Outsourcing California #HigherEd

…today's higher ed news broke outside the higher media silo, immediately mainstream. Proposed California legislation would identify and approve up to 50 online courses for the three public systems, UC, CSU and CCC, to accept as credit for admitted students. 

Bob Samuels' focus, UC, University of California, may be the best known of the state's three systems: a top tier system of R1 universities, all world class and more than a few world famous and in the top 100 international ranking. CSU, California State University system is the largest  and most diverse university system in the nation, with 23 campuses, almost 437,000 students, and 44,000 faculty and staff. CCC, California Community Colleges system is the largest system of higher education in the nation, with 2.6 million students attending 112 colleges.These are the interlocking elements of legend, the visionary California Master Plan.

Bob Samuels writes:

Senator Steinberg is pushing a bill that will potentially outsource many of the University of California lower-division courses to outside course provides like Udacity and Coursera. Here we see one of the clearest examples of privatizing a public good. The state cuts the UC budget for years, and then the same people who cut the budget say we should now turn to online education to deal with the mess. Of course they add that faculty will have a say, but the question is which faculty, and can they stop a plan that is supported by the university president, the governor, and now the legislature?

Read the rest at Changing Universities: Outsourcing UC. More coverage:

• Phil Hill, eLiterate, posted a thorough report on  national and state media coverage, including links, and Steinberg's press conference introducing key people who were part of crafting and presenting the proposal. He and Michael Feldstein will follow soon with a more detailed analysis.

• In Scientific American, Massive Open Online Cours es, aka MOOCs, Transform Higher Education and Science (by M Mitchell Waldorp, reprinted from Nature) is less about CA and legislation than the anticipated (hoped for) effect on science, engineering and technology courses nationwide.

• While waiting for Chris Newfield and Michael Meranze over a t Remaking the University, here's Cloud Minder, links and brief, sharp comments, "Make Me An Instrument Of Your..."