Techno-News Blog

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

Many students choose a virtual school to replace their traditional school schedules partially or completely for a few reasons. In some ways, virtual school has completely replaced traditional homeschooling for the sake of easier curriculum access. At the same time, students who struggle in social settings or who do not find courses at their traditional schools challenging may find virtual school a blessing. Therefore, virtual schools are on the rise in popularity. However, virtual schools are not perfect. Here are eight essentials that act as focal points to make virtual schools work.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/8-essentials-virtual-school-works/

By Phil Hill, e-literate

This is the ninth year I have shared the LMS market share graphic, commonly known as the squid graphic, for US and Canadian higher education. The original idea remains – to give a picture of the LMS market in one page, highlighting the story of the market over time. The key to the graphic is that the width of each band represents the percentage of institutions using a particular LMS as its primary system. Last year we made a big shift based on our LMS market analysis service – we are working with LISTedTECH to provide market data and visualizations. This data source provides historical and current measures of institutional adoptions, allowing new insights into how the market has worked and current trends. Our spring report for subscribers will be released this month. Data for 2017 goes through April 1 of this year.

http://mfeldstein.com/state-higher-ed-lms-market-us-canada-spring-2017-edition/

BY LINDSAY ELLIS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Izabela Uscinski’s students hear an unusual message in their first-ever college writing classes: Open up your laptops, and let’s all work together. The University of Houston visiting assistant professor requires students to drop drafts of their papers in a shared Google folder, where they type notes on each other’s writing styles and arguments for one another to see. Uscinski watches the conversation unfold, commenting on student feedback and giving pointers of her own. It’s a far cry from traditional peer editing techniques, when students swap papers and scribble notes in the margins. That method isn’t effective, she said, because new college students don’t yet know what helpful feedback looks like. What could be an useful exercise, then, wastes time. Uscinski is one of several UH instructors experimenting with ways to integrate life in the classroom with life on the screen.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/Educators-Must-Accept-Tech-Methods.html

BY JC REINDL, DETROIT FREE PRESS

The potential designers and engineers of tomorrow’s self-driving vehicles showed off their most promising work Saturday at the annual running of a popular autonomous robots competition. More than 300 students from middle schools, high schools and colleges across Michigan participated in Robofest, the autonomous robotics festival put on by Lawrence Technological University. The competition has grown in size since its first year in 1999 and has included teams from at least 13 states and countries including Brazil, China, Mexico, Singapore, France and nearby Canada. Saturday’s event was the state championship meet and featured 93 teams. The day’s highest-scoring 15 teams will go to the Robofest World Championships next month in St. Pete Beach, Fla.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/Robofest-Draws-Students-to-Build-Autonomous-Machines.html

by Comcast Business

Much has been written about the benefits of technology as a tool for learning and teaching, giving students a familiar digital environment to learn and enabling instructors to personalize instruction to achieve greater results. Today, computers can be found in 95 percent of schools,[1] used for just about everything from attendance-taking to accessing and using online curricula. Indeed, digital transformation in education is well underway. Textbooks, binders and chalkboards are giving way to laptops, tablets and smartboards, changing the way teachers teach and students learn. Instructors are peer-sourcing instructional-related materials to create richer, more engaging lessons, while students are exploring the internet for related content that extends learning further.

http://cbcommunity.comcast.com/browse-all/details/education-2.0-enabling-and-supporting-digital-transformation

by Angela Farmer, Digital Journal

In the complex world of K-12 education in the United States, one assertion is certain, much like the famous Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” has never been more true. Leading the change, evidenced daily, is the expanding development and utilization of online educational options for students and families. Just a simple search for online K-12 education options, immediately leads to a plethora of options for the consumer.

http://www.djournal.com/opinion/columnists/angela-farmer-exploring-online-options-for-k/article_3c1c7bd8-f7b5-5dfc-a90b-88c0b90bde0e.html