Comments on: For Whom Do Colleges Exist? http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:40:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Geoff Davis http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/#comment-5162 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:48:31 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/#comment-5162 College rankings have documented effects on school behavior (see, for example, Monks and Ehrenberg, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1254/is_6_31/ai_58178197 ). Rankings tend to be based on reputational measures presumably in part because these are easy to get ahold of. Ideally what you'd want is a greater emphasis on outcomes, since presumably good outcomes reflect good educations provided that you control for things like entering SAT scores, student socioeconomic characteristics, etc. I think the Spellings Commission is on to something in their emphasis on school transparency and outcome measures. Check out http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/30/rankings and http://graduate-school.phds.org for some ideas on how rankings might be restructured to better reflect student interests. College rankings have documented effects on school behavior (see, for example,
Monks and Ehrenberg, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1254/is_6_31/ai_58178197 ). Rankings tend to be based on reputational measures presumably in part because these are easy to get ahold of.

Ideally what you’d want is a greater emphasis on outcomes, since presumably good outcomes reflect good educations provided that you control for things like entering SAT scores, student socioeconomic characteristics, etc. I think the Spellings Commission is on to something in their emphasis on school transparency and outcome measures.

Check out

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/30/rankings

and

http://graduate-school.phds.org

for some ideas on how rankings might be restructured to better reflect student interests.

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/#comment-4946 Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:56:34 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/#comment-4946 I don't know what criteria are used to choose the "best" teachers. Here is a press release about them: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/4-21-1999c.html I don’t know what criteria are used to choose the “best” teachers. Here is a press release about them:

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/4-21-1999c.html

]]> by: August http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/#comment-4942 Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:40:03 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/03/31/for-whom-do-colleges-exist/#comment-4942 How do they define the best teachers? I like demand driven education. I like the "Fab Lab" idea that comes from MIT: http://fab.cba.mit.edu/ With demand driven education, the students clearly want the knowledge, and make sure they get it. With our current model, students tend to want a good grade, which is why I wondered about the definition of "best teacher." Education was a luxury good, bought by only those who had enough money, time, and interest to take advantage of it. Now we have a model in which people are forced into it, don't want to be there, and don't care very much about the subject matter. How do they define the best teachers?

I like demand driven education. I like the “Fab Lab” idea that comes from MIT:

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/

With demand driven education, the students clearly want the knowledge, and make sure they get it. With our current model, students tend to want a good grade, which is why I wondered about the definition of “best teacher.”

Education was a luxury good, bought by only those who had enough money, time, and interest to take advantage of it. Now we have a model in which people are forced into it, don’t want to be there, and don’t care very much about the subject matter.

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