Friday, June 11, 2010

Tim Pawlenty on the Daily Show talks about iCollege

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty talks about "iCollege" on the Daily Show (Pt 1 of the unedited interview. Why shouldn't students have a choice to pull out their iPhones or their iPads and decide what courses to take via "iCollege"? Why drive to campus to sit through a boring lecture? The government can provide students with as much support as possible and allow students to direct their own education. Ok, this is a "talking point" and isn't fleshed out. Is he thinking about a sequence of nationally-produced courses monitored by teaching assistants? Is he thinking de-funding campuses? No more college football? Does he sound like he's read DIY U? More on Pawlenty:

"Warning for MSU

Asked by a university employee about the prospects for funding for state colleges in the upcoming legislative session, Pawlenty provided a prediction for 2010 and a long-term forecast.

“It’s going to be reduced somewhat,” he said, referencing the state’s budget shortfall.

The bigger issue for colleges and college towns is the more dramatic change coming to higher education as teaching moves from classrooms to computers.

“I think higher education is going to be radically transformed in the next 20 years in a way that people in higher education don’t see coming,” Pawlenty said.

College officials are planning for new buildings — “clinging to the status quo” — even in the face of a digital revolution that offers more efficient, and possibly more effective, ways of teaching students, he said.

“You’re going to see the higher education establishment have the rug pulled out from under them in a way that totally blindsides them,” he said.

“They better get ready. If I was Mankato State University, I’d be less worried about how many undergraduate buildings I’m going to be building and more worried about how I’m going to lead the digital revolution that’s coming.”"

from January 20, 2010 http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x1085945956/Pawlenty-Higher-ed-is-about-to-change

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

June 7, 2010 Critical Literaries - and lots of teaching

The first week of teaching three online courses simultaneously is over this evening - starting on week 2! I find it time-consuming which could be considered a bad thing as in "it takes too much time", but more than that, I find it absorbing which is a good thing! I added some notes to two courses and identified two articles that I think will go on ereserves for the third course - all in response to some student remarks. Teaching the courses pushes other things into the background. However I am going to see if I can get to the Critical Literacies open meeting on Wednesday. http://ple.elg.ca/course/?p=1

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Critical Literacies 2010 - CritLit2010

I am participating in Critical Literacies 2010. (Course tag #CritLit2010 ) I'm dealing with a couple of writing projects about library and internet research, so the topic's a fit... and I have some colleagues who are interested. I enjoy being the scout on their behalf. (It must be that librarian thing.) Also, I want to see how this type of open course goes! The readings: Alec Fisher's sample chapter "Critical Thinking: An Introduction" http://assets.cambridge.org/052100/9847/sample/0521009847ws.pdf. Page 12, Question 1.8: Very good scenario for a class discussion concerning two friends watching an American news broadcast about the Gulf War.