The Interfolio Blog

The development of higher ed events last week made it pretty clear - technology is changing the way we educate and learn. 

The changes are more than the use of a different kind of whiteboard or the ability to research concepts via Google. With the increasing use of technology in the classroom and in other settings, the learning process is becoming more interactive and less lecture-based, more independent, and more collaborative at the same time. Students are asked to take more responsibility for discovery and participation through the use of technology, and at the same time, many students can complete courses and degrees from the comfort of their own homes, in some cases never setting foot in the traditional classroom. 

Last week the Sloan Survey of Online Learning revealed that enrollment in online courses rose 17% from the year prior, with 4.6 million students now taking some kind of online course. Given that enrollment in higher ed overall only rose 1.2% in the same time period, an increase this sizable demonstrates a significant shift in the way students are learning. 

We also have seen the launch of Apple iPad, which has been long anticipated by the higher ed community and touted as potentially a major change in how students access information. Textbooks and other documents are expected to shift to digital formats in the coming years, providing an opportunity for students to have a much more interactive experience, even when it comes to simply reading assigned texts. 

While the Sloan survey showed that faculty are still not entirely on board with the concept of online learning, the fact is that online learning is growing exponentially and is going to play an increasingly large role in both the way students learn and in what faculty are expected to know and be able to do. While it may not be the most popular choice today, those faculty who excel at teaching in a number of digital formats will likely see more doors open to them in the coming years. 

Higher-ed specific blogs and news sites are great sources for niche information about our field, but it's good to get the perspective of those outside our field as well, and this week the Washington Post has launched a new higher ed page to help us do just that. 

The new page is devoted to higher ed news, commentary and even includes feeds of news and comments from twitter, updates from The Chronicle of Higher Ed and a round-up of higher ed sources all over the web.

What's so great about the page? It's a one-stop-shop for higher ed news across many disciplines and includes a lot more than just Washington Post content. Which means you can do a lot less hunting around and find a daily dose of information in one place. For anyone in the greater DC area (including our team!), it also provides a round-up of news and information from local institutions, making it a great place to keep up with surrounding universities and colleges.

It's also more interactive than many sites we've seen, with a prominent twitter feed on the homepage that will show anything anyone posts on twitter with the #wpcollege hashtag. Which means you'll get not only what the Washington Post is publishing but also thoughts and links to articles from fellow readers.

Overall, we like it! But don't take our word for it. Check out the new site and let us know what you think. What else could they have included to make it even better?

Penelope Trunk had an interesting post last week about the failure of many career centers in preparing students for success and setting them up for professional futures.

Not all career centers help students network and prepare for careers as they could or should, particularly when it comes to building a network and a personal brand. While networks of successful alumni and job postings from major companies are helpful, those students who do not have a business or trade degree or who are not looking to take such a traditional route can often become lost in the career center shuffle. As the routes that college graduates take after leaving their alma maters become more and more diverse, career centers are tasked with a greater degree of responsibility in assisting a wide range of people launch careers in a myriad of industries. 

But can we really put the blame on the shoulders of the career centers and assume that liberal arts degrees are the culprits for poor job placement after graduation as Penelope suggests? That's a bit of a stretch. Career centers can serve as catalysts between those hiring and those seeking employment, but are we now arguing that career centers are actually responsible for finding college grads employment? We don't ask our universities to ensure that students get A's, why should we ask them to guarantee employment? You can lead a horse to water... but if our universities are tasked with actually getting people HIRED that takes a great deal of responsibility off of the very students who are supposed to be learning to take responsibility, use the skills they learned in their undergraduate and graduate courses and find their life's calling once they leave the higher ed nest. 

If our college graduates begin making college decisions based on which school is most likely to place them in a job after graduation, we are essentially saying that students are paying a placement agency rather than an institution of learning. That's a pretty slippery slope. Suddenly class content matters far less than internship and job placement and how much of a guarantee you can get that the career center will do all the work for you. 

Career centers are an asset and one that some schools run more successfully than others. But ultimately students need to grow up and take the reins on deciding not only what they want to do for a career, but how their college courses will augment that career choice and help them be more successful employees, managers or bosses some day.