Online Education: Heading Toward the Future

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Online learning has reached a tipping point in higher education. It has grown from a peripheral project of early tech adopters or a practice of the for-profit industry into an accepted way of delivering education that is now deeply embedded in the majority of colleges and universities. In a March 2017 survey conducted for The Chronicle of Higher Education by Maguire Associates, 1,287 administrators involved in online learning and decisions about online learning reported on the growth of online education at their colleges and universities. The findings demonstrate the maturing of online education and how its positive effects have ramifications for the wider educational system.

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Why Female Students Leave STEM

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In a new working paper, Georgetown University researchers explored what drives women who entered a STEM major to switch to something else. Their findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, show that the answer is a complex combination of factors, including the environment, perception of the major and grades. It also showed that previous theories don’t always hold up.

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Hey Higher Ed- Why Not Focus on Teaching?

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Stanford physics and education professor Carl Wieman won a Nobel Prize for his innovative, break-through work in quantum mechanics. Wieman has since levered the prestige and power of that prize to call attention to the need to transform undergraduate teaching, especially science education.

In a new book, Carl Wieman continues his efforts to spark systemic changes in how universities teach science.

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How to Be an Ally to New Minority Scholars

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The effects of strong mentoring relationships on the lives and careers of new scholars can be substantial. Evidence from studies of mentoring in higher education shows that doctoral students and new faculty members fortunate enough to be mentored by senior academics report smoother adjustment to academe, stronger records of teaching and scholarship, stronger institutional commitment, higher retention, greater success achieving promotion and tenure, and higher overall job and career satisfaction. Evidence regarding the career importance of mentorship has prompted the Council of Graduate Schools to list mentoring as one of six key factors leading to Ph.D. completion.

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Values Affirmation Intervention Reduces Achievement Gap Between URM and Non-URM Students in Intro Biology Classes

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Achievement gaps between underrepresented minority (URM) students and their white peers in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classrooms are persistent across many white-majority institutions of higher education. Attempts to reduce this phenomenon of underperformance through increasing classroom structure via active learning have been partially successful.

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Evaluating Discipline-Based Education Research for Promotion and Tenure

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Due to the interdisciplinary nature of DBER and its involvement of social science, senior STEM faculty members may find it challenging to evaluate the quality or impact of DBER scholarship. The authors of this essay aim to address this issue by providing guidance on evaluating the scholarly accomplishments of DBER faculty members in a way that is useful to departmental colleagues and administrators during the tenure and promotion evaluation process.

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