GradeGuru has just been recognized as an Effective Practice Award Recipient by the Sloan Consortium, an association of institutions and organizations of higher education engaged in online learning.  The award will be presented at the conference, held on July 21 in San Jose, California.

The  Sloan-C Effective Practice award recognizes educators, institutions and organizations for effectively innovating to realize the potential of online learning in higher education.   Candidates for the award are judged based on strict criteria including demonstrating researched evidence of a significant impact on learning outcomes, broad scope and application in multiple learning contexts, and an overarching test of agreement that “Every institution should be doing this!”

Emily Sawtell, GradeGuru founder and Senior Director of Student Innovations at McGraw-Hill will be accepting the award on behalf of the GradeGuru team and will present at the 3^rd Annual Sloan Conference on “Ushering in the academic social web to enhance student engagement and increase retention.”

“The GradeGuru Team is honored to be an Effective Practice Award recipient. We are thrilled that our work to help students help themselves and each other is being recognized by the academic fraternity,” said Sawtell.  Recognition  of the Sloan-C Effective practice award demonstrates GradeGuru’s ability to facilitate the practice of collaboration, knowledge sharing, peer review and support and online study groups among college students.

For more information, visit: McGraw-Hill’s Knowledge Sharing Network GradeGuru Wins Sloan Consortium’s Effective Practice Award

Thanks to everyone who participated in our GradeGuru user survey! We appreciate your feedback as we strive to make the changes you want to see on GradeGuru a reality.

Survey 3 – $50 prize winners

(Awarded to every 100^th participant who completed survey 3)

Grand Prize Macbook Winner

(Awarded at random to a participant who completed survey 1, 2, & 3)

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Congrats Again Winners and thanks to all those that participated.

In a recent eSchool News article titled ” Class in 140 characters or less?”,  GradeGuru Founder, Emily Sawtell and Dr. Kathleen King discuss their perspective on social media in the classroom and  share research that points to a staggering reason why 50 percent of students today will not graduate from college.

The eSchool News article  “Class in 140 characters or less?” covers the increasing need for student engagement in the class room and how social media can be leveraged to solve this crisis.

Check out some of the points from the article highlighted below:

“In a recent McGraw-Hill Education survey, a staggering 98 percent of students agreed social networking is beneficial to their education. Yet a CDW-G survey indicated only 14 percent of instructors believe there is educational value in using social networking sites.”

“This disconnect between student and instructor perceptions stretches across the range of social media sites and even to what many in the commercial sector now think of as traditional technologies.”

“Encouraging instructors to use social media and giving them incentives—like linking tenure to digital teaching innovation and using unique methods to engage and connect students in the classroom—will place colleges on the cutting edge and, most importantly, drive student performance and retention.”

To read the full article see : Class in 140 characters or less?

We know filling out surveys can be a bit annoying, so that’s why we’re offering you the chance to win $50 and/or an Apple MacBook for taking 10 minutes to participate in ours (8 participants won the $50 gift last month).

This is how it works:

1. Click here and complete the survey (you must be a registered GradeGuru user)
2. We will give $50 to every 100th respondent, so your chances of winning are pretty high. Awards will be given out starting now through December 31, 2009.
3. This questionnaire is the 2nd survey of a 3-part survey study. We will be sending out the last survey at the end of the Spring semester. Upon completing the third survey, you will be eligible to win an Apple MacBook. This machine will be in the hands of one lucky student by July 10, 2010.

The goal of this survey is to better understand your study needs and behaviors, allowing us to develop new tools and applications to best meet your academic needs.

Thank you!

We know filling out surveys can be a bit annoying, so that’s why we’re offering you the chance to win $50 and/or an Apple MacBook for taking 10 minutes to participate in ours (your odds for winning are good, promise!)*

This is how it works:

1. Click here and complete the survey (you must be a registered GradeGuru user)
2. We will give $50 to 1 out of every 100 respondents, so your chances of winning are pretty high. Awards will be given out starting now through November 10, 2009.
3. This questionnaire is part of a 3-part survey study. We will be sending out the other 2 surveys at the end of this semester and the end of the academic year. Upon completing the third survey, you will be eligible to win an Apple MacBook. This machine will be in the hands of one lucky student by July 10, 2010.

The goal of this survey is to better understand your study needs and behaviors, allowing us to develop new tools and applications to best meet your academic needs.

Thank you!