Students who learn differently will be the focus of two events at UBTech 2012, June 11 to 13 in Las Vegas. Temple Grandin, autism advocate and professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University, will speak on education, technology, and how we relate to the world around us in the opening keynote.
Articles: Classroom
4/25/2012
At first glance, the sprawling University of Arizona and University of Connecticut campuses might not have much in common with Adelphi University and Curry College, smaller private institutions in the suburbs of New York City and Boston, respectively. But all of these schools have built robust programs for undergraduates with learning disabilities (LD), distinguishing themselves in the process.
4/24/2012
Recently, McGraw-Hill Higher Education issued a white paper, “The Tipping Point in Development Education” stating that adaptive learning technology in higher education can bridge remedial education gaps.
4/24/2012
Big Bend Community College (Wash.)
- Using: Mediasite by Sonic Foundry
- Started using lecture capture: 2007
- Classes: Pre-college level math and English
California Community Colleges
- Using: Blackboard Collaborate
- Started using lecture capture: 2002 (upgrades in 2005 and 2012)
- Classes: Basic skills (including ESL,tutoring, and writing labs)
Holmes Community College (Miss.)
4/24/2012
Boosting success for students in remedial education is crucial, particularly given the readiness gap seen at some community colleges. A recent report from McGraw-Hill Higher Education showed that despite receiving a high school diploma, at least 75 percent of first-year students at community colleges aren’t college-ready. And the number of students dropping out during their first year of college continues to rise.
3/28/2012
The 20-year-old “bubble era” of rapid expansion and leveraged prosperity in American colleges may have been a novelty; it did not, however, fund or build much that now seems original. Too bad, because there is a difference between movements or institutions (as there is for poets and scientists) that are original, truly springing from fresh inspiration, and those that are merely novel, highly derived forms growing from already familiar soils.
3/27/2012
Here we are at a coffee shop in South Boston, commiserating over the latest higher education buzz. Boston, a place that hosts 50 colleges and universities, is the kind of college town that often drives national higher learning megatrends. The talk here is about President Obama taking aim at at student debt load, gainful employment, and health care. For Obama, “The question isn’t how we can afford to focus on healthcare.
2/24/2012
Apps for Education
Three new apps from Apple are designed to enhance mobile education. Students can engage with textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, and videos using iBooks 2 for iPad, featuring iBooks textbooks. The iBooks app is free, and most titles in the iBookstore are priced at $14.99 or less.
2/24/2012
On January 19, Apple held a much-hyped education event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City where the company revealed its move into the textbook distribution market with the release of the iBooks 2 and iBooks Author apps.
2/24/2012
Futurist Richard Florida moved the needle with his book The Rise of the Creative Class (Basic Books, 2002)—establishing creativity as a 21st century learning and earning skill, and a driving force of economic growth, jobs creation, and cultural enrichment in today’s competitive global society.
2/24/2012
College campuses have long been accused of being bastions of liberal thought. But the most recent Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) survey of the nation’s entering students at four-year colleges and universities shows that current freshmen, at least, are arriving on campus with their own more liberal beliefs than previous classes.
2/22/2012
Student retention is a big problem that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. About one-third of college students fail to obtain a degree six years after taking their first college course, and the United States is no longer in the top 10 list of countries with the highest graduation rates, according to the College Board. The drop-out rate affects long-term economic prosperity nationwide.
2/22/2012
Everyone remembers the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones, with his iconic Fedora and bullwhip, narrowly escapes from a Peruvian temple with a stolen golden idol, avoiding the path of a rolling boulder and a band of arrow-wielding Hovitos tribesmen. In the next scene, we see Dr. Jones home again, teaching an archaeology class at “Marshall College.” He stands before the class in a bowtie and glasses (which, oddly, he doesn’t seem to need for the rest of the film).
1/30/2012
Today’s universities with campus-wide, robust mobile broadband networks have secured an edge in marketing to technology-centered young adults. These young adults have embraced smartphones and are using applications that enable life on campus to be more secure, navigable, and fun. Apps are everywhere.
