UMaine System officials consider push for single accreditation - Nick McCrea, Bangor Daily News

As the University of Maine System eyes major structural changes in hopes of resolving its persistent financial struggles, it could take the rare approach of seeking a single, system-wide accreditation. In an April 27 letter to university employees, Chancellor James Page announced that the system is interested in pursuing a single accreditation for the entire system — if possible. “While supporting the same high standards, a single accreditation model could support initiatives such as the implementation of multi-campus degree programs or a unified budget process,” Page said in the letter. https://bangordailynews.com/2015/04/28/news/state/university-of-maine-system-officials-consider-push-for-single-accreditation/

Babson Report That Says Online Learning Growth Is Slowing Misses Big Picture - Michael Horn, Forbes

Some research has suggested that the growth of online learning is flattening. Much of the reduction in the rate of growth is because one segment of higher education—for-profit four-year institutions—recorded the first-ever drop in online enrollments of 8.7 percent. The fact that online learning still grew illustrates growth in public four-year institutions and private non-profit four-year institutions, remains quite strong. But even more significantly, the data is increasingly incomplete. First, the research purposely only counts online learning that is taken in a distance-learning environment. Blended delivery of online learning doesn’t count toward the data. The other challenge is that increasingly, much of the growth of online learning isn’t just in accredited higher education institutions, but in unaccredited institutions that advance adult learners in their career pathways. http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2015/04/23/report-that-says-online-learning-growth-is-slowing-misses-big-picture/?ss=tech

Creating Your Own Online Course? Avoid These Mistakes! - Priscila Hinkle, Huffington Post

The Internet has made it possible for us to explore different options, learn new skills, and embark in new careers with the click of a mouse. In the online or digital entrepreneurial realm, everyone seems to be creating their own online courses and group coaching program these days. The problem with that? There are a lot of bad practices out there, and a lot of people copying these bad practices only because they've seen someone else do it that way, sometimes with success (in terms of sales). If you are in the business of creating your own online courses or programs, or want to have your own in the future, then take note to avoid these top three mistakes. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/priscila-hinkle/creating-your-own-online-_b_7114852.html

Free Online Course Hopes To ‘Myth-Bust’ Controversial Topic Of Global Climate Change - Chris Spears, CBS4

Do you believe in global climate change? It’s not always an easy topic to discuss. If you want to learn more about the topic, researchers from around the world have created a free online course through the University of Queensland. The class will explore why the topic of climate change is so controversial and hopes to explode a number of climate myths along the way. It’s being taught by several renowned researchers from universities in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, including Dr. Keah Schuenemann, Assistant Professor of Meteorology at Metropolitan State University in Denver. University of Queensland’s John Cook says the course will tackle climate myths and expose techniques that are often used to mislead the public. http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/04/22/free-online-course-hopes-to-myth-bust-controversial-topic-of-global-climate-change/

Studies: Online Courses Unsuccessful at Community Colleges - the Hechinger Report

Online instruction at community colleges isn’t working. Yet policymakers are continuing to fund programs to expand online courses at these schools, which primarily serve low-income minority students, and community college administrators are planning to offer more and more of them. The latest salvo comes from researchers at the University of California—Davis, who found that community college students throughout California were 11 percent less likely to finish and pass a course if they opted to take the online version instead of the traditional face-to-face version of the same class. The still-unpublished paper, titled “Online Course-taking and Student Outcomes in California Community Colleges,” was presented on April 18, 2015, at the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference in Chicago. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/27/studies-online-courses-unsuccessful-at-community-colleges

LSU Prepares Financial Exigency Plan - Inside Higher Ed

The Louisiana State University System is drafting a plan to declare financial exigency, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, has proposed massive cuts for higher education and the Legislature's various versions of his budget have added to the cuts, which now appear to total more than 80 percent of state funds for LSU. While various plans have circulated to restore some of the money, those plans haven't advanced, which has prompted the financial exigency plan. Under financial exigency, it is generally easier for a university to make deep cuts. And because such statements mean that the survival of an institution is in danger, the American Association of University Professors permits layoffs to included tenured professors. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/04/23/lsu-prepares-financial-exigency-plan

Arizona State and edX Will Offer an Online Freshman Year, Open to All - Charles Huckabee, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Arizona State University is joining with the MOOC provider edX in a project that it says “reimagines the freshman year” and opens a new low-cost, low-risk path to a college degree for students anywhere in the world. The project, called the Global Freshman Academy, will offer a set of eight courses designed to fulfill the general-education requirements of a freshman year at Arizona State at a fraction of the cost students typically pay, and students can begin taking courses without going through the traditional application process, the university said in a news release on Wednesday. Because the classes are offered as massive open online courses, or MOOCs, there is no limit on how many students can enroll. http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/arizona-state-and-edx-will-offer-an-online-freshman-year-open-to-all/97685

#Infographic on Mobile Learning Techologies - Citrix

The rapid evolution of technology is changing the way we learn, work and educate. Students want the freedom to learn and study using the latest software or applications on any device, in the location where they feel most productive and inspired. Great data in this infographic. https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/images/info-graphics/infographic-student-mobile-workspaces.pdf

Digital Learning Experiences: Future of the Textbook - Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed

What might the textbook of the future be like? One possibility is a digitized version of existing textbooks, supplemented with a wide array of ancillaries – videos, glossaries, quizzes, and links to web resources. These e-textbooks feature highlighting and note-taking tools. Another possibility is the customized textbook in which instructors draw content from a publisher’s asset vault. A growing number of publishers are unbundling their preexisting textbooks to create self-contained modules. But there is another possibility, offering far greater potential for enhancing outside the classroom learning: A next generation digital learning experience. It is a learning ecosystem rather than an e-book plus supplements. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/digital-learning-experiences

UC delays release of admissions data amid budget negotiations - Katy Murphy, Mercury News

Amid a state budget standoff and a growing sense that a UC education is slipping out of reach for Californians, the University of California won't reveal its admission rates until next month -- an unusual delay that may reflect a startling number of rejections and wait-list notices high-schoolers have already received. Observers say UC could be withholding record-low admission rates to avoid further inflaming tensions as UC President Janet Napolitano tries to break a funding stalemate with Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers quick to accuse the university of shutting out their constituents. http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_27929852/uc-delays-release-admissions-data-amid-budget-negotiations

'Flipped classrooms' provide better approach for instruction of students - David Lockett, Daily News Journal

Flipping a classroom means switching the activities that normally occur at home versus in the classroom. Thus, rather than listening to an instructor in the classroom, students now watch video lectures from home before coming to class. Then, instead of doing homework independently, students solve problems in the classroom, where the teacher can facilitate this critical step in learning. By taking the burden of presenting content off of teachers, a flipped classroom enables these teachers to focus their efforts on improving students' learning skills and deeper understanding of concepts. Results are showing that students both like the flipped classroom and also tend to outperform students taught the same material in a traditional classroom. http://www.dnj.com/story/opinion/2015/04/18/guest-column-flipped-classrooms-provide-better-approach-instruction-students/26010047/

Coursera’s Andrew Ng: How MOOCs Are Taking Local Knowledge Global - Knowledge@Wharton

In an interview about MOOCs and their impact, Ng says they allow universities to take their great content and project it onto a larger audience than they ever did before. A recent study co-authored by Wharton professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel on the impact of MOOCs on traditional business education, also found that rather than poaching students, MOOCs complement, enrich and help business schools reach new diverse audiences. An edited transcript of the conversation is linked below. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-moocs-are-taking-local-knowledge-global/

The Future of College: It’s Online - Daphne Koller of Coursera, Wall Street Journal

Online education, by reducing cost and removing physical barriers, can open doors of opportunity to millions of people who otherwise might not have access to postsecondary education. The “sage on the stage” at a university will no longer be a common mode of delivery. In the classroom—whether physical or virtual—we will see more attention given to group projects, conversations and applied learning, with lecture content going the way of textbooks as something experienced in preparing for class. At the same time, universities will devote considerably more effort to activities that occur outside the classroom, be it research, individual mentoring by faculty or senior students, team activities, volunteering, internships, study abroad, and many more types of work and experience. Universities will largely distinguish themselves not by the content they deliver, but by the activities that support and enhance core learning activities. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-future-of-college-its-online-1430105057

Poll finds widespread opposition to Walker budget ideas - Associated Press

A new poll shows strong opposition to key provisions of Gov. Scott Walker's budget to cut funding for K-12 public schools and the University of Wisconsin. The Marquette University Law School poll released Thursday found 70 percent oppose Walker's proposal to cut UW funding by $300 million, while 26 percent support it. The poll also found 78 percent oppose Walker's plan cutting funding for K-12 schools by $127 million, while 18 supported it. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. http://www.waow.com/story/28822393/2015/04/16/poll-finds-widespread-opposition-to-walker-budget-ideas

Gen Ed Discounting or Devaluing? - Kellie Woodhouse, Inside Higher Ed

University of Akron plans to cut the cost of its general education courses by 86 percent and begin delivering them primarily online in an effort to both increase enrollment and respond to calls from the state’s governor to make college more affordable for Ohioans. The university is publicizing that by charging $50 per credit hour -- down from $359 per credit hour for an in-person general education class on the college’s main campus -- students who enroll in the GenEd Core Pilot Program will pay half as much as they would for a general education class at a community college. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/17/university-akron-offers-introductory-courses-online-86-percent-discount

4 Ways the House Republican Budget Hurts Students - Equal Justice Works, Huffington Post

House Republicans recently released their proposed 2016 budget, and it is cause for concern. As emphasized in recent questioning by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) -- which is available watch on C-SPAN -- there are four terrible budget proposals that will negatively impact students: Freezing Pell Grants for 10 years, eliminating subsidized loans for undergraduates, repealing improvements to income-driven repayment plans and getting rid of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Let's look at how these proposals will hurt millions of student loan borrowers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/equal-justice-works/4-ways-the-house-republican-budget-hurts-students_b_7072860.html

U Arizona Girds for Online Undergrads - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Now that the University of Arizona has launched an online campus, UA Online, the institution is ready to start up its first "General Education Academy" to help students prepare for their virtual education. UA Online is intended to be a distinct division with 21 undergraduate degree programs, 18 graduate programs and 23 graduate certificate programs. In an effort to compete for students living outside of Arizona, the school has set tuition rates for online courses the same for out-of-state and in-state students. The university announced the academy last year with several goals: to help the institution "manage the quality of its online general education offerings," "create a community for online instructors," and help develop "cutting-edge resources for online students and teachers." The initial emphasis will be on helping non-typical online students — first-year and early-transfer undergraduates — succeed in their online programs. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/16/u-arizona-girds-for-online-undergrads.aspx

Wharton online director: We want to help shape the future of learning - Roger Riddell, Education Dive

An early adopter in the space among its peers, Wharton was among the first to embrace MOOCs upon Coursera's launch in 2012. A Wharton Business Foundations course track is among the "Specializations" offered on the platform, with a paid certificate and capstone project — which applies knowledge gained to a problem presented by Snapdeal or Shazam — available to students. "The future’s coming, and we want to help shape it," said Anne Trumbore, director of Wharton's online learning initiatives. "That’s really one of the reason why we have jumped online and jumped online very early. Certainly, we want to bring what we’ve learned in online ed back to enhance the experience of the students in our degree programs. We don’t know what that looks like yet, but this is not separate from our core mission." http://www.educationdive.com/news/wharton-online-director-we-want-to-help-shape-the-future-of-learning/387279/

Ivy League schools key into online courses - Nancy Marshall-Genzer, Marketplace

Yale University’s School of Medicine is deciding whether to create an online version of its physician’s assistant master’s program. Its first attempt failed because it couldn't get accreditation. Yale says it’s “reviewing the matter” and may try again. Yale’s partner in all this is the education technology company 2U, which has plenty of other customers, many of them Ivy League schools. “There’s a lot of demand for us right now,” says Chip Paucek, CEO of 2U. He says universities want to enroll students online to address shortages of workers in some fields. But online degrees also bring in more tuition dollars. “A university needs to figure out how to pay its bills and be sustainable," he says. "Just like any enterprise.” But some degrees lend themselves more to online learning than others. http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/ivy-league-schools-key-online-courses

Disrupting Higher Education - John K. Waters, Campus Technology

Technology driven disruptive innovation in higher education "Disruption" is one of the most overused buzzwords in education today, according to education industry watcher Michelle R. Weise, and yet most people don't really know what it means. "There is this tendency for pundits, policy makers and institutional leaders to take any kind of technological advancement, call it a 'disruptive innovation,' cram it into the classroom experience and then hope that somehow efficiencies are going to magically appear," Weise said during her keynote presentation at the recent CT Forum conference in Long Beach, CA. "Obviously, it's not that simple." http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/16/disrupting-higher-education.aspx

The Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Program - Rebecca Klein-Collins and Kathleen Glancey, EDUCAUSE Review

A targeted collaboration among higher education entities in Texas addressed a key problem for would-be students and their families: affordability. In January 2014 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), South Texas College (STC), and Texas A&M University–Commerce (A&M–Commerce) launched the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate (TAB) Program, the state's first competency-based bachelor degree. The program's inaugural degree, an applied baccalaureate in organizational leadership, offers a low-cost alternative to a traditional postsecondary degree. The degree is also designed to provide students with employer-identified 21st-century competencies. While gaining or demonstrating these competencies, students have the opportunity to accelerate their time to completion, reducing costs further. The program features a blended model that combines competency-based courses and more traditionally formatted courses. Students earn the first 90 credit hours required for the degree through self-paced, online, competency-based modules, and the last 30 credit hours in either a hybrid or online format. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/texas-affordable-baccalaureate-program

Internet of Things Data To Top 1.6 Zettabytes by 2020 -Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

The volume of data captured by the Internet of Things (IoT) will exceed 1.6 zettabytes by 2020, according to a recent forecast from ABI Research. That's a seven-fold increase from last year's 200 exabytes of data collected by IoT devices. Still, only a small portion of that data has been accessible for analytics. "The data originating from connected products and processes follows a certain journey of magnitudes," explained Principal Analyst Aapo Markkanen in a press release. "The yearly volumes that are generated within endpoints are counted in yottabytes, but only a tiny fraction of this vast data mass is actually being captured for storage or further analysis. And of the captured volume, on average over 90 percent is stored or processed locally without a cloud element, even though this ratio can vary greatly by application segment. So far, the locally dealt data has typically been largely inaccessible for analytics, but that is now starting to change." http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/15/internet-of-things-data-to-top-1-6-zettabytes-by-2020.aspx

Students want better digital credentials - Ron Bethke, eCampus News

Innovation in online credentialing can help students better display learning outcomes and the value of their education to employers on social sites. According to a new whitepaper revealed by ed-tech company Parchment at Baltimore’s AACRAO conference on April 13th, a majority of students believe it would be useful to display official credentials on a social site. However, the report suggests their is a lot of room for innovation on the part of institutions. The ideas generated in Parchment’s whitepaper, titled “Extending the Credential; Empowering the Learner,” stem from the results of two surveys which polled over 500 recent college graduates and 100 registrars. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/students-digital-credentials-422/

What Harvard Business School Has Learned About Online Collaboration From HBX - Bharat N. AnandJanice H. HammondV.G. Narayanan, Harvard Business Review

In June 2014, Harvard Business School launched HBX, to focus on solving real-world business problems. Videos capturing real managers discussing real problems would anchor the course offerings, to help students understand the applicability of even the most abstract and esoteric concepts. Encourage active learning. Students would engage with the material in “lean forward” mode, rather than passively watching video lectures. Students would not spend more than 3-5 minutes on the platform before being required to interact with the material. Foster social and collaborative learning. Students would engage meaningfully and regularly with others on the platform. We believed that such collaborative learning would not only make it more engaging, but would draw participants more deeply into a process of discovery. Here are some of the most important things we’ve learned since launching HBX, as it relates to creating a social, collaborative experience online. https://hbr.org/2015/04/what-harvard-business-school-has-learned-about-online-collaboration-from-hbx

Online Course Offers N.H. Primary Experience To Political Junkies Across Globe - MICHAEL BRINDLEY, New Hampshire Public Radio

A free online course this fall focused on the New Hampshire Primary is likely to attract political junkies from the Granite State and beyond. "FIRST! Understanding New Hampshire Presidential Primary" is the University of New Hampshire’s first Massive Open Online Course. It's open to anyone, anywhere. It will explore the history of the First-in-the-Nation primary, and follow the 2016 primary as it unfolds. The course will be taught by UNH political science professors Andrew Smith and Dante Scala. http://nhpr.org/post/online-course-offers-nh-primary-experience-political-junkies-across-globe

Where Flipped Learning Research Is Going - David Raths, Campus Technology

While most agree that the flipped classroom model benefits learning, researchers are delving into the details and exploring the many facets of a flip. In general, research has shown that the flipped classroom model has a positive impact on student outcomes. Last year, a University of Washington "meta-analysis" of 225 studies compared student performance in undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses under traditional lecturing vs. active learning: "The results indicate that average examination scores improved by about 6 percent in active learning sections, and that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than were students in classes with active learning," the study noted in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/15/where-flipped-learning-research-is-going.aspx

MIT creates new Online Education Policy Initiative - MIT

Through its newly created Online Education Policy Initiative (OEPI), made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, MIT aims to catalyze the national conversation on the future of education and online learning. Led jointly by Professor Karen Willcox and Dean of Digital Learning Sanjay Sarma, the initiative’s broad objectives are: to explore teaching pedagogy and efficacy, institutional business models, and global educational engagement strategies — and to present a cohesive report on these issues that can be used by policymakers and leaders in education; to engage in the public discourse surrounding online learning and to encourage productive discussion; and to aid policymakers in creating a welcoming environment for educational innovation. “There’s been much written about online education recently,” Sarma says. “OEPI is an opportunity to pause and have a thoughtful, scholarly discussion about everything from the cognitive psychology of learning to the policy implications of online courses.” https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/mit-creates-new-online-education-policy-initiative-0414

MOOCs for (a Year's) Credit - Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

Arizona State University, in partnership with edX, this fall will begin to offer credit-bearing massive open online courses at a fraction of the cost of either in-person or traditional online education. ASU’s faculty members will create about a dozen general-education MOOCs, the first of which -- an introductory astronomy course -- will launch this August. Anyone can register for and take the MOOCs for free, but those who pay a $45 fee to verify their identity can at the end of each course decide if they want to pay the university a separate, larger fee to earn academic credit for their work. By fall 2016, ASU anticipates it will offer enough MOOCs so that students can complete their entire freshman year online through what edX and the university are calling the Global Freshman Academy. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/22/arizona-state-edx-team-offer-freshman-year-online-through-moocs

Someone Calculated How Many Adjunct Professors Are on Public Assistance, and the Number Is Startling - Jordan Weissmann, Slate

According to an analysis of census data by the University of California–Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education, 25 percent of "part-time college faculty" and their families now receive some sort public assistance, such as Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, food stamps, cash welfare, or the Earned Income Tax Credit. For what it's worth, that's not quite so bad as the situation faced by fast-food employees and home health care aids, roughly half of whom get government help. But, in case there were any doubt, an awful lot of Ph.D.s and master's degree holders are basically working poor. http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/04/13/adjunct_pay_a_quarter_of_part_time_college_faculty_receive_public_assistance.html

Harvard Admissions Office Considers How To Weigh MOOCs - DAPHNE C. THOMPSON, Harvard Crimson

Among the familiar sea of acronyms surrounding college admissions―AP, IB, SAT, ACT―a new credential is popping up on applications that Harvard's Admissions Office has not yet decided how heavily to weigh: the MOOC, or massive open online course. Through HarvardX, the University’s subset of the online learning platform edX, anyone with an internet connection can enroll in virtual courses taught by Harvard faculty on topics ranging from computer science to global health to American poetry. But according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, admissions officers are still trying to figure out how to weigh edX courses against more conventional classes, like Advanced Placement and Ineternational Baccalaureate, on applicants’ transcripts. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/4/15/edX-weight-admissions-applications/

Education Dept. Approves Two More Direct-Assessment Programs - Inside Higher Ed

The U.S. Department of Education has granted federal aid eligibility to two new academic programs that do not rely on the credit hour -- a form of competency-based education called direct assessment. So far six institutions have earned approval from the department and regional accreditors for direct-assessment programs. Walden University, a for-profit institution that Laureate Education owns, announced on Tuesday that the department approved its new competency-based master's degree in early childhood studies. The university offers the degree through its Tempo Learning program, in which it said "students can progress at their own pace by applying their existing knowledge and prior experience while focusing on mastering the skills they need to meet the demands of the workforce." The Texas State College System last October got a green light from the department for its competency-based certificate in industrial systems technology, according to a spokeswoman for the system. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/04/15/education-dept-approves-two-more-direct-assessment-programs

Corinthian Dismantling Continues - Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed

The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday fined Corinthian Colleges nearly $30 million for misrepresenting job placement rates at its Heald College chain, which officials said the troubled for-profit education company must now begin the process of closing. Department officials said the Corinthian-owned Heald, which mostly operates in California, provided inaccurate information about graduates’ job prospects at each of its 12 campuses, with 947 misrepresentations in total. The department ordered Heald to stop enrolling students and begin closing its programs, which currently enroll 9,000 students in California and at smaller locations in Oregon and Hawaii. As long as the company keeps those colleges open, department officials said, students will either be allowed to finish their education or transfer to other institutions. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement that the department’s actions “should be a wake-up call for consumers across the country about the abuses that can exist within the for-profit sector.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/15/us-fines-corinthian-colleges-30-million-and-effectively-closes-heald-chain

North Carolina higher ed bill could prove disastrous for research - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

A bill proposed in North Carolina’s senate would require all public school professors to teach at least four courses per semester, potentially obliterating the research model at the state’s flagship universities. Rebecca Schuman at Slate expects this bill, if passed, to cause a serious brain drain in North Carolina as the state’s pre-eminent researchers look for public or private universities elsewhere that would fund their research. The worst part, Schuman writes, is that the bill could pass under the current political climate in the North Carolina General Assembly. http://www.educationdive.com/news/north-carolina-higher-ed-bill-could-prove-disastrous-for-research/386458/

Inside Look at Ratings Plan - Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed obtained a copy of the department’s agreement with Research Triangle Institute (also called RTI International) last week after making a Freedom of Information Act request in January. The agreement, signed Dec. 31, expands an existing contract the department had with the firm for other data-related projects. Aside from providing the first glimpse at the direct costs associated with the ratings system -- which the administration has previously declined to disclose -- the document is a snapshot of officials’ thinking about the ratings system as of the end of December. The contract shows, for instance, that the department has considered forming a panel to vet the technical integrity of the ratings system, creating a formal process for colleges to challenge their data and allowing colleges to provide a narrative statement next to their ratings. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/20/education-department-signs-4-million-college-ratings-contract-eyes-ratings-appeals

The Increasingly Digital Community College - Ashley A. Smith, Inside Higher Ed

Distance education at community colleges continues to increase even as overall enrollment at two-year institutions falls. A study released Monday found distance education enrollments account for nearly all recent student growth at two-year institutions. The report was based on a survey of technology leaders at community colleges. They reported about a 4.7 percent increase in student enrollment in online programs from fall 2013 to fall 2014. While that number is down from 5.2 percent growth from 2012 to 2013, overall community college enrollment declined by 3.5 percent from fall 2013 to fall 2014, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. The report was released here during the 2015 AACC annual meeting. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/21/survey-shows-participation-online-courses-growing

Emerging Path to Federal Aid - Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

A scenario in which a student can use a Pell Grant to help pay for a bundle of edX courses no longer seems so far-fetched. Political support is building for a system to encourage and oversee higher education upstarts that don't look or act like colleges, such as online course providers and coding boot camps. And these emerging players soon may have a pathway to accreditation and even federal financial aid eligibility, albeit in limited or experimental form. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/09/political-pressure-builds-new-accreditation-and-aid-pathway-upstart-providers

Public Colleges' Revenue Shift - Kellie Woodhouse, Inside Higher Ed

Tuition dollars made up roughly 47 percent of revenues for public higher education for the third straight year in 2014, cementing a trend in which tuition revenue now rivals state appropriations as the main funder of public colleges and universities. Public colleges rely on tuition dollars nearly a third more than they did before the recession. In the five years preceding the economic decline, tuition accounted for a significantly smaller share of public higher education revenues, hovering around 36 percent. Twenty-five years ago, tuition accounted for 24.5 percent of public higher education revenues. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/09/political-pressure-builds-new-accreditation-and-aid-pathway-upstart-providers

Embracing Failure to Spur Success: A New Collaborative Innovation Model - Kim Wilcox and Edward J. Ray, EDCUAUSE Review

On college and university campuses across the United States, we're surrounded by a resource that leads to discovery, innovation, and growth—yet we don't embrace it at the leadership level. That resource? Failure. Failure is happening every day in our labs and classrooms and is essential to the learning and discovery process in both settings. As our research scientists attempt to make breakthrough discoveries, they run through repeated trials that fail to deliver the hoped-for results, but each failure provides another clue pointing in the direction of a solution. In classrooms, we encourage students in every discipline to question and analyze the information we put before them. Have we ever criticized them for being "wrong"? Not at all. We congratulate them on having the courage to ask new questions, and we encourage them to keep going. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/embracing-failure-spur-success-new-collaborative-innovation-model

Google Applies Mobile-Friendly Criteria to Rankings Beginning Tuesday - Thanks to Shelly Palmer

Google is making a big change to its ranking algorithm tomorrow. For the first time, mobile usability will affect search results. If you don't have a responsively designed site or mobile version, your SEO will take a nosedive. You can check to see if your site adheres to the new guidelines at the URL below. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

5 Lecture Capture Hacks for More Engaging Videos - Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

As more and more instructors flip their classrooms or teach online courses, it's become increasingly important to create videos that can hold students' attention. Some instructors have experimented with new ways to make videos more interactive and engaging; for instance, including themselves in the picture along with their teaching materials. "Putting our face on the presentation allows us to offer nuances and to communicate with more richness and immediacy," said John Lammers, professor of communication and director of the Health Communication program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Here are five ways to take lecture videos up a notch and better engage students. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/08/5-lecture-capture-hacks-for-more-engaging-videos.aspx?admgarea=News

9 accessibility steps for MOOC platforms - eCampus News

U.S. reaches settlement with edX to increase MOOC accessibility for those with disabilities. Under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, edX will make its website fully accessible to users with disabilities within 18 months and will appoint a web accessibility coordinator, in addition to a number of other actions to ensure accessibility. The agreement with edX addresses complaints that edX’s website is not fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, including individuals who are blind or have low vision, those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and those who have physical disabilities affecting manual dexterity. Under the settlement, edX will provide accurate captioning for the deaf, oral navigation signals for the blind, and programming changes so those with dexterity disabilities can navigate content without struggling with a hand-operated mouse. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/mooc-accessibility-steps-742/

A Data Commons for Scientific Discovery - David Raths, Campus Technology

The Open Cloud Consortium is working to meet the collaboration and data-management needs of multi-institution big data projects. In 2008, a group of researchers came together to form the nonprofit Open Cloud Consortium (OCC), a shared cloud-computing infrastructure for medium-size, multi-institution big-data projects. The OCC has grown to include 10 universities, 15 companies and five government agencies and national laboratories. In a recent interview with Campus Technology, OCC Director Robert Grossman discussed the organization's relationship to research universities' IT departments, as well as its business model and sustainability challenges. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/09/a-data-commons-for-scientific-discovery.aspx

5 universities taking innovation from buzzword to practice - Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

How universities are looking past incubators to future functionality. Are college and university investments in innovation worth the time and money? Only if your incubators lead to scalable, sustainable success, says new research. A recent report, conducted in 2014 by the American Council on Education (ACE) and Huron Education aimed to gauge some of the current thinking and practices of select institutions on taking innovation from a commonly passed around buzzword to actionable practice. ACE chose five institutions that had detailed case studies and data on their innovation incubators—each highlighting the goals, challenges, and outcomes of their own unique approaches to scaling innovation campus-wide. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/innovation-buzzword-practice-311/

Keep gender in mind for course evaluations - the Daily Tarheel (letter to editor)

Recent research suggests that students rate female professors more harshly than male professors. When a female professor of an online course pretends she is male, her evaluations are significantly higher than when students know she is a female, and evaluations of female professors are more likely to focus on aspects of personality or appearance rather than intellect or skill in the classroom. Gender bias in course evaluations can be reduced by focusing comments on feedback that is useful for improving instruction. Ideally, student comments will help us improve our instructional techniques and thus improve the learning experience of future Carolina students. Comments that are vague, belittling, personal or based on gender expectations do not help us make our courses better. http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2015/04/letter-keep-gender-in-mind-for-course-evaluations

Fee payments lift MOOC completion rates - Tim Dodd, Financial Review

Students in massive open online courses (MOOC) who pay a modest amount for a "verified certificate" are just as likely finish their course as regular university students, according to a new large-scale study of online education. The study, from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which jointly founded the leading MOOC provider edX, found those students who paid the usually less-than $US100 ($130) fee for a certificate, had a 59 per cent course completion rate, the same as the overall graduation rate for students enrolling in bachelor's degrees in the United States. http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/fee-payments-lift-mooc-completion-rates-20150412-1mhw76

UCLA Library to expand program promoting free, online course material - DANIEL AHN, Daily Bruin

UCLA, following the lead of many universities, is expanding an initiative to promote free, online course materials for students amid rising textbook costs. The Affordable Course Materials Initiative, a UCLA Library-led project which launched in 2013 as a pilot program, will become an official program fall 2015. The program, which UCLA recently decided to continue, seeks to encourage faculty members to compile online resources in a textbook-like form so they can be freely accessed by professors and students. The library will send out applications for the program this week, and instructors will be able to apply for a grant of up to $2,500 to help find resources and adjust syllabi and assignments. Since 2013, the UCLA Library has awarded $27,500 to 23 instructors. The library estimates that students enrolled in awarded courses saved more than $160,000 collectively since the program began. http://dailybruin.com/2015/04/13/ucla-library-to-expand-program-promoting-free-online-course-material/

The 'University Of Everywhere' Isn't For Everyone: The Future Of Learning Will Be A Big Tent - Andrew Kelly, Forbes

The point is: all of these ideas are part of the future of learning. Because the set of prospective students is large and diverse, that future must be a “big tent” containing a variety of new ideas, not just online learning. Some of the tools (i.e., MOOCs) will be low-touch, low-cost affairs with little interpersonal contact. Others will feature short, intense doses of direct instruction and mentorship and cost significant amounts of money. In short, entrepreneurs will produce different products because learners have different preferences. While The End of College implicitly acknowledges this by talking about more than just MOOCs, other models always seem to take a back seat to the open online courses that Carey expects to dominate in the future. http://www.forbes.com/sites/akelly/2015/04/08/the-university-of-everywhere-isnt-for-everyone-the-future-of-learning-will-be-a-big-tent/

The Benefits of Adaptive Learning Technology - Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

Adaptive learning has long been a part of education. The basic concept is simple: Coursework should be adapted to meet the individual needs of each student. Every teacher has experience modifying curriculum in some way to help students access information. Nowadays technology can help make the adaptations easier and more streamlined. Many of the benefits that adaptive technology offers in online courses also apply to traditional classrooms. However, the nature of online learning means that some of the challenges adaptive learning helps to address are especially relevant to online students. When teachers and students don’t interact with each other regularly in person, as often happens with online courses, having a tool that helps pick up the slack becomes that much more important. http://www.edudemic.com/how-adaptive-learning-technology-is-being-used-in-online-courses/

The College Degrees And Skills Employers Most Want In 2015 - Susan Adams, Forbes

The hiring picture keeps getting better for college graduates. According to a new survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers are planning to hire 9.6% more graduates for their U.S. operations than they did from the class of 2014. That’s a one percent hike from the 8.6% gain a year ago and a significant jump from 2013, when employers said they would boost hiring by just 2.1% over the previous year. A non-profit group in Bethlehem, PA, NACE links college placement offices with employers. NACE’s questionnaire asked employers to rate the academic disciplines they target for their college hires. At the top of the list: engineering degrees. Some 72% of companies said they want to hire students set to graduate in that discipline. Sixty eight percent are looking for business majors and 58% want computer science majors. At the bottom of the list: health sciences, education and agriculture. Here is a chart showing employers’ hiring expectations by major: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/04/15/the-college-degrees-and-skills-employers-most-want-in-2015/

Coming to a business school near you: disruption - Margaret Andrews, University World News

Over the past few years it seems you can’t read about higher education without thinking about how ripe it is for disruption. Rising costs, employer dissatisfaction with graduate skills, technology advances and new entrants are making the case for the need for new ways of thinking about and delivering education. Based on some recent developments, business schools may be the first to feel the heat. Clay Christensen, who popularised the idea of disruption, has written and spoken quite a bit about disruption in higher education in general, and the management education market in particular. So how is this beginning to play out in the management education sphere? There are many new initiatives afoot. http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150406140223800

Tech-savvy seek dating help in online courses - Greta Kaul, Houston Chronicle

The 21st century version of the self-help book is an online course on how to get a date. And this is no tutorial on using Match.com but rather an online course — complete with a quiz and practice activities — in how to read body language and make good conversation. Udemy, an online course platform that enlists “everyday experts” to teach classes, helps people learn everything from programming to photography to marketing — and also how to approach the person you’re eyeing across the coffee shop. Udemy has seen its personal development offerings take off since about 2011, a year after it started, said Shannon Hughes, the company’s senior director of marketing. Though they’re a smaller share of the site’s course catalog, personal development classes are growing fast, and 77 of them — with nearly 52,000 students — cover dating and relationships. http://www.chron.com/business/article/Tech-savvy-seek-dating-help-in-online-courses-6192588.php

Report: Schools Should Focus More on Soft Skills - Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

A new study from Wainhouse Research finds that a large minority, 39 percent, of education stakeholders say their schools should be doing a better job of preparing students for the workforce. Among more than 1,000 administrators, teachers, students and parents surveyed from North America and the United Kingdom, "many" said they "believe that schools are doing a decent job focusing on the 3 R's: reading, writing and mathematics, but are not doing as good a job focusing on other aspects of education essential to preparing learners for entering the workforce," according to the report. Sixty percent of those surveyed said too little emphasis is placed on collaborations with other learners outside the classroom, while 46 and 40 percent, respectively, said there should be more emphasis on group achievement and working in teams. http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/04/09/report-schools-should-focus-more-on-soft-skills.aspx

Accreditation for alternative credentialing gaining traction - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Multiple ideas to accredit alternative credentialing pathways are gaining traction in a push to expand opportunities for nontraditional, post-secondary learning. Massive open online courses, coding bootcamps, and other programs offering “microcredentials” can’t currently accept federal financial aid because they’re not accredited, which ends up limiting access to low-income prospective students, Insider Higher Ed reports. Alternative pathways to accreditation include partnerships with accredited universities, the creation of new — state or federal — accreditation agencies, and authorization for existing accreditation agencies to do the job. http://www.educationdive.com/news/accreditation-for-alternative-credentialing-gaining-traction/385338/

Higher Ed/Library Views Impact Final Net Neutrality Order - Jarret Cummings, EDUCAUSE

The FCC recently posted the full text of the network neutrality order it passed in late February. (Please see “FCC Votes to Restore Strong Net Neutrality Protections.”) An outline released after the vote highlighted the “no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization” rules that the order would impose. While those align with the views of the higher education/libraries coalition in which EDUCAUSE serves as a core member, the coalition looked forward to seeing if the order would address the other concerns it raised. And the order does. http://www.educause.edu/blogs/jcummings/higher-edlibrary-views-impact-final-net-neutrality-order

7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING - Janet Gronneberg (CAST, Inc.), Sam Johnston (CAST, Inc.), EDUCAUSE

Universal Design for Learning is a framework for the design of materials and instructional methods that are usable by a wide range of students. One aim of UDL is to provide full access to students with special needs, but it offers significant affordances for all students, allowing them to benefit from learning presented through multiple sensory avenues and a variety of conceptual frameworks. Early research about the influence of UDL is positive, showing that it improves engagement and performance among all students. http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-universal-design-learning

Arizona State U Teams with Private Partners on Adaptive Learning - Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

Arizona State University (ASU) has partnered with Cengage Learning and Knewton to develop new active learning systems for introductory courses. The goal of the partnership is to provide ASU students with personalized learning in introductory college courses and to let instructors spend more time supporting students and less time lecturing and managing the class. ASU's new "Active Adaptive" courses will use Knewton's adaptive learning platform within Cengage Learning's MindTap digital learning solution in an effort to achieve this goal. Together, ASU, Cengage Learning and Knewton will develop a series of Active Adaptive general education courses. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/08/arizona-state-u-teams-with-private-partners-on-adaptive-learning.aspx

Minnesota Course evaluations will go online in fall - Haley Hansen, Minnesota Daily

The comments and critiques students make on their course evaluation forms at the end of this semester may influence other students’ future class selections. Come fall, parts of students’ end-of-semester course evaluations will be available online for other students to view when deciding what classes to take, a policy change students have spent years advocating for. While the information online won’t be about individual faculty members, it will be about specific classes, which some say could help students make better informed decisions when enrolling in courses. http://www.mndaily.com/news/campus/2015/04/08/course-evaluations-will-go-online-fall

More Business Schools Launch Online MBA Degrees To Hone Digital Edge - Seb Murray, Business Because

Top business schools have been investing heavily in digital learning environments, as the full-time MBA loses some of its lustre to shorter, online courses. The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business will offer an online MBA program focused on analytics, social media, virtual teams and entrepreneurial thinking – the latest top institution to tap into learning tech. Business schools have been investing heavily in digital learning environments, as the full-time MBA loses some of its lustre to shorter, online courses. USC Marshall’s online coursework will be conducted primarily in an asynchronous – flexible – format, with weekly, scheduled seminars conducted by faculty via webcam, and a one-week event on campus. The new program will incorporate live action cases, interactive exercises and virtual teamwork. John Matsusaka, USC Marshall online MBA academic director, said: “Online technologies continue to rapidly reshape our world.” http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/3207/more-business-schools-launch-online-mbas

2014-15 AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey (searchable) - Inside Higher Ed

The annual AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey is the largest independent source of data on full-time faculty salary and benefits at two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The 2015 iteration of the survey includes information on salary and benefits for more than 375,000 faculty members from 1,136 institutions in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The survey, along with the accompanying "Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession," is published each year in the March–April issue of Academe, the AAUP's magazine. Inside Higher Ed below presents these data in an easily searchable database. https://www.insidehighered.com/aaup-compensation-survey

3 Ways You Can Use Nontraditional Education to Win the War for talent - Barry Salzberg, Fast Company

Approximately 70% of those currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in the U.S. are not doing so in what is thought of as the "traditional" college experience, according to the U.S. Education Department. Rather than studying full-time while living on a college campus and earning a degree after four years, they are studying part-time, withdrawing from college to work, and then returning later in life. Because of these changes, businesses need to expand how they approach finding future employees, hiring them, retaining them, and developing them. Here are some approaches they should consider: http://www.fastcompany.com/3044622/3-ways-you-can-use-nontraditional-education-to-win-the-war-for-talent

University of Illinois increases free online college course development - Maggie Sullivan, Daily Illini

In an effort to compensate professors who spend time creating MOOCs, the University of Illinois Academic Senate is set to discuss a resolution on providing funding for professors who develop MOOCs. The University was the first land-grant university to partner with Coursera, one of the largest MOOC providers, Tucker said. “There is a brand recognition piece to this,” said Deanna Raineri, Associate Provost of Education Innovation. “We felt that this was a good opportunity for the University of Illinois to show the world that we have very high quality education here.” Students cannot earn credit toward their degree through most Moocs. However, Raineri believes in the future, MOOCs will be offered for college credit. http://www.dailyillini.com/news/article_370ef4b0-dd7e-11e4-9fa8-ffa807ac7a37.html

Harvard's Peter Bol, a leader in online learning, outlines the challenges and prospects ahead 0 Jennifer Doody, Harvard Gazette

I bring together three different areas. First is the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, which has been concerned with pedagogy directed at advances in teaching and learning across the University. Next is HarvardX, founded two years ago to create open online learning content made accessible to the world through platforms like edX, for which Harvard and MIT made the initial investment. Then there’s a group devoted to research on teaching and learning in the online learning space, and I think we’ll see an increase in attention to residential teaching and learning as well. One of my goals is to ensure that what we do with HarvardX is also circulated through campus; that what we do in research not only improves the quality of our learning online, but also that the research on online learning and teaching can benefit the residential community here at Harvard, and build pedagogy across the schools. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/04/a-new-office-a-global-audience/

3,118 applicants accepted as freshmen by University of Florida, Gainesville required to take first year online - SOPHIE JANE EVANS, Daily Mail

More than 3,000 students are facing an unexpected decision after they received acceptance notices from the University of Florida - only to find they would have to spend a year taking online classes. The 3,118 unidentified applicants were presumably delighted when they were accepted as freshmen by the university in Gainesville for the fall after sending in applications for traditional first-year slots. But after reading their congratulations notices, they apparently realized they would need to agree to spend their entire first year taking classes on the Internet in order to attend the public college. The classes are part of a new program - the Pathway to Campus Enrollment (PaCE) - which started in 2015 and aims to accommodate a higher number of students, The Washington Post reported. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3028025/Thousands-student-receive-acceptance-notices-University-Florida-spend-entire-year-taking-ONLINE-classes.html

Adult education models change; needs, passions remain - Mitch LeClair, St. Cloud Times

Options for adult education have adjusted to modern needs throughout history, but technological advancements of the last few decades have accelerated the pace. It's happening in European countries, India, China — and Minnesota. New methods of teaching are drawing learners away from traditional models, affecting how employers and students view degrees, other certifications and education in general. http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2015/04/05/adult-education-models-change-needs-passions-remain/25337183/

ACCA Debuts Online Learning Venture - MICHAEL COHN, Accounting Today

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has introduced ACCA-X, a set of online learning courses for accountants and financial professionals. The courses will be delivered on edX, an online learning platform founded by MIT and Harvard. ACCA-X’s open access courses will feature content developed by Epigeum, a spin-out from Imperial College London. • Introductory Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting; and, • Intermediate Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Intermediate Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting. http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/audit-accounting/acca-debuts-online-learning-venture-74211-1.html

Online Test-Takers Feel Anti-Cheating Software’s Uneasy Glare - NATASHA SINGER, NY Times

As universities and colleges around the country expand their online course offerings, many administrators are introducing new technologies to deter cheating. The oversight, administrators say, is crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of an online degree to students and their prospective employers. Some schools use software that prevents students from opening apps or web browsers during online exams. Others employ services with live exam proctors who monitor students remotely over webcams. But the rise of Proctortrack and other automated student analysis services like it have raised questions about where to draw the line, and whether the new systems are fair and accurate. The University of North Texas Health Science Center, for instance, is partway through a two-year pilot test of Proctortrack involving the 160 students enrolled in its online public health master’s degree program. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/technology/online-test-takers-feel-anti-cheating-softwares-uneasy-glare.html

Caucus 101: Educating the world about Iowa caucuses -Jeff Charis-Carlson, Press Citizen

Steffen Schmidt has a voracious educational appetite. The Iowa State University political science professor, who answers to the nickname "Dr. Politics," says he often finds himself digging into two or three MOOCs — massive open online courses — at a time. But he usually treats such online educational opportunities as scholastic snacks rather than full intellectual meals. Schmidt is working to make that user-friendliness a key component of the MOOC he is developing about the subject he knows best: the role of the Iowa caucuses in the presidential nomination process. When the course goes live in September, the Iowa caucuses MOOC will be ISU's first official massive online offering. To create the course, Schmidt has been working for more than a year with ISU Web designers, technicians, videographers, online curriculum writers and other experts. He touts it as a "short, fun and free" discussion on the past, present and future of Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential contest. http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/college/2015/04/03/isu-online-course-caucuses/25261229/

Wake Forest University will offer online classes this summer - Alana Harrison, Old Gold & Black

Wake Forest University has developed its first online courses and will begin offering them during summer 2015. These online courses are an alternative for summer school, as they can be taken from home, rather than require the student to be on campus.This greatly decreases the price for summer courses, because students will not have to pay for housing. Brenda Knox, director of online education, says this is a major reason why Wake Forest has developed some online courses. “The university would like to offer some alternatives to students who can’t stay on campus in the summer,” she said. http://oldgoldandblack.com/?p=45108

Learning online offers many financial benefits - Jan Burns, Houston Chronicle

Though not all online programs have less expensive tuition than traditional schools, the associated costs can be lower. "The financial benefits of enrolling in online programs at universities is that students do not have to pay commuting expenses, may not need additional child care, and most likely will be able to continue in their current employment while in school as they can manage their own schedule and do their coursework around their families and work obligations," said Vickie S. Cook, Ph.D., director, Center for Online Learning, research and service/research associate professor, University of Illinois at Springfield. http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/Learning-online-offers-many-financial-benefits-6177193.php

Starbucks and Arizona State U. Will Expand Tuition-Discount Partnership - Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Starbucks and Arizona State University announced on Monday that they will expand the full benefits of their tuition-discounting partnership to include Starbucks employees who have not yet accrued 60 college credits. ASU’s president, Michael M. Crow, said they were doing so because of continuing demand and the success of the initial program — since the summer, about 3,400 Starbucks employees submitted completed applications, 3,000 were accepted, and nearly 2,000 enrolled. Under the arrangement, the university provides a guaranteed scholarship — effectively a tuition discount — to all Starbucks students who attend ASU Online. The students are also eligible for federal Pell Grants and need-based financial aid from the university. Starbucks reimburses employees for the remaining amounts not covered by the discounts and federal financial aid. (Initially it did so every time students finished 21 credits. It now will provide the reimbursements after each semester.) http://chronicle.com/article/StarbucksArizona-State-U/229127/

Online courses prep tomorrow's leaders - Valerie Sweeten, Houston Chronicle

According to www.onlinecolleges.org, students looking to pursue degrees online can find courses at every level, from an associate to a doctorate degree at both private and public institutions. Jeff Morgan, associate provost for education innovation and technology at the University of Houston, said that the campus has had a year-over-year increase in online student credit hours. In fall 2014 there was a 23 percent increase, with a 17 percent increase in spring 2015. Across their entire University of Houston System, there has been a year-over-year increase in both fall 2014 and spring 2015. http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/Online-courses-prep-tomorrow-s-leaders-6177143.php

LinkedIn will acquire lynda.com in $1.5B deal - Roger Riddell, Education Dive

LinkedIn announced Thursday its plans to acquire lynda.com in a $1.5 billion cash-and-stock deal. Lynda.com's courses are focused on adults wishing to improve business, technology, and creative skills, and Reuters reports that the acquisition will allow LinkedIn to show what skills are needed for particular jobs listed on its social network. The deal, according to Reuters, is expected to give LinkedIn's lucrative hiring business an additional boost. http://www.educationdive.com/news/linkedin-will-acquire-lyndacom-in-15b-deal/384898/

PAR Framework Partners with American Institutes for Research - Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

The Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework has partnered with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in an effort to develop new metrics and measurements to help guide national policies related to higher education outcomes. The PAR Framework is an independent, non-profit provider of learner analytics as a service, and AIR is a behavioral and social science research and evaluation organization. According to the PAR Framework, the metrics currently used to compare higher education institutions in the United States are based on traditional models of education and don't reflect the current reality of non-traditional students and changing instructional models and business practices. Through this partnership, the PAR Framework and AIR plan to develop new benchmarks for measuring the performance of for-profit and alternative delivery models of education, such as online learning, and to identify ways to improve "federal data collections, statutory disclosure and reporting requirements, especially with regards to transfer students and adult learners," according to information from PAR. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/01/par-framework-partners-with-american-institutes-for-research.aspx

5 Ways to Ace Discussion Board Assignments in an Online Class - Devon Haynie, US News

If online students want to have a real conversation about class material, they have one place to do it: the discussion board, a major component of most online courses. "They are the best part of the classes," says Paulina Erices, who is earning her online bachelor's degree in psychology from Pennsylvania State University—World Campus. "The interaction on the discussion boards allows me to hear other people's opinions. They have life experiences related to what we are studying and it is really interesting because it goes beyond what we are studying to what is happening in the field." When online discussion boards come together well, students can actually learn more from them than from other parts of class, instructors say. But getting the most out of a discussion board – and earning the high marks to show for it – isn't easy. Below, experts share tips for how to ace the discussion board component of online class. http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2015/04/03/5-ways-to-ace-discussion-board-assignments-in-an-online-class

Emerging Path to Federal Aid - Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

Political support is building for a system to encourage and oversee higher education upstarts that don't look or act like colleges, such as online course providers and coding boot camps. And these emerging players soon may have a pathway to accreditation and even federal financial aid eligibility, albeit in limited or experimental form. There are many differences among this group, which includes Udacity, General Assembly, StraighterLine and other noninstitutional providers. But none of these companies offers degrees or operates within the heavily regulated confines of traditional colleges. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/09/political-pressure-builds-new-accreditation-and-aid-pathway-upstart-providers

Comcast leapfrogs Google Fiber with new 2Gbps internet service - Vlad Savov, the Verge

Rollout begins in Atlanta next month and will reach 18 million American homes by the end of the year. The US cable giant, Comcast, is today announcing a new 2Gbps broadband service, which it will start rolling out in Atlanta from next month. There's no price yet, but Comcast says it will be symmetrical — meaning you'll upload just as quickly as you can download — and it won't be limited "just to certain neighborhoods." Doug Guthrie, Senior VP of Comcast Cable’s South Region, explains that the company's "approach is to offer the most comprehensive rollout of multi-gigabit service to the most homes as quickly as possible." That's in stark contrast to what Comcast was saying just a couple of years ago, when it dismissed Google's Fiber efforts as being excessive for most people's needs. http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8330267/comcast-2gbps-gigabit-pro-broadband

Louisiana Higher ed officials consider ‘doomsday’ funding scenario: 82 percent cut - ELIZABETH CRISP, the Advocate

Under what leaders are calling a “doomsday scenario,” Louisiana’s public universities and colleges would get about $123 million in state funding to split among their campuses next year — about an 82 percent cut from their current funding level. That’s the budget the state Board of Regents has instructed college leaders to start preparing for, though officials are hoping that the funding outlook will improve dramatically during the legislative session. “It’s just not possible,” Higher Education Commissioner Joe Rallo said during a recent meeting with The Advocate’s editorial board. To put that worst-case scenario into perspective, the state would spend about $600 per student on direct campus funding. It would spend an additional $267 million on the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS, which provides tuition assistance to Louisiana high school graduates who meet certain academic benchmarks and attend college in the state. http://theadvocate.com/news/politics/11949560-123/higher-ed-officials-consider-doomsday

From MOOCs To Minerva: Higher Education And Beyond - Calvin Lemley, Forbes

The Minerva format focuses on seminar-based lessons, with instructors implementing methods such as pop quizzes, cold calls, and asking questions that students are required to answer, then called on to defend those answers. This would also cut down on time-wasting in class, with the instructor able to immediately quiz students on course material and just as quickly be able to receive and tabulate student responses, as well as streamlining the process for separating students into groups for cooperative assignments. http://www.forbes.com/sites/berlinschoolofcreativeleadership/2015/04/06/from-moocs-to-minerva-higher-education-and-beyond/

Engaging Students with a Mobile App - Joe Hoff, EDUCAUSE Review

Engaging first-year students in positive experiences can set the tone for the remainder of their educational careers. A major element of engagement is the social side — meeting other students virtually, learning about campus before the first day of classes, keeping up on events, communicating on specific topics, and asking questions quickly and conveniently. A mobile app that facilitates social engagement while letting administrators measure levels of use and track emotional trends and potential problems among the student body serves both communities. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/engaging-students-mobile-app

Game-Based Simulations Teach Environmental Science at ASU Online - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

To better engage its online learners, Arizona State University is piloting game-based simulations from Toolwire in its ASU Online environmental science courses. In five story-based games, students "will take on several leadership roles, with increasing responsibility, to help a community address challenging environmental and sustainability issues," according to a press release. Interactive features include the ability to download digital learning objects, take notes and respond to questions using tools in the game such as mobile phones and e-mails. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/01/game-based-simulations-teach-environmental-science-at-asu-online.aspx

Make a Game Out of Learning - Chris Berdik, Campus Technology

In MIT’s Education Arcade, classic game consoles line the office corridor; rafters are strung with holiday lights; and inflatable, stuffed, and papier-mâché creatures lurk around every corner. When I stopped by recently, the arcade’s director, Eric Klopfer, and creative director, Scot Osterweil, talked enthusiastically about the surging interest in educational video games, now used by nearly three-quarters of America’s grade-school teachers, according to one survey. But these optimistic, play-loving game gurus have come to despise the biggest buzzword in their field: gamification. Gamification undermines what they see as the real opportunity for games to radically, albeit playfully, transform education. Make a Game Out of Learning. But don’t gamify it. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/01/game-based-simulations-teach-environmental-science-at-asu-online.aspx