1. What are some of the goals of  a liberal arts education? What are the means by which those goals are attained, and what outcomes would you say constitute achievement of those goals? Have the goals of a liberal arts education changed in recent years with regards to many factors that include the changing economy, job market, and rise in technology incorporation into learning etc.? If yes, how so? Do you think a liberal arts education will still be relevant in the future, or do you think it will fade in importance?

2. In Greater Expectations, The Association of American Colleges and Universities suggested that liberal education must change in two ways; one of them being that “it must define itself as the best and most practical form of learning for a changing world and strive to meet that standard.” Would you agree that a liberal arts education is the best/most practical form of learning? Why or why not?

3. How does a liberal arts education serve the individual? How does a liberal arts education serve society as a whole?

4. Many would say the training a liberal arts education can provide for advancing critical thinking skills as well as oral and written communication is essential to professional success. Furthermore, the students who approach their education purely in terms of occupational preparation may deprive themselves of the opportunity to find inspiration and excel in some other area of concentration. For most students, the decision about what they should major in goes beyond an analysis of employment statistics. Choosing a major in response to a changing job market is not always the most practical or rewarding way to approach one’s undergraduate education, but many feel obligated to major in a subject that they think will appeal to more graduate/professional schools, whether or not they are interested in it or not. What is a student to do when what they want to major in conflicts with what they think they should major in?

5. Do we measure the success of the graduate’s college experience by the first job attained by the student or by a lifetime of his/her professional achievement? Americans now change jobs numerous times over a lifetime and when the jobs of tomorrow may not even exist today, how significant is preparation for a student’s first job?

6.  Do you think the phrase “study hard and you’ll get into the college of your dreams” is still applicable? If not, how can we make this more applicable?

7. Is job preparation in fact the top goal of higher education? If so, do you think a vocational certificate is worth more than a liberal arts degree in terms of leading to better jobs for students?

8. According to Jobs, Value, and Affirmative Action: A Survey of Parents about College, many parents are likely to restrict the colleges that their children apply to because the high “sticker prices” of many of the colleges scare them away. However, the article mentions that parents should be open to applying to even the most expensive schools because many colleges offer generous financial aid, but this message is not getting through to parents. Why is it that case that so many parents think this way, and why are parents unaware of the fact that colleges can give financial aid? Should this idea be publicized more to get the word out, so parents can allow their children to apply to more schools (even the highly-rated expensive institutions)?

9. When parents were asked to identify the most important reason for they child to go to college, the top answer was “to get a good job.” Answers that were associated with going to college for educational reasons were lagging. What do you think is the most important reason? Should this change the way higher education is structured in the future; and should higher education incorporate a more streamlined, job-focused approach?

10. According to the article Survey Finds that Business Executives Aren’t Focused on the Majors of Those They Hire, it appears that business executives are more interested in their new employee’s thinking, communication, problem-solving skills than their choice of undergraduate majors. Furthermore, they want higher education to ensure that every college graduate, no matter the major, achieves higher levels of education-based reasoning, research skills, and complex problem-solving skills etc. So why is it the case that “many politicians have of late been suggesting that the only way to prepare for a career is to focus on career-related majors?” Why is there such a disconnect?

11. In Humphrey’s powerpoint, it states “Today’s students will have 10-14 jobs by the time they are 38.” Why is that the case? What is preventing these students from staying in a few stable jobs, and instead having such a large number of jobs?

12. If more and more people choose to attain certificates from vocational/training schools as oppose to liberal arts degrees, can we potentially be setting ourselves up for a stagnant economy in the future? Humphrey’s powerpoint suggests that the broad-range skills/capabilities developed from a liberal arts education have increasingly become the most valuable economic asset. If the economy is driven by innovation, and innovation is fostered through a liberal arts education, then what can we expect for the future of higher education and the economy (if people choose to attend more vocational schools than liberal arts institutions with the mindset that this will better prepare them for jobs)?

13. What is the best approach to solving the issue of liberal arts education vs. specific career specialization? From the Death of Liberal Arts article, it seems that obtaining a liberal arts education is still the best choice as it provides students with a broad range of necessary skills for the workplace, but students should also keep in mind that networking, good grades, and career goal-specific internships are an integral part of job preparation. Do you agree with this idea?

1. Why do government policies mostly reflect the concerns of the “stereotypical” kind of student (full-time student living in a dorm on a college campus, financially supported by parents), when they have become a numerical minority?

2. Do you think it is a good idea for students to work (whether it be out of choice or necessity) at the same time that they go to college? Is there any way (i.e. programs available, advisement) colleges can assist students in this type of situation? Do you think it’s smarter for these students to take out loans, so that they can focus more on their studies, or do you think they should work so that they can take care of some of the financial burden?

3. Why do you think so many students delay going to college after high school? Do you think this is a good idea to take this gap year between high school and college? What can students do during this gap year to prepare them for college that they would otherwise be missing had they not taken the gap year?

4.Why is it that only half of the students who start off their college career in 2-year colleges and aspire to 4-year degree actually transfer successfully?

5. Is it truly fair to measure the performance rate of a school (whether the school is perfoming well or badly) by using the school’s graduation rates, considering the fact that there are so many factors that can affect graduation rates, such as cycling in and out of college, attending part-time, and transferring from one college to another for financial reasons/familial circumstances? Is it fair for policy makers to reward shorter “time-to-degree” students and put such a heavy emphasis on higher institutional graduation rates? Does it seem that they are serving the more affluent students and paying less attention to low-income and minority students?

6. Instead of looking to an institution’s graduation rates as an objective measure of students’ college performance, what other measures can be used in its place?

7. Undergraduates across the social class and institutional spectrum see college as a key step toward finding a well-paying job, and so many students pick their majors with their careers in mind.  Even among private liberal arts colleges, there is no strong preference toward academic/liberal arts majors. Do you think liberal arts major will continue to decline in the future? Does having a liberal arts and humanities-oriented major serve as a disadvantage or an advantage in attaining a career? How so? What types of students tend to choice career vs. academic majors?

8. What would be some of the consequence of rolling back broad access to higher education?

9. Why is it that degree completion rates at less selective colleges are low; and that the majority of students do not complete a degree, whether at the associates or bachelor’s level? Does this relate to the type of curriculum offered at these less selective colleges? Should students in less selective colleges take an entry to college exam test their skills, and should those that fall below be required to take remedial or developmental coursework before proceeding to college-level courses?

10. With regards to affirmative action, do you think it would be best for the court to uphold the current affirmative action law, “impose modest limits on the consideration of race in the admission process,” or “impose major limits” on the use of race in admissions? Why?

11. Why do presidents have a significantly more favorable view about the upside of the prior learning assessment, competency-based academic credit, and adaptive learning than they do about MOOCs?

12. Why is it that private college presidents (36%) were twice as likely to support the elimination of merit-based aid than were those at public institutions (16%)? Should financial aid focus on the neediest students?

13. What are the social implications of changing the definition of affirmative action from correcting the effect of historic discrimination to, as Justice O’Conner stated in the Grutter v. Bollinger case, “obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body?”

Discussion Questions

1-The article mentions that “online learning is gaining a firm foothold in universities around the world”, but is there a possibility that online learning will be the primary form of education for students in the future (and/or replace traditional learning higher education institutions)?

2- Do you think it is necessary for an institution to allocate a significant amount its budget into incorporating and promoting technological advances? Or do you think it is wiser for an institution to use more of its money on other areas such as keeping tuition affordable for students, financial aid, scholarships, research, hiring professors, student clubs/teams etc.?

3- The article mentions that in the coming years, universities will have a greater presence overseas to put education within reach of many more individuals all over the world. This seems very beneficial, but the growing number of incoming foreign students to higher education institutions in America can lead to an increased amount of competition. How can this effect students living in America? Will they have decreased chances of getting into the colleges/universities of their choice? Do you think the competition between foreign students local students entering institutions of higher education in America will become fierce enough, that limits will have to be put in place with regards to the number of foreign students admitted?

4- Since technology seems to be playing a large role in the future of teaching methodologies in higher education, will professors that are less tech-savvy have greater difficulty finding jobs? How important a role will the technology aspect play in the hiring of incoming professors?

5-Do you think online courses should be used as a supplement to face-to-face classes, or do you think they should serve as the primary method of education?  For some students online courses may be the only option (either they are working, nontraditional students, single mothers etc.), but will the fact that there is less face-to-face communication with instructors hinder their learning process?

6-How do we make sure that students are actually learning the material and are not cheating on online courses? If people take multiple online courses offered by different universities/institutions, who keeps track of their transcript and degree progress, and can their credits earned be easily transferred?

7. Is there really a way to measure how much a student “learns” from his/her institution of higher education? At the university of Michigan “The measure of achievement was based on a common time unit, and the accumulation of the set courses and time units

constituted a complete bachelor’s-level education,” do you think this is sufficient? Should exit exams be put in place (and even then, can that really test how much knowledge you’ve acquired? and is that a successful indicator of how you’ll do out in the career world?)?

8. Much public opinion calls for a wider variety of college courses more appropriate to the diverse interests of high school graduates. Online courses can provide students with the knowledge they so desire to study at their fingertips, but with the increase of online learning, is there still a way to ensure that students learn a common standard?

9. If the use of online education is to become a prevalent form of education in the future, what will these mean for faculty members that depend on teaching in traditional settings (in a college/university) as a means of their livelihood?

10. David Noble had mentioned in his 1998 essay “Digital Diploma Mills, Part II” that “in the wake of the online education gold-rush, many have begun to wonder, will the content of education be shaped by scholars and educators or by media businessmen, by the dictates of experienced pedagogy or a quick for profit? What’s your opinion with regards to this statement?

11. Why do you think it is that most of the largest online universities are for-profit?

Do you think that in the long run, online learning is a cost-effective, successful form of education to prepare students for life in the workplace? What does an online education offer to students that a traditional classroom-based form of education cannot, and vice versa? Do you agree that a hybrid programs incorporating online and face-to-face instruction may be the best form of education?

12. If students are solely engaged in online learning, it would seem that one of the downfalls would be that they have limited access to academic advisement/guidance from knowledgeable faculty members as well as less networking opportunities. Is there a way to incorporate this aspect into online learning?

13. If an institution does not offer any online courses, could this deter students away from attending the college/university? Overall, how large a role does the offering of online courses play when students are choosing a university/college to attend?

14. What role did the economy play in the growth of online courses? Do you agree with the statement, “As the economy improves, some predict a possible decline in online enrollments,” or do you think that the growth of online courses in the future will continue regardless of this factor?

15. Why is it that courses offered by MOOCs have more than three-quarters of students dropping out? Are the students truly being prepared sufficiently to apply their knowledge and skills that they’ve learned from their online courses to the outside world?

16. Are there courses that cannot be successfully taught through MOOCs? What are the current admission criteria for MOOCs? There is some movement towards elite MOOCs, do you think this is a good idea?

17. The “Ethics of MOOCs” article poses a good question: If an institution is successful in its bid for the institution accepting MOOCs for certain courses, will employers know who took the face-to-face course as who took the MOOC course? Will students in the MOOC course have access to the same services and be subject to the same course and university policies as their non-MOOC counterparts?

18. To help ensure that the person who signed up for a MOOC and has completed the work and taken the exam, should there be on-site testing put in place?

19. How do you solve the issue of giving credentials to MOOCs? Some people enroll is MOOCs for personal improvement and aren’t really looking for verification of content mastery, while others want the official credentialing to testify that they have successfully completed the course, how do we solve this issue?

Bowen: Universities suffering from near fatal “Cost Disease:”

1-    Competition exists in elite universities, and top-tier schools will do whatever it takes to ensure the best educational experience. This has led to many American research universities serving as the some of the best in the world, but do you think there is too much competition brewing? Is this beneficial?

2-    It is stated in the article that students do not always go to the right school for themselves, aiming either too high or too low. How can colleges and universities better accommodate the needs of the students in a cost-appropriate fashion?

3-    How can we continue to promote innovation in colleges and universities, when we cannot afford all of these research universities? Where is the balance?

Dinapoli: The Economic Impact of Higher Education in New York State

1-    How is it that the education sector has grown rapidly during good and bad economic times, and even continued to expand during the current recession?  Furthermore, why is it that the number of jobs in higher education has been growing more rapidly that employment in the rest of the economy?

2-    Among the states, New York has the 3^rd largest higher education employment in the nation (7.7% of all such jobs nationwide). Moreover, through the licensing of technologies, more than $380 million for New York schools was generated, and 42 start-up companies were created to use technology licensed from NY schools.  It appears that NY is revitalizing and diversifying its economy phenomenally through higher education, so how can we best extend this vast economic development observed in NY to other states?

Jaschik: Study casts doubt on idea that spending more per student leads to better educational outcomes:

1:  Do you think it would be a plausible, cost-effective idea to replace full-time faculty with part-time faculty members, and save money by increasing courseloads?

2:  Higher education institutions at the high and low end of per-student spending showed similar levels of good practice with regard to education (“similar scores on the educationally valuable practices”) and there was only a VERY small relationship between spending on education and the quality of the educational experience. Therefore, where is all of the money going in the more expensive colleges, such as private residential institutions? Is it that they are simply charging more for prestige, or is there more to the story?

Guskin and Marcy: Dealing with the future now.

1: Taking into account the dire budgetary circumstances, if a new higher education institution was created, what would it look like?

2:What would happen to the faculty work life and student learning if budget reductions continue to exert their negative effect on education? How can we preserve it?

3: Considering the way in which the “muddling through” approach can undermine the nature of the academic profession (i.e. cut salaries to the point where they are not competitive with other forms of employment, increase workload for faculty, cause loss of the best faculty members…) is the “muddling through” approach, a feasible one? Or is it destined for failure?

4. The first transformative action states that an assessment of common institution-wide student learning outcomes should be established as a basis for an undergraduate degree. What would these assessment tests look like? Would it be similar to any student assessment exam already in place (such as the SAT, GRE…)?

5. In the article, one particular area that needs internal restructuring and an assignment to a more prominent role in education delivery is the library, so that students and faculty members can use it as a portal to access global network information and to become a true learning center. Are there other specific areas on university campuses that are in need of internal restructuring to help promote education delivery?

Johnstone: Financing Higher Education

1-    How can costs of colleges and universities be effectively reduced without damaging academic qualities?

2-    Should public aid be based on a student’s academic performance and or family financial aid?

3-    In the public sector, should the taxes we pay be used to hold down tuition or toward expanding need-based aid (and “have public tuitions raised closer to the full average costs of undergraduate instruction”)?

4-    The National Center for Education projects an enrollment growth for the decade 2008 t o 2018, and this expansion will occur unevenly, since most of the growth will be concentrated in states of the West, Southwest, and South. Why is it the case that the growth will be concentrated in those regions?

5-    While some schools such as Wheelock, UMass, Boston, may be cheaper per student than Harvard, we cannot say that they are less efficient or less productive than Harvard, since we do not have a measure of output to judge this fact. Can you think of a way to effectively and objectively measure the output of different universities in a way that many would agree on?

6-    What is the best method to divvy up the financing of higher education between the four parties (taxpayers, parents, students, philanthropists)? Should it be split up equally or should one party have a greater responsibility over the others?

7-    How long should parental financial responsibility continue? Should they be responsible for their child’s education only during the undergraduate years or should it continue into the mid-twenties (such as when they finally settle into a steady career path)?

8-    From article: Do you think tuition should reflect differences in instructional costs; should tuition be higher in research universities than in four year or community colleges? “Should they reflect differences in individual program costs, as between, say, engineering and sociology? Or should tuitions reflect market demand, as between a more selective and a less selective public college?”

9-    Why has there been a shift in the cost burden from the taxpayer to parents and students?

10- Do you agree with this statement in the article, “a higher-priced public higher education might discourage ambivalent, ill-prepared students, who advocates of high tuition-high aid assume are taking up space in and wasting precious resources of our public colleges and universities?” And how do you suggest we get these students motivated to attend school and make the most of its resources?

Kiley: Moody’s report calls into question all traditional university revenue sources.

1-In a collective way, the model that has been employed in higher education since the 1960’s is being called into question by external factors, and colleges are going to have to rely more on strategic leaders. Who are these strategic leaders they are referring to?

2- The article mentions that strategic leaders will address the financial challenges through the better use of technology to cut costs, create efficiency in their operations, demonstrate value, reach new markets, and prioritize programs. What would happen if faculty members and/or institutional constituents disagree with the efforts of these strategic leaders? How would educational reform best be handled in that case?

3-Some reports have noted that alternative sources of revenue, not mentioned in the Moody’s report, include the educational sector partnering up with the private sector, since this has worked well in the past. How can this be implemented? What would this partnership look like?

4-Is there potential for online courses (such as MOOCs) to completely overhaul the traditional system of higher education that has been in place for years?

Lexington: Higher Education: Is it really the next bubble?

1-    Peter Thiel states that higher education is overpriced, people are not getting their money’s worth, and that people take on such enormous debts when they g to college because that’s what everyone’s doing. Conversely, Professor Grubb states that education has not stopped delivering its expected returns. Not in terms of income or unemployment. It is because a BA is no longer sufficient for profession or managerial occupations, that there is an education inflation of middle-class students going for MA and professional degrees. Who’s stance do you agree with?

Kirp: This little student went to market, ch. 8 in Hersh, R. H. and Merrow, J. Declining by degrees: Higher Education at Risk.

1-It appears that schools at the top of the ladder battle unscrupulously to maintain their elite position. For example, staff members at Princeton’s admissions office went as far as to hack into Yale’s admission website. Some universities have even unethically manipulated the system by inflating students’ SAT scores and the proportion of alumni donors, just to make their school look more selective. How do we prevent this type of immoral behavior carried out by prestigious institutions of higher education?

2-Is the statement “money follows money, not need” applicable to institutions of higher education?

3-Institutions of higher education appear to be heavily influenced by the competitive marketplace, (trying to attract students with prestigious-sounding names, fancy amenities on campuses, exotic international trips etc.) to the point where students are applying to certain colleges for the prestige and not for the caliber of education. How can this type of behavior be reduced?

4- Do you think the No Curriculum system employed at Brown University, which allowed students to go straight into learning what interests them, could be implemented in public institutions of higher education today?