Competency-based learning has been a recurring theme here at Aspire in 2013—and we’re not surprised to see that it’s one of the National Journal’s 5 Higher-Ed Trends for 2014, as outlined by NJ writer Sophie Quinton. Other trends Quinton predicts in the pipeline are skyrocketing student loan debt, teacher effectiveness and concerns regarding privacy and data security. It’s worth a moment ... Read More »
Struggling with low completion rates, some providers of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have launched a new strategy to increase student motivation. And it’s social. Social media platform LinkedIn announced this week it would begin a pilot program to allow students to display online courses they have completed on their LinkedIn profile. That way, students may be able to market themselves ... Read More »
It recently came out that, from an educational standpoint, Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun wasn’t satisfied with his own product. The professor-turned-entrepreneur-turned-CEO is known for single-handedly starting the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) revolution, which held the promise of bringing world-class education to all corners of the world. He’s now begun to shift his company’s path toward more workplace-aimed training. “I’d ... Read More »
What if students were judged more on their skills than time they spent in the classroom? Competency-based education seeks to do just that. Although the idea has been around for several decades, new research emphasizing the importance of experiential learning in classroom-based and online courses are causing people to revisit the idea that mastering skills are more important than how long ... Read More »
Thanks to a new deal highlighted in the New York Times, the U.S. State Department has committed to a partnership with massive open online course (MOOC) provider Coursera to open in-person “learning hubs,” where students can access free MOOCs and meet with discussion groups. This is an interesting change in course for MOOCs, the entire premise of which is built on ... Read More »
Coursera, one of the higher-profile names in online education, has produced an infographic that showcases some pretty diversely impressive stats. It makes a strong case for proof of concept, regarding online education in general—and as a success story for Coursera in particular. Some of the figures are pretty stunning (more than 5,500 cumulative years of video-hours watched?!), and others serve ... Read More »
Earlier this week, The Experts blog at the Wall Street Journal tackled the topic of MOOCs. Their panel included professors from Harvard Business School, University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, as well as the dean of the BU School of Management, the president and CEO of Siemens USA and other similarly ... Read More »
According to Bill Gates, flipped classrooms—a model that swaps the way homework and classwork are traditionally done—that incorporate outsourced lectures could help community college students. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that while speaking to community college leaders, the Microsoft giant also said that this model could make these schools function more efficiently. For more thoughts on this subject, check ... Read More »
This Saturday, the Washington Post published an article focusing on the changing nature of the demographic makeup of today’s college student body. For starters, “the kids today” aren’t kids anymore: About 40 percent of all college students are older than 25, according to U.S. Education Department data. More than a third attend classes part-time. Nearly 20 percent work full-time. About ... Read More »
Drexel University Online published a fairly in-depth infographic that addresses the evolving status (and stature) of online education. It’s called How Do Employers View Online Degrees?; it collects data from a wide range of sources and presents an encouraging picture of the ways online degrees are perceived by business. Take a look at the Drexel site and see what you think—you ... Read More »