Group items tagged

Clay Shirkey, author of "Here Comes Everybody," examines the challenge posed to U.S. higher education by massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Shirkey is the author of "Here Comes Everybody," a book he says is about "what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures." In this article, he describes the same dynamic at work in the disruptive potential of MOOCs to all but the most elite institutions of higher education in America. 

Special issue of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education focusing on trans* issues in higher education settings. Includes some good articles about access to education and success in college for trans* students.

This study examines the Internet sources higher education students use in their written work and the implications of their choices. It is based on an analysis of over 112 million content matches from more than 28 million student papers submitted to Turnitin between July 2011 and June 2012. Included are recommendations for educators on how to improve student research and citation skills.

Inside Higher Ed has compiled a free booklet of articles on digital accessibility in higher education.

"If you think about the way our educational system is set up, it's this constant cycle of goodbyes." Ed Burger and Jennifer Stayton discuss endings and beginnings, as we pass the end of the academic year and approach graduation.

This article presents some ideas for improving the social media experience of academics.

The author of this opinion urges caution in the rush to MOOC-ify higher education. He touts the benefits of (another version? of a MOOC called) a hybrid online-field course. I think this type of course is tailored for field-based disciplines such as his own (marine biology), but I am sure this could be modified for non-field science disciplines. I am almost positive, though, that such a hybrid course would fail to live up to the largest, most-inclusive (in terms of numbers of students enrolled) meaning of a MOOC.

Turnitin released a report covering over 1,000 institutions for a five year period that shows a substantial decrease in what it calls "unoriginal writing" at schools using Turnitin. While some of that reduction is certainly a result of using Turnitin, there are a number of flaws to their claims which we'll see in a follow-up post to this one.

A review of a free e-book on current research into the psychology of learning, written specifically to bring that work and its instructional implications to higher-education faculty.

The ECAR survey is an interesting national perspective on students' attitudes towards technology in higher education. This Chronicle article pulls out a couple of interesting findings.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education provides a resource center full of materials related to ecological sustainability on campus, including resources for classes which address sustainability.

Curating your own portfolio can be a valuable metacognitive exercise, helping students cement their learning and plan for the future. Or it can be an exercise in checking off boxes. Which sounds like a better use of student time and tuition dollars?

This article is focused on K-12 environments, so some of its examples don't come up as often in higher education. Still a very useful set of principles, and useful to work through what the parallel situations might be.

This is Paul Andersen, a high school teacher in Bozeman, MT. He was 2011 Montana Teacher of the Year, and he has delivered Ted talks and is a prolific web video producer. In this video he describes some of the trends in the evolution of educational text books, but, moreover, he touches upon some recurring deep problems in teaching modern students. These are problems for teachers, especially us at the higher end of education as the students coming our way will be more demanding of our product. I think this is a large driving force for pedagogical change. I thought this was a tough one as far as tags are concerned; if you have better ideas for a tag, please send it my way.

An interesting balanced look - dare I call it a "middle path"? - at how to move toward wise, effective use of technology in the classroom.

This article breaks down employers' complaints about "skills gaps" in college graduates, begins to draw some boundaries between the complaints that are relevant to higher education and those that are not, and offers some suggestions for helping liberal arts students to demonstrate the broader skills they have developed in the classroom over the course of their education.

A free ebook from the Teagle Foundation addressing the humanities' approach to learning assessment. "What happens when the disciplines make themselves heard in the discussions of learning outcomes assessment that are ubiquitous in higher education today? What do disciplinary perspectives and methodologies have to bring to the table? This volume engages these questions from the perspective of literary study, with essays by education leaders, faculty from English and foreign language departments, and assessment experts that offer a wide range of perspectives."

Louis Schmier's latest asks about the true mission of higher education. "Students are asked in word and action, especially at revealing career days and job fairs and Career Services Office,  "what do you want to do," and seldom, if ever, "who do you want to become."" It's intriguing to think about resume-building credentialism not only as a pressure from outside, but also the easy way out compared to the real goals of liberal education.

A new online hub for promoting diversity in STEM education with relevant articles, personal stories, and profiles of advocates in higher education.

Thoughts of a professor who is taking a MOOC. (Sorry this is a bit dated, but the Chronicle message was caught in my Spam filter.)