A shocking difference between online and traditional students

New study reveals retention rates are all about how students perceive time

perspective-online-studentsThere are many ‘practical’ reasons why a student would pick an online course over an onsite course: money, time constraints, travel time, and supplementing education rather than obtaining a full degree. But a new study reveals that one of the major reasons for dropout rates in online learning has a lot to do with the psycho-social profile of the student.

It’s an intrapsychological factor called temporal perspective (TP) and it’s pretty much the glass half-full/half-empty scenario, mixed in with some other perceptions. And, say researchers Margarida Romero and Mireia Usart from ESADE, it’s a major reason why many online classes have low retention rates.

“Instead of looking to demographics to paint a portrait of the online student, we believe lecturers and administration need to look at the social psychology of online students to determine which students are more likely to succeed and how to address their needs,” they say.…Read More

From innovation to marketing: Understanding technology cycles

It seems as though the past year I’ve heard a lot of early adopters — especially the tech media — complain about the lack of innovation coming from the tech industry, Time.com reports. Now, we can define innovation in many different ways; ways in which even simple improvements can be innovative. But I think it’s important to point out that true limit-pushing, groundbreaking innovation is cyclical, not annual. We are coming off the reinvention of two primary technologies’ categories: the smartphone and the tablet. Furthermore, we are in the midst of redefining what a personal computer is, does, and looks like. Of course, I believe innovation is still around the corner but I think there are some important market truths that need to be pointed out…

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Does Switzerland’s education model yield more economic mobility than America’s?

University education is free in Switzerland, but most students choose vocational training, Time reports. Take Jonathan Bove. This spring, after he completed his three-year business training at an insurance company, the 19-year-old was hired by a telecommunications firm; his job as a customer care representative offers a starting salary of $52,000 a year, a generous annual bonus, and a four-week paid vacation – no small potatoes for the teenager who is still living at home and has no plans to move out. “The idea of university never appealed to me,” he says. “The vocational training is more hands-on and the path to a good job is shorter.”

After completing nine years of required schooling, two-thirds of 15 and 16 year olds choose Vocational Education and Training (VET), which combines three years of part-time classroom instruction with training at a company. The youth unemployment rate in Switzerland is less than 3 percent…

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The ‘choking game’: 1 in 7 college kids has tried it

College students aren’t necessarily renowned for their good judgment, and a new study reinforces that, finding that nearly one in seven co-eds has played the Choking Game, which is every bit as dangerous as it sounds, TIME reports. Also called the Fainting Game, Pass Out, or Space Monkey, the Choking Game can be played individually or in groups. It consists of manually choking yourself or others, sticking a plastic bag over the head, tying a string around the neck or hyperventilating, all in search of a few seconds of euphoria. Researchers at The Crime Victims’ Institute at Sam Houston State University surveyed 837 students at a Texas university and found that the behavior, which works by cutting off blood flow to the brain in order to induce a high, was frighteningly commonplace…

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Crime on campus: Do colleges have too much power?

A lot of big colleges have their own police departments. They are staffed with sworn officers who have the ability to investigate everything from burglaries to murder, TIME reports. Depending on the type of transgression and how it gets reported, some alleged crimes are dealt with in on-campus proceedings and some are passed on to local prosecutors. One of the most troubling aspects of the Penn State scandal is that school officials who were notified that a young boy was allegedly raped in a campus shower in 2002 did not report the incident to local authorities. Their inaction begs the question that even though there are laws in place that stipulate the proper protocol to follow upon hearing reports of sexual abuse, assault and harassment on campus, What’s to stop officials at large-scale institutions—many of which operate full-fledged police departments—from sweeping such unpleasantness under the rug?

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Opportunity Nation highlights a lack of upward mobility

Kevin Jennings knows a thing or two about the American Dream. He came from a trailer park in Lewisville, N.C., where he was raised by a single mother who had a sixth-grade education, TIME reports. Jennings went on to become the newly appointed CEO of Be the Change, a nonprofit organization that creates national issue-based campaigns. He also previously served as a deputy secretary in the Department of Education under President Barack Obama, founded a national organization that seeks to end homosexual discrimination and holds a trio of degrees from Harvard, Columbia and New York University. Suffice to say, Jennings’ mother, now deceased, would be proud. But stories like Jennings’ are becoming harder to come by. “We’re in a critical moment in history where we could see this being the first generation where our kids do less well than we did,” he says. Which is why Jennings’ organization and some 200 others banded to host Opportunity Nation on Nov. 3 and 4 at Columbia University in New York City…

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In Brazil, a plan to send students to world’s top colleges

With their economy booming, their currency at a level that makes even London prices seem cheap and their foreign policy one of the world’s most ambitious (President Dilma Rousseff this week will to be the first woman ever to open debate at the U.N. General Assembly), Brazilians have gotten used to going abroad for tourism, business, shopping and diplomacy, TIME reports. Now their students are finally getting an incentive to see the world, thanks to a major government program that aims to award 75,000 scholarships to attend the world’s top universities. Available only to Brazilians studying subjects of strategic national importance, like engineering, they reflect “an effort by the government to take a quantum leap in the formation of a scientific and technological elite,” says Aloizio Mercadante, Brazil’s Science and Technology Minister…

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Why are China’s universities losing their star students?

It happens every summer. In the weeks after the annual National College Entrance Examination, new high school graduates wait for the list, TIME reports. For years, who gets into China’s most prestigious universities has been a matter of public interest, as Chinese reporters publish a roll call of the highest-scoring high school graduates from each province. And for years, that list of the nation’s top 100 and 200 students has determined which one of the country’s top universities–Peking or Tsinghua–lands most of them. Now, however, something has changed. Big-name foreign universities are complicating the two-way rivalry–a trend that has both China’s education experts and the general public worrying about the competitiveness of higher education in China…

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Five biggest myths about college admissions

Now that acceptance and rejection letters have all been mailed, students and parents are taking stock of their lot. Some are happy, but a great many more probably feel disappointed. An enormous amount of energy and anxiety gets expended trying to get into college, but the truth is that the admissions process is much more haphazard than people like to think, reports TIME. The good news? In the long run it’s generally less important, too. Here are the five biggest myths about this annual angst-a-thon:

Myth #1. Getting rejected means you’re just not [insert school name here] material…

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Facebook cozies up to Obama and Congress

In early March, Barack and Michelle Obama appeared in an exclusive Facebook video from the White House. The topic was bullying prevention, and it was by far the highest profile in the series of online conversations the social-media behemoth has produced with various members of Congress and federal and state officials in recent months, TIME reports. “You can participate in the conversation online,” the President said, “right here on Facebook.” That endorsement is one of the most provocative examples of how Facebook is changing the way the social-media industry is throwing its weight around in Washington. This week, the company’s 10 Washington staffers moved into a gleaming 8,500-sq.-ft. (790 sq m) office near the White House, equipped with a studio for upcoming Facebook Live episodes with lawmakers. In recent months, the company has hired several experienced Washington hands, including Marne Levine, a former aide at President Obama’s National Economic Council. Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is a former Clinton Administration official. And the company is reportedly courting Obama’s former spokesman, Robert Gibbs…

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