Good Morning and happy Monday! This week, many students are beginning to return to school. But before we hit some of the news highlights of the week behind, I have an announcement, justifying our late post:

This morning and afternoon, we celebrated our firstdown at the Georgetown Waterfront with our friends in the DC Metro area. We had some great interactive lessons (that looked an awful lot like children having fun) to showcase what we do…we also had popsicles for kids of all ages! If we didn’t see you there, no worries. We’ll do our best to get out and about a bit more often!

Now for the news…First up, we have a study on blended learning and its impact on a student’s test scores. Technology from Carnegie Learning, Inc. acted as the variable in a study on over 18,000 students from 147 rural, suburban and urban locations. The software —  Cognitive Tutor Algebra I (CTAI) — is designed to improve a student’s proficiency in algebraic concepts like linear and quadratic equations. Over the course of two years, the students used the software twice a week. The effort came to fruition after the student’s second year in the experiment.

Blended Learning Improves Test Scores: Study (Information Week)

Israel to pay students to defend it online (Associated Press)
Next up is Israel, as it appears the country’s government is looking to its university students for a slightly different reason from the typical urge to make sure they are fully prepared to start a new year. Instead, they are rewarding students scholarship money to encourage others not to boycott Israel through social media sites. However, others from the government claim such a campaign is unacceptable but would not further comment on the issue.

Progress for Native Students Stalled or Backsliding, Report Says (Education Week)
Generally, many minority groups have been seeing improved academic parity, and more and more students from under-represented groups are going to college every year. However, academic access and progress for Native Americans students, as a group, appears to be stalled.

University Of Colorado Launches Free MOOC Course In Comics This September (Bleed Cool)
U. of Colorado, Boulder is working in conjunction with Coursera to host a free course on American Comics and Graphic Novels. the course will start on September 23rd. “The MOOC will be particularly focused on American comics and the history behind them, and look at the place of comics in ‘literary culture.'”

Have a great week! In other news…
As More Attend College, Majors Become More Career-Focused (New York Times) Thank you Angelyn
Education Department Approves Competency-Based Program at Capella U. (Chronicle of Higher Ed.)
OPINION: How Good Ideas in Edtech Go ‘Viral’ (EdSurge)

Photo Credit: Randy Heinitz via photopin CC BY 2.0