The Senate included an amendment that broadly restricts the ability of the NSF to approve any grants involving political science unless the agency can certify them “as promoting national security or the economic interests of the United States.” The amendment was proposed by Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican of Oklahoma who has sharply criticized the foundation’s spending priorities… “Studies of presidential executive power and Americans’ attitudes toward the Senate filibuster hold little promise to save an American’s life from a threatening condition or to advance America’s competitiveness in the world,” he wrote. The Senate vote drew condemnation from Michael Brintnall, executive director of the American Political Science Association, who called it a dangerous act of political interference in science.

Read full article [here].
by Paul Basken, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: March 21st, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

NSF funding for such research has long been a target of Coburn’s. The Republican offered a similar amendment in 2009, and in 2011 released an oversight report on the NSF’s “mismanagement and misplaced priorities.” The passage of Coburn’s amendment was met with backlash from members of the academic community, including the American Political Science Association… “The amendment creates an exceptionally dangerous slippery slope. While political science research is most immediately affected, at risk is any and all research in any and all disciplines funded by the NSF. The amendment makes all scientific research vulnerable to the whims of political pressure.”

Read full article [here].
by Mollie Reilly, The Huffington Post.

Posted: March 20th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Right now, we have incredibly dedicated and talented faculty forming the core of some of the strongest teaching and research institutions in the world, and yet our systems of higher education are struggling to reach thousands of students because there aren’t enough classes available. In a separate world, there is extraordinary technological innovation developing online education and online courses. What we seek to do is bring together this educational and entrepreneurial energy, maintaining quality and high standards through a faculty-driven process of certifying online courses, to give students an online lifeline that tears down the barriers as they pursue their education. That’s what the bill is. There are many things this bill is not. It is not a substitute for campus-based instruction. The only online courses that should be certified and offered for college credit are those where eligible students cannot get a seat on campus in a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom. Neither should the courses be available if the college or campus is already offering an online alternative.

Read full article [here].
by Darrell Steinberg, The Orange County Register.

Posted: March 20th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Twelve years ago, SCFA lobbied for a California law ensuring that faculty would maintain intellectual property rights to all of their class materials. But before UCSC professors can sign on to teach Coursera courses, the university asks them to waive that right. According to a March 5 letter from UCSC professor and union rep Shelly Errington to senior university labor relations official Renée Mayne, professors worry these waivers will “irrevocably grant the university the absolute right and permission to use” their materials. “These issues were not discussed with the [union], the exclusive bargaining unit for the UCSC faculty, prior to the signing of the contract between Coursera and [Santa Cruz],” Errington wrote. The SCFA is not alone in its trepidation. Bob Samuels, president of the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, told Inside Higher Ed he is concerned that MOOC participation among a few professors might undermine all professors’ rights.

Read full article [here].
by Aimee Hosler, City Town Info.

Posted: March 20th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The Santa Cruz Faculty Association… said the professors lobbied for a 12-year-old California law to guarantee that faculty — not universities — own the intellectual property rights to class lectures and course materials. But before professors can have their courses put on Coursera, they are expected to sign away those rights to the university so the university can give the professors’ work to Coursera, the union said in a March 5 letter to a top labor relations official at Santa Cruz. In these waivers, professors “irrevocably grant the university the absolute right and permission to use” their course content, name, image and likeness. The university’s own contract with Coursera remains neutral and said only that rights will “remain with the applicable instructor and university.”

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by Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Education.

Posted: March 19th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The top two leaders of the University of California System Academic Senate on Friday released a letter expressing “grave concerns” about California legislation proposed last week to require the state’s public higher education systems to grant transfer credit for courses or programs provided by an approved pool of providers, potentially including programs that are for-profit and have never been accredited. Supporters of the plan say that it will deal with the state’s serious capacity issues in which qualified students can’t get into the courses they need to graduate.

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by staff, Inside Higher Ed.

Posted: March 18th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Among other things, “the clear self-interest of for-profit corporations in promoting the privatization of public higher education through this legislation is dismaying,” they said… “There is no possibility that UC faculty will shirk its responsibility to our students by ceding authority over courses to any outside agency,” they wrote. The two, who are the faculty representatives on the UC Regents board, said they were not consulted in advance of Steinberg’s announcement but said they plan to meet with his staff soon. The faculty union at the Cal State system previously expressed similar concerns.

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by Larry Gordon, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: March 15th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

I’ve taught online within the MnSCU system every year since 2004. I am not opposed to online education nor am I afraid of it… Simply put, the upside depends on well designed and rigorous course with regular faculty involvement. This means frequent appearances in discussion forums and daily postings of one kind or another on top of careful evaluation of written work and time for one-on-one communication via e-mail when requested. The downsides of online are many. Super high attrition rates are almost universal. Faculty have a hard time getting to know students, which limits mentorship opportunities and makes writing letter of recomendation difficult. Pressure to increase class size leads to limited rigor and less writing, thus weakening the best part of online education. Online is particularly ill suited to entry level classes and remedial level work. Sadly that is where it is being pushed the hardest by its advocates in government and in the business world.

Read full article [here].
by Jeff Kolnick, Hindsight 2020.

Posted: March 13th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

During a visit with The Bee’s editorial board today, the new chancellor of the California State University system shot down an idea Assemblyman Dan Logue has proposed to create a bachelor’s degree that would cost students $10,000. “A $10,000 degree is a good sound bite. But to be honest, it’s flawed public policy because it’s misleading,” said Timothy P. White, who took the reins of the 23-campus system in December after spending four years leading UC Riverside… A degree at that price would either mean a reduction in quality, White said, or an increase in how much the state contributes to the CSU. White also talked enthusiastically about incorporating more technology into education, both through online courses and computer programs that would help students plan their courseloads.

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by Laurel Rosenhall, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: March 12th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Online education may have arrived at the upper echelons of higher education, but it’s not going to make elite colleges any cheaper to attend… Eric Mazur, a professor of physics at Harvard, drew murmurs from the crowd—which mostly consisted of Harvard and MIT faculty members—when he showed research indicating that students at a lecture have brain activity roughly equivalent to when they watch television… “I would humbly suggest that the kinds of assessment and standards and all the rest that I’m sure are appropriate at MIT and Harvard and so forth,” Mr. Bowen said, “have very little relevance for the large parts of American higher education, particularly in the state systems, that are under genuine siege.”

Read full article [here].
by Steve Kolowich, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: March 4th, 2013, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.