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Policy, Fiscal Challenges Confront State Officials

On 01/04/2011, in budgets, business side of he, education, education reform, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

Policy, Fiscal Challenges Confront State Officials — from EdWeek.org by Sean Cavanagh

Governor Jerry Brown addresses the audience after he was sworn-in as
California’s 39th Governor in Sacramento, Calif. on Jan. 3.
Brown has warned school officials to expect deep reductions
as the state struggles with a $28 billion two-year deficit.
—Anne Chadwick Williams/AP
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Also see:
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Just to be clear, we’re constantly being tracked…

On 12/20/2010, in legislatures / government / legal, policy, social learning / networks, vendors, by Daniel Christian

What They Know – Mobile — from WSJ

Your apps are watching you — from WSJ
A WSJ investigation finds that many apps on the iPhone and Android are breaching the privacy of smartphone users

Facebook in Privacy Breach — WSJ
Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information—in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names—to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found. The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook’s strictest privacy settings. The practice breaks Facebook’s rules, and renews questions about its ability to keep identifiable information about its users’ activities secure.

Facebook Apps Sending Personal Information to Internet Tracking Companies — from consumeraffairs.com
FarmVille and other popular games collect IDs and sell them, Wall Street Journal reports

The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets — from WSJ
A Journal investigation finds that one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet is the business of spying on consumers. First in a series.

  • The study found that the nation’s 50 top websites on average installed 64 pieces of tracking technology onto the computers of visitors, usually with no warning. A dozen sites each installed more than a hundred. The nonprofit Wikipedia installed none.
  • Tracking technology is getting smarter and more intrusive. Monitoring used to be limited mainly to “cookie” files that record websites people visit. But the Journal found new tools that scan in real time what people are doing on a Web page, then instantly assess location, income, shopping interests and even medical conditions. Some tools surreptitiously re-spawn themselves even after users try to delete them.
  • These profiles of individuals, constantly refreshed, are bought and sold on stock-market-like exchanges that have sprung up in the past 18 months.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over — from readwriteweb.com

Why Facebook is Wrong: Privacy Is Still Important — from readwriteweb.com

Leaving Facebook — technologyreview.com
Will Diaspora provide a social-networking haven for those fed up with Facebook?

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Also see:
Obama administration calls for online privacy bill of rights — from cnn.com

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Digital Learning Now — Vision/Roadmap

On 12/01/2010, in dangers of the status quo, digital learning, education reform, game-changing environment, K-12 related, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, strategy, trends, by Daniel Christian

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Panel Calls for Turning Teacher Education ‘Upside Down’

On 11/17/2010, in change, education reform, K-12 related, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, by Daniel Christian

Panel Calls for Turning Teacher Education ‘Upside Down,’ Centering Curricula around Classroom-Ready Training and Increasing Oversight and Expectations — from ncate.org
Eight States — Calif., Colo., La., Md., N.Y., Ohio, Ore., and Tenn. — Commit To Implementing Teacher-Ed Transformation

WASHINGTON (November 16, 2010) — A national expert panel composed of education experts and critics today called for teacher education to be “turned upside down” by revamping programs to place clinical practice at the center of teacher preparation. This new vision of preparation also will require the development of partnerships with school districts in which teacher education becomes a shared responsibility between P-12 schools and higher education.

Those and other sweeping recommendations are part of a report by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning, convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) to improve student learning.

The new approaches will involve significant policy and procedural changes in both the state higher education and P-12 education systems and entail revamping longstanding policies and practices that are no longer suited to today’s needs. The changes called for will require state higher education officials, governors, and state P-12 commissioner leadership working together to remove policy barriers and create policy supports for the new vision of teacher education.

Also see:
Momentum Builds to Restructure Teacher Education — from edweek.org by Stephen Sawchuk

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Navigating the “new normal”

On 11/16/2010, in budgets, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, economics, future of higher education, game-changing environment, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, strategy, universities, by Daniel Christian

Navigating the "New Normal" -- from the Lumina Foundation

— resource from StraighterLine.com’s blog

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CONCLUSION: THE IMPERATIVE FOR CHANGE
After centuries of excellence and decades of cyclical recessions, higher education has developed some bad habits. When facing budget shortfalls, colleges and universities have not always adequately addressed underlying cost drivers and have instead pursued short-term solutions. Today, the need for fundamental changes is inescapable. The demand for highly skilled workers is unavoidable, the economic effects of a better-educated nation unequivocal—the United States needs more college-educated workers than ever.

A half century ago, higher education helped transform America’s World War II fighting force into a powerful labor force. In unpredicted and unprecedented ways, colleges and universities expanded and met the challenge of educating millions of returning GIs. They responded with heart and innovation. Today, higher education faces another challenge. The road ahead can become a deep plunge into a fiscal morass, a financing disaster that results in severely limited opportunity — or it can become an invigorating time of innovation, strategic cutting and reinvestment, with a laser focus on student completion. Through your leadership, we can work together to reinvent higher education and ensure continued progress toward the Big Goal.

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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]

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Education ‘the economic issue of our time,’ Obama says in UT speech

On 08/10/2010, in business, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, economics, education, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

Education ‘the economic issue of our time,’ Obama says in UT speech — from statesman.com by Ralph K.M. Haurwitz

President Barack Obama said in a speech at the University of Texas this afternoon that education “is the economic issue of our time.”

Addressing a friendly and appreciative audience in Gregory Gym, the president sought to underscore the link between long-term economic prosperity and a better-educated population.

“It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have gone to college,” he said. “Education is an economic issue when nearly eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. Education is an economic issue when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.”

Obama said his administration is pursuing a three-pronged higher education strategy: making college more affordable, ensuring that college students – especially those at community colleges, the fastest-growing sector – are prepared for a career and boosting graduation rates.

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Recording Lectures: Legal Considerations (28/07/2010) — from JISC (UK)

On 07/30/2010, in adjunct faculty, copyright/ownership/NFTs, faculty, legislatures / government / legal, UK, by Daniel Christian

Recording Lectures: Legal Considerations (28/07/2010) — from JISC (UK)

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Recording Lectures: Legal Considerations -- from JISC July 2010

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Most public colleges face budget cut threats in 2011

On 07/13/2010, in budgets, colleges, community colleges, legislatures / government / legal, universities, by Daniel Christian

Most public colleges face budget cut threats in 2011 — from usnews.com (via Academic Impressions) by Kim Clark
Map shows which state university systems are more likely to suffer budget cuts.

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Infowhelm & Information Fluency — from 21st Century Fluency Project

On 06/11/2010, in 21st century, change, curriculum, K-12 related, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, policy, by Daniel Christian

Infowhelm & Information Fluency

Resource from Educational Origami

Also see:

21st Century Fluency dot com

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President Barack Obama gives commencement address at Kalamazoo Central!

On 06/08/2010, in K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, by Daniel Christian

President Obama at Kalamazoo Central's Commencement

Also see:

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Another example of the pace of change — and disruption

On 04/21/2010, in disruption, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, policy, virtual K-12 schools, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Consider the following timeline of the Florida Virtual School according to this article:

1997: Florida Virtual School is founded.

2002: Hillsborough County establishes a virtual school program for high school classes.

2007: Hillsborough County starts offering middle school classes.

2008: Hillsborough County starts the elementary program.

2009: New state law requires school districts to offer full-time virtual classes for K-12 students.

Now consider that they started with 77 students.

Now consider that the “…program served more than 71,000 students during the 2008-2009 school year, according to its Web site.” (emphasis DSC)

The pace has changed significantly and quickly

Do not underestimate the disruptive impact of technology.
And I realize it’s not just about the technology…it’s about people.
But technology can connect people to each other at ever-increasing speeds.

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Moving the cliff — from InsideHigherEd.com

On 04/15/2010, in budgets, funding / grants, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, universities, by Daniel Christian

Moving the cliff –– from InsideHigherEd.com

As state legislators around the country craft their budgets for the 2011 fiscal year, public college officials are afraid that they are about to be thrown off “the cliff” — the steep drop in available funds once the tens of billions of dollars that the federal government made available through last year’s economic recovery legislation run out.

But like a movie character whose vehicle magically grinds to a halt just before it goes over the edge, public higher education could catch a break, in the form of legislation introduced Wednesday by several Democratic senators that essentially move the cliff. The none-too-subtly titled “Keep Our Educators Working Act of 2010,” sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and others, would provide $23 billion to extend for a year the fund in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that gave states money to ward off budget cuts and tuition increases.

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Moving college into the 21st century — politico.com

On 04/13/2010, in future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, legislatures / government / legal, online learning, online media, open courseware and systems, policy, by Daniel Christian

Moving college into the 21st century — politico.com (see quotes below)

Today, we’ve reached another turning point. The global economy is changing, and the United States needs to educate its way to a better economy for the 21st century. President Barack Obama has set a goal that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. To reach that goal, we need to bring 5 million more Americans into higher education and ensure that future generations will have the same opportunity for a college education and success in the work force.

The president has proposed a comprehensive agenda to keep a college education within reach, especially for America’s poorest families, and to dramatically increase college graduation rates in the next decade. President Obama’s agenda includes the largest increase in federal financial aid since the GI Bill — a 30 percent increase in fiscal 2010 alone. In addition, the president’s American Graduation Initiative would provide $12 billion more during the next 10 years to improve community colleges and help students gain access to higher education and ensure that they earn their degrees.

Beyond these investments in our future, one part of the AGI has the potential to have a lasting impact on the future of higher education: The president is proposing to invest $500 million over the next 10 years to create world-class online college and high school courses that will be available to all 24/7/365. Colleges, universities, publishers, other institutions and related consortia will be invited to compete to create state-of-the-art online courses that combine high-quality subject matter expertise with the latest advances in cognitive and computer sciences. Such courses will enable students to move through the material at their own pace. When students do not understand a particular lesson or concept, carefully designed assessments will identify the gap in their learning. They’ll relearn the material and have another chance to demonstrate mastery (emphasis DSC).

From DSC:

  • Along these same lines, see: The Forthcoming Walmart of Education.
  • If done well, these courses are going to be highly-engaging, while using state-of-the-art technologies and instructional methods. Can one faculty member compete with this team-based approach? No way! (And I mean no disrespect at all here — it’s just too much for one person to keep up with, be interested in, and have the time and resources to do all of this.)
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House Education Committee approves merit pay for teachers — from Education-Portal.com

On 04/07/2010, in assessment, change, changing business models, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, policy, by Daniel Christian

House Education Committee approves merit pay for teachers — from Education-Portal.com

“The House Education Policy Council approved a controversial bill on Monday that will tie teacher pay to student performance rather than tenure. Supporters of the legislation say that it will reward good teachers. Those who oppose it argue that it targets teachers and puts too much focus on test scores.”

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