News

On Second Thought

Byuclafaculty

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, major universities are have second thoughts about having commercial MOOC providers handle their online courses. Colleges looking to expand their online course offerings have often enlisted help from education-technology companies. A college might buy a learning-management system from Blackboard, e-tutoring software from Pearson, and so on. Coursera, the Silicon Valley-based company that specializes in massive open online courses, recently became the latest technology firm to offer services aimed at credit-bearing online programs at large universities. Now the provosts in a consortium of major research universities are considering whether their group should build its…

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In a family way

Byuclafaculty

Families may not be what they once were, back in the day.  But Inside Higher Ed today carries a story about an effort by the American Council on Education (ACE) to deal with worklife-family balance for faculty.  Readers will know of such changes in the faculty promotion system such as “stopping the tenure clock” for child birth.  However, the effort described in the article notes that ten university presidents or chancellors have signed on.  Curiously, only one is from the UC system – Linda Katehi of UC-Davis. As it happens, one of the issues the revamped UCLA Faculty Assn. hopes…

MOOP – A Modest Open Online Proposal

Byuclafaculty

In prior posts, we have blogged about MOOCs – massive open online courses (MOOCs).  But now comes a proposal for a MOOA: As colleges begin using massive open online courses (MOOC) to reduce faculty costs, a Johns Hopkins University professor has announced plans for MOOA (massive open online administrations). Dr. Benjamin Ginsberg, author of The Fall of the Faculty, says that many colleges and universities face the same administrative issues every day. By having one experienced group of administrators make decisions for hundreds of campuses simultaneously, MOOA would help address these problems expeditiously and economically. Since MOOA would allow colleges…

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It Ain’t What it Was

Byuclafaculty

Westwood in 1929 wasn’t very exciting, either. The LA Times reviews attempts to revitalize Westwood and notes at one time it was a commercial center.  For decades, Westwood Village was the heartbeat of Los Angeles nightlife while downtown languished in solitude. Westwood had the movie theaters, fancy restaurants and bustling street traffic, and downtown was known as a quiet and intimidating place to be after dark. These days, a humbled Westwood finds itself in the unexpected position of turning to a resurgent downtown for ideas. Of the more than a dozen movie theaters that once stood in the village, all…

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Bad PR

Byuclafaculty

There is the old saying that all publicity is good, as long as they spell your name correctly.  Maybe not in all cases, however… From the LA Times: A controversial policy group singles out teacher training programs at UCLA and Loyola Marymount as hardly worth attending. But the schools say the report is flawed.   A new front is opening in the education wars as a report released Tuesday derides California’s teacher training schools as among the worst in a nation full of substandard programs.The study by a controversial Washington, D.C.-based policy group singles out UCLA and Loyola Marymount University,…

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The Unholy 405 Construction

Byuclafaculty

From the Jewish Journal comes a report that the 405 construction near UCLA is decidedly Non-Kosher.  But you probably knew that. The Los Angeles Community Eruv will not be in operation during the Shabbat that begins at sundown tonight, June 14, due to construction on the 405 Freeway. An eruv makes carrying items within its boundaries on Shabbat permissible for Jews, according to halacha (Jewish law). This includes synagogue-goers carrying books and prayer shawls to parents wheeling strollers.  According to Howard Witkin, the head organizer of the Los Angeles Community Eruv… , construction at the 405 on- and off-ramps at…

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Click Me Not

Byuclafaculty

The UCLA community has apparently been receiving an intensive batch of fraudulent emails of the type below.  A reminder to delete them.  Do not click on the link provided. —- Dear mail user,University of California, Los Angeles increased the web-mail server to a new and more secure version.This will allow your web-mail have a new look, with new functions and anti-spam security.You are advised to “Click” and “follow” the link below to update and enable advanced security features; [fraudulent and dangerous link provided] University of California, Los Angeles405 Hilgard Ave  Los Angeles, CA 90095(310) 835-4321—- Note that the general phone…

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Shying Away from Retiring

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today carries an article about surveys of faculty who say they don’t plan to retire at the “normal” age or maybe ever.  The work-til-you-drop response is attributed to such motivations as wanting to be intellectually active but also importantly to concerns about having sufficient funds and health insurance to retire.  When UC was considering changing its retirement plan – it created a two-tier program – it retained the defined benefit approach rather than switch to a defined contribution approach.  Many faculty in the U.S. are under TIAA-CREF or some similar defined contribution program which means that they…

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On Fathers’ Day, Blame it on Dad

Byuclafaculty

Hiram Johnson It’s a bit of an historical stretch to blame California’s dysfunctions on Dad. And it may seem funny to do it after the legislature passed a budget on time as per our earlier post.  However, commentator Joe Mathews does blame Gov. Hiram Johnson’s father for the dysfunctions of the state’s initiative system. Hiram Johnson was the reform governor elected in 1910 who brought in “direct democracy,” the initiative, referendum, and recall (along with women’s suffrage and workers’ compensation insurance). From Mathews (excerpt): Why is California so hard to govern? One reason is that we’re suffering from daddy issues,…

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Budget Enacted – Details & Vetoes to Come

Byuclafaculty

The legislature has passed a state budget which now goes to the governor for signature (he will) and line-item vetoes (some will likely be made).  Thereafter, there should be formal releases of the details by the Dept. of Finance and the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). In the meantime, the Sacramento Bee has a summary of highlights.  It includes for higher ed: Proposes an average 5 percent general fund increase to California State University, the University of California and community colleges. No fee increases are envisioned through 2016-17. Authorizes scholarships, beginning in the 2014-15 academic year, for UC and CSU students…