March 3, 2016
Amherst offers course on future of education
The Amherst Careers in Education Professions Program offered an Interterm course very similar to reality TV shows such as The Amazing Race and Shark Tank. Students were divided into teams, given access to some of the most experienced education leaders in the area and were then asked to create a new and unique concept that in some way serves the community. According to the Amherst website, “The goal was to address problems that get in the way of the level playing field for all students.” Students’ ideas included plans for a public charter school and full-service community schools. The panel of teachers who judged the students was impressed and hopeful about the state of education moving forward.
Bowdoin students use digital media to educate on river pollution
A few students at Bowdoin College currently enrolled in an art class -— Site-Specifics: Production of Socially Engaged Media — created videos that comment on the past and present state of the Androscoggin River. This river flows 178 miles through Maine and New Hampshire and was at one time so polluted that it helped inspire the Clean Water Act. According to the Bowdoin website, the aim of the class is to show “how digital media technologies can serve as tools for creative cultural practice.”
Trinity student creates app for students to sell textbooks
Micah Onditi ’18 spent last summer learning about the technology behind smartphone applications. With this knowledge, Onditi created Mivy, an app that allows college students to sell used textbooks to one another. The app already has over 200 registered users at various colleges around the Northeast. The Trinity College website states, “Mivy users must have a valid .edu email address to sign up for an account. Students can post textbooks for sale and browse books for sale by other users.” The sellers then set the prices, leaving the buyer to either pay that price or make a lower offer.