December 11, 2011, 10:15 am
By Josh Keller
Myths of Learning: We constantly hear that we should blow up how schools and universities currently work. True enough, says Bror Saxberg, chief learning officer at Kaplan Inc., in a recent talk at TEDxSF. But “one of the things that seems to be missing from a lot of the conversation of what needs to happen … is how do minds work? How does learning work? How is this supposed to all go together?” (via CCAP).
Clean Up Your Web Site: Many college Web sites suffer from content clutter: things that viewers don’t care about, such as outdated announcements, off-topic photos, and irrelevant links, writes Rick Allen on Meet Content. Mr. Allen diagnoses the problem and offers strategies for colleges to amplify their messages by saying less.
Courting Donors: Susan T. Evans of mStoner offers a perceptive analysis of what makes a good college fund-raising Web site, with a list of key…
Read More
November 11, 2011, 3:45 pm
By Josh Keller
Start-ups in Control: Knewton’s partnership with Pearson to add its adaptive-learning technology to the publisher’s online courses is a sign of the increasing power of educational-technology start-ups, writes Scott Olster at Fortune. When the market was less promising, Knewton might have been acquired instead, he says.
Google+: Many colleges started setting up institutional pages on Google+ when the fledgling social network chose to allow pages for organizations. Not so fast, argues Seth Odell at Higher Ed Live, who questions the value of using Google+ “as another dumping ground for the same content we currently distribute elsewhere.” And Mike Richwalsky says Facebook will continue to be the first place he thinks of to post content about his institution, John Carroll University.
EDUniverse: The higher-education marketing firm mStoner said it would start a Web site in February,
Read More
October 30, 2011, 5:29 pm
By Josh Keller
Terminology: After recent announcements from Pearson and Blackboard that emphasized that their products were “free” and “open,” some observers responded by accusing the vendors of spouting marketing hype. But Michael Feldstein at e-Literate writes that the two companies’ approaches are actually quite different and should be evaluated more carefully.
Mobile: Dave Olsen at Mobile in Higher Ed summarizes and links to a number of useful presentations on mobile technology at last week’s HighEdWeb conference.
Arms Race: Will the educational-technology arms race among companies of all sizes lead to a mutually beneficial co-evolution, a superpower standoff, or a more troubling lurch toward monopoly? asks Music for Deckchairs.
EdSurge: If you’re interested in the gritty details of education technology, it’s well worth the trouble to sign up for EdSurge, an e-mail newsletter that…
Read More
October 21, 2011, 4:42 pm
By Josh Keller
Educause Archive: Higher ed’s biggest tech conference is over, but Educause has posted a video archive of selected sessions. For those who missed them, be sure to check out Danah Boyd’s presentation on students and online privacy, a Pew presentation on trends in mobile learning, and The Chronicle’s panel on the challenges of the unbundled university.
Mobile Growth: Mary Meeker, a former Morgan Stanley analyst who is one of the most perceptive thinkers on the future of technology, made her annual presentation on how the Internet is changing on Tuesday (slides, video). The presentation emphasizes the rapid growth of mobile devices and global Internet usage.
The Hated CMS: Content-management systems, which typically help people organizations their Web sites, are typically among the least liked pieces of software. Among other faults, they age poorly, says Michael Fienen at .eduGuru. …
Read More
October 7, 2011, 3:29 pm
By Josh Keller
Appropriations: A spending bill released last month by House Republicans appears to stipulate that the federal government stop supporting a $2-billion program to develop freely available online resources, writes Audrey Watters at Hack Education. The bill would explicitly prohibit the Department of Labor, which runs the program, from spending money to develop courses or materials unless they are found to be not otherwise available in the commercial marketplace. Publishers have lobbied against the federal program, calling it an example of government overreach.
Stanford Online: Bill Keller, a former executive editor of The New York Times, profiles two efforts by Stanford University to move beyond the confines of its Silicon Valley campus. He predicts that if online learning can solve its quality-control problems, many colleges that depend on tuition could go the way of local newspapers…
Read More
September 30, 2011, 3:40 pm
By Josh Keller
Frictionless PR: Dennis Miller, public-relations director at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, isn’t bothered that he didn’t learn about his president’s departure until 20 minutes before it was publicly announced this month. The new world of communications demands a different strategy than a week’s worth of meetings and press conferences, he says.
Broken Admissions: As part of The Atlantic’s excellent package on college admissions, Clay Christiansen and Henry Eyring argue that the Apollo Group’s $100-million purchase of Carnegie Learning, an adaptive-learning company, signals a revolution in higher education. The Chronicle‘s own Kevin Carey says a Match.com for college would be the best way to deal with the college-admissions crisis.
The Social Network: Facebook is making some major changes. The world probably won’t end. But colleges should be prepared to rethink how they …
Read More
September 23, 2011, 5:13 pm
By Josh Keller
Crosstalk is a new weekly feature on Wired Campus that will link to some of the best online conversations and ideas about technology in higher education during the past week. Send ideas to josh.keller@chronicle.com.
Web strategy for small colleges: They can lack the resources or the will to put cutting-edge Web solutions into place. But being cutting-edge isn’t really the point, writes Ron Bronson at EduStir, who goes over how employees at colleges with fewer resources can realistically approach a Web strategy.
State authorization won’t blow over: Colleges must get serious about obtaining authorization to operate in each state where they enroll online students, writes Russ Poulin at WCET Frontiers. “Stop waiting for clarity,” he says. Yes, the recently issued federal requirement was vacated by a judge, but it will return, he says.
Students, seated: Skyrill, a design agency,
Read More
Follow Wired Campus through your favorite RSS reader.
Budget restrictions are an ever-present threat to innovation on college campuses. Learn how top technology companies are working with institutions to advance online learning as programs continue to expand on campuses across the country. This special sponsored section features resources available to help develop a successful online education program at your institution.
