Students Least Likely to Persist Benefit Most From Extra Financial Aid, Study Finds

By Beckie Supiano

Given the same grant, certain students perform better while others struggle more, even though all of them are financially needy. That is one of the major findings of a new study that suggests that need-based aid could be more effectively distributed.

The report, “Conditional Cash Transfers and College Persistence: Evidence From a Randomized Need-Based Grant Program,” was released on Thursday by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Continued at: http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Least-Likely-to/128159/

Read the report: http://www.finaidstudy.org/documents/Goldrick-Rab%20Harris%20Benson%20Kelchen.pdf

Improving the Accessibility of Online Course Materials

By Daniel Fusch

In a climate of increased demand for online courses and increased federal scrutiny of regulatory compliance, it is increasingly critical that colleges and universities ensure the accessibility of their online course materials for students with disabilities — and not only for online courses, but also for classes held in the physical classroom that direct students to pursue research online or access supplemental materials via a course management system.

Fortunately, significant gains in accessibility can be made with relative ease — the key is to be proactive and plan for them early rather than after an issue is noticed. To learn more about the “low-hanging fruit” for accessibility of course materials, we interviewed two leading experts on the issue from Drexel University — Dan Allen, content management specialist with Drexel’s Office of Information Resources and Technology, and Jenny Dugger, director of Drexel’s Office of Disability Services.

Allen and Dugger offer the following tips for:
1. Vetting potential vendors for accessibility
2 .Coaching your faculty in making course materials more accessible

Continued at: http://www.academicimpressions.com/news.php?i=214&q=8817n401869aS