Posts filed under 'School Tools'
Halloween is coming up in a few short days, and with the box-office battle between Paranormal Activity and Saw VI, there’s no shortage of chills and thrills in sight. So imagine my surprise when I found that the real terror comes from the seemingly tame College Board and its college cost calculator.
WARNING! THE INFORMATION BELOW IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. 
Here’s how the calculator works. Let’s say you are gearing up to go to a private college in two years. Plug in the average cost of tuition for a public or private college, along with the rate of inflation, how many years you plan to attend the school, the percent of tuition you will finance from your savings, and how many years you have before you enroll. Then click “calculate.” Try not to scream.
We already know that college tuition costs are climbing, but when you are faced with actual numbers, it can be downright frightening. A friend of mine recently had a baby, and just for kicks, I decided to find out what kind of tuition bill that tiny little newborn would face 18 years from now. The future cost is close to $90,000 a year at a private institution. Creepy.
Try it yourself . . . if you dare.
I hear that the producers of Paranormal Activity are already planning a sequel, but really, they could save the time and trouble by just directing viewers to the College Board’s calculator. Seriously—there’s a reason they call it sticker shock.
The good news is that students rarely pay the full price colleges demand. Scholarships, grants, and loans all help to make the finances more manageable. And just as the oblivious people in horror movies are not alone in their homes, you’re not alone in your struggle to fund your college degree.
College finances giving you nightmares? The CollegeBound Network can help you figure it all out.
–Barbara Bellesi
October 27th, 2009
I was surprised the other day to see a college student I know pull out a stack of index cards and flip through them while studying for a big test. She and her friends constantly text and communicate via Facebook, but when it comes to taking notes and marking important passages in a textbook, they seem to turn to traditional paper instead of technology.
That observation fits with what The Associated Press reported when Amazon.com gave university students Kindle devices this fall. The Kindles, which had been uploaded with digital textbooks –pricier than books –were tested by more than 200 college students.
Some students reported problems typing notes using the small keys. Although there’s the ability to highlight passages or bookmark pages, some students told the AP that they had trouble sorting through the many bookmarks.
One positive: Students said the portable Kindle allowed them to study more often.
If you are pursuing a career in technology, your future could involve creating tech-savvy tools that assist students in learning and studying.
Some of my friends in college or who work at colleges say the drawbacks are the lack of color and difficulty with graphics or reading PDF documents that professors may provide students. They and the students interviewed by the AP also said they didn’t want to lose the ability to scribble notes in margins.
In an electronic world, index cards and notebooks still have a place – for now.
–Lori Johnston
October 21st, 2009
Who says you have to shell out top dollar or leave your home state in order to receive an Ivy-League caliber education? Thanks to the power of the Internet, dozens of colleges and universities from across the country have made it possible for students to download and view lectures from some of their top professors and courses.
The best thing about these online lecture sites? They’re free! Check out a few below:
Who? Academic Earth
Where? www.academicearth.org
What? Features video lectures from the following universities: UC Berkely, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, Yale.
Sample subjects? Physics III: Vibrations and Waves, Computational Science and Engineering I, and Aircraft Systems Engineering.
Who? Open Culture
Where? www.openculture.com
What? MP3s and videos of lecture from such schools as Columbia University, CUNY, UC Berkely, MIT, and Oxford University.
Sample subjects? Existentialism in Literature & Film, Astrobiology and Space Exploration, and Information, Law and Policy.
Who? WGBH Forum Network
Where? http://forum.wgbh.org/
What? Speeches and video lectures from professors and other movers, shakers, and top minds from around the nation.
Sample subjects? Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces with Prof. Frank Wilczek, Poetry and Perception with Susan Stewart, and Cultural Humanist with Joss Whedon.
And if you need to pump up on your math and science skills for upcoming SATs, make sure to check out the Khan Academy, which we first covered back last December. The founder, Salman Khan, is a Harvard MBA and has taped dozens upon dozens of YouTube videos detailing everything from the basics of algebra to the nitty-gritty of physics.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
>> Thanks to CollegeCandy for their recent coverage of Academic Earth and Open Culture.
August 26th, 2009
According to a recent survey by Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana), cell phone use – and smartphone use, in particular – is on the rise amongst college students. After speaking with 300 students, researchers found that while 99.7 percent owned a mobile device of some sort, 27 percent owned a smartphone.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a smartphone is generally defined as a mobile phone that has its own OS and/or has an e-mail, web browser, and other applications.
“College students are increasingly adopting cell phones – particularly the smartphone – as the core communication and entertainment device for their hectic lifestyles,” said Michael Hanley, the journalism assistant professor who in charge of the mobile communications research program at Ball State. “In the few years since instant messaging (IM) leaped from the computer to the cell phone, a new mobile lifestyle has evolved. And save for studying, the computer is quickly being left behind.”
That’s a bit extreme if you ask me. You can’t assume students are cutting down on their surfing habits at home just because they now rely upon mobile Internet or that one form has overtaken the other; it just means that students’ day-to-day lives require more on-the-go connectivity than in the past. While it used to be easy to wait until you were home to log-on for example, these days many professors e-mail about last-minute assignments and canceled classes making it in your best interest to stay on top of your inbox – especially if you find yourself busy with after-school activities, internships, and the like.
As someone who got a smartphone during her last year of university, I would definitely recommend the tool for any student that finds him/herself on the run and away from the nearest computer terminal or WiFi hotspot. I was able to keep up-to-date with my classmates about group projects, stay in touch with friends, and find out right away if my class was cancelled or my office was closed due to weather. And while it did cut down on some of my surfing time at home, that’s only because I was using my smartphone to check my feeds during my commute.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
April 9th, 2009
Used to using YouTube for quick comedic clips, moving music videos, and film from family and friends? Well, it looks like you’ll have to reevaluate your view of the site from now on. While colleges and universities have been uploading clips of their courses and professors for quite some time, April marked the formal introduction of YouTube EDU, a YouTube landing page that puts you in touch with educational videos from schools all over the nation.
While the page looks a bit chaotic at first, it does boast a directory that will link you to the school channel you’re interested in. So far this list includes such top names as Harvard University, Stanford University, and Virginia Tech, with videos covering everything from physics to cooking lessons. It’s definitely worth checking out whether you’re already in college or just starting to consider the possibilities.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
April 6th, 2009
Amazing! Never thought I’d see my name next to old Bill Shakespeare.
– Ashton Kutcher, @aplusk, via Twitter
Well, to be honest, Ashton, neither did we! But it seems the world of academics is trying to get a little more pop-culture relevant each day – or at least in the UK, it is. According to The Guardian newspaper, cited in this Australian article, the British government is pushing to reinvent the curriculum for primary schools by making classes more tech-savvy.
While all the old subjects and staples will still be present, teachers will be encouraged to be more flexible, integrating lessons on Wikipedia, blogging, podcasting, and even – yes, Ashton – Twitter. (Though I thankfully doubt the courses would focus on analyzing Ashton’s latest tweets on the merits of chest hair.)
Naturally, there are already some detractors popping up to put down the overhaul. John Bangs of the National Union of Twitterers sorry, Teachers, accuses the government recommendations of jumping on the latest trends. That’s a bit over-simplified. According to the article, the report stresses the importance of studying these networks in order for students to familiarize themselves with effective global communication. Students would also have to improve their typing skills and – let’s all be thankful – their spelling as well.
So count me on the side of the UK government. The sooner kids learn how to effectively and safely use the Internet, the better.
And as always, check out what’s happening with the CollegeBound Network on Twitter!
– Genevieve M. Blaber
March 26th, 2009
Last night I had the pleasure of joining the Girl’s Night Out event (GNO) on Twitter. Hosted by Mom It Forward, GNO set lifelong learning as its topic, but discussion eventually covered everything from juggling school while handling children to getting your own kids into the college of their dreams.
Whether the participants were thinking about school for themselves or someone else, one thing was certain: GNOers love learning and they know that the conventional college answers may not be the right solution for every budding student. That’s why it’s important to take a look at all your options, from online schools and continuing education, to career schools and certification.
If you’re interested in checking out what the panelists had to say on all these topics and more, you can use Search.twitter.com to find all tweets marked with the GNO hashtag (#GNO). You can also check out the “Moms Back at School” page for more up-to-date info on bringing an education back into your life or head over to Mom It Forward and enjoy more discussion about last night’s GNO.
And if you’re not already doing so, make sure to follow us on Twitter!
– Genevieve M. Blaber
March 4th, 2009
Move over Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary, there’s a new user-generated knowledge database in town known as Leximo.org. Created and maintained by Ian Balina and Asad Mahmood, two juniors from The George Washington University (Washington D.C), Leximo.org is on a quest to amass the definitions of every word in every language with the help of users like you.
We’re not just building a community around it,” said Balina, a computer engineering major. “The number one thing people want to do online is talk to other people, so we’re basically trying to bring that aspect to Leximo and dictionaries because we think that people want to interact together, instead of just by themselves.”
– From GW University’s school paper, “The Daily Colonial”
In a system similar to the one used by Urban Dictionary, users’ submissions are subjected to review by other community members, allowing the accurate definitions to gain priority over the error-laden, or just poorly written, ones.
But with somewhere in the range of 475,000 to 600,000 words in the English language alone, and a little over 93,000 total words added to the site so far, Leximo.org has pretty far to go.
Want to make a contribution? Then head to Leximo.org and sign up.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
February 11th, 2009
This article is making fast rounds around blogs and social media networks, but it’s also stirring up a fair amount of discussion and criticism along the way.
According to the piece, an aspiring college student ordered a laptop from Dell and found out that it came with the Ubuntu operating system instead of the more widely known and accepted Windows. A salesperson supposedly convinced her to keep her laptop as is, only for her to find out that she couldn’t use her ISP’s Windows-only installation disc and couldn’t install Microsoft Word – which she says was mandatory for her courses. The result? She dropped out of college for two semesters because she couldn’t get online and couldn’t write her papers.
Except she could have if she had tried and done some research on her own. Not only did she not need the ISP installation disc to get online (a fact she would have discovered had she called the ISP company) she also didn’t need Microsoft Word in order to open and save Word docs. Ubuntu, as she even acknowledged in the video, came with OpenOffice.org installed – and one of the perks of OpenOffice.org is that you can use Word docs as you would with Microsoft Word.
So an aspiring college student lets a technical glitch get in the way of two semesters of school because she doesn’t stop to research the issue or contact companies and ask. No wonder everyone online is flabbergasted.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 15th, 2009
This week we welcome Robin Levinson, the content editor for CampusCompare.com, as our guest blogger. If you’re prone to procrastination, check out her college app tips now! Or later…
As college deadlines quickly approach, and you are one of those people inclined to wait until the last possible minute to send off your college applications, here are some tips for you to ace the essay, perfect the forms, and rock the recommendations in less than a week.
- Stay organized: Gather all your forms for applications, letters of recommendation, and financial aid, and put them in one folder. That way, when you’re short on time, you’ll know where everything is.
- Know your stats: Have your GPA, class rank, SAT or ACT scores, and address memorized. Also know what level of education your parents completed, and where their Alma Mater was. Not having to look up these common facts for each and every form will save you hours in the long run.
- Kill two birds (or 10) with one stone: Use a common application form, like the Common Application or Universal College Application to apply to multiple schools with one form. To save even more time, apply online through the Common App or through the school itself.
- Stick with what you know: When it comes to writing a personal essay, don’t pick a generic topic just because you think it will be impressive. Unless your topic has sincerely made a big impact on your life, writing the essay will be a drag. Although feeding the homeless is a wonderful activity, if you just did it to fulfill a volunteer requirement your essay will show that your heart just wasn’t in it. Pick something unique, something that gets you excited. If you find yourself going on a tangent about Italian food or getting into debates over politics, chances are these are the subjects that you will be able to write about articulately and quickly.
Even with these deadlines looming ahead, if you put your mind to it you can still send out a killer application. Just in the nick of time.
Does anyone have any other last-minute application ideas?
– Robin Levinson
January 5th, 2009
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