Van Davis
A Road to Somewhere

Last month I asked our readers to contemplate whether or not we’re “on a road to nowhere” as we prepare for the fall and beyond. Today, I want to take a look at where we are on that road and consider what this journey may look like for the next several months.

A Road to Somewhere
Van Davis
Avoiding a “Road to Nowhere:” What We Must Do ...

In 1985 The Talking Heads released “Road to Nowhere.” That song, and that metaphor, have been on my mind a lot lately as I think about where higher education is going in the fall and beyond.

Avoiding a “Road to Nowhere:” What We Must Do This Fall
Van Davis
Update on Federal Regulations Impacting ...

I suspect many of us feel a bit like Phil Connors right now—every day seems like the last as we go through a seemingly endless series of Zoom meetings, emails, and revisiting many of the same issues over and over as circumstances require us to reevaluate and revise former decisions. High on that list of issues is likely questions about federal regulations and regulatory relief in this time or remote education.

Update on Federal Regulations Impacting Distance Education During the Pandemic
Van Davis
Fall and Beyond: Higher Education in the Age of ...

Even before the COVID-19 global pandemic, higher education was struggling to make sense of what David La Piana and Melissa Mendes call a VUCA world in The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution: Real-Time Strategic Planning in a Rapid-Response World. Originally coined by the US military to describe a post-Cold War world, VUCA stands for:

· Volatile– The world is rapidly changing and is no longer static.

· Uncertain– The world is unpredictable.

· Complex– The world is interwoven and interconnected.

· Ambiguous– We no longer understand what the change levers are or even the extent to which everything is interconnected.

Fall and Beyond: Higher Education in the Age of COVID-19 and Other Disasters
Van Davis
Regulations Review #1: Regular and Substantive ...

This post will examine the proposed changes to the distance education and credit hour definitions. We’ll have another post early next week that will dig deeper into the proposed changes related to direct assessment and competency-based education as well as a few other select issues such as proposed changes to the credit hour definition, calculating financial aid eligibility for correspondence education, and defining an instructional week for asynchronous delivery.

Regulations Review #1: Regular and Substantive Interaction

Federal Policy

A First Look at the House's Version of HEA Reauthorization

A First Look at the House's Version of HEA Reauthorization

On November 8, 1965, in a crowded gymnasium at his alma mater Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University), President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 proclaiming, “I want you to go back and say to your children and to your grandchildren, and those who come after you and follow you—tell them we have made a promise to them… And tell them that we have opened the road and we have pulled the gates down and the way is open, and we expect them to travel it.”

Since that fall morning, the HEA has served as the primary federal legislation governing student financial aid and higher education regulation. It has been reauthorized several times – most recently in 2008 – and is several years overdue for reauthorization. And although Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, and his co-chair Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) have been vocal about their commitment to reauthorizing the act, it was Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, who released the first draft of a bill to reauthorize HEA last Friday.

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The OIG Report on WGU, Part 3: A Brief History of Regular and Substantive Interaction

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The OIG Report on WGU, Part 3: A Brief History of Regular and Substantive Interaction

A little over two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its long-awaited and much anticipated financial aid audit of Western Governors University (WGU). Since then, there have been a number of great discussions of the report as well as its potential impact on higher education. Today, in the third post of our series on the audit, we are going to take a trip down memory lane and revisit a post that we wrote last year that reviewed all of the available information at that time on “regular and substantive interaction,” the issue at the heart of both the audit findings and the source of much discussion among online educators.

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The OIG Report on WGU, Part 2: React... But Don't Overreact

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The OIG Report on WGU, Part 2: React... But Don't Overreact

It has been more than a week since the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its Final Audit Report declaring that “Western Governors University Was Not Eligible to Participate in the Title IV Programs.” Both of us (Russ Poulin, WCET and Van Davis, Blackboard) have been following the activities surrounding the audit (competency-based education, regular and substantive interaction, the definition of faculty) for some time. Last year we wrote a post trying to compile and interpret previous OIG and Department of Education information about “regular and substantive interaction.”

This is the second in a series of blog posts on the OIG Report. This post begins with some additional background. We also want to be the first to provide advice as to what this means for distance educators and suggest some issues you and your institutional colleagues should consider.

Trump on Higher Education: What to Watch For

Trump on Higher Education: What to Watch For

Recently I reviewed how education fared during the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Today we’ll take a look at the recent Congressional budget continuing resolution and what to watch for during the next 100 days. 

The budget deal

Earlier this year the White House released its FY 2018 proposed “skinny” budget, America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again, which proposed a $59.5 billion increase for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. In order to offset the increase, the proposal also included cuts from fifteen different agencies including a 13 percent reduction to the Department of Education’s budget. And although we are a long way off from reaching a deal on the 2018 budget, the recent FY17 continuing budget resolution (CR) to formalize appropriations for the remainder of the fiscal year gives us some ideas of how Congress might respond to President Trump’s proposed education cuts.

Trump on Higher Education: His First 100 Days

Trump on Higher Education: His First 100 Days

Saturday, April 29, marks President Trump’s 100th day in office. The first 100 days of a new president is often considered a bellwether for the remainder of the presidency; it can serve as a general indicator of the administration’s priorities, tactics, and relationships with Congress. In the case of President Trump, many hope that it can aid their understanding of a president who is still largely seen as an unknown quantity. Candidate Trump gave little attention to education during his campaign and President Trump continues this practice.

So what has happened during Trump’s first 100 days regarding education?

The Future of Higher Education Policy Under President Trump

The Future of Higher Education Policy Under President Trump

 “Higher learning has been central to the American story, written over centuries, empowering individuals not only to advance their own station, but also to engage in our democracy – to preserve and protect those freedoms.” – Ted Mitchell, Under Secretary of Education, retrospective address at Northeastern University, January 12, 2017

Every four or eight years our nation’s capital undergoes a changing of the guard as the president and their administration is replaced by a newly elected president with their own staff and political appointees. Some years the change has little impact on education policy, but some years, like this one, the change is likely to be significant. As America watches a new administration take office Friday, it’s an excellent opportunity to look back at the Obama administration’s higher education policy and anticipate what the future will hold under President Trump.

Distance Education Policy: Our Comment on the Education Department's Proposed Regulations

Distance Education Policy: Our Comment on the Education Department's Proposed Regulations

Earlier this week Blackboard joined together with eight other organizations committed to distance education to co-sign a letter to the Department of Education on proposed regulations that could impact distance education programs. Collectively we represent over 3,000 colleges and universities, all committed to providing students with access to high quality distance education programs.

The Road Ahead to US Federal Higher Education Policy Issues

The Road Ahead to US Federal Higher Education Policy Issues

On November 8, 1965, surrounded by faculty, lawmakers, and former teachers on the gymnasium floor at his alma mater, Southwest Texas State University, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Higher Education Act of 1965. At the time Johnson claimed that the bill would “swing open a new door for the young people of America… [T]his means the path of knowledge is open to all that have the determination to walk it.”

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Congress Proposes Changes to Student Data Usage and Privacy Regulations

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Congress Proposes Changes to Student Data Usage and Privacy Regulations

We live in a society awash in a sea of data. The collection and use of millions upon millions of data points allows for an unprecedented level of personalization when we log into service providers like Amazon, Netflix or iTunes.  Our data, the record of the most personal and private parts of our lives, fuel the algorithms that order our lives.

But, there is a darker side to the ubiquitous presence of our personal data.

We decry the ability of the National Security Agency to access phone records. Librarians staunchly advocate the right of patrons to keep borrowing histories private.  We monitor our credit after massive data breaches stretching from national consumer outlets to the federal government. But we reserve our most critical and contentious conversations around data and privacy for discussions of student data usage and privacy.