Techno-News Blog

By Shannon Edwards, Forbes

While coding ‘boot camps’ have become readily available, they have historically been geared toward those who want a job in the technology industry. What’s different about this new ‘generation’ of computer science enthusiasts is that they include bankers, marketers and business entrepreneurs who just want to learn for the sake of learning. Why with the endless requirements of our 24/7 lives and multiple devices that already take up too much time and space would we care to tackle the mysteries of ‘coding’?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2014/03/05/the-case-for-learning-to-code/

By Google

Lots of online education is delivered using video and text. However, opportunities for learners to do things and get feedback on their work are also important — after all, one does not learn to play the piano by watching videos of many virtuoso performances. We’re excited to announce Oppia, a project that aims to make it easy for anyone to create online interactive activities, called ‘explorations’, that others can learn from. Oppia does this by modeling a mentor who poses questions for the learner to answer. Based on the learner’s responses, the mentor decides what question to ask next, what feedback to give, whether to delve deeper, or whether to proceed to something new. You can think of this as a smart feedback system that tries to “teach a person to fish”, instead of simply revealing the correct answer or marking the submitted answer as wrong. If you’d like to get an idea of what these explorations are like, you can try out some examples at www.oppia.org.

http://google-opensource.blogspot.in/2014/02/oppia-tool-for-interactive-learning.html

By Karine Joly, University Business

As Google explains on its website, the goal of UA is to help you get a better understanding of how visitors interact with your online content. Some institutions, including Penn State, and Lehigh University and the University of Scranton, also in Pennsylvania, have already switched to UA. At Eastern Kentucky University, the UA code is run in parallel with the classic version of Google Analytics. However, most early adopters haven’t yet implemented anything that couldn’t be done with the original Google Analytics. As usual in higher education, it’s a process.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/universal-analytics-game-changer-higher-ed

By Kristen Domonell, University Business

A 2013 Noel-Levitz E-Expectations Report of incoming college students found that 78 percent have regular access to a mobile device. And while that number has probably crept higher for 2014, what about the approximately one in five college students who don’t have that access? For many low-income and first-generation college students, owning a smart phone, tablet or laptop is simply not a reality. What is a reality is that this situation creates educational barriers for these students. In fact, technology is so integrated into our society that students who do not have access can be at a disadvantage academically, socially and financially, says Brittania Morey, director of communications for the Iowa College Access Network (ICAN), which helps more than 300,000 students, parents and education professionals prepare for college each year.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/bridging-digital-divide

by Sean Corcorran, Huffington Post

In my travels, I have the opportunity to speak with education leaders around the world. When I ask these presidents, provosts, deans, faculty, and chief technology officers what keeps them up at night, increasingly their answers all center on two areas; 1) Cost (of instruction delivery tuition), and 2) the explosion in online instruction models. In the evolving education landscape, these factors are front and center in shaping the future of learning. But often over-looked, or less well understood, is the critical role that the physical learning space has in complimenting a new, lower cost, instructional model.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-corcorran/classroom-design-principl_b_4862038.html

by Edutopia, Mary Beth Hertz

I have met many edtech entrepreneurs through my work in teaching technology to kids, and through working with organizations that support innovation in the field of educational technology. As a co-organizer of the Philly EdTech Meetup, I also get to talk one-on-one to many entrepreneurs on a fairly regular basis. Through these conversations, it has become apparent that there are many things that edtech entrepreneurs can do to stay relevant and be successful.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-tips-for-edtech-entrepreneurs-mary-beth-hertz

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

The era of double-digit growth in smart phone adoption is coming to a close as devices approach the saturation point, which in turn will lead to drops in prices, according to new research. In North America alone, some 200 million smart phones are already in active use — one for about every 2.75 people residing on the continent and about one-seventh of the world’s total active devices. According to International Data Corp., in mature markets like the United States and Europe, smart phone growth will drop to the single digits in 2014, while, worldwide, growth will drop in half to about 19.3 percent for the year. (That follows growth of 39.2 percent in 2013 on 1 billion unit shipments. Shipments in 2014 are currently forecast at about 1.2 billion units.)

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/02/27/200-million-smart-phones-in-active-use-in-north-america-alone.aspx

By David Nagel, THE Journal

Within the next two years, IT organizations will need to master a slew of mobile-related skills — many of them new or unfamiliar. They’ll also need to have on hand the tools to execute and support increasingly important mobile technologies. In a post, Gartner Vice President Nick Jones identified several of these skills and tools that apply to organizations across sectors.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/02/24/8-mobile-competencies-it-will-need-by-2016.aspx

By David Nagel, THE Journal

The era of double-digit growth in smart phone adoption is coming to a close as devices approach the saturation point, which in turn will lead to drops in prices, according to new research. In North America alone, some 200 million smart phones are already in active use — one for about every 2.75 people residing on the continent and about one-seventh of the world’s total active devices. According to International Data Corp., in mature markets like the United States and Europe, smart phone growth will drop to the single digits in 2014, while, worldwide, growth will drop in half to about 19.3 percent for the year. (That follows growth of 39.2 percent in 2013 on 1 billion unit shipments. Shipments in 2014 are currently forecast at about 1.2 billion units.)

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/02/27/as-smart-phones-approach-the-saturation-point-prices-head-downward.aspx

By Elaine Sanchez Wilson, THE Journal

Districts that have spent millions on 1-to-1 rollouts are protecting their investment with a variety of cases and covers. With schools around the country — including major urban districts like Miami-Dade, Houston ISD and Los Angeles Unified — rolling out 1-to-1 initiatives, hundreds of thousands of kids (and their teachers) are handling new mobile devices. To those in the classroom, these are learning tools, but to school administrators, they are major investments that need to be protected. So while data security may grab the headlines, tech leaders are also engaged in the more mundane task of choosing cases and teaching best practices to provide physical security for their mobile devices. Here’s how they’re protecting against breakage, and what they’re doing when accidents happen.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/02/26/making-mobile-devices-durable.aspx

by Apostolos Koutropoulos, et al; i-JET

In this research paper, the authors analyze the collected Twitter data output during MobiMOOC 2011. This six-week data stream includes all tweets that contain the MOOC’s hashtag (#mobiMOOC) and it has been analyzed using qualitative methodology. The analysis sought to examine the emotive vocabulary used, to determine if there was content-sharing via tweets, and to analyze the folksonomic trends of the tweets. In Addition sought a deeper understanding of what, and how, MOOC participants share what they share on the MOOC’s Twitter channel. The aim of this study is to provide a little more insight into MOOC learner behaviors on Twitter so that future MOOC designers and facilitators can better engage with their learners.

http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/article/view/3316

by Susan Grajek, EDUCAUSE

Our definition of a strategic technology is based on the time, active attention, and priority a technology has at a given time. Mature, fully deployed technologies (such as financial information systems or networks) may be among the most mission-critical technologies, but they are more likely to be receiving operational than strategic attention. “Strategic technologies” are relatively new technologies institutions will be spending the most time implementing, planning, and tracking in 2014. The top-ten strategic technologies were selected from the analysis of a vetted set of 78 technologies presented to EDUCAUSE members in a survey in fall 2013. The value of the EDUCAUSE list is that it is based on data about members’ actual plans and thus sheds light not on what people are talking about but what institutions are doing.

http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/higher-educations-top-ten-strategic-technologies-2014

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Instantaneous is the speed that most of us expect, and mind-numbing amounts of data are crunched, sent, and received. But just how much stuff is happening on the internet in just one minute? The handy infographic linked below takes a look at a minute in the existence of the internet. Some of the statistics are mind boggling, but moreover, I can’t wait to see what these numbers look like and what additions have been made in five or ten years!

http://www.edudemic.com/internet-minute-infographic/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Not too long ago, the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education Edition was released, with the aim of examining emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching and learning within higher education settings. This is the eleventh time the New Media Consortium has put out this report, and it is interesting to look back and see what they had to say last year, as compared with their findings this year. In the report, the NMC teams with the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative to identify six trends that are accelerating the adoption of technology in higher education.

http://www.edudemic.com/education-trends-keep-tech-front-center/

By Kelly Taylor, eCampus News

Gardner-Webb University began delivering its new online curriculum using Teachscape’s professional learning system in fall 2013. When the state of North Carolina dramatically reduced textbook funding, yet decided it would implement the Common Core State Standards, our School of Education at Gardner-Webb University decided to fast-track a program to make all teacher preparation courses textbook-free. We did this with the goal of preparing our students for the environment they would experience when they enter the teaching field, as well as to better equip them to meet the digital expectations that will be asked of them once they graduate.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/well-prepared-teachers-235/

By Yiyun Zhu, Duke Chronicle

The Arts and Sciences Council is considering allowing students to fulfill their graduation course requirements with credits from online courses. If passed, the proposal would increase the number of Duke courses required for graduation from 17 to 24 out of 34 total credits. It would also allow students to take up to one online course per semester. “The proposal gives 10 degrees of freedom they can mix and match from,” said William Seaman, a member of the executive committee of the Arts and Sciences Council and professor of visual studies. “Our students are rate busters and generally do much more than 34 courses, and thus we asked what is the minimum. The restriction is about articulating what a strong Duke education will be.”

http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2014/02/28/arts-and-sciences-council-debates-new-course-credit-proposal

By Sarah Butrymowicz, The Hechinger Report

Now, as online courses soar in popularity, a battle is beginning over who should own them. Though little noticed, it’s a fight that could change longstanding traditions about faculty control of classes they create, and influence the future and success of online higher education. Universities hope to make money off these courses, which can enroll thousands of paying students instead of the few hundred who can fit inside the largest brick-and-mortar lecture halls. But many faculty fear their work may be altered for the worse, or that universities will employ other, less-qualified people to teach them.

http://nation.time.com/2014/03/01/online-courses-moocs-ownership/

By Sari Factor, Forbes

Six hours a day. That’s how much time the average teenager spends online, according to a June 2013 study by McAfee. These are “digital natives,” a generation that has grown up online and connected. Just think about it: students born in 2007, the year the iPhone was launched, are already in first grade. Students born during the dot-com boom of the late ’90s are in high school. These students have never known a world without the Internet. They’re communicating 140 characters at a time, establishing completely new ways of consuming news and information.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/schoolboard/2014/02/28/ed-tech-is-poised-to-go-mainstream/

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

$43,477 is the average cost for an online bachelor’s degree in the United States, according to data released by Hanover Research. An online master’s degree cost about half as much. Hanover’s research examined data from 699 predominantly non-profit academic institutions from Peterson’s Distance Learning Database. It found that the 699 institutions offered a total of nearly 9,000 online certificate and degree programs, including 3,839 associate and baccalaureate programs. The average tuition for a bachelor’s program was $43,477, which represents the total average cost to complete a program without respect to financial aid. $21,959 was the average total for a master’s program.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/02/26/average-tuition-for-an-online-bachelors-program-43477.aspx?admgarea=news

By Adam Ring, Quartz

In a 2010 talk, TED curator Chris Anderson describes the concept of “crowd-accelerated innovation”—a self-fueling cycle of learning which has accelerated through the ubiquity of web-based video. In Anderson’s view, this mechanism of iteration and immediate feedback has made the Ted Talk and many other iterative processes evolve in dramatic ways. Anderson explains that part of the reason TED evolved so quickly is that you had some of the best and most creative individuals in the world prepare extensively for their talk by watching their predecessors. Through this iterative process, the presentations consistently improve—if only out of fear of disappointing their audience. This phenomenon can also be felt in many areas of society from dance to politics but also underpins the innovation going on in the rapidly evolving landscape for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

http://qz.com/179490/the-quick-fix-for-online-education-make-instructors-binge-on-ted-talks/

by the Guardian

“Simple and brilliant,” was student Dave Featherstone’s verdict on the university’s OU Anywhere app that allows instant access to everything he needed for his studies via a mobile device. Seeing ever larger numbers of students using its virtual learning environment, the university decided to embark on the process of digitising all its undergraduate course materials, including text and multimedia resources, optimizing them for mobile use. “The Open University’s method of delivery already enables students to fit study around work and life commitments: OU Anywhere means that students can now easily transport their study materials everywhere, on devices they are already carrying, eliminating the need to carry books,” says Belinda Tynan, pro-vice-chancellor, learning & teaching.

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2014/feb/18/winner-the-open-university-distance-or-online-learning