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Completion Conundrum
By Paul Fain
The state funding outlook for community colleges is too bleak for the completion agenda to succeed, according to a national survey of statewide leaders of two-year institutions.
For example, respondents from just four states said a “long-term plan exists to finance the operating budgets needed to increase the number of adults with college degrees and certificates.” Facilities budgets are even worse, with only three respondents calling state capital funding adequate.
Optimism is hard to spot in the survey results released Wednesday by the University of Alabama’s Education Policy Center. The research is part of the center’s annual survey of state community college directors, who manage and coordinate two-year colleges in their states.
Read the survey results: http://uaedpolicy.weebly.com/uploads/6/1/7/1/6171842/college_completion_2011_12-8-2011_embargoed-1.pdf
Related articles
- Tracking Quality at 2-Year Colleges (hollymccracken.wordpress.com)
Employers Say College Graduates Lack Job Skills
By Lacey Johnson
Many employers believe colleges aren’t adequately preparing students for jobs, according to findings of a study presented here on Monday by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
The group surveyed more than 1,000 employers in various industries last month about whether job applicants possess the skills to thrive in the workplace. More than half of employers said finding qualified applicants is difficult, and just under half thought students should receive specific workplace training rather than a more broad-based education.
Continued at: http://chronicle.com/article/Employers-Say-College/130013/
Read the study: http://www.acics.org/events/content.aspx?id=4718
Related articles
- What employers are paying new college grads (cbsnews.com)
- Whatever Happened to On-The-Job Training? (citizeneconomists.com)
A Ten-Year Update on Technology and Education
By Jim Rosso
According to Technology in the Schools: What the Research Says – A 2009 Update, from Cisco and the Metiri group, the global economic crisis has highlighted the important role education can play in achieving economic competitiveness. Schools expect that technology will improve education in general by improving teaching and making education more efficient.
After three decades of technology in the schools, some people are expressing concern about the lack of transformative change that has resulted. As the report states, “The reality is that advocates have over-promised the ability of educators to extract a learning return on technology investments in school. The research studies now suggest that the error was not in citing the potential of technology to augment learning – for research now indicates that the effective use of technology can result in high levels of learning. The error was in underestimating the critical need for the system changes required to use technologies effectively in learning.”
The report looked at over 50 educational software products and evaluated them in terms of classroom effectiveness. It also looked at research that found five miscalculations made by educators in anticipation of what technology could provide schools.
Continued at: http://interactivedlp.com/interactive-learning/ten-year-update-technology-and-education
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