By Carl Straumsheim. The next-generation learning management system shouldn’t be a system at all, but a “digital learning environment” where individual components -- from grade books to analytics to support for competency-based education -- fit together like Lego bricks, a new white paper recommends. Read more...

By Carl Straumsheim. The first four liberal arts colleges to join the massive open online course provider edX are forming a consortium to improve teaching both online and on campus. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. For the fifth year in a row, anxiety is the top condition of students seeking care at campus counseling centers, according to a survey released Monday night by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. The name "American University of…" -- best known in the cases of Beirut and Cairo -- has for more than a century signified an American style of education in many cases otherwise unavailable in various countries. The institutions have been led by American educators, featured American (and other Western-educated) faculty members, and promoted a broad liberal arts-based education, along with top professional programs. Review and recognition has been provided by American accreditors.
But how American does a university need to be to call itself the American University of wherever?
That question is being raised by the creation of the American University of Malta. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Art instruction -- which has long featured nude models -- is not the same as instruction in other subjects. But a complaint from the parent of a student at the University of California at San Diego has drawn attention to the pedagogy behind a course in which all students (and the professor) are naked for a class session. Read more...