There are a couple of quick items of which you should be aware. The semester nonsense of changing (or shortening) is not for anyone's benefit except the states. If you think students are going to take a bunch of two week classes over winter break you've been hitting the eggnog a little early. The state wants everybody together so we will all look alike walk alike, well you get the idea. It will make no difference to students whether we teach 16 or 15 weeks. You want meaningful change? I have an idea let's go to quarters, oh wait we've been there and before that we were on semesters. Don't administrators have enough to do without make work projects like this?
The other point is the great unveiling of the new master plan. Oh boy. It will be interesting to see if any attention was paid to all those "thank you for your input" public meetings. Some will find coal in their stockings; others will perhaps find something more valuable. Come one come all it's December 7th. (Incredible timing.)
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7 comments:
You do realize that majority of four year colleges in Ohio are already on a 15 week semister exam week included) with 55 and 80 minute classes, and some already have a January intersession?? And others are also changing to that format, this is not new, just that UT has fallen behind. As to Master Plan all voices are heard but planning is about decisions and choices among many different voices and options, just because yours was not implemented does not mean it was not heard.
I wish to respond to Anon 6:42. First, I still contend that the length of a semester has little to do with the quality of the education being provided. Certain systems work for certain students. Most students, however, adapt to whatever the system is that's in place. I personally believe quarters were best for our students because it supplied an extra entry point during the year. You could miss a quarter and still get two-thirds of a year's credit. As to fifteen weeks versus thirteen or sixteen, we might just as well argue over the number of angels on the heard of a pin. There will be little effect on our students whatever the decision.
As to the great unveiling of the master plan, please pardon my cynicism. Having been here nearly thirty years, it has been my experience that when people ask for my input, they rarely want it. I am not so invested in what I say at such meetings that I will go into a blue funk if folks don't see the wisdom of my ideas. It is when my ideas are treated like mushrooms that I become a little upset.
Any comment about the Independent Collegian Editorial?
http://independentcollegian.com/2016/11/29/opinion/editorials/editorial-new-media-communication-major-raises-more-questions/
That the faculty in Communication are too dysfunctional and unprofessional in their dealings with one another to focus on improving their programs and thinking about their students. That department has a long standing and well known reputation on campus including within their college and the administration as a mess of a department from top to bottom, and that has been the case for years. They can not set aside their petty differences and disrespect for their colleagues to actually see the harm they are doing to their department, faculty and students and for their future.
Not one mention of Health Science Campus in the story in today’s Blade about UT’s new master plan?
Oh well.
In 10 years, the HSC will return to free standing status as the ProMedica Health Sciences University and the Paul Block Health Science Building will be renamed in honor of Toledo’s and The Blade’s current philosopher-king, Randy Oostra.
Randy Oostra is one of the best things to happen to the city and region in many years. He is a civic leader with a vision and a sense of social justice.
Oostra is working to prepare the region for the future. The median Baby Boomer is about 61 years old, while the youngest are still under 55. The need for quality healthcare in the region is only going to increase. We already have a physician shortage and a nurse shortage in the region. If we are to address these shortages effectively UT and ProMedica must work together.
lol. Ok, you make it seem like Promedia and Randy Oostra are godlike. If you know anything about how healthcare works in terms of economic position and impact in communities, you would know that whoever is the largest healthcare organization is going to be the biggest (or one of the biggest) employers in the area. How do you consider a CEO a "civic leader" and "visionary" when they have been leading a third tier healthcare organization with some of the highest healthcare costs to the patient in the region? If your basis is fancy new buildings and properties that generate negative tax base, and manufactured "best of lists" then we will take your comments as sarcasm.
I agree that Promedica and UT must work together, but let's not pretend they are something they are not. That will only perpetuate complacency and prevent growth.
Promedica will be eaten up in the next few years, anyway.
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