Techno-News Blog

By Mike Orcutt, Technology Review

One of the most important innovations in Apple’s latest iPads lies behind the screen. In many of the tablets, the pixels in the display are controlled by transistors made of a material called indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), a promising replacement for the conventional amorphous silicon. Displays featuring “backplanes” of IGZO transistors should make it possible for tablets and TVs to have much higher-resolution displays while consuming significantly less power. The technology has already cropped up in low volumes of high-end smartphones and televisions, but its appearance in iPads suggests we can expect IGZO to improve several more popular products over the next year.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/521611/lurking-inside-the-ipad-is-the-future-of-high-def-displays/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

I had a teacher recently say to me “It seems like EdTech is taking over”. Mulling that thought over brought to mind a lot of different possible responses. First off: the teacher who said this is older, approaching the end of their career, and not very tech-aware at all. Not just not tech-savvy, but not interested in becoming tech-savvy, either. A bit later in our discussion, this particular person admitted that they thought that technology could help improve students’ learning, but that still didn’t make them interested in it. While I’d probably place this person in the minority of teachers, it got me thinking. Is edtech really taking over? Are the majority of teachers integrating tech, or are there still a lot of ‘old school’ folks out there shunning tech? The visual below takes a look at some teachers’ opinions on edtech, and as the visual might have given away – it isn’t optional, it’s essential! Keep reading to learn more.

http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-edtech-study/

By Sarah Butrymowicz, the Hechinger Report

In the past, what we’ve seen are individual schools implementing school models. What I think the next evolution of blended learning is districts or networks of schools thinking of how to scale this. It’s not just kind of just replicating the same model, but it’s actually having multiple versions of that that’s suitable for different types of teachers’ skills and students’ skills, and also building district level capacity to support these implementations. We’re just starting to hear more about, instead of districts saying, ‘Hey I want to do this at one school and try it out,” we hear from districts saying, ‘I need to do this at 10 to 20 schools at a time.’ We need to have the sustainability of supporting this kind of roll out.

http://hechingerreport.org/content/qa-with-anthony-kim-what-will-the-next-phase-of-blended-learning-look-like_13849/

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Imagine you’re talking on the phone to your best friend and you have a potentially salacious or embarrassing question to ask. Do you ask it? What if you were on a conference call with a million people? Would you ask that same question to all those people? That’s the idea behind Twitter manners. You need to understand that Twitter is a wide open space where anyone can (and will) see what you type. If you run for president some day, you can rest assured every single tweet will be pored over by reporters looking for a scoop. (Do they still use the term ‘scoop’ anyway?) But if you’re not running for president, you can still be certain that other people will see your tweets. The good and the bad ones. That’s the whole point of Twitter after all.

http://www.edudemic.com/must-guide-twitter-manners/

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Are you tweeting a RLRT that’s NSFW and a MT? Did that sentence look like total nonsense? Do you hate acronyms? Me too! Does it mean you should avoid knowing what people are talking about on Twitter? No. In an effort to get you up to speed on the current language of Twitter, Mashable created this handy visual guide to Twitter lingo. It features just some of the countless acronyms and symbols that every Twitter user should know. From hashtags to mentions, there’s a lot going on with every tweet. It’s actually quite incredible to see how far it’s all come. Just a few years ago (before Twitter), this stuff was only used in email. Even then, not on a regular basis. Now with Twitter, it’s everywhere! Did you know all these symbols and acronyms? Which are new to you? Which are some that are being left out? Add yours (where else?!) by mentioning @edudemic on Twitter and I’ll retweet them!

http://www.edudemic.com/handy-visual-guide-twitter-lingo/

Windows laptop, MacBook, or Chromebook? Let’s ask Amazonby Ed Bott, ZD Net
Are you looking for a clamshell-style laptop? The world’s largest online market, Amazon.com, has a huge selection, with cheap Chromebooks at the top of the list. What does that list say about the three very different ecosystems for this familiar form factor? Tablets might be one of the fastest-growing categories in technology, but for sheer numbers conventional PCs still rule, especially those available in the classic clamshell format: Windows laptops, MacBooks, and Chromebooks.
http://www.zdnet.com/windows-laptop-macbook-or-chromebook-lets-ask-amazon-7000023120/

by Libby Page, the Guardian

You could study for a degree from a beach in Thailand, or while juggling work and looking after children – thanks to the flexibility of online learning. “Studying online means I can fit my studies to my life, rather than fitting my life around my studies,” says Anna Enos, who studied online for an MSc in information and library studies with Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Online learning, whether for a degree or as a short course, offers a flexible study option for people who can’t commit to fulltime study, or don’t have access to a nearby university. If you’ve been out of education for a long time, the thought of going “back to school” and fitting study into a busy schedule, can be daunting. Life commitments mean that going into class every day is not always an option. Caring responsibilities meant that Lyndsay Briggs didn’t think of studying as an option, until she found an online course that suited her. “I have a two-year-old son called Alfie and looking after him takes up most of my time,” she says.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/nov/12/online-learning-students-benefits

By Melanie Ehrenkranz, idigitaltimes

“Ok, Glass, go to class.” Google announced in July that five film schools would receive Google Glass eyewear for the fall semester. The selected colleges include American Film Institute, California Institute of the Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. The participating colleges were granted three pairs of the wearable computing devices and have since taken advantage of the futuristic gadget. Months have passed, and the Google Glass release date looms on the horizon (or perhaps on the San Francisco Bay). How have college students been experimenting with Glass?

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/20726/20131111/google-glass-release-date-film-school-students.htm

By Ananth Baliga, UPI

A survey of university leaders has shown that the sequester — mandatory budget cuts which will remain in effect for the next eight years unless Congress acts — will adversely affect the innovation and technology edge the U.S. enjoys. The survey, conducted by the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and The Science Coalition, asked leaders from 171 public and private research universities about the effects of the sequester. The survey suggests cuts to federal research grants and delayed federal projects have already had a negative impact.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Blog/2013/11/11/Sequester-severely-affecting-Americas-research-capabilities/8271384205494/

 BY TONY BATES, Online learning and distance ed resources
Can campus-based institutions increase productivity through online learning reducing their costs of campus-based activities (or more realistically, through expanding activity at a lower marginal cost through online learning)? This might be done in a number of ways, for example, by:

*  handling an expansion of student enrollments through online learning, instead of building extra campus facilities to handle the increase

*  more intensive use of existing facilities, such as science labs or lecture theatres, for instance, by students spending more time on simulations or remote labs and less on hands-on labs, or reducing demands on lecture halls through blended learning.
http://www.tonybates.ca/2013/11/10/can-online-learning-lead-to-productivity-gains-through-savings-on-campus-facilities/

by Tom Vander Ark, Gilfus Education

The 10th annual Keeping Pace report is bigger and better than ever. The annual review of policies and practices in K-12 online and blended is the go-to source. The report includes 100 pages of state profiles that highlight programs and identify policy issues. Following is a quick recap.

New & different (this year or in the last few years)

* For the first time in KP history, no new states allowed stated fully online schools

* A quick 4 page landscape analysis (report card) of all 50 states (p10)

* State course choice programs (p34) with a great summary table (p37)

* MOOCs were all the rage in 2012 in higher ed and they are beginning to become available to high school students (p39)

* An increasing number of district programs offer a range of online options to their students

http://www.gilfuseducationgroup.com/keeping-pace-with-k-12-online-blended-learning

by Donald Clark, Plan B

Big data is changing learning by providing a sound basis for learners, teachers, managers and policy makers to improve their systems. Too much is hidden so more and more open data is needed.  Data must be open. Data must be searchable. Data must also be governed and managed. There is also the issue of visualization. Big data is about decision making by the learner, teacher or at an organizational, national or international level and must be understood through visualization. However, data is also being used to do great harm. Big data in the hands of small minds can be dangerous.

http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2013/11/big-data-ten-level-taxonomy-in-learning.html

By Tom Simonite, Technology Reveiw

Both businesses and customers have a significant interest in the technologies used to target and track personal behavior. Trying to derive a person’s wants and needs—conscious or otherwise—from online browsing and buying habits has become crucial to companies of all kinds. Now IBM is taking the idea a step further. It is testing technology that guesses at people’s core psychological traits by analyzing what they post on Twitter, with the goal of offering personalized customer service or better-targeted promotional messages. “We need to go below behavioral analysis like Amazon does,” says Michelle Zhou, leader of the User Systems and Experience Research Group at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in California, which developed the software. “We want to use social media to derive information about an individual—what is the overall affect of this person? How resilient is this person emotionally? People with different personalities want something different.”

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/520671/ads-could-soon-know-if-youre-an-introvert-on-twitter/

by School CIO

A few years ago, the notion of using a smartphone as a legitimate learning tool seemed improbable, if not out-and-out foolish.  Students, in most cases were either prohibited from bringing their mobile phones to school, or at the very least told to leave them in their lockers or turned off and stored in their backpacks during school hours.  However, according to a recent survey conducted by MDR’s EdNET Insight research services for Mimio, what many students are going to hear is, “Class, turn on your mobile phone; it’s time to learn.”  The nine-question survey polled more than 150 educational professionals, including school district technology, instructional media services, and curriculum directors, coordinators and specialists.  Respondents were asked the impact that consumer technology devices and bring-your-own-technology (BYOT) initiatives were likely to have on future interactive classroom planning and purchases.

http://www.schoolcio.com/cio-trends-&-resources/0114/survey-nearly-half-of-schools-to-move-to-byot-in-near-future/52928

By Gary Shattuck, CIO Advisor

In my last blog, I began explaining the first of what I call the Six Laws of Technology Adoption in Education. This first law was the Law of Scarcity. Today’s blog is about the second of these six laws: The Law of Change. In 1970, Alvin Toffler in Future Shock predicted that in the 21st century accelerating change would become endemic. This eerily prophetic prediction is causing and will continue to cause major disruptions in education beyond any of our imaginations. The best we can hope for is to learn to quickly adapt to our fast-changing societal and educational issues. For example, in 2001, Marc Prensky described what he saw as a different type of student emerging in our society: the digital native. As Prensky articulated, these new type of students were born into the digital age and know nothing else but a digital world. In fact, Jane Healy described in Endangered Minds that these digital natives’ brains have been structurally changed by this digital technology. As a result, 90% of today’s students are visual learners. This is an example of the accelerating change that is disrupting education.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&entryid=6667

by Duquesne University

Online students and faculty who teach online agree that online learning is rigorous and challenging to students in ways different from what students face in the traditional classroom.  To find out if online learning is for you, consider the following “characteristics of successful online students” in relation to your approach to learning and your characteristics. While online courses are convenient and flexible because they typically do not have scheduled class meetings, you must devote as much time for studying, reading, working on assignments, and engaging with peers and the instructor as they would for classroom courses.

http://www.duq.edu/academics/online-campus/prospective-students/successful-online-learners

By Judy Meyer, Sun Journal

In Maine, the Sunshine Lady Foundation tuition grant program is available only at the Warren facility and only to a select few, but other inmates there and inmates in other prisons can take college classes through online courses once they complete what’s called an “accuplacer” test and are approved for enrollment by each prison’s respective education department. For inmates who meet these qualifications, the Department of Corrections pays as much as two-thirds of the tuition and inmates or their families are responsible for the rest, ranging from $175 at the Bolduc Correctional Center to $220 at the Maine State Prison per three-credit class. The department also pays the full cost of books, which can run up to $700 per semester. To qualify for this funding, students must maintain at least a C average and stay out of trouble while in prison.

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/11/10/news/midcoast/college-classes-available-to-all-maine-inmates-but-interest-limited/?ref=latest

by Jen Hubley Luckwaldt, PayScale

Online classes are a great way to add skills to your resume without dealing with the hassle of commuting and sitting in a classroom, and everyone loves celebrities (or at least, pays too much attention to them). So why not combine the two, and take online classes from your favorite stars? It’s not as crazy an idea as it sounds. Jeffrey R. Young, author of Beyond the MOOC Hype: A Guide to Higher Education’s High-Tech Disruption, spoke with several executives at companies that produce massive open online classes (MOOC), which offer thousands of students at a time the chance to learn from professors at top colleges. Or, occasionally, the chance to learn from those professors’ more photogenic colleagues. “All our instructors are knowledgeable in the subject area,” Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun tells Young. “However, we often rely on teams of people to produce a MOOC, and often the individuals who show up on tape are not the primary instructor who composes the materials.

http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/11/would-you-take-an-online-class-with-a-celebrity–

By CANDICE FERRETTE, Newsday

Public and private colleges are taking the lead in online learning, but opportunities to blend Web coursework into kindergarten through 12th-grade curricula are underway. The move to online shakes the traditional business model of education and changes the role of teachers and professors, but holds potential for improving learning and democratizing education, Silverman and other experts agreed. “In the next 10 years, 50 percent of college classes will be online and 25 percent of K to 12 will be online,” said panelist David Kuntz, vice president of research and adaptive learning for Knewton, a Manhattan-based start-up technology company that partners with schools to create personalized online educational plans.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/panel-at-nyit-classroom-learning-migrating-online-1.6400665

by Gabriel Sanchez, Huffington Post

“Brick and mortar schools will still exist, and the overwhelming majority of children will attend them, but the schools will be center of individualized learning, with engaging interactive content rather than a series of chalk-and-textbook, grade-delineated classrooms. At high school and potentially middle school, each child will have a computer to work at his or her own pace in customized programs; technology will deliver it to them in ways best suited to their individual needs and strengths.” Ron Packard addresses these important questions in his recent book Education Transformation. In particular, he highlights the specific ways in which technology can provide meaningful educational alternatives, especially for lower-income students in communities with struggling schools.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabriel-sanchez-zinny/ron-packards-education-fo_b_4219682.html