Notes in the Margins: textbooks, female academics and illegal student voting

Washington's 2-year colleges out to beat high cost of textbooks The state's community and technical colleges are leading the way with an ambitious new initiative: They're assembling previously published "open-source" textbooks and course materials for the 81 most popular classes at state two-year colleges — including for such mainstays as "General Psychology" and "Introduction to Chemistry." (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

New Web Site Offers Career ‘Resilience’ Advice for Female Academics Women in science and technology doctoral-degree programs are more likely to drop out than are their male counterparts: Unfavorable workplace climates and discrimination are leading reasons. Arizona State University, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, is the latest university to attempt to combat this problem with a novel approach, featured on its new CareerWISE Web site. (chronicle.com)

Application Inflation, and Extra Time on the SAT and ACT for Students with Disabilities The latest news for applicants and their families on how to seek extra time on the SAT and ACT, and on why colleges seek to recruit record-breaking numbers of applicants every year. (thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com)

Researcher’s App Will Let Students Call In an Emergency Via Videophone Calling the campus police to report a crime may soon go multimedia. Researchers at the University of Maryland at College Park are developing an app for cellphones that will let students stream video and audio from the scene to help police improve their response. (chronicle.com)

Learning From For-Profits Guilford College President Kent Chabotar pressed two longtime higher education leaders to find areas where the for-profit and nonprofit sectors could learn from one another. Peter Smith, vice president of academic strategies and development for Kaplan Higher Education, said faculty at nonprofits need to embrace the data-driven assessments of teaching and learning that are commonly used by for-profit institutions. (Inside Higher Ed)

Students may face felonies over illegal voter vouching Members of Students Organizing for America, a group of students aligned with the Democratic Party, may face a criminal investigation and possible felony charges after confrontations with an election judge over voter vouching during Tuesday’s election. (mndaily.com)

Harnessing Social Media A roomful of higher ed technologists recently commiserated about the information assault and discussed how to figure out what information to ignore without abnegating their obligation to stay current. (Inside Higher Ed)

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