Author: admin

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    Getting China Money for Online Ed at UC?

    Byadmin

    UC investing millions in new cyber studies program Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, September 12, 2011 The University of California will unveil its first top-tier cyber courses in January – 26 online offerings, from global climate change to game theory. At the same time, it’s eyeing China and even American soldiers as potential sources of cash to pay for them… Economically, the online venture is equally experimental. Its most vigorous proponent, UC Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher Edley, expected to raise $6 million for the pilot program, but attracted just $748,000 in private funds. Rather than abandon the effort, UC…

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    Email Speech

    Byadmin

    There is an interesting article today in Inside Higher Ed concerning a controversy at the U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign regarding proposed limits on the use of university email and limits on use of non-university email accounts for university business. In the background of these issues are requests for emails at public universities by conservative groups, using state-level equivalents of the federal Freedom of Information Act. (California has such a law.) You can find the article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/09/12/controversy_over_e_mail_policy_proposed_at_u_of_illinois It contains links to an AAUP letter protesting the proposed policies.

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    Late Night Carmageddon?

    Byadmin

    For those who keep late nights at UCLA: 405 And 10 Freeway Interchange To Close At Night For Next Three Weeks The contractor began pouring the new roadway for the westbound 10 to northbound 405 connector on Thursday night. Some day time work will take place behind k-rail and will not require the connector to be closed. What to Expect: • Westbound 10 traffic will be detoured to northbound Bundy to eastbound Pico to northbound Cotner and to the northbound 405 on-ramp at Cotner • This work is anticipated to last three weeks and will require nightly closures of the…

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    UCLA History: The Old Normal

    Byadmin

    There has been much talk about the “New Normal” as a description of the current depressed economy. As earlier posts have noted, UCLA evolved out of the state normal school that once stood where the LA main library is located. This blog recently posted a lithograph of the school. This is an actual photograph from the late 1800s. The school was moved to Vermont Avenue where it became UCLA’s first campus. The location became the home of LA Community College after UCLA moved to Westwood in the late 1920s.

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    Some Time – But Not Too Much – Can Go By on Pensions

    Byadmin

    As has been stressed ad nauseum on this blog, UC could be swept into some statewide pension changes which would override the Regents’ action of December 2010. The legislature seems to be giving UC a bit of time to have some influence. See below: Lawmakers essentially threw in the towel Thursday on comprehensive public pension reform – at least for now. With this year’s legislative session scheduled to end at midnight today, the Assembly voted 51-21 to approve a last-minute bill declaring its commitment to pension reform but conceding that more time is needed. …The measure reads: “This bill would…

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    Settlement of Amazon War Could Lead to Budget Trigger

    Byadmin

    You may have heard of the Amazon War regarding the state budget. Technically, when you buy on line, you owe sales tax to the state. But websites such as Amazon leave it to you to pay. And you don’t. As part of the recent state budget, an attempt was made to force Amazon and other sites to collect the tax due to the state. Amazon dumped a lot of money into an initiative campaign to reverse the budget deal on the sales tax. (There are some legal questions about such an initiative and in any case the legislature then tried…

  • Turnitin or Turncoat?

    Byadmin

    My son sent me a web reference on the Turnitin system UCLA and many other universities use to check student papers for plagiarism. Much of the article complains about shortcomings of the system, i.e., things it does not find for various reasons. But toward the bottom, the article reveals that Turnitin has a service for students that tells them what their plagiarism rating is. That is contrary to the impression given instructors – and presumably to university officials who are paying for the service – that student paper ratings are known only to the instructor. The student gets only a…

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    Zen Vetoes

    Byadmin

    Governor Brown has been vetoing and signing. Among the vetoes were two that would have made commercial initiative signature gathering more difficult. One was a ban on paying signature gatherers by the signature. They would have then been paid by the hour which would have changed the incentive structure in a way that would have undermined name gathering. In theory, they would have sat in front of supermarkets and watched the clock tick rather than annoy people into signing. And he vetoed another bill that would have required signature gatherers to wear large badges saying they were being paid. Presumably,…