News Links | August 27, 2015

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

YVCC student collects items for wildfire crews, victims A Yakima Valley Community College student has organized a relief effort to help firefighters and victims at wildfires raging around the state. Kaitlyn Thompson, Yakima coordinator for the statewide Wildlife Donation Round-up effort, began collecting items earlier this week, launching a Facebook page Monday to alert local residents about items needed primarily for the Okanogan Complex, the largest wildfire in state history. Yakima Herald, Aug. 27, 2015 SEA-TECH students hit the books Eleven students from Dayton, Prescott, and Waitsburg began school a a bit earlier than their counterparts, starting classes at SEA-TECH, which follows the Walla Walla School District schedule, on Wed. Aug. 26. The skills center, which is located on the Walla Walla Community College campus, opened last year and offers courses in Health Science Careers, Digital Media, Manufacturing and Welding Technology and Electrical Systems Technology. Waitsburg Times, Aug. 27, 2015 Inside Seattle Central College’s new craft distilling institute How, exactly, do you learn how to distill? It’s not as though we have a long tradition of family distilleries here in Seattle, passed down from generation to generation. Into that vacuum has stepped Seattle Central College. The school’s Craft Distilling Institute aims both to train those new to the industry and to offer enrichment to the experienced. We spoke to interim director Lisa Babinec to learn more about this exciting new program. Seattle Weekly. Aug. 26, 2015 Couple donates Whidbey waterfront land to EvCC’s marine sciences academy A Whidbey Island couple has donated 3.8 acres of waterfront property to Everett Community College's Ocean Research College Academy. Everett Herald, Aug. 26, 2015 A 17th birthday party where presents have deeper meaning A few weeks ago, I was alerted to the generous activities of a young lady whose story needs telling. She is Chanel Mortimer, who explained, “As I prepared for my 17th birthday party, I tried to think about what gifts I might want to ask my family to get me, but I ran into a bit of a dilemma. I couldn’t think of anything I needed or wanted for my birthday, and I realized that I have everything I need. I have a house, a loving family, good friends, and never have had to go without a meal because of a lack of food.” ... Mortimer is in the Running Start Program at Tacoma Community College and plans, eventually, to obtain a master’s degree in occupational therapy. The News Tribune, Aug. 26, 2015

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

These videos could change how you think about teaching Going to lunch with students changed Michael Wesch’s attitude about teaching, and he is trying to share his personal transformation through a series of videos he hopes will go viral. Mr. Wesch is an associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University who has won some of the highest honors for his work in the classroom, including a national professor-of-the-year award in 2008. Yet a couple of years ago, he "got into a funk" about teaching, he says. After many years covering the same material, he was worried things were getting too routine. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 27, 2015 Buzzwords may be stifling teaching innovation at colleges One of the obstacles to bringing "adaptive learning" to college classrooms is that professors, administrators, and even those who make adaptive-learning systems don’t always agree on what that buzzword means. That was a major theme of a daylong Adaptive Learning Summit held here on Tuesday. Several people interviewed at the summit, held by the education-innovation group National Education Initiative, noted that part of the problem is a proliferation of companies that make big promises based on making their technologies adaptive, yet all use the term slightly differently. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 26, 2015 ACT scores are flat ACT scores in 2015 were flat — with a continuation of recent patterns of significant gaps in the average scores by race and ethnicity. The composite score was 21.0, the same as last year, with gains of  0.1 point in all of the sections except mathematics, which saw a 0.1 point decline. (The highest possible score on any part and the composite is 36.0.) Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 26, 2015

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

Coping with cuts Four-year public colleges and universities have increased their education-related spending even as overall funding has declined. The revenue declines are due to lowering state contributions. And while public universities have raised tuition rates to make up for large state funding losses, they have not fully offset the difference with tuition hikes. Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 27, 2015 ‘Free’ vs. ‘affordable’ As Democrats on the presidential campaign trail pitch their college affordability plans to voters, they are largely united in their calls for a big boost in federal spending on higher education. Following a monthslong effort by liberal groups to push “debt-free college” — and after President Obama’s call for free community college earlier this year — leading Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both now have proposals that would expand the role of the federal government in higher education. Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 27, 2015 Responding to free Community colleges across Tennessee are starting their academic year with many students who may have never thought they would attend an institution of higher learning, but who are taking advantage of the Tennessee Promise program, which offers them a free two-year college education. Although official numbers won't be available until after the 14th day of enrollment, Tennessee Promise has 22,534 college freshmen as of the last August deadline to remain in the program, said Mike Krause, executive director of Tennessee Promise, the signature program of Governor Bill Haslam, a Republican. Those numbers are well above the 13,000 students projected for the program a year ago, he said. Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 26, 2015