1 instructor, 2760 students
There is an instructor at Va. Tech named John Boyer who does this. I think I might have mentioned him in another weekly newsletter as he also gets famous Nobel Prize winners (Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi) to virtually talk to his class on occasion. We have discussed the idea of MOOCs recently in this newsletter, and this guy would be a great person to talk to in regard to this topic. And as it turns out, he is doing a live chat today at noon for The Chronicle. If you don’t already have lunch plans, this might be a neat chat to be apart of.
If Harvard can’t afford journals……
Harvard University’s Faculty Advisory Council sent a memorandum recently to all faculty which opened with “We write to communicate an untenable situation facing the Harvard Library. Many large journal publishers have made the scholarly communication environment fiscally unsustainable and academically restrictive”. The memo continues by encouraging Harvard researchers to both submit their work to open-access journals and to resign from the boards of non-open-access journals. This memorandum has many in the academic community asking if it’s time for an open access model.
Quick Pic of the Week
…but Harvard can afford online courses though
Harvard and MIT last week each ponied up $30 million to create a new platform for free online courses. It is called Edx, and it seems to be somewhat derivative of MITx, which we have discussed often in this newsletter. This announcement continues to feed the buzz about different models of higher ed, and some are saying we will look back at this time as when the alternative-credit model took off and changed higher ed.
Quick Special Ed Story of the Week
Using google apps with students with disabilities.
Reading, Listening, Watching and Eating (My weekly pics)
Reading:
Trout (Kindle Version)
(Finally finished the Tenkara Book, feel like a need a broader explanation of this fish that is so successfully eluding me every weekend)
Listening:
Paul’s Boutique - The Beastie Boys
(One of the Beastie Boys passed away this week. I think this was my favorite. Rest in Peace MCA)
Watching:
Man on Wire - Documentary
(One of the greatest documentaries ever made. Go home and watch it now)
Eating:
Where is the best Mexican Food in RVA you ask? La Milpa! Its not even close actually. This place could be in the top three restaurants in Richmond regardless of category.
Quick Pic of the Week
William and Maggie started ninja lessons last week
