The truth hurts right? I once had someone call me an expert on identity. I quickly corrected them and told them that I am a specialist. I know some things, but I’m definitely no expert. I might know more than … Continue reading
I love listening to professors. I’m a professor. I don’t mind if people listen to me or not, but I love to listen to professors. More than that – I love to learn. I love learning what professors have learned … Continue reading
I have tons of friends, but I realize that I have tons of friends that I don’t know. You know what I mean? Friends that I’ve met online and have never met or seen in the flesh. I follow their … Continue reading
Data drives decisons. That’s what we academicians say. But data doesn’t necessarily drive us to action.
You can have all the data you want, but it is the emotion that moves you to action.
You can have all the research that tells you that there are problems or pollution or pain or poverty, but if you don’t have heart, it will not move you to action.
More information doesn’t mean that you’ll do anything about it. Data doesn’t necessarily drive us to action.
….is SLOOOOOOOOOOOW. If you have a great idea today that you want to research and study, by the time your idea is published, it’ll be at least a year before the world will know it. Then with a one year … Continue reading
I just finished The Shallows. What the internet is doing to our brains. by Nicholas Carr. It was a great book. Nicholas describes the impact that the internet has on the brain. He explains the brain, technology, a little bit … Continue reading
I’m definitely not an expert in this, but I recently watch a program FRONTLINE: college, inc. Here’s the link. You have to check it out. It’s very interesting.
It is a program that takes a look at for-profit higher education institutions. It’s fascinating to see the difference between a corporation run higher education institution and one run by academia. The corporate run schools are much more efficient and make a ton more money, but is that the most important thing? At these places it’s not about the faculty, the research, or even the student. The goal is profit, and you’re paying for it.
Whether you run a school or want to go to one, I think you might benefit from watching this program.
van·i·ty n. pl. van·i·ties
Okay, maybe it’s not vanity, but if you are researching something you can pretty much count on a researcher’s vanity in that they will post their articles on some personal website for you to check out. I mean, when a researcher submits an article, it’ll sit in some professional peer-reviewed journal that you can’t afford or can’t see because of some embargo. Your library can’t afford it, and neither can you. If you look hard though, you can count on the researcher posting it where you can get to it.
Okay, so maybe you don’t care, but I am grateful for their vanity – especially since I need to read it.
Are you a supertasker – check out this study.
Most of us think that we are. Most of you think that you can drive and talk on the phone, and some of us can. My wife says that I can’t. Even with a hands free device, people can’t do this. What do you think? You a supertasker? Only 2.5% of the population are.
Just so you know: the study was done with 200 people. A study with 200 people can’t be generalized to the entire population.
I presented my research yesterday in the Honors Forum at the college that I work at. A friend asked me how I can know that any of my research is true. I had to answer, that I did not know that it was true. I was not making truth claims. I made theoretical claims.
Theory and theoretical constructs are basically observations of what “seems” to be the case. If they were truth, they wouldn’t necessarily call it theory. Inherent in theory, is this inability to absolutely claim it as true. It’s the theory. It’s what we think. It’s our best guess. It’s what seems to be.
We can make truth claims – based on truth, but theory is not the same as truth. I think it was a great question. I appreciated my friend asking it.
