Techno-News Blog

By Chuck Cohn, EdSurge

When Massive Open Online Courses (or MOOCs) were first introduced, people quickly realized these platforms could help students learn more effectively at their own pace on their own schedule. “Formal” education was no longer constrained to traditional classroom hours, if it ever was. This development, combined with tremendous growth in mobile device usage due to improved technology, naturally led to a shift in mobile learning patterns. Students were now free to engage with diverse educational content—videos, podcasts, interactive games, and so on—from any location with a cellular signal.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-07-09-how-and-why-we-can-improve-the-future-of-mobile-learning

by Tim Dodd, Financial Review

Australian universities are joining the global trend to offer credit towards a degree to students who complete free online courses. The massive open online course (or MOOC) World Music offered by Open2Study now attracts bachelor degree credit at James Cook University. James Cook University school of creative arts lecturer David Salisbury, who presents the four-week World Music MOOC on Open2Study, said awarding credit for the online course was a fair reward for a student’s effort. The course introduces students to music from four different cultures – African, Indian, Latin American and Indonesian – and so far over 8000 students have enrolled in it. Dr Salisbury said he was rewarding students who completed the MOOC with 10 per cent bonus marks if they were enrolled in a degree subject that included the world music material.

http://www.afr.com/leadership/innovation/earn-credit-towards-a-degree-from-free-online-courses-20160707-gq18kg

By Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education

Daphne Koller says online platform reached millions of learners largely because of the publicity, both good and bad, about Moocs. Some academics enjoyed nothing more than seeing the “Moocs bubble” burst. But it turns out that those who scoffed at massive open online courses may have unwittingly been playing into the hands of the innovation they were disparaging. Daphne Koller, president and co-founder of Coursera, told Times Higher Education that the hype around online courses and whether they would destroy traditional universities had been the biggest driver of student recruitment to her company, the world’s largest Mooc platform. Koller said Coursera – which now has 18 million users and 140 course providers, including some of the world’s leading universities – was “making significant, steady progress in democratising access to education”.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/coursera-president-bursting-moocs-bubble-boon-us

by Lora Kolodny, Tech Crunch

DIY Co., the education tech startup led by Vimeo designer and co-founder Zach Klein, has launched a new online learning platform for kids called JAM.com. The company also quietly closed a $4 million round of venture funding led by Learn Capital, joined by Spark Capital, at the end of 2015 to support the development of JAM, Klein told TechCrunch. Courses on DIY’s new site JAM were created for kids up to age 14. Klein said, “There’s a huge landscape of skills worth kids learning now that schools aren’t teaching, and a new set of teachers who aren’t full-time educators willing to help them.”

https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/08/diy-co-launches-jam-to-help-kids-learn-what-they-dont-in-school-with-a-little-help-from-cartoon-network/

By Sri Ravipati, Campus Technology

Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) at John Hopkins University announced two new graduate courses that will use a mixed modality teaching model, combining onsite and online learning. The first two AAP classes incorporating this education model will be Biochemistry, part of the Biotechnology master’s program, and Molecular Biology, part of the Bioinformatics master’s program. Both classes will be hosted at the Frederick Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) for the upcoming fall semester. A regional higher education center, CREST serves as a local onsite alternative for students who would otherwise need to travel to the university or take the courses entirely online. The center hosts a number of local Frederick student cohorts, offering a diverse learning environment focused on area STEM activities.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/07/08/johns-hopkins-launches-mixed-modality-courses.aspx

by Techworm

There has been an increasing demand for ethical hackers (also known as white hat hackers or penetration testers) in the last few decades, as they protect the computer systems from dangerous intrusions. Businesses and government-related organizations that are serious about their network security hire ethical hackers and penetration testers to help probe and improve their networks, applications, and other computer systems with the ultimate goal of preventing data theft and fraud. Ethical hackers or white hat hackers identify weaknesses in data computer security for business and organizations across the globe, to protect them from hackers or criminals with less honest motives. This not only helps them earn a good and honest living but also keeps them away from facing prison time.

http://www.techworm.net/2016/07/10-youtube-channels-learning-ethical-hacking-course-online.html

by eCampusNews

Just one year into its massive digitization initiative, Indiana University has already rescued from ruin more than 100,000 precious audio and video recordings, thanks to a successful collaboration with Memnon Inc., a Sony company. IU has extended the use of the facilities, created for its Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative (MDPI) project with Memnon, to enable Memnon to accept digitization work from new clients including other universities, museums and commercial broadcasters. This move strengthens Bloomington’s position as a hub for high-volume media digitization and preservation work. Laurie Antolovic’, MDPI executive director, and Indiana University associate vice president and deputy chief information officer, says “The massive bicentennial MDPI project is now well ahead of its expected pace, and we are delighted with this progress and the quality of the services that Memnon has provided.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/news/digitization-initiative-memnon/

By Jordan Friedman, US News

Contrary to popular belief, online classes aren’t always easy and many employers accept online degrees, experts say. Some people are skeptical about online education, but experts say that prospective students shouldn’t trust everything they hear.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/slideshows/avoid-falling-for-these-10-online-education-myths

By Richard Chang, THE Journal

Wisconsin study of high school students in virtual classes aims to provide important information in a field that hasn’t garnered much research. Wisconsin high school students who engaged in online courses for two or more hours per week had better outcomes than students who engaged less than two hours per week, according to a study by Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest and the Virtual Education Research Alliance. The study, conducted in the fall 2014 semester, included all Wisconsin Virtual School advanced placement, core and elective high school course enrollments. The sample included 1,512 student enrollments in 109 online courses, with 1,179 unique students, 170 of whom took more than one online course.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/07/07/low-but-steady-engagement-in-online-courses-better-than-diminishing-engagement.aspx

By Christopher Watkins, Udacity Blog

If you’re not familiar, Women Who Code is a non-profit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. The organization has executed more than 3,000 events around the world, garnered a membership exceeding 50,000 and has a presence in 20 countries. The event we partnered on was called Careers in Data Science. 70 Women Who Code members joined us at Udacity to network, and to learn more about education opportunities and career pathways in data science. Our guests also enjoyed presentations from expert speakers: four from Udacity, and two from NetBase Solutions.

http://blog.udacity.com/2016/07/careers-data-science-women-who-code-udacity.html

By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Ed Tech Magazine reports data security is becoming an increasing priority on college campuses, and contracting the service allows more flexibility for on-campus IT offices to address other issues. Colleges are among the most-targeted businesses for data breaching, and have growing turnover rates in security specialists who leave for more lucrative positions in the private sector. Managed security service providers (MSSPs) can offer a faster, more comprehensive response to data security challenges, because of familiarity with growing trends in technology and practice, according to Ed Tech Magazine.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/should-campuses-outsource-it-security/422284/

by Study International Staff

Over the past few years, online learning courses have grown exponentially as students eye cost and convenience. But questions have always lingered over the effectiveness of online learning (or e-learning). After all, if students have easy access to assignment answers (whether through search engines or in-built mechanisms), they may be tempted to game the system without achieving meaningful learning. Fortunately, a recent study presented at the conference of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) suggests otherwise. California researchers found that most students genuinely try to answer online assignment questions even when the answers can be revealed in a simple click of a button.

https://www.studyinternational.com/news/few-students-cheat-when-doing-online-learning-assignments-study-shows

By Christopher Watkins, Udacity Blog

People love to make pronouncements about a year. 2016 is the Year of … what? Data? That certainly doesn’t seem possible, given that we’ve been talking about data—both big and otherwise—for some time now. And yet, there was Glassdoor, rating Data Scientist as the #1 Best Job in America for 2016. They weren’t the only ones either. CareerCast.com put Data Scientist at #1 as well. These two studies have been so extensively cited that it’s essentially become a given that Data Scientist is one of THE hot jobs of today, and of the future as well. So how do you prepare for a data science career? Let’s begin by looking at the skills you’ll need.

http://blog.udacity.com/2016/06/skills-to-launch-data-science-career.html

by Andy Vale, Audiense

In 2016, mature social media teams can adopt a myriad of roles across marketing, communications, customer service, audience research, product development, and much more. At the core of this activity is using social media data intelligently to extract smart insights. As the demands of this role grows, so does the social media data and analytics understanding required by social media teams. Ben Donkor is a social media analyst at Microsoft, and is adamant about the importance of social media analytics for all businesses. In this exclusive chat you will discover why social analytics is something every organisation should be looking at, how Microsoft are using it, and how you can start.

https://www.audiense.com/interview-media-microsoft-uses-social-analytics-data-twitter-marketing-case-study-tips-you-can-too/

by Jane Marshall, University World News

Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, have been expanding rapidly throughout the world since the ‘Year of the MOOC’ in 2012, offering higher education, often free, to millions of learners – especially in developed countries with wide access to the right technology and resources. Now there is a guide to raise MOOC awareness in less well equipped developing nations, and to advise their educational policy-makers how, through online learning including MOOCs, they can build new routes to higher education and lifelong learning to benefit increasing numbers of their young – and older – people. Making Sense of MOOCs: A guide for policy-makers in developing countries is edited by Mariana Patru of UNESCO and Venkataraman Balaji of the Commonwealth of Learning.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160703202312477

By Kathy Hovis, Cornell Chronicle

These activities and the small groups, which stay the same all semester, lead to greater classroom confidence and learning outcomes, according to Ballen’s assessments, which compare students from new active learning classes with students who took the class the year before, when it was being taught in a traditional way. All students reported a heightened sense of inclusion in the classroom and higher confidence in discussing the topics they learned, said Kelly Zamudio, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, one of the faculty members teaching the class. “You could watch the in-class groups go from forming to storming to norming to performing,” Zamudio said of the traditional group dynamics model put forth by psychologist Bruce Tuckman. “You can tell that they are teaching and learning from each other, and many of them tell us they have become close friends.”

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/07/active-learning-class-achieves-higher-student-engagement

by Bradley Fuster, US News

Beyond buying a house, financing a college education can be one of the most expensive investments a person ever makes. As college costs skyrocket and student loan debt receives increased media attention, it’s easy to overlook the unadvertised expenses associated with required college textbooks and other learning materials, even when pursuing an online degree. In fact, the average cost for textbooks is estimated at $1,200 per year for a full-time student – a 73 percent increase in just the past decade. Linked below are six considerations to help online students access, budget for and effectively work within the changing and potentially expensive landscape of college textbooks.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2016-07-01/6-ways-online-students-can-save-on-textbooks-learning-materials

by Class Central

More than 850 new MOOCs are starting this month. They include a wide range of courses offered from colleges and other entities on multiple continents. A comprehensive list is available at this site.

https://www.class-central.com/report/mooc-course-report-july-2016/

by Sebastian Thrun, Udacity Blog

Udacity is now rapidly becoming the place to go for lifelong learning, where millions are learning the latest skills that Silicon Valley has to offer. Tech giants like AT&T, Google, Facebook, Amazon, GitHub, and MongoDB are using us to reach any willing learner in the world. And companies are eagerly hiring our graduates. We have educated more students than many four-year colleges. And recently, we started placing our graduates in jobs in the tech industry and beyond, based on their Nanodegree program credentials. Our fifth anniversary is a great moment of reflection. To many, education is a numbers game. It’s about tuition, graduation rates, enrollment. To me, education is all about people.

http://blog.udacity.com/2016/07/udacity-turns-5-by-sebastian-thrun.html

by Sweeta Dash, YourStory

Owing to the steady economic growth and globalisation, education in India is no longer just a teacher talking to a bunch of students in a classroom. With more than 370 million internet users and hundreds of local as well as global business tycoons willing to invest in the future of education, online education in India has picked up pace. In fact, the e-learning market in the country is estimated to be worth more than $3 billion.

http://yourstory.com/2016/07/future-online-education-in-india/

By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

The ‘Internet of Things’ is expected to change the dynamic of industry, human connectivity and business. Standards of customer service, learning and teaching will be dramatically impacted by the blending of technology and environment. Higher education will be a critical partner in the development and innovation of the expanded internet.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/higher-ed-needs-to-play-trendsetter-role-in-the-internet-of-things/421928/