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By Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
College officials nationwide are concerned about the number of recent high school graduates in need of remedial math courses, and some schools have turned to free online programs that could preserve shrinking operating budgets.
The problem affects colleges of all types, but community colleges seem to be particularly hard hit. More than 60 percent of students in community colleges need some kind of remedial class—most often, math training—before they can take credit-bearing courses, according to recent studies. This comes with a price tag: A study published this summer shows that community colleges spend more than $1.4 billion on remedial courses every year.
The "Making the Grade, Version 3.0" study was conducted by Pearson, a company that specializes in digital curriculum for pre-kindergarteners through college-age students. Pearson also is the creator of MyMathLab, a free online math program designed to help students in college math, including remedial courses.
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Related links
Rio Salado College Online
Pearson's Making the Grade study
American Association of Community Colleges
Read my earliere blog entry below: (Saturday, September 20, 2008)
Report Finds Pearson's Math Programs Improve Student Achievement, Help Reduce Costs
Sophisticated software and new online collaborations are helping students of all abilities acquire key art concepts and skills
By Laura Devaney, Senior Editor, eSchool News
In art, as in life at large, technology has changed everything – or, more precisely, almost everything. In art classes at schools and universities today, new and emerging software is rendering art appreciation and even actual artistic production accessible to a far greater number of interested students and aspiring artists than ever before.
In the classic approach, talented apprentices toil under the tutelage of a highly skilled master to perfect their skills and learn the fundamentals of their art. That approach works well for the talented few but not so well for those who lack dogged desire or raw native talent. It also imposes strict limits on the number of individuals permitted to benefit from the wisdom, skill, and experience of the master.
To a remarkable degree, technology in the service of art and art education is changing all that.
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Related links
Corel
Serif
Fablevision
Sony IPAX Program
Site of the Week
New web site sheds light on a top career choice for young women
Research indicates that low enrollment rates of young women choosing engineering as their major have led to dwindling numbers of women entering the profession, suggesting that high school girls don't perceive engineering as relevant to their educational or professional goals. Now, a new national campaign--called "Engineer Your Life"--intends to change that.
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Source: eSchool News
