Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

“Anthem Bows Out” “After years of enrollment losses , Anthem Education, a for-profit chain of colleges and career institutes, filed for bankruptcy Monday. The company has abruptly shut down a number of its campuses, leaving state agencies struggling to funnel displaced students into other institutions. Nine more campuses may close today, Anthem officials said.” “Anthem had 41 campuses prior to declaring bankruptcy, according to its bankruptcy petition. Before it filed for bankruptcy the company sold 14 campuses to International Education Corporation, said an official involved in the acquisition. Anthem is in the process of selling an additional 14 campuses to IEC, but requires federal approval to do so. Unless the U.S. Department of Education approves the transaction by today, nine of those 14 campuses will close, Anthem officials said.” Read the rest here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/08/29/profit-anthem-education-abruptly-closes-campuses-after-filin...

Have you ever been lecturing, and you all of sudden realize that most of your class is on some kind of electronic device and not listening? It could be the most interesting lecture in the world: however, they have been sucked into cyberspace like junkies awaiting a fix. Technology does not automatically make a better learning experience, even if the student is typing their notes (there are enough studies proving this).   Sometimes a pen a paper can be a much more powerful learning tool. Anyway, I found this article interesting enough to share because it tells us about the creative solution educators have to come up with in today’s world to get students to put down their electronics. “Today's Lesson: Life in the Classroom Before Cellphones” “A lthough I had taught for more than 20 years, I didn’t realize that I had forgotten what it was like to teach in a classroom without cellphones until I came up with a plan to relive those halcyon days. It was near the ...

( Thug ) historical A member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India. Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travelers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s. A violent person, especially a criminal.              [ mid 19th century: extension of sense 2 ]   http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/thug   Why has the word Thug become associated with men of color? May I remind you that the majority of men of color in the United States (yes majority) are hard working men, often just trying to make it in life, and the word Thug is not an appropriate description. It seems like every time a man color does something the media outlets deem ‘inappropriate”, the word Thug is sure to follow.   It almost seems like the word Thug is being used to ...

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about how the police could learn a lot from the various situations developing throughout the country, and of some of the things they do wrong instead of apologizing.   I am inclined to write a follow up because yesterday, the police in Ferguson did exactly what I said they often do, which is to blame the victim. Worse still is that the comments being written by the general populace have now taken racial overtones simply because the victim allegedly was involved in a crime before getting shot; a crime that was completely non related to why he was shot. I hearing the word “thug” thrown out a lot, and things like “well that is one less of them you need to worry about”, and “just get rid of the whole race and things will be better”.   America, do you not see what is happening again? Are you simply going to fall into the trap of the ‘racial divide’ and not acknowledge the simple truth? Do you realize this is what happens to rape victims...

 The Michael Brown shooting and the situation in Ferguson, MO are currently in the headlines. The only problem is that this is nothing new; situations like this have been going on for decades across the country and across color lines; but obviously disproportionally within African-American communities. It is easier to pick on people who do not have as much of a voice or seem not to have one. A lot encounters with the police start off peaceful (even though no citizen likes to deal with the police), but the point at which thing go wrong seems glaringly obvious: the police never apologize sincerely, ever. http://fox5sandiego.com/2014/05/02/sober-driver-arrested-for-dui-after-deputy-hits-her-car/#axzz3ADjztxBE A simple mistake followed by a sincere apology and action can go a long way, but the culture of law enforcement seems to be to ‘never admit you are wrong’, and if possible ‘blame the victim’ in order to confuse, obfuscate, and get away with it. How many incidents have w...

“It Takes Time” “The University of California System, after five years and millions of dollars spent, is asking for more time and money to get its systemwide online education initiative off the ground.” “The 10-campus university system began to seriously consider a centralized approach to online education in 2009, as California faced a multibillion-dollar deficit that led to budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes across the state. Online for-credit courses, administrators believed -- and to some extent still believe -- could alleviate some the system’s access issues and create a new source of tuition revenue.” “But five years later, California’s economy has rebounded, and the exigency to go online and do so quickly has diminished. As a result, UC has changed its course, choosing to focus on high-demand online and hybrid courses developed at one or more campuses to benefit students across the system.” “The shift was perhaps best summarized by Janet Napolitano, ...

“The Rise of the Helicopter Teacher” “A week before the first paper was due, a young woman in my class raised her hand and asked where the rubric was.” “Shamefaced and stuttering, I had to admit that I had no idea what a rubric was. She helpfully explained that this was a set of guidelines explaining what I expected them to write, how I expected them to write it, and how each aspect of the paper would be evaluated. A set of boxes that students could check off to guarantee that they had met my expectations. For all intents and purposes, in other words, an outline for the paper.” “Oh, I replied. No, I continued, there would be no rubric. And as I saw the crestfallen faces in front of me I realized what these students expected me to be: a helicopter teacher.” “We have all seen (and made fun of) helicopter parents. They hover. They are endlessly accommodating. They put up with rude, spoiled behavior from their children without offering much by way of discipline or punishme...

In this day and age of “rate my professor”, YouTube rants, and anonymous emails, it become much easier for whisper campaigns to be hatched against teachers. Never mind that the teacher is following and enforcing rules about attendance, quality of work, APA, plagiarism, and just plain simple professionalism; there seems to be a new crop of students who just want the credit without actually doing the work. “Professor I need an A in this class!”. Well my question for you is: what as a student are you going to do to prepare yourself to make sure you get that A? It is not my job to give you that A, it is my job to give you the resources to earn that A. Flash forward; warning given, grades done, slackers fail, and then of course slackers cry and complain to higher ups. Now here is where te higher-ups often seem to fail: you must back up your teachers against unsubstantiated rumor and complaints, especially when they are enforcing your own rules. Higher ups need to be thinki...