It is hard to review any current news articles or listserv postings on the future of higher education without finding a few prominent references to the potential impact of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Every time I see this acronym, I find myself filled with some combination of excitement and apprehension. The roll-out of MOOCs […] … learn more→
Monthly Archives: October 2012
MOOCs: Excitement and apprehension
Scholarly publishing\’s gender gap
When Jennifer Jacquet first visited Carl T. Bergstrom\’s evolutionary-biology lab at the University of Washington last year, she was surrounded by men. Men staring at data on the 27-inch Mac Pro computer screen that takes center stage in the lab. Men talking about mathematical proofs, about a South Park episode on evolution, about their latest […] … learn more→
The use of checklists in research
We may not like to admit it, but many of us can describe a time when we’ve made a mistake during the progress of a study. These mistakes can range from mixing up wires or forgetting to turn on an amplifier to forgetting to collect an essential piece of information that either requires additional processing […] … learn more→
3 Questions: A Web for everyone
During the opening ceremonies of this summer’s Olympic games in London, a musical performance culminated with a stage-set house rising into the rafters to reveal Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, sitting at a computer and typing the words “This is for everyone.” That message was not idly chosen. The World Wide […] … learn more→
Daydream Believer
As someone who is pursuing a deferred dream later in life, I got a kick out of this piece about Heidi Hansen, a 42-year-old nursing student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who is a finalist for the school\’s Homecoming Queen. My father went to college to prepare himself for a good job; a \”good job\” […] … learn more→
For-profit Higher Ed and the MOOC opportunity
A colleague sent me a note today wondering if the news of for-profit EDU financial difficulties and the concurrent rise of the massively open online courses (MOOCs) are related. Correlation or causality? The Apollo Group, owner of the University of Phoenix, has seen its stock price decline by almost half since the beginning of the […] … learn more→
The elephant in the chat room: will international students stay at home?
In 1923, a young boy leaves his small village in India and travels by boat to study at Columbia University in the United States. This is a time when only five out of every hundred of India’s three hundred million people can read and write. His story, featured in a Boy Scouts’ magazine, was billed […] … learn more→
Mark it up
As an undergraduate, I did not often annotate the texts I was assigned to read for class. Nor was I encouraged to. When I look back through the books I read as a freshman, I find they are utterly devoid of notations. A survey of my texts from sophomore and junior year yields a small […] … learn more→
Phoenix or Canary?
The University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit higher education provider in the country, is closing over a hundred sites. That’s over half of its physical locations. Part of the move is driven by enrollment decline, and part by an increased emphasis on online course delivery. Although many in traditional higher ed may feel a certain […] … learn more→
Casual enrollment linked with significant College advantage – Comment
New research shows students who get a taste of college while still in high school are much more likely to continue their education and complete a degree. Jobs for the Future, the education research nonprofit based in Boston, conducted an extensive study following 32,908 Texas high school students who graduated in 2004 for six year. […] … learn more→