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THE NEWS
ACADEMIC PREPARATION
School adapt to cyber-savvy students
By Michael Oliveira, The Toronto Star
This won’t be the year that back-to-school shopping goes strictly digital — smartphone apps and USB keys for the kids, instead of binders, hole-punched paper and pencil crayons — but educators say that day may not be far off. And many of them can’t wait. “Kids have information at their fingertips which they never had before so the role of the school as a sort of information processor no longer has the currency that it once had,” says Penny Milton, CEO of the Canadian Education Association. There is no mass push nationwide to integrate new technologies into classrooms but some school boards and individual schools are exploring new ways of teaching, which kids are eagerly embracing, Milton says.
Advantage in training is academic
By Peter James, Edmonton Journal
There are thousands of children in minor hockey programs across Canada, but a select few every year decide to take the Game 1 step further and attend the growing number of specialized hockey academies across the country. There they are completely immersed in the game, with daily practices integrated into their school day, plus nutrition, fitness programs and dryland training sessions to keep the aspiring athletes in tip-top shape. "We're using the very productive mental hours of morning time when the players are refreshed and rested for their academics, then we're using good physical development time, being in the afternoon for their training time." Andy Oakes, president of Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C., said in a phone interview.
Ontario sticking to standardized tests
By National Post
The Ontario government says it will not back down on standardized tests for elementary school students despite a call from a provincial teachers union for a two-year moratorium. The testing "has worked and we will continue to do it," vowed Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky at the annual meeting of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. The union, which represents 76,000 teachers and education workers in the public school system, asked on Monday that the Education Quality and Accountability Office tests, given to students in grades 3 and 6, be postponed until further consultation on their benefits can be established.
POSTSECONDARY ACCESS SUCCESS
Mental illness rises on campus’ studies
By CBC News
Severe mental illness is becoming more common on college and university campuses, research suggests. The percentage of students with moderate to severe depression who sought counselling at U.S. campuses increased seven per cent from 1998 to 2009, John Guthman, director of student counselling services at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., said Thursday. Counsellors at some Canadian universities have noticed a similar trend. Psychology professor Sharon Cairns of the University of Calgary just completed a five-year study of counselling services at that campus. Not only are more students getting help, but the problems they have are more serious, Cairns said.
Canadian parents want to pay for children’s post-secondary education, but can they?
By TD Canadian Trust
Canadian parents agree that a post-secondary education is important for their children and they feel good about helping to pay the cost. However, according to the TD Canada Trust Education and Finances Survey, there appears to be a gap between what parents want to do and what they might be able to afford. While 87% of parents say they plan to pay all or part of the costs of their child’s post-secondary education, 26% say they have yet to start saving and another 15% have no idea how they will finance it. Additionally, 10% of parents surveyed say they plan to use either credit cards or their line of credit to pay for their child’s education.
Documenting and decoding the undergrad experience
By Daniel Drolet, University Affairs
An official transcript shows how well a student did in class, but universities have long recognized that a lot of learning takes place outside the classroom. Now a growing number of schools are developing ways of tracking, measuring and authenticating that learning. Some are giving official sanction to a student’s involvement in campus activities – student council or campus clubs, for example – through what’s called a co-curricular transcript. Others have developed web-based self-assessment tools that students can use to understand their own knowledge, values and strengths.
Many student loans are shunned out of ignorance
By Garry Marr, The Vancouver Sun
Imagine getting a loan with no interest payments for four years. You would think there would be long queues for that action. But a new study says a lack of financial education is discouraging some young Canadians from securing a student loan from the government, potentially costing them a shot a post-secondary education. The study, sponsored by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, surveyed 20,000 students across the country about financial aid and emerged with a report titled "The Illiteracy of the Literate." "What we found is students are having a lot of trouble navigating the financial system and that's probably an understatement," says Alexi White, executive director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
U.S. warning halts Americans’ studying in Mexico, but Europeans are filling the gap
By Marion Lloyd, The Chronicle of Higher Education
When the U.S. government warned Americans against traveling to the most violence-torn regions of Mexico in March, the impact on study-abroad programs in the country was immediate and severe. Universities across the United States canceled research projects and warned their students against studying or even traveling in northern Mexico. But six months later, a record number of students from other parts of the world are flocking to Monterrey, the northern Mexican city that has been a focal point of the drug war. In some cases, university administrators say, European students are even making up for the shortfall from the United States.
Libs to cut incentives for poorer university students
By Andrew Trounson, The Australian
The Labor government has allocated $325 million over three years as a per student loading to encourage universities to enrol more students from poorer backgrounds. But in its election costings the Coalition is proposing to cut $227m from the program. Students from the poorest 25 per cent of society make up only 15 per cent of university places. Labor has set a target to raise that participation to 20 per cent by 2020. Universities last night slammed the Coalition policy as short-sighted.
The art of joy in short supply at creative colleges, NSS shows
By Hannah Fearn, The Times Higher Education
Art colleges are struggling to satisfy their students, with the UK's National Student Survey revealing that four of the five unhappiest student bodies are at creative institutions. The University of the Arts London has the least-satisfied students for the second year running, with 62 per cent saying they are content with their course - a drop of 1 per cent on last year. The University for the Creative Arts, the Glasgow School of Art and Ravensbourne, along with Thames Valley University, follow close behind. The private University of Buckingham has the most satisfied students, with 95 per cent stating that they are happy with their degree course.
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