Stanford

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MOOc

Byuclafaculty

An interesting analysis of MOOCs in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by Stanford economist Caroline M. Hoxby suggests that heavy dependence on online ed won’t work for what she terms highly selective post-secondary educational institutions.  In essence, such institutions depend in important ways on alumni loyalty which is hard to obtain if students take courses online that come from anywhere. Abstract: I consider how online postsecondary education, including massive open online courses (MOOCs), might fit into economically sustainable models of postsecondary education. I contrast nonselective postsecondary education (NSPE)in which institutions sell fairly standardized educational services in return…

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Anti-Pension Cabal? Smells that way

Byuclafaculty

We have noted in past posting on the filing of a public pension initiative that there appeared to be a good deal of “coordination” in the effort, including a Stanford-Hoover MOOC (online course) on personal investments that somehow ends with a session on public pensions.  There appeared to be more involved than a few California mayors who are the official face. The fact that UC is swept into the initiative – although it is not a city and has its own set of pension modifications adopted by the Regents in 2010 – seems to be evidence of a larger agenda….

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More Pension Tension (from a Stanford-Hoover MOOC)

Byuclafaculty

Closed? Maybe it moved to Palo Alto. We have noted on this blog that there seems to be a move to get a public pension initiative on the ballot in California.  Although there have been previous efforts, there are signs that there may be money behind the current attempt.  “Coincidentally” – as they say – it appears that the Stanford Business School and the Hoover Institute are setting up a MOOC which on its face seems to be about general retirement issues such as how to invest your money.  But it somehow ends in a what-to-do-about-public-pensions program. From a media…

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Department of Bad Timing

Byuclafaculty

On Thursday, the Regents meeting seems to consist of a PR tour of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab as part of a more general review of the different Dept. of Energy labs that continues from the last meeting [http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/o1.pdf]. As the screenshot above suggests, however, the timing is not so good for discussing the labs, at least for cousin lab, Lawrence Berkeley. [Three labs are managed by UC as descendants of the World War II Manhattan Project.]  From the website yesterday of the San Francisco Chronicle: After years of planning, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has just lost out on a…

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What Happened to LA Law?

Byuclafaculty

Some readers of this blog may recall the popular TV series from the late 1980s and early 1990s: LA Law.  Folk wisdom at the time was that applications to the UCLA law school went up during the show’s run and dropped when it was cancelled.  In any case, things are not what they were according to some data – shown below – that appear today in the LA Times in connection with a story on the jobs problems of recent law school grads. Here are percentages of California law school graduates in 2011 who had found full-time, long-term jobs as…

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For whatever it means…

Byuclafaculty

Above are the world rankings of universities from the British Times Higher Education magazine based on “academic reputation.” [Click on the image to make it clearer.] The full list and info on the survey methodology is at:http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013/reputation-ranking

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MOOC, MOOC

Byuclafaculty

The NY Times has a feature article on MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses. There are some problems: …The MOOC certainly presents challenges. Can learning be scaled up this much? Grading is imperfect, especially for nontechnical subjects. Cheating is a reality. “We found groups of 20 people in a course submitting identical homework,” says David Patterson, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who teaches software engineering, in a tone of disbelief at such blatant copying; Udacity and edX now offer proctored exams. Some students are also ill prepared for the university-level work. And few stick with it. “Signing up…

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Will He Sign It?

Byuclafaculty

State lawmakers have approved first-in-the-nation legislation requiring California universities with the most high-profile sports programs to provide financial protections for student athletes who suffer career-ending injuries…SB1525 would apply to universities that receive more than $10 million annually in sports media revenue. The bill by Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from Los Angeles, would apply this year to the University of Southern California, UCLA, Berkeley and Stanford University…Full article at http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/22/4749123/bill-would-help-injured-student.html

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Wisconsin’s Way Out of UCLA’s Taxable Hotel Dilemma: But We Really Have to Hurry!

Byuclafaculty

In an earlier post today citing an online lesson from Stanford, we pointed to UCLA’s hotel tax dilemma.  We learned about Unrelated Business Income (UBI) and Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT).  It appears that much of the proposed use of the UCLA hotel is in fact taxable and yet commercial-type business is forbidden in the UCLA case due to the way the hotel is to be financed.  Now some readers might say that our blog just harps on the negative side of the UCLA hotel proposal and never offers anything positive.  That isn’t really true since we did offer a…

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Stanford Offers an Online Course on Hotel UBITOMY

Byuclafaculty

Never heard of UBITOMY?  UBI stands for Unrelated Business Income – as defined by the IRS – of normally tax-exempt entities such as universities.  But when such entities create enterprises that do business unrelated to the function of the entity, Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) is owed. UCLA’s proposed new hotel comes with a business plan chock full of ways to fill 250 rooms such as visiting parents, etc.  The plan assumes such uses are tax-free.  And the plan is built on financing that doesn’t allow commercial uses.  But if you take Stanford’s course on UBITOMY, you can learn something…