The Meaning of a Degree The reasons why they may choose to do this are myriad. For some students, the BSN has long been a personal goal. For others, though, the decision isn’t internally motivated. Rather, they’re faced with either obtaining their BSN, or finding other employment. Now, for anyone outside of nursing, that latter reason might seem a bit harsh. But for those of us in the profession, it makes sense – at least to a degree.

Technology For It’s Own Sake About eight years ago I spent a couple of years teaching high school. Being a nurse, and coming into the experience with no real educational background it was quite an interesting, and eye-opening experience. Needless to say, I probably learned more than my students did. One of the things that left me scratching my head was the approach the school system took toward education. Tons of money was spent on technology and teachers were required to have at least one “technology lesson” each week.

Is it for Education or Business? In the early 1990’s as I was preparing to wrap up my MBA I was informed by my advisor that I still needed to take a basic statistics course. Now, that would seem a reasonable expectation were it not for the fact that I had already completed two advanced statistics courses. Being a bit obstinate, I asked why it was necessary for me to take a course designed to prepare me for courses that I had already taken and passed (quite well, I might add.

Is Education “All That” I had a wonderful opportunity to talk with a woman(we’ll call her Jane) who has accomplished several things that I have only dreamed of. She has developed a new approach to an old and vexing problem many nurses face, she contributed to the development of a new medical device, she has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and has spoken around the world before thousands of people to introduce other professionals to both her new technique and to the medical device.

The State of the MOOC Two recent articles about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) got my attention this week. Fail? The first article brings to the fore the reality that only about 7% of those who start a MOOC course complete it. This is, of course, a major concern for educators, given that completion rates are the major metric for colleges. It is completely understandable that many would see that number and conclude that MOOCs are failing.