A dozen educators met last month in Palo Alto, Calif., to discuss the future of higher education. They had been convened at the epicenter of technological innovation in higher education by Sebastian Thrun, a pioneer of massive open online courses, and yet the task at hand had nothing to do with software or strategy. It had to do with citizenship. read more >

Georgia State University is adopting a new policy that could allow students to receive class credit for taking massive open online courses, or MOOCs. read more >

The release this week of a bill of rights for learning in the digital age was criticized by some who said the document had been put together by a group that didn’t include the very people it is meant to protect: students. The problem is, there is no traditional learner anymore. What’s more, we no longer even have a common definition of “higher education.” The lack of consensus about what the higher-education system in the United States should be producing is largely to blame for the pressures facing colleges and universities today, from lagging financial support to proving their value to students and parents. read more >

The American Association of University Professors has released the final version of a report urging colleges to give contingent faculty members an expanded role in governance, arguing that excluding such employees from governance matters is detrimental to the integrity of the academic profession. read more >

Purdue University’s new president, Mitch Daniels, released an open letter Friday, a week into his presidency, in which he noted that he very much approves of the Purdue tradition of skipping inaugurals. In the letter, he set out a series of strong criticisms of higher education, as well as various expert opinions on why higher education is in for a period of profound and possibly traumatic change. read more >

A federal appeals court has upheld the entirety of a Wisconsin law curtailing the powers of unions at public colleges and other state agencies. The decision overturns a lower court's invalidation of a provision in the law that requires faculty unions at technical colleges to win re-certification every year. read more >

Today, the largest university system in the world, the California State University system, announced a pilot for $150 lower-division online courses at one of its campuses — a move that spells the end of higher education as we know it. Lower-division courses are the financial backbone of many part-time faculty and departments (especially the humanities). As someone who has taught large courses at a University of California, I can assure readers that my job could have easily been automated. Most of college–the expansive campuses and large lecture halls–will crumble into ghost towns as budget-strapped schools herd students online. read more >

Fast food restaurants aren't the only places cutting employee hours to avoid paying for health care. College adjunct faculty are also seeing their hours reduced. As employers prepare to implement the Affordable Care Act, it’s not just low-wage fast food workers who are feeling the heat. Adjunct faculty from at least four universities will also see their hours cut as colleges try to reduce the number of full-time employees whose health care they need to cover. read more >

If colleges and universities thought they could ride out the current revenue challenges by becoming more like some other institution, Moody's Investors Service has a bit of bad news for them: The grass isn't greener on anybody else's quad. Not even Harvard University's. read more >

Fast food restaurants aren't the only places cutting employee hours to avoid paying for health care. College adjunct faculty are also seeing their hours reduced as reported by MSNBC. read more >

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's plan to create a Department of Post-Secondary Education likely spurred the legislature's new committee. read more >

Faculty-union representatives for Minnesota’s seven state universities have reached a tentative contract agreement with administrators of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. read more >

Udacity, a Silicon Valley start-up that creates online college classes, will announce on Tuesday a deal with San Jose State University for a series of remedial and introductory courses. read more >

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AAUP National releases new policy statement about librarians read more >

It is increasing more important for faculty to watch and engage with the Lumina Foundation. With deep pockets and on the speed dial of most college presidents they are a moving force behind the changes we are seeing in higher ed. read more >

Inside Higher Ed read more >

How is a major provider of free online courses going to tell whether you are who you say you are? By how you type. read more >

MOOCs may have snared most of the headlines, but traditional, credit-based online learning continued to chug along just fine last year, thank you very much. read more >

For years, faculty members have pointed to the sluggish growth in the number of tenured professors and complained that university payrolls are filled with too many administrators. This, they maintain, adds unnecessary costs and takes the focus away from teaching and learning. But whether such "administrative bloat" is really occurring and how much it matters on campuses are complex questions to answer. read more >