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Lauren Hudak and Greg Moran – Learning outcomes assessment is no second stringer

Learning outcomes assessment is no longer a sad substitute standing on the sidelines hoping for a chance to play when the game is out of reach. It is now a key member of the starting line up. Today, you can see its footprint in virtually every space of the education sector, from the rarefied heights […]

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Martin Hicks and Fiona Deller – Free Tuition: Neither a pig nor in a poke

Free tuition is not a political slogan.  It is an important new program that will increase access to higher education for low-income and marginalized Ontarians.  Now that we are finally ready to deploy it, let’s please not immediately politicize it away. A long time ago, back before 1991, Ontario’s student assistance program, OSAP, was pretty […]

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Greg Moran – No change for no change’s sake

One of the benefits of working at HEQCO (and let’s face it, there are many) is that staying abreast of postsecondary education literature is part of the job.  Although the volume can be overwhelming, much of this writing is provocative and helpful. Occasionally I run across something that simply provokes. In a recent opinion piece […]

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Alex Rappaport – Please don’t stop the music

Until a child turns 5 or 6, much of his or her learning happens through nursery rhymes and songs. One reason is that the human brain is effectively a sponge for music, meter and rhyme. Some studies even suggest that music was the foundation for language itself. Why then does music all but disappear from […]

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HEQCO – A triumph of evidence-based decision-making

In last Thursday’s budget, the Ontario government announced significant changes to the way student financial aid will be packaged to encourage greater participation of students from low income families.  These changes come after years of research from HEQCO, and other organizations, about the inhibitory effects of a high tuition sticker price and loan aversion on […]

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Jill Scott – Data collection on student learning, or why I can’t paint that door

There is a door in my house – maybe you have one of these too – that cannot be painted. In recent renovations, I had to explain to the workmen that the data on the door is too valuable and must be preserved. You may have guessed that the door in question is where we’ve […]