Techno-News Blog

By Greta Kaul, Houston Chronicle

The 21st century version of the self-help book is an online course on how to get a date. And this is no tutorial on using Match.com but rather an online course — complete with a quiz and practice activities — in how to read body language and make good conversation. Udemy, an online course platform that enlists “everyday experts” to teach classes, helps people learn everything from programming to photography to marketing — and also how to approach the person you’re eyeing across the coffee shop. Udemy has seen its personal development offerings take off since about 2011, a year after it started, said Shannon Hughes, the company’s senior director of marketing. Though they’re a smaller share of the site’s course catalog, personal development classes are growing fast, and 77 of them — with nearly 52,000 students — cover dating and relationships.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/Tech-savvy-seek-dating-help-in-online-courses-6192588.php

By Liam Tung, ZDNet

AWS developers who want to extract meaning and forecasts out of their data now no longer need other hosted machine learning platforms. Public cloud giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Thursday unveiled its first product for machine learning – simply called Amazon Machine Learning – to make it easier for AWS developers to extract value from the troves of transactional and operational data their hosted systems collect. The move by Amazon follows IBM’s recent launch of hosted Watson Analytics and Microsoft’s Azure Machine Learning, with all three now looking for ways to help developers embed machine learning intelligence into their apps. Google’s own machine learning offering, Prediction API, was launched in 2012.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/watch-out-watson-here-comes-aws-machine-learning/

by Ed Bott, ZDNet

Microsoft has been expanding the reach of its Office franchise over the past year, releasing apps for iOS and Android, occasionally even at the expense of its Windows division. But the latest Office expansion comes inside the browser, where anyone with an Office.com account, free or paid, can now link Dropbox accounts for seamless creation, viewing, editing, and sharing of online Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/office-online-and-dropbox-together/

by eCampus News

Arizona State University (ASU), Cengage Learning and Knewton announced a partnership to co-develop what ASU is calling “Active Adaptive” learning solutions, which leverage Knewton adaptive technology in new ways. These innovators in higher education will co-develop a solution from the ground-up utilizing adaptive technology paired with content and active learning activities, with the aim of empowering instructors to spend more time supporting and inspiring learning, and less time managing and lecturing students. ASU recognized the need for a new, customized way to deliver materials to students, allowing them to learn using instruction and content uniquely tailored to their individual needs in an environment that meets the University’s goals of having students take a more active role in their own learning.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/business-news/adaptive-knewton-asu-563/

by Jarret Cummings, EDUCAUSE

The FCC recently posted the full text of the network neutrality order it passed in late February. (Please see “FCC Votes to Restore Strong Net Neutrality Protections.”) An outline released after the vote highlighted the “no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization” rules that the order would impose. While those align with the views of the higher education/libraries coalition in which EDUCAUSE serves as a core member, the coalition looked forward to seeing if the order would address the other concerns it raised. And the order does.

http://www.educause.edu/blogs/jcummings/higher-edlibrary-views-impact-final-net-neutrality-order

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Multiple ideas to accredit alternative credentialing pathways are gaining traction in a push to expand opportunities for nontraditional, post-secondary learning.  Massive open online courses, coding bootcamps, and other programs offering “microcredentials” can’t currently accept federal financial aid because they’re not accredited, which ends up limiting access to low-income prospective students, Insider Higher Ed reports. Alternative pathways to accreditation include partnerships with accredited universities, the creation of new — state or federal — accreditation agencies, and authorization for existing accreditation agencies to do the job.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/accreditation-for-alternative-credentialing-gaining-traction/385338/

By Haley Hansen, Minnesota Daily

The comments and critiques students make on their course evaluation forms at the end of this semester may influence other students’ future class selections. Come fall, parts of students’ end-of-semester course evaluations will be available online for other students to view when deciding what classes to take, a policy change students have spent years advocating for. While the information online won’t be about individual faculty members, it will be about specific classes, which some say could help students make better informed decisions when enrolling in courses.

http://www.mndaily.com/news/campus/2015/04/08/course-evaluations-will-go-online-fall

By Bryan C. Hassel and Stephanie Dean, eSchool News

For rural schools, technology is a solution but also another challenge. Technology makes it possible for each of us to do more, learn more, and be more connected. That’s true for education in general, but its potential seems particularly compelling for rural schools, which struggle to offer an array of learning opportunities, to transport students to a central facility, and to get the best combination of teachers from small candidate pools.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/04/09/rural-education-683/

By Jennifer Doody, Harvard Gazette

I bring together three different areas. First is the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, which has been concerned with pedagogy directed at advances in teaching and learning across the University. Next is HarvardX, founded two years ago to create open online learning content made accessible to the world through platforms like edX, for which Harvard and MIT made the initial investment. Then there’s a group devoted to research on teaching and learning in the online learning space, and I think we’ll see an increase in attention to residential teaching and learning as well. One of my goals is to ensure that what we do with HarvardX is also circulated through campus; that what we do in research not only improves the quality of our learning online, but also that the research on online learning and teaching can benefit the residential community here at Harvard, and build pedagogy across the schools.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/04/a-new-office-a-global-audience/

By Nick Valencia, CNN

Most days, 16-year-old Jason Zobott walks into Huntley High School in suburban Chicago around 7:30 a.m. like any high schooler might. It’s what he does the rest of the day that’s not so typical. Zobott is enrolled in Huntley High’s blended learning program, which merges Internet-based instruction with a more traditional classroom setting. One-third of the school’s 2,700 students are enrolled. In 2015, the school is working toward enrolling the majority of its students. “Having to work online makes it really accessible to do the work that I have to get done,” said Zobott, a top-ranked junior who balances a heavy load of extracurricular activities with schoolwork. “I can learn on my own. I can work at the pace I want to work. And I learn the way I want to learn.”

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/living/blended-learning-education/

By Maggie Sullivan, Daily Illini

In an effort to compensate professors who spend time creating MOOCs, the University of Illinois Academic Senate is set to discuss a resolution on providing funding for professors who develop MOOCs. The University was the first land-grant university to partner with Coursera, one of the largest MOOC providers, Tucker said. “There is a brand recognition piece to this,” said Deanna Raineri, Associate Provost of Education Innovation. “We felt that this was a good opportunity for the University of Illinois to show the world that we have very high quality education here.” Students cannot earn credit toward their degree through most Moocs. However, Raineri believes in the future, MOOCs will be offered for college credit.

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/article_370ef4b0-dd7e-11e4-9fa8-ffa807ac7a37.html

BY MICHAEL COHN, Accounting Today

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has introduced ACCA-X, a set of online learning courses for accountants and financial professionals. The courses will be delivered on edX, an online learning platform founded by MIT and Harvard. ACCA-X’s open access courses will feature content developed by Epigeum, a spin-out from Imperial College London.

• Introductory Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting; and,

• Intermediate Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Intermediate Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting.

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/audit-accounting/acca-debuts-online-learning-venture-74211-1.html

By Greg Thompson, THE Journal

In order to deliver personalized education, districts have to gather and share students’ statistics. Here’s how the strategic use of data can boost teaching and learning. When it seems like every week brings news of a massive theft of consumers’ private information, “data” is in danger of becoming a four-letter word. But if districts want to provide truly personalized education, gathering and sharing certain types of student data is absolutely necessary. According to Patricia Cotter, a veteran entrepreneur who recently completed her doctorate in work-based learning at the University of Pennsylvania, “Recent technologies like big data, the Internet of Things, mobile apps and improved storage have made it possible to acquire, combine, store, analyze, interpret and report findings during any phase of data management.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/04/01/big-data-is-not-bad-data.aspx

By HANNAH SMATI, CRIMSON

The participation and completion rates of online courses offered by the Harvard and MIT branches of online learning platform edX varied across academic areas, according to a recent report based on two years of course data. The study reviewed data on HarvardX and MITx, subsets of a virtual learning platform founded jointly by the two universities in 2012. Covering data spanning from fall 2012 to summer 2014, the report analysis included 68 courses, 1.7 million participants, and 1.1 billion logged events, or “clicks.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/4/6/edx-report-participation-completion/

by iSchool Guide

Blended learning models and online courses are the latest trend in modern education. But an unexpected group of students may benefit from new technology in the classroom. Virtual programs can be tailored to specifically assist students with disabilities. According to Education Week, some schools are offering online speech therapy classes with video interactivity and other schools are compiling digital courses designed specifically with the needs of special education students in mind. In the past, existing online courses would be tailored for students with disabilities. While there isn’t a lot of evidence about the effectiveness of this new approach, some teachers are already touting the benefits of blended learning models and online courses for their special education students.

http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/10222/20150406/online-courses-blended-learning-models-special-education.htm

by Carrie Lingenfelter, Yuma News Now

Arizona State University is piloting a series of environmental science games at ASU Online. Within each of the five story-based games, students will take on several leadership roles, with increasing responsibility, to help a community address challenging environmental and sustainability issues. Tahnja Wilson, senior manager for EdPlus at ASU, will guide the project. Wilson has taught online for more than 10 years. Her instructional design interests include gaming best practices and student/instructor engagement.

http://www.yumanewsnow.com/index.php/news/arizona-news/688-interactive-learning-asu-online-to-pilot-environmental-science-games

by CCTV America

When massive open online courses, known as ‘MOOCs’, first emerged there was talk of a new revolution in online learning that would make education more affordable and accessible. Some even suggested it could mark the beginning of the end of college campuses. However recent reports show that ‘MOOCs’ aren’t very effective at keeping students’ attention. Despite the reports, Harvard University continues to heavily invest time and money in releasing MOOCs.

http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/04/03/top-universities-continue-to-invest-in-massive-online-courses

By Valerie Sweeten, Houston Chronicle

According to www.onlinecolleges.org, students looking to pursue degrees online can find courses at every level, from an associate to a doctorate degree at both private and public institutions. Jeff Morgan, associate provost for education innovation and technology at the University of Houston, said that the campus has had a year-over-year increase in online student credit hours. In fall 2014 there was a 23 percent increase, with a 17 percent increase in spring 2015. Across their entire University of Houston System, there has been a year-over-year increase in both fall 2014 and spring 2015.

http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/Online-courses-prep-tomorrow-s-leaders-6177143.php

http://chronicle.com/article/StarbucksArizona-State-U/229127/

Starbucks and Arizona State U. Will Expand Tuition-Discount PartnershipBy Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher EdStarbucks and Arizona State University announced on Monday that they will expand the full benefits of their tuition-discounting partnership to include Starbucks employees who have not yet accrued 60 college credits. ASU’s president, Michael M. Crow, said they were doing so because of continuing demand and the success of the initial program — since the summer, about 3,400 Starbucks employees submitted completed applications, 3,000 were accepted, and nearly 2,000 enrolled. Under the arrangement, the university provides a guaranteed scholarship — effectively a tuition discount — to all Starbucks students who attend ASU Online. The students are also eligible for federal Pell Grants and need-based financial aid from the university. Starbucks reimburses employees for the remaining amounts not covered by the discounts and federal financial aid. (Initially it did so every time students finished 21 credits. It now will provide the reimbursements after each semester.)

http://www.fastcompany.com/3044622/3-ways-you-can-use-nontraditional-education-to-win-the-war-for-talent

3 Ways You Can Use Nontraditional Education to Win the War for talentApproximately 70% of those currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in the U.S. are not doing so in what is thought of as the “traditional” college experience, according to the U.S. Education Department. Rather than studying full-time while living on a college campus and earning a degree after four years, they are studying part-time, withdrawing from college to work, and then returning later in life. Because of these changes, businesses need to expand how they approach finding future employees, hiring them, retaining them, and developing them. Here are some approaches they should consider:

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/01/par-framework-partners-with-american-institutes-for-research.aspx