mksatyal

I want to revisit the topic of ethics today because of a controversial story I’ve been following in the news; I was pretty shocked when I heard about this experiment, as was most of the scientific community. A scientist in China, Jiankui He, has claimed that he used CRISPR (a gene editing technique) to genetically modify twin girls during the process of in vitro fertilization. The first issue here is that experts don’t consider this technology to be safe to use on humans.

As more details about this have come out over the last couple of days, the story has gotten stranger. The hospital that supposedly approved the study claims to know nothing about it; and it remains unclear if the parents provided informed consent. There is some speculation that this may be a hoax as Dr. He went to the press without publishing his findings in a peer-reviewed journal. Though many scientists seem to be in agreement that he probably did attempt to edit the genome, but unsure if it worked.

What do colleges owe students for the high price they’re paying? In recent years, colleges have sent the message: “Come here, get a degree, and you can earn a good living.” But is giving students some knowledge about their subject matter enough? How far into students’ lives should the university extend?

Many American universities provide not only classes but also provide other services and leisure activities for students. For example, universities have housing, health centers and counseling services on campus and host musical performances and sporting events. These services strive to meet the needs of students beyond the classroom. A person’s physical, mental, and social health certainly affects classroom performance, so creating a positive environment for student wellness seems to be a good way to promote student success in the classroom.

Seth Godin poses a question in his TEDx talk that I have been mulling over all semester: what is school for? I think we can all agree that a school isn’t just a building to hold students for the day; although, as Parker Palmer points out in “A New Professional,” “the fact that we have schools does not mean we have education.”

I am inclined to agree with many of the points Godin makes about how education may (should?) change moving forward and with the availability of technology:

• Making lectures and course materials available online would give students control over their schedules, and the freedom to manage their time as they please. In concert with an expert in the subject matter– available either in person as Godin suggests, or online in real time– to direct questions toward, this seems like a promising model.
• There may have been a time when memorizing information was necessary, but in a world where we have constant access to resources, this is an outdated idea. It is likely that students will, over time, memorize the important facts that come up repeatedly in their work but requiring memorization and regurgitation is unnecessary and ineffective.
• Godin mentions “precise, focused education.” Products we purchase are customizable, we have precision medicine (kind of), so why not education too? I have some trouble imagining what exactly this would look like. I think of my undergraduate experience; I completed a degree with an interdisciplinary major, which gave me the ability to select courses that aligned with my interests. On the other hand, it failed to create a cohesive progression in my studies that students in established departments had.

After listening to the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast with Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani, I went looking for a definition of ‘open pedagogy.’ Though I wasn’t able to find one clear definition, it seems to me that the goals of open pedagogy are to engage students in their own learning, and to overcome barriers to education (e.g. cost).

In a TEDx talk, David Wiley says “teachers who are the best teachers, are the ones who share the most completely with the most students.” His point here is that educators should be open in sharing their expertise and experiences. After all, you can “share [your expertise]… without losing it.” Education is about openly sharing ideas back and forth, and collaboratively creating new ideas.

The use of open educational resources (OER), including open textbooks and open access journal articles, can substantially reduce costs of students. Students may find themselves asking: “After paying the high price of tuition, why is the information I’m supposed to be getting still behind a $1000 paywall?” Even worse, the additional cost may prohibit some students from being able to afford to enroll.

Traditional textbooks often get updated every 5-or-so years. Often for introductory textbooks, the new edition of a book might simply rearrange the order of the chapters, or add a few new figures– which probably isn’t worth the $150 price tag. I realize the need for updates can vary by field and sub-field. For fields that are rapidly changing, open textbooks may also be advantageous because they can be revised by experts right away instead of waiting five years for a new book to be published.

There is no doubt that social media has changed the way people communicate. Although the most popular forms of social media may change, it is definitely here to stay. Institutions of higher education have caught on to the fact that they should be using social media to promote their brand and engage current students and alumni, among other things.

According to the infographic above, Facebook is the most commonly used social media platform by institutions. But as Facebook is declining in popularity in younger age groups (including today’s college students), institutions will need to reevaluate how they can best reach their target audience.

BMC Physiology is an open access journal that I explored. BioMed Central (BMC) is a part of Springer Nature, is one of the largest open access publishers, and publishes many journals in different fields. BMC Physiology specifically publishes peer-reviewed articles about physiological processes- from the cellular to organismal level. All articles published in this journal “are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication.”[1]

In addition to open access journals, there are many peer-reviewed subscription journals that give authors the option to publish their articles with open access for a fee. While the open-access model certainly seems to increase transparency in research, it is not perfect. While articles in open-access publications are free to readers, there may be high costs to authors to publish in these journals. Additionally, as authors and readers, we should be aware of predatory open-access journals, which are not reputable and will print any article submitted as long as the fee is paid.

1. https://bmcphysiol.biomedcentral.com/about