Now that the winter quarter and spring semester are underway, I thought I should write to all of you to let you know the status of our reopener bargaining. I realize that this is long overdue, but it is not because it has not been on the bargaining team’s mind. Rather, the University has made our lives extremely difficult by inaction, and we were hoping that by now something would have happened. It has not. So, by way of an introduction, please accept my apologies for the lengthy delay in sending this and for the lengthy email you are about to read.
One potentially positive result of the current fascination with online education is that universities and colleges may be forced to define and defend quality education. This analysis of what we value should help us to present to the public the importance of higher education in a high-tech world.
Submitted by administrator on January 17, 2013 - 4:34am
UC-AFT President, Bob Samuels, spoke to the UC Regents yesterday about the current low cost of providing undergraduate instruction and he raised the concern that online education will not be successful at lowering costs further. Bob also asked the Regents to instead focus on the real cost drivers at the University like administrative bloat, sports programs and amenities before rushing to lower costs in the classroom.
Submitted by administrator on January 10, 2013 - 3:22am
On January 8th, I participated in the forum on online education for California at UCLA. First a few ironies: the faculty presenters had to listen to four hours of non-interactive presentations before they could speak and ask questions. In other words, as the “providers” were lecturing us about how online technology allows for true interactive education to occur, they did not leave space for any interaction.
