“…students will not have to pay until they pass the courses…” from Promising Full College Credit, Arizona State University Offers Online Freshman Program – NYTimes.com. How about not paying till there is evidence of learning? like getting a good job? or, getting into grad school? or doing well on some standardized test in the subject?… […]
Kevin Carey’s Good Idea (MOOC’s) Needs Help
March 10, 2015 by
College for a New Age – NYTimes.com is a good editorial about Kevin Carey’s new book. He has good ideas about MOOC’s, but he needs help, as I pointed out. “I’m a former professor. I now write a blog on higher education’ inside-higher-ed . I have read several of Mr. Carey’s essays. He understands higher education, […]
Excellent Op-Ed (And From Me, How to Hold Colleges Feet to Fire with Online Access)
March 5, 2015 by
Here’s What Will Truly Change Higher Education: Online Degrees That Are Seen as Official – NYTimes.com. From my perspective, as a former math professor, this excellent article misses only one important point about the conflict between traditional colleges and online courses – a point that my experience teaching from an online MIT course at Washington […]
MOOC’s Setback? But Online Still Very Useful, I Believe
December 12, 2013 by
There is this in yesterday’s New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/us/after-setbacks-online-courses-are-rethought.html?hpw&rref=us but I believe that online access can be very informative when used the way I described. (Also, I just finished an excellent book on the role of the internet in education. It is “Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities” by Richard A. DeMillo.) “Online […]
Time Magazine Writes That Americans Have Feelings About Online Education?
October 18, 2013 by
Unfortunately, “feelings” is probably the right word. Here is a link. http://nation.time.com/2013/10/16/americans-have-mixed-feelings-about-online-education/ Here is my view which I put in my comment. “Let’s see. Jon Meacham recently wrote, “…barely half [of college graduates] knew that the U.S. Constitution establishes the separation of powers. Forty-three percent failed to identify John Roberts as Chief Justice; 62% didn’t […]
Good Op/Ed in WSJ about Online Courses and Education
June 3, 2013 by
In my view, an important part of the article is the discussion of resistance to MOOC’s. Also, the author speaks from experience, not from studies. We need both, but we are short on op/ed’s from experience. It is by Andy Kessler. You can find him in Wikipedia. Here is the link, followed by my comment, […]
Why So Few Online Courses? Quotes From “The Economist” 3/28/2015 Edition on Universities
“…Since the value of a degree from a selective institution depends on its scarcity, good universities have little incentive to produce more graduates..” (From <http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647285-more-and-more-money-being-spent-higher-education-too-little-known-about-whether-it>) which may be why, even though “…Technology offers the promise of making education both cheaper and more effective, but universities resist adopting it…” (From <http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21646985-american-model-higher-education-spreading-it-good-producing-excellence>)