One of the most well-known professional development parables is the story of a rookie lumberjack who is a phenom when first let loose in the forest. Many trees fall but as the days add up, the new lumberjack cuts fewer and fewer trees. Frustrations mount and our lumberjack considers quitting. Only when a seasoned colleague…
Category: Reviews
Reviews of books, articles, and the like
Learning Science?!?
Foretelling the future is impossible. But measured predictions, from smart and informed people, using good data, hard work and solid evidence, can be possible and reliable. A good example is Robert S. Feldman‘s Learning Science: Theory, Research, & Practice. Making claims about higher education and technology is inherently risky (Did anyone anticipate Zoom? Remember the…
Ginzel on Choosing Leadership
“Leadership is a choice.” Professor Linda Ginzel of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business begins her book, Choosing Leadership: A Workbook, with that deceptively simple sentence. It’s a powerful claim, an assertion that carries with it expectations and consequences. Leadership, she asserts, is a “skill that needs to be constantly practiced and developed.”…
An Economist’s Call for Equality
Economists, I think, often tend to have a different way of looking at things. They ask particular sorts of questions and often arrive at different kinds of answers than us non-economists. For us, economic work often can seem to take place in a world unto itself. Sometimes, though, what economists argue and and call out…
Islands of Engagement: Higher Education and Democracy
A meaningful college education is more than a collection of courses, an assembly of skills, and a few letters after one’s name. College educated signifies a level of intellectual and personal maturity, the possibility of real agency, and substantive worth. For some, college educated also carries with it responsibilities of citizenship and civic engagement. Many…
Crisis As The New Normal
Goldie Blumenstyk is an editor and reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education. She’s been writing about academia for decades and has rightly established herself as one of the most respected journalists covering the field. I read her regularly and trust her judgment, as do many others who work in higher ed. Five years ago…
An Immigrant’s Educational Journey
One of the most effective ways to look at rights of passage is by tracking a group of people. It’s a familiar model that can lend itself to different kinds of experiences, from war stories to expeditions to immigration to more. Chronology usually drives the narrative, with the beginning introducing us to a disparate group…