The Gates effect

By Marc Parry, Kelly Field and Beckie Supiano, The Chronicle of Higher Education. In Bill and Melinda Gates' vision for higher education, more students will get a college experience similar to Terry Crosgrove's. Each morning, Crosgrove clocks in for the 05h30 shift packaging Slim Jims at a ConAgra plant in Troy, Ohio. On days off, he chips away at an associate degree offered through an experimental online programme at Southern New Hampshire University. The low-cost, self-paced education lacks courses and traditional professors. Instead, students progress by showing mastery of 120 ‘competencies’, such as "can use logic, reasoning and analysis to address a business problem". Read more...