a 12-point scale.

Interestingly, there is a big split between colleges.

COLS and Nursing were overwhelmingly for the change, while the College of Business was strongly against it (the email says 2-1).  COEHS was split evenly.

I'll admit that I voted in favor of the resolution, although I expressed reservations earlier.  I wouldn't mind having the extra flexibility, though I have gotten used to the old way of doing things.  

I wonder why voters in COBA are so strongly opposed.  Anyone who voted against the change want to chime in?

Philosophy is booming!?

The New York Times reports this week that the number of philosophy majors at Rutgers is up.  The article implies that this is part of a broader trend towards resurgence of the importance of the liberal arts. (The NYT does like to report anomalies as if they are part of a larger trend!)

It would be nice to see, if true, that students are realizing that an "unpractical" major like philosophy is worthwhile.  Does anyone know if that is true here at UWO?

Can LERT be part of a movemnt that will convince students of the value of philosophy?  Is a broader trend on the horizon that will emphasize core skills and exploration in college, rather than mundane job training?

You will be assimilated: Join Wikipedia now!

A biology professor argues that wikipedia has won.  We should accept this and become one with the borg (forgive the Star Trek analogy).

Editing content in our area of expertise would make wikipedia worthwhile.  I am not sure I buy it.  Wikipedia can have good information on it, but both we and our students need to be very skeptical of anything presented there.  Our editing would only make students that much more willing blindly accept what they read there.

Can you tell that I didn't finish my grading over spring break and am avoiding it this week too?

Is Your Prof on Drugs???

Are professors taking stimulants to get ahead?  The NYTimes wants to know. . .

Some anecdotal evidence suggests that professors are taking adderall and other stimulants, so that they can stay focused and work twice as hard.    Do you think there is a lot of brain-doping among the faculty here?  

The article goes from that to a discussion of whether brain-doping is worse than steroids in sports.  The media does like the broad discussion about where we should/can draw the line between unnatural and natural improvement of ourselves.  . .

Do we need a new grading scale?

The faculty senate wants to change the grade scale here at Oshkosh.  They are holding a referendum on the question in a few weeks.

The referendum asks whether we should abandon the current scale and move to a more traditional +/- scale.  Now we have an 8-point scale, if we change, we would have a 12-point scale.

The reasons for this seems to be that the current scale does not give us enough precision in grading and that we are different than most other institutions.

Now that I have written this, I can't figure out why.  Who cares?  Who dislikes the present scale so much that we need to change it?  I can not really be against having the ability to make finer distinctions, but I don't see why this has come up as a topic now.

Does anyone have really strong feelings about this?  Are we or our students suffering because there are only 8 possible grades?

Sh** hits the fan: UW System moves to regulate off-campus behavior

It is all over the news this week:  UW system is trying to change campus rules to be able to punish students for off-campus behavior.  New rules have been distributed for comment that seem to radically change the nature of the relationship between students and the universities.  

You can read the Northwestern's editorial here.  There are news stories across the entire state. 

Looking at a few stories, it looks dangerously vague--students can be disciplined on campus for imparing the university's mission.  What in the world does that mean?   

The vagueness seems to suggest that an overzealous administrator could punish a student for stridently criticizing their institution.  It also makes me wonder about how the universities would be able to implement this code.  Are the university authorities now going to leave campus to police the neighborhoods?  Are we going to employ snitches to rat out students who behave badly off campus? 

It looks like a hornets nest to me. . . 

 

House of Representatives attacks high price of textbooks

A Washington Post blog reports that the House of Representatives has passed legislation that requires divulging the price of textbooks to teachers and restricts bundling of books with other items.  The language is not in the Senate version of the bill, so it is probably just noise.

However,  as we have been talking about textbook costs on our own campus, it seems like an interesting story.  I often end up going to amazon to find the cost of the books that flood my mailbox.   I am sensitive to the cost of my choices, but don't let that be the deciding factor.

Having better access to the price would definitely make things easier for me.

Conservatives have wrong mind-set for Academia

The Chronicle of Higher Education has the story of a conservative public policy professor who argues that conservative values are the reason there are fewer people on the right in academia.  

He and his wife surveyed undergraduates and came to this conclusion.  Here is my favorite paragraph:

For example, liberal students reported valuing intellectual freedom, creativity, and the chance to write original work and make a theoretical contribution to science. They outnumbered conservative students two to one in the humanities and social sciences — which are among the fields most likely to produce interest in doctoral study. Conservative students, however, put more value on personal achievement and orderliness, and on practical professions, like accounting and computer science, that could earn them lots of money.

This is an interesting argument and generally makes sense to me.   What do you think?

Dumbing Down America

Susan Jacoby writes this article in the Sunday Washington Post.  In it, she argues there is a crisis of anti-intellectualism in America.  On top of the fact that Americans don't know much, she argues there is a growing belief that you don't need to know much.

I found this a thought-provoking piece and I wonder if we face this dillema more acutely than most.  Our students already believe that college is mostly about getting a piece of paper so that they can get a job.  Are they also becoming increasingly resistant to learning?

Budget Crisis Looming: Lets Raise Administrators' Pay!!

The Journal-Sentinal reports that the Regents have decided to raise the pay range of UW system chancellors.  The largest raise is a whopping 66% increase for UW Madison, but all the others' new range is at least 10% higher.

We recieved the notice from the Chancellor about watching our spending because of a slowing Wisconsin economy.  Now, we have the tone-deaf regents getting ready to raise the pay of administrators as the rest of the state prepares for cuts.

Why do administrators think they deserve so much money anyway?  Apparently the current crop are doing an awful job at their pay level and we need to encourage better applicants.  At least that is the excuse. . . .  Maybe we can cut a few more faculty lines to pay for the fat raises!

New Movie Policy Coming?

Someone actually posted something to the COLS discussion list this morning. It seems as of late, there has been almost no list activity. In this case, it is a bit of old business. Three historians are announcing that there will be a change in campus-wide movie policy.

The new policy will allow clubs to show movies, with certain restrictions--you can read about it below. I am glad to see that student groups will again be able to show movies on campus without having to pay big licensing fees!

Still, it seems inexplicable that the Reeve Union theater can not be used for such activities. Apparently, Petra Roter and students do not believe that any education takes place there. Isn't that why they built it in the first place?!?

For a little context, you can look at the blogposts from the spring of 2006:

Film Nazi's Invade Campus

Fair Use Debate Rages All Day

Revised Movie Policy Appears on Discussion List

Anyway, here is the letter:

Dear Colleagues:

Karl Loewenstein, Michelle Kuhl and I are happy to announce that there will soon be a new set of guidelines for screening films and documentaries on our campus.

We initially engaged the university community in a discussion on this topic, you may recall, in April 2006. That discussion was triggered by several history students’ concern over the impact new guidelines were having on student groups’ ability to screen films on campus. (In that month the Student Allocations Committee froze the funding of the International Film Series and threatened the leadership of the History Club with legal action and punitive fines if they showed historical films without purchasing public performance rights—rights obtained at approximately $300 per film.)

Over the past twenty months we have been working with Dr. Petra Roter, Reeve Director Randy Hedge and UW System Legal to forge a commonsense campus-wide film policy based on guidelines set forth in Section 110 (1) of the 1976 Copyright Act. In a conference call with an UW System attorney, we reached an agreement on the feasibility of showing films and documentaries in campus “educational spaces” devoted to instruction.

In subsequent months, we failed to convince the Reeve Advisory Council, the Oshkosh Student Association, Petra Roter and Reeve Union staff that the Reeve Union Theater qualifies as an educational space—a “similar place devoted to instruction” as outlined in the provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act. Most recently they have ratified their position by citing the fact that Reeve Union is funded by student segregated fees and is therefore not technically an academic building.

The revised guidelines have been submitted to the OSA and SAC and will soon be incorporated into the Student Handbook. While several details need to be ironed out, the revised guidelines make it clear that student groups may legally show films in academic buildings without paying for public performance rights as long as the films are shown primarily for educational purposes. In order to substantiate the educational purpose, the guidelines suggest that the showing should be in an academic building and under the supervision of an instructor teaching a class related to the film.

Those of us who recall with fondness the vibrant film cultures which thrived on the campuses we once attended and who now assign films in their classrooms (and who, in the process, are continually heartened by students’ confessions that they “blown away” by films [black-and-white, foreign language and documentary] that they would never have dreamed of viewing on their own) may still be disappointed that access to the premiere venue on campus for film—the Reeve Union—is restricted. But we are glad that a set of new and revised guidelines have addressed previous misperceptions and will ultimately create an environment that will add to the educational experience of our students.

Sincerely,

Stephen Kercher, Karl Loewenstein and Michelle Kuhl
Department of History