The 2008 Economic recession is known as one of America’s biggest financial crisis’ since the Great Depression. Millions of jobs were lost, families lost their homes, and inflation skyrocketed. Nearly everyone was affected by this giant financial crisis and are familiar with the affects it had on employment. However, what is less commonly known and recognized is the dramatic effect the 2008 recession had on higher education. This, however, could be one of the most important outcomes of the great recession, as our millenials are now suffering from some of the highest inflated tuition rates of all time. As Jeffrey Brown, the author of How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, describes these effects, “The recent financial crisis had a profound effect on both public and private universities, which faced shrinking endowments, declining charitable contributions, and reductions in government support.” Of course, what happens when universities face a bleeding income? Tuition and other education costs must be increased. For the first time, young adults heading to college can no longer view higher education as an option, despite financial aid, scholarships, and grants combined. The inflation rate of universities has accelerated so much faster than that of the […]
In Johannesburg, South Africa, there is a widespread education crisis. The crisis is simple, yet creates a number of complicated problems. There are too many students and not enough spots in one of the only quality universities in South Africa. In fact, this crisis had boiled over in January of 2012, when thousands of students stampeded into the University of Johannesburg eager to fulfill their dream of a college education and to create a brighter future for themselves. The real danger surfaced when many were injured from the stampede and one woman killed, all whom were desperate to find a better life for themselves or their child. In an interview with The New York Times, a local Johannesburg woman described the event, “They were pushing and pushing,” she said. “Even the gates fell over. Many people were injured.” About 85,000 students had applied for only 11,000 seats at University of Johannesburg, leaving a clear overflow of students who were left without a spot. Many students who are well-deserving and hard working are still unable to claim a seat at an institution. This lack of access to higher education has left citizens who were once aspiring college students are now jobless […]
As college tuition continues to rise, the possibility of attending a 4 year college for many students begins to fade away. After the 2008 recession, the entirety of the nation had taken a huge economic hit, especially affecting college bound students. We witnessed a rapidly increasing university tuition, disabling thousands of students from considering a 4-year college. Today, students still continue to struggle to pay for college, but the reasons may not be the same as they have been in the past. For example, according to recent research by College Board, the rate of tuition increase has slowed down significantly over the last couple years. In fact, over the past year (2013), the average tuition for public universities has only increased by 2.9 percent, one of the smallest increases for over 30 years. So, why are students still struggling to afford college? Instead, according to College Board, it is the lack of financial aid that has caused many students to fall under. Grants, scholarships, and many other forms of financial aid have failed to keep up with the tuition rise, leaving a much greater ‘net’ price for college paying families. This is not only for public colleges, but for private […]
Social Media—it’s used on daily basis by millions of people all over the world. With Facebook now having over 1.3 billion monthly active Facebook users, it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t already been submerged in the world of social media. With all the uses of social media, why not use it to benefit education? When incorporating social media into the online classroom, it creates a strong framework in which students can interact, communicate, and learn with other students and teachers. Students often fall behind when they are in an environment that lacks communication. Without the essential communication and interaction students need to be successful, they find themselves feeling lost and disconnected from their learning environment. The secret to a successful student is a connected learning environment. Aside from the strong framework social media creates, the incorporation of social media into the classroom of students motivates and encourages students to learn. As of September 2013, nearly 73% of 18-29 year olds use some sort of social media. Teens and young adults have become incredibly tech-savvy, making social media the perfect solution to student education. Students who are using social media for online classes are motivated to share, collaborate, and learn […]
Our world is constantly changing. Everything from the latest discoveries in medicine, to ground-breaking innovations in aircrafts. Our learning systems, too, are changing. In order to assure that we receive the best possible learning tools and systems, we must keep up with the latest trends in education technology. According to the Post University, there are 7 higher education trends that have built momentum around the way we teach and learn. These include: • Online education innovation will accelerate: Such strategies will feature several key benefits for students –namely, robust support services, high interaction with instructors and students, and outcome-based learning. Much of this innovation will continue to be led by smaller institutions, for-profits, and community colleges, which have spearheaded many online education developments to date. • The adult learner population will continue to grow: The U.S. Department of Education’s 2010 statistics show that approximately 25 percent of college students nationwide are over age 20. As a result, adult learners will continue to become a crucial part of the overall future of higher education. Educational institutions will be under increasing pressure to better meet the needs of adult learners, who must balance work, school, and life’s other responsibilities. • The traditional […]
More and more universities are looking for a better solution for their online courses. Colleges such as the University of Oregon are searching for better online systems that would improve their existing online platforms for students. Diane Dietz, a reporter for The Register-Guard, reports that, “Both the UO and OSU are in the process of seeking better systems.” Dietz explains that colleges are looking for platforms that “would, ideally, be easy for students to navigate, robust enough to hold and run course content such as videos or even learning games, and within the universities’ means.” The problem, universities report, is the question of whether online courses meet quality standards. The University of Oregon and OSU are both looking for ways to get and maintain quality. Along with 17 other public institutions, they came together for from a Personalized Learning Consortium. Within this group, they attempt to create specific standards and outcomes from courses such as English, economics, pre-calculus, biology and psychology. On another note, OSU has found a separate way to measure quality standards. Dietz claims, “Quality Matters, a Maryland –based nonprofit group, offers a means to evaluate and certify the design of online courses. Five OSU online courses are […]
The experimental method–known to many scientists as the best scientific method out there. The experimental method is widely applauded for its ability to create the most accurate results in studies. But the method isn’t just for testing medicine anymore, researchers are now starting to take the experimental to the world of education. Why? Researchers found that simply using “hunches”, “guesses”, or whatever feels like the right way to teach, doesn’t always work. In order to improve our students’ performance, we need to support our teaching methods with data and hard evidence. The Institution of Education Sciences has taken up the opportunity to test out the experimental method in the classroom. In fact, the institution has performed over 175 studies. These studies, based on the principles of the experimental method, use randomization to guarantee reliable outcomes. With the use of randomization, researchers are able to divide a group of volunteers into an “experimental therapy” group or the “standard therapy” group. By randomly assigning volunteers into groups, it eliminates the chance of there being a placebo effect. Thanks to the incorporation of science into the education field, scientists have been able to make some interesting discoveries. For example, a new study found […]
The discussion of class material is a necessary learning tool that is often overlooked by most online learning management systems. Students frequently are unable to discuss what’s being taught in classes with other students and can’t ask beneficial questions concerning certain classes. Online students have a need to share ideas about specific classes with specific audiences, and they seldom can have these needs met. IQ, however, has a solution. Groups are a great way to reach a more targeted audience. Create groups that are public or private and manage the invites and attendees. Group admins can choose who can invite other members to the group and whether others on the network can join the private group without an invitation. Students and teachers have the ability to post rich media to the group activity streams. Members can: • Create private groups (by invitation only) • Create public open groups • Create secret groups (not listed in directory) • Full post and comment functions within groups • View recent activity posts • View recent discussions posts (activity) • Use optional group directory listing • Archive or remove groups • Share group activity within stream (only those in groups see posts) • Distribute […]
iQ is able to solve the issues that comes along with distance learning. With most online courses, collaborating with other students is limited. With iQ, you can easily message other students, join study groups for specific courses, and participate in video group studies with peers. Students can not only interact with fellow students from the same course, but can interact with students from any course. These are just some of the ways iQ can provide optimal collaboration between students and teachers: iQ Technologies provides a series of functions and services that are aimed at surfacing public conversations that occur in a iQ social environment. These services include hashtags, shared posts, trending topics, RSS, likes and comments. The iQ platform is built to evolve the experience of discovering and participating in conversations that are happening in real-time, therefore, enabling users quick access and filtering of posts by topic, media type, audience and periodicity. The community Blogs, Events, and Groups features allow users to share content to external channels publicly or privately. More than discovering content, the iQ platform enables users to share content seamlessly to Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. Conversely, users can migrate content from their consumer social accounts directly into […]
As everyone knows, college tuition is rising so quickly you might miss it if you blink. But could it be that the rate of tuition has actually exceeded the rate of inflation? According to Dr. Richard Vedder, it has. Jasmine Evans, a writer for “Diverse” magazine, uncovers, “According to a report by the Delta Cost Project, tuition for a public four-year institution in 1970 was $358 per semester. If tuition had grown in pace with inflation, the average tuition at public colleges would have been $2,052 in 2010. Instead, the average per semester tuition at public colleges and universities was $6,695 in 2010.” How could this be? According to Dr. Richard Vedder, a Professor at Ohio University, it’s simple. Colleges see no reason to lower their tuition costs, as the competition to get into colleges is too high. Professor Thomas Epenshade, has another theory. When colleges are entirely focused on granting degrees, hiring more staff is essential. With the increase in staff, comes with higher costs, leading to higher tuition. This dramatic increase in tuition brings many implications. Students who must take out student loans feel pressured to pursue a career that can pay off that debt, but not necessarily […]