EPIC 2020: A Bleak Future for Higher Ed

William Sams, recently appointed interim associate provost for information technology and chief information officer at Ohio University, has a rather dark view of the future of higher education.

In his world, campuses will be reserved for the ultra-wealthy or athletically gifted because most college degrees will have been replaced by badges earned through free online courses. In addition, Apple will buy Amazon to become a learning resource giant, Google will deliver free online classes called Evolving Personal Information Construct (EPIC) where students can earn those badges, and all of it will happen by 2020. Sams presented his observations in a web video called EPIC 2020 (embedded below).

“It’s not my sole objective to be right or wrong here, but to get people talking about things that need to be discussed,” Sams told eCampus News. “All of us are trapped in the paradigm of how things have been, the system we’ve existed in all our lives. A lot of [educators] have a worldview that makes it impossible for them to even see solutions to problems that exist today.”

In the video, Sams predicts Congress will eliminate Pell Grants next year, students will demand colleges only charge for learning assessment, and new funding will go to free online learning platforms to fill the void left by the disruption of traditional higher education. In addition, Apple buys Amazon to create the world’s largest content-distribution site, called Applezon.

“I see some of those things happening,” Martin Van Der Werf, a blogger for The College of 2020 ed-tech site, told eCampus News. “They won’t replace higher ed altogether, but serve some pockets of higher ed. The video is almost a work of science fiction, and the value in sci-fi is that it helps you image worlds that don’t exist yet. Sci-fi stories draw plausible scenarios that make you think of what is possible, and that’s why this video might be valuable.”

One of Sams’ projections is already starting to come to fruition. On July 10, Google launched its first free online class, called Power Searching with Google. Students will use Google+ groups to discuss class materials and will earn a certificate when they finish the course.

Survey Gives E-Text Pilots Mixed Grades

As 27 colleges and universities get set to launch a second round of e-textbook pilot programs, Internet2, the high-speed networking group partnering with Educause on its program, has released a study of five universities that conducted similar e-text pilots last spring.

Students liked saving money with the e-text alternatives, but were not as impressed by reading on electronic devices, found the e-book platforms hard to navigate, and on a whole, preferred to stay with print books. In addition, professors in the survey did not use the collaborative features built into the platforms, such as the ability to share notes or create links, according to a report in the Chronicle for Higher Education.

That report found that cost and portability were deciding factors for students to buy an e-text. However, they proved to be difficult to read and, because faculty didn’t use the enhanced features available with the platform, the e-books failed to help students interact with classmates or the instructor.

“With technology, many things change with repeated use,” said Bradley Wheeler, vice president for information technology, University of Indiana, Bloomington. “People have lots of early first impressions as they experience new things, and then over time you start to see things become more mainstream as technology improves and skills and even attitudes toward use improve.”

Wheeler developed the program at Indiana, in which the university negotiated with publishers to buy e-textbooks in bulk to get a better per-book price and then charged students a mandatory fee to cover the cost. Cornell and the Universities of Minnesota, Virginia, and Wisconsin at Madison participated with Indiana in the pilot program and survey.

The research also had recommendations for schools considering this e-text approach, including making sure e-texts are available in a variety of formats and training instructors to use the features built into digital course materials.

Survey: Professors Open to Modern Techniques

Professors have mixed feelings about technologies in the academic world, but most are trying to get their arms around new ideas and processes. That’s the conclusion of a new survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed and the Babson Survey Research Group focus on faculty views of online education, in addition to professors’ outlook on the growth of e-textbooks, digital library collections, data monitoring, and the idea of moving away from traditional lecturing.

The survey is based on the responses of 4,564 faculty from various types of institutions, and 591 administrators responsible for academic technology at their campuses.

Tech tools intended to help faculty manage tasks and, by extension, reduce their stress seem to be having the opposite effect. The increase in technology appears to increase stress levels for some professors. Some suggest that has to do with professors being available 24/7 through e-mail and text.

Online Education Diploma - What You Need to Know

An online education diploma is an academic or professional qualification that is awarded to students upon completion of a course of study through an online institution or a distance learning program that is offered over the Internet. Online diploma programs are becoming more prevalent as time goes on. There are many benefits that are associated with obtaining an online education diploma. Firstly, online education diploma programs often allow for greater time flexibility than traditional diploma programs because of their online nature. This allows pupils enrolled in the programs to attend to their other commitments and study at a time that is convenient for them. However, this often requires excellent organizational and motivation skills. Another benefit of online educational programs is that they allow someone to take a course of studies without having to be near the campus. This makes the course more accessible for many students who otherwise would not enroll in the program due to issues of relocation, and the costs involved with having to relocate. Online educational programs also allow one to hold a full-time job, so there is no halt to a steady income. This is a major aspect of why many people find online programs so appealing, as there is often less of a financial burden to students of online programs.

Online education diplomas from accredited institutions are of academic merit. They can be a stepping stone to further education. Online diplomas may also allow people to advance in their careers, by gaining or enhancing skills that will put them at an advantage in the competitive workforce. Online education diploma programs can be good for someone looking to enhance their already existing skills, or someone who is looking to gain new skills. Either way, completion of an online education from an accredited and reputable institution is a testimonial of your skills. There are various assessment methods for online programs. Often these are examinations and online tests, essays, and online participation on message boards.

When enrolling in any type of online program, it is crucial to ensure that the program is offered by an accredited institution or professional agency. There are plenty of online companies that will issue a diploma to anyone willing to purchase one. Purchased online diplomas are meritless in the academic and professional world, and will make purchasers look like frauds looking to cheat their way through. Students and potential students can greatly benefit from the advantages of an online diploma, although it may not be the best option for everyone.

Music Suit May Decide Fate of Used E-Books

Come Oct. 5, the music and publishing industries will probably be glued to the copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Capitol Records against ReDigi, an online startup selling previously owned digital music. The suit is slated to head to U.S. District Court in New York City to decide whether ReDigi has the legal right to buy digital songs from their original purchasers and resell them to other consumers.

 

Although the suit deals with music files, publishers are watching carefully because ReDigi expressed to Publishers Weeklyan intent to resell used e-books in the same manner. Publishing companies that were counting on e-books to zap the used-book market out of existence may now be faced with the prospect of an even larger market if ReDigi prevails in court.

However, unlike the secondary sale of CDs and print books, the musicians and authors would receive a payment from ReDigi for each used digital item sold. ReDigi has plans to let recording companies and publishers get a cut, too. MIT’s Technology Review explained the detailsof ReDigi’s business model, but in short it works like this: ReDigi transfers a music file to its cloud servers while simultaneously deleting the file from the seller’s synched device. When the file is resold, the reverse occurs. The sum received is split among ReDigi, the seller, the artist, and eventually the producing company.

Capitol’s lawsuit claims ReDigi violates copyright law because it’s actually making a copy of the music file when it’s uploaded to the cloud servers, then making another copy when it’s downloaded to a new buyer.

For its part, ReDigi has built some antipiracy controls into the transaction. Music files are checked for legal ownership before being accepted for resale; “ripped” files are rejected. A digital signature is added to each file when it’s resold so that companies could track any illegal activity thereafter.

If it gets the chance to resell e-books, ReDigi also plans to sweeten the deal for publishers by harvesting and sharing reader data from the used titles—such as length of time spent, number of times the e-book was accessed, and skipped sections—that could aid publishers in better understanding their audience. That’s information that could be particularly handy for textbook publishers.

New Site Helps Sort Through Online Course Offerings

College students can go online for everything from a pizza to their textbooks for the upcoming semester. Now there’s a web site that purports to help them get a better job after graduation.

Skilledup.com is a portal for online courses and practical training programs. With a sluggish economy and a tight job market for college graduates, the site has been designed to make it easy to find and compare course options through the use of keyword searches. It claims to have more than 40,000 online courses from hundreds of providers, and is working to include massive open online course sites, such as Udacity and Coursera.

“If education doesn’t have [return on investment], it probably doesn’t deserve to be called education,” said Nick Gidwani, who launched the site Aug. 21. “There are so many kids out there earning seven bucks an hour who can have a decent life in a short period of time. … And this is one way to achieve that.”

Gidwani created the site after watching two interns he had hired for $12 an hour land high-paying jobs in just months after taking a series of low-cost online courses. The site was his solution for workers to sort through all the possible courses available online.

“There are so many kids graduating these days who are smart and really computer-savvy, but don’t really have any skills that translate on Day One,” he told eCampus News. “So many people spend $100,000 on a college education and don’t have much to show on the first day of work. That’s unfortunate.”

Opinions Changing About Electronic Devices in Schools

A new back-to-school poll from SodaHead found that attitudes about digital device usage in schools are changing. Nearly 75% of respondents were against banning cellphones from school property and 31% felt laptops should be allowed in high school classrooms.

SodaHead is a polling site that allows people to share their opinions on topics ranging from entertainment and gossip to education and politics. While the school survey questions are a bit vague, opinions expressed on the polls may be helpful to track trends of the young people the site targets.

Just 27% of the more than 2,000 respondents were in favor of banning cellphones, with 41% willing to let students bring them to school, if they are off during class time. Texting during class didn’t fare well, with 52% voting no and another 31% saying it should be allowed only during an emergency.

When it came to tablet computers, 29% felt they should be permitted in high school and 21% would like to see them used in middle school. Thirty-one percent of respondents would allow laptops in high school, with another 25% willing to allow them in middle school.

Views on replacing printed textbooks with e-books were mixed, with 30% approving of the idea, 34% saying no, and 36% saying they would like to see e-books introduced in some classrooms, but not all.

The poll remains open to anyone interested in participating.