21st Century Scholar

By Randy Clemens Since last spring I have blogged about the Race to the Top Fund, the federal government’s $4.35 billion dollar competitive grant program (The Race Begins Today, With “Race to the Top,” We All Lose, Part I and Part II, and A History of Reform, a History of Failure). The fund supports four goals: Adopting internationally-benchmarked standards [...]

by Zoe Corwin For the past year and a half we have been working with the EA Game Lab in the USC School of Cinematic Arts to design an interactive online game that will boost college aspirations and teach college strategy.  As part of the journey to an online version, we have created and now [...]

by Bill Tierney One of the oddities of academic life is that as scholars we are taught, and teach, about generalization.  We do research projects and we are extremely careful about what our findings tell us.  I have attended any number of seminars when the speaker is asked to ruminate on what the broader implications [...]

For the past two years I’ve prefaced my comments about Apple’s rumored tablet computer with the word allegedly. Allegedly Apple is making a jumbo iPhone. Allegedly it operates on a new operating system, a hybrid of Leopard and the iPhone OS. Allegedly Apple has deals with major media companies. Allegedly Steve Jobs thinks the Apple tablet will be the most [...]

by Randy Clemens Tiger Woods’ charitable foundation has raised millions of dollars for education. During one season, Gilbert Arenas donated $100 for every point he scored to D.C. schools. Most people, especially those who do not follow golf or basketball, probably do not know about their work with charities. Yet, most know about the scandals that have enveloped both. [...]

by Bill Tierney Remember Tony Manero (aka John Travolta) in Saturday Night Fever?  His only way out of Brooklyn, he thought, was to win a dance contest.  At one point he’s walking down a Brooklyn street with Stephanie, his girlfriend. “Why don’t you think of bettering yourself,” she asks.  “Have you ever thought about going [...]

by June Ahn As Zoe wrote about yesterday, I also saw the new Kaiser report on youth and their media usage. The findings aren’t surprising, kids are online (via phones or computers) ALOT! With such a proliferation of technologies as a tool for engagement, how might a school operate if they truly integrated technology? There [...]

By Zoe Corwin Work? (most likely) Sleep? (don’t we wish) According to a study just published by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University) youth between the ages of 8-18 year-old consume 10 hours and 45 minutes of media content daily. Shocking?! Might it ease your shock if you [...]

by Bill Tierney When do I get to speak out as a ‘professor at USC’ as opposed to speaking out as an individual?  In the former I am calling upon my rights as a professor who has academic freedom and the protection of tenure, whereas in the latter I am using my first amendment rights.  [...]

by Bill Tierney Tenure exists to protect academic freedom.  There’s an odd disconnect insofar as there seems to be decreasing support for tenure while support for academic freedom remains strong.  But I don’t see how we can have one without the other in the vast majority of traditional four-year colleges and universities.  Academic freedom allows [...]