This past weekend, American Public University System (APUS) celebrated the accomplishments of nearly 9,000 American Military University (AMU) and American Public University (APU) students who earned their degrees over the past 12 months. As we did last year, we held this year’s commencement ceremony at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, […]
(keynote delivered at the Distance Learning Administration Conference on June 5, 2013) I began writing this speech nearly three months ago. A week and a half ago, I wrapped it up and thought I had better run through it one last time in case any new educational technology had been released that I needed to […]
Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” As an educator, I believe Mr. Franklin’s statement is accurate. Recently, however, an international ranking of educational success found that despite its role as a global superpower, the United States lags behind other countries. Top performers include Hong Kong, Canada, Taiwan, Estonia, Japan, […]
On May 16, 2013, The Atlantic published an article written by Chester Finn, titled “Why Private Schools Are Dying Out.” Finn explores private schools in America and why they’re “dying out.” While most of the article discusses the situation as it applies to private schools, the author also writes that non-elite, private colleges are also […]
Last week, the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and the Milken Family Foundation hosted the fourth annual Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition. The competition website explains that “there is an urgent need to find ways to reach and educate every person” while also noting that “The United States is the largest exporter […]
As a writer, editor, and now Editor-at-Large for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jeff Selingo has observed and written about higher education for more than 15 years. My assessment of his observations noted in his book, College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students, is not unlike a statistician analyzing […]
When reading research reports, I have a habit of noting specific citations if they interest me. Whether I subsequently access the original source depends on how much time I have and whether the topic is relevant to an article or paper that I am writing. I don’t retrieve older source documents as often as newer […]
It’s hard not to hear about a YouTube video that goes viral these days. With billions accessing the Internet globally, anyone with a product to market can theoretically tap the power of the Internet to create demand for their product after generating a positive buzz on any number of consumer accessed websites. Jonah Berger […]
I had the pleasure of attending last week’s Education Innovation Summit 2013 in Phoenix. Co-sponsored by Arizona State University (ASU) and GSV Advisors, this year’s event was the fourth and the largest by far. Because of my role in online education at American Public University System (APUS), I have been a member of the ASU/GSV […]
Read More… from Education Innovation: Fad or Burgeoning Industry?
Bill Bowen is an economist, president emeritus of Princeton University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as well as founding chairman of ITHAKA. His most recent book, Higher Education in the Digital Age, received much advanced press so I pre-ordered a copy through Amazon.
Stanford University President John Hennessy invited Bowen to deliver the 2012 Tanner Lectures given last October. Higher Education in the Digital Age is a revised publication of the lectures given. The book is organized in a way to explore two current topics in higher education: 1) the cost disease and productivity concept in higher education and 2) whether the deployment of technology and online learning in particular can cure the cost disease. Stanford arranged for formal responses to the lectures with participation by President Hennessy, Andrew Delbanco of Columbia University, Daphne Koller of Stanford University and Coursera, and Howard Gardner of Harvard University. Those responses and Bowen’s comments are included as part of the book. […]
Read More… from Higher Education in the Digital Age by William Bowen
