This specialty is becoming a must for higher education

Yet another college debuts an entrepreneur specialty, furthers national trend

business-entrepreneur-collegeA new program at Western Technical College will teach aspiring business owners how to plan for, nurture and manage a start-up–a trend that’s taking colleges across the U.S. by storm.

Western officials announced plans this month for a two-course Entrepreneurship Certificate, and the first class is scheduled to begin fall semester. Classes are open to students of all disciplines who are interested in attaining the know-how and entrepreneurial mindset they might need to succeed in the risky world of small business ownership, said Josh Gamer, associate dean of Western’s business division.

“You can succeed if you put the effort forth and plan accordingly,” Gamer said.…Read More

4 ways to make college more accessible for special needs students

There may be a shortage of apps targeting post-secondary special education, but you can still take steps to facilitate a smooth transition for your students

special-needs-studentsIn recent years, the awareness of special needs in education has grown steadily. Yet, most of the focus is placed on K-12 resources. As special needs students move on to higher education, the amount of support and resources seems to dwindle.

Nearly 350 special needs apps can be found when searching in the iTunes store. The large majority of these apps feature fun cartoons and basic concepts – perfect for the K-12 audience, but not the higher education audience. I was impressed with the recent eCampus News article on assistive technology apps, which listed several apps that held value beyond the doors of high school.

While early support and intervention are critical, students with special needs also need help transitioning into the higher education space – just as does any student entering college. Once they’ve outgrown K-12 tools, what is available to facilitate learning?…Read More

Will faculty be interested in this Microsoft tech?

Only time will tell how the ripple effects of the wave of Microsoft’s Surface 3 cost will settle on higher education campuses

microsoft-surfaceWith the announcement of the Surface Pro 3, one can argue that Microsoft has effectively left the tablet market to the Apple iPad and Android devices, and seeks to create a market as a lightweight laptop replacement.

When Microsoft launched the Surface, it was promoted as a tablet device WITH a keyboard, implying that was an advantage over the iPad. Now that they have seemingly lost that battle to the nemesis from Cupertino, they are marketing the Surface Pro 3 as a laptop WITHOUT a keyboard. What once was an attachable feature is now a detachable one.

The second area where Microsoft has made a shift is in the area of price. The initial price of the Microsoft Surface RT was in the ballpark of the cost of the Apple iPad which was between $400 and $500. This was in line with its declaration of being an “iPad-killer.”…Read More

5 great ‘Great Courses’ worth sharing

From the origins of Earth to the greatest orchestral works, here are some Great Courses worth sharing with your students

great-course-videoThanks to massive open online courses (MOOCs), video lectures are currently all the rage.

Of course, pre-recorded lectures are not anything new. They’ve been around for decades, sent out as part of distance education courses through snail mail.

Since 1990, one company has even been producing slick videos of college lectures that rival the production value of today’s flashiest MOOC lectures.…Read More

Infographic: Impact of social media in education

College students love social media, but can also find it to be a distraction in the classroom

social-media-studentsSocial media has many uses in education.

It can be used for recruitment, attracting students to a specific campus through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube. It can be used for safety, serving as network of warnings and alerts during emergencies. It can be used simply to better communicate with the student body.

But for all of social media’s benefits, some professors are still wary of the medium. According to the results of a survey of 8,000 faculty members conducted by Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson, more than half of faculty use social media in a professional context, a ten percent jump from last year’s 45 percent. Slightly more than 70 percent use social media for personal purposes.…Read More

College students: Teaching is for underachievers

New survey reveals high-performing students say teaching is just not worth it

teaching-students-careerIt’s Teacher Appreciation Week this week, a national campaign to thank the often thankless teachers and faculty for their hard work in encouraging and motivating today’s students. Yet, though students appreciate the teachers who make a difference in their lives, many say teachers are just former students who couldn’t hack it.

By now, most everyone is aware that there’s a national teacher recruitment crisis as aging baby boomers begin to leave the profession and current graduating students often see teaching as the least attractive career path.

But why?…Read More

2 ways colleges can guarantee success

New national survey reveals correlations between college experience and career success

colleges-success-gallupIn the current national discussion on whether or not a college degree is worth the price paid, one of the most important considerations (at least in today’s economy) is whether or not the graduate has a “successful” career. But can institutions measure that success?

“When thinking about the ultimate outcome of a college degree, there is almost universal agreement about the value people seek and expect: to increase the probability of getting a good job and having a better life. Yet, there is not a single college or university in the U.S. that has rigorously researched and measured whether their graduates have ‘great jobs’ and ‘great lives,’ said the report.

The report, “Great Jobs, Great Lives: The 2014 Gallup-Purdue Index Report,” focuses research efforts on outcomes that can provide insight into these common aspirations for colleges grads, no matter what type of institution they attend.…Read More

New grants are all business

New round of grants focus on what business needs from college grads

grants-business-collegePutting America back to work requires more than just vigorous economic growth and private-sector investments that lead to more hiring. We also have to make sure that the potential employees entering — or returning — to the workforce have the skills to succeed once they are hired.

The Obama administration’s recent announcement of a new round of training grants to help Americans gain those skills can contribute toward achieving those goals.

Unemployment is a slow-motion disaster that disrupts families, robs capable workers of a prosperous future and saps American vitality. America will never achieve real long-term economic or job growth until we have a workforce that is prepared for success.…Read More

The best college or university by state

New data reveals which college or university has the highest graduation rate in its state

state-graduation-rateAs many of the problems facing higher education come into national focus—student loan debt, low retention rates, inability to help students land a skilled degree—more online data resources are springing up to help students make the best return-on-investment (ROI) choices when choosing their institution…and there’s no better current indicator than graduation rate.

Already, some social savvy students may be using TIME’s new ranking, which measures how “influential” an institution is by alumni Wikipedia pages; or they’re trolling Facebook and Twitter to see how socially active an institution really is.

For those career-minded students focused on ROI when it comes to choosing a degree, ‘old-school’ considerations like average student SAT score, or new considerations like Wikipedia prestige, may not mean as much as what colleges have the highest graduation rate.…Read More

New, vetted tool offers colleges an instant tech makeover

Collegefeed debuts new tech platform for campus career centers

career-college-technologyCollegefeed is right: If there’s one aspect of university branding and technology updating that hasn’t changed with the times, it’s usually the campus career center. But thanks to a new platform, FREE for colleges, universities can not only help their students find jobs in the modern market, but can attract major business and promote their brand, 21st Century-style.

Collegefeed, which connects employers to students and recent alumns, was started by a team of six ex-Google, Microsoft, and McKinsey alumni who graduated from six schools with ten degrees between them. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., more than 500+ companies now use Collegefeed, with students from over 1,200 schools.

Announced yesterday, “Collegefeed for Career Centers,” their new tech offering, allows universities to sign up for free to showcase their brand and students to 500+ hiring companies, attract employers who normally wouldn’t come on campus, and make recruiting a year-round event.…Read More

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