Category Archives: Uncategorized

Fascinating. Before MOOCs, ‘Colleges of the Air’ – The Conversation – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Some good ideas here. Interesting to compare with our description of field philosophy. 8 steps to making your research punch above its weight | Impact of Social Sciences.

An embedded culture of research impact will not emerge unless universities think beyond the REF | Impact of Social Sciences.

CSID’s Progam Manager, Keith Brown, was a recipient of the UNT Staff Contribution Award! Keith was nominated by Shaun Treat, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at UNT, for his role in organizing the UNT Comics Studies Conference. Congratulations to Keith … Continue reading →

This is a bit dated now–July, 2012–but I just ran across a striking step in the development of online education at NAU

Nota bene: Age 25 and Over (2011)[2] Education Percentage in the US High school graduate 87.58% Some college 56.86% Associate’s and/or Bachelor’s degree 39.89% Bachelor’s degree 30.44% Master’s degree 7.95% Doctorate or professional degree 3.00% -what conclusion can we draw … Continue reading →

So, I worked hard, wrote a paper, and submitted it for publication in a special issue of a prominent journal in the philosophy of science. The paper went through peer review and two rounds of editorial comments, which I responded … Continue reading →

Interdisciplinarity is motivated by the 20th century failure of disciplinary knowledge to be relevant. But rather than questioning whether knowledge itself is relevant to our problems, rather than, say, being a matter of will (cf. Nicomachean Ethics Book 7, on … Continue reading →

The central idea of disciplinarity: the separation of knowledge production from knowledge use. This means: talk of method is hopeless, since there is no method to politics.

I watched the SCOTUS ruling today on ACA, in real time online, on scotusblog while bouncing between Sullivan’s Daily Dish, the NYTs, Drudge, and others. Sullivan too was collating comments from all over. And he posted screen captures of both … Continue reading →

Yesterday saw the launch of Science for the Future and it certainly did what it was intended to: make a splash! via sheer lunacy. Sheer lunacy makes an argument, as well. Two elements in the argument are problematic, however: 1) … Continue reading →

Is the dam about to break? Watch out, UNT…. Harvard and M.I.T. Team Up to Offer Free Online Courses – NY Times

I grant that there are two historical tasks to philosophy, one socratic and outward looking, testing ideas within the community, and a second turned inward, philosophers addressing one another on recondite questions that the community will not understood or will … Continue reading →

In recent months, both sides of the Atlantic have witnessed renewed calls to apply the so-called Precautionary Principle to limit, if not outright, stop a variety of publicly and privately funded research and development projects around the topic of ‘synthetic … Continue reading →

While top executives in college and university settings are busy voting on large pay increases and fringe benefits for themselves, the educators and workers who oversee daily operations and interact with students are increasingly being left in the cold. In … Continue reading →

There are many. One of which is this: Philosophers do not keep a sufficient eye out for when a field or topic has become largely ‘emptied out’–where most of the useful work has been done. I’d argue that this is … Continue reading →

KONY 2012 – YouTube. If you haven’t seen it, see it.

Franzen vs The Internet: Round Two – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast. More evidence of the mashed up silliness and evil of twitter. Or not.

An old friend from my high school days, John F., sent along this overview of Alain de Botton’s newest book. Religion for Atheists: Alain de Botton on What Education and the Arts Can Learn from Faith | Brain Pickings. I … Continue reading →

The academy and its offshoots (eg, NSF) are struggling to come to terms with the ‘accountability moment’ that steadily grows in importance. Accountability is typically about taking count of something. This explains in part the overwhelming urge to turn things … Continue reading →