Judge's Verdict Halts New Mexico Connections Academy Closure

It Isn't Easy Handling Instructional Design for Digital Learning

Teachers today have access to technology and instructional tools that were mostly absent from classrooms just a few years ago. While well-versed in pedagogy and learning modalities, many may not be so familiar with some media that has recently begun to revolutionize digital learning. Third party instructional designers have long helped to deliver lesson plans and assessments to teachers, and recently, some of the same companies have begun to connect the dots between older styles of teaching, rigorously tested pedagogy, and emerging technology.

Trilogy Education Continues to Expand With Two New Acquisitions

In the competitive coding bootcamp market, Trilogy has emerged as one private academy that seems likely to persist over time, even as many competitors stumble. In May 2018, Trilogy announced that it had secured $50 million in a Series B funding round to fuel expansion of its platform and global impact. Buy-in came from Highland Capital Partners, Macquarie Capital, and Exceed Capital with participation from several other existing investors, including Rethink Impact, City Light Capital, and Triumph Capital LLC. Six months later, Trilogy, which now markets itself as a “ Workforce Accelerator,” is following through on its expansion promise with two new acquisitions.

Judge's Verdict Halts New Mexico Connections Academy Closure

Despite growing concerns about the performance of online charter schools, this week, a New Mexico state judge granted one troubled online school the green light to keep operating. The trouble started earlier this year when the New Mexico Public Education Department ordered New Mexico Connections Academy, a Santa Fe-based online charter school, to close. This week, Judicial District Judge Francis Mathew issued a ruling that concluded the school did not need to shut down. According to Judge Mathew, the Public Education Department’s actions had violated state law and on this basis, he ordered the department to renew the virtual school’s charter.

Purdue AAUP Puts Heightened Pressure on Purdue Global

On October 4, Purdue University’s local chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which is the association that represents Purdue University’s faculty, issued a strongly stated resolution calling on Purdue Global to address multiple labor violations. So far, Purdue University has not officially responded to the AAUP resolution, but this is also not entirely surprising. Since Purdue University purchased Kaplan in 2017, the AAUP has been at odds with Purdue University’s senior administrators and all signs indicate that the fight over the new online university known as Purdue Global has just begun.

It's Time to Change the Way Teachers Grade: Study

For years, student grades have been formed exclusively through how learners perform on certain assignments and criteria. In some subjects, like math, a student’s abilities may be very apparent. They will either be able to answer a given problem correctly or they will not. But in other areas, it’s foggier and much more subjective. Inconsistencies across grades and classes are inevitable. In a best case scenario, these inconsistencies are informed by human error or individual connections. In a worst case scenario, societal biases creep in and reinforce existing stereotypes among younger generations. Two researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands think they have a solution: expert elicitation.