legislatures / government / legal

For you students studying Economics out there…what are your thoughts on this one?

On 12/17/2013, in business, economics, legislatures / government / legal, United States, by Daniel Christian

Fed’s $4 trillion in assets draws lawmakers’ scrutiny — from bloomberg.com by Jeff Kearns

Excerpt:

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is poised to exceed $4 trillion, prompting warnings its record easing is inflating asset-price bubbles and drawing renewed lawmaker scrutiny just as Janet Yellen prepares to take charge.

From DSC:

What does it mean that the Fed has close to $4 trillion in assets? So what? What implications/effects might that have?
What is easing?
Why is easing good or bad? When does one know when to stop the easing?
Why does Wall Street pay very close attention to what Ben Bernanke says? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
What do you think…does Main Street know what’s happening as thoroughly as Wall Street does?

US Senate Full Committee Hearing — Accreditation as QA: Meeting the needs of 21st century learning

On 12/13/2013, in 21st century, accreditation, colleges, community colleges, future of higher education, game-changing environment, learning, legislatures / government / legal, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Witnesses/Panel I:

Dr. Arthur Levine , President of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Princeton, NJ

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Dr. Ralph Wolff , Former President of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Alameda, CA

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Dr. Daniel J. Phelan , President of Jackson College, Jackson, MI

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Ms. Laura King , Executive Director of the Council on Education for Public Health, Silver Spring, MD

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Also see/originally saw this at:

Accreditation Agita — from insidehighered.com — by Michael Stratford and Paul Fain

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON — During a hearing Thursday, several Democratic senators mulled whether the federal government should get more involved in the accrediting process. They might have been less enthusiastic if they saw what was happening at another meeting two blocks away.

The federal panel that reviews accreditors, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, held that gathering. Faculty members and students from the City College of San Francisco, who for the past year have essentially waged war against the accrediting agency that is threatening to revoke the accreditation of their college, pleaded their case to the panel.

Also see:

Senator asks if accreditors have lost focus on quality — from educationdive.com by Daniel Shumski

Recordings available of the 3 keynote addresses from the 19th Annual Sloan Consortium Intl Conf on Online Learning

On 11/25/2013, in cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, new business models, online learning, by Daniel Christian

The Role of Online and Technology-Enabled Learning in Meeting President Obama’s 2020 Graduation Goal
November 20, 2013
Lead Presenter: Hal Plotkin (Department of Education, US)

The Online Revolution: Learning without Limits
November 21, 2013
Lead Presenter: Daphne Koller (Coursera, USA)

Reinventing Education
November 22, 2013
Lead Presenter: Anant Agarwal (edX & MIT, USA)

Accreditation on the block as lawmakers look to innovation [EvoLLLution NewsWire]

On 11/08/2013, in accreditation, budgets, business side of he, change, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, legislatures / government / legal, more voice more choice more control, new business models, by Daniel Christian

Accreditation on the block as lawmakers look to innovation — from EvoLLLution NewsWire

Excerpt:

Accreditation and federal financial aid policies are in line to be overhauled as lawmakers start to debate the possibility of mainstreaming some of higher education’s most recent innovations.

During a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, numerous federal senators pointed toward competency-based education and hybrid models of online education as examples of strategies that could revolutionize higher education. However, they were concerned by the role of federal financial aid rules and regional accreditation boards in keeping these innovations from reaching the wider higher education marketplace.

It is expected that a number of bills will be introduced in the coming days to overhaul the regulatory systems that govern American postsecondary education. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) plans to unveil a bill to move accreditation responsibilities from the region to the state. This would allow greater market access to non-institutional education providers, which are typically unaccreditated and cannot compete with traditional institutions on an even footing.

Obama’s Ratings for Higher Ed [Jaschik]

On 08/22/2013, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, new business models, online learning, by Daniel Christian

Obama’s Ratings for Higher Ed — from insidehighered.com by Scott Jaschik

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

WASHINGTON — President Obama appears to be making good on his vow to propose a “shake-up” for higher education.

Early Thursday, he released a plan that would:

Create a new rating system for colleges in which they would be evaluated based on various outcomes…

Link student aid to these ratings…

Create a new program that would give colleges a “bonus” if they enroll large numbers of students eligible for Pell Grants.

Toughen requirements on students receiving aid.

…

The White House also said President Obama is “challenging” colleges to “adopt one or more” of practices he called “promising” to “offer breakthroughs on cost, quality or both.” Among them: competency-based learning that moves away from seat time, course redesign (including massive open online courses), the use of technology for student services, and more efforts to recognize prior learning.

Also see:

ShakingUpHigherEd-Barack-Obama-August-22-2013

‘Shake Up’ for Higher Ed — from insidehighered.com by Scott Jaschik

Excerpt:

President Obama vowed Wednesday that he would soon unveil a plan to promote significant reform in higher education — with an emphasis on controlling what colleges charge students and families.

“[I]n the coming months, I will lay out an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs, and improve value for middle-class students and their families. It is critical that we make sure that college is affordable for every single American who’s willing to work for it,” said Obama, in a speech at Knox College.

…

“Families and taxpayers can’t just keep paying more and more and more into an undisciplined system where costs just keep on going up and up and up. We’ll never have enough loan money, we’ll never have enough grant money, to keep up with costs that are going up 5, 6, 7 percent a year. We’ve got to get more out of what we pay for,” Obama said.

From DSC:
At a $175 billion per year support for postsecondary education, if the Federal Government starts redirecting this flow of $$$…I’ll bet we’ll see some change…and rather quickly I might add.

The Walmart of Education (as predicted back in December 2008) is now here, but I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet. To what will we change? At least one major piece of the answer to that question is that we will see the continued — but increasing — use of teams of specialists that will be commissioned to create low-cost, highly-engaging content. Though expensive to create originally, such teams will more than make their money back because of the massive number of students such “courses” will serve.

From the Walmart of Education page on 4/11/09:

…I wanted to offer another idea that might help fund engaging, multimedia-based, online-based learning materials:
(NOTE: The figures I use are not accurate, but rather, they are used for illustration purposes only.)

Let’s reallocate funds towards course development, and then let’s leverage those learning materials throughout the world!

Reallocate funds to course development, and bring costs WAAAAYYYY down and ACCESS WAAAYYY UP!

.

For students: Bring costs waaaayyyyy down and access waaayyy up!

Plus, no more defaulted loans, students could experience richer content, students wouldn’t have to wait as much on financial aid decisions. There would be fewer financial aid headaches; and the resources devoted to figuring out & processing financial aid could be reduced. The issue will be how an institution can differentiate itself in such a new world…but that issue will have to be dealt with in the future anyway.

Alive in the Swamp — from nesta.org.uk by Michael Fullan and Katelyn Donnelly

Excerpt (emphasis and link below from DSC):

The authors argue that we should seek digital innovations that produce at least twice the learning outcome for half the cost of our current tools. To achieve this, three forces need to come together. One is technology, the other pedagogy, and the third is change knowledge, or how to secure transformation across an entire school system.

…

The breakthrough in Alive in the Swamp is the development of an Index that will be of practical assistance to those charged with making these kinds of decisions at school, local and system level. Building on Fullan’s previous work, Stratosphere, the Index sets out the questions policymakers need to ask themselves not just about the technology at any given moment but crucially also about how it can be combined with pedagogy and knowledge about system change. Similarly, the Index should help entrepreneurs and education technology developers to consider particular features to build into their products to drive increased learning and achieve systemic impact.

The future will belong not to those who focus on the technology alone but to those who place it in this wider context and see it as one element of a wider system transformation. Fullan and Donnelly show how this can be done in a practical way.

.

Also see:
.

The Coming Crossroads in Higher Education [U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan]

On 07/16/2013, in 21st century, budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, strategy, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

The Coming Crossroads in Higher Education: Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association Annual Meeting, July 9, 2013 — from distance-educator.com with thanks going out to Mr. John Shank for Scooping this item.

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

But I would also make the case to you today that higher education is approaching a crossroads, where leaders will be asked to choose between incremental and transformational change.

…

Polls show that three out of four Americans believe—and I quote—”to get ahead in life these days, it is necessary to get a college education.” At the same time, three in four Americans also believe that college today is too expensive for most people to afford. That fundamental gap—between aspirations and opportunity—is one we must close.

…

I believe that higher education is at a crossroads because our current model of student and institutional aid is ultimately unsustainable. It is incapable of meeting the bipartisan goal that President Obama articulated four years ago—that America will again lead the world in college attainment by 2020.

…

Speaking in broad-brush terms, I believe we will see two ideas take hold in response to these threats to higher education.

The first response is that the system of state and federal institutional grants and loans will start to shift more toward a performance-based and outcomes-based system than is the case today—and one that does more to reward innovation.

…

The federal government currently provides more than $175 billion a year to postsecondary institutions and students through grants, loans, and direct school support. But together we must do a better job of defining and linking aid to satisfactory academic progress, meaningful institutional performance, and student learning outcomes.

We absolutely must continue to invest in higher education. But we must also use taxpayer dollars more wisely.

This shift in the direction of performance-based funding is already underway.

…

Further evidence of the policy shift underway is that many states—including Indiana, Tennessee, Oregon, and Missouri—are moving in bipartisan fashion to incorporate elements of performance-based funding in higher education.

…

Now, if the first response to the challenges of cost, completion, and accountability is likely to be more performance-based funding and new incentives for innovation, a second response is likely to be a leveraging of educational technology to increase student learning as well as institutional performance and productivity.

We still have a lot to learn and perfect about online learning, MOOCs, simulations and gaming, and other uses of educational technology. But there is no question that a digital revolution is already underway in higher education. And its vast potential has only begun to be tapped.

From DSC:
I hear a lot about resistance to change; in fact, as I come from the tech side of the academic house, I experience it on an ongoing basis.

But I do wonder if the pace of change within higher education might accelerate when more of that $175 billion a year starts flowing elsewhere…?

No deal on loans [Nelson]; interest rate hike for federally subsidized student loans doubles on July 1

On 06/28/2013, in budgets, business side of he, game-changing environment, higher education, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, student-related, United States, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

No deal on loans — from insidehighered.com by Libby Nelson

Excerpt:

On Thursday, though, the clock ran out: the Senate’s failure to reach a deal to avert an interest rate hike for federally subsidized student loans means the rate will double Monday.

…

The failure to vote on a plan before the Senate adjourned for its July 4 recess Thursday night means that interest rates on new, federally subsidized loans will double to 6.8 percent Monday.

The New ‘New Normal’ [Kiley]

On 06/04/2013, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, United States, by Daniel Christian

The New ‘New Normal’ — by Kevin Kiley

Excerpt:

Mandatory tuition and fees at the University of California system have about doubled since 2007, but this year, if the state’s governor has his way, they will stay flat.

And the University of California is far from alone. Purdue University is freezing tuition for the first time since 1976. Iowa’s three universities will also probably hold tuition prices constant for the first time in more than 30 years.

From DSC:
Institutions of higher education seem to have been priding themselves on smaller tuition increases these last few years — while I’ve been disappointed that they rose at all! In fact it should have gone in the other direction — i.e. price decreases. Time will tell whether it’s too little too late; but tuition freezes may not prevent the alternatives from taking over now.

With RESPECT, Educators Lead the Transformation of the Teaching Profession [U.S. Dept of Ed]

On 04/26/2013, in education reform, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

U.S. Department of Education Releases Blueprint to Elevate and Transform the Teaching Profession, Calls Educators to Action

Excerpt:

[On 4/25/13] the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released the Obama Administration’s blueprint for elevating and transforming the teaching profession, also known as the Blueprint for RESPECT (Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching).

RESPECT was first launched in February of 2012 as a national conversation on the teaching profession, shortly after the President committed to support the development of a new, comprehensive teacher policy in his state of the union address.

Since then, the Department has engaged more than 5,700 educators nationwide to develop and refine a vision of teaching and leading that will help both teachers and students to meet the new, 21st century demands being placed on them.

With RESPECT, Educators Lead the Transformation of the Teaching Profession

Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching (RESPECT)
An Educator-led Movement

Excerpt:

RESPECT represents a movement within the education profession to elevate and transform teaching and leading so that all of our students are prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century. As the demands of our world continue to expand, our students need educators who are well prepared, compensated, and treated as professionals.

Updated Robotics Roadmap presented to US congress [Tobe]

On 03/28/2013, in emerging technologies, engineering, future, legislatures / government / legal, robotics, by Daniel Christian

Updated Robotics Roadmap presented to US congress — from robohub.org by Frank Tobe

Excerpt:

Henrik Christensen, the KUKA Chair of Robotics at GA Tech and Chairman of the Roadmap project, Rodney Brooks, CEO of Rethink Robotics, Pete Wurman, CTO of Kiva Systems, and Russ Angold, CTO of Ekso Bionics all presented the new Roadmap to a packed gallery of the Robotics Caucus of the US Congress

The Roadmap and presentation covered six areas of robotics:

Manufacturing
Medical Robots
Healthcare
Service
Space
Defense

The roadmap is here:

Improving postsecondary education through the budget process: Challenges & opportunities [NASBO]

On 03/27/2013, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, future of higher education, game-changing environment, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

Improving postsecondary education through the budget process: Challenges & opportunities — from The National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO)

Excerpt:

The report, Improving Postsecondary Education Through the Budget Process: Challenges & Opportunities, discusses:

the challenges associated with the current higher education funding landscape;
efforts at the state level to fund results/performance, restrict tuition increases, expand access, improve information and increase cost-efficiency; and
opportunities for state and higher education officials to work together to improve postsecondary education and reduce costs.

Downloads

Reflections after reading ‘Warnings From the Trenches’ [Flaherty]

On 02/19/2013, in assessment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, love of learning, passions, student-related, ubiquitous learning, by Daniel Christian

‘Warnings from the trenches’ — from insidehighered.com by Colleen Flaherty

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

“Thus, students arriving in our high school lacked experience and knowledge about how to do the kinds of writing that are expected at higher levels of education,” he wrote. And even though high school teachers may try their best to make up for lost time, they, too, are held accountable for standardized test scores. Beyond mandatory state tests, the broad scope of Advanced Placement exams can have the same short-sighted effect on instruction, he added (many of Bernstein’s courses were AP U.S. government and politics).

Consequently, he said in an interview, students now arriving at college — even elite ones — are better at “filling in bubbles” than thinking outside a discrete set of multiple choices, in the ways the higher education and adult life demand.

Bernstein said he’d planned on retiring from his Maryland high school several years from now, but decided to leave last month due to a combination of factors, including the increasingly frustrating nature of teaching in a test-focused system.

From DSC:

I saw a question out on the blogosphere the other day that asked, “After the SATs are gone, then what?” I’d like to see us pursue that line of thinking, as we need to strive to do more things for students’ learning and not so much because that’s the most efficient way to “manage” education. (I wonder about CMS’s/LMS’s in this regard as well.) My vote is for helping students identify their God-given talents, interests, passions, abilities and to help them develop those gifts — creating WIN-WIN situations throughout society and the globe. Assessment is a key element of teaching and learning, but I think we’ve gone too far with these standardized tests — the pendulum needs to swing back the other way.

Also see:

The Future of Education .. from Isaac Asimov, 1988 #edcmooc — from dontwasteyourtime.co.uk
Excerpt:
“Once we have computer outlets in every home, each of them hooked up to enormous libraries where anyone can ask any question and be given answers, be given reference material in something you’re interested in knowing … you ask,you can find out, you can follow it up and you can do it in your own home, at your own speed, at your own direction, in your own time, then everyone will enjoy learning.”

A warning to college profs from a high school teacher [Bernstein]

On 02/12/2013, in assessment, education reform, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, love of learning, teachers, by Daniel Christian

A warning to college profs from a high school teacher — from washingtonpost.com by Kenneth Bernstein
For more than a decade now we have heard that the high-stakes testing obsession in K-12 education that began with the enactment of No Child Left Behind 11 years ago has resulted in high school graduates who don’t think as analytically or as broadly as they should because so much emphasis has been placed on passing standardized tests. Here, an award-winning high school teacher who just retired, Kenneth Bernstein, warns college professors what they are up against. Bernstein, who lives near Washington, D.C. serves as a peer reviewer for educational journals and publishers, and he is nationally known as the blogger “teacherken.” This appeared in Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors.

Excerpt:

Where do I begin? I spent the last thirty minutes listening to a group of arrogant and condescending noneducators disrespect my colleagues and profession. I listened to a group of disingenuous people whose own self-interests guide their policies rather than the interests of children. I listened to a cabal of people who sit on national education committees that will have a profound impact on classroom teaching practices. And I heard nothing of value. “I’m thinking about the current health-care debate,” I said. “And I am wondering if I will be asked to sit on a national committee charged with the task of creating a core curriculum of medical procedures to be used in hospital emergency rooms.”

The strange little man cocks his head and, suddenly, the fly on the wall has everyone’s attention.

“I realize that most people would think I am unqualified to sit on such a committee because I am not a doctor, I have never worked in an emergency room, and I have never treated a single patient. So what? Today I have listened to people who are not teachers, have never worked in a classroom, and have never taught a single student tell me how to teach.”

From DSC:
I remember one of my first coaches saying, “always change a losing game. Never change a winning game.” Standardized tests = a losing game.

Learning Ecosystems

For you students studying Economics out there…what are your thoughts on this one?

US Senate Full Committee Hearing — Accreditation as QA: Meeting the needs of 21st century learning

Recordings available of the 3 keynote addresses from the 19th Annual Sloan Consortium Intl Conf on Online Learning

Accreditation on the block as lawmakers look to innovation [EvoLLLution NewsWire]

Obama’s Ratings for Higher Ed [Jaschik]

Reflections on ‘Shake Up’ for Higher Ed [Jaschik]

The Coming Crossroads in Higher Education [U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan]

The New ‘New Normal’ [Kiley]

Updated Robotics Roadmap presented to US congress [Tobe]

Improving postsecondary education through the budget process: Challenges & opportunities [NASBO]

Downloads

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