EDUC897 S11

"The students, mostly from China's rapidly expanding middle class, can afford to pay full tuition, a godsend for colleges that have faced sharp budget cuts in recent years. But what seems at first glance a boon for colleges and students alike is, on closer inspection, a tricky fit for both."

"Science claims it's working to cure disease, save the planet and solve the greatest human mysteries, but Aasif Mandvi finds out what its really up to."

"The real disruptive threat is to the hundreds of institutions that emulate the elite few at the top. Many of them lack the prestige to hold off for-profit competition and the money that the elites can spend on online curriculum. But their challenge isn't fundamentally one of money: online tutorials don't have to be expensive to be effective, as the open-to-all Khan Academy has shown. The much greater challenge for traditional universities and colleges is changing their teaching traditions. Full-time faculty members must not only assent to the inclusion of online learning in the curriculum, they should lead it."

"But Illich's message in Tools for Conviviality is to manage the power of technology: not to usurp it, but in certain cases restrict it. This is partly because any usurping would inevitably be done by a more powerful technology, thus increasing the pathology of technological power, not managing it."

"Apparently, as colleges and universities have had more money to spend, they have not chosen to spend it on expanding their instructional resources-that is, on paying faculty. They have chosen, instead, to enhance their administrative and staff resources."

The reason is that the big publishers have rounded up the journals with the highest academic impact factors, in which publication is essential for researchers trying to secure grants and advance their careers. You can start reading open-access journals, but you can't stop reading the closed ones.

Willingham suggests it might be more useful to figure out similarities in how our brains learn, rather than differences. And, in that case, he says, there's a lot of common ground. For example, variety. "Mixing things up is something we know is scientifically supported as something that boosts attention," he says, adding that studies show that when students pay closer attention, they learn better.

"Last month, State Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54, which goes into effect on August 28, 2011 in the state of Missouri. The new law bans direct social networking contact between teachers and students in the hopes of setting more distinct boundaries on the relationships between the two."

Missouri has passed a law making it illegal for state teachers to friend their students on Facebook.Governor Jay Nixon signed Missouri State Bill 54, which bans students and teachers from communicating and being "friends" on the social networking site. The law was created to prevent inappropriate relationships between children and teachers.

"A lurker might very well be giving back by performing better at their jobs, by sharing insights with others in the context of their daily work by using the learning gleaned from lurking."

Somewhere out there is an ambitious but frugal high-school graduate who wants to avoid a traditional college path. Maybe she has read Anya Kamenetz's DIY U or one of the other end-higher-education-as-we-know-it manifestoes that have circulated in recent years.

"So, don't "expect" work-life balance, but please do take whatever steps you can to achieve it. Work together with others when you can, and support policies that are flexible and inclusive about work-life balance-but don't ever expect anyone to give it to you."

"The study also revealed a significant deviation between student survey results and actual computer-use practices. Students tend to under-report the amount of time they spend on distracting activities in class."

After two young moms recently abandoned their newborn babies -- one of whom did not survive -- New York officials are proposing that high school curriculum include lessons on what mothers can do if they give birth to a baby they don't want.

Redwood Heights Elementary School, in Oakland,  is in the hot-seat after the school decided to education students about gender diversity.

ASHBURNHAM (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Parents in Ashburnham are questioning a school proposal to buy 150 new iPads for children in kindergarten.

It's that time of year...when the college acceptance letters are in and those first tuition checks will soon be going out. As college costs continue to sky-rocket, a new report finds that student loan debt has now topped credit card debt for the first time.

The story explains that the language affecting textbook adoption would replace the state's formal review committees-which include lay citizens, teachers, teacher supervisors and a school board member-with a trio of subject-matter experts appointed by the state education commissioner. School districts would appoint teachers and content supervisors to rate the practical usability of the texts recommended by the state's experts, the story says.

"And one of the things that has been of interest to me is looking differently at pedagogies."

"Like many graduates, she's now faced with the larger worry of living back at home while also paying down vast amounts of debt. "