On Leaving Academe - Manage Your Career. By Terran Lane Earlier this year, I resigned from my position as an associate professor of computer science at the University of New Mexico; in July, I started as a software engineer at Google. Countless people, from my friends to my (former) dean, have asked, Why? Why give up an excellent—some say "cushy"—tenured faculty position for the grind of corporate life? It's a good question. Tenure represents the ultimate in intellectual freedom; my colleagues in my department were talented, friendly, and incredibly innovative; and I was privileged to work with some excellent students, a number of whom would have fit in just fine at powerhouse institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Purdue University. Honestly, the reasons are myriad and complex, and some of them are purely personal.
But I wanted to lay out the ones that speak to larger trends at the university, in New Mexico, in academe, and in the United States in general. Making a difference. Work-life imbalance. Getting the Most out of Academic Libraries—and Librarians - Lingua Franca. Bartle Library, Binghamton University. Photo: bulibraries. Chatting with a group of college and university librarians recently, I was struck by both their enthusiasm and their frustration: enthusiasm over the increasing power of technology to aid in scholarly research, and frustration that educating students and teachers is proving to be such a challenge. The group unanimously perceived a lack of skills among its clientele: Students are routinely flummoxed as to how to search for or evaluate the sources they need in their work.
But even as librarians are poised to teach information technology through classes, online tutorials, and one-on-one sessions, actually laying hold of student time and attention depends on faculty support—and that is not always easy to find. The extent to which college students are unprepared to conduct research may be surprising to those who assume that young adults are automatically proficient at any computer-related task. Ms. In Mr. As Mr. Return to Top. San Jose State Philosophy Dept. Criticizes Online Courses. Mohammad H. Qayoumi , the president of San Jose State, has pushed his university to experiment with new online technologies through pilot projects with both edX , the nonprofit Harvard-M.I.T. online collaboration that offers Dr.
Sandel’s course, and Udacity , a company producing the massive open online courses, known as MOOCs. But this week, the philosophy department sent Dr. Sandel an open letter asserting that such courses, designed by elite universities and widely licensed by others, would compromise the quality of education, stifle diverse viewpoints and lead to the dismantling of public universities. “The thought of the exact same social justice course being taught in various philosophy depts. across the country is downright scary,” the letter said.
The letter came as a surprise to the provost, Ellen Junn, because, she said, no one had demanded that the philosophy department use the Sandel course. Dr. While expressing respect for Dr. Many college presidents, too, are MOOC skeptics. Gizmodo. New Test for Computers - Grading Essays at College Level. Photo Imagine taking a college exam, and, instead of handing in a blue book and getting a grade from a professor a few weeks later, clicking the “send” button when you are done and receiving a grade back instantly, your essay scored by a software program. And then, instead of being done with that exam, imagine that the system would immediately let you rewrite the test to try to improve your grade.
EdX, the nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to offer courses on the Internet, has just introduced such a system and will make its automated software available free on the Web to any institution that wants to use it. The software uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers, freeing professors for other tasks. The new service will bring the educational consortium into a growing conflict over the role of automation in education. “There is a huge value in learning with instant feedback,” Dr. Agarwal said. Dr. CourseSmart E-Textbooks Track Students’ Progress for Teachers. Jennifer Whitney for The New York Times Adrian Guardia, a Texas A&M instructor in management, uses CourseSmart to track students’ progress in their e-textbooks.
They know when students are skipping pages, failing to highlight significant passages, not bothering to take notes — or simply not opening the book at all. “It’s Big Brother, sort of, but with a good intent,” said Tracy Hurley, the dean of the school of business. The faculty members here are neither clairvoyant nor peering over shoulders. They, along with colleagues at eight other colleges, are testing technology from a Silicon Valley start-up, CourseSmart, that allows them to track their students’ progress with digital textbooks.
Major publishers in higher education have already been collecting data from millions of students who use their digital materials. Adrian Guardia, a Texas A&M instructor in management, took notice the other day of a student who was apparently doing well. “It was one of those aha moments,” said Mr.
World's top 100 universities 2013: their reputations ranked by Times Higher Education | News. Harvard university has topped the Times Higher Education world reputation rankings 2013. Photograph: Mark Peterson/ Corbis Harvard university has once again topped the Times Higher Education 's world reputation ranking of universities. The 2013 rankings , show the US dominating the list with more than 40 institutions in the top 100. Following Harvard are Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cambridge university, taking second and third place respectively. Oxford university has climbed two places since the 2012 rankings , to take fourth place and Stanford university has dropped down to sixth. The rankings also highlight a big improvement for Australia which now has six universities represented in the top 100 - the third highest representation in the list behind the US and the UK. With nine universities in the top 100, the UK has the second highest number of representatives after the US .
Overall, the UK's representation in the top 100 has declined since 2011. Data summary NEW!