'New foundations' in learning.Some of the most creative thinking on how to redesign higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. is taking place at America's community colleges. Nourished by their communities and uniquely responsive to local needs, our 1,200 community colleges have adopted an agile, entrepreneurial approach to teaching and learning. Nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. attend a community college, and the work of these dynamic institutions is growing ever more central to our long-term competitiveness. It's work that will require "new foundations In mathematical logic, New Foundations (NF) is an axiomatic set theory, conceived by Willard Van Orman Quine as a simplification of the theory of types of Principia Mathematica. " on which to build the colleges of the future. Terry O'Banion, president emeritus of the League for Innovation in the Community College, puts it this way: "A learning revolution is spreading rapidly through all sectors of education, and the community college has become the most visible crucible in which the concepts and practices of this revolution are being forged." O'Banion says the outmoded "architecture" of education, built to serve agrarian and industrial economies of the past, needs to be overhauled--from the structure of academic departments and the grading system, to "time-bound artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. " like the hour-long class, the three-hour credit course, and semester or quarter terms. The architecture analogy works on a literal level. One aim of a recent ETS ETS Educational Testing Service (nonprofit private educational testing and measurement organization) ETS Emergency Telecommunications Service ETS Electronic Trading System ETS Engineering (&) Technical Services community college symposium, held in conjunction with the League for Innovation's fall conference, was to encourage new ways of thinking about college facilities and approaches to teaching and learning. That's why we titled the event "New Foundations: Building a Culture of Evidence From the Ground Up." ETS is committed to the cause. We recently launched a pilot program with Mercer County Community College Mercer County Community College is an accredited, co-educational, two-year, public, community college located in Mercer County, New Jersey. The school's current president is Dr. Patricia C. Donohue. More than 13,000 students enroll in one or more credit courses each year. , near our home in New Jersey, to map students' strengths and weaknesses in such areas as time management, intellectual engagement, test-taking and study skills, and critical thinking. At ETS, we're doing our part. We're listening to educators, parents and policymakers. We're learning from sound research. And we're leading the effort to achieve informed public policy and informed educational practice. For more information, visit us online at http://www.ets.org/highered. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] KURT M. LANDGRAF, PRESIDENT & CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , ETS |
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