DIYU a Rising Trend?

In a trend that is likely to keep some college administrators up at night, Alex Williams reports for The New York Times that more young people are "Saying No to College."  Some are following the lead of famous drop-outs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs into the computer industry, where tech skills have always trumped degrees and "one-and-done" is "almost a badge of honor."  Others are following more of a "DIYU" path: learning online from MOOCs and piecing together an education on their own.  Williams even suggests that the traditional college path may no longer be a good match to the current economy, which calls for and rewards creativity over conformity, as argued by Michael Ellsberg in The Education of Millionaires.  The article does a good job of capturing the voices of dissent to the "college for all" paradigm, and the range of evidence it presents suggests a new anti-college convergence, especially with "Student Loan Debt Rising, and Often Not Being Paid Back."  Worth reading.

Bill Gates on the College Crisis

A couple of weeks ago, Bill Gates gave a presentation on the current state of higher education, and I thought his PowerPoint slides made a great model for students in this class.  (Of course, why should we expect anything less from the man who brought us PowerPoint in the first place).  His argument, as you might expect, is that technology is the solution -- but he stops his presentation before using the M_ _ _ word.  Worth a look.

Is College Worth It?

"College of the Future...."

In "College of Future Could Be Come One, Come All" (The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2012), Tamar Lewin documents and feeds the exploding interest in MOOCs (massive open online courses) as the "next REALLY BIG thing" in higher education.  The focus of the article is Princeton Sociology professor Mitchell Duneier's MOOC, which you can check out online (see above).  I wonder what the MOOC version of "College!" would look like?  Or maybe "Basic Composition"?  I can definitely feel the trend.

Students Worry about Money (Surprise!)

"Financial Worries Pile on Long Before Graduation" (November 14) according to a recent article in The New York Times, which cites data from the 2012 National Survey of Student Engagement.  Students are not only concerned about finding a job after college (which has become the most important factor in choosing a major for most students, especially in STEM fields) but they are also very worried about finances while in school, which can impact their engagement and performance.  According to the report: 

Concern for finances appears to affect many students’ academic performance. About one in four first-year students and one in three seniors frequently did not purchase required academic materials due to their cost, and a third of students believed that financial concerns interfered with their academic performance. Yet despite their financial concerns, three out of four students agreed that college is a good investment (17).

Read the complete report online.

Presentations in the Cloud

As I discussed last class, I encourage you all to use cloud-based options for the presentation, especially Google Presentations or Prezi.  I have posted two short instructional videos that may be of assistance.  Please share your presentation with me and I will comment on it.  Remember: I also discourage using a lot of text (avoid "PowerPoint Overload").  Just get the basic information up there in headline form and try to use visual elements to help communicate your ideas orally.  You only have 10 minutes.  

TIME's "Reinventing College"

With the blackout, canceled classes, and general distraction of Hurricane Sandy, I am just getting around to reading TIME Magazine's excellent recent issue devoted to "Reinventing College" (October 29, 2012).  I was especially happy to see Amanda Ripley's lead article, "College Is Dead.  Long Live College!" which does a great job of assessing the rising tide of internet optimism surrounding massive open online courses or MOOCs (an acronym destined to be a major addition to the dictionary this year.)  As she writes:  "Already, the hyperventilating has outpaced reality; desperate parents are praying that free online universities will finally pop the tuition bubble -- and nervous college officials don't want to miss out on a potential gold rush."  Writing about her own experience of a MOOC, she provides a very refreshing portrait of how technology can add a lot to college students' educational experiences, when done right.  There is no question in my mind that MOOCs are going to change college, if only by changing the way many traditional college courses are taught.  Students working on their papers for this class will appreciate the statistics and graphics in "Degrees of Difficulty," which I expect to see in a few student presentations....  Check it out.

The Higher Education Bubble

The Higher Education Bubble by Glenn Harlan Reynolds is an inexpensive new book in the "Encounter Broadside" series that fires all cannons at the high-priced ship that is the American university system.  According to Reynolds, a major "market correction" for higher education could be just around the corner, because "Bubbles burst when there are no longer enough excessively optimistic and ignorant folks to fuel them." Like many in our course, the American people are beginning to understand that a very expensive college degree that requires you to take on a boat-load of debt has become a risky proposition, especially during this protracted economic crisis.  Reynolds makes it clear that the higher education bubble is parallel to the housing bubble and its bursting is just as inevitable.  In fact, I don't think he does enough to draw the parallels, beginning with the way that government policies encouraging home ownership AND "college for all" have contributed a lot of hot air to both.  Unlike the housing bubble, though, when the higher education bubble bursts, not all houses will fall: the most likely to suffer severely and even founder during the coming set-back will be those institutions that are expensive and have not succeeded in preparing their students to pay back their debts  -- especially the weaker law schools (and Reynolds should know, since he is a law professor).  

Though a bit short on facts or specific figures, this pamphlet does a good job of painting the big picture in broad strokes.  It's the sort of thing I wish I had read a couple years ago, before I became interested in this topic and reached the same conclusions myself.  Reynolds's advice to both students and institutions is "do not take on more debt" with a possible correction around the corner -- which makes you worry about the $750 million bond that Rutgers and other state institutions are pursuing (though some of the project is more like refinancing than new borrowing).  Those interested in learning more about the "bubble" argument without buying a book should check out the excellent presentation and video on "The Higher Education Bubble" from educationnews.org.