Techno-News Blog

by Bill Gates, Time

There’s never been a better time to be alive if you’re curious. When I wanted to learn something outside of school as a kid, cracking open my World Book encyclopedia was the best I could do. Today, all you have to do is go online. There are many good resources out there, but these are a few of my favorite ways to continue learning.

http://time.com/5066247/bill-gates-learning-hacks/

by Meghan Bogardus Cortez, EdTech

Higher education institutions can leverage technologies and data to prepare learners for success. For colleges and universities to succeed today, treating nontraditional students as the norm is becoming quite important. With college enrollment declining over the past five years, looking to engage students who have often struggled in traditional academic settings might be a way for universities to increase their success. Here are four ways universities can make sure they are meeting the needs of these so-called nontraditional learners:

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2018/01/4-ways-universities-can-better-engage-nontraditional-students

by eSchool Media

In this straight-forward report, eSchool Media discusses what to expect, overall, in 2018; how 2017 compares to 2018 for both K-12 and higher ed; and predictions from educators and industry on both K-12 and higher ed trends for the new year. 2018 promises to be a year that epitomizes the term “transformational.” Are you ready? It’s going to be a wild, wonderful ride.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/files/2017/12/eSMtrends2018final1.pdf

by Matthew Lynch, tech edvocate

Digital leaders do more than consume information. They synthesize learning and use it in collaborative environments. Digital leaders are dynamic change agents who transform the status quo, facilitate better communication and understanding, and integrate a variety of technology tools in their lives. Also, digital leaders improve technology experiences not just for themselves, but for others as well. They look out for the greater good.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/students-taught-digital-leaders-instead-digital-citizens/

by EdScoop

For edtech directors such as Jared Mader, who is part of the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units, that means working with teachers, curriculum coordinators and content experts to help them make the most of their districts’ one-to-one programs — in particular, using the devices to access openly licensed digital materials. Mader oversees the education technology initiatives for one of Pennsylvania’s 29 intermediate units, which are regional educational service agencies established by the state legislature that provide online, innovative and technology-rich learning services. Mader’s intermediate unit serves over 100,000 students in 25 school districts, nearly all of which have deployed some variation of a one-to-one program.

http://edscoop.com/tv-radio/in-pennsylvania-oer-is-a-grassroots-effort-jared-mader

By RALPH HEIBUTZKI – Herald-Palladium

Lake Michigan College’s new Virtual Learning Environment model allows students to switch between attending classes online or in person, depending on what’s convenient for them. That makes perfect sense to Jay Keeler, lead faculty in application development and geospatial technology at LMC’s computer information systems department. “It’s all about flexible delivery,” he said. “It’s hard to be everything to everyone, but this methodology allowed us to do that.” LMC officially debuted the new system at a technology open house Dec. 4-5. However, the first pilot classes rolled out in the fall of 2015 at LMC, which initially wanted to solve some class scheduling problems.

http://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/local/an-education-in-screen-time/article_160cc61e-32d8-550d-8303-a9b903715eab.html

by Autumn A. Arnett, Education Dive
In 2017, a focus on adult learners was named the Education Dive: Higher Education Obsession of the Year, and for good reason: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 8.1 million students enrolled in higher education — or more than 40% — in 2015 were 25+ years old. While 2017 saw a lot of attention placed on adult learners, the industry still has a long way to go on properly serving these students. But leaders may soon realize that many of the adjustments needed to better serve this population would also benefit other students. And it is likely that implementing these strategies may cut down on the overall cost of higher education and communicate additional value, as the physical campus experience is de-emphasized in the name of reaching more students where they already are.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/5-trends-poised-to-shake-up-higher-education-in-2018/

By Cait Etherington, eLearning Inside

One hundred years ago, today’s classroom would have been unimaginable. From white boards to laptops to learning management systems that enable learners to learn anywhere and anytime, there is not much about today’s classroom technologies that reflects those present in a classroom from 1918.  However, this doesn’t mean that our counterparts back in 1918 didn’t have their own form of “ed tech.” From magic lanterns to early radio, our 1918 counterparts were also the beneficiaries of a wide range of educational technologies.

Five Educational Technologies, Circa 1918

By Rica Bhattacharyya, Varuni Khosla, Economic Times

“Machines are taking over repetitive tasks. Robotics, AI, big data and analytics will be competencies that will be in great demand,” said Shakun Khanna, senior director at Oracle for the Asia-Pacific region. Organisations are being pushed to become even more efficient as jobs turn predictable, said Rishabh Kaul, cofounder of recruitment startup Belong, which helps clients search for and hire AI professionals.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/its-going-to-be-a-happy-new-year-for-artificial-intelligence-robotics-experts/articleshow/62320776.cms

by Anna Powers, Forbes

When we think about our mind, it is much like an ML algorithm. We feed our mind certain data, in the form of stories we tell ourselves, the experiences we have, beliefs, things we read or watch, the music we listen to and the ideas we get from the people we interact with.  In feeding our mind this data, we form a belief system and pick the next data point which best matches the belief system we have formed based on the information that our mind has received from us.  So for example, if we have a series of positive experiences with working out, our brain develops a neural pathway which associates pleasure with physical exercise.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annapowers/2017/12/31/is-our-mind-a-machine-learning-algorithm/

by MICHAEL BARRY, InBusiness

This article offers a perspective on leadership in an age of disruption and what’s at stake for those who don’t get it right.  Speed and agility will trump perfection as businesses are pressured to address these challenges with faster innovation, an enhanced end-to-end customer experience, cost reductions, etc. — calling on leadership to be more agile and efficient. Traditional command and control leadership approaches are slow, rigid, and stifle creativity and innovation; hence, they are becoming quickly outdated, and, in their place, more agile leadership models are emerging — comprised of high levels of collaboration, engagement, empowerment, and communication within a decentralized decision-making framework. Ten progressive leadership qualities best define an agile leadership model.

http://www.ibmadison.com/Blogger/Open-Mic/September-2017/Leadership-in-an-age-of-disruption/

by Adrian Ridner, Milwaukee Courier

Study.com CEO and Co-Founder Adrian Ridner says many students and parents should use a combination of tactics to reduce the cost of college. “Research has shown that it takes an average of 21 years for a student to repay their student loans,” comments Ridner. “Also, students and parents may not immediately realize the various hidden costs of completing a college education including books, housing and other fees.” The longer it takes to finish a degree, the higher those costs may be. Ridner points out that, “More than 80 percent of students at state universities do not graduate in four years, which means many students are underestimating their college costs by as much as 25 to 50 percent.

http://milwaukeecourieronline.com/index.php/2017/12/30/how-to-save-on-college-and-increase-the-likelihood-of-finishing-your-degree/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

With the increased importance of technology in society, digital literacy is gaining recognition as the most valuable tool for lifelong learning. What does this mean? Essentially, as citizens of a global society, the influence of social media, technology, and online resources is massive. For children, the access to a home computer with internet increases their likelihood of college attendance exponentially. For adults, the ever evolving tech world can either help them succeed or hold them back. Society has changed over the last 15 years. It has become increasingly important to continue education after entering the workforce. The influence of technology on business is the main reason for this new mandate. In early learning through adulthood, digital literacy is showing the most promise for success. The edtech industry has long-focused on the value of digital competency for children. It’s time digital literacy was incorporated into adult education in the same way, but with a few adjustments.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/digital-literacy-important-lifelong-learning-tool/

by RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press

Alarmed by the proliferation of false content online, state lawmakers around the country are pushing schools to put more emphasis on teaching students how to tell fact from fiction. Lawmakers in several states have introduced or passed bills calling on public school systems to do more to teach media literacy skills that they say are critical to democracy. The effort has been bipartisan but has received little attention despite successful legislation in Washington state, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Mexico. Trump will stay in check till 2020.  Several more states are expected to consider such bills in the coming year, including Arizona, New York and Hawaii.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/education/article/Alarmed-by-fake-news-states-push-media-literacy-12463548.php

By Tina Nazerian, EdSurge

Phil Hill, an edtech consultant and blogger at e-Literate, expects the “Big Five” tech companies—Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft—to continue their outreach to colleges and universities next year. Another higher education outreach forthcoming in 2018 may come from Google, which offered a peek at its virtual reality platform, Daydream, earlier this year at EDUCAUSE, a major higher-ed conference. Currently the company is soliciting interest from institutions interested in piloting the Daydream. According to the form, those who are selected will get a six-month loan that includes, among other things, a Google Jump camera and a Google Expeditions kit. According to a Google spokesperson, the higher ed pilot will launch sometime in 2018.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-12-27-how-tech-companies-woo-higher-ed-and-what-they-seek-in-return

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Advocate

Critical thinking and problem-solving skills are essential to success at university and in later life. However, the traditional classroom model has done a poor job of imparting these skills to students. The way children have learned in the classroom for generations has focused on lectures and worksheets. Past generations would depend on group sports, clubs and teenage jobs to impart these vital skills onto students. However, new ideas suggest that robotics may hold the key to teaching problem-solving skills to students. Using robots to teach real-world skills may be a strange concept, but is it worth exploring? We think so and here’s why.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/can-robotics-teach-problem-solving-students/

by  Richard W. Walker, EdScoop

John O’Brien, president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association for higher ed IT leaders, thinks that 2018 may mark the beginning of real digital transformation in education. “I am convinced that this year we will see demonstrable developments at the intersection of higher education and technology,” he told EdScoop. “First, we’re convinced that 2018 will be marked by the shift from digitization to digital transformation. Whether we’re talking about enterprise technologies in general or teaching and learning in particular, we think the days of ad hoc innovations and one-off digital breakthroughs will — and should — be replaced by increasingly interrelated, interdependent and interoperable digital transformation experienced across campus divisions.”

http://edscoop.com/predictions-whats-ahead-on-the-edtech-landscape-in-2018

By Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Teaching with apps is not new. We have compiled lists of apps and tech resources that can be used in the classroom and for education outside the classroom. However, we haven’t necessarily offered any tips for successfully using apps for teaching. Finding, downloading, and having students use apps for learning is one thing. Teaching with apps effectively and making use of the data they track is another task entirely. The goal of using an app in education is not simply to use it because it’s available but to enhance learning and individualized teaching approaches. We’ve listed some tips as to how you as an educator, or even parent, can optimally teach with apps in an effective way.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/tips-teaching-apps/

by Heather Chakiris, Evolllution

The shift to a student-centric institutional culture shows many different forms, from changes in curriculum design to shifts in service availability to the improved leveraging of data. From the perspective of students, one major tell that an institution has transitioned to a greater level of student centricity is in the personalization of communications and outreach, and CRMs have a massive role to play here. But the implementation of a tool does not a culture create. In this interview, Heather Chakiris reflects on the benefits CRMs bring to the table when it comes to delivering a personalized experience to learners and shares her thoughts on how the implementation of a CRM system must be accompanied by a broader culture shift to be truly effective.

https://evolllution.com/technology/tech-tools-and-resources/where-technology-goes-so-too-must-culture/

By Maciej Kranz, RTI

The third technology vital to IoT’s growth in 2018 is fog computing, which has quickly become a mainstream concept describing a distributed cloud environment. With many bandwidth-intensive IoT applications requiring real-time data processing, traditional cloud computing focused on batch processing is no longer sufficient. Fortunately, fog computing breaks down this adoption obstacle. A great example of fog computing in use involves an offshore oil rig that generates terabytes of data daily. Rather than spending days waiting for that data stream to be transmitted to the cloud, fog computing brings the power of the cloud closer to earth – real-time information can be locally processed and analyzed based on centralized policies from the cloud; only exceptions and alerts are sent through satellite.

https://www.rtinsights.com/in-2018-get-ready-for-the-convergence-of-iot-ai-fog-and-blockchain/

BY DAN COOK, Benefits Pro

A recent study by the partner relationship management firm Impartner found that nine out of 10 respondents in the sales arena can’t fill available positions, and that the problem has intensified in the past year. Managers who have the good ones now realize they need to do what it takes to keep them, because finding a replacement on the open market is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Many of these managers point to today’s educational system as the reason they can’t find well-rounded talent. Universities simply aren’t graduating highly trained professionals quickly enough—particularly in such fields as computer science, medicine and finance.

http://www.benefitspro.com/2017/12/26/tech-giants-taking-on-talent-shortage-developing-o