In a speech before a group of career-college executives and lobbyists, freshman Representative Jason Altmire hinted that he would look out for the sector's interests in a coming conference between the House of Representatives and the Senate on legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Referring to a provision in the bill that would…

Mark David Milliron, founder and chief executive of Catalyze Learning International, believes that all types of educational institutions--from elementary schools to universities--should be having conversations about the way they use information technology. In particular, Milliron believes technology will play a crucial role at community colleges…

First-year college students are significantly more likely to drop out if their high-stakes "gatekeeper courses" are taught by part-time instructors, according to the findings of a study presented during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association last week. The paper is the latest in a long parade of studies suggesting that…

In March the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a preliminary decision that could have significant ramifications for universities that use course-management software, as well as for the companies that make it. The "nonfinal" decision rejects all 44 claims Blackboard Inc. made for its controversial patent of an online-learning system.…

The author has what most people would agree is a pretty cool gig: he studies pop culture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which means he has written scholarly articles about "Star Trek" fans, video games, and pro wrestling, among other topics. He is also one of the directors of the institute's comparative-media-studies program, which…

Professors select readings for their students in different forms: printed matter, including books and journals; print-on-demand texts; and online material. Before long, enough books and articles will be available for downloading onto devices like the Sony Reader and Amazon.com's new Kindle to make that format another option. They consider a wide…

From 1895, the traditional date for the birth of cinema as everybody knows it (that is, the projection of celluloid, in public space, for money--a racket first stumbled upon by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in the basement of the Grand Cafe in Paris), until now, the 35mm photographic image has been the preferred canvas for motion-picture art. Through…

Colleges and universities, ever more mindful of campus safety, are installing outdoor sirens. The systems can blast spoken messages or tone alerts of danger--and one of the preset messages on many of the public-address systems warns: "There is a shooter on campus. Seek shelter immediately." As college officials reviewed their…

African professors are often asked by Americans at academic gatherings, campus events, and informal social gatherings what they think of the never-ending civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the genocide in Sudan, anarchy in Somalia, last year's disastrous elections in Nigeria, the Kenyan political crisis, and other problems. Whether…

Revitalization is what Morningside College had in mind in 2006, when it lifted a ban against eating in the library. That is when its library cafe, which opened a year earlier, began offering sandwiches and soups that could be carried into study areas and computer labs. Morningside has joined those that are casting aside their libraries' stuffy…

The University of Massachusetts has announced that it will offer 40 online courses to students in China in the spring of 2009, but there are some hurdles to overcome. The program has not officially been approved by China's Ministry of Education, and college officials who have been through the ministry-approval process say UMass and other colleges…

The day after a Virginia Tech student gunned down 32 people last April, a young alumnus named Johnson Wagner donned a baseball cap with the VT logo. Then a rookie golfer on the PGA Tour, Mr. Wagner wore the hat while competing in a tournament in South Carolina. There, he voiced a concern shared by many people in Blacksburg, Virginia: "I simply…

Three reports on last April's shootings left Virginia Tech under a mountain of recommendations--roughly 400 in all. So far the university has dealt with some of the most significant ones. Virginia Tech established an emergency-notification system, created a team to assess at-risk students and employees, and hired additional police officers and…

Following the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, the author has repeatedly been asked, as a former director of the Student Counseling and Resource Service at the University of Chicago and clinical associate professor of psychiatry, two questions: "Could this have been prevented?" and "How can we ensure that it…

In the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, a number of state legislatures are considering bills that would allow people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. The author recently spoke at a conference on higher-education law, sponsored by Stetson University and the National Association of Student…