What I Really Want to Say

"Why Open Education Matters" Video Contest Launches

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:14:02 -0800

Visit the contest website at Why Open Education Matters.org Read the official Department of Education blog post here.

Who Will Protect California's Students?

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:00:32 -0800

At the precise moment when we (meaning our government, local, state and federal) should be using available technologies to lower costs and increase access to high quality educational opportunities -- at the very moment when that may well be our most pressing public need -- California is about to take a giant leap backward -- and instead actually promote the use of technology to restrict access to learning materials in ways that will impose higher costs on students. You can read about it here, here, and, most alarmingly, here. So, why are time-expiring passwords (sometimes called "digital time-bombs") for learning materials such a bad idea? Well, for starters, when students buy old fashioned textbooks they at least get to keep the book they paid for -- or sell it back -- when the class is over. They get something of lasting value. Not so when your fee-based password expires -- unless you have a photographic memory. So students will pay the same amount or more (and trust me, over time it will be more and more and more), and when their classes are over they will have nothing tangible to show for the money they have invested in their learning materials. Again, new technologies should be used to increase access and lower costs -- but the application of technology the state of California is about to change its rules to embrace does exactly the opposite. Likewise, many students -- particularly less advantaged students, enroll in a class and must drop it for some reason before the term ends -- but -- if they have bought a textbook they can typically use it when they take the class again. That is often not the case with digital time bomb passwords, which typically must be purchased each time you enroll. And finally, time expiring passwords also make it far less likely that students will ever build a library of essential educational and literary works during their college years, which are supposed to be all about learning. When have you ever met an educated person who does not own any books? Although I can understand why some folks want to turn students into walking cash registers they can ring on demand, I do not believe that is the best path for our public schools, our students, faculty, communities or country. (and yes, you can tell I am pretty steamed at the moment, I just can't believe this latest news out of California!).

Open Educational Resources and the Obama Administration

Sat, 21 May 2011 08:54:55 -0800

Kevin Carey, the Public Policy Director for Education Sector, an independent think tank in Washington, DC, has the best coverage yet of what I've been up to recently. Excerpt: In the late days of March 2010, Congressional negotiators dealt President...

Public Invited to My Talk At Google HQ in Mountain View, Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:26:43 -0800

I'm happy to note that my upcoming talk at Google corporate headquarters in Mountain View is free and open to the public. Seats are limited, however, and you do have to register in advance to get thru the security rigmarole. Here are the details:

HAL PLOTKIN "How Technology Can Improve Teaching and Learning: The Case for Open Educational Resources" Who: Hal Plotkin, Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary of Education, U.S. Dept. of Education When: Tuesday, March 29th, 12:30pm - 1:30pm

My First Ever Post on the White House Blog

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:27:34 -0800

Excerpted from New Job-Training and Education Grants Program Launched. "Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan ushered in a new era of hope and opportunity for millions of Americans today when they revealed the innovative application criteria for the first $500 million in grants under the four-year, $2 billion Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program. Grants will support the development and improvement of a new generation of free, post-secondary educational programs of two years or less that prepare students for successful careers in emerging and expanding industries. This effort, which was developed and designed in consultation with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, sets the stage for what promises to become one of the most significant expansions in access to high-quality education and job training opportunities ever. These new investments will also play a major role in helping the Nation achieve the goal set by President Obama last year that by 2020 the United States will once again have the most highly educated workforce in the world. To read the rest, see: here.

Creative Commons Publishes my "Free to Learn" OER Guide

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:56:40 -0800

I'm pleased and proud to note Creative Commons recent publication of my "Free to Learn: An Open Educational Resources Policy Development Guidebook for Community College Governance Officials," which has already been linked here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Jon Stewart Takes On the Fox News Smear Machine

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:13:09 -0800

Jon Stewart is our modern Will Rogers. He should have a medal pinned on his chest. In this short segment, he illuminates the use of the classic guilt by association smear tactic so often employed by Fox News:

The Daily Show: Extremist Makeover - Homeland Edition - Watch more Funny Videos at Vodpod.

The Truth About U.S. vs. Foreign Corporate Tax Rates

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:05:49 -0800

Few things upset me more than the free pass many media outlets give to people who say things that are just not true. In many cases, these untruths often serve some larger purpose for their purveyors. Savvy CEO's, for example, have often stampeded public agencies into decisions that fatten corporate coffers but are otherwise deeply unwise, in some cases, even catastrophic. And we all know how fear and dishonest arguments are used in Washington. Misguiding the public about real rates of corporate taxation, as Intel CEO Paul Otellini and California GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina do in this article, is today's case in point:

..."If our tax rate approached that of the rest of the world, corporations would have an incentive to invest here," [Intel CEO Paul] Otellini said. But instead, it's the second highest in the industrialized world, making the United States a less attractive place to invest -- and create jobs -- than places in Europe and Asia that are "clamoring" for Intel's business. The comments from Intel's chief executive echoed statements made a day earlier by Carly Fiorina, the former HP CEO turned Republican Senate candidate..."Our corporate tax rates are the second highest in the world," and Congress has repeatedly failed to make an R&D tax credit permanent, Fiorina told the Aspen audience. It's time to start "acknowledging the reality that companies go where they're welcome," she said. (The effective U.S. corporate income tax is 35 percent, far over the industrialized-nation average of 18.2 percent.)

And here is the truth (as if that matters anymore), from today's New York Times:

The current corporate rate of 35 percent is higher than that in many other developed countries. But Congress has larded the code with so many deductions and loopholes -- including a dollar-for-dollar credit for taxes paid to foreign governments and generous deductions for depreciation and debt financing -- that the effective rate paid by most companies is below 22 percent, lower than in most developed countries.

So, what happens to Democracy when disinformation like this becomes the currency of the realm? Oh, how I wish more reporters would ask the tough questions required to reveal the unhuckstered truth.

Harris Mankin (aka Harry Boswell), RIP

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:49:38 -0800

My old friend, mentor and former colleague, Harris Mankin, passed away recently. You may have known him by another name (see the list and obit below, courtesy of Brian Rhea). Harry would have wanted his obit published far and wide. He was somebody.

Big Ideas Fest Talk on Obama Administration Higher Education Priorities

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:13:57 -0800

Just learned my recent talk at the annual Big Ideas Fest is now online (and yes, I know I need to lose some weight!)...

White House Releases Documents on Proposed Higher Ed Reforms

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:29:20 -0800

The White House and the Department of Education recently released several new documents that explain President Obama's proposal to save taxpayers roughly $80 billion dollars over the next ten years by reforming and improving the way federal student loans are made -- and how those savings will be used to both reduce the deficit and enable more Americans to obtain the skills and credentials they need to succeed. You can find copies of them here, here and here.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Banks vs. Students

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:11:49 -0800

Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday urged the Senate to overhaul student lending, asserting that the banking industry has had "a free ride from taxpayers for too long" and that executives with lending giant Sallie Mae have enriched themselves as borrowers rack up college debt. "Working Americans pay while bankers get rich," Duncan said in a prepared statement. "Sallie Mae executives have paid themselves hundreds of millions of dollars in the last decade while teachers, nurses, and scientists -- the backbone of the new economy -- face crushing debt because of runaway college tuition costs."

Foothill College Houses Center for Open Educational Resources

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:29:09 -0800

Few of us get to see our fondest dreams realized. This announcement, below, represents the culmination of years of effort by a small group of committed individuals who overcame what at times appeared to be insurmountable obstacles to push forward an idea whose time had come. The result promises to make a meaningful contribution to the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, which includes the greatest expansion of access to a high-quality higher education in human history. This newly-announced initiative is also, I think, a wonderful example of what can be accomplished through public service in a local elected office where ideas can more quickly become actions that lead to change, often far more readily than at the national level. You can read the unedited version of this press release here here.

John Fensterwald's New Education Blog

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:47:12 -0800

Former San Jose Mercury News editor and columnist John Fensterwald just debuted a new blog that is bound to be worth reading. John was often on the front lines of worthwhile reform efforts and is one of the most knowledgeable journalists/experts in the Bay Area on a wide variety of education issues. You can follow his coverage here. Best of luck, John!

D.C. Lobbyists Protest Obama Change in Policy

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:01:56 -0800

The White House blog has an exchange of letters you really must read. In the first one, business leaders used to throwing their weight around demand an end to the Obama White House policy that has banned lobbyists from serving on federal boards and commissions. In the second letter, White House ethics lawyer Norman Eisen does a classic job of "speaking truth to power" in another powerful demonstration of the change that is starting to sweep thru Washington. We have a long, long way to go, but after reading this exchange I was reminded again how fortunate I am to be part of President Obama's exceptional team. There is a new direction in this town. With a bit more time, hard work, your prayers and maybe a little luck, we may yet see an America we'd recognize from our dreams. Eisen's remarkable letter is another step in that path.