So Many Hands to Hold in the Classroom
Lynda C. Lambert, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 17, 2012

"Over the 17 years I've taught writing at the college level, I used to occasionally have a student who was afraid to choose a topic for an essay, or even to ask a question, because she didn't know what was "right." One young man chose not to turn in an assignment at all, because he didn't understand the instructions and was afraid to say so. Now, instead of the occasional student in this condition, I'm getting classrooms full.

"So many of them are so unused to thinking on their own that they cannot formulate an opinion without being told what opinion they are supposed to have. And if someone shares his opinion, he is obviously—as far as many students are concerned—trying to foist it on others rather than offering them an opportunity to challenge that opinion and debate it.
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"This should not be a surprise, of course. The types of assignments they became accustomed to in elementary and secondary schools were not subjectively graded but were rooted in a behaviorist system that, intentionally, does not challenge students to think or be creative. Instead it tells them what result they should have and then offers them the map to it.

"Unfortunately, following a map may teach them how to navigate, but it does not teach them how to drive. Few students seem to be able to find their way through their courses anymore without that map. And, interestingly, they hold the instructor responsible for their lack of learning if she does not provide GPS coordinates."

"Is Algebra Necessary?"
Andrew Hacker, New York Times Sunday Review, July 28, 2012

"It’s true that students in Finland, South Korea and Canada score better on mathematics tests. But it’s their perseverance, not their classroom algebra, that fits them for demanding jobs.

"Nor is it clear that the math we learn in the classroom has any relation to the quantitative reasoning we need on the job. John P. Smith III, an educational psychologist at Michigan State University who has studied math education, has found that “mathematical reasoning in workplaces differs markedly from the algorithms taught in school.” Even in jobs that rely on so-called STEM credentials — science, technology, engineering, math — considerable training occurs after hiring, including the kinds of computations that will be required. Toyota, for example, recently chose to locate a plant in a remote Mississippi county, even though its schools are far from stellar. It works with a nearbycommunity college, which has tailored classes in “machine tool mathematics.” "

"College Degrees, Designed by the Numbers" 
Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 18, 2012

"Data diggers hope to improve an education system in which professors often fly blind. That's a particular problem in introductory-level courses, says Carol A. Twigg, president of the National Center for Academic Transformation. "The typical class, the professor rattles on in front of the class," she says. "They give a midterm exam. Half the kids fail. Half the kids drop out. And they have no idea what's going on with their students." 

"As more of this technology comes online, it raises new tensions. What role does a professor play when an algorithm recommends the next lesson? If colleges can predict failure, should they steer students away from challenges? When paths are so tailored, do campuses cease to be places of exploration? 
...
""We're steering students toward the classes where they are predicted to make better grades," Mr. Denley says. The predictions, he adds, turn out accurate within about half a letter grade, on average.

"The prediction process is more subtle than getting a suggestion to watch Goodfellasbecause you liked The Godfather. Take the hypothetical health major encouraged to take physics. The software sifts through a database of hundreds of thousands of grades other students have received. It analyzes the historical data to figure out how much weight to assign each piece of the health major's own academic record in forecasting how she will do in a particular course. Success in math is strongly predictive of success in physics, for example. So if her transcript and ACT score indicate a history of doing well in math, physics would probably be recommended over biology, though both satisfy the same core science requirement.

"Mr. Denley points to a spate of recent books by behavioral economists, all with a common theme: When presented with many options and little information, people find it difficult to make wise choices. The same goes for college students trying to construct a schedule, he says. They know they must take a social-science class, but they don't know the implications of taking political science versus psychology versus economics. They choose on the basis of course descriptions or to avoid having to wake up for an 8 a.m. class on Monday. Every year, students in Tennessee lose their state scholarships because they fall a hair short of the GPA cutoff, Mr. Denley says, a financial swing that "massively changes their likelihood of graduating."

""When students do indeed take the courses that are recommended to them, they actually do substantially better," he says. And take them they do. Last fall 45 percent of classes on students' schedules were from the top-10 recommendations, and 57 percent from the top 15. Though these systems are in their infancy, the concept is taking hold. Three other Tennessee colleges have adopted Mr. Denley's software, and some institutions outside the state are developing their own spins on the idea."

"Study Abroad, Graduate on Time"
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, July 10, 2012  

"Many of the efforts to quantify study abroad’s impact focus on international learning outcomes: intercultural competency, “global-mindedness,” or foreign language acquisition. Increasingly, international educators are researching the link between study abroad and retention and graduation rates, busting the myth that study abroad delays time to graduation and raising questions about whether it can be used as a strategy to increase rates of student persistence and success.
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"At UT Austin, a recent task force on graduation rates identified study abroad as an “academic enrichment” experience, along with undergraduate research and service learning, that should be expanded. The University of San Diego has also made study abroad a key focus of its retention strategy. As part of its efforts to strengthen the first- and second-year experience, the private, Roman Catholic institution created the “Second Year Experience Abroad Program” with the idea that it would serve as a signature experience for sophomores."

"Engineering Your Degree"
Elise Young, Inside Higher Ed, July 10, 2012

"Individualized engineering programs are gaining popularity as problems within the field call for greater flexibility and broader skill sets -- and a new generation of ambitious students who want to tackle those problems emerges.
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"Flexible programs -- such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Course 2-A in mechanical engineering and Stanford University’s recently updated computer science curriculum -- allow students more room to develop their areas of interest by cutting down the number of required core courses and allowing students to choose specialized track concentrations, or, in MIT’s program, design their own.

"“The engineering community is going through a process of defining, ‘What are the quintessential pieces of being an engineer?’” Fortenberry said. “Once you strip things down to that base, you can stack other stuff on top of it.”"