The pope

So, can someone tell me why Inside Higher Ed even wrote a blurb on the pope's comments on students' use of technology?!!! Or, maybe the question should be why should we care what the pope thinks about technology? Shouldn't he reserve his comments on religious matters?

Just trying to entice some debate!!! ha ha!! : )

Boards and Academic Bill of Rights

Wow - did you see what happened at the College of DuPage - a community college? Their Board of Trustees voted to basically take control of most decision-making at the school from curriculum, role of the student news paper and the selection of outside speakers. Apparently the College has been going through quite a bit of turmoil and this may be the icing on the cake. Have seen a couple of references to David Horowitz's "Academic Bill of Rights.." will have to google it to see what it's all about.

organizational problem/ organizational perspective

Nancy and I talked about this a little in class last week, but I was curious about other thoughts. We found it interesting that some problems fit better in different perspectives. For example, my undocumented immigrant problem fits better in the cultural, human resource or even the gender, class etc. perspective, at least in my opinion.

Professors and Blogs

So, here's an interesting issue - suppose a professor tells the class that if they are caught cheating, they will fail his/her class and they will be publicly "flogged..." Now, fast forward, some students are caught plagarizing and they are given F's and their names are published on the professor's blog. Should the professor be fired for this? Have the students been afforded due-process? What about academic freedom for the professor? A lot of overlapping issues here. Reminds of when I lived in Richmond, VA, the newspaper used to publish the names of individuals who were caught soliciting prostitutes. Somehow, the paper got away with it and it was available to a much broader community. Story is in today's Inside Higher Ed issue = front page.

R U a Freudian, Marxist, Darwinian, Herderite or Madisonian?!

This article hit home for me, especially in the realm of my situational "problem" I have been analyzing for class. Depending on the day and the cast of characters - I could be labeled any of these types!!! I never heard of Johann von Herder (sounds like a Monty Python character) but I related more to his philosophy.

themes

Did anyone else have trouble writing about the "themes" for this last paper? I could pick out a few themes, but wasn't sure how they were supposed to be written. How did you all do it?

Gender Assumptions

Sorry I didn't make it to class, but who could pass up being part of such an historic election! Anyway, I would appreciate any guidance anybody can give me regarding last nights discussion and the assumption we are to use putting together our next paper. My thanks in advance!

another technology article

This article "Clicker U." in the Nov. 3rd edition of Inside Education caught my attention because it was mentioned in an assessment class I took last semester. Basically it's about clickers (kind of like remote controls) used in classrooms. There are different uses, but the main one is to so the instructor can assess whether the students are understanding what is being taught. The instructor asks a questions and the students click their remote in answer to the question. The results are instantly available to the instructor. Then if students aren't understanding the lecture the instructor can go back and talk about it again. Talk about getting instant feedback from the environment that can be turned around and made into an output.

Taking Facebook Back to Campus

This article “Taking Facebook Back to Campus” in the Oct. 24th edition of Inside Education reminded me of the unclear technology assumption of the learning organization perspective. With all the technology out there it’s hard to keep track of it all. This article talks about universities using Facebook to attract new students and keep track of alumni. I think it is great to use all the new thing that are out there, but it sure adds to the chaos of a learning organization. Not only do students learn in different ways making different technology difficult for students to use, but also students have different levels of experience with the new technology. Older students, international students or low income students may not have access to the new technology.

This could also be seen from the human resource perspective as having a focus on people and making decisions to use the new technology to meet the needs of the students. Students are already using this new technology, so universities are adjusting to the times and using the technology to attract new students.

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood article

Another article, "Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" in Inside Higher Education on Oct. 16th is an example of the Structural perspective. Harvard University wanted to build a new student dorm and instead of having a design and hoping the surrounding neighborhood would approve they decided to ask the neighborhood first. The neighborhood actually came up with the design of what they wanted things to look like. Getting input from the environment- I think that is the structural perspective- unless I am mixing things up.

College Sports and Sybolism (cont.)

Apparently not everybody see big-time college athletics as a way to enhance their identity. Rutgers is infusing new life into their football team, including a $102M upgrade to their stadium to hold the throngs they hope to entice with their revamped program. Meanwhile they are undergoing a fiscal crisis; facing budget cuts (10.8%), an economic downturn and rising financial costs, which have made a number of groups on and off the campus question the wisdom of the move.

Various constituencies of the university are choosing sides. A group called the “Rutgers 1000,” consisting of alumni, professors and students, has come out against the increase in the athletic program budget, calling it a misuse of funds that could be better spent on academics. Tuition continues to rise (6.5% in 2008), and other facilities are in need of attention, critics say. The balance between athletics and academics is being upended, they contend.

Others, including the administration, are not giving way, saying that the payoff will be in increased applications and prestige, if nothing else. Rutgers has always played in the Ivy League, where football is almost looked on as an afterthought. Their ambition is to become a football powerhouse along the lines of the Big Ten and other dominant conferences. According to the New York Times story, the president of Rutgers, Richard L. McCormick, while acknowledging that the university needs to reshape its oversight and ethics policies and that it faces a severe cash crunch that is likely to scale back the stadium project, says that turning back from big-time sports is not an option.

HR at a Global University

This article "HR at a Global University" in Inside Higher Education, Oct. 15th made me think of the Human Resources perspective. Basically the article was saying that Unviersities are good at applying a Human Resource perspective (focus on people) in the US, but when campus' are opened abroad they have trouble applying that perspective. The article said that instead of having policies, like in the US for faculty going abroad, they have a "non-policy" approach that has led to people not wanting to go abroad. This non-policy approach has led to problems of salaries and decision making.

ax murderer

Speaking of the political frame:

Interesting article in the chronicle about how people/parties will coalesce against politically wounded co-workers for little or no reason. It is written about faculty, but could easily be applied to any organization.

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/10/2008101501c.htm

I was thinking when we were discussing it, that the political frame was (not the HR frame ironically) the most human or maybe just the most animal-like: Anyone who has owned a pet cat may be familiar with how they will sometimes catch a mouse only to play with it then leave it for dead. I see similar behavior in co-workers. Some people seem to fuel a situation just for the sport of it, just to create gossip, entertainment, etc.

Political animal

Nothing like the current budget crunch to see excellent illustrations of a "political organization." I sat in a few meetings last week and enjoyed watching the the agendas and alliances reveal themselves! BUT - I did not look at them as cynically as I would have last year, especially since I am part of the wranglings myself!

Hegelian Thesis

Okay, so my vocabulary level was tested by the article written by Joanne Martin. I also enjoyed reading some of her sentences back to my husband so I could laugh at his confused expression, i.e. page14 - "Hegilian thesis-antithesis-synthesis is a more sophisticated variant of linear thinking." Anyone else challenged with this article?

Budget Cuts (continued)

"Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying for postion among competing stake holders." (B&D, p. 186)

If this didn't hit so close to home, it would be fascinating to watch the struggles going on at NVCC. I'm sure the dealmaking has already started. Unfortunately, like most political decisions, everything will happen behind close doors. As observers, we will eventually find out who the "winners and losers" are, but we won't get to see HOW they won or lost. I once heard this refered to as the "a$$ kissin' and arm twistin' " part of the political process.

State Budget Cuts

FYI...I was just watching channel 4 news and they had a peice on Gov. Tim Kaine's state budget reduction plan. Today he annonced that all public educational instutions will have a 5-7% budget cut. 570 state employees will be laid off and 800 currently unfilled positions will remain that way. The 2% salary increase will also be postponed (booo!). He also noted that 2010 will be even worse!

Within the past 4 months my office has completly reorganized/restructured and there are 2 fulltime positions and 1 part-time position that will remain unfilled.

I was suprised to see that the statement about "international reputation" was at the bottom of the list of goals. I believe it used to be at the top, which emphasized its importance.

New GMU Mission Statement

The Board of Visitors just approved a new GMU mission statement:

George Mason University is innovative and entrepreneurial in spirit and utilizes its multi-campus organization and location near our nation's capital to attract outstanding scholars, faculty and programs. George Mason will:

• Educate the new generation of leaders for the 21st century - men and women capable of shaping a new economy in a global community with vision, justice and clarity.
  
  
• Encourage freedom of thought, speech and inquiry in a tolerant, respectful academic setting.
  
  
• Provide undergraduate, graduate and professional courses of study that enable students to exercise analytical and imaginative thinking and make well-founded ethical decisions.
  
  
• Nurture and support a highly qualified and entrepreneurial faculty that is excellent at teaching, active in pure and applied research, capable of providing a broad range of intellectual and cultural insights and is responsive to the needs of students and their communities.
  
  
• Maintain an international reputation for superior education that affirms its role as the intellectual and cultural nexus among Northern Virginia, the nation and the world.

What do you think?

class role play sparked discussion

This morning I was telling my boss about the role play activity we did in class and since I work in the Finance Dept of CVPA budget cuts are always on our minds. Anyway it sparked a discussion of costs involved with faculty and staff and another discussion on how decisions are made. Just thought I would share.