Interesting Reads This Week

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I am in the Midwest for a few days. The weather is stormy, and there is something large but unknown in the corn crib. Something that growls at me if I get too close early in the morning. There is likely a metaphor about higher education in there somewhere?

The five stages of reading an EdTech report

Toward the end of most weeks, I start collecting reports and posts I’ve flagged during the week for possible inclusion in this newsletter or in This Week in Student Success. Many of them are research reports, which inevitably leads me into a cycle I have come to call the Morgan Model of Managing Reports (MMMR), with apologies to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

1. Excitement
The title promises a new framework for a problem I spend a lot of time thinking about. Hope springs eternal.

2. Disappointment and Irritation
The opening sections are promising, but not quite as sharp as I hoped. I start thinking: yes, but surely it is a bit more complicated than that.

3. Bargaining
Then the framework arrives, usually around page 12. There are boxes. There are arrows. Sometimes there is even a triangle. I start thinking: maybe this could be useful in some circumstances.

4. Frustration
The pencil comes out. I am writing in the margins: does this actually solve the problem or mostly rename it?

5. Acceptance
Most reports contain real insights. They are just usually more specific, contingent, and limited than the headline framework suggests.

So what got me excited, irritated, and frustrated this week?

Robot wave versus gray tsunami

One of the issues filling my inbox lately has been the seemingly endless stream of takes on what is happening in the job market, particularly with respect to AI. We have written about it here, but every day seems to bring new posts about which occupations are most vulnerable to AI and whether the job market for new graduates is going to be significant, seismic, or existential.

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