Ted Mitchell, the under secretary of education and the top higher-education official at the U.S. Department of Education, talks often about the need for colleges to innovate so they can better serve adults, working people, and others he calls the "new normal students" of today.
Under his tenure, the department has encouraged experiments that involve technology-aided solutions and private companies — like the Equip program, whose first participants were announced this week — and he says he welcomes a seeming shift by the ed-tech industry in recent years away from "gizmos" and toward data-based products.
Mr. Mitchell also oversaw the department’s creation of the new College Scorecard, which he calls one of the "greatest victories" for the department and the Obama administration, as well as the adoption new policies aimed at holding colleges accountable for student outcomes.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Top-US-Higher-Education/237502