Higher Education - Out-of-Step with Society

David Wiley, in his blog, iterating towards openness, has some text from his testimony to to the US Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education. He says -

In summary, higher education has fallen out of step with business, science, and everyday life. In order to realign itself with changes in society and in its student base higher education must find the will to innovate in the areas of openness, connectedness, personalization, and participation. I believe that openness is the key to enabling other innovations and catalyzing improvements in the quality, accountability, affordability, and accessibility of higher education. It is my recommendation that the Commission do everything within its power to promote a commitment to openness within higher education. In thinking about this work the Commission might fruitfully consider the many ways in which colleges and universities have collaborated with state and federal organizations to promote a culture of diversity in higher education.

Higher education in Canada needs the same openness to these kinds of innovations. We need to include the teaching and learning possibilites available through the web in our classes both as curriculum and as support for the curriculum.

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David Wiley
Higher Education
openness

More on Blogs

One of the interesting aspects of the web is that you don't always have to re-invent the wheel. Here is another page, called The New Learning Technologies Buffet, explaining what blogs are, with many examples of all types of blogs, including educational blogs.

Enjoy your meal ;-> http://learntech.pbwiki.com/TryBlogs

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blogs

A Blog to Follow

One of the most rewarding blogs in my Bloglines is TechCrunch. From TechCrunch, I have learned about all kinds of new applications, many of which are free. I recently read about a learning management system there - nuvvo - which is web-based. It's aimed at elearning, but I could see it being useful in a blended learning classroom environment as well.