This post includes articles on the technology industry's shifting position toward federal regulation, possible changes to regulations related to "regular and substantive" interactions in college courses, blockchain applications in higher education, and a new course content model allowing for different types of educational resources.
With our "Interesting Policy Reads" blog posts, the EDUCAUSE Policy Office highlights recent articles on federal policy issues and developments that are directly relevant to members or provide insights on higher education policy in general.
- Tech Firms, Embattled Over Privacy, Warm to Federal Regulation, The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2018. (Recent mishandling of consumer personal information has prompted a shift in the technology industry’s strategy with respect to federal policy on privacy.)
- Defining ‘Regular and Substantive’ Interaction in the Online Era, Inside Higher Ed, August 8, 2018. (The US Department of Education is considering overhauling “regular and substantive interaction” requirements found in the Higher Education Act because some view the language as an “anachronistic impediment to innovation.”)
- Entrepreneur Strives to Enable, Not Disrupt, Higher Ed, Inside Higher Ed, August 9, 2018. (Paul Freedman discusses his firm, the “Entangled Group,” which seeks to assist education institutions in developing products and services that are responsive to changes in the higher education landscape, especially as more focus is placed on non-degree-granting programs.)
- Blockchain Gains Currency in Higher Ed, Inside Higher Ed, August 13, 2018. (Miami University has developed a three-credit-hour course focusing on blockchain technology for undergraduates, and some universities are already using blockchain to “issue digital degrees that are easily verified by employers.”)
- Seeking a Middle Ground Between Publishers and OER, Inside Higher Ed, August 15, 2018. (Educational software company Top Hat has created a new course content model in which they give instructors a platform to create and tailor a textbook composed only of content actually needed for the course.)
- Net Neutrality activists, state officials are taking the FCC to court. Here’s how they’ll argue the case, The Washington Post, August 21, 2018. (In legal briefs filed this week, consumer groups and state officials laid out their primary arguments against the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules, characterizing the decision, among other things, as “arbitrary and capricious.”)
- Education groups sue DeVos for delaying protections for online students, The Hill, August 23, 2018. (The California Teachers Association, the National Education Association, and others are suing the Department of Education over their decision to delay state authorization rules for online programs.)
Kathryn Branson is an associate with Ulman Public Policy.
© 2018 Kathryn Branson. The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License.