What’s the secret to effective learning? A recent study by a group of neuroscientists from the University of California, the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University found that the less you work your brain when learning, perhaps, the better. More...

Starbucks and Arizona State University are collaborating to help cafe workers get college degrees. Is this a model for helping more Americans reach the middle class?
 Our class-based higher-education divide explains more about America’s widening income gap than does any other single factor. More...

Free program aims to increase students’ awareness about security threats. Researchers at Iowa State University are hoping to bring the subject of cyber security to grade school classrooms. More...

Called the Global Freshman Academy, this is another important step in the revolution that is engulfing higher education. Recently Google and MOOC pioneer Coursera announced “microdegrees”, a set of online courses and a hands-on project that will essentially be the core of a low-cost degree major that will be accepted by top employers. More...

Students who physically experience scientific concepts understand them more deeply and score better on science tests, according to a new study. Brain scans showed that students who took a hands-on approach to learning had activation in sensory and motor-related parts of the brain when they later thought about concepts such as angular momentum and torque. More...

One challenge to the graduate school and postdoc experience is that Ph.D.s become focused on a niche topic, which can lead to intellectual stagnation. More...

The first well-documented flipped classroom rang into session only back in 2007, when a pair of chemistry teachers began looking for a way to provide lecture materials for students who had to miss class. Using simple screen recording software to capture their PowerPoint slides, the two then uploaded the recordings to YouTube for every student in the class to review. More...

The British Council’s Exploring English MOOC has so far received more sign-ups than any other online course on the FutureLearn platform. Chris Cavey, Open Learning Manager at the British Council, tells us the secret to its success. The British Council has been involved in English language teaching for more than 70 years and has very successful websites for learners and teachers that attract around five million users a month, so we already have a large online audience. More...

By The Hechinger Report. Two weeks ago I wrote about the overwhelming research evidence that community college students aren't doing as well in online classes as they are in face-to-face traditional classes. Students are failing in higher numbers and getting lower grades. That remains true, but it isn't the whole story. More...