Author Archives: alex

Dear Blog

By alex | Published: 2/17/2014
It’s been a good run, but I’m breaking up with you. We just haven’t had enough time for each other in the last few years. There’s the kids, and sexy young things like Twitter and Facebook. We’ll always have the memories, and I’ll make sure your links don’t rot, but I think it’s time we […]
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Massifying Higher Learning

By alex | Published: 11/18/2013
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few years, you know that there has been a massive change in education recently. Sure, some of the hyperbole has abated, but there are a lot of people who are still thinking about how a single person might teach more than a classroom. In some cases, […]
Posted in Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Open Access Sting

By alex | Published: 10/4/2013
There is article published in Science today that details a pentest of open access science journals, and finds that they admitted a ridiculous fake article. I was amused to see a range of results scroll by on Facebook today, but surprised a bit at their interpretation of the article. Without naming names… Of Course Open […]
Posted in Research | 2 Comments

Garage Universities

By alex | Published: 9/25/2013
I am wary of playing too much into the Silicon Valley myth, and nothing can be more central to that myth than the garage start-up. Nonetheless, the idea of a “university start-up” seems almost unfathomable, outside the less-than-interesting world of for-profit universities. I may want to buy a Tesla (automobile start-ups probably pre-date the Silicon […]
Posted in Policy & Politics, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments