July 29th, 2010
Education News
Roundup
Articles posted by five reliably interesting sources of
news about higher education.
Apple's Controlling Instincts
Hit Time and SI
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53004
July 29th, 2010
If you want to sell your magazine through iPad, you
have to sell it through Apple (which will take 30 percent).
The company will not allow you to sell subscriptions on
your own website. Ryan Chittum writes, "Apple justifies its
controlling instincts by saying the iPad (and iPhone) are a
'curated platform.' But that has little to do with letting non-
pornographic magazines sell subscriptions. Apple's behavior is
setting it up for some serious antitrust scrutiny down the line.
It will be well deserved. Meantime, the media had better get
hold of this tiger before it gets hold of them." Ryan Chittum,
Columbia Journalism Review, July 28, 2010 [Tags: Apple Inc.
, Subscription Services ] [ Link ] [ Comment ]
Adding Classes While Others
Cut
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/sdccd
July 29th, 2010
This coming academic year, when nearly all of California’s
72 community college districts are either cutting classes or
keeping their numbers level despite unprecedented demand,
one district is bucking the trend and adding classes. But it
is taking a significant risk in doing so with one-time money
— without knowing whether it will be able to maintain the
funding to make the additions permanent.
Last week, the San Diego Community College District
announced that it was adding about 1,150 classes for the
academic year that starts Aug. 23. Most of the classes will be
in high-demand general education transfer subjects, remedial
sections and work force development programs. This reverses
a two-year trend of cuts in which the district’s three colleges
— City College, Mesa College and Miramar College — trimmed
nearly 1,900 classes.
Richard Dittbenner, director of public information and
government relations, noted that the district is using reserve
Published by: philosophyandrew
funds and scraping together the remaining balance from
its operating budget to pay for the additional classes. He
acknowledged that the district cannot make a habit of
spending what is essentially money from its rainy day fund to
maintain the increase indefinitely.
“We’re banking that the state of California will provide us with
at least a 2 percent budget increase for growth in each of the
next two years,” said Dittbenner, referring to what some say
is the general consensus in Sacramento on higher education
funding as the 2011-12 state budget undergoes debate. “For
this year, it’s one-time money, but we hope we’re going to
be able to catch up on the balance sheet. We can sweep the
reserves against next year and float these classes again. But,
after two years, if the state doesn’t fund growth of classes —
oh my goodness — then the future of the classes we added is
inconclusive.”
The district’s move follows a disruptive 2009-10 academic
year, when the state’s community college budget was cut
by 8 percent and, as a result, classes were cut by more
than 6 percent statewide. Students were turned away from
community colleges around the state in record numbers,
unable to get a seat in at least one class. About 10,000 students
were turned away from the San Diego Community College
District -- which already serves around 100,000 students.
Amid prior instability, the California Legislature has yet to
formally approve a budget for the current fiscal year, which
began July 1.
Dittbenner said he hopes his district’s move will send a
message to lawmakers in Sacramento to rethink how higher
education is funded in the state. He argued that the state law
requiring that community college districts spend at least 50
percent of their general fund revenue on classroom instruction
— essentially just faculty salaries — forced his district to take
this financial risk.
“That 50 percent doesn’t include counselors, librarians, IT
support, etc.,” Dittbenner said. “Presumably these are things
which enhance instruction. If expenses on the wrong side of
that equation exceed money spent on instruction, then you’re
fined by the state. Well, because of the state budget program
here in California, the chancellor’s office agreed to a workload
reduction, which downsized most of the community colleges in
the state. That put many districts, including us, on the wrong
side of that equation. To get back on the right side, we either
had to increase instructional expenses or drastically reduce
non-instruction expenses by $4 million.”
The district’s decision not to fire full-time contract staff,
Dittbenner explained, was informed by Chancellor Constance
Carroll’s belief that these individuals are “as essential to
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July 29th, 2010
the well-being and integrity of the academic program” as
professors. Laying off full-time staff, he continued, would only
further hurt the district. Given the alternatives, he said, the
district will hire back some of the same adjunct instructors it
had to lay off during the past two years to teach the courses
it is adding with one-time funds, with the understanding that
their stay may not last longer than two years.
Dittbenner acknowledged that it could be somewhat
problematic policy for both students and faculty to offer a slew
of new courses without the guarantee that the district would
be able to maintain them beyond two years. But the district, he
said, is “caught between a rock and a hard place.”
“We were forced to spend or we’d be fined for not meeting the
50 percent rule,” Dittbenner said. “We think the 50 percent
rule should change, and we would be supportive of efforts to
change it so that, at a bare minimum, it included counselors
and librarians and related expenses.”
Faculty leaders at the district’s three colleges, by and large,
applaud the move to add more classes but admit they would
also be hesitant to make such a move if times were better
financially.
Cynthia Rico Bravo, Academic Senate president and a
counselor/professor at San Diego Mesa College, called the
decision to use one-time money to fund additional classes “a
noble move.”
“It’s a great step that the district has decided not to decimate
the non-instructional end,” Bravo said. “All research shows
that students can only meet their goals with the help of student
support services. It’s also a win-win that it’ll allow more
students to fulfill their classroom requirement right now.”
In the short term, Bravo explained, the extra sections will
help the many local students who are just a few credits shy
of graduating and have had to postpone completion due to
the budget crisis. Beyond the immediate completion push,
she added, the move appeals to faculty members because it
provides more access to incoming students.
“Are we fooling students by offering this many sections for
right now if we can’t be sure we can keep it up?” Bravo said. “I
see that point, but I don’t think so. We have faith that we’ll be
able to somehow fund what we have now. We’re lobbying as
hard as we can. But access is important to us. Right now, this
is a good opportunity, especially when you come to the first
week of classes and there are tons of students coming to you
begging for classes.”
Acknowledging the role that the 50 percent law played in her
district’s decision to add classes, she said that she believes the
rule needs to change to accommodate other student service
expenses. Still, she noted that her perspective is not typical of
all faculty members, given that she is both a counselor and a
professor, and it is rare to see a person in a faculty leadership
position who straddles this divide.
Jim Mahler, president of the local branch of the American
Federation of Teachers’ union that covers most of the district’s
faculty, takes a different perspective on the 50 percent rule.
“It did force the district’s hand to add more instructional
costs back into the budget, there’s no doubt about it,” Mahler
said. “Is there something wrong with the 50 percent rule? Not
Published by: philosophyandrew
necessarily. If anything, this just shows how way out of whack
[the district] was on the 50 percent law.”
Mahler does not think that adding counselors and librarians to
this count would have mattered much in case of his district’s
decision. While he applauded the move to add more courses,
he said he would have preferred for the college to add full-time
faculty instead of adjuncts.
“Hiring full-timers would help the district get back in line with
the 50 percent rule faster,” Mahler noted. “At this point in
time, when you need to spend $4.8 million, why not hire all
full-timers? If things turn around, then that’s great. But, if not,
you can just reduce sections but at least you’ll have the faculty
there.”
Statewide academic observers are taking note of the San Diego
district's decision and its relative risk.
Jane Patton, president of the Academic Senate of California
Community Colleges, said that faculty and administrators
often have no guarantees that they will be able to maintain a
certain number of class sections from semester to semester.
The term-by-term fluctuation, however, is typically much
smaller than the 1,150 sections being added at San Diego’s
three colleges.
Though Patton acknowledged that her organization has been
approached many times about altering the 50 percent law, she
believes the much larger issue is not how much should be spent
on faculty salaries, but how much the state should be spending
on community colleges.
“The academic senate is willing to discuss the 50 percent law to
include counselors and librarians,” Patton said. “But the only
blame is really a lack of funding from the state. We have no
idea what’s going to happen in Sacramento.”
As for how the rest of the state will receive the news that one of
its largest community college districts is adding a ton of classes
this coming year, Dittbenner said reaction would be mixed.
“Some people will see this and say, ‘Things are so bad and
they added all these classes. Now why can’t our district do the
same?’ ” he said. “Still, there are slightly different challenges
in budgeting from district to district. We’ve made a move
consistent with our values, and our district enjoys a good fiscal
reputation.… Still, to use a west coast metaphor, we’re riding
the wave, but we could wipe out.”
The Core Division at Champlain College is charged with
delivering a four-year fully integrated curriculum to all
traditional undergraduate students. ...
The Core Division at Champlain College is charged with
delivering a four-year fully integrated curriculum to all
traditional undergraduate students. ...
Campus Description: Stony Brook University, home to many
highly ranked graduate research programs, is located 60 miles
from New York City on Long ...
Keiser University is a regionally accredited, private, career
university that provides educational programs at the
undergraduate and graduate levels ...
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July 29th, 2010
"Drag On Video" Lets You
Easily Splice Together
Portions Of Different YouTube
Videos
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53003
July 29th, 2010
Larry Ferlazzo introduces us to Drag On Video , which lets
us splice YouTube videos in a web page and display them as
a single unit. Warning ! This will eat time if you let it! Still, I
can't get over how fun this is to play with. Larry Ferlazzo, Larry
Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…, July 28, 2010 [Tags: Video
, YouTube ] [ Link ] [ Comment ]
A Consultancy Within
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/gwu
July 29th, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO -- The list of problems (and opportunities)
facing most colleges is long -- figuring out how to do more
with less, setting priorities for investing time and money -- and
some of those same challenges make it harder for institutions
to solve them. As staffs and budgets stagnate or shrink, day-
to-day demands often push aside the sort of strategic thinking
and analysis that might pay dividends in the long term -- work
for which institutions often turn to outside consultants for
help.
Business officers looking for advice about how to find that
strategic assistance in difficult times crowded into a meeting
room this week at the annual meeting of the National
Association of College and University Business Officers. There,
a group of administrators at George Washington University
described the institution's creation, nearly a decade ago, of
its Business Management and Analysis Group, which was
established to provide accounting help to the controller's office
but has evolved into what is essentially an in-house consulting
group for the entire university.
As the group has expanded from a focus on financial analysis
to managing roughly two dozen projects a year for a wide range
of campus departments, from the Board of Regents to the
registrar to the academic services office, its full-time staff has
grown to a dozen and expanded to include experts in business
processes and technology as well as financial analysts. While
the composition varies depending on the project, members of
the in-house consulting group typically lead teams of senior
and rank-and-file staff and faculty members who come at the
challenge at hand (conducting a National Collegiate Athletic
Association audit, developing an electronic billing process)
from different perspectives.
While the university still leans on outside consultants
for certain forms of expertise, including real estate and
investments, the internal group has a level of institutional
knowledge and memory, a web of existing relationships, and
a tendency to take the long view that an outside consultant
Published by: philosophyandrew
would be hard-pressed to replicate, said Dave Lawlor, the
senior associate vice president for finance to whom the
business management group reports.
The business management group charges a fee to departments
for which it does projects, less to meet the office's costs than
to keep departments from overusing its services.
The group's newest major project is providing analytical
support for GW's Innovation Task Force, which is charged
with finding, over five years, enough savings from current
operations that -- when combined with some additional fund
raising -- the university can invest an additional $60 million
a year in academic and research programs. "It's one thing if
you're forced to cut $60 million to balance the budget," said
Lawlor. "Telling people you're going to invest an additional
$60 million in academic affairs is an easy sell -- there's no
shortage of answers to how people would spend $60 million
if they could -- and it gives license to a focus on making the
institution more efficient."
The internal consulting group provides added benefits from
a work force perspective, GW officials said. It has provided a
new career path for talented employees who might have skills
that they're not using to full advantage in their current jobs,
or who have done the same job for a long time and might
leave the university if it does not provide new challenges. And
when a school or department within GW loses a finance officer,
the university has a ready pool of savvy people to step in
and fill the job on an interim basis without missing a beat,
said Richard Cosentino, assistant dean for administration
at George Washington's School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, who moderated the discussion as what he called a
"client" of the consulting group.
A Replicable Model?
Many of the CFOs and others in the audience here were
probably salivating over the prospect of having a large team of
financial and strategic planning types to call on to help their
institutions meet their business and other goals -- and most
likely seeing the idea as utterly unattainable. (Lawlor declined
to say how much GW spends on its internal consulting team.)
Perhaps recognizing the gold-plated nature of its operation,
Lawlor laid out a path that other colleges and universities
might follow to experiment with such a group. Identify a
problem or project that matters deeply to the president or
another senior official at the institution (he called these
"insomnia topics"), one that is achievable in a relatively short
time period and that "you think you can knock out of the park."
Find a half-dozen or so of the most talented and capable people
at your institution, and get them to commit 10 to 20 percent
of their time to the project. And commit to the project's patron
that you'll solve it without asking for money.
"If you can put together this SWAT team, tiger team, identify
a clear and compelling objective, and knock it out of the park,
you can start to gain wins and build over time," Lawlor said.
"If you can solve your boss's boss's problems, you're working
on the right things."
Dickinson College, founded in 1773, is known for its innovative
curriculum. Its mission is to offer students a useful education
in the arts and ...
3
July 29th, 2010
The Gordon Institute seeks an individual with a solid
understanding of business fundamentals related to operations
and financial management as well as ...
Campus Description: Stony Brook University, home to many
highly ranked graduate research programs, is located 60 miles
from New York City on Long ...
SCUHS is the premier educational institution for
complementary and alternative medicine in the United States.
Located in Whittier, California, just ...
10 Excellent iPad Apps for the
Lifelong Learner
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53002
July 29th, 2010
I still think there's something odd about the way websites
have become 'apps' in Apple's world. But that said, here is a
list of "top 10" education apps for the iPad. The list sounds
remarkably like a list of websites: Evernote, MobileRSS, Pulse,
FreeBooks, Kindle, Dragon Dictation, Seesmic or TweetDeck,
iWiki, Delicious, YouTube and iTunes. I was thinking today
about how really Apple is trying to replace the web with its own
version, iOS , rendered as apps. Maybe Android is trying to
be that too. On the other hand, my Palm uses WebOS based
on Webkit . And it seems to me that we don't have to replace
HTML, Javascript, CSS and the rest to have mobile platforms.
Jeff Cobb, Mission to Learn, July 28, 2010 [Tags: Apple Inc. ,
Video , RSS , Wikipedia , YouTube ] [ Link ] [ Comment ]
We All Could Lose in UVa Case
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/07/29/broad
July 29th, 2010
Depending on your politics, Virginia Attorney General Ken
Cuccinelli II’s “fraud investigation” involving the climate-
change research of the former University of Virginia assistant
professor Michael Mann is either a witch hunt or a long-
overdue assault on the Ivory Tower.
But Mr. Cuccinelli’s demand last month for a decade’s worth
of e-mails and scientific work papers from Professor Mann’s
former employer, UVa, should give comfort to none of us. A
fundamental principle is at stake, often described in shorthand
as academic freedom. More to the point, it’s the understanding
that government will not without extraordinarily compelling
reasons intrude on the process of scientific discovery. It’s a
principle on which liberals and conservatives alike can agree.
The ill-advised investigation in Charlottesville transgresses
a long-honored boundary, with implications that extend far
beyond the Albemarle County courthouse where the university
has filed a petition to block the subpoena. That is why I,
along with other higher education leaders, scientists and
scholars (including even some of Professor Mann’s scientific
detractors), support the university’s legal battle.
Published by: philosophyandrew
The stakes are high. Academic freedom protects scholars
of every stripe from government repression or retaliation,
especially when they take on controversial topics and
espouse unpopular theories. Throughout history, nations that
protect academic freedom have strong institutions of higher
education. Where academic freedom is weak, governmental
power goes unchecked.
The matter concerns not just the academy but all of us as
citizens. We know that a thriving, independent, intellectually
diverse higher education sector is best able to produce the
scientific discoveries and advances in knowledge that make
society better. The process that leads to innovation involves
dialogue. Scholars debate hypotheses, examine data, and
scrutinize each other’s ideas.
At their best, the exchanges are blunt and unstinting: thus
theories are criticized, refuted, honed, and improved. The free
marketplace of ideas in which this exchange takes place is
the best engine known to mankind for producing innovation
while weeding out discredited hypotheses. Society has a strong
interest in ensuring that scholars can engage in dialogue
without the chilling threat of government intrusion.
History shows that when governments interfere, science is
stifled, and society suffers. For his theory that the sun was
but one of an infinite number of stars, the 17th century
astronomer Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake --
setting back astronomical discovery by perhaps centuries. The
Soviet government persecuted the plant geneticist Nikolai
Vavilov for his contention that principles of genetics, not
Marxist ideology, should inform agricultural policy -- while the
Russian people starved. Here in the United States, McCarthy-
era persecution chilled scholarship to the detriment of all.
Mr. Cuccinelli argues that he is trying to protect Virginia
taxpayers from fraud. No doubt inquiry is appropriate in cases
where there is real evidence of financial wrongdoing. But
Professor Mann has been cleared of wrongdoing by numerous
scientific and governmental bodies that have investigated
Climategate. And the exceedingly broad “civil investigative
demand” served on UVa sweeps in scientific papers and
scholarly exchanges between colleagues -- exactly the kinds of
exchanges that prosecutors should be chary to disturb.
What’s more, Mr. Cuccinelli, who is separately suing the
EPA to block regulation of carbon emissions, has a legal
stake in the climate change debate: he seeks to make the
scientific validity of research like Professor Mann’s an issue
in the EPA case. The attorney general’s positions, and the
subpoenas themselves, have led many to question whether
his investigation of Professor Mann is really about financial
misfeasance, or whether it is about the politics of climate
change.
Next month, an Albemarle County court is scheduled to hear
the UVa subpoena case. If the attorney general’s request is
granted, the chilling effect on important academic research
will be felt at Thomas Jefferson’s university, throughout
Virginia, and beyond. That prospect should give all of us pause,
no matter whether our politics are blue, red or green.
Molly Corbett Broad is president of the American Council on
Education, the major coordinating body for more than 1,600
4
July 29th, 2010
college and university presidents and more than 200 related
associations, nationwide.
Campus Description: Stony Brook University, home to many
highly ranked graduate research programs, is located 60 miles
from New York City on Long ...
The Core Division at Champlain College is charged with
delivering a four-year fully integrated curriculum to all
traditional undergraduate students. ...
e-Learning Today TV
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=53001
July 29th, 2010
Shades of Rocketboom, it's e-Learning Today TV! I'm not sure
how long they've been broadcasting, but this 9-minute video
- and handy links page that is attached - is basically a talking
heads newscast, but it's nice and light and will be of interest
especially to people in the K-12 sector. I think I've got the
right website (the videos are mirrored all over the place). There
doesn't appear to be a feed specifically for e-Learning Today
TV, though. Denis Soukhanov, Learning Today, July 28, 2010
[Tags: Video ] [ Link ] [ Comment ]
Consolidation in Sports
Marketing
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/qt/
consolidation_in_sports_marketing
July 29th, 2010
IMG Worldwide, a sports and entertainment management
company, is buying ISP, which focuses on college sports
marketing, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal is
reportedly worth $80 million to $100 million and will make
IMG the leading company representing colleges on media and
marketing deals related to their sports teams.
Rethinking Learning
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52997
July 29th, 2010
Skillsoft surveyed workers in medium and large European
companies asking how they like to learn. "They like freedom
and flexibilty yes – but also ... they want learning on demand,
when it's needed. They can then carry out what they have
learnt straight away – with the ability to go back over
something again if they haven't quite comprehended the first
time." The sense I get reading this is that there is a fair support
for classroom learning, but also that people would really like
to have the materials later at their fingertips when they need
them, whether or not they attended the classroom learning.
Via email from Donald H. Taylor, Learning and Skills Group.
Published by: philosophyandrew
Various Authors, Skillsoft, July 28, 2010 [Tags: European
Union ] [ Link ] [ Comment ]
College Reverses Punishment
for Swearing
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/qt/
college_reverses_punishment_for_swearing
July 29th, 2010
Hinds Community College has backed down from punishing
a student for violating rules against swearing on campus. The
college's decision to punish the student angered civil liberties
groups as soon it became public in May and the Foundation
for Individual Rights in Education intervened on his behalf.
Under a settlement , the student will no longer be barred
from classes. Will Creeley, FIRE's director of legal and public
advocacy, said it was important to remember that "Hinds
Community College isn't some Victorian finishing school — it's
a public institution bound by the First Amendment."
IUPUI Investigates 'Emotional
Abuse'
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/qt/
iupui_investigates_emotional_abuse
July 29th, 2010
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis has
announced an investigation into charges raised in an
Indianapolis Star article about "emotional abuse" and
violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association rules on
the women's basketball team. The article noted that 28 players
and assistant coaches have quit in the last four years under
Head Coach Shann Hart, who declined to comment. Former
players described being given "Happy Meals" for a post-
game meal, public humiliation through an "award" for the
worst grades, and intrusive questions about athletes' sexual
orientations.
Mid-Market for Private
Admissions Help
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/
princeton_review
July 29th, 2010
The Princeton Review, which is best known for its books on
the college application process and its test-prep courses, is
today announcing a new business line. The company will offer
online courses -- for $70-$200 each -- on parts of the college
application and financial aid process.
The idea, the company says, is to offer information and
services that families feel they may not be getting from high
school guidance counselors, but priced for those who can't
afford private counselors. Some experts on admissions see the
announcement as a possible arrival of a new middle market in
private counseling for a broader range of families. But some of
those same experts say that society would be better served by
providing more support to high school counselors.
5
July 29th, 2010
Today's announcement follows earlier moves by Princeton
Review to broaden its role in higher education. Last year,
Princeton Review (in a diversification strategy in some ways
similar to that of its rival Kaplan) purchased Penn Foster
Education Group, which offers online associate and bachelor's
degrees in career-related fields. The move shifted the company
from coaching test takers and producing guidebooks to
providing more formal education. The announcement today
will be another addition to the company's services.
Rob Franek, senior vice president of Princeton Review and
lead author of its annual Best Colleges guide, and Kal Chany,
author of Paying for College Without Going Broke, will
be instructors for the online courses. Topics include "How
to Conduct an Effective College Search" (two sessions of
two hours each); "Essay Writing Workshop," (one session
of two and a half hours); "Completing the FAFSA" (on
the federal aid application, three two-hour sessions); and
"Understanding Your Financial Aid Offer" (one two-hour
session). The instruction will be asynchronous and students
will be able to return to sections they want to watch more than
once.
In an interview, Franek said that "the target audience are those
students and parents not fully getting the college content and
guidance they need." He said surveys by the company have
consistently found large numbers of high school students and
parents who worry about whether they can find a way to afford
a higher education and to understand the application and aid
process. "We knew a market existed for very clear guidance,"
Franek said. And he stressed that the content would be notably
different from the material the company sells in its various
guidebooks.
While many high school counselors provide just this sort
of information, the company's announcement will note the
growing ratios of students to high school counselors that mean
that many students don't get the attention they would like
(or that counselors would like to provide). Many of these
students aren't wealthy and "we wanted to keep the price
points palatable for the average students and their families,"
Franek said.
Mark Sklarow, executive director of the Independent
Educational Consultants Association, the largest group of
counselors who are hired by families, said he was not surprised
by the Princeton Review's move. He said it made sense
for the company "to maximize its place" in the education
consulting field, which is growing rapidly. He said he thinks
that college advising outside of that provided by schools may
follow a pattern seen in test-prep services. The early years
of test prep featured books and courses, and the industry
evolved to include free materials (these days mostly online)
and extremely expensive one-on-one tutoring services.
With parents clearly interested in getting more than they
can from their children's high schools, private counseling
may soon see a similar range of options. "When a kind
of business proliferates, new delivery models come along
at different price points," he said. (Franek declined to say
whether Princeton Review might expand beyond courses to
direct private counseling, but he called today's announcement
a "first step.")
Published by: philosophyandrew
The Princeton Review's courses would definitely be less
expensive than most private counselors -- even if most of them
don't charge the tens of thousands of dollars that the high-
end services do in major metro areas. Sklarow said that the
average fee of his members is about $160 an hour and that
the average package involving services covering a period of
identifying colleges and applying is about $3,800.
While Princeton Review will have a price advantage (since
most families don't buy just a few hours of private counseling),
Sklarow said that courses would provide only part of what
his members do. Counselors offer their clients "knowledge of
process" (how admissions and financial aid work) and also
"individualized knowledge" (based on what the counselors
have learned about their clients and colleges). Sklarow said
that online courses could only really help with the process part
of the equation.
Still, he said he welcomed the new service. "Anything that
brings information into the hands of kids, and in a way that
they can afford it, is a good thing."
To date, only one large-scale private counseling business
has focused on a business model that works for families of
modest means. College Coach provides seminars and a range
of services on admissions and financial aid -- and the company
has sold its services to employers to offer as a benefit. As a
result, the company's services are available not only to help
the CEO's kids, but those of the lowest-income employees
in the organizations. Stephen Kramer, co-founder, said that
College Coach shows that "there is a mass market for this
information" in that many employees whose salaries would
make them unlikely to hire a counselor use the services when
offered. "People want information and will participate when
we level the playing field" in terms of fees, he said.
But Kramer said his experience also suggests that it may be
a tough sell for families without much money. Even at prices
well below what a private counselor would charge, "I think
there will be an affordability hurdle for many families," he said.
Admissions officials were skeptical of the need for the new
service. Jim Miller, coordinator of enrollment research at the
University of Wisconsin-Superior and president-elect of the
National Association for College Admission Counseling, said
that there are indeed families who want more information
than they are getting, especially in high schools where
counseling positions aren't adequately staffed. But he said that
the main problem about college information was its lack of
organization, not that it doesn't exist. "Will people be charged
for information they could get for free?" he asked.
Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers, said he shared that fear. To the extent that families
feel a need for more information about applying to college and
getting aid, there is a message for higher education. "Shame on
us that we have created this situation," he said -- that is, that
families don't feel they can get the help they need through free
resources from schools and colleges.
"We've made everything much too complicated," he said. And
he added that the students who most need extra assistance are
in the lowest-income schools, where the pressures on guidance
counselors are the greatest. But these are the students, he
6
July 29th, 2010
said, who won't be able to afford even modest fees. "There
aren't enough counselors to really pay the level of attention
that many students need," he said, "but that doesn't translate
in my mind into needing a commercial alternative."
Old Dominion University (ODU) invites applications for the
position of Director of Graduate Admissions. Located in
Norfolk, one of the cities making ...
Duties of the Enrollment Representative will include:
generating and following through with all inquiries from
prospective students; conducting all ...
The Office of Undergraduate Admission is seeking a highly
motivated professional who is energetic, creative, enjoys
working in a fast-paced ...
Responsible for supporting all aspects of the mission of BCC
as well as the Enrollment Management Department to which
the Recruitment Department ...
Responsibilities Reporting to the Sr. Assistant Dean of
Enrollment Management, the Associate Director of Strategic
Enrollment Research will play a ...
This position supports the College Enrollment Services Office
by attracting and recruiting students to Broward College.
Develops, implements, and ...
New Presidents or Provosts:
Asian U. for Women, Baylor
College of Medicine, Bethel
College (Kan.), Rio Salado
College, Suffolk County CC, U.
of Charleston, Wayne State U.
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/presidents
July 29th, 2010
• Ronald T. Brown, dean of the College of Health
Professions at Temple University, in Pennsylvania, has
been appointed as provost and senior vice president for
academic affairs at Wayne State University, in Michigan.
• Chris Bustamante, interim president and former vice
president for community development and student
services at Rio Salado College, in Arizona, has been
appointed as president there on a permanent basis.
• Paul Klotman, chief of medicine at Mount Sinai School
of Medicine, in New York, has been chosen as president
and chief executive officer of Baylor College of Medicine,
in Texas.
• Shaun L. McKay, interim executive vice president at
Suffolk County Community College, in New York, has
been promoted to president there.
• Mary J. Sansalone, dean of engineering & applied
sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been
selected as provost & chief academic officer at Asian
University for Women, in Bangladesh.
Published by: philosophyandrew
• Perry D. White, vice president for external relations and
admissions at Silver Lake College, in Wisconsin, has been
chosen as president at Bethel College, in Kansas.
• Letha B. Zook, academic vice president at Wheeling
Jesuit University, in West Virginia, has been named vice
president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at
University of Charleston, also in West Virginia.
Dickinson College, founded in 1773, is known for its innovative
curriculum. Its mission is to offer students a useful education
in the arts and ...
This is a full-time, twelve-month, exempt position, which
reports to the President of the College. The Vice President for
Student Affairs is the ...
Responsible for the leadership, administration, and
management of the academic programs and faculty advising.
Accountable for the supervision of ...
SCUHS is the premier educational institution for
complementary and alternative medicine in the United States.
Located in Whittier, California, just ...
Priced Out of the Market?
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/29/british
July 29th, 2010
Average tuition and fees for overseas undergraduates studying
classroom-based subjects at British universities have broken
the £10,000 ($15,591) barrier for the first time, prompting
warnings that the country could be risking its position in the
lucrative market for international students.
New figures for 2010-11 suggest that institutions will charge
undergraduates from outside the European Union an average
of £10,463 a year in classroom-based subjects, up 5.6 percent
on 2009-10. That rises to £11,435 for overseas undergraduates
in laboratory-based subjects, an increase of 6.1 percent.
Inflation in the UK as measured by the consumer price index
stood at 3.2 percent in June.
There were similar rises in fees for overseas postgraduates
on one-year taught master's courses, where the average is
£10,938 in classroom-based subjects (up 5.2 percent) and
£12,487 in lab-based subjects (up 6.1 percent). Imperial
College London charges the most: its overseas undergraduates
face annual fees of up to £26,250 in lab-based subjects. The
fees data are gathered annually via a survey of institutions by
Mike Reddin, a former London School of Economics academic.
The release of the figures prompted warnings that universities
must judge carefully the point at which higher fees may act as
a deterrent in a competitive international market. Institutions
are not subject to a cap on the fees they charge to overseas
students of all levels, or to domestic and EU postgraduates, all
of whom represent increasingly important sources of income.
The average fee for UK students on one-year taught master's -
courses rose to £5,214, up 16 per cent on the previous year.
However, Reddin said that some of this rise can be attributed
to a change in the way the figures are recorded.
The key comparison when considering overseas
undergraduate fees is with the home undergraduate rate. Fees
7
July 29th, 2010
paid by home and EU undergraduates are capped at £3,290
for 2010-11.
Subsidies from the Higher Education Funding Council for
England bring the total money received by universities to
about £6,290 for each home/EU student in classroom-based
subjects and about £9,290 in lab-based courses. Dominic
Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International
Student Affairs, said the increase in fees was a "bitter pill" for
foreign students to swallow.
"With all the press coverage of cuts to higher education
budgets in the overseas press, there is real concern at whether
the UK will be able to continue to offer the best value for money
compared with competitor countries," he said.
He added that "with these sort of increases, institutions are
going to have to invest even more [in improving the student
experience] to continue to attract good numbers."
Bahram Bekhradnia, director of the Higher Education Policy
Institute, said it was "interesting that home fees [for
postgraduates] have.risen more than those for overseas
students." He said that international numbers had continued
to grow despite rising costs, but added that "there must come
a point at which our prices start to be a deterrent."
Fees for overseas students at Imperial are similar to those
at top U.S. universities. Harvard University typically charges
overseas students about £22,500, and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology charges about £25,000.
But prices are far lower in continental Europe, where
opposition to tuition fees remains fierce. Overseas students are
charged about £250 a year at the École Normale Supérieure de
Lyon and nothing at the Free University of Berlin. Countries
such as Finland and Sweden have in the past not charged
overseas students; however, this is set to change.
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, insisted
that the UK "clearly remains competitive" internationally, with
the number of students from outside the EU rising by 9.4 per
cent to 251,310 last year. However, Drummond Bone, former
vice chancellor of the University of Liverpool, suggested that
demand was being propped up by other factors. "The real
comparison is not just fees but total living costs. At the
moment the low value of the pound is helping, but not as much
as it did even last year."
Don Olcott, chief executive of the Observatory on Borderless -
Higher Education, said overseas students felt that the
reputation of UK higher education gave added value, which
allowed universities "greater flexibility for pushing the upper
boundaries of tuition fees." But he warned: "Does this mean
there is no reasonable upper limit on fees? No. Today, students
have more choices from more providers than at any time in
history."
Olcott added that a key issue was what would happen if the gap
between fee levels at top-tier and less prestigious institutions
grew. This could lead overseas students to give more weight
to factors such as employment opportunities and the student
experience, and shun high-cost universities.
For 2010-11, the Russell Group of large research-intensive
universities will charge average fees of £12,162 for overseas
undergraduates in classroom-based subjects and £14,987 in
Published by: philosophyandrew
lab-based subjects. Averages for the 1994 Group of smaller
research-intensive universities are £10,678 and £13,012: for
the Million+ group of post-1992 universities, they are £9,059
and £9,489.
Average postgraduate fees for home students are higher at
Scottish universities (£5,123) than English ones (£4,989).
Universities were criticized in light of the data. Aaron Porter,
president of the National Union of Students, said: "Institutions
are able to raise postgraduate fees without restriction and they
are clearly using that freedom to ask postgraduates to fill gaps
in their funding left by cuts."
Reddin began collating the figures in 2002 in response to a
"growing disparity between fees for home/EU and overseas
students." He also wanted to see if universities were "admitting
international students who they wouldn't normally admit were
it not for the fact that they come with this exciting price
premium."
Reddin pointed out that the figures do not show how many
students take up courses under the rates quoted. They provide
evidence of what universities believe to be the market rate, but
not of how many students accept it.
East Stroudsburg University seeks a Coordinator for the Office
of International Programs. As part of Pennsylvania's State
System of Higher Education, ...
The Core Division at Champlain College is charged with
delivering a four-year fully integrated curriculum to all
traditional undergraduate students. ...
Director of East Asia Program Research Associate Professor
The Center for Policy Research in conjunction with the
Department of Public Administration ...
The Part-Time Administrative Coordinator manages activities
of the Institution for International Legal Policy. The position
handles scheduling of high ...
The Amazon Gorilla and
the Future of the Academic
Library
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology_and_learning/
the_amazon_gorilla_and_the_future_of_the_academic_library
July 29th, 2010
By Joshua Kim July 28, 2010 8:32 pm
Great discussion around Scott McLemee's concerns around
the power of Amazon and a superb list of the top 10 things
to keep in mind about the future of the academic library, as
shared by Tracy Mitrano.
Can we combine these two threads to come up with one
(potentially very bad) idea? I'll give it a shot.
In the pretend university that I'm constructing in my brain
we co-create with librarians the following set-up:
--Put the academic librarian at the intellectual center of
the university, but physically embed this librarian in the
departments.
8
July 29th, 2010
--Separate out the task of "collections" with those of "services,"
with a goal of maximizing dollars spent and investments in the
librarian who provides the services (fixed costs) and moving
collections into a variable costs model.
--Partnering with cloud providers such as Amazon (and
hopefully others) to provide the collections as a service,
allowing patrons (students, faculty, staff) to use Amazon's
(and others) advanced web and mobile interfaces to order
books and materials themselves (or in consultation with a
librarian).
--Be agnostic about the format that the book is delivered,
letting patrons choose if they want paper, e-book, or audio
format. Develop a partnership with Amazon (and hopefully
other providers) that allows for either "borrowing" of materials
or more likely purchasing but return to "library collections"
once the patron finishes with the item. If a student orders a
Kindle book, that book reverts to the "Pretend U" collection
once a certain time is elapsed - and is available for someone
else to "check it out." This would all have to be seamless on the
page that Amazon (and hopefully other providers) offer when
the patron signs into the web site.
--Set the physical library up like the Apple Store with the
Genius Bar (as Mitrano's list recommends) - or maybe a better
analogy would be a really wonderful book store. Have a good
selection of current physical books (ones that have been pre-
bought or returned by patrons once they have read after self-
ordering), displayed like a book in attractive racks and displays
(as opposed to hidden in stacks). Learn from bookstores how
to create an inviting study and collaboration space around
books and information.
--Allow the collection to grow based on demand and usage.
Have the "books on demand" printer just like the Harvard
Book Store - hooked up to your cloud based collection
provider (Amazon and competitors), so the patron has the
choice of instantly downloading the e-book, downloading the
audiobook, or printing the book on demand. Again, the print
book (and the digital books) revert to the collection once the
lending period is up.
--Use the digital and physical set-up to stress the social nature
of learning and library usage. Provide opt-in opportunities for
sharing and community building around the materials.
Okay… I realize that this is a fantasy (or a nightmare!). Amazon
does not have any sort of program in place that would allow
libraries to work with them to move as much of collections
to an on-demand and cloud based system. And right now
Amazon looks like the only company that could pull this off (as
they own Audible for audiobooks and they have their Kindle
and e-book program), so Pretend U would be locked in to one
provider.
The real question is whether this is an appealing fantasy.
What would we lose? What would we gain?
Challenges for African
University Leadership
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/the_world_view/
challenges_for_african_university_leadership
Published by: philosophyandrew
July 29th, 2010
By Liz Reisberg July 28, 2010 8:24 pm
A recent leadership seminar that brought together rectors
and vice-chancellors of African Universities in 17 countries
highlighted the many challenges to building higher education
in the region. Africa shares many challenges with other regions
but also faces challenges that are particularly daunting in the
region. Listening to this rich discussions over the course of
three days one is reminded that those talented individuals who
assume leadership of an institution are often accomplished
scholars but few are adequately prepared for the task of
managing such a complex institution in environments laden
with constraints. But perhaps more striking is the extent to
which they confront problems without the means to address
them.
UNESCO data show that participation in higher education
in Africa is less than 10%, the lowest (as percentage of the
traditional age cohort) in the world. With the recognition
that highly skilled human resources are critical to economic
development, governments in nearly all African countries
have implemented policies to expand access—building new
universities while simultaneously increasing enrollment at
existing universities. These decisions are political as well
as economic but with little consideration to the practical
implications of this vertiginous growth. This leaves university
leaderships with the obligation to confront too many problems
with too few resources. Increased participation is certainly
a good thing yet when the increased number of students
outpaces the expansion and improvement of facilities, the
stage is set for growing frustration, protests and conflict.
Classrooms lack places to sit and proper ventilation for the
number of bodies crowded into them. Student dormitories
(often referred to as “student hostels”) become overcrowded
and even plumbing can’t keep up. Protests are almost
inevitable.
It is, of course, easier to add students than faculty. There is
a growing tidal wave of secondary school leavers arriving at
the university gates but no corresponding wave of qualified
professors with graduate degrees or research experience.
Africa’s most talented scholars often earn graduate degrees
abroad then remain there. Ironically, many universities then
contract foreign professors at salaries higher than those paid
to national hires in order to build academic reserves. One has
to wonder about the rationality of this current cycle of loss
and replacement and whether those salary premiums might be
better spent keeping national talent at home in order to abate
the exodus. Institutional leadership rarely has the discretion to
negotiate salaries to attract needed academic talent as salaries
are generally determined by national governments.
As a result of the outflow of talent, the slow production
and difficulty of retaining new talent, universities often
“make do” with lesser-qualified professors in the short-
term. Yet, once entrenched, lecturers and professors often
join unions that create obstacles to initiatives that would
oblige teaching staff to improve their qualifications or
meet performance requirements thus forcing institutional
leadership into complicated dilemmas.
In these untenable circumstances, the leadership of individual
institutions rarely has the necessary authority to make
9
July 29th, 2010
difficult decisions or to develop strategy appropriate and
viable for local circumstances. In most of Africa, the national
government limits the authority of local leadership and the
autonomy of institutions. Central governments often make
determinations for how a large part of the institutional budget
can be allocated, leaving university leadership with little
discretion. The result is serious constraints on institutional
development and problem solving. Student fees (if there
are any at public institutions), salaries, and infrastructure
development may all be determined by the government with
regard only to political exigencies.
Additionally, many governments limit resources further by
making arbitrary decisions about Internet access, cutting off
sites that range from YouTube to Skype. YouTube is no
longer a domain that exists solely to entertain adolescents; an
individual can attend an entire semester of Calculus at MIT for
free at YouTube.com. Skype has become an important tool for
collaborative research among scholars in different countries.
With the Internet increasingly used as a pedagogical tool in
higher education, these restrictions tie the hands of university
leadership as well as teaching staff.
So, universities leadership is often left to solve all of the
problems created by national policy but with very few
tools or options at their disposal. Although the African
Development Institute of the ADB (African Development
Bank) is committed to providing leadership training for these
key actors in higher education, how far can they succeed until
there is rational political policy that provides African higher
education with the autonomy and resources necessary to do
the urgent work that needs to be done?
Long Distance Mom: Saving for
College?
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/mama_phd/
long_distance_mom_saving_for_college
July 29th, 2010
By Elizabeth Coffman July 28, 2010 8:19 pm
Now that my children are almost college-age, I have to face
some cold, hard facts of personal accounting. I have not
been saving for my teens’ college tuition plan. On my college
professor’s salary I cannot afford to send my kids to the same
kind of private institution that I attended as an undergrad. Nor
do I want them to wind up with $80,000 in student loan debt
by the age of 21. (I can’t even do the math for the additional
costs of a graduate education for them.)
I was blessed as a young person by parents who hiked over big,
tuition dollars for an undergraduate Duke education and left
me loan free. I worked part-time in the college grill where I
was rewarded with free food and beer at the end of the evening.
After lowering my parent’s retirement account with tuition
costs, they told me that grad school was on my own shoulders.
I quickly ruled out the cost of Emory’s tuition and decided to
attend my state university, which awarded me with a tuition
fellowship and low-cost housing in Gainesville, Florida. I still
wound up with $25,000 in debt (a small amount by today’s
standards) for six years of graduate education, which I paid off
by age 40.
Published by: philosophyandrew
As a professor at a university with many middle class and
first generation college students, I find that too many of my
students are enrolled in five, six or even seven courses (!)
per semester in order to get the most out of their tuition
dollars and to graduate sooner. These same students often
have several part-time jobs to pay for housing and living costs
that have escalated significantly since I was an undergrad.
Much has been written about the escalating costs of college
tuition. Significant news has been published over the last
few weeks regarding the rising default numbers for student
loans, particularly at for-profit institutions. Congress is
reconsidering federal regulations for schools that have higher
percentages of students defaulting within a short period of
time--typically for-profits that service, as Harris N. Miller
of Career College Association says in The Chronicle of
Higher Education: "less affluent populations." Employment
data, debt to income ratios, and politics play a big role in
the complex, new proposed regulations from the Education
Department regarding student loans.
A family member of mine has had a difficult time repaying her
graduate student loans which were acquired after she had two
young children. She and her husband could not afford day care
while both parents worked and lived in an expensive college
town. Nor did they want to both work full time until their kids
went to school. Her student loan payment was not affordable
based on her employment income, and she eventually went
into long-term forbearance, with interest accruing steadily.
Now I know that I don’t want this to happen to my kids. I would
like to at least offer what my parents did—an undergraduate
education, and I assume any debt for it. But this means that I
am looking at tuition exchange programs and state universities
for my kids, as most of my colleagues have also chosen.
(Tuition exchange is granted to faculty and staff of children
at universities within certain exchange programs. They are
competitive and not guaranteed with admission.)
It’s clear that universities are at a financial breaking point with
tuition and housing costs. The public is already broke. Not
many of us can afford to save for college, much less assume an
added debt of hundreds of dollars per month, even if we defer
it for a while.
On Friday I am taking my son to look at a college he is
interested in attending in another two years. In the back of my
mind I'm wondering if I can sell my house to afford the tuition
once the kids go to school.
How’s that real estate market doing…?
Bread crumb the third - In the
museum
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/getting_to_green/
bread_crumb_the_third_in_the_museum
July 29th, 2010
I was recently in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. (Does
the USA even have a museum of civilization? And what does
it signify that I need to look in a museum to find civilization?)
One of their larger exhibits was on the subject of aboriginal
peoples of North America, and one of the displays in the
10
July 29th, 2010
exhibit was of a memorial to a chief out of the Pacific Coast (I
forget what nation), and to the many large potlatches he gave.
It didn't make an immediate impression on me, but as
I was awakening the next morning, I realized that it
indicated that other cultures -- other civilizations -- have had
different relationships with stuff than ours does. Very different
relationships, indeed.
The Future of the Academic
Library
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/law_policy_and_it/
the_future_of_the_academic_library
July 29th, 2010
By Tracy Mitrano July 28, 2010 2:30 pm
In the next few blogs I will highlight some moments from
the Institute for Computer Policy and Law held last week at
Cornell in Ithaca, New York.
http://www.sce.cornell.edu/exec/programs.php?
v=CPL&s=Overview
Five sessions were captured on video and archived. They can
be found at this page:
http://cornellmediasite.cit.cornell.edu/mediasite/Catalog/
pages/catalog.aspx?
catalogId=a3fcdaa9-356a-49ce-80a8-7cb6f34990ce
Today's blog is a shout out to Susan Perry and
Jay Schafer. (All presenter's affiliations may be
found here: http://www.sce.cornell.edu/exec/programs.php?
v=CPL&s=Presenters)
Seated as if by a pool, imaginary cocktail umbrellas in their
imaginary cocktails, Susan and Jay had a casual conversation
about the topic that in all seriousness has been their life
work. The conversation revolved around a list of "Ten Things
To Keep in Mind" that Susan uses when she speaks as
a representative of the Mellon Foundation with academic
librarians in American Universities in countries all over the
world. With her permission, the list is below. The questions
around these points are for readers to comment in the box
below the blog.
The Future of the Library -- Ten Things to Keep in Mind
1. Within ten years, most academic information will be
available in digital format.
2. The campus network is vital to your information delivery
system/library. Now is the time to assure that it is robust and
can remain so.
3. Librarians today need to be: intellectually curious,
collaborative, technologically sophisticated, good teachers,
and adaptable.
4. Purchasing and cataloging functions are changing rapidly
and the need for traditional technical services staff is
shrinking.
5. Licensing, rather than purchasing, material is prevalent.
6. The Open Source movement is making many learning
materials and computer applications freely available.
Published by: philosophyandrew
However, maintenance of the applications requires staff. It is
a trade-off between purchased applications with support and
open source applications that you have to support yourself.
7. Digital asset management and production is becoming the
name of the game.
8. Helping students find and evaluate accurate information is
one of the most important roles for librarians now. In order to
do this well, they need to work closely with faculty.
9. Libraries are becoming the group study and social centers
for many campuses, as well as the place to explore new
information, tools and ways of developing and sharing
information. Some library areas are beginning to look like
Apple Computer Stores. These are often the most heavily used
areas within the library.
10. To support these new learning centers well, librarians
and instructional technologists, as well as faculty, must work
together.
Please discuss!
Institute for Computer Policy
and Law: Day 4
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/law_policy_and_it/
institute_for_computer_policy_and_law_day_4
July 29th, 2010
By Tracy Mitrano July 28, 2010 12:00 pm
We had three knock-out sessions on Day 4. Nothing I say here
will compare with simply watching the videos:
Here are my take-aways from each session:
Privacy: Global political bodies, not for profit organizations
and foundations should be working assiduously on how to
manage privacy in the electronic realm before corporate
interests have acquired too much power and information to
mine, aggregate and use information without regulation. Also,
it is not just personally identifiable information in the sense of
identity theft potential, but the "dossier" concept introduced
by Dan Solove in his path-breaking book Digital Person that
is in question. The power that corporate interests have to
manage the lives of individuals is already overwhelming --
think of what a credit reporting agency can do about your
ability to get a mortgage or a loan -- but is probably only a
margin of the degree to which those interests might shape
experience in the future.
Google Books: You will find no better analysis of the
procedural posture, as the law school saying goes, of the case
than in this video. A concise analysis at what the outcome,
in any direction, portends for as a matter of policy is what
grabbed me. Jonathan Band hit the nail on the head when he
used the phrase "privatization of knowledge." Scary words for
those of us who have given our hearts and minds to education
or libraries and their systems. We must start talking about this
outcome with passion and meaning, if only to understand what
and why it raises disturbing concerns and questions.
Kindle: If you are concerned about accessibility, this video is
a must see. The missing link to the story was the Department
of Justice. Had someone from the Civil Division been there
11
July 29th, 2010 Published by: philosophyandrew
to address the question of their tactics in this matter,
i.e. going after a hand full of colleges doing pilot review
programs of the Kindle for textbook reading, the session might
have been interesting in the point-counterpoint manner. The
government-higher education relationship was a distraction
from the issue at hand; making adversaries out of friends may
not have been the best means to achieve their ends, especially
when it is the manufacturers, not the colleges or universities,
that are the target of the meaning action: making accessible
devices for digitized information.
Daniel Goldstein, an attorney who represents the Federation
for the Blind, blew me away with his presentation. It taught
me the critical importance of this historic moment for people
with disabilities to be able to have their needs addressed NOW
as media translates from print to digital formats. Once the die
is cast it will be unnecessarily difficult for accommodations to
be made. So now is the time. And I have never heard anyone
express it so compellingly. Amen.

12