Education Blog
Editor’s Blog Update: What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
May 24, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
Dear Loyal Readers,
As much as we love putting out daily Monday-Friday posts on this blog, recently we’ve found a need to cut back. Due to some external business circumstances beyond our control (it’s complicated), we need to scale back the frequency of our contributions. With this in mind, starting today, we’ll be moving to a biweekly publishing format—as in twice-a-week, not every other week. We currently plan on Tuesday/Thursday postings, but reserve the right to change our minds later. At any rate, if we make any other big changes, we’ll let you know.
Thanks again for reading, and we hope you continue to enjoy the YSGTS blog posts and the other career-focused education resources on this site.
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Category: Site news
Job Interview Prep, Mobile-Style
May 23, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
Have you ever imagined that your mobile phone could help you prepare for a job interview, aside from serving up driving directions or company web pages? Well, dream no more … at least, according to Bob Tedeschi of The New York Times, who reviewed Monster.com’s new “Interviews” mobile app along with 2 other similar apps last week. Monster.com Interviews is free and currently available for the iPhone, with iPad and Android versions to come. The other apps include:
- Interview Questions and Answers (free/$2, Apple and $2, Android)
- Job Interview Q&A (free, Android)
In Tedeschi’s view, Monster’s is the king of these apps, integrating various components of the iPhone’s hardware—GPS, video/audio recording—into the user experience. Job-hunters with smartphones, do yourself a favor and check out his full review … and the app.
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Related reading: If you’re a student who likes using mobile apps and having the latest technology, then you should check out fellow YSGTS blogger Joel Milani’s “Top 10 iPad Apps for College Students” and “Top 5 Computer/Software Student Discounts.”
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Category: Career
College Grad Job Market: What’s the Real Deal?
May 20, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
Two recent reports say two very different things about the state of the job market for new college grads. On the one hand, The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the job picture was brighter than it’s been in a while for this year’s 1.7 million new degree holders.* On the other hand, yesterday’s (print) New York Times reported a much bleaker story. What is the real j.o.b. deal? I’ll attempt to shed some light.
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Category: Career, Higher Education
Wikipedia is Looking for Smarter Contributors
May 19, 2011 by Joel Milani
Wikipedia has acknowledged its scholarly shortcomings and is trying to make a change:
Wikipedia’s reputation as a less-than accurate source for information stems from the fact that any chucklehead with access to the Internet can edit and add information to the site. [Education Nation]
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Category: Education Technology
New MBA Job Outlook
May 18, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
MBA graduates, your day is looking brighter. According to a U.S. News article from early this month, the employment picture for MBA grads was better in 2010 than 2009, and several sources predicted improvements in 2011. Ann Nowak, the director of recruiting for professional programs at Liberty Mutual, noted that recruitment of MBA grads for its corporate development program was expected to reach “pre-recession levels” in 2011 after being down 20% in 2009-2010. Dave Wilson, president and CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council, revealed:
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Know Your Debt [Finance]
May 17, 2011 by Joel Milani
Picture this:
You work in a bank. Your job is to give loans to the people who will most likely pay them back. It’s pretty straightforward: you look at their savings, credit history, income, and a few other numbers, and make a decision based on how risky it is to lend them money.
Now imagine an 18-year-old walks in. Works part-time at Dairy Queen now, but plans to leave that job in the fall. No savings. No credit history. She asks you for a $50,000 loan.
Would you give it to her?
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Category: Financial Aid, Loans
Reflections on the Value of a College Degree
May 16, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
Today is the first day of my wife’s new full-time job and the second day since she attained her master’s in accounting from Cleveland State University. I witnessed her graduation ceremony over the weekend, and the 2-hr.-plus event has put me in a reflective mood.
One of the things that struck me the most (besides the 2 inches of rain in 2 hours) was what the school president, Ronald Berkman, said in the commencement speech. In addition to boasting of the school’s inclusion on the latest U.S. News’ national university rankings list, he spoke of the value of the college degree, not only in terms of lifetime economic benefits, but also in what it signified of the quality and diversity of the graduates’ education and of their character and ethics.
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Category: Higher Education
Twitter: Moving the Back of the Class Forward Through Backchannels
May 13, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
A New York Times article today looked at teachers who use Twitter and other “backchannel” technologies in the classroom to enhance participation. While most people (and educators) might be skeptical of the merits, Trip Gabriel points out the benefits that some teachers see in the form of increased student participation. He cites one high school class in Detroit where participation in a class of 30 was thought to be up around 66% when backchannels were used.
The other answer to the skeptics’ fears that having Twitter in class would negatively affect learning—as cited in a recent Pearson survey (PDF) by the Times—you are more likely to keep students on task if they are engaged with the technology for an educational purpose. The big argument of pro-backchannel users is that you harness students’ interest through technology instead of prohibiting it. While the hope that giving students freedom to do classwork through Twitter would make them less likely to use the technology for non-class purposes is a bit defeatist, it does strike me as a realistic way to properly incorporate social media in school. Instead of being afraid of technology or going retrograde in a society and economy where digital communication is increasingly important, everybody wins.
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Category: Education Technology, Higher Education, Twitter
Using Video to Reinvent Education [TED Talks]
May 12, 2011 by Joel Milani
A while ago we talked about the Khan Academy, a free online education resource:
If I’d known about the Khan Academy in college, math class might have been less of a drag. The Khan Academy, which is now available as an iPhone web app, is a collection of video lessons primarily focused on mathematics, with a few other subjects thrown in. Salman Khan, the founder of the Academy, teaches most of the lessons, which range from quadratic functions to banking principles, and even brainteasers.
Mr. Khan recently appeared at the illustrious TED Talks to promote his idea of education through video. Watch:
Check out more posts on technology in education here.
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Category: Education Technology
Why There Is No Education Bubble
May 11, 2011 by Paul Richlovsky
There’s been a lot of talk over the last year or so—some of it right here on this blog—that what’s happening in the for-profit education sector (and traditional higher education) is analogous to the sub-prime mortgage scandal.
Today, Slate’s Annie Lowrey provided a defense to the popular charges leveled by hedge fund managers Steve Eisman and Peter Thiel that the education industry is heading for a subprime-like crash. A few of her reasons why it isn’t:
- Diplomas can’t be bought and sold
- A diploma is “an insurance policy against unemployment, “among many other things
- There is 10X more residential-mortgage debt than student-loan debt.
I find the 2nd point to be quite compelling because if you have the right diploma, you’re going to be in a group of people who don’t see unemployment rates higher than 5%, even if the rate is at historically high levels today. No house you ever buy could ensure your chances of having an income stream that well.
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Photo courtesy of Justin D. Miller via Flickr.
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Category: For-Profit Colleges, Higher Education
