Author: Reporter

A cen­tu­ry ago, the great French com­pos­er Claude Debussy sat down at a con­trap­tion called a Welte-Mignon repro­duc­ing piano and record­ed a series of per­for­mances for pos­ter­i­ty. The machine was designed to encode the nuances of a pianist’s play­ing, includ­ing ped­al­ing and dynam­ics, onto piano rolls for lat­er repro­duc­tion. Debussy record­ed 14 pieces onto six rolls in Paris on or before Novem­ber 1, 1913. Accord­ing to Debussy enthu­si­ast Steve Bryson’s web site, the com­pos­er was delight­ed with the repro­duc­tion qual­i­ty, say­ing in a let­ter to Edwin Welte: “It is impos­si­ble to attain a greater per­fec­tion of repro­duc­tion than that of the Welte…

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Recently, former President Barack Obama paid a visit to the Bessie Coleman Branch of the Chicago Public Library. Sitting before a group of elementary school students, he read How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight by Karen Parsons, about how this trailblazer pursued her dreams and became the first Black female pilot in the United States in 1921. Obama then presented each child with a book, asked them what they want to be when they grow up It’s a simple question, one that adults often ask…

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter A week after Florida health officials brought the state one step closer to abolishing childhood vaccine mandates, pediatricians, parents and advocates are expressing alarm over the ramifications.  If such a change goes into effect, “pediatric hospitals will be overwhelmed with [childhood] infections that have virtually been non-existent for the last 40 years,” said Florida-based infectious disease specialist Frederick Southwick. Southwick attended a Dec. 12 public comment workshop on the issue hosted by the Florida Department of Health.  “We’re in trouble right now,” he added, pointing…

Coursera and Udemy both launched during the MOOC boom of the early 2010s. Allison Shelley/Complete College Photo Library To keep pace with advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, two big online learning companies are planning to merge in a deal valued at $2.5 billion. Coursera announced its plans to absorb Udemy in a news release Wednesday; both companies launched during the massive open online course provider boom of the early 2010s. Coursera, which offers a variety of courses, certifications and degrees, expects the all-stock merger to be finalized by the second half of 2026 and to generate more than $1.5 billion in…

At least 15 nonprofit institutions announced closures amid a difficult year for higher education as the sector navigated rising operating costs and political minefields amid a presidential transition. That number is down from last year when Inside Higher Ed tracked 16 closure announcements but up from 2023 when 14 nonprofit colleges announced plans to shutter their operations. That count does not include colleges that closed this year but had previously announced plans to do so. Colleges planning to close are a mix of public and private institutions, though all seven of those in the public sector were part of Pennsylvania…

Ed Kim, Minding The Campus Traditional educational models provide rigid pathways for students to follow. Classrooms teach students to solve problems conventionally and focus on achieving a…

Many of today’s college students are digital natives, having grown up in a world dominated by cellphones, the internet, social media and rapid technological advancements. Coming of age alongside smartphones, however, has been linked to high rates of mental health concerns among Gen Z. A 2024 brief by the National Center for Health Statistics found that half of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 spent four or more hours on screens per day, and those teens were more likely to experience anxiety or depression symptoms. In 2025, 32 percent of college students reported moderate or severe levels of anxiety…

How To Improve eLearning Efficiency In today’s digital age, eLearning has become an essential tool for education and professional development. From online courses to corporate training programs, the demand for effective digital learning solutions continues to grow. However, many learners struggle with staying engaged, retaining information, and completing courses efficiently. Improving eLearning efficiency is now more crucial than ever, benefiting both educators and learners in their pursuit of effective, engaging, and impactful learning experiences. Key Challenges In eLearning Despite its advantages, eLearning faces several common challenges. First, content overload can overwhelm learners, leading to lower retention and engagement. Second, the…

In the video above, Use­fulCharts cre­ator Matt Bak­er sug­gests that we not refer to the peri­od span­ning the fifth and the late fif­teenth cen­turies as the “dark ages.” In jus­ti­fi­ca­tion, he does­n’t put forth the argu­ment, now fair­ly com­mon, that the time in ques­tion was actu­al­ly full of sub­tle inno­va­tion occlud­ed by mod­ern prej­u­dice. The real prob­lem, as he sees it, is that the slow­ing, if not revers­ing, of the progress of human soci­ety that we’ve tra­di­tion­al­ly regard­ed as occur­ring in what are com­mon­ly known as the Mid­dle Ages only occurred in Europe. What’s more, there have been mul­ti­ple such…

The moment, Thomas Gilhool would tell a historian decades later, “seemed providential.” It was 1969. Two men from the Pennsylvania Association of Retarded Children made an appointment to meet with the young lawyer with a reputation for taking pie-in-the-sky cases more experienced attorneys wouldn’t touch. Gilhool was five years out of Yale Law School, practicing out of an office that was no wider than his desk — barely large enough to receive the visitors.  Wedged in sideways, the men handed him a report they had commissioned on conditions at the Pennhurst State School and Hospital, the state’s notoriously overcrowded asylum…