Administration

On Net Neutrality

The fundamental idea behind net neutrality is that the information we receive online is given equal access to us, that is movies don’t get better access to us than an academic article or a small college’s website. The audiences that certain content can reach is on an even playing field and…

Right or Privilage?

This last week I had the pleasure of seeing former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich speak at InstructureCon in Park City, Utah.

His talk was quite boring for me honestly, because he spoke of the obvious. He spoke of rising tuition costs, continued cuts to education…

The Rise of the Adjuncts

As you may have noticed in recent years, the hiring of adjuncts has increased considerably, most notably after the 2008 GFC (Global Financial Crisis). Almost all adjuncts I’ve ever worked with are passionate instructors, dedicated to their students’ success and willing to help them…

Competency-based Education: the solution to all our problems?

In my role as an eLearning Director at a small technical college in Washington state, I attended a series of workshops put on by Western Governor’s University, going over various aspects of their online competency-based…

What does Hybrid actually mean?

Generally, when you enroll in college, you see different courses in the catalog.

“What’s this? Online. That makes sense. It’s an online course.”

An open letter to Higher Ed Admins

Dear Higher Ed Admins,

At a time when most of us here in the United States are facing continuing cuts to education, it’s important to take into account the thoughts and advice of those around you. This is one such piece of advice is from an…

Empathy in Instruction

Over the years, I have been quite vocal in my opposition to high stakes testing as a means to assess learning. The example I always gave was this:

“What if a student’s mom died the night before the big test? How do you think they would do? Does this mean they…

The worst words you could ever hear as an Educational Technologist

Me: “So why do you want to use ______?”

Instructor: “Because it’ll be cool”

Me: “So why do you want to buy ______?”

“Because we have the…

Alumni Relations done right

I know this doesn’t have anything to do with technology, but I thought I’d comment on it anyway.

I graduated from a large University in Washington state, twice. First for my BA in 2002, then again with a Masters in 2007. Alumni relations has never been a…

Open Textbooks: The Missing Link

After attending #opened15 last week, there were lots of sessions talking about open textbooks. Some folks are for, and some against, with Amanda Coolidge weighing in this morning on the real purpose of these projects: to save students money…