Your opinions on how tech-savvy your professors are differ quite a bit from the instructors’ opinions of their own technological effectiveness in the classroom, according to a survey released this week by CDW-G, an education technology provider.

According to the survey,  which was collected via a nationally representative samples of students and faculty members at two- and four-year public and private colleges, students consider themselves much more technologically adept than their instructors, which may not be all that surprising:

• About 75 percent of professors said that their school “understands how they use or want to use technology,” while 32 percent of students said that their college was not preparing them well enough in the field of technology to give them useful skills for the job market.
• About 67 percent of professors are comfortable with their own professional development in the field of technology, while only 38 percent of students said they felt their instructors were sufficiently tech-savvy.
• About 74 percent of professors said that they incorporate technology into most classes, while only 38 percent of students agreed.

Students’ perceptions of the technology gap isn’t a new idea. Instructors are often viewed as being behind on the trends, even when they’re actually quite technologically adept and can prove as much in the classroom. The problem comes in when the students actually are outpacing their instructors, especially in courses where technology could vastly improve a student’s educational experience.

The survey, described in Inside Higher Education today, also polled IT staffers, and compared their answers with those of college professors’. In general, IT staffers expect more out of “smart” classrooms and instructors’ capabilities. Both groups were asked what constitutes a smart classroom, and only about 40 percent of professors responded that an interactive whiteboard and distance learning capabilities to connect students from multiple locations constituted a smart classroom, compared to about 70 percent of IT staffers. Both groups were more on the same page when it came to general and wireless Internet access in the classroom.

The point is, technology isn’t going anywhere, and it’s only going to get more complex as time goes on. Professors, especially in fields where technology is going to be an important tool post-graduation, which is in most disciplines these days, should keep on top of new advances that will help make their students more effective learners.

Another article in Inside Higher Education today looks at Twitter and whether the social networking tool will become commonplace in the classroom. In that article, instructors and administrators seem wary of using Twitter in any educational way - although some are already using Twitter as the basis of their coursework - because it’s seen as more of a fun diversion than a live resource or way to gather data. (Although you should obviously always fact-check anything you read on the site.) Professors may also worry that inviting Twitter into the classroom may distract students more than help them, while others argue that the site will become difficult to ignore by any institution, including colleges and universities.

What do you think about the technological capabilities at your college? Do you think your professors need a primer in new advances in technology? Let us know what you think, and whether you have ideas on how to bridge that technology gap, or whether you think it’s as wide as this survey suggests.

Posted: under College Classes, College Culture.
Tags: College Classes, College Culture, technology, Technology Scholarship

Comments (0) Nov 05 2009

Do you think you could get tricked into eating more healthy foods on campus? A recent article in the Boston Globe describes the strategies being taken by some schools in Massachusetts to get their students eating more nutritious meals and smaller portions, and it has required some sneakiness.

Most of you have probably heard of the “freshman 15,” the 15 (or more) pounds that you’re at risk of putting on that first year away in college when you’re making your own decisions on what to eat. According to the Globe and the Nutrition Journal, recent studies have shown that at least 1 in 4 college freshmen gain an average of 10 pounds in their first semester alone. (That’d make it more like the “freshman 20.”) Data like that and an increased awareness of obesity among young people has led schools like Wellesley College, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to take matters into their own hands by shrinking plate sizes and sneaking veggies onto students’ plates. And they’re not publicizing their methods, as anecdotal evidence has shown that if students are given a choice in whether to eat healthy or not, they’ll usually go for the burger and fries.

Elsewhere, schools are doing things like offering miniatures of popular food items (sliders vs. burgers) and substituting fattening ingredients for more low-calories options. Getting students to eat healthy and exercise portion control is made even tougher in cafeterias, where they can often make return trips for second and third helpings with no one there to stop them. “Whatever restraining influences parents might have had when the teenagers were at home are unshackled when kids go off to college,’’ Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston said in the Boston Globe article.

If you’re particularly worried about the choices you’ve been making when eating (or drinking), consider burning off some of those calories. Try to make time for a club sport or a couple hours a week at your schools’ gym. Your tuition fees are already paying for your privileges to use their facilities, so you may as well visit them once in a while. And check out our site for options on healthy eating and eating on a budget, another difficult hurdle when you’re looking not to order pizza for the third night in a row.

Posted: under College Culture, Food/Cooking, Just for Fun.
Tags: College Culture, cooking, food, Food/Cooking, Just for Fun

Comments (0) Oct 29 2009

Hispanic students are still significantly lagging behind other groups when it comes to college admission, retention and graduation rates, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Hispanic Center. The Pew study released today attempts to explain why those gaps remain, especially as a majority of Hispanic students report that they understand the value of a college education and are urged by their parents to pursue bachelor’s degrees.

The numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, which date back to 2007 and were released last week, show that only about 19 percent of Hispanics report having attended some college or pursuing associate’s degrees; only about 9 percent go on to complete their bachelor’s. The national average for some college attendance or those completing associate’s degrees is about 25 percent, with nearly 19 percent completing bachelor’s degrees. About 26.5 percent of white students reported attending some college or completing associate’s degrees; nearly 21 percent complete undergraduate degrees. Female Hispanic students seem to fare slightly better than the men.

The Pew Hispanic Center’s study showed that although Hispanic students today are more likely to go to college than they were in 1970, perhaps due in part to the rapidly growing population, there is still a large disparity between those who say everyone should go to college and those who actually do. While nearly 90 percent of Hispanic students surveyed (ages 16-25) said that it was important to get a college degree to get ahead (compared to 82 percent of the general population that agreed with that statement), only about half said they had plans of their own to go to college. And among Hispanic immigrants, less than a third say they have plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

So why the gap? About 74 percent of respondents in the Pew study said they had to cut their educations short because they had to support their families. Others said poor English skills hampered their ability to keep up with the rigors of college, and even high school. According to Latinosincollege.com, a website that aims to help more Hispanics graduate from four-year colleges, Hispanic students still have the highest high school dropout rate of any group.

Financial obstacles were a concern for about 40 percent of respondents in the Pew study who said they simply could not afford to go to college. While some of the other reasons may be hard to address and improve upon, financial aid and paying for college should not keep the collegebound from getting an education. Scholarships for minorities, including the growing number of Hispanic scholarships, are some of the most common student-specific scholarships out there, so for those putting their college plans on hold because of finances, be sure to conduct a free scholarship search to view all of the scholarships you’re eligible for.

Posted: under College Culture, College News.
Tags: college and society, college news, college students, Minority Scholarships

Comments (0) Oct 07 2009

It’s nice to know that in the event of a disaster, your school will be prepared. Colleges and universities nationwide already have contingency plans for situations such as fires, floods, and other on-campus emergencies. In anticipation of on-campus outbreaks of the H1N1 swine flu virus, colleges are also reviewing and tweaking their plans for dealing smoothly with infectious diseases on campus. While undergoing this process, one official on the University of Florida campus decided to do one better and prepare his college for another type of outbreak-a zombie attack.

The zombie attack disaster preparedness plan was initially posted on the University of Florida’s e-Learning website along with response plans for other, more likely, disaster scenarios. The plan’s author, e-Learning Support Services Manager Doug Johnson, composed it as a joke one night during a bout of insomnia while his office was working on strategies for handling a campus closure, then posted it to provide a bit of levity for fellow e-Learning staff members.

Highlights of the plan include humorous definitions of “zombieism” and “zombie behavior spectrum disorder,” as well as a form for university employees to complete if they need to deal with undead coworkers. While it was removed from the University of Florida website shortly after discovery and publication by local media, The Gainesville Sun still has a copy available online.

While the University of Florida zombie attack plan was humorous in nature, zombies have been used to model disease outbreaks in serious contexts. Earlier this year, a group of Canadian graduate students modeled a zombie attack as a classroom exercise that is now slated for publication in the upcoming book Infections Disease Modeling Research Progress. Their zombie attack model could have useful implications for modeling and understanding the spread of other infectious diseases, including swine flu.

One of the jokes in Johnson’s paper was an allusion to the field of Zombie Studies (which, sadly, is not yet a viable college major), but given the recent uptick in interest in zombies on college campuses, can it be long before zombies find their way into more standardized parts of the college curriculum?  Perhaps we will soon see more eye-catching titles for college classes dealing with the undead.

Posted: under College Culture, Just for Fun.
Tags: college, College Culture, college news, College Search, Just for Fun

Comments (0) Oct 05 2009

Whether you’re applying for college, considering a transfer, or nearing graduation, chances are moving somewhere new has crossed your mind.  Any number of factors can come into play in such a big personal decision: closeness to family, availability of jobs in your field, the cost of living, the quality of education, and more.  But regardless of their other criteria, few people want to feel like one of the only people under 40 living in their town.  This week, The Wall Street Journal came out with a list of ten cities that have the potential to be post-recession “youth magnets.”  If you’re undecided as to where to head for college or after graduation, their list may be worth a perusal.

While The Wall Street Journal is not exactly known as the authority on hip, this list is the product of a panel of six experts on geography, demographics, and economics assembled for this purpose.  Panelists each provided their top ten, giving reasons for their choices, then the cities with the highest total rank were chosen for the list.

First place, somewhat surprisingly, went to Washington, DC (in a tie with Seattle), which doesn’t have much of an established reputation as a hot destination for young people.  The recent explosion in federal hiring and President Obama’s cool are drawing young job seekers, and the museums and live music, as well as the large number of universities in the area also help attract young people beyond just political science majors.  The down sides of DC, though, are its high cost of living and the potential for government to drastically scale back hiring next year.

Seattle, on the other hand, has a diverse economy and a relatively low unemployment rate (currently 7.7%).  Its music and media scenes and employment prospects in these areas are strong and well-known, and other high-tech job opportunities for computer science or medical students abound.  Like many of the other cities in the list, Seattle also has a strong university presence, providing more incentive for college students and graduate students to place it at the top of their lists as well.  The best part: the only negative listed in the article is the weather.

The rest of the top ten, in order, were New York City; Portland, OR; Austin, TX; San Jose, CA; Denver, CO; Raleigh, NC; Dallas, TX; Boston; and Chicago.  Several of the cities in the list struggle with high unemployment or high costs of living.  Most feature excellent colleges and universities and may already be focal points for your college search.  A number also have an excellent variety of things for young people to do; for example, Portland and Austin are well-known cultural outposts and Chicago also has a lot to offer in terms of entertainment and night life, though sports fans may be disappointed that Chicago didn’t land the 2016 Olympics.

What do you think? Are any of these places you’d consider heading for college or after?

Posted: under College Culture, College Life, Just for Fun.
Tags: choosing a college, College Culture, College Life, College Search, job search

Comments (0) Oct 02 2009

September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month.  This annual event was started in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson, and was initially known as Hispanic Heritage Week.  It was expanded to a month-long celebration of Hispanic and Latino history in 1988 by President Reagan.  Schools, municipalities, and organizations nationwide take this opportunity to honor the culture and heritage of Hispanics in America and to celebrate the achievements of notable Hispanic Americans.

Hispanics were some of the first residents of what is now the United States of America, with Spanish-speaking settlers arriving in Florida and the Southwest in the 1500s.  Currently, Hispanic Americans make up over 15 percent of the population of the United States, making them the second largest ethnic group in the nation.  Hispanic Americans have played notable roles in events throughout the history of the country and many prominent figures in business, entertainment and government proudly claim Hispanic heritage.

As a result, there is a lot to celebrate in Hispanic Heritage Month.  In addition to the achievements of Hispanic Americans, Hispanic Heritage Month also celebrates the independence of several Latin American countries, as the dates coincide with the anniversaries of independence of Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile and Belize.

There are even scholarship awards offered in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, including this week’s Scholarship of the Week, the PRIMERO Hispanic Heritage Scholarship.  This $10,000 award was created in recognition of the achievements of Hispanic families who put their children through college and is meant to help realize the dreams of students who are the first in their families to attend college.  In addition to awards that specifically celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, a number of other Hispanic scholarships are also available to help advance the education and achievements of Hispanic Americans.

To find out more about scholarship opportunities for Hispanic students or more general scholarships for minorities, conduct a free scholarship search on Scholarships.com.

Posted: under College Culture, Scholarships.
Tags: college scholarships, Minority Scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships

Comments (0) Sep 21 2009

As students begin the fall semester, news of the H1N1 swine flu virus spreading across college campuses is everywhere.  But whether the flu has hit your college or not, getting sick at school is a real concern and can quickly derail your semester.

Living far away from home, many college students aren’t well-equipped to take care of themselves and stay on top of their coursework while ill, especially if they contract something more serious than a cold.  While the flu’s getting all the attention now, other common illnesses can put students out of commission for days, or even weeks, causing them to miss class, miss work, and get behind on projects that are crucial to their success in school.  Missed work due to illness can even jeopardize your financial aid.  Part of taking care of yourself when you’re sick at school is taking care to minimize the impact of illness on your semester.

Beyond attending to your immediate needs (seeing a doctor, getting rest, etc.), the most important thing to do if you get sick is to contact your professors, preferably before you miss a class or an assignment.  If you’re really ill and need to miss more than one class or an important assignment, quiz, or test, the earlier you establish communication, the better it will go.  If you have a diagnosis, you can share it, but don’t go into the minute details of what your body is doing and don’t assume that because you’re sick with something verifiable, your professors will instantly cater to your every whim.  A doctor’s excuse doesn’t always go as far as demonstrated willingness to take responsibility for your missed work and to work with your professor to get caught up. Most instructors will be willing to provide you with information and course materials from missed classes, and depending on circumstances and how you approach the situation, they may allow you to make up work, as well.

If you’re going to miss a lot of school or you have professors unwilling to budge, contacting your academic advisor is a good step, as well.  A note from an advisor carries more weight than a call from a student, and if you lack the time or energy to address each professor personally and immediately, talking to your advisor can save you some time.  They can also give you advice and information on what to do about missing class, and help you keep from falling behind.

Finally, once you’re healthy, back in class and taking care of your missed work, there may still be other matters to attend to.  Even if you have tried your hardest, you may wind up with too much work to catch up in a class.  If talking to your professor and your advisor about incompletes and other options doesn’t bear fruit, you may need to drop classes or you may see your GPA suffer.  If you have scholarship awards or other financial aid, lower grades or less than full-time enrollment can have an impact on your eligiblity for these awards.  Be aware of the GPA and enrollment requirements for your scholarships and grants (even some student loans) and if you are in danger of not meeting them, talk to the scholarship provider or your financial aid counselor to find out your options.  Your financial aid office is also a good place to stop if illness has generated medical bills or lost income for you–they may be able to adjust your aid package to help you deal with these expenses.

Posted: under Back to School, College Culture, College Life, Tips.
Tags: Back to School, campus life, College Life, college students, college tips, student life

Comments (0) Sep 16 2009

Suffolk University offers “Sacred Hoops, Sneaker Pimps, and Hoop Dreams: Race, Gender, and Consumerism in 20th Century American Basketball” through its Seminar for Freshmen program. The University of California-Berkeley uses “StarCraft Theory and Strategy” for its course on war tactics. Santa Clara University has gotten students talking about waste and decomposition through its environmental science department’s “Joy of Garbage.”

Attracting students to courses by having some fun with their titles is not a new phenomenon, but a recent article by The Boston Globe says that it has become more common in a climate where professors are looking to boost enrollment in their classes, perhaps to make themselves less vulnerable during budget cut season. Boston College recently renamed a straightforward course on German literature to “Knights, Castles, and Dragons.” The effect? Tripled enrollment.

Professors quoted in the article describe how important marketing has become in getting more students to fill seats in their classrooms. Students have a wealth of options at their fingertips when applying for courses, and after they’re done filling their rosters with classes required by their majors, there may be little room for the more fun-sounding titles. So, anything that will give a student pause when putting together their course load is probably a good strategy. The professors also said that a heavy reliance on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter has given the college-bound a shorter attention span, and that even those already in college are bored more easily with the traditional course offerings. Students want to be entertained, even those in fields like computer science, philosophy, or traditionally more “stuffy” majors.

A word of advice, though: Be sure to consider the finished product of your transcript when signing up for courses with kooky titles. That “Science of Superheroes” class at the University of California-Irvine may be fun, but a balance of electives with interesting names and traditional courses applicable to your major will make you a better sell if you plan to pursue an advanced degree or land a job interview where the employer wants to see your coursework. As with an eye-catching course title, image is everything.

Posted: under Back to School, College Culture, College Majors, College News, Just for Fun.
Tags: College Classes, College Majors, college students, course enrollment, student life, undergraduate students

Comments (0) Sep 10 2009

A new book is shedding light on graduation rates at state colleges, and also causing a stir with its findings and recommendations.  The book Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities, was written by William G. Bowen, a former president of Princeton University, Michael S. McPherson, a former president of Macalester College, and Matthew M. Chingos, a graduate student at Harvard University. It shows many of the nation’s top public schools are coming up short when it comes to graduating students in four years, especially low-income and minority students.

The book analyzes the four-year and six-year graduation rates of students at 21 flagship universities and 47 four-year public universities in Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.  Among the findings, the authors reveal that flagship universities, typically the most competitive and prestigious in their state university systems, graduate only 49 percent of their students in four years, with other state colleges having even less success.  The six-year graduation rates for both sets of schools are better, but vary widely based on several factors discussed in the book.

Disparities by common demographic factors, namely race and socioeconomic status, were found in the research for the book, and were most pronounced among male students. However, the most striking differences come in terms of schools’ selectivity.  Some of these disparities include:

• Graduation rates of 82-89% for the most selective and second most selective categories of schools and most competitive category of students (3.5+ high school GPA and 1200+ SAT score), but graduation rates of only 59% for the same category of students at the least selective schools.
• Graduation rates of above 70% for all students at the most selective schools, regardless of GPA or test scores.
• The disparity between the graduation rates of the most and least competitive students at the least selective schools was only 11 percentage points, while the disparity between students of similar ability at schools of different selectivity ranged 21 to 30 percentage points.
• The least competitive group of students (GPA of less than 3.0 and/or SAT of less than 1000) did better at the most selective schools (71% graduation rate) than the most competitive students did at the least selective schools (59% graduation rate).

These results have many questioning the effectiveness of academic scholarships and other merit-based aid, especially in light of the University of Texas at Austin’s recent decision to stop sponsoring the National Merit Scholarship Program. More so, though, they have experts, including the book’s authors, wondering what is causing this disparity in graduation rates.

Price plays a huge role for students of low socioeconomic status, pushing them to attend the least expensive (and often least selective) schools or to opt out of four-year colleges entirely. Rising costs also could play a role in dropout rates among poorer students, so the availability of financial aid for all four years is crucial to graduation.

One of the biggest problems identified in the book is a phenomenon dubbed “under-matching.” Highly qualified students are aiming low in the college application process, attending less selective schools with lower graduation rates when they could easily be accepted to and graduate from more selective schools with higher graduation rates. Students most likely to under-match are low socioeconomic status students whose parents did not attend or did not graduate from college. The higher a student’s income and parents’ level of education, the less likely the student is to under-match.

Based on this information, the authors suggest that schools focus their efforts on encouraging students to graduate in four years and to remain in school until they graduate. Keeping tuition low is a part of this, as are readjusting requirements to make graduating in four years more doable and, above all else, making it clear that students are expected to graduate in four years.

Graduation rates are gaining attention from other corners, as well. Washington Monthly included graduation rates in their recently released college rankings, and another study published this summer by the American Enterprise Institute compared graduation rates at colleges. The Education Department is also doing its part to make information on graduation rates available to students who complete the FAFSA on the Web.

Posted: under College Applications, College Costs, College Culture, College News, College Search.
Tags: academic scholarships, applications, choosing a college, College Applications, College Costs, College Culture, college news, College Search, education study, graduation rates, merit-based, state colleges, state news

Comments (0) Sep 10 2009

This fall, a group of journalism students at DePaul University will learn how to be even more concise with their news briefs. The Chicago school claims their new course “Digital Editing: From Breaking News to Tweets” will be the first class devoted to Twitter and how the new media tool has changed the way reporters do - and should do - their jobs.

According to the syllabus, the course will look at not only how Twitter can be used as a source for finding out about legitimate news events, but how to fact-check information gleaned from the microblogging site. The class, taught by Craig Kanalley, a DePaul alum and digital intern at the Chicago Tribune, will also explore the effects of citizen journalism and bloggers on the industry, Search Engine Optimization and basic WordPress.

The school’s news release describes Twitter as a “major player” and source of breaking news information, citing citizen reporting on the Iranian election and the school’s own students tweeting at President Obama’s inauguration as examples of how the site has not only competed with the major news organizations, but at times beat them to the big story.

Is the school placing too much emphasis on Twitter as a news source? Maybe a whole class devoted to the subject seems silly. But it’s safe to say Twitter has become a go-to for journalists following politicians, who post everything from their plans to host health care forums to what they purchased recently at farmers markets. There’s no doubt new journalists need to be well-versed in not only Twitter but how social networking in general can supplement - not drive - their stories.

Twitter is also useful not only for writers, but for job seekers, public relations and marketing professionals or those promoting fledgling freelance careers. Professors use the site as another way to reach their students or promote new courses. A one-time course this fall at Harper College in Schaumburg, Ill., will look at what Facebook and Twitter can do from a business perspective. While I’m not sure how many people would buy into some academics’ assertions that sites like Twitter improve students’ writing, perhaps it’s not as silly to think of an all-Twitter course at a university when you consider how it and sites like it have changed how people communicate.

Posted: under Back to School, College Classes, College Culture, College News, Just for Fun.
Tags: College Classes, College Culture

Comments (0) Sep 03 2009