#DIYU on D'Arcy Norman, PhD

DIY-U: Sociology

dnorman@me.com (D'Arcy Norman) — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:51:49 +0000

Quick notes on chapter 2:

As I was reading the chapter, the phrase “correlation does not equal causation” kept popping into my head.

There was much focus on how higher education is correlated with higher earning potential, and even higher education correlated with even higher earning. BUT, what if higher education was simple a tribal marker, a product of the real causes of higher earning? Things like family wealth, support, intelligence, personal motivation, social success, or any other factors that make individuals generally more successful - and also possibly more likely to seek and attain higher education.

DIY-U: Chapter 1: History

dnorman@me.com (D'Arcy Norman) — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:30:39 +0000

Semi-random notes. Not fully baked…

If we all want something better than what we have/had for our children, this is akin to unrestricted growth. At some point, we need to plateau (or descend again, as population continues to increase…) - 1% higher ed enrolment in the US in the 1800s, up to nearly everyone attending some form of higher ed now…

“Professionalization” of occupations - formation of boards and bureaucracies to determine who is “qualified” to practice an occupation - may be a nice segue from straight institution-granted accreditation. Guilds? Apprenticeships? How do these concepts adapt from the trades to more “white collar” academic subjects?

quick notes on DIY-U: Introduction

dnorman@me.com (D'Arcy Norman) — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:20:57 +0000

Quick notes on the introduction to Anya Kamenetz’s DIY-U. I’ll post more as I work through it.

I met Anya at Open Education 2009, while she was researching the book, and I’m curious to see where she took the stuff she was asking attendees about.ï»¿

I’m reading the book through Kindle for iPhone, so I have no idea what page these notes apply to. YMMV. Also, the Kindle for Mac app is a steaming pile of donkey turd. I’ll be holding off buying any more ebooks until I see what the iBooks thing looks like. I’m guessing it will suck much, much less than what I’ve seen of Kindle so far…