Thoughts on Hayek

Ever since the election, I, like many of my fellow Democrats, have been trying to make sense of just what the hell happened. It’s clear to me that I, like many of my fellow Democrats, have been completely asleep at the wheel. So I’ve taken it upon myself to embark on a crash course in political science. I’m starting with Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. For no particular reason.. Read More

Writing, writing, and more writing

I’ve decided to start blogging again. Almost a year after my last post, and honestly, almost 2 years after my last post of any actual substance. I only mention this because my friend and colleague Carolyn Hank looked at scholar blogs in her dissertation research, and filtered out of her analysis any blog that had been inactive for 3 months or more. (Full disclosure: I was on her dissertation committee.).. Read More

Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Note: I originally posted this post to the photoblog that I keep about my kids, mostly for the benefit of their grandparents. I wrote it on 17 Jul 2011, right after the announcement that NASA was discontinuing the space shuttle program. Today, the 30th anniversary of Challenger disaster, seems to me like a good time to repost it publicly. I am genuinely sad to see the end of the Space.. Read More

You don’t owe me an apology

Gentle reader, good news. My long-awaited essay was published this morning in the Inside Higher Ed Views section. Long-awaited by me anyway… the IHE editor was very expeditious in moving this piece along, but I started writing the stupid thing 6 months ago. I originally titled the piece “You don’t owe me an apology.” But the IHE editor changed it to the, I have to admit, better title “No Apologies.”.. Read More

LMS Bingo

I realized yesterday that in my long and storied career in academia, I’ve taught with a pretty fair cross-section of learning management systems. And then, because I’m just that compulsive, I started to try to count them. So for your edification… or maybe for my own amusement… here’s that list. WebCT: I cut my teeth on this LMS, way back as a doctoral student at Syracuse University. I used it.. Read More