UCLA students set organic chemistry to music, from Beatles to Lady Gaga
By now, the word is out at UCLA that undergraduates in Neil Garg’s organic chemistry course produce clever, creative music videos as an extra-credit assignment. The bigger secret may be just how much chemistry they learn by doing so, as none of them are chemistry majors and most admit they didn’t like chemistry when the class started. (more…)
Students from around the world will have the opportunity to take a Yale course this summer even if they are unable to come to campus.
The University is embarking on an experimental pilot program to offer Yale Summer Session courses, all taught by noted Yale faculty members, through an online platform. The overall program involves four Yale Summer Session courses, with two of the four courses available for credit. The five-week, for-credit courses are open to current college students and others beyond college. Students apply for admission to the courses as they would for any in-resident Yale Summer Session course. (more…)
How Yale’s newest graduates make their imprint on the world and on history will be determined by how well they handle fear and inspire faith, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks told the seniors in his Class Day address on May 22.
In the ceremony on the Old Campus, Hanks urged the soon-to-be graduates to begin their future by coming to the aid of the U.S. veterans of the Iran and Afghan wars, whose “faith in themselves is shadowed by the fear of not knowing what is expected of them next,” he said. (more…)
Interactive teaching methods significantly improved attendance and doubled both engagement and learning in a large physics class, according to a University of British Columbia study involving University of Colorado Boulder Distinguished Professor Carl Wieman that is being published today in Science. (more…)
*Microsoft employee Larry Venter, a native South African, had a hunch that Kinect for Xbox 360 could help the children at a rural school in his hometown get excited about learning English and that gaming could help in the fight against widespread illiteracy.*
REDMOND, Wash. – A story that began with a mischievous Icelandic volcano has ended happily with South African schoolchildren using Kinect for Xbox 360 to learn English. (more…)
It’s official. Yale is making the switch from its current email system to Google Apps for Education — a move that is expected to cut costs and free up resources, while expanding the features available to the Yale community.
“This will be a huge improvement for students, who will benefit not only from a better Web-based email client, but also from the entire suite of Google Apps for Education: Google Talk, Groups, Docs, Sites and Calendar,” says Chuck Powell, associate CIO for operations, support and services at Information Technology Services (ITS). He also noted that the switch means that ITS has one less commodity service to provide, which frees up time to work on more institutionally-important initiatives that outside vendors like Google can’t deliver. (more…)
Opposites don’t always attract. A study from North Carolina State University shows that participants are happier – and perform better – when the electronic helpers used in online training programs resemble the participants themselves.
“It is important that the people who design online training programs understand that one size does not fit all,” says Dr. Lori Foster Thompson, an associate professor of psychology at NC State and co-author of the study. “Efforts to program helper agents that may be tailored to individuals can yield very positive results for the people taking the training.” (more…)
Open Yale Courses, which will be releasing another set of undergraduate courses this spring, has added a new dimension to its offering by engaging in a social networking pilot project with the website OpenStudy.
OpenStudy is designed to connect users in a study group that allows them to collaborate in real time on open content regardless of their location. For example, if a person viewing Yale economist Robert Shiller’s lecture on behavioral finance in Beijing is unclear on an issue, he can post his question to the course’s study group and receive assistance from a fellow Open Yale Courses user in São Paulo. (more…)
