In Defense Of College Humanities

By Danika McClure

Last month, Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin, told reporters that he wants to reprogram the state’s higher education funds, offering more money to public universities which produce higher numbers of STEM graduates, and less to schools who produce liberal arts graduates. With this shift, the newly elected governor hopes to solve the state’s notable workforce problem.

“There will be more incentives to electrical engineers than French literature majors,” Bevin told the Associated Press, when announcing his state spending proposal. “All the people in the world that want to study French literature can do so, they are just not going to be subsidized by the taxpayer.”

His proposal has come across to many as hypocritical, given that Bevin received an undergraduate degree in Japanese and East Asian studies from Washington and Lee University, a private, liberal arts institution. But beyond that obvious hypocrisy, there are many that believe that Governor Bevin has a brash misunderstanding of what makes a college education valuable.

At the center of the debate is the question of whether subsidized higher education benefits society solely for its vocational outcomes, as opposed to a less tangible, but potentially just as important factor of a well-rounded education that creates broad thinkers rather than simply preparing them for a specific job.

The escalating cost of education has led many to question whether or not they should attend college in the first place. As such, Americans are looking at their individual tuition ROI, and questioning the purpose of non-career oriented learning. As such, liberal arts education has been branded as a waste of time and money.

In an interview with EvoLLution, Boston University professor Jay Halfond speaks to the dangers of this line of thinking, stating, “In my view, it is dangerous and even corrupting to proceed down a path that shows that higher education ensures lucrative jobs soon after graduation. But we need to do a far better job demonstrating the relevance of a broad, general education, while linking what we teach to what is critical in the professional world.”

Education that is rooted in the liberal arts teaches students a variety of marketable skills, chief among them precise communication skills, appreciation of creative expression, the ability to think critically and consider historical and cultural perspectives.. By focusing on excluding funding for academic studies which don’t directly enhance workforce development, many believe Bevin shows a lack of understanding of the role of higher education in the American workforce.

“The objective of public universities should not be to produce predetermined numbers of particular types of majors but, rather, to focus on how to produce individuals who are capable of learning anything over the course of their lifetimes” Arizona State University President Michael Crow writes in an article on Slate. “Every college student should acquire thorough literacy in science and technology as well as the humanities and social sciences.  “

Through a liberal arts education, students become literate in a variety of different disciplines, which prepares them not only for a lifetime of learning, but additionally gives them the skills necessary to adapt in any given career path. Crow notes later that with the professional sector being so interconnected, students will need to learn a variety of skill sets in order to be able to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

The governor is correct in one matter: America is facing a STEM crisis, and the need to advance STEM education ought not be understated. Continued scientific discovery and technological advancement is imperative to America’s position in the global economy, and educators should emphasize the importance of increasing students’ literacy in these areas.

That said, there are other complex issues which confront our country, issues which will require expertise in more than just technology and science. America’s future also relies on people who are capable of engaging in civil discourse with world leaders, people who are able influence public policy, and people who create innovative art. These are skills which won’t necessarily be obtained by taking a course load full of only science and math classes.

“At the end of the day the objective of our universities, both public and private, should be to create teaching, learning, and discovery environments capable of producing learners of the highest caliber,” Crow added, emphasizing the importance of students learning the skills necessary to adapt to a variety of work environments, where they can “unleash and utilize their innate capacities and creative potential.”

Students who learn these skill sets will be able to apply them not only to careers in science and technology, but will allow them to establish new business enterprises, create social change, and stimulate creative innovation in a variety of sectors of our economy.

If universities stick to the mission of creating “learners of the highest caliber”, the next wave of economic innovation might come from a French literature major.

Danika McClure is a writer and musician from the northwest who sometimes takes a 30 minute break from feminism to enjoy a tv show. You can follow her on twitter @sadwhitegrrl

10 Tools for Writing a College Application Essay

By Anna Olinger

Your college application essay is one of the most important essays you will ever write. Not only will it determine whether or not you are accepted into your choice college, but it also might affect scholarships and financial aid. It’s essential that you put a lot of time into the process. These websites will help you write a killer admissions essay!

1. Shmoop: College 101

This collection of well-written college admissions essays is divided into categories like “emotional hardship,” “no one special,” and “Minority.” You can read through the essays to get an idea of how to structure your ideas or to gain inspiration.

2. NY Times Admission Letter Advice

In this article, Martha C. Merrill, the dean of admissions and financial aid at Connecticut College, offers her professional insight to help you write a winning application and admission essay. Among her pieces of advice, she recommends that students write about themselves and focus on a mundane activity or event.

3. Essays Capital

Essays Capital is a custom writing service that can help you write a great admissions essay. There are a lot of essay writing services to choose from. Essays Capital differentiates itself by incorporating your preferences and ideas into the text. They also take the time to get to know your writing style and tone, so the finished product sounds like you wrote it.

4. The Writing Center

The Writing Center offers a step-by-step guide to writing a great college application. The site is broken into categories, beginning with how to select a thesis and basic research principles, and culminating in a conclusion that will leave an impact on the reader.

5. Essays That Worked

John Hopkins University put out this list of the best admissions essays from the class of 2019. The eight essays vary widely by topic, but they are all engaging, interesting, and well-crafted.

6. Writing.com

Writing.com is a community for writers of all types. Create a profile, and upload your essay to get feedback from other members. You can also use the site to enter contests, and access writing tools and resources.

7. College Papers For Sale

Are you stressing about writing your admissions essay? Would you like some assistance from a professional writing service? College Papers for Sale might be the answer. The service can provide a high-quality admissions essay based on the message you would like to share with the reader. Prices start at $19.99 for a one-page essay.

8. Top 141 Successful College Essays

This comprehensive list of college admissions essays is a wonderful resource for anyone looking for inspiration or guidance. Each essay includes the school for which it was written. You could honestly spend hours on this site, captivated with the compelling stories contained within the essays. You’re bound to find something similar to your own story; you can start there and see where your imagination takes you.

9. Spark Notes Sample Essays

In case you haven’t yet had your fill of winning college essays, you can find more of them here! These have the added benefit of including the original essay prompt as provided by the school.

10. Writing The College Application Essay

This is an excellent guide to writing the perfect college admission essay. It divides the writing process into four steps: brainstorming, writing, revising for style, and revising for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It further expounds on each step to walk you through the process in a simple and easy to understand manner.

Now that you have the tools to help you succeed, it’s time to get started. Find a great study space, set aside a few hours, and get started on your outline. Your future is waiting!

Anna Olinger is a freelance content manager from Washington, DC. To learn more tips on content marketing, writing and social media follow Anna on Twitter and Linkedin.

High School Diplomas and Career and College Readiness: Time to Get Serious

By Marc Tucker, education week

In my last blog, I said that I would begin a series of blogs intended for states that decide they want an education system second to none in the world. This blog lays out a proposal for a high school diploma that really means something, one that signifies that the graduate who holds that diploma is ready to succeed in the first year of most state two-year and four-year colleges, and is therefore ready for both college and career, since most serious career education these days takes place in our community colleges. I will also show how once this new high school diploma is in place, it can be used to build an accountability system that holds our schools accountable for student performance, holds our students accountable for taking tough courses and working hard in school, and includes features designed expressly to improve student performance across the board.

These two key policies embedded within my proposal, one dealing with what it takes to graduate from high school and the other with the accountability of both students and their teachers for their performance, are two sides of one coin.  One defines what adequate performance means in very clear terms and the other provides strong incentives for both faculty and students to perform at the required levels.  In my mind, the drive to create an education system set to global standards begins right here. You cannot design a high-performance system unless you know what it is intended to achieve.  Nor can any student reach the standard or any teacher help the student get there unless they know what the standard is. Get the standards and the incentives for reaching them right and you are halfway there.

This sounds simple enough, but it is exactly opposite of how our system functions now.  Everyone, apparently, agrees that all students should leave high school ready for work and college.  But what does that mean?  Does “work” mean flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s or doing specialty welding?  Does “college” mean the local diploma mill, which will take the federal money of any student who brings it in or the state’s flagship university?  Did you know that many states leave it up to the local district to decide what criteria to use for granting a high school diploma?  Or that most require a certain number of years of math in high school, but that a high school course in algebra often has no algebra in it?  Or that few if any states require their students to have more than an 8th grade level of literacy to graduate?

College and work ready ought to mean leaving high school with at least the literacy levels needed to be successful in the first year of a community college program.  That’s because about half the students in our community colleges seeking some sort of degree or certificate are in programs designed to prepare them for the last two years of a four-year college program and the other half are there to get a two-year degree or certificate in a vocational area.  Our community colleges are the nation’s gateway to both college and work.

Here are some facts I would have you consider when thinking about what it might mean to be college and work ready.  The typical community college first year course text is written at the 12th-grade level, but the students cannot read it because the typical high school text is written at the 7th- or 8th-grade level.  Community college instructors report that they have to prepare PowerPoint summaries of the texts because their first year students cannot comprehend what they are reading.  They do not ask their students to write very much because they write very poorly and the community college instructors do not see themselves as teachers of beginning writing.  Very little knowledge of high school math is required to be successful in our community colleges, but the majority of incoming high school graduates cannot do the math that is taught in the first-year community college program, because they have a very poor command of middle school math.  We conclude that our high schools are graduating students in very large numbers who are not ready for a high school curriculum, never mind a college curriculum.

States need to create a new, performance-based, high school diploma that signifies that the holder is ready to be successful in the first year of a typical state two-year or four-year program.  That is admittedly a low standard, but it is a far higher standard than most high school diplomas are set to currently.  That standard should be expressed as the grades a student would have to get in their high school courses, the syllabi for which are issued by the state.  Those grades should be based on exams the state also sets, which should be based on the required courses.  These exams would be externally graded by teachers, but not by the student’s teachers.  The course sequences should be designed so that all the required coursework could be completed by students who were ready to take the exams by the end of their sophomore year, but all students in the high school would be expected to complete these courses with passing grades by the end of their senior year.

Students completing and passing the courses in the core curriculum would be well-prepared to take a very demanding academic program preparing them for admission to a selective college, like the International Baccalaureate, the Advanced Placement Diploma Program or the University of Cambridge “A” Level program.  Or the student could take a demanding vocational program after completing the core curriculum, either one offered in their high school or one offered by their community college in collaboration with their high school.  These vocational programs, unlike many now offered by our high schools, would not be for students with low academic skills, because these students’ academic skills would be much higher than those of today’s typical high school graduate, but for students who wanted an applied, hands-on kind of program that conveys high technical skills, the kind of program we see in the world’s top-performing vocational education systems such as Singapore and Switzerland.

In this system, a student could meet the college- and-work-ready standard at any time between the end of their sophomore year and the end of their senior year, depending mainly on how well prepared the student is coming into high school.  The standard is fixed and the time a student takes to reach it varies, the opposite of today’s system. High schools would be obligated to assess the skills of their entering first-year students and create programs for them designed to take them from wherever they start to the standard just described.  Some students who start out behind will need more time during the day and week than others to catch up.  Others might enter high school so far behind that it takes them three or even four years to get to the new diploma standard.  Either way, they would be leaving high school having met a standard far higher than the one they are expected to meet now, a standard that will open many doors now closed to them.

In this system, there would be no question about what it means to be college and work ready. All the evidence shows that when students know what they have to do to realize their own dream they will put in the effort needed to get there.  Many more students would be ready for selective colleges, but many more would also be ready for success in the state’s open admissions colleges and first-rate technical education programs.  We would be doing high school in high school, not in college, and therefore saving enormous amounts of money for both states and families.  We would have more brain surgeons and more specialty welders.  The middle class would swell and stop shrinking.  Employers would be much more likely to find the skilled labor they need.  Young people who now leave school with very bleak prospects would leave high ready for a full and rewarding life.

We should build a new accountability system around the new diploma.  High schools would be held accountable for the proportion of students who get the new diploma and how long it takes to get it; the proportion of students from protected populations who get it and how long it takes them to do so; the proportion of students who leave high school to go to community colleges who complete two-year degrees in four years and four-year degrees in six years; and the proportion of students who enroll in college prep programs and their success rate, as well as the proportion that actually get into college. All of these metrics would be reported in absolute terms, in terms that show year-to-year growth for students and for the school and in terms that allow the observer to compare the school to schools with similar student populations.  If you are a state that is serious about getting your students ready for careers and college, these are the things you should be measuring.

Many states are now considering using the SAT or ACT as their state test to determine college and work readiness. Such a system is no substitute for the kind of system I have just described.  One of the powerful features of this system is the way it is based on specific course designs.  Students know just what they have to study to succeed.  If the exams are essay-based, as they should be, the state should release the test questions every year as well as examples of student responses that earned high marks.  The real standard is not just the statement about what the student is expected to learn that appears in the course syllabus, but also the vivid examples of what good student work looks like.  In this system, students know what they have to do to get high grades, their teachers know where they are strong and weak and can help the students improve where they have to improve.  When you get SAT and ACT scores, they tell you nothing about the kind of work that gets high marks, what good work looks like, where the student did well and where she did badly.  It is all a mystery.  The best accountability systems are not designed primarily to administer punishments.  They are designed to improve student performance.  That is exactly what this one is designed to do.

How to Start Learning Better and Faster In College

By Andrew Howe

 The educational process needs both time and efforts, so most students give up studying. The problem is they don’t know how to boost productivity and inspiration, and if you are among them, it’s high time to understand how to start learning better and faster.

Here are several productivity tips for students:

 Stick to a Schedule

 By communicating with recent graduates, you can learn what helped them succeed in education. And, believe it or not, but most graduates would agree that schedule helps a lot in the educational process organization. Although you have your lessons scheduled, you might forget about the need to stick to a schedule while studying at home.

Remember: it’s nearly impossible to stay focused when you don’t have time limits for completing tasks. Thus, sticking to a schedule is a must. For example, you can get rid of different distractions (social media, TV, calls, etc.), and dedicate 2-3 hours to learning. Once your tasks are done, you can relax and spend time with friends. It boosts not only productivity but motivation as well.

 Workplace Organization

Being a student means trying to succeed in education and personal communication. Although most students sacrifice the quality of their education, trying to find time to spend with friends, and workplace organization can help to save both time and efforts.

If your writing desk has no distractions, it’s more likely you can study faster and complete tasks on a high level. Just form a habit to clean your desk daily and find a place for every item you use daily: hide notes, put books on bookshelves, throw away drafts, and keep utensils in one place.

Make the Most Out of Devices

 Living in the digital era, the educational process has changed, so students spend most of the time doing home assignments with the digital technologies. There is no need to say that students write essays, read books, and even keep on learning online. However, not so many of them use all modern gadgets that might save time and help them become more productive.

To start learning better and faster, pay attention to the following devices:

• A smartpen. It helps to transfer handwritten texts into digital copies. Plus, it can be used as a calculator or an audio recorder if needed.

• An E-reader. Nowadays there is no need to carry heavy books with you. Download it to your E-reader and start reading it! Now you can read books, articles, and notes wherever you are.

• Noise-canceling headphones. To get rid of distractions, it’s enough to take noise-canceling headphones that reduce ambient sounds. It helps students study better.

E-Learning and M-Learning

Although MOOCs are becoming more popular nowadays, people start thinking about m-learning as well. Let’s be real: being an iPhone owner, it’s easy to get different educational tools and apps that might help you succeed in education. Plus, you can use it wherever you are. M-Learning has a range of reasons, so the number of students who are involved is getting higher.

Actually, online education helps to save time, efforts, and money. Once you pick a course or an app, start learning something new. It’s easier than never.

To learn more about the best apps for your iPhone, check out a list of apps for college students.

Collaboration with Other Students

 Although some teachers are against such ‘tasks sharing’, it’s important to remember that students learn how to act as a team and, therefore, it’s a great team-building tool. Collaborating with other students, you can share your knowledge, get an insight, broaden the mind, and get things done faster.

Plus, while some students are afraid of asking additional questions to teachers, they can rely on their group mates to understand the material better. All in all, it helps to deeper learning and understanding, so you start learning better.

Final Thoughts

 Being productive, you can achieve success in education and, therefore, start living a better life. There is one important thing for you to remember and keep in mind while studying: it’s you who need to obtain strong knowledge, so roll up your sleeves and boost productivity once and for all!

 Author’s bio: Andrew Howe is a student at Queens University of Charlotte where he studies language and literature. He has developed a useful tool Adverbless to give students a chance to improve their writing skills.

Contact Andrew via email: andrewhowe306@gmail.com

Community Colleges Collaborating to Improve Student Success

As the national movement to increase community college access continues to gain momentum, a new report from Higher Ed for Higher Standards suggests that these efforts will be much more successful if they include clear strategies for increasing college readiness so students are better prepared for success.

Produced in partnership with American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), this action-oriented report outlines key steps community colleges can take to improve college readiness and completion rates by leveraging the more ambitious K-12 standards & assessments most states have adopted.

The report bases its recommendations on examples of community colleges around the country that have adopted innovative approaches to working with their local high schools to increase college readiness rates, while also changing their approaches to placement and first year course design to improve student success. The recommendations cover three critical areas:

• Precollege interventions to help students speed up and catch up
•  Streamlined placement policies to smooth student transitions
• Redesigned freshman year experiences to meet student needs and maximize their chances for success

Money-Saving Habits to Develop in College For The Real World

By Jane Hurst

College life is great, and many young people really want to live it up and get all that they can out of the college experience. What many people don’t realize is that they are not actually getting all that they could be getting out of the experience. Sure, this is a great time to party, but it is also a time to learn, and not just about the subjects you are studying. These are the years that are going to prepare you for life in the real world. Real life is expensive, so now is the time to take advantage of learning money-saving habits now that will help you in the real world.

• Choose the Best College for Your Money – You can choose from any college, but they are not all the same. They don’t all offer the same curriculum, and they don’t offer the same tuition rates. What you need to do is sit down and figure out which college is going to give you the most bang for your buck. One school may have a course you really want to take, but if the tuition is out of this world, is it really going to be worth it to you when you are looking at many years of student loan payments?
• Look for Free Food and other Deals – As a student, it’s not like you are going to have a lot of extra spending money. You will likely be living on a tight budget, so you will need to look for ways to stretch your budget. Take advantage of free food offers, student discounts, and anything else that will help you save money. This will help you in the future, because you will be skilled at finding the best deals.
• Buy Knockoffs – If you really want to have that great audio/visual system or designer handbag, look for knockoffs that are a lot cheaper. This approach can work for items you actually need, too. Here’s an example: say you ran over a pothole, damaged your rim and need to  replace it. The dealership charges an arm and a leg, so you go online and find the same replacement replica rim at a fraction of the cost. Bottom line: When you want to buy something, see if there’s a quality alternative that will save you money.
• Make Money from Old Textbooks – The textbooks you need are expensive, and chances are, after you are finished a semester, you will never open that semester’s books again. You can recoup some of the money you spend on your textbooks, and use it for books for the next semester and other things you need, or put it into savings for the future. You can choose to rent your textbooks, or sell them outright.
• Hone Your Research Skills – You may think that you are wasting your time researching subjects until the wee hours. But, not only is this going to help you get better grades, it is also helping to prepare you for the real world. For instance, there will likely come a time when you want to purchase a home. You will need to do a lot of research to make sure you get the right home at the right price, and the research skills you learn now will come into play.
• Get Roommates – It isn’t uncommon at all for college students to live together in order to save money. There is also absolutely no reason not to continue doing this once you are out of college. Sure, you don’t have complete privacy, but with all of your experience in college, you will know the little tricks you can use to be able to live comfortably with others.

Byline:

Jane Hurst has been working in education for over 5 years as a teacher. She loves sharing her knowledge with students, is fascinated about edtech and loves reading, a lot. Follow Jane on Twitter!

5 Tips to Succeed After College

By Taylor Tomita

Careful planning and critical thinking are vastly essential as we traverse through the college world. Pinpointing which professional field to major in, surviving the college life on miniscule incomes, and allowing yourself to take on new opportunities are all tasks that require these characteristics in order to succeed.

The truth is, things are not much different after college. Venturing out and succeeding within the “after college” world holds a strong calling for these characteristics. It is vital to carry them as you venture out within the world. Thankfully there are many tips and tricks to aid you on this journey.

Here are the 5 best pieces of advice I have heard for individuals aiming for success in the after college world.

Ask for Help

Asking your peers for help is a tactic that is often overlooked. There are a number of successful individuals within the working world who were once in the same position you may be – lost. It is important to understand that there are numerous opportunities to gain insights and knowledge from industry experts and colleagues, and these people are almost always willing to help. Seeking guidance shows that you are dedicated to mastering the field in which you work, and is often encouraged by employers throughout the world.

Be Presentable

As you venture out into the job-seeking world, it is highly important to make yourself presentable on both a physical and emotional level. This means, not only should you dress for the job you want, but you should focus on being respectful and charismatic so you can overcome these tough interview questions that have hindered many job seeker’s interview attempts in the past.

Take Risks

Many fresh college graduates miss out on a vast majority of opportunities due to being too nervous or scared to take risks. Enormous opportunities often arise from taking risks like relocating to a more prosperous city or even taking a chance by working for a growing startup company. It is important to take a step back and understand that this time of our lives is meant for taking risks. If things do not work out, there are a plethora of other opportunities waiting for our arrival.

Keep Learning

No matter what you have majored in, it is vital to continue taking in new information about the industry. Many individuals seem to plateau their learning after graduating, but this severely hinders their ability to move forward. There are always opportunities to expand your education and many employers will be impressed to see you have earned a degree, but have also taken initiative to be certified in various other aspects of the career. It never hurts to take in more information, and who knows, perhaps doing so will help land another position within your current career or help expand further into new opportunities.

Don’t Limit Yourself

Often times, college graduates fall under the mercy of bad employment deals, because they are not confident in their ability to factor their needs into their job. Of course, we all have high expectations of how our futures and careers will pan out, but an enormous factor in this success is knowing how to negotiate salaries and understanding that good employers encourage this to help you stay motivated. The sky is the limit, but you are going to have to put the effort in.

Overall, the after college world can be a rollercoaster ride, but being able to stay motivated and striving to succeed will open many opportunities along the way.

Thank you for reading. Let’s keep the conversation going. What tips do you have to succeed after college?

Author Bio: Taylor Tomita is a creative writer residing in Boise, Idaho. Focusing on various angles of education and business, Taylor has been able to help many individuals overcome concerns within these fields. When not writing, you can find Taylor playing in the band Stepbrothers or hanging out with his cat at home. Follow him on Twitter (@Trvshlvrd_rr)!

How to Continue Education after College

By Melissa Burns

Many students perceive their years at college as a surefire ticket into the adult life and a high-paying job. Never again are they going to study – serious work and career achievements is what awaits them.

Nothing can be further from the truth – at least if you really want any achievements. Education shouldn’t necessarily be formal and result in a diploma, but without ongoing self-improvement nobody can amount to much nowadays. So let’s talk about how you can get this self-improvement.

1.      Listen to Local Lectures and Readings

If you keep your eyes peeled you will find no end of open lectures, readings, conferences, appearances of well-known speakers, professors and authors in your vicinity. Sign up for the newsletters on the websites of local universities, bookstores, companies working in the industry you are interested in, writers and artists you want to hear. There are always interesting events to attend, so make sure you know of them.

2.      Online Education

There is a lot to say in support of online education and not really much to find fault with, as its negative aspects are quickly being rectified with the development of new methods and technologies. Even large companies, notoriously conservative in everything that concerns the education of their employees, more and more often choose online education in favor of any other approach as it shows itself to be more efficient, occupying less time, easier to arrange and faster to take hold. Click here to learn more.

3.      Find a Mentor

Learning from other people is probably the most effective way to find out new things. If you make it your rule to talk with specialists on unfamiliar topics from time to time, you will be amazed how much you can learn in a couple of hours by simply talking and listening.

Don’t know where to find a mentor? Ask around. One of your friends, relatives or acquaintances may turn out to be an expert in an unexpected field or know somebody who will be happy to chat with you on a topic you are interested in. But you have to ask – mentors don’t just appear, you have to actively look for them.

4.      Read

Reading may not be very popular in our age of five-second attention spans, but in all its history humankind is yet to find a better way to store and transfer knowledge than text. Reading is equally useful no matter what area you work on. If you want to learn more about the industry of your choice, read a non-fiction book on it. If you work in a creative field, read some fiction or poetry to get inspiration.

5.      Listen to Podcasts

Podcasts like Radiolab are ideal for these periods when we are performing some kind of mechanical, unthinking activity, like driving, jogging or cleaning up your place. They let you find out about all kinds of things you had no idea of without changing the routine of your day.

Learning after college is a must; it enhances your career, enriches your life and opens up new vistas for further development – and, as you may see, it doesn’t necessarily take up the lion share of your time.

Melissa Burns graduated from the faculty of Journalism of Iowa State University in 2008. Nowadays she  is an entrepreneur and independent journalist. Her sphere of interests includes startups, information technologies and how these ones may be implemented. – See more at: https://collegepuzzle.stanford.edu/?p=4955#sthash.Unf28FUO.dpuf

– See more at: https://collegepuzzle.stanford.edu/?p=5035#sthash.GX7DZwfE.dpuf

Should We Encourage Students To Take 15 Credits Per Semester?

Instagram as an Educational Tool for College Students

Instagram as an Educational Tool for Students

  Instagram is the most important social network for American teens, and the number of registered youth is growing rapidly. While most teens use Instagram for posting their photos and videos, it’s not just about your selfies, food and fitness photos, and likes/reposts.

As the Internet makes the educational process more interesting than ever, teachers should jump at the opportunity to get the most out of this progress. Thus, it’s a great idea to start using social networks in the classroom.

Look:

Instagram can become a great educational tool that makes the educational process unique, interesting, and insightful.

If you want to develop (or improve) some useful skills, start using Instagram right now.

Here comes a list of reasons why using Instagram is beneficial:

Develop creativity  Most Instagram users want to surprise their audience with great images, so they start making different photos, editing them, and publishing on the web. If you use Instagram, you might notice that there are many spammy photos. However, people do their best to become unique, and it helps to develop creativity.

Become tech-savvy. The Internet has become a main source of information and the best communication tool. It gives so many opportunity to tech-savvy users that it’s nearly impossible to stop using it. Thus, students should learn how to be tech-savvy, and using social networks is a way to become a proficient user as well.

 Learn from gurus. Nowadays most gurus in all niches have their accounts on Instagram. They share not only personal photos but their stories and tips as well. Thus, students can find a person who is a source of inspiration and start following this profile.

 Online studying. Students prefer interesting ways of studying, and Instagram helps to make the educational process unique. Teachers can give creative assignments that can be evaluated via Instagram (attending galleries, creating photo essays, making videos, etc.). Once a home assignment is done, ask a student to tag a teacher to get a mark.

 Team building. No matter how big your group is, you can create a class account where all educational moments would be represented. Make photos, share tasks, write comments and keep in touch with your class even when you are on holidays. It helps to build a strong team as it shows group’s membership.

Does the number of followers matter?

Most Instagram users want to get more and more followers. They even start cheating to attract more readers, but it won’t work.

Obviously, the more followers you have, the more likely your content will be shared. However, quantity is over quantity, so having just the number is not enough. People should be interested in what you’re publishing. So, you need to attract relevant followers only.

Once you decided it’s high time to increase the number of likes on your profile, find out 5 easy ways to boost your followers on Instagram.

The Best Accounts to Follow

 Finding inspiration on Instagram is a great thing to do. If you want to get motivation, you can search for images, using relevant hashtags (#students, #student_life, #college, etc.), but don’t forget to follow those accounts that inspire you the most. Here are top 3 accounts that can give you a motivation boost.

@coryrichard  a National Geographic photographer and adventurer who loves traveling, filming, and climbing. His photos show the beauty of our world and, therefore, inspire.

reasons to follow: see the world, get inspiration.

@edutopia – if you want to get an insight or find out interesting tips on learning, you need to start following this account. It is useful for both students and teachers.

reasons to follow: boost motivation, life hacks, useful tips.

@amnh – even if you believe that you know almost everything about history, you need to start following the official Instagram page of the American Museum of Natural History.

reasons to follow: learn history, discover interesting facts and things about the history.

Living in the digital era, teachers and students cannot stop technological progress, and being in a trend is important. Next time you log in your Instagram account, look for insights on the web to broaden your mind. The educational process should be interesting, funny, and motivational, so don’t miss a chance to start learning better.

P.S. Although most people have watched this video parody about typical Instagram users, it’s still funny. Enjoy and keep in mind that Instagram is much more than mediocre photos people post daily.

Author’s bio: Andrew Howe is a student at Queens University of Charlotte where he studies language and literature. He has developed a useful tool Adverbless to give students a chance to improve their writing skills.