Techno-News Blog

by Justin Pope, Associated Press

More urgent. More crowded. More expensive. Also, more flexible and accessible to millions. That, in a nutshell, is how higher education has changed around the world in the wake of the global financial crisis that struck five years ago, and the Great Recession that followed. Here’s how it happened: Increasing financial pressures to get more people through higher education more efficiently opened the door to new technologies. Those technologies, in turn, have begun “unbundling” individual classes and degrees from traditional institutions — much in the same way iTunes has unbundled songs from whole albums and the Internet is increasingly unbundling television shows and networks from cable packages.

http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_23568740/higher-education-changed-by-recession-and-technology

by Esther Perez, Med City News

I’ve been a systems engineer and database administrator for fifteen years now, and it’s fair to say that there have been more than a few large-scale shifts in information technology in that time. Perhaps no technology trend has driven a greater amount of change in that period, though, than the rise of big data. Taking the necessary time and resources to pause your career and go back to school for one or two years is an extremely risky professional move for most; it’s not as if your employer is simply going to wait two years for you to complete a program and hand your job back once you have a degree in hand. There is an alternative to this approach, however. A growing number of online learning platforms aimed at providing technical training and certification have appeared in recent years. Some notable examples include Coursera, Khan Academy and Big Data University, all of which are free of charge (a stark contrast to the wave of for-profit “universities” that had previously dominated the online education landscape).

http://medcitynews.com/2013/06/how-should-systems-engineers-study-up-on-big-data-technology-online-of-course/

by UPI

Tracking facial expressions can gauge emotions of students in interactive online learning and predict the effectiveness of online tutoring, U.S. scientists say. Researchers at North Carolina State University report software allowed them to automatically track facial expressions related to anxiety, confusion, engagement and frustration. “The program, JavaTutor, will not only respond to what a student knows, but to each student’s feelings of frustration or engagement,” computer science Professor Kristy Boyer said. “This is important because research shows that student emotion plays an important role in the learning process.”
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2013/06/27/Software-tracks-facial-expressions-to-gauge-on-line-learning-success/UPI-20941372369761/

by David F. Carr, Information Week

In pilot, online university used challenges and badges to spur students to work harder and improved grades by more than 9%.  Finding that adding game elements to online education makes students work harder and achieve more, Kaplan University is making gamification a standard part of its information technology degree program, while also beginning to introduce it to the business school. David DeHaven, dean of Kaplan’s School of Information of Technology, said it will take time to integrate gamification into all 120 courses, but the initial pilot group of 30 students has now been expanded to cover 700. “At the end of the day, we’re looking to offer this to all 4,000 students in the School of Information Technology and to School of Business students as well,” he said.

http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/kaplan-expands-gamification-of-online-co/240157444

by Jeff Gamet, Mac Observer

Apple released iTunes U 1.3.1 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on Tuesday. The update for the iTunes U online course management app added a pull-to-refresh gesture for checking for course updates, and also fixed an issue related to updating course information. iTunes U makes course updates easier with pull-to-refresh gesture The version 1.3.1 update also fixed a problem that caused the app to crash when opening the Catalog, and improved Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, and Spanish support.

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/itunes-u-adds-pull-to-refresh-for-courses

BY DEVON HAYNIE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

NBA great Shaquille O’Neal told the AP in 2005, after earning his online MBA degree from the University of Phoenix, ‘This right here means more’ than his sports accomplishments. O’Neal, who went on to earn a doctorate in education through Barry University’s blended program last May, is one of several celebrities who have taken online courses. Shaquille O’Neal played on four NBA championship teams, won three consecutive NBA Finals MVP awards and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history. But the 7-foot-1 star believes his sports achievements hold no candle to his academic ones. “Sports for me has always been, you know, fairy tale life. And this right here is real life,” he told the AP in 2005 after earning his online MBA degree from the University of Phoenix. “This right here means more.” O’Neal, who went on to earn a doctorate in education through Barry University’s blended program last May, is one of several stars who have taken online courses.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/7-celebrities-online-courses-article-1.1372040

By Blackboard Inc., Herald Online

Online classes are increasing in popularity among both students and parents, according to a survey report released today from Blackboard Inc. and Project Tomorrow®. Nearly half of high school parents and students grade 6-12 would like more online courses, according to the report, yet only 17 percent of teachers are interested in teaching a class online and only 20 percent use online curriculum as a part of instruction. While support for online learning among educators continues to lag, the survey showed that teachers who do embrace it may be better able to prepare students for the upcoming Common Core standards, which are changing the look of learning in the classroom. In preparation for the standards, many districts are creating more content online to maximize class time and addressing new goals such as analytical skills and student progress.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/06/25/4975085/parents-and-students-support-online.html

By Sara Grossman, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Many people outside of higher education have never heard of massive open online courses, according to a new survey of public attitudes toward the free offerings. While an overwhelming majority of respondents to the survey said they were familiar with online education in general, only 22 percent said they were familiar with MOOCs, and only 4 percent said they were very familiar with them. The survey, which was based on a nationwide sample of 1,042 people interviewed online in May, determined that a majority of people were modestly in favor of colleges’ offering MOOCs. But there was a distinct split in attitudes among specific subgroups of respondents.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/survey-finds-only-limited-public-awareness-of-moocs/44549?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

By Kevin Bullis, Technology Review

The technology that’s surprised almost everyone is conventional crystalline silicon. A few years ago, silicon solar panels cost $4 per watt, and Martin Green, professor at the University of New South Wales and one of the leading silicon solar panel researchers, declared that they’d never go below $1 a watt. “Now it’s down to something like 50 cents of watt, and there’s talk of hitting 36 cents per watt,” he says. The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of reaching less than $1 a watt—not just for the solar panels, but for complete, installed systems—by 2020 (see “Why Solar Installations Cost More in the U.S. than in Germany”). Green thinks the solar industry will hit that target even sooner than that. If so, that would bring the direct cost of solar power to six cents per kilowatt-hour, which is cheaper than the average cost expected for power from new natural gas power plants. (The total cost of solar power, which includes the cost to utilities to compensate for its intermittency, would be higher, though precisely how much higher will depend on how much solar power is on the grid, and other factors.)

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516306/what-tech-is-next-for-the-solar-industry/

By DEVON HAYNIE, US News

For decades, American-style higher education was out of reach for millions of international students. But now, thanks to MOOCs, students no longer have to hop on a plane and pay thousands of dollars in tuition to get a taste of the U.S. college experience. Acing a MOOC won’t help you earn a U.S. degree – yet. Most American universities won’t accept transfer credit for the courses. But that doesn’t mean the classes aren’t worthwhile. MOOCs can still inspire people, lead to additional job skills and impress future employers or admissions deans, experts say. Below are several reasons why international students might consider taking a MOOC.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2013/06/25/5-reasons-international-students-should-consider-moocs