Blurts

I am reading the new COSN study concerning web2.0 in education. My first reaction has been why would the organization go to the trouble of collecting these data and then decide to concentrate on administrators rather than classroom teachers. If you wanted the best data on what happens in classrooms and what students know or don’t know why not ask the professionals closest to the students? Administrators might influence the direction schools take, but would seem to be far less knowledgeable concerning the students.

Data show NCLB is not closing racial gap in achievement. I have just finished the G. Glass book “Fertilizer, Pills and Magnetic Strips”. This is exactly the outcome Glass predicts. Now – more of the same or something different?

This OpEd piece from the NY Times has appeared on several sites I view. I think it is a little off-target. The notion that grad/professional programs are mostly preparing clones of the professoriate is likely untrue.

In other words, young people enroll in graduate programs, work hard for subsistence pay and assume huge debt burdens, all because of the illusory promise of faculty appointments. But their economical presence, coupled with the intransigence of tenure, ensures that there will always be too many candidates for too few openings.

Faculty members cultivate those students whose futures they envision as identical to their own pasts, even though their tenures will stand in the way of these students having futures as full professors.

Such arguments take an extreme view I am guessing is not true for the majority of graduate students. Positions in higher education are difficult to come by and very competitive. This is a reality. Think of the system as similar to professional sports without the high salaries. The notion that many graduates do not get an academic postition is legit – the notions that there are few options or that most graduate students assume they are headed in this direction are ridiculous. In bad economic times, most occupations become more restricted.

This assumption that we are training future academics is certainly not true for the department in which I work. It also is not true for two of my children. Many professionals require advanced training – clinical psychologists (my department), health professions (physical and occupational therapy – my daughters), educational administration and many teachers, etc. These programs may or may not involve research experience. Our clinical program follows what is called a “research/practitioner” model (an American Psychological Association training option). These students have research experience appropriate to their area, but most do not expect to become researchers. The idea is that practitioners should be prepared in a way that engages them with the data-based arguments supporting practice and should be open to future advances based on this same perspective. In other words, APA believes in the development of “domain specific critical thinking” skills and one of the more effective way to do this is through modeling and small group practice (doing it). The approach in the case of my department can be differentiated from programs (psy-doc) programs most of which prepare sizeable groups of practitioners in mass or from programs that place a priority of training future academics. Just what kind of background does the public want health care providers to have?

As far as low pay and a research focus goes. The American public gets a cheap deal on research activity through higher ed institutions. Research that is considered basic research (not tied to product development) would be very sparse without the type of thing that goes on in most research oriented institutions.

BTW – my daughter the physical therapist is a practitioner who also does research. She works on the physical needs of young children who must be involved in long term chemotherapy. This is her practice, but she works with researchers from the university who are interested in her techniques. The work would not go on without this collaboration and I am guessing if your kids were participants you would not be that concerned with whether the university folks involved were making enough money or whether any graduate students involved were able to acquire a position in a year or so. This is how research happens.

So, I think the issue is really how much of this type of experience can our society afford. Is it too costly? I don’t know – make the decision for your own kids.

Cornell researchers are using the geotags and tags from Google to analyze our attention (at least as captured in our photographs). I bet if you have visited Chicago you have a picture of the bean and NYC a picture of the Apple store. London is one of the most photographed cities with the London eye a typical photogragh. I think I have most of the images they mentioned. Does this mean I lack creativity or that we all take a look at the sites developed for us to view? I would think the interesting data would be in nonpromoted attention.

This from the Economist on broadband access via cable. Are we being limited because the cable providers fear digital alternatives to premium cable channels which are overpriced while  underused? Is it really a free market when alternatives are not available to allow a competiive method for setting prices? Perhaps the interstate highway system as a nationalized resource to encourage economic productivity and equity is a good model.

This is an interesting post from ReadWriteWeb concerning generational differences in social tool use in the work place. I am guessing that the results would correlate with differences in preference for a particular style of dress. I must have a little 60s rebelliouness in me, but I find those who focus on appearance rather than accomplishment to be annoying. However, one must be careful in reaching this conclusion regarding informal rules of behavior – when is multi-tasking in a social situation distracting or inefficient? When does it reduce the attention required for effective collaboration? When is it an appropriate response to “nothing I am a meaningful part of is going on”?

So, here is a counter question? Is it inappropriate for me as instructor to listen to my ipod while students are taking a test? What if I don’t hum or dance?