This week, we are discussing the entity of Higher Education. The costs, the curriculum, the desired outcomes, and the alternatives.
MAKING COLLEGE FREE
There is a big political push right now saying Higher Education should be free. Ok, but does "free" mean the Federal Government subsidizes our tuition to traditional Universities, or does "free" mean free access to the education itself? Because, as a currently debt-laden nation, the latter seems more achievable? And here are a couple of my favorite options.
Khan Academy
Dedicated to providing a free world-class education to anyone, anywhere. This site currently has 3,100 lessons and counting, all produced by site founder, Salman Khan. Bill Gates' kids learn via the Khan Academy. This is the biggest non-profit stand-alone educational resource out there right now.
Crash Course
This new venture offers super high-quality and beautifully produced liberal arts overviews, currently only for the fields of "World History" and "Biology". But this is incredibly exciting. Let's say like-minded professors help create these full courses for 60 different fields, the wide spectrum of liberal arts "Gen Eds"...
Could these free options essentially replace one's first two years of college?
Sure...if schools begin to recognize them. But, that's a big "if". And that's where we'll start tomorrow.
April 30, 2012
Gen Eds: Rethinking Higher Education
This week, we will discuss the entity of Higher Education. The costs, the curriculum, the desired outcomes, and the alternatives.
GEN ED REQUIREMENTS
My first semester of Freshman year, I enrolled in Pysch 104, more excited about this course than any other on my schedule.
In fact, I was confident I would end up minoring in Psychology. After all, as a marketing student, I wanted to better understand human behavior. The way the mind works. What motivates us. How we learn. Instead, I was given multiple choice tests on the different biological parts of the brain. Disenchanted, I never took another Psych course.
This course was also the entry point course for my friend Diana, a registered Psychology major.
Why were we both taking the same course? Why is the entry level course for a Psych major the same broad "liberal arts" version of Psychology the rest of us are assigned as a Gen Ed?
If our goal within a "liberal arts" education is to give non-majors a broad understanding of the inner-connectivity of all these different fields, shouldn't we design the course more broadly? Not merely boring foundational curriculum that assumes you'll be moving on to next-level stuff next semester?
Why was I memorizing brain parts with the one chance they had to open my mind to the science of Psychology?
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GEN ED REQUIREMENTS
My first semester of Freshman year, I enrolled in Pysch 104, more excited about this course than any other on my schedule.
In fact, I was confident I would end up minoring in Psychology. After all, as a marketing student, I wanted to better understand human behavior. The way the mind works. What motivates us. How we learn. Instead, I was given multiple choice tests on the different biological parts of the brain. Disenchanted, I never took another Psych course.
This course was also the entry point course for my friend Diana, a registered Psychology major.
Why were we both taking the same course? Why is the entry level course for a Psych major the same broad "liberal arts" version of Psychology the rest of us are assigned as a Gen Ed?
If our goal within a "liberal arts" education is to give non-majors a broad understanding of the inner-connectivity of all these different fields, shouldn't we design the course more broadly? Not merely boring foundational curriculum that assumes you'll be moving on to next-level stuff next semester?
Why was I memorizing brain parts with the one chance they had to open my mind to the science of Psychology?