Free for the Taking--Online Higher Education from the Best

Harvard University Open Courseware
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/DistanceEd/how-it-works/default.jsp;jsessionid=GAGPDJCOMADG#sample

MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

Khan Academy--over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced lessons delivered for free--the brain child of MIT educated math and science wiz, Salman Khan
http://www.khanacademy.org/

Plagiarism, Scholarship and Its Social Connections

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that social sites on the web have become prime locations where students are taking materials that are used in plagiarism.  What is particularly troubling from this new trend is that, “People are relying more on their peers than on experts.”
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/plagiarism-appears-to-be-going-social/31142
(access to this article from off campus will require user authentication)

Top 10 Fastest Growing Career Areas

In their report on continuing education, the New York Times listed the top ten fastest growing fields for those retooling their skills and credentials.  Biomedical engineers are expected to be in great demand with 12,000 new jobs predicted by 2018.  Home health aides and personal & home care aides will see up to 50% growth in their employment fields.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/education/edlife/edl-17conted-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=top%2010%20list%20continuing%20ed&st=cse

Inside HigherEd reported on the discussion about the Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA) taking place at the American Association of Community Colleges.  They quote Joe May, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and member of the VFA steering committee.  “We’ve been unable to tell our story in a meaningful way that will align with our mission,” May said of community colleges. “We know we’re great at what we do … but we’ve never had the data to tell that story, and we’ve been unable to come to an agreement as to what that looks like. Are we really making transformations to people’s lives that add value and make a difference? We need to weigh how to compare ourselves … and that will help us tell our story more accurately than we’ve ever done before.”
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/04/12/update_on_voluntary_framework_of_accountability_pilot_testing

The Chronicle of Higher Education similarly reports that "Community Colleges Are Urged to Become Bolder Advocates for Their Sector."
http://chronicle.com/article/Community-Colleges-Are-Urged/127079/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en  (Access to the Chronicle will require user authentication from off-campus)

Finding New Sources of Revenue for Brookdale

The challenges of the current economic climate are bringing an ever greater need for finding new community college funding sources.  At Brookdale we see a looming budget shortfall which must be managed with as little impact as possible on the overall quality of education.  One option is to seek new revenue streams.  The following links provide discussion related to financial options colleges can consider:

In Higher Education Budgets and the Global Recession: Tracking Varied National Responses and Their Consequences, a 2010 research paper by John Aubrey Douglass, University of California, Berkeley, he presents a broad discussion of what various countries are doing on behalf of their higher education systems.  This is one source of useful information as Brookdale considers its internationalizing options.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED511965.pdf

 "Generating New Sources of Revenue" by Tony Zeiss is one chapter is from Successful Approaches to Fundraising and Development, part of the series New Directions for Community Colleges
http://0-content.ebscohost.com.library.brookdalecc.edu/pdf10/pdf/2003/0YG/01Dec03/11984718.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=11984718&S=R&D=tfh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeprQ4v%2BbwOLCmr0meprdSsKi4SrKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOHg8IThpq5RuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA
(access from off-campus will require user authentication)

Community College Week has an article, "What are They Doing Right?" which analyzes the sucessful business strategies employed by proprietary institutions of higher education.
http://0-content.ebscohost.com.library.brookdalecc.edu/pdf10/pdf/2003/CCW/07Jul03/10288429.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=10288429&S=R&D=tfh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeprQ4v%2BbwOLCmr0meprdSs6m4TLGWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOHg8IThpq5RuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA
(access from off-campus will require user authentication)

In 2009, Bergen Community College's student retention efforts to maintain its funding stream was presented in an article appearing in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice http://0-content.ebscohost.com.library.brookdalecc.edu/pdf23_24/pdf/2009/1HM/01Nov09/44653394.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=44653394&S=R&D=tfh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeprQ4v%2BbwOLCmr0mep65Srqu4TLCWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOHg8IThpq5RuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA
(access from off-campus will require user authentication)

A View from the Outside In: Community Colleges as Entrepreneurial Community Learning Centers, a 2002 report published in ERIC, touts the role of  community college consortial groups developing business plans for their programs and services
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED470475.pdf

The Center for Immigration Studies on Hispanic Population Growth in the US

As a follow-up to earlier IPEC posting about the growing Hispanic population numbers in New Jersey, the Center for Immigration for Studies offers the following:
Salvadoran-American journalist Carlos Rajo, an analyst for Telemundo, recently provided a concise explanation of the damage the U.S. would suffer if the ever-larger cohort of Latino young people do not receive an education that prepares them for the future.  Rajo said that a failed education doesn't just hurt the individual: "The state is also hurt because it receives less taxes during the lifetime of a person who does not complete his education," he said.
http://cis.org/kammer/telemundos-solid-journalism

Students' Misplaced Sense of Entitlement?

Do you agree with Elayne Clift in her commentary published in a recent edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education that students have what she calls a "misplaced sense of entitlement"?  Does what she has to say about students of today ring true for you in your experiences and interactions with them?  Or are the students at BCC different from what Clift sees as a pervasive national trend in students' behavior reflecting
 "rude behavior, lack of intellectual rigor," or both, along with a "frightening decline in student performance and academic standards at institutions of higher learning"?  Check out Clift's commentary to see if you agree or disagree with her judgments.

http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Should-Check-Their/126890/

State Funding for Community Colleges

This Inside Higher Ed. article discusses some interesting variations in state rationales for funding community colleges.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/31/state_budgets_and_community_college_funding