Collegiate Learning Assessment.

The Collegiate Learning Assessment is the test the students in the learning study took throughout their four years as undergraduates to measure their higher order cognitive skills. Those skills include critical thinking, complex reasoning, and written communication. According to an article on The Chronicle of Higher Education website, the students took the CLA in the fall of 2005, the spring of 2007, and the spring of 2009.

"The CLA helps institutions improve undergraduate education through assessment, professional development, best practices and collaboration," the CLA website said.

The website also says the CLA "allows institutions to benchmark where they stand and how much progress their students have made relative to the progress of students at other colleges."

In a press release from The Council for Aid to Education, they said the study strengthened the validity of the CLA. It said "improvements in CLA results over time were closely aligned with multiple measures of student learning."

The report said students in liberal arts fields scored higher on the CLA, but it also said the findings of the study don't "preclude the possibility that students in other fields are developing subject-specific or occupationally- relevant skills."

Social Science Research Council Report on Learning Based on Book.

The report released by the Social Science Research Council that said a number of college students aren't learning important skills is based on a book called Academically Adrift by Dr. Richard Arum and Dr. Josipa Roksa. The report extends findings found in the book, and the book is recommended for anyone interested in learning about the current state of higher education.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions about the book can be found on the SSRC site.

One suggestion given on the site is "College and university leaders can commit to promoting organizational cultures conducive to academic rigor and undergraduate learning."

Roksa said in an email an important finding that is often overlooked is that there is a lot of variation within or between institutions.

"In virtually every college examined we found students who were devoting themselves to their studies and learning at rates substantially above the average," she said.

Arum and Roksa both have backgrounds involving sociology and education. They are interested in research involving social stratification and education.

E-Books and East Lansing Public Library.

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Lauren Douglass, the head of technology services at the East Lansing Public Library, said they started the e-book service in 2010 and people are checking out way more things now. They had 244 e-book checkouts last month.

According to Kristin Shelley, the director of the ELPL, they use Overdrive as their vendor for e-books.

She said they currently have 489 patrons registered to use e-book services, and 64 patrons are currently waiting for e-book/audio titles to download.

"Libraries have not made the shift to put more money into the materials for e-books," she said.

However, she said e-book popularity causes a change in philosophy for libraries and they are putting a significant amount of money into e-books in 2012.

"This is the trend," she said. "This is where books are going."

She said the library will support e-books and e-book readers as long as the publishers work well with libraries, and they haven't seen that yet.

Douglass said most of the people they work with that have e-readers are age 40 and up. She believes more adults and children will be drawn into e-readers when Harry Potter e-books come out.

She said East Lansing patrons can get titles faster than other patrons in the area with the services at the ELPL.

Spotlight on Omar Sofradzija

From his birth in 1969 until now, Omar Sofradzija has lived and worked a few places. He started in Illinois, went to Las Vegas, and ended up in Haslett/East Lansing. He has been a reporter, editor, columnist, teacher, and adviser.

As far as Michigan State University and The State News goes, Sofradzija said he is very happy.

"This was the perfect career transition for me," he said.

He said he currently gives advice on good journalism habits, business and legal issues, career options, and alumni and relations.

He said prefers his job at The State News, and he never saw himself as a teacher because he was a loud and rowdy student himself.  However, he does like seeing people get better.

His best advice?

"If your mother says she loves you, check it out," he said.

Omar Sofradzija's Life Events on Dipity.

E-Reader Applications Available on Other Devices.

Actual e-reader devices like the NOOK and Kindle are not the only way to read e-books. Plenty of applications and software are available for a variety of other electronics, which can spare consumers from buying an e-reader.

Some e-book applications are available on certain types of phones including iPhones, Blackberrys, and Android phones. Popular ones are the Kindle and Kobo applications. NOOK has an application for iPods, iPhones, and Android phones. This blog provides a review of popular e-reader applications for the Android, some which may be available on other phones.

E-reader.com provides a list of devices where users can find applications and software for.

Some e-reader applications are also available on PC and Mac as well, including Kindle.

Types of E-Readers.

With e-books continuing to become more popular, there are also a lot of e-readers available. They range in price from around $140 to anywhere near $400 on average.

TopTenReviews provides the specifications, price, and rating for the highest rated e-reader devices. CNET also has a section with their e-reader reviews.

Barnes and Noble's NOOK and Amazon's Kindle continue to be some of the highest in popularity. Amazon's website said "Kindle is our #1 bestseller and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon." Barnes and Noble's website said the NOOK is their award-winning, best-selling e-reader.

Amazon currently has over 900,000 e-books, newspapers, magazines, etc. available.  Barnes and Noble has over two million titles. Both claim users can download titles wirelessly in seconds.

Some e-readers like the NOOK Color and Kindle have wi-fi/Free 3G, so users can surf the web. Barnes and Noble's Lend Me option lets users lend and borrow e-books from friends.

A plus of e-readers is the ability to change font and brightness, making text easier to read.

Organization 3: RCAH Council

The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities council, a student organization at Michigan State University, was the third organization involved with the GYEC charity concert. They helped book the location for the performance, and helped publicize the event in order to draw a big crowd.

The RCAH Theatre, where the concert was held, is located in the basement of Snyder Hall. It has 150 seats and can be rented out for a variety of events.

The council is the RCAH's student government, “established for the express purpose of representing the needs and interests of students within the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities," according to their website.

They have their own blog, which can be found here.

Organization 2: Bigger Brush Media

Bigger Brush Media was the second organization that worked with the charity concert for GYEC, the first organization being GYEC itself. They are located in Lansing, and they helped with bringing local bands to the event.

BBM's website says they are "A collective of musicians and music lovers who reside and are invested in Mid-Michigan. That means entertaining, strengthening and empowering our communities, and helping to highlight the immense talent in our great mitten state!"

Carter Moulton, Dizzy Dearest, and Joe Herlter, three of the artists/bands that performed at the charity event, are listed on the BBM website.

The website contains music releases and free downloads as well as an artist list, friends list, and list of press they have been mentioned in.

BBM has pages on other popular social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

Organization 1: GYEC

The Michigan State University student organization Global Youth for Education and Change were the first of three organizations to put on the charity concert for GYEC. Their goal was raising money for projects they work on in South Africa, Kenya, and Village Summit in Lansing.

Leah Dodge, president of GYEC, said GYEC currently has about 10 members with various majors. 

This summer, Dodge and another GYEC member, Elizabeth White, are traveling to Usenge, Kenya. They are working on putting up netting on houses to keep out mosquitos, which transmit malaria. They also are working to start a small-scale van transportation system in the area as well as working in early childhood development centers to help kids learn.

Above all, Dodge said they are trying to build a solid partnership with the Usenge community.

According to their Facebook page, GYEC was founded in October 2007. Their purpose is to “create meaningful change & aide community-based youth initiatives around the world.”

It's All A Problem of Multitasking - And Car Companies Aren't Helping.

Experts on distracted driving like Dr. David Strayer say texting is only part of the larger issue of multitasking while driving/driver distraction.

"Multitasking is becoming even more and more of a problem," he said. "It's almost like a wild west of driver distraction these days."

Although car companies are trying to make things hands-free and easier on drivers, like Ford's Sync system, Strayer said it's all still cognitive distraction.

GM, for another example, is trying to create a system where drivers can update their Facebook status while behind the wheel.

Chrysler's UConnect allows occupants to do things such as surf the web and make hands-free calls.

Dr. David Meyer, a professor of psychology and a cognition and cognitive neuroscience researcher, said the problem has nothing to do with whether your hands are free or not.

"What's really needed is mind free devices," he said.

According to Strayer, car companies should do more research on the level of impairment devices cause before they are put in vehicles. If it is over the level of drunk driving, it shouldn't be in there.

Texting and Driving Poses Serious RIsks.

Texting is a dangerous thing to be doing while driving, because it is a major distraction to the driver.

Dr. David Strayer, a psychology professor from the University of Utah, said a .08 blood alcohol level causes a crash risk increase that is four times higher than normal, while texting and driving causes an eightfold crash risk increase. 


He has done, and sill works on, research tracking eye movements and other processes while people text and drive. He said the biggest problems are drivers taking their eyes off the road and hands off the steering wheel.


The National Safety Council estimates at least 200,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers who are texting.


FocusDriven, advocates for cell-free driving, urges people to not use their phones at all while driving for the month of April and beyond. 


30 states currently ban text messaging by all drivers, and an additional 8 states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers. Some states even block handheld cell phone usage.