Why is Educational Technology so Inelegant?

In this IHE blog post Joshua Kim asks a simple question: why isn't educational technology more elegant? The answer, I suspect, has to do with the way the EdTech market works: most of the purchases are done by people who don't actually use the software and most of the users don't have a choice about what software to use. 

A common pathology in higher education is that decision-makers get to impose decisions on staff, faculty, and students with little accountability. The tracking of outputs and outcomes related to inputs is so lax that the costs of decisions are impossible to ascertain.  

I've proposed what I call the "iPhone test" as a thought experiment for those who want to do better: the next time you are buying software for faculty or working up a policy on course revisions or designing a form for students to fill out, imagine that people are free to ignore it or have to pay $100 to use it. Can you make it elegant enough vis-à-vis their daily work that they would?  Can you design it in such a manner that the main reaction is "this is cool"? 

Continue Reading at Inside Higher Ed

Higher Education in the Media

The icons below link to indexes of Higher Education related stories in these media outlets.

For Some Colleges Financial Challenges Continue

This article from current Chronicle of Higher Education describes

a number of small colleges that continue to teeter on the edge even after the wider economic recovery.

Some factors that seem common in these stories are small size, niche focus (e.g., geographic or religious), recent lavish expenditures on attractive new facilities,(especially non-academic ones), and poorly timed optimism around fundraising.

Responses including layoffs, cutting under-enrolled programs, selling non-core real estate, drastic tuition cuts, expanding online offerings, adding professional programs

Continue Reading at Chronicle.com

Cool Looking Tool for "Grading" with MS Word

As usual, just when you think of something, it turns out someone's already developed it a few years before.  I haven't tried this product, but some friends have suggested it (over Facebook, if you are wondering). It's from "11 Trees," a company whose tagline is "Solutions for Writers, Teachers, and Editors"

Click here for more info

Fraternities and the Organizational Ethics of Higher Education

Don't be distracted by the lurid, even bizarre, events narrated at the start of the article.  What it's really about is the organizational distortion of priorities in higher education and the legal question of "Who Assumes the Risks of College Life?" It's a fascinating tale of finance, insurance, and the use of "good" lawyering to protect organizations and blame individuals. A story of how the very organizations to which kids pledge loyalty turn on them at the first sign of trouble. Long story short: fraternity organizations self insure; members are "covered" only if they don't break any of the rules; fraternity behavior consists of breaking the rules; that behavior frequently leads to tragedies and disasters. But then, what organization would want to put its fate in the hands of large groups of 20 year old men?

See also: Bloomberg View editorial calling for abolishing fraternities.

From The Atlantic.

Continue reading at The Atlantic

A Modest Suggestion for GE Reform

From Majoring in the 21st Century blog...

When, as is usually the case, nobody has actually put forward a coherent critique that exposes what's wrong with the current system and why it needs to be thrown out and replaced, consider an innovation process that's different from the usual approach in higher education.

What if we challenge ourselves to start by repackaging and repurposing what we have, thereby really identifying what things about it could be corrected, tweaked, turbo-charged, etc. to make it live up to its promise. Usually, the fact of the matter is we were stoked about it when we invented it and neither world nor students nor we have changed that much; it's what we've let happen to it since that is the problem. Unless we can focus on how one deals with those things, we will almost certainly see the same thing happen to a new plan.

So before embarking on a giant do-over, perhaps...

Tell Them Why I

Develop coherent and persuasive description of why we have a GE program and what it is supposed to achieve.

Tell Them Why II

Build into orientation each year an academic address in which a faculty member is charged with coming up with a creative and compelling explanation of, argument for, the GE program both in principle and in particular. A few years of this will provide us with some internal dialog on what it means and why it is there as well as providing a foundation for all subsequent advising around GE.

Collect data

Write a short bit of code which would count ALL gen-ed fulfilling courses to see how the distribution is. In other words, take as given that we have a set of areas and we have a set of courses that relate to them. Apart from meeting minimal requirements, what does the distribution of "general education" actually look like for a class of graduates? (coding note: need to filter by major so we do not bias results based on distribution of majors).

Use Design to Change Attitudes

Move away from the "check box" mentality by re-configuring Banner and MAPs so they don't simply indicate that a requirement has been fulfilled, but rather track and document how and how many times each requirement has been fulfilled, providing both student and anyone who looks at the transcript a visualization of her general education. Include the rationales described above in the transcript/MAP.



Thus, instead of this…

They'd see this:

Advising Parents of Soon-to-be-College-Students

One way to pop oneself out of one's institutional bubble is to listen in on conversations among the folks whose attention (and dollars) we are trying to attract.  Related to this is what advice are they getting? Here's a Twitter feed from Sara Goldrick-Rab, a leading sociologist of higher education, giving advice to parents of kids about to go to college in a forum last night (19 March 2014). Some food for thought for those of us running the institutions these parents and students are considering.

Note that the Tweets are in reverse chronological order.

@saragoldrickrab: If there is Greek Life on campus ask what % pledge. If higher than 10, run away!!!! #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask yourself if the college offers your student a great education at that price or just more elite peers. Buying friends? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask child what it meant when they said they got "real college experience" during that visit. What specifically did they learn? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: If you save on academic year you can send your kid to do great things in summers too, preparing for grad school or career #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Investing $20-60,000 in the education of an 18 year old is not smart, period. #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: A great student at a less selective school gets into honors classes fast, tons of faculty attention, learns to teach others #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: If your student is going 2 grad school spend less on undergrad! We love applicants from less common schools #diversity #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Students miss out on high-risk social scene of 4 year but miss little academically by doing first 2 at comm college. Save $$$ #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: But if I were u: send 18 year old 2 a comm college 4 two years while they share an apartment nearby. If they succeed- transfer. #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Is on campus transportation free? Off? How does on campus housing cost compare to off? How much is parking? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Look at campus: how are students dressed? What are they carrying? Can your child afford to fit in? Will college help w that $? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask about how faculty and staff are trained in student mental health. Gatekeeper programs or better?? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: And what advising training do faculty receive? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask about % of parents taking PLUS loans. #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask about academic advising- do faculty do it for freshmen? Or advisors only? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrabb: If out of state, ask if tuition is expected to be raised in next 5 years and whether you will be held harmless if it is. #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask what off-campus jobs are common, what they pay, how many hours they offer, what transportation is avail. #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Go to the aid office: is there a line outside? (Shouldn't be). Go to library: line for computers? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask financial aid what financial counseling is provided to students before borrowing loans? Federal minimum or more? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask financial aid what per-student institutional grant aid budget is? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask financial aid what % of qualified students actually get campus work- study jobs? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: When visiting college ask how any fancy gyms/ student unions etc were funded. Out of your tuition? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask financial aid if they "front load" grant aid or guarantee aid looks similar for years 1-4 & if tuition rises does aid? #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: On visits students should look 4 whether undergrads feel they know they profs, go 2 office hours, like their TAs #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: If student wants research experience ask % students who graduate having had it. Many aspire, few get it. #campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: Ask every college what % of intro courses are taught by tenured faculty? How much is president paid compared 2 professors? #campuschat
#campuslife

@saragoldrickrab: When considering cost please look at full "cost of attendance" not just tuition. There's another 60% to pay. #campuschat