Education

College & local employer relationships and other higher ed news curated by Kiosk

College-Corporate Collaboration: A Strategic Advantage

From Kiosk: While the pace of technological innovation and the nature of work are evolving at an unprecedented rate, colleges, universities and businesses would benefit from collaborating now more than ever before. Colleges and universities need to demonstrate the ROI (return on investment) of their educational programs would be a lot easier with a direct pathway to employment for their graduates. It would also differentiate their institution versus the myriad educational options available, which would help with enrollment.

View the full article from Kiosk.

 

America: Rethinking the Role of Community Colleges

From FutureU: “‘For me, there is no better workforce training model that helps learners succeed than programs that allow individuals to apply in the real world what they’re learning in the classroom. I can tell you stories about individuals who are now making more money than their parents and still don’t have a four-year degree, or stories about youth apprentices who bought their first house before they became 20 years old, or apprentices who are working in hospitals when they were 16 and now are registered nurses.’… That’s Mitchell Harp, Dean of Apprenticeship Programs at Trident Technical College in Charleston, South Carolina, and he’s one of the many people singing the praises of apprenticeships these days.”

View the full article from FutureU.

 

Opening Community College Doors to a 60-Year Curriculum

From Evolllution: “The Maine Workforce Development Compact is…an agreement we set up with companies throughout Maine that allows us to connect on a deeper level about the work we’re all doing… and articulate that we are here to support workforce development goals. Since the center’s inception in January of 2022, over 1100 employers and trade associations have signed up, representing over 250,000 working people in the state of Maine—about a third of our working population. Companies are willing to engage with us in various capacities, be it surveys, conversations, advice, etc. It’s been a strategy and notion to find a way to connect on a regular basis. Ultimately, we’re building trust with industry sectors and employers.”

View the full article from Evolllution.

 

Igniting learning and growth for Arizona businesses

From CareerCatalyst: “Arizona’s vibrant small businesses employ over 1 million people, representing 43% of the state’s private workforce. Arizona State University’s CareerCatalyst is proud to collaborate with Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development organizations, dedicated to bolstering this community through skills education and workforce training to fuel growth and long-term success…CareerCatalyst programs are designed to be accessible to working adults and to contextualize learning in real-work scenarios. They serve businesses and working learners at every career stage — from entry-level to executive — and across industries and job roles.”

View the full article from CareerCatalyst.

 

Universities Build Their Own ChatGPT-like Tools

From Inside Higher Ed: “While the University of Michigan formed an advisory group to explore ChatGPT’s impact on teaching and learning, Pendse, UMich’s chief information officer, took it further… the university launched U-M GPT, a homebuilt generative AI tool that now boasts between 14,000 to 16,000 daily users…The University of Michigan is one of a small number of institutions that have created their own versions of ChatGPT for student and faculty use over the last year. Those include Harvard University, Washington University, the University of California, Irvine and UC San Diego. The effort goes beyond jumping on the artificial intelligence (AI) bandwagon—for the universities, it’s a way to overcome concerns about equity, privacy and intellectual property rights.”

View the full article from Inside Higher Ed.

 

New App Uses AI to Generate Practice Tests from Course Content

From GovTech: “A new artificial intelligence-powered app launched in February that generates various kinds of practice tests for students based on any content, such as YouTube videos, PDF documents or class notes. According to a recent news release, the CreateMyTest app, from a Toronto company of the same name, analyzes course content uploaded by the user, pulls together relevant information, and uses it to generate practice tests with questions in different formats including multiple choice, true or false, and fill in the blank.”

View the full article from GovTech.

 

Just 47% of public schools rate themselves highly on college prep

From Higher Ed Dive: “Less than half (47%) of public schools rated themselves as doing a ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ job preparing students for college, according to a nationally representative survey released by the National Center for Education Statistics…NCES also found only 62% of public schools include college and career milestones in their graduation requirements. Schools in high-poverty neighborhoods were less likely than more affluent schools to say they did an ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ job at college preparation. Schools with higher populations of students of color, those in high-poverty neighborhoods, those in rural areas, and those with fewer than 1,000 students reported offering fewer AP courses on average.”

View the full article from Higher Ed Dive.

 

Some HBCUs are seeing enrollment surge. Here’s why.

From Higher Ed Dive: “HBCUs nationwide saw enrollment growth in fall 2021 and fall 2022 — even as student headcounts sank across the country, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center…Many point to internal policies and practices — such as new retention and recruitment efforts and academic support for incoming students — for their recent success. Some HBCU leaders said new sources of philanthropic and government funding have fostered that growth. But, according to Granville, the enrollment growth at Morgan State — and many HBCUs in general — has also been driven by the political climate.”

View the full article from Higher Ed Dive.

 

Race to the finish. The rise of faster bachelor’s degrees raises the question: What is College for?

From The Chronicle: “The fight over community-college baccalaureates in Idaho comes as a growing number of states are authorizing the degrees, citing the need to produce more skilled workers. Close to half of the states have approved at least one program, an inventory by the Community College Baccalaureate Association shows…(Meanwhile) new three-year degrees, which will be offered by Brigham Young University-Idaho and Ensign College starting next month, are among the first in a pilot program involving more than a dozen colleges from across the country…But by making it easier to get a bachelor’s degree, the programs could also siphon some students away from community colleges.”

View the full article from The Chronicle.

 

This soft skill is the new Harvard degree, says expert: It’s ‘the biggest competitive differentiator’

From CNBC: “According to one LinkedIn expert, one particular soft skill may be as coveted as an Ivy League education. Given the fast-changing world of business, hiring managers ‘want to look for a growth mindset,’ says Aneesh Raman, a vice president and workforce expert at LinkedIn. ‘This is the new degree, the way that you’ve been looking for a Harvard degree.’ A growth mindset, coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, is the idea that you can continue to improve your abilities, talents and knowledge over time by learning through new experiences. The opposite is having a fixed mindset that you can’t improve on your skills.”

View the full article from CNBC.

 

Education Department Heeds Calls to Delay Gainful Reporting Deadline

From Inside Higher Ed: “The Education Department will push back the reporting requirements for its new gainful employment and financial value transparency rule (FVT/GE) from July 31 to Oct. 1. Under the rule, colleges and universities will have to report new program-level information, including the total cost of attendance and the amount of private education loans disbursed to students. They’ve argued in letters to the department that it’s too much, too soon, largely because they need to focus on processing student aid applications and sending out award letters. Institutions have had less time this year than usual because of the fraught roll-out of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which has faced myriad delays and technical issues.”

View the full article from Inside Higher Ed.