Essay: Washington college grant program favors vocational over liberal education Last year, as Washington State faced a severe budget crisis, legislators embraced a novel way to fund student financial aid: a public-private partnership between the state and private corporations. Called the Opportunity Scholarship Fund, the fund attracts private donations and matches them with public money in order to support students in science, technology, and other “high demand” fields. As Inside Higher Ed reporter Paul Fain wrote, “the thinking in Washington was that if corporations had more direct control of how their donations were used, they might be more inclined to give. “ This is exactly right -- Boeing and Microsoft quickly pledged $50 million -- but the creation of the fund must be placed in the broader context of state defunding of public higher education. The idea for the fund originated in a task force established in summer 2010 by Governor Christine Gregoire, a Democrat. Nowhere on the panel were the other interests of society represented.
Capitalist universities and fightback « Workers Party (NZ) Joel Cosgrove Universities are an important part of modern society. The Education Act of 1989 defines them as being the “critic and conscience of society”. In practice the record has been patchy at best. In the documentary 1951 author Kevin Ireland recalls calling a Student Representative Council meeting to make a stand against the draconian laws passed to smash the locked out watersiders in 1951 and finding his progressive motions drowned out 10-1 by conservative students, bent on supporting the authoritarian actions of the state. Forecast Tertiary Education Funding vs Forecast Inflation Per capita funding for universities rose in real terms through to the mid-70’s and since then has been declining. Initially the various institutions absorbed the increasing costs. Right now at Victoria University budgets have been slashed, pay rises are below inflation, resourcing cut, tutor numbers have fallen dramatically and more people are being crammed into each course. The pressure is mounting.
Adding a Synchronous Component to Online Courses November 14, 2011 By: Linda Macaulay, EdD and La Tonya Dyer in Teaching with Technology Interactive, synchronous web conferencing software such as WebEx, Blackboard Collaborate and even Skype are innovative tools that can be implemented by faculty teaching both hybrid and fully online courses. When faculty at Towson University began using WebEx to incorporate a synchronous component to their courses, they discovered that interactive web conferencing (IWC) delivers many benefits. In this article, we outline some of the benefits we found and share tips for getting started with interactive web conferencing in your classes. Interactive web conferencing increases accessibility. Interactive web conferencing increases student-to-student and student-to-teacher interaction. Interactive web conferencing promotes active learning. Do you want to get started with interactive web conferencing? Getting Started Practice using IWC prior to meeting with your class. Classroom Management Dr. Recent Trackbacks
Steven Brill's Class Warfare: What's wrong with the education reformers' diagnosis and cures If you saw Waiting for "Superman," Steven Brill's tale in Class Warfare will be familiar. The founder of Court TV offers another polemic against teacher unions and a paean to self-styled "education reformers." But even for those who follow education policy, he offers an eye-opening read that should not be missed. Where the movie evoked valiant underdogs waging an uphill battle against an ossified behemoth, Brill's briskly written book exposes what critics of the reformers have long suspected but could never before prove: just how insular, coordinated, well-connected, and well-financed the reformers are. Class Warfare reveals their single-minded efforts to suppress any evidence that might challenge their mission to undermine the esteem in which most Americans held their public schools and teachers. These crusaders now are the establishment, as arrogant as any that preceded them. Brill's heroes make a high-profile gallery.
Charter schools: Parents protest Charter schools will mean bigger classes elsewhere, says school superintendent Charter schools have been praised for injecting new energy into inner-cities in the United States. But it's not a one-sided story. There are also parents who see them as a threat to local education. Gloucester is a town about 40 miles outside Boston. A fishing port with white clapboard buildings, it's a world away from the inner city. But there is rebellion in the air here. Setting up another rival school will mean taking away money and pupils from the local school system, they argue. They're angry at what they say will be the disruption of their local schools for the sake of what they see as a political gimmick. While charter schools have a strong emotional appeal in the inner city, in this small Massachusetts town there is hard-headed opposition. "When you look at the funding, they're going to be draining away resources to fund this other school," says parent, Jason Grow. 'Abdicating responsibility'
Clayton Christensen on disruption in online education Let’s have a little exercise. Walk me through this school you’d create. What do the classrooms look like? What are the class sizes? Earlier this year we discussed how the Internet is revolutionizing education and featured several companies and organizations that are disrupting the online education space including Open Yale, Open Culture, Khan Academy, Academic Earth, P2PU, Skillshare, Scitable and Skype in the Classroom. In October, Knewton, an education technology startup, raised $33 million in its 4th round of funding to roll out its adaptive online learning platform. According to the 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, approximately 5.6 million students took at least one web-based class during the fall 2009 semester, which marked a 21% growth from the previous year. But with its tremendous growth, online education has brought up much debate between deans, provosts and faculty. Christensen is well-known for his academic work on disruptive innovations. “I absolutely do.
Duncan Calls for Urgency in Lowering College Costs The characterized Mr. Duncan’s remarks, at a Las Vegas conference of college financial aid workers, as the start of a “national conversation” about high costs, which have prompted raucous protests across the country and ignited an angry push among some borrowers demanding debt forgiveness, federal grants and interest-free loans. The department used the opportunity to call attention to steps the Obama administration had taken to reduce the net price that students and families pay for higher education and make it easier to repay . But it was clear that the administration was taking heed of the rising furor over tuition increases, and a growing online debate about how much a college degree is worth at a time when few jobs are available for graduates. “Three in four Americans now say that college is too expensive for most people to afford,” Mr. College seniors with loans now graduate with an average debt load of more than $25,000. While devoting most of his speech to the cost problem, Mr.
Charter Schools | Former ACT President Catherine Last updated 16:26 01/02/2012 Former ACT president Catherine Isaac has defended her proposed appointment to lead a trial of charter schools. The as-yet unconfirmed role has been criticised by political and academic opponents of the scheme. Isaac said she was ''not entirely surprised'' by the outcry, but insisted she would ''do a more than competent job''. ''I didn't put my hand up for the role,'' the Wellington businesswoman said today. ''I'm honoured to have the responsibility. Isaac, who stood as a candidate for ACT is last year's election, is managing director of a public relations firm. She also served on the board of trustees of Wellington College between 1995 and 2001 and the city's Clifton Terrace Model School. Isaac denied suggestions by the PPTA that the appointment - by sole ACT MP John Banks - was ''ideologically driven'' or politically motivated. "It's been a long standing ACT policy, I've always been supportive of it and I've contributed to their work in it.'' - © Fairfax NZ News