Dear Commons Community,

The Online Learning Consortium’s Annual Conference got underway yesterday.  More than 1,700 on-site attendees are taking part in this event.  The keynote address was delivered by Goldie Blumenstyk, a reporter and an editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education since 1988.  She is nationally known for her expertise on for-profit higher education, college finances, and university patents and the commercialization of academic research. The focus of her keynote was based on her book, American Higher Education in Crisis? What Everyone Needs to Know, (Oxford University Press, 2015.

She reviewed fairly thoroughly issues (diversity, completion rates, tuition, student debt, and state funding) and provided facts and figures.  She knew her audience and went out of her way to comment that part of the solutions for these issues was technology and especially online education.

I thought her presentation was good but she could have commented a bit more about what is right about American higher education such as student access, research, and respect in the international community. 

Tony