college shorts

Harry Potter star Emma Watson changes schools

Emma Watson, the 21-year-old actress who stars as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie series, is searching for a new academic venue; she will be transferring from Brown University, which she has attended for two years, to a new and undisclosed school.
Spokespeople for the star have discredited rumors that her departure was due to teasing and harassment by her classmates, especially teasing stemming from the themes of the Harry Potter series. Watson has taken time during school to work on her movie career and now reportedly wishes to follow a new academic track.

— The Huffington Post

Netflix technology recommends courses

Based on the “smart systems” developed by Netflix and iTunes for finding movies or songs based on earlier preferences and ratings, new programs that will help students find courses in a similar associative manner have been adopted by Austin Peay State University and The University of Colorado in Boulder for a trial run.
Supporters say that the comprehensive decision engine would take grades, course histories, major and interests into account to guide students in choosing their next semester schedule and ultimately make an academic path that would lead to higher performance and lower dropout rates. Others believe that these robot recommendations are not as good as interface with a human in the form of an academic adviser.
Ian Ayres, a professor at Yale Law School and author of a book on quantitative analysis, believes that a course-recommendation tool is helpful in correcting human error. Academics estimate that the ubiquity of these new systems will be determined by feedback from students in combination with numerical measures of success.

— The Chronicle of Higher Ed

Universities face study abroad dilemma

Many U.S. colleges with students studying abroad in Egypt, other volatile Middle Eastern countries and Japan had to evacuate their students this semester. It seems that despite dangerous situations and even because of them, students want to go abroad to these places, wanting to have an intensely singular and authentic learning experience.
Peggy Blumenthal at the Institute of International Education found that enrollment in study abroad in the Middle East increased by 127 percent from 2002 to 2006. All colleges with partner programs in foreign nations keep a close eye on risk, and do their best to both protect their students and allow them to have a full study abroad education.
Plans for the fall are still tenuous in many cases with countries in turmoil. Safety measures will be taken and insured before students are approved to study in dangerous zones.
— The New York Times