There are tens of thousands of options right now with the types of digital “things” of learning – Apps, websites, immersive-environment digital courseware, eBooks, eTextbooks, assessments, projectware, loose content pieces in PDFs or word documents, games, and more are arriving in schools. What’s going on inside the things of digital content and curriculum
has not been defined, and so we’ve set out to do that here in this Special Report. We expect that we’ll hear arguments, some exclamations of delight, confusions, and to have missed some important items.
This study breaks new ground by examining data from Canada's last three censuses — 1996, 2001 and 2006 — to measure the income gap between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians.
Not only has the legacy of colonialism left Aboriginal peoples disproportionately ranked among the poorest of Canadians, this study reveals disturbing levels of in- come inequality persist as well.
In 2006, the median income for Aboriginal peoples was $18,962 — 30% lower than the $27,097 median income for the rest of Canadians. The difference of $8,135 that existed in 2006, however, was marginally smaller than the difference of $9,045 in 2001 or $9,428 in 1996.
While income disparity between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians narrowed slightly between 1996 and 2006, at this rate it would take 63 years for the gap to be erased.
Ironically, if and when parity with other Canadians is reached, Aboriginal peoples will achieve the same level of income inequality as the rest of the country, which is getting worse, not better.
The study reveals income inequality persists no matter where Aboriginal peoples live in Canada. The income gap in urban settings is $7,083 higher in urban settings and $4,492 higher in rural settings. Non-Aboriginal people working on urban re- serves earn 34% more than First Nation workers. On rural reserves, non-Aboriginal Canadians make 88% more than their First Nation
colleagues.
The study also reveals income inequality persists despite rapid increases in educational
attainment for Aboriginal people over the past 10 years, with one exception.
cientists who attain a PhD are rightly proud — they have gained entry to an academic elite. But it is not as elite as it once was. The number of science doctorates earned each year grew by nearly 40% between 1998 and 2008, to some 34,000, in countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-opera-tion and Development (OECD). The growth shows no sign of slowing: most countries are building up their higher-education systems because they see educated workers as a key to economic growth (see ‘The rise of doctor-ates’). But in much of the world, science PhD graduates may never get a chance to take full advantage of their qualifications.
Understanding Community Colleges brings together a variety of subjects and issues that face community colleges as they evolve in the higher education landscape. The edition is organized into four sections that cover three arenas: students, administration
and leadership issues, and workforce development. Each chapter, regardless of author, does a quality job of explaining the historical context of the given issue and the development or change that is occurring for community colleges nationwide. The text is accessible for those unfamiliar with community colleges and does not fall into the writing traps of consistently comparing community colleges to four-year institutions. Instead, each chapter treats community colleges as stand-alone entities,
examining them in each particular setting with no preconceived notions.
University leaders are actively addressing the issue of mental health on campuses across Canada. No longer seen as simply a question of crisis management, mental health issues are being approached in more proactive and systematic ways, as universities increasingly appreciate the advantages of prevention over reaction. “We are exploring what we need as a sector to deal with mental health issues in the post-secondary setting,” says Dr. SuTing Teo, Director of Student Health and Wellness at Ryerson University. Dr. Teo is co-chair of a working group on mental health for the Canadian Association of College and
University Student Services (CACUSS), one of several inter-institutional organizations focusing on the issue. The key is to identify best practices and then put into action strategies and plans that work best for an individual institution
and its specific circumstances.
Historic High in the History of the Learning Technology Industry
The investments made to learning technology companies in the first half of 2015 were the highest for a half year period in the history of the learning technology industry and exceeds the total amount for the entire year of 2014. In the six month period between January and June 2015, $2.51 billion was invested in learning technology companies across the globe. This is astonishing considering that the total global investments made to learning technology companies for the entire year of 2014 was $2.42 billion, which set a record in the industry.
Extrinsic incentives and constraints, such as the promise of a reward or the expectation of an evaluation, have long been used by educators to motivate students. Previous research has consistently found that expected reward consistently undermines intrinsic task motivation and creativity of products and performance in students of all ages. For a majority of learners, the promise of a reward made contingent on engagement in an open-ended task frequently serves to undermine intrinsic task motivation and qualitative aspects of performance, including creativity.
Background: Via the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), stronger accountability proponents are now knocking on the doors of the colleges of education that prepare teachers and, many argue, prepare teachers ineffectively. This is raising questions about how effective and necessary teacher education programs indeed are. While research continues to evidence that teachers have a large impact on student achievement, the examination of teacher education programs is a rational backward mapping of understanding how teachers impact students. Nonetheless, whether and how evaluations of teacher education programs should be conducted isyet another hotly debated issue in the profession.
Continuous advances in health care and technology are contributing to a longer life expectancy. Institute of
Medicine (IOM) (2001). One major downside of this situation is that chronic conditions are now becoming the leading cause of illness, disability and mortality. Globally, many health care ministries are realizing the advantages of having health care professionals from different professions working together to provide interprofessional care as the most efficient and effective
means of supporting patients with chronic or complex needs (Russell et al. 2009). Our project focused on the needs of children with developmental disabilities, specifically Down syndrome and autism. Both of these chronic conditions benefit from teams of health professionals working collaboratively to provide integrated, efficient care for families. Although there is a wealth of
clinical expertise in this specialty, educating large groups of undergraduate health sciences students to provide interprofessional care in a busy pediatric setting is not feasible, nor is it feasible to train a two year- old child to simulate such a patient. In this research report, we have considered the feasibility of teaching large groups of interprofessional health
sciences students in a pediatric setting, while concurrently evaluating students’ understanding of how interprofessional teams function. Our study compared a series of facilitated and non-facilitated video vignettes demonstrating a well-functioning interprofessional pediatric team while it assessed one child with Down syndrome and one child with autism.
Cyberbullying Dealing with Online Meaness, Cruelty and Threats
Vision
• Unlocking potential.
Mission
• We provide pathways to success, an exceptional learning experience, and a global outlook to meet the needs of students and employers.
It was always the same scenario. I’d be feeling a great sense of accomplishment because I had spent hours grading a set of English papers—painstakingly labeling errors and writing helpful comments. Everything was crystal clear, and the class could now move on to the next assignment. Except it wasn’t, and we couldn’t. A few students would inevitably find their way to my office, plunk their papers down on my desk, and ask me to explain the grade. Something had to change. I knew exactly why I was assigning the grades, but I obviously needed to find a more effective way of communicating these reasons to my students.
GRADUATES WITH RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE ARE AHEAD OF THEIR PEERS.
THE NATIONAL GRADUATES SURVEY SHOWS BACHELOR’S LEVEL GRADUATES WITH CO-OP EXPERIENCE EARN MORE THAN THEIR PEERS, HAVE HIGHER EMPLOYMENT AND FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT RATES, AND ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE PAID OFF DEBT TWO YEARS AFTER GRADUATION.
Canada is the steward of a diverse forest landscape unlike any other region of the world. Our forest management practices are watched carefully by Canadians and the rest of the world. This level of public interest demands robust engagement and stringent oversight from private and public sectors. The challenge moving forward sustainably is to continuously improve existing management systems, while avoiding the creation of additional bureaucracy. To enable the forestry sector to develop deeper and more authentic public confidence, a concerted effort is needed among stakeholders to establish a common understanding, respect, and trust.
Abstract Although the literature on institutional diversity suggests that quality assurance practices could affect institutional diversity, there has been little empirical research on this relationship. This article seeks to shed some light on the possible connection between quality assurance practices and institutional diversity by examining the arrangements for
quality assurance in higher education systems that include two distinct sectors, one of which having a more academic orientation and the other a more applied orientation. The article explores the ways in which quality assurance structures and standards in selected jurisdictions provide for recognition of the differences in orientation and mission between academic and applied sectors of higher education systems. The research identified some features of quality assurance systems that recognize the characteristics of applied higher education, such as having different statements of expected learning outcomes for applied
and academic programs or requiring different qualifications for faculty who teach in applied programs. It is hoped that the results might be of interest to policy makers and quality assurance practitioners who are concerned about the possible impact of quality
assurance on institutional diversity.
As Canada’s youth consider their increasingly broad and complex array of post-secondary education (PSE) options, they are faced with potentially costly decisions. Moreover, they often do not have the information they need to make appropriate choices, which can negatively impact their participation and persistence in PSE. For many students, it is a challenge to choose,
design and follow a post-secondary pathway to its conclusion without deviating from their original plan. Students are increasingly taking non-linear pathways through PSE. Some may need to relocate and attend a different institution. Many students may decide to change the focus of their study, while others may wish to change their program entirely. Some may shift their goals from academic to applied forms of study, or vice versa. However, the structures of post-secondary systems in our provinces, and the various mechanisms that bind them, do not always provide clearly apparent and unobstructed pathways for students, particularly for mobile students. These problems are exacerbated by shifting mandates, roles, and labels of institutions across the Canadian PSE sector.
In 2013-14, the number of new college graduates in the U.S. — students earning their first postsecondary credential — fell for a second straight year, while the number of students receiving their second or third undergraduate credential continued a postrecession increase (Figure 1). The number of new college graduates saw strong growth in the first two years covered by this report (increasing at annual rates of 4.9 percent in 2010-11 and 4.3 percent in 2011- 12), followed by two years of declines (-2.1 percent in 2012-13 and -1.3 percent in 2013-14). In 2013-14, U.S. Title IV degree-granting institutions awarded 1,981,534 associate and bachelor’s degrees to students with no prior postsecondary award, only 0.7 percent more than they awarded in 2010-11 (1,968,334). Cumulatively, over eight million students received their first college degree (associate or bachelor’s) during this four-year period.
Vision
We will make our society a better place by providing a transformative life experience through empowering those who study with us to think and learn in progressive, innovative ways, including those we have not yet imagined.
Over the past 20 years, more than 31 million students have enrolled in college and left without receiving a degree or certificate. Almost one-third of this population had only a minimal interaction with the higher education system, having enrolled for just a single term at a single institution. Signature Report 7 examines the "some college, no degree" phenomenon to better understand the value of some college in its own right and as well as the contribution the "some college, no degree" population can make to achieving college completion goals.
Universities and colleges strive to grow and fulfill their mission of educating their communities. Communicating the data around that mission—how many students are graduating? What does the student population look like? Is the University managing its finances?— is an important component of any institution’s daily life. In this era of larger data and disparate data sources, that can be especially challenging. However, institutions that have been able to present important data online have been able to tell their stories better and engage with their communities in a meaningful way.
This paper presents eight ways that higher education is using analytics and data visualization, supported by examples from real institutions. It also addresses common issues such as keeping data up-to-date as well as appropriately private and secure.