e-Literate

Present is Prologue

Author: Phil Hill

  • The Billion-Dollar Bet on an Adaptive Learning Platform

    Update (2/15/13): Per Apollo Group, the billion-dollar investment mentioned in the Chronicle article (quoted below) refers to total infrastructure – not just the learning platform itself. The total infrastructure includes new CRM, portal, and administrative systems.

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    Earlier this week I wrote about the new patent awarded to the University of Phoenix (the for-profit institution owned by the Apollo Group) for the activity stream within their new online learning platform. The patent gives us a glimpse into a billion-dollar bet that Phoenix is making on this next-generation LMS that will power their move into adaptive learning.

    The University of Phoenix has always been known for using a homegrown LMS, which is understandable given the large size (360,000 students) of the school. In 2009, Phoenix began investing in a completely new learning platform as part of the “Learning Genome Project”. While the company has traditionally been reluctant to describe its internal systems, starting with the 2010 EDUCAUSE conference Phoenix began sharing more information on this project.

    The promise of adaptive learning

    Steve Kolowich at Inside Higher Ed wrote an article on the new learning platform in October 2010 based on information shared by Phoenix’s Director of Data Innovation.

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  • University of Phoenix Patents Adaptive Activity Stream for Its Learning Platform

    The University of Phoenix recently was awarded a patent (#8341148 B1) for an adaptive activity stream related to its online learning platform. From an initial reading of the patent, it appears very broad to me (deja vu all over again). From the press release:

    Apollo Group (APOL), the parent company of University of Phoenix®, today announced that it received a United States patent related to its innovative online classroom platform. The patent was awarded for the University’s new Academic Activity Stream that will consolidate student activities, engagement, and interaction into one unified learning space. The stream will showcase unique personal management features that allow students to more efficiently manage their coursework and classroom experience.

    This patent is the next step in the “Learning Genome Project” – UoP’s major investment in a next-generation online learning platform.  The basic idea of the Academic Activity Stream is to rank information in a user’s activity stream based on individual interests, past history, and learning objectives – rather than merely ranking the items chronologically. From Google’s listing of the patent:

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  • Further Evolution of MOOCs with Academic Partnerships and MOOC2Degree Launch

    One of the fastest growing educational delivery models over the past year is the school-as-a-service concept, where companies like Pearson, 2U, Academic Partnerships and Deltak provide the services needed for a traditional institution to create an online program at scale. As I have often pointed out, traditional institutions have a organizational designs and cultures that often prevent them from successfully creating self-sustaining online programs, which is the reason for the barrier in the landscape diagram. School-as-a-service model provides a bridge over that barrier.

    Of course, the model that has grown even faster are MOOCs. Yesterday Academic Partnerships launched a new concept called MOOC2Degree that attempts to combine these two models, thus giving working adults (the sweet spot of their market) a lower cost, easier method to get credits in an online program.

    AP Graphic 2

     

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  • Re:Booting CA Higher Education – Transcript of Phil Hill Presentation

    The following is a rough transcript of my presentation at the 20 Million Minds conference on January 7th. 

    Thank you very much, and thanks to everybody for coming to the conference.

    We seem to be in a unique situation. I had someone remark to me in the hallway discussions leading up to the event that we have quite a unique group of people here, both in terms of the online educational programs and in terms of statewide system administration and faculty.

    Jeff Selingo pointed out very well some of the major forces affecting higher education and affecting where we’re going. A lot of people understand this current situation is not a temporary setback, not a temporary change where we can pull back to the normal once certain things change. We’re in a situation where an entire education ecosystem is changing and putting us into uncharted territory. How higher education changes will be up to a lot of the people in this room, as far as key choices go. How can we use the power of online education to transform traditional institutions and systems? I think this meeting is helping to set up a lot of the discussion on the potential changes.

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  • Re:Booting CA Higher Education – Transcript of Jeff Selingo Keynote

    The following is a rough transcript of Jeff Selingo’s keynote at the 20 Million Minds conference on January 7th. Any errors in transcription are mine, and sections that were garbled are marked by []. I’d like to thank Rovy Branon for his recordings of these sessions. I’ll post additional transcripts soon.

    We’re gathered here today at one of the great public university institutions, and this past summer, at another great public institution, on the other side of the country a drama played out that revealed the immense pressures affecting colleges and universities as they deal with the financial and historical foundation that is swiftly shifting [under us].

    Selingo

    Last June, as many of you know, on a late Sunday afternoon, the University of Virginia announced that its president Teresa Sullivan was stepping down after just two years on the job, citing philosophical differences of opinion with the board. The resignation of this popular leader shocked the campus community and over the next few weeks opposition to the board action mounted. Angry students, faculty and alumni took to Twitter and Facebook. The governor threatened to withhold financial support and said for the board to figure this out of he’d replace them all.

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  • New Post at WCET On Activist Role of State Government in Higher Education

    I have a new post up at WCET based on some observations from the recent 20 Million Minds conference.

    In past years the primary role of state government was to take the lead on funding while working with statewide systems on enrollment policies to serve workforce and general educational needs. Last week in California we witnessed the state government, both from the governor’s office and the legislature, become the driving force of change for determining the role of educational technology and online education to transform the public systems. State officials are no longer content with encouraging and hoping that postsecondary institutions will develop a strategy for systemic change on their own.

    Three interdependent events are emerging that clarify this trend.

    Read the whole article here.

  • Re:Booting California Higher Education – Transcript of Darrell Steinberg Introduction

    The following is a rough transcript of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s talk at the 20 Million Minds conference on January 7th. Any errors in transcription are mine, and sections that were garbled are marked by []. I’d like to thank Rovy Branon for his recordings of these sessions. I’ll post additional transcripts soon.

    Thank you, Dean. Senator Florez, once you’re a senator, you’re always a senator. And thank you for your nice introduction and for inviting me to give a brief welcome, and I know we have a busy agenda today. And I want to thank you and 20 Million Minds, not only for organizing this forum, but for directing me towards these issues that we’re talking about here today.

    Steinberg

    I’m not really a tech guy that much [] – I think about traditional education, mental health, foster care … I balance budgets and that sort of thing. And this [online education] is a whole new world for me. But Senator Florez last year, after he left office, talked to me about this revolution and possibilities around using technology in ways that not only equal or enhance quality but also reduce the cost of higher education for struggling students and their families. And so after we did SB1052 and 1053, which are now being implemented after Governor Brown’s signature, with the help of the faculty associations across all three systems, that take the 50 most popular courses across the three systems, and develop instructional materials to an online or open source format. Offer them as a competitive alternative to the traditional textbook and ensure that that offering is free for the student online (and no more than $20 if they print it). Simple, but potentially revolutionary in terms of bringing down costs of instructional materials, where we know the cost of higher education is becoming prohibitive to too many people and so many families.

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