By Matt Reed and Susanna Williams. “Overly high attendance rates at community colleges are part of a larger problem…” - Harry Holzer, AIR Institute Fellow
In an Intro to Philosophy class so many years ago, a professor told the story of the turtles. A student asked what held the world up, and the teacher responded that the world sat on the back of a turtle. Read more...

By Matt Reed. This interview with Christine Chairsell, the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at Portland Community College (OR), piqued my curiosity. It’s about the relationship between off-campus instructional sites or centers, and online education. Read more...

By Matt Reed. I have a history of living in places that get overshadowed by other places. Growing up around Rochester, New York, I learned quickly that when I told people where I was from, I couldn’t say “New York.”  New York City was the center of gravity for the entire state. Read more...

By Matt Reed. How should a college determine whether an adult needs developmental coursework?
For years, most community colleges used a single placement exam and a set of “cut scores” for nearly everybody. Read more...

By Matt Reed. For obvious reasons, I enjoyed the recent IHE piece on the mistakes that rookie deans sometimes make.  The five mistakes it highlights, it gets right, but I’d add a few. Read more...

By Matt Reed. Should community college students borrow more?
It seems like a ridiculous question, given the recent focus on student loan burdens and the move towards free community college. But there’s actually a serious argument for it. Read more...

By Matt Reed. (I should clarify: “dreaded” modifies “lab,” not “computer.” Although they aren’t mutually exclusive…)
Like any good future-oriented sort with a nerdy streak, I harbor a host of techno-fantasies about the future. Read more...

By Matt Reed. Quick, who’s likelier to default on a loan: someone with $100,000 of debt, or someone with $2000 of debt?
If you answered $100,000, sorry. The correct answer is $2,000. And the reasons for that shed light on the whole “student loan crisis” debate. Read more...

By Matt Reed. I could feel the urge to duck as I read this one. A returning correspondent, who is preparing a class on the history of the Middle East, writes:
An issue has, however, arisen regarding one of my new lectures. I happen to have an extremely image-intense lecture style, often showing over a hundred slides in a 50 minute lecture. I confidently assume most of my not-particularly-diverse student body doesn't know anything about Islam. So, I'm doing a lecture explaining the basics of Muhammad's life and teachings. I've therefore made slides showing images depicting various moments in Muhammad's life. On second thought, however, I wonder if showing those images is wise. Read more...

By Matt Reed. In what feels like a previous life, I used to read a lot of midcentury social theory. Some very smart people -- I’m thinking here of folks like David Riesman -- used to argue that the great crisis of the coming decades would be the sudden abundance of leisure. Read more...