Techno-News Blog

by CLIFTON B. PARKER, Stanford

Stanford’s online learning initiative is growing at a fast pace and the university is looking far beyond the MOOC at how to best educate students in the 21st century. A new report highlights accomplishments in 2013 and eyes the future of research-driven innovation. Online education is changing the way we learn, where we learn and how we think of higher education. Stanford Online is pioneering advances in teaching and learning at Stanford – and beyond – as its new report, “2013 in Review,” describes. The 32-page document reveals the explosive growth at Stanford Online – 1.9 million people from almost every country in the world have registered for one or more courses, and learners have spent more than 4 million hours engaging with Stanford Online courses since the fall of 2012.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/may/online-vpol-report-051914.html

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

More courses in STEM subjects, teaching more students how to code, and getting more girls and women into traditionally male professions (ie, the STEM subjects) are all big topics these days. The main issue that all of these things address is that as our world develops technologically and becomes more tech dependent, we will need more students trained in disciplines that can support that, and currently, there is a huge skills gap. The handy infographic below takes a look at how to unlock the code to student success, and addresses computer science specifically, and how few schools teach computer science courses at all.

http://www.edudemic.com/computer-science/

By Tori Wieldt, Oracle

This course introduces Java developers to the world of embedded devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). Embedded controllers are already a part of our lives. Meters read electric and water usage and send the readings to a central office. Electronic thermostats turn on the heat and air conditioning as required. Java Embedded leverages your experience with Java to open the world of the Internet of Things by providing direct access to electronic sensors and mechanical devices.

https://blogs.oracle.com/java/entry/oracle_massive_open_online_course1

by Sarah Garland, Huffington Post

Instead of investing in new and better technology, more than two thirds of school districts are cutting back on regular maintenance and replacement of equipment because of budget troubles, according to a survey by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a professional organization of school technology leaders, published in March. The survey, of 600 school district technology chiefs from around the country, also found that nearly half said their funding was inadequate to support existing equipment or to bring in new technologies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/16/schools-scale-back-technology_n_5340711.html

by Steve Brawner, Courier-News

Dr. Bruce Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System, told the House and Senate Education Committees Monday how his system is adapting. The eVersity program will offer degrees starting this fall that are designed to reach older Arkansans who need employment skills but not the on-campus college experience. It’s meant to fill jobs that are available right now. Bobbitt said a student will be able to earn a degree from home in five years at a cost of $18,000 — maybe significantly less. Interviewed in a Capitol hallway after his presentation to legislators, Bobbitt said that faculty acceptance of the new online model has varied from professor to professor, but as a rule, “They understand that we don’t want to be Kodak.” That’s a reference to the film manufacturer and developer that failed to respond to digital photography and ended up declaring for bankruptcy.

http://www.couriernews.com/view/full_story/25107743/article-Colleges-go-online-to-avoid-Kodak-s-fate

By Pek Murray Goldberg, Marine Link

It’s time to put that question behind us. Once a question has been carefully analyzed and a reliable answer has been found, it is time to use this new knowledge to help answer the next series of important questions. This is the current situation in some parts of the maritime industry surrounding the question of whether eLearning works. We will cover the evidence in a moment, but first let me clearly state the answer to the question, “Does eLearning work”? The answer is an unequivocal “YES”. But as with any complex topic, there are many parts to that answer. So here are a few quick, but very important, considerations.

http://www.marinelink.com/news/elearning-does-work369170.aspx

by ADELE PETERS, Fast Coexist

In this unique course at the Open Online Academy, 5,000 students team with local organizations to go head-to-head developing ideas for the developing world. The typical design competition tends to result in a lot of fantastical ideas that are far from realistic. But the Open Online Academy had set up real-world contests to solve world challenges with an unusual structure: The participants who compete are all enrolled in a MOOC (or massive open online class). “We’re basically using education as a way to promote change and build a better world,” says Ivan Shumkov, the school’s founder. In one recent class, the Open Online Academy took on the challenge of building resilient schools in the Philippines, after Typhoon Haiyan destroyed 4,500 schools there last November. Other class challenges have included designing emergency shelters, smart mobility, and infrastructure in the developing world.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3030535/this-online-class-helps-designers-solve-real-world-problems

By Lisa Johnson, Edudemic

Selecting apps and planning projects in a BYOD can be a formidable endeavor. What device does Gavin have? Does this website work on Caroline’s iPad? Is there a comparable collage or cartoon application on Hayden’s device? “Device Agnostic” tools can alleviate the stress that is associated with student performance tasks in a BYOD. “A device-agnostic mobile application (app), for example, is compatible with most operating systems and may also work on different types of devices, including notebooks, tablet PCs and smartphones.” – Margaret Rouse

http://www.edudemic.com/5-tools-device-agnostic-classroom/

by Debbie Morrison, Online Learning Insights

“Teaching as a Subversive Activity” puts forth ideas about education that are radical, controversial, bold and fresh. It suggests eliminating syllabi, formal curriculum and textbooks from education settings. It introduces ideas of student-centered learning over teacher-centered teaching, and leading students to learn by asking questions, not by teachers giving lectures. The book was first published in 1969—considered radical among educators then, and today. Hands down it’s on of the most challenging, thoughtful, practical books I’ve read about transforming education.

http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/tag/neil-postman/

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

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.

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

by Nick DeSantis, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Kansas Board of Regents unanimously approved a revised social-media policy that allows leaders of the state’s public colleges to punish or fire employees whose postings are found to be improper, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. The changes include statements that support academic freedom and free-speech rights. The board’s first version of the policy, approved in December, sparked an uproar among faculty members, and faculty leaders raised concerns that the revised document did not go far enough to resolve their concerns.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/kansas-board-adopts-revised-policy-allowing-discipline-for-improper-social-media-use/77807

By GARY DINGES , Austin American-Statesman

With summer break just around the corner, parents are scrambling to find ways to keep children occupied the next three months. One new offering this year is Brain Chase, a six-week online academic challenge created by an Austin couple, Allan and Heather Staker. Designed for second- through eighth-graders, Brain Chase is built to resemble a global treasure hunt. The goal, Allan Staker said, is to make summertime learning fun, rather than a chore. The Stakers said their experiences with their own five children helped shape the program, which came together in less than a year.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/bea48b74c0d2448593975d9f02138c32/TX–Academic-Challenge

By Sidneyeve Matrix, Metro

In April 2014 a Totaljobs.com survey of over 8,000 job seekers found that seven out of 10 respondents feel today’s employers expect them to be more qualified than ever before. To meet those expectations, 80 per cent of the survey participants said they would be up for taking a training course if it led to more job offers. In spite of the obvious convenience factor and other possible cost savings, only half (49 per cent) of those job seekers confirmed they would prefer to complete that professional development training online, rather than on campus or in a traditional classroom setting.

http://metronews.ca/uncategorized/1032928/how-to-stay-motivated-when-taking-an-online-course/

by Giovanni Rodriguez, Forbes

“The Science of Happiness” — a MOOC (massive open online course) sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) — will launch in September of this year. And though they announced the course only recently, it has already generated close to 40,000 registrations, according to UC Berkeley’s Professor Dacher Keltner. They’re on track to reach more than 100,000 people, when the first class bell rings. But given the momentum they’ve gained in such a short amount of time, his projection seems modest. A number of MOOCs have reached even bigger audiences (never mind the dropout rates; the topic of another story I am writing). And if there were a competition, “The Science of Happiness” might have an unfair advantage.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/giovannirodriguez/2014/05/13/happiness-the-most-popular-course-in-the-world/

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

Three multi-institutional projects are advancing their efforts to develop the architectures that may underlie the Internet of the future. Through a $15 million from the National Science Foundation, the projects will move their development work into the limited test phase. The projects had been awarded three-year, $8 million grants back in 2010 to begin work on building a “more trustworthy and robust Internet.” With the new funding, the work done to date will be tested in real-world settings, which follow on some limited pilot tests.  CMU is leading one NSF grant, called Deployment-Driven Evaluation and Evolution of the eXpressive Internet Architecture (XIA).  Partners with CMU on the XIA project include Boston University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Duke University.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/05/13/multi-institutional-projects-to-test-future-internet-architectures.aspx

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Technology has its pros and cons, especially in the classroom. Students have a vast number of resources and search engines at their fingertips, but you might also find that they’re more easily distracted. The handy infographic below takes a look at the concept of a ‘student cyborg’ and how technology is facilitating education. Defining a cyborg as “a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device”, the graphic elaborates on the idea that students and teachers – we have tons of technology at our fingertips – are more dependent on technology, but it facilitates their learning in a positive way

http://www.edudemic.com/student-cyborg-infographic/

By Robert Strazzarino, Edudemic

Implementing software and on-campus technology is the best way for colleges to stand out in the crowded educational landscape, and this doesn’t just include automated student scheduling and streamlined registration processes. We’re talking about positively affecting students’ lives every single day. Institutions are constantly finding unique ways to serve their students better. One South Carolina college is using social media to help new students find a compatible roommate. Dozens of universities have technology that allows students to check for vacant laundry machines online, and students in cold climates are staying warm by tracking campus shuttles from their phones. Here are a few off-the-wall ideas any institution can use to mix technology with daily student life, improve the learning experience, and drive its competitive advantage.

http://www.edudemic.com/missing-mark-higher-education-technology-dont-meet/

By Devon Haynie, US News

Pennsylvania State University–World Campus, for example, also offers a free eight-week-long course for prospective students curious about whether they are prepared for online learning. The course, which students don’t earn credit for, asks students to develop an academic and career plan. Students turn in assignments and have access to the learning management system, the library and academic advisers. “This is for students to decide, ‘This is right for me,’ or maybe ‘No, this isn’t right for me right now,'” says J. Richard Brungard, program manager for the World Campus. “That way we don’t have students who are racking up debt or using financial aid and not completing their courses.”

http://news.yahoo.com/why-online-students-bother-orientation-140000392.html

by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

The faculty leaders behind the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education continued their barrage against massive open online courses on Tuesday, challenging the providers to come clean on “overblown, misleading or simply false” rhetoric. In letters blasted off last week to the founders of Coursera, edX and Udacity, the organization expresses its concern that the MOOC providers are motivated not by the “needs of our students, but the needs of [their] investors.” The organization stresses in the letters that it is opposed neither to technology in education nor to companies making a profit, only to the rhetoric some of those companies use about their products.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/05/14/faculty-group-continues-anti-mooc-offensive#sthash.8aQXFlH9.dpbs

by Maurice Ellias, Edutopia

The end of the school year can feel like the final few miles of a marathon. Not only does your body not want to go on, your mind wants to be elsewhere. It’s not helped by the fact that the dreaded tests are over. Feeling burned out is quite common. In one of my previous blog posts, I drew upon the work of expert Cary Cherniss, whose book, Beyond Burnout, gives great guidance about factors most likely to lead to teacher burnout and some ways to detect and prevent it. But the end of the year is different. Detection is not the issue. Neither is prevention. You are at mile 23 and your lungs are bursting, your legs are cramping, your mind is in a jumble, and you just want say, “Beam me up, Scotty.” Yet, just as the marathoners make it to the finish line, so can you. Here are five ideas that work.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/end-of-year-burnout-how-to-finish-stride-maurice-elias