Techno-News Blog

By Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Parents and educators across the country understand the importance of teaching kids how to code. Not only can it help them learn valuable skills that they can use into their technology-driver future, but it also helps them learn to approach problems differently. But determining the best method for teaching a child to code isn’t always obvious. In most cases, people agree that a traditional textbook approach is insufficient for subjects like coding. While the idiosyncrasies of the language can be introduced that way, it’s hard to assimilate the information until it is in used entirely. But sticking children in front of a blank screen and having them write line after line, though functional, isn’t very inspiring or even interesting.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/11-amazing-tools-games-teach-kids-code/

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

Today, more than 17 percent of higher education schools offer full-time online degree programs, and the options are incredibly diverse. Nearly every student in nearly every field can find courses available online, bringing the world closer to affordable, attainable higher education. To celebrate, here is a brief history of online degree options — and what we can expect from online education in the near future.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/ever-expanding-list-online-degree-options/

By Cathy Sandeen, Inside Higher Ed

With some exceptions noted, MOOCs are mainly a technology business, focused on providing a return on investment (even for nonprofits like edX) by targeting the large nondegree professional development and technology training market. Though the MOOC experiment over the past five years has resulted in many positives, this era also reminds us that when it comes to degree attainment, there really is no magic bullet. The hard, in-the-trenches work of helping the students of today get and remain focused, learn, and stick it out to degree completion remains the province of mainstream higher education — MOOCs or no MOOCs.

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2017/06/22/essay-looking-back-predictions-about-moocs

by Eric E. Fredericksen, Online Learning Journal

Online learning in US higher education continues to grow dramatically. The most recent estimates indicate that about 30% of all students enroll in at least one online course (Allen & Seamen, 2016). As this important type of academic offering has become increasingly important to institutions of higher education, Presidents and Provosts have frequently established leadership positions to coordinate and direct their efforts in this area. But what do we know about the leaders who have been charged with managing this academic transformation? This systematic national study, a first of its kind, sheds light on the leadership that is guiding this new teaching and learning environment.

https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/1164/270

by Dom Galeon, Futurism

As promised during its annual developer conference, Google launched its search engine for jobs yesterday. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), this specialized job search uses Google’s Cloud Jobs API. Instead of requiring users to download a new app, this new AI-powered tool allows job seekers in the U.S. to use Google’s existing search function, which are accessible via desktop and mobile. The new feature, currently available only in English, uses the same simple language Google searches are known for. Simply type “jobs near me,” “teaching jobs,” “writing jobs,” or any other query along these lines. The results page would then show the new job search widget, accompanied by a wide range of jobs — from across several online job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, WayUP, and even Facebook — which you could then refine further depending on your preferences.

https://futurism.com/google-now-employs-ai-to-help-you-land-a-new-job/

by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office

The first-ever cohort in MIT’s inaugural online MicroMasters program — consisting of more than 1,100 learners who completed all five of the online courses in supply chain management — has received its final MicroMasters certificates and will be honored at an online ceremony today. Of those learners who opted to take the proctored comprehensive final exam, 622 achieved passing grades, automatically earning a chance to apply for a full master’s degree. Combining credit for the completed online coursework plus one semester of on-campus classes, this “hybrid” master’s is available at MIT or any of several partner institutions: University of Queensland, in Australia; Curtin University, in Australia; Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York; and the Zaragoza Logistics Center, in Spain.

http://news.mit.edu/2017/first-micromasters-learners-earn-credentials-0620

By Lorena Roberts, ULoop

Are you behind in your classes? Have you changed your major and you’re going to be “taking a victory lap?” (Or two?) Maybe you just refuse to take 15 credit hours per semester and now you’re three years deep in a degree that you’ve barely scraped the surface of. Don’t fret; I have the solution: take classes over the summer… online. If that sentence makes you anxious because you’ve never taken an online course, stop it. It’s way easier than you think it’s going to be. You get to do all the work on your own time (or ahead of time) and you can creatively collaborate with all your classmates just like in a regular class through apps like GroupMe. Need some recommendations? I’ve got you covered.

https://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/240179/5-Types-of-Online-Classes-to-Check-Out-This-Summer

by Vinay Umarji, Business Standard

After being laid-off by an information technology (IT) major in Chennai, Ashir Sharma (name changed) recently bagged a job at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), in Pune, after training himself in data analytics using the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). Sharma is part of a rising number of professionals in the layoffs-marred IT industry who are turning to massive open online courses (MOOCs) platform NPTEL, which is run by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Roorkee, along with IISc Bangalore. In fact, on the back of rising enrolments from job seekers and professionals, the takers for MOOCs on NPTEL have grown from a cumulative one million in the past three years (2014, 2015, and 2016) to 500,000 in the first half of 2017 itself.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/worried-by-it-layoffs-open-online-courses-can-future-proof-your-career-117062000425_1.html

By Jim Yupangco, Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) collect a wealth of data, and much of it goes untouched and unused. But you can take advantage of that data to improve the design of your online courses. Applying learning analytics can help your students become more successful learners, and improve their effectiveness in their roles. In this article, we’ll show you how learning analytics can help you improve your online course design. And we’ll give you some practical tips to get started.

https://elearningindustry.com/improving-online-course-design-with-learning-analytics-4-tips

by: Martin Arnold, Financial Times

The market for recruiting blockchain engineers has been described as “red hot”. But where can aspiring software coders find training about the intricacies of this technology? There has been a surprising dearth of courses available in this nascent but fast-growing field. Yet the signs are that this is starting to change. Blockchain is a technology that powers cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the value of which soared to more than $2,500 recently, up almost fivefold in the past year. Blockchains allow encrypted data on anything, from money to medical records, to be shared between many companies, people and institutions. This protects data from fraud while instantly updating all parties concerned. Experts say the demand for expertise is coming from all sectors — from financial services to retail — and it is far outstripping supply.

https://www.ft.com/content/f736b04e-3708-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3

By Michael Krigsman, ZD Net

As artificial intelligence proliferates, companies and governments are aggregating enormous data sets to feed their AI initiatives. Although privacy is not a new concept in computing, the growth of aggregated data magnifies privacy challenges and leads to extreme ethical risks such as unintentionally building biased AI systems, among many others. Privacy and artificial intelligence are both complex topics. There are no easy or simple answers because solutions lie at the shifting and conflicted intersection of technology, commercial profit, public policy, and even individual and cultural attitudes.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/artificial-intelligence-and-privacy-engineering-why-it-matters-now/

By Liam Tung, ZD Net

A Cray system in Switzerland is now the world’s third most powerful supercomputer, behind two Chinese systems. That means for the first time in 21 years a US high-performance computing system is not one of the world’s top three supercomputers, according to the June 2017 rankings by the supercomputer benchmarking project Top500. The only other time a US supercomputer had failed to make Top500’s top three ranking was in 1996, when the US was edged out by three Japanese supercomputers.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/supercomputing-top500-us-knocked-out-of-top-three-most-powerful-list/

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Most adults would change at least one big decision related to their college education if they could, related to their major (36 percent), what institution they attended (28 percent) or what type of degree they pursued (12 percent). This finding came from interviews with almost 90,000 U.S. adults conducted as part of an “Education Consumer Pulse” survey run between June 2016 and March 2017 by Gallup and Strada Education Network. Strada, previously USA Funds, is a nonprofit focused on student success in higher education. The Education Consumer Pulse is a new research platform developed by the two organizations to research “education consumers.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/06/12/adults-regret-their-college-education-decisions.aspx

By Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

The Competency-Based Education Network, a grant-funded group of 30 institutions with competency-based programs, has become a free-standing nonprofit association and is opening up its membership. The group was founded in 2013 and has been funded exclusively by the Lumina Foundation. Last year C-BEN released a draft set of voluntary quality standards for the emerging field. As it becomes an association, the group said its priority is to spread knowledge and expertise about competency-based education. “C-BEN is based on the conviction that collaboration across institutional boundaries is key to accelerating progress on the toughest challenges facing advocates of competency-based learning,” Charla Long, C-BEN’s executive director, said in a written statement.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/06/19/competency-education-group-opens-membership

By Jordan Friedman, US News

Prospective online students should research whether employers in their industry prefer online degrees with certain programmatic accreditation. When it comes to pursuing an online degree, it’s important to select a legitimate program offering marketable credentials. A key indicator of legitimacy, experts say, is accreditation. Though it’s voluntary, accreditation has several benefits and typically validates a program to other colleges and universities as well as employers. While it’s generally safe to assume that online programs at reputable universities are accredited, experts say it doesn’t hurt to double check. For those earning a degree from a lesser-known online school, researching accreditation is particularly important given the prevalence of scams on the internet.

https://www.usnews.com/higher-education/online-education/articles/2017-06-12/how-to-check-if-an-online-program-is-accredited-follow-5-steps

By Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

New Facebook features intended for developers could, if expanded, turn the social networking site into an online learning platform. Facebook is testing new features in its developer community that, if rolled out across the platform, could let anyone on the social networking service teach online courses. Moderators of some Facebook groups listed as school or class have recently noticed that they can add course units that link to one another. As members of the groups work their way through the units, their efforts are tracked by a progress bar. The features are part of an initiative, known as Developers Circles, to connect local developers with one another that Facebook launched at this spring at its developers conference, F8. The company is working with online education provider Udacity to create training programs for developers who participate in the circles.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/12/facebook-testing-features-let-users-teach-online-courses

BY LEE RAINIE AND JANNA ANDERSON, Pew Research Center

In 1999, 18 years ago, when just 4% of the world’s population was online, Kevin Ashton coined the term Internet of Things, Neil Gershenfeld of MIT Media Lab wrote the book “When Things Start to Think,” and Neil Gross wrote in BusinessWeek: “In the next century, planet Earth will don an electronic skin. It will use the internet as a scaffold to support and transmit its sensations. This skin is already being stitched together. It consists of millions of embedded electronic measuring devices: thermostats, pressure gauges, pollution detectors, cameras, microphones, glucose sensors, EKGs, electroencephalographs. These will probe and monitor cities and endangered species, the atmosphere, our ships, highways and fleets of trucks, our conversations, our bodies – even our dreams.”

http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/06/06/the-internet-of-things-connectivity-binge-what-are-the-implications/

BY BOB NILSSON, eSchool News

The topic of video cameras in the classroom has been brewing for years. Schools that have deployed cameras in public areas have experienced dramatic safety benefits. For example, Fraser Public Schools in Michigan found that the incidents of fighting dropped to near zero. Police officers have found body cams provide an important defense against false accusations. College professors are also eager for the protection that video surveillance can provide. In The Case for Class Cams, Amir Azarvan argues that “In an age of narcissism, we need to protect professors by putting cameras in the classroom.” According to False Accusations: A Growing Fear in the Classroom, “one in seven male teachers has been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with students”.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/06/12/video-cameras-improve-classroom/

by Matt Zalaznick, University Business

Badges have not just motivated students to take a deeper look at the skills they’ve earned. Several institutions also issue badges for professional development. At Emporia State University in Kansas, badges awarded to faculty who’ve completed a course in online teaching readiness have been viewed online more than any badge the institution offers to students or instructors. “Faculty are parlaying that into potential evidence for tenure and promotions,” says Rob Gibson, director of learning technologies. Auburn University in Alabama does not specifically mandate professional development. So, Lindsay Doukopoulos, assistant director of the university’s Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, launched a badging program in April 2017 to incentivize participation in the university’s workshops.

https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/badges-give-faculty-boost

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

There’s no doubt that edtech is transforming education before our eyes. From the way teachers communicate with parents, to the way students are engaged in the classroom, edtech has a large impact on the modern world of education. Fully 80% of low income parents feel positive about classroom technology’s impact on their children. In order to provide you with data-driven info on the subject, we decided to share the infographic linked below.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/low-income-parents-feel-classroom-technology/