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November 13, 2008, 12:15 PM ET
New Gates Foundation Grants Will Focus on College Technology
When the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced this week that it would ramp up its grant-making to increase college graduation rates, community-college officials applauded the news. An infusion of new money? Hallelujah.
Campus-technology experts may have even more reason to get excited. That’s because innovative uses of technology will be one of the focuses of the grant-making, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The foundation says it will look for new technology products that produce large improvements in learning and completion rates. It is also seeking to finance “student-centric” learning platforms.
The foundation’s goal is to double the number of low-income people earning post-secondary degrees. Community colleges are a target of its efforts, part of a larger plan to spend $3-billion on education over the next five years.
Rio Salado College, in Arizona, was singled out by the foundation this week during a presentation about its new strategy. The college has a comprehensive online course catalog as well as online English-as-a-second-language classes that cost $71 per credit for in-state students and start every Monday. —Lisa Guernsey
Categories: Research
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