Librarianship in For-Profit Educational Institutions Discussion Group

  • Private Community
 View Only
last person joined: one month ago 

Charge: A forum for librarians in for-profit educational institutions to network, share knowledge, and collaborate on tasks, direction, and issues specific to their roles within the for-profit education industry.
Community members can post as a new Discussion or email ALA-acrllfpeidg@ConnectedCommunity.org
Before you post: please note job postings are prohibited on ALA Connect. Please see the Code of Conduct for more information.

  • 1.  An Ode to Open Enrollment

    Posted Apr 11, 2021 10:12 AM
    To start, I'll beg your pardon as I have not written a poem! I promise, I tried, but it simply wasn't any good. I'd love to hear if others try their hand at odes (or elegies) on higher education.

    College, university, higher education, and the like should not be a privilege. It should be an opportunity afforded to all. Closed enrollment practices are needlessly exclusive. Open enrollment allows anyone to pursue an degree.

    What's your take?

    http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/access
    http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill
    https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-an-ode#3-types-of-odes

    ------------------------------
    Mary Snyder
    Convener for ACRL - Librarianship in For-Profit Educational Institutions DG
    University Librarian @ Strayer University
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: An Ode to Open Enrollment

    Posted Apr 12, 2021 03:09 AM
    I shall give it a try, though perhaps not an ode. Quickly done and a bit shaky. I'll say that I have issues with both. I think admissions are often too restrictive, but I have issues with open enrollment systems that allow in everyone as well; especially for online programs allowing in large numbers of technologically ill-equipped students who struggle with basic computer tasks. It's good for allowing some people to succeed where they otherwise wouldn't, but sometimes it feels like many other students are let in and set up to fail. 

    ---

    Just there - is where?
    First step taken on the stair

    First step - to lift?
    Dreams sent far into the air

    Once more - go we?
    Told to soar from crowded sea

    A stair - but barred?
    For you yet not blocked for me

    We go  - some last
    One cannot ascend so fast 

    A bar - askew
    Bent not for promise but caste

    A rail - exchange
    A guide would not be so strange

    A ramp - a way
    A light to extend our range






    ------------------------------
    Daniel Wilson
    Director of Library & Learning Services
    American InterContinental University
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: An Ode to Open Enrollment

    Posted Apr 14, 2021 01:21 PM

    Digital literacy and the digital divide are valid points for online programs with open enrollment. I have seen some universities which offer laptops to new students, with conditions of continued enrollment. I have not seen offers for free or discounted internet though.

     

    That poem is excellent! Far better than my attempt at a poem!




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: An Ode to Open Enrollment

    Posted Apr 14, 2021 01:29 PM
    Yeah. My current institution is open enrollment and while I like that it's open to anyone... I don't like that there is no sort of computer proficiency testing before allowing students to engage in totally online, asynchronous instruction. I get students who don't know how to save and open a file on their computer and I wonder - how can they possibly succeed? 

    We start them off with a course in that, of course, but they struggle with even that basic computer course. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with it if we offered a free computer use course prior to enrollment; like a MOOC. But the argument is usually that anything that delays or deters people from enrolling is bad.

    ------------------------------
    Daniel Wilson
    Director of Library & Learning Services
    American InterContinental University
    He/Him/His
    ------------------------------

    Original Message