​E-learning is a growing trend at community colleges, according to survey results from the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) and Hewlett-Packard (HP).

E-learning is already used at 47 percent of community colleges and is expected to increase to 55 percent within two years. The survey of 578 community college faculty was conducted by Eric Liguori, an assistant professor at California State University.

Eighty-four percent of respondents believe e-learning is a valuable educational tool.

When would-be college students apply for financial aid using the FAFSA, they are asked to list the colleges they are thinking about attending. The online version of the form asks applicants to submit up to 10 college names. The U.S. Department of Education then shares all the information on the FAFSA with all of the colleges on the list, as well as state agencies involved in awarding student aid. The form notes that the information could be used by state agencies, but there is no mention that individual colleges will use the information in admissions or financial aid -- and there is no indication that students could be punished by colleges for where they appear on the list.

Now, some colleges use this “FAFSA position” when considering students’ applications for admission, which may affect decisions about admission or placement on the wait list, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

So the institution is disinclined to use up a precious admissions slot for a student who is unlikely to enroll.  “The student has no idea that this information is being used in this context,” Hawkins said. The federal government "doesn’t indicate it. Institutions certainly aren’t telling students they are using it. Certainly, this is a concern from this association’s standpoint.”

the loyalty that institutions show, or fail to show, to the people who work for them—particularly the part-time faculty.

Those of us who serve on hiring committees, it seems to me, often face similar dilemmas. How much loyalty do we owe those individuals who have served us faithfully as part-time faculty members, in many cases for years? Should we give preference to them because of that, as many posters on this blog have suggested? Or should we try to hire the best people possible, whether or not they’ve worked for us?

So what happens when some of our own adjuncts apply for tenure-track positions, and we determine that, in our professional judgment, they’re not as qualified or just not as good as other applicants? Do we owe it to them to hire them anyway? To the extent that they’ve shown loyalty to the department by working there all those years for meager wages, do we have a moral obligation to show them loyalty in return by offering them tenure-track jobs when available?