Dear Commons Community,

I was recently ask to write a short article on regulating higher education paying particularly attention to the issues related to online programs.  It was published this morning by evoluTTTion, an online journal dedicated to providing a forum for “the lifelong learning community to provoke ideas, re-imagine education, inspire collaboration and create action to lead the transformative change in higher education.”

In this article, I specifically look at the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, local, and professional regulating and accreditation bodies.  My main thrust is:

“…no organizations welcome oversight and regulation but, given the importance of the higher education sector for the success of our society and way of life, they are necessary. No single agency has the wherewithal or expertise to do this alone. Federal, state and local governmental agencies can provide the leadership, but they have to be careful of political influences and well-financed lobbying campaigns that distort sound practice for other purposes and financial gain. The colleges and universities themselves, through peer accreditation as well as their own internal reviews, need to continually evaluate the quality of their programs to provide a balance to government oversight. Ultimately, by working together, all can maintain American higher education as a model for the rest of the world.”

Take a look!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

I just finished reading Jon Meacham’s:   Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power , which has been on the  best seller list for about nine weeks.  A review appeared in the New York Times on November 20, 2012.

Meacham’s book will satisfy any reader who likes biography.  It goes well into the details about Jefferson’s rise to political power with enough background on family and personal life.  It mentions and acknowledges his long relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings, but does not dwell on it.   Meacham’s most significant contribution is that he shows Jefferson as both a philosopher and a politician.  He could think great ideas and write about them in a way to move others.  By the same token, Jefferson was a skillful politician who learned how to maneuver the ins and outs of Washington.  His relationships with George Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton are well covered. There is also much about Jefferson the Renaissance man, who was interested in science, agriculture, philosophy and architecture.

A the end of the book, Meacham comments:

“The three achievements he ordered carved on his tombstone – as author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty, and as founder of the University of Virginia- speak to his love of the liberty of the mind  and of the heart, and to his faith in the future”.

Tony