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...
Flawed AEI Report on Online Education: The good, the bad, and the ugly
By Phil Hill. While the supply and demand for online higher education is rapidly expanding, questions remain regarding its potential impact on increasing access, reducing costs, and improving student outcomes. Does online education enhance access to higher education among students who would not otherwise enroll in college. More...
Instructure: Plans to expand beyond Canvas LMS into machine learning and AI
By Phil Hill. It's common knowledge that Instructure has shifted its focus to place more emphasis on its growth in corporate learning markets than in the educational markets that have fueled the company growth to date. We covered the initial news about their introduction of the corporate learning LMS, Bridge, four years ago. More...