Techno-News Blog

By Adriana Velez, Times-Herald

Reading books electronically may be novel for us adults, but for our digital-native kids, e-books are a foregone conclusion. Nearly half of all kids between the age of 6 and 17 have read at least one, according to a report from Scholastic. And half of kids 9 to 17 say they’d read for fun more often if they had more access to them. The advantages of e-books for kids are fairly obvious: They’re extremely portable, easy to keep track of and easy to travel with. All you need is your device and an app. Many kids’ e-books are simply an electronic version of their favorite titles, but many publishers are harnessing technology to expand the possibilities of storytelling.

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/lifestyle/ci_24287719/how-e-books-can-enhance-learning-experience

By Jay Greene, Seattle Times

Amazon acquired online math instruction company, TenMarks, for an undisclosed amount Thursday, as the company moves to push its Kindle Fire tablets into schools. Burlingame, Calif., based TenMarks offers personalized math instruction for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Amazon said the company’s programs are used by “tens of thousands” of schools. “Together, Amazon and TenMarks intend to develop rich educational content and applications, across multiple platforms, that we think teachers, parents and students will love.” Dave Limp, Amazon Kindle vice president, said in a statement.

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2022012887_amazontenmarksxml.html

by George Anders, Forbes 

Andrew Ng is at is again. The cofounder of Coursera — a Silicon Valley startup that offers free college-level classes to millions of online visitors –  is politely challenging another bedrock assumption in higher education. This time, it’s the belief that most classes should run 12 weeks or more. Not so, says Ng. In Coursera’s online world, where there’s no need to follow traditional academic calendars, the short class is enjoying a remarkable burst of popularity. As the accompanying chart shows, Coursera currently is offering classes as short as three weeks. Its most common offerings run just six weeks. And classes of 10 weeks or more constitute just 27% of Coursera’s current menu of 335 classes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2013/10/10/courseras-online-insight-short-classes-are-educations-future/

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

A new antenna design being tested by the U.S. Air Force could make GPS significantly more reliable and able to function in dense urban areas where GPS accuracy is weak. It might even allow the technology to work indoors in some cases. Good GPS readings are hard to get in cities because of the multipath phenomenon: signals from positioning satellites bounce off buildings and other structures. That confuses GPS receivers, which calculate their location by knowing exactly how long it took for signals to arrive from satellites overhead. A signal that has bounced takes longer to arrive than it would if it had traveled directly, muddying a receiver’s math and sending location readings off by tens or hundreds of meters. Smartphones and in-car GPS units often have to work out their true location by analyzing maps and by getting a series of readings over time.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519811/a-cure-for-urban-gps-a-3-d-antenna/

By Rachel Metz, Technology Review

If you buy several Internet-connected home gadgets—say, a “smart” thermostat, “smart” door lock, and “smart” window blinds—you’ll likely have to control each one with a separate app, meaning it exists in its own little silo. That’s not how Elier Ramirez does it. In his home, an iPad app controls his lights, ceiling fans, and TV and stereo. Pressing a single button within the app can shut off all his lights and gadgets when he leaves.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519666/free-software-ties-the-internet-of-things-together/

By Editorial Board, Duke Chronicle

Despite encountering opposition from some faculty and students, Duke’s administration continues to explore opportunities to promote online learning. In July, Duke appointed Lynne O’Brien to serve as the University’s first associate vice provost for digital and online education initiatives—a position created to oversee Duke’s experiments with online education. O’Brien’s appointment suggests that Duke plans to proceed more carefully and deliberately as it develops its approach to online education. Earlier attempts to integrate online courses into Duke’s curriculum were met with significant resistance.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/10/08/faculty-key-online-education

By Jeffrey Becker, Edudemic

School is back in session and along with backpacks and books, millions of students worldwide are carrying something new to class—mobile technology. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 23% of American teens have tablets and 47% have smartphones. Students can now instantly access textbooks, encyclopedias and more in the palm of their hand. But even with all the benefits that these technologies bring to the classroom, insufficient battery life remains a challenge. To help students get the most out of their tablets and smartphones, here are some simple battery saving tips that will help ensure your devices keep working from the first bell to the last homework question.

http://www.edudemic.com/battery-saving-tips/

by James G. Mazoué, Educause Review

MOOCs face a storm of opposition that underestimates their challenge to traditional education. Given their popularity, why are there so many myths about MOOCs floating around? Debunking the myths about MOOCs leaves us free to challenge our assumptions — and our imaginative possibilities — by questioning the seeming inevitability of educational orthodoxy.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/five-myths-about-moocs

By Saurabh Tyagi, Edudemic

There is ample research to show that a community based education model can greatly enhance the learning capabilities of its members.  Moreover, learning is inherently a communal activity, which is perfectly exemplified by the classroom setup, where a group of students interact amongst themselves and with the faculty. Transpose this behavior to the world of internet and we have what we call online learning communities.

http://www.edudemic.com/build-effective-online-learning-communities/

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

Social media monitoring of students has sparked a debate among education leaders, policymakers and legal experts. And recent monitoring decisions have added fuel to the fire. On one hand, social media monitoring of students could help education institutions identify cyberbullying, suicidal posts and illegal behavior. It could also give them opportunities to teach students about responsible social media use that benefits both students and institutions. On the other hand, monitoring student social media takes time away from educators’ regular duties and can lead to more of a disciplinary mindset rather than an educational one. This monitoring could pose legal liabilities, put educators into a role they’re not trained for, and generally track what students are saying even though there is no reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/Student-Social-Media-Monitoring-Stirs-up-Debate.html

By Robert Talbert, Chronicle of Higher Ed

By far the biggest difficulty the students in the course have had so far has not been with mathematical content or even with the idea of flipped instruction – it’s with time and task management. Consider the basic Guided Practice assignment that is the backbone of how I do flipped classes. These involve reading and viewing in multiple locations (in the book and on YouTube), working out exercises, then typing up responses in a Google Form and submitting it by a certain date. I look at an assignment like that and go immediately into GTD mode – if I were in the students’ place, I’d go to Nozbe and create a project, put the individual tasks in it with contexts and deadlines, and put the final deadline on my Google calendar with a reminder.

http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2013/10/07/the-biggest-lesson-from-the-flipped-classroom-may-not-be-about-math/

By GENE A. BUDIG and ALAN HEAPS, Post & Courier
In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore predicted that computer processing power would double every two years. Almost fifty years later, his prediction, known as Moore’s Law, has proven to be incredibly accurate. Here are two examples of the startling rate of change. Today’s iPad is as fast as the Cray supercomputer of 25 years ago. In another 25 years, one expert predicts that our hand-held devices will “be able to store the entire human knowledge base.” It’s obvious to everyone that these advances have reshaped many parts of our world. But different sectors have moved at different speeds. Some, like communications and media, are virtually unrecognizable when compared to their recent pasts. But other sectors have been much slower to take advantage of these changes. A few have almost completely ignored the new technologies.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20131006/PC1002/131009564/1021/facing-the-technology-juggernaut&source=RSS

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

People find novel ways to use new sensors whenever they’re added to mobile computers. Just over a decade since cameras first appeared in cell phones, they remain one of the most used features of mobile devices, underpinning wildly popular and valuable companies such as Instagram and Snapchat. Now hardware that gives handheld computers 3-D vision may open up a new dimension to imaging apps, and enable new ways of using these devices. Early mobile apps that can scan the world in 3-D show potential for new forms of gaming, commerce, and photography. The first mobile depth-sensing technology to hit the market is likely to be the Structure Sensor, an accessory for Apple’s iPad that gives the device capabilities similar to those of Microsoft’s Kinect gaming controller. Occipital, the San Francisco company behind the device, says it will start shipping its product in February 2014. A Kickstarter campaign for the device has raised almost $750,000, with more than a month to run.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519546/depth-sensing-cameras-head-to-mobile-devices/

By Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe
 
We’re living through an incredible moment in the history of learning. Suddenly, anyone with an Internet connection can take courses, for free, from some of the world’s top universities. On sites like Coursera, edX, and Khan Academy, you can learn how to run a clinical trial that will satisfy the Food and Drug Administration, study aircraft design, or dive into the basics of environmental law. But will taking these online courses at schools like Harvard and Stanford improve your prospects in the job market?  Free MOOCs are a fantastic thing. But even if you’ve been a top student, sitting in the virtual front row, employers increasingly want to see what you can create.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/10/05/will-mooc-help-you-open-career-doors/pmjHbLCghsH0lEbulWC9VL/story.html

By KARL M. ASPELUND, Harvard Crimson

Professor Robert Lue prompts the audience for questions about HarvardX during a town hall meeting Thursday evening in Harvard Hall. Lue and fellow faculty members discussed courses, research, and objectives of HarvardX going forward. At a town hall meeting Thursday evening, HarvardX Faculty Director Robert A. Lue and fellow faculty members addressed how the 16-month-old online learning platform must continue to adapt pedagogically, financially, and structurally to reach its goals—expanding access, improving teaching, and advancing research.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/4/lue-harvardx-town-hall/

by Penn State

Faculty who taught Penn State’s initial round of MOOCs, or massive online open courses, say their experiences will influence how they teach their regular classes.The five MOOCs offered by Penn State have attracted more than 300,000 enrollments so far. “I was overwhelmed by the level of engagement,” said Anthony Robinson, whose course Maps and the Geospatial Revolution drew more than 48,000 students. “I was blown away by the extent that people got into the details, went out and tried to help each other, and created these wonderful discussion threads.”

http://news.psu.edu/story/289952/2013/10/02/research/penn-state%E2%80%99s-early-mooc-faculty-share-lessons-their-classes

By KELSEY SULLIVAN, Purdue Exponent

Purdue’s new interactive textbook allows students to build upon the classroom experience. Purdue instructors will reach further than Purdue’s West Lafayette campus through Purdue NExT, a new online program designed to improve the skills of students and professionals around the world. Set to debut in November, Purdue NExT offers five-week, non-degree courses in an interactive, online environment. These courses may be taken separately or in addition to degree coursework. “Purdue NExT modules can be incorporated by our faculty into credit-bearing Purdue courses as well, or utilized by our residential students at no extra charge as a supplement to their Purdue curriculum,” said Timothy Sands, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Purdue.

http://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_37a074cc-05cb-5c77-9d7c-a1ce8996c4e1.html

By Nikolaos Chatzopoulos, Edudemic

Leap Motion is a brand new and highly promising device. For those who never heard of the Leap Motion controller before, it’s a small piece of hardware, compatible with both, Macs and PC’s, that allows the user to control the device without touching the keyboard, the mouse, or the screen. The pedagogical potential persuaded me to spend the $80, a somewhat steep asking price, and try it in my classroom. In my trials I discovered that the petite device can make an excellent teaching companion, and can complement a teacher’s arsenal of teaching tools. Given the fact that Leap Motion is a newcomer to the filed of technology, the number of available applications, particularly education-oriented applications, is naturally, low at the moment. However, the few that are available, if used appropriately, can elevate any lesson to a highly enjoyable augmented reality experience, and as such, they can provide unique learning opportunities for all students, especially kinesthetic learners. Furthermore, it appears that the Leap Motion controller has a great potential in the field of special education. Special education students of all ages can benefit greatly from the advantages the small device offers.

http://www.edudemic.com/leap-motion-in-the-classroom/

By Catherine Zaw, The Stanford Daily

Starting Oct. 14, the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) will launch its first massive open online course (MOOC) called The Finance of Retirement and Pensions. The free public course, to be taught by professor of finance Joshua Rauh, is part of the GSB’s overall strategy to use technology to enhance the teaching and learning experience on campus, as well as have a larger global impact. We definitely view this inaugural MOOC as a testing ground for us, and so wanted to push the boundaries of what a MOOC could do by enriching the ways in which participants can engage with one another and with faculty member Joshua Rauh,” said Garth Saloner, dean of the GSB, in an email statement to The Daily.

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2013/10/03/gsb-to-launch-finance-based-mooc/

by Nuala Moran, Science Business

As ever, Europe is trailing in the implementation of an important technology, according to a communication from the European Commission last week, which sets out an agenda for stimulating novel approaches to teaching and learning, using new technologies and digital content to deliver high quality education. Digital technologies are not being exploited in education and training systems across Europe, says the communication, ‘Opening up Learning’. A recent study found that only 37 per cent of nine year-olds study at “highly digitally-equipped schools” and only 20 – 25 per cent are taught by “digitally confident” teachers, with most teachers using ICT to prepare, rather than as a means to work with students during lessons.

http://bulletin.sciencebusiness.net/news/76276/Opening-up-education-it%E2%80%99s-time-to-embrace-the-real-(online)-life-of-students

by Ethan Oblak, Daily Texan

A few years ago, having Twitter or Facebook open during class was a sure sign a student was distracted — but as social media becomes more popular, many professors have embraced the sites and integrated them into their own curriculums. UT professors from a range of colleges discussed methods through which they integrate social media into their classrooms in order to promote collaborative learning. The professors said social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and hoot.me establish links between students and professors. Associate English professor Elizabeth Richmond-Garza said she focuses on the different ways people present themselves in person and online and hopes her students understand the importance of representing themselves honestly.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2013/10/03/ut-professors-encourage-use-of-twitter-as-tool-to-improve-in-class-communication