By Kelly Field. Borrowers with past credit problems will soon find it easier to qualify for federal PLUS loans under a final rule announced on Wednesday by the Education Department.
An additional 370,000 parents and graduate students are expected to qualify for PLUS loans under the rule, which will relax the program’s underwriting criteria. Read more...

By Mark C. Taylor. The cult of speed is a modern phenomenon. In "The Futurist Manifesto" in 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marionetti declared, "We say that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed." The worship of speed reflected and promoted a profound shift in cultural values that occurred with the advent of modernity and modernization. With the emergence of industrial capitalism, the primary values governing life became work, efficiency, utility, productivity, and competition. When Frederick Winslow Taylor took his stopwatch to the factory floor in the early 20th century to increase workers’ efficiency, he began a high-speed culture of surveillance so memorably depicted in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. Then, as now, efficiency was measured by the maximization of rapid production through the programming of human behavior. Read more...

By Steven Ward. Assessing student performance has always been at the heart of the academic enterprise. Historically, this type of professional-based assessment has been within the purview and control of the individual professor. Under this familiar system, a professor uses her expertise to administer the usual assortment of tests, papers, quizzes, presentations, journals, portfolios, etc., to gauge the progress of students through a course or program. Read more...

By Rebecca Koenig. Your brain is a tree.Or, perhaps more fittingly, a bank account.With metaphors like those, brain-game companies entice people to buy subscriptions to their online training programs, many of which promise to increase customers’ "neuroplasticity," "fluid intelligence," and working memory capacity. They even claim to help stave off the effects of aging. Read more...

By Goldie Blumenstyk. The demographic changes sweeping the nation—especially the growth in the population of native-born young Hispanics—will have a profound impact on community-college enrollments and leadership in the years to come, experts told the 1,800 attendees on Thursday here at the annual meeting of the Association of Community College Trustees. Read more...