Techno-News Blog

by Pat Donachie, Education Dive

States must support K-12 and higher ed initiatives to introduce students to the kinds of skills that will help them compete and fill jobs in the burgeoning data economy, and there also must be support for training opportunities for individuals in the workplace to garner new skills, according to the author of a recent report from the Center for Data Innovation that ranked the states which have been the best in data innovation, including creating available datasets, investing in new technologies and helping to develop “human and business capital.”

http://www.educationdive.com/news/how-can-states-improve-data-innovation-in-ed-systems/505884/

By Beth Marshall, Community Impact Houston

Sustaining the most damage of all Lone Star College System campuses, LSC-Kingwood took on water in six of its nine buildings, and officials have worked to convert nearly 600 face-to-face courses to online or hybrid formats. “While the hurricane damaged our buildings, it did not shake our determination to get students educated,” said LSC-Kingwood President Katherine Persson. “Campus personnel pulled together to ensure that students were able to register, pay, and attend classes by Sept. 25.” As of Sept. 22, LSC-Kingwood had a seven percent increase in student enrollment, according to a release from the college. More than 13,000 students are taking online classes and in-person and hybrid courses are being held in the Student Conference Center and the Music Instructional Building on campus.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/lake-houston-humble-kingwood/education/2017/09/25/classes-begin-lsc-kingwood-students-today-flood-damages/

By Allison Mills, Michigan Tech University

In a paper published in the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, STEM education researcher Joshua Ellis shows how empowering teachers in online professional development classes can deepen their learning. The effects can then carry over into their own classrooms. “My background is in designing online learning environments, and we know that you always want to design for the outcome—but we don’t always know how to design for the outcome,” says Ellis, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences at Michigan Technological University. “The study spurred conversations for us as designers because, at the end of the day, we have to ask, would we do this again?”

http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2017/september/teacher-leadership-online-classrooms-shapes-communication.html

By Mike Malloy, World-Herald

Back in the era of dial-up Internet and floppy discs, Mary Hawkins helped guide Bellevue University into the then mostly uncharted world of online education. It was 1996. Hawkins, who was less than a year into her tenure as university president, established Bellevue’s first online offering – an undergraduate management class. Unsure where to cap enrollment, Hawkins set the class limit at 1,000. “We got eight,” she said. Not 8,000 students. Eight students. Professors also were slow to boot up. “We were literally telling people to unpack the box the computer came in,” Hawkins said. Today, Bellevue has 9,176 online students, who log in from 130 countries to pursue 80 different degrees.

http://www.omaha.com/special_sections/college-careers/online-courses-initially-slow-to-boot-now-dominate-some-curricula/article_88135ae8-b398-5d6c-9236-be0c62378d52.html

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal
Sales of wearable devices will post double-digit gains each year through 2021, according to a new forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC).  Vendors will sell 121.7 million devices this year, according to the forecast, up 16.6 percent over last year’s 104.4 million shipments. By 2021, the company predicts total sales to reach 229.5 million units on the strength of a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2 percent. Wrist-worn devices will drive the market, according to the company, while “lesser-known wearable products, such as clothing and ear-wear, will experience market-beating growth in the years to come.”

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/09/15/wearables-to-see-double-digit-growth-through-2021.aspx

By Sri Ravipati, THE Journal

Since its debut last year, educators and students in 115 countries are currently using Minecraft: Education Edition. Starting today, classrooms will be able to play a popular educational game from the past within Minecraft’s sandbox world.  Microsoft has launched The Oregon Trail Experience, which focuses on subjects in STEM, humanities and fine arts. The company partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to bring back The Oregon Trail, a computer game first introduced in 1971 to teach students about frontier life by putting them in the role of a 19th century pioneer.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/09/18/minecraft-education-edition-reboots-the-oregon-trail.aspx

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

If you’re an educator, you’ve probably noticed that the profession has undergone significant change in the last few years. With the growth of the flipped classroom model and the plethora of resources available via apps and websites, teachers are no longer considered the experts. They are moving into the role of facilitator, “guide on the side” instead of “sage on the stage.” Are we headed to a brave new world in which teachers are replaced by giant computer screens and a tech coach to assist on the sidelines? The answer is…yes and no.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/artificial-intelligence-computers-taking-teachers/

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal
4 Recommendations for Closing Broadband Equity Gaps
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and Education Networks of America (ENA) have released a new report examining the steps states are taking to close the gaps in wireless access between their schools and districts.

The report offers four recommendations for policy makers and school leaders:

Increase infrastructure to support student-centered learning;
Design infrastructure to meet capacity targets;
Ensure equity of access for all students outside of school; and
Leverage state resources to increase broadband access.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/09/20/4-recommendations-for-closing-broadband-equity-gaps.aspx

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

A team of researchers led by professors at Cornell University will launch a project designed to ensure that automated decision-making systems respect privacy and come to their decisions fairly. “There’s a lot of new technology being deployed in a variety of important settings, and we don’t fully understand all the ramifications,” said Thomas Ristenpart, associate professor of computer science at Cornell Tech and co-principal investigator for the project, in a prepared statement.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/09/18/cornell-carnegie-researchers-aim-to-hold-computers-accountable-for-their-decisions.aspx

By Henry Kronk, eLearning Inside

We generally consider binging a bad thing, but a new study conducted by Wharton professors Eric Bradlow, J. Wesley Hutchinson, and doctoral candidate Tong Lu, suggests that binging content helps us learn better. Their study examined students taking a class on Coursera, one of the most widely used online education platforms. They received and analyzed data regarding how quickly students in multiple different classes consumed each learning module and compared it to their performance in the class.

https://news.elearninginside.com/binge-learning-online-education-can-learn-netflix/