21st Century Scholar

I have found these various blogs quite helpful in advancing my thinking about what I want from not just a school of education, but for my own school. I also have been wondering about what a strategic plan ought to do. I don’t think a strategic plan works very well if we approach it as [...]

While sharing my research with a lady I met on the bus this week, she interrupted me and said: “You’re studying urban education? Isn’t that a bunch of white people telling me what I already know about schools?” Well. I would be remiss to fully agree with her sentiments as an African American woman working [...]

Wednesday, September 9, 2020 It is a very hot day, just like it was nine years ago when we thought about what the Rossier School of Education (RSOE) should look like in 2020. When our dean said the Rossier capital campaign goal was to raise $150 million, it felt very daunting. But we did it. [...]

Sometimes we must look back to look forward. I’ve recently been immersed in class discussions regarding the formation of logical empiricism (positivism) and the legacy of Marxist thought (critical theory) through a course I’m teaching on the social foundation of research. What has become clear through these class discussions is that these two paradigms have [...]

Over the past decade, Rossier has undergone a significant transformation. The School has been nationally recognized for restructuring its Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs. Such differentiation brought new strengths to both degrees and Rossier was ahead of the curve in its redesign. The school has also been ahead of the curve in forging partnerships with universities [...]

Technology is now a well-established feature of higher education. However, the Rossier School of Education is one of the first major research universities to embrace technology as the core of an entire major instructional program. Soon, and surely by 2020, other major research universities will follow suit, and a wider range of degree programs at [...]

On one sunny Monday morning, the fall 2020 semester begins at the University of Southern California. The campus is lively as students and professors walk to class. One first-year doctoral student enters the Rossier School of Education’s new state-of-the-art building. From the lobby, he finds his classroom, an open, friendly space. The room is embedded [...]

In the year 2020, technology will be even more ubiquitous than it is today. Information will completely surround us—literally embedded in our physical environment, our minds, and our interactions with others. This information-rich environment will change the ways in which we develop relationships, collaborate, play, and learn. This statement, while seemingly innocuous and vague, is [...]

Rossier 2020? Immediately I start thinking about changes. This is the problem with much of education policy. We compound the problem by creating more policy or creating policy that is based on erroneous assumptions. With this in mind, I start with what I love about Rossier—what should not change. I love the fact that faculty [...]

For its 100th anniversary, Rossier promised to “innovate, educate, and transform.” Too often we think of innovation and transformation as simply trying something new, something that is “out of the box.” However, there is a limit to the benefits of innovation when it is substituted for thoughtful change. For transformation to lead to positive outcomes, [...]