Techno-News Blog

By Kevin Werbach, Epoch Times

Walk through any public area and you’ll see people glued to their phones, playing mobile games like Game of War and Candy Crush Saga. They aren’t alone. 59 percent of Americans play video games, and contrary to stereotypes, 48 percent of gamers are women. The US$100 billion video game industry is among the least-appreciated business phenomena in the world today. But this isn’t an article about video games. It’s about where innovative organizations are applying the techniques that make those games so powerfully engaging: everywhere else. Gamification is the perhaps-unfortunate name for the growing practice of applying structural elements, design patterns, and psychological insights from game design to business, education, health, marketing, crowdsourcing and other fields. Over the past four years, gamification has gone through a cycle of (over-)hype and (overblown) disappointment common for technological trends. Yet if you look carefully, you’ll see it everywhere.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1292755-gamification-harnesses-the-power-of-games-to-motivate/

by Jon Russell, TechCrunch

A couple of things about online learning service Platzi immediately set it apart from the other companies in Y Combinator’s latest batch. First, it is from Latin America — Colombia to be precise. Second, it is profitable. That’s right, it’s already making money. Online learning is hardly a new concept, but two-year-old Platzi is taking a different approach that’s interesting for a couple of reasons. Rather than broadening the availability of the traditional education experience using the Internet, like most MOOC (massive open online course) services, it’s focused on developing tangible skills. They also include a stream of notes from students, which are later gathered together to provide an overview of each session.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/20/platzi/

by Liz Kolb, Edutopia

Every week for 17 years, I’ve heard my students ask, “What do I need to do to get an A?” Historically, many have focused on their grade rather than on fundamental skills. My attempt to change this mindset started two years ago when I gamified learning in my classes. After researching gamification and its potential to help students master skills and processes, I used the 3DGameLab and then Gradecraft to develop and implement game-based learning. In each class, students could choose “quests” that, if completed successfully, earned them badges and experience points. Each open-source badge was developed using Badg.us so that students could take them into the digital universe (e.g. attach to resumes, ePortfolios, etc.) and — unlike grades on a transcript — document skills they’ve mastered.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/epic-fail-win-gamifying-learning-liz-kolb

By: Kevin Carey, Winnepeg Free Press

Technology is poised to shake up the admissions game in a way that will level the playing field for students in America and abroad. Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, offered by dozens of elite colleges, give students a chance to prove that they’re ready for a university — and in turn, the institution gets an accurate measure of whether a student is prepared for its academics, helping refine what is quite an imprecise science. But this new way to assess prospective students isn’t great for everyone. It could become harder for U.S. students with certain social and economic advantages — children of alumni, and those who can afford the top high schools, SAT prep classes and tutors — to get into elite colleges.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/Online-courses-may-help-universities-recruit-students-297041041.html

Deana M. Raffo, Thomas M. Brinthaupt, Justin G. Gardner, Lawanna S. Fisher; OJDLA

Increased demands in professional expectations have required online faculty to learn how to balance multiple roles in an open-ended, changing, and relatively unstructured job. In this paper, we argue that being strategic about one’s balance of the various facets of online teaching will improve one’s teaching efficiency and effectiveness. We discuss the balancing issues associated with four key online teaching facets: course design/development, delivery of the course content, assessments/feedback, and professional development. We conclude with a template for a strategic professional development plan that addresses these key facets.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring181/raffo_brinthaupt_gardner_fisher181.html

by Lee A. Freeman, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration

Developing online courses is more time consuming than developing face-to-face courses, but the development of each subsequent online course is not as time consuming as the previous online course development. In addition, teaching online is more time consuming than teaching face-to-face, but this is only the case for the first time and perhaps the second time teaching the course. After the second time, teaching a course online or face-to-face is relatively the same in terms of time. In addition, the Technology learning curve is shorter than the Online Pedagogical learning curve. While the data from this study can be used by instructors, administrators, and instructional designers to create higher quality course development processes, training processes, and overall communication, there is still much to be learned through further data analysis as well as additional data collection. Instructor time commitment is an issue, and now a more clear understanding is available.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring181/freeman181.html