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Sep 9

Diminishing returns from higher education's research?

by Scott McLeod
America’s commitment to research is one of the glories of its higher-education system. But for how long? The supply of papers that apply gender theory to literary criticism remains ample. But there is evidence of diminishing returns in an area perhaps more vital to the country’s economic dynamism: science and technology.
via http://www.economist.com/node/16941775?story_id=16941775

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Filed under  //  academia   highered   research  

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Aug 23

If you were starting a top university today, it would be TED

by Scott McLeod

if you were starting a top university today, what would it look like? You would start by gathering the very best minds from around the world, from every discipline. Since we're living in an age of abundant, not scarce, information, you'd curate the lectures carefully, with a focus on the new and original, rather than offer a course on every possible topic. You'd create a sustainable economic model by focusing on technological rather than physical infrastructure, and by getting people of means to pay for a specialized experience. You'd also construct a robust network so people could access resources whenever and from wherever they like, and you'd give them the tools to collaborate beyond the lecture hall. Why not fulfill the university's millennium-old mission by sharing ideas as freely and as widely as possible?

If you did all that, well, you'd have TED.

via http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/148/how-ted-became-the-new-harvard.html

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Filed under  //  academia   higher ed   higheredtech   learning   technology  

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Aug 21

Is Teacher Education Addressing the Needs of Future Teachers?

by Scott McLeod
if we haven't defined the teachers' knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed to successfully support a different technology-enriched learning environment, how can we provide a preservice teaching program to address these needs?
A Teacher Education program needs to identify what skills and tools need to be mastered to effectively work in a 1-to-1 learning environment and then they need to teach/use those methods in the classes they teach.  It's as simple as that.
Leigh Zeitz via http://drzreflects.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-teacher-education-addressing-needs.html

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Filed under  //  education   higher ed   teaching  

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Aug 19

Stop Admitting Ph.D. Students

by Scott McLeod

I wonder if they truly know what they are getting into, that even if they work hard and amass an impressive vita, it still might not be enough to enable them to earn that coveted tenure-track job.

via http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2010/08/18/harris

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Filed under  //  academia   higher ed  

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Aug 15

It's official: I'm now "an enemy of the United States"

by Scott McLeod
It is time for Americans to recognize that the enemies of the United States are not only foreign, but also those like scottmcleod, that will lie and attempt to distort reality to destroy this country.
via http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/dogs-an-unusual-guide-to-schoo.html

Finally! This will give me the street cred I need with other liberal, ivory tower profs for my promotion to full professor!

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Filed under  //  academia   higher ed  

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Jul 28

The great disconnect between junior and senior faculty

by Scott McLeod
Assistant professors are producing article after article and research study after research study. Then they're looking at the promotion-and-tenure committee and they're going, "Wow, I've actually published more in the last six years than all of them combined." - David Perlmutter, University of Iowa (cited in The Ivory Sweatshop: Academe Is No Longer a Convivial Refuge)
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Filed under  //  higher ed  

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Mar 28

I'd love to see a research paper say this!

by Scott McLeod
what would be amazing would be a conclusion that says "This pretty much wraps it up; no more research is needed"
Stephen Downes via downes.ca

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Mar 18

Assigning blame for students' failure to learn

by Scott McLeod
if the students fail to learn the material as shown by the usual measures, it is the students’ fault, except that the students think it’s the teacher’s fault.
Trent Batson via http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2010/03/17/Let-Faculty-Off-The-Hook.aspx?p=1

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Filed under  //  assessment   higher ed   learning   teaching  

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Mar 3

Higher education's 3-part challenge

by Scott McLeod

higher education has this tripartite challenge:

1.Quickly and intelligently adapt to the new higher education learning ecology enabled by digital tools; the current curriculum, seat-time business model, credit model, and learning approaches are re-structuring far too slowly.

2.Understand the skills needed in the knowledge economy, which is itself a new ecology. In just ten years, the nature of work has changed so much that many of the personal qualities needed to succeed now have no obvious roots or antecedents in the classroom-based part of the total learning experience in undergraduate education.

3.Align learning experiences in the undergraduate years with the knowledge economy. High-impact learning experiences are the best model for change.

Trent Batson via http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/03/03/jobs-for-graduates-in-the-knowledge-economy.aspx

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Filed under  //  higher ed   higheredtech   technology  

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Feb 18

What Colleges Should Learn From Newspapers' Decline

by Scott McLeod
Newspapers are dying. Are universities next? The parallels between them are closer than they appear.
Kevin Carey via http://chronicle.com/article/What-Colleges-Should-Learn-/15693/

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Filed under  //  higher ed  

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Jan 26

Online course spaces are not 'classrooms' for purposes of copyright?

by Scott McLeod
the trade group is arguing that a password-protected space on the Web is not a classroom [and thus doesn't qualify for 'fair use' for copyright purposes].
via http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/26/copyright

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Filed under  //  higher ed   higheredtech   law  

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Jan 19

One problem with course management systems

by Scott McLeod
The course management system (CMS) reinforces the status quo and hinders substantial teaching and learning innovation in higher education. It does so by imposing artificial time limits on learner access to course content and other learners, privileging the role of the instructor at the expense of the learner, and limiting the power of the network effect in the learning process.
via http://ineducation.ca/article/open-learning-cms-and-open-learning-network

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Filed under  //  higher ed   learning   teaching   technology  

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Dec 10

The cloud opens the floodgates for faculty innovation

by Scott McLeod
We are so lost in the midst of this flowering that we cannot see the opportunities before us, nor understand that learners and researchers and teachers have been freed of the physical limitations that, for always, have defined all our processes and values. We have been bound by those limitations for so long that we believe they are right and proper. We are as prisoners who have spent our lives in prison and cannot bear not having four walls around us, or those bars on the windows of our curiosity.

...

This moment is for the professoriate. This is the time to look around and notice that we stand now in a field, not the prison cell (classroom) we have come to know so well. No one else on campus is stepping forward to assume innovation leadership: The cables have been pulled, the computers spread around the campus, policies in place, security systems running, and, out there, in the cloud, humanity begins to learn about virtual space. We are at the dawn of the social learning age. None of our prison routines are appropriate any longer. We don’t need to pretend we are free any longer; we are free.
via http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/12/02/The-Cloud-Opens-the-Floodgates-for-Faculty-Innovation.aspx

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Filed under  //  academia   higher ed   technology  

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Nov 6

We should expect to find nothing interesting in these kinds of studies?

by Scott McLeod
Hundreds of “horse race” studies comparing alternate modes of education delivery show us that nothing interesting happens in these studies. Indeed, careful forethought will demonstrate that we should expect to find nothing interesting in these kinds of studies. And yet eager graduate students and younger faculty continue to conduct them.
via opencontent.org

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Filed under  //  education   higher ed   research  

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Nov 3

Students unimpressed with faculty use of ed tech

by Scott McLeod

While students and faculty seem to agree on the importance of technology in education, the two groups do not agree on how well it's being implemented. According to new research released Monday, only 38 percent of students indicated that their instructors "understand technology and fully integrate it into their classes." Students also rated that lack of understanding as "the biggest obstacle to classroom technology integration."

Despite this, 74 percent of higher education instructors polled indicated that they "incorporate technology into every class or nearly every class," and 67 percent said they were "satisfied with their technology professional development." Faculty also seem to lag in the social media department, according to the report. While 52 percent of students said they use social networking tools for education, only 14 percent of faculty members said they use social networking for teaching purposes.

via campustechnology.com

I'm pretty sure neither my college nor my university has any data on this issue. I wonder if we're brave enough to ask?

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Filed under  //  higher ed   technology  

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Nov 1

At public universities, less for more

by Scott McLeod
The students are at a point of rebellion, because they’re paying more and getting less
via nytimes.com

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Filed under  //  higher ed  

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Oct 23

University teacher ed programs need revolutionary change, not evolutionary tinkering

by Scott McLeod

“By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation’s 1,450 schools, colleges, and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom,” Duncan said in a major speech at Teachers College, Columbia University. “America’s university-based teacher preparation programs need revolutionary change--not evolutionary tinkering.”

via ed.gov

Add university educational leadership programs to that list too, Secretary Duncan...

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Filed under  //  education   higher ed   leadership   preservice   teaching  

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Oct 22

'But I don't want to teach my students how to use technology'

by Scott McLeod
A person responding to one of my recent articles in Web 2.0 told me that, "Come on!, I don’t want to teach my students how to use the technology but just do pure teaching." He missed the point: Adapting to information technology does not necessarily mean using technology at all, but it does require an understanding of how education has been irreversibly altered.
via campustechnology.com

Reminds me of an academic colleague who said to me "I don't see the need for your work, Scott (i.e., technology leadership) because when I need help setting up the projector in class, all of the students in our Master's (principal licensure) program can help me."

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Filed under  //  higher ed   technology  

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Sep 26

College for $99 a Month

by Scott McLeod

[T]he day is coming—sooner than many people think—when a great deal of money is going to abruptly melt out of the higher education system, just as it has in scores of other industries that traffic in information that is now far cheaper and more easily accessible than it has ever been before.

Kevin Carey via washingtonmonthly.com

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