14 mei - Sleep deprivation lowers the achievement of school pupils, international big data research shows. In the US 80 percent of the pupils underachieves due to a lack of sleep. However, sleep is not everything, sleep deprived Finnish students still outperform the well-rested Kazakhs.
14 mei - MOOC giant Coursera starts pilot programs with several education publishers to provide students with free e-textbooks. Student benefit, since they can use the needed content for free as long as the course takes. Publishers as well see new opportunities to develop better learning materials and sell more.
13 mei - The British Education Secretary is making policy based on PR-commissioned opinion polls and University of Maastricht is ready to cook a cultured meat hamburger. Also ‘on the agenda’ this week, eScience shows that carnivorous plant throws out “junk” DNA.
8 mei - This summer University College Roosevelt will increase its summer school. Added to the courses on excellent teaching with Harvard, there will be new programs in several disciplines. “The aim is to attract a wider range of participants than just university students.”
8 mei - Anka Mulder, Board Member of Delft University of does not believe that MOOCs are the solution to every educational problem. “I am convinced that they are an important step, but more steps will be taken. Another good reason for keeping our eyes open for other open and online developments.”
6 mei - The location for the next ISTP is known, now the theme can be picked. Stanislaw Dylak from the Polish delegation suggests the ‘learning society’: “If you organize the learning society perfectly you don’t need evaluations, but when you organize a school like a factory, you need some strict quality assessments.”
3 mei - Online platform Coursera starts offering courses for teachers to improve their skills. Seven leading schools of education have joined this initiative. Check out for instance the 'brain-targeted teaching model'.
3 mei - Technology can “connect teachers to a genuine profession”, Andreas Schleicher shows. How do these genuine professionals cope with this ever-changing world where unemployment is the new standard?
1 mei - University College Roosevelt welcomes its Harvard colleagues for their combined summer program on excellence in teaching. Teachers from HE are invited to a series of workshops on microteaching and other innovative concepts. Teaching in HE is as vital for its quality as research, is the shared philosophy.
26 april - The next Summit on the Teaching profession will be held in New Zealand. Wellington is the most likely location for the fourth edition of this event. “I am delighted that New Zealand’s bid to host this prestigious event for the teaching profession has been accepted,” says Education Minister Parata.
22 april - More than ten percent of the American children are affected by specific learning disabilities like dyslexia or dyscalculia. This means that on average 2 or 3 children per classroom need special attention.
22 april - Dutch and American students working together thousands of miles apart, that is the most striking characteristic of the Global Village project. Project initiator Marca Wolfensberger: “In this project, students can experience how you cooperate and learn in a true global society.”
19 april - This week on the agenda, US Minister Duncan thinks that military veterans are a "tremendous source of teaching talent" and Medvedev feels ashamed when he enters some universities, but his minister won't get sacked.
11 april - The new science education guidelines in the US include extensive lessons on human-made climate change. Although this means a breakthrough for the 40 states that adopt the guidelines, the final standards were substantially weakened compared to earlier drafts.