Techno-News Blog

August 24, 2015

Online course teaches kids to program while having fun

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By Linda Haviv, Fox News

With technology skills becoming as important as readin’, ritin’ and ’rithmetic in today’s digital world, many parents want to ensure that their children develop the right skills for the future. But many don’t know where to begin and how to make learning tech skills fun for their kids. A new online course, “Server design 1,” is using one of the most popular video games ever – Minecraft, which has more than 100 million registered users and has been a hit among younger players – to teach code to children between 8 and 14. The course teaches kids how to create a Minecraft world that they develop and design themselves using Java code. This is the latest online course designed by Youth Digital, a technology education organization whose mission is to “create creators” by teaching children how to code, develop apps and design 3D modeling in a fun but challenging manner.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/08/18/online-course-teaches-kids-to-program-while-having-fun/

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What will learning look like in the future?

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by Duncan Brown and James Cory-Wright, Training Zone

When smartphones and tablets become one:  the use of apps to deliver the training of the future suggests that as well as overcoming possible cost barriers, old attitudes and connectivity issues, objections around screen size will also go away. The smartphone screen is too small for training content whether that’s presented as text and graphics or video but the screen size of the smartphone is still unfinished business. It’s on an upward trend and getting closer to the screen size of the smaller tablets – like the ‘phablet’ which is a smartphone with a screen that’s ‘an intermediate size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer.’ So will the two fully converge and become one to the point where smartphones become the main device for consuming online training? It remains to be seen but at the moment it looks like a distinct possibility and one that may be adopted for just the kind of applications we’ve been examining.

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/feature/technology/what-will-learning-look-future-pt2/189095

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Codeacademy: Turning a Profit when Your Product is Free

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by CHRISTIAN CAMEROTA, Harvard Business School

A good way to build a large user base is to offer something valuable for free. That’s been the strategy so far behind Codecademy. In just a few short years since its inception in 2011, the company has grown into one of the world’s largest online learning platforms, with more than 24 million users. Not only does it teach a skill set (coding) that is increasingly in demand in the job market, but its users are so loyal and engaged that they have provided the bulk of the learning content themselves at no cost. Codecademy’s community, a collection of technological altruists, is its most valuable asset. However, the company is now at a crossroads. It has grown so big and so popular that it must consider monetizing certain aspects of its business to ensure sustained quality and to continue to bolster its content offerings.

http://www.hbs.edu/news/articles/Pages/bussgang-codecademy.aspx

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August 23, 2015

Daphne Kohler on Pervasive Learning Opportunities

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by Andrew Trounson, the Australian

Reskilling and upskilling will become­ lifelong pursuits in a ­technology-driven future, forcing qualifications to become “bite-sized” with “just-in-time” delivery, according to one of the world’s pioneers in the global phenomena that is free online learning, or Massive Open Online­ Courses. “The role of learning will be pervasive in everyday life,” said Daphne Koller, a Stanford mathematics professor who completed her masters degree at 18, but who switched direction in 2012 to co-found one of the world’s biggest MOOCs, Coursera, in 2012.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/bite-sized-qualifications-future/story-e6frgcjx-1227486079111

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Cybersecurity training course aims to help meet the growing job demand

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By PARESH DAVE, LA Times

Help is wanted in the cybersecurity field — and not just on the board of directors. As computer hacking grows more pervasive, so does the demand at all levels for workers skilled in the field. And where there’s a demand, there’s a start-up looking to meet it. Cybrary is an online cybersecurity training website that launched in January, and already, the company said, 150,000 people have participated. Like many start-ups, Cybrary aims to fill a market gap with a better, quicker and cheaper service. For now, its courses are free to individuals. Businesses pay a few thousand dollars a month for access to specialized courses. About two dozen businesses and schools have subscribed.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cybrary-agenda-sidebar-20150817-story.html

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Tracking Students to Improve Tutoring and Support

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By David Raths, Campus Technology

At South Mountain Community College, a homegrown Learner Support System gathers data on students’ usage of campus resources, streamlining the tutoring process and improving outcomes. With input from several areas of campus, the design team, led by programmer analyst Alan Ziv, created a Web-based application called the Learner Support System (LSS) that tracks students’ usage of campus resources as well as key academic details such as with whom a student worked, how long he or she spent with a tutor, what the focus of the tutoring session was and how effective it was perceived to be. The system provides data at the individual student, course and program level to help inform institutional strategic planning and resource development.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/08/12/tracking-students-to-improve-tutoring-and-support.aspx

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August 22, 2015

10 Emerging Education Technologies

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By Pamela DeLoatch, Edudemic

Are you or your students wearing your Apple Watches to school, and if so, are you using them as part of your curriculum? What about the use of digital textbooks, adaptive learning, collaboration with other schools or flipped classrooms? These technologies represent some of the cutting edge tools and trends in education. While some are being implemented now, regular use of others is on the (not to distant) horizon. We’ve scanned the gurus’ lists and found the top technologies that educators need to prepare for in the next one to five years.

http://www.edudemic.com/10-emerging-education-technologies/

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SNHU announces partnership with military group

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By CYRUS MOULTON, Union Leader

Southern New Hampshire University is taking another step to help serve military personnel in the classroom, announcing a new partnership with Warrior Transition Technology Training to provide education, professional certification and job placement for military personnel through a new undergraduate information technology (IT) program. “For many veterans, getting a college degree represents a very great change for them and opens up new possibilities,” Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University, said Monday. “We’re leveraging the discipline, skills, and work ethic (military personnel) have, and then giving them the skills and expertise in Oracle database administration so they can have a new career.”

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150816/NEWS02/150819486/1003/sports04

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8 state models linking higher ed to careers

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By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

The Network of states’ practices are unique in that they offer a standard model of how to create this increasingly needed pipeline. The Pathways to Prosperity Network, an initiative of Jobs for the Future (JFF) and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, began three years ago in an effort to help more students enter not only postsecondary education, but full-time jobs that directly help companies fill critical positions. According to the report, only one in three “young people” obtains a four-year degree by age 25—and roughly 30 percent of the job openings projected over the next decade require some education beyond high school, but not necessarily a four-year degree. And according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s youth employment rates have plummeted over the last 15 years, declining to their lowest levels since the 1930s.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/state-models-careers-812/

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August 21, 2015

Can Innovation Be Taught?

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by Nick Donofrio, Ed Tech

Fostering skills beyond the classroom setting is just as important as studying theories. “Driving the skills agenda,” a May 2015 report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit, cited 49 percent of teachers who said current curriculum was too rigid to allow time for wider skills to be cultivated. Instead, students tend to participate in internships for a true taste of the working world. While that supplements student studies, the experience is often too brief to provide a fulfilling environment to harbor creativity and innovation. Equally important, training educators ensures that they are up to speed on the latest educational developments and technological advances. While technology continues to influence education in all fields, educators have a tough time keeping up with it. According to The Economist survey, 85 percent of teachers report that advances in technology influence the way they teach.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2015/08/can-innovation-be-taught

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Pittsburgh adopts online badges to reward summer learning

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By Kate Schimel, Education Dive

In Pittsburgh, a program called the Pittsburgh City of Learning is giving students digital badges for completing summer educational opportunities. The initiative is a collaboration among a group of nonprofits and city organizations to help give students proof of what they learned over the summer for potential employers or universities. Students get badges for mastering skills and store them in an online portfolio, which can be shared publicly.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/pittsburgh-adopts-online-badges-to-reward-summer-learning/403987/

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Establishment Goes Alternative

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By Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

Traditional colleges have been mostly on the sidelines for the early development of online microcredentials or badges — the kind that aren’t linked to conventional courses and the credit hour. Educational technology companies and other alternative providers have taken the lead in working with employers on these skills-based credentials. A new prototype from a group of seven brand-name universities could change that. Tentatively dubbed the University Learning Store, the project is a joint effort involving the Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, the University of Washington, the University of California’s Davis, Irvine and Los Angeles campuses, and the University of Wisconsin Extension. The idea is to create an “alternative credentialing process that would provide students with credentials that are much shorter and cheaper than conventional degrees,” said David Schejbal, dean of continuing education, outreach and e-learning at Wisconsin Extension.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/14/group-seven-major-universities-seeks-offer-online-microcredentials

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August 20, 2015

Top 10 tips for taking an online class

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By Miranda Holloway, Daily Illini

As a rising junior and certified old lady, I have taken my fair number of online classes with mixed results. I’ve loved them because of their convenience and hated them because of their busy work. The struggles I’ve experienced with online classes have been almost exclusively my fault. In the wisdom gained through my old age, I’ve compiled 10 tips to help others prepare for and succeed in an online class.

http://www.dailyillini.com/article/2015/08/top-10-tips-for-taking-an-online-class

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LinkedIn and Lynda aim to close a skills gap

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By Queenie Wong, Mercury News

In a move aimed at narrowing a skills gap faced by many workers, the business-oriented social network LinkedIn purchased Lynda for $1.5 billion earlier this year. By using LinkedIn’s information about working professionals and businesses to link employees to the right online courses, the companies are bidding to help solve problems that have made it tough for employers to fill jobs — in a way that e-learning and employment experts say hasn’t been done before. “LinkedIn is kind of a uniquely positioned company because their whole focus is on professional skills and for professionals finding jobs,” said David Guralnick, president of the International E-Learning Association and Kaleidoscope Learning. About 38 percent of employers had trouble filling jobs in 2015, with lack of skills and experience listed as among the top reasons why, according to a survey this year by the ManpowerGroup, a human resource consulting firm.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/business/20150809/linkedin-and-lynda-aim-to-close-a-skills-gap

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6 Questions to Ask About Faculty in an Online Graduate Engineering Program

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By Ian Quillen, US News

The life of an online engineering student isn’t that different from an on-ground one. Many online classes, heavily mathematical in nature, lend themselves easily to a live or archived lecture followed by a problem set students have to complete independently. Labs are sometimes more difficult to replicate online, but often students fulfill those with periodic campus visits. Because the course content translates easily, experts say, engineering schools have had a head start on making an online option available for students. But that doesn’t mean students should settle for programs that aren’t thoughtful about how to turn quality in-person instruction into an equally fulfilling virtual experience. Here are six questions to ask that may shed light on the quality of instruction in an online engineering graduate program.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2015/08/10/6-questions-to-ask-about-faculty-in-an-online-graduate-engineering-program

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August 19, 2015

Internet penetrates prison bars to boost inmates’ education

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by DEIDRE MUSSEN, NZ Stuff

No bars to education is the Corrections Department’s mantra with its new programme to allow internet into prisons. Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-liga launched the secure online learning project at Rimutaka Prison on Thursday morning, which will run in prisons around New Zealand. Two-thirds of the country’s prisoners were “basically illiterate”, he said. Lifting inmates’ literacy and numeracy with modern technology would reduce reoffending because their new digital skills would help them to gain jobs once they left jail. The scheme was trialled in 2013 for six months at the youth unit in Christchurch Men’s Prison, and proved a big success, so it continued there for the past two years.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/71102246/Internet-penetrates-prison-bars-to-boost-inmates-education

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Can online tutors make anytime, anywhere learning a reality?

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By Peter West, eSchool News

Recently, I began dubbing the current generation of students the “Netflix Generation.” They learn when they want, and expect learning resources to be available when and where they need them. This is similar to the way they consume media through streaming services such as Netflix (for movies and television series) and Spotify (for music). However, this now produces other pressures. Learning outside of traditional school hours does not remove the need for teachers. If all that students needed in order to learn was information, schools would have closed once Google and high-speed broadband arrived on the scene. Students continue to need support, a human explanation, encouragement to work through a problem, and insight to take them through a mental barrier to get to the next stage of problem solving. Yet if significant learning is happening outside traditional school hours, who is available to support it?

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/08/11/online-tutors-328/

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Orlando ballet studio now using online learning

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by Fox 35

In a ballet studio near Downtown Orlando, they’re giving new meaning to the term “modern dance.” The techniques are ones you’d expect, but the students are not. Because not all of them are in the room. The class put on by the Interactive Academy of Performing Arts—or IAPA—uses modern technology to allow some of the students to learn online. “I’m in Tampa. I’m actually in my dining room. I moved the table aside,” Francesca Perrone-Britt tells FOX 35 via web cam.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/29749991/orlando-ballet-studio-now-using-online-learning
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August 18, 2015

Inquiry-based science platform lets students conduct investigations

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by eSchool News

Van Andel Education Institute (VAEI) has launched a new scientific inquiry platform, called NexGen Inquiry — which guides students through the scientific method and lets them conduct investigations and journal their progress. Released in preparation for the 2015-16 school year, NexGen Inquiry includes an interactive teaching and learning platform that supports existing curriculum, integrated teacher professional development, a teacher community and a resource library. Built by teachers for teachers, NexGen Inquiry is the result of more than a decade of work with students and science educators at the Van Andel Education Institute Science Academy in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/08/10/inquiry-based-science-562/

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University moves to give students wireless power

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by eCampus News

Powermat Technologies is installing its wireless charging platform at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), allowing students to charge their mobile phones so they can stay connected to the information and learning resources they need while on the go. CSUSB says it is the first university globally to offer wireless power on campus, and it will soon integrate Powermat technology into high-traffic common spaces, student union areas, study areas, and on campus cafes and restaurants. The second wave will then see broader implementation in the university’s library and classrooms.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/wireless-power-campus-784/

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Scientists Teach AI Machines To Understand Us

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by Vlad Tverdohleb, iTechPost

Artificial intelligence (AI) machines will be soon able to sustain a conversation with humans. This is one of the oldest goals in artificial intelligence and soon it might become a reality. Facebook has a chance to be the first company able to achieve this goal. According to Yann LeCun, the head of Facebook’s artificial intelligence lab, the company made progress in revolutionizing artificial intelligence research. After the recent successes in speech recognition and face recognition, now AI researchers are focusing their efforts on deep learning. This field has become a battleground between the high-tech giants, such as Google, Microsoft, IBM and Facebook, in their efforts to bring new AI applications on the consumer market.

http://www.itechpost.com/articles/15559/20150810/scientists-teach-ai-machines-to-understand-us.htm

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