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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Experts: UVa.’s Coursera partnership far from an embrace of online learning

More than 680,000 students have taken a Coursera class.

The University of Virginia will make four of its courses available for free online in 2013 after the campus’s governing board last month cited a lack of web-based courses in its controversial ouster of President Teresa Sullivan.

But advocates for online education said the university’s partnership with for-profit internet learning site Coursersa—which announced partnerships with 12 universities July 17—should be seen as a tepid embrace of nontraditional courses, not as a momentous shift toward a new learning model.

UVa. will post courses in physics, history, and philosophy to Coursera, part of the massive open online course (MOOC) movement that includes other free educational websites like edX, Udacity, and the Khan Academy.…Read More

University of Virginia revises sex-misconduct rules, other schools examine current guidelines

Colleges and universities in Virginia are reviewing their student sexual-misconduct policies after receiving guidance from the U.S. Department of Education about their responsibilities to address sexual violence under federal nondiscrimination law, reports the Washington Post. College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University officials said Monday that they would make any necessary changes based on directives in the department’s Office for Civil Rights’ letter to all federally funded institutions. The April 4 letter outlined schools’ responsibilities to address sexual violence under Title IX, which bars gender-based discrimination…

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A University of Virginia student has a bright idea: ‘Flash seminars’

Flash mobs assemble in public spaces to dance, protest or do battle with lightsabers. And at the University of Virginia, thanks to Laura Nelson, they gather to learn. Once or twice a week, students at the state’s flagship public university collect in some idle classroom or lounge for a “flash seminar,” an ad hoc performance of pedagogy, reports the Washington Post. The time and place, professor and students are always different. But the goal never varies: “to find learning outside the classroom,” said Nelson, 22, a senior from Westwood, Mass., who is majoring in political and social thought. “To find other people who really value being a student.”

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Google putting its digital library to the test

Google Book Search has about 12 million books available.
Google Book Search has about 12 million books available.

Google Inc. is giving researchers nearly a half-million dollars to test the academic value of its rapidly growing online library.

The grants announced July 14 will be used to help pay for 12 humanities projects studying questions that will require sifting through thousands of books to reach meaningful conclusions.

Google is hoping the research will validate its long-held belief that making electronic copies of old books will bring greater enlightenment to the world. The company’s critics, though, have argued that the internet search leader has trampled over copyright laws to build a commanding early lead in digital books so it can boost profits.…Read More

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Feds: Make eReaders accessible to all students

Some colleges have agreed to abandon Kindle pilot programs because of accessibility issues.
Some colleges have agreed to abandon Kindle pilot programs because of accessibility issues.

The federal government will help schools and colleges using eReaders such as the Amazon Kindle to comply with laws giving students with disabilities equal access to emerging education technologies, officials announced.

The Departments of Education and Justice stressed the responsibility of colleges and universities to use accessible eReaders in a letter published June 29, after more than a year of complaints from low-sighted and blind students attending colleges that have piloted eReader programs.

Many eReaders have a text-to-speech function that reads words aloud, but the devices lack menus that people who are blind or have low vision can navigate.…Read More

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Not everyone ready for the digital textbook revolution

Nine out of 10 Darden School of Business students said they would recommend the Kindle as a "personal reading device," though only 2 of 10 would recommend it for class readings.
Nine out of 10 Darden School of Business students said they would recommend the Kindle as a "personal reading device," though only 2 of 10 would recommend it for class readings.

Don’t let the iPhones and BlackBerries fool you: Research and a recent pilot program that put eReaders in college students’ hands suggest that most students aren’t ready to read their textbooks electronically, despite the proliferation of internet-ready mobile devices on campuses nationwide.

In fact, 74 percent of students surveyed by the National Association of College Stores (NACS), a nonprofit trade organization representing 3,000 campus retailers, preferred printed textbooks for their college classes.

The study, released May 25, also found that more than half of college students surveyed on 19 campuses said they “were unsure about purchasing digital textbooks or would not consider buying them even if they were available.”…Read More

Focus on higher education security

Rotunda in SunlightThe recent death of a University of Virginia student and the arrest of her former boyfriend for suspected murder once again casts a shadow over the safety of our nation’s colleges.

The high level of media attention paid to this case and other events gives us a sense that campuses are out of control. In reality, our college and university campuses are safe places.

But administrators could do a better job in some areas……Read More

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Universities hope to top Google’s high-speed list

Google plans to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in communities across the United States.
Google plans to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in communities across the United States.

As cities and towns vie for the opportunity to be chosen for Google Inc.’s pilot of an experimental, ultra-fast internet network, some colleges and universities have thrown their support behind their local towns.

Google is planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in at least one and possibly several locations across the United States. The plan is to be able to deliver internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second through fiber-to-the-home connections—more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today. Google hopes to be able to offer the service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

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University of Virginia considers joint application for Google Fiber

The University of Virginia is considering applying jointly with the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to become a pilot community for the installation of Google Fiber, a fiber-optic network that could produce internet speeds greater than 1 gigabit per second, reports the Cavalier Daily. That’s more than 100 times faster than the broadband connections most Americans can currently access, all at a price that Google says is competitive. “Google has announced publicly that it’s looking for communities to install ultra high-speed internet,” Charlottesville City Council member David Brown said about the nomination process, which Google will conduct by accepting applications and online votes until March 26. “We’re very interested.” (See “Google to build ultra-fast web networks.”) The university would benefit from the many opportunities this technology would bring. For example, faculty members and students living off campus would have access to the same internet speed provided by the university, said Jeffrey Plank, associate vice president for research…

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Yearbooks another casualty of the Facebook generation

About 1,000 U.S. colleges still publish yearbooks, according to a study conducted by Jostens.
About 1,000 U.S. colleges still publish yearbooks, according to a study conducted by Jostens.

For the first time since 1887, students at the University of Virginia won’t have a hardcover memento of their college years: The school founded by Thomas Jefferson has become the latest to decide there’s no place for the traditional yearbook in the age of Facebook.

The student publishers of “Corks and Curls” decided to scrap this year’s edition because they didn’t have the money—an edition can cost more than $100,000—or the student demand. Student apathy and the financial realities of publishing makes the chance of reviving it slim, editor Michelle Burch said.

The Charlottesville, Va., university joins higher-education institutions such as Purdue, Mississippi State, and Old Dominion that no longer publish yearbooks as more students share memories through social-networking web sites.…Read More