Whipped Cream Difficulties

A while back, I noted that the University of Texas had shut down the popular “informal classes” program as a money-saving step.

I found out, by way of today’s Statesman, that the classes are back.

I did not know this. Perhaps there is a reason for that:

…there’s a perception that the program — which offers instruction in fly fishing, painting, dog obedience, digital photography and GarageBand for songwriters — remains kaput.
There are a couple of reasons for that. For a few months, it was. And those ubiquitous paper course catalogs you used to see all over town are no more. Watson and program director Monica Mercado say they rely on email and social media to get the word out.

I could snark on the whole “let’s use social media” thing, but guess what? Enrollment has gone up 23 percent between 2010 and 2012.

I could also snark on the classes that are being offered…but they’re actually pretty good. (“The World of Vincent Price” sounds like it could be fun, but I’m not sure I’d be willing to shell out $68 for it.)

(“Finally, students will look toward the future of food and food blogging, and delve into sustainable food systems and sustainable blogging systems.” What the heck is a “sustainable blogging system”?)

Edited to add: After I wrote this post, I had breakfast with two friends of mine. Both are more active on social media than I am, and one is actually a grad student at UT. Neither of them knew the informal classes were back, either.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 19th, 2012 at 9:09 am and is filed under Clippings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.