The MOOC tsunami is here, and I’ve been trying to think of MOOC accreditation models that don’t hollow out the subsidization business model that allows universities to function. If you want to know why that’s important, you can read this. The summary is I think it’s highly likely a state legislature somewhere will force state Continue reading

I was reminded by a colleague today that the most important technology in a classroom is the classroom itself. She had taught in overcrowded classrooms where you couldn’t walk between desks, and lecture classrooms where it was nearly impossible for students to collaborate without throwing their back out. This year she lucked into a classroom Continue reading

Or *might* kill it at least. Consider this a possible future. I’ve been kicking this idea around for a while, as have @brlamb, @dkernohan, and dozens of others. But now the issue finally getting some attention. Basically the bundle that higher education sells is a bunch of relatively cheap to offer interchangeable courses (Psych 101) that Continue reading

From Twilight of the Elites, by Chris Hayes: “Go all the way back to Sumerian civilization,” Bill Clinton instructed a crowd of global jet-setters at the 2011 World Economic Forum in Davos, “and you’ll see that every successful civilization builds institutions that work, that lift people up and reward people for their greatness. Then, if Continue reading

I wish the Beloit Mindset List would go away, with it’s oh-so-cute trivialization of cultural disconnect. I don’t particularly care about the differences in students pop-cultural past, or whether they’ll get the Pulp Fiction references that the list apparently assumes I’m throwing out in class like rice at a wedding (Oh, they don’t throw rice Continue reading

Someone recently tweeted a Malcolm Harris article from last year on student debt. Here is  the first line: The Project On Student Debt estimates that the average college senior in 2009 graduated with $24,000 in outstanding loans. What the Project actually says: We estimate that college seniors who graduated in 2009 carried an average of $24,000 Continue reading

Looking at yesterday’s reply to Dave’s post with today’s eyes, it occurs to me that coercion and enforcement are trigger words for me. Why? Because coercion is portrayed as something to be avoided. It’s portrayed as a flaw of the educational system. Coercion can be ugly, but consider this: In democratic capitalism, it’s democracy that Continue reading

OK, I’m overstating it a little for effect. But I just read Dave’s post, and I have to take issue with this: Assessing what someone ‘knows’ is an act of enforcement of a given point of view, not a(n apolotical) helpful guideline to learning Education is a means of cultural transmission. And I think it Continue reading

My class is doing some projects on NH this fall, infographic things, like incidence of melanoma in NH. And one thing you have to do with such things of course is look at the state demographic profile — we’re #1 in melanoma in the country (per capita basis), but we’re also an elderly state in Continue reading