Techno-News Blog

By Jake New, eCampus News

Canvas’ new competency-based gradebook is part of a larger trend toward alternative student assessment competency-assessments-learningAt a January conference in Washington, D.C., two representatives from Western Governors University claimed that the institution had transitioned from an experiment in competency-based learning to a “proof of concept.” “We know from that different people learn things at different rates,” Sally Johnstone, vice president for academic advancement at the university, said. “We also know that the same individual may learn different subjects at different rates. We can use competency-based education and online tools to accommodate that. We are no longer in a position where we have to ask all students to do the same thing at the same time at the same pacing.”

http://www.ecampusnews.com/curriculum/competency-based-canvas-020/

By Leila Meyer, THE Journal

Flipped classrooms are having a significant effect on teaching and learning, according to a new white paper from Project Tomorrow and the Flipped Learning Network. The white paper, “Speak Up 2013 National Research Project Findings: A Second Year Review of Flipped Learning,” reports on a survey of more than 403,000 K-12 students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members in the fall of 2013. The survey defined flipped learning as using lecture videos as homework while using class time for discussions, projects, experiments and personalized coaching. According to the survey, a quarter of administrators identified flipped learning as having a major effect on teaching and learning, compared to only 21 percent who identified educational games and mobile apps and 19 percent who identified professional learning communities for educators has having a significant effect.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/21/report-interest-in-flipped-classrooms-surpasses-other-digital-learning-trends.aspx

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

Forbes this week released its list of the 500 richest people in the world. Of course, the top of the list was filled with the usual suspects: Gates, Slim, Buffett, Ellison, the Kochs, the Waltons. While these people are probably best known for their business endeavors, they also have a hand in philanthropy. Education consistently finds itself among the industries where the world’s richest people choose to give or (sometimes controversially) exert their influence. Here’s a look at how the 10 richest people in the world have shaped education.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/how-the-worlds-10-richest-billionaires-are-shaping-education/234949/

Sujit John,TNN Times of India

Over 2.5 lakh Indians have registered for courses on edX, the massive open online course (Mooc) platform founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in May 2012 to host online university-level courses. This makes Indians the second largest community, after Americans, to register for these courses, said edX president Anant Agarwal, an Indian American who grew up in Mangalore and who has been teaching the circuits & electronics course in MIT for 26 years. The courses have been put together and are led by some of the finest professors in the world. Students require just an internet connection. The courses are free, can be normally completed within a duration of 4 weeks to 12 weeks, and those who complete them receive a certificate from the university that provides the course.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/jobs/Indians-No-2-users-of-MIT-Harvard-e-courses/articleshow/32481530.cms

By PHIL NOBLE, Savannah Now

No, this is not a typo or misprint. No, we did not leave out a number, and South Carolina is not 27th, or 37th or 47th. We are indeed tied for the seventh spot in the country in overall online learning. Amazing – but true. This is a very big deal – it may be the most important and positive education news about the state in the last five years. First, about the rankings. For the last three years, the authoritative and nonpartisan Foundation for Excellence in Education has produced a Digital Learning Report Card that evaluates each state on 10 different measures of how well they are doing in using new technology in education. (check out your state’s rankinghttp://reportcard.digitallearningnow.com/#grade0)

http://savannahnow.com/bluffton-opinion/2014-03-22/noble-column-big-deal-sc-ranked-7th-digital-learning#.Uy2BqqhdUVI