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For a good listing of current resources take a look at the November 2007 issue of TL Infobits. Among the topics mentioned are digitization, technology standards for students and online exams. Find it at:
http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/bitnov07.php
Dozens of colleges, universities and trade schools have been ordered to turn over documents to government officials explaining why a single lender at each school handles the majority of federally backed student loans. Education officials selected the 55 schools from a list of 921, originally identified in June, where a single lender handled at least 80% of federally backed student loans. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-29-colleges-lending_N.htm
Japanese already use cell phones to shop, read novels, exchange e-mail, search for restaurants and take video clips. Now, they can take a university course. Cyber University, the nation's only university to offer all classes only on the Internet, began offering a class on mobile phones Wednesday on the mysteries of the pyramids. Unlike the other classes, the one on cell phones will be available to the public for free, although viewers must pay phone fees. Read moore at:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5itnQWd2FxcYdcTJubgGheoq49MvwD8T6K42G0
College students of the opposite sex have shared dorm rooms on the sly for decades, but Stanford University housing officials are now discussing a way to bless the arrangements. The movement builds on Stanford's decision in September to expand its non-discrimination policies to protect students who are biologically one gender, but psychologically identify with the other. Although students have pressed for coed rooms for years, they say the new language grants them the right to live with whatever gender they best relate to - platonically or otherwise. Read more at: http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7587862?nclick_check=1
College players operate in a murky zone: their bodies are between youth and manhood, they play in quasi-professional environments on national television — unpaid but with the riches of professional careers dangling before them — and no rules govern how concussions are treated in college football. At the college level, each team can devise its own procedure for diagnosing and treating concussions. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/sports/ncaafootball/29concussions.html?_r=1&ex=1354078800&en=98e925351e69511c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
Colleges are moving to eliminate -- or at least ease -- student debt as pressure builds in Washington for them to spend more from their endowments to help families afford the rising cost of school. This month, Williams College announced that it will eliminate loans from all financial-aid packages beginning next school year and replace them with grants. The moves to ease many students' debt burdens come in the wake of big elite schools' programs to make college more affordable for low- and middle-income families of undergraduates. Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119630622387507526.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
You can now read articles from the December 2007 issue of University Business. This month the publication features articles on university conference centers, a survey of technology use at IHEs, highlights from the exhibits at EDUCAUSE, profiles of programs that give students fieldwork experience and the usual columns. Find it at: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pmg/ub1207/index.php
The language is pure Madison Avenue, but it is richly in vogue among paid counselors who advise students on how to make strong impressions with top-flight colleges. Package yourself, they say. Brand yourself. Private coaches striving to get students to define themselves may push them to the edge, or sometimes overboard. One coach candidly said that applying to a selective college has become what she called “a marketing exercise.” Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/education/28education.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin
Online education — also known as "distance learning" — has become an increasingly convenient way to get a college education, especially for students with jobs and families to support. Nearly 3.5 million students enrolled in online classes during the fall of 2006-07. At this point, most U.S. colleges offer at least some of their courses online, and an estimated 100 schools operate exclusively online. Beyond convenience, online schools aim to offer value: They routinely rely on adjunct faculty and charge less than half as much per credit hour as traditional universities do. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-27-distance-learning_N.htm?csp=34
Proposed measurements from the Ohio Board of Regents for public four-year universities would reward schools with more first-generation students, more students older than 25, more revenue from sources other than tuition and more federally-financed research. The board released details of its plan on its Internet site, the first step toward presenting a full strategic plan for higher education to the General Assembly in March. Chancellor Eric Fingerhut has pledged to fund universities based on the results of the 17 measures, with different criteria for different schools. Read more at:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS0102/711270327/1058/NEWS01
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