Digital Literacy for St. Cloud State University
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/07/frequently-overlooked-useful-youtube.html
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/10/how-to-create-word-cloud-in-google.html
From MyFunCity to government-structured approach to “digital citizenship,” this is recent trend, which is seriously considered by educators as a must in the curricula. While habitually connected with technology classes, it is a much larger issue, which requires faculty attention across disciplines; it encompass digital and technology literacy, netiquette and online behavior (cyberbulling most frequently addressed), as well qualities and skills to be a functional and mindful citizen of a global world.
here is some general literature on digital citizenship:
http://groups.lis.illinois.edu/guest_lectures/cii/digcitizen.pdf
Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology
Volume 9, Issue 1, Fall 2005. Education and Citizenship in the Digital Age
Isman, A., & Canan Gungoren, O. (2014). Digital Citizenship. Turkish Online Journal Of Educational Technology – TOJET, 13(1), 73-77. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1018088
PR, N. (2014, April 3). MyFunCity is a revolution in digital citizenship. PR Newswire US. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d201404031549PR.NEWS.USPR.BR98059%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Communication Studies:
Couldry, N., Stephansen, H., Fotopoulou, A., MacDonald, R., Clark, W., & Dickens, L. (2014). Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture. Citizenship Studies, 18(6/7), 615-629. doi:10.1080/13621025.2013.865903
http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d98053478%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite (please ask for copy of the article)
Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Smith, A., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., Rainie, L., & Pew Internet & American Life, P. (2011). Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites: How American Teens Navigate the New World of “Digital Citizenship”. Pew Internet & American Life Project, http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED537516
ORTH, D., & CHEN, E. (2013). The Strategy FOR DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP. Independent School, 72(4), 56-63. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d87618786%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Ives, E. A. (2012, October 1). iGeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects of Digital Technology on Teenagers. Online Submission, http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED543278
Monterosa, V. (2015). DEVELOPING DIGITAL CITIZENS. Leadership, 44(3), 30-32. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d109111583%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
10 Free Interactive Lessons about Digital Citizenship. (2012). Curriculum Review, 52(1), 4-5. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d79851664%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Graham, G. (2013, November 20). Pupils are now ‘digital citizens’ with the right to use a mobile. Daily Mail. p. 3. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d92031070%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
LifeLock, I. (0009, January). Free Online Tool Empowers Families to Set Technology Ground Rules as More Kids Go Digital. Business Wire (English). http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3dbizwire.c63848252%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Dettori, G. (2012). Digital citizenship in schools – By Ribble Mike. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 43(6), E179. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01378_9.x http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3daph%26AN%3d82468985%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Ribble, M. (2012). Digital Citizenship for Educational Change. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 48(4), 148-151. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dEJ993448%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
(please ask for copy of the article)
Johnson, M. (2012). Shaping Digital Citizens: preparing students to work and play in the online world. School Libraries In Canada (17108535), 30(3), 19-22. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d95316041%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Enabling digital citizenship programs within your district’s network infrastructure. (2012). District Administration, 48(9), 54-55. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d82747791%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
ORECH, J. (2012). HOW IT’S DONE: Incorporating Digital Citizenship Into Your Everyday Curriculum. Tech & Learning, 33(1), 16-18. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d82590138%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Petrucco, C. (2013). Fostering digital literacy between schools and the local community: Using service learning and project-based learning as a conceptual framework. International Journal Of Digital Literacy And Digital Competence, 4(3), 10-18. doi:10.4018/ijdldc.2013070102 http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dpsyh%26AN%3d2014-29004-002%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Acosta, D. M. (2014). Tweet Up? Examining Twitter’s Impact on Social Capital and?Digital Citizenship in Higher Education. About Campus, 18(6), 10-17. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dEJ1027263%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Suppo, C. A. (2013, January 1). Digital Citizenship Instruction in Pennsylvania Public Schools: School Leaders Expressed Beliefs and Current Practices. ProQuest LLC, http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dED553014%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite (please ask for copy of the article)
Noonoo, S. (2014). Digital Citizenship for the Real World. T H E Journal, 41(4), 17-19. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d103335802%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Ribble, M. (2014). The importance of digital citizenship. District Administration, 50(11), 88. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d103369941%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
MURLEY, S. F. (2014). Engaging With a Digital Citizenry. School Administrator, 71(10), 30-31 http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dtfh%26AN%3d102610780%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Ahlquist, J. (2014). Trending Now: Digital Leadership Education Using Social Media and the Social Change Model. Journal Of Leadership Studies, 8(2), 57-60. doi:10.1002/jls.21332 http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbuh%26AN%3d99008045%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Neustar, I. (0001, September). Neustar Launches Social Media Digital Citizenship Program for Kentucky Schools. Business Wire (English). http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbwh%26AN%3dbizwire.c38975001%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Farmer, L. (2012). Digital Citizenship for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders. CSLA Journal, 35(2), 12-13. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d91822779%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Common Sense Media. (2011). Common Sense Media Partners with Nickelodeon’s the Big Help on Digital Citizenship and Anti-Bullying Campaign. Business Wire (English). http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbwh%26AN%3dbizwire.c32997597%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Lyons, R. (2012, January 1). Investigating Student Gender and Grade Level Differences in Digital Citizenship Behavior. ProQuest LLC, http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dED546058%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite (please ask for copy of the article)
NOONAN, K. (2013). DIGITAL CITIZENS RISE TO DISASTERS. Government News, 33(1), 16. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbuh%26AN%3d86153161%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Buente, W. (2012). Modeling citizenship offline and online: Internet use, information, and political action during the 2008 election campaign. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A, 73, 1222. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dpsyh%26AN%3d2012-99190-595%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Kurubacak, G. (2011). eLearning for Pluralism: The Culture of eLearning in Building a Knowledge Society. International Journal On E-Learning, 10(2), 145-167. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dEJ926545%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Hill, A. M. (2015). The kids are all right online: Teen girls’ experiences with self-presentation, impression management & aggression on Facebook. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A, 76, http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dpsyh%26AN%3d2015-99170-479%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
NPR. (2015, April 13). National Cyber Security Alliance Aligns with RSA Conference to Empower Digital Citizens to Stay Current in the Ever-changing Cybersecurity Environment. PR Newswire US. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d201504131030PR.NEWS.USPR.DC78336%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
NPR. (2014, February 11). Digital Citizens Alliance Calls Prosecution of Apps Content Thieves Important Step to Protect Internet. PR Newswire US. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbwh%26AN%3d201402111145PR.NEWS.USPR.DC63074%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
NPR. (2015, May 18). Public Officials, Business Leaders and Cybersecurity Experts Gather at “Two Steps Ahead: Protect Your Digital Life” Event in Brooklyn. PR Newswire US. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d201505180600PR.NEWS.USPR.DC10064%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
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NOONAN, K. (2013). DIGITAL CITIZENS RISE TO DISASTERS. Government News, 33(1), 16. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbuh%26AN%3d86153161%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Buente, W. (2012). Modeling citizenship offline and online: Internet use, information, and political action during the 2008 election campaign. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A, 73, 1222. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dpsyh%26AN%3d2012-99190-595%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Kurubacak, G. (2011). eLearning for Pluralism: The Culture of eLearning in Building a Knowledge Society. International Journal On E-Learning, 10(2), 145-167. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dEJ926545%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
Education Commission of the State. (2012, September). Education Commission of the States Releases Brief on Civic Engagement and Digital Citizenship. Business Wire (English). http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dbwh%26AN%3dbizwire.c39665781%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
NPR. (2015, May 18). Public Officials, Business Leaders and Cybersecurity Experts Gather at “Two Steps Ahead: Protect Your Digital Life” Event in Brooklyn. PR Newswire US. http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d201505180600PR.NEWS.USPR.DC10064%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite
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Library:
The First Year Writing program at my university stresses essay-writing skills: developing an arguable thesis, presenting strong supporting arguments, using quotations as evidence.
The prevailing opinion seems to be right: brief lessons don’t accomplish much. A few bright students will quickly absorb the new concepts; the others will fill out their worksheets on subject-verb agreement almost perfectly, and then write things like, The conflict between Sammy and Lengel are mainly about teenage rebellion.
Many of the writing instructors I spoke with shared my frustration. No one enjoys reading final papers that are just as awkwardly written as the first work of the semester. But none of them said what I’ve come to believe: that we should offer more help to students who reach for eloquence, only to trip over their own contorted clauses.
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/10/14/could-rubric-based-grading-be-the-assessment-of-the-future/
I use rubrics and see the positive sides as well as appreciate the structure they bring in assessment. But this article makes me see also the danger of rubrics being applied as a harness, another debacle no different from NCLB and testings scores, which plague this nation’s education in the last two decades. The same “standardizing” as in Quality Matter, which can bring some clarity and structure, but also can stifle any creativity, which steers “out of the norm.” A walk on such path opens the door to another educational assembly line, where adjunct and hourly for-hire instructors will teach pre-done content and assess with the rubrics in a fast-food manner.
a consortium of 59 universities and community colleges in nine states is working to develop a rubric-based assessment system that would allow them to measure these crucial skills within ongoing coursework that students produce.
written communication, critical thinking and quantitative literacy. The faculty worked together to write rubrics (called Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education or VALUE rubrics) that laid out what a progression of these skills looks like.
“These rubrics are designed to be cross-disciplinary,” explained Bonnie Orcutt
Parents and teachers are pushing back against blunt assessment instruments like standardized tests, and are looking for a way to hold schools accountable that doesn’t mean taking time away from class work.
From: Zac Feit [mailto:zac@myschoolflow.com]
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2015 11:50 AM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen <pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu>
Subject: Hope to hear back
Plamen,
My name is Zachary Feit, and I am with Via Response. Awhile back we had spoken about our student response platform and you had expressed interest in taking a look at a better time. I was emailing to see if this was still something of interest.
Via Response provides a cloud-based student response platform that enables students to use any mobile devices instead of legacy clickers to interact with instructors during classes (including students participating from remote locations). Because we are cloud-based, Via Response is much easier to use for faculty because all questions, assessments, grade books and student data for all sections are stored in a single location that they can access from any browser. Via’s architecture also eliminates the FERPA compliance issues that are common with clicker devices that store student/grade data files on instructor computers or thumb drives.
I would be delighted to give you a 15 minute demo that goes over our system and its benefits to both teachers and student.
You can either email me back or call me at the number provided below. Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Zachary Feit
Regional Account Director
Via Response (http://www.viaresponse.com)
407-477-4491
Center for Digital Education (CDE)
real-time impact on curriculum structure, instruction delivery and student learning, permitting change and improvement. It can also provide insight into important trends that affect present and future resource needs.
Big Data: Traditionally described as high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information.
Learning or Data Analytics: The measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs.
Educational Data Mining: The techniques, tools and research designed for automatically extracting meaning from large repositories of data generated by or related to people’s learning activities in educational settings.
Predictive Analytics: Algorithms that help analysts predict behavior or events based on data.
Predictive Modeling: The process of creating, testing and validating a model to best predict the probability of an outcome.
Data analytics, or the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data, is driving decisionmaking in many institutions. However, because of the unique nature of each district’s or college’s data needs, many are building their own solutions.
For example, in 2014 the nonprofit company inBloom, Inc., backed by $100 million from the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, closed its doors amid controversy regarding its plan to store, clean and aggregate a range of student information for states and districts and then make the data available to district-approved third parties to develop tools and dashboards so the data could be used by classroom educators.22
Know the Laws and Regulations
There are many regulations on the books intended to protect student privacy and safety: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
— as well as state, district and community laws. Because technology changes so rapidly, it is unlikely laws and regulations will keep pace with new data protection needs. Establish a committee to ascertain your institution’s level of understanding of and compliance with these laws, along with additional safeguard measures.
Make a Checklist Your institution’s privacy policies should cover security, user safety, communications, social media, access, identification rules, and intrusion detection and prevention.
Include Experts
To nail down compliance and stave off liability issues, consider tapping those who protect privacy for a living, such as your school attorney, IT professionals and security assessment vendors. Let them review your campus or district technologies as well as devices brought to campus by students, staff and instructors. Finally, a review of your privacy and security policies, terms of use and contract language is a good idea.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Students, staff, faculty and parents all need to know their rights and responsibilities regarding data privacy. Convey your technology plans, policies and requirements and then assess and re-communicate those throughout each year.
“Anything-as-a-Service” or “X-as-a-Service” solutions can help K-12 and higher education institutions cope with big data by offering storage, analytics capabilities and more. These include:
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): Providers offer cloud-based storage, similar to a campus storage area network (SAN)
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): Opens up application platforms — as opposed to the applications themselves — so others can build their own applications
using underlying operating systems, data models and databases; pre-built application components and interfaces
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): The hosting of applications in the cloud
• Big-Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS): Mix all the above together, upscale the amount of data involved by an enormous amount and you’ve got BDaaS
Use accurate data correctly
Define goals and develop metrics
Eliminate silos, integrate data
Remember, intelligence is the goal
Maintain a robust, supportive enterprise infrastructure.
Prioritize student privacy
Develop bullet-proof data governance guidelines
Create a culture of collaboration and sharing, not compliance.
more on big data in this IMS blog:
building relationships with students so I can better connect lessons to their interests, hopes and dreams; providing them with many opportunities for organizational and cognitive choice; and creating situations where they can get positive, as well as critical, feedback in a supportive way from me, their classmates and themselves.
Too often, the notion of “personalized learning” means choice-based programmed rather than truly personalized. This comes from the tech world, where “personalization” is synonymous with user choice. It’s the idea of giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down on Pandora. It’s the idea of having adaptive programs that change based upon one’s personal preferences. It’s the Facebook algorithm that tells you what information is the most relevant to you. It’s about content delivery rather than user creation.
While tech companies promise personalization, they often promote independent, isolated learning. True personalization is interdependent rather than isolated. True personalization is based upon a horizontal relationship rather than a top-down customization. True personalization is based upon a deeply human relationship rather than a program or an algorithm or a set of scripts. True personalization is a mix between personal autonomy and group belonging. It’s a mix between what someone wants and what someone needs. It’s a chance to make, rather than simply a chance to consume.
http://lwveducation.com/the-prize-who-is-in-charge-of-americas-schools/
podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fresh-air/id214089682?mt=2&i=352838278
The Prize is a story about good intentions gone awry. They turn into political struggles, condescending and arrogant management policies, and money wasted. They are thwarted by community mistrust which led to rebellion. Note that none of this mentions the children. It may be an opportunity lost for them. If their parents stay involved, workable strategies to improve schools may emerge.
The Prize gives little insight into what works in schools to break the cycle of poverty. The Newark example explains what did not work. Individual teachers, given adequate support, are effective. Some lessons learned about charter and district collaboration have emerged. Small steps are being taken. I will post them next. What we do know is that, in the last analysis, parents own the schools. Without them, nothing good will happen.
the use of social media, personal versus institutional, or personal in the context of an institutional repercussions, is a complex and thorny issue. How much can one criticize the institution in their personal social media? And if the institution responds, when does it become silencing the social media as expression of free speech?
Is the article below touching only a specific [political] issue, or academia, as an institution, goes beyond this issue in imposing on freedom of speech?
http://chronicle.com/article/Why-I-Was-Fired/233640
My tweets might appear uncivil, but such a judgment can’t be made in an ideological or rhetorical vacuum. Insofar as “civil” is profoundly racialized and has a long history of demanding conformity, I frequently choose incivility as a form of communication. This choice is both moral and rhetorical.
Academics are usually eager to contest censorship and deconstruct vague charges of vulgarity. When it comes to defending Israel, though, anything goes.
Students are capable of serious discussion, of formulating responses, of thinking through discomfort. They like my teaching because I refuse to infantilize them; I treat them as thinking adults. My philosophy is simple: Teach them the modes and practices of critical thought and let them figure out things on their own.
Professors are often punished for disrupting convention in informal ways, however. My case is interesting because administrators ignored the de facto standards that regulate our behavior and exercised their power directly. This should be worrisome to any scholar who isn’t a sycophant.
The coming of “academic capitalism” has been anticipated and praised for years; today it is here.
Benjamin Ginsberg points out that in the past 30 years, the administrator-to-student ratio has increased while the instructor-to-student ratio has stagnated. The rise of untenured, or non-tenure-track, faculty exacerbates the problem; a significant demographic in academe lacks job security or the working conditions that allow them to maximize their pedagogical talent. Over a recent 10-year period, spending on administration outpaced spending on instruction. At American universities, there are now more administrators and their staffers than full-time faculty. In the past 10 years, administrative salaries have steadily risen while custodians and groundskeepers suffer the inevitable budget cuts — as do the students whose tuition and fees supplement this largess.
When so much money is at stake, those who raid the budget have a deep interest in maintaining the reputation of the institution. Their privilege and the condition of the brand are causally related. The brand thus predominates. Its predominance often arrives at the expense of student well-being.
critical thinking is a terribly undesirable quality in the corporate world, much more damning than selfishness or sycophancy. Let us then be honest about critical thinking: On the tongues of cunning bureaucrats, it is little more than an additive to brand equity, the vainglorious pomp of smug, uptight automatons who like to use buzzwords in their PowerPoint presentations.
Critical thinking by faculty is even more undesirable. In research institutions, we are paid to generate prestige and to amass grant money; in teaching-centered colleges, we enjoy excess enrollments according to fine-tuned equations that maximize the student-teacher ratio. (In elite liberal-arts colleges, we pamper the kids with simulations of parental affection.) Critical thinking is especially harmful to adjuncts, reliant as they are for income on the munificence of well-paid bosses who cultivate a distended assemblage of expendable employees.
more on social media in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=social+media&submit=Search