Archive for June, 2009

How Much do YOU Spend on Education

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 26, 2009

Last year we posted about a minor uproar in South Korea where parents and some goovernment officials were taking the government to task for not spending enough on education.  It wasn’t about the amount spent — rather parents felt that they had to pick up the slack for government’s inadequacies.  Private spending in that country is about the same as public funding and the argument was that those private expenditures were eating into too much of a family income and causing a big burden.

In a similar vein, we noted with interest some figures reported in a Pearson press release relating to their investment in 2 companies in India.  Just like South Korea, India spend about 3.7% of their GDP on Education.  In India, this means approximately $120 billion.  Private spending there is reported at $50 billion (USD) for services, tutoring and other educational related offerings annually.

While not the same 1:1 ratio as Korea — that’s a lot of money.  And a lot of opportunity.

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What is a Smart Classroom

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 25, 2009

I have to admit I am baffled by some terms that get widely used.  Smart Classroom and technology in the classroom are among those.  When I think of smart classroom, the image that comes to mind is about all students online with the teacher and external resources stepping through lessons, interactive workgroups, exploring web links with a gola of accomplishing an assignment.  The assignment could be a project, some collaborative project effort resulting in a paper or presentation.  Along the way, lessons and required teaching are part of the design and they get done.

Just saw a mention about smart classrooms because it had a projector ??

I don’t get it.

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Open Access at Harvard

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 23, 2009

Last week, the Harvard Graduate School of Education announced that the faculty had voted to allow the University to make their scholarly articles available online.  Harvard’s open access repository will be available later this fall.

Good news for those looking for top of the line academic research.

 

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Jack Welch and the Online MBA

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 22, 2009

We noticed a blurb this morning on the wire about another new online university ramping up – Chancellor University.  The history of the school makes for interesting reading.  Last year, it was acquired by private financing and renamed Chancellor.

The for-profit educational institutions haev been doing very well of late and attracting a lot of interest and money.  They are almost all online and delivering education where the market (students) are.  Good old fashioned business 101.  There are many debates about the quality of the degree — we’ll leave that to others.

In today’s market where the demand is obviously great, where technology is a mainstay of our lives and the cost of more traditional education is problematic in this economic environment — we will likely see more of these.

And, by the way, Mr Welch has invested in this entity as well.

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O, to live in North Dakota!

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 19, 2009

Over 40 of the 50 United States are currently running a budget deficit and scrambling to figure out how to close that gap.  Among the many points of discussion and debate are usually school funding challenges.

Think what it must be like to live in ND these days.  The state has received a fair share of attention, media coverage and mentions on the late night talk shows.  North Dakota budgets in 2 year cycles and the current budget period is showing a surplus.  Unheard of in these times.  So much so, that the government is turning over approximately $300 million to educational funding.

While the rest of the country tries to figure out what to do and wait to see a stimulus check — North Dakota is managing quite nicely, thank you.

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Another Meaning of Using Technology in the Classroom

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 14, 2009

There was a good article in the WSJ this week about the Montgomery County school district using data to drive education in schools.  It was not about students in front of computers or another iPhone application.  Rather it was an administratvie function using Edline.

Think of the basic business dashboard where you watch performance – -sales, stock prices, inventory, production levels, etc.  It was about keeping track of how students were doing and when a problem popped up (like a failing grade or a poor test result) teachers could spring into action.  They could meet with the child, offer some extra help, tutoring, etc.  As close to real-time intervention as you could get and help right the ship.

What was interesting is that some teachers were moaning about having to use these tools.  They seem like normal, sound business practices here.  Those teachers who did not want to comply were invited by the school administration to find some other place to work where they might be happier.  Good idea !!

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Old Habits Die Hard

By Harry Henry - Oceanside, California - on June 5, 2009

We recently saw a report that said the # of students taking SAT tests went up 8% last year.  This, as we see continung coverage of college admissions folks declaring their school has decided to go for “optional submission”

At some point, the number of SAT takers won’t keep increasing while demand (college admission requirements) keeps falling.  Something has to change.

The continual push to get metrics — like SAT’s — is understandable.  We look for benchmarks in everything we do and particularly in education these days.  NCLB and realted assessment programs are testimony to that.  Combine these with seemingly mysterious process of being selected for admission to your school of choice and parents (+ students) feel the need to show a score hoping that will help or be the ticket in.

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