International Students Day, Aug. 19th

Sign up now for the second virtual student fair!

Miércoles 19 de Agosto

Virtual Fair

Get instant answers to your questions at CollegeWeekLive's International Students Day, a free online college fair. Live chat with admissions counselors from 100+ U.S. universities as well as experts from EducationUSA. Sign-up now. It's free!

How to choose a graduate program of study...March 17

EducationUSA & IIE Latin America invite you to a graduate workshop:

How to Choose a Graduate Program of Study Fecha: El jueves, 17 de marzo   Hora: 16:00 a las 18:00 Lugar: Biblioteca Benjamín Franklin Did you know that there are over 2,000 graduate programs in the U.S.? Let us help you search for, and compare graduate programs and find options that fit your goals and interests. *Please register for this FREE event by sending your full name and academic area of interest to EducationUSA@iielatam.org. Bring a photo ID to enter the library.

Tweet this: a week without Facebook!

As more and more of our students try to divide their attention between their classes and their iPhones/Blackberries, this sounds like a fabulous idea!  

Thoughts?

A central Pennsylvania technological college with fewer students than many Facebook users have friends is blacking out social media for a week.  

The bold experiment at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology — which has drawn praise, criticism and even a jab on late-night TV — means students and staff can't access Facebook, Twitter or a host of other ubiquitous social networks while on campus.  

Provost Eric Darr said the exercise that began Monday is not a punishment for the school's 800 students, nor a precursor to a ban, but a way for people to think critically about the prevalence of social media.  

The blackout comes on the heels of a report that Web users in the U.S. spend more time socializing on Facebook than searching with Google, according to data released last week from researchers at comScore Inc.  Still, Darr said he can't believe the controversy generated in the Twitterverse, blogosphere and academia, with some accusing the school of inflicting "a terrible thing and an infringement upon people's rights." "By and large, the students are supportive of the whole exercise and don't get so worked up over it," Darr said. On campus, attempts to log in to MySpace or LinkedIn return the message: "This domain is blocked." E-mail, texting and other Web surfing is still allowed, but not instant messaging. Student Ashley Harris, 22, said the blackout has freed her to concentrate on her classwork instead of toggling on her laptop between social networks and the lesson at hand.

"I feel obligated to check my Facebook. I feel obligated to check my Twitter. Now I don't," Harris said. 

       

 Like the idea?  Maybe you'd also enjoy reading about the "my phone is off for you" web site and phone signal blocking services below!

MY PHONE IS OFF FOR YOU is a revolution; a series of tools designed to help engage in the present moment and spread this idea!” The tools? Awesome cell phone signal blocking handkerchief… sticker! rubber stamp! and a web site to get you to take action!

CENNI: new program provides certification of your level in English...

Have you heard about this?
It's a new program, run by the SEP (Secretary of Education) in Mexico.  Now when you take approved exams (including all formats of TOEFL) you can submit your scores to this agency and be issued a national certificate that can be verified on-line.  For the moment it's free.  


Is this a wonderful idea?  We're honestly not sure yet.  It's primary goal might be only to take some control over the growing number of English equivalence 
exams.  But it's interesting.  It's doubtful it would be accepted by most (if any) universities outside Mexico for admissions--probably no replacement for TOEFL.  But maybe some local schools will begin accepting it--it's too early to tell.  Possibly a school that accepts ITP results for graduation requisites (but requires you take the test in their facilities, and maybe offers only infrequent testing) might accept this certification--opening the door to take the ITP at other institutes like Britt.


We'll keep our eye on it.  If you have more info. or have heard of a  school establishing policy on the acceptance of this certificate, please let us know!  


For more info., check out the CENNI web site.