The attention-span myth
Polemicists of various stripes continue to calibrate the effect of technology on attention spans, reports the New York Times.
Research
Text messaging: a lecture hall epidemic?
College students say their professors would be “shocked” to know just how often they send text messages during lectures, and one researcher has offered a simple and stringent…
NACAC issues first report on Best Colleges rankings
The National Association for College Admission Counseling surveyed its members on attitudes toward U.S. News's Best Colleges rankings; recently the NACAC/U.S. News & World Report Ad Hoc Committee…
Rapid growth in online instruction could wane, study says
Enrollment in online college classes grew by more than 1 million students over the past year, and while a new study shows that more educators think online instruction…
Should you be snuggling with your cellphone?
WARNING: Holding a cellphone against your ear may be hazardous to your health. So may stuffing it in a pocket against your body, reports the New York Times’…
Questionable science behind academic rankings
For institutions that regularly make the Top 10, the autumn announcement of university rankings is an occasion for quiet self-congratulation, reports the New York Times.
Survey suggests college students still tepid on eBooks
Colleges’ embrace of electronic books runs the spectrum from hesitant acceptance to full investment, but students’ reluctance to use the nontraditional textbooks remains, if a new national survey…
Boise State team focuses on virtual labs for teaching the science of geochronology
Innovative methods to educate Idaho students about Earth history and geologic time are the focus of a two-year $149,895 grant awarded to Boise State University by the National…
Can’t afford college? No problem, students say
Most college applicants said they would attend a school even if tuition was well out of their price range, and just a fraction of college hopefuls use an…
Live vs. distance learning: Measuring the differences
An analysis of 99 studies by the federal Department of Education concluded last year that online instruction, on average, was more effective than face-to-face learning by a modest…