Tag Archives: higher education

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Online Ed: The Quality vs. Cost Equation

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Over at the Reuters blog, political commentator and senior fellow at the Libertarian-inclined R Street Institute Reihan Salam has posted a column in which he contends (to quote his title) that “Online education can be good or cheap, but not both.” Salam cites the recent San Jose State partnership with Udacity; he observes that the initiative, intended “to create courses ... Read More »

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Self-motivating assignments

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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 »

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A Fact-Finding Mission

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In a recent post at The Hill, top-level college administrators Bruce Leslie, Ed Klonoski, Patricia A. Ladewig, Scott Kinney and Thomas Babel describe the need to “build a holistic system of metrics around the issues that matter the most for student success,” in order to better equip legislators to make decisions and develop policy regarding education. The group represents schools ... Read More »

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The AI TA: Udacity’s Plans for Artificial Intelligence and Online Ed

  Sebastian Thrun, the co-founder and CEO of online education provider Udacity, recently granted an interview to MIT’s Technology Review, in which he addressed, among other things, the recent hubbub at San Jose State (which we also touched on here). Thrun also made some pretty intriguing observations—among them were the possibility that, within a year, artificial intelligence (AI) technology might ... Read More »

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TED Talks about Education

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The folks at Educational Technology and Mobile Learning have posted TED Talks’ recent list of education-related presentations, to commemorate Education Week. From teacher Dan Meyer’s observation that “Math class needs a makeover” to Bennington College president Liz Coleman’s contention that “modern liberal arts education pushes students towards a single discipline with an exclusive viewpoint with an aversion to social values,” ... Read More »

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Measuring and understanding the true impact of community colleges

Photography for NEU web site and publications

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 »

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Death to the College Credit

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In my experience in higher ed, I’ve learned this rule: Governance is impervious to being fixed. Somehow it works, and no degree of AAU guidance will make it uniform, or even rational. And a university’s governance works only at that university; whereas one school takes 12 minutes to approve a new concept, another may take 12 years. In general, though, ... Read More »

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Back to the Future: How Online Tools Can Help Instructors Get Back to What They Love

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Not long ago, I posted an entry on my own blog about the ways in which the instructor’s role might be able to be reinvented, rather than undermined, by the assimilation of online tools and process. 
My hypothesis was that with some readjustment, continued focus on quality and a research mindset, instructors who embrace innovations and look seriously at available ... Read More »

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