tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87637933395995406922024-03-05T10:06:47.710-05:00The CITEThis blog is dedicated to the topics of Course materials, Innovation, and Technology in Education. it is intended as an information source for the college store industry, or anyone interested in how course materials are changing. Suggestions for discussion topics or news stories are welcome.Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comBlogger2691125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-39466371251618058212018-09-24T13:32:00.001-04:002018-09-24T13:32:50.143-04:00The CITE's on Hiatus<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
CITE is going on hiatus, with no new posts planned for the time being. Previous
posts will still be available in the blog archive and the blogroll will
continue to update with related stories from around the web.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-11412282918217773292018-08-30T14:28:00.000-04:002018-08-30T14:30:37.776-04:00An OMG about EMV<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) chip cards were meant to make
transactions more secure, but Texas IT consultant and forensic investigator
Colman Ryan has pointed out that after three failed attempts to read a chip, a
terminal will allow the card to be swiped.</span><br />
<br /><o:p></o:p>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">A criminal presenting a cloned credit card embedded with a fake chip will
still have the stolen account information stored on the card’s magnetic strip.
If the point-of-sale terminal can’t read the chip after three tries, a fallback
feature will ask the user to swipe the card instead. That fallback feature
cannot be switched off.</span></div>
<br /><o:p></o:p>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The EMV chip is designed to protect the retailer against fraudulent charges
by verifying the card was physically present during the transaction. But if the
chip isn’t read, the merchant—not the bank—will be on the hook for any fraud.</span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-68351316030048215052018-08-22T10:00:00.000-04:002018-08-30T14:29:11.953-04:00Horizon Report Offers Tech Outlook<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">A
greater emphasis on measuring educational outcomes, coupled with new efforts to
modernize college classrooms, is likely to drive technology adoption on
campuses in the next couple of years, according to the <a href="https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/8/2018-nmc-horizon-report" target="_blank">NMC Horizon Report,</a> 2018
Higher Education Edition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
report was recently released by Educause, which has taken over the project from
the now-defunct New Media Consortium. The report looks at key trends,
challenges, and developments facing technology adoption in higher ed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
types of technologies most likely to be adopted include analytics that can help
institutions track at-risk students and customize the learning experience.
Makerspaces for activities such as 3-D printing and virtual reality are also on
the rise, as these functions become more mainstream in the work world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Adaptive
learning technologies and artificial intelligence may require another two to
three years before they have much impact on colleges and universities.
Technologies such as robotics and mixed reality (a blend of digital and
physical objects) are at least four years out, according to the report.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">While
there has been considerable public debate on the role of higher education in
preparing students for work, the Horizon Report analysis shows that aligning
college campuses with workplace practices will be a “difficult” challenge, as
institutions will need to “adopt more flexible, team-based matrix-like
structures to remain innovative and responsive.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-3100598156452539382018-08-20T09:00:00.000-04:002018-08-23T13:46:38.580-04:00Tool Helps New Students Adjust to Campus<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">With
more than 6,000 first-year students expected to arrive soon for the fall term,
Florida State University, Tallahassee, is deploying a new online tool to assist
them in reducing stress and adjusting to the campus. Called the Student
Resilience Project, it was developed by the Institute for Family Violence
Studies at the school’s College of Social Work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As
part of the project, all incoming freshmen and transfer students receive mandatory
training through animations, TED Talk-style audio presentations by faculty
members and mental-health providers, and videos of current FSU students
recounting their own first-year issues and how they dealt with them. The project
website also offers audios for mindful meditation and music therapy, along with
journaling tips and connections to university and community trauma resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Recognizing
that the transition to higher ed and new surroundings can be very stressful for
some students, the project’s aim is to guide new arrivals in building on their
existing strengths and promote strategies for resilience and coping with that
adjustment and the frustration, stress, and feelings of loss or grief that may
accompany it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Unmanaged
stress responses can interfere with student success in college and cause
long-term negative consequences,” Karen Oehme, director of the Institute for
Family Violence Studies, <a href="https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/wellness/2018/08/13/fsu-launches-student-resilience-project/976967002/">said in a release</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-46517573168760683422018-08-17T07:00:00.000-04:002018-08-17T07:00:03.191-04:00Free College in New York Is Complicated<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Complications appear to be bogging down the “free college”
movement, particularly in New York. An <a href="https://nycfuture.org/research/excelsior-scholarship)">August report</a> from the Center for an Urban
Future found that just 3.2% of the undergraduates statewide received an
Excelsior Scholarship</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The program requires students to earn at least 30 credits
every year of enrollment, which proved to be the main reason students applying
for the funds were rejected. According to the report, 43,513 of the 63,599
scholarship applications in 2018 were rejected, with more than 36,000 denied because
of insufficient credits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Admittedly, it’s still early days for the program, so
the numbers may drift upwards a bit,” Matt Reed, vice president for learning,
Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ, wrote in his <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/simple-stick"><i>Confessions of a</i> <i>Community College Dean</i> column </a>for Inside
Higher Ed.
“But with complicated paperwork requirements, an extraordinarily high credit
requirement, and a postgraduation residency requirement in place, it’s not
surprising that the impact has been minimal.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To Reed, the more complicated the program, the fewer resources
it will receive. Free colleges should be simple and transparent, not screening
people out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Beat
the program with a simple stick,” he continued. “Get rid of income caps, postgraduate
residency requirements, and unrealistic credit requirements. Over time, make it
as free, open, and easy to use as a public library. The future is worth it.”</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-37281915826500970912018-08-15T10:00:00.000-04:002018-08-15T10:00:02.508-04:00Research: Bigger Role for CC Libraries?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">A new
Ithaka S+R research project aims to determine whether campus libraries could do
more to help community-college students complete their studies. The first phase
of the project discovered that libraries and students aren’t always on the same
page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">For
libraries, “student success” often has been defined by measurable academic data,
such as the number of students who attain degrees or certificates, according to
<a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-08-13-libraries-are-often-missing-from-student-success-initiatives-researchers-are-asking-how-to-change-that" target="_blank">EdSurge’s account</a> of the project. On the other hand, researchers found students
viewed success in school in terms of personal satisfaction with their work and
their lives—a much more nebulous goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">However,
when students were asked about ongoing challenges, their answers provided some
insights into how libraries could lend a hand to help them. Many students reported
that applying for financial aid was confusing and they were having trouble
paying for normal living expenses. Quite a few students were working parents
who said they struggled to find affordable care for their kids so they could
attend classes or study.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
second phase of the research project is looking more closely at how some campus
libraries are already addressing these problems, either directly or indirectly.
For example, one library provides private study spaces where students can do
classwork while their children play, so they don’t have to pay a sitter.
Another library tackles the problem from a different stance, requiring all
first-year students to meet with a librarian to review library services to
ensure they’re aware of available resources and won’t be intimidated to ask for
help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
final report is expected to be out in mid-2019.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-7182314567778074912018-08-13T10:30:00.000-04:002018-08-13T11:33:47.023-04:00Have the Social Giants Peaked?<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Last
week, when Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat reported their latest quarterly
earnings, all three social platforms noted a slowdown or drop in users.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Facebook’s
user numbers remained flat in North America and fell in Europe on a
quarter-over-quarter basis, Twitter reported a slight downturn in monthly users,
and Snap posted a decline in daily active users for the second quarter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/08/social-media-active-users-around-the-world.html">CNBC floated the possibility</a> that social-media growth has peaked, with no room to
add significant numbers of new users—at least in the West. Facebook still hopes
to use “lite” versions of its apps to secure gains in huge, virtually untapped markets
such as India and Indonesia. And, of course, China, with its billions of
potential users, remains closed for now to Facebook and other popular
platforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Facebook
and Twitter both blamed the European Union’s new data privacy law, the General
Data Protection Regulation, as a factor in their declines. However, Facebook’s
monthly page visits have been falling sharply for some time, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/08/youtube-is-about-to-pass-facebook-as-the-second-biggest-website-accor.html">according to a study</a> by market research company SimilarWeb, from 8.5 billion to 4.7 billion over
the past two years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Thanks
to that drop, YouTube, experiencing increased traffic and viewership, is poised
to potentially pass Facebook within the next few months to become the second-biggest
website in the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-79164768550207385002018-08-10T07:00:00.000-04:002018-08-10T07:00:09.026-04:00States Risk Missing Higher Ed Opportunities<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A new study found that not one state in the United States
has enough adult workers who have earned some sort of postsecondary degree to
meet its workforce demands. Even those states that graduate a high number of
workers with degrees are projected to fall well short of their expected needs
by 2025.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The <a href="http://www.gse.upenn.edu/news/press-releases/college-opportunity-risk-assessment-50-states-finney-irhe">College Opportunity Risk Assessment</a>,
a state-by-state comparison of risks to higher educational opportunity from the
University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE), also noted
that even states making the most per-student investments are struggling to produce
enough graduates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The world has changed, but our public policies haven’t,”
said Joni Finney, professor of practice at Penn GSE and director of the Institute
for Research on Higher Education. “We’re still touting the successes of a
system designed in the wake of World War II to allow 30% to 40% of the country,
drawn mostly from white, affluent backgrounds, to earn a college degree, even
though that system now leaves us woefully unprepared for the challenges of the
21st century.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">According
to Finney, states should be prioritizing those students who are traditionally
left out of higher education, such as low-income, first-generation, minority,
and working-adult students. At the same time, policymakers have to understand
that cutting education budgets is turning many students into dropouts with debt
and no degree.</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-27620175794329436592018-08-08T10:00:00.000-04:002018-08-08T10:00:07.793-04:00First Impressions Count in STEM Retention<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">How
can universities attract and retain more students in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses to fill the growing need for
employees in these fields? As it turns out, one of the ways is to ensure
students have a positive first experience with STEM education, <a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/pmg/UB/UB_0818/index.php#36" target="_blank">according to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">University Business.<o:p></o:p></i></a></span></div>
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After noticing that a lot of students who enrolled in an
introductory STEM course never took any more, Michigan State University put
more resources toward bolstering instruction in these 100-level classes. When
the instruction improved, so did student success, and more students continued
to sign up for STEM classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Twenty
years ago, especially at research universities, a lot of faculty would see
their primary job as research, and teaching as something they had to do,” James
Fairweather, professor emeritus of higher adult and lifelong education at MSU,
told <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">UB. </i>“I’d say the attitude of
faculty toward teaching today is more positive. I don’t think they see it as
the dregs of their job.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Other
institutions—including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Howard
University, and Purdue University—also found that providing more professional
development to faculty to help them brush up their teaching skills resulted in
better student outcomes in STEM courses. Some faculty needed ideas for
strategies to help struggling students get up to speed, such as giving regular
quizzes to see how they were progressing or providing questions they could
consult while reading course assignments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
University of Arizona also placed more emphasis on introductory STEM courses,
creating more interactive classroom spaces to encourage hands-on learning and
collaboration among students. A storage room for library journals was converted
into a learning space with tables and chairs that could be moved around into
groups. The configuration worked so well that UA will have a total of 30
similar spaces available for classes this fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-67205850013094441082018-08-06T10:00:00.000-04:002018-08-06T10:01:25.818-04:00Google Glass May Help Autistic Kids<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">While
the first iteration of Google Glass was scuttled in the market by concerns
about privacy, etiquette, and safety, the smart glasses may find fresh
relevance in helping children with autism spectrum disorder to socialize with
others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-018-0035-3">A new report </a>published in the journal <i>npj Digital Medicine</i> details a pilot study in
which autistic children used Superpower Glass, a prototype machine
learning-assisted app designed to run on Google Glass paired with an Android smartphone.
The app, trained from hundreds of thousands of facial images, displays an
onscreen emoticon to alert the wearer when someone with whom they’re
interacting expresses one of several core emotions, such as anger, happiness,
or surprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">After
using this tech at home for an average of about 10 weeks, the families in the
study reported that their kids demonstrated increased eye contact and greater
ability at reading facial expressions, results that were confirmed by testing.
Anecdotally, those behavioral changes have persisted beyond the end of the
pilot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
researchers wrote that “our system’s ability to provide continuous behavioral
therapy outside of clinical settings will enable faster gains in social acuity,
and that within a limited and self-directed period of use, will permit the
child to engage in increasingly more complex social scenarios of his/her own.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Additional
clinical trials are planned to validate Superpower Glass’s impact and
suitability for home behavioral therapy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-47873669472843774892018-08-03T07:00:00.000-04:002018-08-03T09:09:23.223-04:00Games Help Make Learning Fun<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Playful design, the blending of serious educational games
(SEGs) with immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, is
becoming the next big thing in higher education. Playful design works because people
like to play games and games make learning fun, according to David Chandross,
professor of education, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Serious games work by practicing skills and tracking
achievement, but also by giving learning an addictive quality,” he wrote in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-playful-design-is-transforming-university-education-99503">an article for The Conversation</a>. “The ‘one more move’ thinking that keeps video gamers up
all night is harnessed for learning.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Chandross noted peer-reviewed studies show SEGs encourage
students to use what they learn while playing, engage them better than most
lectures, and reward learners for their achievements. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It’s a </span><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">form of active learning</a> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that helps students
succeed</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“We
learn a lot when we love what we are learning,” Chandross said. “It’s a basic
trademark of achievement in higher education. Human beings love doing certain things,
and learning to become a master of their own world, however fantastical it
might be, is one of them.”</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-9124020504515901332018-08-01T10:02:00.000-04:002018-08-01T10:02:04.148-04:00We Write Good, Say College Students<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">
College students hold a fairly high opinion of their
writing skills, even when their grades don’t merit it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/07/31/new-study-shows-few-students-see-need-more-writing-instruction" target="_blank">According to Inside Higher Ed</a>, a new survey by Primary Research Group found that 46% of
students didn’t think they needed any more instruction in writing and just over
half said they didn’t require assistance with spelling or grammar. About a
third were willing to concede their writing and grammatical skills could use a
little work, but believed they were able to brush up on their own without
formal instruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Students
who earned A grades were more likely, as you might expect, to say their writing
skills were just fine, but students with lower scores were almost as confident.
Only 17% of C students admitted to needing more instruction in writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Students
in their first or second year of college overwhelmingly held a positive view of
their writing capabilities, but seniors (who had presumably by then received
more feedback from professors on their papers) were somewhat more apt to say
they should get more instruction in this area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
study also determined that about 30% of students have never been assigned to
write a paper with more than 10 double-spaced pages, the type of paper
typically calling for deeper research and/or analysis. Social-sciences majors
were more likely to have written such papers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-68645186690633046862018-07-30T09:00:00.000-04:002018-07-30T09:00:05.741-04:00Classroom Multitaskers Get Poorer Grades<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Despite
students’ claims to be adept at dividing their attention, their use of phones,
laptops, and tablets during classroom lectures does have a negative impact,
according to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046">a just-published study</a> by researchers at Rutgers University,
Piscataway, NJ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Rather
than testing college students against a control group of their peers, the
researchers tested two sections of an upper-level psychology course—118
students in all—against themselves. The students were permitted to have their
electronic devices out during half the lectures, but were prohibited from using
them during the other half. Immediate retention of information was assessed
with daily quizzes, and longer-term retention by three unit exams and a final
exam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Students’
scores proved to be “significantly worse” on device-approved days, even for those
who opted not to use their electronics, demonstrating how devices’ capacity for
distraction extends beyond just the actual user. In addition, the study posited
that what was—and wasn’t—learned in the classroom influenced the quality of students’
out-of-class studying for exams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Dividing
attention between an electronic device and the classroom lecture did not reduce comprehension of the lecture,
as measured by within-class quiz questions,” the authors pointed out. “Instead,
divided attention reduced long-term retention
of the classroom lecture, which impaired subsequent unit-exam and final-exam performance.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Professor
Arnold Glass, the lead researcher, <a href="http://insidehighered.com/news/2018/07/27/class-cellphone-and-laptop-use-lowers-exam-scores-new-study-shows">told Insider Higher Ed</a> that he recommends
other faculty follow his lead and call out students they see using their
devices during lectures, “not because I’m tremendously offended by this, but
because I know it negatively affects them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-32983573022055026802018-07-27T07:00:00.000-04:002018-07-30T11:24:29.203-04:00Pediatricians Should Ask about Social Media<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">When doctors examine kids, especially adolescents, they often use
a HEADSSS (home life, education, activities, drugs, sexual activity, safety,
and suicide and/or depression) assessment to identify any potential mental
health or alcohol or drug issues.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Now, <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2018/04/27/peds.2017-3655">an editorial in the May 2018 journal</a> of the American Academy
of Pediatrics advocates that health-care providers add in queries about social
media use, including sexting, cyberbullying, and the impact of social media on
self-worth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">While noting that social media does provide some positive benefits
in terms of social connection and support, the researchers behind the article
noted that teens who devote the most time to it are at higher risk of negative
effects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Aberrant and/or excessive social media usage may contribute to
the development of mental health disturbance in at-risk teenagers, such as
feelings of isolation, depressive symptoms, and anxiety,” the authors wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A study of 500 college undergrads who were active social media
users, presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological
Science in May, found that how they used social media—especially passive
consumption vs. active engagement—was associated with depression, with depressed
users more likely to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">• </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Score highly on a survey of social media addiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">• </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Compare themselves to others they perceived as “better off than
me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">• </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Say they were bothered by being tagged in an unflattering photo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-82207896183479758292018-07-25T10:00:00.000-04:002018-07-25T10:00:09.255-04:00Hidden Costs for Online Courses<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Developing
an online course usually isn’t cheap, but one particular expense is often
underestimated: updating the course down the road. Face-to-face class content
also needs to be refreshed from time to time, but online courses may call for
hardware or software upgrades or time-consuming reviews to ensure web resources
are still accessible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/07/18/maintaining-online-courses-maturity-requires-substantial" target="_blank"><i>Inside Higher
Education</i> took a look</a>
at how institutions are grappling with processes and costs to keep
online courses up to date. Some schools didn’t take into account the
maintenance cost for online courses, which over just a few years can add up to
more than the original development cost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Schools
that offer quite a few online courses tend to require faculty to conduct a
formal review of the course every few years, more often in the case of rapidly
evolving subjects, such as computer science or biology. At Walden University,
the review includes a report on whether the course is achieving learning
outcomes. Western Governors University reviews each course annually, but it
also has 200 faculty who work solely on course development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">If
the faculty member who originally created the course leaves, it can take much
longer for someone else to review and update the material. Installing
cybersecurity measures to protect online courses from hackers is also a growing
cost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“I
definitely would caution any institution from thinking of online courses as a
quick moneymaker, at least if you want to do it right,” said Jessie Guy-Ryan,
who heads the online learning team at New York University’s Tandon School of
Engineering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-49298354347223211322018-07-23T10:00:00.000-04:002018-07-23T10:00:06.474-04:00Voice Assistants Not Ready for Classrooms<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Representatives of Amazon and Google made it clear at the
recent International Society for Technology in Education conference that
<a href="http://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-07-11-do-voice-assistant-devices-have-a-place-in-the-classroom">voice-assistant devices</a> should not be used in K-12 classrooms because of
compliance and privacy issues</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.
While privacy issues is still a concern, the devices are finding their way into
campus dorms and classrooms.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Amazon donated 1,600 Echo Dots to engineering students at
Arizona State University, Tempe, and is providing grants to institutions that
create class curriculum using Alexa-enabled devices and mentorship.
Additionally, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, will give some students the
option to connect an Echo Dot device to their university accounts this fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Jason Hong, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon’s
Human-Computer Interaction Institute, has studied the home use of Alexa and
said the device isn’t quite ready for educational use. He noted they could be
handy in specific college situations, such as a lab where students need hands-free
interaction but added there are risks, such as demands to view the dialogue
history stored in the device.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“These
things are not geared for schools and for lots of people at the same time,”
Hong said, adding that could change as the technology improves. “I think it
could be really exciting, but also rather thorny.”</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-4218151571089796392018-07-20T07:00:00.000-04:002018-07-20T07:00:04.708-04:00College Students Worry About Time<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Academics are not the only thing keeping college students
up at night. <a href="http://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-07-12-new-survey-students-see-anxiety-and-time-management-among-top-challenges-to-finishing-degrees">A new survey</a> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">of more than 1,500 undergrads currently enrolled in a two- or four-year institution
found that 36% of respondents said time management and 35% identified anxiety
as the key factors keeping them from a diploma.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Students also listed being overwhelmed with managing
responsibilities (31%) and working too many hours (24%) to pay for school as
other factors. The survey results may be the tip of the iceberg since so many
nontraditional students are heading to college.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We have a lot of students with very complicated lives
and they have broader issues,” said Mark Milliron, co-founder and chief
learning officer of Civitas Learning, which did the study. “Trying to design
the right kind of advising support is going to mean a level of diversification
and a level of personalization.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Advising
is becoming much more important to students. The study noted that 40% ranked
information on career options after graduation and on staying on track to
finish a degree as the highest types of advice they should receive. Time
management and academic success strategies were listed by 33% of the
respondents.</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-2890984148486929262018-07-18T10:02:00.000-04:002018-07-18T10:02:19.737-04:00CSU Opens Online Options to Live-In Students<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">California
State University is <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/07/13/cal-state-allows-students-take-online-courses-other-system" target="_blank">opening the system’s entire catalog</a> of 3,000-plus online
courses to its residential students. Full-time students who live on one of the
23 CSU campuses can take one online class per term at no charge, regardless of
which CSU branch is offering the class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Many
schools allow on-campus students to enroll in online courses, but most don’t
make all courses available to those students. CSU used to limit access, too,
but opted to drop most of the barriers. One remaining hurdle is that students
can only take online classes from campuses that have the same semester or
quarter term as their residential campus. That means the two quarter schools
(in San Luis Obispo and San Bernardino) can only offer courses to each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">One
of the objectives of the program is to help students finish their degrees on
time by making available online options if they can’t get into a required
course at their home campus or the class is scheduled at an inconvenient time.
Students will also be able to take advantage of courses not offered on their
own campus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">To
help residential students determine whether they’ll be able to succeed in an
online class, CSU offers a self-test to assess students’ learning styles before
they enroll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-33210764441634494852018-07-16T09:00:00.000-04:002018-07-16T09:00:01.416-04:00Work the Social Brain Network to Get Ahead<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">To
communicate more effectively and increase your opportunities for advancement,
you need to exercise your social brain network—regions of the cortex that are
activated when we need to interpret the behavior, intentions, and appearance of
other people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Studying
interactions among both humans and primates has revealed that the structure of
a person’s social brain network is strongly influenced by the shape of their
social network.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In
some social networks, all the members know one another independently, while in
others, certain people act as hubs indirectly connecting individuals and groups
who otherwise wouldn’t know each other. Research has found that their exposure
to more diverse perspectives confers a host of benefits to those in the hub
position, labeled “information brokers.” They’re not only better at
problem-solving but also more likely to accrue faster promotion and higher pay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5390723/">In one 2017 study</a>, teenagers’ brains were scanned as they made decisions about
whether to recommend various products to friends in their Facebook network. The
researchers found that those who were information brokers used their social
brain network more in selecting what to recommend to their peers than did teens
whose contacts all knew one another independently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In
both humans and monkeys, those who exercise their social brain network more to
translate ideas and information between different groups increase the size and
connectivity of that neural “muscle,” which further expands their capacity for
effective networking. That suggests that providing greater access to broader
and more diverse social networks in both educational settings and the workplace
could change how people use their brains in day-to-day decision-making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Since
<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/32/14425">previous research</a> has demonstrated that activity in one person’s social brain
network can stimulate similar activity in others during communication, putting
both speaker and listener in greater sync and making communication more successful,
any effort to widen and diversify social networks could create an ever-expanding
ripple effect throughout the community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-44838035834740934262018-07-13T07:00:00.000-04:002018-07-13T09:13:23.836-04:00Netflix, Smartphones Eat Up Bandwidth<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Netflix video-streaming service and smartphones are
the two biggest drains on campus bandwidth, <a href="https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/07/09/smartphones-netflix-having-biggest-impact-on-resnet.aspx">according to a report</a> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">on residential networks (ResNet).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Netflix was named the biggest content threat to bandwidth
capacity by 88% of the IT, housing, and business officers who participated in
the State of ResNet 2018 Report, while smartphones were listed as the largest
consumers of bandwith by 73% of respondents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The smartphone percentage was an 11% increase over the
2017 report, with desktop computers and laptops finishing second (65%) and smart
TVs in third (59%). At the same time, online learning tools and interactive
digital textbooks were considered a threat by 33% and 14% of respondents,
respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Almost every respondent said their institution viewed
“high-performing” ResNet as essential to attracting and keeping students on
campus. Ninety-six percent of housing administrators said quality ResNet was “very
important,” while 92% of IT respondents and 90% of business officers said the
same thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">At
the same time, 41% of the respondents admitted their schools were shaping and
limiting bandwidth, up 10% from the year before. There was also a double-digit
increase in blocking activities such as peer-to-peer sharing and music
downloading, from 34% in 2017 to 44% in 2018.</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-46761609887882646122018-07-11T10:00:00.000-04:002018-07-11T10:00:04.098-04:00Student Debt Fuels Concern and Confusion<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">There
may be growing anxiety among many college students and their parents over whether
attaining a bachelor’s degree is worth the expense, especially when student
loans are involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Two
surveys—both, ironically, commissioned by companies that provide student loans—conducted
last spring with young adults reveal some of the concerns. In the survey from
Ascent Student Loans, 51% of respondents said they “do not believe the value of
a college education has kept up with the rising cost.” Almost half said they
were responsible for paying at least 50% of their school tab.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In a
survey from Discover Student Loans, 26% of current students and recent
graduates were worried they’d need to take on a second job and give up leisure
activities in order to pay off loan debt for their education, but that
percentage rose to 59% among young adults who had been out of college for a few
years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">However,
a lack of financial literacy may be contributing to students’ apprehension.
More than 40% of the Discover survey-takers indicated they didn’t fully
understand how to budget for payments or even exactly how much they were
required to pay back. In the Ascent survey, two-thirds didn’t know when loan
interest begins accruing and many thought the average loan payment was less
than $100 a month (Ascent said it’s more than $200).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">A
<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/parents-are-borrowing-even-more-to-pay-for-their-kids-college-2018-07-09" target="_blank">report on MarketWatch</a> noted that the class of 2016 graduated with an average
loan debt of $29,669, although the average was $32,596 for students whose
parents had borrowed through the federal PLUS program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Cindy Ruckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17529226223682465190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-46690532936416892862018-07-09T10:00:00.000-04:002018-07-09T10:00:06.634-04:00QRNG Claims ‘Unbreakable’ Online Security<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Creation
of the world’s first practical quantum random-number generator (QRNG) could
potentially render cyberattacks impossible, according to its developers at <a href="http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/">Lancaster University</a> and <a href="https://quantumbase.com/">Quantum Base Ltd.</a>, a company spun off from the university in
2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Random-number
generation underpins the privacy and security of all electronic communications,
as well as gaming, cryptocurrencies, smart appliances and vehicles, and much
more in the digital world. Conventional “pseudo” RNGs don’t produce numbers
that are as random as most consumers believe, leading to potential
predictability, and existing quantum solutions are hindered by their size,
speed, and pricetag.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Quantum
Base, on the other hand, claims its product’s low power requirements and
simple, highly scalable structure make it capable of revolutionizing online
security. The nanoscale quantum device—only 1,000th the width of a human hair—can
be embedded into any semiconductor chip—“with little or no incremental cost
once volume production is achieved,” according to a release—and produces “pure
random numbers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The company said that by overcoming weaknesses in current encryption solutions, its QRNG will "allow blockchain to be implemented with unbreakable quantum security, and will be vital in sensitive areas such as banking finance, defense, and social media."</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-50670633772633234052018-07-06T07:00:00.000-04:002018-07-06T07:00:06.948-04:00Decisions Needed Before Going Online<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Online degree programs have become a strategy for growth at
some colleges and universities, and for survival at others. However, it
involves much more than <a href="http://www.ecampusnews.com/eschool-media/the-single-biggest-mistake-universities-make-when-going-online/">slapping a course or program online</a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You are not simply putting a course online; you are
creating an online product,” said Furqan Nazeeri, a partner at the online education
platform provider ExtensionEngine. “It’s an important distinction. Your
product—the program, course, certificate, or degree—has to be unique and very
specific to what your market to current and prospective students want.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">With institutions developing new online programs each
year, colleges and universities should be striving to create something unique
and not just a replica of the course provided in the classroom. All campuses
are different and schools should be looking at their online programs the same
way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It’s time to move away from mass-produced, cookie-cutter
programs that take a one-size-fits-all approach,” Nazeeri continued. “Instead,
differentiate your students’ online learning experience, and thus your
institution, by creating authentic, adaptive, engaging, customized programs
that embrace your institution’s distinctive approach to education.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Anyone going this route must also understand there are
risks and considerable costs to online programs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“What
are the key considerations in the push to go online?” Aleksandar Tomic,
associate dean for strategy, innovation, and technology at the Woods College of
Advanced Studies, Boston College, asked in a <a href="https://evolllution.com/managing-institution/higher_ed_business/are-you-ready-to-go-online-key-considerations-for-new-online-education-initiatives/">column for The EvoLLLution</a></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.
“There are no obvious answers to any of these challenges, but each institution
must consider the options in front of them and clearly define the answer best
for their organization and success.”</span></div>
Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-85089552789548755762018-07-04T07:00:00.000-04:002018-07-04T07:00:14.187-04:00Enjoy the Fourth!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #EEF4FF; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From all of the NACS Inc. staff, have a safe and happy Fourth of
July.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Dan Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13710197347406518824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763793339599540692.post-3303376055573408072018-07-02T09:00:00.000-04:002018-07-02T09:46:01.756-04:00Grads Not as Ready for Careers as They Think<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Just 41%
of U.S. college students said they feel “very” or “extremely” prepared for
their post-college career, according to McGraw-Hill Education’s </span><a href="https://www.mheducation.com/future-workforce" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">fifth-annual Workforce Survey</a><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. While far from ideal, that’s a significant bump up from the 29% who
said they felt well prepared in the 2017 survey.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">More
men (50%) reported feeling “very” or “extremely” prepared for their career,
while only 36% of women said the same. Overall, nontraditional students—here
meaning those who didn’t enter college within a year of finishing high school—expressed
feeling prepared more often (49%) than their traditional counterparts (34%).
Students in technical and vocational programs were far more likely to see
themselves as well prepared for their career than any other academic
discipline.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fewer
than half of the 1,000 students surveyed were confident they’d gained the
critical skills necessary to enter the workforce, such as complex problem-solving
(43%), résumé writing (37%), and interviewing (34%). There is, however,
something of a disconnect between stated desires and actions: Although 51% said
they’d like access to more internships and other professional experiences
during college, fewer than half reported taking advantage of the career
services offered by their institution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">There’s
a lot of daylight between students’ perceptions of their own preparedness and
how employers see them. Although more than three-quarters of students were
confident in their own professionalism and work ethic, the National Association
of Colleges and Employers’ <a href="https://www.naceweb.org/store/2017/job-outlook-2018/">Job Outlook 2018</a> learned that just 43% of employers
surveyed felt that recent college grads were up to standard in those areas. And
while more than 60% of students felt their leadership skills were sufficient
for the workplace, only a third of employers agreed with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Those
findings dovetail with the results of Building Tomorrow’s Talent: Collaboration
Can Close Emerging Skills Gap, <a href="https://www.bna.com/uploadedFiles/BNA_V2/Micro_Sites/2018/Future_of_Work/Workday%20Bloomberg%20Build-Tomorrow-Talent_FINAL.pdf">a new study</a> by Bloomberg Next and Workday Inc.,
a provider of cloud-based financial and human-resources management software. The
study, which queried 100 U.S. academic institutions and an equal number of U.S.
corporations, found that only 35% of corporations said new hires possessed both
the hard and soft skills to perform at a high level in a professional setting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">There
isn’t much encouragement on the horizon, as 84% of academic respondents said
budget constraints were the biggest barrier to implementing plans to better
prepare students for the workforce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Michael von Glahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01135007459197592824noreply@blogger.com