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Category: Institutions

Coronavirus (19, but Time is a Flat Circle). Shovel This.

Today I want to talk about economic stimulus and what that is likely to look like for universities and colleges. To be clear, the $100 billion plus in money which has gone out the door so far in emergency benefits, wage subsidies, and various other programs, is not stimulus.  What we are doing now is – in the words of the excellent Jennifer Robson – more like inducing a medical coma; keep the patient (the economy) in a kind of low-functioning stasis

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April 22, 2020 No Comments

From the Shelves of HESA Towers – “The Effective College”

Sometimes when you pick up an old book about higher education, it’s like stepping into a weird version of the present because the issues are exactly the same, only presented in the language of a different decade.  The book I picked off the shelf this week, though, is nothing like that – it’s actually a really interesting window into a totally different world of higher education.  And it’s actually not a book, but a “bulletin” of the Association of American

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April 16, 2020 No Comments

Coronavirus (14) – The Re-opening Conundrum

Most people want to know how the heck we get out of this mess.  Not dates, necessarily, but the process.  We have to see big declines in the number of new cases before we can start to unwind the physical-distancing measures are now in place.  How few cases do we have to see before the maximum gathering moves from five people (where it currently is in Ontario, YMMV), to ten?  To fifty?  A hundred?  When can we stop having to

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April 13, 2020 5 Comments

Coronavirus (12) – A National Effort in Online Education

Today, I want to issue a challenge to all Canadian universities.  I think a lot of universities are going to be in significant trouble come September.  I know everyone is working hard to avoid this outcome but fixing what needs to be fixed for September is simply too big a job for individual institutions.  And so, I am going to argue that the only way forward is for institutions is to do something which does not come naturally to them,

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April 7, 2020 12 Comments

Approaches to Marking

Take a breath–this is my one non-corona blog this week.  Since it’s exam time and people are experimenting with new ways of assessment in the midst of an emergency, my mind has been turning around the issue of different methods of marking and assessment.  Not different approaches to grading (which is a whole other story – especially since Canada is one of the very few and possibly only country in the world where there is not a standard national approach to grading, and yes Carleton,

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April 2, 2020 1 Comment

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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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