Blogs

Any disappointment starts with a confession. I grew up infused with the idea that acquiring higher education is the most important professional aim in life. As a consequence, it is highly recommended that one share the company of people who have acquired university studies because through a dialogue with such persons, you grow up as an intellectual individual. Intellectuals always meet to discuss ideas and thoughts on how to change the world for good, don’t they?

OER textbook startup Boundless Learning is being sued for copyright infringement by Pearson, Cengage, and Macmillan. While the startup says that it's using openly licensed content to build its free textbooks, the publishers contend that the startup is copying topics, sub-topics, layouts and the like.

There must be something in the water in California. A few months ago, the world saw the viral video of campus police tear gassing protesters at a UC campus. This week, students at Santa Monica College -- a community college -- were tear gassed when trying to enter a public meeting to protest the proposed two-tier tuition plan outlined here.

One of the best aspects of working on a college campus is the enormous number of opportunities to hear knowledgeable people talk about interesting topics. Usually for free. Tonight was one of those opportunities.

This week we learned about the newest player in the online higher ed for-profit space, the Minerva Project. Check out Audrey's blog post and and Doug's article for some good background and discussion about Minerva.

In June of 2010, Brené Brown gave an amazing TED talk on vulnerability. When I first watched her talk, I realized that she had articulated the way that I try to live my life -- professionally and personally. Brown emphasized the concept of "wholeheartedness" and how it relates to vulnerability.

Since I have been traveling to film festivals and accompanying students on spring break trips, I have not seen my teenagers for almost three weeks — a situation that makes my eyes start to twitch after a while. I need to communicate to my kids (and to myself) a justification for this lengthy separation from them.

Yale University's approach to its partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to establish an undergraduate liberal arts college in the country is flawed and ill-conceived in ways that call into question Yale’s ability to be a responsible long-term partner for Singapore and its national university.