Last week I spoke with some of my colleagues about the "challenges" posed by generative AI to our teaching. As anyone who follows me on Bluesky -- or followed me on Twitter, prior to its nazification -- will know, I am not a fan of generative AI. Its proponents and salesmen tend to dismiss critics … Continue reading Why I am not using AI in the classroom
education
A quick, mid-apocalyptic update
First, everything is on fire; as bad as things have been looking, and continue to look, for English-language universities in Quebec (a long story I won't bother with at the moment), the Trump administration's war on academia has ramped up so dramatically in the US, and on so many fronts -- from arresting and deporting … Continue reading A quick, mid-apocalyptic update
The Illusion of a Future
Say the line! "Faculty need to tell the truth about the academic job market." Unobjectionable in itself, this is a constant refrain in online and print performances of academic self-criticism. Why? One implication is that faculty members have been cornering unwary bystanders to share the Good News about tenure-track jobs. Another implication is that the … Continue reading The Illusion of a Future
Discipline and Profession
The introduction to one of the textbooks I'm assigning for next term's "Early Modern Europe" history survey contains an interesting sentence: Overall, at least in the editors' judgment, the academy has emerged bruised but resilient: more conscious of its limitations, more tolerant of alternative pathways, more cautious about general conclusions, but otherwise in remarkably rude … Continue reading Discipline and Profession
memorious 