<p>This jumping on the bandwagon before the big tsunami of educational change occurs really makes me cringe. I am not suggesting that everyone close their eyes and ears to blended learning, but coming from an educational background, is it really learning? Or is it simply communication of points/material? I have a son who goes to Tech and was exposed to his first online learning experience at the Math Emporium there as a freshman. He did fine academically, but told me last night that he hated having the information presented that way. It was/is so impersonal and dry and I highly doubt if he learned as much this way. Is this what we want for our students? He said he plugged through that class, but was so glad he didn’t have any more like it.</p>
<p>Many who have spent time in the trenches of academia know that we go in cycles…Someone comes out with the “the newest way of teaching _<strong><em>” which is going to be the end all to </em></strong> education. The creators of the new curriculum spend thousands of dollars promoting their wonderful idea, the school systems spend thousands of dollars buying the materials, thousands of dollars training the staff and then…oops! Ten, fifteen years later educators see the gaps in what the students know and the magically go back to the old way of teaching that subject, (of course they name it something else)!..</p>
<p>Will the same thing occur if this “newest thing” is implemented in higher education?</p>
<p>I may be old school, but I know that any student, age 5 to 105 learns best from making a connection with either an instructor, a real life application or even through their various senses. This tsunami may be coming, but I think there will many helpless students who drink in too much of its water and may drown along the way.</p>
<p>It’s really hard to believe that keeping up with the online Joneses loomed as large in the Board of Visitors’ thinking as the e-mails make it appear. It’s not like that ship was about to sale, or that UVa would face huge barriers to entry in the market (assuming there ever IS a market) if it didn’t act RIGHT NOW.</p>
<p>On the one hand, I want to say, “Sure, this proves that the BOV were crazy incompetents.” But I don’t actually think they could possibly be that crazy or that incompetent.</p>
<p>As a concept, I do see a place for on-line learning, but only in certain situations. As a teacher, I took several on-line graduate classes through CaseNex at UVa (not sure if that even still exists). However, I have a bachelors and a masters from UVa that were gained the old-fashioned way (on grounds), had young children at home and needed recertification points. It met my needs, but it wasn’t the same as a traditional class.</p>
<p>My son took a class in high school that was live streamed (in real time) from UVA. This was done only because the school could not work the transportation/scheduling out so that the few students taking the class would have time to get to UVA and back before their next class at the school. Of course, this wasn’t exactly on-line because they could see the prof and ask questions of him and participate in class discussions.</p>
<p>If a student has a strong interest in a particular subject and there is no means to take the class otherwise, I can see an on-line class being the answer. If we want to preserve the UVA experience, however, I don’t think on-line classes should become the norm.</p>
<p>It would be completely foolish not to pay attention to online learning ideas, to stick your head in the sand and try to ignore them. On the other hand, I think it is also completely foolish to be panicked about not having a full-blown set of online education initiatives in place instantly. It’s going to happen eventually, sure, but this is an area, like many, where you can tell who the pioneers are because they are lying by the roadside with arrows sticking out of them.</p>
<p>Quote:
Many on Grounds are hoping for the reinstatement of Sullivan. She has said little in her public remarks about that prospect. Tuesday morning, her son, Joe Laycock, said its important to his mother not to compromise her values. Im not worried about my family at all, he said. We are worried about UVa.</p>
<p>Online courses are huge in my industry and they get around cheating in a simple way: they require you to show up in person at the end of the semester to take your one and only test. </p>
<p>However, the school that is at the forefront of online education has become a true laughingstock in the industry. I am sure they are making money, but I wouldn’t hire one of their ‘graduates’ if you put a gun to my head, and most people I know think the same way. These people make the most egregious of errors, and I have seen lived endangered by what are the most simple of concepts. Is it worth it to UVA to diminish the value of it’s degrees like that? I sure hope not. </p>
<p>What I can’t figure out is if the lack of knowledge among online students is a product of the style of teaching, the quality of the teaching, or the quality and preparation of the students compared to those who went through a very demanding program in a traditional college setting. My guess is that it is a combination of all of those reasons.</p>
<p>“who the pioneers are because they are lying by the roadside with arrows sticking out of them.”</p>
<p>Yeah and I bet their pockets are full of cash. People take greater risks if they think there is a financial reward in sight.</p>
<p>“It’s not like that ship was about to sale, or that UVa would face huge barriers to entry in the market (assuming there ever IS a market) if it didn’t act RIGHT NOW”</p>
<p>I don’t have any evidence (yet) but I really wonder if this decision was more about money than anything. And I really wonder if there are some personal profitable connections. I don’t know who all would have profited, but somebody was going to and felt that they would miss the boat if they were shut out for any significant amount of time. That factor may have caused the urgency. After reading through those emails and seeing them trying to justify their decisions based on OP/ED pieces and magazine articles, it makes one have so many questions.</p>
<p>Online education for professional degrees are fine, but when they infiltrate graduate and especially undergraduate programs, it is dangerous. Admitting more in-state students, too, IMO would decrease UVA’s reputation. Email excerpts hint that they are planning on doing this to please McDonnell, which is probably why he does not want to meddle with the situation. </p>
<p>I highly suspect that money plays a huge role in this, in that it’s a mutual benefit for investors (Dragas, Kiernan who has ties with Goldman backed EMC, etc.) and UVA (financially speaking).</p>
<p>“I don’t have any evidence (yet) but I really wonder if this decision was more about money than anything.”</p>
<p>All aspects of Sullivan’s departure are clearly disagreements about money. Raising money from big donors, making cuts, declining state support with increasing state mandates, online delivery to cut costs and get more degrees granted out of UVA’s physical plant, the need to increase faculty pay, making schools/departments self-sufficient, etc. etc. etc. Those are all really important issues for UVA.</p>
<p>I still can’t tell whether it was a good decision to oust Sullivan. As with everything in this situation, the fault lies in Richmond. The root problem here was that the BOV’s composition lacked diversity of experience. If the Gov only appoints in-state MBA types (who tend to be the kind of people that contribute to VA gubernatorial campaigns), don’t be surprised if the BOV employs B-school type solutions (“strategic dynamism”) to problems. If you only have a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail…</p>
<p>Appointing BOVs is much better than electing them, but VA’s governors have done a lousy job making those appointments. Look at what the boards of other universities look like (especially the best private ones). They have folks from government, academia, the arts and places other than in-state business types. </p>
<p>I’d be more confident in the decision to oust Sullivan if that decision included the votes of some academic types on the BOV. And the blowback from the decision would have been much less if the BOVs process included some sage advice from an experienced political type.</p>
<p>KandKsmom “I have a son who goes to Tech and was exposed to his first online learning experience at the Math Emporium there as a freshman. He did fine academically, but told me last night that he hated having the information presented that way. It was/is so impersonal and dry and I highly doubt if he learned as much this way.”</p>
<p>Everyone has different learning styles. I think that there are a lot of students that actually prefer the Math Emporium approach where they can learn at their own pace. If the on-line course is well designed and interactive it should be fine for most people especially in the intro Math courses. VT contends that math comprehension from its Emporium is as good or better than the old style approach. It also saves a lot of money.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to have any on-line classes for any liberal arts courses though. I’ve had to take many on-line courses to meet continuing education requirements and wouldn’t want learn the material that way if it was my first exposure.</p>
<p>Agree,Chris, that Math Emporium can actually be preferred by some. My VT son did fine with the Math Emporium concept . It has actually been a model that other schools have adopted. I believe Sullivan may have even mentioned that a hybrid/online concept for some classes in subjects like math could work.Also agree that liberal arts courses are a different story.</p>
<p>Here is an article that gives some background on the online movement, how it is profitable and how venture capital is involved. Take a look at Coursera and Udacity to see what’s happening. </p>
<p>Maybe faculty losses like his are one of the issues they feel Sullivan didn’t do enough to stem. I don’t know how UVA could compete with Vanderbilt money but it would be interesting to know what efforts, if any, were made to keep him.</p>
<p>Also note in the linked article above a few paragraphs from the bottom the last time this type of instruction was used it failed:</p>
<p>“In some ways, the new partnerships reprise the failed online education ventures of a decade ago. Columbia University introduced Fathom, a 2001 commercial venture that involved the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and others. It lost money and folded in 2003. Yale, Princeton and Stanford collaborated on AllLearn, a nonprofit effort that collapsed in 2006.”</p>
<p>I agree 355 is really funny - and “truthy”.</p>
<p>This controversy is exploding. There is a silent rally on the Lawn tonight (Wed.) at 5. A larger Rally for Honor is scheduled on the Lawn on Sunday afternoon, with a future rally near the Capitol buildng in the planning stages.</p>
<p>Many legislators are jumping on board, asking what they can do to help. This may involve hearings by the House and Senate Education Committees, because the legislature is out of session. The legislature has the legal authority to overrule or reconstitute the board.</p>
<p>Faculty senates of other universities are now involved, and there was a 3 minute story on NPR last night, broadcast across the country.</p>
<p>President Sullivan has spoken in favor of greater use of digital methods through hybrid classes in the lower level classes for existing students. There is already a big digital role in intro math and language classes, to supplement, but not replace the classroom. However, she stated at a recent board meeting that online methods do not necessarily save money and can greatly reduce quality if they are not used correctly.</p>
<p>Whether they are correct or not, I am kind of stunned at how utterly obnoxious and unprofessional some of these distinguished educators are being in their resignation statements.</p>
Thanks for sharing it and giving a little comic relief!</p>