I agree with the sentiments you've outlined, Don.



I want to ask the group, in particular the more senior folks in the group-- if you were an American student interested in human centered design research, would you still go into a PhD program, to begin in 2018?



I am finishing my Masters now at a major US research university, and I feel as though it would be unlikely to have the same jobs upon completion of a PhD that my professors do today in my Media Studies department. My sentiments align with my fellow cohort and other friends in graduate school elsewhere (sans the ones focusing on HCI streams of Media Studies), rather than just this specific program.



For one, the world is so uncertain, in particular funding schemes attitudes toward these systems in the US. Secondly, the skill sets being pushed in academia seem ill-aligned with real world impact. Pedagogy is also pushed, but as you point out, it is not always effective. Additionally, the world is interdisciplinary but trying to publish specialized "reputable” work in a "reputable" journal is like entering a minefield where you will come out with a few less limbs, you just aren't certain which ones. I mean with this analogy to demonstrate that there is oppressive force to publish and be productive, but without the necessary momentum and mentorship (both in terms of financial and intellectual bandwidth) to produce a favorable result.



When all is said and done, no one really knows what “success” as a graduate student looks like and therefore, with unsurmountable pressure, one gets pushed to the limits and is quick to “break”. There is a general attitude that gets internalized by graduate students in the US that weakness and paper rejections are signs that one is ill-fitted for such an academic life. While Professors may try to assuage these feelings of insecurity in one’s own work and knowledge, as Don pointed out, "professors are obviously an elite: they are the ones that managed to get through school and are successful. They do not represent the vast majority of students.”



Then finally, I'm just the tip of a greater population that is graduating from college with 10's of thousands of debt from undergraduate study, which therefore means many have not had a chance to save any money, let alone for retirement. Finishing up one's education finally at let's say 32 ambitiously, one enters the tenure track market with 10's of thousands in debt, optimistically a thousand or two in emergency savings, and no retirement contributions. Did I also mention that in the US, social security is likely to be washed up before I get a chance to use it in a few decades, and every other day in the news we hear about how healthcare could just vanish overnight?



Many of the friends I do know that have persevering through a PhD program now admit to having parental financial support for either rent or emergencies— but what about those of us that aren’t in a position to access that security fund? Getting a side job in order to be able to afford such luxuries as prescriptions or dental work is viewed as “cheating” the program when you are already given a “livable stipend.” I ask senior folks to please consider within their own programs, how does your own department support students in financial emergencies, and how do you establish a culture that does not leave students to feel guilty if they do not have familial financial support to help them “focus”?



So who does the University serve? Or, dare I ask, who is serving the University?



As for myself, I find that the most crucial key to “success” as a graduate student in America today is keeping an ongoing reflective dialogue with myself, and continuing to persevere towards my own vision of self and career rather than one outlined by the program I am working within. However, this is always easier said than done.



Thank you all for your thoughts.



Best,

Vicky



Vicky Zeamer

Graduate Student in Comparative Media Studies

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

New Media Lab Complex

E 15 - 320



20 Ames Street

Cambridge, MA 02139-4307

skype: vickyzmr

e: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>





On December 17, 2017 at 11:08:44 PM, Don Norman ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) wrote:



The University is dying. Hurrah.



How do I not love you? Let me count the ways



- It talks about teaching when it should be focussed upon learning

- It has an outmoded view of education:

- That lectures are effective for learning whereas in fact, they are

simply the easiest thing to do for instructors, but the worst

way to learn

for students

- It believes that it must teach students ALL the essentials they need,

whereas students forget most of the material as soon as the examination is

over. And if they ever do need it, they have to learn it all over again

- Which implies that students should learn how to learn as opposed to

whatever miscellaneous stuff the class has presented to them

- Education should be life-long, not just while young

- The division of courses into hour-long sessions, three times a week,

taught in quarters or semesters of roughly 10 or 15 weeks has no

educational benefits (but simply makes room scheduling easier).

Different material requires different educational structures and time

frames.

- Problem-based education (which is how many design courses are taught)

is not well supported. Moreover, these courses usually require a higher

teacher/student ratio than universities can afford

- The university is pricing itself out of existence, especially in the

United States, but in all countries (except that the cost is often hidden

because of state subsidies, free tuition, etc.)

- The internet makes impossible to learn anything you want, any time you

need it.

- <amy professors do not know anything about modern learning theory or

about how students learn. What they know is folk knowledge, usually based

on how they were taught. But professors are obviously an elite: they are

the ones that managed to get through school and are successful. They do not

represent the vast majority of students.

- Schools do a horrible job of preparing students for the world after

school. This is, in part, because most professors have never had a job

outside of the university. So professors think they know what skills are

needed, but they are provably wrong.



see

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/whats-college-good-for/546590/



Why do we have research universities?



The standard answer is because universities are excellent at studying, deep

profound issues. That used to be true. Is it true today?



- Research costs money, and funding agencies (Foundations and

governments) are increasingly unable to or unwilling to pay.

- The pressure for academic publications to get a job and then, to get

promoted, has led to an outrageous increase in low-quality journals,

conferences, and publications. Many conferences are now dominated by

graduate students who need conference presentations and publications in

order to get jobs. The quality of the conferences is, as a result, low.

- Fake journals, fake data in prestigious, important journals,

duplication of publication ... all are common.

- Many academics are ill-trained. They do not understand the nature of

an argument, of logical thinking, of the role of evidence. This weakens the

quality of instruction, of research, of publications, and of reviewing.

- So much is being published that it is impossible to keep up, to

discover the important pieces from the crap.

- The increase in specializations means that the work is becoming more

and more abstract, more difficult for people outside of the specialized

area to follow, and less able for colleagues to evaluate.

- Universities still prize abstract, in-depth studies over applied work.

Applications, putting together the findings of the many disciplines, are of

critical importance, but they tend to be shunned or given extremely low

status by the University.



The entire system is broken: Education and Research



​In my humble opinion



Don​



--

Don Norman

Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego

[log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/ www.jnd.org <http://www.jnd.org/>





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