Techno-News Blog

Katie Tierney, Forbes

Here’s what I think is the biggest problem with AI in today’s world: We just don’t have enough people who are educated on how it works and how to leverage it. I think we’re staring right into the face of a looming skills gap.  Global spending on AI is rising with no signs of slowing down — IDC estimates that organizations will invest $35.8 billion in AI systems this year. That’s an increase of 44% from 2018. With all the fanfare, it’s easy to get lost in the noise and excitement — and with all of the vendors out there touting their various AI-based solutions, it’s also easy to get confused about which is which and what does what.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2019/05/14/five-things-to-know-about-ai/#132cbbf549b7

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

We are in the midst of a major shake-up in higher education. Dozens of colleges have closed in the past couple of years (hundreds if you include failed for-profit chains).  In this changing environment of rapidly expanding competition and institutional expectations, how do deans and directors responsible for online learning create a viable vision for growth in the next several years? It is not enough to simply project online growth rates of the past — we must account for the expanding competition in a dynamic marketplace. Here are five things you can do to begin to build a framework for the future.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/framework-plotting-future-your-online-program

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/rethinking-adaptive-learning-in-the-age-of-cognitive-computing/

By Alison DeNisco Rayome, ZDNet

“Data science is something that is not just a temporary blip, but something that is going to be needed a lot and for a long time,” said Andrea Danyluk, a professor of computer science at Williams College and co-chair of the Association for Computing Machinery’s taskforce on data science. “Colleges and universities are beginning to understand the need for data scientists, and are beginning to develop programs.”

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-decide-if-a-data-science-degree-is-worth-it-and-choose-the-right-program/

Liam Tung, ZDNet
To lead Apple you could need a degree. But to sell apps on the App Store you certainly don’t, says Tim Cook. Computer-science graduates in the US can expect to pay over $100,000 to get an education and a piece of paper that says they’ve completed a bachelor’s degree. But can that paper say anything about their proficiency at coding? Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak didn’t have degrees when they launched what has become one of the most valuable companies in the world. And now Apple CEO Tim Cook is spreading the word that would-be programmers really don’t need the endorsement of a university to be able to create something of commercial value, such as an app for the Apple App Store.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-ceo-tim-cook-you-dont-need-a-degree-to-code-mobile-apps/

Mikel Amigot and Zoe Mackay, IBL

Online program management (OPM) companies are on the rise, but in Severance’s view, there are good OPMs and bad OPMs. “The best way to describe the difference between [them] is that good OPMs take less of your money than the bad OPMs. The bad OPMs like to take more than 50% of the revenue.” edX and Coursera are good OPMs, says Severance, “in that they bring a lot to the table, the market, they do things globally that no school will ever be able to do. The University of Michigan could never have the global reach, no matter how many people we hired, that we get by being part of edX and Coursera.”

https://iblnews.org/2019/05/13/the-good-and-the-bad-choosing-the-best-opm-according-to-dr-chuck-part-ii/

By Sara Friedman

A new report from the National Center for Educational Statistics digs into the trends in technology and engineering literacy for eighth graders over a four-year period.  When it comes to the TEL assessment, it evaluates students in three practice areas: understanding technological principles, developing solutions and achieving goals, and communicating and collaborating. Scores increased by at least 2 points in all practice areas in 2018. Girls scored higher than boys across all three practice areas, but the TEL findings showed that girls take less technology and engineering classes in school compared to boys.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2019/05/09/girls-outpace-boys-in-technology-literacy.aspx

Tim Cooper, Raconteur

The amount of available data and technology that AI can process intelligently has snowballed as the internet has increasingly integrated with our lives through tablets, phones and wearables. The advent of the internet of things – the extension of internet connectivity into everyday objects – has taken this even further.  These advances have enabled a wide range of bodies, including companies, governments and non-governmental organisations, to start working together to use AI for social good and has already produced some groundbreaking results in vital areas. And some of the most powerful organisations in the world, such as the US government, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, have all deployed AI for positive social initiatives.

https://www.raconteur.net/technology/ai-social-good

Ovetta Sampson, IDEO

Today, data systems and algorithms can be deployed at unprecedented scale and speed—and unintended consequences will affect people with that same scale and speed. How can we always make sure we’re putting people first when designing large scale systems? Especially when those systems will change over time and evolve without direct human supervision?

https://www.ideo.com/blog/ai-needs-an-ethical-compass-this-tool-can-help

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/business/lifelong-learning-for-professional-and-personal-skills/article_660772ae-4da1-5630-bcaa-9b1a14cbc985.html

Andrew Webster, London Times

Most schools now have high-speed Wi-Fi, a bank of laptops and iPads and an interactive board in every classroom. Homework can be channelled through online platforms and children are regularly encouraged to present their work digitally. Unfortunately, this is all window dressing against a professional culture still dominated by Victorian attitudes to learning. The teacher remains god in the classroom and didactic, teacher-led learning persists. What’s worse, the digital age is in danger of masking outdated methods. A passive learning experience which may previously have seen children copying from the board into their book now has them copying into a PowerPoint presentation.

https://www.timeslocalnews.co.uk/lifestyle/education-lessons-on-classroom-connectivity

Kyle Kucharski, PC Magazine

More and more students are interested in studying blockchain technology, and universities are meeting the demand. It’s not just computer science majors, either: a study by Coinbase shows that students across various disciplines are interested in the technology.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/368277/top-schools-are-offering-more-blockchain-cryptocurrency-cou

Yahoo Finance

“When we built this course, one of my hopes was that it could be utilized to educate young people about the important role that business has in tackling some of the challenging issues of our time,” said Harvard Business School Professor Rebecca Henderson . “The students and faculty from the MCA campuses who participated in this pilot are pioneers, and I look forward to seeing how they will apply the learnings from our course in their own communities.” The participating colleges created a blended learning offering where students registered for a sustainable business course led by their own faculty and featuring the HBS Online course led by Professor Henderson. Students then applied their learnings through projects with businesses that were facing sustainability challenges, including Wolverine Worldwide and Merrill.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-colleges-team-harvard-business-130500430.html

Kantele Franko, AP

Just a year after the online Western Governors University launched its Ohio affiliate , state lawmakers are considering eliminating recognition that lets its students benefit from certain state-funded aid, including need-based grants. That’s part of the budget bill passed Thursday by the House. It now heads to the Senate. The change was advocated by Republican Rep. Jay Edwards, a member of House leadership whose district includes Ohio University. He said the state’s recognition of Salt Lake City-based WGU was unfair to existing public schools in Ohio that are big employers, receive significant state funding, and already offer various online educational opportunities. WGU Ohio has about 3,100 students.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lawmakers-consider-ending-recognition-of-online-university/2019/05/09/ac2779f4-72a6-11e9-9331-30bc5836f48e_story.html

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

For their research, the scientists obtained information from USC’s Infant Neuromotor Control Laboratory. This information included data about the motor movements of infants obtained from sensors strapped to the infants’ ankles. The sensors collected raw movement data from an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. An algorithm that is able to classify typical (TD) and delayed development (AR), was then used to further analyze the observable differences in spontaneous movements of infants with TD and AR. Then the researchers came up with a prediction model that was able to do the calculations and make the predictions.

Using Machine Learning to Predict Developmental Delays in Children

Sudheesh Nair, Forbes

In the next few decades, the technology industry will continue to make substantial advances in how AI can be applied, but the greater impact will come not from future nascent applications but by the widespread adoption of AI by other industries today we interact with on a daily basis. No industry will be safe from this change, but here are some of the industries that will change most significantly with the adoption of AI.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/10/what-are-the-most-significant-ai-advances-we-will-see-in-the-near-future/

Jason Si, World Economic Forum
The possibility of man-made machines turning against their creators has become a trendy topic these days. Undoubtedly, Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are no longer fit for purpose. For the sake of the global public good, we need something serious and more specific to safeguard our limitless ambitions – and humanity itself.  If data is the new oil, then AI is the new drill – and to extend this analogy, malfunctioning algorithms are the new pollution.
It is important to note that malfunction does not equal malevolence. Likewise, good intentions do not guarantee a lack of legal, ethical and social troubles.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/these-rules-could-save-humanity-from-the-threat-of-rogue-ai/

Science Daily

A surgeon might never feel the need to ask an AI for advice, much less allow it to make a clinical decision for them, said John Zimmerman, the Tang Family Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction in CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). But an AI might guide decisions if it were embedded in the decision-making routines already used by the clinical team, providing AI-generated predictions and evaluations as part of the overall mix of information. Zimmerman and his colleagues call this approach “Unremarkable AI.” “The idea is that AI should be unremarkable in the sense that you don’t have to think about it and it doesn’t get in the way,” Zimmerman said. “Electricity is completely unremarkable until you don’t have it.”

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190508093723.htm

Christopher Timothy McGuirk

Language learning in particular seems a perfect place to try “gamified” classes. Some schools are already using Minecraft in French classes – the idea is that students work together to build a “learning zone” in the Minecraft space – finding new words to help them along the way. Indeed, James Paul Gee, a leading researcher in the area of video games as language learning tools, suggests that role-playing games such as The Elder Scrolls series or World of Warcraft, offer an ideal learning space for what he calls “at-risk” learners. In theory, there is just enough challenge, just enough support, just enough room for players to be themselves and, possibly most important, students have just enough “ownership” of the learning process.

https://theconversation.com/can-you-learn-a-language-playing-video-games-what-the-research-says-105760

By Sara Friedman, Campus Technology

With technology becoming a cornerstone of how many schools operate, the risks of getting hacked multiplies, and defending against cyber attacks becomes an important part of any strategic plan. A new report from the IBM X-Force finds attackers are drawn to the education sector owing to the sensitive nature of some emerging research projects and personally identifiable information on students, faculty and organizations associated with universities and schools. Despite all of these risks, the education sector comes in at ninth place among the most targeted industries, according to the 2019 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2019.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/04/25/how-education-tackles-cybersecurity.aspx

Danny Palmer, ZDNet

A successful family of ransomware which has been terrorising organisations around the world has been updated with a new trick to lure victims into installing file-locking malware: posing as anti-virus software. Dharma first emerged in 2016 and the ransomware has been responsible for a number of high-profile cyber incidents, including the takedown of a hospital network in Texas late last year. The group behind Dharma regularly look to update their campaigns in order to ensure the attacks remain effective and they have the best chance of extorting ransom payments in exchange of decrypting locked networks and files of Windows systems.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-ransomware-sneakily-infects-victims-by-disguising-itself-with-anti-virus-software/