Imagine you’re the President of Universities UK. You’ve been invited to a private meeting at No. 11, where the Chancellor informs you that he has decided to control the numbers entering UK higher education. More...
06 avril 2019
Comparing a Numbers Cap with an Attainment Threshold
Seeking simple solutions to complex problems: The careers conundrum
In recent years the policy spotlight has been shining on careers and employability provision. Graduate destination metrics heavily influence Teaching Excellence Framework outcomes and league table positions. This part of the institutional offer plays a key role in student recruitment and is a hot topic at open days across the sector. More...
Why a grade threshold for higher education study is neither necessary or defensible
Better off parents also have extra options should they think their offspring might not reach the proposed grade threshold, getting them ‘over the line’ through private tuition, funding exam resits, or paying for exam grade appeals. This is a point too rarely highlighted in this debate: the threshold would primarily hit the aspirational poorer applicant, not a middle- or upper-class applicant with lower attainment. More...
Whose voice is heard in higher education?
Recently, I was talking to an academic colleague who I have known for more than 10 years – and who I had always assumed was from a relatively privileged background in the south of England (as I am). ‘Actually, I’m from Hartlepool,’ he told me, before revealing that his accent had morphed into something close to received pronunciation (RP) when he was an undergraduate at Cambridge. More...
Data decisions: What information do we need about Universities?
Last week the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) published their consultation on the future of the data it collects, in response to their changing role as the designated data body. To me, this exemplified the change in the way higher education regulation has changed since the Higher Education Research Act (HERA). More...
Evidence should replace dogma in the debate about the STEM shortage
There is a widespread view that this country does not produce enough STEM graduates, particularly engineers. It is also believed (by some at least) that we produce too many of the wrong type of graduates, some of whom should be ‘diverted’ into technical education. More...
Online Course Design Rubrics, Part 3: Now what?
By Kevin Kelly. In Part 1 of this series we looked at and compared seven online course design rubrics as they are today. In Part 2 we looked at why these rubrics have become more important to individuals, programs, institutions, and higher education systems. In this segment, Part 3, I'll review what's missing from the rubrics, what's next, and how various stakeholders are going, or should go, beyond what the current course design rubrics assess. More...
Online Course Design Rubrics, Part 2: So what?
By Kevin Kelly. In Part 1 of this series, I compared seven online course design rubrics that are used by multiple institutions to improve the quality, accessibility, and consistency of individual courses. The institutions do this with an eye toward offering online degree programs, credentials, and certificates. More...
Online Course Design Rubrics, Part 1: What are they?
By Kevin Kelly. Over the past few years, the team at e-Literate has reported on online course quality and common challenges online learners face. In late 2016, Phil Hill described and shared "explainer videos" that outlined how system-wide online course exchanges and their shared social infrastructure can help increase access and improve quality. More...
Moodle Workplace: A new product and change in open source deployment
By Phil Hill and Jason Cole. Moodle unveiled its new product, Moodle Workplace, at the the Learning Technologies conference in London three weeks ago. While the open source Moodle LMS has been used by companies and organizations for employee training for years (approximately 40% of Moodle implementations worldwide according to this 2015 interview), Workplace represents a new approach for Moodle's usage of open source deployment. More...
