Straight Talk: January 19, 2011

Straight Talk:  The StraighterLine e-Newsletter Issue #2, January 2011
Edited by Jeffrey Lee Simons

In this issue…

Best of The StraighterLine Blog

Why Grade Inflation Is Rampant at American Colleges and Universities
Barry Lenson tackles the subject of grade inflation, what it says about students, teachers and schools, and even offers up a radical solution:

“But doesn’t grade inflation really mean that colleges either lack standards or have limited control over the educational processes that students are paying for? Let’s take a closer look. Sometimes the motivation for grade inflation is good, sometimes less so…” Read Full Post

Is Your Class Schedule a Mess?
3-hour evening classes 3x a week… early morning wake up calls… spring breaks replaced with required classes… check out these true horror stories from the trenches. Read Full Post

Online Education in the News

The Case for the Virtual Classroom
Mashable, Sarah Kessler, 1/03/2011

Mashable (the #2 Business and #3 Tech blog in the world) has an excellent post about online education. Our favorite quote is from none other than Bill Gates:

"We re-teach the same concepts again and again,” he said. “The teacher has no sense of who in his classroom is getting it, not getting it…and when you look at all of the successful innovations, it’s where you let the student assess his knowledge, understand where they are, and proceed at a pace where they’re actually seeing that they know something before they move on.”

The Department of Education’s meta-analysis, which focused on older learners, supports this. Online learners who self-monitored understanding — by, for example, deciding when to move on to the next lesson — performed better… Read Full Post


In Colorado, Online Students Increasing Faster than Offline
Colorado is just another example of how rapidly online education is growing across the country. In a state that has seen continual growth in student enrollment every year since 1989, the rate of online enrollment is outpacing the rate of total enrollment.

According to this press release on January 11 from the Colorado Department of Education, statewide enrollment for 2010-2011 increased by 1.3% over 2009-2010, considerably less than the record 2% increase in 2008-2009. However, for the same period, online enrollment surged 14% over the previous year, and now represents 1.8% of all students in the state. Read Full Press Release


Before You Invest in For-Profit Education
1/12/2011, The Motley Fool, by Garry Cassady, Benzinga

The MotleyFool has a great article for investors interested in online education. It discusses the fluctuations in market value of various for-profit education stocks like Strayer University.

Says the Fool, “Nevermind the tuition increase or regulatory changes or competitors like StraighterLine that offer college for $99/month. You heard correctly: $99/month. StraighterLine offers freshman and sophomore classes for $99/month. Compare that with the multi-thousand-dollar cost of education at Strayer, and maybe that might be another reason for the drop in student enrollment. Can we just face the possibility that college is too expensive, the government is not happy that colleges can earn large profits above-and-beyond students' tuition rates, and students are looking elsewhere for higher education?” Read Full Story

Burck’s Blast: "Hey You! Want to Reduce the Price of College?"

Opinion from the leader of the StraighterLine Revolution, Burck Smith

“I don’t set college tuition, determine the share of taxpayer funds applied to my education or get a say in what counts as a college degree. What can I do?

Turns out, quite a lot. This isn’t hopey-changey stuff anymore. Today, unlike anytime since the medieval dawn of the college concept, the supply of colleges willing to enroll students far exceeds the demand from students. Concurrently, with the explosion of distance education, students can choose from thousands of colleges rather than just the ones within driving or walking distance. These two attributes – a robust set of providers and ease of consumer choice – give students previously unheard of purchasing power…”

Read Full Blast