{"id":551,"date":"2014-01-31T13:03:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T19:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/?p=551"},"modified":"2014-01-31T21:37:16","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T03:37:16","slug":"job-security-calculus-reasoning-about-our-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/2014\/01\/31\/job-security-calculus-reasoning-about-our-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"Job Security Calculus: Reasoning about our futures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most a\"Graphic<\/a>cademics have a love\/hate relationship to teaching, and especially teaching Calculus.\u00a0 Prior to the first exam of the semester, it seems that everyone in the class is there for learning\u2019s sake, discussing ideas, engaging in problem-solving.\u00a0 But we worry that we are providing too detailed feedback (that those more jaded might argue some students don\u2019t even read).\u00a0 Or that we spent too long creating the perfect exam when a not-so-perfect exam will do and afford us more time for research.\u00a0 There are some who see their teaching as the perfect complement to research since it reminds us as we watch students stumble through our courses how we too are stumbling, just on the brink of discovery.\u00a0 We are \u00a0warned nonetheless by our seniors\u00a0of \u201cliking teaching too much\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Catherine O\u2019Neil, the author of MathBabe is worried about those Calculus classes disappearing.\u00a0 As MOOC\u2019s take over the function of teaching Calculus to the masses, there will be less need for Calculus Instructors, and therefore less need for Research Mathematicians at all but the most elite institutions.<\/p>\n

While finding an academic job is already pretty difficult, she thinks it\u2019s only going to get harder.\u00a0 Dr. O\u2019Neil writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for my younger friends who are interested in going to grad school now, I\u2019m not writing them letters of recommendation before having this talk, because they\u2019ll be looking around for tenured positions in about 10 years, and that\u2019s the time scale at which I think math departments will be shrinking instead of expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do others think about the future of research mathematics?\u00a0 With 60 comments posted after her entry<\/a>, its clear that many people have some opinion on the matter.\u00a0 An early career mathematician, Kaisa Taipale<\/a>, who is visiting at Cornell and got her PhD the same year I did (2010) writes on the Limit Institute Blog<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0about a recent panel she attended at the JMM about MOOCS:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economics, one of my favorite puzzles, recurred several times in discussion. Robert Ghrist and Tina Garrett both said that making a MOOC or a SPOC was not cheap or a real cost-saving measure. It comes out of tenured faculty time and perhaps special pots of administration money. I asked about the position of postdocs, graduate students, and others who might participate in online education initiatives …. There was some discussion of the fact that universities or colleges might hire adjuncts to do online courses in particular, which did not thrill me. Time to get into management I guess. There was universal acknowledgement that intellectual property and copyright rules have not yet been standardized. Patricia Hersh asked about the economics of asking recent PhDs to produce high-quality math materials for K-12 teachers. Hmmm\u2026<\/a> I have heard of no such official effort, and the economics are indeed interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the way, The Limit Institute has a nifty mission: \u201cThe Limit Institute for Mathematics, Innovation, and Technology<\/strong> (LIMIT) is a loose affiliation of mathematicians at all levels of training and employment. We are interested in how technology is changing how we carry out math research, teach math, and even understand what mathematics is.\u201d And it doesn\u2019t hurt that they quote a Paul Simon lyric on their homepage.<\/p>\n

For the cynics (like myself), the answer may be to seek jobs outside academia.\u00a0 Izabella Laba wrote a post on her blog The Accidental Mathematician <\/a>remarking on the lack of advice for those seeking non-academic jobs, especially on the AMS website.\u00a0 She is seeking good sources as she will be helping to update the AMS site.<\/p>\n

To me, the most significant point is that we should be thinking about these issues as a community and deciding how to best face them.\u00a0 While the everyday pull of research, teaching, grant deadlines, and committee meetings, we may look up and find that administrators, businessmen, and bureaucrats \u00a0have made \u00a0all the decisions on behalf of mathematicians.\u00a0 While Dr. O\u2019Neil thinks relying on billionaires is not the right way to go (see her post<\/a> ), there may be other alternatives.\u00a0 How do you see MOOCs as changing the landscape, if at all?<\/p>\n

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Graphic from http:\/\/himalayawake.com\/mooc\/<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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Most academics have a love\/hate relationship to teaching, and especially teaching Calculus.\u00a0 Prior to the first exam of the semester, it seems that everyone in the class is there for learning\u2019s sake, discussing ideas, engaging in problem-solving.\u00a0 But we worry … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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