A proposed budget by California's governor would allocate $10 million to set up a new online "intersegmental" higher education initiative. The project would fund competitive grants for intersegmental teams of faculty to create new and redesign existing STEM courses — both online and hybrid — in a program titled the "California Education Learning Lab." While the Legislative Analyst's Office found Governor Brown's goal of improving student outcomes "laudable," this approach isn't the answer, the office wrote in an analysis of the proposal. First, the analysis noted, the proposal doesn't address "the root causes of STEM disparities among student groups"; and second, it overlaps with other online initiatives already underway.
A project at Carroll University is working to improve retention for STEM students, thanks to a $1 million award from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics grant program. The grant-winning project, "Carroll University Pro-STEM Initiative: Promoting STEM Retention through Self-Efficacy," is designed to provide academic and financial support for students majoring in STEM fields, especially if they are required to take calculus, in an effort to improve retention. Approximately 128 students majoring in mathematics, computer science, chemistry, biochemistry or applied physics will receive scholarships as a result of the award, accounting for about $660,000 in grant funds.
College students may be able to save as much as 70 percent off their textbooks through a new rental program from McGraw-Hill Education. Starting this spring, the company is offering rentals on more than 250 of its copyright 2019 titles, plus all future titles, through its e-commerce channel on the company website as well as through approved distributors.
Upcoming events include the Innovations Conference, Digital Signage Expo 2018, University Innovation Alliance National Summit, SANS 2018, O.L.C. Innovate and the A.A.C.C. 98th Annual Convention.
Science isn't immune to the education-work skills gap that employers complain about in other fields. A recent survey found that most people in the chemistry field consider current curricula inadequate for helping STEM students prepare for future careers. The survey was undertaken by Elsevier's Reaxys division, which produces a chemistry research platform. The survey queried 186 chemistry professionals, researchers, students and educators.
The metaphorical gavel has fallen, and a new chapter has begun for the many assets of the New Media Consortium. On Valentine's Day a bankruptcy court judgment in Sacramento accepted a $55,000 bid from Educause for NMC's Horizon projects, trademarks, membership and subscriber lists, internet domain, phone number, goodwill and furniture and fixtures.
Texas Instruments this week took the wraps off a new robotics system and curriculum aimed at university-level engineering students.
Macmillan Learning is launching a new course materials product that brings together open educational resources, instructor supplements and on-demand support. Dubbed Intellus Open Courses, the materials are curated by the company's subject-matter experts and editorial team and cost just $14.99 per student per course.
Bentley University has just completed construction of a new multipurpose arena that boasts the latest in sustainable design and green technology. The 76,000-square-foot facility will host the institution's hockey team as well as university events such as career fairs, high-profile speakers and concerts, according to a news release. But it will also provide students with a number of hands-on learning opportunities.
Contract cheating, the use of custom writing services to produce coursework, may soon be harder for students to get away with. Turnitin, a provide of plagiarism detection, online grading and peer review tools, is developing new technology to help identify and investigate the practice. Slated to be available in the second half of 2018, Authorship Investigation will use "a combination of machine learning algorithms and forensic linguistic best practices to detect major differences in students' writing style between papers," according to a news announcement.