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"It's also one piece of evidence that changing the college trajectories of America's low-income students will require efforts more extensive than low-cost "nudges." "It's a good lesson in thinking about the limitations of these kinds of interventions," said Lindsay Page, a University of Pittsburgh researcher who has studied text messaging reminders to students. "Be cautious of the long-run benefits from $6 solutions.""

"To nudge students toward job-friendly degrees, the governor's task force on higher education suggested recently that university tuition rates be frozen for three years for majors in "strategic areas," which would vary depending on supply and demand. An undergraduate student would pay less for a degree in engineering or biotechnology - whose classes are among the most expensive for universities - than for a degree in history or psychology."

"Postsecondary students in British Columbia may get a bit of a break when it comes time to buy their textbooks this fall. In the first move of its kind in Canada, the B.C. government said it will make available up to 20 free and open online textbooks for some of the most popular first- and second-year university and college courses. There's no guarantee that faculty will choose to assign the new textbooks, but proponents of the project are hoping that rigorous quality control measures and a little nudging from students will win them over. The textbooks also will be available to institutions, faculty and students across Canada to use at no charge."

Yes, I see that it is Canada, once again, leading the way.... :) If enough faculty adopt open online textbooks a new norm will be achieved! Of course, the quality must be equivalent....or, perhaps, better.

The state of Washington did it first. The Pacific North West leads the way.

"I also love using Pocket and Evernote. Pocket saves all the interesting articles and blog posts that I want to read later. I could not survive without it. Evernote helps me remember notes and acts as my on-the-go text editor (plus it saves all the good restaurants I have tried, too). I also use Evernote+my Moleskine as my day organizer. Every day I create a grid and categorize my to-do's as either quick or long, and either high or low priority. Then I take a picture with my Evernote, have the picture always up on my screen, and use reminders to nudge me at the end of the day to reflect on my productivity. "

"Order and assign textbooks, articles, or your PDFs in Perusall. Students annotate the readings and asynchronously respond to each other's comments and questions about the readings in context. With novel data analytics, Perusall automatically generates optimal student groupings and social interactions, grades students' engagement to ensure they are prepared for class, and nudges those who need help to keep everyone on track. "

"Good automated feedback gets students writing more. This is the most important thing that any scaffolding for writing can do. The best thing that writers can do to improve their writing is to write more, and to keep practicing. Many students, though, are going to be stuck at the first draft above - they won't see how they can expand. Inexperienced writers need to be nudged in the right direction with advice like this teacher gives. By giving specific suggestions for how a writer can improve, this teacher is keeping students engaged in the writing process."