Presented by Jessica Medearis MOOCs. Income-based tuition payment. College-ready. With higher education reform increasingly part of the national discourse, you may have heard buzzwords like these and wondered how they apply to the work of student leaders in Minnesota. This discussion will introduce “hot topics” in higher education and provide participants the opportunity to engage in conversation about how these topics could affect the future of our colleges.

1. Hot Topics in Higher
Education
Jessica Medearis

2. Voices for reform: why now?

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Tuition has never been higher
Completion is essential
Demographics are changing
Community colleges are key

3. Discussion

What misconceptions do you encounter
about two-year colleges? How do you
correct these?

4. Today’s Topics

Completion
◦ Credit for prior learning
◦ Competencies

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Open courses
Affordability

5. Completion
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What does “college ready” mean?
Credit for Prior Learning
Not about how long you’re sitting in
class
Need for more credentialed workers

6. Discussion

What skills/support do you see college
students need?

7. Online Learning

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Over 10,000 courses, 100,000 students
In FY2010:
◦ 12.5% of all credits were online
◦ 35% increase over FY2008

8. The Rise of the MOOCs

9. MOOCs

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Massive Open Online Courses
Free online courses, not credit-based
(yet)
◦ Coursera, Udacity

10. Discussion


Who is successful in learning online?
Who isn’t?
How do you see MOOCs impacting our
schools?

11. The Education “Bubble”
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Loss of state support, increase in
tuition
Cuts to federal aid programs
Student loan debt has surpassed credit
card debt.

12. Tuition Model Reform:

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Income-based payment
Tiered tuition for extension courses
Is college worth it?

13. Discussion

Do you think the cost of college will
reach a point where it’s not “worth it?”
Why or why not?