Techno-News Blog

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive
Data from Project Tomorrow’s recently released Speak Up Survey shows teacher preferences for face-to-face professional learning conferences declining from 47% in 2010 to 40% in 2017, according to eSchool News. Videos or TED Talks showed the highest preference rates, up to 46% from 40%, followed by participating in webinars or online conferences (34%), using social networks to learn from peers (33%), taking individual online courses (23%), and following education experts or peers on social media (23%). The survey also found that teachers aren’t comfortable with new practices like using digital tools for student collaboration, personalizing learning for each student, or creating project-based experiences. Plus, they also want more time to collaborate with peers, traditional PD opportunities, in-school coaching, virtual coaching, and help with classroom management strategies.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/survey-shows-trend-toward-more-self-directed-professional-learning/530201/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Most educators who have attempted to infuse their instructional activities with edtech have learned the hard way that things do not always go according to plan. But wise educators will turn this into a learning opportunity: the inevitable challenges to getting technology to work properly can become a powerful lesson on adaptability and flexibility that will help students develop these soft skills. Another crucial soft skill is open-mindedness. Edtech tools that encourage students to think outside of the box can be very helpful in developing this key skill. There are many programs and platforms that make it easy for classrooms to be linked to other classrooms in other countries for collaborative projects, and this is exactly the kind of experience that will help students learn to think more broadly. In short, the need for soft skills isn’t going away—if anything, these skills will become more important in an increasingly-digital workspace.

Using Digital Tools to Teach Soft Skills

by RUPENDRA JOSHI, Himalayan Times
By using cybergogy to heutagogy pedagogical approach, we can teach and prepare our students to survive and thrive in a global economy and help them become capable to apply skills and competence effectively.  The use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has created a new teaching and learning concept in education pedagogy known as cybergogy. Cybergogy concept/ strategy is a virtual learning environment for the advancement of cognitive, emotional and social learning of the students. Heutagogy is a student-centric teaching and learning strategy where the learning is determined by the learner. A heutagogical learning environment facilitates development of capable learners and emphasises both the development of learner competence as well as the development of the learner’s capability and capacity to learn. It is also a pedagogical approach that could be applied to emerging technologies in distance education.

Cybergogy to heutagogy: For engaged learning

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

What do universities want from online program management providers? I have no idea. Ask me what I want in a potential OPM partner, and I’ll talk your ear off. But search for any research on how universities evaluate the decision to partner with a for-profit company to build, market, launch and run a new online degree program — and you will be mostly searching in vain. The growing phenomenon of nonprofit/for-profit partnerships in postsecondary online learning needs research attention. We need to move OPM analysis out of the world of for-profit consulting companies and higher ed blogs. We need to investigate the changing way in which higher education programs are financed, including the OPM partnership model, involving scholars who are committed to independent and sustained research.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/technology-and-learning/5-things-universities-want-opm-providers

by Nicci Fagan, EdTech

Speculation about the potential uses of blockchains in education has been building for some time, but we’ve now moved squarely into the era of implementation. Blockchains — digital records of individuals’ academic degrees, professional certifications and other official records — are an intriguing concept for institutions that have long relied on transcripts and diplomas to attest to academic achievement. The attraction? Blockchains are tamper-proof, easily accessible and convenient for prospective employers, graduate schools and others that need to verify credentials. Proponents argue that blockchains also put the ownership of credentials back into the hands of individuals, rather than institutions. Users can request their official records just once and then share them whenever and with whomever they choose.

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2018/08/universities-use-blockchain-streamline-student-services

by James Paterson, Education Dive
A consortium for eight California community colleges is experimenting with virtual labs to train students remotely in the latest IT and cyber security skills. The South Central Coast Regional Consortium (SCCRC) Virtual Lab Project is being tested this academic year with hopes it will be made available broadly in 2019. An IT professor at one of the colleges participating in a trial of the project was able to increase his class capacity from 25 students to 40 without adding any lab space or hardware. He estimates that using the lab will eventually reduce his workload by half, though project designers note that instructors may find initially more time is involved. It will be linked to the Canvas learning management system already used by the eight colleges. The project has been backed by a collection or organizations including California Polytechnic State University Digital Transformation Hub, a venture between the university and Amazon intended to offer support for such initiatives.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/virtual-labs-to-teach-in-demand-tech-skills-take-shape/530208/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

While there have likely been many factors contributing to the current state of affairs, an important one is that most edtech tools have not focused on deeper learning. The fact is that it is pretty simple to design edtech that tests students’ recall of material: pretty much anyone can create multiple choice questions on a digital platform. But rote memorization and spitting back facts are not the route to deep learning. Instead, the next generation of edtech needs to focus on deeper learning to be truly impactful. How can this be done? There are a variety of models for what constitutes deeper learning that edtech designers can consult. One classic source is Bloom’s taxonomy, especially the revised version. The tendency to emphasize the lowest levels of the pyramid needs to be avoided. While it is normally easier and cheaper to design digital tools that test students’ ability to remember information simply, this is not deep learning. Instead, edtech can focus on the top of the pyramid and promote instructional materials that encourage students to evaluate and create.

Deep Learning in a Digital World of Possibilities

by James Paterson, Education Dive
Use of artificial intelligence has become more common in the college classroom, and advocates say it can help with everything from improved writing skills to understanding DNA theory, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Critics charge, however, that AI may be used to gloss over structural problems in higher education and result in formulaic teaching and potential threats to privacy. In a broad look at the use of AI at colleges and universities, the Chronicle of Higher Education notes that it can perhaps fine tune assignments, analyze student writing to see if it is on track and recommend prompts and organize lesson plans, adjusting them according to student understanding. AI systems allow some instructors more time for individual interaction with students giving them more information about their performance as a group and individually. Advanced systems might use machine learning to gather data and, for instance, design a better textbook or provide recommendations to medical students about the right procedure in certain circumstances.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/artificial-intelligence-gaining-ground-as-college-teaching-tool/530038/

By Ramona Schindelheim, Working Nation

“The July jobs report shows the magnitude of small businesses that are growing and hiring at record levels, creating new jobs and opportunities for the workforce,” says NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan in a statement. The survey also sees a record-high 37 percent of owners say they had an open position in July that they couldn’t fill. The openings were in construction, manufacturing and wholesale trades for both skilled and unskilled labor. New data from the Labor Department put the number of all open jobs in the country at 6.7 million. “Record job openings suggest that the economy can keep up its growth pace over the next few years if the labor shortage can be resolved or mitigated,” adds NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.

Small businesses say worker shortage is biggest challenge

by EDUCAUSE

For more than a decade, EDUCAUSE has partnered with the New Media Consortium (NMC) to publish the annual Horizon Report – Higher Education Edition. Earlier this year, EDUCAUSE acquired the rights to the NMC Horizon project, which identifies and describes the higher education trends, challenges, and developments in educational technology likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry. EDUCAUSE is publishing this 15th edition to both honor and work actively with the NMC’s Horizon legacy.

Key Trends Accelerating Higher Education Technology Adoption

Short Term—Driving technology adoption in Higher Education for the next one to two years

• Growing Focus on Measuring Learning
• Redesigning Learning Spaces

Mid-Term—Driving technology adoption in Higher Education for the next three to five years

• Proliferation of Open Educational Resources
• The Rise of New Forms of Interdisciplinary Studies

https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/8/2018-nmc-horizon-report

by Tereza Litsa, ClickZ

Microsoft, Google, and Apple seem to agree that AR will revolutionize the way we use technology and they are determined to beat the competition. Facebook is also interested in seizing the AR trend, which makes the AR scene even more exciting. We’ve already seen the power of AR through our phones and it’s only a matter of time until all these tech giants launch their own AR products. Microsoft has already presented HoloLens, the so-called “first self-contained, holographic computer” that enables you to interact with holograms and engage with digital content in real life. The first Magic Leap One reviews talk about a superior quality compared to Microsoft’s HoloLens, but not in an impressive way since Microsoft’s product had been launched two years ago. The biggest struggle for Magic Leap will be to catch up with all these tech giants in understanding the consumer demands and delivering the right product at the right time.

Magic Leap shakes the AR industry in 2018. What’s next?

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

According to authors Elaine Beirne from Ireland’s Dublin City University and Matthew Romanoski from the University of Arizona, there is “no universal profile” for an instructional designer, and the path to the job may come through teaching in higher ed, working in technology, holding an academic research role or having a graphic design background. Even with this variety, the goal of the job is consistent across the board: to improve student success. In this, collaboration with faculty is the “top challenge.” Oftentimes, instructional designers have to overcome the idea that online learning works “crock pot style” (set it up and “forget it”), or they face instructor concern that a given course will become more mechanized and lose its personal touch in the design process, leaving students adrift as little more than an ID number.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/08/13/despite-increase-in-instructional-designers-there-is-no-universal-profile-for-the-role.aspx

A Q&A with Kalpana (Kal) Srinivas, Campus Technology

Student advising has always been considered the linchpin of retention, a critical area for higher education institutions. And our retention gurus have held for years that it’s important that a student’s advisor is one of the key people they build a relationship with. Data analytics may seem to be a more recent phenomenon, but it’s now over 10 years since EDUCAUSE began publishing articles suggesting that if colleges and universities can place more and better information into the hands of a greater number of people, this enables better decision making. These two factors together became the crux of our understanding of how important it is to get critical information into the hands of advisors, so that they can do the holistic student advising we are asking them to do.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/08/13/data-analytics-and-student-advising-creating-a-culture-shift-on-campus.aspx

By JOSEPH GEHA, Bay Area News Group

This is the second year the Google Girl’s Robotics Workshop has run at the campus. The tech giant sponsors the event and collaborates with the Girl Powered initiative, comprised of members from the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation and VEX Robotics. The goal of the initiative is to get more girls involved in robotics and science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields, at an earlier age. “Girls, by and large, are underrepresented in robotics,” said Vicki Grisanti, the director of marketing for the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation.

‘Girl powered’ robotics workshop at Google builds skills, confidence

by Cait Etherington, eLearning Inside

In early August, Chronicle of Higher Education released a new report on the future of learning. Few were surprised to find that educational technologies were a major focus of the 2018 report. If you think the future of higher education will look like a sci-fi film where students wander around wearing virtual reality (VR) glasses and immersing themselves in other worlds, however, think again. According to the Chronicle‘s most recent report, change is imminent in higher education but will likely be more directly driven by innovations in data than innovations in VR or augmented reality. Co-sponsored by Desire2Learn, the 55-page report, The Future of Learning: How Colleges Can Transform the Educational Experience, highlights three major shifts currently underway that are expected to radically disrupt higher education over the coming decade.

Chronicle of Higher Education Releases Report on the Future of Learning

by Autumn A. Arnett, Education Dive
Generation Z students are tech-savvy, entrepreneurial and socially aware — and though most contemporary language still refers to them students as millennials, it is actually Gen Z students who are coming to campus this fall. Recent research shows this group of students prefers to communicate in person rather than by email or phone. On social media and digital channels, they want to be personally engaged and recognized as individuals.These students thrive on communication and collaboration, which underscores the importance of ditching the traditional lecture in favor of a more interactive, collaborative classroom structure that educators at the University of Maryland call “the future of education.”

https://www.educationdive.com/news/3-things-to-know-about-the-students-arriving-on-campus-this-month/529723/

By Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Robot tutors aren’t about to replicate the full array of teaching-and-learning behaviors that take place as a matter of course among people anytime soon. But artificial intelligence does raise a provocative question, one no doubt on the minds of educators worried about the decline in public higher-education funding: If administrators are willing to cut corners by paying low wages to adjuncts and giving them heavy courseloads, what’s to stop them from trimming their costs even further by offering students some adaptive courseware and a teaching assistant instead? Institutions inclined that way, says Baker, “are probably going to be willing to accept low-quality solutions.” He and other educator-advocates say AI can be of real value to learning. Algorithms can reveal patterns of student behavior not immediately noticeable to a professor. Adaptive courseware can nudge students toward effective learning strategies. Tools that can outsource lower-level tasks are worthy of consideration.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Artificial-Intelligence-Is/244231

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

The product looks good, the research behind it is sound, and you even got a chance to demo it for yourself. You are ready to pull the trigger and sign on the dotted line. But wait, when you demoed the product, did you do so from a student’s perspective? Odds are, you didn’t, as you were mainly concerned with how it functions from the vantage point of an educator. Ask to demo the product again, and this time demo it from a student’s perspective. Here’s what you should pay attention to.

Before Adopting New Tech, Try it From a Students Perspective First

By Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

Despite lingering skepticism about the future of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the technology behind them is becoming a focus of university teaching and research.  Growing interest in blockchain by employers has presented them an opportunity to provide workers professional and continuing education. Peter McAliney, executive director for online and extended learning at Montclair State University’s center for continuing and professional education, recently spearheaded the launch of three professional blockchain certificates — one covering the basics, one for developers and one focusing on applications of blockchain in the financial sector.  The three certificate courses cost between $1,995 and $4,250 and are delivered in partnership with The Blockchain Academy — a company that offers corporate training and education in blockchain.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/13/rising-profile-blockchain-academe

by  Elizabeth Woyke, MIT Technology Review

Companies need an objective metric to evaluate proficiency.  A new AI-powered tool developed by Coursera aims to be that metric. The feature, which the Bay Area startup announced today, lets companies that subscribe to its training programs see which of their employees are earning top scores in Coursera classes; how their employees’ skills measure up to their competitors’; and what courses would help fill any knowledge gaps. Companies will be able to access the tool, which uses machine learning to derive insights, in the online dashboard of their Coursera profiles later this year.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611790/coursera-ai-skills/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Silence is no longer golden. Libraries have become the hub of activity in schools and communities. Edtech encourages making collaborative activities like making videos, creating digital music, and designing with 3-D printers. Today’s libraries are vibrant places for synthesis and evaluation, not just knowledge and recall. They have become social centers.  Digital literacy is as essential as reading literacy. Students can’t access edtech if they don’t know how to use it. Digital literacy includes using reading and writing skills, but it also requires technology skills that allow users to retrieve and interpret digital information responsibly. Digitized curated content. You can still check out a book from your library, but you can also access many virtual books and digital materials. Libraries also give their users the means by which to mine data, build reports and analyze data trends.

10 Ways That Edtech Has Transformed Libraries