Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Has President Obama caught MOOC fever?

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“We want to encourage more colleges to embrace innovative new ways to prepare our students for a 21st century economy,” Obama said.

President Obama, in outlining his new education plan this week, didn’t utter the phrase “massive open online courses” or its handy acronym, but one could think otherwise, looking at the news articles, blog posts and tweets declaring that Obama has caught “MOOC fever.”

The president’s plan calls for tying federal aid into a college ranking system that would measure the average tuition, size of student debt, and amount of innovation on campuses.

“We want to encourage more colleges to embrace innovative new ways to prepare our students for a 21st century economy and maintain a high level of quality without breaking the bank,” Obama said, before listing some existing alternatives that included competency-based learning at Southern New Hampshire University, online courses at Arizona State University, and a certain online-only master’s degree program at Georgia Tech.…Read More

Obama, GOP duel over rising college expenses

Romney says the government should spend less on higher education.

President Barack Obama would make tax credits for college expenses permanent and expand Pell grants for students from lower-earning families. The Republican team of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would emphasize the need to curb rising tuitions and federal education spending that are burdening families and the government.

The different approaches to coping with growing college costs highlight one way that Obama and the GOP ticket are competing for young voters. This important group leaned heavily toward Obama in 2008 and still prefers him, according to polls, though less decisively.

Tuitions and fees for four-year public colleges grew by 72 percent above inflation over the past decade, averaging $8,244 last year, according to the College Board, which represents more than 6,000 schools.…Read More