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.

New edX MOOC portal to empower women

edX and Saudi Arabia collaborate on a new MOOC portal to empower women and the disadvantaged

online-learning-saudi-arabiaedX, a nonprofit online platform affiliated with Harvard and MIT, provides open source software for anyone in the world with an internet connection. The courses are free and many countries have adopted edX including China and France.

In November 2013, edX and the Queen Rania Foundation launched Edraak, the first massive open online course (MOOC) portal in Jordan to “open up a world of possibility for intellectually hungry Arab youth,” according to the Queen.

With a booming youth population and rising unemployment, edX is capitalizing on a growing interest in information and online media among Arabic speakers by launching a new initiative with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor. This new Arabic online learning platform aims to empower women and the disadvantaged with critical 21st century skills.…Read More

Understanding the lack of women in STEM faculty

New report sheds light on why women get less faculty appointments at research institutions

women-STEM-facultyAs women entering STEM fields and later receiving their Ph.D.’s increases, a new report reveals that though women Ph.D.’s are likelier to start their careers in academia, their male peers get more of the faculty appointments at research institutions; leading to the question: “Why?”

According to a new analysis by the American Institutes for Research (AIR), “Early Academic Career Pathways in STEM: Do gender and family status matter?” gender and family may have a large effect on new graduates’ careers. The paper also notes that being married or having young children looks to be a disadvantage in securing a position at a research institution for both men and women.

The analyses were conducted using 2009 and 2010 data from the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), and included the most recent years of data available. The sample is limited to U.S. citizens and includes 27,724 respondents.…Read More