Techno-News Blog

December 24, 2013

The Next Phase Of Online Education: 24/7 Digital Video Channels

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by Ariel Schwartz, Fast Co-exist

Want a new skill? Now you can channel flip at any time of day, just like on TV. Walk into CreativeLive’s airy San Francisco studios and you could be forgiven for thinking you’re in just another snazzy software startup office. That is, until you open one of the closed doors and notice the cameras, producers, presenters, and live studio audience. Co-founded by photographer Chase Jarvis in 2010, CreativeLive offers free, live online workshops taught by experts. You won’t learn how to code in CreativeLive classes (online education startups like Udacity and EdX can help with that), but you could learn about photography, design, the music business, e-mail marketing, and other hands-on topics. Think of it more as a replacement for enrichment classes at a community college than high-level classes at a university.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3023392/the-next-phase-of-online-education-24-7-digital-video-channels

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Online learner travels from South Korea to accept master’s degree from UAB

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By Alan Collins, Fox Alabama

Tim French and his wife Hannah toured UAB’s campus for the very first time on Friday. He will be picking up his masters in Advanced Safety and Engineering. “The old hillbilly from Tennessee is going to be standing down there, grinning ear from ear and it will be easy to spot me. I will have a grin on my face,” French said. French is the safety director for the U.S. Army’s Second Infantry Division in South Korea. For 18 months, French got up as early as 3:30 a.m. every Monday to participate in the live chats that were held in the States on Sunday afternoons.

http://www.myfoxal.com/story/24217076/online-learner-travels-from-south-korea-to-accept-degree-from-uab

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Dropout Redemption: Online Courses As Tools To Increase College Graduation Rates

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By Paul Glader, Forbes

The 37 million college dropouts in America come with many different types of stories and with some famous names in their ranks, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. But these guys also hold keys to a simple fix to America’s dropout rate: technology. From my experience and that of others I know, many students are often a few credits or classes shy of a degree when opportunity knocks. Bureaucratic policies at home institutions sometimes hinder rather than help people to complete their degrees once they’ve left campus. Giving them simpler ways to complete the degrees via online courses could cause a nice, positive pop in college graduation rates nationwide.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/berlinschoolofcreativeleadership/2013/12/14/dropout-redemption-online-courses-as-a-tool-to-increase-college-graduation-rates/

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December 23, 2013

7 Excellent Free Blended Learning Resources – Understanding the Whys and Hows of Mixed Mode Instruction

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by K. WALSH, Emerging EdTech

In this article, we offer a curated set of resources that can equip any educator to better understand how Blended Learning (a.k.a. “Hybrid Learning”, “Mix-Mode Instruction”, “Web-enhanced Instruction” and other terms) works and why it is increasingly understood to be an optimal approach to teaching and learning. Additionally, the tools and insights offered in these articles and videos can help the early adopter get up to speed and the experienced educator evolve their approach. Whether you are just beginning to learn about Blended Learning, or already ‘get it’ but want to learn more, you’ve come to the right place.

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2013/12/7-excellent-free-blended-learning-resources-understanding-the-whys-and-hows-of-mixed-mode-instruction/

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Chicago Public Schools Makes Computer Science Core Subject

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By Leila Meyer, THE Journal

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett have launched plans to elevate computer science to a core subject in the district. According to information from the mayor’s office, every CPS high school will begin offering a foundational course called “Exploring Computer Science” within the next three years. Exploring Computer Science was originally developed for the Los Angeles Unified School District through a K-12/university partnership and has been available through CPS’s Career and Technical Education program since 2010. In the next five years, the initiative will also introduce an Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science course to at least half of all CPS high schools and offer K-8 computer science courses at one quarter of CPS elementary schools. The district also plans to allow computer science to count as a graduation requirement within five years.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/12/11/chicago-public-schools-makes-computer-science-core-subject.aspx

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How To Handle Broken Links in Online Courses

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by eLearning Industry

The availability of excellent, free web-based resources has led millions of instructors to incorporate online content into their online courses. The problem is that these resources are not permanently available. Copyright violations and repository changes often lead to video and other resources links getting broken. What are instructors, faculty and trainers to do?

http://elearningindustry.com/how-to-handle-broken-links-in-online-courses

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December 22, 2013

PBS LearningMedia Seeks Digital Superstar Teachers

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By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

PBS LearningMedia is seeking teachers who are using innovative digital media in their classrooms to apply for membership in a corps of digital innovators. Those who make the cut will provide feedback to the organization, which provides a free media-on-demand service to educators nationwide. They’ll also participate in a year of professional development activities, including virtual training and events focused on using digital media and technology. Fifteen recipients will attend an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. in 2014 for a summit at PBS’ headquarters. The 2014 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators Program requires candidates to submit a one- to two-minute video and answer two essay questions describing how they’ve become “digital superstars” within their schools. The online application is available at pbslearningmedia.org.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/12/12/pbs-learningmedia-seeks-digital-superstar-teachers.aspx?admgarea=News1

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U Colorado Boulder Tutorial Uses Video Games To Teach Coding

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By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

A University of Colorado Boulder team has launched a tutorial to help students, teachers and others create a 3D video game in an effort to generate interest in computer programming. The “game-building program allows people with zero experience coding to design their own 3-D worlds by ‘inflating’ hand-drawn 2-D icons and then programming those objects to interact in defined ways,” according to a CU Boulder news release. “Programming should be easy and exciting,” said Alexander Repenning, CU Boulder computer science professor and lead on the project, in a prepared statement. “But that’s not where we are. The perception of the public is that it’s hard and boring. Our goal is to expose a much larger as well as broader audience to programming by reinventing computer science education in public schools.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/12/11/u-colorado-boulder-tutorial-uses-video-games-to-teach-coding.aspx?admgarea=News1

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Why design matters in digital higher education

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by Keith Hampson, Management and Strategy in Digital Higher Ed

Design is having its moment. Apple’s Jonathan Ive, Philippe Starck and Michael Graves are among a growing number of designers enjoying rock-star status. Businessweek, Fast Company and other pubs now dedicate entire issues to design. Enrollment in college design programs has spiked. But what role does – or should – design play in education, specifically digital higher education? A lot, it turns out. As we move from the classroom to the screen, design matters more than ever. The qualities that create great design are also the qualities needed to create great online learning experiences. The relationship of design and higher education is the theme of a series of posts we’re kicking off. This first post highlights what great design and great educational experiences have in common. The parallels are many.

http://higheredmanagement.net/2013/12/11/why-design-matters-in-digital-higher-education/

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December 21, 2013

Rice University-based publisher adds to online catalog of free, high-quality textbooks

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by Rice University

Free textbook publisher OpenStax College has added a sixth title to its growing catalog, which has already saved students more than $5 million. The Rice University-based nonprofit today launched Introductory Statistics, a revised and updated version of the free textbook that first authenticated its core open educational publishing methodology. Introductory Statistics, which is available for download today, is a new version of the free textbook Collaborative Statistics. The latter was released as a free online textbook in 2008 via Connexions, the parent organization of OpenStax College. Introductory Statistics is also the first OpenStax College title to debut with a full suite of ancillary learning materials — including online homework, quizzes and tests — from a third-party partner.

http://news.rice.edu/2013/12/12/openstax-college-offers-sixth-textbook-introductory-statistics-2/

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Year of the Backlash

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Peter Stokes and Sean Gallagher, Inside Higher Ed

Our hypothesis is that MOOCs are playing a role here – chiefly by confusing higher education stakeholders about what online learning really is. By and large, of course, online learning isn’t massive and it isn’t open. And by and large, it does actually involve real courses, genuine coursework and assessment, meaningful faculty interaction, and the awarding of credentials – namely, degrees. While some MOOC enthusiasts might believe that online learning appeared out of nowhere, sui generis, in 2012, the reality is that we’ve been bringing courses and degree programs online for more than 20 years. Hardly born yesterday, online learning has evolved slowly and steadily, taking these two decades to reach the approximately one-third of all higher education students who have taken at least one online course, and serving as the preferred medium of delivery for roughly one-sixth of all students. The pace of adoption of online learning – among institutions, students, faculty, and employers – has been remarkably steady.

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/12/13/have-moocs-hurt-public-perception-online-education-essay

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Three Social Trends That Will Influence Education in 2014

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by Online Learning Insights

There are patterns within the trend predictions for 2014 that are worthy of paying attention to. There is strong, if not overwhelming evidence that behaviour patterns of students, educators, employees and professionals are moving towards the use of social tools for learning, working and teaching. Collaborating seamlessly face-to-face and at a distance, bringing the human element to virtual interactions, and personalized learning will prevail in 2014; each facilitated by technology. But it’s not going to be about the technology, it will be about making connections by voice and/or visual, contributing to new knowledge, and learning with and from others—all mediated through social media. It will be the behaviours of students, lifelong learners and educators—their use of technology, specifically social media applications that will influence education in the upcoming year.

http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/three-social-trends-that-will-influence-education-in-2014/

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December 20, 2013

Are the Poor Completion Rates of Online College Courses Really a Problem?

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by Before It’s News

MOOCs are going to need a bit of work, but was that really a surprise?  Sebastian Thrun himself noted in his blog: “There remains so much more that needs to be improved. The summer pilot was the second iteration of a new approach. To all those people who declared our experiment a failure, you have to understand how innovation works. Few ideas work on the first try. Iteration is key to innovation. We are seeing significant improvement in learning outcomes and student engagement. And we know from our data that there is much more to be done.” Before complaining about the completion rate of online courses,traditional college advocates should keep in mind all those folks they’ve turned away.

http://beforeitsnews.com/libertarian/2013/12/are-the-poor-completion-rates-of-online-college-courses-really-a-problem-2541252.html

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Twitter’s World

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by Technology Review

Twitter’s footprint is growing fast, although English speakers in the U.S. remain thelargest demographic. Smiocast has detected twees in 61 languages, sent from most countries in the world. The trick now is to turn its global presence into advertising dollars.

http://www.technologyreview.com/graphiti/522376/the-many-tongues-of-twitter/

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The First Cohort of the Georgia Tech Online Computer Science Massive Masters Program

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by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

The Georgia Institute of Technology has admitted its first 401 students to the low-cost online master’s degree program in computer science created in partnership with massive open online course provider Udacity, and the January launch will be the first step toward seeing how scalable such a program can be. The pilot launches Jan. 14, 2014, and may enroll as many as 10,000 students over the next few years. “We will judiciously increase the size,” said Zvi Galil, dean of College of Computing. Degree-seeking students may in the future number in the several hundreds, not thousands, he said, but at this point the university is operating on “assumptions on scalability, and nobody really knows.”

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/12/13/georgia-tech-admits-first-cohort-ahead-online-masters-degree-program-launch

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December 19, 2013

A Visual Guide To The Past, Present, And Future Of Education

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By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Education has been around for a long time. Many things have changed, and others have stayed remarkably similar over a number of years. As of late, there have been a lot of innovations and technological advancements that have really changed the educational landscape. In order to understand where education is heading, Boundless decided to take a look at where education has been in the past – to see how far it has come, or hasn’t in some cases. They’ve put together this handy infographic that shows some of education’s bigger historical milestones. From education in the ancient world to projecting what things will look like in 20 years, they’ve covered it all!

http://www.edudemic.com/past-present-future-education/

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Competition for online students goes mobile as Coursera debuts iPhone app

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by Lauren Hepler, Silicon Valley Business Journal

Coursera, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider, today debuted a free iPhone app designed to let students access course content from their smartphones. Coursera seeks to extend its offerings to meet demand and, hopefully, generate more revenue. GigaOm notes that the new mobile offering fills a void, as third-party apps previously charged students to access MOOC content. The new app, GigaOm adds, “is more of a bare-bones version of [Coursera’s] browser offerings.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/10/coursera-iphone-app-pushes-online.html

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You’ll Never Guess Who’s Disrupting Online Learning

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by Chris Proulx, Forbes

The reality behind the hype is that online education has been disruptive for over a decade, well before MOOCs. Certainly since the economic downturn in 2009, we have seen an accelerated focus on agile work practices and more rapid adjustments in company strategy. This change has created opportunities for employees to drive their career growth by becoming masters at acquiring and applying new skills in short bursts. Much of this has come through on the job skill development, but individuals and organizations alike are also adapting their more formal training and education approaches so it aligns with the accelerating pace of business. Online business and technical education fills the gaps left by traditional executive education as offered by traditional business schools- which can be lengthy, costly and in some cases, overly broad for the specific needs today’s workforce.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/12/05/youll-never-guess-whos-disrupting-online-learning/

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December 18, 2013

4 Reasons eLearning is Perfect for Building Creative Skills

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By Nicki Krawcyzk, B2C

It seems counterintuitive at first glance: learning marketing and creative skills like copywriting or graphic design online? Don’t those skills need an in-person teacher? Not only is that not the case—it can actually be the opposite. Marketing and creative proficiency are actually perfect skills to acquire in an elearning environment.

http://www.business2community.com/strategy/4-reasons-elearning-perfect-building-creative-skills-0710043#!pK7Cp

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10 Web Resources For Learning How To Code

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by Dawn Casey-Rowe, Edudemic

Commit to exploring computer science, no matter what age group you teach. This week’s Learnist feature includes resources for the very young through to the adult level. Once you try coding and make your first simple creation, you’ll be hooked. Even if you’re hesitant, promise yourself the “Hour of Code” at the very least. If you’re currently in the classroom, dedicate one hour to your students as well. Please comment–tell the world how it went, and if you’re hooked, too. We’d be interested to hear via Twitter as well. Tag us at @Edudemic, contact me @runningdmc, or comment directly on the Learnist boards or and by following @LearnistTweets. I’d love to continue the conversation on this all-important issue.

http://www.edudemic.com/learning-how-to-code/

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Why every student should learn computer science

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by Katie Lepi, Edudemic

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, two of the fastest-growing occupations are in computer science and related fields ­­– expected to grow 53.4% by 2018. Nearly 90 percent of high school graduates say they’re not interested in a career or a college major involving science, technology, engineering or math, according to a survey of over one million students who take the ACT test. The number of students who want to pursue engineering or computer science jobs is actually falling, precipitously, at just the moment when the need for those workers is soaring. (Within five years, there will be 2.4 million STEM job openings.) This crisis has even caught the attention of the White House. In November, President Obama announced a new grant program to encourage more high schools to offer job-oriented STEM education.

http://www.edudemic.com/joy-code-video/

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