Archive for May, 2009

Starting today, my Twitter account @JoeyColeman is integrated with my Maclean’s blog. I will be creating a personal account on the weekend.

Starting today, my Twitter account @JoeyColeman is integrated with my Maclean’s blog. I will be creating a personal account on the weekend.

Links update at all hours of the day and night: www.delicious.com/JoeyColeman

I read a lot of higher education news each day. Unfortunately, I generally don’t do anything useful with that information.

I began using Delicious over the weekend to link and categorize my readings. Delicious enables you to quickly hyperlink to higher education news from Canada and around the world that I’ve read.

Feel free to visit my Delicious page at: www.delicious.com/JoeyColeman

In unprecedented move, GG calls for change in government policy.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean is making a rare break from ceremonial circumspection to publicly urge the government to build a university for Canada’s Inuit.

In a vice-regal plunge into policy advocacy, Jean proposes a university in the Arctic so Inuit youth can get a degree close to home and benefit from economic activity expected in their region.

Canada’s claims to sovereignty over the North will be, she says, nothing but an “empty shell” unless the area’s inhabitants participate in northern development.

The Governor General has begun promoting the idea with government officials, and sources say they expect her to raise it with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Jean was inspired by an experiment in Norway and plans to use what could be her final year in office – and her time after leaving Rideau Hall – to champion the idea that Canada can do it too.

Jean says an Arctic university could help produce the engineers that mining companies will need, and inspire young Inuit who might otherwise abandon dreams of a career in other fields such as medicine or law.

She says industry could also be conscripted in the effort – and suggests that mining firms, for instance, could be required to devote a slice of their resource revenues to building a new school.

None of this is government policy, but the Queen’s representative offered a series of arguments for an Arctic university in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“So all of Canada is now looking to the North and saying, ‘It’s important to defend our sovereignty in the North, it’s important to deal with changes from climate change, the Northwest Passage will soon be a maritime highway, it’s important to explore the abundant natural resources – gas, uranium, diamonds, gold,’ ” Jean said at Rideau Hall.

“That’s all very good – but at the same time we absolutely cannot forget that this sovereignty is an empty shell, the development of the North will be an empty shell, if it happens without the participation of northern people . . . .

“We need to build viable, healthy, durable communities there.”

It’s a $500 surprise. Without the chocolate.

I still remember a textbook from my grade six class, almost seven years ago.

One of the questions at the end of a chapter asked: “What do you think the year 2000 will be like? What sort of technology will be available to everyday people? How different will it be from today?”

And yes, my grade six class was reading this in the year 2002.

The textbook had a couple follow up questions:

“What sort of transportation will be available in the year 2000?”

“Describe the clothing that people will wear.”

“Have you seen Scott Dobson-Mitchell’s new cartoon blog?”

Today, the only prediction we can make with any confidence is that some time in the future, Will Smith is going to save the world from a battalion of killer robots led by a giant computer that kinda looks like it’s from the Wizard of Oz.

And according to an article from the Wall Street Journal, lugging textbooks around campus will soon be a thing of the past.

Using the Kindle DX, a new portable device from Amazon.com Inc. that launches this summer, students can conveniently access their university textbooks from electronic-book readers.

Judging by the pictures, the Kindle DX seems like the perfect size. Its screen is large, but overall it’s still small enough to fit in a messenger bag along with your pencil case and a lunch kit.

The device is described as being “geared towards textbooks and newspapers.” Adobe Acrobat files can automatically be displayed, and the wireless service that allows users to download materials is free.

The only problem: the Kindle DX costs about $500. Which puts it in laptop territory. Except it can’t display videos.

Or colour images.

Sure, some people might be willing to pay lots of money for a useless gadget. But only if it has a cool name.

“Kindle” kind of sounds like a small chocolate egg with a plastic toy inside.

Policy will apply to students taking three to six classes, starting 2011

In a move that student groups are calling a cash grab, the University of Toronto has approved a plan to charge a flat fee in the school’s faculty of arts and science. This means students will be charged the same amount to take three classes as they would pay to take five.

“Flat tuition fee structures are nothing but a repulsively unethical band-aid solution to the persistent underfunding of Ontario universities,” said Sandy Hudson, president of the U of T students’ union, in a press release issued yesterday. “Our university has let the government off the hook, at the expense of thousands of students.”

The university, which is the country’s largest, will not implement the increase until 2011, and a spokesperson for the school says current students will not be affected. The new fee will be phased in gradually, which means that new arts and science students on the  school’s St. George campus will be charged for five courses, even if they take four.

The U of T students’ union is calling the policy “regressive” and has filed a lawsuit against the university in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice in an attempt to fight the change.

“The University has lost over $1.3 billion in risky investments this year,” said Adam Awad, union vice-president of university affairs. “This transfer of debt from the public university to individual students is unethical and will impede access to post-secondary education.”

The fee change is intended to encourage students to take as many classes as possible, according to the university, and will also apply to students taking six courses. Because the provincial government pays universities for each course taught, not per student, the policy is aimed at generating between $8 to 14 million in additional government funding every year.

In The Toronto Star, arts and science dean Meric Gertler praised the move as a way to help bail out a faculty facing a deficit of $5 million to $7 million a year. He also noted students already pay a similar flat fee in U of T’s’ departments of music, physical education, computer science and commerce.

The school says it will be emailing thousands of prospective students about the fee change before the May 28 acceptance deadline, and says it has set aside $1.5 million of extra financial aid for students who can’t afford the new fee.

After 15 weeks and government threats to cancel school year, French students return to the books

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an excellent summary of French news coverage today as students returned to class after 15 weeks of protest.

(I noted the story this morning on Twitter, follow me: www.twitter.com/JoeyColeman)

BC Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey

Satisfaction

Ninety-five per cent of former students surveyed said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their college education—the same percentage as in the 2006 and 2007 surveys. Eighty-four per cent found the quality of instruction to be good or very good, and 83 per cent rated the helpfulness of instructors as good or very good.

In a similarly positive vein, a large majority of former students said their programs were effective in helping them to develop a range of skills. The percentages of respondents below reported that their programs did well or very well in helping to develop the following skills:

Analyse and think critically 83%

Work effectively with others 82%

Read and comprehend material 81%

Learn on one’s own 81%

Resolve issues or problems 76%

Write clearly and concisely 73%

Speak effectively 73%

Employment

Overall, 80 per cent of respondents were employed at the time of the survey; 62 per cent were employed full-time.

There are marked differences depending on whether students had been enrolled in applied programs—programs designed to lead to employment in specific fields— or arts and sciences programs—programs that often lead to further studies. Not surprisingly, a greater number of former applied students were working full-time. Eighty-five per cent of students who were enrolled in applied programs were employed (72 per cent full-time) as opposed to 66 per cent of former arts and sciences students (31 per cent full-time).

Fifty per cent of employed arts and sciences students had the same job they had while they were in school. Only 26 per cent of this group considered their occupation to be related to their studies. It is likely that many arts and sciences students choose part-time work to help finance further studies. Meanwhile, among the employed group of former applied students, 81 per cent of respondents said their employment was training related; 86 per cent of this group said the knowledge and skills gained from their studies was very or somewhat useful in performing their jobs.

Further Studies

Further education is the priority for many arts and sciences students. Eighty-two per cent of respondents from arts and sciences programs pursued further studies as compared to about one-third of former applied students.

Prof says more research is needed to determine if behaviour is intentional

The answer to the age-old question “What’s in a name?” may well be plenty of discrimination, according to a new University of British Columbia study.

UBC economics professor Philip names even if they have the same education and experience as those with English names. “Some individuals at the margin are not getting interviews because of their name,” Oreopoulos said Wednesday, adding that the employers involved may be contravening the Human Rights Act.

“It is illegal and there is some element of unfairness.”

As part of his research, Oreopoulos tailored 6,000 mock resumes to specific job requirements in 20 occupational categories and sent them to employers with online job postings in the Greater Toronto area.

Each resume listed a bachelor’s degree and up to six years of experience but the study found resumes with names like Jill Wilson or John Martin received interview callbacks 40 per cent more often than identical resumes with names like Sana Khan or Lei Li.

Oreopoulos said the findings help to explain why skilled immigrants arriving under Canada’s point system – with university degrees and significant work experience – fare poorly in today’s labour market.

“Despite this policy, they don’t seem to be doing as well as expected,” Oreopoulos said, adding that he was surprised by the study’s results.

“I wasn’t expecting the gap by name alone to be so large,” he said. “It defined as much of a gap as another study found between blacks and whites in the U.S.”

The professor said he chose to conduct the study in Toronto because of its position as Canada’s largest and most multicultural city and he cautioned against accusing employers of blatant racism.

He said more research is needed to determine whether the behaviour is intentional.

“In settings where people are making split-second decisions like going through piles of resumes and making decisions based on uncertain ambiguous criteria, that’s the environment where people may be making subconscious, stereotype decisions,” Oreopoulos said.

Universities across the country jump on film’s science-based bandwagon

This week, coinciding with the release of the film Angels & Demons, universities across the country are hosting lectures and talks on the science behind one of the movie’s key elements: antimatter.

Piggybacking on the hype surrounding the million-dollar historical mystery, Canadian physicists and professors will be speaking about the plausibility of the film’s scary premise, which is that antimatter, stolen from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), could be made into a weapon more powerful than a nuclear bomb.

Parts of the movie, which stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, were actually filmed in the gargantuan Large Hadron Collider at CERN’s European headquarters.

“The premise in Angels & Demons is that antimatter can be used like a bomb,” says Scott Menary, a professor at York University’s physics department who will be giving his talk at the school May 21.

“When antimatter comes into contact with matter it annihilates and is converted into pure energy, which theoretically could be used in a destructive way. That’s probably the most common question that anyone watching the movie will have, and one that this lecture will examine.”

The series is taking place across North America, and was organized by the “international particle physics community” according to the group’s website.

As of May 20, upcoming lecture locations include: Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa.

Don’t keep your sweets in the fridge, and other tips

If that beautiful box of premium chocolates you received for Valentine’s or Easter has been stored in the refrigerator, don’t be surprised if the sweets develop a hazy tinge.

“When chocolate is subjected to variable temperatures its exterior gets chalky and it no longer looks appetizing,” says Derick Rousseau, a food science professor at Toronto’s Ryerson University.

He says the condition is known as fat bloom and occurs for a number of reasons, but often results when chocolate is exposed to temperature fluctuations.

When the temperature of the chocolate goes up and down, some of the cocoa butter in the chocolate melts and resolidifies. A small amount of this resolidified cocoa butter will end up on the surface as microscopic crystals or bumps. This produces the hazy whiteness called fat bloom, Rousseau explains.

“As consumers of chocolate we say, ‘gosh, the sheen has gone and it looks kind of chalky and not very appetizing.”

“But it hasn’t gone mouldy, and you can eat it. The texture might not be exactly the same, but it is still fine to eat.”

Rousseau says another drawback in storing chocolate can happen when it is exposed to damp and wet conditions. This is called sugar bloom.

“If chocolate is exposed to humid conditions, moisture in the air will condense the surface of the chocolate and dissolve the sugar. When conditions become dry again, the sugar will re-crystallize and the surface will look hazy.”

Rousseau’s work examines the microscopic appearance (the microstructure) of chocolate and the physical and chemical factors that negatively affect its quality and shelf life. His research is aimed at helping to keep chocolate fresher and tastier.

Here are some of his tips on storing chocolate:

• If stored properly, chocolate can last for years. Filled chocolates and truffles are best consumed within a month.
• To preserve the flavour of chocolate, it must be kept in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place where there is little variation in temperature and low humidity.
• To avoid fluctuations in temperature, do not store chocolate in cupboards right next to your fridge or stove.
• Chocolate should be stored in an airtight container.
• Because chocolate contains fat, it easily absorbs other flavours and odours. Don’t store near chemicals, cleaning products, perfume, air fresheners or anything else you don’t want to taste in your chocolate.

- The Canadian Press