Skills shortages1 have regularly been identified as one of the top 10 barriers to competitiveness in Canada by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, costing the Canadian economy billions in lost GDP annually.2 There is now a rare consensus about skills
needs and challenges in this country, across the demand and supply perspectives.3 An aging population will only
exacerbate the problem in the coming years, especially for the most in-demand professions in the
skilled trades and STEM-based occupations (where STEM refers to science, technology, engineering
and math).
With this report the Canadian Chamber of Commerce focuses on the role of the education-to-employment transition in mitigating or aggravating the skills gaps. Specifically, this report addresses the ways in which all stakeholders, including government, employers, workers, education providers and students, will need to adapt and collaborate to improve the efficiency of
the labour market.
Human capital is key for economic growth. Not only is it linked to aggregate economic performance but also to each individual’s labour market outcomes. However, a skilled population is not enough to achieve high and inclusive growth, as skills need to be put into productive use at work. Thanks to the availability of measures of both the proficiency and the use of numerous types of skills, the Survey of Adult Skills offers a unique opportunity to advance knowledge in this area and this paper presents and discusses evidence on both these dimensions with a particular focus on their implications for labour market policy. This paper explores the role played in the labour market by skill proficiency in the areas of literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. It also shows how skills use, not only proficiency, affects a number
of key labour market phenomena, such as the gender wage gap. Finally, the paper combines information on skill proficiency, educational attainment, skill use and qualification requirements to construct indicators of qualification and skills mismatch and to explore their causes and consequences.
With so many classroom research studies published daily, you can be forgiven for missing some. The techniques below are super-tactical and, for the most part, unsung strategies that you’ll be excited to try tomorrow.
PhDs can feel boxed into a limited range of job options, particularly just after graduate school or a postdoc. But doctoral degree holders work in a wide range of roles. I myself work as a life coach and entrepreneur, hardly what I expected I’d do after a history PhD! Career exploration was crucial in my case: I felt lukewarm about all the choices I thought I had; I needed to look elsewhere.
“Don’t be afraid to explore options that are outside your comfort zone,” says Jessica Hartshorn, a forest health specialist for the Minnesota department of natural resources. She encourages new grads to try different things. “People get tunnel vision in the job market and often forget that it’s okay to try things and move on. No matter what you do you will learn a lot about your field, and about yourself, and nothing is permanent.” Dr. Hartshorn echoes what my conference co-host Maren Wood tells PhDs: “Your first job is not your last job.”
Leadership Annotated Bibliography
Change seems to be the new constant regarding our country’s educational systems – at every level. Major changes in K-12 are, in part, a result of the new Common Core, which is intended to eliminate the need for developmental education. The standards of the new Common Core are excellent and seem to align with and exceed the “college-ready indicators” assessed on current college placement tests. However, developmental education is not going away anytime soon.
As with higher-education institutions around the world, British Columbia (BC) and Ontario are increasingly faced with demographic and market pressures that erode the traditional difference between the university and nonuniversity
sectors (i.e., colleges and institutes). Key components that ensure these provinces’ institutions preserve their unique roles and differentiations in a changing context, partially driven by their governments, include research mandates, transparency in institutional governance, and strategic documents that resist the academic drift created by institutional isomorphism. Both governments are actively reshaping their post-secondary systems to align with national or regional economic needs, increasing access, streamlining degree completion, and responding to community pressure to have a university or a degree-granting institution. An analysis of the enabling legislation, government policy directives, and institutional documents of both provinces shows that there is a blurring in the distinction between colleges and universities, and the costs associated with this.
Revenues and expenses
• In 2012-13, college system revenues totaled almost $3.7 billion. Grant revenue from all sources accounts for half of college system revenue.
• College system expenses amounted to about $3.5 billion. Like other organizations in both the public and private sectors, salaries and benefits are by far the largest expense item for colleges.
Trends in college funding
• In 2013-14, real operating funding per student (FTE) was about five per cent higher than in 1998-99 – but 16 per cent lower than during the peak in 2007-08.
• Per student revenue from operating grants and tuition fees for Ontario colleges continues to be the lowest among the provinces. Funding per student for Ontario colleges continues to be significantly lower than that for secondary schools and universities.
• Space per student is much lower for Ontario colleges (90 square feet per student) in comparison to universities and secondary schools.
• In current dollars, the apprenticeship per diem has decreased slightly since 1998-99. However, after inflation is taken into account, the per diem has decreased by 28 per cent. The student in-school fee, which was implemented in 2002-03, has not been increased since its introduction.
Human resources
• Colleges employ more than 43,000 people. From 1997-98 to 2012-13, the number of full-time staff employed at colleges increased by 28 per cent, while enrolment increased by 31 per cent.
Student financial aid
• In 2012-13, almost 125,000 college students were OSAP recipients. This represents about two-thirds of the total full-time post-secondary enrolment.
• The default rate for student loans for all post-secondary institutions in 2012 was 9.8 per cent. For the college system, it was 13.4 per cent.
ABSTRACT
We describe a cheating strategy enabled by the features of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and detectable by virtue of the sophisticated data systems that MOOCs provide. The strategy, Copying Answers using Multiple Existences Online (CAMEO), involves a user who gathers solutions to assessment questions using a “harvester” account and then submits correct
answers using a separate “master” account. We use “clickstream” learner data to detect CAMEO use among 1.9 million course participants in 115 MOOCs from two universities. Using conservative thresholds, we estimate CAMEO prevalence at 1,237 certificates, accounting for 1.3% of the certificates in the 69 MOOCs with CAMEO users. Among earners of 20 or more
certificates, 25% have used the CAMEO strategy. CAMEO users are more likely to be young, male, and international than other MOOC certificate earners. We identify preventive strategies that can decrease CAMEO rates and show evidence of their effectiveness in science courses.
Keywords: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Cheating Detection, Educational
Certification, Educational Data Mining (EDM), Security.
One of the most dramatic changes at Ontario's universities over the last quarter century has been a shift in the nature of academic work away from full-time tenure-stream positions towards insecure, contract positions. OCUFA estimates that the number of courses taught by contract faculty at Ontario universities had nearly doubled - increasing by 97 per cent - betweem 2000-1 adn 2013-14.
Almost 40 Canadian universities in all regions of Canada responded to a detailed data survey aimed at ascertaining the characteristics and flows of students who left postsecondary institutions in one jurisdiction to continue undergraduate studies at a university in another. Two main types of student were considered: the transfer student who receives some transfer credit on admission to the receiving university and the mobile student who also moves between institutions but who does not receive transfer credit for prior studies. Some other studies of this type have not considered the mobile student, as defined here, although they make up about 20 per cent of the total flows.
Tinto vita
Today's students increasingly expect ubiquitous lecture capture so they can review lectures to improve their understanding
of the material or catch up on a class they missed. "Lecture capture in general is becoming very quickly an
expectation of students," said Chris Edwards, assistant vice president at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
A learning studio is a classroom or specialized learning space that typically features enhanced teaching and learning technologies, comfortable seating, flexible furniture and an open layout. The learning studio concept is gaining popularity in many educational institutions. The increasing use of the learning studios, with the concomitant construction and equipment costs, inevitably raises questions regarding their effectiveness.
This study poses and tests five questions concerning the effectiveness of learning studios when compared to the traditional classroom.
Do the students better achieve course learning outcomes in a learning studio?
Do the students experience greater course completion rates in a learning studio?
Are students more satisfied with the learning experience in a learning studio?
Are the instructors more satisfied teaching in a learning studio?
Does the learning studio enable and allow for greater use of technologies or alternative teaching methods than the traditional classroom?
As Lambton College converted a few classrooms into learning studios and the faculty migrated courses from the former to the latter, the opportunity arose to examine the effect of the learning studios. For this study, 11 courses were identified in which a section of the course was taught one year in a classroom and the following year in a learning studio. In the successive deliveries of each of these courses, the instructor, course outline, evaluation scheme and student academic program remained constant, and the student demographics remained relatively steady. With the classroom as the control and the learning studio as the experimental venue, the achievement of the learning outcomes and the completion of the course by the students, and the satisfaction of the students and of the faculty could be compared for the two venues.
She has been contributing to the field of counseling and sociology since the early 1950’s.
Bachelors of Arts in Sociology in 1951 from Barnard College in 1951.
Ed.D in Counseling in 1961 from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Served on the faculties of Wayne State University, Howard University and Pratt University and at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Currently she is a professor emeritus in the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services, College of Education, and Director of Counseling of the Center of Human Services Department, University of Maryland, College Park
(Schlossberg et al., 1995).
Every year, schizophrenia disrupts the lives of hundreds of thousands of Canadians. While affecting only approximately
1% of the population, this complex, multifaceted illness places a disproportionate strain on patients, families,
clinicians and other care providers. Symptoms, which vary in severity and expression, can make it incredibly
difficult for patients to sustain relationships, engage in social networks or carry out routine tasks. Moreover, these
social burdens extend well beyond the affected patient. Families and health professionals who provide care often
find their lives interrupted and negatively impacted by the illness. Ineffective policy, poorly organized care systems and
expensive medications all contribute to placing the burden directly on families. The result is higher emotional costs and
lower standards of life among care providers.
University Works uses empirical data to report on the outcomes of university graduates in terms of employment levels
and earnings, as well as average debt upon graduation.
University graduates experienced the highest employment growth of any educational attainment group over the last decade.
One of the first things I saw this morning was a Toronto Star article concerning more First Nations kids taking their lives, and chiefs calling for help to deal with the suicide crisis. In conversation with a friend about it, she said to me “I wish I could help, but as a student I just don’t know how.”
Talking about it more with her, she expressed that she felt as if she couldn’t do anything because she’s non-Indigenous, but also far away both socially and physically from the issues at hand.
But that’s simply not true. It needs to be known that we are all treaty people, and reconciliation needs to be a national movement with 100 per cent of Canadians being a part of it, both non-Indigenous and Indigenous.
Everyone has a role to play, especially young people.
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.
In this summary we provide a list of practices for universities to consider when creating or expanding a student retention or degree completion grant program. These practices were gathered from a series of interviews with ten urban-serving institutions. More
comprehensive information from those interviews and additional background information are presented in the full report.