Community College Open Textbook Project
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DoE Arne Duncan Proposes Unbundling Higher Education
More details about the Obama's vision for open online courses for community colleges are slowly emerging. In his Politico op-ed piece, titled "Moving college into the 21st century," Arne Duncan, Secretary of the Department of Education speaks to the unbundling of higher education to improve access:
"Beyond these investments in our future, one part of the AGI (Amrican Graduation Initiative) has the potential to have a lasting impact on the future of higher education: The president is proposing to invest $500 million over the next 10 years to create world-class online college and high school courses that will be available to all 24/7/365. Colleges, universities, publishers, other institutions and related consortia will be invited to compete to create state-of-the-art online courses that combine high-quality subject matter expertise with the latest advances in cognitive and computer sciences. Such courses will enable students to move through the material at their own pace. When students do not understand a particular lesson or concept, carefully designed assessments will identify the gap in their learning. They'll relearn the material and have another chance to demonstrate mastery.
Such an open-source, easily accessible system of robust courses will produce the most profound equalization of access to cutting-edge knowledge and information since the creation of the public library. We will see the creation of new companies, perhaps even entirely new industries, situated squarely in the knowledge sector, which is so crucial to our national and global economic success.
Colleges and universities will be responsible for deciding whether to grant college credit if students demonstrate that they have mastered the content and skills of these courses. Some may want to offer credit in proctored testing centers as a way to accelerate student learning and accommodate more students. College professors may use an entire course, or portions of it, to enrich their classes. The Department of Defense may offer the courses to military personnel worldwide. Some motivated students will seek access to the free courses on their own, simply to discover their potential or to prepare themselves to re-enter the higher education system.
Successful completion of these courses may even encourage students to continue or complete educational paths they did not know they could master. By opening up the digital doorway to the best online higher education and high school courses available, we will provide millions of Americans with the knowledge and skills they need to advance their education and succeed in our global society. As history has taught us time and again, everyone wins when we invest in the future of higher education.
In the decades to come, the best outcome of all may well occur when the students who benefited from these free, open-learning resources become the next generation of American leaders. Millions will remember how they were helped to learn and advance toward a better life; that is something people rarely forget. It is a story they are likely to share with their children and their grandchildren - about how an American president saw a challenge and turned it into an opportunity for all."
"Beyond these investments in our future, one part of the AGI (Amrican Graduation Initiative) has the potential to have a lasting impact on the future of higher education: The president is proposing to invest $500 million over the next 10 years to create world-class online college and high school courses that will be available to all 24/7/365. Colleges, universities, publishers, other institutions and related consortia will be invited to compete to create state-of-the-art online courses that combine high-quality subject matter expertise with the latest advances in cognitive and computer sciences. Such courses will enable students to move through the material at their own pace. When students do not understand a particular lesson or concept, carefully designed assessments will identify the gap in their learning. They'll relearn the material and have another chance to demonstrate mastery.
Such an open-source, easily accessible system of robust courses will produce the most profound equalization of access to cutting-edge knowledge and information since the creation of the public library. We will see the creation of new companies, perhaps even entirely new industries, situated squarely in the knowledge sector, which is so crucial to our national and global economic success.
Colleges and universities will be responsible for deciding whether to grant college credit if students demonstrate that they have mastered the content and skills of these courses. Some may want to offer credit in proctored testing centers as a way to accelerate student learning and accommodate more students. College professors may use an entire course, or portions of it, to enrich their classes. The Department of Defense may offer the courses to military personnel worldwide. Some motivated students will seek access to the free courses on their own, simply to discover their potential or to prepare themselves to re-enter the higher education system.
Successful completion of these courses may even encourage students to continue or complete educational paths they did not know they could master. By opening up the digital doorway to the best online higher education and high school courses available, we will provide millions of Americans with the knowledge and skills they need to advance their education and succeed in our global society. As history has taught us time and again, everyone wins when we invest in the future of higher education.
In the decades to come, the best outcome of all may well occur when the students who benefited from these free, open-learning resources become the next generation of American leaders. Millions will remember how they were helped to learn and advance toward a better life; that is something people rarely forget. It is a story they are likely to share with their children and their grandchildren - about how an American president saw a challenge and turned it into an opportunity for all."
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