Techno-News Blog

November 30, 2018

‘AI for everyone’: Coursera tackles training for the nontechnical

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By Hallie Busta Alex Hickey, Education Dive

In a move to democratize artificial intelligence (AI), Coursera co-founder and AI expert Andrew Ng announced an “AI for Everyone” program for nontechnical business leaders, coming to the online learning platform in early 2019.  Engineers and data scientists might handle the technical details of AI, but business leaders also need to understand application opportunities for machine learning and deep learning in their organizations, as well as what the technology can’t do, Ng wrote in the announcement. The course will help nontechnical leaders build “a sustainable AI strategy” and serve as a resource for technical employees to suggest to managers to promote understanding of the technology. Domain experts and engineers are critical to harnessing the potential of AI. But the industry also needs millions of business leaders, managers, sales and marketing professionals, financiers and designers that can apply AI in their communities and businesses, Ng said.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/ai-for-everyone-coursera-tackles-training-for-the-nontechnical/542305/

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Report: Colleges must teach liberal arts grads to merge hard and soft skills

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By James Paterson, Education Dive

As the debate over the direction of higher education shifts between calls for emphasizing student learning in either hard or soft skills, a new report from the Strada Institute and labor market analytics firm Emsi contends liberal arts students need both — and more. The report says students need a mix of technical and human skills and that it’s the role of colleges and universities to help students identify what combination they need. The study used data from more than 100 million social and professional profiles and resumes as well as more than 36 million job postings.  Leadership, communications and problem-solving are among the most-needed skills in the job market, and liberal arts graduates can add value to their workplaces by combining them with basic technology skills such as data analysis and digital fluency. The report notes there is “discernible labor market demand” for such workers.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/report-colleges-must-teach-liberal-arts-grads-to-merge-hard-and-soft-skill/542311/

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Breaking Down Barriers: How Design & Technology Can Assist with Learning

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by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Imagine not being able to hear at a crowded networking event, a loud social; or not being let in beyond the velvet rope to a party. For you, it may only be a burden in the moment, but for many who require accommodations or additional accessibility, this remains a part of their everyday life. For example, wheelchair users are unable to enter many shops, malls, restaurants; public places that don’t have wheelchair access or ramps. A lack of accessibility can’t be excused at schools, campuses or student facilities. When it comes to education, a lack of accommodation can hinder students from engaging in class, and being present in the way necessary to succeed or be their best. Accessibility in education plays a vital role in providing accommodating learning environments. Below are five education design ideas to assist and enhance the capabilities of students who need learning accommodations.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/breaking-down-barriers-how-design-technology-can-assist-with-learning-accommodations/

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November 29, 2018

South Carolina Offering Free Online Coding Courses for All Residents

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By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

South Carolina has introduced free coding education for all of its residents through an agreement between the state’s Department of Commerce Office of Innovation and Build Carolina, a nonprofit that generates internships, apprenticeships and other education endeavors in innovative fields. “SC Codes,” as the program is called, currently provides basic online courses for JavaScript, command line basics, Ruby, Ruby on Rails and, soon, Java and React.js. Beyond the training, the SC Codes website connects students with industry mentors, local events for coders and job openings in tech-related fields.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/11/08/south-carolina-offering-free-online-coding-courses-for-all-residents.aspx

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Blockchain diplomas land in Virginia at ECPI

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By Jacob Demmit, Roanoke Times
Virginia colleges are beginning to embrace the idea of blockchain diplomas, as Virginia Beach-based ECPI University has joined a group of early adopters that distribute student degrees through the same kind of decentralized computer networks that power Bitcoin. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, is in the early stages of considering its own launch, according to Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski. The concept behind the technology is virtually unchanged, except ECPI is using the blockchain to issue digital degrees instead of digital currencies.

https://www.roanoke.com/news/education/higher_education/blockchain-diplomas-land-in-virginia-at-ecpi/article_211a7a4d-3bd8-5157-8445-5ee1052ff2d4.html

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Employers Want Liberal Arts Grads

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By Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed

New study says the evolving economy creates a greater need for their skills, but that many colleges could do better at thinking about what graduates can do and helping them translate that into jobs.  A report being released today says higher education is not keeping pace with the ever-changing job market. The report examines the “translation chasm” between the skills graduates of liberal arts programs have and the skills employers say they’re looking for in an applicant. Turns out, they’re not all that different, but “liberal arts graduates are too often left to stumble upon the valuable mixture of layered skills” required for any specific career, according to the report. While many reports suggest that students should focus on studying marketable skills, the new report identifies career value in liberal arts education, albeit with some tweaks.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/13/new-report-shows-colleges-how-bridge-gap-between-liberal-arts-and-work-force

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November 28, 2018

UK and Australian universities launch ‘co-created’ online degree

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By Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education
FutureLearn course will offer certificates from both Deakin and Coventry.  Two universities on opposite sides of the world have launched a co-created online postgraduate degree. In one of the first collaborations of its kind, Australia’s Deakin University and Coventry University in the UK are offering a postgraduate course in entrepreneurship on the FutureLearn platform, drawing on research and expertise at both institutions. This model of collaborative degrees is seen by some as the next step in online learning, and a possible threat to the attractiveness of some campus-based institutions that do not embrace this sort of partnership.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-and-australian-universities-launch-co-created-online-degree

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Mapping the growth of digital learning in India

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Roman Saini, Hindustan Times

In a country as diverse as India, along with overcoming the infrastructure barrier, there needs to be a focus on overcoming the barriers of language and content. The education divide in India with respect to quality and accessibility has existed for far too long. The Indian education system has remained more or less the same, since last 150 years. It is difficult for the existing physical infrastructure to meet the learning needs of the burgeoning population of our country which will touch 1.5B by 2030 and 1.7B by 2050 (equal to the population of China and USA combined). Digital is gaining acceptance across numerous sectors and it is only right that the education sector too reaps benefits of this digital transformation.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/mapping-the-growth-of-digital-learning-in-india/story-7xNIM3M9yZTwurCt80d6cP.html

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LinkedIn Learning Opens Its Platform (Slightly)

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By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

So far LinkedIn Learning plans to work with five partners: Harvard Business Publishing, getAbstract (which includes book summaries and TED talks), Big Think, Treehouse (which features courses on coding) and Creative Live. So it’s not like just any course library will be integrated, though the company said it plans to add others in the future. LinkedIn officials say it will not be selling subscriptions to the other services. “Many of our customers use LinkedIn Learning, but they also use other content,” said James Raybould, director of learning product at LinkedIn. “They want to bring that one front door to the learners.”

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-11-09-linkedin-learning-opens-its-platform-slightly

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November 27, 2018

Measuring the Value of Digital Credentials (Part One): The Shared Benefits of Microcredentialing

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Jonathan Lehrich, Evolllution

With their increased granularity, transparency and portability, digital credentials are quickly supplanting the paper certificate as a means of non-degree skills verification in leading-edge continuing and professional education units. They enable a greater understanding of academic accomplishment and provide academic leaders with a means of unbundling degree requirements; however, as Jonathan Lehrich notes, their use on a broader institutional level is slow in the making. In the first of this two-part interview, Lehrich discusses the growing value of digital credentials to employers, educational institutions and job-seekers alike, and explains what it’s going to take for them to be better recognized by traditional academic departments and faculties.

https://evolllution.com/programming/credentials/measuring-the-value-of-digital-credentials-part-one-the-shared-benefits-of-microcredentialing/

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A Look into China’s EdTech Landscape

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by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Technology has gained traction in the education sector. China is home to the world’s biggest education market comprising over 400 million students. Even though China is a world leader in technology, the sheer size of the country’s education sector initially made advancements in digital learning quite slow. Nevertheless, the country has been able to integrate technology in its instruction techniques and curriculum in recent years. Through technological adoption in education, China has been able to use fully participatory methodologies in its learning institutions. The country is experiencing an EdTech boom, which has seen some of its universities ranked among the best globally. The presence of many institutions where educational technologies can be piloted makes China a lucrative market for EdTech entrepreneurs.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/a-look-into-chinas-edtech-landscape/

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LinkedIn Expands Its Learning Library

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by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

Those watching LinkedIn’s evolution now have a little bit more grist for the mill. LinkedIn Learning, which is what Lynda.com has morphed into, on Nov. 9 announced a series of developments that show the company to be gradually expanding its footprint in the education and training space. Over the last 18 months, LinkedIn Learning, to which many companies, government agencies and colleges subscribe to provide technical and other skills to their workers and students, has been letting those clients add their own content (say, an internal training video or short course a company has created) to the LinkedIn platform so their workers or students can view it alongside the LinkedIn content (which numbers roughly 13,000 courses now).

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/11/12/linkedin-expands-its-content-library-adding-courses-other-work

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November 26, 2018

Rising popularity of online university courses opens door to Harvard, Yale, MIT

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By Emily Mertz, Online Global News

Schools have been offering them for years, but a recent surge in popularity of online university classes means even the most prestigious institutions are more accessible. These online courses are often referred to as MOOCs — Massive Open Online Courses — through an educational platform like Coursera. “And not just people who can afford to pay the tuition here — although of course that’s my job is to teach those students — but it’s really important to make sure that we educate society as a whole.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/4649498/online-courses-university-moocs-harvard-yale-mit-ualberta/

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3 Ways Online Education Is Making Higher Education More Affordable

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By Cait Etherington, eLearning Inside

In an era of rising student debts, a growing number of people are concluding that higher education simply isn’t worth the financial risk. While this may be understandable, as student debt loads rise, there is at least some hope on the horizon. Over the past decade, online education has rapidly expanded, and there is growing evidence that it is making higher education more affordable.

https://news.elearninginside.com/three-ways-online-education-is-making-higher-education-more-affordable/

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Is this AI? We drew you a flowchart to work it out

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by Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review

In the broadest sense, AI refers to machines that can learn, reason, and act for themselves. They can make their own decisions when faced with new situations, in the same way that humans and animals can. As it currently stands, the vast majority of the AI advancements and applications you hear about refer to a category of algorithms known as machine learning. These algorithms use statistics to find patterns in massive amounts of data. They then use those patterns to make predictions on things like what shows you might like on Netflix, what you’re saying when you speak to Alexa, or whether you have cancer based on your MRI. Machine learning, and its subset deep learning (basically machine learning on steroids), is incredibly powerful.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612404/is-this-ai-we-drew-you-a-flowchart-to-work-it-out/

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November 25, 2018

Blazing a trail in environmental education for the young

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UN Environment

In September 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the UN Youth Strategy which seeks to engage 1.8 billion young people in driving global efforts to promote a peaceful, just and sustainable world. Education innovator Natalie Kyriacou from Australia is doing just that. She has developed Kids’ Corner, a digital classroom inspiring children and educators to participate in wildlife and environmental conservation and sciences through a range of curriculum-approved learning technologies, games and programmes.

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/blazing-trail-environmental-education-young

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Time For A New Relationship Between Learning And Work?

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Sally Percym, Forbes

How often do we hear that people are an organization’s greatest asset? Often the onus seems to be on individuals to develop themselves, however, which explains the recent explosion in business self-help books. Employers, which ultimately benefit from having skilled employees, often fail to invest adequately in learning and development – even though this lack of investment is a hindrance to their ability to recruit, retain and motivate talented staff and could impede their success in future. In this Q&A, Ben Chatfield, CEO and cofounder of video-based hiring platform Tempo, explains why we need to rethink the relationship between learning and work.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypercy/2018/11/09/time-for-a-new-relationship-between-learning-and-work/#69423cd41430

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The growing importance of soft skills and the role of technology in developing them

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Stephen Somerville, Training Journal

Amidst all the talk of how artificial intelligence, automation and robotics are reshaping the workplace, it’s easy to overlook the humble ‘soft skill’. In way of definition, the English Cambridge dictionary says soft skills are: “people’s abilities to communicate with each other and work well together”. In practice this requires a multitude of qualities, including but not limited to: creative thinking and problem solving, analytical skills and critical thinking, ethics and integrity.

https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/opinion/growing-importance-soft-skills-and-role-technology-developing-them

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November 24, 2018

LinkedIn Becomes A Serious Open Learning Experience Platform

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Josh Bersin, CLO

LinkedIn has become quite a juggernaut in the corporate learning market. Last time I checked the company had more than 17 million users, 14,000 corporate customers, more than 3,000 courses and was growing at high double-digit rates. And all this in only about two years. And the company just threw down the gauntlet; it’s now announcing it has completely opened up its learning platform to external content partners. This is the company’s formal announcement that LinkedIn Learning is not just an amazing array of content, it is a corporate learning platform. The company wants to become a single place for all organizational learning content.

https://www.clomedia.com/2018/11/09/linkedin-becomes-a-serious-open-learning-experience-platform/

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The Coming Commoditization Of Voice-Enabled AI

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Chetan Dube, Forbes Technology Council

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “The human voice is the organ of the soul.” It’s a phrase that succinctly captures both the complexity and the vital importance of voice as a means of communication, personalization and identity. We as humans are constantly trying to find our voice, especially in a digitized world where the avenues of communication continue to proliferate, making possession of a unique voice that stands out all the more challenging. Consumers are captivated by devices that attempt to emulate a voice’s ineffable human qualities — through digital AI assistants, home agents and voice-enabled devices. A PwC survey found that 72% have used voice-enabled products and services, most often in their homes. Research firm Ovum (via CNET) predicts that by 2021, more than 7.5 billion voice-activated assistants could be in use around the world — roughly the number of people on the planet.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/11/08/the-coming-commoditization-of-voice-enabled-ai/

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This is what A.I. looks like, according to A.I.

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Sarah Berger, CNBC

When you think of artificial intelligence, maybe you picture Dolores from “Westworld” or something out of “Black Mirror.” But if you ask AI what AI looks like, it’s nothing like that — in fact, AI thinks it looks like a multi-colored helping hand for humans. Recently, IBM Research asked AI to draw a picture of itself. The result is embedded in the link below.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/photo-what-ai-looks-like-according-to-imb-ai.html

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