Category Archives: Academia

Some Teaching I Have Known

Posted on May 28, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Part I of some further thoughts on academia, teaching and politicization. Undefined complaints about inappropriately “political” teaching worry me for the same reason that speech codes worry me. They worry me the same way that a draft policy on sexual … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 16 Comments

History 63: The Whole Enchilada

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I offer this syllabus from Fall 2003 in contrast to Duke’s History 75. Would I get caught in ACTA’s net if they scanned through the catalog and noticed this course? There are Marxists abounding in this syllabus. A Muslim, too! … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 22 Comments

ACTA Report, “How Many Ward Churchills?”

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Are you interested in defending academic standards? Let me tell you what I consider to be a few important academic standards. These apply across the disciplines. 1. Careful collection of evidence. 2. Constraining claims or arguments to the evidence available. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 71 Comments

Online Syllabi

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Timothy Burke

If you’ve been following news of ACTA’s imminent release of a report opportunistically entitled How Many Ward Churchills?, and you’ve looked at the comments thread, you can tell I’m finding the early excerpts irritating. I’m waiting for the full report … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 3 Comments

History 8B. Mfecane, Mines and Mandela: Southern Africa from 1600 to 2006

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Timothy Burke

History 8B Mfecane, Mines and Mandela Professor Burke Fall 2006 This course is a survey of the history of Southern Africa, the region of the continent which today includes the nations of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, Zambia … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 1 Comment

Tenure, Costs, Workloads

Posted on May 15, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Quantifying the expense, as well as benefits, of tenure is a dicey business. I’ve been thinking some about Robert Dickeson’s white paper prepared for the Future of Higher Education Commission, which puts a $1 million per faculty member cost on … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 7 Comments

Liveblogging at the Social Computing Symposium 7

Posted on May 9, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Clay Shirky and Danah Boyd are wrapping up the meeting by collating questions that participants think could profitably be future research questions. Here are some of them: 1) How can we measure the success of different types of online communities? … Continue reading →

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Liveblogging at the Social Computing Symposium 6

Posted on May 9, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Good discussions following the third lightning round session: I would say the third set of presentations were the ones that stimulated the richest slate of follow-up conversations. One cool concrete idea that came out of Julian Dibbell’s presentation was something … Continue reading →

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Liveblogging at the Social Computing Symposium 4

Posted on May 9, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Next session doesn’t begin for a while, but I’m thinking here at breakfast about how this meeting accelerates my sensation of being a misfit toy in academia. I mean, in the context of my everyday practice, I think quite a … Continue reading →

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Professor Kingsfield and Mr. Wilton

Posted on May 2, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Swarthmore doesn’t require teaching evaluations, which usually irks the accreditation teams when they show up here for their regular inspection. Most of the time I hand out an evaluation that I’ve designed myself. (Occasionally I run out of time in … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 9 Comments