By Christine Kern. Technology is becoming an invaluable tool in today’s classrooms. Yet, there is a lot more to education technology then just ensuring every student has access to a computer. Teachers need to be adequately trained in incorporating technology into the daily curriculum and instruction. Students will be better served if they are using technology as an on-going part of the learning process, rather than a separate activity. More...

By Debra Erdley. Trustees at many American colleges and universities abandoned the public trust and allowed standards to slip even as costs soared and public confidence in higher education declined, a report says. Governance for a New Era, a scathing report issued Tuesday by a panel of 22 college presidents, academics, trustees, policy makers and business leaders, challenged college governing boards to reclaim their responsibilities, press for reforms and demand results from the institutions they oversee. Read more...

By Bob Woods. When the 10 members of the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) 21st-Century Implementation Team 7 — nine of them community college presidents — sat down last year to talk about reforming institutional roles and functions at the nation’s two-year career and technical colleges, everyone in the room knew the work before them would be difficult. More...

By Philip G. Altbach. Peking University will soon open its Yenching Academy, a new one-year masters program in Chinese studies open to both Chinese and international students and taught in English. According to the New York Times, the program has engendered considerable dissent on campus—surprising in an environment that, to say the least, does not encourage complaining about academic decisions. The Yenching Academy will renovate several of the original buildings at the center of the campus and add other buildings. It will provide an all-expense paid interdisciplinary program. In fact, it is similar to the Schwartzman Scholars initiative at cross-town, arch-rival Tsinghua University. More...

By Shira Lurie. The new school year is about to begin and for many students, in addition to course selection, fresh haircuts, and back-to-school Target commercials, this also means the start of application season. Amid the chaos of statements of intent, transcripts, and GRE scores, I remember the question lurking in the back of my mind as I applied to PhD programs was not “will I get in?” but the far more terrifying “what if I get in?” I had no idea how I was going to make a decision that would shape the rest of my life. More...

By Justin Dunnavant. The semester begins next week and I will enter my fifth year as a graduate student. As I have become a seasoned member of my department, prospective students and younger colleagues are now asking me for the same advice I once asked; knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently in graduate school? It’s hard to articulate quality advice. Rather than attempt to outline a list of dos and don’ts, I’ve found through my years as a graduate student it’s important to revisit the Three R’s: the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. More...