Techno-News Blog

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Later this week Saint Louis University will open up for move-in, when students begin occupying their dorm rooms and apartments. They’ll be greeted by Amazon Alexa-enabled devices primed and ready to answer questions about the university and the campus experience. The university conducted a pilot last spring that tested several different kinds of voice assistants, and the Amazon Alexa platform was the hands-down favorite. The broader deployment will distribute 2,300 Echo Dots, all programmed with speech recognition and voice assistants that enable students to find out how late the library is open for the day or where the registrar’s office is located, among other information.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/08/21/saint-louis-u-students-rooming-with-alexa.aspx

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Schools are rapidly changing course from traditional teaching methods to more technologically based options. Higher education isn’t immune to those changes, but there are some notable differences. For example, not all universities are interested in using the learning analytics. However, these numbers can provide a great deal of insight into how students are doing and areas where the university needs to improve. Looking at the numbers could provide a major benefit to students and faculty members, but everyone has to get on board with them first. Here are a handful of ways we can start getting higher education faculty to embrace the newly available data.

Getting Higher Education Faculty to Embrace Learning Analytics

by Halona Black, Education Dive
The American Bar Association (ABA) recently adopted a resolution stating that law schools can now grant students permission to take up to one-third of the credit hours needed to complete a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree via distance education. This equates to about 30 credit hours at most U.S. law schools, National Jurist reports. Previously, law students could take up to 15 credits online. The ABA defines a distance education course as “one in which students are separated from the faculty member or each other for more than one-third of the instruction” and uses technology to support interactions among students and instructors. Credit for a distance education course is only awarded if the academic content, course delivery method and student performance evaluation method pass the institution’s regular curriculum approval process. The new resolution is a plus for prospective students who do not live near institutions that offer in-person law degrees.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/can-law-schools-increase-enrollment-with-online-learning/530802/