Mapping Jewish Education: The National Picture

Based on interviews as well as a database of Jewish educational organizations, foundations, and programs, examines their accomplishments, challenges, future directions, and links within a Jewish educational system. Highlights the role of foundations

Paying for Overhead: A Study of the Impact of Foundations' Overhead Payment Policies on Educational and Human Service Organizations

Examines the impact of foundations' overhead funding policies on educational and human services organizations, using data from two original surveys and six case studies

American Education Through a Chinese Lens

This June, a group of faculty members from Gettysburg College and K-12 teachers from York and Adams Counties travelled to China for four weeks of intensive cultural and educational exchange. This Gettysburg Fulbright Group Project Abroad in China studied the cultural and historical foundations of the Chinese educational system, as well as how this system is changing. Participants studied the larger policy context of the Chinese system and how those policies play out in the classroom. (excerpt

Does interdisciplinarity lead to higher employment growth of academic spinoffs?

Does heterogeneity in the educational backgrounds of the founders matter for firm success? Are team foundations more successful than single entrepreneurs? These questions are analysed using data on academic spinoffs in Germany. Firm success is measured by employment growth. I find that team foundations have higher employment growth than single entrepreneurs. Team foundations of engineers perform better when they have a business scientist in the team. However, different subjects per se and heterogeneity in the academic origins of the founders do not play a significant role for the employment growth of academic spinoffs. --human capital,entrepreneurship,academic spinoffs,employment growth

Reviews

Technology‐based Learning Environments: Psychological and Educational Foundations edited by S. Vosniadou, E. De Corte and H. Mandl, volume 137 in NATO ASI Series F (Computer and Systems Sciences), Berlin, Springer‐Verlag, ISBN: 0–387–58253–3, 1994

More research is needed into why France’s education system is failing the country’s growing multicultural population

France has a history of universal education that stretches back more than a century. However, this system has been marred in recent years by a decrease in student achievement, and recent reforms to address this problem have been less than effective. Paola Mattei calls into question the French education system’s ‘republican’ foundations and argues that further research is needed into the social and economic reasons why some students have lower educational outcomes

Endogenous fantasy and learning in digital games.

Many people believe that educational games are effective because they motivate children to actively engage in a learning activity as part of playing the game. However, seminal work by Malone (1981), exploring the motivational aspects of digital games, concluded that the educational effectiveness of a digital game depends on the way in which learning content is integrated into the fantasy context of the game. In particular, he claimed that content which is intrinsically related to the fantasy will produce better learning than that which is merely extrinsically related. However, this distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic (or endogenous and exogenous) fantasy is a concept that has developed a confused standing over the following years. This paper will address this confusion by providing a review and critique of the empirical and theoretical foundations of endogenous fantasy, and its relevance to creating educational digital games. Substantial concerns are raised about the empirical basis of this work and a theoretical critique of endogenous fantasy is offered, concluding that endogenous fantasy is a misnomer, in so far as the "integral and continuing relationship" of fantasy cannot be justified as a critical means of improving the effectiveness of educational digital games. An alternative perspective on the intrinsic integration of learning content is described, incorporating game mechanics, flow and representations

Widening the Doorways of Opportunity: Philanthropic Efforts to Strengthen Postsecondary Education and Skill Development Systems

Outlines foundations' expanding role in raising low-income families' postsecondary educational and skill attainment levels, the policy components of seven philanthropic reform initiatives, and recommendations for WPFP state partners for leveraging change

Brave New World: Can We Engineer a Better Start for Freshers?

Abstract - The crucial importance of first experiences in shaping future success has been widely acknowledged. Creating the best foundations in large cohorts of students from diverse backgrounds presents special problems of its own. But a secure foundation can enhance student achievement and improve retention – and the students may even have fun too. Research has suggested that building learning communities can enhance student engagement and achievement. This paper examines how introducing non-technical activities can establish sound foundations for a university career by a) addressing objectives in the wider curriculum and b) promoting non-technical skills and experience of group working. A set of changes introduced to five degree cohorts in our academic school were designed to complement enhancements to our technical curriculum introduced during many years of debate and consideration. The changes have impacted upon generic and technical educational experiences. The paper presents an evaluation of the programme of changes through two iterations from the perspective of both faculty and student