I have recently accepted an eCampus News offer to be part of their new advisory board. The idea is to have myself and the 10 other members help their editors get a better handle on the industry while also providing useful information to readers through opinion, advice or commentary. The other 10 members of the advisory board:
- Brian Lukoff, Program Director for Learning Catalytics at Pearson Education
- Crystal Sands, Director of the Online Writing Lab at Excelsior College
- Connor Gray, Chief Strategy Officer at Campus Management
- David J. Hinson, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Hendrix College
- Joanna Young, Chief Information Officer and AVP for Finance & Budget at the University of New Hampshire
- John Orlando, Northcentral University Associate Director of Faculty Training in the Center for Faculty Excellence
- Mark Baker, Assistant Registrar at Whitworth University
- Paige Francis, Chief Information Officer for Fairfield University
- Roxann Riskin, Technology Specialist/Technology Student Assistant Service Supervisor at Fairfield University
- Salwa Ismail, Head of the Department of Library Information Technology at the Georgetown University Library
There is an article in eCampus News introducing the advisory committee, including bios, thoughts on tends and game-changers, and some personal thoughts. I’ve included my thoughts below (couldn’t help myself on the quote). Judging by others’ responses, this is an eclectic group with quite a broad array of interests, and I’m looking forward to this new role.
The game-changer: Despite the hype of adaptive learning as an automated, black-box, magic-bullet solution, the broader field of personalized learning is likely to be a game changer in higher ed. For the first generation of online learning, the tendency was to replicate the factory model of education (one size fits all) but just do it online. For the second generation, the ability to use online technologies to create multiple pathways for students and to personalize learning will be a strength that can even go beyond face-to-face methods (for any classes larger than 10 to 15 students). We’re already starting to see some real improvements in remedial coursework based on students’ use of personalized learning tools, but this has been in pilot programs to date. As this usage spreads over time, personalized learning, including adaptive data-driven systems, will present real change to our educational system.
Passion: Transparency in education. Like Laura Gibbs, I believe in the open syllabus concept where students should be able to see what is in a course without having to enroll; while ed-tech vendors and open source providers can be very supportive of education, we should have an open view of how well the products and companies are doing; when schools adopt strategic technology initiatives, the process should be open and inclusive; schools should have their results (including academic performance of students) open for others to view. I realize there are risks involved, such as the over-simplification of college scorecards, but the general need for transparency is one that I firmly support.
Hobby: Traveling with family and experiencing local cultures. Whether that is simply a different town or region of California, or different locations internationally, my wife and I enjoy seeing new places and trying to embed ourselves with locals.
Quote/Belief: “I have to laugh, because I’ve out-finessed myself. My foe, my enemy, is an animal. And in order to conquer an animal, I have to think like an animal, and—whenever possible—to look like one. I’ve gotta’ get inside this guy’s pelt and crawl around for a few days.” – C Spackler
Update: In what could be one of my biggest professional mistakes ever, I listed groundhogs instead of gophers in reference to the Carl Spackler quote (confusing Bill Murray movies). You cannot imagine my self-disappointment at this point. Mea culpa.
