Assorted Links

College Affordability - "Under the UC Student Investment Proposal, students in the system would pay no upfront costs for their education but would agree to pay 5% of their income to the system for 20 years after graduating and entering the workforce."  and "The proposal would also encourage certain behaviors. The expected contribution from students who stay in-state would be 0.5 percentage points less than for those who leave. Students entering the public sector and those who transfer into the system would pay 1 percentage point less, even on presumably smaller salary bases. Out-of-state and international students would pay 1 percentage point more than their in-state peers. Housing would also be incorporated into the program. Students would pay 0.65 percentage points more per year of living on campus, which would be paid for the first 10 years of the students' obligation."

iPad book publisher Inkling does its own free e-book platform:  "Habitat is free and cloud-based and is aimed at professional publishing houses — not just anyone who wants to try their hand at e-book creation. It allows publishers to create interactive books themselves."

eSpark Learning Turns Your iPad into a Teacher’s Assistant:  eSpark begins by evaluating students and helping them set academic goals. It then recommends relevant iPad apps, which are rated by teachers, and gives students “quests” to complete. After that, teachers and parents can see reports on student improvement on particular apps. This model has attracted partnerships with more than 27 school districts, including KIPP schools, Chicago Public Schools, and the Virginia Department of Education.

New App Tells Teachers When Students Are Confused:  Students can use it to post questions about the lecture, vote up questions their classmates have already submitted, set their statuses to “confused,” and contribute to polls and questions posted by the teacher.

New Report Looking at Community College Success Programs:  “74 percent of students said they were required to take academic-placement tests, but only 28 percent said they used materials or resources provided by the college to prepare for those tests. While 44 percent of participating colleges report offering some sort of test preparation, only 13 percent make test preparation mandatory.  (H/T Kay Steiger)