Techno-News Blog

By Meris Stansbury, eSchool News

Clayton Christensen argues that theory of disruptive innovation could have solutions for colleges and universities.  Higher education thanks to student loan debt, college and university debt, rising tuition costs, and a lousy economy is currently in jeopardy.  Recently, the technologies enabling online learning for higher education, coupled with the changes to the economy, are driving the mechanism.” In other words, accessible technology + shaky economy = perfect storm for traditional higher education. “Online learning and its cousins provide a technology core, allowing those entities entering at the bottom of the market to take over the giants,” he continued. “The question now is: ‘Is there something that can’t be displaced within a traditional university’s value offering?’” Christensen said, “I’ll be honest, within 10 to 15 years, half of the universities around today will either be liquidated or in bankruptcy.”

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/christensen-innovation-education-479/

By Brad Zomick, SkilledUp

Online courses are great for self-motivated individuals who want to learn new skills and advance their careers without dropping their commitment to their job and/or family. Only online education fully integrates itself into today’s educational technology. It is also more efficient for fast and especially motivated learners and offers skills that lack resources in traditional education despite high demand from employers (coding and social media marketing are common examples). See the infographic linked below.

http://www.skilledup.com/blog/advantages-online-courses-infographic/

by Ally Stackhouse, Westside Story

The FCC got a shot in its arm when the federal court on Friday upheld the FCC decision to convert the $4.5 billion program which paid for telephone service in rural areas into a fund which will subsidize high-speed Internet service in high-cost areas. This program is known as Connect America and is a part of a bigger $8 billion universal service fund which pays for a number of initiatives like providing communication links for schools, low income families and others. The overhaul of the fund was approved by the FCC in October 2011. However the move was soon challenged in dozens of writs filed by phone companies. The most vociferous opponents of the move were small carriers who stood to lose money in the form of subsidies because of the changes.

http://www.thewestsidestory.net/2014/05/25/11303/fcc-gets-endorsement-plan-subsidize-fast-rural-internet-access/

by Utah Pulse

Beginning in August 2015, students applying to colleges through the Common Application, a standard entrance application being used by many universities, will be able to select robotics as an activity category that will now receive entrance evaluation credit for their participation in a recognized extracurricular learning activity.

http://utahpulse.com/index.php/features/technology/942-colleges-now-recognize-robotics-as-activity-for-entrance-credit

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Perhaps the most important document that we should read and discuss on campus says nothing at all about higher ed. It is the leaked 96 page New York Times Innovation report, called Strengthening Our Newsroom: Digital First, written by 10 Times employees. The authors of the report argue that the Times is failing in its mission to serve its readers because it has not embraced the potential of digital platforms. That the print first culture and organizational structure at the Times has resulted in digital journalism being a “bolt on” to a paper driven organizational structure. That the world’s best journalism is only one part of the equation, as journalism that does not reach a critical mass of citizens due to a failure to embrace digital platforms and to practice best digital practices will ultimately have little positive social impact.

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/nytimes-innovation-report-and-higher-ed#sthash.aEoLokwf.dpbs

by Ellen Cohn, University of Pittsburgh

The posting linked below addresses privacy vulnerabilities in the online learning environment. Given the seriousness of potential breaches, the authors suggest that universities and their instructors collaborate to construct “Privacy Policies,” and “Terms of Use Policies,” and that all persons who access an online course site affirm they have read and accept such policies before they are afforded access to the content of an online class. Written by Ellen Cohn, PhD and Valerie Watzlaf, PhD, from the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, the post is adapted via terms of the Creative Commons License, from “‘Informed “Privacy’ and ‘Terms of Use’ Policies for Online University Courses,” published in the Proceedings of the 2013 Technology, Colleges and Community and Worldwide Online Conference.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1329

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

Missouri State University (MSU) has implemented a flipped classroom model for its Introductory Psychology course, resulting in dramatic improvements in student learning outcomes and course completion rates. The faculty members in the MSU psychology department developed the redesign plan. “We did a lot of reading of the literature and we knew pedagogically we wanted to break this course down and start over,” said Danae Hudson, associate professor of psychology. That reading led them to select a flipped classroom model. “We really wanted that kind of model for our class, where we basically had to force the students to be engaged with the material because prior to this they weren’t,” she said.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/05/21/missouri-state-u-improves-learning-outcomes-with-flipped-classroom.aspx