Techno-News Blog

By ADAM VACCARO, INC

Fresh takes on education aren’t just about disrupting an ancient industry or helping people grow their skill set. Most of the focus on innovations in education–MOOCs, for starters, but also less formal online learning communities like Codecademy or Lynda–tend to focus on two things: the looming disruption of traditional education and the opportunity for just about anybody to sharpen their skills. A sometimes overlooked element of the industry, however, is the access it affords employers and recruiters to the skills of the broader talent pool. That’s the driving force behind recruiting Aquent’s MOOC program, Aquent Gymnasium. The recruiting company launched the program in 2012 with a business model that puts companies at the center of the movement.

http://www.inc.com/adam-vaccaro/edtech-recruiting.html

by By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Georgetown University is calling on its entire campus community to explore what the institution of 2030 will look like and to experiment with new ways of educating students. The impact of its discoveries may ultimately end up being felt throughout American higher ed. Introducing innovation in education is easier when the institution is new. Georgetown University, established in 1789, may not necessarily be the first institution to come to mind when thinking about innovation related to higher education. But an initiative introduced in November, called “Designing the Future(s) of the University,” is calling on the entire campus community to explore what the Georgetown of 2030 will look like and to experiment with new ways of educating its students.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/04/01/technology-and-the-futures-of-the-university.aspx

By David Nagel, THE Journal

The rapid growth of interconnected devices making up the Internet of Things will wreak havoc on data security, storage, servers, networks and end user privacy, according to a new report. There will be 26 billion “things” making up the Internet of Things within six years, according to a report released by Gartner. The implications for IT are profound — in particular for data center operations. “IoT threatens to generate massive amounts of input data from sources that are globally distributed,” said Joe Skorupa, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, in a statement released to coincide with the report.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/18/what-the-26-billion-thing-internet-of-things-portends-for-it.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Friction, rocketry and alternative energy are some of the projects undertaken by the latest crop of teachers who have been named winners in an annual competition put on by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Vernier, a company that sells scientific equipment for teachers. All of the educators were selected based on their use of data-collection technology in science classes. The six winners in K-12 were honored during this year’s NSTA National Conference and received $1,000 in cash, $3,000 in Vernier products and $1,500 toward travel expenses to attend the event in Boston.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/04/07/teachers-honored-for-the-innovative-use-of-tech-in-science-ed.aspx

By David Nagel, THE Journal

New research indicates virtually all middle and high school students have access to mobile devices and are using them for schoolwork. And nearly a third of them are using mobile devices issued by their schools. According to the report, “The New Digital Playbook: Understanding the Spectrum of Students’ Activities and Aspirations,” issued by Project Tomorrow in an event taking place in Washington, DC today, 89 percent of high school students (grades 9–12) and 73 percent of middle school students (grades 6–8) have access to smart phones. Another 66 percent in both groups have access to laptops. Sixty-one percent of middle schoolers and 50 percent of high schoolers have access to tablets. And 48 percent of middle schoolers and 39 percent of high schoolers have access to digital readers.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/04/08/a-third-of-secondary-students-use-school-issued-mobile-devices.aspx

by Michael L. Rodgers and Mary Harriet Talbut, Tomorrow’s Professor

In general, online courses require greater planning, more extensive resources, more formalized communication, and more detailed organization than do face to face courses. But, the work that goes into creating an online course, and the insights forthcoming from comparison of online and face to face versions of the course, can make the face to face course better in many ways.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/enewsletter.php

by Harry Slater, the Guardian

Online communities can be great resources and a means of communication to assist medical students and junior doctors. The internet can make studying to be a doctor easier, if you know where to access the right resources. More importantly, the internet is effectively addressing the flaws of traditional offline learning. Online learning adds variety, too. Medical students from all over the country who are taught in different ways can exchange methods. Similarly, it’s an opportunity to share clinical experience that some students – because of the way their course works – won’t always be familiar with. For example, you may have only a little GP contact and then, in your third year, be sent straight to work on wards. Sophie adds that there is the opportunity for follow-up when the scenario finishes. “There’s a chance to say ‘this is what you should have been thinking’ and ‘here’s where you could have saved the situation.'” Afterwards, tweets from the discussion are grouped together using Storify and depending on the case, additional notes are provided.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/12/doctors-educated-online

Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed

Online enrollment continued to grow at community colleges in 2013, even as many two-year institutions saw overall enrollment stagnate or drop, according to a report released Sunday by the Instructional Technology Council. The council released its annual report on online education at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges, with which it is affiliated. In 2013, the 142 distance education officials who responded to the survey reported that their online enrollments were up by 5.2 percent over the previous year. That increase is smaller than those of the three previous years, going back chronologically, 6.5 percent, 8.2 percent, and 9 percent. But those increases came in years in which community colleges were reporting increases in both in-person and online enrollments, which is no longer the case this year.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/04/07/study-finds-slower-online-growth-community-colleges-growth-nonetheless

by Gary Kranz, Workforce

Industry observers believe MOOCs will follow an adoption path similar to that of e-learning, which likewise germinated within universities before being embraced by corporations. “There could be a huge demand for MOOCs as the corporate content market gets consolidated. If companies are able to get low-cost to free learning content through a MOOC, they’ll be interested,” said Josh Bersin, president of research firm Bersin by Deloitte. Hall doesn’t speculate on when MOOCs might go mainstream. His focus is on the videos that should enable Marek Bros. to boost its bottom line. “It gives us a better idea of what our market share is and what it should be, which helps us change behavior to improve results,” Hall said. Which is what learning is all about.

http://www.workforce.com/articles/20358-moocs-the-next-evolution-in-e-learning

by CNN Wire

There are many things that make you special: Your sense of humor, your dance moves, your personal style, the shape of your ear. That’s right, your ear. The password has had its moment, but those hard-to-remember strings of number and letters are increasingly insecure and clumsy to manage. The next wave in computer security will be biometric authentication, the futuristic practice of using unique behavioral and biological traits such as fingerprints, gait and yes, even ear shape to confirm your identity. You might already have the necessary equipment to detect some of these your pocket.

http://wreg.com/2014/04/05/five-biometric-alternatives-to-the-password/

By Jaccii Barmer, eCampus News

This fall, over 1 million students will have access to the free textbook, Principles of Economics, provided by OpenStax College. Founded in 2012, OpenStax College is a nonprofit organization developed by Rice University and supported by numerous foundations, which provides free textbooks and learning materials. The organization has produced six textbooks that have been downloaded over 480,000 times, estimating students have saved about $8 million. The organization, which has been adopted by hundreds of educational institutions, works with educators to write and peer-review each textbook.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/business-news/openstax-students-textbook-234/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Cyberbullying poses a problem for students that teachers and parents often can’t help with – because they don’t always know. The internet (and mobile technologies) has brought bullying to a place outside the easy access of adults, who can’t intervene if they don’t know there’s a problem. With over 80% of teens using cell phones and social media sites, technology is connecting our students in ways they may be unable to escape. The handy infographic linked below takes a look at some statistics about cyberbullying, along with some tips for both parents and educators. Keep reading to learn more.

http://www.edudemic.com/cyberbullying-issue/

By Tom Daccord, Edudemic

I would like you to concentrate on the first image that comes to mind. Ready? Here is the question: What does learning look like? Did you picture a classroom? Was there a teacher? What were students doing? Were they working quietly and individually? Or were they noisily collaborating? Were they sitting passively and listening? Or were they actively constructing something? When I pose this question to groups of educators, I’m struck by the diversity of learning visions. For some, there is no teacher with the students, and the students are learning entirely on their own. For others, there is not even a classroom and students are helping students. In a world of ubiquitous mobile devices, where we can connect with information and people anywhere and any time, limiting student learning to a traditional classroom environment seems increasingly shortsighted.

http://www.edudemic.com/learning-look-like-look-physical-digital-spaces/

By Jen Roberts, Edudemic

Education is about communication, but few educators are willing to hand out their personal mobile number. With Google Voice you don’t have to. When you go to Google.com/voice you can set up a new number with Google. It will ask you for a forwarding number. This must be an actual landline or mobile number in the US. (You can turn off the forwarding once you are set up.) With Google voice, incoming calls can forward to multiple numbers; say ring your home phone and mobile phone at the same time. Or you can turn off the forwarding and have all your calls go to Google Voice. All voicemails get transcribed and sent to your Gmail address. Text messages also go to your Gmail.

http://www.edudemic.com/google-voice-in-education/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Education is a concern to most people around the globe. Whether you’re pursuing your own education, worrying about the education of your child, or educating others, education really is a pretty universal concern. Those concerns, however, vary widely depending on where you are in the world and the background you come from. The last thirty years or so have seen great increases in educational opportunities, participation in education, and the quality of education. But what are the numbers really looking like? Where has the most improvement happened? Or the least improvement? What about the gender gap? The handy infographic linked below (From CourseHero) takes a look at these questions and more. Keep reading to learn more.

http://www.edudemic.com/education-around-the-world/

by the Telegraph

The Tutors’ Association – launched in October to regulate this burgeoning industry – is also turning its attention to the emerging online sector. And so, it seems, are many parents. Online tutoring service Tutorhub, which has more than 5,000 students and 700 tutors on its books, has been among those at the receiving end of parents’ attention. “We’ve seen a 500 per cent growth in demand over the last 12 months, across every subject imaginable, at every level – especially from students in rural areas,” says its founder, Jon Ellis. “With an online teaching hub you can offer a lot of specialist knowledge that students aren’t going to be able to find locally.” And the price of this knowledge – imparted by teachers, lecturers, examiners and Oxbridge graduates – averages £20 per hour. It’s a similar story for MyTutorWeb. Since its launch last year, this online service has enabled 3,500 tutoring sessions, delivered by Oxbridge and Russell Group university students at £17 an hour. On most days it signs up six new parents in search of tutors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationadvice/10741448/Online-learning-tutors-at-your-fingertips.html

By Greg Thompson, THE Journal

With more and more students using mobile devices for learning, districts are finding creative ways to provide enough bandwidth for everyone to do their work outside of school. The Internet has reached virtually every American school, but problems of bandwidth and connectivity persist. Despite more than 17 years of government subsidy via E-rate, a recent Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) survey revealed that a whopping 99 percent of districts still “needed more bandwidth.” Rich Kaestner, project director for Washington, DC-based CoSN, attributed the bandwidth shortfall to a relentless need to feed the digital beast. Digital curricula, 1-to-1 programs, bring your own technology (BYOT) initiatives and Common Core textbooks are driving a growing crowd of students and teachers online, both at school and at home. But what can schools do about those homes that don’t have Internet connectivity?

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/27/bandwidth-for-all.aspx

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Pennsylvania State University has named Renata Engel associate vice provost for online programs. The new leadership position was established to oversee the academic unit within the university’s World Campus online education division. According to a university statement, Engel will help advance new online undergraduate and graduate offerings, including noncredit programs and massive open online courses, to students across the country and around the world. She will be responsible for all World Campus online programs, academic advising and faculty development, and will work with the university’s academic leaders to increase online enrollments.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/04/03/penn-state-names-academic-leader-for-online-programs.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Introducing innovation in education is easier when the institution is new. Founders can construct their programs however they want to imagine them. That’s not so easy to accomplish, however, when the school has been around for decades or even centuries. Faculty and staff practices and processes tend to get entrenched, and introducing too much change can simply lead to internal revolt. Yet that is the conundrum that must be faced by nearly every university and college in the country that wants to thrive in a new world order where learning can take multiple forms and students have numerous options for achieving formal education. Georgetown University is calling on its entire campus community to explore what the institution of 2030 will look like and to experiment with new ways of educating students. The impact of its discoveries may ultimately end up being felt throughout American higher ed.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/04/01/technology-and-the-futures-of-the-university.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

In this debate, the question might not be so much about whether online education is effective, but whether it could be any worse than the existing model.  Before the debate — titled, “More Clicks, Fewer Bricks: The Lecture Hall is Obsolete” — began, the audience was definitely on the side of tradition. Fifty-nine percent were against the motion; 18 percent were for the motion; and 23 percent were undecided. Before the debate — titled, “More Clicks, Fewer Bricks: The Lecture Hall is Obsolete” — began, the audience was definitely on the side of tradition. Fifty-nine percent were against the motion; 18 percent were for the motion; and 23 percent were undecided.   People pondering the fate of higher education, concluded Nelson, “don’t need much more data than that to realize that the future of the university won’t be without bricks, won’t be all clicks, but will certainly be far more clicks than bricks.”  By the end of the debate, the number of people who agreed with Nelson and Agarwal grew from 18 percent to 44 percent. And the motion carried.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/04/03/is-it-time-to-dismantle-the-lecture-hall.aspx