budgetary

Perhaps the last few years of scholarships for some sports…

On 10/04/2010, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
If you are a parent and you have hopes of your son(s) or daughter(s) obtaining athletic scholarships, your days may be numbered. I come from an athletic scholarship background and I’m glad that I do. However, the days of athletic scholarships may be pruned down a bit in these next few years as budgets continue to get tighter and tighter.

My guess at this point is that the smaller team sports — such as tennis, golf, wrestling, softball, lacrosse, etc. — may see fewer teams competing in the future. I don’t have data here (so I may be wrong), but I would guess that programs will have to be self-sustaining in order to remain open. The larger, revenue-producing sports will probably survive.

This article points to this topic:
‘Curriculum Review’ for Athletics — from InsideHigherEd.com

So if you are counting on a college scholarship, I hope your kids are at least in high school…if not, I would not count on this source of funding in the future…at least for smaller sports (and even that may be generous w/ the time frames here).

Tagged with: budgetary • cost of getting an education • costs • financial aid

Kiva begins offering education microloans

On 09/30/2010, in budgets, cost of getting a degree, education, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Kiva begins offering education microloans — from wired.co.uk by Duncan Geere

Crowdsourced microlending service Kiva has begun offering educational loans to students in three countries around the world, with the objective of expanding its successes with small businesses into encouraging the spread of learning.

Tagged with: budgetary • cost of getting an education • costs • education • student-related

How long does it take to create learning? (2010 Research)

On 09/20/2010, in budgets, consortiums, corporate universities / corporate training, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

How long does it take to create learning? (2010 Research) — from Brandan-Hall.com by Bryan Chapman

From DSC:
I have it that in the near future, it will take a team of specialists to create and deliver effective learning content that is able to engage folks (the for-profits, as we’ve seen, are already doing this). No doubt this takes time and money. That is why, within the world of higher ed, I think the use of pooling resources and expanding the use of consortiums might take off; and/or…perhaps there will be more contributions to open source alternatives…I’m not sure. But this report shows that it can take a significant amount of time to create the content.

The important thing for the online world here is to leverage these efforts again and again and again. The more times that a course is used/taken, the ROI goes up and the cost per delivery goes down.

Tagged with: budgetary • consortiums • corporate training / universities • costs • pooling resources • training

As interest in online learning grows, Udemy lands $1 million in angel funding

On 09/13/2010, in budgets, business, business side of he, new business models, online learning, by Daniel Christian

As interest in online learning grows, Udemy lands $1 million in angel funding — from ReadWriteWeb.com by Audrey Watters

In that spirit, Udemy is a website that seeks to “democratize online learning” by providing the tools so that educators can easily create their own online courses. Udemy announces today that is has raised $1 million from a number of prominent angel investors, including Keith Rabois, Naval Ravikant, and Dave McClure’s 500 Startups Fund – a successful round that Udemy co-founder Gagan Biyani notes came with help from both the Founder Institute where the startup was incubated and from VentureHacks’ AngelList. The funding will go, in part, to hire more engineers for the site.

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • new business models in he • online learning

Tagged with: 1:1 • 24x7x365 • budgetary • cost of getting an education • course redesign • curriculum • dangers of the status quo • Daniel S. Christian • disruption • education reform • educational technology • engaging students • future of higher education • game-changing environment • Global learning • higher education • information overload • Keeping students engaged • leadership • learning ecosystem • Mobile learning • multimedia • new business models in he • ocw • online learning • open • Open Learning Network (OLN) • perfect storm • strategy • student expectations • student-related • surviving • traditional • ubiquitous learning • United States • willingness

Tagged with: budgetary • education • K-12 • United States

Academic Bankruptcy

On 08/24/2010, in business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

Academic Bankruptcy – NY Times Opinion — by Mark Taylor, Chairman of the religion department at Columbia University and the author of the forthcoming “Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities.”

With the academic year about to begin, colleges and universities, as well as students and their parents, are facing an unprecedented financial crisis. What we’ve seen with California’s distinguished state university system — huge cutbacks in spending and a 32 percent rise in tuition — is likely to become the norm at public and private colleges. Government support is being slashed, endowments and charitable giving are down, debts are piling up, expenses are rising and some schools are selling their product for two-thirds of what it costs to produce it. You don’t need an M.B.A. to know this situation is unsustainable.

With unemployment soaring, higher education has never been more important to society or more widely desired. But the collapse of our public education system and the skyrocketing cost of private education threaten to make college unaffordable for millions of young people. If recent trends continue, four years at a top-tier school will cost $330,000 in 2020, $525,000 in 2028 and $785,000 in 2035.

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • cost of getting an education • future of higher education • game-changing environment • perfect storm • Walmart of Education

A quote re: a piece of the perfect storm in higher ed…

On 08/24/2010, in budgets, business side of he, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, new business models, by Daniel Christian

“While I still haven’t given up on state government’s role in supporting public higher education,” [Boise State University President Bob Kustra] said, “with each passing year I see more clearly that the funding of higher education as we experienced it in the past will not be replicated in future years.” Boise State needs to re-examine the business model universities use and construct a new one, according to Kustra.

— from What’s next for Boise State?: Kustra asks for a new business model at State of the University Address

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • dangers of the status quo • future of higher education • game-changing environment • higher education • new business models in he • perfect storm

Are there lessons here for institutions of higher ed?

On 08/23/2010, in budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, innovation, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

BlackBerry crumble: Why RIM is in trouble — from cnn.com

chart_ws_stock_researchinmotionltd.top.png

BlackBerry’s biggest problem: The app gap (From DSC: RIM didn’t build the infrastructure / ecosystem necessary to compete)
With that in mind, some worry that there are eerie similarities between Research in Motion and Palm, the once-hot smartphone maker that failed to keep up with Apple, Research in Motion and others.

After Palm’s Pre phone flopped, the company’s stock took a nasty dive and some feared that it may not have enough cash to make it for the long-term. Hewlett-Packard finally stepped in and agreed to buy the company earlier this year, however.

Chris Bulkey, an analyst with Technology Research Group in Narberth, Pa., said Research in Motion could suffer the same fate. For now, the company’s sales and profits are still growing, but the pace is slowing.

And without a hot product on the horizon, Bulkey, who has a “sell” rating on the stock, said it’s hard to envision a bright future for Research in Motion.

“Research in Motion sells a commoditized product. There is margin pressure and the revenue growth is weak,” Bulkey said. “Over the long-term, they may need someone to bail them out like HP did with Palm if they see value in the technology.”

From DSC:
Along these lines…I recently received a call from a colleague who mentioned that Novell has recently been pushing their new videoconferencing product…hmmm…WAAAAAYYY too late to the game in my opinion. Here is a company who could have dominated the web-based videoconferencing and collaboration space — had they been able to innovate better and to think just a tad outside their normal LAN box.

If what we are offering in higher ed is a commodity…we had better look out! Times ahead will be very rough indeed. That’s why I have been preaching innovation, change, the dangers of the status quo, planning for the “Forthcoming Walmart of Education” and trying to create a strategy whereby we are not a commodity — as we all must bring something unique and compelling to the table.

Tagged with: adding value/not a commodity • budgetary • business side of he • change • cost of getting an education • dangers of the status quo • future of higher education • game-changing environment • innovation • new business models in he • perfect storm • Walmart of Education

New private university signals drive to privatise higher education in Britain

On 08/18/2010, in budgets, business side of he, game-changing environment, higher education, UK, by Daniel Christian

New private university signals drive to privatise higher education in Britain — from sott.net by Zach Reed

BPP, a private company that possesses 14 sites around the UK providing law and business degrees, was granted “university college” status in July, creating the first private university in the UK for 30 years. The decision signals the coalition government’s drive to privatise higher education.

Massive spending cuts brought forward by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government, combined with rising youth unemployment, has seen 200,000 students denied a university place this year. It is in this context that calls have been made to privatise higher education.

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • game-changing environment • higher education • UK

Buffett, Gates persuade 40 billionaires to donate half of wealth — from OregonLive.com

SEATTLE — Forty wealthy families and individuals have joined Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett in a pledge to give at least half their wealth to charity.

Those who have joined the Giving Pledge, as listed on its website, are: Paul G. Allen, Laura and John Arnold, Michael R. Bloomberg, Eli and Edythe Broad, Warren Buffett, Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Ann and John Doerr, Larry Ellison, Bill and Melinda Gates, Barron Hilton, Jon and Karen Huntsman, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, George B. Kaiser, Elaine and Ken Langone, Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, Lorry I. Lokey, George Lucas, Alfred E. Mann, Bernie and Billi Marcus, Thomas S. Monaghan, Tashia and John Morgridge, Pierre and Pam Omidyar, Bernard and Barbro Osher, Ronald O. Perelman, Peter G. Peterson, T. Boone Pickens, Julian H. Robertson Jr., David Rockefeller, David M. Rubenstein, Herb and Marion Sandler, Vicki and Roger Sant, Walter Scott Jr., Jim and Marilyn Simons, Jeff Skoll, Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor, Jim and Virginia Stowers, Ted Turner, Sanford and Joan Weill and Shelby White.

From DSC:
This is fantastic news! Excellent. I’m a big supporter of various charities myself — albeit with far fewer O’s ($$) behind the amounts of my checks than what these folks are able to provide! 🙂 But it got me to thinking…

If the United States government — or the government from another interested nation — could even get 1-2 billion of this enormous accumulation of wealth, think what could be done to create interactive, multimedia-based, engaging, customized/personalized, online learning-based materials that could be offered FREE of charge to various age groups/cognitive levels. Creative simulations and animations could be built and offered — free of charge — to students throughout the world. The materials would be available on a variety of devices for maximum flexibility (laptops, notebooks, iPads, iPhones, tablet PCs, workstations, etc.)

An amazing amount of digital scaffolding could be provided on a variety of disciplines. THIS could represent the Walmart of Education that I’ve been talking about…wow!

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • cost of getting an education • costs • disruption • educational technology • engagement • engaging students • future of higher education • game-changing environment • Global learning • internet • Keeping students engaged • leadership • learning objects • multimedia • new business models in he • ocw • online learning • strategy • student-related • Walmart of Education

150 nonprofit colleges fail Education Department’s test of financial strength

On 08/12/2010, in budgets, business side of he, higher education, by Daniel Christian

150 nonprofit colleges fail Education Department’s test of financial strength — from The Chronicle by Goldie Blumenstyk and Alex Richards

A total of 150 private nonprofit colleges failed the U.S. Department of Education’s “financial-responsibility test” based on their condition in the 2009 fiscal year, data released on Thursday show. That’s 23 more than the 127 that failed the test in the 2008 fiscal year, and an increase of about 70 percent over the number of degree-granting institutions that failed two years ago.

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • higher education

Report: Higher education in Michigan hurting

On 08/11/2010, in budgets, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, higher education, Michigan, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

Report: Higher education in Michigan hurting — from The Detroit News by Kim Kozlowski

Michigan’s declining investment in higher education is among the worst in the nation — making it difficult for students to get degrees and the state to recover from the poor economy, according to a report released Monday.

The first report of its kind by the Michigan League for Human Services found state aid and financial aid programs to Michigan’s 15 public universities declined by nearly 17 percent from 2002 to 2010. Meanwhile, undergraduate tuition for in-state residents during that same time period jumped 88 percent.

Funding for the state’s 28 community colleges, meanwhile, decreased 7 percent between 2002 and 2010 as tuition increased 40 percent — from an average of $54 to $76 a credit hour, the report showed.

The trends occurred as Michigan’s job market is moving away from manufacturing to a knowledge-based sector, and must be reversed, officials said.

Tagged with: budgetary • cost of getting an education • dangers of the status quo • game-changing environment • higher education • Michigan • Walmart of Education

Inexperienced companies chase U.S. school funds

On 08/10/2010, in budgets, business, education, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

Inexperienced companies chase U.S. school funds — from the NY Times by Sam Dillon [via GetIdeas.org blog]

Tagged with: budgetary • business • education • legislation

Gates’s millions: Can big bucks turn students into graduates?

On 08/10/2010, in budgets, colleges, community colleges, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, student-related, universities, by Daniel Christian

Gates’s millions: Can big bucks turn students into graduates? — from The Chronicle by Elyse Ashburn

Tagged with: budgetary • colleges • community college • future of higher education • game-changing environment • student-related • universities

Previous Entries Next Entries

Learning Ecosystems