College » Carol J. Carter

“Extra Credit” Mindset or “Over Deliverer”: Who Would You Rather Hire?

Many of today’s students are familiar with the option of “extra credit” on an assignment. Many high school classes give this as an option. Yesterday, I spoke with a professor who works with freshmen at a major state university. He doesn’t believe in “extra credit” because he feels that students should want to do a quality job because it’s important not because they get extra brownie points. There may be a place and time for extra credit at the college level, but with some caveats.
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How Teachers Can Reinvent Themselves This Summer: Idea Soup

The most effective teachers, like the most effective students, are lifelong learners. While many schools require educators to have ongoing training and professional development, many educators can craft their own learning experiences just like the most motivated and active students. Teachers like this provide a model for students of vibrancy, imagination, and active learning; they prove to all of us that learning doesn’t end with a certificate or degree.

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Defining Unique Skills Powers Economic Success for Grads

In a competitive global market the soon-to-be college graduate and new professional needs to know their unique talents and abilities in order to stand out from the crowd. Our economy is recovering slowly; a shift in our schools and colleges can set new expectations to better prepare graduates for workforce realities. Many K-12 schools, whether out of choice or necessity, still teach to standardized tests and curriculums. However, the new professional is anything but standardized. The new professional is self-aware, stands out because of their ability to develop unique strengths, can connect their education to their career, is fully integrated into traditional and digital communication, and understands how to use personal discipline for professional advantage. If there isn’t enough time to emphasize this model in class, teachers can emphasize the importance of this exposure out of class.
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Skills to Succeed in the New Economy

Over the last few years, Americans have become more familiar with change. Our president’s campaign was based on change; our economy took a change for the worst and is making small steps to recovery; many members of our friends and families changed or lost careers; technology continues to change how we communicate, learn, listen to music, fight disease, etc. All of these factors have created a new economy that will only continue to get further away from what we know today (65 percent of kids in grade school are predicted to have jobs that don’t exist yet.¹)

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Professional Success Eclipses the Resume and Interview

You’re graduating this semester. Your resume is clean, you have your reference letters in order, your suit is pressed, and you feel confident your school trained you in the skills you need to land an entry-level job and climb up the career ladder. But are you sure you’re not missing anything?
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Do All Students Share a Universal Learning Style?

Since 2008, researchers have been conducting studies which have challenged the idea that students have different learning styles, according to Annie Murphy Paul in the article “Do Students Really Have Different Learning Styles?” Studies have shown that students do have preferred ways of learning, but that the mode in which information is presented — whether using kinesthetic, auditory, or visual lessons — has no effect on their ability to “absorb information”. What is useful, and where I differ from the research Paul’s references, is the critical area of learning styles and self knowledge: to make a better commitment to study to how you learn, to link learning to careers and fields which match your abilities, and to manage both learning strengths and weaknesses.
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The Real Cost of Cutting Art Programs for Low-Income Kids

Education in the arts can do more than boost a student’s creativity. A new report by the National Endowment for the Arts shows high school students who had “arts-rich experiences” had a higher overall GPA than students who weren’t involved in the arts. The report also found disadvantaged high school students involved in the arts were more likely to enroll in competitive colleges than their peers who weren’t involved, according to the article “Arts Involvement Narrows Student Achievement Gap.“

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Today’s College Students Have New Demands from Institutions

What made your no. 1 college choice stand out from the rest?

Over the last 45 years, the most popular factor in choosing the right college is still the institution’s academic reputation, according to the Chronicle. However, according to preliminary evidence from a new study by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, today’s college students have many changing factors and demands than students did 40 years ago.

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Students Speak-up for their Technological Rights

Some schools choose to ban technology, saying it’s not that complicated and kids will learn it later. Other classrooms fully embrace technology to open windows to new worlds, including their own. But for many schools, financial restraints make the choice for them. Recently a group of inner-city students from Los Angeles who were fated with a technology depleted school decided instead of accepting their circumstances, they should set out to to start a revolution and change them, according to the Mind/Shift article “Students Demand the Right to Use Technology in Schools.”

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Crucial to Build Critical Thinking Skills in K-12 for College, Career and Life

In 2011, an unprecedented study found forty-five percent of students made no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during the first two years of college. Many were stunned by the number of college students entering and graduating from college without critical thinking skills, a core 21st century skill necessary for making smart personal and professional decisions.
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