August 9th, 2010
Edublogger Review
A "mash-up" of postings from nine engaging educational
and e-learning bloggers.
If Only We Had a Government
Capable of Making Rules...
Source: http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2010/08/if-only-we-had-
government-capable-of.html
By Dean Dad on August 9th, 2010
As regular readers know, I used to work in for-profit
university. I fled it for various reasons, but still find some of the
commentary about them unhelpfully reductive. Naturally, I’ve
been following Senator Harkin’s hearings -- and the responses
to the hearings -- with interest.
Broadly, the hearings are addressing abusive and/or
misleading and/or illegal recruitment practices at various for-
profit colleges and universities. The stated idea is to prevent
taxpayer money (in the form of Federal financial aid) from
being squandered on diploma mills or colleges that charge far
too much for what they deliver. The unstated idea seems to be
to have a referendum on the very idea of for-profit education.
It seems to me that it would be a lot more productive to focus
instead on the rules of the game.
In my time at Proprietary U, there was a chronic internal
tension between Admissions and Academics. The folks in
Admissions were accountable for hitting their numbers --
they did somersaults and backflips to explain how that wasn’t
commission pay, but it was commission pay -- and some of
them did pretty much whatever they had to do. On the positive
side, that meant helping students set up carpools, navigate
paperwork, and get scheduled. On the negative side, it led to
some pretty dramatic overpromising, some really unhelpful
denigrating of the gen ed classes that students still actually had
to take, and a level of ‘message management’ that sometimes
became silly.
On the Academic side, we had to actually teach the students
who got recruited. The numbers by which we were judged were
retention percentages and job placement statistics. As some of
us never tired of pointing out (hi!), those two numbers often
pointed in different directions. Those of us who believed that
fighting attrition by lowering standards was a bad idea would
cite the employability of graduates, but we weren’t always on
the winning side.
When the market was booming, the conflict was more stylistic
than substantive. Students stayed in programs because they
saw the payoff; retention efforts amounted to little more than
open discussions of starting salaries. (For a while there in the
late 90’s, the truth was good enough that you didn’t have to
Published by: philosophyandrew
sugarcoat it.) Since the institution charged more per student
than it cost to educate each student, growth was a source of
profit, so it could grow quickly to meet mushrooming demand.
On the national level, that growth has continued, and has far
outpaced anything happening in the nonprofit world, where
growth is typically a cost.
When the market turned, though, things got ugly fast. And
this, oddly enough, is where the nonprofits have an advantage
(or would, if the states would step up).
In most public colleges, there’s an allocation from the state
and/or county and/or city that goes directly to the operating
budget. In practice, if not in theory, that allocation is
usually pretty independent of enrollment numbers. During
enrollment booms, that means that the percentage of the
budget paid for by the students directly increases. But during
declines, there’s at least the cushion of some revenue that’s
independent of tuition.
The for-profits can grow much more easily, but they have a
harder time dealing with decline. That’s because they don’t
have the enrollment-independent cushion of funding that the
non-profits have.
Now it’s certainly true that the state-provided cushion is
proportionately much smaller than it used to be, which means
that declines hurt more now than they once did. But a drop
that might register as ‘difficult’ for a community college could
put a for-profit out of business altogether.
That is, unless the for-profit does what cornered animals tend
to do. I’d expect to see any ethical gloves come off in times of
decline, as they fight and scrap for every single student.
And this is why my position on for-profits is neither ‘for’ nor
‘against.’ It’s that they need to be meaningfully regulated. If
they’re forced to fight fair but still manage to thrive, then
presumably they’re adding value somewhere. At that point,
the sober objection to their existence seems to fade away. But
leaving them alone to do as they will is madness. Left to their
own devices, they’ll act much like the cable tv monopolies
did when they were deregulated; it’s naive to expect that they
wouldn’t..
In the hearings, the for-profits have raised some fair points
in their own defense. The one I find most compelling is
the (correct) contention that the investigation doesn’t have a
control group. Do we really, honestly believe that unethical
behaviors are confined to the for-profit sector? Do we really
believe that desperate tuition-driven nonprofits won’t do
whatever they have to do to survive? For that matter, do we
really believe that every accredited nonprofit actually provides
a quality education?
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August 9th, 2010
But there, too, my response is that picking one side over the
other misses the point. The point is a need for rules of the
game, evenhandedly enforced, that will punish institutions for
giving in to the temptations of untoward behavior. That’s true
whether the institution is publicly traded, church affiliated, or
state-identified. If a college is incompetent or corrupt, I don’t
much care that it’s not for profit.
Ideally, the nonprofits would learn from the best elements of
the for-profits. Is the agrarian calendar really cast in stone?
Might a ‘career development’ style class make sense as a
requirement, at least in some majors?
And ideally, higher ed will get past the kabuki of outrage at the
existence of profit and actually address the rules of the game.
If only we had a government capable of making rules...
EDUCAUSE Review: Openness
Source: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2010/08/06/educause-review-
openness/
By gsiemens on August 9th, 2010
The current issue of EDUCAUSE Review focuses on
Openness, including an article I did with Dave Cormier on
Through the Open Door: Open courses as research, learning,
and engagement . Articles address topics of openness as a
catalyst for reform, open faculty, open students, open ed tech,
and open world.
Changing times
Source: http://www.jarche.com/2010/08/changing-times/
By Harold Jarche on August 9th, 2010
Here are some of the things I learned via Twitter this past
week.
Why focus on informal & social learning? by
@CharlesJennings | Related Slide Presentation
In many cases non-formal and social approaches will
replace formal learning. In a few cases they won’t.
There are 8 drivers for this change:
1. There is a strong imperative for continuous
learning – the world is changing so fast that we
need to continually update our knowledge, skills and
productivity. Doing it in discrete steps just doesn’t
work any more – even if the steps are small ones. We
all need to develop the mindset of continuous, always-
on learners. Informal and social learning approaches
fit this need better than staccato formal learning …
via @roundtrip – 10 ways the “world of work” will change
in the next 10 years @Gartner_inc “non-routine” work =
adaptive innovative
1. De-routinization of work
2. Work swarms
3. Weak links
4. Working with the collective
Published by: philosophyandrew
5. Work sketch-ups
6. Spontaneous work
7. Simulation & experimentation
8. Pattern sensitivity
9. Hyperconnected
10. My place
@johnniemoore Is there a real innovator’s dilemma in an
age of abundant creativity. Or just a bureaucrat’s dilemma
pretending otherwise?
From HBR: Higher education is overrated; skills aren’t [as I
wrote in the university myth]
Foolish New York Times stories notwithstanding,
education is a misleading-to-malignant proxy for
economic productivity or performance. Knowledge
may be power, but “knowledge from college” is
neither predictor nor guarantor of success. Growing
numbers of informed observers increasingly describe
a higher education “bubble” that makes a college and/
or university education a subprime investment for too
many attendees.
via @nomad411 New Zealand rejects software patents.
In updating its policy position, the New Zealand
government acknowledged the growing importance
of open source, and the logical reasons for excluding
software from the list of patentable inventions.
Evaluating knowledge workers – a cartoon essay by
@tonykarrer
Bill Gates: In Five Years The
Best Education Will Come
From The Web
Source: http://www.elearningpost.com/blog/
bill_gates_in_five_years_the_best_education_will_come_from_the_web
August 9th, 2010
Gates believes that in five years time you’ll able to find the
“the best lectures in the world”. You can now, but its “unevenly
distributed”!
“One particular problem with the education system
according to Gates is text books. Even in grade
schools, they can be 300 pages for a book about math.
‘They’re giant, intimidating books,” he said. “I look at
them and think: what on Earth is in there?’”
Page 1 of 2 pages
The Story Behind Flat World
Knowledge Open Textbooks
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/08/the-story-behind-
flat-world-knowledge-open-textbooks.html
2
August 9th, 2010
By StevenB on August 9th, 2010
Many college students and their families are concerned about
the high costs of textbooks. E–books have been proposed as
one potential solution; open source textbooks have also been
explored. A company called Flat World Knowledge produces
and gives away open source textbooks in a way they believe to
be financially sustainable. This article reports an initial study
of the financial sustainability of the Flat World Knowledge
open source textbook model. Read more at:
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/
fm/article/view/2800/2578
Cognitive Load Theory - " Is it
just a Load?
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53067
August 9th, 2010
Gary Woodill agrees with me on cognitive load theory and
supports his case with an argument. "We need to examine our
concepts carefully and critically, and move away from research
into nonsense as the basis of our instructional designs." Quite
so. Will Thalheimer responds in a comment, defending the
theory with examples. "Try counting backward by 3's and
doing multiplication problems at the same time." OK, that's
hard. "Try writing while listening to music with lyrics." Wait,
I do that all the time (including this exact moment). "Try
talking with your spouse while on the phone with your boss."
Done and done. "Try talking on your cell phone, driving
your car in traffic, and listening to Lady Gaga lyrics for
deep meaning." Oh, well, that's just impossible, but only
because the third conjunct is impossible. In any case, the
response misses the point. Are there limits to cognition and
perception? Well, d'uh. Of course there are. Do these limits
support 'cognitive load theory' as it pertains to education? No.
Clark Quinn also supports it in a comment at the other site,
saying, "simplify cognitive load to the right amount, and you
get increased performance" and cites Sweller. Yes, you get
increased 'performance' - but worse learning. Yes, people are
more likely to remember and to do what you say if you tell them
'go east on route 33 then north on 17' but they are more likely
to learn if you give them a map.
Comments
amjobe, August 9, 2010 12:59 a.m.
Neuroscience has strong evidence supporting elements of this
but it is more around attention. You can drive and talk on a
phone at the esame time but you will 4 times more likely to
have an accident (So let me know when you're on the road
and I'll keep off it). We think we can two things at once
but we are missing vital information (i.e. the car that has
suddenly stopped in front). The gorilla/basketball video is a
good example where you can miss vital information (such as
the gorilla) if you are focussed on something else.
From a learning point of view it has implications as to how
information is presented and consolidated. Cognitive Load
Theory (remember it's a theory) has good application for
Published by: philosophyandrew
process/procedure training or concepts where you build on
existing knowledge.
Yes people are more likely to learn if you give them a map, but
you might have to instruct them on how to use it. [Comment]
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Student Harrassed After Solo
Protest Over Sodexo Food
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/08/student-harrassed-
after-solo-protest-over-sodexo-food-.html
By StevenB on August 9th, 2010
What began as a class project in criminology has taken on a
life of its own, landing one Kwantlen Polytechnic University
student in hot water with campus security and the school's new
cafeteria operators. Emery Warner, a third-year criminology
student, was handing out leaflets at Kwantlen's Surrey campus
Wednesday, protesting what he described as the unsavoury
business practices and equally unsavoury food of Sodexo, the
school's recently hired cafeteria operator. Later that day, he
said, he was approached by two representatives of Sodexo and
four Kwantlen security guards who tried to take his pamphlets
-- which had been approved by his instructor -- and those of
nearby students before forcing him off the campus. Read
more at:
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/student+cooks
+storm+over+cafeteria+operators/3345669/
story.html#ixzz0vpHvlUdX
Slides from Open Access
Publishing Seminar
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53066
August 9th, 2010
Terry Anderson presents on the success of Athabasca
University Press's open publishing initiative. The message is
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August 9th, 2010
that sales aren't hurt by open publishing, even when the entire
book is available online, and citation factors for journal articles
are excellent. The presentation took place at Wisconsin's
annual summer conference Conference on Distance Teaching
and Learning here in Madison. This conference is memorable
to me as the place where I gave a presentation that nobody
attended. I'm sure Terry did significantly better.
Comments
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Even A Lobster Can Get Into A
College
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/08/even-a-lobster-can-
get-into-a-college.html
By StevenB on August 9th, 2010
A rare yellow lobster pulled from Rhode Island's Narragansett
Bay is heading to college. Lobsterman Denny Ingram said
Wednesday that the yellow lobster will be moving to the
aquarium at the University of Rhode Island's Bay Campus in
Narragansett. Yellow lobsters are considered to be a one-
in-30-million find. Read more (short article) at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/05/yellow-
lobster-found-in-r_0_n_671498.html
Will Pearson Eat Us All?
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53065
August 9th, 2010
"Is anyone else concerned that yesterday's announcement that
Pearson is acquiring Americas Choice for $80 million coupled
with Americas Choice having received the franchise to develop
the high school assessments for Common Core means we have
a de facto national curriculum now." So asks 'a student of
history, as reported on Tuttle SVC. (p.s. Tom, sorry to hear
about Ushra'Khan.
Comments
Published by: philosophyandrew
Aaron Fowles, August 8, 2010 4:20 p.m.
This is a bit scary. I'm still a bit ambivalent about Common
Core, since states don't *need* to opt in, but having the
curriculum and testing materials created by the same company
clearly lets that company define truth. It's like Pearson
is our educational federal reserve. [Comment] [Permalink]
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Recent Grad Says Passive
Consumption Defines Most
College Students
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/08/recent-grad-says-
passive-consumption-defines-most-college-students.html
By StevenB on August 9th, 2010
As a recent liberal arts school graduate, I can say with
a measured amount of know-how that our institutions
of higher learning have not yet fully developed this rich
learning environment that fosters "experiencing the world
without undue reliance on unquestioned authority." A more
pernicious but subtler threat to an education that produces
independent thinkers, I believe, is the prevailing student
attitude of passive consumption toward post-secondary
learning. Many of the students with whom I had studied were
indifferent to their education. They saw good grades and the
much-coveted diploma as the ultimate goal, the achievement
of which would lead to a job with a salary and benefits. Read
more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-bailey/sheepskin-
and-the-herd-wh_b_666199.html
The Broken Accreditation
System
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53064
August 9th, 2010
I have long said the accreditation monopoly will be ended,
and though this looks like an attack on the for-profits, it is
4
August 9th, 2010
actually the first brick through the window of the accreditation
system. Not that the for-profits are blameless - far from it.
They have gamed the system mightily. "The first two hours
of the hearing were devoted to damning undercover video
of admissions counselors encouraging prospective students
to lie on aid applications; inflating career earnings potential;
and admitting they weren't going to repay $85,000 of their
own loan debt." But as nothing will change the nature of
the private sector, the only locus of reform will have to
be the accreditation system itself. Thus we read, "there are
some fundamental problems about accrediting agencies and
the accrediting system that hurt its ability to provide the
oversight and accountability functions we desire." This will
end only with the end of legislated accreditation, and though
the government money may be harder to obtain (as, inevitably,
it will be) the floodgates will be opened. It can end no other
way.
Comments
mlevy, August 7, 2010 11:29 a.m.
Wow Steve, I've been saying the same thing! On every corner
is either a panhandler or a new private school operating in a
leased building. An education is quickly becoming a joke and
no longer holds the value it once did. Now schools have jumped
on the bandwagon of e-learning and extended their reach
around the globe. It's insane... and you're absolutely right,
the accreditation system has become simple -- anything for a
buck. As for overinflating the educational potential, another
problem.
My thoughts are the only degrees that should be offered
through schools are professional degrees, e.g., medical, law,
engineering, etc. Management and leadership type degrees
can be taught on the job. Provide funding to outstanding
companies through grants and let them provide on-the-job
training for these programs.
When granted the funds -- then they sign a commitment
to keep the employees for no less than a specific amount
of time, example: 5 years; unless an egregious situation,
but none of this "at will" B.S. that is nothing more than
personality differences and an easy out for managers. I believe
this is a win for everyone! Companies can have employees
trained in management and leadership for their culture and
the employees is guaranteed employment to build experience.
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Bond Ratings For Non-Profit
IHEs Are Headed Down
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/08/bond-ratings-for-
nonprofit-ihes-are-headed-down.html
By StevenB on August 9th, 2010
Judging by bond-rating changes, these are choppy times for
America's 4,000 colleges and universities. In a break from
the past, Moody's Investors Service, the country's leading
bond-rating agency, so far this year has handed out many
times more downgrades than upgrades to traditional nonprofit
institutions of higher education with public debt. Cited
reasons for the downgrades include investment and operating
losses, and in some cases, weakening student demand. In
a June report Moody's said institutions of higher education
overall were experiencing weakened balance sheets. Read
more at:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/04/moodys-brandeis-
howard-quinnipiac-umiami-personal-finance-college-bond-
downgrades.html
The most successful gurus
you never heard of
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53063
August 9th, 2010
You can be reassured that poverty means nothing, get a
teaching certificate in a long week-end, or buy the book on
standards-based grading. All this and more from the word
of educational consultants. Linda Perlstein reports on 'the
most succussful gurus you've never heard of." She writes,
"Ruby Payne. Robert Marzano. Richard duFour. Douglas
Reeves. Harry and Rosemary Wong. If you haven't heard these
names, you are not a teacher or a principal. You probably
aren't a school board member. But you might be an education
journalist. School districts spend millions on consultants like
these, who specialize in everything from formative assessment
to understanding poor kids to how to greet your students on
the first day of class." There's no end to the list of consultants
and their blogs. Ah, what a business to be in.
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August 9th, 2010 Published by: philosophyandrew
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Personal vs Personalized
Learning
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53062
August 9th, 2010

I've talked about the difference between personal and

personalized learning before, and this post captures is nicely.
"Personalized learning, while customized for the student, is
still controlled by the system. A district, teacher, company,
and/or computer program serve up the learning based on a
formula of what the child 'needs'."
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Good Will Shunting: Google's

distressing turn on Net
neutrality
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53061
August 9th, 2010

Two trends I expect are related: slowing U.S. internet speeds,

and a push to end net neutrality. David Weinberger reports on
both. In the first, he notes, Akamai's latest state of the Internet
report says that the U.S. is continuing to fall behind. In the
other, he suggests that Google is hedging on net neutrality.
Sebastian Anthony says it bluntly. "There's so much pressure
from content providers and ISPs that it seems like we (or at
least the USA) are about to pay a lot more for high-quality
Internet access. The New York Times provides an excellent
analogy: it will be like paying for premium cable or satellite
TV channels. For just $9.99 per month you can have faster
YouTube access! For $19.99 you can get YouTube, Vimeo and
CollegeHumor!"
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