Who is we?

"We continue to try to move faculty along...
"So we need to think about how to reengineer the classroom to really engage students."
"The fundamental challenge of mobility to education, especially higher education, is the always-present ability of students to get to the world of information in just a moment, both in and out of the classroom."
Excerpts from "The Digital Swiss Army Knife" - interview of Scott Perkins, Abilene Christian U., at EDUCAUSE October 2010 conducted by Gerry Bayne - click here for text, below for 4 minute YouTube video.

Faculty-Student Teams Design Courses - Antidote for "Academically Adrift"?

Surprises:  Mutual responsibility for course success;  [some?] students want big assignments!

Surprise!  Students crave structure:  "students wanted, even demanded, cumbersome assignments that tested the depths of their knowledge. They just didn't want them handed out on the first day of class and never mentioned again until the last week."

Want to increase student engagement...Why not invite the students to help design the course? Professors McKay and Boccio at McDaniel College in Maryland gave that a try back in January for three courses this spring. [history, sociology, arts]

McKay, who directs McDaniel's Center for Teaching Excellence, borrowed the idea from Elon University in North Carolina, which has used faculty-student teams to design courses since 2005. She says she is always looking for ways to get undergraduates more engaged in her classes.

McKay and fellow faculty collaborator, Raley, learned some surprising things: that students crave structure, and they wanted demanding assignments that tested their depth of knowledge and creativity. And, of course, as in any collaboration, the learning wasn't just one-sided. The students discovered that teaching a course was more work than they thought, and that there is mutual responsibility in whether a course reaches its potential.

Read more about McDaniel's and Elon's efforts to improve student engagement!
"McDaniel Students Help Design the Classes They're Taking," by Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, April 3, 2011

 "Power and Expertise: Student-Faculty Collaboration in Course Design and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning"; Mihans, Long, Felten, Elon University, in International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, July 2008.

See:  Academically Adrift:  Limited Learning on College Campuses, by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Chicago University Press

"Think You'll Make Big Bucks in Online Ed? Not So Fast, Experts Say"

 "“If you look back over time, and read anything about the major online initiatives that have failed,” he told the audience, “one of the things that’s characteristic of all of them is they went into business intending to make a lot of money on online learning and blended learning. It just doesn’t happen that way.”"   -  Joel Hartman, vice provost and chief information officer at the University of Central Florida, quoted in Think You'll Make Big Bucks in Online Ed? Not So Fast, Experts Say - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education


Join us today for intro to more realistic approach - targeting those who cannot afford higher ed at all: "Tuition-Free Univ. - U. of the People"  Friday, April 1, 2011 2:00 pm (ET) 

Friday Live! Registration   More info...tlt.gs/UnivofPpl

Western Govs U (WGU) vs. Tuition-Free? Univ. of People

How many children of the founders of WGU have ever enrolled in WGU courses?  How many have opted for any online alternatives to traditional college?  I ask these questions when I'm feeling especially cynical.  Not feeling so cynical about Univ. of the People


Below are some milder comments followed by excerpts from 2011, 1998, 1999.  Let me know if you find any juicier clips of WGU's over-zealous claims which so dramatically exceeded its accomplishments.


Meanwhile, is WGU the real "phoenix" among universities?  Re-rising when financial crisis meets burgeoning, unpredictable online options?   Proving again that "necessity is the mother of self-deception"?   NOTE:  The new University of the People seems to be more modestly and reasonably addressing the growing educational needs of those whose alternative is no higher education at all.   Join FridayLive today 4/1 to learn more about UoP.  tlt.gs/UnivofPpl

"My Class is the World" Online Degree by Mobile Phone

from youtu.be/RkauoJSLCP4

Zambian student demos benefits, challenges, misconceptions re: online courses - esp. via phone  video 3.5 mins   youtu.be/RkauoJSLCP4

@Dinner table - on laptop - benefits, challenges, and misconceptions about online courses; laptop vs. cell phone; misconceptions, credibility

@Parked motorbike - doing assignments, a quiz by cell phone

@Driver's seat of parked car - checks course calendar, registers for course

- from "My Class is the World" Billy Sichone from Mpika Zambia "made this mini-movie using his mobile phone" - African Digital Diaries, University of the People.

YouTube - Billy Sichone Zambian e-learner.wmv: "http://youtu.be/RkauoJSLCP4"

Learned about this from Ilene Frank - our interviewee for "Tuition-Free Univ. - U. of the People"  Friday, April 1, 2011 2:00 pm (ET) 

Friday Live! Registration   More info...tlt.gs/UnivofPpl