Category: Education

Quote – Education and the Recession

In the early 20th century, Europe decided that a high school education would be wasted on the masses. The United States instead made high school universal, and its newly skilled work force helped build everything from the hugely productive factories of the Midwest to modern Hollywood to the world’s most innovative retail and technology sectors.

Over the long term, the best response to the current downturn, by far, would be for the country to regain the global lead in education.

Of course, that will take years, maybe decades.

David Leonhardt, “For Those With Jobs, a Recession With Benefits“, NYTimes

Technology, the US and soccer #kmdp2puDJ

If you were cheering or blowing your vuvuzela for a native English speaking team this world cup, odds are you believe the refs screwed you, your team, and your World Cup championship aspirations.  Goals for both the American and UK players were withheld, while the ESPN and ABC commentators added their own razzle dazzle special effects to prove the validity of the goal and the terribly bad judgement/eye sight–or is it bias?–of the international referees trying their best to call a fair and balanced football match.

As a US-based spectator, my view of the referees and those specific calls (as well as the opinions of my immediate social circle) are all clouded.  Technology is the culprit.  It’s made me terribly easy to sway with facts, figures, statistics and even images and replays that the rest of the world (including the refs) are not privy to.  In fact, I’d say the ESPN-loving, 24 hour sports new channel watching fans in the US are spoiled with technology.

Soccer is not our forte in the US.  On a professional level it’s not nearly as popular as the big 4 (or perhaps even golf, Nascar or tennis for that matter).  What is popular in every sport though, is the US flavor of augmented reality for sports.  The graphical overlay, super-slo-mo in HD and other technology-intensive methods that help the general public digest what just happened in a sporting game.  It may have been too fast for the ump, ref or official to notice, but the general public (through replay, coach’s challenge or booth review) becomes an embedded participant in athletic fairness moderated by technology.

Which is perhaps why we have so much trouble with FIFA and the World Cup play.  That level of participation is simply not available.  There’s no replay (except on our TV) and fairness is moderated by human fallibility manifested in the referees on the field rather than the technological aids provided to the “booth” or referees on the field.  When a bad call ruins the day for a pitcher in the US, the ump apologizes and he hugs it out with the player he fouled.  When it happens at the World Cup there’s little discourse.  Instead it seems that the public takes to other technological channels (e.g. the ref’s Wikipedia page) to slay their opponent online while the game in question is altered in a significant, yet unknowable way.  As spectators used to knowing the outcome unequivocally (technology doesn’t lie) we’re left sulking and thinking ‘if only’ we could fix the World Cup technologically and put these issues to rest.  ESPN certainly doesn’t help with their coverage and augmented view through sports’ replay.  While watching any of the Cup coverage just wait for them to acknowledge their technological superiority.  As one ESPN Anchor said as they rotated the frozen image of German and English players on the field to better highlight the goal plane and the ball which had undoubtedly crossed it: “look at our technology”.

Should FIFA adopt goal line technology and the instant replay mentality of US-sports?  Maybe.  Or maybe they should maintain the human touch and human error that makes World Cup play so exciting.  Who’s to say that the introduction of technology wouldn’t change things for the worse?  After all, if the US goal had been allowed would Koman Coulibaly even have a page in Wikipedia?

Lose your career? Here’s a voucher!

Caught this from one of my favorite sites: “Colleges not training students to growing fields“.  It’s interesting to me because on NPR this morning (DC) there was a guy talking about the lose of jobs due to computers vs. the oil rig fiasco in the Gulf.

Either way, he proposed, out of work American’s should get vouchers to go to school, get life coaching, trade schooling, certificates, etc. because “an individual knows better what to do in order to find work” than some government agency.  I’m not proposing the opposite, but it seems to me that sometimes the individual doesn’t or can’t really know what job or career path they should be pursuing.  Passion is one thing, but getting knocked out of a job due to IT integrations doesn’t necessarily mean that the person had a good fix on what they wanted to do before either.

I’m all for developing the out of work workforce, but guidance is a necessary endeavor (there’s a reason the 50s/60s had such a high focus on math, science and engineering; and it wasn’t individually driven.  It was a national goal).

Just saying.

Digital Journalism #kmddj10 @p2pu; Welcome to no-credit college.

Who needs credit these days anyway?  Peer to Peer University (P2PU), if you’re not familiar, is a free, open, online “university” (non-accredited) that offers courses I never would have found at the University of Vermont (no offense UVM, but you’re not exactly pushing the boundaries of higher learning).

This whole notion of free, online, open learning has captivated me, whether through MIT OCW, University of the People or P2PU is a great leap in access for learners everywhere.  After just a week of the Digital Journalism course I can say that the course has very much exceeded my expectations.  Here are a few reasons I was interested in the course:

  • it’s FREE education, man!
  • I run Moodlenews.com, which is fun, but I’m always looking to improve the site so learning a little more about real digital journalism practices will be a good exercise for my brain
  • who doesn’t need to improve their writing?
  • I  need/want/yearn for constructive feedback.  Comments are great (if you get them) but otherwise I’m left wondering where my writing falls on a scale of ‘crap to awesome’.
  • Finally, I want to learn first hand if this model of education is worthwhile.  What happens when students globally take a course for no credit while students locally take the same course for credit?  Can it work?  If it does, what does that mean for the future of credit?  (because they’ve essentially become valueless in that scenario).

And to be fair, these are a few reasons now why I’m glad I enrolled,

It’s my hunch that organizations like P2PU will continue to grow in power and influence in higher education.  Already they’re redefining what it means to take college level courses and grow professionally.  Perhaps someday my kids will earn a degree for free from P2PU based on the legacy of the volunteers that are running it today.  My participation only furthers that goal.

Quote – “Mandate…the right to attend college”

Under the rules of unemployment insurance, which has been extended to millions more people since the financial crisis hit, recipients must confirm that they are actively looking for work and generally are not allowed to enroll in college. Last year, the president urged states to loosen these restrictions. But lawmakers can, and should, go much further. The next time they extend unemployment benefits, they should mandate that anyone eligible also has the right to attend college, as long as they’re enrolled full-time in a one- or two-year degree program.

From the Washington Monthly article, Degrees of Speed – Jamie Merisotis and Stan Jones

Quote – Daniel Bennett, Forbes.com

Let’s make all student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy, but instead of the taxpayers taking the hit when student loans go sour, colleges should absorb the loss, or at least a portion of it.

This would incentivize colleges to focus on providing educational value and help their students launch a career–knowing that if they fail in their mission, there are real consequences. Maybe then colleges would be more attentive to helping their students succeed.

Daniel Bennet, “When Good Loans go Bad” (http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/25/student-loans-bankruptcy-leadership-education-bennett_2.html)

Pretty interesting concept.  It certainly would be opposed by most higher education institutions I believe.  I imagine that it would severely alter U of Phoenix and the other for profits recruiting efforts.