YCBK 174: Interest is surging in stackable degrees

In this episode you will hear: (15:18) In this week's "In the news segment", an article from Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Report. The article entitled, "Urgency of getting people back to work gives new momentum to micro credentials. The article looks at how organizations like Western Governor's, edX and BYU Pathway worldwide are offering two to three month online courses in areas that make employees and students more marketable. The article talks about how edX pioneered a stackable degree that allows students to have these micro credentials build on each other toward earning a degree. These courses are surging in popularity. They are very affordable. Mark and Dave discuss the value of these courses and Mark makes a prediction of how where these courses may lead 50 years from now. Dave talks about the group he feels can benefit the most from this new approach to gaining formal education. https://hechingerreport.org/more-students-start-earning-stackable-credentials-on-their-way-to-degrees/ (35:19) This week's question is from a mom named Elizabeth who lives in California. She wants to know how west coast liberal arts and science colleges that offer merit money like Williamette, Whitman, Occidental and Puget Sound compared to east coast colleges. Mark and Lisa continue their conversation they started last week. (Part 2 of 2) (48:35) Mark interviews Vince Garcia and they look at why the University of California colleges were so difficult to get in this year. In this segment Mark and Vince discuss whether the major you select matters at the UC's. They discuss the community college partnerships that exist and they discuss whether there is any geographic preferences at any of the UC's (2 of 3) (57:38) Recommended resource: The book, Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Joseph Aoun. Aoun covers the three skillsets that are essential if you want to robot-proof yourself from the changes created by AI (01:07:55) College Spotlight: Wake Forest University (https://www.wfu.edu/ Don't forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to: questions@yourcollegeboundkid.com. Music is by SENA HERO/Victor-Alan Weeks. If you enjoy our podcast, would you please do us a favor and share our podcast both verbally and on social media? We would be most grateful! EXCITING OPPORTUNITY We are excited to announce that Your College-Bound Kid and School Match 4U are putting together panels of current undergraduates, so parents, students and college counselors can ask the students about their college experiences. This is an excellent way to get beyond the marketing from the colleges and to learn what the student experience is really like. This survey will help us to know which colleges you are interested in meeting students from; it will also let us know what are the best days for us to host these panels. https://tinyurl.com/preferences4studentpanels