The following are excerpts from a paper I’ve been writing with my colleague Anne Hammer at the Northeastern College of Professional Studies (CPS). Experiential education is a holistic philosophy with carefully chosen experiences supported by reflection, critical analysis and syntheses. In more simplistic terms, experiences are structured to require the learner to take initiative, make decisions and be accountable for ... Read More »
We are defined digitally by attributes such as our names, addresses, birth dates, genders and telephone numbers. These data points, along with our general interests, which are logged and tracked by browsers and third-party sites every time we use the Internet, are monetizable commodities to businesses and criminals alike. We readily (if passively) offer our valuable personal information to businesses ... Read More »
This post isn’t about grading, but I have to tell you: Grading is the bane of my existence. There, I’ve said it—publicly—and it feels good. If I could discover how to teach without all the grading, my outlook would skyrocket. One of the biggest reasons I feel this way is because grading 20 versions of the same assignment is, well, ... Read More »
We tend to think of online education as a modern phenomenon—one that’s directly tied to today’s technology-based world. (And one which offers a range of benefits—some unexpected, as Art LaMan observed here.) But online education is just the latest form of distance education, a phenomenon that actually dates back to long before personal computers and mobile devices became staples of ... Read More »
Have you ever thought about what portion of your job you learned “informally” versus “formally”? You’ll probably be impressed (with yourself) when you realize that most of what you learned at your job was self-taught. You might even think, “my employer is lucky I’m so resourceful and smart and can figure out what I am doing on my own. In ... Read More »
The romantic notion that adults come back to higher education for personal enrichment and self-directed intellectual pursuits does not hold water. After nearly 25 years working with adult students, I have met only a very small number who are pursuing a degree for the pure satisfaction of it. Instead, the vast majority are in it for a better life, which ... Read More »
Depending on who you talk to, online education is either the big man on campus (BMOC, for the acronym-minded) or the elephant in the classroom. Colleges and universities are launching new or expanded online programs for a multitude of worthwhile—and sometimes hotly debated—reasons, but the basics come down to these: to attract new students, boost enrollments, diversify student populations and ... Read More »
Several recent reports have been alarming those of us in higher education who care deeply about the future of community colleges and those who attend them. One is Bridging the Higher Education Divide: Strengthening Community Colleges and Restoring the American Dream, a new report from the Century Foundation task force on “preventing community colleges from becoming separate and unequal.” Some ... Read More »
Are you thinking of heading back to school? If so, it wouldn’t just be you and Rodney Dangerfield there. The latest research shows that adults are heading back to college in higher numbers than ever. And with grim projections of employability shortfalls looming in the not-very-distant future, adding some academic feathers to your cap makes more and more sense with every hotly sought-after ... Read More »
Last week, we published a post that covered some current activity regarding the channels of food production. On one end of the spectrum, there were large, industry-wide changes (new, national FDA laws); on the other end were smaller, more personal goings-on (local grassroots initiatives by Maine farmers). Now, somewhere in the middle of it all, lands a new report from ... Read More »
