Practice
Show me the money: Shifting legislative conversations about the cost of distance education
Published by: Lindsey Rae Downs | 10/4/2019 | 0 comments
Online education can often be polarizing—some advocates champion it as higher education’s savior, bringing access and affordability to students across the globe. Others see it as the modern equivalent of a Trojan horse come to assault the quality of higher education. Questions of the quality of online education aside, one of the biggest lightening rods […]
Practice
Let the DATA drive: Washington community & technical college’s journey to establish OER and Low-Cost codes
Published by: Erin Noelle Walton | 3/21/2019 | 0 comments
In this blog, Mark Jenkins and Boyoung Chae detail the vital benefits of using a data-driven approach in OER initiatives to promote affordability and student success for Washington’s Community and Technical Colleges. Their approach helped to meet two important goals: Meet students’ needs for learning which courses use free or “low-cost” resources, which aids them […]
Practice
Three A’s Driving the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act
Published by: Ashley Woods | 8/6/2015 | 1 comments
This summer the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee has begun the process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act of 1965. As some of you have experienced in previous reauthorizations, the committee has been holding hearings to determine what key factors of the Act that need updates. Through modern technology I have been […]
One Student’s Reality of Excessive Online College Fees
Published by: Russ Poulin | 1/16/2014 | 2 comments
January 16, 2014 Today, President Obama convenes a “Summit” on higher education access and affordability. Given that theme, I thought it would be appropriate to hear one student’s perspective. Celia Perez is an adult, a single parent, an employee, and someone with ambition to get a get a bachelor’s and, eventually, a graduate degree. Seeing […]
Practice
California Switches Driver on Road to Future of Higher Education
Published by: WCET Frontiers | 1/15/2013 | 7 comments
In dealing with tight budgets, limited access to courses, growing costs to students, and concerns about educational quality, we’re noticing that governors and legislators in states and provinces are asking tough questions. Many see technology as part of the answer and they are engaging their higher education leaders in designing ways to better serve their […]
Should Online Courses Charge Less? It Doesn’t Just Happen
Published by: Russ Poulin | 3/22/2012 | 14 comments
I was recently invited to address the Indiana Commission for Higher Education on this issue. They had received several proposals for distance programs in recent months. Each one was pricing its courses at a rate higher than its on-campus counterpart. The Commissioners asked, “If technology is bringing down costs in other industries, why isn’t that […]