online education

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Udacity’s MOOC Contract Details: Lesson in Audacity? (And then there is GlaxoSmithKline’s invitation to UCLA faculty)

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today is running a feature on a contract between MOOC supplier Udacity and Georgia Tech to run a master’s program in computer science.  The essence of the story is that the contract calls for some of the folks actually running the course to be company employees: …Georgia Tech this month announced its plans to offer a $6,630 online master’s degree to 10,000 new students over the next three years without hiring much more than a handful of new instructors. Georgia Tech and Udacity, a Silicon Valley-based startup, will work with AT&T, which is putting up $2 million to…

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At Harvard, Apparently, Many Faculty Feel that the Oversight of Online Courses Was Overlooked

Byuclafaculty

From the Harvard Crimson: Fifty-eight professors from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences requested in a letter Thursday to FAS Dean Michael D. Smith that he appoint a faculty committee to draft “ethical and educational principles” that would provide a framework for FAS engagement with HarvardX, the University’s curricular contributions to edX. The letter, shared with The Crimson by one of its signatories, asks that those principles be brought to a faculty vote in the 2013-2014 academic year. “It is our responsibility to ensure that HarvardX is consistent with our commitment to our students on campus, and with our academic…

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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur

Byuclafaculty

Something for the Regents to consider:Gov. Jerry Brown, whose public remarks occasionally include a phrase or two in Latin, explained Wednesday two reasons he liked learning it. “It’s obscure and makes you smarter than everybody,” he told about 1,000 people at a California Chamber of Commerce breakfast… Full article at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/05/jerry-brown-says-latin-makes-you-smarter-than-everybody.html Ipse dixit. Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/05/jerry-brown-says-latin-makes-you-smarter-than-everybody.html#storylink=cpy [And, for those who would critique the Latin phrases above, I learned them online so they must be correct.  Right?  Prima facie evidence!]

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Listen to Remarks of UC Academic Senate Chair Robert Powell on Pending State Mandate of Online Courses

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday, we posted some of the Regents’ morning meeting.  Because of the disruption during the public comments period, the meeting was halted and the transmission was discontinued.  When it came back, it took me a few minutes to get the recording going and some of the remarks by Academic Senate Chair Robert Powell were missed.  However, they are now available and I have posted them (audio with still picture) at the link below. Much of Prof. Powell’s remarks deal with Academic Senate opposition to the bill pending in the state legislature that would mandate online courses.  He also spoke about…

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A Quick Review of the May Revise and an Inadvertent Lesson on Online Education

Byuclafaculty

As per our previous post this morning, the governor’s May Revise budget was released today in a presentation by the governor and his finance director.  But before we get to the numbers and issues relating to UC’s budget, yours truly cannot resist the following observation: There is nothing per se about online education in the latest summary document that accompanies the May Revise.  (More budget details will come out in the days to come.)  However, the online transmission of the news conference was a fiasco of jerky images, frozen audio, and total breaks in the transmission.  The effort in real…

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Governor’s May Revise (State Budget) Unveiling at 10 AM Today

Byuclafaculty

You can see it live-streamed at 10 AM at www.calchannel.com.  As noted in prior posts, bits and pieces have been leaking out as is traditional.  From the UC perspective, the elements to watch are contingent allocations based on performance goals and earmarks such as for online education. Another tradition is advance interpretation in the news media:http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/05/jerry-brown-to-propose-1-billion-for-common-core-education-standards.html http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/14/5417832/browns-revised-budget-has-more.html http://www.californiascapitol.com/2013/05/where-has-all-the-surplus-gone-gone-to-classrooms-everywhere/ http://www.news10.net/rss/article/244970/525/5-key-things-worth-watching-in-Browns-revised-budget http://www.edsource.org/today/2013/school-funding-will-be-focus-source-of-contention-of-browns-revised-budget/31977 

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MOOC Moratorium at American University

Byuclafaculty

MEMORANDUM [American University] May 8, 2013 To: AU Faculty and Staff From: Scott A. Bass, Provost Re: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Moratorium at AU On January 9, 2013, I issued to the deans a moratorium on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) at AU. Recently, the Faculty Senate asked that I write to the campus community to clarify the current moratorium. In collaboration with the Faculty Senate, we are exploring the development of a policy regarding MOOCs at AU. The policy we craft will eventually be reviewed by the Board of Trustees. In the interim, there are many creative online…

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Once Burned – Something Learned?

Byuclafaculty

Like higher education institutions everywhere, the University of California is moving to expand its online course offerings, albeit slowly. The UC may be cautious for a reason: An earlier digital foray didn’t work out so well.UC Online Education launched as a pilot in 2010 with the expectation it would attract thousands of non-UC students willing to pay $1,400 to $2,100 per class. But the development and approval of courses were slow and the timing of the effort coincided with the growing enrollment in free online courses offered by elite universities, known as massive open online courses, or MOOCs. While more…

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Notes on Yesterday’s Session on Teaching and Learning in a Digital Age

Byuclafaculty

A program on Teaching and Learning in a Digital Agewas held at the Young Research Library on May 2.  Various faculty members attended and some emailed their notes and reactions.  Below are edited versions of those responses.  The agenda for the program is at the bottom of this posting. (Scroll down.) = = = From: Prof. Toby Higbie I was only able to attend the Senate event on and off due to teaching duties. I arrived in the afternoon, and so missed the session with the deans.  From what I saw, there was quite a bit of critical engagement with…

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The Block Bill: The Other Online Higher Ed Mandate

Byuclafaculty

Although the online higher ed bill by Senate president Darrell Steinberg (SB 520) has been receiving much attention – as well as opposition from UC – there is another bill on the subject that is also pending in the legislature.*  That bill, by Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego), has received a much softer response from UC, essentially that it might be OK with more faculty control and funding.  The bill, as introduced, requires the UC Academic Senate to undertake certain actions with language for UC indicating that the Regents should first endorse the requirement. Below is the text of the…