Techno-News Blog

April 30, 2015

With online learning for feds, OPM sees narrowed skills gap

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By Jory Heckman, Federal News Radio

Federal employees and their families can now add online college to the list of benefits offered by the government. Following up on the success of its first continuing education program, the Office of Personnel Management on Monday announced its partnership with Champlain College, a 137-year-old private college based in Burlington, Vermont. Federal workers and their spouses will be able to enroll in degree or certificate programs before the start of the summer 2015 semester. The admission deadline is June 5. In a conference call to the press, Sydney Smith-Heimbrock, OPM’s strategic workforce planning and chief learning officer said the program focuses on providing continuing education to mid-career federal workers at a discounted rate.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/520/3843186/With-online-learning-for-feds-OPM-sees-narrowed-skills-gap

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Government to go: SHS will offer AP class online

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By Ronnie Wachter, Chicago Tribune

The future of public education is coming to Stevenson High School, and it could someday blur the lines between who is a Patriot and who is not. The school’s first online class will be offered next year with no additional costs from its traditional counterpart. Advanced Placement teachers Dan Larsen and Andy Conneen, as well as Brad Smith, head of Stevenson’s social studies division, spoke with the board during its April 20 meeting about the version of AP American Government that they will offer digitally in the 2015-16 year, and what it could mean for the rest of the school if it succeeds. The class will be an experiment to see how well, and how many, high schoolers can handle study-at-home freedom, and whether SHS’ existing infrastructure can handle more offerings like it.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/vernon-hills/news/ct-lsr-online-classes-tl-0423-20150421-story.html

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HarvardX and MITx: Two Years of Open Online Courses Fall 2012-Summer 2014

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by Harvard and MIT Researchers

What happens when well-known universities offer online courses, assessments, and certificates of completion for free? Early descriptions of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have emphasized large enrollments, low certification rates, and highly educated registrants. We use data from two years and 68 open online courses offered by Harvard University (via HarvardX) and MIT (via MITx) to broaden the scope of answers to this question. We describe trends over this two-year span, depict participant intent using comprehensive survey instruments, and chart course participation pathways using network analysis. We find that overall participation in our MOOCs remains substantial and that the average growth has been steady. We explore how diverse audiences — including explorers, teachers-as-learners, and residential students — provide opportunities to advance the principles on which HarvardX and MITx were founded: access, research, and residential education.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/04/harvardx-and-mitx-two-years-of-open-online-courses-fall-2012-summer-2014/

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April 29, 2015

Rural teachers, students seek AP classes

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By Gene Lucht, Iowa Farmer Today

Nationally, 47.2 percent of rural school districts had no students enrolled in AP courses. The number fell to 5.4 percent for suburban districts and 2.6 percent for urban districts. The New Hampshire researchers found the size of the district wasn’t the only problem. The further the district was from an urbanized area also mattered. And, even where AP classes were offered, small and rural districts had lower levels of both participation and success. It is no secret that smaller districts have a more difficult time finding enough students and teachers to make offering an in-class AP course feasible, Mattingly explains. Rural schools are trying to deal with the problems of size and geography. In Iowa, the state has worked to deal with that problem by offering online AP classes through the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa.

http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/regional/rural-teachers-students-seek-ap-classes/article_3f80d844-e903-11e4-9f0e-2bf826aca797.html

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Tools That Limit Distraction May Raise Student Performance in Online Classes

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by Casey Fabris, Chronicle of Higher Ed

For students taking courses online, the endless distractions of the Internet can be a hindrance to success. But using software to limit those diversions can make a big difference. That’s the takeaway from a new study, which found that limiting distractions can help students perform better and also improve course completion. A paper describing the study, “Can Behavioral Tools Improve Online Student Outcomes? Experimental Evidence From a Massive Open Online Course,” was published by the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute this month.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/tools-that-limit-distraction-may-raise-student-performance-in-online-classes/56413

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Creating Your Own Online Course? Avoid These Mistakes!

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by Priscila Hinkle, Huffington Post

The Internet has made it possible for us to explore different options, learn new skills, and embark in new careers with the click of a mouse. In the online or digital entrepreneurial realm, everyone seems to be creating their own online courses and group coaching program these days. The problem with that? There are a lot of bad practices out there, and a lot of people copying these bad practices only because they’ve seen someone else do it that way, sometimes with success (in terms of sales). If you are in the business of creating your own online courses or programs, or want to have your own in the future, then take note to avoid these top three mistakes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/priscila-hinkle/creating-your-own-online-_b_7114852.html

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April 28, 2015

3 Reasons Chromebooks Are Shining in Education

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By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal
For districts looking to get the most bang for their ed tech buck, devices that fall somewhere between tablets and traditional laptops can be just the right fit. The iPad buying frenzy may be over. The late 2013 introduction of the low-cost Chromebook has given school districts an affordable alternative that they’re gravitating to with gusto. Official numbers from market research firm IDC confirmed the news last December when the company announced that while Apple had shipped 702,000 iPads to educational buyers in the third quarter, Google partners had shipped 715,000 Chromebooks. While some observers might refer to this changing of the guard as a “return of the laptop” or the “tailing off of the tablet,” to those doing the buying, that’s not quite the case.
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25 Ways to Get the Most Out of Twitter

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By Pamela DeLoatch, Edudemic

Imagine being able to connect with one hundred million people anytime you want. With that many people on Twitter each day (and that’s not counting the additional 184 million users who are on Twitter at least once each month), a great deal of knowledge, perspective, and news is accessible to you, just by clicking a few buttons. It’s no wonder educators are harnessing the power of Twitter to bring cutting edge ideas, trends, research, and best practices to use in their schools and classrooms. But just as Twitter can be a treasure trove of information, it can be overwhelming for new users to figure out how to use it effectively. We’ve compiled this list of the best ways to make Twitter a social media tool that works for you.

http://www.edudemic.com/25-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-twitter/

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How Adaptive Learning Technology Can Help Transform U.S. STEM Education

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By Nishikant Sonwalkar, Edudemic

Adaptive learning systems organize content based on individual learning preferences and can maximize learning performance through continuous intelligent feedback. Utilizing technology to customize content helps make various modes of learning available in a single classroom, meaning diverse students can learn in ways that best suit their strengths. One example of the promise of adaptive learning comes from Boston-based intellADAPT, which provides user-friendly technology that can be easily integrated into the classroom and into current curricula.

http://www.edudemic.com/adaptive-learning-technology-can-help-transform-u-s-stem-education/

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April 27, 2015

6 Tips for Creating a ‘Mini’ MOOC

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By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

There are ways to allow your institution to experiment with online courses, even if they’re not intended to be “massive.” An online program manager shares advice. Not every school is ready to run a massive open online course through one of the larger platforms like edX or Coursera — and maybe that’s not what’s needed anyway. Sometimes instructors simply want to dabble in order to understand something better. Elizabeth Fomin, program manager for University of Michigan Dearborn’s College of Arts, Sciences and Letters Online Program, teaches courses in visual communication and Web technology.  For Fomin, the answer lay with an alternative MOOC platform, Canvas Network that produces her campus’ chosen learning management system, Canvas. Canvas Network will host courses from two-year and four-year colleges, K-12 schools and districts, academic partnerships and consortia, non-profits with an education or public mission, government agencies with an education mission and even for-profit companies if they’re teaming up with an educational organization.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/20/6-tips-for-creating-a-mini-mooc.aspx

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Does it really take longer to create an online course?

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By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

165 instructors, who teach both online and face-to-face, from three diverse universities across the country, were surveyed. These instructors have been teaching at the university level for an average of 14 years, and developed their first online course in 2001. Each respondent has developed an average of 2.13 distinct online courses and has taught an average of 2 distinct online courses. The survey found that [of the respondents]: 81 percent agree that it is more time consuming to develop an online course than a face-to-face course. However, subsequent online course developments are less time consuming that prior online course development, said the majority. This is also true for perceptions of teaching an online course for the first time compared to subsequent courses [82 percent agree with this statement]. By the 3rd time teaching an online course, there seems to be no difference in time when compared to the 3rd time teaching a face-to-face course [41 percent agree with this statement].

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/time-online-course-281/

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Edtech Companies Hail New Rival LinkedIn As Industry Catalyst

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Bernadette Tansey, Xconomy

LinkedIn’s $1.5 billion purchase of Lynda.com, a 20-year-old company offering courses ranging from Web design to data analysis, puts it in the pole position to take over a sizeable share of the market for online education and professional training, Stifel analysts wrote after LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) announced the acquisition April 9. Lynda.com’s competitors in the online education industry, however, are thrilled with the LinkedIn deal, saying it affirms that there’s serious money to be made in selling online courses to adult workers who need to keep up with the rapidly changing pace of technology in all industries.

http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2015/04/20/edtech-companies-hail-new-rival-linkedin-as-industry-catalyst/

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April 26, 2015

Despite popularity, experts remain divided on credit for MOOCs

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By Neelesh Moorthy, Duke Chronicle

Duke’s popularity in Massive Open Online Courses is booming, but the University remains divided on whether or not to offer course credit. “In terms of the number of Coursera courses produced, Duke is one of the top 10 schools,” said Lynne O’Brien, associate vice provost for digital and online education initiatives. “Out of the top 20 Coursera courses of all time, Duke has three of those.” These large online offerings, more commonly known as MOOCs, are on the rise as more and more universities embrace their potential to provide quality learning for greater audiences, often free of charge. Coursera is an online interface for offering courses to an international audience.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/04/20/despite-popularity-experts-remain-divided-moocs

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5 Tech Trends that Will Drive IT Decision-Making for the Next 5 Years

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By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Today’s IT organizations face a big data challenge: unstoppable growth. Global data center IP traffic equaled 255 Exabytes per month in 2013, according to the Cisco Global Cloud Index — and by 2018, traffic is predicted to nearly triple. Fortunately, not all of that traffic will land in the data center, but it does call for response from the information technology organization, said Gartner Research Vice President David Cappuccio in a recent webinar. “The real questions that IT centers need to ask themselves are, how much of that traffic is important, how does that data need to be acted upon and how do we do it?” IT has to rethink how it will address infrastructure and operations planning in three important areas, he noted: demand, technologies and the organization itself. Here’s how trends and technologies will impact IT over the next five years.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/20/5-tech-trends-that-will-drive-it-decision-making-for-the-next-5-years.aspx

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‘Flipped classrooms’ provide better approach for instruction of students

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by David Lockett, Daily News Journal

Flipping a classroom means switching the activities that normally occur at home versus in the classroom. Thus, rather than listening to an instructor in the classroom, students now watch video lectures from home before coming to class. Then, instead of doing homework independently, students solve problems in the classroom, where the teacher can facilitate this critical step in learning. By taking the burden of presenting content off of teachers, a flipped classroom enables these teachers to focus their efforts on improving students’ learning skills and deeper understanding of concepts. Results are showing that students both like the flipped classroom and also tend to outperform students taught the same material in a traditional classroom.

http://www.dnj.com/story/opinion/2015/04/18/guest-column-flipped-classrooms-provide-better-approach-instruction-students/26010047/

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April 25, 2015

Maker app turns 2D into 3D

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by Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

MakerBot PrintShop app introduces new Shape Maker feature–turns 2D into 3D. MakerBot’s free iPad app MakerBot® PrintShop® version 1.5 is now available for update in the iTunes App Store and offers a brand new feature called MakerBot Shape Maker that takes drawings and sketches and instantaneously turns them into 3D printable files. MakerBot PrintShop Shape Maker aims to allow users to transform sketches, photos and screen captures into a 3D printable file, without any 3D design experience. Designed for beginners who want to get started quickly with 3D printing, MakerBot PrintShop with Shape Maker is what MakerBot believes to be an exiting new tool that will transform the way the industry moves from 2D to 3D.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/business-news/maker-app-turns-3d-188/

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Coursera’s Andrew Ng: How MOOCs Are Taking Local Knowledge Global

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by Knowledge@Wharton

In an interview about MOOCs and their impact, Ng says they allow universities to take their great content and project it onto a larger audience than they ever did before. A recent study co-authored by Wharton professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel on the impact of MOOCs on traditional business education, also found that rather than poaching students, MOOCs complement, enrich and help business schools reach new diverse audiences. An edited transcript of the conversation is linked below.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-moocs-are-taking-local-knowledge-global/

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Teachers: Embrace Twitter for Professional Development

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By Denise Scavitto, Edudemic

I created my first Twitter account in 2008. Four years later, I finally made the commitment to using Twitter during an edtech conference, where I found myself frantically tweeting, retweeting, and refreshing my feed as I tried to take it all in. Honestly, up until I used it at that conference, I thought Twitter was just another social media blackhole. But through essentially constant use for those few days, I began to see Twitter as an excellent resource for educators and an invaluable tool for professional development – one of the best out there. So, for you teachers wondering about all the hype…I promise, Twitter is worth it. (follow Ray at @rayschroeder)

http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-embrace-twitter-professional-development/

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April 24, 2015

Colorado Springs high school taking online learning in a new, more individualized direction

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By Debbie Kelley, Colorado Springs Gazette

An online high school in Academy School District 20 will shift its focus to what the program creator believes is the next generation of online learning. “Initially, the philosophy behind online education was location – the idea that the student could do school from anywhere – and we built systems around that,” said Nathan Gorsch, principal of Academy Online High School. Now, the online movement is turning toward personalized learning as its main strength, he said, and his school will pilot a program in that direction. “We are going to give it our best attempt at what we think education can become,” Gorsch said. “Instead of building a system and fitting kids in, we’re building our system around the kids.”

http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-high-school-taking-online-learning-in-a-new-more-individualized-direction/article/1549886?custom_click=rss

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Gen Ed Discounting or Devaluing?

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By Kellie Woodhouse, Inside Higher Ed

University of Akron plans to cut the cost of its general education courses by 86 percent and begin delivering them primarily online in an effort to both increase enrollment and respond to calls from the state’s governor to make college more affordable for Ohioans. The university is publicizing that by charging $50 per credit hour — down from $359 per credit hour for an in-person general education class on the college’s main campus — students who enroll in the GenEd Core Pilot Program will pay half as much as they would for a general education class at a community college.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/17/university-akron-offers-introductory-courses-online-86-percent-discount

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Ivy League schools key into online courses

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by Nancy Marshall-Genzer, Marketplace

Yale University’s School of Medicine is deciding whether to create an online version of its physician’s assistant master’s program. Its first attempt failed because it couldn’t get accreditation. Yale says it’s “reviewing the matter” and may try again. Yale’s partner in all this is the education technology company 2U, which has plenty of other customers, many of them Ivy League schools. “There’s a lot of demand for us right now,” says Chip Paucek, CEO of 2U. He says universities want to enroll students online to address shortages of workers in some fields. But online degrees also bring in more tuition dollars. “A university needs to figure out how to pay its bills and be sustainable,” he says. “Just like any enterprise.” But some degrees lend themselves more to online learning than others.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/ivy-league-schools-key-online-courses

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