Category Archives: Higher Ed

Gratitude Pause

Posted on February 17, 2026 by actualham

Tomorrow, I start a new job as Executive Director of the Open Education Network. Many of you have followed my journey through job/loss over the last few months, and the emotions that I am feeling about coming into this new … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Ed | 6 Comments

LinkedIn: Open to Work

Posted on February 17, 2026 by actualham

I recently lost a job that I had both earned and deserved. If my hard work brought me this new gig, then what lost me that old one? Continue reading →

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Insult and Injury

Posted on November 18, 2025 by actualham

It’s the kind of tactic I’d expect in the kind of cut-throat private industry we have become. Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Ed | 2 Comments

I Lost My Job

Posted on October 19, 2025 by actualham

I got fired. I guess that is not precisely true. I took a “voluntary” separation incentive to leave my position. It doesn’t feel voluntary. This winter, close to thirty tenured faculty at my regional public university in New Hampshire will … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Ed | 30 Comments

A is for Austerity: a new zine

Posted on June 24, 2025 by actualham

for more info, follow the QR code on the last page of the zine!

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Against Hope: OpenEd24

Posted on October 9, 2024 by actualham

On the afternoon of Wednesday, October 9th, I presented a f2f session at the 2024 Open Education conference in Providence, Rhode Island. I understand that for various reasons, many folks couldn’t be in the room for my session. Here is … Continue reading →

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What should we let go of?

Posted on December 3, 2019 by actualham

This is a response that I just submitted to a survey on my campus asking what our university should “let go of” in order to become financially sustainable. While it is very particular to my institution, I thought I would … Continue reading →

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Personal Space: Rethinking “Distance” Learning

Posted on August 7, 2019 by actualham

To follow along with the text of this presentation, view the Google Slides version of the talk as I give it: http://bit.ly/rethinkingdistance. Here is the video for the keynote. The transcript follows below. [This version below has image descriptions, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Ed | 2 Comments

The New Education and a New Learning Community

Posted on May 20, 2019 by actualham

Last week, faculty, staff, administrators and students began participating in a new learning community here at Plymouth State University. The purpose of the community is to understand how pedagogy could or should develop under the new integrated cluster model that … Continue reading →

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University of the Margins: Institutional Structures and Open Practice

Posted on March 31, 2019 by actualham

This is my unkeynote address for the AMICAL Conference 2019 at the American University in Cairo. Universities are, in many ways, centers. They are places of coherence, with focused (and often noble) missions related to learning and education. But as … Continue reading →

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