Link: The Quest for Demonstrable Outcomes

Schejbal, D., (2015) The Quest for Demonstrable Outcomes.

There is a buzz, even a frenzy, about competency-based education (CBE). Brought together by the Lumina Foundation-sponsored organization C-BEN (the Competency-Based Education Network), 30 institutions and 4 university systems have developed or are developing competency-based programs. About another 600 schools have claimed to be developing CBE programs, though there is no accurate data to substantiate that number. Why and why now?

LINK: Why One College Created a Full Analytics Office

In 2012, University of Maryland University College (UMUC) created an Office of Analytics, comprising a team of 14 people. The office focuses on marketing, enrollment management, retention, service centers, financials, and executive and academic program dashboards.  The office shares the four rules they follow and how UMUC benefits.

“We knew we had to take what we had left and invest in the priority: analytics.”

“Our approach is to demonstrate the ‘art of possible’ to the institution,” says Darren Catalano, VP of Analytics, “in other words, to make complex data simple.”

“Why one college created a full analytics office.” EAB Daily. November 4, 2015.

Link: Cleveland’s Thinkbox is a Big Bet on University Makerspaces

Case Western Reserve University’s new 50,000 square-foot, $35 million center for innovation provides a space for anyone–especially students, faculty, and alumni–to tinker and creatively invent.

Charnas explained that the seven floors have been designed to accommodate different stages of development for a person or a project. The first floor is dedicated to community, a gathering place; the second floor is for ideation with lots of whiteboards and open space for brainstorming. The third floor is for prototyping, while the fourth floor is for fabrication — don’t ask me to explain the difference. The fifth floor is open projects space, essentially workbenches and storage. The sixth floor organizes resources for entrepreneurs and the seventh floor serves as an incubator for small groups that form to develop a new product.

Dougherty, Dale. “Cleveland’s Thinkbox is a Big Bet on University Makerspaces.” Make: October 30, 2015.

See also the think[box] web site.