Comments on: The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/ Research, Teaching, Technology Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:49:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: 01. Our First Class | History 9808 http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-620 01. Our First Class | History 9808 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:49:43 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-620 [...] Croxall, “The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty,” BrianCroxall.net, 28 December [...] [...] Croxall, “The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty,” BrianCroxall.net, 28 December [...]

]]> By: On Going Viral at the (Virtual) MLA « Brian Croxall http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-491 On Going Viral at the (Virtual) MLA « Brian Croxall Mon, 26 Apr 2010 03:14:48 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-491 [...] a number of reasons, I was unable to / decided not to attend the convention. Instead, I chose to post my paper on this blog and to tweet about it. What happened next was very surprising indeed. Thousands of people [...] [...] a number of reasons, I was unable to / decided not to attend the convention. Instead, I chose to post my paper on this blog and to tweet about it. What happened next was very surprising indeed. Thousands of people [...]

]]> By: Mumfacolyte http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-476 Mumfacolyte Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:56:37 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-476 "Fun facts"? Not hardly, I would say. There needs to be much more tallying of the expenses required toward job applications these days (measured by the rate of return, I suppose). It is not merely in academia that these issues are arising. Well, so many jobs have been exported abroad to where the labor pool is cheaper, and corporations no longer retain any specific national affiliations. It depends on what kind of a society we (collectively) want, what will happen to, say, those historians mentioned in comment #45, who cannot find compensation -- if not directly for their activities -- for something in a related field or whatever that allows them their industrious applications. We do need professional historians, I would say; not merely "history buffs" giving away their writing (and scholarship) for free on the internet. Look, if one is picky, one can find incredibly insightful essays by well-rounded laymen in the reviews section of amazon.com; but it is a misapplication of society's resource to reduce everyone to that venue. “Fun facts”? Not hardly, I would say. There needs to be much more tallying of the expenses required toward job applications these days (measured by the rate of return, I suppose). It is not merely in academia that these issues are arising. Well, so many jobs have been exported abroad to where the labor pool is cheaper, and corporations no longer retain any specific national affiliations. It depends on what kind of a society we (collectively) want, what will happen to, say, those historians mentioned in comment #45, who cannot find compensation — if not directly for their activities — for something in a related field or whatever that allows them their industrious applications. We do need professional historians, I would say; not merely “history buffs” giving away their writing (and scholarship) for free on the internet.

Look, if one is picky, one can find incredibly insightful essays by well-rounded laymen in the reviews section of amazon.com; but it is a misapplication of society’s resource to reduce everyone to that venue.

]]> By: Article: The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty « Education Research Group of Adelaide http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-471 Article: The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty « Education Research Group of Adelaide Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:19:49 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-471 [...] The original paper is here: http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/ [...] [...] The original paper is here: http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/ [...]

]]> By: sandra price ABD http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-465 sandra price ABD Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:37:43 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-465 OH and the irony of it all is...I found this paper because I get a notice of Higher Education Chronicle in my email, which I cannot afford to actually read. Fortunately, a link to your blog was in the first paragraph, allowing me to get past the requirement that I be a subscriber to read it IN the Chronicle. OH and the irony of it all is…I found this paper because I get a notice of Higher Education Chronicle in my email, which I cannot afford to actually read. Fortunately, a link to your blog was in the first paragraph, allowing me to get past the requirement that I be a subscriber to read it IN the Chronicle.

]]> By: sandra price ABD http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-464 sandra price ABD Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:33:39 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-464 i immediately posted this to facebook. i was just discussing yesterday how many classes i would have to teach at adjunct rates to be able to support myself in a reasonable fashion. Assume I felt $50K was a reasonable annual salary, benefits aside for the moment. Adjuncts are paid between $1200 and $5000 per course, per semester, depending on the school, whether the course is online (because online classes that are so convenient for students take about twice as much time for faculty - topic for another day) etc. I am one of the lucky ones - I average about $4000 per class because I teach a mix of online and face-to-face courses. At that rate, I'd have to teach 15 classes a year - or 7 classes a semester and one in the summer. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Fortunately for my sanity and unfortunately for my wallet, I couldn't get that many classes if I wanted them. And, I still haven't figured out how to convince myself to stop giving those very small assignments that ensure students are reading and give me the feedback to know when my students are "getting it," so I am a virtual slave to grading. I worry constantly about my finances, have tightened my belt as though I were still an undergrad and never had a successful intervening career (I'm a JD), my college grad daughter is about to take a job making far more than I do, and the only reason I have insurance is because I'm still working on my dissertation. I suppose when I'm done with the dissertation, if I haven't procured work, I will abandon this entire enterprise (get a Ph.D so that I can teach in my field) and get a real job (assuming there are any of those). I may be lucky in that I have received three interviews (passed over ultimately because I didn't have dissertation in hand and there were a slew of good candidates), and I attribute that to my JD and years of field experience. I am not complaining, really. I love teaching and I chose this field. It's not the fault of the education industry that the economy tanked or that faculty hiring moratoriums seemed like a wise financial move. And I am not alone in my boat. I admit to being temporarily miffed when my department chair told me there was no money to pay my $195 fee to a conference on online learning pedagogy that would make me a better online instructor, even though the conference was in my home town and would be available as cheaply as it could ever possibly be. I got around that by volunteering staff time to the conference providers for comped fees. And when these schools eventually realize that their reputations are effected (unlike you, I don't have time to publish), they won't hire me (because I didn't have time to publish). It feels a lot like a no-win to me. But I will postpone making a final conclusion until the dissertation is in hand...and hope the economy changes in the meantime. Thanks for saying what is on all of our minds! i immediately posted this to facebook. i was just discussing yesterday how many classes i would have to teach at adjunct rates to be able to support myself in a reasonable fashion. Assume I felt $50K was a reasonable annual salary, benefits aside for the moment. Adjuncts are paid between $1200 and $5000 per course, per semester, depending on the school, whether the course is online (because online classes that are so convenient for students take about twice as much time for faculty – topic for another day) etc. I am one of the lucky ones – I average about $4000 per class because I teach a mix of online and face-to-face courses. At that rate, I’d have to teach 15 classes a year – or 7 classes a semester and one in the summer. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Fortunately for my sanity and unfortunately for my wallet, I couldn’t get that many classes if I wanted them. And, I still haven’t figured out how to convince myself to stop giving those very small assignments that ensure students are reading and give me the feedback to know when my students are “getting it,” so I am a virtual slave to grading. I worry constantly about my finances, have tightened my belt as though I were still an undergrad and never had a successful intervening career (I’m a JD), my college grad daughter is about to take a job making far more than I do, and the only reason I have insurance is because I’m still working on my dissertation. I suppose when I’m done with the dissertation, if I haven’t procured work, I will abandon this entire enterprise (get a Ph.D so that I can teach in my field) and get a real job (assuming there are any of those). I may be lucky in that I have received three interviews (passed over ultimately because I didn’t have dissertation in hand and there were a slew of good candidates), and I attribute that to my JD and years of field experience. I am not complaining, really. I love teaching and I chose this field. It’s not the fault of the education industry that the economy tanked or that faculty hiring moratoriums seemed like a wise financial move. And I am not alone in my boat. I admit to being temporarily miffed when my department chair told me there was no money to pay my $195 fee to a conference on online learning pedagogy that would make me a better online instructor, even though the conference was in my home town and would be available as cheaply as it could ever possibly be. I got around that by volunteering staff time to the conference providers for comped fees. And when these schools eventually realize that their reputations are effected (unlike you, I don’t have time to publish), they won’t hire me (because I didn’t have time to publish). It feels a lot like a no-win to me. But I will postpone making a final conclusion until the dissertation is in hand…and hope the economy changes in the meantime. Thanks for saying what is on all of our minds!

]]> By: Roland http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-460 Roland Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:39:16 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-460 Nice post. www.briancroxall.net deserves an award. Nice post. http://www.briancroxall.net deserves an award.

]]> By: Assignment: The “American Century” Geospatial Timeline « Brian Croxall http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-361 Assignment: The “American Century” Geospatial Timeline « Brian Croxall Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:12:58 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-361 [...] is frequently overlooked but will be vitally important in a world in which it is increasingly difficult to find employment with a liberal arts [...] [...] is frequently overlooked but will be vitally important in a world in which it is increasingly difficult to find employment with a liberal arts [...]

]]> By: A Meager Salary, An Unemployed Spouse, and Large Classes: Why I’m Still Attending Conferences | unmuzzled thoughts http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-329 A Meager Salary, An Unemployed Spouse, and Large Classes: Why I’m Still Attending Conferences | unmuzzled thoughts Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:34:32 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-329 [...] the past several days, Brian Croxall’s “The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty” has been making headlines on Twitter, academic blogs, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. [...] [...] the past several days, Brian Croxall’s “The Absent Presence: Today’s Faculty” has been making headlines on Twitter, academic blogs, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. [...]

]]> By: Mark http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/comment-page-4/#comment-327 Mark Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:58:03 +0000 http://www.briancroxall.net/?p=107#comment-327 So...I guess I'll go to law school. So…I guess I’ll go to law school.

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