Techno-News Blog

By David Nagel, THE Journal

Apple and Samsung accounted for a full 71 percent of tablets shipped in the first quarter of 2014. Apple remained in the top spot for the quarter, though Android as a whole accounted for slightly more than half of all new tablets shipped through March, according to early results released by market research firm ABI Research. Of the top 3 vendors, only No. 2 Samsung showed positive growth in the quarter, which is typically the softest quarter for tablet sales. Samsung shipped 13 million units, up 10.8 percent from the same quarter in 2013.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/21/tablet-competition-heats-up-samsung-apple-vie-for-top-spot.aspx

By Geoffrey H. Fletcher, THE Journal

“Technology has changed; the needs of schools have changed; the E-rate program must reflect this change.” So said Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a talk to a group assembled by the Council of Chief State School Officers in mid-March. His talk was but the latest in a flurry of activity around the E-rate in particular and the federal role in educational technology in general.The positive flurry began in June 2013. In a speech at Mooresville Middle School (NC), President Obama announced his ConnectED initiative and directed the FCC “to begin a process that will connect 99 percent of America’s students to high-speed broadband Internet within five years.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/22/shifting-federal-priorities-mean-more-funding-for-ed-tech.aspx

By David Nagel, THE Journal

Six critical shifts are happening in education right now that are being driven, at least in part, by technology. According to preliminary findings from an upcoming report, these changes affect everything from the role of the teacher to a rethinking of how schools themselves work. The findings are part of a preliminary report introduced this week by the New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networking. Each year, NMC releases an annual Horizon Report, detailing new and impending developments affecting K-12 education in the United States — including emerging trends, technology drivers and barriers to adoption. The findings are the result of research in coordination with an expert panel of Horizon Project participants, ranging from representatives of individual schools to the World Bank.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/21/6-shifts-in-education-driven-by-technology.aspx

By eCampus News

Competency-based learning catching on at Washington state community colleges/ They are known as two-year colleges, but soon some of their students likely will receive degrees without regard to how much time was spent earning them. Taking a page from a popular online university, some of Washington’s community colleges plan next year to let students earn a degree at their own pace and get credit for what they already know. The all-online degrees will be available to students at a growing number of schools, including Pierce College, with Tacoma Community College expected to join the list. At first, the new kind of degree will go only to students earning associate degrees in business that prepare them for transfer to a four-year business school.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/community-colleges-online-022/

By Jake New, Editor, eCampus News

How will the FCC’s recent ruling on net neutrality affect colleges and universities? The internet is abuzz with reaction to the Federal Communication Commission’s proposal this past Thursday to change net neutrality rules and create a “fast lane” for the internet (at extra cost). Free-internet advocates, internet providers, politicians, and online companies are all weighing in on the controversial ruling. But Jeff Livingston, senior vice president of education policy at McGraw-Hill Education, says there are some voices that may need to be louder: those in education. Livingston talked to eCampus News on Wednesday about how the ruling — which would allow (or, depending on who you’re talking to, force) companies and websites to pay for a faster internet — could affect colleges and universities.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/colleges-net-neutrality-022/

By Peter West, eSchool News

The blended learning classroom is different, and the strategies of the past need to be modified. The world changes, and when it does the old ways of doing things may no longer work. The answers that used to be correct in the past may now lead to incorrect answers. This should be a mantra for education in the 21st century; it should be a mantra for the move to blended learning. In the past an experienced teacher could modify a traditional lesson, and even a traditional course “on the fly.” However, the “rules” of the past no longer apply in this area; it is very difficult to build a blended learning course “on the fly.” Some explanation of this statement follows, with a course delivered in a “traditional” manner compared to a course delivered using a blended learning model.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/05/26/students-blended-learning-251/

By Jenel Few, Savannah Now

There are several members of the public school system’s Class of 2014 who have extra reason to celebrate. Aaliyah Davis is one of many students who would not be graduating if not for the Savannah-Chatham school system’s Twilight School. Because she repeated eighth grade, Davis thought she was destined to trail behind students her age. But Twilight School’s online classes enabled her to complete four years of high school coursework in three years and graduate on time with the class of 2014. “I changed middle schools twice, failed the math section of the CRCT and I had to repeat the eighth grade,” Davis said. “When I finally got to Johnson High, I was self-conscious about being older than everyone else.”

http://savannahnow.com/news/2014-05-24/twilight-school-helps-boost-savannah-chatham-graduation-rates

by PETER CAMERON, Citizen’s Voice

When Maj. Chris Costello of the Pennsylvania National Guard received his fourth overseas deployment in a decade, this time to Kuwait in 2012, he decided to go back to school — in the Arabian Desert. Along with 20 other soldiers at Camp Buehring, about 10 miles south of the Iraqi border, Costello enrolled in an online MBA course through Marywood University, more than 6,000 miles away. Camels would roam the outskirts of the base. Most of the servicemen and -women lived in tents. And sandstorms sometimes knocked out the basewide Wi-Fi and sent some of the soldier-students scrambling through the stinging wind for a better connection in the recreation hall. As an officer, Costello had the benefit of living in an air-conditioned apartment on the base with his own Internet connection.

http://citizensvoice.com/news/ease-of-online-education-allows-many-to-get-degrees-1.1687840

by Debra Erdley, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Buffeted by increasing costs, shrinking public subsidies, soaring student debt and growing public skepticism, American colleges are approaching a tipping point. More than 4,000 colleges and universities are scattered across the country, and experts agree that — with the exception of elite, well-endowed research universities — few will remain unchanged in 30 years. Some will close, others might merge, and leaner models likely will emerge to meet public demand. “I think all change is incremental, but what’s different about the period we’re in is there are so many forces out there that the cumulative effect of those forces will produce big changes,” said Patrick Callan, president of the Higher Education Policy Institute. Donald Heller, dean of the College of Education at Michigan State University, said colleges and universities will emphasize more online offerings as they reshape to survive.

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/6035965-74/online-governors-percent#axzz32kvaS78T

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Many teachers have added ‘digital literacy’ as number four on the list of literacies their students should have (or be working towards, in most cases). Reading, writing, and math are now followed by digital literacy. Obviously, depending on the grade level you teach, your students will have different abilities in each of the four areas, so your expectations and your teaching approach may differ quite noticeably from your colleagues. But the nagging question still remains for many teachers – what exactly is digital literacy?

http://www.edudemic.com/digital-literacy/

by ANYA KAMENETZ, NPR

Ivory Tower is a new film about higher education at a crossroads. A trillion dollars in debt. Financial outlook downgraded. Skyrocketing prices, yet falling or stagnant revenue for 40 percent of the sector. Government threatening to increase regulation. By the standards of Wall Street, higher ed is in deep trouble. Ivory Tower, a new documentary from CNN and Participant Media opening in theaters next month, attempts to unpack that complexity. Turmoil is nothing new to filmmaker Andrew Rossi. His previous film, Page One: Inside the New York Times, explored another troubled American institution.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/05/23/314923096/the-crisis-in-the-ivory-tower

By Mackenzie Hurlbert, Skilled-up

As a longtime expert in e-learning, Curtis Bonk, Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University, has a reputation as a trend spotter and thoughtful analyst of online learning. He’s also an experienced teacher in this format himself, and his series of 27 YouTube videos on how to teach online was for many years the go-to resource for teachers new to this environment. Bonk is the author of several books about online education, including a new one titled Adding Some Tec-Variety: 100+ Activities for Motivating and Retaining Learners Online, which is available to download free as a PDF or to purchase in hard copy from Amazon.

http://www.skilledup.com/blog/online-learning-trends-curtis-bonk/

by Mark Boxser and Anant Argarwal, Huffington Post

Eighteen months ago at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos the star was not Bill Gates of Microsoft or Larry Summers of Harvard, but 12-year-old Khadijah Niazi of Lahore, Pakistan, who captivated the audience by talking about a trend that could revolutionize education. She is one of millions who have improved their education by taking a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC). Certainly Khadija is an exceptional teenager, as we found out when we met her at the Global Education & Skills Forum in Dubai a year later. She was only 10 years old when she took an Artificial Intelligence online course. But, however preternaturally gifted she is, she underlines the fact that MOOCs may be more appropriate for pre-university learners (K-12), than simply as a means of taking university courses online.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-boxser/why-moocs-might-be-just-r_b_5365503.html

By Debbie Manis, Orlando Sentinel

Little Clickers computer classes will be offered at the Leesburg Public Library, 100 E. Main St., for children ages 3 to 7 and their caregivers. The classes will teach basic computer skills and internet safety for young children. Lessons will include the parts of a computer, basic searching, how to drag-and-drop and staying safe online. The sessions will help build a foundation for learning more advanced computer skills in the future, while also helping instill confidence and ease with A certificate of completion will be given to participants. The three-week youth laptap lab program is funded by the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-education-notes-052114-20140520,0,3566381.story

By Devon Haynie, US News

Online education can provide great opportunities for international students like Reda, but they can also have their drawbacks, experts say. In this article experts share insights on the unique challenges online learning can pose for students outside of the U.S. While online education is becoming a more accepted form of study in the U.S., that’s not always the case in other countries, says Judith Murray, CEO at EdVantage America, a company which helps prepare students to succeed in the American education system. Understanding American cultural references can be tough for any international student, but perhaps more so for online students, who don’t have the benefit of living inside the country while they’re studying.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-online-degrees-pose-challenges-international-students-130000085.html

By A. Honeysett, Edudemic

Is it possible for our students to be both digital natives and digitally unaware? Young people today are instant messengers, gamers, photo sharers and supreme multitaskers. But while they use the technology tools available to them 24/7, they are struggling to sort fact from fiction, think critically, decipher cultural inferences, detect commercial intent and analyze social implications. All of which makes them extremely vulnerable to the overwhelming amount of information they have access to through the digital tools they use—and love!—so much. In fact, teachers surveyed in a recent Pew Study say they worry about “students’ overdependence on search engines. In total, 83% of teachers surveyed agreed that the amount of information available to students online is overwhelming, and 60% agreed that today’s digital technologies make it harder for students to track down and use credible sources.

http://www.edudemic.com/teach-digital-literacy-digital-natives/

BY CHRISTINA WARREN, Mashable

Codecademy, the free online learning platform that teaches users to code, is going global. Since its launch in 2011, more than 24 million users have completed more than 100 million exercises on the Codecademy platform. But even though 70% of all those users are from outside the United States, the lessons themselves have always been in English. Until now. On Thursday, Codecademy announced a new global initiative to help bring those lessons and skills to other languages. According to Codecademy CEO and cofounder Zach Sims, this initiative is the first step to making the platform truly global. Codecademy has partnered with governments and education groups in Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Argentina to better align its lessons and platforms for those regions.

http://mashable.com/2014/05/22/codecademy-international/

by Trista Bridges, Rude Baguette

DragonBox Algebra is a game designed specifically to tech algebra. It presents the player with whimsical icons that need to be manipulated until the ‘DragonBox,’ representing the unknown variable, is isolated on one side of the game board. When they start playing, the student generally doesn’t realize that they are already learning basic principles of algebra such as balancing an equation. Through the course of play, these icons are gradually replaced with numbers and variables until the player is solving real equations. In the study, an adaptive version of the game was developed in conjunction with the Center for Game Science to get participating students focused on one goal: solving hundreds of thousands of equations.

http://www.rudebaguette.com/2014/05/20/dragonbox-challenge-proves-kids-can-learn-basic-algebra-just-1-5-hours-gameplay/

By Jesse Singal, NY Mag

If you give someone a big chunk of information to learn, they may not go about it the most efficient way — maybe they won’t break it up into digestible chunks, or maybe they’ll waste too much time solidifying something that’s easy for them at the expense of something that’s hard. Online games can fix all these problems dictating the terms under which you learn, from the intervals at which material is repeated to the rate at which new material is introduced. Plus, they can adapt to your learning style. None of this is to say there aren’t a lot of scam-y online learning platforms out there based in pseudoscience, because there are. But as this study highlights, if you know what you’re doing, learning in a gamified way can serve you a lot better than more traditional alternatives.

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/05/games-are-better-teachers.html

by Center for Digital Ed

The California Legislature is considering a bill that would allow high school students to count their computer science classes toward college math admission requirements. SB 1200, sponsored by State Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), asks the state’s two university systems to match up their admissions standards in math and language arts to those of the Academic Content Standards Commission. The comission benchmarks at least 85 percent of its standards to the Common Core State Standards. The bill would require the California State University system to align its standards, but requests the same from the University of California system. It also would have them develop guidelines so that high school computer science courses could satisfy math requirements for admissions purposes.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/California-Computer-Science-College.html

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Ed

Picture this: A world flooded with a sea of data from every connected device on the planet — devices found in and on human bodies, in homes, around communities, in products, and in the natural environment. And these devices on the Internet of Things are sharing information constantly with the promise of making people’s lives better. But the government, corporations and criminals can all tap into these data streams and use what they find for evil, if they so choose. And that tension comes through loud and clear in a report on the Internet of Things that includes opinions from more than 1,600 experts.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/Where-the-Internet-of-Things-Could-Take-Society-by-2025-.html