What our students need…
…is food, childcare, and assistance navigating the minefield of unclear expectations (= my needs on any given day…). Here’s an extensive report: Student Needs Are Academic Needs
Fighting Apathy, Neglect and Racism to Give Left-Behind Learners a Chance
 A College Park high school English teacher describes how he used online classrooms, individualized instruction, and mastery-based assessment to help at-risk students at Fulton County’s McLarin Success Academy. Fighting Apathy, Neglect and Racism to Give Left-Behind Learners a Chance on EdSurge
How Google Took Over the Classroom
An in-depth article from the New York Times on the history of G-Suite and its growth in public schools. (Reminds me of a few years ago when there was a Google Apps seminar here on campus that no one from our own tech departments knew about…) How Google Took Over the Classroom
Study Finds Black Students More Likely to Graduate if They Have One Black Teacher
“A low-income black student’s probability of dropping out of school is reduced by 29 percent if he or she has one black teacher in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grades. That student is also 18 percent more likely to express interest in college after graduating. There was an even stronger effect for black boys from persistently low-income homes: Their probability of dropping out of school is reduced by 39 percent if they have one black teacher, and they are 29 percent…
Behind the Problem of Student Homelessness
“Housing insecurity doesn’t care about the prestige of your institution, or whether it’s a two-year or a four-year college…It doesn’t care about your gender or your religion or your background. Hard circumstances can fall on anyone. Some people have a safety net for that kind of thing. Some people don’t.” Beyond the Problem of Student Homelessness, New York Times 2017-04-07
How does Georgia State get NYT press for increasing retention rates and we don’t?
Maybe because we require our students to pay for classes that don’t count toward their degrees. And we’re not intrusive enough in our advising. Enjoy… At College, a Guided Path on Which to Find Oneself
Data Science Disconnect!
As we work to develop effective assessment of our BIOL 1107K students’ data analysis skills, it helps to be reminded that it’s not just relevant to our course outcome goals but to their futures as well. An Inside Higher Ed article summarizes a report from the Business-Higher Education Forum (you can download the original report here: Investing in America’s Data Science and Analytics Talent): “A shortage of job candidates with fluency in data science and analytics is among the nation’s most yawning of skills gaps, one…
Despite family and work commitments, student veterans outpace classmates
Despite often having to juggle schoolwork with jobs and families, veterans attending college under the Post-9/11 GI Bill are finishing at rates slightly higher than their classmates, a new report shows. The report says 53.6 percent of veterans using GI Bill benefits who arrived on campus in the fall of 2009 had graduated within six […] Source: Despite family and work commitments, student veterans outpace classmates – The Hechinger Report
Helium Forms Stable Molecules at High Pressures
Chem nerds, rejoice! — the last bastion of inertness has been breached. Can we stop calling Group 8 the Inert Gases forever now? (I never liked “Noble Gases” because it implies they think they’re better than everyone else…suggestions for a new family name welcome!!) Check it out: Helium Forms Stable Molecules at High Pressures
A New Cost at College: Digital Access Codes
Textbook-linked online resources are so convenient for instructors, and many classes require students to purchase semester- or year-long individual access to these sites for quizzes, reading exercises, and activities. This article from The New York Times reviews the downside to this convenience: increased costs for students, who could otherwise purchase or borrow a used textbook.