Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Education

Business Photo of Unnati Narang, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business.

Study: Idea sharing increases online learner engagement

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Sharing ideas in an online learning environment has a distinct advantage over sharing personal details in driving learner engagement in massive open online courses, more commonly known as MOOCs, says new research co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert who studies the intersection of marketing and digital environments. Online learning engagement […]

Engineering Bioengineering professor Jennifer Amos displays the children's book "Jenny Saves a Convertible," published through a project with Illinois Engineering Ambassadors.

Children’s book by U of I students teaches third graders about automotive engineering

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new book written and illustrated by two recent alumnae of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign introduces third graders to the nuts and bolts of automotive mechanics and engineering. “Jenny Saves a Convertible” is the first book written and illustrated by U. of I. students to be published through a project with […]

Education Educational psychology professor Jennifer Cromley and graduate student Andrea Kunze standing outdoors

Study examines how pandemic-related changes affect college students’ motivation

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When the worsening COVID-19 pandemic prompted colleges to shutter their campuses and shift to remote learning in spring 2020, concerns arose that many underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines would be demotivated and drop out in even greater numbers. However, a study of 182 undergraduate students in a biology […]

Announcements Spliced portrait showing all four winners.

Four Illinois faculty members elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education Dean James Anderson, physics professor Nadya Mason chemistry professor Nancy Makri and materials science and engineering professor Kenneth Schweizer have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation. They are among 252 new members […]

Expert viewpoints Sociology professor Ilana Redstone with her arms folded, leaning against a wall outdoors

How are social media changing higher education?

Editor’s note: Fear of career-damaging reprisals from outraged parties in the “Twittersphere” coupled with unspoken rules about what can and can’t be said on college campuses constrain what faculty members teach, research and discuss, says sociology professor Ilana Redstone of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In the recent book “Unassailable Ideas: How Unwritten Rules and […]

Announcements Education Female student in classroom with face covering taking notes.

K-12 Shield Playbook offers guidance for reopening schools amid ongoing pandemic

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new resource is available to help guide teachers and school administrators as they reopen schools amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assembled by researchers and experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  As vaccines for the virus that causes COVID-19 become more accessible, more communities and schools are reopening. However, no vaccines […]

Education Photos of Dan Morrow, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois, and Karen Dunn Lopez, the director of the Center for Nursing Classification and Clinical Effectiveness at the University of Iowa

Electronic health record system increases clinicians’ cognitive workload, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A study at two urgent care clinics found that adopting a new electronic health records system doubled the amount of cognitive effort health care workers expended to perform their work during the first six months after implementation. The increase in cognitive workload also persisted for at least 30 months, the researchers found. […]

Education U. of I. graduate student Nathan Tanner standing outdoors next to a building's windows on the university campus

‘Whiteness’ undermines efforts to address systemic racism in public education

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Promoting equity and justice orientations in future school leaders is not enough to address systemic racism, researchers say in a new study. Instead, school leaders need educational and professional development programs that cultivate insight into the foundational role of “whiteness” in public education and teach them the skills to dismantle racist policies […]

Expert viewpoints Beckman Institute researcher Joey Ramp poses with her dog, Sampson.

Are science laboratories truly inclusive if not accessible to service-dog handlers?

According to a new commentary in Disability and Health Journal, people with disabilities who rely on service dogs often are prohibited from bringing their working dogs into teaching and research laboratories. This one barrier can stop them from pursuing careers in science, says Joey Ramp, a researcher in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and […]

Expert viewpoints Portrait of Jon Hale dressed in a suit and tie

How might Freedom Schools promote educational equity in Illinois?

The education reform bill HB 2170, passed by both chambers of the Illinois Legislature, includes the creation of a Freedom School Fund. Jon Hale, a professor of educational history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, wrote the 2016 book “The Freedom Schools: Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement” (New York: Columbia University Press). […]

Social sciences U. of I. social work professor Kevin Tan standing outside the Mahomet-Seymour School District building with director of instruction Nicole Rummel and superintendent Lindsey Hall, both of Mahomet-Seymour school district.

Projects explore role of social-emotional learning in healing racial wounds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The impact of the 2020 U.S. presidential election on children’s mental health and the role of social and emotional learning in healing racial wounds will be explored in upcoming online parenting seminars and other activities. Led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign SEL scholars Kevin Tan, a professor of social work, and Durriyyah […]

Education Librarian Sarah Isaacs and research information specialist Jill Tompkins sitting at a table with tablet computers and Wi-Fi hotspots on it.

Technology loan program helps families receive early childhood services online

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Illinois service providers to suspend in-person early intervention visits last spring, families of infants and toddlers with disabilities or delays who lacked online access faced challenges obtaining services such as speech, occupational therapy and developmental therapy. However, a technology loan program provided by the Illinois Early Intervention […]

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