The Stories We Were Told about Education Technology (2017)

New Year's Updates

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 10:10:00 +0000

I’ve made some changes to this site, most obviously updating the header image. Thanks to Bryan Mathers. (Why a pigeon?)

Those who look closely will also note that I have also changed the copyright information. No longer is there a Creative Commons license on Hack Education material. This really doesn’t change much, I promise. It just means you have to ask my permission before republishing my work. If you do wish to reprint my writing, please contact me directly.

The Stories We Were Told in 2017 about Education Technology

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 07:30:00 +0000

Cross-posted to Hack Education

I wouldn’t say these are all the stories about education technology we were told this year. But these are the ones I decided to analyze:

In addition to these eleven articles, I wrote a bunch of supplemental pieces, mostly trying to fill in some of the gaps in the storytelling:

I also wrote about the investors and corporations funding each of these powerful storylines (or at least, funding the new ed-tech companies associated with them):

This was the eighth time undertaking this year-end project, and it was, by far, the most difficult one yet. In part, 2017 was just a very bad year. A bad year for the politics of education. A bad year for the politics of technology. A busy year, full of bad education technology. There were many ed-tech storylines to follow, almost all of them dystopian. In part too, this project is just a lot of work, as there’s a ton of writing and as (I hope) there’s some big thinking as well.

This undertaking would not be possible without the scholarship of many other writers and thinkers. (So credit where credit is due.) And it certainly would not be possible without the financial and moral support of readers. Thank you everyone who read and shared my work this year.

Except for the haters. Don’t @ me.

Credits

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 07:50:00 +0000

This end-of-year series would not be possible without the work of a lot of folks whose writing and thinking shapes and influences my own. This year’s project owes a particular debt to Tressie McMillan Cottom, Chris Gilliard, Mike Caulfield, Ben Williamson, Michael Sacasas, Nick Srnicek, Frank Pasquale, Jane Meyer, Doug Levin, and Benjamin Doxtdator. My work builds on scholarship, theory, and analysis, but it draws heavily on the day-to-day reporting of many education journalists. So a nod to some of those I most often cite: Ben Herold, Natasha Singer, Molly Hensley-Clancy, Matt Barnum, and Jennifer Berkshire.

Thank you to everyone who donates to Hack Education. I really could not do this work without the financial support of readers. And thank you to those institutions and organizations that invited me to speak this year: that’s the money that also helps make ends meet, sure, but it’s also a great opportunity to bounce my ideas off of living bodies, not just a flashing cursor.

And a special thanks to Kin who tolerates me every month of the year but particularly during November and December when I am at my most manic.

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about the Business of Ed-Tech

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 07:30:00 +0000

Here are some of the other stories that were told about the business of education technology – stories I didn’t fit into part eleven in my year-end-series:

How markets get identified: “Why Edtech Executives Are Keeping a Close Eye on Preschool Demographics,” via Edsurge. Pay attention in the coming years to how executives and investors (and of course Edsurge) talk about English-language learning.

Via Bloomberg: “Whitney Tilson to Shut Hedge Fund After ‘Sustained’ Poor Returns.”

Via Buzzfeed: “21 Life Lessons From A Rich Dude Who Says He Has It All Figured Out.”

Via Edsurge: “Bankers, Buyers and Warriors: Reporter’s Notebook From the 2017 ASU+GSV Summit.”

Also via Edsurge: “Edtech CEOs Seek to Change the ‘Adversarial Narrative’ With Public School Teachers.” The photo that accompanies this is priceless.

Via Chalkbeat: “Where do the nation’s big charter boosters send their cash? More and more to charter networks.”

Sometimes I want to bust open the category of ed-tech, just to remind people it’s not all shiny apps and gadgetry. Take, for example, the business of head lice. The business of bulletproofing schools.

What didn’t I write about in this series? The business of OER. The business of testing. The business of textbooks. Sorry. (Not sorry.)

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about Ed-Tech Globally

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Each year that I write this review, someone inevitably complains that I’ve focused too exclusively on what’s happening in the US. After writing some 75,000 words over the course of six or so weeks, I’m usually on my last nerve and want to reply “You are welcome to write about what happened in your country, and I will gladly link to it.” My emphasis on the politics and business of ed-tech in the US is not meant to imply that what happens here necessarily echoes elsewhere. It’s worth thinking about how policies and technologies do spread from the US to other countries and how and when they do not.

There’s a strong imperialist bent to US technology firms. And that dovetails so neatly with the long history of imperialism and education. It’s something to watch for. It’s something I didn’t really explore this year in depth in this series, but observed when it comes to private school startups (Bridge International Academies and the like) as well as coding bootcamps (Andela, for example.)

Here are some other stories about education technology (and academic freedom) that I noted this year, but couldn’t squeeze into my year-in-review:

Ed-Tech and China

The Asian Money Fueling US Edtech Investments

China’s 8m graduates: Inside the world’s largest higher education boom

To Inspire Young Communists, China Turns to ‘Red Army’ Schools

LexisNexis withdrew two products from Chinese market

Cambridge Press Changes Course on Chinese Censorship Request

An op-ed in Bloomberg says that “China’s Top Economic Risk? Education.”

Academic Freedom in Canada

“A recording of the way professors at Wilfrid Laurier University questioned a teaching assistant about her use of a debate video in class has set off a major dispute about academic freedom in Canada,” says Inside Higher Ed.

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about Brains, Behaviorism, and Social Emotional Learning

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 07:30:00 +0000

Here are some of the other stories that were told about mindsets and emotions – stories I didn’t fit into part ten in my year-end-series:

Damn. There is a lot of bullshit attached to that word “mindset.” Improviser mindset. Innovators mindset. Gorilla mindset. Beloit mindset. R&D mindset.

“The Mindset Mindset: Passion and Grit as Emotional Labour” by Benjamin Doxtdator

Via The Verge: “Take a trip to Los Angeles’ new internet celebrity summer camp.” (I’m including this here because I think it’s worth thinking about how our emotional well-being is now deeply intertwined with online performances.)

Via The New York Times: “How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons.”

Via The New York Times: “A New Way for Therapists to Get Inside Heads: Virtual Reality.”

From the Radiator blog: "‘If you walk in someone else’s shoes, then you’ve taken their shoes’: empathy machines as appropriation machines

“My Black Stepson Is Proof That Our Schools Put White Culture First” by Andre Perry

I would be remiss if I did not mention somewhere one of the most important “brain-based” stories of the year: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy associated with head injuries (and sports). I have given up watching football, my favorite sport, this year. In part, I am boycotting the NFL to stand in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. But I also just cannot watch any more. I cannot watch the game for fear that I’ll see someone die on the field. I cannot watch the game because I know that the ramifications of repetitive concussive injuries affect players off the field. Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel retired abruptly this year, days after a medical study was released that found the degenerative CTE in 110 out of 111 brains it examined. (Urschel is also a PhD student at MIT.) After former Patriots and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez killed himself this spring, his family donated his brain to research. He “suffered from most severe CTE ever found in a person his age,” The Washington Post reported.

Who’s brains really matter with all this interest in “brain-based education”? Whose brains. Whose bodies. Whose futures.

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about Robots

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 07:30:00 +0000

Even though every article I write in this series is incredibly long, I always have to leave something out. Here are some of the other stories that were told about robots and kids – stories I didn’t fit into part nine in my year-end-series:

“What Ivanka Trump Knows about Ed-Tech” by me

“The Ivanka Trump Ed-Tech Industry Network” also by me

“Driverless Ed-Tech: The History of the Future of Automation in Education” again by me

“Together, technology and teachers can revamp schools” via The Economist. (It is like the author read my work but did not read my work at all)

“Facebook is coming for your children” via The Frailest Thing

Via Buzzfeed: YouTubers Made Hundreds Of Thousands Off Of Bizarre And Disturbing Child Content"

Via Vice: “YouTube kills ads on 50,000 channels as advertisers flee over disturbing child content”

Via The New York Times: “The Teenage Life, Streamed Live and for Profit”

Nominee for worst idea of the year: “It Takes a Village: Parenting on the Blockchain,” says The Coin Telegraph

Also terrible: “The automated university: bots and drones amid the dreaming spires,” via The Guardian

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about the Future of 'Skills Training' and the Future of Work

Sun, 17 Dec 2017 12:30:00 +0000

Even though every article I write in this series is incredibly long, I always have to leave something out. Here are some of the other stories that were told about “the skills gap” and job training this year – stories I didn’t fit into part eight in my year-end-series:

Blessed Are the Job Creators

“The Gospel According to the Job Creators” by John Patrick Leary

WozU

I can’t believe I didn’t find a place to cram this into one of my stories. So I’ll include it here: “The Woz” has entered the learn-to-code business. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak unveiled WozU, an online school that will teach programming. Of course the tech blogs ate that shit up. Funny, none of them mentioned that Southern Careers Institute, where the venture is housed, has been investigated for having an extraordinarily low rate of student loan repayment. Why, it’s almost as though many, many tech journalists function as a marketing mouthpiece for the industry. Anyway, “curb your enthusiasm,” if you will, about WozU.

The History of For-Profit Education Scams

Via The Atlantic: “A Lesson From Trump University’s Predecessor.”

Sports University

People sometimes ask why I monitor sports and education since it seems to have little to do with “ed-tech.” To the contrary, it’s one of the places where we can see most clearly how profit motives affect decision-making. It’s also a fascinating site to talk about what we say we’re educating students for, what we’re actually educating students for, and what they go on to do with their careers. And for crying out loud, there is so much tech in school sports.

Via ESPN: “‘What Am I Paying For?’” – the downfall of the US’s first sports-only college, Forest Trail Sports University

Via ESPN: “How a midlevel school became The University of Adidas at Louisville.”

How to Read “Trends” Pieces

Just be wary. Often the things that are presented as happening in education are happening at either one or two schools or happening in some fantasy in the author’s mind.

Another request: stop using LinkedIn data like it’s at all reliable for talking about anything but what LinkedIn users are updating their profiles to say they’re doing.

Yet another request: read the fine print on graphs. If you’re talking about the future of jobs and you leave out health care jobs, your analysis may well be full of shit.

The Gig Economy

The "gig economy" is literally killing us.

Most depressing ad of the day goes to: @fiverr 🙃 pic.twitter.com/xq0sxsL55t
— it's B! Cavello 🐝 (@b_cavello) March 9, 2017

“Lifelong Learning” Sucks

Via Reuters: “Awaiting Trump’s coal comeback, miners reject retraining.”

Everyone Should Learn to…

Pilot.

It’s probably best to not plan for a career in the circus. Sadly.

Robots Are Coming For Your Jobs

Or not. Via HBR: “The Humans Working Behind the AI Curtain.”

“Tech Illiteracy Will Get You Fired Long Before Automation Does” – that’s the headline from the MIT Technology Review on a report from the Brookings Institution: “Digitalization and the American workforce.”

“Education Unbundled: What knowledge will we lose if we automate the professions?” by Benjamin Doxtdator

Robots’ Accomplishments

“How Checkers Was Solved” by Alexis Madrigal

Tax Robots

Via Quartz: “The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates.”

Commencement

“Graduating Into A Terrible World: A Commencement Address” by Tressie McMillan Cottom

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about For-Profit Higher Ed

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 18:25:00 +0000

Even though every article I write in this series is incredibly long, I always have to leave something out. Here are some of the other stories that were told about for-profit higher ed this year – stories I didn’t fit into part eight in my year-end-series:

For-Profit Higher Ed Under Trump

For more details on how the for-profit industry has infiltrated the Department of Education, see part two of my year-end series: “Education Technology, Betsy DeVos, and the Innovation Gospel”

Via The Atlantic: “What a New Trump Administration Hire Could Mean for For-Profit Colleges”

“If Trump Pulls Back, Can States Do More to Regulate For-Profit Colleges?” asks The Chronicle of Higher Education

Via Politico: “Trump and DeVos fuel a for-profit college comeback.”

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “For-Profit Colleges Find Few Reasons to Lobby a Friendlier Education Dept.”

Via NPR: “Back To The Starting Line On Regulating For-Profit Colleges.”

Via Buzzfeed: “Betsy DeVos Is Halting Protections For For-Profit College Students.”

A press release from the Department of Education: “Secretary DeVos Announces Regulatory Reset to Protect Students, Taxpayers, Higher Ed Institutions”

“Predator Colleges May Thrive Again” – from The Editorial Board of The New York Times

Via The New York Times: “For-Profit Schools, an Obama Target, See New Day Under Trump.”

Via Mother Jones: “Betsy DeVos Champions For-Profit Schools That Are Deceiving Taxpayers and Vulnerable Students.”

From the Bloomberg Editorial Board: “A Raw Deal From Betsy DeVos” – “Rolling back regulations on the for-profit college industry will cause the public pain.”

Via The Washington Post: “DeVos rejects invitation to meet with former for-profit college students” Commentary via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Selling Swampland: For-Profit Colleges in the Age of Trump.”

Via ProPublica: “Former Lobbyist With For-Profit Colleges Quits Education Department”

Via Inside Higher Ed: USA Funds’ Ties to Education Department Advisor"

Via The New York Times: “Betsy DeVos’s Hiring of For-Profit College Official Raises Impartiality Issues”

Via ProPublica: “For-Profit Colleges Gain Beachhead in Trump Administration”

Bootcamps

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Coding Boot Camps Come Into the Fold With Campus Partnerships”

Via Edsurge: “Tech Needs More Than Coders. This Bootcamp Will Train Sales Chops (and Even Pay For It)”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Earning a Degree to Go to Camp”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Enablers, but for Boot Camps”

Via Campus Technology: “George Mason U Signs with Outsourcer to Train Students in Coding”

Via Techcrunch: “Holberton gets backing from more industry executives as it looks to scale its software engineering school”

Via The New York Times: “Holberton, a Two-Year Tech School, Emphasizes Diversity”

Via QZ: “A free, teacher-less university in France is schooling thousands of future-proof programmers”

Via Edsurge: “Student Results From Coding Bootcamp Coalition: 92% On-Time Graduation Rate, $70K Salary”

Via Techcrunch: “An insider’s take on the future of coding bootcamps”

Via Edsurge: “Common (and Avoidable) Legal Pitfalls for Coding Bootcamps and Alternative Education Providers”

Via Fast Company: “This is What Coding Bootcamps Need to Do to Beat the Backlash”

Via Edsurge: “Nonprofit Bootcamps Want to Make Coding Accessible to Low-Income Learners”

Via Campus Technology: “4 out of 5 Companies Have Hired a Coding Bootcamp Graduate”

“Coding Boot Camps Are in Trouble, but New York City Has a Plan to Shape Them Up,” says MIT Technology Review. (“The Plan” is really more of “a report.”)

EQUIP

Via Inside Higher Ed: “4 Student Aid Experiments Will End”

Accreditation

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Terminated Accreditor Applies for Recognition”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “ACICS-Accredited Colleges Meet Federal Deadline”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “States Intervene in Accreditor’s Suit Against Feds”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Trump Administration Backs Termination of ACICS”

Entangled Solutions (and Accreditation)

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Backers of an Audit Model for Judging Education Quality Invite Feedback”

Via Edsurge: “What Is ‘Quality’? Task Force Seeks Comment on Higher-Ed Outcomes Reporting Standards”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “For-Profit Universities 2.0” – penned by two consultants from Entangled Solutions

For-Profits and Popular Culture

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “John Grisham’s Latest Villain? For-Profit Colleges.”

ITT

Via Inside Higher Ed: “ITT Students Seek Recognition in Bankruptcy Lawsuit”

Via The Indianapolis Business Journal: “Legal skirmishes break out over ITT documents, data”

Via The Washington Post: “SEC settles fraud charges against defunct for-profit college company ITT”

Via The Indianapolis Business Journal: “ITT trustee hires ‘feared’ litigators”

Community Colleges (versus For-Profits)

“Revised Data Shows Community Colleges Have Been Underappreciated” by Kevin Carey in The New York Times

Via Inside Higher Ed: “From For-Profits to Community Colleges”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Data on Community College Grads Who Earn Graduate Degrees”

Career Education Corporation

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Career Education Settles False Claims Suit”

From the press release: “William Hansen Joins Career Education Corporation Board of Directors.” Hansen is one of those figures that really demonstrates the political and financial networks that govern education. He was Deputy Secretary of Education under George W. Bush. He was the chairman of Scantron. He has been the president of the student loan org Strada Education Network (formerly known as USA Funds) since 2013.

Gainful Employment

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Education Department Signals Possible Changes to Gainful-Employment Rule.”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “AGs Sue DeVos Over Gainful Employment Rule”

[Via Buzzfeed](https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/17-states-and-dc-are-suing-betsy-devos-over-for-profit]: “Betsy DeVos Is Being Sued By 17 States Over For-Profit College Rules”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “US Continues to Delay, Soften Gainful Employment Rules”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “2-Pronged Strategy Against ‘Gainful’ Rule”

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Education Dept. Delays Compliance Deadline for Gainful-Employment Rules”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Beneficiaries of the DeVos Delay”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Judge Partially Blocks Enforcement Gainful Employment Rule”

Via The New York Times: “U.S. Halts New Rules Aimed at Abuses by For-Profit Colleges.”

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education in June: “Education Dept. Gives Firm Hint at Rollback of Gainful-Employment Rule.”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Education Department Defends Gainful Employment”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Report: Public Money Skews Gainful Employment Rule”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Will Data Error Threaten For-Profit Regulation?”

Via Bloomberg: “Cosmetology Schools Sue Betsy DeVos Over Obama-Era Rules.”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “200 Colleges Appeal Gainful Employment Ratings”

Via Buzzfeed: “Hundreds Of College Programs Could Be Shut Down For Breaking Student Debt Rules”

Via Bloomberg: “Hundreds of Colleges Saddling Students With Unaffordable Debt, Feds Say.”

“Programs That Are Predatory: It’s Not Just at For-Profit Colleges,” writes Kevin Carey in The New York Times

For-Profits and Fraud

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Which Colleges Do Students Say Defraud Them Most Often? For-Profit Colleges”

Kaplan

Kaplan Inc has agreed to acquire the College for Financial Planning from Apollo Education Group. (Looks like Kaplan Inc isn’t getting out of for-profit higher ed altogether, even with the sale of Kaplan University to Purdue.)

More on Kaplan (and Purdue) in my article on “the innovation gospel”

Trump University

Via Politico: “Appeal could drag out Trump University settlement.”

Via The New York Times: “Judge Approves $25 Million Settlement Of Trump University Lawsuit.”

Via The New York Times: “Trump University Lawsuits May Not Be Closed After All.”

Cosmetology Schools

“Why Betsy DeVos Just Might Be A Cosmetology School’s Savior” – Buzzfeed’s Molly Hensley-Clancy profiles Pro Way Hair School in Stone Mountain, Georgia

InfiLaw (and the Charlotte School of Law and the Arizona Summit Law School)

Via The Charlotte Observer: “Charlotte School of Law starts food drive so students get something to eat”

Via the ABA Journal: “Charlotte School of Law students reportedly will receive spring loan money”

Via The New York Times: “For-Profit Law School Faces Crisis After Losing Federal Loans”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Charlotte Law Faced Criminal Probe While Seeking Federal Aid”

Via The Charlotte Observer: “Under DeVos, who’s the next Charlotte School of Law?”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Department Lays Out Options for Charlotte Students”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “The Slow Death of a For-Profit Law School”

Via The Atlantic: “The Future of a Once-Doomed Law School”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “For-Profit Law School May Have Aid Restored”

Via The New York Times: “For-Profit Charlotte Law School Is Subject of North Carolina Inquiry”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Crackdown on For-Profit Law Schools”

Via The New York Times: “For-Profit Law School in Arizona Is Put on Probation”

Via The New York Times: “How to Con Black Law Students: A Case Study”

“Why Would an HBCU Partner With A For-Profit Law School?” by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Legal education observers say accreditation issues at Florida Coastal School of Law – whose graduates have struggled to pay off loans – should lead to tougher look at its parent company, InfiLaw.”

The Wall Street Journal profiles InfiniLaw, a company that runs for-profit law schools. According to the article, it’s looking to sell off its two remaining schools, Arizona Summit Law School and Florida Law School. Its third school, Charlotte School of Law shut down this summer

DeVry University

Via Inside Higher Ed: “NY Attorney General Settles Lawsuit with DeVry”

Via Inside Higher Ed in early December: “Adtalem Global Education, the company that owns DeVry University, announced Monday that ownership of the for-profit institution would transfer to Cogswell Education LLC.” “Troubled DeVry University Gets Sold Off For A Pittance,” Buzzfeed’s Molly Hensley-Clancy reports. “Huh?” says “Dean Dad” Matt Reed

From Inside Higher Ed in June: “FTC Refunds Former DeVry Students”

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education:“A For-Profit-College Company Embraces Its Technology-Focused Past and Its Evolving Future”

Via Inside Higher Ed in May“ ”DeVry Rebrands as Adtalem Education"

Corinthian Colleges (and Zenith Education)

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Corinthian’s Long Wind-Down”

Via Buzzfeed: “Corinthian Colleges’ Buyer Says It’s Closing Most Campuses”

Bridgepoint Education (Ashford University)

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Court Dismisses Petition from Ashford U on GI Bill Approval”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “VA Backs Ashford on Arizona Move”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Ashford University Notches Win in GI Bill Dispute”

Via Buzzfeed: “California Is Suing A Giant For-Profit College For Allegedly Misleading Students.” That’s Bridgepoint Education, which runs Ashford University.

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “3 Startling Claims From California’s Lawsuit Against a For-Profit College.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education with a look “Inside the Scramble to Save Ashford U.” And following that investigation, “Ashford University announced this week that it has temporarily suspended new enrollment of veteran students who receive the Post–9/11 GI Bill, ” Inside Higher Ed reports.

Rebranding

Via Buzzfeed: “Troubled Colleges Rebrand Under Faux-Latin Names”

Recruiting for For-Profits (at K–12 Level)

Via ProPublica: “For-Profit Schools Reward Students for Referrals and Facebook Endorsements.”

Closures

Via The LA Times: “Westech College’s abrupt closure raises questions about training options.”

Via The St Louis Post Dispatch: “Berkeley-based Vatterott Education Centers files for receivership, plans sale”

The McNally Smith College of Music, a for-profit music college, will close its doors at the end of the semester.

Who Attends For-Profits?

Via Inside Higher Ed: “For-Profit Graduate Schools Popular With Black Women”

Apollo Education Group (and the University of Phoenix)

Via the Phoenix Business Journal: “University of Phoenix laying off full-time faculty; 170 could be impacted”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Apollo Group Finalizes Sale for $1.14 Billion”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “U of Phoenix-HBCU Partnership Expands”

Via The Phoenix New Times: “University of Phoenix Phasing Out Campuses; Current Students Not Affected, School Says”

Singularity U

Via The MIT Technology Review: “For $14,000, a Weeklong Firehose of Silicon Valley Kool-Aid”

The Minerva Project

Via The Times Higher Education: “For-profit claims ‘learning gain’ victory over universities.” That’s “elite” education startup The Minerva Project, which has discovered if you are very exclusive with who you admit to your program, you can boast that your students perform very well on standardized tests. It’s an amazing amazing breakthrough

Regulations Are Bad (Says Someone Who Works for the For-Profit Industry)

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Winnowing the Field”

Unique International College (in Australia)

Via The Guardian: “College made millions by tricking Indigenous people, court finds”

Berkeley College

Via The New York Times“ ”Mixed Picture for a For-Profit College."

Strayer and Capella

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Strayer and Capella Announce Merger”

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Cappella-Strayer Merger Is Latest Sign of Upheaval in For-Profit Sector”

“The Strayer/Capella Merger and What it Means for For-Profits” by Michael Feldstein

Via The Wall Street Journal: “Strayer Education, Capella Education Near Merger Deal”

For-Profit Med Schools

Via Inside Higher Ed: “For-Profit Med School Comes Ashore”

Switching from For-Profit to Not-For-Profit

Via Buzzfeed: “ The Education Department Will Allow Two Large For-Profit Colleges To Become Nonprofits”

Via The Economist: “For-profit colleges in America relaunch themselves as non-profits.”

Republicans and For-Profits

Via The Atlantic: “The Closing of the Republican Mind on For-Profit Colleges”

Via New America: “How the G.O.P. Became For-Profit College Abuse Deniers”

Via Media Matters: “Newt Gingrich used Fox position to push for-profit colleges without disclosing conflict of interest”

EDMC (and the Dream Center Foundation)

Via Inside Higher Ed: “New Nonprofit Owner for EDMC”

Via The Pittsburgh Post Gazette: “EDMC completes sale of schools to Dream Center”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Letter Urges DeVos to Set Conditions on EDMC Sale”

Via Buzzfeed: “How The For-Profit College Art Institutes Found A Savior With Christian Roots”

Globe U

Via Inside Higher Ed: “In Reversal, Former Globe U Campuses to Close”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Two For-Profits Must Pay Restitution to Students”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “A Shuttered For-Profit Re-emerges”

For-Profits and Federal Funds

Via Brookings: “How much do for-profit colleges rely on federal funds?”

Delta Career Education Corporation

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Small For-Profit Closes 7 Campuses”

For-Profits and Vets

Via The Century Foundation: “Vietnam Vets and a New Student Loan Program Bring New College Scams”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Crackdown on ‘Pay to Play’ for ‘Military-Friendly’ Colleges”

Via The Seattle Times: “VA abruptly drops plan to suspend ethics law”

Via Inside Higher Ed: “VA Seeks Broad Waiver of Rule Barring Payments from For-Profits”

Via Vice: “Trump’s ‘Forever GI Bill’ won’t stop for-profit schools from preying on vets”

Downes v VCs

Via the venture capital firm University Ventures: “What We All Agree On”

“We Are Not Agreed” by Stephen Downes

The Amazing, Essential Tressie McMillan Cottom

Via Inside Higher Ed: “Lower Ed”

Via “Dean Dad” Matt Reed: “Lower Ed: A Review”

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “A Sociologist Looks at the Failure of the For-Profits and the Rise of Trump”

The Other Stories We Were Told (in 2017) about 'Free Speech' and Education Technology

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 08:30:00 +0000

Even though every article I write in this series is incredibly long, I always have to leave something out. Here are some of the other stories that were told about “free speech” this year – stories I didn’t fit into part seven in my year-end-series:

“Why the Nazis Came to Charlottesville” by Siva Vaidhyanathan

“7 Ways Teachers Can Respond to the Evil of Charlottesville, Starting Now” by Xian Franzinger Barrett

“Neo-Nazis Came for This Small Town. Can You Keep Them From Coming For Yours?” by Anne Helen Petersen

“A Radical College’s Public Meltdown” by Steve Kolowich

“It Runs Deep and We Can’t Talk It Out: On Campus Racism and the Murder of Richard Collins III” by Dan Greene

“Stuart Hall and the Rise of Cultural Studies” by Hua Hsu

“Political correctness isn’t the problem” by Sean McElwee

“Civil-Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof” by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah