Group items tagged

Elon U. and Pew have released a report based on a survey of over 1000 thought leaders in the areas of education, technology, and cognition. The report argues for a "reinvention" of public education to better serve the millennial generation.

However, it is easier to wash your hands than it is to design a first-rate online course. It takes a different skill from classroom teaching, and it is more expensive than chalk. It can be accomplished by faculty working in teams or in conjunction with experienced instructional designers who understand how to create large-scale projects like MOOC's huge, open online courses, which have been pioneered by Stanford and other universities. Either way, most faculty will need help in becoming students again. While more-effective teaching should be its own reward, a major professional-development effort would provide a new opportunity to realign institutional and faculty goals. A radical expression would be to change the rules of tenure to require faculty to teach online or otherwise demonstrate their facility with 21st-century methodologies, as virtually every other employer now requires of their work force.

PDF

Was UVA's president fired because she wasn't responding fast enough to changes in the online learning landscape? Did UVA's board over-react to news about open education initiatives at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford?

I thought this was a surprisingly optimistic take on the future of higher education, given the somewhat doom-and-gloom first paragraph. I would be pretty okay with most of what is outlined here.

This is a prelude to the future of faculty development and the need to enhance faculty development in the area of engaged student learning for a blended learning environment.

The more I hear about Canvas, the more I think it has the potential to support useful changes in higher education.

My university will run a pilot with Canvas this Fall. I'll keep you posted on what I hear from faculty and students. Unfortunately, I am not teaching a course which would use Canvas.

George Siemens weighs in on the pace of change.