Thursday, June 17, 2010

6 Big Questions on Higher Ed Accountability � The Quick and the Ed

6 Big Questions on Higher Ed Accountability � The Quick and the Ed

6 Big Questions on Higher Ed Accountability

While watching this morning’s House Education & Labor Committee hearing on college accreditation and course credits, I picked up on six big questions that a lot of policymakers are chewing on. Higher education is transforming quickly before our eyes, but governments have been slow to adapt to many of these course-altering changes.
I’m interested in how our readers would respond to some of these BIG questions on the future of accountability in higher education:
1. As the monolithic traditional university begins to break down and diversify, should we continue to trust providers of higher education and accreditation agencies to provide meaningful accountability?
2. Is there a sound method of measuring student learning outcomes in higher education that won’t turn college courses into workshops where students learn simple facts, algorithms, and skills?
3. Now that the federal government is providing a lot of higher education’s revenue through student loans, how

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