• 15Jun
    Author: Katherine Pisana Categories: Education, Technology Comments: 2

    Online learning and I have had an interesting relationship over the years...

    We’ve been monogamous…
    I have studied online as a full-time student.

    We’ve seen other people…
    I have completed additional specialist training (also done online) in online language instruction while still wearing the hat of the part-time online graduate student.

    We’ve taken a break…
    As with many professional development endeavors, they eventually lead to promotions. Mine did, but along with more money and a longer title, it also came with more work!! As a result, I had to take a break from my studies and trust that when the time was right, we would pick up where we left off.

    We’ve had a long distance relationship…
    During the time that I’ve been working on completing my MA in Online and Distance Education (a three-year part-time degree) I’ve lived in 7 different cities spanning 4 countries. If it wasn’t for the technology, I would have had to choose between my studies, which are both personally and professionally very important to me, and the numerous other aspects of my life.


    I hope that a few things have emerged from this little blurb. One is that learning is a lifelong process, and sometimes it can feel like a love/hate relationship. But as with all relationships, they’re only as good as you make them! The second thing that I hope translates is that online learning (whether it be fully online or mixed in with a bit of face-to-face instruction) is a flexible approach to developing your knowledge and skills. And the third aspect of online learning, and the one that is probably the most fundamentally important to me, is its ability to seamlessly connect you to a border-less world.


  • 10Jun
    Author: Katherine Pisana Categories: Education Comments Off on Higher Education: A stable sector in the midst of the downturn

    10june-postHigherEd Careers published a feature this month on employment indicators in the higher education sector. For a general overview of what’s been happening in the US job market and the mechanisms affecting employment, have a read through the discussion between Andy Brantley, President and CEO, College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR); Bruce Steinberg, Employment Researcher; and John Ikenberry, President, HigherEdJobs.com. In the piece, Steinberg notes that employers are not cutting as many jobs in recent months as they were in the beginning of the year, but I have to wonder if that’s because there just aren’t as many jobs to cut. I also don’t agree with his assessment that the housing sector was what got us into this mess in the first place but rather that it was the first to show signs of what was coming, but that’s neither here nor there.

    To his credit, Steinberg does suggest an interesting approach for academics to adopt in order to gauge the health of their specialist sectors and, in turn, the marketability of their positions:

    Higher Ed Employment Indicators: What Matters?

    To be able to know what the employment and financial health is of the areas outside academia that they are educating students about would be most helpful to make strategic plans about staffing and the allocation of resources. In this manner, they are providing the educational grounding for the next generation of workers and professionals in sectors/industries that will lead the next economic cycle.

    However, what most interested me was what Ikenberry had to say in this interview about the ‘fresh off the virtual press’ Higher Education Employment Report – Q1 2009. Its four key findings suggest that the total number of jobs in higher education has remained relatively stable over the last 18 months BUT the number of advertised job openings in the sector has decreased significantly. It also found that in the first quarter of 2009, colleges and universities shifted their hiring towards faculty and part-time positions and away from administrative hires and full-time employees. Does that mean there’s a growing market for freelance work in HE?

    The message Ikenberry sends out to job seekers looking to snatch up the few opportunities out there at the moment: competition is high, but rest assured that the challenges you face are likely not because of something you’ve done (or failed to do). We’re all facing tough times. Just as you and everyone else on the bus is counting pennies to make it through the rest of the month, so are universities and colleges. Investments are being scrutinized from every direction. Persistence is key. It looks like ’employers are looking for reasons to exclude, not include, candidates from consideration’. Having said that, from my own job hunting experience, I’ve seen job openings pop up on a number of occasions for directors and associate deans of educational technology. The significance there: learning technologists were few and far between when I entered this industry. Now formal divisions of being established within institutions to support these efforts. That’s a good sign.

    It might take some time, but those divisions will start to grow and become more and more a part of the strategic vision of many universities. Growth means new opportunities, and I think that just like with so many other areas of our global economy, we have to see some significant changes in the makeup of industries before we start seeing real upward trends.

    So to end off on what I think is an inspiring note that actually ties into supporting the growth of our industry, here’s Brantley‘s advice to higher education professionals looking to further our careers:

    Higher Ed Employment Indicators: What Matters?

    Those looking to further their higher ed career should be committed to constant learning. If you would prefer to seek a new position, but prefer to stay put for the short-term, invest time and effort into learning new skills and abilities–on the job and outside of the job. The things we do every day to enhance our skills and abilities definitely impacts our marketability now and in the future. There are some great opportunities available, so now could actually be a great time to find that next career opportunity. Job seekers should be focused on their true career aspirations and apply for positions that really match their short and long-term career goals.


  • 05May
    Author: Katherine Pisana Categories: Education, Educational Technology Comments: 5

    RSS Job SearchI’ve started looking for a job this week, so I can tell you that the economy is much more of interest to me now than ever, particularly how it’s affecting higher education. I subscribe to a number of job search engines and associations that also syndicate new openings, so I’ve been observing the job market in California for a couple of months now. I’ve noticed very few instructional designer roles opening up, and even those that are published directly on university websites come with a disclaimer that although you can apply, they are currently under a hiring freeze so you might never hear back from them.

    I’ve also noticed some phenomenal roles – policy makers, strategists and managers of institution-wide educational technology initiatives. These are generally posted by higher education institutions that have newly established ‘elearning units’ – hubs or centers of excellence with remits to expand hybrid and fully online course offerings for their universities. These jobs sound great, not only because of the stimulating challenges that lie waiting for the people who land the roles, but also because they show signs of greater understanding and openness on the side of the institutions who are ready, willing and eager to invest in educational technology initiatives.

    So, now back to some thoughts on the economy…

    Alan Tait wrote an interesting post on the EDEN President’s Blog about Scotland’s economy and how, through direct engagement with employers, higher education in the UK is able to design custom training for the workforce to ensure that the teaching is relevant, and that the industries feel the benefits. I wanted to include below a snippet of his impressions of the ways in which the oil and gas sectors view the relevance of education:

    I was surprised by the almost total focus on the recruitment of the brightest and best of new graduates, and on coping with the difficulty in persuading new graduates that the Oil and Gas industries are attractive places to build a career. There was almost no focus from the industry representatives on the development of people in their existing workforce. My only contribution was to point out that if the competition for the brightest and best new graduates was already fierce this would only get worse because of the demographic down turn, in many developed countries at least, of this age cohort. This would mean development of the current workforce would become even more important than it was already, and that the emphasis on non-campus based forms of study that supported learning in and around the workplace rather just the campus would become all the more important.

    Some industry giants must have heard Tait’s call because they’re already starting to do their part. Microsoft announced the launch of a new program in February designed to ‘provide up to 2 million people over the next three years with the technology training needed to succeed in the 21st-century economy’. A very important step considering that our focus can’t just be on current college students struggling to get heard in the blogosphere, and kids in K-12 who we’re trying to teach about technology at as early an age as we can. How about the current workforce – those still in it that is? Companies are not likely in the position to invest in on-the-job training, and employees are probably juggling with the new responsibilities faced by so many families who have had to transition from 2- to 1-income households. These types of new training initiatives only require time and determination from the life-long student…and the payoffs of self-empowerment would be priceless.

    So, as the sun spills onto my carpet as I sit on my sofa (a change of pace from being proverbially chained to my desk – the magic of laptops!) and I can still take advantage of the quiet while the commuters are still on the roads returning home, I’ll post this message and get back to work. First point on the agenda: finish watching a webinar entitled ‘The Economy’s Impact on Higher Education’ – part of Educause’s monthly series discussing how the economic climate is impacting upon the education sector. Let’s hope they have some good news…