You can't hit the breaks when you're going uphill.
After playing around with ChatGPT, I have decided to allow my history students to use AI. Working out ways to stop them from using it will only create more stress and work than it's worth. I have therefore included instructions in the syllabus about how they can and cannot use AI.
And so I set sail on uncharted waters towards the endless horizon, like generations of intrepid explorers before me.
"In response to a grad student worker strike, the school recommends that staff utilize generative AI tools “to give feedback or facilitate ‘discussion’ on readings or assignments.”"
A Texas A&M Regent says "McElroy’s hiring would derail the “purpose” outlined for the journalism program: “to get high-quality Aggie journalists with conservative values into the market.”
Tell me again how liberals are controlling university values? /s
Does anyone in #highered know of any good resources / reviews / analysis on the influences of consulting firms on university finance and governance? The more I look, the more it seems like the trend of universities running like businesses is being pushed through a coordinated effort. @academicchatter@academicsunite
"My broader concern is that uni's are still pushing the model of social media that was the norm throughout 2010s – that every upwardly mobile ambitious academic needs to be highly visible on dominant platform & be seen engaging on a regular basis. That was always bad advice.. As that breaks down, our academic cmnties need to get much better at facilitating other modes of engagement so that we are never again so reliant on a big corporate platform"
We are finally dropping an episode about the thing no one wants to talk about - boundaries in teaching! Boundaries are confusing personally, let alone professionally, & there is almost ZERO info on setting boundaries as a teacher!
We don't have a magical solution, but we're offering starting points, give us a listen.
Deleted a post from yesterday that shocked a lot of people (in that I revealed my age, lol)...
but seriously if there is anyone in #HigherEd#development on here, maybe think twice about approaching your alumni who work in higher ed. Given how your institutions have treated their workforces during the ongoing pandemic, it's not a time to hit us up for cash, believe me.
Question for the in-the-know union folks (with background first): I'm pro-union, but my experience as a disabled worker in UAW 2865 was one of the most awful experiences of betrayal and abuse I've ever experienced in any field. Which union you're in and what their culture is matters.
Since a number of grad workers are trying to unionize, it might be good to talk about which unions currently have the most honest democratic cultures you know of? #Labor#HigherEd#UCAccessNow@academicchatter
I was talking to post docs, and some of them told me they have zero teaching experience, other than guest lectures. Is that a German thing? @sociology@phdstudents #HigherEd
LOL at email for course "aimed at graduate students and postdocs" about how to teach...as if most of the professors didn't also need this... @academicchatter
Texas A&M has agreed to pay Dr. Kathleen McElroy $1 million after her recruitment process broke down over "DEI hysteria." Dr. McElroy will remain a tenured professor at UT Austin.
"Academics, under pressure to conform to performance metrics, have produced more and more reading material. All this busy writing has resulted in the creation of a reading mountain, so large it is a sincere threat to our ability to do our jobs." - @thesiswhisperer
Do you do group #assessments for your #highered courses? How do you deal with "free-riders" who don't engage with the rest of the group?
At the moment I'm thinking of
having students include a statement of who has done what in their final product
having a couple of sessions (beginning of term and mid-term) where each group presents a plan first and a short progress report later, which clearly states student contributions
stress to the students that part of the idea for a group assessment is for them to organise and work in a group. I'm a bit torn on this one as it seems unfair to put the onus for those who don't engage on those who do... but hey that's what happens in real life...
Donor Ross Stevens 'appalled' by Penn President Elizabeth Magill's stance on antisemitism said to pull $100m donation following her congressional testimony.
"In an email, seen by the BBC, Mr Stevens said: 'I have clear grounds to rescind Penn's $100 million of Stone Ridge shares due to the conduct of President Magill.'"
Genuine question about the use of AI tools in higher ed: A letter forbidding students to use AI tools for, among other things, summarizing literature or paraphrasing existing text will be out soon. Do you think using AI to understand arguments differently is problematic? Why?
Of nearly 3,000 musical examples cited in the 7 most commonly-used college music theory textbooks, how many were written by nonwhite composers?
(According to a 2020 study)
"For Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, a hearing on antisemitism went relatively well. But on campus, intense protests suggest a difficult road ahead for the university."
The documentary "Berkeley in the Sixties" is a must-watch for how student activism revulsed the rich white supremacists in this country, making them slash education funding.