Higher Education Observer

 Many of us are glued to, or at least checking frequently, media accounts of the shooting last night.  Donald Trump is very fortunate, and I hope he sees the spiritual reality of this incident--his life was spared--and lives in gratitude.  He is not "lucky," he was saved from death or significant brain injury. It's hard not to predict this propels him to the White House, but just as no one expected the back lash toward Biden about his debate performance or this shooting, we cannot assume the future.  And of course, the incident will be investigated for a long time to come; the fact a sniper was even there is pretty disturbing. On the "Twitters" there were some funny memes about how the media's coverage. One large outlet I was checking last night, even with the very clear Fox News footage of gunshots and blood, wrote as a headline, "Secret Service interrupts Trump Rally." You can't make this stuff up.  I'll let the chattering classes interpr...

 https://affordablelearninggeorgia.org/resources/opengenai I share this link because it leads to information about The University System of Georgia's policy statement on AI use in Open Educational Resources (OERs).  For those who don't know, OERs are not just homemade textbooks. They are designed for wide distribution digitally and should b e well researched and designed to be at parity with publishers' text. If done correctly, they use no material that is under copyright or that needs permission (and therefore perhaps payment), including images or text. They can utilize links to open access material on the Internet. The goal is to not breach copyright law and to keep them zero cost. Actually, the goal is to provide a better to or equal than option to traditional textbooks, which can extremely expensive.  OERs use Creative Commons licensing to protect the integrity of their use and to keep the author's work from being "stolen" and sold. I am not sure how viabl...

I have a real website, https://www.barbaragrahamtucker.net There I have my business, more writing, links, etc.  Also my podcast:  https://rss.com/podcasts/dialogues-with-creators/ This marketing thing is hard! 

This article argues that Jonathan Haidt's and Jean Twenge's work is extreme in its placing blame for teen mental health problems on social media and phones. She focuses on the methodology of the studies, in somewhat narrow ways. All studies have flaws if you are looking for them; that is the nature of social sciences research and why every journal article ends with "we need more research." ("Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" says II Timothy 3:7.) She doesn't address the question of why mental health is so much worse now than twenty, even fifteen years ago.  The phones themselves would not have done this without social media, and social media would not have blossomed without the phones. And of course there is not direct causation in every instance. But my students know they spend too much time on their phones, and they feel guilt about their addiction.  And perhaps they should. They are not outside, not with friends, not ...

  https://getpocket.com/explore/item/learning-is-supposed-to-feel-uncomfortable?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us This is a link to a Harvard Business Review article (quite short) on being uncomfortable and even squeamish when learning something new.  We who consider ourselves "experts"--and I think all academics do--need to be reminded of what it likes to be a novice, or new at learning.   He uses the word "shame," as one of the emotions. While I understand what he means, I cringe at that word. Shame to me always implies moral failure that makes one, or makes one feel, less than human or equal or worthy or enough.  Spiritually, we are not enough. Grace is needed--by everyone--and therefore shame doesn't belong, but guilt does. Shame is something we are taught and inflicted with.  Guilt, now that's a different matter. One of the best books I have read on this was not really a book on shame but on cross-cultural communication of the gospel: The 3-D Gospel:: Mi...

 I have heard "experts" say one must write a million words of fiction to learn the craft....well, I've surpassed that, and here's the result. It is my best.  Coming soon. You can pre-order Kindle version here.

Derek Thompson, who is never short on opinions, published this in the Atlantic . Despite this first sentence, I agree with him. I have lived it over the last 20 years. And I would say my institution is quite conservative in this regard, but we have had to, because of federal law and student expectations mostly, add several non-faculty positions. Fortunately, we do not depend overmuch on part-timers, not like many institutions, and their service is limited to two classes per semester in most cases.   The issue is also, are these burgeoning staff positions even effective? Well, it could be considered Apples and Oranges. Today there is almost no barrier to getting into some kind of (access) college. That access does not mean success. (Sounds like a good slogan for someone:  Access means success [or not].) But because there are few barriers, more come, and that means more issues to deal with, mental health being one of the largest, as well as academic unpreparedness.  A secon...

 Caveat: I am not an expert on this issue in terms of credentialing. I am an "experiential," on-the-ground semi-expert on the subject of dealing with college students with mental health problems as a faculty member and lower-level administrator.  Second caveat: I have no quantitative data that I have generated myself. There is plenty of that available if you look for it, and you will not have to look very long.  I read (parts of) Jean Twenge's book IGEN , and now Jonathan Haidt has a book out on the same subject (which I am tempted to think he borrowed from Twenge's work; I heard him cite her on a podcast). So the stats about 60% of young women being depressed and how much the female suicide rate has gone up are well reported.  Third caveat: I cannot, obviously, give details or examples from my experience, so any I do allude to will be vague.  Beyond the caveats: I am a department chair in the liberal arts unit of my college. My department has the distinction o...

This is a review of  Save the Cat Writes a Novel (SCWAN) Our screenwriting instructor at the college where I teach recommended, sort of, the Save the Cat book for screenwriting. Actually, I am not sure that it was a recommendation; it was more of an “it has some good ideas…” comment. He himself uses the Syd Field book, The Foundations of Screenwriting, to teach the course. Since I sat in on his class in 2021, I can say I read the book but it’s time to read it again. Of course, I haven’t really touched my screenplay in a couple of years. I am a novelist. That is my form, along with some short fiction. However, Jessica Brody took the concepts of Save the Cat and applied them to novel writing. I bought it. I read it. I liked it, sort of.    It promises a lot more than it delivers. The website Mythcreants ( https://mythcreants.com/ ) tears it apart in several blog posts. I see their point, but everyone is in a different place in their writing career and developme...

I have a full website at https://www.barbaragrahamtucker.net/ Please visit for more information about my work.

Available now $5.00, Kindle only for now A sixty-year-old hate crime refuses to be buried.  From betareader:  Barbara Graham Tucker has outdone herself with her new novel Long  Lost Justice. She does what every writer aspires to- makes her readers want to keep reading. You cannot wait for the next chapter. You care deeply about the story and the characters. It is her best work to date. You will be both happy and sad: happy that you read Long Lost Justice , and sad that Barbara Tucker’s next book is not out yet.    Jerry Drye