Ten with Ken (Audio)

This week, Ken Steele completes his countdown of the ten biggest trends impacting North American higher education in 2015, with the top 4: from political correctness and personal safety to major demographic shifts. If you missed part 1, check it out first: https://youtu.be/bziLQbNEXcI 4) Indigenous Content: Even before the recommendations of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, institutio...

Canada's most trusted higher ed monitor, Ken Steele, counts down the ten biggest trends impacting North American higher education in 2015, from equity and politics to new technologies and new business models. Intro: 2015 was a rough year, from terrorist attacks in France and extreme weather in Texas and California, to the Volkswagen emissions scandal and the surprising rise of Donald Trump. But we...

Governments invest in higher education hoping to see short-term economic benefits in the form of job creation, knowledge mobilization, and increasingly, the launch of entrepreneurial new start-up businesses. In this week's episode, Ken Steele provides a quick overview of college and university research commercialization, from the first research parks to the latest business incubators and accelerat...

Increasingly careerist students, at colleges and universities alike, are attracted to work-integrated learning opportunities. This week, Ken continues his series on innovations in teaching and learning with a closer look at Experiential Learning. Colleges like Sault College have been promoting hands-on learning opportunities for years, like their Field Camp for outdoor recreation students. https:/...

Passive learning methods like lectures, readings and demonstrations remain the mainstay in higher ed, but research tells us that active learning approaches can have much more lasting impact on student learning outcomes. From small group discussions and project-based learning to experiential field schools and peer teaching, in this episode Ken sums up some compelling evidence from UBC, Queen's, and...

For more than a thousand years, students have been gathering in lecture halls to listen to the "sage on the stage." But shorter attention spans, new technologies, and empirical testing of learning outcomes have led us to question the tried and true historical "transmission" model of education. In this episode, Ken Steele gives a brief lecture on "the Death of Lecture." Check out how familiar a 14t...

This year, we distill the best moments from 76 holiday greeting videos that were published by colleges and universities across Canada in December 2015, and select a few as "Best in Class" for their categories. Please "take twenty" with us, and enjoy! If you're creating your own holiday greeting video, be sure to animate your logo with snowflakes and sleighbells. Your task is to convey best wishes...

In this week's Ten with Ken, we sum up some recent higher ed social media trends and memes, from the #MannequinChallenge to MUN's reality TV webcast, "The New Class," and much more! #MannequinChallenge: After the Pokémon Go craze of July and August, the next viral sensation to hit the inter webs was the #MannequinChallenge. It was apparently started by high school students in Jacksonville FLA in e...

This week, Ken talks to leaders from 14 Ontario universities about the latest new construction and renovations on campus, and extrapolates some major trends in campus construction, which reflect institutional priorities and new trends in student services. Major Facelifts: Laurentian University has just completed a $34 M campus renewal program, renovating 9 buildings and virtually every classroom....

This week, Ken Steele speaks with 10 university presidents and 2 senior administrators about the ways in which universities are evolving to meet the needs of 21st Century Learners. While it's certainly fair to argue that the core principles of a university education are timeless, in general university programs, services and campuses are evolving in a time of labour market uncertainty, interdiscipl...

Ken Steele sums up recent trends in new university programs, from interdisciplinary degrees to college-university collaborations, based on Ontario-wide data and on interviews with university presidents and recruiters at the 2016 Ontario Universities' Fair. North American youth are increasingly focusing on STEM subjects and the traditionally high-paying professions, from accounting and law to medic...

Ken Steele went to the Ontario Universities' Fair, in September 2016, and asked 45 experts for their best advice for young people trying to choose between universities. And these are people who ought to know: 11 university presidents, 9 recruiters and admissions professionals, and 25 current undergraduate students. In the end, there was consensus on 8 key pieces of advice you should keep in mind:...

Ken Steele went to the Ontario Universities' Fair, in September 2016, and asked 45 experts for their best advice for young people trying to choose a program or field of study after high school. And these are people who ought to know: 11 university presidents, 9 recruiters and admissions professionals, and 25 current undergraduate students. In the end, there was consensus on 7 key pieces of advice...

In the second episode from the 2016 Ontario Universities' Fair, Ken Steele surveys the exhibit floor and interviews university representatives to summarize what's new in student recruitment marketing this fall. (See the first, "Why Go to the OUF?" at https://youtu.be/CyXKcQ7fsac ). This podcast includes some flashback photos, video and even some unused interviews from previous years' OUFs, from 20...

Ken Steele goes on location at the largest PSE exhibition in North America, the Ontario Universities' Fair in Toronto. Over 2 days he interviewed 11 presidents, 9 front-line staff and 25 student ambassadors. This week, we find out what they like best about the OUF, and why they recommend prospective students attend. It should be interesting to anyone who has ever attended the fair, or is consideri...

This week, Ken reviews this fall's back-to-school college and university videos, from presidential welcomes to o-week excitement, from bubble gum records to Pokémon Go! We looked at "O-Week Winners & Sinners" in a previous episode. https://youtu.be/imr8-zMyEDg This time, we're focused on more official videos: UPEI provided vital orientation information in their video. https://youtu.be/xzzWt_xswSY...