Digital Learning in ‘Inside Higher Ed’ This Week

Inside Higher Ed published several articles of potential interest to readers of "Inside Digital Learning" in the last week. They include:

• Instructure, the publicly traded company whose Canvas learning management system has been ascendant in recent years, announced last week that it would be sold to a private equity firm. The sale was reported to be for about $2 billion.
• A new twist to the college admissions scandal: a California woman has pleaded guilty to paying someone to take online courses that her son could transfer to Georgetown University for credit.
• Legislation promoting equal access to instructional materials for students with disabilities has been reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Phil Roe, a Tennessee Republican, and Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat. The Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher Education Act, also known as the AIM HIGH Act, would create a commission to develop voluntary accessibility criteria for instructional materials and educational technology.
• The Federal Trade Commission and the University of Phoenix announced a settlement Tuesday of a five-year investigation into whether the university falsely touted its relationships with big employers. The for-profit, mostly online university will pay about $50 million to the federal government and forgive another $140 million or so in fees owed to the university by former students who were allegedly harmed by the ads.