Differential Knowledge

Watch Stephen Colbert discuss "College Credit" on tonight's Word.

Rising Tuition is a Myth?

It was quite the relief to see yesterday that "the real cost of university is falling". Here I thought that university prices were going up, and that accessibility was an ongoing issue -- if not an increasing one. But apparently "one province is even paying its students" when tax rebates are considered, according to an EPI study. So where did I go wrong?

Was it the increasing housing costs? Maybe textbook prices? How about childcare? Wait, have I touched on tax rebates before? Let's see:

"A report released yesterday by the Canada Millennium Scholarships Foundation asserted that student aid may not be going to those who need it most. The report indicates a fundamental shift from needs-based grants to tax credits and rebates, a move that tends to favour the more affluent and leave the truly needy further behind."

And on that note, the EPI study reports that Alberta relies more heavily on tax credits than any other province.

The Cost of Income

University rankings continue to spread, both in publication and methodology. The latest has me thinking back to Boeing's entry into the business, where it used output-based criteria to evaluate the institutions. The aerospace giant proposed using internal data to match employee evaluations with information about the institution their pilots and engineers attended.

And rankings that measure job performance are not too far off from rankings that measure salary. This new approach took the average of graduates' salaries to evaluate institutions -- but added a twist. SmartMoney compared these salaries to the cost of attending the university, and using the ratio to determine "salary payback".

SmartMoney found the results -- which indicated a greater value in community colleges -- "pretty jarring". Why this is so surprising to them, I'm not sure, especially given the general agreement surrounding a recent report by NASULGC, which explored the education-as-an-investment argument:

"No university can legitimately claim that their students learn more than do students graduating from competing universities."

Indeed, such claims not only mislead students, the report continues, but can be detrimental to society. Why? Because studies and rankings such as those above take focus away from the social good of an institution, opting instead to pitch universities and colleges as simply a means to a higher income.

To the Fall Term's Nominees: Congratulations!

The selection committee for the Teaching Matters! Awards will be meeting in just a week's time to choose this term's best instructors from the list below. Congratulations to all involved, and thank you for all your hard work!

For Innovation With Academic Materials
John Bowman, Math and Statistical Sciences
Gerald Cliff, Math and Statistical Sciences
Adam Morton, Philosophy
Heather Proctor, Biological Sciences

For Engagement With Students
Darryl Adamko, Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
Bob Beck, Computing Science
John Bowman, Math and Statistical Sciences
Paul Cartledge, Math and Statistical Sciences
Ewa Dabrowska-Miciula, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Judy Gnarpe, Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Roxanne Harde, Augustana
Denis Lamoureux, St. Joseph's College
Robert MacDonald, Physics
Richard Moses, Biological Sciences
Heather Proctor, Biological Sciences
Allan Rowe, History and Classics
John Simpson, Philosophy
Susan Smith, History and Classics
Vera Vrencic, Economics
Sai Yiu, Chemistry
Heather Zwicker, English and Film Studies

For Quality as a Contract Staff Member
Bob Beck, Computing Science
Ewa Dabrowska-Miciula, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Richard Moses, Biological Sciences
Allan Rowe, History and Classics

Study(ing) Aid

With the economic downturn, many university leaders have begun questioning stewardship priorities, often with a resulting shift to student aid. Take Bobbi Mark, vice president for institutional advancement at Barnard College, who recently empathized,

"We can delay in building that new building, but we can't say to the entire sophomore class: Why don't you take a year off?"

That year off may be forced on more students than higher education officials expected, according to a number of recent studies.

From the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education came three reports which examined the effect of two major need-based scholarships. These reports concluded that generous grants not only increase access, but also increase retention, especially among low-income recipients.

Unfortunately, that level of aid is all too often absent, a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling determines. This report details that although many institutions claim to be need-blind, their aid only covers a small portion of costs -- resulting in a "gapping" effect that can leave many students behind. One of the reasons: colleges and universities are spending less on need-based aid than in the past.

Which brings us to a recent study from the Institute for Higher Education Policy. This study finds that the increasing costs of university and the dwindling availability of aid are preventing access to qualified students. More than 80 percent of non-college goers -- who had earned at least a 2.5 high school GPA, taken a college-preparatory curriculum, and taken some levels of advanced mathematics -- reported that the availability of financial aid was either “extremely” or “very” important in their decision not to enroll.

And some institutions are responding. Not only is Barnard College going to "delay building that new building", but they are also going to concentrate their efforts on increasing aid. This initiative of shifting donor contributions to student aid has been adopted by numerous universities, with some community colleges even waiving tuition for their local unemployed.

Let's hope it's enough to prevent students from taking the year off -- if they can afford it in the first place.

The Giving of Gadgets

Earlier this week, Ohio State announced their plan to make "it easier for medical students at OSU to navigate classroom lectures and clinical duties with patients." How? The iPod Touch. The popular device can be used to view high quality images from different angles, to access videos of medical treatments, and to request review quizzes.

Some other med schools in the U.S. have also tried incorporating popular media players into their programs, but Ohio's plan has one key difference: they're giving their students the device for free. Not that this is likely to be a growing trend. After all, history tells us that gimmicky give-aways, from laptops to iPods, rarely catch on.

What we can see in these attempts are three movements in higher education: first, the intense competitiveness in attracting students; second, the increasing pervasiveness of technology (often in the form of gimmicks); and third, the desire to incorporate these changes with the consequent shifts in the learning environment.

For years, it was the competitiveness driving post-secondary institutions, but thanks to technological advances, many universities are beginning to remember their mandates: the public good. One example is MIT, where technology not only refocused their learning environment but increased access as well. Today, the institute is renowned for their open courseware.

And most recently, MIT has created a version of their website for smartphones, taking advantage of the latest in gadgets. But instead of capitalizing on this idea, they are sharing the code with all institutions who may want it, making everyone's life a little easier.

Building a Green Curriculum

When administrators and officials discuss sustainability on campus, the conversation is often directed to the biggest projects with the greatest potential to effect real change: buildings. It's not uncommon to hear of the newest and greenest building set to be designed at any given university.

Such ambition can even reach the heights of Wake Tech, which hopes to create an all-LEED campus. However, this ambition all too frequently falls short, and campuses don't go green enough. Other efforts, such as green landscaping, are left to pick up the slack.

While this effort to increase campus sustainability continues, a recent survey indicates that the green movement has been falling out of favour in curriculum. The result has been a push to revive the inclusion of sustainability, across all curricula. More and more, simple awareness measures are being tied into the course material, from using world oil consumption in a polynomial differentiation question, to using an exhibit on local food practices for teaching methodology in sociology.

This effort aligns with the green movement itself, utilising more of a grassroots approach and relying on individuals to make a difference. And so the opportunity and the tools are there for instructors to do their part in promoting a green campus. The buildings, we hope, will follow.

Online Access

Minnesota State announced yesterday that one-fourth of the state's college credits will be earned through online courses by 2015. The move comes not too long after a recent study announcing increasing rates in online enrollment across the US.

It's no surprise that the wavering economy is cited as the source of these increasing rates. After all, online education not only provides greater access to students -- in the sense of geography and affordability -- but also saves government tax dollars, a sure incentive. But growth in online education is not a new issue, just as access and affordability are not new issues. What may be new is a growing recognition of online education, a noted barrier up until now.

Now, the biggest question seems to be concerning faculty. Instructors are reporting that online courses actually take more of their time to prepare for, raising questions about proper compensation. Yet everyone seems to agree that a model can be found, that faculty can make their way online to try to catch up with enrollment rates.

And it is this shift in concern, from recognition of degrees to faculty compensation, that best illustrates the growing movement of online education, more even than the staggering increases in rates of enrollment. And as this movement gains momentum, so too does accessibility.

Leaders in Pay

The Chronicle has released its annual survey on executive compensation, thereby spurring the annual, if not perpetual, debate on the price tag that comes with university presidents. And with growing economic concerns, there is a heightened scrutiny this year, especially among public research universities where it appears paycheck growth is the most lucrative.

But what is fair compensation? An internationally established principle of fairness, as outlined by an associate professor at Santa Clara University, ties the executives' pay ceiling to the workers' salary floor. In the US, for instance, most state governors are paid less than five times what their college-educated employees earn; this is often seen as a standard for fair pay. So if a contract staff member earns $49,000 a year, a multiple of five would set the maximum fair compensation for the university president at $245,000.

Of course, that's the fair pay argument, and generally looks at what is not being paid rather than what is. What, then, are some other arguments? Going back to the Chronicle's survey, it is apparent that presidents at public master's-degree universities tend to earn less than leaders of public research institutions. In fact, the median of $226,000 falls well shy of the $427,400 earned at research universities, where "the similarities [in tasks faced by presidents] are greater than the differences."

However, the single biggest argument this year is the current state of the economy. David Skorton, President of Cornell University, argues that "[w]e all must work to aggressively and systematically reduce costs to gain savings, even if relatively marginal, and use those savings to slow the rate of tuition increases."

And there are many presidents who share this viewpoint. James Ramsey, President of the University of Louisville, turned down a six-figure bonus to take the same raise as everyone else: $700. James Drake, President of Brevard Community College, received a 53-percent raise of $100,000 and said he would give it back to students to help pay for textbooks. Richard McCormick, president of Rutgers University, received a $100,000 performance bonus and announced he would donate that same amount to the university for financial aid.

Presidents earn their salary in part for their leadership, and responses such as those above illustrate visionary leadership in difficult times. The PR doesn't hurt either.

Recognizing Realities

The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges is encouraging colleges and universities to be more transparent with their budgets. They argue that if universities want to be persuasive about funding, they must show where the money is going.

John Lombardi, President of Louisiana State, said that most universities have "obscure, confused and mucked-up budgets" in order to maintain competitiveness with other institutions. Cross-subsidization of budgets gives university leaders messaging control and allows for maneuvers "like the common practice of using undergraduate tuition to help finance research programs."

Of course, these are American post-secondary institutes, where the battle between public and private institutions is at the foreground. This makes the transparency argument all the more compelling north of the border, where a look at economic realities in depth and across the board can help ensure that public institutions are indeed serving the public.

Such a view could very well generate the sort of response that was seen at Brown University. In recognition of the "economic difficulties that many of [the] students and their families are facing", the institution is allowing students to register for classes regardless of debts they may owe the university.

Now, it's worth noting that this move may have been as much a matter of preserving enrollment as it was a matter of being sympathetic to students. But this only goes to show that a recognition of current economic realities is all that many students ask for.

The Pursuit of Prestige

The annual National Survey on Student Engagement was released today, effectively carrying on its tradition as a counterpoint to the obsession so many institutions have with national and global rankings.

This year's report title says it all, highlighting "The Imperative to Look Within." According to the study, "90 percent of the variation in undergraduate education quality occurs within institutions, not between them." Hence the call for universities and colleges to abandon the potentially misleading rankings and to instead focus on their students.

The timing of this call is perfect. It comes on the heels of another study, released just this past Saturday, which indicates that chasing rankings may actually weaken institutions. Like NSSE (or "Nessie"), the study goes on to argue that universities "should focus on carrying out their basic missions and improving their academic offerings".

Thus we see that Nessie's counterpoint is one of perspective: institutional priorities can be based on views from within or from without. And studies demonstrate that there is a wrong choice.

Learning 2.0

It all started with Google. Web 2.0 then flourished with Wikipedia, and has been increasingly finding its way into the higher education learning environment. Even Blackboard, a giant among learning management systems, is embracing the movement by developing a plug-in for a popular open-source alternative, Moodle.

Discussion of the topic is growing. Educause recently released a free eBook, written by multiple authors, exploring the future of computing in education. The book not only addresses the increasing presence of networks, but also the open-source software and social-networking tools that seem to be nearing ubiquity.

And now more and more people are calling for a change in how we teach and how we learn. Mark Wesch, from Kansas State, has become popular through his many YouTube videos about learning in the digital age. His contemporary approaches show the age even of such devices as Blackboard and Clickers, and he embraces the collaboration that Web 2.0 inherently invites.

One of his lectures, "A Portal to Media Literacy", examines the modern classroom and presents the benefits of collaborative learning. With a proper use of emerging technological trends, he improves both the engagement and quality in his classroom by having students build upon the traditional lectures and readings.

The video is well worth a watch. Ignore the questionable arguments and the educational gimmicks, but consider the approach and tools used. Such methods work to lead "the student well beyond the acquisition of a body of knowledge and into the domain of active learning, curiosity, and insight."

The Cause or the Symptom?

Recently, studies have been released that indicate the possibility of contract staff eroding the quality of education for students. According to the studies, part-time staff fail to provide important student services outside the classroom, even to those who need them most.

But who's to blame? One of the study's authors is careful to note: “We are not treating these faculties in a way that they are feeling valued.” The implication, of course, is that faculty cannot provide support to students if they are not themselves receiving support. After all, part-time staff are notoriously overworked and underpaid -- a point stressed last week, as Fair Employment Week was recognized here on campus.

In the end, quality teaching is not simply in the realm of professors. Any erosion of this quality is a greater institutional problem, and oversimplification of the matter does not benefit anyone.

On Engagement

Posted today on "The Water Cooler for Academics" was the following:

"Dear Bella,

You've done it. You have become a helicopter proffie. You know way too much about your students' personal lives. You're not a therapist or a social worker, and you are not their mommy. You are however pretty gullible as you seem to assume the veracity of the sad stories your charges produce for you. Stop wasting your time (and theirs) trying to be something you are not..."

Which brought to mind the recent Higher Ed article featuring a debate about the "good mentoring" of students, where one instructor introduced the notion of friendship. While the discussion held by various instructors evoked the age-old debate of the student-instructor relationship, it seemed mostly set on semantics. Generally, it was agreed that like most other academic issues, the key is in striking a balance.

And like most other academic issues, it is something easier said than done, but certainly worth working towards.

A Novel Approach

It's an exciting time for teachers and learners. Every day, it seems, new developments or innovations emerge that could allow a new means of engagement, if not alter the entire way classrooms operate. And every day, there are instructors who work hard to understand so-called digital natives, whether by sharing high-tech tips or by expressing concerns that a digital age prohibits learning.

But too many instructors have taken this understanding to an extreme. They believe that today's students either demand a high-tech approach, or worse, that students no longer have the attention span or learning capacity for books and lectures. The result is an unfortunate array of uncreative gimmicks that not only fail to engage students but patronize them.

Other instructors, however, have taken it upon themselves to continue to challenge their students with difficult readings, the old-fashioned way. Sometimes to their surprise, this group has found that when given the opportunity to challenge themselves, students will often take the more difficult path. They have found, in short, that books are not dead.

What's left, then, is to balance technology and content, which takes us full circle back to the beginning of this post. And it is indeed an exciting time. Instructors have at their fingertips initiatives such as coursecasting, WikiProjects, and peer-to-peer learning, and it remains their choice to adopt any of these.

All we ask is that instructors adopt these methods not simply because the technology is available or because of fashion, but for the sake of their students and for the sake of learning.

Is Dumb the New Smart?

Smart classrooms have been an issue for years, as colleges and universities push to make more and more learning spaces high-tech. But now some institutes find that they are falling behind -- not in updating old-fashioned chalkboard classrooms, but in maintaining their "new" computerized rooms. In short, many smart classrooms are showing their age.

But some community colleges are finding upgrades unnecessary, and are working their way around the problem by returning to the roots of computerized research: grid computing. This 'dumb' approach uses inexpensive, decentralized terminals that link to a more powerful computer, ensuring that the server is fully utilized. Alternatively, normal PCs can be strung together to form near-supercomputer capabilities. Either way, both maintenance and upgrades see significant savings.

Meanwhile, the 'dumb' approach is finding traction with web giant Google, which has helped make cloud computing popular through applications in its popular email service, Gmail. By storing documents online, access can be granted to anyone from anywhere. Moreover, access to a supercomputer can be provided over the internet, thereby further reducing barriers to advanced computing that may face some instructors or institutes.

This isn't to say that the PC is dead. But there may be alternatives to isolated and aging smart classrooms, and to idle servers in computer labs, just waiting around the corner.

A Step Behind

A report released yesterday by the Canada Millennium Scholarships Foundation asserted that student aid may not be going to those who need it most. The report indicates a fundamental shift from needs-based grants to tax credits and rebates, a move that tends to favour the more affluent and leave the truly needy further behind.

That aid does not go to the most needy students should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the discussion on student aid south of the border. Calls for reform of the student-aid system have been made by various groups and individuals, including Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and the Rethinking Student Aid study group. Both outline the importance of reducing the enrolment gap between more affluent and less privileged students.

Both also outline the importance of grants. Increases in aid in the U.S. have often seen subsequent increases in grants, making the accessibility issue primarily one of background (ie. who receives the grants). And this is why Millennium Scholarship's results may come as a surprise: our accessibility issue remains very generally a financial one.

Which puts us a step behind. And when we're behind a country where a "sharp rise in inequality was largely due to an educational slowdown", it's not a pleasant thought.

Award Themes

For the 2008 Fall Term, instructors will be eligible for the following Teaching Matters! Awards:

For Innovation With Academic Materials

A vast majority of instructors sympathize with their students as textbook costs spiral upward, and many more act on this issue. Whether this instructor has made course materials available online, found low-cost books, or designed their own material, the winner of this award has shown that innovation is possible, and that results can be passed down to their students.

For Engagement With Students

Engagement is a quality in instructors difficult to characterize, but always sought after. Whether this instructor has illustrated a great passion in their field, related a topic to the wider community, or presented material in a unique fashion, the winner of this award has found a way to form a relationship with their students that goes beyond the course material.

For Quality as a Contract Staff Member

In honour of Fair Employment Week, this award recognizes the contributions of sessionals and other contract staff to the learning environment. Whether this instructor has created a positive learning environment, dedicated time outside class to their students, or exemplified a mastery of the subject, the winner of this award has demonstrated an overall quality in teaching.


To nominate an instructor, simply email me at cicero@su.ualberta.ca

Who's Ranking the Rankings?

With the two major international rankings having been released in recent days, the perpetual debate surrounding university and college rankings has once again come to the forefront. The Times Higher Education rankings are based too heavily on opinion, critics say, while the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's are said to overemphasize scientific research. And yet everywhere, people acknowledge the significant influence and impact these rankings have.

This debate dates back, of course, to national rankings, like U.S. News and Maclean's. The former was boycotted last year by the Annapolis Group, while many Canadian universities opted out of the Maclean's rankings in 2006. The criticism is familiar, but so is the influence of the rankings. Many people acknowledge that rankings help shape policy, and some argue it increases educational costs for students.

It is therefore not surprising that alternatives are beginning to appear. In part a response to rankings, student sites (such as College Prowler and Students Review) have been around for some time now, but continue to grow. Meanwhile, faculty and administrators are increasingly seeking alternatives of their own. One recent movement attempts to cut the arms-race mentality by taking rank and reputation out of college selection altogether. Another movement, U-CAN, seeks to provide potential students with concise insitutional profiles for easy comparison.

Despite an expanding array of alternatives, it is clear that the major rankings aren't going anywhere soon. But there is still hope that the very presence of options could help universities get back to their purpose and mission, and away from their obsession with reputation.

Of Pirates and iPhones

After a months-long cat-and-mouse chase, a notorious textbook piracy site appears to be down for good. Despite stating that his Textbook Torrents site would stick around as a means of civil disobedience against publishers, Geekman has finally given in due to the increasing pressure from publishers and the concern of legal action. In a final statement, he called for more piracy sites to take his place.

Now, it's worth remembering that not many people are on publishers' sides these days. While condemning reports continue to pile up, the alternative market continues to expand. I recently stumbled across WikiBooks, for instance, which aims to offer free material. However, sites like these aren't too likely to catch on, given concerns over the quality of academic materials provided.

Accordingly, it seems more and more to be innovative marketing practices and technological advancements that grab the textbook headlines. I alluded to the exciting Flatworld Knowledge model last week, as well as the growing open source market. The latest model comes from Columbia Business School and follows the marketing scheme used by Radiohead in the sale of their In Rainbows album: customers pay what they want to access the material online. For profit, a printed version and companion volume are also available, making this model more financially viable (and along the lines of the Flatworld Knowledge model).

Meanwhile, the iPhone seems to be attracting a greater audience to e-books, news that will likely be welcomed by all concerned, from publishers to students and even to competing e-reader creators. This, simply because it illustrates that students (and the public in general) are willing to give e-books a shot.

Time will tell whether this case of piracy is the first of many (and if publishers retain their oligopoly as books go digital, there will be plenty more) or if it is a sign of the times in a bold switch to alternative markets.

A Call to Action

"Never mind your civic responsibility... you should show up and vote out of spite, if for no other reason," Rick Mercer advises students. And although it is true that more votes will grant students a greater voice in the future, there are still some precious days left before this election.



It is with this in mind that one advocacy group has made a call to action, asking people to get candidates' attention in an effort to fight rising textbook costs. If it is true that "a federal election means that politicians are listening", then surely they're listening in Edmonton-Strathcona, where the race is seen by many as too close to call. So make your voice heard now, if only out of spite.

Be e-textBooksmart

As the Be Booksmart campaign spreads from students to faculty members, I've found myself pondering what has been a growing movement in the textbook industry. And my rumination has not been unaided.

Yesterday's Inside Higher Ed featured an article on an experiment at the University of Texas in Austin. Starting next semester, the university will make electronic materials available for over 1000 students. They're free for now, but should these e-materials prove receptive to faculty and students alike, subscriptions will be renewed and students will be charged a relatively low rate per book.

This is latest in the pursuit of e-texts, but criticism is not lacking on this front. Affordability and accessibility have each been hurdles, especially where publishers have simply provided their texts in digital format. The response has been a slate of alternatives, ranging from open courseware to self-proclaimed revolutionary publishing models.

No matter what course is followed, one thing is clear: the textbook industry is changing at an accelerating rate, and opportunities for innovation are hardly scant. Let's hope we can take advantage of this.

Teaching Matters!

Amidst the celebrations of the University's centennial, I have been born. I will spend my life wandering this campus as a testament to the role of teaching in the undergraduate experience, and will seek out excellence in teaching wherever it may lie.

I will visit classrooms and libraries, governance committees and professional development sessions. I will spend time with students and deans, with administrators and instructors. Most of all, I will listen to students -- students who are in the unique position to engage directly with their instruction -- who tell me about the quality of teaching in their courses.

It is because of these students that I am here. But it is for their instructors that I wander. Every month, I will make my way to a new instructor, an instructor who has exemplified the quality teaching that defines undergraduate experiences here at the UofA, an instructor who has demonstrated to everyone that Teaching Matters!