Don’t you love spending quality time with family and friends eating and drinking lots of things you don’t need? You gotta love those conversations around the dinner table and if you’re anything like me, you’re thankful that Christmas comes but once a year. I had a number of interesting conversations this holiday, but I’m only…
I recently ran across an old PBS News Hour video on digital badging that was a great summary of the business case for using digital badges in higher education. Basically, the reason we should move towards digital badges is to help our students differentiate their skills from other graduates with the same degree. The video…
Recently, I read a report from the Association of American Colleges & Universities on the future of work and higher education’s place in it. The report titled Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work “summarizes selected findings from two parallel national surveys—one of 501 business executives at private sector and nonprofit organizations and another…
I was reading an article (THECB, 2018) the other day on the 60x30TX Initiative. This initiative, by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, seeks to bring the percentage of adults with some form of higher education (defined as an associates degree or above) up to 60% by the year 2030. What caught my eye was…
I took two Uber rides today while I was in Washington, D.C. for a conference. It seems obvious that the Uber model of transportation is superior to traditional taxi service. Think about process. With Uber, I make my location, destination, even my identity known to the service provider, whose name and mug I know, not…
A number of initiatives and circumstances have aligned to push the topic of microcredentialing to the surface in the higher education space. Specifically, disruption in traditional undergraduate degree expectations, greater need to demonstrate skills to employers, and heightened control and privacy concerns. Let’s take each of these topics in turn. Disruption in Traditional Undergraduate Degree…
This article from Inside Higher Ed reports that Canvas has surpassed Blackboard as the leading learning management system in American colleges and universities, based upon the number of installations. Michael Feldstein from MindWires Consulting states that this is a “stunning development.” Really? My colleagues have been saying for a number of years that Canvas is…
The good, bad, and ugly at #NASPA18 @NASPAFB from the perspective of an IT guy.
EDUCAUSE recently published their five most popular videos of 2017. One that caught my eye was Students of the Future. This is great summary of where higher ed technology trends are taking us. The video emphasizes the following “hot topics.” Slow Death of Traditional Degrees While the “sheepskin” in higher ed will still be around…