Learning Innovation

Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are wonderful things. We should applaud MOOCS, participate in MOOCs, teach MOOCs, and encourage our institutions to participate in the MOOC movement. But what MOOCs may not do is lower the costs of higher ed. In fact, an argument could be made the the rise of the MOOCs will put new cost pressures on institutions, introducing new expenses over and beyond the direct cost of producing and delivering a MOOC. These additional costs incurred by the MOOC movement may show up in higher tuition prices.

This past week I had the opportunity to spend some quality time at the hospital. My younger daughter (8th grade) had her appendix out. Her loss of an appendix was my gain for thinking about some of things that higher ed can learn from hospitals.

My team is working to introduce improved collaboration tools for our online learners. We have concluded that the native Wiki and file exchange features in our LMS are insufficient for the sort of rich collaboration that our student teams need. Uploading and downloading files is too cumbersome and error prone.

Dr. Peter Stokes is currently the executive director of postsecondary innovation in the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University. Many of you probably got to know Peter during his tenure (almost 14 years!) in various leadership roles at Eduventures.

Redirect, Timothy Wilson's excellent new book, can be read in two ways. The first is to understand this book as analysis of effective techniques to modify and influence behavior.

What does public restroom design, airport screening procedures, subway safety planning, Ground Zero rebuilding, and New Orleans flood control all have in common?

The world of educational publishing is completely fascinating. What other industry faces more pressure to change in this world of print-to-digital than textbook publishers? How will the leadership of the large education publishing companies pull off this transition? What role will publishing play in how higher ed evolves in an age of information abundance?

Yahoo is putting a stop to telecommuting. The NYTimes reported this week that Yahoo Orders Home Workers Back to the Office.