Higher education articles

Higher education in 2020: three key forecasts from new report

by William Lawton, The Guardian, October 2, 2013

Lawton reports on the findings of the Horizon Scanning report produced by the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education

He starts of on a slightly positive note saying that the “short answer is that 2020 is only seven years away and, with a bit of luck, things should not get much worse” and then provides context for three key findings in the report:

  • People, not technology, will drive educational change
  • Academic provision and accreditation are unbundling
  • Higher education will continue to globalise – but gradually

And concludes with comment that the paper also suggests that the “withdrawal of the state from funding higher education teaching in the developed world … will not be reversed as the global economy enters a recovery cycle up to 2020” — some things are international

Full text of article – report is only available to OBHE members

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Writing Instruction Using an Online Assignment Planner

Boba Samuels, Kelly McDonald and Emmy Misser from Wilfrid Laurier University, report published by The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), 2013

A freely available to all students online assignment planner guides students through the process of researching and writing an academic paper, projecting a timeline for each paper and breaking down the research and writing process. Although the research project did not have a definitive answer on “whether integrating use of the AP into large classes has benefits for students and/or professors,”  researchers noted that how such tools are introduced to students (less stigma that only those with poor grades should use the tool or making use part of the grade) would probably increase the students’ use of this and other study aids – that the instructor’s play a real role in the success of online resources for students.

Summary of report and full text of report

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The New, Nonlinear Path Through College

By Jeffrey J. Selingo, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 30, 2013

The article comments on how students since the 1970s are not necessarily moving through post secondary education in a neat linear fashion, they are:

swirling through higher education more than ever before. They attend multiple institutions—sometimes at the same time—extend the time to graduation by taking off time between semesters, mix learning experiences like co-op programs or internships with traditional courses, and sign up for classes from alternative providers such as Coursera or edX, which offer free massive open online courses (MOOCs), or StraighterLine, which offers cheap introductory courses online – para. 4.

People no longer necessarily stay in one job, organization, or even one career for their whole working lives. Lifelong learning and career choices require more options for developing the training for the next phase(s)

Full text article

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