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Tag: Learning Outcomes

Performance-Based Funding 101: Measuring Skills

Yesterday,  I critiqued most of the indicators being suggested for the new Ontario PBF system.  But I left one out because I thought it was worth a blog all on its own, and that is the indicator related to “skills and competencies”.  It’s the indicator that is likely to draw the most heat from the higher education traditionalists, and so it is worth drilling into. In principle, measuring the ability of institutions to provide students more of the skills that allow

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April 24, 2019 8 Comments

If Canada Were Serious About Higher Education (Part 3)

Yesterday, we considered how provincial governments could get serious about higher education.  Today, I want to start talking about institutions can get serious about their most important function: teaching. When it comes to provincial goal setting and making institutions accountable, measurement is the key to improvement.  I am not convinced this is entirely the case with teaching, because frankly no one knows how to measure it holistically.  There are things that can be learned by having students write tests like

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April 10, 2019 No Comments

If Canada Were Serious About Higher Education (Part 1)

Canada is a vast and largely self-satisfied land.  And when it comes to higher education, we do pretty well.  Depending on the measure of access one chooses, we’re either above average or top of the pack.  We have the biggest and best-funded college system in the world, one which is highly regarded for its innovativeness.  On research, we punch at or above our weight.  Our faculty – the full-time ones, anyway – are the best-paid of any in the world

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April 8, 2019 3 Comments

Straight Dope on Learning Accounts

So, le tout Ottawa now seems convinced, given that a) the March budget is allegedly about skills (for the middle class, you know), b) the feds mostly handed the skills portfolio over to the provinces years ago that Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs), are definitely On The Agenda.  Possibly with some language around guaranteeing workers time off for skills training. So, can this work?  Has it worked elsewhere?  Glad you asked. The idea of ILAs are nothing new.  In one form or another

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February 14, 2019 1 Comment

Robot-Proof

If you’re looking for a book that is not too heavy, analyzes how changing technologies impacts skills, and does a great job of sketching out some possible attractive responses from higher education institutions: have I got a book for you.  It’s called Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Joseph Aoun. You’re surprised, I can tell.  The book does have the kind of title that suggests it has a point of view that ordinarily would set me off on

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March 1, 2018 1 Comment

One Thought to Start Your Day

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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