University research will evaluate physical data to gauge teacher effectiveness

GSR technology could give an advantage to 'tyrannical' teachers, Ravitch says.

A student’s physical reaction to a classroom lesson soon could be used to judge how successful—or unsuccessful—an educator is in keeping students engaged.

Researchers and Clemson University received a nearly $500,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November to study Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) bracelets, which house sensors that measure a student’s physical reaction to learning—such as increased sweating—and uses the data as a way to grade an educator’s performance.

Wireless sensors produce readouts showing whether students are alert, anxious, bored, or excited in the classroom, and as Clemson researchers determine the reliability of this experimental technological gauge, many in education are skeptical of the GSR bracelets as a mainstream classroom tool.…Read More

Partnership to further global quest by N.Y.U.

New York University, well on its way to becoming the first truly global university, is starting a new partnership with the University of the People, a unusual nonprofit online school offering free classes to students around the world, the New York Times reports. With the collaboration, students who show exceptional promise after at least a year of studies with the University of the People could apply to N.Y.U.’s Abu Dhabi campus and be eligible for financial aid…

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Web site sponsors gambling on grades at 36 colleges

Some students say gambling on grades provides an incentive to ace their classes.
Some students say gambling on grades provides an incentive to ace their classes.

Higher-education officials might have some concerns about a new web site, called Ultrinsic, that is taking wagers on grades from students at 36 colleges nationwide starting this month.

Just as Las Vegas sports books set odds on football games, Ultrinsic will pay you top dollar for A’s, a little less for the more likely outcome of a B average or better, and so on. You can also wager you’ll fail a class by buying what Ultrinsic calls “grade insurance.”

CEO Steven Wolf insists this is not online gambling, which is technically illegal in the United States, because wagers with Ultrinsic involve skill.…Read More

Professors, beware: Your nasty eMail could go viral

A Georgetown professor found out last week how fast the blogosphere can spread a rumor.
A Georgetown professor found out last week how fast the blogosphere can spread a rumor.

The prospect of an eMail bouncing to every corner of the internet has college professors measuring their words carefully after a New York University (NYU) professor’s acerbic eMail to a student went “viral” last month and drew worldwide attention.

Scott Galloway, clinical professor of marketing at NYU’s business school, responded to an eMail sent Feb. 9 by a student complaining that Galloway had dismissed him when he came to class an hour late.

Galloway, founder of personalized gift web site RedEnvelope.com, responded with a 424-word message reminding the student that “there is a baseline level of decorum … that we expect of grown men and women who the admissions department have deemed tomorrow’s business leaders” and urging the student to “get your [expletive] together.”…Read More

Online books let college students earn credit—and cash

Traditional textbooks can cost more than $500 per semester, according to national surveys.
Traditional textbooks can cost more than $900 per year, according to national surveys.

Nineteen business majors are trying to sell the idea of free online textbooks to their professors in an internship program that pushes open-content technology designed to counter escalating book costs.

The internships, introduced this year by open textbook provider Flat World Knowledge, let sophomore and junior business students earn college credit and up to $1,800 if their sales pitch convinces a professor to use web-based texts that can be reorganized and modified by chapter, sentence, or word.

Students from schools that include New York University, the University of Florida, and the College of Charleston are being tutored via webinars by Flat World Knowledge sales pros and authors of textbooks that are sold on the Flat World web site.…Read More

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