Techno-News Blog

By Tim Sandle, Digital Journal
Remote learning is a growing means of delivering education. A downside is with student engagement. This can be overcome, according to new research, when robotic assistants are used. The Michigan State University research has concluded that online students who elect to use the innovative robots can feel more engaged and connected to the instructor and students in the classroom. This, in turn, leads to better understanding on the part of the student and improved educational attainment. In trials the researchers used robots located in the classroom. Each robot was equipped with a mounted video screen. The screen can be controlled remotely by the student who is undertaken the lesson online. This facility allows the student to pan around the room, looking at the teacher or other students or anything else that’s happening.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/boosting-student-performance-with-robot-learning/article/510130

By Shalina Chatlani, Education Dive

Results from a recent Codeacademy participant survey sent to a subset of the company’s 45 million learners showed 55% of respondents had a university degree when they started the school’s coding courses. 40% said they wanted a software development job, and 30% said they were taking coding course for a potentially higher salary. Meanwhile, 25% said they started coding because they want to work remotely and desired workplace flexibility.  Of respondents who had taken a college-level coding course, 25% said they preferred learning online than in a traditional classroom setting. 10% said online learning made them feel happier, and 5%, particularly women, said learning outside a traditional classroom made them feel less anxious — results reflecting the growing popularity of alternative, flexible online credentialing options especially for nontraditional, adult learners.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/students-want-outside-classroom-learning-marketable-and-flexible-workforce/512686/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

As technology continues to become an essential part of education in the high school classroom, it is important for educators and parents to choose the most appropriate apps and tools to benefit student learning. The best apps teach students and prepare them for success in high school and beyond. When searching for apps for high school students, it is important to find apps that are educational, functional, and fun. The following list of apps includes tools for studying, writing, solving math problems, preparing for standardized tests, managing time, and increasing knowledge.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/8-must-high-school-apps-tools/

by Jason York, University Business
Public universities are evolving their technology transfer activities but must take additional steps to address the demands of the innovation economy, according to a recent report from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The report, “Technology Transfer Evolution: Driving Economic Prosperity,” finds public research universities moving beyond a transactional, revenue-driven approach to selling intellectual property for commercialization purposes. It also calls for universities to accelerate the transition to a model that reflects broad engagement in economic development. Technology transfer offices should develop deeper relationships with industry and other community partners, the report says.

https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/evolving-tech-transfer-activity-colleges-success-beyond-revenue

by Barnes & Noble College

The recent decision to invest $8 million to provide open educational resources (OER) to students at New York’s SUNY and CUNY colleges, signals a shift in the acceptance of OER in higher education. New York is not alone. Similar programs at Cal State and Georgia’s Affordable Learning Georgia system demonstrate a growing movement, capitalizing on early pilot programs and early adopter tests to firmly establish OER into the academic mainstream. Indeed, research indicates that more than 7 in 10 instructors (71 percent) say they are very, or somewhat, likely to promote use of OER to colleagues, but the advantages OER can bring might also reflect the way the students themselves increasingly want to learn.

https://next.bncollege.com/faculty-perspective-oer/

by Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

A decade ago the incumbent media conglomerates – the studios and the networks – would have never believed that Netflix or Amazon or YouTube would be a threat to their business model. Today, the large media companies are scrambling to get even bigger in order to control enough of the platforms and content to fend off these born-digital media upstarts. Is there a chance that there will emerge the born-digital postsecondary player that will do to legacy universities what Netflix might do old line studios and networks? Will universities beyond those run by charismatic presidents such as Michael Crow and Paul LeBlanc make really big bets on unproven and digital-first programs, initiatives, and degrees? Might Disney spending $52.4 billion for 21st Century Fox ignite any relevant strategic conversations within our industry of higher education?

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/disneys-524-billion-21st-century-fox-deal-and-our-higher-ed-futures

by Meg Lloyd, Campus Technology
Johns Hopkins University developed a web application to help learners explore and easily document relationships among visual materials. Users can annotate images with rich multimedia content and link to image, audio and video resources to put the materials in a visual context. Increasingly, instructors illustrate course content with visual images and rich media to engage students. But it can be cumbersome to try to show the relationships among disparate media elements, as well as challenging for faculty to work with available technologies to annotate and map them. At Johns Hopkins University, multimedia developers in the Center for Educational Resources were determined to provide their faculty with an easy-to-use web application that would work in any subject area to orient students to rich media content resources and allow viewers to explore relationships among these media elements. They created the application in house and named it Reveal.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/12/13/making-connections-with-multimedia-content.aspx

By Tricia Brown, UIowa Now

A new online class being taught this fall at the University of Iowa Microfabrication Facility allows students from across the country to participate in laboratory experiments and exercises in real time via state-of-the-art instrumentation that takes them inside the lab despite their physical location. Online Microfabrication offers remote lab sessions in clean-room environments designed to provide a more interactive and immersive experience for students. Students in this course can visualize all the key components of the experiments via various interactive technologies, including a Zoom video conferencing session hosted by the lab instructor that provides them with a sense of their actual presence in the lab.

https://now.uiowa.edu/2017/12/ui-offers-online-nanotechnology-course-real-time-remote-labs

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Information technology professionals across the country report on their compensation, experience, outlook on the future, top challenges and more.  As a whole, the information technology industry in higher education seems to be holding steady. Salaries are mostly flat or growing, outlook is positive and people are generally satisfied with their work. All good signs, considering the economic and political upheaval we’ve seen over the last year. Of course, every IT group has its challenges. So to better understand the nuances of the field, we polled Campus Technology readers working in IT at colleges and universities across the country about their salaries, experience, benefits, complaints, views of the future, etc. Here’s what they told us.

https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2017/12/14/2017-IT-Salary-Job-Satisfaction-Survey-Results.aspx

by Autumn A. Arnett, Education Dive
In a new paper released Thursday morning, the American Council on Education lays out the case for higher ed executives to “prioritize the creation of a campus-wide analytics culture focused on the use of data to promote equity and inclusion, improve student outcomes, develop more inclusive environments, and create more holistic resource strategies.”  Developed from a series of meetings with over 40 higher ed leaders who shared their challenges with leveraging data, the paper identifies the “structural, cultural and technical obstacles” inhibiting higher ed leaders from becoming “data-enabled executives” who prioritize a culture of data analysis that helps move the needle for students and the campus overall. A lack of technical and human infrastructure is usually the biggest hindrance to institutions’ ability to really leverage data in meaningful ways to affect campus culture. Governance, a lack of a business intelligence strategy, inconsistent metadata and data definitions, and poor data integration are also issues.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/data-is-key-to-improving-campus-outcomes-but-infrastructure-challenges-ar/513041/

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal
Global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow 14.6 percent in 2018, according to a new forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC), to hit $772.5 billion. The category will more or less maintain that upward trajectory throughout the prediction period, averaging a 14.4 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2021 and tipping the trillion-dollar mark in 2020. Hardware will lead the way among technology categories in IoT spending in 2018, accounting for $239 billion “going largely toward modules and sensors along with some spending on infrastructure and security,” according to a news release. Services will follow hardware for the year and spending on software and connectivity will come in third.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/12/12/report-internet-of-things-to-tip-1-trillion-by-2020.aspx

by Dave Doucette, EdTech
From targeted recruiting to more effective fundraising, higher education institutions find more uses for business intelligence solutions. Dave Doucette is director of West Coast higher education sales for CDW•G. In the past few years, data analytics in higher education has emerged not only as a business tool but also as a means to facilitate student success. For universities across the country, tools like Microsoft Power BI and Splunk Enterprise 6.5.1 help educators make sure that students are staying on track. With access to huge data sets and the software capable of processing them, higher education institutions can now identify at-risk students before they fail. By providing just-in-time interventions to these students, universities are also increasing their retention rates and, ultimately, their bottom line.

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2017/12/4-ways-data-empowers-universities-beyond-retention

By Tina Nazerian, EdSurge

Tracy Mitrano, an attorney who used to be the director information technology policy at Cornell University, holds an opinion on the issue that’s common among academics. She believes there’s a lot at stake for higher education if net neutrality is reversed, especially when it comes to distance learning and hybrid education. The internet is currently categorized as a utility, but the FCC wants to re-categorize it as an information service. Mitrano, who is running for congress, says a benefit of keeping the internet’s current categorization as a utility means the FCC is able to use methods like taxation and regulation to leverage for-profit companies to bring internet to rural areas.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-12-12-will-net-neutrality-reversal-hurt-digital-learning-as-vote-approaches-mixed-opinions

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal
A full 85 percent of school districts now meet the Federal Communications Commission’s short-term goal for broadband connectivity of 100 Mbps per 1,000 students. And almost half of school systems (47 percent) have at least some schools that meet the long-term broadband goal of 1 Gbps per 1,000 students; 16 percent are achieving the long-term goal in every one of their schools. Funding, referenced by 61 percent of districts, continued to be the biggest barrier for districts in their efforts to increase connectivity, with a particular nod to monthly recurring costs. Those findings surfaced in CoSN’s annual infrastructure survey report.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/11/27/long-term-broadband-goals-still-on-far-horizon-for-most-districts.aspx

by Melissa Burns, Business2Community
The e-learning is on its rise. In the USA about 77% of companies offer online courses to help train their employees with 81% of learners partaking in the online study for personal development. Today it is possible to get a quality business knowledge from the leading professionals without going to college or even leaving your room. Online courses probably will not guarantee the same effect as attending top business schools and will not necessarily give you a high paid job right away. However, e-learning can give you important skills that students usually gain from top business schools. Whether it is a company that wants to incorporate an online education program or a student who wants to get an MBA, the advantages of e-learning compete with those of offline education. Having become the biggest revolution in modern education, e-learning has made a big change in the economy and opened a lot of opportunities for people from around the world.

https://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/online-education-business-tool-boost-economy-01972787

By Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed

A small institution in Vermont caters to students with disabilities by letting them choose the technology that suits their needs. Landmark College in Vermont might offer some guidance. The private institution with approximately 450 students exclusively serves students with diagnosed learning disabilities, attention disorders or autism. Like all institutions, it’s still grappling with how best to serve students in the digital age, whether in the classroom or at a distance. Kevin Keith, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science, has been employing and refining since 2012 a flipped-classroom approach to his introductory computer science course. For instructors at other institutions looking to reach out to those types of students, Keith recommends a piece of advice he received early in his career: “Say everything you write, and write everything you say.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/12/13/landmark-college-offers-model-institutions-and-instructors

By Emily Younker, the Joplin Globe

Many worry that his proposal will leave ordinary people and nonprofit organizations that exist to be places of knowledge, such as schools and libraries, more at the mercy of cable and wireless companies. The FCC proposal would mean that, if companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon decide to block a particular app, throttle data speeds for a rival service or offer faster speeds to companies who pay for it, they merely need to disclose their policies for doing so.  “I think some people may say this will impact students because they may not be able to stream Netflix videos, but it is much more serious and broad than that,” said Randy Roberts, dean of library services for Pittsburg (Kansas) State University.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/12/13/net-neutrality-vote-schools/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Public libraries and school libraries are crucial for teaching digital literacy. Libraries offer much more than books. Today’s libraries are technology hubs where anyone can access and use technology daily. As more technology emerges and the amount of online content grows, libraries are at the forefront of teaching library patron’s digital literacy. Digital literacy extends beyond the classroom walls. Public libraries are essential for teaching digital literacy to the public. For example, American Library Association (ALA) explains, “Pew research […] shows the connection between library support of digital literacy skills and employment. Contributing to the economic health of the community, and the economic success of individuals, are major reasons that teaching digital literacy skills is important.”

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/libraries-key-teaching-digital-literacy/

By Henry Kronk, eLearning Inside

Codeacademy—the world’s largest online ‘learn to code’ institution—just released a survey conducted with some of the over 45 million learners who have passed through their digital halls. Some of their results confirm suspicions; others are more surprising.  To begin, 40% of respondents said they wanted to switch career paths and become a programmer/software developer. One quarter of respondents cited the potential of working remotely as a major draw to learning to code. Women were about 25% more likely to seek out an educating in coding for the same reason. Urban users, furthermore, were also more likely to pursue coding for remote work compared to their suburban counterparts.

https://news.elearninginside.com/codeacademy-report-provides-glimpse-demographics-people-learning-code/

by Louis Columbus, Forbes

Machine Learning Engineers, Data Scientists, and Big Data Engineers rank among the top emerging jobs on LinkedIn. Data scientist roles have grown over 650% since 2012, but currently, 35,000 people in the US have data science skills, while hundreds of companies are hiring for those roles. There are currently 1,829 open Machine Learning Engineering positions on LinkedIn. Job growth in the next decade is expected to outstrip growth during the previous decade, creating 11.5M jobs by 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These and many other insights are from the recently released LinkedIn 2017 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/12/11/linkedins-fastest-growing-jobs-today-are-in-data-science-machine-learning/#52c2302a51bd

by Meghan Bogardus Cortez, EdTech

With the global number of cybersecurity professionals down, schools need to prepare students for future jobs. Meghan is an associate editor with EdTech: Focus on Higher Education. She enjoys coffee, cats and science fiction TV. By 2019, there were will be a global shortage of cybersecurity professionals of about 2 million, IT governance nonprofit ISACA reported in a 2016 skills gap analysis. With this looming over their heads, university leaders have recognized that they need to better train cybersecurity students — from creating more engaging experiences to reshaping programs so they go beyond just the technical skills. But most students have already ruled out careers in cybersecurity by the time they reach college, so the responsibility of closing the skills gap also is falling on K-12 schools.

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2017/12/k-12-schools-universities-boost-cybersecurity-education-close-skills-gap