Lifelong Learning

CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST- Administrators and Part-Timers: Changes in U.S. Higher Education Workforce

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I’ll only add that institutions are defined by their people. As the full-time and tenured faculty become a smaller share of the employees of the institution and the professional administrators become a larger share, the nature and character of the institution inevitably changes. In this case, colleges and universities have become less about faculty, teaching, and research, and more about the provision of professional services to students and faculty. As far as I know, this shift was not planned or chosen, and the costs and benefits of such a shift were not analyzed in advance. It just happened.

via CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST: Administrators and Part-Timers: Changes in U.S. Higher Education Workforce.

$700 or $915 per credit hour, depending on degree.

The numbers above are pulled directly from a university website.  The campus sits just a mile from my house.  The work is part time and I don’t qualify for either pay level.  To work part time teaching at a university you need a minimum of a Masters degree.  So someone who busts their butt to earn a Doctorate can make $915.00 per credit hour.

I’m speechless.

 

Tablet and E-reader Ownership Update – Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

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The number of Americans ages 16 and older who own tablet computers has grown to 35%, and the share who have e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks has grown to 24%. Overall, the number of people who have a tablet or an e-book reader among those 16 and older now stands at 43%.

Up from 25% last year, more than half of those in households earning $75,000 or more now have tablets. Up from 19% last year, 38% of those in upper-income households now have e-readers.

via Tablet and E-reader Ownership Update | Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

Hmmm…

Passion Doesn’t Always Mean Profession. | The Cynical Girl

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Passion doesn’t always mean profession. | The Cynical Girl.

Nice to see others who think like I do.  Don’t confuse passion with profession.  You can be very, very good at what you do.  You can make tons of money (or not).  But you don’t have to be passionate about your profession.  You just have to like it a lot.

One of the definitions of passion is ” strong and barely controllable emotion”.  If you feel that way about your profession, that’s wonderful.

If not, then welcome to reality for the majority.

The Science Behind What Naps Do For Your Brain–And Why You Should Have One Today | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

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Studies of napping have shown improvement in cognitive function, creative thinking, and memory performance

via The Science Behind What Naps Do For Your Brain–And Why You Should Have One Today | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.

I work from home.  This article link is for all the times I’ve been accused of napping in lieu of working.

Gotcha.

How Coursera, A Free Online Education Service, Will School Us All | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

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Coursera courses are 6 to 10 weeks long, with an hour or two of videos per week. In addition to the snap quizzes, they feature weekly exercises, ranging from problem sets to spreadsheets to design projects or essays, and sometimes a final project or exam. For all quantitative courses, the platform uses artificial intelligence to evaluate each longer exercise, with instant results. Students can keep trying until they get the right answer. For humanities courses, Coursera is testing a form of peer grading.

via How Coursera, A Free Online Education Service, Will School Us All | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.

Great article about a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).  HT – Mish.

How do I live longer? (get a plant)

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In a study of nursing home patients by researchers Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin, residents on one floor were given a plant for which they themselves were expected to care (the experimental group) while residents on another floor were given a plant for which their nurses would care (the control group). After three weeks, 93 percent of residents in the experimental group showed an overall improvement in socialization, alertness, and general function; in contrast, for 71 percent of residents in the control group functioning actually declined. And in a follow-up study eighteen months later, half as many of the residents who’d received plants for which they were expected to care by themselves had died as the residents who’d been given plants for which their nurses cared.

via How do I live longer? Here are 10 ways backed by evidence.

Great post.  To sum up: exercise, be happy, be optimistic, tell yourself aging is a good thing, and get a plant.

Change This – Art Is Freedom

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Change This – Art Is Freedom.

I believe Art represents the extraordinary form of genetic talent each of us are born with, as well as the ongoing fuel to declare this distinct expression every day. The nature of this primitive desire is so strong that when we use our artistic capacity we feel a strange empowering sense of completeness, of being at home within ourselves. You start to crave more of it, realizing this task is the single thing that makes you feel truly alive.