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Information Provided By Adobe. Online learning today faces a tall order. With people accustomed to richer, more engaging digital experiences on their computers, smartphones, and tablet devices, it’s not surprising that they would expect that same quality of experience in their online classes. The reality is that capturing and keeping people’s attention in today’s world is more challenging than ever.
In higher education, distance learning has moved well beyond offering a small subset of classes to include complete undergraduate and graduate programs that foster ongoing collaboration among students and faculty. The challenge for higher education institutions is building distance learning on a foundation that supports today’s demands, while staying open to tomorrow’s requirements.
A few years ago distance learning largely involved students logging on and listening, with limited direct interaction with their professors and even less with their fellow students. Now, real-time interaction is the norm, as students virtually “raise their hands,” participate in breakout sessions, jointly lead presentations, share video, and engage in a host of other dynamic interactions.

By Jennifer Howard. Researchers, publishers, and librarians have spent a lot of this year firing up the longstanding debate over access to published research. You've probably heard the big questions: Who gets to see the results of work the public helps pay for, when should they get to see it, and who's going pay for it? This summer, the fervor has gone global, with policy makers in Britain, elsewhere in Europe, and in Australia signaling that they're ready to come up with some answers. Details vary from country to country and proposal to proposal, but the overall warming trend looks very clear.
Last month, David Willetts, the British minister in charge of universities and science, announced that the government had accepted almost all the recommendations in a June report from the Finch Group, a committee set up to explore how to broaden access to published research.

By Ellen Hazelkorn. In recent years, there has been a noted policy shift towards measuring the value and benefit of university-based research. Rather than measuring inputs (e.g. human, physical, and financial resources), the emphasis has switched to looking for outcomes (the level of performance or achievement including the contribution research makes to the advancement of scientific-scholarly knowledge) and ultimately to requiring an impact and benefit (e.g. the contribution of research outcomes for society, culture, the environment, and/or the economy). This marks a move away from seeing higher education as a vehicle of human-capital development to being an arm of economic policy.
Traditionally, the emphasis has been on measuring research income, bibliometrics, and citations. Simplistic application of this methodology has privileged the physical, life, and medical sciences – their large research earnings inflated by capital and equipment budgets, and the outputs generated by large teams with multiple authors.

By Karen Birchard. With competition for the world's talent increasing, Canada should strengthen its efforts to recruit international students, with a goal of doubling their number within a decade, recommends a report released on Tuesday by an advisory panel to the Canadian government.
What's more, the report says, the country should significantly increase the number of Canadians studying abroad by providing financial aid, and the prime minister should play a leading role as the "unifying champion" for international education. The 122-page report, entitled "International Education: A Key Driver of Canada's Future Prosperity," says that international students are key contributors to Canada's economy. It offers 14 recommendations as a blueprint for attracting high-quality foreign students and internationalizing education. The government set up the five-member panel on international education last year. It was led by Amit Chakma, president of University of Western Ontario, and it consulted widely with international-education players in the country.

By Katharine E. Stewart. The knock on my door didn’t sound different from any other knock, so I had no idea that my day was about to get much better. My mentee walked in. She had been my doctoral student and was now my colleague, thanks to an unusual set of circumstances that had led her to start her academic career at our university. As a result, she had been working hard to diversify her experience and her scientific network. She was also submitting grant applications and multiple manuscripts to journals. That day she walked into the office, emitting a kind of radiance that made my heart leap.

By Julia Love, Washington. Starting Wednesday, young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children can apply for two-year stays on deportation that experts say will motivate many to pursue education and empower those who are already in school to put their degrees to use.
Since the Obama administration announced the new policy on June 15, thousands of eligible young people have eagerly awaited details about the relief it provides. The policy allows them to apply for work permits and for renewable two-year deferments on any action that could lead to their deportation.

By Tom Bartlett. Robert D. Putnam’s research is being used to make the case that diversity is bad—and he’s not happy about it.
The Harvard sociologist, best known for his book Bowling Alone, filed a supporting brief in the lawsuit over race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, which is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the brief, Putnam objects to how his research is characterized in another brief, by Abigail Thernstrom, an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Stephan Thernstrom, a Harvard historian, among others (the two Thernstroms, in case you were wondering, are married).