Open Textbook Initiative

Western Governor's University [1] is a good deal for IT-related online degrees. They are $3920 per 6 month term, no matter how many or few classes you take that term. You can take the tests for most classes without having taken the class and get credit for passing, so if you already know a subject required for the degree would can satisfy the requirement that way.

The cost of certifications that you earn along the way are included in the $3920.

Here's a page about their IT degrees from WGU Washington [2].

As an example of the certifications included, here is what they bachelor's degree in network operations and security includes: CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Project+, CompTIA IT Operations Specialist, CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist, Axelos ITIL®1 Foundation, LPI Linux Essentials, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Amazon AWS SysOps Administration-Associate, and Amazon AWS Cloud Practitioner.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Governors_University

[2] https://www.wgu.edu/online-it-degrees/it-certifications.html

I'm just a lowly adjunct, but I sense that one barrier to open textbook adoption is the accreditation process. I don't know exactly the connection, but I get the feeling that the department can check some box if they say that all their lower division calculus courses are taught with Pearson's book, for instance. Sort of a "no one ever got fired for choosing IBM" type situation.

Anyone have any insight to this? I only have a sample size of two... which leads me to believe not all departments worry about this so much.

Edit: see these MAA guidelines: https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/professional-de...

One suggestion is "there should be established procedures for periodic review of the curriculum... should include careful scrutiny of course syllabi, prerequisites, and textbooks."

As much as I hate to say it, there are legitimate reasons for carefully controlling the curricula in lower division courses. A big one is: transfer credit. People get pissed when it's difficult to transfer their cheaper CC credits to a larger university.

The easiest way to solve these problems is by dictating curricula. But, unfortunately, the Pearson's of the world feast on the resulting homogenized market.

This is similar to my problem with Common Core. Everything in Common Core is perfectly reasonable. But now we have one giant textbook market where Pearson dominates with their products which now bear a "Common Core approved" label on the cover.

I'm surprised to hear about them being used for attendance. Attendance usually isn't a factor at the college level, especially for large lecture classes.

I _have_ heard them being used to try and create a more interactive, engaging environment for the students. Typically they're used something like this:

The teacher explains something, then asks a question that you can correctly answer if you understood the explanation. There's N answers available; the question + multiple choice answers are on the current slide.

Students then group up into small-ish groups (4 people or so, maybe less) and each group discusses the question & comes up with an answer, and then they use the clicker to make their choice.

Once all the groups have had a chance to answer the teacher displays a bar chart / histogram showing how many groups chose each answer.

The next part I'm not 100% clear on the details, but the bar chart points the students in the right direction AND provides feedback for the instructor. For example, if pretty much everyone got the right answer then the teacher can give the groups that didn't choose the right answer a couple minutes to re-discuss and/or ask questions. If lotsa' students got the wrong answer then the teacher can go back and clarify stuff, etc, etc.

So yeah - the point of clickers is to transform a passive "listen to the teacher lecture" experience into something that is more interactive and engaging.

In terms of apps - I don't use clickers myself (I teach smaller classes), but if I wanted to I'd definitely use an app for this. I suspect that people still using physical clickers got started with them and are continuing to use them. Personally I'd get my college to buy a classroom set for the students to borrow each class (or to checkout for the semester/quarter/term) but there's overhead with that, too

It is because when we have this discussion it is 95% about credentials and 5% about education.

I mean almost every class is available to be audited online for free. Most professors are average when it comes to teaching ability. There is no reason a foreign school can not mirror any program or class in the US.

Of course, the value of the credential is a totally different story. We are really talking about the education equivalent of Louis Vuitton bags and not the general function of a bag.

I've never used these myself (too old), but my understanding is that to get around the attendance measure you and your friends just take turns going to class and you all give that week's attendee your clickers.

An app would actually be a lot better for this, since it's not like you're going to give your phone to your friend for several hours. On the other hand, I agree that tracking attendance in college is a bit pointless.