Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with university and academic

You say you're an academic technologist? Tell me more!

mrmojoflying — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:06:23 -0800

Circumstances have led me to apply for university instructional technologist positions even though this is not what I have specifically trained to do. Now that I am getting interviews, I need perspective/resources. So, here's the story. My wife has accepted a can't-not-take-it graduate study opportunity as I finish my Ph.D. dissertation in literacy and new media. Because I'm limited by location for the next few years, even after I graduate at the end of the year, I've decided to apply for instructional technologist positions at local universities. Most of these positions are looking for people with B.A.s and M.A.s in the field of academic technology, but apparently what I do is close enough to warrant some interviews. The positions fit very well with my skills and abilities, my university work experience, my research and publishing credentials, and would benefit my interests, but I was never trained as an "instructional technologist." What I really need are information resources like professional organizations, list-servs, blogs, journals and so forth that allow me a glimpse into the disciplinary and professional culture (the intangibles) that more mainstream "academic technology" applicants will be familiar with. I'll take anything that helps me be just a little more conversant with the zeitgeist of what it's like to be a member of this profession.

What do you do in an advanced degree?

divabat — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:27:31 -0800

Those of you doing [post]graduate degrees...what exactly are you doing? I've been looking into various advanced degree programs (Grad Cert, Grad Dip, Masters, etc) but I'm finding it difficult to imagine what sort of work one does in an advanced degree.

My family comes from a science background: my sister did biotech research for her Ph.D and my dad did coursework in engineering for his Masters. Apparently my aunt did a Masters in Sociology but I don't know what this entailed for her. I'm getting a degree in the Creative Industries, and have been looking into advanced degrees in non-profit management, arts, or education.

What DO you do in your degree? Do you do a lot of reading? Is yours more practical? Do you get to do a project?
How academic is your degree? Do you have to do a lot of writing in a certain style?
How much opportunity do you get to travel, or do experiential learning? How about conferences?

I figure this would differ wildly between programs and schools, but my only concepts of advanced degrees are either sit in a library then write a long densely academic thesis, or do research in a lab and write a long densely academic thesis (research is fun, but writing long densely academic theses is my definition of hell).

My google-fu has failed: Which Australian university courses are the hardest to get into?

[ixia] — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:49:00 -0800

My Google-fu has failed me. Where can I find a sequenced list of the admission requirements for Australian university courses? Ideally, I'm looking for something like "Top 50 most difficult-to-get-into courses in Australia". I'm interested in the individual programs - for example, "Arts-Law at Sydney University" or "Medicine the University of Tasmania", rather than a ranking of the universities themselves. Australian university admissions and school-leaver rankings are determined state by state, and I've been struggling to find a complete, national list.

Oh, and I'm not actually planning to apply to any of them, so I won't be needing any admissions advice myself!

Being the bright kid at 30

dcrocha — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:18:40 -0800

I would like to be the bright kid again, but I've just turned 30. What should I do? To make a very long story short: I was always the bright student, the one who'd have an amazing future, study in the best universities, get the highest paid jobs and be rich. I was also supposed to discover the cure of cancer, or at least have enough money to pay somebody to do so. Jokes aside, now.

During primary & high school, I studied in many different cities and schools but my results were the same: a perfect GPA , many compliments from teachers, many prizes, etc. In my country we must take a mandatory exam for each college you're applying to. I have applied to one of the best and got in without much effort.

During my first two years, still the bright kid: straight A's, few friends, "the one with the bright future" and all that crap. Then, in the 3rd. year of college, I decided I'd had enough of that sh*tty course and dropped out, going to work for an Internet startup instead.

Forwarding it to the present, so I won't bore you to death, I made a reasonably successful career as a software developer, working curently as a systems engineer for one of the greatest companies in the world, earning a decent (not fantastic) salary, and as I had some time to spare in the past 3 years, I finished a degree (with the same low level of interest) so I could have a diploma.

All seemed well, but a couple of weeks back I was flying to the U.S. reading my fave magazine ("Economist"), and took a more detailed look at its jobs section, which features many great jobs at the world's most prestigious companies and organizations such as the UN, European Comission, etc. Then I was struck by a lightning, having instantly realized I wasn't qualified for any of those positions. I got depressed.

The following week, I was in Boston for business and as I had a free Saturday I decided to have a look at the Harvard square. Pretty nice place, but I only got more depressed realizing I will never be part of such a community because I stopped being the bright kid the moment I dropped out of college, 10 years ago.

I am very proud of having taught myself everything I know, professionally-wise: English, Spanish, computer programming, etc. However I became very sad since this last trip, as I realized I'm just one more in the crowd, my predicted "bright future" didn't happend and I'm here having a standard corporate job, which I tolerate (but don't love), when I feel I could be doing much more with my life, had I followed the path "originally" planned for me.

I have already tasted having a normal life with a normal career. I'd like to see what my life would be if I become again the bright kid I once was.

How do I do that?

Is it appropriate to get a letter of recommendation from people on the search committee?

achmorrison — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:24:05 -0800

I am currently a visiting professor at a liberal arts college. Our department is conducting a search for a tenure track position which I intend to apply for. I need letters of recommendation which address my teaching abilities. The people most qualified to write these letters are my colleagues that are on the search committee. Is it appropriate or inappropriate to ask them to write letters of recommendation for this position?

Advice for starting a tenure track science job.

lalochezia — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:02:13 -0800

NewAcademicJobFilter: What did/should you do, to start off a new academic job at a new institution and do it right? Lab? Colleagues? Students? People to know? Actions to take? How did you leave your own institution? If you know of any links that address this issue, particularly for scientists, let me know. Also: please fwd this to science profs. that you know!

Advice wanted: I'm starting at a masters comprehensive uni as a tenure-track chemistry professor. I've started pre-ordering my lab equipment, planning my first experiments and reading the university handbook. I've got a place to live, and have essentially written 80% of my first semesters lectures and most of my first grant. I move there in 3 weeks and formally start in 10 weeks.

What did you do, or wish you did, when starting a new job as far as planning, organising, meeting people, setting up rules, finding out about the unwritten rules, the whole echt I'm-making-my-career-the-way-I want it-to-be-and-starting-it-off-right.

Also, what actions did you take or wished you took when leaving your postdoctoral/previous institution? Questions you'd asked? Alliances you'd kept? Philosophies taken or discarded?

I'm asking for advice that can range from the philosophical to the "don't forget your lab keys" . Any and all advice gratefully received.

Where's the discipline specific academic gossip?

ontic — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:59:09 -0800

I know where to go for gossip within my own academic discipline, but are there canonical blogs (on moves, hiring, graduate apps, big books, occasional meta-discipline discussion, etc). or rankings in other disciplines? The Chronicle and Arts and Letters Daily are more general. I'm looking for more discipline specific stuff. I want to clarify that I'm not supporting the occasionally crazy gossip and navel gazing. I'm more interested in the sociology of academia here.

How to deal with disruptive university students who are determined to ruin the course and the tutors?

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:14:29 -0800

How to deal with disruptive university students who are determined to ruin the course and the tutors? The course I am teaching on has two students who's only interest in the course it seems is spoiling the experience for other students and for the teachers. Their behavior includes acts of sabotage in the class and aggressive standoffs with the tutor about trivial matters, emails to student's forums with rude comments about the teachers, semi-racist remarks (most teachers and some students are immigrants), and repeated challenging of the content of the course and the validity of the syllabus. In addition, these two keep telling other students outside classes how bad the course is, how useless for their future and they are using their influence to stop as many of the other students as possible to take active part in the learning process. In addition, they are also trying very hard to undermine the authority of the teachers. These two are mature male students, probably more articulate than most younger ones and they seem to have some influence on the others. When one or two students tried to stand up to them and speak for the course, they were excluded from student meetings, now other students prefer not to interfere.
These guys are careful not to do anything that can get them expelled, and they are clearly co-ordinating their behavior, so when one of them is disrupting the class, the other is demonstratively polite, next time they swap.
So far each one of them was invited to a discussion with senior members of the teaching team to discuss their attitude and suggest some alternatives, such as transferring to another course. They don't seem to be interested. It looks like they are taking pleasure in all the attention. The question is how to protect the rest of the class from their influence. I post anonymously for obvious reasons, but if you like to email me use this: handlewithglass@googlemail.com

Harvard References in Word?

philsi — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:41:40 -0800

We're meant to do all of our University assignments with Harvard Referencing. Easy enough. However I've grown used to using Word's system of managing references and it does all the updating itself for any changes I make - has anyone got any ideas how to get Word 2007 (or 2003 / XP) to do the referencing? My Google-fu has failed me so far.

Help me to write an (anonymous?) blog about my life as a university lecturer.

slimeline — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:46:37 -0800

How to write a blog about my work (I am a senior lecturer in a university) without making myself exposed, and without breaching rules of confidentially? I am a lecturer in one of England's 'new universities'. I would like to start a blog about the daily life at this uni.; the relationships between students and teachers, the bureaucracy, the policies. Almost every day I am witnessing events and situations that challenge many preconceived ideas people have about university life. Including the behavior of students and teachers, conversations, educational policies, paperwork, meetings, threats and bullying. There is a lot to tell about this kind of university life which has nothing in common with the widespread, romantic Cambridge/Oxford image of higher education.
The problem I have with putting it all in a blog is that I can not think of a way to make it specific enough and at the same time anonymous. I am no whistle blower and despite everything which goes in this place, I firmly believe that we are trying to do the right thing with our course and our students. The problem of anonymity is complicated because I teach a fairly unique course, with a very specific syllabus, if I write about any particulars of the course, it will be very easy to figure out which university and which course is it. At the same time, one of the things i want to write about is the challenge of teaching the specifics of my subject. In addition, I want to write about the kind of things that get discussed in our staff meetings, the lies we have to tell, the hypocrisy but also the small victories and the delights. I would like people to read this blog to better understand what is going on in a modern, new university and how New Labour policies affect education, but also to have a outlet for my own feelings.
My question is how can I do all of that (or some of that) without compromising my place of work, without exposing myself and without exposing anyone else? Am I right thinking that maintaining anonymity is important in this case? Does anyone have experience of writing this kind of blog while staying anonymous? And if it is not possible, which parts of my experience can I focus on without compromising my students and colleagues? I would love to hear from someone who has experience of blogging about their professional (preferably academic) life. Thanks for your help.

Roehampton Creative Writing Masters

0bvious — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:44:00 -0800

What do you know/think about the University of Roehampton, London? Most especially I am interested in its School of Arts, and its MA in Creative and Professional Writing.... Good uni? Did you attend there? What are your experiences of the Roehampton area?

Any info gratefully appreciated

Teaching studio art at a university.

ontic — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 14:08:27 -0800

How does one get a tenure-track job as a studio art professor? My brother recently got his MFA (the terminal degree in the field) but it doesn't look like his graduate institution has much in the way of guidance. He also didn't get much experience teaching, but I know he'd be a natural teacher. How in general does one learn about the jobs teaching studio art, get a tenure-track one, and so on? What would application reviewers/interviewers be looking for? What do you do if you haven't had much teaching experience after the MFA? Are letters as important as in other academic jobs relative to teaching/slides/etc? What is the most important factor, usually? How important is breadth in what you can teach? Is anything particularly scary to committees interviewing candidates for studio art jobs?

Sorry for the massive number of sub-questions under the fold. I'm in philosophy, and I mostly know the ins and out of getting a job in that field -- there's a unified publication of jobs in addition to a big convention where the interviews happen. I also know what qualifications will get you so good of a job, what interviewers are generally looking for and so on. So I'm familiar with getting jobs generally in higher education, but I'd like to be able to help him more specifically.

Academic business cards?

synecdoche — Sun, 22 May 2005 00:05:11 -0800

I am a M.A. student at a small university in Canada. Next week I will be heading to a large academic conference and I want to have some business cards for ~~shmoozing~~ networking purposes. I'm looking to make a good impression on professors who may be good contacts to help me get into a good PhD program in Media (television) Studies, Cultural Studies, or even plain old English (I have a good idea of what I want to work on, but as Media Studies programs are sometimes incorporated into English programs for now, I am keeping that option open).

I'm designing the cards myself, and the print shop on campus is going to print them up for me. Full colour is okay. Any ideas of what I should put on them, aside from the obligatory name and contact info?