Five Favourite Finds for the Week of 01 22 12

Free college courses . . .

The Saylor Foundation offers a set of free and open college level courses in General Education, Biology, Business Administration and other subjects. At a time when people are beginning to think a bit more deeply about the concept of accreditation, I find the following quote from their web site interesting:  Because we are not accredited, you will not earn a college degree or diploma; however, our team of experienced college professors has designed each course so you will be able to achieve the same learning objectives as students enrolled in traditional colleges.

This is different . . .

Publicly sponsored branding and positioning assistance for universities. Distinct is a non-profit initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The aim is to help England’s colleges develop “distinctive and compelling institutional identity”.

Lawrence Summers on College Education  . . .

An interesting summary of the challenges facing US colleges. What You (Really) Need to Know by former Harvard University President, Lawrence Summers.

Another alliance . . .

Another set of colleges has formed an alliance to improve the purchasing power to drive down the costs of textbooks: The End of the Textbook as we Know it and Five Universities to Test Bulk-Purchasing of E-Textbooks in Bid to Rein In Costs

One of the many reasons I worry about my children’s future . . .

Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher

A great primer  on the education of education publishing . . .

From Wired Magazine: Why Education Publishing is Big Business by Tim Carmody

Advertisement