Techno-News Blog

BY BRONWYN HARRIS, eSchool News

When podcasts first gained popularity in the early 2000s, they seemed to be a quaint throwback to radio. But that changed quickly as more and more people jumped in and started experimenting with the medium. Now, hits like Serial have launched podcasts into the mainstream. You can find podcasts on nearly every topic — from movie reviews to academic lessons to celebrity gossip — and in nearly every genre, from short fiction to in-depth journalism to comedy. Podcasts are a great way to hook kids into learning about a topic. They draw listeners into the story in a unique way, providing different viewpoints from what students are usually exposed to. Teachers can use podcasts to supplement the curriculum with high-quality, free content. And you can find podcasts that will work for every grade level and subject area. Check out a few of our favorites to get started!

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/06/26/learning-podcasts-students/

BY Hovhannes Avoyan, Forbes

Google released three months’ worth of online courses on deep learning, which also serves as an example of how tech giants are embracing the skills shortage challenge while at the same time educating the industry to work on its products. In my opinion, in order to satisfy the global demand for highly skilled professionals in the field, basecamps, universities and other educational organizations need to collaborate with big companies in order to teach a new generation of data scientists. They are the ones who will define our future and replace engineers, who, ironically, may be working hard to design robots that will one day take over their jobs.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/06/26/machine-learning-is-creating-a-demand-for-new-skills/

by Nihal Kashinath, Financial Express

Traditional learning avenues like schools and colleges haven’t kept pace. While many engineering colleges offer electives in IoT or AI as part of the curriculum, the course content is very basic. Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been two of the fastest growing fields of technology in recent history—in India and across the world. The potential they hold to transform business and economy has been capturing the attention of CEOs, entrepreneurs, young professionals and students alike. Over the last four years that we’ve been tracking this space, the use-cases and business-cases being explored have matured significantly, and in the last 18 months there has even been an uptick in the number of companies ready to make investments in exploratory efforts. Yet we don’t see many pilot projects going on in India.

http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/online-learning-why-is-it-so-hard-to-find-expertise-in-iot-ai/735576/

BY WILLIAM FENTON, PC Magazine

Contrary to popular perception, faculty are not reflexively opposed to online learning. In a recent survey of 3,500 postsecondary faculty and administrators, Tyton Partners found that a majority of faculty—63 percent—valued the potential impact of courseware. The trouble is, they lack the time and training to pursue it. The solution isn’t another learning management system (LMS). Educators need an easy onramp to blended learning that leverages the tools and repositories they already use. Google might have the answer. Google G Suite for Education is already a fixture in K-12 and higher education. According to Google, 70 million students and teachers rely upon the online suite—half of all primary and secondary students in the US and more than 800 colleges and universities, as of last spring.

https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/354491/google-classroom-could-bridge-a-gap-in-online-learning

By Maya Beasley, Center for American Progress

As discussed in an earlier report, putting aside hiring failures and hostile environments at tech companies, there remains a widening gap between job requirements and the skills that universities provide their students, especially people of color.In recognition of this gap, Howard University and Google recently joined forces to create Howard West, a program for 25 to 30 rising junior and senior computer science students from the university at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. The program, which begins in summer 2017, will take place over three months; senior Google engineers and Howard faculty will act as teachers, and the program appears to be largely instructional. Similarly, Georgia Tech and Udacity recently teamed up to provide a series of free online courses that are directly applicable to a range of careers in technology for individuals with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2017/06/23/434758/todays-students-prepared-enter-tech-industry/

By Katie Gillespie, Columbian

District adopts online classes, digital textbooks for eight subjects. Evergreen Public Schools this summer will begin shifting from paper textbooks to virtual ones. The school board at its Tuesday meeting approved digital curriculum and material for eight subjects ranging from kindergarten science and math to high school Advanced Placement psychology. The curriculum includes online class work, as well as additional printed materials. The school board will consider additional curriculum throughout the summer. The curriculum replaces textbooks for some classes as the district prepares to put laptop computers in the hands of all its students from third grade to senior year this year. Younger students will also use computers and the newly adopted material in the classroom, but won’t take the devices home. Vancouver and Battle Ground school districts are also rolling out digital curriculum.

http://www.columbian.com/news/2017/jun/24/evergreen-schools-transition-from-paper-to-pixels/

by eMarketer

Millennials say they are spending more time with video and social, but they are not necessarily cutting back their time with other media. But according to a recent study, younger internet users, those ages 13 to 17, are shifting away from text-based online content—and a bit from TV—while spending more time with video and social. Change* in Usage of Select Media According to US Teen vs. Millennial Internet Users, March 2017 (% of respondents) The data comes from a March 2017 survey by streaming solutions and content provider Fullscreen and market research agency Leflein Associates, which polled 1,173 US internet users ages 13 to 34.

https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Have-Media-Habits-Changed-Among-Millennials-Teens/1016040

By Sydney Johnson, EdSurge

The program, which kicked off in 2016, shared its first set of findings today about what faculty are learning it takes to create an OER degree. “OER can be an essential pillar of the community college student success agenda,” says Karen Stout, president and CEO of ATD. “It has the potential to trigger changes in teaching and learning and help students complete their courses and degrees.” There will be at least 53 degree pathways offered by the 38 schools. In this past spring semester, the ATD study shows students on average have saved about $134, or 5 to 22 percent of what they were paying, per course. The goal is to drastically bump those numbers up, Stout says, by the time full majors are slated to be complete in fall 2018.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-06-22-38-community-colleges-share-what-it-takes-to-launch-an-oer-degree-program

By Sean Gallagher, EdSurge

Given that success in all things online, it’s worth noting how much of Amazon’s recent bets involve establishing a brick-and-mortar presence. For years, Amazon has been strategically investing in physical presence, including fulfillment centers closer to its customers and recently piloting brick-and-mortar bookstores. The strategy is that the online and offline commerce worlds are converging in unprecedented ways, not just in selling groceries but in all kinds of areas. There’s a lesson for higher education, about the importance of offline channels in a digitally-driven economy—and a moment to reflect on the impactful trends that have materialized in the online education market.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-06-22-how-amazon-s-purchase-of-whole-foods-highlights-the-hybrid-omnichannel-future-of-higher-ed

By: Noura Badawi, Faculty Focus

At a time when online institutions are in fierce competition for students and accreditation agencies are taking a critical look at online course quality, it is becoming increasingly important for online instructors to ensure that they are exceeding their institution’s expectations. Students are also expecting more from their online courses. And while most of us know the importance of addressing students by name in the discussion board and offering students substantive feedback on assignments, there many more things we can do. In this article, I outline 10 online teaching tips that may be less well-known but can lead to a more positive experience for both professor and student.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/ten-online-teaching-tips-may-not-heard/

by Nic Pillow, Training Zone

Online elearning has been hugely successful in allowing training to be delivered cost-effectively to very large audiences. However, training that’s purely online often results in a reduced experience and quality of learning compared to interactive classroom training. By contrast, we have found that a new online approach – Connected Learning – can provide even greater interaction, engagement, and training success than does the smallest of classes. Connected Learning was pioneered by Jonathan Worth in Phonar – an award-winning university photography course. From an inauspicious start with 9 students in the back-room of a cinema, within 3 years, it become the most heavily over-subscribed course in the university where it attracted 35,000 online participants

https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/deliver/training/connected-learning-the-new-socially-interactive-approach-to-online-training

By Marian Stoltz-Loike, US News

Employees who need an MBA to get a promotion or change jobs may find an online program valuable and suited to the demands of their work schedules. Earning an MBA is about more than just learning relevant academic material; it’s about positioning oneself for career success by gaining access to well-connected individuals and valuable resources. The following support services should be components of any online MBA program students pursue.

https://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2017-06-23/4-student-services-online-mba-students-need

By Kim Murdock, the Times Record

Ed Fields, an online Cherokee language course instructor, uses a live video stream to reach thousands of students across the world each year. Keeping alive a language and culture that were on the verge of dying is critical, and making Cherokee language classes available online has successfully contributed to the effort, said B.J. Foreman, multi-media director for the Cherokee Nation. The online classes are available to the public free of charge, Foreman said; an internet connection and free online registration at www.cherokee.org is all that is needed to access the classes. The classes can be located by clicking “Language Classes” under “Quick Links” on the left side of the website.

http://www.swtimes.com/entertainmentlife/20170623/online-classes-new-text-help-keep-cherokee-language-alive

by GABRIELA VELASQUEZ, Missourian

Parents’ eyes lit up Wednesday when UM System President Mun Choi announced an initiative to move the system towards adopting open educational resources. Or, more simply, free books. Open educational resources are published with open access copyrights, are free for students and can be distributed and used for little to no cost. Instructors also can write and add chapters to tailor textbooks to specific courses. They are accessed online, usually as PDFs, and can be revised and updated fairly quickly, according to previous Missourian reporting.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/um-system-announces-plan-to-adopt-open-educational-resources/article_0ea53ee2-569b-11e7-9195-53257ada9554.html

by Ben Pipe, Virtual College

More than ever before, learners are turning to their colleagues, friends and online forums to aid them in their knowledge. Here we take a look at the evolution of social learning. Social learning is a buzzword in the learning and development world that is transforming the way we absorb knowledge. But what does this term actually mean? In short, social learning focuses on learning by interacting and discussing content with others. It plays a large role in the workplace and includes behaviours such as: collaborating with other employees on project deliverables, guided learning programs, and the use of social media for learning purposes.

https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/virtual-college/2017/06/the-evolution-of-social-learning

by Alex Leilacher, Bitcoin Magazine

In recent months, there has been a surge in the demand for blockchain professionals. Data from the professional networking site LinkedIn has shown that blockchain related job postings have tripled in the last 12 months. This shows that there is a high demand for blockchain experts as the potential and applicability of blockchain technology becomes more apparent to corporations. Recognizing this opportunity, several universities have added blockchain studies to their fields of study to tailor their educational offerings to these new developments in the job market. The University of Edinburgh, for example, has recently announced the launch of a blockchain technology laboratory within its School of Informatics through a collaboration with technology startup Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK). The new lab will focus primarily on blockchain studies.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/more-universities-add-blockchain-courses-meet-market-demand/

BY ALEX SHASHKEVICH, Stanford University

Lacuna, a free online annotation platform developed at Stanford, promotes collaborative learning and interdisciplinary conversations. The platform is being used at higher education institutions around the world. An online annotation tool developed at Stanford is helping students and researchers with reading, writing and fostering an exchange of ideas in the fields of humanities and social sciences. Lacuna is an online platform that encourages interdisciplinary conversations and peer-to-peer learning. Developed in 2013 by researchers in Stanford’s Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA), Lacuna is an online platform that encourages interdisciplinary conversations and peer-to-peer learning.

http://news.stanford.edu/2017/06/22/annotation-tool-helps-students-beyond-stanford/

by MONIQUE HORE, Herald Sun

The school week could be cut to three days as Victoria’s growing cohort of students are taught in shifts, according to an education expert. The state faces an education boom with an extra 50,000 students predicted to enrol over just eight years. Deakin University associate professor of digital learning Tom Apperley said ballooning numbers might send students online. He said schools could introduce shifts — rotating students through fewer classroom lessons and offering top-up education online. “In 20 or 30 years, school won’t be an everyday affair,” he said. “As state-funded schools continue to grow, they might only offer a student three or fours days a week. Or they might just go to offering half-days and shifts for students.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/future-melbourne/education-experts-say-school-week-could-be-cut-online-lessons-added/news-story/483db0db9349642fd96108e1122571cb

By DEBORAH SHAAR, KMUW

The Wichita Public Library is beginning a new program this week that offers online learning in a social, small group setting. The sessions are called Learning Circles, and they’re free. Ten Learning Circles are planned from now through November on topics such as fake news, the art of poetry, superheroes and how to make a website. The idea is to get a group of 10-15 people together to take an online course and talk about it along the way to completion. Library Director Cynthia Berner says this shared experience keeps people motivated to actually finish an online class. “The curriculum has been vetted. It comes from experts,” Berner says. “What the library will be doing is bringing a facilitator to the Learning Circle and our staff will actually be learning together right with the other participants.”

http://kmuw.org/post/wichita-public-library-begins-learning-circles-program-online-classes

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

In the end, the lifetime earnings of high school dropouts are $260,000 LESS than peers who earn a diploma. In response to this crisis, The Tech Edvocate decided to put forth the idea that the explosion of edtech can be leveraged to decrease the drop rate in America, provided that educators have the right tools. In this article, we decided to share with our readers a list of edtech tools that we believe can be used to prevent students from dropping out. However, before we get into that, let’s talk about why we should be concerned about the dropout rate.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/can-technology-used-decrease-dropout-rate/

by Katie Reilly, Time

Nearly 18 months after his arrival in Turkey, Althib has found a way to continue his education. Like thousands of other refugees across the world, he has been taking online courses offered by universities as far-flung as Amsterdam and Baltimore, through programs that offer free classes to those who are displaced from their homes. As the global refugee crisis deepens — Althib is one of more than 65.6 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, according to the UN Refugee Agency — many experts have called for a long-term approach to providing refugees with an education. That’s especially important for refugees from countries like Syria, who may not be able to return home and resume their studies anytime soon.

http://time.com/4825289/world-refugee-day-education-hadi-althib/