SunGard Offers Alternative to Blackboard

Labeled E-Learning's "Third Phase" today's Inside Higher Ed article states SunGard Higher Education learning based social-networking platform offers an alternative to Blackboard.

When professors are building a course, said Felice Nudelman, executive director of education at the Times, they will be able to use keywords to locate relevant Times content on particular topics and events, and integrate the material into their classes.

Students, meanwhile, will be able to manage and share their Epsilen e-portfolios through the SunGard portal. While the combination of services doesn't equal everything Blackboard offers, given that Blackboard's services go beyond classroom experience, it represents a significant addition of content and online communities to the SunGard product for courses.

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New UNESCO Director Makes Education of Women a Priority

An article in the University World News yesterday declares Irina Bokova, Director General-elect of the UN education, science and cultural organisation Unesco, and its first woman head, has said her priorities will be education, Africa and gender equality when she takes over on 15 November.

In her first public comments since her election, Bokova, 57, from Bulgaria, who was her country's former ambassador to the UN in New York and is currently ambassador to France, said the education of women and girls was a particular concern, and not just formal education but general access to information and knowledge.

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$564,000 NASA Award to Challenger Center

Challenger Center for Space Science Education has received a three-year $564,000 climate education grant from NASA to enhance learning through the use of NASA's Earth Science resources.

Fifteen organizations were selected from more than a hundred applications, and include colleges and universities, nonprofit groups, museums, science centers and a school district. The winning proposals illustrate innovative approaches to using NASA content to support elementary, secondary and undergraduate teaching and learning, and through lifelong learning. There is a particular emphasis on engaging students using NASA Earth observation data and Earth system models.

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Education Secretary Says Teacher Training "Mediocre"

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is today giving a talk in which he will denounce most teacher education colleges for offering "mediocre" training, and call for major reforms of those programs, The Washington Post reported. Duncan will make these remarks at Teachers College of Columbia University, and his comments follow similar criticism in a recent speech at the University of Virginia. In today's talk, Duncan will say that many colleges and universities treat their teacher education programs as "cash cows," enrolling many students but not focusing on what they learn. The key to reform, Duncan will say, is linking programs directly to the ability of graduates to achieve good outcomes with students they go on to teach.

College tuition up, bring students down

Over the last couple of weeks, my blog has been centered around the cost of education and tuition. Well today is no different. Here is a details account from the Associated Press regarding the increase in college tuitions during the recession.

Review the graphic showing the average college costs and available federal and nonfederal aid by year. Four year college tuition rose 6.5% this fall, private colleges 4.4 percent.

"Every sector of the American economy is under stress and higher education is no exception," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. "It's regrettable, and it's yet another piece of disappointing economic news that affects families."

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Florida takes on the high cost of textbooks

A recent article in 4 Your Money talks about a pilot program in Florida whereby college students can obtain online textbooks for free.

A new online program launched in Florida is aimed at providing relief to students by offering digital textbooks. The idea is to offer textbooks that are used in common general education courses online free of charge.

"Open access textbooks is the real solution to reducing the cost of textbooks for our students," Orange Grove Digital Repository Director Susie Henderson said. "Currently our students pay, in many cases, more than the cost of tuition for their textbooks, there's something wrong there."

The program, called Orange Grove Texts Plus for the repository where most of the digital books are coming from, has received a federal grant and is being made a pilot program for the rest of the nation.

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High Cost of College Getting You Down?

SayCompusLife just posted an article by Matthew C. Keegan regarding how many colleges are offering classes online. Good news, but also read the comments. It is entertaining and informative.