We’ve noticed and had several people ask us about corporate changes at Schoology, the LMS vendor. More specifically, the questions have been based on whether they are laying off staff, and what that means for the higher ed LMS market. Short answers – yes to the layoffs, and the company will be more selective on […]
Big Picture
The "Big Picture" category covers larger trends and topics that influence both the problems that technology can help address in education as well as the barriers to implementing high-quality technology-supported education. This includes research-based topics such as learning science and program effectiveness studies, philosophical discussions such as outcomes definitions, and macro-forces such as government policy, markets, and business models.
The Intended Consequences of California’s Online Education Initiative
If online courses or programs breaks down the barriers of campus walls and enables anytime, anywhere education, then why not explore how collaboration can open up access and improve quality. While we tend to not write e-Literate about our consulting work through MindWires, in this case we have heard a general interest from other systems to learn more about what the California Online Education Initiative (OEI) at the community college system is doing.
Piazza Makes Three Significant Changes To Deal With Privacy Issues
In this live case study in ed tech and student privacy that is unfolding before us, Piazza makes some changes in response to recent criticism of their practices.
Digging Deeper Into CCSF Story: $39 million for non-usage of LMS not really about DE
When I wrote my initial post on Tuesday about the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) having to repay the state $39 million for non-usage of LMS, there was one number that kept bugging me. We’re not talking about an isolated problem with some faculty forgetting or refusing to use the official LMS. 92% of all […]
Pearson Releases a Significant Learning Design Aid
In my view, the work itself is a significant contribution. It also is a positive indicator about Pearson’s future direction as a participant in and influencer of that community, although how strong an indicator is a much harder question to evaluate. And it gives us another clue about the co-evolution of educational institutions and ed tech vendors that we are likely to see over the next years and decades. In this post, I’m going to evaluate each of these aspects in turn.
Price Of Faculty Not Using LMS? $39 million for CCSF
This morning the San Francisco Chronicle published an article about City College of San Francisco (CCSF) having to repay the state of California $39 million due to an audit of distance education courses. City College of San Francisco, struggling for every dollar it can muster, must repay the state nearly $39 million because it can’t […]
The Remarkable Transformation at UF Online
The University of Florida, based on a plan created by the state legislature, started UF Online in 2013. The original business plan was a case study in optimistic enrollment planning and the road-to-riches through online education.