Techno-News Blog

by John Elmes, Times Higher Education

The NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition is produced by the New Media Consortium – a community of hundreds of universities, colleges, museums and research organisations driving innovation across their campuses – and is the flagship publication of the NMC Horizon Project, which analyses emerging technology uptake in education. Artificial intelligence, the report notes, has the “potential to enhance online learning, adaptive learning software, and research processes in ways that more intuitively respond to and engage with students”. Samantha Adams Becker, senior director of publications and communications at NMC and the report’s editor, said that the higher education world was already seeing the initial benefits of AI, which was “very much driving” the adaptive learning field.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/artificial-intelligence-revolutionise-higher-education

By Eric Stirgus,The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It began as an experiment, and it could change how college students learn. Last year, students in Georgia Tech professor Ashok Goel’s online Masters in Computer Science class were told the questions they asked after class would be answered online by a teaching assistant named Jill Watson. What the students didn’t know is Watson is not human, but computer artificial intelligence. Georgia Tech is believed to be the only school in the nation using artificial intelligence in such fashion. Goel and other Tech researchers are working on the next phase, virtual teaching assistants that can be tutors, answering questions and asking questions. Goel believes their work has immense potential. “We get to build a future of our own imagination,” he said exuberantly. Students in courses where the teaching assistants were artificial intelligence programs say they were surprised that it wasn’t a human answering their questions.

http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/she-has-quite-brain-but-this-teaching-assistant-just-not-human/ZD8NiCkbgWOM4XaXkZ6cBL/

by tech Edvocate

Technology-focused education is based on a constructivist approach to learning. As described earlier, the teacher in a technologically advanced classroom is seen as a facilitator rather than a pure instructor. A teacher’s function is to help students use the technological resources appropriately to find the information rather than presenting it to them. Students need to learn how to find the information they need and take ownership of their own learning. Working in small groups is also a crucial factor in acquiring these skills. Small-group instruction versus massive class instruction provides opportunity to develop a group dynamic, to make group decisions, and to share knowledge. Classes working under these principles promote cooperative rather than competitive group dynamics. The degree of ease with which you’ll incorporate technology into your teaching methods will depend on how much technology you’ve been exposed to during the course of your life.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/strategies-for-seamlessly-integrating-technology-into-class/

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

A growing number of medical schools are using virtual reality to train students on vital surgical procedures, a new wave of teaching and learning that could reshape the way medical schools operate and the expenses it creates for students. Ed Tech: Focus on Higher Ed profiles the University of Illinois at Chicago, which uses Oculus VR technology to teach students in its geriatrics course to help students build empathy for elderly patients and needs. Some observers believe that virtual reality will be a necessity in all medical courses, but for most institutions, the question of how to afford and to maintain the technology will be a pressing issue.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/could-digital-cadavers-revolutionize-med-school-administration/436465/

by Generosity.org

The nonprofit, which provides academic enrichment programs for minority and low-income students, collaborated with Penn to launch the course on Coursera. Steppingstone Scholars, the nonprofit established in 1999 to provide academic enrichment programs for minority and low-income students, believes first-generation and low-income students have particular difficulties navigating both the college search and admission processes. That’s why Steppingstone, in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Admissions, recently launched an online course called “How to Apply to College.”

http://generocity.org/philly/2017/02/16/steppingstone-scholars-online-course-apply-to-college/

By Jordan Friedman, US News

Want to take online courses on your smartphone or tablet? In many programs, you can. For online learners constantly on the go, being able to access courses on mobile devices is important. Many online degree programs offer students mobile apps with most of the same capabilities as the virtual classrooms on their desktops and laptops, experts say. And it’s a topic many of today’s applicants ask about, says Katie Barak, manager of student resources and disability services at the online Colorado State University—Global Campus.

http://www.usnews.com/higher-education/online-education/articles/2017-02-16/ask-4-questions-about-accessing-online-courses-on-mobile-devices

BY MERIS STANSBURY, eCampus News

Infographic delves into recent education trend data to explain why blended learning is taking off. Blended learning, like many other buzzwords in education, is getting thrown around in ed-tech conversations as one of the hottest trends taking over course instruction and luring prospective students to colleges. But just like the current backlash against MOOCs, it’s important to know why a trend occurs in order to gauge its shelf life. Blended learning is constantly evolving, with most of the innovations and refinements developed to support student-centered learning, explains DreamBox Learning, creator of the infographic.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/online-learning/blended-learning-exploding/

BY TOM RUFF, eCampus News

College and University campuses could greatly benefit from the Internet of Things, so why is adoption in higher ed lagging? The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices is on a steady rise. Analysts predict that from now through 2020, the number of connected “things” will grow from 13.5 billion units to 38.5 billion units, a growth of over 285 percent. While many people think of consumer devices, like smart TVs and thermostats, as making up the bulk of IoT devices, their role in education should not be overlooked. More and more, everything on a campus is connected to the Internet. And, just as IoT connected devices are improving consumers’ lives, enterprises’ business and public sector organizations’ services, IoT could benefit the entire education ecosystem in numerous ways.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/it-newsletter/whats-stopping-education-iot/

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

Wesley Engers has an unusual hobby: beta testing online courses from well-known colleges and universities. He doesn’t get paid, but he helps improve the quality of courses by catching mistakes in quizzes and pointing out befuddling bits of video lectures, which can then be clarified before professors release the course to students. “I find it much more engaging than reading a book,” says Engers, a 29-year-old data scientist, when asked why he does it. “And I do enjoy giving back and trying to contribute to a community and help future students.” He’s one of about 2,500 volunteer beta testers for Coursera, and part of an expanded quality-control effort the company started in the past year.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-02-17-should-online-courses-go-through-beta-testing-how-one-provider-taps-2-500-volunteers

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

New systems of data analytics can equip college campuses to set and reach goals for student achievement, operational efficiency, and financial stability, Ed Tech: Focus on Higher Ed reported — but the first step in harnessing these benefits is understanding concepts of implementation and execution. A risk that campuses face is the integration of analytics in partial rollouts, which can create ‘haves and have-nots’ among students and faculty, and gleaning best practices from peer institutions and vendors is a good way of preventing this kind of digital divide. Institutional culture and campus governance are also critical areas to consider before a major tech rollout, as faculty, staff and students will have to buy into the new systems and their potential benefits.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/university-data-analytics-security-operations/436355/

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Several colleges and universities are now offering micro degree programs in the hopes of attracting professionals interested in career development while selling full graduate degree programs in the process, NPR reported yesterday. MIT, Columbia University and the University of Michigan are just a few of the high research institutions attracting students through these online programs, which offer advanced credentialing in engineering, business and computer science for a fraction of tuition costs that can exceed $60,000 a year for full degrees. The programs, which have the same rigorous admission standards as traditional offerings, can present a challenge to some students who enroll without prior experience in the disciplines.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/university-micro-degree-program-MIT-columbia-michigan/436372/

by KIRK CARAPEZZA, NPR

There’s an experiment underway at a few top universities around the world to make some master’s degrees out there more affordable. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, says the class of 2018 can get a master’s degree in supply chain management with tens of thousands in savings. The university’s normal price runs upwards of $67,000 for the current academic year. But it’s not as simple as sending in a coupon with your tuition bill. There are big hurdles for students, and clear benefits for the universities.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/15/504478472/how-to-get-20-000-off-the-price-of-a-masters-degree

By Mary Jo Madda, EdSurge

As University of Central Florida’s Associate Vice President of Distributed Learning, Tom Cavanagh, wrote in an article for EDUCAUSE, “every institute has a unique set of instructional and infrastructure circumstances to consider when deciding on an LMS,” but at the same time, “all institutions face certain common requirements”—whether a small charter school, a private university or a large public school district. Thus, garnered from conversations with both K-12 and higher education administrators, the following checklist provides a starting point for any educator interested in prepping for the inevitable task of choosing an LMS for the 2017-2018 school year. (And for some additional help, each educator has offered rationales for why those checklist items should be included.)

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-02-14-a-guide-to-learning-management-systems-the-right-questions-to-ask

by the New Media Consortium

This 14th edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in education. Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six important developments in educational technology are placed directly in the context of their likely impact on the core missions of universities and colleges. Among the technologies that are spotlighted: Adaptive Learning, Mobile Learning, Internet of Things, Next Generation LMS, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural User Interfaces.

http://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2017-higher-education-edition/

by MATTHEW LYNCH, Tech Edvocate

Software applications are part of our everyday existence, and that means the language used to create them is only more important. It is also a language that is somewhat universal, as programming languages are used worldwide. This means code has the ability to make our vast world feel smaller as we use it to find common ground. Learning to code is a hands-on experience. While certain key aspects of a language can be introduced in textbooks, the true learning experience happens when children have the opportunity to use what they know to create simple programs. Additionally, they receive the benefits of fast feedback when their code is executed. In most cases, a kid will know if mere moments if their code contains errors.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/teach-kids-to-code-and-secure-their-future/

By Stephanie Condon, ZD Net

The use of ransomware has spiked in recent years: Roughly A high percentage of spam emails in 2016 contained ransomware, according to a recent IBM Security study. Part of the reason is simply that it works: Nearly 70 percent of business victims surveyed by IBM said they paid hackers to recover data. The incentives of hackers are straightforward — they’re looking for a big payday — but it’s less clear whether their victims should cooperate. “It’s very simple in my mind,” said Michael Duff, the CISO for Stanford University, on a ransomware panel at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Monday. “If you’re not able to reconstitute a system in the timeframe you need, and you need it up and running, pay the ransom.” Neil Jenkins, of the Homeland Security Department’s Enterprise Performance Management Office (EPMO), said that, “From the US government perspective, we definitely discourage the payment of ransom.””From a national perspective… paying ransom encourages the business model,” he said. “The reason this has become such a popular thing to do is they’re actually making money off of this.”

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-should-you-pay-up/

by Lee Mathews, Forbes

IoT devices have become a favorite weapon of cybercriminals. Their generally substandard security — and the sheer numbers of connected devices — make them an enticing target. We’ve seen what a massive IoT botnet is capable of doing, but even a relatively small one can cause a significant amount of trouble. Infected Vending Machines And LightA few thousand infected IoT devices can cut a university off from the Internet, according to an incident that the Verizon RISK (Research, Investigations, Solutions and Knowledge) team was asked to assist with. All the attacker had to do was re-program the devices so they would periodically try to connect to seafood-related websites. By training around 5,000 devices to send DNS queries simultaneously (for those who aren’t familiar, DNS is what allows your computer to turn a name like Forbes.com into an IP address that it can connect to). In this particular case, those devices included everything from drink vending machines to street lamps.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2017/02/13/infected-vending-machines-and-light-bulbs-ddos-a-university/

BY ALAN NOVEMBER, Campus Technology

Harvard professor David Malan has managed to pull off a neat trick: His Computer Science 50 course is the most popular course at both Harvard and Yale. By examining his success, we can learn some important lessons about effective teaching. CS50 assumes no prior knowledge or skill in computer programming, yet it’s extremely demanding. Despite its rigor, CS50 regularly attracts thousands of students each year. While some aspire to become software engineers, others enroll just to experience the course. Why is Professor Malan’s course so popular, even with students who don’t plan a career in computer science—and even though it requires a lot of work? Here are three keys to Malan’s effective teaching that I think all schools everywhere should apply, from K-12 schools to colleges and universities.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/curriculum/effective-teaching-harvard-prof/

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Harvard University has begun experimenting with the use of adaptive functionality in one of its massive open online courses (MOOCs). The initial finding is that students using the adaptive assessments learned more than those who didn’t — and spent less time overall getting through problems. Adaptive technology uses information gained as the learner interacts with the system to change up how a concept is presented by level of difficulty, order and types of help provided. The experiment took place in a single HarvardX course, “Super-Earths and Life” (now available as an on-demand course), deployed in the current academic year.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/02/02/harvard-tailoring-the-mooc-experience-with-adaptive-learning.aspx

By Pamela Vande Voort, Campus Technology

In a study of faculty experiences using lecture capture systems in the classroom, responses reveal 10 primary themes around how the technology is impacting the education process. Lecture capture, a teaching and learning tool that allows faculty to record and post the audio, video and presentation content of classroom lectures and the classroom experience, is a boon for students who want to access the material at their convenience for review and supplementary instruction. And it can be a life saver for students who miss all or part of class, or who discover their notes are incomplete. But how do faculty perceive the technology in today’s higher education classrooms, and what impact is it having on the educational process?

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/02/08/10-faculty-perceptions-of-lecture-capture-technology.aspx

By David Weldon, Campus Technology

Georgia Tech first began offering MOOCs in 2011 and has since increased its investment in the program. Last year the school put its most difficult degree program — the master’s degree in information technology — online, at a cost to the student of $6,700. In order to be accepted into the MOOC program, a student had to meet the full criteria of being a Georgia Tech student. And the institution worked hard to make sure that online students would receive an education that is on par with their campus counterparts. So, once students have gone through such a high-quality program, how do they use their MOOC experience to best advantage? Sham Mustafa, CEO and founder of Correlation One, has some thoughts. His company provides matchmaking services, focused on connecting employers with highly skilled data scientists. Those data scientists are heavily represented in the first waves of MOOC students.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/02/09/7-tips-for-listing-moocs-on-your-resume.aspx