Why California’s community colleges will soon offer some four-year degrees (The Hechinger Report)
Some technical fields once well-served by two-year degrees have grown more complex; California is piloting a program to get students the additional training their industry needs without asking them to take on additional burdens. From the article: “Beginning in 2017, Littleton and her classmates will have the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree in respiratory therapy, at fraction of the cost of traditional four-year colleges and universities, without leaving Modesto Junior College. They are also likely to end up with a significantly higher salary.”
Why are low income students not showing up to college, even though they have been accepted? (The Hechinger Report)
From the article: “Up to 40 percent of low-income students who are accepted to college in the spring never make it to the first day of class in the fall. They’re stymied by tuition sticker shock, Kafkaesque paperwork requirements and a quiet, corrosive feeling that they don’t belong.” Our open online courses can help students overcome some of these difficulties, but we have a long way to go in truly leveling the playing field.
Groundbreaking University of California policy extends free access to all scholarly articles written by UC employees (University of California)
The University of California system carries a lot of weight in academic publishing, so when they institute a universal open access policy, other publishers and academic institutions will watch closely for success and follow suit.
Lawrence Lessig at the CC Global Summit 2015 (Creative Commons)
Here is a keynote to the Creative Commons Global Summit in Seoul, Korea, from a pretty unique 2016 presidential candidate! EDIT: make that an ex-presidential candidate.
Student Debt, Rising Again (Inside Higher Ed)
For the decade from 2004 to 2014, “While inflation has increased by 25 percent…the average student debt burden has grown by 56 percent, to $28,950 from $18,550.”
US Dept. of Education proposes Open Licensing Policy. CC joins White House announcement. (Creative Commons)
The United States Department of Education, in announcing its #GoOpen campaign, officially supports open educational resources (OER) as as means of “increasing equity, keeping content relevant and high quality, empowering teachers, and saving districts money.”
Why More M&As Is a Sign That Scale Is No Longer an Advantage (Harvard Business Review; h/t Known)
The author heralds a “return to a more entrepreneurial, craft economy”, which may be an upside to the somewhat problematic, if flexible, gig economy that seems to be upon us. Some of these lessons may be applicable to some of the big walled gardens on the Web, as the own-your-own movement gathers steam.
The Tech Elite’s Quest to Reinvent School in Its Own Image (Wired; h/t Known)
Mark Zuckerberg, Salman Khan, and others are turning the Bay Area into a playground for education experimentation, raising ire and excitement alike.