Recently there has been a spate of articles in journals as diverse as Dow Jones, The New York Times, and Inside Higher Education which, when boiled down, ask about the fundamental value of a college education and raise the question of how, when we see that value, we will know what we are looking at. 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

In his recent article, “The College Calculation“, David Leonhardt chides the higher education sector for “..doing so little to measure what students learn between freshman and senior years.” He then goes on to cite an NPR segment “Is a College Education Worth the Debt?” where an economist noted that 12% of letter carriers had a BA. The implication is that they didn’t need the degree to get the job they held. He concludes that “Earnings may be a flawed measure of an education’s value, but they’re about the only tangible measure we have.” And he questions why, if we need more college success, do we accept low college success rates and why are we cutting funding in most states during this recession?

These are all good questions. And here are some answers.

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A recent article in the USA Today reports a shift to mobile phones from landlines in many businesses across the country. It leads with the observation from a professor at Georgia Gwinnett College, who is giving up her office telephone for a school-supplied mobile phone, that using her cell phone has increased the level of interaction with students because she is “reaching students on the same device they use.” “It’s an incredible educational opportunity,” she observes. continue reading