The future of counselling?

Is online counselling the future? The Chronicle of Higher Education has a fascinating story on the introduction of an online counselling programme in Florida. Initially developed as a response to resource constraints  it nevertheless seems to have real merit: Three years ago, facing a particularly acute demand for services, the Counseling and Wellness Center at the …

More Problems for MOOCs

More gloomy news for MOOC enthusiasts MIT Technology Review has a striking report on how some data mining has exposed a few embarrassing problems for MOOCs. The research confirms earlier reports about low continuation and completion rates and, perhaps surprisingly, notes that teacher involvement really doesn't help: But this new golden age of education has rapidly …

A ‘University in a Box’ in Rwanda

More educational innovation in Africa. Earlier this year I posted about the initiative by Kenyatta University to establish a campus in Dadaab, a huge refugee camp filled with Somali refugees. A fantastic initiative, also supported by some Canadian universities, which I am still hoping will be followed by UK universities. More recently, The Chronicle of Higher …

University of the People v College for the Few

For the many or the few? A previous post commented on the Fantasy institution that is the New College of the Humanities. This story rumbles on in the UK and is continuing source of interest for many. But whatever one might think of the merits or otherwise of the project, no-one would seek to suggest …

‘Wal-Mart U’ v ‘Harrods U’

Two new entrants into HE From the Chronicle of Higher Education an interesting story explaining that there might have been a Wal-Mart University: As the world's largest retailer weighed its options for making a big splash in education, executives told one potential academic partner that Wal-Mart Stores was considering buying a university or starting its …

Dog Earns MBA Online

Dog Earns M.B.A. Online - from The Chronicle of Higher Education Just goes to show: GetEducated.com, an online-learning consumer group, managed to purchase an online M.B.A. for its mascot, a dog named Chester Ludlow. The Vermont pug earned his tassles by pawing over $499 to Rochville University, which offers "distance learning degrees based on life …