(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 discuss today.
Last night, President Obama delivered an address to the nation. He focused on the state of the economy and his administration’s plans for the economic future of our country focusing on energy, healthcare, and education. I thought I would examine his plans for education as it relates to higher education and compare them to the public policy initiatives and thought pieces that have previously been published.
Last month I published an article about the December 15 letter to Congress requesting that six percent of President Elect Obama’s economic stimulus package be allocated to higher education. The fifteen higher ed associations that drafted the letter, in my opinion, neglected some of the pressing issues that most in the online higher education community understand quite well.
Universal education in the United States is no longer a novel idea; in fact, K-12 education has become something most Americans take for granted. Even with issues of access and affordability in the world of American higher education, the possibility of obtaining a college degree is not out of the question for most Americans. For many in the world, however, education is far from a “given;” millions of children in developing nations never see the inside of an elementary school classroom and the concept of achieving any level of postsecondary education seems as likely as sprouting wings and flying to the moon.
An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s July 25th issue references language in the HEA reauthorization bill that “could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.” The article profiles a few technologies that institutions are piloting to confirm that the student taking the exam/quiz is the individual who registered for the course.
I attended The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual Executive Leadership Forum in Washington, DC and had the opportunity to listen to a panel discussing the pros and cons of signing the Presidents Climate Commitment. David Oxtoby, President of Pomona College and former Dean of Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago, made a point which was similar to my thinking that he had some reservations about his and any institution’s ability to achieve carbon neutrality but thought that the process of examining efforts and pledging a commitment was important.