The Campus Tsunami!

Dear Commons Community,

I am just back from giving a talk to colleagues at Lehman College on blended learning and what do I see in the New York Times but a column by David Brooks on online learning in higher education entitled The Campus Tsunami.  Essentially Brooks echoes President John Hennessy of Stanford who summed up the emerging view in an article by Ken Auletta in The New Yorker, “There’s a tsunami coming.”  What happened to the newspaper and magazine business is about to happen to higher education: a rescrambling around the Web.

Brooks comments and asks questions:

“Many of us view the coming change with trepidation. Will online learning diminish the face-to-face community that is the heart of the college experience? Will it elevate functional courses in business and marginalize subjects that are harder to digest in an online format, like philosophy? Will fast online browsing replace deep reading?

If a few star professors can lecture to millions, what happens to the rest of the faculty? Will academic standards be as rigorous? What happens to the students who don’t have enough intrinsic motivation to stay glued to their laptop hour after hour? How much communication is lost — gesture, mood, eye contact — when you are not actually in a room with a passionate teacher and students?”

His conclusion:

“it will be easier to be a terrible university on the wide-open Web, but it will also be possible for the most committed schools and students to be better than ever.”

A must read for those interested in online education!!

Tony

President Obama Issues Executive Order Protecting Veterans from Unscrupulous For-Profit Colleges!

Dear Commons Community,

President Barack Obama signed an executive order yesterday designed to protect veterans, current members of the military, and their families from deceptive marketing practices that some for-profit schools are using to target them for their military benefits. In his speech, Obama promised to put an end to recruiting strategies that he said “swindle and hoodwink” our troops and their families into making decisions against their best interests.

Here are a few of the recruiting habits Obama highlighted:

  • “They’ll say you don’t have to pay a dime for your degree, but once you register, they’ll suddenly make you sign up for a high-interest student loan.”
  • “They’ll say that if you transfer schools, you can transfer credits. But when you try to actually do that, you suddenly find out that you can’t.”
  • “They’ll say they’ve got a job placement program when, in fact, they don’t.”

Obama highlighted a particularly egregious case: “One of the worst examples of this is a college recruiter who had the nerve to visit a barracks at Camp Lejeune and enroll Marines with brain injuries — just for the money. These Marines had injuries so severe some of them couldn’t recall what courses the recruiter had signed them up for.”

Other scandals involve for-profit schools that have  used dishonest tactics to lure troops and veterans. The Student Veterans of America(SVA) recently discovered that, in an effort to appear “veteran friendly,” several schools established fake SVA chapters that were run by for-profit school administrators.

Obama said that it is time to put an end to scams and to follow through on the promise to give troops “an America that will forever fight for you, just as you fought for us.”

Thank you, Mr. President!  We also need an executive order for the for-profit colleges who scam non-veterans!

Tony

 

Harvard and MIT Put $60-Million Into New Platform for Free Online Courses!

Dear Commons Community,

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology yesterday announced a partnership that will host online courses from both institutions free of charge. The platform, its creators say, has the potential to improve face-to-face classes on the home campuses while giving students around the world access to a blue-ribbon education.

The new venture, called edX, grew out of MIT’s announcement last year that it would offer free online courses on a platform called MITx. The combined effort will be overseen by a nonprofit organization governed equally by both universities, each of which has committed $30-million to the project. Anant Agarwal,  director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, who led the development of MITx, will serve as edX’s first president.

Students who complete the courses on the edX platform will not receive university credit, although they could earn certificates.

Tony

Congress with its Short-Term Solutions is Abandoning College Students!

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times editorial today is right in criticizing Congress for dealing with student financial aid on a piece-meal basis.  Congress provided only enough money for five years of low-interest rates in 2007. Now that the rates are about to double, both Democrats and Republicans are failing to do the right thing again.  The editorial (full text below) comments:

“Members of Congress from both parties say they want to prevent interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans from going up in July, but they are fighting over how to pay for a solution. And by proposing quick-fix methods to pay for only a year’s worth of loan subsidies, both parties suggest they are not really serious about helping students afford college.

The Republican proposal, passed by the House last week, is unquestionably worse than the Democrats’ plan. To cover the $6 billion cost of keeping interest rates at 3.4 percent for a year, it would eliminate a farsighted fund established by the health care reform law to help states and communities prevent obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and infectious diseases, among other ailments.

The Democratic bill, now before the Senate, would pay for the cost by eliminating a loophole that allows owners of some small S-corporations to avoid paying their payroll taxes. The loophole has long been an unfair use of the tax code, and the bill would apply only to those who make more than $250,000 a year.

But the money the bill would raise in a decade would pay for only one year’s subsidy of student loans, keeping rates from rising to 6.8 percent in July. In a Congress that routinely passes 30-day extensions of funding for transportation and other necessities, a year is apparently considered a long-term solution.”

I agree fully with the editorial’s conclusion: “There is no better long-term solution to the nation’s economic troubles than increased access to higher education. It cannot be achieved with short-term extensions.”

Tony

——————————————————–

New York Times Editorial – May 3, 2012

Short-Term Fixes

Federally subsidized student loan rates were bound to become an election-year fight, since Congress provided only enough money for five years of low-interest rates in 2007. Now that the rates are about to double, both Democrats and Republicans are failing to do the right thing again.

Members of Congress from both parties say they want to prevent interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans from going up in July, but they are fighting over how to pay for a solution. And by proposing quick-fix methods to pay for only a year’s worth of loan subsidies, both parties suggest they are not really serious about helping students afford college.

The Republican proposal, passed by the House last week, is unquestionably worse than the Democrats’ plan. To cover the $6 billion cost of keeping interest rates at 3.4 percent for a year, it would eliminate a farsighted fund established by the health care reform law to help states and communities prevent obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and infectious diseases, among other ailments.

The Republicans never see any reason to offset the cost of tax cuts for the rich, but are always happy to raid “Obamacare” to pay for something that helps needy people, correctly guessing that the president would threaten to veto a bill because he wants to avoid paying their ransom price.

The Democratic bill, now before the Senate, would pay for the cost by eliminating a loophole that allows owners of some small S-corporations to avoid paying their payroll taxes. The loophole has long been an unfair use of the tax code, and the bill would apply only to those who make more than $250,000 a year.

But the money the bill would raise in a decade would pay for only one year’s subsidy of student loans, keeping rates from rising to 6.8 percent in July. In a Congress that routinely passes 30-day extensions of funding for transportation and other necessities, a year is apparently considered a long-term solution.

Democrats should have made the subsidy permanent when they passed it in 2007, but the cost was considered too high, even as Congress was writing blank checks for two overseas wars and had earlier approved the Bush tax cuts, which cost more than $2 trillion over a decade. Instead, they let the low rates expire five years later. Now that it is an election year, the issue has become a convenient cudgel against the misplaced priorities of Republicans, but the issue is too important for that.

More than 7.4 million low- and middle-income students rely on these loans to get a higher education, and the need will only grow as college costs spiral higher. States have forced tuition up by cutting their support for public colleges, and while some may have done so because student loans are cheaper, the more pressing reason is that they, too, are losing tax revenue and federal aid.

But Washington only wants to deal with these matters on a piecemeal basis, or when it is to one side’s political advantage. Pell grants for low-income students, for example, face an $8 billion annual shortfall beginning in 2014, when their mandatory funding runs out.

Republicans continue to resist any attempt to make these programs permanent. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island proposed making Stafford loan subsidies permanent, but Democrats now say they will be lucky to get the one-year extension.

There is no better long-term solution to the nation’s economic troubles than increased access to higher education. It cannot be achieved with short-term extensions.

 

 

 

 

 

New York State Assembly Passes Bill to Help Children of Illegal Immigrants Pay for College!

Dear Commons Community,

The Daily News is reporting that the New York State Assembly yesterday voted 136 to 3 to create a privately financed scholarship fund to help the children of immigrants pay college tuitions.

“This is a historic piece of legislation that will allow these children the opportunity to get money to go to college,” said Assemblyman Francisco Moya (D-Queens), the bill’s primary sponsor.

“This will open up a pathway for those students who can’t afford a (college education),” Moya added.

The measure now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.

“We are reviewing it,” said Scott Reif, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau).

Moya and other supporters described the bill as an important first step toward the controversial DREAM Act, which would authorize government-funded tuition assistance to the children of undocumented immigrants.

Tony
 

 

Princeton Review Accused of Fraud in Tutoring Services for New York City School Children!

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times, the Daily News and several other news outlets are reporting that the Federal Government has filed a lawsuit against the test-preparation company, the Princeton Review, accusing it of fraudulently claiming millions of dollars in reimbursement for tutoring services that they said it never delivered to hundreds of underprivileged schoolchildren in New York City.

“In the suit, which was brought against the company and a former supervisor, Ana Azocar, the government said the company submitted false claims between 2006 and 2010 for reimbursement for providing tutoring services under a federally financed program. “The company and certain of its employees forged student signatures, falsified sign-in sheets and provided false certifications in order to deceitfully profit from a well-meaning program,” the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Princeton Review, Denise DesChenes, said that Ms. Azocar no longer worked for the company and that the current management was “working closely with the U.S. attorney’s office to resolve this matter expeditiously.”

“The activity allegedly occurred within the company’s former Supplemental Educational Services division, which the company discontinued in 2010,” Ms. DesChenes said. “No former S.E.S. employees or executives are with the company today, and current management — most of whom joined the company after the division was shuttered — had no involvement or role in the affairs of S.E.S.”

The suit charges that students participating in Princeton Review tutoring sessions under the Supplemental Educational Services division were required to fill out attendance sheets that were used as part of the record to apply for reimbursement for the federal money. In New York, site managers were instructed by Ms. Azocar to falsify attendance records, the suit claimed. For example, it said, an invoice was submitted for 74 students who were signed in for a class in the Bronx on New Year’s Day in 2008, when there was no class.”

What a travesty that a company supposed to be helping children in need instead sees them as way to unscrupulously increase their profit margins.

For shame!!

Tony

 

 

 

Occupy Wall Street Ties Up Lower Manhattan!

 

Dear Commons Community,

Thousands of protesters converged on Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon in the culmination of May Day demonstrations organized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, resulting in occasionally bloody clashes and the arrests of more than 30 demonstrators.

All the arrests were on disorderly conduct charges, and most were of people who were blocking traffic or resisting arrest, said Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department. Protesters were arrested near Bryant Park in Midtown, on the Williamsburg Bridge, at a park on the Lower East Side and near Washington Square Park.

The New York Times reported:

“In other cities, including Los Angeles and Seattle, demonstrators snarled traffic and smashed windows. Protesters in Oakland, Calif., clashed with officers in riot gear, who fired tear gas. May Day protests were also held around the world, with large crowds marching in Manila and Tunis.

Near Washington Square Park, demonstrators carrying a banner that read “On Strike” disregarded police warnings to stay on the sidewalk and stepped onto Avenue of the Americas. Several officers tackled and arrested them.”

Tony

 

Rupert Murdoch: Not Fit to Lead a Major International Corporation!

Dear Commons Community,

Chairman Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person” to lead a major international company, U.K. lawmakers said, after his U.K. unit misled Parliament about the extent of phone hacking at its News of the World tabloid.  Bloomberg News is reporting:

“Murdoch “turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications,” the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee said in a report published in London today. “This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organization and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corp.”

Three executives at the News International unit — Les Hinton, Tom Crone and Colin Myler — gave misleading testimony to the committee in 2009, the panel said. The company failed to disclose documents and made statements that “were not fully truthful,” and Murdoch, 81, and his son James must ultimately take responsibility, the lawmakers said.”

The 11-member committee has been working on its report since July, when the Murdochs were summoned to testify about their roles in the scandal. They told a media-ethics inquiry last week underlings, particularly Crone and Myler, were to blame for their failure to detect any wrongdoing at the now defunct newspaper.

“The News of the World and News International misled the committee about the true nature and extent of the internal investigations they professed to have carried out in relation to phone hacking,” the panel said. “Their instinct throughout was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing.”

Tony

Occupy Wall Street – May Day Activities!!!

Dear Commons community,

Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country will attempt to rejuvenate the movement with a May Day “general strike” today, May 1st.

In New York, organizers have scheduled  activities across the city all day–including a “guitarmy,” a concert in Union Square, flash meditation mobs, and a climatic “solidarity march”

See the full schedule for New York City’s “A Day Without the %99” .

Tony

One World Trade Center Surpasses the Height of the Empire State Building!

Dear Commons Community,

One World Trade Center surpassed the height of the Empire State Building yesterday  to lay claim to the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper, standing just a little over 1,250 feet.

The signature skyscraper under construction at Ground Zero in New York is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that owns the 16-acre World Trade Center site where the original eight-story 6 World Trade Center once stood.

The skyscraper has 104 stories and, at the time of its expected completion in 2013, will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest building in the world, reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet, in reference to the year of American independence.

A great day for New York!

Tony