The Auction-House of Language
The phrase “prison-house of language” seeped into the scholarly aquifer, perhaps getting an unintended assist from Foucault, whose own landmark work cheerfully directed us to similarities between social organization and prisons. Since then the constraints of language have taken on new and interesting wrinkles, thanks in no small part to the digital reconfiguration of communications (I’m avoiding the word revolution here). Our mental structures have arguably shifted, but what is certain is that the Internet has given us access to an unimaginably vast corpus of words and thoughts, ideas and suspicions, truth and nonsense. Read more...
"Es ist nicht alles verloren"
ZEIT ONLINE: Herr Mollenhauer, Sie beraten Studenten, die das juristische Staatsexamen nicht geschafft haben. Warum brauchen solche Studenten eine spezielle Beratung?
Philipp Mollenhauer: Wer das Jura-Examen zwei Mal nicht besteht, darf in Deutschland nie wieder ein Examen schreiben. Etwa 40 Prozent fallen beim ersten Versuch durch, ungefähr jeder Zweite schafft auch den zweiten Versuch nicht. Diese Studenten haben dann gar keinen Abschluss außer dem Abitur. Sie wissen oft nicht, wie es weitergehen soll. Ich möchte ihnen zeigen, wie man doch Jurist wird. Mehr...
Braucht man an der Uni eine Anwesenheitspflicht?
Nein
Wer die Anwesenheitspflicht an Universitäten fordert, vergisst, was Hochschulreife ist. Für Studenten ist sie mehr als ein Abi-Zeugnis: Sie ist eine menschliche Qualität. Wer Abitur gemacht hat, ist reif genug, zu entscheiden, welches Fach er studieren will. Er besitzt das geistige und handwerkliche Rüstzeug, sich in neue Wissensgebiete einzuarbeiten. Er kann selbst entscheiden, wie er sich auf Prüfungen vorbereiten und welche Lehrangebote er nutzen will. Wer die Hochschulreife erlangt hat, wird sich nicht freiwillig in langweilige oder unverständliche Veranstaltungen setzen. Und das ist gut so! Studenten per Anwesenheitspflicht zu schlechter akademischer Kost zu zwingen verletzt ihre Würde und beschädigt den akademischen Geist von Hochschulen. Mehr...
Entreprise idéale: les étudiants plébiscitent l’esprit d’équipe
Blog "Il y a une vie après le bac" d'Olivier Rollot. Pour la troisième année consécutive le cabinet Deloitte a interrogé les étudiants sur ce que ce serait pour eux l’entreprise idéale: de taille moyenne (41% des étudiants dont 58% de femmes) elle devrait proposer un environnement résolument international (plébiscité par 81% des étudiants). «On voit ici tout le paradoxe de cette génération qui souhaite évoluer dans une entreprise de taille moyenne mais à dimension et vocation internationales » explique Gabriel Bardinet, Manager Capital Humain chez Deloitte...L’esprit d’équipe plébiscité
La progression la plus frappante de cette étude est celle de l’esprit d’équipe et de communauté parmi les valeurs d’entreprise: 28% la mettent en tête en 2013 (contre 14% en 2012). Un doublement qui traduit bien les nouvelles préoccupations d’une population étudiante qui est bien obligée de constater que les rémunérations étant bloquées par la crise d’autres valeurs vont devoir prévaloir dans l’entreprise au cours des années à venir. 67% des étudiants considèrent d‘ailleurs que les qualités du manager devraient être avant tout relationnelles plutôt qu’organisationnelles. Pour 72% d’entre eux, le management devrait être participatif plutôt que directif. Suite de l'article...
Blag "Tá an saol tar éis na scoile ard" Olivier Rollot. Don tríú bliain as a chéile Deloitte suirbhé daltaí faoi cad a bheadh sé dóibh an chuideachta idéalach: mheán (41 mic léinn%, 58% de mhná) ba chóir a thairiscint le timpeallacht fíor idirnáisiúnta (moladh ag 81% mac léinn). "Seo linn a fheiceáil ar an paradacsa seo ghlúin gur mian chun bogadh isteach ina chuideachta mheánmhéide ach gné idirnáisiúnta agus feidhm," a mhíníonn Gabriel Bardinet Bainisteoir Caipitil Daonna ag Deloitte. Níos mó...The Tech Revolution and the Future of Higher Education
Onlinedegrees.org presents how emerging technologies will likely influence higher education in next few years. Introducing iPads and other tablets into the classroom definitely ignited a revolutionary tech movement in higher education, but e-books and interactive lesson plans are only the beginning. Experts predict a second revolutionary tech wave will occur within the next decade that will flip old methods of teaching and learning on its head. While it’s too early to foresee all that is in store, industry leaders do forecast at least 12 emerging technologies that will impact higher education in a big way. Onlinedegrees.org has conveniently put these emerging technologies in a neatly-packaged infographic, but below is a dissection of technologies that will most likely make the biggest difference within the next three years.Massive Open Online Courses, better known as MOOCs, are online classes students can take for free. Courses range anywhere from quantum physics to the history of rock music. Although MOOCs are offered through several elite institutions, three platforms currently dominate university-level coursework: Coursera, Udacity, and edX. Students can not earn a degree from these free courses but that still doesn’t discourage thousands of students from enrolling in MOOCs worldwide. What makes MOOCs so attractive is that they shift the control to the student. Students can take courses at their own leisure and pace. MOOCs have really improved access of higher education to people around the world, but they still have their fair share of critics. Some worry it will give officials a reason to unnecessarily slash school budgets.
* Game-Based Learning
Experts say game-based learning can improve a student’s assessment, especially for those who aren’t “natural scholars.” Although the New Media Consortium doesn’t predict widespread adoption of game-based learning until a few more years it’s already starting to make its mark. Take the University of Texas-Brownsville and Texas Southmost College in the U.S. for example. In the 2010-11 academic school year Professor Soumya Mohany gathered inspiration from the videogames Laura Croft: Tomb Raider and Little Big Planet to design a custom-made videogame used to teach the fundamentals of physics for the inaugural course, "Elementary Physics Through Video Games.
* Learning Analytics
In a nutshell, learning analytics refers to the “analysis” of data collected by and for students. It’s specifically gathered so that administration can improve the overall functionality and performance of both traditional and online courses. There are various times when this data is collected, for example after a student completes an exam or participates in a group project, class discussion, or online forum. This data is then used to identify issues and make way for progress. While not all schools have jumped on the learning analytics bandwagon yet, some prestigious universities have already starting taking full advantage to improve performance.
That said, to learn more about the future of higher education checkout the infographic below created by Onlinedegrees.org.
Differences of Opinion on Online Courses
Where the Learners Are
MOOCs have been touted as opening avenues to education for huge audiences in developing countries, but a pressing U.S. application lies in providing remedial or entry-level required classes for students at community colleges and financially hard-pressed public colleges and universities. Following an experiment in which San Jose State University (SJSU) blended edX’s course on electronic circuits with its classroom teaching, enhancing student learning, the institution has extended that experiment to 11 California campuses and agreed with edX to adapt courses in sciences, humanities, business, and social sciences. Read more...
Black male graduation rates improving
By Courtenay Edelhart. It looked like a commencement exercise, the rows of black male teens in neckties or sweater vests and neatly creased slacks. One by one they rose as Project BEST scholarship committee chairwoman Fuschsia Ward called out their names, grouped by school, and announced where they had been accepted to college. Then she handed them checks as beaming parents cheered. It's been more than two decades since the founding of Project BEST, which stands for Black Excellence in Scholarship and Teaching. The program was founded in response to a series of articles in this newspaper that listed alarming statistics about young black males. The dropout rate for black students in general was 40 percent higher than for the Kern High School District as a whole, and the rate of black males quitting school was 70 percent higher than for black females. Read more...
