Marguerite McNeal
EdSurge
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Past articles by Marguerite:
As Instructors Experiment With VR, a Shift From ‘Looking’ to ‘Interacting’
Most introductory geology professors teach students about earthquakes by assigning readings and showing diagrams of tectonic plates and fault lines to the class. But Paul Low is not most instructors. “You guys can go wherever you like,” he tells a group of learners. “I’m going to go over to the → Read More
To Ease Transfer Hurdles, Colleges Share Data and Overhaul Curriculum
As far as college experiences go, Sarah Clymer’s was up there with the best. She was a business major, a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, had an internship, and was valedictorian of her class at Manor College—a two-year institution in the Philly suburbs. But when she decided to tra → Read More
California Launches the Nation’s Largest Community College Course Exchange
Even the most driven students are stuck if the classes they need aren’t available. At best they have to wait another semester to enroll. At worst they run out of financial aid and drop out of school before they have a chance to take the courses. To help students get the credits they need, som → Read More
A Siri for Higher Ed Aims to Boost Student Engagement
When third-year students in strategy classes at BI Norwegian Business School have a question about their assignments next semester, odds are a robot ... → Read More
What Universities Can Learn from Udacity’s ‘Gig Economy’ Service
Two weeks ago, Udacity launched a program to connect graduates from its programs with short-term work from potential employers. Called Blitz, the service lets companies propose a project, and then Udacity provides a cost estimate and puts together a team of alumni engineers to complete it. Once the → Read More
What We Know About Betsy Devos, Trump's Pick for Education Secretary
President-elect Donald J. Trump has voiced his pick for Education Secretary, saying he’ll appoint Republican philanthropist and school-choice activist Betsy DeVos to the position.DeVos is former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party currently chairs the American Federation for Children, a sing → Read More
Wearable Tech Weaves Its Way Into Learning
Eye-trackers that detect when your mind is wandering. Clothes that let you “feel” what it’s like to be in someone else’s body. Sensors that connect your heart rate to how engaged you are in class. These are the kinds of wearable technologies that could soon impact how we learn. That was the tak → Read More
To Find Diverse Talent, Some Companies Look to College Clubs
College career fairs look like an awkward high school dance: Students circle around company booths, unsure whether to stop and drop off a resume. Companies blindly court juniors and seniors to their floorspace, hoping that they’ll be the right fit for internships and full-time positions. Rathe → Read More
What Happens When Colleges Get $25M to Innovate With No Strings Attached?
A curious change is rippling through California State University, Dominguez Hills. Its sophomore class has the highest GPA and persistence rate in the institution’s history. More students in this group are completing 15 credits per semester—the gold standard to graduate in four years—than in any pri → Read More
Diversity, Cybersecurity and the Future of Libraries: Day 2 Recap From Educause
At higher education’s biggest IT conference, Sugata Mitra described how small children can inspire the future of learning. “Children, given access to the internet in groups, can learn anything by themselves,” said the the Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Commu → Read More
Pursuing Academic Freedom and Data Privacy Is a Balancing Act
Last week undergraduates at Harvard University raised concerns about the institution handing over their data to an anti-affirmative action group as part of a lawsuit. Students for Fair Admissions, which is suing the university for allegedly discriminating against Asian American applicants, will have → Read More
A Small Liberal Arts School Becomes a Testing Ground for the ‘Facebook of Learning Management Systems’
The night before Vivianne Nufio gives a presentation about “The Slaughter Yard,” a short story from Argentine poet Esteban Echeverría, she posts questions for her peers on her class website page. She asks what students think the author means in line 45, and how the story compares to others they’ve r → Read More
Noodle Partners Goes After the $1.5 Billion Online Degree Market
Online education was once considered a distant second to in-person classes. Now universities across the country, from Yale to the University of California, Berkeley, offer virtual degree programs, with price tags close to tuition for on-campus experience. Helping universities scale their face-to- → Read More
Experts Look Into the Crystal Ball of the Next Administration’s Ed Policy
One presidential and vice presidential debate later, the American public has still not heard much from the candidates about U.S. education. The word ‘education’ was mentioned only a handful of times during these prime-time events, leading many of us to wonder: How will a Clinton or Trump administ → Read More
Google Search Results to Include Student Outcomes Data from College Scorecard
Next time users search for a college or university in Google, they’ll get more than a map and logo for the institution in the right-hand side of their browser. Alongside the address and brief Wikipedia synopsis they’ll find information related to student outcomes, such as the graduation rate and the → Read More
Helicopter Parents Have Landed on Campus. Here’s How to Handle Them
Instructors who flunk a student on an exam can reasonably expect to see an email from a concerned parent every so often. “Helicopter parenting” is so common today that faculty include lines in their syllabuses gently reminding students to take ownership on their work—not defer to their parents to → Read More
LinkedIn’s New Learning Platform to Recommend Lynda Courses for Professionals
LinkedIn loves to learn. Today the social media site for professionals announced an online learning portal with thousands of courses aimed at helping individuals pivot or pick up new skills for their careers. If that offering sounds like what one might find on Lynda.com, which LinkedIn acqui → Read More
Can Bite-Sized Courses Help More Students Complete Remedial Math?
Students in North Carolina and Virginia community colleges who started their fall semester have already knocked out credits for math and English and are moving onto their next classes. Both state systems have implemented a new approach to remedial education, breaking credits into bite-sized modul → Read More
Robotics and VR Loom on the Higher Ed Horizon (EdSurge News)
Each year thousands of faculty, administrators, entrepreneurs, consultants, policymakers and industry watchdogs wait for the great unveiling of the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report: Higher Education Edition. Today they get their wish. The report, now in its 15th year, explores how emerging tech → Read More