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15 décembre 2013

Politicians: Ignore the Millennial Student Loan Crisis at Your Own Risk

ABC NewsBy Adam Levin. Though politicians fall all over themselves when it comes to voters in my age bracket and even older (that's almost impossible to comprehend), a new survey by Harvard's Institute of Politics shows a growing class of discontented, registered voters who agree that there is one major issue among them regardless of party affiliation: that class is millennials, and that issue is student loan debt. More...

15 décembre 2013

Online courses cut costs, expand options

The Houston ChronicleBy Ron Trowbridge. The University of Michigan's 2013 Alumni Newsletter features a piece, "MOOCs, Me, and Michigan," by English professor Eric Rabkin. The evidence in it for MOOC (massive, open, online course) instruction is powerful in terms of reducing college costs while at the same time improving the quality of education. It is a godsend for low-income students. Rabkin writes, "Course co-founder Daphne Koller reported that ... when an issue is raised on a (MOOC) forum, the mean time to someone else on the forum contributing a useful response is 22 minutes. That's 22 minutes around the clock, because the course community is global. No professor could ever be that responsive." More...

15 décembre 2013

A model to help bring discoveries to the marketplace

http://www.universityaffairs.ca/images/BlogTheBlackHole.pngBy Jonathan Thon. In a previous post I made the argument that one way of recovering federally funded-research costs and bringing discoveries and innovations to the marketplace is by having governments included in intellectual property agreements. My guess is that getting universities to give up their patent rights and ability to claim  indirect costs from incoming grants are going to be the major hurdles in academic reform. To justify this income, research institutions should be tasked with turning basic research programs covered by government grants into profitable (and therefore sustainable) ventures. Indeed, this was a conclusion shared by a report released by the Science, Technology and Innovation Council, State of the Nation 2010, showing that while Canada has talent and resources in spades, it is not leveraging them effectively to take a global leading role in innovation. More...

15 décembre 2013

Contesting a metaphor

By Melonie Fullick. Last week with the release of the OECD’s PISA results, there was a flurry of media coverage of Canada’s (and other nations’) performance in this assessment, which I think was best summed up by Audrey Watters with the headline, “PISA Scores Confirm that [Fill in the Blank with Education Narrative of Your Choice]”. I didn’t have time to read most of this coverage, but one article I did catch was on the Globe and Mail website and was emblazoned with the headline “If you’re on an education ‘journey’, you’ve lost the race”. Read more...
15 décembre 2013

Taking stock and measuring well-being

http://www.universityaffairs.ca/images/Blog-phd-to-life.jpgBy Jennifer Polk. Let me tell you about an exercise that coaches do with clients. The most used coaching text recommends that we use the Wheel of Life, and many coaches use this tool with clients to help them sort out how they’re doing in different areas of their lives. To do it for yourself, draw a big circle, and divide it into 8 or so segments. Name each segment after a different part of your life. For example, you may have physical environment, career, money, health, friends and family, intimacy, personal growth, and recreation. Then shade in as much of each segment of the circle as you rate your life in that area. A bumpy ride, as it were, signifies an unbalanced life, and taking stock can help suggest an agenda for coaching. My own training program offers up the Pillars of a Balanced Life exercise, which is a similar tool that breaks down a life into ten parts, from finances to family to fun. More...

15 décembre 2013

New study says policies to promote work of women academics aren’t wholly successful

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQWMTBx0CPzMFK637Zb6AgNbjhxfVRtTVkrwKoq4ZPL2p18KKWOEwB3AWIBy Marie Lambert-Chan. Researchers compare research output of women academics with men in many disciplines and countries. 
A new study published in the journal Nature has found that in the majority of disciplines, women produce fewer scientific articles than do their male counterparts. This is the case in most countries, with the exception of Lithuania, Ukraine, Macedonia and Turkmenistan. Moreover, fewer female academics are involved in international research projects, and their articles are cited less often, even when they are the lead author. More...

15 décembre 2013

MOOCs and a Liberal Arts College

By Carol E. Quillen. MOOCs are a potential game-changer in the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education. They can affordably expand access to rigorous, effective curricula otherwise available only to a few. They can enable analytics that will offer insight into how humans learn. They may even strengthen global community and commitment to a shared future. Even leaving aside the work force demands of a technology-driven economy, all those who see educational opportunity as a social justice issue will support the ongoing MOOC experiment. Read more...

15 décembre 2013

To Market We Go

By Akiba J. Covitz. There is sometimes a moment in admittedly poorly written TV shows when a character says something seemingly totally absurd, along the lines of “If we just put a blonde wig on Jack, Mr. Roper will never know the difference.” The next line will be – or should be – something like: “Wow, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.” As the world of higher education has rapidly transformed over the last year, we have all found ourselves in just that situation many times over the last year. Read more...

15 décembre 2013

Why We Will Always Be Learning About Social Media

http://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/styles/blog_landing/public/technology_and_learning_blog_header.jpg?itok=aQthgJ91By Joshua Kim. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, Snapchat, Pinterest, Path, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+, and WordPress are some of the most-used social media sites/apps. The proliferation of social media sites and services is seemingly endless. At times, I've often thought that we will reach a zenith with our need for learning about social media. It would manifest itself as a Gladwellian tipping point that creates a sense of ubiquity regarding the act of sharing, posting, tweeting, and blogging. However, I think that is more of my own inner bias around the simple fact that teaching social media can be draining. Similar to how introductory writing instructors have to teach the same concepts over and over again, it seems to me that social media 101 are here to stay. Sure, the sites and oddly misspelt site names will change and evolve, but the basics of social media interaction, development, engagement, privacy, and creation will always need to be taught. Read more...

15 décembre 2013

Benchmarking or Competing?

http://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/styles/large/public/the_world_view_blog_header.jpgBy Liz Reisberg. The latest PISA results have kicked up quite a storm in Brazil.  I suspect there have been similar responses elsewhere.  The Brazil debate seems to focus on the validity of the data and sample and whether the results capture an accurate picture of the capabilities of Brazilian students. Each time a new ranking is published they “kick up” similar national storms, particularly when a country or university is not happy with where they place on the list. Read more...
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