New Lines for Open Education, Fall 2024

“Let us not be afraid to outgrow old thoughts and ways, and dare to think on new lines as to the future of the work under our care.” — Jane Stanford, 1904
‘Living textbooks’ are helping to pave the way for an era of educational abundance
By Matthew Rascoff, Vice Provost for Digital Education
In an essay written in the depths of the Depression in 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes offered a hopeful vision for the role of technology in society. In the past, wrote Keynes, “the struggle for subsistence, always has been hitherto the primary, most pressing problem of the human race.” In 100 years that struggle could come to an end through technological advances. Keynes maintained that new inventions would increase productivity so much that they would free humanity from the burdens of hunger and meaningless labor.
As that 100 year mark approaches, working hours have declined, thanks to increased productivity, but the promised benefits didn’t extend to most people. The world produces enough food to feed a population four times larger than when Keynes was writing. What he did not foresee is the level of inequality that humanity would be willing to tolerate. He envisioned that economic freedoms would flow down through the social classes, but today the majority of workers still “sweat for their daily bread,” and 733 million people live in hunger.
We live in an era of learning abundance that mirrors food production. Who could have imagined 94 years ago that the world’s greatest educational institutions would find ways to open their knowledge to millions of learners beyond their campuses. Yet as with the unequal distribution of food, too many people are starved of educational opportunities. The educated have grown more educated, and they have hoarded opportunities for themselves. We may have the ability to educate the world, no less than we do to feed it, but we have failed to do so.
How might advances in productivity transform how we exchange knowledge and learn?
Continue to read the vice provost's note

Free access to online courses helps Stanford employees develop new skills
Mark Quaccia works in payroll at Stanford’s Redwood City campus. Ginny Smith leads an internal process improvement team as an administrator at Stanford Law School. Cassidy Ide oversees participant recruitment for pain studies at the Stanford School of Medicine, where A. Solomon Henry designs data systems.
While these Stanford employees work in disparate locations, including remotely, and for different units, they have all taken multiple online courses on the Coursera for Stanford learning platform through Cardinal at Work — a benefit that has helped them develop knowledge and skills that they can apply in their professional environments. They are enthusiastic adopters of a platform that many staff, students, and faculty are trying out. Since the program was launched in December 2022, more than 3,000 Stanford “learners” have spent over 10,000 hours on Coursera courses, watching videos, reading course material, and taking assessments. One thousand eight hundred of those hours were in the last three months.
“A big part of our purpose is to help create the conditions where people can thrive at work,” said Elizabeth Zacharias, vice president of University Human Resources. “One way we do that is by building and fostering an environment where continuous learning, growth, and connections are possible. The wide participation in Coursera for Stanford reflects the culture we have at Stanford and the genuine desire for development within our community.”
Learn how staff use the Coursera-for-Stanford benefit

Los Angeles teens study Malcolm X and MLK with Stanford professor
For Cole Kahn, a student at Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet High School in Los Angeles, taking a Stanford course about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., was a transformative experience. “I’m from Compton, I go to Westchester, like, that’s me,” she said. “But like, do I know my history? Do I know where I belong? I feel like this course changed the way I view that.”
Through a program targeting high schools serving under-resourced communities, 89 students in Los Angeles earned Stanford credits last semester for completing the Stanford course “Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Freedom,” taught by Lerone A. Martin, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and in African & African American Studies at Stanford.
More than half of those students received A’s.
Professor Martin worked with Stanford Digital Education and the New York-based nonprofit National Equity Education Lab to bring the course, previously offered to Stanford undergraduates, to seven high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In addition to earning credits from Stanford, the students also earned credits from their high schools.
Watch a video about students’ experience in the course

Apply to be a section leader
We are hiring for roles supporting two dual-credit Stanford courses for high school students to be offered with the National Education Equity Lab in winter/spring 2025:
- Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. (section leaders, section leader coordinators, and writing coaches)
- Introduction to Bioengineering (section leaders)

High school educators shape college-pathways program for under-resourced districts
Three years after Stanford Digital Education launched its dual enrollment program, 11 high school teachers and administrators traveled from across the country to the Stanford campus to share about their experiences with the initiative and to propose ways to expand it. The program, which is designed specifically for schools in under-resourced communities, has brought Stanford courses to more than 1,500 students in 35 cities and 17 states.
The program requires that high school teachers lead the Stanford courses in their classrooms. While using Stanford digital course materials with their students, they collaborate online with Stanford teaching fellows. To build on that virtual collaboration, SDE invited a group of their high school colleagues to join in-person the Sept. 9 strategic planning workshop. The result? A host of new measures that SDE is now working to adopt.
Learn about new ideas for Stanford’s dual enrollment program

Author explains ‘how to think straight, get duped less, and make wise decisions about what to believe online’
“Our goal was not to create a scholarly tome. Our goal was to create, essentially, a field manual for making wise decisions on the internet.”
So said Sam Wineburg, professor emeritus of education at Stanford, in explaining what motivated him to write the new book, Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Wise Decisions about What to Believe Online. It was part of an Oct. 9 online conversation with Matthew Rascoff, vice provost for digital education at Stanford, that spanned discussion of falsehoods perpetuated by AI to the virtues of Wikipedia.
In Verified, Wineburg and his co-author Mike Caulfield lay out practical, accessible steps for assessing the reliability of information on the internet, and Wineburg covered many of them in this chat. This conversation was part of the Academic Innovation for the Public Good series, which is co-organized by Stanford Digital Education and Trinity College.
Check out the video and transcript from the Oct. 9 event

How Stanford summer cyclists became teachers
Beginning in 2017, a Stanford Spokes team of six or seven undergraduates has assembled every summer to cycle across the country from the Stanford campus to Washington, D.C. The trip is marked by teamwork and physical challenge, steep mountain roads and long flat stretches, group decision-making and meals in hosts’ and families’ homes. It combines adventure with a teaching mission: the Spokes offer workshops on STEM topics along the way for pre-K through 12th grade students at day camps and libraries. This past summer, the 2024 Spokes team conducted 11 learning festivals in 10 states and the nation's capital, as well as presenting a college Q&A panel with Boys Hope and Girls Hope of St. Louis. Overall, they connected with over 700 students in their 75 days on the road.

Our impact
Visit our “Impacts and progress” page to see how we are building and enhancing digital pathways to Stanford.
Current projects
- Academic Innovation for the Public Good book series
- Code in Place at community colleges
- Dual enrollment courses for high school students
- Support for student initiatives
Working Learners Initiative for Stanford's current and potential employees
Career opportunities
Educational Media Producer, Editor
Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning
Brown University
Financial Specialist
Center for Academic Innovation
University of Michigan
Learning and Development Specialist
Bentley University
Managing Director, Academics
National Education Equity Lab
Media Designer, Senior
Center for Academic Innovation
University of Michigan
Media Technology Engineer
Center for Academic Innovation
University of Michigan
Researcher in Transformative Education
Center for Applied Research and Design in Transformative Education
Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education
Teaching Consultant, Faculty Development and Applied Research
Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education
Video and Digital Content Producer
Communications and Marketing Department
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Writer and Podcast Producer
Communications and Marketing Department
Stanford Graduate School of Business
In the media
Recent stories involving Stanford Digital Education.
Preliminary admissions data for class of 2028 shows drop in Black, Latino enrollment, Stanford Daily, October 2, 2024
Stanford releases preliminary enrollment data for Class of 2028, Stanford Report, October 1, 2024
Wheels of change: Stanford Spokes cyclists tackle education awareness, Stanford Daily, September 25, 2024
Calendar
November 8
AI and Assessments: A Practical Guide. This workshop equips educators with ideas of how to create engaging and effective AI-integrated assignments for their classrooms. Participants will discover how AI can enhance learning experiences, foster critical thinking, help with individualized learning, and promote collaboration among students. It will also consider best practices for assessment and feedback on AI assignments. Organized by Duke Learning Innovation & Lifetime Education, the online event runs from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. There is no cost. Register to attend online.
November 12
Two Distinguished Lectures: Critical Issues in Learning Differences. Katherine Lewis, associate professor at the University of Washington College of Education, will present “Student Sense Making and Access in Mathematics Education.” Adrea Truckenmiller, associate professor at Michigan State University College of Education, will present “Mechanisms for Accelerating Learning Literacy.” Organized by the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, the event is in-person on the Stanford campus. Free and open to all, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Please RSVP.
November 13
2024 Survey of Campus Chief Technology/Information Officers. The online publication Inside Higher Ed presents its findings from a survey of CTOs and CIOs about AI adoption, cybersecurity/data breaches, trends in higher education hiring for technology roles, and the viability and sustainability of remote work and high-quality online education. Free and open to all, starting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Go to the event website to register and download the report.
November 13-14
Educause Annual Conference Online. This event will feature sessions from the in-person October 21-24 conference in San Antonio as well as exclusive new content. Costs $199-$299. More information on the event website.
December 2
Casting a Wider Net: Generalizable Inferences from Embedded Experiments with ManyClasses and Terracotta. This research talk featuring Ben Motz, assistant professor in Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, is part of the Innovation Insights lecture series organized by the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation. Free and open to all, from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Register to attend online.
December 10-11
4th Annual AI + Health Conference. This online event has four tracks: Clinical AI Applications in Use Today, Integrating AI into Healthcare Settings, Fundamentals of AI in Healthcare, and Industry Insights and Trends for Health AI. Organized by the Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education, the Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging, and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Registration costs $250-$550. More information on the event website.
Request a consult
Need help on a digital education project? Interested in spinning up a new program or initiative? Members of the Stanford Digital Education team are piloting a free consult program for colleagues across campus and beyond.
Our team has expertise in digital education projects, from conception to evaluation, including getting started and launching, project management, outcomes analysis, remote and hybrid pedagogy, selecting and applying new technologies, promoting your work to a variety of audiences, producing video to support your work, grantmaking and development, and much more. Please fill out our consultation inquiry form, and someone will be in touch with you shortly.
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