At the 20^th ICAI Conference’s Technology Showcase, Dr. Mark Sarver will be discussing how eduKan is using biometrics technology for student identity proofing to meet regulations, lower operational costs and maintain high levels of academic integrity for distance education.

Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO of eduKan, a consortium of colleges in Kansas, will be speaking at the International Center for Academic Integrity’s 20^th Anniversary Conference. Dr. Sarver will be talking about his choice to seek out a solution for identity proofing students enrolled in eduKan’s distance education program, to maintain a high level of academic integrity and to lower operational costs associated with physical proctoring. The ICAI conference originally was to be held at Princeton University in November, but Hurricane Sandy forced a reschedule to February 26-28^th, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas and will feature thought leaders who support the need to cultivate a culture of integrity in academic communities throughout the world.

Overview of Benefits of Technology used from BSI

The International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) was founded in 1992 to combat cheating, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty in higher education. ICAI offers assessment services, resources, and consultations to its member institutions, and facilitates conversations on academic integrity topics each year at its annual conference. The 20th International Center for Academic Integrity Conference’s theme is Influencing Culture, Advancing Integrity and is headed up by director, Dr. Teresa Fishman, from Clemson University in South Carolina and has members in 18 countries.

“We are excited to be speaking at the ICAI conference this year, representing the first distance education institution that has pioneered the use of BSI’s biometric technology for identity proofing as part of our learning management platform,” stated Dr. Mark Sarver, CEO of eduKan.

eduKan ran a pilot in the Spring of 2011 to test the viability of the BioSig-ID software for use in student identity proofing along with a plan to lower proctoring costs, protect student privacy and increase accountability while being easy to use. Dr. Sarver was able to realize a dramatic savings in operational costs and lower fees for students while proactively managing academic integrity for eduKan’s online campus. eduKan was nominated for a Sloan Consortium Effective Practice award for their advancement in using innovative technology to solve this critical need.

At ICAI, Dr. Sarver will share the key findings from the pilot, how it’s working now that it is rolled out for school-wide usage, and how eduKan is benefiting today by using BSI’s solution.

“We are on a fast growth path and needed to manage costs as our staff of six manages over 5,000 online student enrollments,” Dr. Sarver continues. “The risk-reward for adoption of innovative technologies comes down to the plan –one in which we very methodically stated clear goals and objectives to our technology partners and were able to realize them as a result of the hard work of our team’s execution.”

For more information on this conference and membership opportunities in the ICAI, please visit http://www.academicintegrity.org.

About eduKan

eduKan provides access to quality higher education, including ESL courses, via college degrees, certificates, and individual courses, with affordable online classes. eduKan was founded in 1998 as a cooperative effort between member colleges to offer courses via the Internet. eduKan’s consortium schools are all accredited Kansas learning institutions with excellent reputations and long histories of providing degrees in traditional settings, as well as through online courses. eduKan Consortium member institutions are: Barton Community College, in Great Bend; Colby Community College, in Colby; Dodge City Community College, in Dodge City; Garden City Community College, in Garden City; Pratt Community College, in Pratt; and Seward County Community College/Area Technical School, in Liberal. For more information, please visit http://www.edukan.org.

I recently attended the International Academy of Web Television Awards, where I walked the red carpet as the host of eduKanTV. At first, I considered this event the red-headed step-sister to the iconic Academy Awards, but once I saw the quality of these programs, I quickly revised my Wayne’s World- inspired preconceived notion of web television programs. As I worked the crowd at the after-party, I met producers, publicists and executives from some of the major Hollywood film and production houses. It became suddenly clear to me that traditional television and film companies perceive a palpable threat to their monopoly on both viewers and talent posed by the burgeoning web entertainment industry. In order to protect their position at the top of the food chain, they are actively recruiting the best shows and talents to their networks and production companies.

American Federation of Musicians

So how does this relate to higher ed? I wasn’t until I read an MSN article the other day that shed light on the “talkies,” the first movies that incorporated sound with the picture, that I made the connection. The addition of audio flat out ended the careers of many silent screen actors whose untrained voices assaulted the tender ears of the movie-going public, while the few stage actors thrived, using their finely-honed vocal projections to delight audiences. The American Federation of Musicians joined in the cacophony once it became clear that the talkie rendered their services obsolete and placed an ad in the Pittsburg Press in 1929 that in part said:

This is the case of Art vs. Mechanical Music in theatres. The defendant stands accused in front of the American people of attempted corruption of musical appreciation and discouragement of musical education. Theatres in many cities are offering synchronized mechanical music as a substitute for Real Music. If the theatre-going public accepts this vitiation of its entertainment program a deplorable decline in the Art of Music is inevitable. Musical authorities know that the soul of the Art is lost in mechanization. It cannot be otherwise because the quality of music is dependent on the mood of the artist, upon the human contact, without which the essence of intellectual stimulation and emotional rapture is lost. (via Duke.edu)

By the next year, approximately 22,000 movie house musicians had lost their jobs.

Although established Hollywood production houses are rushing to recruit this new web talent, they are not sure what to do with it, how it fits into their conventional model or even how to monetize it. Kind of reminds me of traditional higher education’s response to MOOCs, OER content and para-educators, such as TED and the Khan Academy. Online learning has been around for over 15 years offered by early adopters, like eduKan, and for years have fought the perception of traditional faculty and administrators who failed to see how these online courses could be as good as what is offered in the classroom.

Those who are saying, “You can’t replace teachers with technology,” or “this is the demise of higher education as we know it,” sound like theater musicians to me.

If you have read my previous rants, you know how I feel about MOOCs.  Let’s just say I think they have a limited use – like a trailer hitch on a Porsche 911. MOOCs have a few redeeming qualities, one of which is the rise of the faculty rock star. Faculty can publish a MOOC and literally have hundreds of thousands of students sign up. Never before has this been possible and never has the sage on stage Socratic model been more threatened. This new approach has Ivy League and other top tier schools clamoring for attention, acting like teen age girls at a Justin Bieber concert.

Thanks to YouTube and Facebook, the Internet has launched many a rock star.  Some have genuine talent but simply did not have access to traditional modalities and avenues. Many, if not most, do not have any talent other than the ability to use a webcam to capture some painful dance or off-key singing. Just like gawking as you drive by a fender-bender on the highway, it is nearly impossible not to indulge in a little virtual rubber-necking.  Just as these talentless overnight Internet stars quickly crash and burn, returning to a life of anonymity living in their parent’s basement, so, metaphorically, will these MOOC professors who truly lack talent.

Talent is the touchstone that creates real rock stars. Check out Bev Evans from England who has been downloaded almost 3 million times. Would you rather take “Introduction to Film” from Professor Marginal discussing the cultural impact of the movie “Chariots of Fire” or from Lord David Puttnam through the Open University? In case you don’t recognize the name, Lord Puttnam was the producer.  So how do we find the real academic rock stars performing in these new delivery modalities? I assert that it will no longer be the accrediting bodies or the faculty senate that identify and launch quality faculty but the free market, both students and industry.

I read that CUNY adjuncts, in order to cast a light on the plight of the “slave of higher education,” are not allowing students to call them “Professor.” What an old and outdated, not to mention unprofessional, approach to solving a problem. These luddites might as well don bell-bottom dungarees, organize a sit-in and preach symbolism over substance.  Most adjuncts I know have full time jobs and teach because they love it, not for the money. Make no mistake, adjuncts can (and the good ones do) make “bank” teaching both in-seat and online.  The group that should be shaking in their shoes is the full-time faculty, many of whom are teaching lighter loads and demanding bigger and better perks.  They should be in arms, not because of the quality of teaching from adjuncts (which is a common argument), but because using adjuncts is financially more efficient and that kind of effective model is what institutional leaders like. I anticipate the use of adjuncts will continue to grow.

For those adjuncts wanting to break the “slave” mold, the changing dynamic of higher education will provide opportunities, like MOOCs, to engage with thousands of students and to create new ways of teaching. But for those holding on to the old sage on stage model, troubles are only starting to mount. Perhaps an even larger concern is the challenge to professors in traditional environments to remain the unquestioned expert.  Any student with internet access can (and should) leverage material from scholars living anywhere in the world via the virtual cornucopia that is the world wide web and use that information to challenge the status quo. This is a bold new day for the true rock star faculty to return status to the title of Professor and honor a profession that is respected and revered, regardless of being contracted or tenured.

Share your thoughts with me below. I look forward to hearing from you.

– Mark