Tag: MOOCs


If law schools can lower tuition, why not colleges?

Posted on April 22nd, 2014

"It’s abundantly clear that the rising costs of the past 20 years have collided with the economic realities. At the risk of indicting an entire industry, I think we’ve been kind of lazy in our thinking. We always just pass on the costs to students and their families." -- Donald Farish, President of Roger Williams University

College applications were down this year at many top colleges, including Harvard and Dartmouth. This has led some in higher education to worry whether we’ll start seeing fewer people completing college degrees. It’s even caused some colleges to be forced to close. Law schools cutting tuition to attract students Many law schools have seen similar declines […]

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Fighting the college affordability crisis

Posted on January 13th, 2014

"With the volume of student loan debt at over $1 trillion and counting, degrees must become significantly more affordable, very soon, or too many Americans will lack the means or the motivation to pursue a degree at all." -- Scott Kinney

With student debt topping $1 trillion, the question of whether college is “worth it” has become an increasingly valid one. While there are several advantages to having a college degree, it’s clear that the cost issue needs to be addressed. In a Hechinger Report Op-Ed, Capella University President Scott Kinney even worries that fewer students […]

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Is college being dumbed down?

Posted on January 3rd, 2014

"We all want to have more students graduate and graduate in a more timely manner. The question is, do you do this by lowering your standards?" -- Rudy Fichtenbaum

Under fire in recent years for high tuition costs and the lack of career preparation taught at colleges, college policymakers have felt the pressure to graduate more students quickly and prepare graduates to enter the workforce. The value of the liberal arts has also been questioned, leading some government officials in Florida, North Carolina and […]

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The pros and cons of online education

Posted on November 7th, 2013

A recent poll showed that one-third of Americans believe online programs offer better value and provide more variety than traditional classroom education. When it comes to education quality, however, the public is less enthusiastic.

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What college will look like in 2023

Posted on October 14th, 2013

What will higher education and college students be like in the future? The Wall Street Journal offers some predictions.

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Are online classes as effective as traditional higher education?

Posted on October 11th, 2013

"The challenges of education are so large that our entire community has been seeking a solution, and online learning and MOOCs are seen as a potential silver bullet. Everybody really gets excited about it. But the jury is still out in terms of whether and to what extent purely online education is effective." -- Anant Agarwal, President of edX

We’ve written a lot about the rise of online education and how it can help you save money and time getting a college degree. Over the past year, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have exploded in popularity, with course providers edX and Coursera becoming two of the biggest higher-education organizations in the world. These massive open online […]

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Survey says colleges aren’t preparing graduates for jobs

Posted on September 24th, 2013

"Nearly 90 percent of the public thinks the U.S. higher-education system needs to change for the nation to maintain a globally competitive workforce." -- Hechinger Report

Are colleges adequately preparing graduates to enter the workforce? Why are so many college graduates unemployed? Is online education as effective as traditional in-person classes? A new survey from Northeastern University attempts to answer those questions and more. College graduates not ready for a career The study revealed that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the higher […]

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Conventional college route shifts to “education buffet”

Posted on September 18th, 2013

I love a good buffet. Health hazards aside, what’s not to like about getting to choose from a multitude of options, taking as little or as much of each as you like?

Increasingly, college students are taking the “buffet approach” to higher education. A few AP classes there, some time at a traditional brick-and-mortar campus, a couple classes at a local community college, and some MOOCs or other online classes thrown in.

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