News Links | August 13, 2015

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

In new Pierce College program, no textbooks required A recent survey suggests that students are finding ways to reduce the amount they spend on college textbooks, and that professors are assigning less-expensive books. But this fall, Pierce College will offer an even better solution: A two-year associate degree that requires no textbooks at all. The Seattle Times, Aug. 12, 2015 Sister City Exchange Program delegates coming to Moses Lake Three delegates and one chaperone are due to arrive in Moses Lake tonight as part of the Moses Lake-Yonezawa Sister City Exchange program. ... With Moses Lake having a long history with Japan, the city began seeking a sister city in Japan, according to a previous Columbia Basin Herald report. Some past connections include the Japanese Agricultural Training Program at Big Bend Community College and the presence of the Japan Airlines Training Center at the Grant County Airport. Columbia Basin Herald, Aug. 12, 2015

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

Tapping wages for training Companies teaming up with local colleges and universities to develop employee training programs isn't new. But a program in Michigan has found success with an unusual way to fund these programs. The Michigan New Jobs Training Program works as a two-way pipeline between the state's community colleges and local industries. Businesses looking for a well-trained workforce contract with the colleges to provide training for their newly hired employees. The colleges are then paid by diverting state income tax withholdings from the employees into a fund that reimburses the institutions. Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 13, 2015 ‘Machine teaching’ is seen as way to develop personalized curricula Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison say they are getting closer to designing a system to deliver the ideal lesson plan for each student, through a process they call “machine teaching.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 12, 2015

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

Does online ed lack 'integrity'? A line about the integrity of online learning in Hillary Clinton’s higher education plan has experts on online education questioning the candidate’s grasp of the market. In a version of the plan distributed to the media this past weekend, the campaign said, “We must restore integrity to online learning and will not tolerate programs that fall short,” as though online education has recently lost its way. The campaign reworded the sentence before Monday’s announcement, however. The published version reads, “We must bring integrity to online learning” — as though it never had any in the first place. Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 13, 2015 The non-ratings future After more than two years of anxiety over how the Obama administration planned to judge their institutions, many college and university leaders exhaled deeply earlier this summer when federal officials dropped their plan to create a college ratings system. Many colleges and universities were fiercely opposed to the ratings plan. And it had become among the most contentious fights between colleges and the Obama administration. Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 12, 2015 Oregon's new tuition waiver no guarantee of 'free' community college Oregon’s state legislature outpaced most of the country this past session when lawmakers passed a tuition waiver program for two years of community college. But that’s no guarantee of “free” school. KUOW, Aug. 10, 2015 Why lowering student loan interest rates isn't a game changer Everyone knows student debt is growing. College costs are growing. Student debt delinquencies are rising. And now Hillary Clinton has her own plan for how to stem that tide of financial problems for college graduates. ... That could transform the higher education system of the future. But one other cornerstone of Clinton's plan aims to help people with loans right now — it involves lowering interest rates to help millions who are already out of college pay down their loans. The problem is that this sort of proposal may not help the borrowers who need the most help. NPR, Aug. 11, 2015