Dear Commons Community,

A colleague of mine, Eric Fredericksen,  at the University of Rochester, has an article in Bloomberg Businessweek today, in which he shares his institution’s experience in developing MOOC courses with Coursera.  He provides a balanced assessment of the possibilities with MOOC technology.  His conclusion:

“Improvements do need to be made. To meet the demand of online learners who desire more face-to-face interaction, universities will need to develop hybrid models that combine online and in-person learning. We may also need more flexible schedules—say, three two-day, in-person sessions at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester, coupled with an online learning component along the way.

If they take such an approach, universities will have to decide how and whether to pre- and/or post-screen students, and if hybrid courses should count toward a non-degree certificate or a traditional degree.

Institutions of higher learning that fail to explore online opportunities do so at their own risk. Twenty-first century institutions of higher education cannot afford to leave 21st century learners behind.”

Well-done and good advice!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

College student loan borrowers have had very little to be grateful for from the policies of the present administration in the U.S. Department of Education.  However, a small step in the right direction was made when officials announced that borrowers may now access the U.S. government’s latest rankings of loan specialists.  As reported in The Huffington Post:

“… the Department of Education on Tuesday abruptly reversed its temporary ban on providing customer service scores.

Among the department’s four major loan servicers, SLM Corp., the nation’s largest student loan company (better known as Sallie Mae), finished or tied for last in the three customer satisfaction surveys for the three-month period ending Sept. 30. Respondents to the surveys included school personnel, Education Department employees and borrowers. The company also placed last for the year ending June 30. Nelnet Inc., the Nebraska-based student loan specialist, recorded the fewest borrowers and loan amounts entering default.

The quarterly rankings, which combine survey results with data on loan defaults, are closely watched by Wall Street and others, as they determine how much new business the Education Department will send annually to loan servicers such as Sallie Mae. Borrowers and consumer advocates keep tabs on the rankings to measure how well loan specialists are treating households whose debt payments they collect. Policymakers outside the Education Department also use the scores as part of their efforts to improve servicing of federal student debt, which is now carried by some 40 million Americans who collectively owe $1.1 trillion…

For a department under fire from student advocates over its allegedly lackluster efforts to supervise student loan servicers, the move to reduce disclosure was viewed by some consumer groups and other higher education experts as an attempt to shield companies such as Sallie Mae from additional scrutiny. Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said last month that the Education Department was not “sufficiently focused on its primary clients: students.”

Sallie Mae, among the department’s biggest contractors and the former employer of many of the department’s employees, faces investigations into allegedly anti-borrower practices from the Department of Justice, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and about a half-dozen state attorneys general. The Education Department recently told Sallie Mae it intends to renew its lucrative federal contract, drawing criticism from groups representing students, teachers and public colleges.”

In sum, this new move will help students decide the better loan provieders.  However, the bigger problem is that we are still saddling tens of millions of students with debt.  Rather than tinkering year after year with federal regulations and questionable student loan providers, we have the wealth in this country to start thinking about moving to a free higher education system.

Tony