Posts published in November, 2012

Does Student Use Of Technolgy Impede Attention Spans And Perseverance?

Two new surveys reveal widespread belief among teachers that constant use of technology is hampering student attention spans and perseverance in the face of challenging tasks, reports The New York Times. The studies were conducted by the Pew Internet Project and Common Sense Media, and their timing appears coincidental. Researchers also caution that they offer subjective views of teachers, not definitive proof that computers, phones, and video games affect student capacity to focus. Even so, those who study technology’s impact on behavior and the brain say the studies are significant because teachers spend hours a day observing students. Nearly 90 percent of 2,462 respondents in the Pew survey said that digital technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” Similarly, of the 685 teachers surveyed in the Common Sense project, 71 percent thought technology was hurting attention spans “somewhat” or “a lot.” About 60 percent said it hindered students’ ability to write and communicate face-to-face, and almost half said it hurt critical thinking and ability to do homework. There was little difference in perception between younger and older teachers. While the Pew research explored how technology affects attention span, it also examined how it has changed student research habits. The Common Sense survey focused largely on how teachers saw the impact of technology on a range of classroom skills.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/c96j6st Source: PEN Newsblast

Junior Professors Risk Career If They Do Not “Kiss Up” To Senior Professors

Guest blogger by James Ferguson

Working for the sacred cows, junior professors need the help of supervisors and senior professors to get renewed and tenured, senior professors can take advantages of that by asking junior professors to do the things that they have the rights not to do. Thus, the questions for junior professors: to kiss up or not to kiss up? If not to kiss up, to protest or not to protest? The question for the graduate programs: to offer the course, The Art of Kissing Up in Academia 501 or not to offer?

If you don’t kiss up, and even dare to protest, you can be retaliated against. As an unintended consequence, the brave talents are weeded out, and the less talented sheep are tenured. Fortunately, this is less likely to happen among top tier universities.

Among the pretext the universities proffer to retaliate against junior professors, student evaluation (ratings) of professors is the most effective. If the ratings are high, the universities not only can online pokie machine say that the professors teach well, but also can say that the professors lower standards, give easy graders, and bride students for high ratings; If the ratings are low, the universities can say that the professors have low teaching performance, but they can also say that the professors are known for their rigorousness and maintain high standards in their teaching profession.

Such an art of pretext is detailed in the case decided by the Second Circuit Court this month.The Second Circuit reversed summary judgment in the State University of New York (SUNY) retaliation case, which is the subject of a short article titled “Mucho pretext in SUNY retaliation case” at

http://secondcircuitcivilrights.blogspot.com/2012/10/mucho-pretext-in-suny-retaliation-case.html

Would Student Pledge To Complete College Prevent Drop Outs?

COMMITTING TO COMPLETE
If an incoming community college student were asked right off the bat to pledge to complete a degree or credential, in a moment of truth, would that student think of his promise before transferring or dropping out? What if thousands of others signed the same pledge? What if faculty and the president had signed one promising to do all they could to help the student complete?  There’s no telling yet, but if all those components come together the way pledge architects hope they do, completion rates will be on the upswing within a couple of years. By that time, the first cohort of students to sign such a pledge will be due to earn associate degrees. The pledges are part of the commitment that six national community college organizations made in April 2010 to boost student completion rates by 50 percent during the next decade. About a year after those groups signed their own “Call to Action,” three of them — the American Association of Community Colleges, the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society — drafted versions to take to presidents, faculty and staff, and students, respectively. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.

Obama’s Biggest Hits And Misses In Higher Education Policy

Graduate School Enrollment Continues to Drop

Enrollment Drops Again in Graduate Programs
“Enrollment in college is still climbing, but students are increasingly saying no to graduate school in the United States. New enrollment in graduate schools fell last year for the second consecutive year, according to a report from the Council of Graduate Schools. The declines followed surges in enrollment in 2008 and 2009 as many unemployed workers sought a haven during the recession. Financial considerations probably played a role in the shift. Students may be dissuaded from continuing their education in part because of the increasing debt burden from their undergraduate years.”
nytimes.com

Why U.S. Universities Must Continue To Encourage Careers In Agriculture

Guest Blogger: Lenore Holditch

According to the USDA, half of all current farmers in the United States are nearing retirement. This could be a big problem, because training for a career in agriculture has not been a popular choice among most college students for the better part of a century. A labor shortage could be on the horizon, and this is why universities, especially land-grant universities, must work harder to encourage students to think about a career in farming or ranching.

As a modernized country, we have the luxury of never having to think about how our food gets to us, but this doesn’t mean that the system is perfect or indestructible. Although the mechanization of farming could help lessen the effects of a labor shortage, it most certainly would not produce quality food. It would also further destroy the environment.

If the country wants to have a productive food system that is healthy, it must focus on sustainable farming practices, and this requires better training in land stewardship and local, small business farming. This training responsibility should fall squarely on the shoulders of our public universities; namely those that were originally established for the purpose of agriculture and mechanics education (land-grant universities).

Why is it so important to focus on sustainable agriculture training, especially since so many statistics show it is not profitable? The answer is; sustainable farming practices are the best for our nation’s health and future. Admittedly, since the Industrial Revolution, the business of family farming has decreased dramatically, but the negative effects of industrial farming and agribusiness cannot be ignored.

Those negative effects include a decline in soil health and water quality, a rise in the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, a decline in nutritious food choices and monopolization of supply by a small number of large-scale farms. Poor farming practices and corporate agriculture may help keep our food prices low, but that doesn’t make it the best method. More people are becoming conscious of this, and this is why we have seen a rise in demand for organic and local food.

Universities should see this demand as a perfect opportunity to prepare incoming students for a career in sustainable, small business agriculture. After all, behind huge public demand lies a great small business opportunity. Farming still is a relevant career (even in this modern age), because besides clean water, food is the basis of life. It is also a satisfying career that should be revered and fostered by the public, especially by land-grant universities.

If you are interested in learning more about a career in farming or sustainable agriculture, please visit the USDA’s official website at USDA.gov or the Center for Rural Affairs official site at CFRA.org.

Lenore Holditch is a freelance writer and blogger who has contributed articles to numerous education resource websites, such as www.TopOnlineColleges.com. Her writing often focuses on anything related to higher learning, including technology, education reform and basic advice for students. Please share your comments and questions with Lenore below.