Jim Luke [teaching]

AQIP Strategy Forum

jimluke — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:10:58 +0000

I participated as part of LCC’s team at the Higher Learning Commission – AQIP Strategy Forum in Chicago, May 12-14, 2010.

Open Textbooks Nearby

jimluke — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:47:38 +0000

No sooner do I make a post about open textbooks and the impact it could have on community colleges, then there’s a news item in the local Lansing State Journal about a retired Michigan State Univ prof that’s written an open textbook about organic chemistry that’s being used in our own backyard, as well as around the world:

Ex-MSU prof writes free online textbook | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal.

Open Education Resources / Open Textbooks

jimluke — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:14:18 +0000

I had a discussion the other day with a couple colleagues where the issue of textbook costs arose. I am a huge advocate of open educational resources and open textbooks (see If You Believe in “Intellectual Property”, How Do You Teach Others? – Answer: you can’t). I also know from my consulting work in the 1990′s that there’s no real reason why textbooks should be as expensive as they are today. Print-on-demand can bring the costs down dramatically.

So I thought I would add a few links to the blog for those interested in getting started investigating the idea:

Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources
- Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources – Member List
California Open Textbook Project
Connexions
a good video & post about Dispelling Myths about Open Textbooks
Two publishers doing good stuff:
- Flatworld Knowledge
- Textbookmedia.com

Finally, I have new post at my economics blog about the Economic Alchemy: How to Raise Tuition but Lower Student Costs. Also, I advise that people not confuse “online books” with “low-cost” or “open”. Yes, “open textbooks” and newer low-cost books can be put online. But the “online books” being promoted by the major oligopoly publishers are NOT low-cost solutions. In practice, they major publisher solutions like CourseSmart actually end up raising student costs. For more about that, see my post on Online Books.

Channel 6: Good News (for Michigan)

jimluke — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:39:39 +0000

I did a quick interview for Channel 6 WLNS today with Jessica Maki. The GM Lansing Delta Plant is rolling out and shipping the new Chevy Traverse models today. See my Econproph.com post for my comments. Should be on 6:00 news tonight.

(special treat, I got to be filmed by “Camera Man of the YEAR!” Dave Parks — seriously, congrats Dave.)

Search Committee Training

jimluke — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:54:39 +0000

I completed the “Search Committee Training” provided by the HR dept.

E-Portfolio Recommendations

jimluke — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:51:45 +0000

After over two years of learning more about e-portfolios than I ever expected, the E-portfolio Ad Hoc Task Force’s work at LCC is complete. I think. We made final recommendations to the Provost to implement RosEvaluation system from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (with a couple of caveats). For more details, contact me.

Channel 6: Unemployment Benefits Extended?

jimluke — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:29:52 +0000

Channel 6 called and interviewed me about the proposal in the Senate to extend unemployment benefits by “15 days”. See my Econproph.com post for my comments. Should be on 6:00 news tonight.

CWAC: Website Ready

jimluke — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:01:53 +0000

I completed (finally) the development of a website for the LCC College-Wide Assessment Committee. It’s at: http://lcccwac.wordpress.com/

We’re looking at bringing the hosting of the site in-house.

CTE Presentation

jimluke — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:49:42 +0000

I presented a peek at my Principles of Econ online courses at the CTE workshop “Online Course Demos” on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010, along with Jean Lynch-Brandon. The session was well attended with approx. 25 other faculty and administrators in attendance.

New Assignment: AQIP Strategy

jimluke — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:14:10 +0000

Lansing Community College is part of AQIP, the Academic Quality Improvement Process. AQIP is an alternative process for accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission. The traditional approach involves an intensive, on-site review and comparison to prescriptive criteria by reviewers every 7-10 years. AQIP calls for creating continuous quality improvement processes and reviewing progress/status with other AQIP schools each year.

Each AQIP school has a Strategy team that leads the process. I am pleased and excited that the Provost of LCC, Stephanie Shanblatt, has asked me to participate on the LCC team. It should be a lot of work, but fun for me also. In some ways, it’s like going back to my previous career as a strategic planning and technology systems consultant.