Friday, 16 May 2014

Utah’s Higher Education System to Hit a Grand Collaboration

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It was only the previous Monday when the Utah System of Higher Education was elected to join hands with twelve other higher education systems throughout the nation. The intention was to look for wise solutions dedicated towards at-risk student populations. Being organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the multi-state collaboration comes with a $200,000 grant since state education officials constantly work to enhance access as well as anticipate outcomes from Utah’s colleges and universities.

Utah’s innovative ability exposed

  The Commissioner of Utah System of Higher Education, David Buhler, said that the grants indicate Utah’s ability of being innovative on a number of  fronts as
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they are progressing towards increasing college participation, preparation and completion. He further said, “Partnering with other state higher education systems will allow us to brainstorm new strategies and identify best practices on a nationwide scale, further ensuring that public higher education in Utah is accessible, affordable and high quality.”

66 by 2020
 
The grant proposal of Utah was able to point out several issues in regard to the state’s objective of having around 2/3rds of Utah’s adults with a post secondary certificate by the year 2020. The Utah Legislature has endorsed the goal named “66 by 2020” and it is also considered to be one of the primary aspects of the education agenda of Government Gary Herbert.

As per the state education officials, the grant money will be used to:
  • Serve about 27% of the people of Utah who haven’t completed their education in college

  • Remodel all the math requirements throughout the state that can meet all needs and requirements more effectively



  • Implement a system of analyzing predictions that can improve retention as well as admissions


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    In this respect, the spokeswoman for the Utah System of Higher Education, Melanie Heath, said that the objective is actually to point out incoming students who need help during the admission process and also to give them sufficient information. She added, “Their hope is to implement these predictive analytic throughout the system so they can find which kids they need to get in touch with and make sure they get connected to an adviser.”

    Learning from peers will matter a lot
     
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    The assistant commissioner of Outreach and Access, Melissa Miller Kincart, said that the grant money will play a key role in making Utah grab a position from where they can start learning from the success stories of other states. He further said that there is still an eagerness on their behalf to learn from their peers.

     Now, they stand with a stronger objective. They would now be taking part in the joint effort that would inspire and help them to enhance their efforts towards not only students’ access but also towards bringing success at both institutional and state levels. If this be done, the standards of higher education of Utah would achieve a different level.


    Tuesday, 25 March 2014

    Changing Face of Education: Boon or Bane?

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    Brick and mortar campuses, well manicured lawns, blackboards, desks, laboratories, library, study room, and common rooms. These are things we usually associate schools and colleges with. However, ask students now what springs to mind the first time they hear the word college, you’ll hear words like computers, laptops, internet, applications, online study forums, tabs and smartphones. The definition of education is slowly changing. As a former educator, I feel like an alien when students say ‘I Googled it’, instead of ‘I looked it up in the library’ or ‘I’ll catch you on Skype if I have queries’ instead of ‘I’ll meet you if I have any queries.’ So basically, not matter how much we may like or dislike it, there is no denying the fact that technology has invaded the world of education and is taking it by storm.

    MOOCs instead of formal college education: Educators’ point of view

    Recently, government officials and university leaders from the five continents got together to discuss and debate the changing face of education at the Princeton-Fung Global Forum in Paris. The main focus was on whether online education platforms are posing as a threat to society and academia.

    While Gideon Rosen, Stuart Professor of Philosophy and chair of the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, described the entire MOOC world as a nightmarish scenario, Daphne Koller, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and co-founder of Coursera, described that very world as the future of global education.

    According to Rosen, the MOOC World that provides college courses at a lesser price and more conveniently, makes the students pay a price as big as forsaking one on one interaction with their teachers. Imagine the teacher not even knowing the student’s name. That certainly is a tragedy. He also asked parents whether they want something like that for their children.
    “The worst-case scenario is that the scholar becomes a genuinely rare bird.” – Gideon Rosen, Stuart Professor of Philosophy and chair of the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University.
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    Counter question

    On the other hand you have professors from various universities who simply want us to see how pleasant the scenario is. Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera, points out how thousands of students, from all around the world, are benefiting from MOOCs. She agrees that online course certificates don’t carry the same value as college diplomas but she also adds that soon the employers will start accepting them.

    William Lawton, director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, London says that these courses do not affect the core worth of higher education but may pose as a commercial threat to universities. He also maintains that the future is blended, which means that higher education institutions will use the best of both worlds.

    In my opinion, MOOCs may just be the right thing for the future for higher education as long as it does not provide students with bad or wrong information. If a person can cut costs, do a job and study at the same time, then I’m sure it’s for the better of humanity.

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