Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

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

Study: Online learning less effective for some

Classroom students scored an average of 84.5 percent on the first exam in the microeconomics course, and online students scored 83.3 percent.
Classroom students scored 84.5 percent on the first exam in the economics course, and online students scored 83.3 percent.

Higher education’s embrace of online courses could hurt the performance of some groups of students, according to a study that contradicts the findings of a 2009 report from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) showing that online students perform as well, or better, than their peers in face-to-face settings on average.

Research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) suggests that males, Hispanics, and low-performing students might fare worse in web-based classes than they do in the traditional classroom—a problem exacerbated by the high rate of online course adoption at community colleges and “less selective institutions,” where these three groups are most likely to attend.

The rush to make online courses widely available and save colleges money in difficult economic times might be “inadvertently … harming a significant portion of their student body,” according to the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation and ED.…Read More

House passes major science, technology bill

Colleges and universities urged the bill's passing for STEM funding.
Schools and universities could see millions more for STEM education.

The U.S. House of Representatives gave its assent on May 28 to $84 billion in federal funding to help keep the country competitive in the fields of scientific and technological innovation, just days before a new list suggested China is challenging America’s dominance in supercomputing.

Among other measures, the bill supports science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education through a coordination of activities at all levels.

Passage of the legislation, called the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 5116)—the biggest science bill that Congress is expected to consider this year—came on a third try. Republicans objecting to the cost of the bill succeeded in sidetracking it on two previous occasions.…Read More

House GOP stops major science, technology bill

Fifteen of 163 House Republicans voted for the America COMPETES Act May 19.
Only 15 of 163 House Republicans voted for the America COMPETES Act on May 19.

It was strike two for a major science funding bill on May 19 as House Republicans again united to derail legislation they said was too expensive.

Going down to defeat was an updated version of the America COMPETES Act, legislation that would have committed more than $40 billion over three years to boost funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal agencies involved in basic and applied science, provided loan guarantees to small businesses developing new technologies, and promoted science and math education at the K-12 and higher-ed levels.

Many college and university faculty rely on NSF funding to support their research, including an engineering professor at Northern Illinois University who created a video game that allowed students to design a desired movement or action using the required formulas and algorithms that apply to all types of engineering. Higher-ed researchers earlier this spring submitted proposals to the NSF that would grant them access to Microsoft Corp.’s massive cloud-computing power for three years.…Read More

Center to focus on high-tech evolution

Forget fossils and DNA comparisons. A new center at Michigan State University will shift the focus of evolution from the past to the future, reports the Free Press. MSU said Wednesday that it has received a five-year, $25-million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund the work of the new Bio/computational Evolution in Action CONsortium, or BEACON. The center, which is to open in June, will bring together biologists who study natural evolutionary processes and computer scientists and engineers. Together, they will study how the evolutionary process in the biological world may be applied to the computer world — and vice versa…

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…Read More

Microsoft opens its cloud to researchers

A new partnership between Microsoft and NSF will give researchers access to Microsoft's cloud-computing infrastructure.
A new partnership between Microsoft and NSF will give researchers access to Microsoft's cloud-computing infrastructure.

Researchers have until March 15 to submit proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) that would grant access to Microsoft Corp.’s massive cloud-computing power for three years.

Researchers and academic teams chosen by NSF officials will use Microsoft Azure, a program that offers enormous data storage and computing capabilities using the corporation’s data centers.

College and university researchers have gravitated to cloud computing in recent years as the model has proven cost efficient—campuses don’t have to maintain pricey on-site server racks—and has removed many restrictions prevalent on traditional computer networks.…Read More

Girls might learn math anxiety from female teachers

Having a female teacher who is anxious about math might reinforce the stereotype that boys are better at math than girls.
Having a female teacher who is anxious about math might reinforce the stereotype that boys are better at math than girls.

Young girls might learn to fear math from the women who are their earliest teachers, new research suggests.

Despite gains in recent years, women still trail men in some areas of math achievement, and the question of why has provoked controversy. Now, a study of first- and second-graders suggests what might be part of the answer: Female elementary school teachers who are concerned about their own math skills could be passing that concern along to the girls they teach.

Young students tend to model themselves after adults of the same sex, and having a female teacher who is anxious about math might reinforce the stereotype that boys are better at math than girls, explained Sian L. Beilock, an associate professor in psychology at the University of Chicago.…Read More

Researchers vie for supercomputer access

TeraGrid resources include more than a petaflop of computing capability.
TeraGrid resources include more than a petaflop of computing capability.

Officials who run the most comprehensive cyber-infrastructure dedicated to scientific research are accepting proposals for the next cycle of projects headed by academics who require massive computing power to predict earthquakes, detect tumors, and better understand a myriad of technological issues.

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) TeraGrid program allocates more than 1 billion processor hours to researchers every year, and program officials are accepting the latest round of submissions until Jan. 15.

Last month, the committee that decides how TeraGrid’s resources will be distributed among applicants doled out about 200 million processor hours and nearly 1 petabyte of data storage to 100 research teams worldwide. A petabyte is a unit of computer storage equal to 1 quadrillion bytes, or 1,000 terabytes. A terabyte is equal to 1,000 gigabytes.…Read More

Researchers vie for supercomputer access

TeraGrid resources include more than a petaflop of computing capability.
TeraGrid resources include more than a petaflop of computing capability.

Officials who run the most comprehensive cyber-infrastructure dedicated to scientific research are accepting proposals for the next cycle of projects headed by academics who require massive computing power to predict earthquakes, detect tumors, and better understand a myriad of technological issues.

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) TeraGrid program allocates more than 1 billion processor hours to researchers every year, and program officials are accepting the latest round of submissions until Jan. 15.

Last month, the committee that decides how TeraGrid’s resources will be distributed among applicants doled out about 200 million processor hours and nearly 1 petabyte of data storage to 100 research teams worldwide. A petabyte is a unit of computer storage equal to 1 quadrillion bytes, or 1,000 terabytes. A terabyte is equal to 1,000 gigabytes.…Read More