James Drogan

I've been in higher education for almost five years now, helping my students equip the survival kits required for "out there where the cold wind blows."   An essential tool in their kit is fact-based hypothesis-driven thinking.

In the last few weeks I've discovered  evidence-based management.

Today, Bob Sutton's blog brings me a link to Why Managing by Facts Works, more support for instilling in students Paul Samuelson's admonition: “There is no substitute for paying attention to the empirical facts of life, and no substitute for systematic reasoning about them.”

Re Conversations with Dave and Rich 

Thanks for your kind comments.  You may be interested to know the paper was rejected by the Journal of Educational Technology.  Perhaps it was for the reasons you hint at.  

The one thing that frosted me was that it took almost seven months, I think, for them to arrive at that decision.  Now their process, which I suspect is geared to a more tranquil time, may not permit speed greater than that.  Which leads me to wonder whether academia, as we currently understand it, will be able to keep up with the demands of the world.  See No Teacher Left Behind from yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

I maintain that distance learning is not for all subjects, all teachers, or all students.  One needs to be careful in how these triples are put together.  I'm tempted to say that this might be the most critical decision of all that need to be made in this area.

It is hard work as you can see from the numbers in the paper.

But it has its rewards.  Students who would rarely if ever open up in class come alive online.  They contribute significant personal experiences and insights that improve the quality of the educational experience.  Through this they grow, develop their self-esteem, and become better prepared to tackle the world.

And the self-proclaimed experts exist here as they do anywhere else.  I'm reminded here of Shakespeare's Henry V's speech on St. Crispin's day.  Strip your sleeves and show me your scars; we can them talk.

There is a marvelous little book -- The Portable Curmudgeon, New American Library (1987), 0-453-00740-6 -- which I recommend to your attention.  It is full of inspirational phrases to use with the pretentious and the presumptive.

In March I mentioned Dubair Ports World in a post.  Today, courtesy TPMCafe - America Abroad, I learn that Dubai Ports World is “first global marine terminal operator in the world to gain international certification for its security management system.”

The American politicians look a bit lame on this one. 

I came across this courtesy of Creative Generalist.  I recommend that you, at a minimum, read and think about the Creative Generalist entry.  You may subsequently wish to follow the links to the original source.

Be introspective when you read this.  How do you match up to what is called for?  What are you going to do if you find yourself short of the mark? 

Just in case anyone wondered.

I call your attention to this post by Dave Pollard, one of my favorites.  Dave wears his heart on his sleeve.  Don't let that put you off.  Focus on the sensible, actionable recommendations he makes for managing the torrent of stuff (I think Dave goes too far be labeling it information) that comes our way.

Re Conversations with Dave 

I note And Now, Islamism Trumps Arabism in Sunday's New York Times for its use of the word "dignity." Four times, by my count.

I suppose I was struck by this because it's not a word oft found in the discussion of the global socio-political conflicts.

Which led me to wonder what a set of international policies would look like if their aim was to provide dignity to as many as possible.

Re Conversations with Dave 

You might recall the issue stack I put together a couple of years ago.

I've been carrying around a to-do for some time that amounts to creating an integrated picture of these issues, how the critical metrics of these issues have changed over time, and, especially, what all this might portend for the future.

Even though this is a complex, chaotic, rapidly changing world, much of it is, I believe, deterministic. We are where we are for a reason. Whether we like where we are or not, we ought to know how we got here.

I'm no longer satisfied with focusing on economics (if, in fact, I ever did with any aplomb). Economic growth, of and by itself, is no longer is enough. I need, people need, to understand the integrated picture and reckon its implications.

Doubtless the books you have given me and recommended me will help in this regard.

This is a recapitulation of issues we have been discussing for some time. I expect the conversation will continue. And once we've resolved all this, we will find something else to occupy our dotage.

Re Conversations with Dave

Dave directed me to State of the Blogophere which generated the following reply.

As one of my clients always used to say; "So what?"

Doubtless someone has thought about this and its implications on the grand scale. All I have is Drogan Scale.

Drogan Scale suggests that I am more aware of more stuff than before, but I don't know that I have more interesting conversations than I had before; or am engaging in more meaningful actions than before.

Perhaps the state of the blogosphere is akin to the state of open fire hydrant.