Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0

Despite "social learning"- Employers still want to see that degree. When Brown and Adler spoke of the educational needs saying, "If access to higher education is a necessary element in expanding economic prosperity and improving the quality of life, then we need to address the problem of the growing global demand for education, ... the world is changing at an ever-faster pace. Few of us today will have a fixed, single career; instead, we are likely to follow a trajectory that encompasses multiple careers. As we move from career to career, much of what we will need to know will not be what we learned in school decades earlier. We are entering a world in which we all will have to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis." It reminded me of my own current situation. I was recently laid off and went to the unemployment office to inquire about a grant that would help you with school funding. I thought that this was a perfect opportunity to alleviate some of the financial burden and since I have only 5 classes left, it would match up pretty darn close. This is the response I got after knowing that I was almost done with the Master's program at IUSB, "Well, this program is really for those people who could increase their chances of getting a job." I couldn't help but to look at her like she was a complete imbecile when I said, "Well, if a school is highering an English Teacher, would they more likely higher the English teacher with a bachelors or a masters degree?" Of course, I fought and now I have to write a proposal stating how it would help me in the workforce. Good god, do they not understand that you can't get anywhere with out a degree and soon it won't be good enough just to have a bachelors?

Lifelong Learning Video