13 avril 2014

By Bryan Alexander. American higher education now seems to be recovering at last from the 2008 financial crisis. Some states are increasing their support for public universities and colleges. Backlash against the impact of budget cuts seems to have the idea of austerity down a peg, if not discredited it entirely, which might free up more budgetary room for governmental support of education. On the private side, institutional endowments are finally rising after years of stagnation and decline. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Online enrollment continued to grow at community colleges in 2013, even as many two-year institutions saw overall enrollment stagnate or drop, according to a report released Sunday by the Instructional Technology Council. The council released its annual report on online education at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges, with which it is affiliated. Read more...

By Carl Straumsheim. Heavy cell phone and social media use may hurt students’ grades and well-being, new studies suggests, but having friends and family at their fingertips may also be beneficial to those farthest away from home. In papers presented at this year's annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association annual meeting, faculty members and graduate students from Kent State, Louisiana State and New York Universities contributed to the growing body of research into the academic and personal consequences of cell phone and social media use among undergraduate and graduate students. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. The idea of "undermatching" -- the view of education researchers that many talented high school students never apply to competitive colleges that might well admit them -- has captured widespread attention among researchers and policy makers in the last two years. The Obama administration, many elite colleges and educational organizations have all announced initiatives to combat undermatching. And, as is the case with many hot scholarly ideas, other researchers have questioned some of the assumptions behind those who have promoted the undermatching idea. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Policy makers regularly talk about the need to encourage more undergraduates to pursue science and technology fields. New data suggest that undergraduates at four-year institutions in fact have become much more likely to study those fields, especially engineering and biology. And while much of the public discussion of STEM enrollments has suggested a STEM vs. liberal arts dichotomy (even though some STEM fields are in fact liberal arts disciplines), the new study suggests that this is not the dynamic truly at play. Read more...

By Paul Fain. More than half the nation’s most vulnerable college students are in courses taught by part-time, adjunct faculty members who lack the job security, credentials and experience of full-time professors – as well as the campus support their full-time peers receive. Community colleges rely on part-time, “contingent” instructors to teach 58 percent of their courses, according to a new report from the Center for Community College Student Engagement. Part-time faculty teach more than half (53 percent) of students at two-year institutions. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. Full-time faculty member salaries are up 2.2 percent this year over last, outpacing the rate of inflation for the first time in five years. And faculty members who remained at the same institution earned pay bumps averaging 3.4 percent, according to a report out today from the American Association of University Professors. Although the report shows bigger salary gains for professors than any they've had in the last five years, it also makes clear that faculty pay remains below pre-recession levels and makes the case that higher education is continuing to prioritize spending on administration and athletics over instruction. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. The Obama administration on Monday formally launched a new consortium of colleges, employers and unions that is aimed at making it easier for students to turn their apprenticeship experience into academic credit. Colleges participating in the consortium must agree to provide academic credit to students who complete certain apprenticeship programs. The institutions pledge to follow the credit recommendations made by third-party evaluators, who translate the skills learned during an apprenticeship into credit hours. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Many a would-be graduate student has debated whether to enroll in a top-ranked program or another one that -- for reasons fair or unfair -- isn't so highly ranked but may seem a better fit. A study released here at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association suggests that there could be quantifiable evidence that prestige pays off. Read more...

By Elizabeth Redden. Chinese undergraduate students face challenges in adapting to American classroom practices and expectations but draw on personal, social, institutional and technological resources to respond to these challenges, according to articles presented by Tang T. Heng, a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University, at last week’s American Educational Research Association annual meeting. Read more...