Archive for February, 2009

“Harvard Inks Loan Deal for International Students”

JPMorgan Chase is swooping in to save the student-loan-needing booties of international graduate students at Harvard. Citibank left Harvard and several other schools in the lurch this past fall when they announced they were terminating their arrangements with the schools, “citing the effects of the frozen credit markets.” Because international students don’t tend to qualify [ READ MORE ]

New System for Ranking Colleges

Never do I skimp on out-pourings of crankiness regarding the backward and highly ridiculous college ranking “system” (I use the term loosely, and here’s proof of the system’s innate uselessness). It is difficult to write ill-tempered posts of this nature because my eyes keep rolling up in disgust. Plus, I waste an inordinate amount of [ READ MORE ]

Teacher Certification Map

CertificationMap.com was just launched as a resource for educator-hopefuls. The site is simple and clean of line (I dislike chaotic websites) and conveys the pertinent information in a zippy manner. If I were planning on pursuing a career as a teacher in the State of Washington, for instance, I would click on the Washington blob [ READ MORE ]

Super Efficient Three-Year Degree for the Highly Motivated

For prospective college students who leave high school fully prepped to jump head-first into college, there’s a new money-saving three-year college degree option. Tennessee Senator, Lamar Alexander, likens it to the fuel-efficient car version of a college education. These days, that does seem tempting. Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY is one of the first schools [ READ MORE ]

Academe in a Bad Economy

Scoring some funding or getting a smidgen of a paycheck in academe is hard enough in a stable economy, but it becomes a turnip-squeezing situation when the economy hits the skids. Female Science Professor has two posts up that explain some of the problems academics are facing, and which crises warrant the most panic. Budget [ READ MORE ]

Getting Past the Overwhelming Wall

I’m a pretty organized, focused little gal. People who know me use less kind terminology, like “intense,” “bordering on obsessive,” and “freaky list-maker and notebook-keeper.” Whatever. They are just jealous of my awesome organizational skills and my ability to get things done. Although I have a system, don’t lack focus, and I prefer my own [ READ MORE ]

Teaching the Truth

I read a History is Elementary post a few weeks ago, and it’s still running through my head. Darwin’s birthday last week reminded me of what is taught in schools (evolution vs. intelligent design, etc.) and how parental beliefs can sometimes differ from what the educators are teaching the students. In her post, Elementary Historyteacher [ READ MORE ]

Scitable

Nature Education has launched a free online resource for undergraduate science students. The idea behind Scitable is to offer students “evidence-based” articles about the subject matter they’re studying that are informative and accurate (because it is not useful to learn faulty facts). From the press release: “Research supports the fact that while science students are [ READ MORE ]

“Financial Aid in the Economic Crisis”

Seth Allen, the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Grinnell College, has answered some relevant questions regarding financial aid and the economy. If a college student’s family has experienced loss of income or assets, what does that mean for his/her financial aid package, and what needs to be done to fill in the new [ READ MORE ]

21st Century Learners

According to the ColoradoLearns site, the 21st century learners need to have the following characteristics and capabilities: The best way to teach kids how to embody the traits illustrated above is to teach them differently than the Baby Boomers, the Gen-Xers, and even the Gen-Yers were taught. I’m a Gen-Xer, my parents are Baby Boomers, [ READ MORE ]