Techno-News Blog

By Rob Kelly, Faculty Focus

As an instructional designer and online instructor at the Community College of Baltimore County Catonsville, Dionne Thorne has worked with many instructors as they develop their online courses. As an instructional designer, Thorne asks a lot of questions: What are the big ideas? What will students walk away with? What can you do online? What have you done face to face? What do you think will work online? What tools are you comfortable with? How much time do you have to invest in the course? “I’m here to look at the course from the student perspective,” Thorne says.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/nine-online-course-development-tips/

by CHRIS PARR, London Times

The acronym Mooc has made the Oxford Dictionaries Online – a web-based lexicon of current English by the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary.  Defined as “a course of study made available over the Internet without charge to a very large number of people”, the word Mooc has become commonplace in academia over the last 18 months, after many higher education institutions began offering such courses. Mooc is not the only education-related word to be making its debut in the online dictionary. BYOD, an abbreviation of “bring your own device” has also been added. It refers to the practice of people using their own computers, smartphones, or other devices for work purposes, and is increasingly being used in universities, with lecturers encouraging students to use their own gadgets during class.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/mooc-makes-oxford-online-dictionary/2006838.article

By Katie Grunewald, Iowa State Daily

Iowa State marked its seventh year of growth in enrollment numbers, and with that growth of students comes a need for more ways to learn. The number of online classes offered at Iowa State has been increasing the last few years, this fall nearly 300 classes are offered for students to take in the luxury of their own home. Thomas Brumm, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering in charge of online learning for the College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, sees demand growing. “Part of the reason there are so many online classes is because of the demand there is,” Brumm said. “Students like on online classes, and sometimes they prefer to take them over a face-to-face course.”

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_9023e0ce-15a2-11e3-b182-001a4bcf887a.html

By Colleen Lee, Edudemic

One of the greatest boosts in my teaching career has been the development of my Twitter PLN/ALN (as per a previous post – mine isn’t just “Personal” it’s an “Active” Learning Network). It has been amazing for me to see who I have followed, what their interests are, and more importantly who their contacts have led me to. But even judicious building of an ALN/PLN can lead to a large, and unwieldy stream of tweets. Especially as many of those I find key to my learning often participate in their own chats.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/09/how-to-manage-your-pln-using-twitter-lists/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

We’ve shared a lot of different ideas here on how to integrate different forms of social media in the classroom. From Facebook to Twitter and Pinterest, there are a ton of educators out there who are harnessing their students’ existing interest and knowledge of these social media tools to engage them in learning activities in the classroom. The handy infographic below (Via: librariansonthefly.blogspot.com) shows a number of different ways to employ another popular social media tool in the classroom and library: Instagram. It does offer you more than just fun filters for your photos! Keep reading to learn more.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/09/instagram-in-the-classroom-infographic/

by Phil Hill, e-literate

The more I read on SJSU’s announcement on the pilot program, the more troubled I am with the lack of clear description of student population change (I wrote briefly about the change in student populations yesterday). In a nutshell, the spring 2013 pilot was completely different in the major demographic variables than the summer 2013 pilot. That’s good, right, showing that SJSU and Udacity are learning their lessons? It would be good if SJSU clearly described the student differences and avoided any implications that the numbers could be compared. Further, it would be good to avoid misleading comparisons to face-to-face courses at SJSU.

http://mfeldstein.com/sjsu-plus-udacity-pilots-lack-of-transparency/

By Rachel Metz, Technology Review

Steve Mann, a pioneer in the field of wearable computing, has been touting the benefits of head-mounted computers for decades. Now the University of Toronto professor is also lending his weight and experience to a company hoping to loosen Google Glass’s grip on the nascent market with a different take on computer glasses that merges the real and the virtual. The company, Meta, is building computerized headwear that can overlay interactive 3-D content onto the real world. While the device is bulky, Meta hopes to eventually slim it down into a sleek, light pair of normal-looking glasses that could be used in all kinds of virtual activities, from gaming to product design. The company, which was founded by Meron Gribetz and Ben Sand, counts Mann as its chief scientist. One of Mann’s graduate students, Ray Lo, serves as chief technical officer. The company just completed a stint with Y Combinator, the successful startup accelerator based in Mountain View, California.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518596/a-wearable-computer-more-powerful-than-glass-and-even-more-awkward/

By Rachel Metz, Technology Review

Wave hello: Leap Motion enables 3-D gesture controls on your computer, but appears to have stagnated since its July launch. Hype surrounding Leap Motion, an $80 3-D gesture-control gadget touted for its exceptional finger-tracking accuracy, reached fever pitch in the weeks before its July launch. Hundreds of thousands of people ordered the device ahead of its release, and a flashy demo video on YouTube was viewed millions of times. Yet after one month and a raft of “meh” product reviews citing problems like difficulty controlling apps and tired arms, the sardine-can-sized gadget—which connects to a computer’s USB port and tracks the movement of your hands and fingers as they move above its sensor—seems to have lost its steam.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518721/leap-motions-struggles-reveal-problems-with-3-d-interfaces/

By Cynthia Karena, Whyalla News

Remote students interacted with teachers and students in the physical classroom in a context similar to that of Second Life, the 3D virtual world in which people socialise and connect using voice and text chat. The Macquarie trial was conducted as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council project focusing on blended synchronous learning. The project emerged from collaboration between Macquarie’s Informatics, Department of Education, Learning and Teaching Centre, Sustainability and Audio Visual Technology teams. Remote students created their own avatars, cartoon-like online representations of themselves that engaged with the teacher and students in the classroom who could see and hear them through a video stream projection using AvayaLive Engage virtual world (running on Amazon Web Services infrastructure). It uses 3D visuals, high-definition video and spatial audio.

http://www.whyallanewsonline.com.au/story/1745881/remote-classes-enter-blended-reality/?cs=1298

By Glenn Drexhage, University of British Columbia

A pioneering offering from the Faculty of Education and UBC Library is enabling UBC students, staff and faculty to hone their digital literacy skills. The two units have introduced the University’s first LOOC, or local open online course, as part of UBC’s Master of Educational Technology program. This course, called M101, helps users “acquire, maintain, refine and promote” digital literacy skills. These are grouped into topics including Mining (research), Meshing (idea creation) and Mobilizing (generating value from information and knowledge). The LOOC is open to all members of the UBC community who have a campus wide login (CWL). M101 is self-paced, and users can build their skills in any area, and in any order, that they wish.

http://about.library.ubc.ca/2013/08/30/loocing-into-the-future-of-digital-learning/

By LAUREN ZUMBACH, Peoria Journal Star

With a growing number of colleges offering or requiring online courses, several area high schools are providing more virtual options to prepare students while offering a broader curriculum. Three years ago, Dunlap started offering alternative versions of some courses. At first, students are at their desks five days a week, but they gradually cut in-class time to two days a week, working online the other three days. “We wanted a model that reflects where they are as high school students, but prepares them for expectations they’ll run into later,” said Principal Tom Welsh.

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1281953530/Area-high-schools-increase-online-classes-to-help-students-prepare-for-college

By David F. Carr, InformationWeek

Pearson will offer more than 400,000 college students taking first-year courses in the sciences and business this fall access to online homework and tutorial software powered by Knewton’s adaptive learning data service, according to the publisher. Pearson and Knewton have been working together since late 2011, and in fall 2012 they introduced their joint product for math, economics, reading and writing. Now, they have expanded into college biology, anatomy/physiology, chemistry, physics, finance and accounting. For each of the new subjects, the focus is on the introductory college course that students must pass if they are serious about a subject; for example, the biology class is specifically for biology majors, including pre-med students, said Paul Corey, president of Pearson Higher Education’s science, business and technology unit.

http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/pearson-expands-online-adaptive-learning/240160618

by Hailey Higgins, KELO

US Representative Kristi Noem met with administration and students in South Dakota Universities to talk about online learning.Noem used e-learning while obtaining her degree in 2011. As co-founder of the bipartisan Congressional E-Learning Caucus, she now wants input for future higher education legislation that’s coming before congress. “What I was surprised about when I got to congress, there is not a caucus that specifically talks about e-learning. A lot of members of congress haven’t gone to school in a long time so they don’t recognize how the modern way of learning is happening,” Noem said. Noem is hoping to take the lessons she’s learning here to make things easier for educators both in South Dakota and across the country.

http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/rep-noem-hosts-e-learning-roundtable/

by Jonathan Kantrowitz, Education Research Report

A new report issued by SRI International, Supporting K-12 Students in Online Learning: A Review of Online Algebra I Courses, informs both designers and purchasers of online courseware about the characteristics of online Algebra I courses available in the market.

Among the findings:

* Importance of on-site support: Courseware providers are increasingly emphasizing the importance of—and providing guidance for—on-site support for students, such as mentors to encourage successful completion of coursework.
* Assessment and feedback: Research shows that feedback is critical to student success. All courses reviewed provided formative and summative assessments; however the data is primarily focused on correctness of answers and not students’ thinking process. Researchers recommend more feedback on student reasoning.

http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-review-of-online-algebra-i-courses.html

By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times

Students who took online classes in a summer program at San Jose State University performed better than those who took the same online classes in the spring, a result that is likely to provide a boost to a highly touted but problem-plagued collaboration between the campus and an online provider. In new results released Wednesday, 83% of summer students in elementary statistics earned a C or better compared with 50.5% of those in the spring; and 72.6% of summer college algebra students made the grade compared with 25.4% of those in the spring. The pass rates for remedial math improved somewhat, reaching nearly 30% for summer students compared with 24% for those in the spring.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-college-online-20130829,0,1238170.story

by Jon Xavier, Bizjournals

Just Delete Me is a new website that compiles the easiest way to delete your information from various websites into an easy-to-use, informative guide. Just Delete Me also ranks each site on how hard the process of unplugging is. But some sites, including a few that are extremely popular such as Pinterest, are just plain impossible. Want to know what web services make it nearly impossible to quit? Click through the slideshow at the URL to see the sites that don’t currently let you delete your account or your personal data.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/08/26/the-15-popular-web-services-that-hold.html

by Christina Farr, Venture Beat

After a few tweaks, the company just reported that its summer pilot has been far more successful. Thrun, who is also a Google fellow and Stanford lecturer, published a blog post with the results. “In short, pass rates are up and match more closely those in SJSU on-campus classes,” Thrun announced. For the summer program, Udacity used data from the spring and made a number of changes.  Interestingly, college credit was not the leading motivation for students to take these courses for credit. “Love of learning, career advancement, and lack of options were all part of the equation,” said Thrun.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/28/udacity-reports-better-results-for-its-online-education-experiment/

By Megan O’Neil, Chronicle of Higher Ed

A little more than one year after its debut, the digital-textbook program OpenStax College is set to expand by adding a sixth title to its slate of free online textbooks. OpenStax, a nonprofit group based at Rice University, will add an introductory-statistics text in October. Five additional titles will be available for download by 2015, according to officials. OpenStax doubled the number of professors adopting its textbooks during the past four months, bringing the total to 319 at 297 colleges and universities. The program is expected to save 40,000 students more than $3.7-million in textbook costs during the 2013-14 academic year.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/free-digital-textbook-venture-at-rice-u-adds-users-and-titles/45881

by JIMMY DALY, EdTech

What will education look like in the future? Considering that 10 years ago very few students carried smartphones, and tablets didn’t even exist, it’s impossible to look 20 or 30 years into the future. It is likely, however, that cloud-based technology will be the foundation for educational technology and that remote, online learning will continue to grow at a faster pace. See the URL below for a fascinating infographic on the future of educational technology.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2013/08/map-education-technology-through-2040-infographic

by KCCI News

Iowa State University is seeing a surge in students taking online classes. The university said more students are choosing to take a combination of both online and on campus classes. Enrollment in a combo of online and on campus increased by nearly 40 percent in fiscal year 2012 and enrollment in online only classes jumped by more than 25 percent, the university reported. Iowa State has now increased online courses for undergraduates by nearly 30 percent.

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/big-surge-in-isu-students-taking-classes-online/-/9357080/21654696/-/142jur9/-/index.html

by Online Learning Insights

This post features a collection of carefully selected resources specific to teaching online; geared to educators seeking skill development for creating meaningful online discussions, communicating effectively with students, and providing constructive feedback. iStock_000018547848XSmallThis is the second article in a series featuring select instructional resources—I’m in the process of building a bank of resources accessible from this blog geared to educators seeking skill development in facilitating and designing online courses. Over time I’ll be adding to the Resources section with the goal of sharing high-quality, relevant and helpful resources. The resources section and post below, includes links grouped by topic with a brief description of each, and an icon indicating its type. For the list of previously featured resources and/or for the icon legend please refer to the resources tab of this site.

http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/essential-and-helpful-resources-for-online-instructors/