Rethinking the value of a college degree

by Dr Davis on February 1, 2009

Swift Kick Online has the Value of a College Degree in a Networked World

Board Buzz says, “Yes, college is worth it.”

E Learn Space talks about the hollowness of liberal arts.

ERIC Digest (2003) says there is a social and economic value to college. Non-completers make less money than completers. It also says that 2-year colleges offer as much or more than two years at a 4-year college.

Mercury News:

Rarely has a response of this magnitude been necessary. California’s unemployment rate in December was 9.3 percent, its highest in 15 years, and many of the jobless are finding their skills no longer fit the shrinking job market.
Take Frank Zelenka, who was laid off from his $80,000-a-year management job in Texas in 2003 and has not found steady work since. The 40-year-old Martinez resident, whose lack of a college education has hurt his prospects, has started taking classes at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, including a career-counseling course.

“Just so I can figure out where Frank Zelenka fits in this new economy,” said the single father of three, who would like to teach elementary school. “I felt that I had skills and talent that were going unused. There’s a job out there for me somewhere.”

A CBS affiliate says:

School officials say anytime there is a downturn in the economy, more people go back to school, hoping to get into a better career. Public universities expect higher than average tuition hikes in the future, as a fallout of the state budget cuts.

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Teachers who share

by Dr Davis on February 1, 2009

Dean of Idea and Thoughts said that teachers who share are the best teachers.

I like that idea, since I am sharing.

I also like that idea, since I am working on a grant application that predicates this very idea, that sharing makes you a better teacher… Not because of the act of sharing but because of the long-term tendency of good teachers to share what works and mentor other teachers. We are specifically discussing contributing online, which Dean is as well.

The confluence of the two very disparate writings on the same topic caught my attention.

haring and meta cognition should be inseparable. Deep reflectors of their practice are constantly modifying instruction to make learning more effective. This is not about them using technology, it’s about sharing. I’m not saying you have to share to be a great teacher, I’m saying if you do, you are. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.

That was from Dean. Here was our take on it:

REVELATION (not revolution which is a closed circle that begins and ends in the same place):

For years, many faculty members from their “ivory towers” of isolated innovation in their classrooms have played the game of “hide and seek.” In the fall of 2008, in sessions from the Adjunct Certification Program, some of us at Lone Star College-Kingwood, realized that (as President Obama has said) “the ground has shifted” in the modern world of education.

The critical-thinking innovation today for a faculty is to change the game from “hide and seek” to “sardines,” where if an innovation is found by one educator then other faculty crawl in and share the idea and the space to present that “new experience” with other faculty and therefore with each professor’s students.

What we have found is “To care is to share and to know is to grow.” It may start small with two, but then it will expand to three, then more. This innovative revelation started simply, two professors (Joe Kale and Dr. Davis), separated by discipline and physical distance of teaching at different times (and in many instances in different places), got together and used the Internet and their global writings to expand their visions, their classrooms, and therefore the opportunities for their students.

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