Reading Questions: 3/6 – 3/20

3/6 History of Higher Education

Though Higher Education as a system has its roots in personal enrichment, Higher Education in the U.S. had a strong public-focused base. Should Higher Education in the U.S. focus more on personal growth or aiding the public good?

Higher Education prepares prospective professors more for the research side of academia while the teaching side is often neglected, leaving professors to be drawn to research universities and favoring research over instruction. This process aids in mission creep and can lead to under-prepared students, creating poor efficacy within the Higher Education system and, consequently, in the job market and society as a whole. If neglecting the teaching side of professorship has such negative consequences, why neglect it?

 

3/13 History of CUNY

City College ended up falling prey to under-prepared students once it started open admissions, leading to a plethora of remedial classes and college dropouts. Are we trying to fix the problem from the wrong end? How can we help restructure K-12 in order to create students that are prepared for Higher Education and, later, life?

How can the Higher Education system measure academic potential in a student?

How did veterans factor into City College’s academic profile and revolutionary student body in the 1960s?

 

3/20 Governance

Many Presidents of Higher Education institutions are often looking for ways to leave their impact on their school in order to gain a list of accomplishments in order to find a higher salary in a more prestigious institution. If mission creep affects presidents, how might their actions affect the educational experience of the students?

If mission creep is leading to various institutional, administrative, and financial burdens, why don’t Higher Education institutions reevaluate their missions to be more niche and stratify the landscape rather than trying desperately to seek to be “the next Harvard?”

If a President is the face and chief fundraiser of a college/university, would it actually pay off for a president to embody the mission of their institution?

Reading Questions for April 3

College Losing Pricing Power

“Everyone today knows someone who went to college and ended up with a career that didn’t justify the cost. They see college as a more risky investment.”

After reading this statement and participating in all of our in-depth conversations in class elaborating on the cost of an education and its worth in the long run, how do you perceive this statement? Most students do pick academic paths that lead to great paychecks in order to justify the cost of college presently. Being a Macaulay student, have you taken the same precautions as regular, paying students. Meaning, have you hypothetically picked a career that will “justify the cost” of college even though we don’t pay for our tuition.

Who Can Still Afford State U?

More and more American colleges are looking for students out of the country to reach their admission quota for the year. Do you think that this could be a problematic problem in the future in terms of allocating funds towards American students or foreign students?

Public School, Big Tab

“The cost of attending public colleges is rising faster than the cost of private colleges, as states reduce funding.” In the past two years, our campus has been the source of a lot of controversy in terms of protests and rallies because of the increasing CUNY tuition. Many public colleges around the country have already increased their tuition by above 100%. If such an occurrence happened to CUNY within the next five years, what do you believe would be the student implications and reactions? Would enrollment decline despite the fact that CUNY would still be more affordable than state-run universities?

A Shift From Need to Merit

With the ever-increasing shift of scholarships being awarded from need to merit, inevitable changes will occur in the country. Perhaps, most noticeably, competition between students in the top 10% of their class will increase, and the need for better education will be more pertinent than ever. Do you perceive this to be a step back or a step forward for our country considering that we are not one of the powerhouses in any academic field around the world?

How Administrative Spending Boosts College Costs

“Nonclassroom costs at U.S. colleges are growing faster than instructional costs, contributing to rising tuition.” In noticing some of the numbers, colleges with a lower tuition rate would have higher administrative spending per student than colleges with a tuition above $40,000. For example, the University of Central Florida with a tuition rate of $14,519 per student has a $1,775 administrative spending per student. The University of Illinois at Chicago with a tuition rate of $48,289 per student has a $1,438 administrative spending per student. Why do you perceive this to be the case?

Moody’s Report Calls into Question all Traditional University Revenue Sources By Kevin Kiley  

“What’s new is that in a collective way, the model that we in higher education have been employing since the 1960s is really being called into question by external factors. And it’s that collectiveness that created a new sense of urgency.” “The report notes that a stable outlook would require improved pricing power, a decrease in the unemployment rate, improvements in the housing market and several tears of strong stock market returns, none of which seem likely in the near term.”

With these two quite precarious statements of the fiscal statement of our economy and its ties to our country’s education, do you believe that the quality higher education is doomed to decrease? Or do you believe that the implementation of online courses and “outcome based funding” to be its saving graces?

Bowen Sent From Professor Hainline

“The ‘cost disease’ refers to a university’s inability to implement efficiency measures to maintain productivity…” This deadly disease, whether one believes it or not, has spread all over the country. Do you believe that cutting funding to research institutions is the best cure to this problem? If not, provide an alternative method, whether it be one we discussed in class already or one you believe could work immensely.

The Economic Impact of Higher Education in New York State By Thomas P. DiNapoli

New York is one of the leading, if not the leading, states in this country in terms of Higher Education. Funds have been allocated to the state for education and employment has hardly decreased despite the recession. Do you believe the state will always receive such largess from the federal government? If yes, state your reasons, whether you believe its because the state provides a great amount of employment or other reasons. If no, elaborate why, and what do you think the implications of a decrease in federal funds for New York State could do to the country?

 

Study Casts Doubt on Idea that Spending More Per Student Leads to Better Educational Outcomes By Scott Jashcik

“Research… finds that there may be a minimal relationship between what colleges spend on education and the quality of the education students receive.” If you knew this while you were applying to college, would you have changed your college choices? Also, how does this knowledge affect how you perceive the chart shown in the “How Administrative Spending Boosts College Costs” article?

Is it really the next bubble? By Lexington

Higher education is a worse bubble than the housing bubble because “people make a mistake in taking on an education loan, they’re legally much more difficult to get out of than housing loans… If you borrowed money and went to a college where the education didn’t create any value, that is potentially a really bad mistake.”

There was an argument made in class a few weeks ago that you cannot succeed in life without accumulating some debt. Being in Macaulay, we do not need to take out education loans, or loans of any sort really, so our perception of the current fiscal situation can be a bit askew. But knowing that to further succeed in higher education can lead to being stuck in a bubble, has your career path changed? Have you decided to solely have a BA or to proceed further to attain a doctorate due to your perception of your odds in this “fiscal crisis?”

Dealing with the Future Now By Alan E. Guskin and Mary B. Marcy

Do you believe that these transformative actions, which ultimately were made to accommodate “the services and functions that are essential and thus redesigning them around new technologies to both reduce costs and improve services” are feasible? Significantly restructuring America’s colleges and universities can seem a bit adventurous. If you believe that it is feasible, give an approximate timeline for when you think all of this can be achieved. If no, what do you believe should colleges do to accommodate these rough times?

Declining By Degrees: Higher Education at Risk By: David L. Kirp

This whole document focused on higher education acting as the perfect marketing ground. One of the arguments that we had during our last class was on the role of the President of a University. With this article in mind, do you now believe that a university president should come from the advertising/marketing field or should the education field be completely separate from the world of business?

Financing Higher Education by D. Bruce Johnstone

“High Tuition does not guarantee high aid.” This has been the running fact in all of the articles assigned to us. Do you believe, because of the possibility of federal funds being slashed down exponentially in the coming years, that higher education will become an elitist institution as opposed to its original purpose of supplying knowledge to the masses? All of these articles, especially Johnstone’s, have been foreshadowing a possible redemption or a fatal decline pending on what the university invests in. What do you believe to be the ultimate fate of higher education?

Reading Questions for April 10

The Times Bundle

The Professors’ Big Stage By: Thomas L. Friedman

“There is no requirement that college professors know how to teach. The world of MOOCs is creating a competition that will force every professor to improve his or her pedagogy or face an online competitor.” Are MOOCs really debilitating the power of professors? Do you believe this to be a productive or weakening competition for the world of academia?

The Trouble with Online College and Secrets to Success in Online College Learning

“Courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment…” Do you believe this statement to be true? Argue your case. How would you have written a letter to the editor of that article?

Keeping an Eye on Online Test-Takers By: Anne Eisenberg

What do you think of these measures to prevent online cheating (ie use of cameras, implementation of fees)? Are they ingenious or an invasion of privacy?

California Bill Seeks Campus Credit for Online Study

“It would be the first time that state legislators have instructed public universities to grant credit for courses that were not their own…” How could this potentially change education forever? Is it just a problem for universities seeking money for courses or a problem also for the student seeking the best education for a low price?

 The Chronicle Bundle

It’s MOOAs, Not MOOCs, That Will Transform Higher Education By Laurie Essig

“Administrators of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your salaries.” If MOOAs are the ones that will transform higher education, do you think administrators would agree to this for the benefit of higher education despite the fact that their salaries will dwindle?

Student Aid Can Be Awarded for ‘Competencies,’ Not Just Credit Hours, U.S. Says By: Kelly Field

Student Aid being awarded for ‘competencies’ apparently can “accelerate the pace of collapse for poor quality private and public colleges and universities.” Will this change in policy cause this? Or will it cause the exact opposite causing higher education to reform poor quality private and public colleges and universities?

A Massively Bad Idea By: Rob Jenkins

MOOCs are being considered “a massively bad idea.” Considering the fact that those who enroll in online courses ten to complete at an even lower rate than do students who enroll in face-to-face courses and other facts mentioned in this article, comment on the original statement.

 The Article By: Ann Kirshner

“It is those leading private institutions (ivy leagues) that should be using their endowment’s and moral authority to invest in new solutions and to proselytize for experimentation and change, motivated not by survival but by the privilege of securing the future of American higher education.” Is this statement true? Do these private institutions have a moral duty to the future of higher education?

SUNY Signals Major Push Toward MOOCs and Other New Educational Models By: Steve Kolowich

This article was all about designing MOOCs to be able to give credit to students of different universities than the university offering the MOOC. This is extremely controversial. Do you believe that such a design will pass through the numerous Boards of Ed and Congress despite it meaning a huge amount of money and possible influx of severe paperwork and confusion?

A Pioneer in Online Education Tries a MOOC By: Ann Kirshner

MOOCs seem to be the new growing fad in higher education, especially since most of them are free. Also, if a well-known educator claims that she is learning something from a MOOC, one then knows that MOOCs are trustworthy. Would you try a MOOC? If no, please elaborate.

The Professors Behind the MOOC Hype By: Steve Kolowich and What You Need to Know About MOOCs

Are MOOCs worth it? Do you believe that they deliver the needed results? All of the money that all of these institutions have spent, like Harvard, MIT and Stanford, do you think that it is all going towards a good/useful cause?

Miscellaneous File

Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning

Why would community colleges have a higher increase in MOOCs than any other type of institution?

“Irrational Exuberance”: The Case of the MOOCs

The “exuberance” refers to the hype surrounding MOOCs. The “irrational” refers to the fact that these courses are free and are available to anyone in the world. How would you define MOOCs? Are they truly an “irrational exuberance,” or something else entirely?

The Ethics of MOOCs

Credentialing MOOCs is a huge ethical issue. It has been mentioned and elaborated on in a majority of these issues. Do you believe that they should be credentialed?

 Much Ado About MOOCs 

Despite all of the changes/dilemmas that they could cause for faculty and the structure of higher education, should MOOCs be incorporated in current curricula?

The History of the Student Credit Hour By: Jessica M. Shield

The credit-hour measure has many “inadequacies” such as its “inattention to student learning and its time and location based method for recording learning.” Since this system was originally created more than a century ago, do you think that it should undergo more changes to accommodate this growing era of technology and its implications? How would you go about accomplishing this?

What Online Learning Can Teach Us about Higher Education By: Peter Stokes

Between “traditional,” “web facilitated,” “blended/hybrid” and “online,” which one do you think colleges should invest more in, based on all of our readings? Why?

Do you really think an actor can replace a professor when it comes to “online” classes?

The Future of Higher Education: How technology will shape learning

This article basically states that students want technology to become integral to their education and that online classes should become a part of a student’s curriculum. Is that what you would want? Explain using evidence from this article or any previously read.

Readings for Wednesday, April 17, Who goes to college and legal challenges to affirmative action

Here are the readings for next week. I have a bunch of deadlines the next two weeks, so am not sending a detailed bioliography, but will do that later.

There are three specific items that are separate files and a few bundles with news articles from various sources.

1. Attewell, P. and Lavin, D. E (2012) The other 75%: College education beyond the elite, ch 4 in E..C. Langermann and H. Lewis, What is College for?: The Public Purpose of Higher Education. New York: Teacher’s College Press.. attewell lavin

2.  Kim, Y.M. (2011) Minorities in higher education, 2011 Supplement. American Council on Education, , particularly the summary on pp 1-4 ace report

3. Lederman, D. (2013) Affirmative Action, Innovation and the Financial Future: A survey of presidents. Inside Higher Ed, March 1. (good for affirmative action/access issues but also as suggestions of what other college presidents are thinking, relevant to your interviews) lederman

4. Bundle 1: The case of Grutter vs. the University of Michigan grutter

5. Bundle 2: Post-Grutter developments: Accommodation and Alternatives post-grutter

6. Bundle 3: The newest cases: Fisher vs. U. Texas, a case on Michigan Proposition 2, now on the Supreme Court docket fisher & michigan

Reading Questions 4/10

1. How has technology affected your stay in Brooklyn College? Have you
had positive or negative experiences and what improvements could BC make
to improve technology at the campus?

2.If online teaching increases, what are some of the potential affects to a
college education overall?

3. Will massive open online courses improve the original definition of
higher education, to improve the mind and honor the idea
of knowledge or undermine it?

4.What effect will MOOCs have on research in universities?

Reading Questions for 4/10

1. Why was the credit hour created as the new standard leading up to Higher Education (K-12) as well as throughout Higher Education?

2. Where did the credit hour originate? What was it originally called and why?

3. What reasons does Amy Lynch give for American students and universities lagging in graduating high quality professional students?

4. What challenges does increased technologies in the classroom present to academic integrity?

5. What are some challenges that Stokes presents for online learning? What did he suggest the best results might come from?

6. What does Freidman’s article about MOOCs indicate about the possible future of higher education?

Reading Questions 4/10

-Because of the tremendous increase in the use of technology in higher education, do you think it is important for high schools to prepare their students with courses on programs such as Microsoft?

-Technology is an amazing thing, but can also hinder the human mind. Do you believe that students are benefitting from increased technology used in universities or are they being spoon-fed information?

-Some colleges and majors require their students to purchase their own personal computers. Should the institutions be providing this technology for the students or should they have to incur this expense on their own?

-Is it important for professors to integrate technology in their teaching in order to gain and/or maintain tenure?

-Although online courses “offer greater access to educational opportunities” (Dr. Johnson, “How Technology Will Shape Learning”), are we losing what is traditional about higher education (professor-student interaction, peer interaction, etc)? Will this cause MOOCs to slowly die out?

-From my own experience with an online course, much of the learning is done by the student him/herself on their own time. This could be difficult for some people because there is no professor lecturing or going over material. There is no class time in which students can ask questions or consult with their peers. There is a different class environment with online courses. Although college students already experience independent learning in traditional courses, there seems to be a larger degree of independent learning when it comes to online courses. Motivated students have a greater chance of succeeding whereas students who tend to struggle may have difficulties. Should online degrees be looked upon as less prestigious than traditional ones? When evaluating credits from an online course, should institutions keep in mind that the student needed to have motivation and determination to complete the course?

-Macaulay requires its students to integrate technology in their final seminar presentations. One article states that “student projects should have not only an online instructional component, but defined areas of individual responsibility as well.” Does Macaulay do a just job in balancing the two? Should we be focusing more on the technological or individual aspect?

-How can smaller universities compete with larger ones if they have less of an IT budgets? What can they offer to attract funding from corporations?

-Should plagiarism be taken more or less seriously in today’s world? There are so many sources that students can find information from and it often becomes difficult to decipher your own ideas when so many other people’s ideas are spread across the web. Often times, more than one individual shares the same ideas as you. Like West Point does, should universities provide training on “intellectual property rights, online fact validation, and document sourcing and attribution?”

-How can institutions avoid the risk of obsolescence when technology is ever-changing and evolving? New technology emerges as soon as the old is put in place.

-Should universities implement exit-tests to show prospective employers that their students can apply the knowledge they learned, instead of basing their competency on transcripts and GPAs?

-How can MOOCs continue to be offered for little or no cost when so much time and effort is being used to make them feel more like a classroom environment?

-Studies show that motivated students succeed in online courses. California is trying to allow students in community colleges to take online courses for classes that they were shut out of. As the article said, “some community college students are the least prepared for college work” (A Massively Bad Idea). How does California expect these students to succeed in MOOCs if they can barely pass in a traditional class setting? Is allowing students to take online classes a better idea than making them wait until they have a seat in the class? Is it fair that some students graduate late because they could not get into a class they needed? Will these online classes help students graduate on time or result in them having to retake the class because they could not pass?

-Will an increase in online classes create or decrease jobs for professors/teachers?

-If MOOCs continue to offer students an education for little or no cost, will there be a shift from traditional “bricks and mortar” education to earning a degree through online education?

–

Reading Questions Technology 4/10/13

  • Does online learning as effective as learning in the classroom? Does this form of learning take away from the interactive aspects of classroom learning? What do studies show that most students prefer? Will the perception that credits earned by online classes are not as credible as an “in class” credits shift anytime soon? Or will online classes continue to be looked as substitutes of in class experiences?
  • Would educators that taught before this techonology age argue that traditional learning was just effective if more effective than these “smart classrooms” equipped with all sorts of gadgets? Does the added costs of these advancements offset the “positive results” of the classroom?
  • Will using online sources make students more involved and in turn more equipped and ready for the job market?
  • How do universities make sure that students do not get distracted to by the different modes of technology and instead focus on the task as hand? There is also a chance that students will be more inclined to cheating. How does one ensure that this problem is as reduced as possible?
  • Is the student credit hour an effective way of measuring and determining what a student does in the classroom and whether a certain amount of credits is enough to be counted as a class?
  • Is it necessarily a “bad” thing that the credit hour allows students to transfer or take courses at another university? What would be the positive outcome of having a student remain at solely one Has online learning lived up to the “promise” cited in the Carey and Kelly article?
  • Most of the biggest online universities mentioned are for profit. Should student be paying for these online classes? Will a student be able to make it in the marketplace having graduated from an online university?
  • Liberty University grew substantially as a result of its online learning addition. Would this university have grown in number as substantially if this addition was not implemented?
  • Would the hybrid/blended delivery form of online incorporation be the most successful mode of delivery in the classroom?
  • Why are student often more successful when they learn online than when they learn in a face to face environment? The distraction card may not be a reason since students might be less motivated when they learn at home.
  • While online learning may have some cost benefits for students, universities seem to be spending more as a result. Is it worth it for universities to spend a significant amount of money on online learning if its only going to cost them more than their traditional path?
  • Will online education become so popular that this form of education will offer competition to traditional colleges? Do they need to have more optional like vocational colleges?
  • Will online classes make up for professors that do not teach well? Is this the reason that students at MIT do considerably better in classes in which they learn through “blended” models of combining online learning with teacher led classroom experience? 

Interview Questions

1. Is the new Pathways program a genuine attempt to ease students by creating a more unified CUNY core system, or is there some behind-the scene contract that gave CUNY an incentive to create and implement this program?

2. Do you feel that the decisions, votes, and proposals from the individual board members are based on what’s best for the school, or what’s best for that individual member?

3. For President Gould (probably shouldn’t ask this, but just an idea)-The current debate over the role and capabilities of the University President is basically non corporate duty vs. a corporate duty. If a President made a negligent decision that ended up causing the university to lose a critical bundle of funding, do you believe that termination of that President would be sufficient, or should the university have the option to sue that President personally for negligence?

Question for 3/10/13

The Economist Intelligence Unit suggests that technological innovation will foster a collegiate environment that boasts an increase in corporate-academic partnerships. Is this technological gain that the university will receive worth the relinquishing of part of the university’s non-corporate equity?

Would the increase in technology at universities discourage the senior portion of the student body that take classes for leisure? Would it cause a increased retirement rate among older professors who feel like they don’t have the required amount of technological competency to remain effective in the new technological academic era?

Is the increased availability in technology and online courses going to decrease the amount of time students will devote to on-campus community service or activism (since they won’t need to come to school as much or at all)? Would the students use the extra time not at school to do more personal tasks or perform community oriented tasks?

The Professor’s Big Stage

With the focus being shifted from classroom performance to real-life performance, there is the possibility that people at the top of their field academically are losing positions to people who are academically of lower caliber, but possess a greater proficiency in minor aspects like communication. With this as the new norm, aren;t we running the risk of stalemating advancements?

Innovation in Higher Education

For decades, underperforming faculty and administrators have been able to avoid termination by hiding behind tenure and overall stagnation. Is the demand for lower tuition the push universities need to stop offering tenure and begin offering MOOA’s, in the hope of cutting costs and encouraging the will to change?