During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, fewer articles about higher education are published, primarily because colleges and universities are closed and faculty, students, and administrators are not around. On December 28, 2012, however, The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “Deans List: Hiring Spree Fattens College Bureaucracy- and Tuition.” The article doesn’t appear to have been picked up in too many other places. I read an article entitled “Administrative Bloat at America’s Colleges and Universities,” however, on December 30 in Outside the Beltway that wrote about the WSJ article and added a few comments as well. … Read the rest
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What to Make of All the Rapid Innovations in Higher Education?
I was a panel participant at a conference last Thursday in Washington, DC. The conference was sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute and was called Stretching the Higher Education Dollar. The five panels that were convened included: The Case for Reform, Opportunities and Obstacles at Existing Institutions, Unbundling College Degrees in Theory and Practice, College in Pieces: Cost Effective Approaches to Student Services and Credentialing, and Implications for State and Federal Policy. Videos of the discussions are available at the previous link and papers written by some of the panelists on the topics will be available as well.… Read the rest
Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from Randomized Trials
Researchers at Ithaka S+R including William G. Bowen (former president of Princeton University), Matthew M. Chingos (also a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy), Kelly A. Lack, and Thomas I. Nygren, have followed Ithaka S+R’s recent report titled “Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education” with a second that reports the findings of a series of randomized trials related to online learning conducted at six public universities. … Read the rest
Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education
Ithaka S+R recently published a report funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and titled, “Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education.” I have written extensively on this blog about the economic constraints facing institutions of higher education, issues of student persistence and retention, and the litany of other issues daunting the American higher education system today. In their report, the authors explore many of these same topics explaining why they believe online education could be a boon for higher education in general and students, faculty, and individual institutions specifically. … Read the rest
In the clamor for increasing graduation and persistence rates, are we ignoring the student at risk factors and student characteristics?
In the early days of online education, a commonly discussed phenomenon was the low completion rates of students. Some chose to explain the departure of students using characteristics such as lack of social integration and academic integration for students matriculating in online programs as identified by Vincent Tinto and others. As technologies utilized in the classroom improved and subsequently, online teaching techniques, student persistence improved as well, but not close to the levels sustained by some of the best face-to-face programs. … Read the rest
Alternative Certification – A Good Idea?
I have read three articles in the last three days about alternatives to earning a college degree, primarily through certification of one kind or another.
The first article, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, discusses the concept of “badges” that are awarded by various websites, training companies, individuals, etc. The concept is that the badge is relatively easy to earn (to keep the learner motivated and engaged) and indicates that they have achieved a certain skill level or learning competency. … Read the rest
Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities
Rich DeMillo has a lengthy background in academia serving as a professor at four different universities, Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech College of Computing, Director of the Computer and Computation Research Division of the National Science Foundation, and was Hewlett Packard’s first Chief Technology Officer. His latest book, Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities, developed from a five page memo that he planned to send to his colleagues about what was wrong at his university then evolved to a whitepaper in which he solicited the advice of friends and colleagues, and eventually to a book. … Read the rest
Why Government Should Engage the Private Sector in the Higher Education Discussion
In the past several years, online higher education has come under increased scrutiny by the federal government and policymakers. As a relatively new trend, online education has been closely examined by some, not so closely examined by others, and has a number of critics. In a recent report called “Odd Man Out: How Government Supports Private-Sector Innovation, Except in Education,” published by the American Enterprise Institute, author John Bailey notes that an acute lack of support and engagement from government agencies to the private sector in education is not only out of sync with other public-private enterprises, it is counterproductive in attempting to reform higher education. … Read the rest
Trouble in the Middle…Or the Part Between the Top 10 Percent and the Bottom 10 Percent?
I read an article in the October 15, 2011 issue of The Economist entitled “Trouble in the Middle.” The article begins by stating that interest in MBA programs at American business schools peaked in 2009 and applications have fallen since then. The author states that some business schools are worried that the trend is related to more than just a slow recovering economy, but in fact a greater change.
The Economist presents data that may back the case that it’s not just the economy. … Read the rest
- Celebrating Innovation in Education at the 2013 Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition
- College (Un)Bound by Jeffrey J. Selingo
- Nature and Needs of Higher Education
- Contagious: Why Things Catch On
- Education Innovation: Fad or Burgeoning Industry?
- Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
- The “Myths” About Online Education
- Charlene Li’s Groundswell
- Higher Ed’s Economic Challenges
- My Vote is For Apple
- WallyBoston.com | Education Innovation: Fad or Burgeoning Industry?: [...] the disrupters by utilizing the technology a...
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- Disruption in Higher Education | Wallace Boston: [...] written about MOOCs in the past (see “What...
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