Categories

Barry Fishman and Caitlin Holman – Higher ed grading systems deserve an F

Higher education graduates need to be prepared with the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to be leaders and contributors at all levels of society. What stands in the way of this outcome? One barrier is the grading systems we employ, contributing to the problem of graduates who are not well prepared for a global 21st […]

Categories

EduData – Where graduates work, now including college graduates

Occupations of college graduates in Ontario College University All 18-29 years 30-44 years 45-64 years Field of Study Occupation Graphic by Carrie Smith. Last month, we published a well-received visualization that shows the mapping of Ontario university graduates from fields of study to occupations.  Many readers expressed surprise to discover fewer clear pathways than they […]

Categories

Madeleine Lefebvre – Ryerson’s new learning centre is student-centred (and then some)

“We call it the Student Learning Centre because we learn from students and they learn from one another.” When we began planning Ryerson’s new Student Learning Centre (SLC) in 2008, we’d done a lot of research on students’ study behaviour, gathered from many different sources. We tested assumptions with students in many ways. Even our […]

Categories

Harvey Weingarten, Don Drummond, Ross Finnie – Canada Needs a New Skills Agenda

A top priority for the new federal government must be to bolster Canada’s modest economic growth and ensure it is inclusive so more than just those at the top end of the income distribution enjoy the benefits. Ageing of the work force combined with the recent anemic pace of productivity growth will likely only produce […]

Categories

Marc Gurrisi – Webinar explores learning outcomes beyond the classroom

When I started my undergraduate program in 2007 I thought that the lecture halls and seminar rooms were the sites in which I would learn the skills needed to succeed in the world. As a result, I opted not to take part in many extra-curricular activities in my early years, focusing my energy towards academics […]

Categories

Martin Hicks – Giving thanks

I looked around the family table at Thanksgiving dinner and was struck by this: of the eleven Ontarians represented, seven are students in our higher education system at this moment in time. Despite the small sample, what’s represented here is richer than gravy. This family is hungrily learning at both college and university, towards a […]

Categories

Harvey P. Weingarten – The power of data visualization and personal stories

Last week, we published an interactive infographic showing the relationship between programs of study and jobs.  The infographic showed what many people know — that specific programs of study may lead to many different types of jobs. For example, the infographic shows that 25% of graduates from the humanities work in business, finance and administration […]

Categories

EduData – Where do university graduates work in Ontario?

Occupations of college graduates in Ontario College University All 18-29 years 30-44 years 45-64 years Field of Study Occupation Graphic by Carrie Smith. The employees at HEQCO come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds, everything from religious studies to sociology to economics to engineering.  Workplaces benefit from having diversity in the training and perspectives of […]

Categories

Martin Hicks – Extra, extra, read all about it

We’re gonna quote right out of the newspaper.  That way, you won’t have to worry that we’re making it all up.  These are verbatim quotes about the Ontario university funding model review.  The headline reads: “Sustaining Quality in Changing Times” “Persistent deficits and a growing debt burden limit the ability of governments at every level to […]