Techno-News Blog

July 24, 2016

7 Universities Receive Grants to Implement Adaptive Learning at Scale

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By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Seven public research universities are embarking on a three-year project focused on improving undergraduate education through personalized learning and adaptive courseware. Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Georgia State University, Northern Arizona University, Oregon State University, Portland State University and the University of Mississippi will each receive $515,000 from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) as part of its Adaptive Courseware Grant program. The program is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/07/14/7-universities-receive-grants-to-implement-adaptive-learning-at-scale.aspx

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Can colleges get ahead of the VR curve?

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By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Virtual reality is a growing tech platform in a number of industries, including tourism, gaming, cinema and education. Inside Higher Ed says that colleges should quickly consider adding VR for disciplines like engineering, or to student resources like library services. Costs for wearable technology and high-powered computers to run VR programs is still prohibitive for many schools outside elite Ivy League and large public institutions.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/can-colleges-get-ahead-of-the-vr-curve/422603/

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Boost Social Media Skills With Online Courses

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By Jordan Friedman, US News

Whether students pursue a free versus a paid online course in social media depends on their goals and class format preferences, experts say. “What we’re finding is there’s a large number of people out there with passion and talent but who were trained in non-digital media, or earned their degrees 10 or 15 years ago,” says Michael Weigold, director of online graduate programs at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, which offers an online master’s in social media. That’s where online learning might come into play. There are plenty of options out there for those looking to boost their social media skills.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2016-07-14/boost-social-media-skills-with-online-courses

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July 23, 2016

6 Reasons To Start Thinking About A Virtual Reality Career — NOW

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By Christopher Watkins, Udacity Blog

Today, Virtual Reality still offers opportunities to get in on the ground floor. The field is set to grow exponentially in the next few years, and if you join late, opportunities will be fewer, competition will be stiffer, and established experts will be tenacious about maintaining their positions. Betting on VR now by jumping in while it’s still comparatively early days is arguably a risk, but it’s only a bad bet if the field goes belly up, and no one believes that’s going to happen.

http://blog.udacity.com/2016/07/6-reasons-start-thinking-virtual-reality-career-now.html

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Summer online classes are growing at local universities and it’s affecting on-campus enrollment

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BY ELIZABETH DONALD, Belleville News Democrat

The Carbondale campus of Southern Illinois University saw fewer summer students this year, while the Edwardsville campus saw a slight increase — and school officials are saying online classes had an impact on both. On-campus summer enrollment at SIUC dropped 14.2 percent this year, or 571 fewer students than last. This is 1,334 fewer students than who were enrolled in summer 2014. However, when online classes are factored in, the summer enrollment at SIUC is down 5.1 percent — still a drop, but not as significant. In fact, online class enrollment grew by 8.5 percent this year.

http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article89824447.html

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Learning Out Loud: Make Online Courses Meaningful and Accessible

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By Michelle Pacansky-Brock, EdSurge

Developing critical listening and speaking skills is an essential element of a student’s higher-education experience. However, verbally presenting one’s ideas and listening to contributions made by student peers are not typical experiences for online students, as most activities in online classes consist of reading and writing. As online course offerings increase, institutions have an obligation to ensure faculty are empowered to teach with tools that enable students to learn out loud. These tools and the content created with them must be accessible to all learners, including those who are hard of hearing and have vision impairments.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-07-15-learning-out-loud-make-online-courses-meaningful-and-accessible

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July 22, 2016

Why to Consider Game-Based Online Learning

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By Joe Chapman, US News

Games can make online education more fun and allow students to apply what they learn to real-life situations. One of the primary benefits of game-based learning is that it offers custom learning experiences for students, which is important as every student learns differently. Throughout games, students can make mistakes, course correct and revisit concepts, allowing them to better understand course material and specific concepts they may struggle with. Another important benefit is that game-based learning is fun, and students enjoy learning. As opposed to some traditional education tactics that could feel passive or dull, game-based learning engages and motivates students, allowing them to actively learn, acquire skills and build thought processes.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2016-07-15/why-to-consider-game-based-online-learning

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9 Fresh Ways to Promote Your Online Course

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by Monica Montesa, Business2Community
At the end of the day, the success of your online course is directly tied to how valuable it is to your target audience. If your course isn’t helpful, no amount of promotion and advertising dollars will make up for that. And unfortunately, you’ll see that in your metrics when you don’t meet your goals. From the get-go, you should be confident that the course you’re encouraging them to sign up for is something people want. If you think you might need to go back and make some updates, I encourage you to do that now before you put in the effort to tell the world about it. Another thing: Before you start promoting anything, make sure you have clearly defined goals for your course. What action do you want course attendees to take after the course? How many people do you want to sign up for your service or purchase a product? Whatever it may be, this will have a significant impact on your promotion strategy. To keep your plan targeted, you want to make sure you’re meeting people where they are.

http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/aweber/9-fresh-ways-promote-online-course-01597669#GmJQlJb0yT6ee0GW.97

9 Fresh Ways to Promote Your Online Courseby Monica Montesa, Business2CommunityAt the end of the day, the success of your online course is directly tied to how valuable it is to your target audience. If your course isn’t helpful, no amount of promotion and advertising dollars will make up for that. And unfortunately, you’ll see that in your metrics when you don’t meet your goals. From the get-go, you should be confident that the course you’re encouraging them to sign up for is something people want. If you think you might need to go back and make some updates, I encourage you to do that now before you put in the effort to tell the world about it. Another thing: Before you start promoting anything, make sure you have clearly defined goals for your course. What action do you want course attendees to take after the course? How many people do you want to sign up for your service or purchase a product? Whatever it may be, this will have a significant impact on your promotion strategy. To keep your plan targeted, you want to make sure you’re meeting people where they are.

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Want to learn to code? These 5 apps make it easy

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By Christian de Looper, Digital Trends

Some say coding is the new literacy, which makes it pretty important for kids to start learning young — and for adults to learn the basics of coding if they want to be a part of our increasingly digital world. Luckily, there are plenty of great apps out there to help you and your kids learn how to code, whether it be to build an app or to learn how to command a robot. These apps are designed to make the task of learning to code easier, and there’s something out there for students of all ages and skill levels. Here are some of the best learn-to-code apps around.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/the-best-learn-to-code-apps/

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July 21, 2016

Early Days for Drone Use in Higher Education

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by Timothy M. Chester, EDUCAUSE Review

Unmanned aircraft systems offer numerous possibilities in the academic environment, from creating programs aimed at UAS design and construction to finding ways to use them in traditional research across academic disciplines. Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), also known as drones, offer numerous benefits and vast potential in the academic community both for developing new programs of study and for augmenting research in existing fields. However, the realization of these benefits has proved challenging, as the rapidly increasing interest has outpaced the existing regulatory framework. It has also presented institutions with new challenges in terms of accommodating and managing UAS use on campuses. At the University of Georgia we are working to provide support for UAS use in teaching and research. Here, I discuss my experiences and offer an overview of possibilities in higher education and the regulations and issues involved in UAS use.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/7/early-days-for-drone-use-in-higher-education

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Online ‘university of anywhere’ opens to refugees

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By Sean Coughlan, BBC

An online university is offering 500 refugees from Syria’s civil war free places on its degree courses. The University of the People, based in California, is a fast-growing, non-profit project designed to provide higher education for those with the academic ability to study, but without the ability to pay or without any practical access to a traditional university. “There isn’t a better reason for the invention of the internet,” says the university’s founder and president, Shai Reshef. The university offers fully accredited four-year degrees, completely taught online, with students scattered across 180 countries. “We open the gates to higher education. We are an alternative for those who have no other alternative – survivors of the genocide in Rwanda, refugees from Syria, the earthquake in Haiti,” says Mr Reshef, speaking to the BBC in London.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36738442

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Competency-Based Education and Predictive Analytics: Learning from Transfers

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by Carlos Rivers and Judith Sebesta, EDUCAUSE Review

The competency-based program at Texas A&M University–Commerce has begun to analyze enrollment data to better understand their transfer student population and make predictions regarding future students. Transfer students entered the CBE program with an average 87 credits and graduated at rates that broke historically negative persistence patterns traditionally affecting part of the transfer student population. Adult learners outpace traditional-age students in pursuing degrees, and enrollment trends strongly suggest that post-traditional students will determine whether colleges reach enrollment targets and fulfill future workforce demands.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/7/competency-based-education-and-predictive-analytics-learning-from-transfers

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July 20, 2016

Juggling work and university study in 2016 couldn’t be easier

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by the Independent

There was a time when juggling studies with work, social life, and a family was just not possible. Thankfully, though, in the digital age and amid an ever-changing modern-day learning climate, dealing with all of the aforementioned couldn’t be easier with the help of the Internet, along with other options. This option allows students to learn remotely and without the need for regular face-to-face contact with a teacher in the classroom and, according to The Complete University Guide (CUG), more than 270,000 undergraduates are taking their first degrees by distance learning this year, along with around 108,000 postgrads. “In recent years, the advent of the Internet and widespread use of the computer has led to a huge growth in distantly delivered tuition and study,” CUG adds among distance learning’s many advantages.

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/Studies/juggling-work-and-university-study-in-2016-couldn-t-be-easier-a7133326.html

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Flipping the classroom requires patience, time management

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By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Flipping a classroom requires small-scale goals in changing coursework and reevaluating learning outcomes. Allowing for overage in assignment completion, looking for moments of increased student engagement, and time management are three of the most important elements in successfully flipping a learning environment. Doing less allows students to accomplish more in digesting a syllabus and developing ways to learn the course material.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/flipping-the-classroom-requires-patience-time-management/422522/

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Codecademy, the free online coding school, raises another $30M led by Naspers

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by Ingrid Lunden, Jonathan Shieber, TechCrunch

Codecademy, an online coding school with 16 million registered users, has built out its footprint without charging its students a penny to use it. Now, as more questions arise about how and when the startup might start monetizing its services, it is announcing $30 million in new funding that could be an indication of what might come next. Naspers, the (for-profit) media giant based out of South Africa, is leading the Series C round, which the company says it will use to continue to expand its product globally and to develop more platforms for using it, such as mobile.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/12/codecademy-the-free-online-coding-school-raises-another-30m-led-by-naspers/

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July 19, 2016

Why e-learning is better than face-to-face

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by Ralph LaFontaine, Learning and Development Professional

Many people continue to see e-learning as a poor alternative to face-to-face learning. This is often based on poor experiences with uninspiring e-learning courses that simply plonk a slide presentation or PDF onto a web page, with little thought for engagement or interaction. The question still pervades whether, despite the emergence of new digital learning technology, e-learning can ever be ‘as good’ as the supposed exemplar of classroom learning. The answer is quite simple: e-learning gives us the opportunity to extend learning beyond borders with more benefits than traditional learning could ever offer. Here are four reasons why…

http://www.ldphub.com/general-news/why-elearning-is-better-than-facetoface-learning-219492.aspx

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Raytheon introduces online classes to prepare US residents for extreme weather

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by Raytheon Company

Raytheon has launched a suite of weather preparedness training modules to help teach the general public and school-aged children how to keep themselves safe before, during and after significant weather events. The modules, which were developed by Raytheon as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ initiative, incorporate feedback from both NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “These interactive videos provide individuals with useful information on actions to take to prepare for extreme weather and water events,” said National Weather Service Director Louis W. Uccellini, Ph.D. “Working together, our Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors are helping to improve weather readiness across the nation through projects like this one.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/raytheon-introduces-online-classes-prepare-124000712.html

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NYU seeks to expand online learning in Shanghai

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By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

New York University has launched a series of instructional videos on social media to pilot content delivery to students at its Shanghai campus, attracting hundreds of thousands of views in just days. The school plans to expand the series, working around censorship issues and cultural barriers to potentially offer college degree programs to students in China. Shanghai’s middle class is an untapped opportunity for student recruitment from families which can afford NYU tuition.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/nyu-seeks-to-expand-online-learning-in-shanghai/422453/

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July 18, 2016

Education in the ‘Fourth Wave’ of Science-Driven Economic Advancement

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By David Nagel, THE Journal

Michio Kaku — theoretical physicist, author and pop science celebrity — has an emphatic message for educators: We are rapidly entering what he terms the “fourth-wave” of scientific advancement, and it’s the duty of educators to prepare young people to survive and thrive in the radically different milieu that portends. By Kaku’s reckoning, science is the engine of economic prosperity and has been for hundreds of years. Steam power ushered in the first wave of prosperity enabled by scientific advancements that had a direct impact on the way we live. The harnessing of electricity brought the second wave. The third wave, the one in which we live now, is powered by computers and communication. Each of these waves has brought revolutionary changes to the way humanity lives and interacts. And that will continue into the fourth wave, one driven by nanotechnology, biotechnology and artificial intelligence.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/07/06/education-in-the-fourth-wave-of-science-driven-economic-advancement.aspx

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Using Kinect Sensors and Facial Recognition in the Classroom

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By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

A project at Carnegie Mellon University promises to change that with the use of sensors in the classroom hooked to software to help TAs — especially those from other countries — refine their teaching skills in STEM courses. Computer-Aided Noticing and Reflection (CANAR) is the project of Amy Ogan, an assistant professor in the Human Computer Interaction Institute, and Ph.D. student David Gerritsen. The work is being supported by a $174,000 National Science Foundation grant. As Ogan explained the problem, “Many of our teaching assistants in universities today come from a wide variety of cultures.”  The ultimate goal of the project is to support improved teaching and learning in university classrooms by bridging cultural divides between students and their teachers.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/07/06/using-kinect-sensors-and-facial-recognition-in-the-classroom.aspx

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Not Sure What Courseware to Try? This Tool Wants to Make Your Decision Easier

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by Andrew Rikard, EdSurge

When edtech companies approach Kara Monroe, they all tout how their product is different from everybody else’s. But without proof, Monroe, vice president of academic innovation and support at Ivy Tech Community College, and her colleagues are searching in the dark to find the right tools that faculty can use to improve learning outcomes for the more than 200,000 students in the Indiana community college system. So much is coming at us,” Monroe says. That’s why she’s excited about recent efforts to make sense of the latest digital courseware products. A new free tool called the Courseware in Context (CWiC) framework aims to categorize and compare the range of emerging products that faculty are using to teach their online and blended courses. Tyton Partners, a Boston-based consulting firm, developed the framework in collaboration with the Online Learning Consortium and research firm SRI International, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-07-10-not-sure-what-courseware-to-try-this-tool-wants-to-make-your-decision-easier

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