Techno-News Blog

BY MERIS STANSBURY, eCampus News

Leaders from Learning Machine, MIT Media Lab, and Carnegie Mellon University engaged in a groundbreaking conversation with a packed house of EdTech vendors and education leaders at the annual EDUCAUSE conference. Together, they introduced Blockcerts, the open standard for issuing secure, verifiable digital credentials. Hosted by Learning Machine CEO, Chris Jagers, the panel brought together research from the MIT Media Lab (Principal Engineer Kim Duffy), real-world perspective from the Registrar of Carnegie Mellon University (John Papinchak), implementation details from Learning Machine leadership (COO Dan Hughes), and the societal implications of distributed technologies (Learning Machine Anthropologist Natalie Smolenski). The panelists described a future in which learners are able to act as their own lifelong registrars with blockchain credentialing.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/alternative-pathways/blockchain-credentialing-movement/

By Richard Chang, THE Journal

A new documentary explores the impacts smartphones and other mobile devices are having on teenagers and their social, emotional and psychological lives. “Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age” examines the impact of screen technology on kids and offers parents practical solutions that can work. The movie, directed by California-raised, New York-based physician Dr. Delaney Ruston, has played at several film festivals and is screening at schools, churches and community centers across the country. According to recent studies, the average kid in the United States spends 6.5 hours per day looking at screens, and that doesn’t include classroom or homework screen time. Boys spend on average the equivalent of 1.5 days on video games every week, and some recent studies show that screen time increases dopamine production and causes behavior that mimics addiction.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/11/10/new-documentary-explores-impact-of-mobile-devices-on-teens-lives.aspx

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Educause recently revealed its Top 10 IT Issues for 2017, prioritizing information security for the second year in a row and emphasizing data, infrastructure and IT leadership. The issues for 2017 were, on the surface, notably IT-centric, with information security topping the list for the second year in a row and a heavy emphasis on data, infrastructure and IT leadership (see box at right). Three new issues made the list for the new year: strategic leadership, defined as “repositioning or reinforcing the role of IT leadership as a strategic partner with institutional leadership”; higher education affordability, “prioritizing IT investments and resources in the context of increasing demand and limited resources”; and next-gen enterprise IT, “developing an implementing enterprise IT applications, architectures and sourcing strategies to achieve agility, scalability, cost-effectiveness and effective analytics.” Teaching and learning made the bottom of the list with issue No. 10.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/11/10/the-it-issues-ahead.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Educause’s annual roundup of the most pressing issues in higher ed technology highlights data issues, digital transformation of learning and “next-generation” use of IT. The complexities of technology just don’t generate much concern among college and university IT leaders these days. What do are more strategic initiatives such as student success, the transformation of learning and the use of data. Yes, it’s true that for the second year running cybersecurity has come in first on Educause’s list of the Top 10 IT issues for higher education. But this year it doesn’t dominate the results as it did last year, according to Susan Grajek, the organization’s vice president of data, research and analytics. Information security “is a huge risk area,” she said, but, according to Educause member votes, “not by quite as much.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/11/10/student-success-pervades-top-it-issues-for-2017.aspx

by ERIC WESTERVELT, NPR

A new book The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World explores the implications of, and brain science behind, this evolution (some might say devolution). It was written Adam Gazzaley, a neurologist and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and research psychologist Larry D. Rosen. Our friends at NPR’s Shots blog recently spoke with one of the authors about distraction’s impact on productivity. I wanted to talk with Dr. Gazzaley about what his research tells us about teaching, learning, studying and screen time in the age of digital distraction.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/05/498477634/learning-in-the-age-of-digital-distraction

By Jordan Friedman, US News

Accrediting agencies hold online programs to the same standards of quality as those on campus, experts say. Accreditation is a process conducted by an outside authority to ensure that a school and degree program meet certain standards of quality and rigor. Online, blended and on-campus degree programs can all be accredited. While it’s voluntary, accreditation has many benefits and, in many ways, validates a program to employers and other colleges or universities. Legitimate online degree programs are accredited by agencies recognized by either the Department of Education or the nonprofit Council for Higher Education Accreditation, known as CHEA.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2016-11-11/accreditation-of-online-degree-programs-frequently-asked-questions

By Patrice Torcivia & Whitney Kilgore, EdSurge

The emerging field of Learner Experience Design or LX design is about balancing the need for quality course design with the central role of human interaction in online learning. It’s a collaborative process that engages faculty in the design and improvement of online courses. But LX design doesn’t have to be daunting or complicated. Here are three big LX ideas for faculty who may be new to online learning, and hope to create and facilitate more humanized online learning experiences.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-11-10-what-faculty-need-to-know-about-learner-experience-design

By Madison White, ULoop

Work from home, when you want, wherever you want — what could be difficult about online classes? For many students, online courses are a great tool in managing the busy schedule of a student and employee. However, many students also assume that every online class will be much easier than a normal class when this simply isn’t the case. Here are four reasons why online classes aren’t easy.

http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/219200/Why-Online-Classes-Arent-Easy

by Jarrett Carter, Educaton Dive

Security, data management and governance, and next-gen enterprise were among the top networking concerns for CIOs at Educause this year. IT impact from affordability, funding and leadership were also among chief concerns. Next generation enterprise and the digital transformation of learning were rated by attendees as the top two themes of importance during one session of the conference.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/college-leaders-identify-the-top-it-challenges/430256/

by Nichole Dobo, Hechinger Report

Even though more schools are online, leaders say they will need more modern connections in the coming years to keep up with the pace of technological advancement. Nearly 60 percent of school leaders surveyed by CoSN said ongoing costs remain a major challenge. “The good news is districts are making real progress in supporting modern technology infrastructure,” Keith Krueger, the CEO of CoSN, said in a statement. “However, it remains clear that more work and investment are needed over the long run to address the digital equity challenge of today and provide robust broadband connectivity for all students in and outside of school.”

http://hechingerreport.org/more-schools-are-online-than-ever-before-but-its-far-from-perfect/

by Laurence Bradford, Fortune

Especially in recent years, online courses have officially claimed their place as the future of affordable, accessible education. Whether you’re just entering the workforce and want more skills and credentials to pad your resume, you’re looking to upskill early to late in your career, or you want to change careers entirely, here’s why taking courses online should be at the top of your priority list.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencebradford/2016/11/07/4-reasons-why-online-courses-can-get-you-out-of-a-career-rut/

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Credentialing processor Parchment.com offers 3 tips on how to successfully package and promote skills earned to parlay them into quality chances at career entry or advanced degrees. Parchment recommends making credentials digitally deliverable, aesthetically appealing and accessible to graduates throughout their lives are essential to making the most out of earned skills. The ability to list and see pathways of how credentials can be “stacked” together makes students and potential employees more marketable in fields which demand workers with increasing diversity in skills sets and knowledge.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/3-tips-for-turning-credentials-into-degree-and-job-opportunities/429859/

by OEB

At this year’s OEB, we’re looking to provide some of that nuance in our annual Plenary Debate on the motion entitled “This house believes artificial intelligence (AI) could, should and will replace teachers”. This is not only a debate about the capabilities of technology, but also about its ethical implications. In this particular case, it’s as much a question of philosophy as of technological practicality. What exactly is a teacher? Some would say that in many schools, teachers have become little more than devices for transmitting information in the hope of achieving defined educational outcomes and that these functions can be taken over – and even improved on – by a machine. For Donald Clark (proposition) the case for teaching bots is fairly obvious: they would be “free from cognitive… racial, gender and socio-economic biases. They never get ill, don’t forget much of what they are taught, operate 24/7, and can deliver from anywhere to anywhere where there is an internet connection. Unlike our brains they don’t sleep for eight hours a day and, in a fatal objection to human frailty, neither get burnt out, retire or die.”

http://www.online-educa.com/OEB_Newsportal/this-house-believes-ais-could-and-will-replace-teachers/

By Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

Miami University in Ohio last month became the latest institution to overhaul its accessibility policies for people with disabilities. Miami is far from the only university to face legal action over accessibility issues. In the last two years alone, several colleges and education companies — Atlantic Cape Community College, edX, Harvard University and the University of Phoenix, among others — have either been sued or settled complaints about inaccessible websites or content. . Lennard J. Davis, a prominent disability studies scholar based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said those lawsuits highlight a trend of the last 10 years of accessibility lawsuits shifting from concerning physical to digital spaces. “The web and technology associated with sensory impairments are where it is at right now,” Davis said in an email. “The virtual and digital world has replaced the physical world as the locus for discrimination and barriers.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/11/07/disability-rights-advocates-shift-strategies-ensure-equal-rights-digital-age

By Rachel Kuipers, Diamondback

Some University of Maryland professors are trying to change how software designers approach their work. Three cybersecurity professors — Michelle Mazurek, Andrew Ruef and Dave Levin — and computer science professor Michael Hicks were among those to host the Build It, Break It, Fix it security contest, which aims to teach students how to construct more secure programs, according to the contest website. This is the fifth contest the group has held in the past two and a half years, Hicks said. “We want to make software security better [and] help developers who aren’t security experts do a better job of writing secure software,” said Mazurek, who is also a member of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center. “There’s a gap between what seems like it should work and what actually should work in the real world.”

http://www.dbknews.com/2016/11/07/university-of-maryland-computer-science-software-contest/

By Zhu Shenshen, Shanghai Daily

Virtual reality English learning is just one example of Internet Plus services in Shanghai — a merging of online applications and offline lifestyle trends. This latest digital trend covers a wide range of services, including the panoramic view of a restaurant when you book a table via smartphone, sharing bicycles unlocked by mobile apps, and paying for Metro trips and drinks by smartphone or even smart watches. Internet Plus services are turning Shanghai into one of the world’s most “digital smart” cities and, at the same time, changing human experiences and habits in education and entertainment, dining, transportation, payment and investment.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/business/economy/No-matter-where-you-turn-the-Internet-shapes-us/shdaily.shtml

by Tim Dodd, Financial Review

Georgia Tech artificial intelligence pioneer Ashkok Goel says his ground-breaking use of artificial intelligence to interact with students will soon be cheap and widely available. Earlier this year Professor Goel famously introduced a “nano tutor”, dubbed Jill Watson, to answer the questions in the online forum for students in his course at the US university, called Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence. For over a month students didn’t realise they were talking to a robot teaching assistant (TA) rather than a real one. “We did not tell the students Jill Watson was an AI [artificial intelligence]. As far as they were concerned Jill Watson was just another human TA,” he told a Sydney conference last week. After learning that one of their teaching assistants was a bot, students were both amazed and receptive.

http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/georgia-techs-ashkok-goel-says-automated-nano-tutors-will-takeoff-in-education-20161103-gshuth

by Daniel Stilwell, iNews

The University of Alberta is adding another option to their range of massive open online courses. The MOOC program started a couple of years ago with the highly popular Dino 101 program. U of A Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation Dean Kerry Mummery said Dino 101 and several other courses were so successful that they thought opening up a new course called Mountains 101 would be a good fit. “We’d certainly be the leaders in the world right now for inter-disciplinary mountain studies and we’re intent on claiming that for the University of Alberta. Where better than Alberta to claim the mountains? We’re known internationally for them,” said Mummery.

http://www.inews880.com/syn/110/133286/133286

by Leslie Katz, C|Net

There are all kinds of online high schools — from government-funded public and charter schools, which are free to resident minors, to private schools including those like OHS, which are affiliated with universities. This last category varies in price: Indiana University High School charges $250 for each course, George Washington University Online High School costs $12,000 a year, while yearly tuition at OHS hits nearly $20,000 for four or more courses. (OHS says about 15 percent of its students receive financial aid.) Nearly 460 full-time charter, privately run or district-operated virtual schools enrolled more than 261,000 students during the 2014-15 academic year, according to the National Education Policy Center.

https://www.cnet.com/au/news/online-schools-get-mixed-report-cards/

by Roger Riddell, Education Dive

From solutions for boosting cybersecurity to new accessibility components on familiar platforms, these solutions are worth a closer look. Between keynotes, panels and interviews, Education Dive took time to check out what Educause 2016’s close to 300 exhibitors had on display. From solutions for boosting cybersecurity to new accessibility components on familiar platforms, here are six products we saw worth noting.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/6-ed-tech-products-to-note-from-educause-2016/429723/

By Skylar Griego, Daily Lobo

With registration for the spring semester beginning on Nov. 14, many students are browsing the UNM course catalog to start piecing together their class schedule. Some may notice a number of courses available online for the first time. Students may also notice that many of the new classes aren’t actually new — they’re online sections of courses already held on campus. UNM Extended Learning is developing online sections for classes in high demand to add to the online course directory. Debby Knotts, the executive director of UNMEL, said this she hopes of creating more availability for students trying to meet requirements for their degrees.

http://www.dailylobo.com/article/2016/11/4-online-courses-at-unm