I am very pleased that my most recent book, “Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning” (Jossey-Bass, Jan, 2010) was published in January. Writing the book has been a journey for me: changing me in the writing and changing the book as a result of the intellectual ferment created. I have come to understand this technological revolution as more  than a set of linked events with a cumulative widespread impact on almost every facet of our lives. Indeed, I now understand it as a new ecology, a new environment for information and intellectual activity which cannot be controlled by existing hierarchical structures, such as universities and governments. continue reading

Yesterday was graduation day at Concord Law School of Kaplan University, my school. Ours is an online law school program. Anyone with continuing skepticism about whether online programs can create community; can be interactive; can be support students’ work; and can be rigorous and academically challenging should attend our ceremony. Or, go to a Kaplan University graduation or similar events conducted by other high-quality providers of online higher education programs. I suspect that your concerns will be laid to rest. What a great day it was! continue reading

I have been aware of the Peer to Peer University (P2PU) for some time. but this announcement came to me yesterday and I thought it was worth sharing.

The Peer 2 Peer University announced its second round of free and open online courses today, opening sign-ups for 14 courses dealing in subject areas ranging from Physics to Transformational Art. Some of the courses were offered in the first phase of the pilot which launched last September, but seven are brand new, including “Urban Disaster Risk Management,” “Mashing Up the Open Web,” and “Solve Anything! Building Ideas through Design.” continue reading

I am sitting at the opening session of the Kaplan University Faculty Retreat in Miami, a biannual event that precedes KU’s graduation ceremonies, listening to my colleague and fellow Rethinking Higher Education blogger Peter Smith talking about his new book, Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent. I am proud to be his colleague and his friend. continue reading

Learning on Demand, the 2009 report on the state of online learning in the United states has been by published by Sloan-C. The news release digests the findings and links to the full report.

More than 25 percent of all college and university students - more than 4.6 million individuals - were taking at least one online class in the Fall 2008 semester. This is a 17 percent increase over Fall 2007. continue reading

On January 7-8, about 100 people, drawn from a wide variety of educational, technical, labor, non-profit, and business backgrounds, gathered at Cavallo Point, a conference center in Sausalito. Sponsored by the Lumina Foundation, the topic was “Envisioning the Future of Higher Education”. For this old warrior, it was a bright moment in time when principles and potential for the future of higher education were expressed clearly and honestly, without regard for whether they would go down easily with the traditional academy. continue reading

Education and educational institutions are central to how and why the United States is what it is the world today - a land of opportunity, a beacon of hope, and a champion for the rule of law. Most believe that education and our educational institutions are critical pieces for the future that we want for our country. Jon Meacham, the Editor of Newsweek, has written a wonderful piece,  In Defense of the Liberal Arts, acknowledging this.

I appreciate the obvious love that he has for his own experience and, as well, his recognition that we need lots of different kinds of programs and institutions to do the work that education must do in our society. He says:

For some the future will be shaped by a Sewanee [Meacham's alma mater], for others by a business course taught online. The unifying theme that connected my own musings among the bishops (living and dead) was straightforward: if the country is to prosper—economically, culturally, morally—we have to trust in the institutions, old and new, that nurture creativity, and then hope for the best.

There’s plenty of work to be done and room for institutions serving a broad spectrum of missions. Here’s to finding common ground rather than focusing what divides us.

If you have not already seen it, check out Hybrid Education 2.0 at Inside Higher Education and then move over to the Open Learning Initiative page on the Carnegie Mellon University site, about which the article reports, to dig deeper into the work they are doing in web-based instruction.

For those of us who are committed to using technology more and better in higher education, there is a lot of good news and hope there as we move into 2010.

Happy New Year to all.

A hat tip to Michael Offerman at The Other 85 Percent for drawing my attention to a report last month from the Center for American Progress entitled Putting the Customer First in College. The report proposes that the United States Department of Education should form or take the lead in the formation of a quasi-independent entity it would call the Office of Consumer Protection in Higher Education.

This entity would, among other things, produce a “College Customer Bill of Rights;” ensure that students had access to full, clear, and accurate information to make decisions about their educations; and serve as an ombudsman for students with various other actors in the education arena. continue reading

Yesterday (December 9), Public Agenda released With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them, a report funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which explores the reasons why college students drop out prior to completing their studies and earning their degrees. There is an interesting YouTube companion piece that presents some personal stories that reflect the report’s themes. continue reading