[SIGCIS-Members] The perils of professorships...

[William McMillan]

Dag, thanks much for posting this.  You have to have sympathy for the many
talented, young academics in similar straits.

The article says, "Academia is vaunted for being a meritocracy.
Publications are judged on blind review..."

In fact, I think that the world at large has little regard for many kinds
of academic research and writing, the value of which is judged by other
academics in little closed circles of specialists.

The reliance on low-paid, part-time faculty could just be the tip of the
iceberg.  You've heard of Udacity, the Khan Academy, and the like.  In a
video at this site, Bill Sams (Chief Scientist, Pillar Technology) tries to
present what might be happening: epic2020.org

In technical disciplines, I'm told by recruiters that degrees are less and
less important.  The respect afforded the "value added" to a student's
broad skills and knowledge by a typical bachelor's program is rapidly
declining.

How do you translate the available online learning opportunities into
substitutes for degrees?  All you need is an accepted, standardized method
of assessing knowledge and skills regardless of how one acquires them.  And
you need employers (leave grad schools aside for now) to accept these
standardized assessments in lieu of a degree.  Think Abe Lincoln and law.

How do you get teachers and tutors to provide the help that students will
surely need?  Students can pay them directly with PayPal!  "Faculty" would
be rated like books are on Amazon.  How do you get the wet-lab or studio
experience you need?  Entrepreneurs will set up local facilities, rent you
time in them, and provide basic assistance.

I can't get anyone at my university to pay much attention to this, but am
on a large, enthusiastic, rogue committee here in SE Michigan that includes
Bill Sams and reps from industry, universities, community colleges, and
technical schools.  We're basically looking at how we can participate in
the re-evolution of our higher education systems.

Print newspapers never really saw their demise coming.

OK, this isn't the history of computing, but it could be the future history
of computing.

Bill

On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 7:38 PM, Dag Spicer <spicer at computerhistory.org>wrote:

> Dea SIGCIS Friends,
>
> This is not directly related to computing but I thought it would be of
> interest, especially to those in academia.
>
> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/2012820102749246453.html
>
> Dag
> --
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> Editorial Board  |  Annals of the History of Computing
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