IT Beyond the Campus — from CampusTechnology.com by Bridget McCrea
Drexel University positions itself as an outsourced IT department for smaller colleges
On 12/03/2010,
in higher education, IT in HE,
by Daniel Christian
Blackboard to sell online courses through new partnership — from InsideHigherEd.com by Jeff Young
Anaheim, Calif.—Blackboard announced today that it is teaming up with a for-profit education provider, K12 Inc., to sell online courses to colleges that want to outsource their remedial offerings.
On 10/12/2010,
in change, changing business models, consortiums, education technology, emerging technologies, game-changing environment, new business models, online learning, publishing, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
ASU partners with Pearson to expand online learning services — from PRWeb.com
Partnership will enhance the online student experience and reach new students
Arizona State University (ASU) and Pearson today announced an innovative partnership to develop new technology and management services to support ASU’s online students. The agreement will equip ASU with various capabilities designed to maximize learning outcomes through student engagement and retention, as well as increase overall course offerings. It will enable the university to reach potential students around the country who are not served by brick and mortar or other online institutions.
“When it comes to learning online, there is a direct correlation between quality services and student success,” said Philip Regier, Executive Vice Provost and Dean of ASU Online. “The reality is that learning online is very demanding and most students already have family and work responsibilities. The more support they receive, the better their learning outcomes and overall experience will be.”
From DSC:
With the pace of technological innovation and the costs involved in creating engaging, interactive, multimedia-based materials, it seems that such pooling of resources is wise, efficient. That is why I’m a fan of consortiums and pooling resources. This type of thing also quickly brings TEAMS of people together.
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.
On 09/08/2010,
in education reform, new business models,
by Daniel Christian
The Mayo Clinic of higher ed — from the WashingtonMonthly.com by Kevin Carey
In a competitive economy, many students need an education like this. Unfortunately, most people like Chelsea aren’t getting one. The small colleges that specialize in high-quality teaching tend to be exclusive and cripplingly expensive. Meanwhile, the public universities that educate most students are in crisis. Rocked by steep budget cuts, they’re increasing class sizes, cutting faculty salaries, and turning away tens of thousands of qualified students. Many of those universities offered a mediocre, impersonal education to begin with. Now they’re getting worse, and nobody seems to know how to stop the bleeding.
But here’s the thing about Chelsea: she isn’t enrolled at an ancient private liberal arts college or an exclusive, wealthy university. Her institution admitted its first undergraduates less than a year ago. And while nearly every other public university in America is retrenching, Chelsea’s university is expanding, under exactly the same financial conditions. What will the taxpayer cost of this expansion be? Nothing at all.
…
Lehmkuhle then struck up a partnership with the city’s biggest employer. Under the terms of an unusual agreement between UMR and Mayo, the clinic’s doctors and researchers guest-lecture in UMR health science classes. UMR students have access to research laboratories, a 10,000-square-foot medical simulation center complete with robotic surgical mannequins, and other facilities—including Mayo’s cadaver lab.
…
Lehmkuhle didn’t have enough money to pay for vice chairs, and he wanted professors from different disciplines to work together. The solution: no departments.
…
Lehmkuhle resolved this tension by making tenure at UMR contingent on three factors: teaching, research in the academic disciplines, and research about teaching. For UMR professors, applying their analytic powers to their own teaching practice would be a standard part of the job.
…Chelsea’s school has an unremarkable-sounding name but a groundbreaking approach to education. She is a student at the University of Minnesota Rochester, a campus based on the idea that most of what we know about how a public university should operate is wrong, that it can be done better, for modest amounts of money, right away. States across the nation could solve many of their higher education problems by replicating this effort—if they can overcome the entrenched interests of existing colleges and their own failure of imagination.
…
America’s system of old universities has always done a good job of educating a small percentage of talented and well-off students. But the old system is ill-equipped for Jessica Gascoigne and Chelsea Griffin and hundreds of thousands of other students who need universities that are designed to help them in the way that UMR helps its students. For now, the University of Minnesota’s new Rochester campus is an interesting outlier. If more people can see the true potential of its newness, it will be much more.
On 08/30/2010,
in digital learning, digital textbooks, disruption, game-changing environment, multimedia, new business models, publishing, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
California State University to license content from major college publishers — from TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home by Paul Biba
The Digital Marketplace, an initiative of the California State University Office of the Chancellor, announced plans today to launch a pilot to license digital course content from Bedford/Freeman/Worth, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
On 07/12/2010,
in consortiums, media/film,
by Daniel Christian
Michigan colleges create joint film institute — Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
Wayne State, U-M, Michigan State to launch 8-week summer program
Nearly two dozen students gathered Wednesday to participate in a program with the state’s three largest universities to drive Michigan’s burgeoning film industry, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced.
The 2010 Creative Film Alliance Summer Institute launched on Gull Lake in Kalamazoo County’s Ross Township, with nearly two dozen students from Wayne State University, Michigan State University and University of Michigan.
During the eight-week course, the students will take film classes at all of the universities, shoot a 20-minute film and network with Hollywood professionals, including producer Bill Mechanic, a 1972 MSU alum and head of a production company that produced this year’s Academy Awards show.