All posts by magister

Pedagogy

Can Universities Create the “New Renaissance Man” Tech Firms Need?

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As Leonardo da Vinci applied his intricate knowledge of human anatomy to create timeless art, so 21st-century technology developers must combine technical skill with multi-disciplinary insight.

12/14/15
-by Denis Nekipelov, Associate Professor of Economics and Computer Science at the University of Virginia.

What skills do you need to get hired by top tech firms today?

As a professor of economics and computer science, I hear this question more than any other from students, and it’s the top question I ask of colleagues working at today’s major tech firms. Their answer is simple and daunting: “We want the full package.”
Leading-edge tech companies are defined by consumer-facing products and internal “startup-style” culture. Thriving in that environment requires knowledge of data sciences and social sciences. Graduates interested in tech will certainly need practical knowledge, but many will also need abstract theory. They must be able to appreciate the details and the big picture, to code and to codify.

If you look at any category in an app store, you see top mobile apps that get thousands of downloads and reviews and a very long tail of apps that barely get any consumer attention. Those forgotten apps have failed to appeal to enough people, often because developers did not analyze demand accurately or strategically monetize and market the product. Knowledge of human behavior — supported by science — can predict the success of digital products. Such knowledge comes in large part from the social sciences and humanities.

For example, a graduate who understands fundamental concepts like the Nash equilibrium — a game-theory concept holding that players’ strategies are based not on logic alone but on knowledge of other players — will better understand how consumers behave. A graduate who studied linguistics will be better equipped to develop artificial intelligence-based applications, which rely on a deep understanding of language. A graduate who studied music or art will be ready to design more compelling virtual environments.

This is not to say, though, that technology firms need purely social scientists. Tech firms’ startup culture means that new IT products, even larger ones like Microsoft Windows or Mac OS, are developed by very small teams. There is no room for a theorizing economist or a sociologist. The development process requires constant testing and changes to source code. The urgency increases when the product is first released: Early bugs must be detected and instantly fixed. Every team member needs to understand the technology at a minute level.

Consequently, the most compelling hire will be at once an engineer and a social scientist — a “New Renaissance Man.” As Leonardo da Vinci applied his intricate knowledge of human anatomy to create timeless art, so 21st-century technology developers must combine technical skill with multi-disciplinary insight. These employees are the “full package” — social scientists who can articulate principles of consumer behavior and manage complex computing infrastructure. They are computer scientists and engineers who can use economic models and sociology theory to accurately analyze, prove and meet consumer demand.

As an educator, I have to admit that the American higher education system is still far from developing that “New Renaissance Man.” Too often, the education community interprets demand for integrated fundamental knowledge as demand for number-crunching skills combined with some literacy in economics or business. This has led to a proliferation of “business analytics” and “data analytics” concentrations that focus narrowly on technical competence. This shortsighted strategy could lead to the development of skills that become antiquated before students graduate, as technology responds rapidly to changing demand.

The most employable graduates will have knowledge beyond specific infrastructure, programming language or statistical software. Their knowledge will be fundamental.
My advice to undergraduates would not be to take a class in Python, but instead take a class in the theory of algorithms. Similarly, do not take a class in online auctions; instead, take a class in game theory. Many undergraduates, especially those who find jobs with the Googles and Microsofts of today, already follow this strategy. However, they need more institutional support.

My advice to institutions is to develop more integrative interdisciplinary programs to adequately address 21st-century industry demand for talent. At the new Data Sciences Institute at the University of Virginia, we have found success in creating centers that foster interdisciplinary collaboration — one focuses on big data ethics, law and policy, another on how data science is transforming knowledge. We have also used reading groups and lecture series to gather faculty, students and private sector leaders in technology, economics, public policy and other key areas. We want students to not only develop and create technology, but also thoughtfully discuss its implications and accurately predict its outcomes, with sound social science backing up their conclusions.

Such efforts should be but the beginning, as the new landscape of the technology sector calls for increasing involvement of social science in places previously exclusive to engineering and computer science. Technology is changing at a rapid pace, and universities must prepare a skilled workforce that can easily adapt to even the most dizzying rate of change.

Culture

University, not day care….

November 23, 2015
Dr. Everett Piper, President
Oklahoma Wesleyan University

“This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable.

I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic. Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims. Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them “feel bad” about themselves, is a “hater,” a “bigot,” an “oppressor,” and a “victimizer.”

I have a message for this young man and all others who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon is called a conscience. An altar call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed to make you feel guilty. The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-actualization.

So here’s my advice:

If you want the chaplain to tell you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for. If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be the wrong place.

If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.

At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than self-centered. We are more interested in you practicing personal forgiveness than political revenge. We want you to model interpersonal reconciliation rather than foment personal conflict. We believe the content of your character is more important than the color of your skin. We don’t believe that you have been victimized every time you feel guilty and we don’t issue “trigger warnings” before altar calls.

Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place”, but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.

This is not a day care. This is a university.”

Culture

Sissy Nation

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Forbes
MAY 10, 2012
A “Generation of Sissies”

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-by John Mariotti, CONTRIBUTOR
My Other Website
http://www.mariotti.net

The “elephant in the room”— one big question in the minds of so many Americans is—“Why has the middle class in America lost so much ground, and when will it recover to earn better wages (and close the gap between the top earners and the middle class)?” The answers are brutally simple: ”Because America’s middle class became non-competitive globally,” and, “Not until American middle class workers—and the kind of work they do—become globally competitive again” There are two huge problems facing the America in the future: one is demographic, the other is cultural.

1) “Baby Boomers” are retiring from the work force at the rate of 10,000 per day, and will do so for 17 years. Most of them don’t have enough pension or 401(k) assets to support retirement for their life expectancy (15-20 years). Too few employers will hire these older folks, with their potential problems of age—reduced stamina and more health-related problems (and higher health care costs).

2) In recent decades, American parents have raised a “Generation of Sissies”—of spoiled, lazy, pampered and over-rated youth—who are highly educated, but in things that the world doesn’t value very much (and thus won’t pay for). The top 25% may be as good, as bright, as motivated as ever, and will likely be as successful as ever. The vast majority of this generation consists of formally educated, but spoiled, soft post-adolescents, who will struggle to be self-sustaining as adults. Because of this, they will not be able to support the massive wave of retired “Boomers,” who will be going broke in their later years. In eras past, the elderly were supported by the coming younger generation(s). Those days are gone.

Members of this “Generation of Sissies” have been the victims of being coddled, babied, pampered, misled, misguided, and under-educated so badly that their “take care of me” upbringing cannot be sustained as they move into adulthood. The parents, who did this, also share in the responsibility for the failure of America’s educational system.

I won’t lay all the “blame” for these failures on American youth—although they have been willing accomplices. Parents and educators failed to prepare them for adult life in the cold harsh world, and where they must compete for gainful employment. Then the youth chose easy and fun majors in college; not the ones in that are in demand by employers. Thus they can’t find jobs, or certainly not good paying jobs.

For too long, American parents have also abdicated the responsibilities for educating and raising their children to a cadre of teachers and educational institutions ill suited for the task at hand. Parents used to prepare children to take care of themselves—sort of an apprenticeship in becoming an adult. Along the way, they used to teach them, and demand of them, that they learn critical personal skills, and useful, responsible habits—like earning your own way in life. Not any more.

Now, because of globalization the jobs have gone to wherever qualified workers will do them for the least pay. American workers have fallen behind global competitors. Thus, the American middle class, now and for the foreseeable future, will have to “play catch up” —learning new skills and how to apply them—and then employers will have to regain the work that provides the jobs. Otherwise, the middle class will continue to languish with subpar wages—at least until it becomes competitive again, if that ever happens. The only part of the middle class with growth prospects are employees of new, small businesses that grow–when they are not stifled by an oppressive government regulations.

Worse yet, is the untimeliness of this “Generation of Sissies,” who think that there are no winners or losers. They learned this because everyone got rewarded just for participating. Trophies no longer represented hard work and winning to them. Success meant just being involved and “showing up”—and sometimes, not even that. News flash for Americans of this Generation of Sissies: In the cold, harsh world of 21st century global business there ARE winners and losers—and YOU are losing!

The “Generation of Sissies was victimized by too-busy parents, who abdicated their responsibilities, and tried to pass them off onto schools and teachers. The teachers were not prepared to handle these new responsibilities. Add to this the expectations that have been created: “free meals” (government funded, means “free”) that go far beyond the old school lunches; “free transportation” (or being driven to school); “free extracurricular activities,” and much more. And for this, all they had to do was“show up.” Even grades are no longer a dose of reality. Kinder words replace letter grades, to soften the truth of impending mediocrity.

Schools now teach “softer studies” (some of which used to be taught at home by parents) make up over 1/3 of total credits: “21st century life,” or “career-technical education, or “health, safety, & physical education,” or “visual & performing arts,” and “language arts literacy.” Many students can’t write a grammatically correct sentence, and some don’t even see the point in learning to write (cursive) at all. They use Text-messages and Tweets. Signatures are nearly obsolete.

Schools still require a modicum of Math and Science, but not enough to meet todays employment demands. In many cases, one 3-credit course (out of 110 credits) is offered on financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial topics. Teachers are not held to the highest standards either, since doing so would require compensating the best ones more, and removing the worst ones—and teachers’ unions (and tenure) simply won’t allow that. Today’s youth learn that being late, or absent isn’t so bad, because there is always an “excuse.” But when they get in the world of work, employers expect employees to show up, on time, every day, and actually work all day.

Then parents pay a fortune (instead of putting it away for retirement) for college because it used to be a sure path to a decent job (Now students graduate deeply in debt—over $1 Trillion and rising). A degree in the arts or humanities may have once been the ticket to a job, but it’s not any more! The youth of today and the adults of tomorrow simply have not been educated in the reality, the necessary skills and the knowledge they need to be competitive and self-sufficient. Many do not have a clear understanding of how much hard work and commitment they must invest to ensure their own future.

Too many people feel sorry for these “underachievers,” even though part of the failure is their own fault. The “Occupy movement” is filled with members of this “Generation of Sissies.” They expect someone to “take care of them” and give them what they cannot or are unprepared to earn for themselves. Who has what that they want? The very people who worked hard to get a good education, studied, learned, applied themselves and learned to compete.
There will be negative comments about my title: “Generation of Sissies”—as being demeaning. These comments will come mostly from the very same segment of society that helped create these problems—and still condones them. To them I say, “Prove me wrong.” Right now, the results confirm what I have written. Until America puts the onus for education back onto the people where it belongs—first on youth and their parents, and next on quality schools and good teachers—the American middle class is doomed to remain stuck where it is. Any other outcome is a delusion.

Can these problems be fixed? Yes, but it took an entire generation or more to create them, so the fix will be slow and painful–as it is proving to be right now. There is an even larger question. It is not, ” WILL AMERICA COMPETE in the global economy of the 21st century? It is, “DO AMERICANS HAVE THE WILL TO COMPETE? Will Americans take the necessary actions to make themselves and future generations competitive. We can only hope that the answer to this question is YES!

Pedagogy

Study finds for-profit degree no better than a community college certificate

The findings reinforce advice that spending more at a for-profit school doesn’t pay off

-by Truman Lewis

You read it everywhere: advice to prospective college students that they look first to public community colleges rather than for-profit schools, which can be five times as expensive.

Now a study by researchers at the University of Missouri finds that hiring managers show no preference for hiring people with for-profit college credentials compared to those holding comparable credentials from public community colleges.

“Tuition at for-profit colleges can be as much as five times higher than at two-year community colleges,” said lead researcher Cory Koedel. “When people are weighing their higher-education options, tuition cost and the ability to gain employment after school should be considered heavily. This study shows that no significant difference exists with respect to generating employer interest between individuals with community college and for-profit degrees. For many people, community college may be the better option financially.”

Random résumés
For their study, Koedel, Rajeev Darolia, an assistant professor in the MU Truman School of Public Affairs, and their co-authors, randomly generated thousands of résumés that included either a for-profit college credential, a two-year community college credential, or only a high school diploma. The researchers then sent the résumés to a number of job openings for open positions in fields including sales, customer service, information technology, medical assistance and office, and administrative assistance. T

They found that hiring managers called back to inquire about fake candidates at the same rate, regardless of whether the candidates held community college or for-profit credentials.

“It is clear that employers are not placing any kind of higher value on for-profit credentials relative to community college credentials,” Koedel said. “While for-profit colleges may be a good solution for some people, they are expensive, and our study indicates that there are other, more cost-effective education options that are perceived similarly by employers.”

This study was published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

Pedagogy

2X the number of computer science teachers in Wisconsin

-by Ogeche Emechebe

“Computer science isn’t typically a required course in high school, but according to one Wisconsin professor, it’s one that’s necessary.

Dennis Brylow, associate professor of math, statistics and computer science at Marquette University, is working to double the amount of high schools that offer computer science courses in Wisconsin.

In 2013, Marquette University received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to promote computer science courses in Wisconsin high schools. The 3-year grant is intended to boost the number of computer science teachers in the state. Currently, less than 7 percent of Wisconsin high schools offer computer science courses.

“We came up with a three-pronged plan to try to increase the number of teachers and to permanently fix the pipeline that provides new teachers,” Brylow said. “We applied to the National Science Foundation and it took about three years of getting the proposal accepted, but it’s brought a million dollars to Wisconsin to essentially double the amount of computer science teachers in the state.”

Several groups came together to apply for the grant, including the computer science faculty at Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s computer science department, the Wisconsin chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association and advisers from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

The first part of the process is to get existing computer science teachers on board to teach an introductory course, calledExploring Computer Science. In summer 2014, professors from UCLA came to Milwaukee to teach the course to local teachers. Now that the teachers are trained, the goal is to have them train other teachers in the state to build a team of experts.

Exploring Computer Science, which also has an introductory course curriculum for students, has been implemented in 18 school districts across the state, including six public high schools in Milwaukee that have added computer science programs since the grant.

The course was first introduced at public schools last year. Brylow said so far the feedback has been positive and has inspired some students to pursue computer science further.

The second piece of the plan consists of easing the process for computer science teachers to receive their license. Getting certified is difficult, according to Brylow. According to one report from the Computer Science Teachers Association, the process is described as “confused, disparate, and sometimes absurd.”

UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater are the only universities left in the state that offer programs to get certified, after many universities began dropping the program in the 1990s.

“Whitewater has graduated three computer science teachers in the past five years and La Crosse has graduated zero in the past five years,” Brylow said. “So we identified that one of the problems is nobody knows how to teach this one critical course called the Computer Science Teaching Methods course.

“So the second prong of the grant was designing a modern version of this course using all the latest research and running initial versions of it this summer and next, and building it in a way that will be easy to adopt at other universities,” he said.

Also helping raise the level of expertise in local classrooms is the fact that Wisconsin is one of only two states (Arizona is the other) requiring that a computer science teacher be licensed or certified in computer science to teach the course. They are also the only states that have specific regulations on what a computer science teacher should know.

Andrew Kuemmel, a computer science teacher at West High School, was on the leadership team of the National Science Foundation grant. Kuemmel, who teaches Computer Science Principles, is working on creating an Advanced Placement version of the class, which is expected to roll out in the 2016-17 school year. West High School currently has three computer science classes and has offered its classes for around 30 years now.

“My students learn about how search engines work, how we process big data, and what is the impact of computing in society,” Kuemmel said.

Kuemmel said there’s been an increase in students taking computer science courses, with enrollment in such classes at about 200. All grade levels are able to sign up for it. “

Economics

Report finds student loan defaults heaviest at non-selective schools

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-by Mark Huffman

“Student loan debt is about $1.2 trillion and growing, with not everyone who took out students loans able to pay them back.

Student loan default rates doubled between 2000 and 2011, according to Brookings Institution researchers who analyzed U.S. Department of Education administrative data on federal student borrowing, linked to earnings records derived from tax records.

Their report traces most student loan defaults to students who attended for-profit colleges and, to a lesser extent, community colleges. A common thread, the researchers found, was non-traditional students – typically older than the average student – and those attending “non-selective” institutions – schools that accept anyone – were most likely to default.

Weak educational outcomes
“These non-traditional borrowers were drawn from lower income families, attended institutions with relatively weak educational outcomes, and experienced poor labor market outcomes after leaving school,” the authors write.

At the same time, the authors contend students attending traditional public or private non-profit colleges were much less likely to default and have done better in the job market after graduation.

The finding that a significant portion of student loan defaults occurs among students attending for-profit schools is not exactly a new charge. Federal data released last year showed nearly half of the 650,000 federal student loan defaults between 2011 and 2013 were by students at for-profit schools.

Taking issue
Still, some for-profit schools are finding flaws with the Brookings study’s conclusions. Mark Brenner, an Apollo Education Group executive, whose subsidiaries include University of Phoenix, told Marketwatch the Brookings study was based on “limited data.”

The Brookings study appears to suggest students who are not qualified to attend college – they choose schools that have no admission requirements – are the ones who take on too much debt and default. The authors say a relatively new development is community college students are defaulting on student loans. In the past, the report says, few of these students took out loans to pay for college.

Accounting for 70% of defaults
“By 2011 borrowers at for-profit and two-year institutions represented almost half of student-loan borrowers leaving school and starting to repay loans, and accounted for 70% of student loan defaults,” the authors write. “In 2000, only one of the top 25 schools whose students owed the most federal debt was a for-profit institution, whereas in 2014, 13 were.”

According to the report, the borrowers from those 13 schools owed about $109 billion—almost 10% of all federal student loans. And once out of school, they faced more difficult employment prospects.

For example, the researchers say the median borrower from a for-profit institution who left school in 2011 and found a job in 2013 earned about $20,900 a year. At the same time, 21% were unemployed.

By comparison, community college borrowers earned $23,900 and only 17% were unemployed.”