By Telegraph reporter. Ministers now believe that 45% of university graduates will not earn enough to repay their loans. The percentage of unpaid student loans is approaching the point at which the government will start to lose the money gained from having hiked tuition fees. Read more...28 mars 2014
The Rise of MOOCs: Past Successes, Future Challenges
Lecture presentation delivered to ICT advisory board meeting, Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, Tunis, Tunisia.
In this presentation I outline the major influences leading to the development of MOOCs, including learning objects and open educational resources. I then describe the basis for the creation of our original connectivist MOOCs, describe the learning theory behind them, and review attribues of a number of cMOOCs over the years. Finally I develop the concept of the personal learning environment as it is being implemented in our LPSS program.
Student loans: fewer will be repaid
By Telegraph reporter. Ministers now believe that 45% of university graduates will not earn enough to repay their loans. The percentage of unpaid student loans is approaching the point at which the government will start to lose the money gained from having hiked tuition fees. Read more...Generation of children left without vital skills
By Graeme Paton. Lord Baker, the former Conservative education secretary, says that large numbers of children are being forced to leave school lacking the vital skills needed to find a job. Read more...Fresh warning over student loan repayment 'time bomb'
By Graeme Paton. Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, says that new student loan repayment forecasts represent a financial "time bomb" that may prove may prove damaging for the Lib Dems. Read more...More than 26,000 students 'dropping out of university'
By Graeme Paton. Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that 6.7 per cent of students dropped out of university after a year in 2011/12, rising to almost one-in-five at one institution. More than 26,000 students dropped out of university last year amid continuing concerns that school leavers are being pushed into taking inappropriate degree courses. Read more...'Girls in science? Give pupils real choice in education'
By Nigel Carrington. The UK is a leader in science, but our even greater success story is creativity – we shouldn't rush to prioritise one subject over another, says Nigel Carrington. The economy needs more young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths, according to the CBI, and girls in particular should be steered away from “feminine” arts subjects. Read more...Universities 'given go ahead to favour state school pupils'
By Graeme Paton. Research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England finds that state school pupils perform better at university than privately-educated peers with the same A-level results, prompting fresh calls for a reform of the admissions system. Read more...The universities with the most and least state school students
By Graeme Paton. More places at British universities were awarded to applicants from state schools last year, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, but some elite institutions such as Oxford still admitted at least four-in-10 students from private schools. Record numbers of university places were awarded to applicants from state schools year following a Government drive to create a more socially balanced student body. Read more...Funding agencies risk driving away international scholars
By David Kent. Scientific research extends well beyond borders and its internationalization has been a major boon for collaboration and advancement. Last month, Switzerland made news by putting a cap on immigrant labour that would prevent mobility into their scientific research environment. This met with much criticism and resulted in the EU banning Swiss applications to its Horizon 2020 grant applications (a good account of the situation appeared in the Huffington Post earlier this week). More...
Teaching “Productivity”
By Melonie Fullick. Recently the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) released a report (PDF) on a study “designed to measure the teaching loads of faculty members in the Ontario university system and the relationship of this variable to others, such as research output and salary.” The study, comprising 10 of Ontario’s 20 publicly funded universities, looked at faculty teaching in three disciplines (economics, chemistry and philosophy). Read more...
