BY MARIA KONNIKOVA, New Yorker
MOOCs are a technology with potentially revolutionary implications for education, but without a precise plan for realizing that potential. One way of getting there could be for the leaders of the MOOC movement to look more closely at old methods, from when education was less massive, less open, and entirely offline.
http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/moocs-failure-solutions
Share on FacebookBY ISSIE LAPOWSKY, Wired
Codecademy already makes it easy for anyone, anywhere to learn how to program a computer. Now, the New York City-based startup wants to make it just as simple for this new generation of coders to find jobs, as well. On Friday, the company announced the launch of a new workforce development initiative called ReskillUSA, which will help connect people in cities from Los Angeles to Detroit to Miami with employers in need of tech talent. Codecademy is partnering with some of its fellow skills education startups, including Flatiron School, DevBootcamp, Sabio.la, Grand Circus, Wyncode, and Thinkful. Together, they’ve created an online platform where people can find coding classes and bootcamps across the country. The partners are also actively urging employers to tap ReskillUSA’s graduate pipeline for potential employees. The goal, says Codecademy CEO Zach Sims, is to streamline what has become a fragmented industry of coding classes and camps.
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/reskillusa/
Share on Facebookby Vanita Srivastava, Hindustan Times
India has a huge market for online education and this should be tapped to meet the demand and supply gap for employment, says Rick Levin, the Chief Executive Officer of Coursera, a leading online learning platform worldwide. “ India is one of the fastest growing markets. In fact, after the US, the maximum number of Coursera learners come from India and China. In just two years we have around 8 lakh Indian learners and this will grow in the coming years,” Dr Levin, who was the President of Yale University for almost 20 years before joining Coursera, told HT. Most of the Indian learners prefer courses on business management and technology, he said, adding: “Another unique feature is that more than 50% of the Indian learners are under 30.” Coursera signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) on Monday, to develop content and design courses for Coursera’s 10-million-plus learners.
Share on Facebookby eCampus News
A+E Network®’s HISTORY® Channel will partner with the University of Oklahoma (OU) to offer the first TV Network-branded online course for transcripted college credit or for the lifelong learner. HISTORY® Channel’s “United States, 1865 to the Present” course enrollment will launch on October 28 at History.com/courses and will be taught by teacher, OU professor, and historian Steve Gillon. “United States 1865 to the Present” will provide an interactive way for college students to earn three transcripted credits, and life learners the opportunity to learn U.S. History from one of the country’s “leading institutions of higher education,” said the University.
http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/online-courses-tv-919/
Share on FacebookBy Leigh Ann Whittle, Edudemic
You can create a visual classroom without succumbing to death by PowerPoint. Its interactive features, zooming display, and creative options will enable your visual lessons to engage students without distracting them from lesson objectives. With all those bells and whistles, Prezi might sound complicated, but it’s actually quite simple to use. Follow the link below for more on this innovative tool.
http://www.edudemic.com/how-to-use-prezi-to-create-visual-lessons/
Share on Facebookby Seb Murray, Business Because
The vice chancellor of the Open University and founder of FutureLearn, the massive open online course, or Mooc, platform, said that the internet has opened “Pandora’s box” on education, as the learning technology revolution begins to take hold of the business education world. “Disruptive innovation is forcing so many of us to reconsider the very foundations of our learning and teachings,” said Marin, speaking to a crowd of education heads from across the UK. “There isn’t a higher education institution in the world that shouldn’t be thinking about the role of technology and innovation…. This is something that’s going to be a massive shift,” he said.
Share on Facebookby Bruce Kennedy, Moneywatch
In a trend that began during the depths of the Great Recession, some students who needed get a four-degree without a four-year degree’s cost started trying to complete their courses in three years. But even as the U.S. economy is leaving that devastating slump slowly behind it, that trend is apparently hanging on — and perhaps gaining some momentum. About two dozen private U.S. colleges now offer three-year degree programs. The financial advantages of a three-year program seem obvious. College costs continue to rise, with the median cost of a year’s tuition and fees for undergraduate study at both public and private, nonprofit, four-year institutions currently stands at just over $11,000, according to the College Board.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-growing-appeal-of-a-three-year-college-degree/
Share on FacebookBy Ron Bethke, eCampus News
Learning Catalytics, an active learning system developed at Harvard, has led to big improvements for students at the University of North Carolina. Some students at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill have been improving their test scores by more than 3 percentage points on average in the past year, and it’s largely the result of a Harvard-created software that emphasizes active learning. The software, which is called Learning Catalytics, was implemented by Professor Kelly Hogan, the Director of Instructional Innovation for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Senior Lecturer in the Biology Department, in her non-majors Biology class in the fall of 2013.
http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/active-learning-harvard-693/
Share on Facebookby Anthony Domanico, CNet
A new MOOC, short for massive open online course, from a Syracuse University professor will take “Doctor Who” fans on an epic journey. The course, titled “Doctor Who in the Digital Age,” will be taught by Professor Anthony Rotolo, director of the online masters in communications program at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It will run from January through April and will explore the history, evolution and cultural impact of the long-running BBC series, Rotolo tells the Daily Orange. The free course will be offered both in-person to Syracuse students as an independent study class and online for Whovians across the universe.
http://www.cnet.com/news/a-new-mooc-dives-into-the-timey-wimey-world-of-doctor-who/
Share on FacebookBy Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal
Playing games at school can inspire students in ways that nobody could predict. For proof, just take Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In it, Dumbledore raises his hand for silence and pronounces the memorable line, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” The victory is decided by the modest 10 points Dumbledore grants to Gryffindor’s Neville Longbottom, and with it comes a lesson worth learning: Following your conscience, even in small ways, can have a big impact. Trying to impart that lesson without the game would most likely have had as much impact as the lunch ladies making a switch from peas to carrots. Because games immerse students in a world outside their daily experience game-based pedagogy can help students learn skills that they could never grasp by reading a textbook. Here are five of them.
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/11/05/5-skills-that-games-teach-better-than-textbooks.aspx
Share on FacebookBy Laura Devaney, eSchool News
Technology integration and project-based learning are two of 10 strategies that one district technology director uses to help educators create engaging schools and classrooms that excite and empower students. Ninety-five percent of kindergartners are truly enthusiastic about school, but for some reason, that enthusiasm wanes, and only 37 percent of ninth graders are enthusiastic about school and learning, said Robert Dillon, director of technology and innovation for the Affton School District in St. Louis, during an edWeb Connected Educator Month webinar. School leaders must find a way to sustain that kindergarten enthusiasm all the way through high school.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/11/05/10-engaging-empowering-652/
Share on FacebookBy Jordan Friedman, US News
Results from one survey suggest online instructors are more likely than on-campus instructors to use social media for both personal and professional reasons. In his University of Hawaii online course, Introduction to e-Learning, associate professor Michael Menchaca requires his students to introduce themselves to each other by creating 15-second videos on Instagram. Later in the semester, students “meet” to discuss their group projects using Google Hangouts. Twitter is popular in his classes, too, enabling students to share resources and engage in discussions, Menchaca says. These are just two examples of the social media tools Menchaca uses to foster communication among his students. “We’ve had online learning for quite a long time – since the 1990s, when it started to become popular – but the inclusion of social media is something that’s relatively new,” Menchaca says. “A lot of us are starting to use it more. I guess we’re still tinkering around and trying things.”
Share on FacebookBy Jim Dutcher, Campus Technology
SUNY Cobleskill has embarked on a rigorous pilot using Google Glass for hands-on, experiential learning. To kick off a series of articles chronicling the experience, the institution’s CIO shares the origins of the project, the support team involved and the plans that are already unfolding for future campus and corporate collaborations. From the pedagogical side, we will be focused on discovery and answering:
Does the use of wearable technology speed acquisition of student competency?
What effect does the introduction of wearable technology have on instruction and peer (and patient) interaction?
Does the use of instructor point-of-view video help bridge student understanding of theory to applied practice?
How does the use of wearable technology translate across different instructional programs (Paramedic Training vs. Animal Hoof Health)?
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/05/getting-started-with-google-glass.aspx
Share on FacebookBy Meris Stansbury, eCampus News
Faculty across institutions aren’t using OER—and the few who are often don’t know it, says a new industry report; leading to concerns about definition and copyright understanding. This data comes from a new Babson Survey Research report that aimed to determine whether or not faculty (who chief academic officers, and faculty themselves, say are the main adopters of classroom materials) are using OER. After surveying a national sample of over 2,000 faculty members, the report highlights that 75 percent of faculty are unaware of OER.
http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/faculty-oer-report-494/
Share on Facebookby Pearson
Most of the teaching methods used in the golf industry today were developed by golf professionals based on their experiences teaching men. In an effort to increase instructors’ level of comfort, skills, and teaching methods for the training of women golfers of all ages, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has partnered with Pearson to create a new online program called the LPGA Teaching HER Course. The self-paced course, which launches in fall 2014, consists of four one-hour modules with knowledge checks and interactive video segments.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2304050
Share on FacebookBy Dave Moore, The Transcript
Reports surfacing this week outline how an “Executive Office of the President” White House computer network used by high-ranking advisors to President Obama was invaded, most likely by hackers working for the Russian government. The attacks took place in early or mid-October, according to tight-lipped White House officials speaking under the condition of anonymity. The White House only found out about the invasion after being tipped off by “an ally.” While officials claim that no classified documents were stolen, years of experience have taught me to understand that to mean, “No classified documents were stolen that we know of, as of today.”
Share on Facebookby the University of Texas System
The University of Texas System will be the first in the nation to launch a personalized, competency-based education program system-wide aimed at learners from high school through post-graduate studies. What sets the UT System approach apart from other competency-based programs is a focus on offering personalized and adaptive degrees and certificates that are industry-aligned and – via technology developed by the UT System – can systematically improve success, access and completion rates in areas of high employment demand. “Competency-based programs allow students to advance through courses, certifications and degrees based on their ability to master knowledge and skills rather than time spent in a classroom,” said Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D. “All students are held to clearly defined and rigorous expectations, but each follows a customized path to success that responds and adapts based on individual learning strengths, challenges and goals. And students can earn credit for prior learning and move at their own speed.”
Share on FacebookBy MYRA BLACKMON, Online Athens
Let’s get something straight. Education and training are not the same thing. Training is about skills to do something, such as a job or physical task. It implies reaction to certain stimuli or situations. Education is broader than that. It is the acquisition of general knowledge, the development of reasoning and judgment. Education is a much more nuanced, deeper concept than training. It requires understanding of theory, of the “why” of things. It requires much more than just being able to do a task, even a complex one. Jay Cross, who is credited with creating the term “e-learning,” explains it this way: “If your 16 year-old daughter told you that she was going to take a sex education course in high school, you might be pleased. What if she announced she was going to take sex training at school?”
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2014-11-01/blackmon-education-vastly-different-training
Share on Facebookby J. Baulkman, University Herald
The University of Oklahoma is collaborating with A&E Network’s History Channel to offer the first television network-branded online course for credit. The “United States, 1865 to the Present” course will involve professionally produced video lectures, discussion groups and social interactions, as well as integrated assets from the History Channel, Variety.com reported. The 16-week class will be taught by University of Oklahoma professor and historian Steve Gillon. “This course, combining the best in education and entertainment, brings together the resources and talents of a flagship state university and a national television network to present new ways of learning about the past,” Gillon told Variety. “With this course, we hope to spark the imagination of a new generation of students, ignite their interest in the study of history, and inspire them to learn more about how the past shapes the world we live in today.”
Share on Facebookby Henry Blodget, Australia Business Insider
You have predicted — which is staggering — that half of universities will go bankrupt in the next 15 years.
Clay Christensen: Yes. Everybody else thinks that it’s absolutely crazy. But I think I’ll be right. I have made an observation that relates to this. It is as follows: Many of society’s most important and vexing problems were created by unnamed people in the past who decided unilaterally to combine things that should be separate and to separate things that should be together…. In the universities, we teach you what we decide you need to know. And the employers find out when they hire people that students didn’t learn what we needed them to learn. Online learning offerings, like the University of Phoenix, have relationships with employers and teach what you need to know.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/clay-christensen-on-disruption-theory-apple-2014-11
Share on Facebookby Sarah Elms, Record-Eagle
Students at the Pathfinder School are adding and subtracting not only with paper and pencil — they’re clicking and typing, too. Teachers at the independent nonprofit school in Leelanau County are using an online learning tool called Khan Academy to help personalize math instruction in first through eighth grade. They piloted the program last year and decided to make it a permanent part of the school’s math curriculum, which already blends classroom instruction, textbooks and group problem-solving. “It’s had a profound impact on the engagement in mathematics,” said Rob Hansen, Pathfinder’s head of school. “It’s the new favorite subject around here.”
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