Techno-News Blog

Carlo Perotta, the Conversation

The spread of the coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 is a public health emergency with economic and social ramifications in China and across the world. While the impacts on business are well documented, education is also facing the largest disruption in recent memory.  Institutions around the world are responding to travel bans and quarantines with a shift to online learning. The crisis may trigger an online boom for education – or at least make us more ready to cope with the next emergency.

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-quarantine-could-spark-an-online-learning-boom-132180

University of Michigan
In response to the coronavirus epidemic that has restricted millions of Chinese people to their homes and towns, the University of Michigan and online learning platform Coursera are offering three popular online data science specializations to learners in China for $1 a month. The specializations are Python for Everybody, the most popular specialization on Coursera; Python 3 Programming; and Applied Data Science with Python.

https://www.si.umich.edu/about-umsi/news/u-m-coursera-offer-chinese-learners-nearly-free-access-online

Dave Bangert, Lafayette Journal & Courier

Purdue President Mitch Daniels said Monday that the university is making plans in case students need to be quarantined if the coronavirus makes it to the West Lafayette campus. “It is our hope that we are preparing for many eventualities that will never occur,” Daniels and Purdue Provost Jay Akridge wrote to the campus community, in a letter sent to students, staff and families Monday evening.“But we are discussing, planning and taking all necessary actions to protect the safety of our faculty, staff, students and visitors against possible threats, likely or unlikely,” Daniels and Akridge wrote.

https://www.jconline.com/story/news/2020/03/02/coronavirus-purdue-make-plans-case-quarantine-online-courses-if-necessary/4934324002/

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

That means everything from recording lectures and uploading course content to the LMS, to hosting real-time web conference sessions, to using asynchronous discussion tools, to incorporating interactive quizzes and more, all while fine-tuning instructional approaches to make the most of online delivery. To help ease that transition, we’ve gathered our top stories on online teaching and instructional design, chock full of tips and best practices from the trenches. Find your next online education technique or strategy here.

https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2020/03/02/9-Resources-for-When-Coronavirus-Moves-Your-Course-Online.aspx

By Amy Ahearn, EdSurge

By one estimate, more than 23,000 students graduated from coding bootcamps in 2019—up nearly 50 percent from the previous year. But how quickly they will land a job is unclear. Concerns over lack of experience is the top reason deterring employers from hiring a bootcamp graduate, according to a 2019 report from Hired, an online marketplace for tech jobs. This focus on experience is shared across industries. “Even for entry-level jobs, employers will expect to see one to two years of related experience,” Benedicta Doe, a former technical recruiter, told me, “Gaining relevant experience through internships, group projects or technical certifications is therefore important.”

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-02-21-reimagining-internships-for-adult-learners-and-a-new-era-of-work

Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

The “groundbreaking” national campaign will be led by the nonprofit Ad Council in “close association” with IBM, Apple and the White House, the council said. The ads “will shine a light on how young and working adults can develop the skills in demand for today’s job market,” a council spokeswoman said in a written statement, while also seeking to “raise awareness of the wide variety of educational options available, such as coding bootcamps, on-the-job apprenticeships, certifications, associate’s degrees and more.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/24/ad-council-campaign-white-house-task-force-will-tout-alternatives-bachelors-degree

Udacity

AI is transforming many aspects of the workplace. What is often missing, however, is the understanding within management of how best to apply these new technologies to fully exploit their potential. To help management teams overcome this obstacle, Udacity has worked closely with the BMW Group on the design and creation of the Executive Program. The BMW Group has been skilling its employees for over two years using Udacity’s courses, with a particular focus on data analysis and machine learning.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/udacity-drives-ai-understanding-for-business-leaders-301008991.html

Telangana Today

In a world driven by technology and knowledge economy, it is crucial that one adopt lifelong learning and continuously seek avenues to keep pace with the changing nature of jobs and skills, said Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera. He said that higher education is grappling with an acute demand-supply mismatch and universities are facing the challenge of limited capacity for their on-campus programmes.

https://telanganatoday.com/lifelong-learning-crucial-raghav-gupta

Wally Boston, InCyberDefense

There are and will continue to be many jobs eliminated because of the advances of A.I. technology. Keep it in your rear-view window if you are a line worker and not a manager. If you are a manager, you need to be on top of the technology and how it may be capable of enhancing your outcomes as well as replacing many members of your team. If you are a CEO, you need to be aware of A.I.’s capabilities and implement it before your competitors do. If you are a committed, lifelong learner, you’ll be okay. If not, please start educating yourself to be in a situation where you can recover if your job is eliminated through automation.

https://incyberdefense.com/ai/artificial-intelligence-is-everywhere-will-you-be-prepared/

Maggie Hartnett and Jon Dron, CITE Journal

With the increasing ubiquity of new technologies, many claims are being made about their potential to transform tertiary education. In order for this transformation to be realized, however, a range of issues needs to be addressed. Research evidence suggests that motivation is an important consideration for online learners. This paper reports on one aspect of a case study situated within a larger study that investigates the nature of motivation to learn of preservice teachers in an online environment. Using self-determination theory as an analytical framework, the focus here is on the underlying concepts of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The ways in which certain social and contextual factors can foster perceptions of these needs being met are explored. Most prominent among these were the relevance of the learning activity, the provision of clear guidelines, and the ongoing support and feedback from the lecturer that was responsive to learners’ needs. Supportive, caring relationships were also important.

https://citejournal.org/volume-14/issue-1-14/general/exploring-motivation-in-an-online-context-a-case-study/

Jeremy Olson, Star Tribune

Mitchell Hamline School of Law’s reputation for online classes has expanded all the way to China, where one law school is seeking to learn how to teach students remotely due to government restrictions over the coronavirus outbreak. Professors from Peking University School of Transnational Law will log in Tuesday to receive training from experts at Mitchell Hamline in St. Paul, which was the first law school in the nation to provide online classes that met accreditation standards of the American Bar Association (ABA).

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-law-school-to-jump-start-online-learning-for-china-university-closed-by-coronavirus-restrictions/568087932/

Achieving the Dream
The study—conducted by SRI Education and rpk GROUP and released at Achieving the Dream’s 2020 DREAM conference here today—found that students enrolled in OER courses earned more credits than non-participating peers and that the effort was cost-effective not just for students but for institutions. Students at the participating colleges saved $10.7 million on the cost of learning materials. As courses became established, institutions were in position to recover their costs or even, in some instances, generate income from the effort as more students signed up for the OER courses.

https://www.achievingthedream.org/news/18002/largest-ever-study-of-impact-of-open-educational-resources-in-college-reveals-benefits-of-introducing-oer-courses-on-a-broad-scale

Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed

Participation in a discussion board is among the most common assignments in online courses. We typically ask our students to respond to a reading or a prompt and then reply to several of their classmates. Online classes need spaces where students can interact and hold discussions. Chat rooms, discussion forums and hangouts can be valuable — but only if we reimagine how they are used and how they work.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/beyond-discussion-board

JONATHAN VANIAN, Fortune

The company announced Thursday that it would offer a new online program intended for executives looking to incorporate A.I. into their businesses. Udacity’s online courses have previously been oriented towards people wanting to educate themselves in tech-oriented fields like computer programming and data science. “This is our first foray into the leadership space,” Udacity CEO Gabriel Dalporto said. “Most of our programs have been around creating practitioners.”

https://fortune.com/2020/02/20/udacity-online-ai-artificial-intelligence-course/

FRANCIS MILLER, SupChina

Much of China is currently in lockdown due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. In urban centers, streets are empty and many businesses remain closed. Subways and buses are shuttered or running on limited service. The most visibly functioning public places are supermarkets, but even those lack their usual hustle and bustle. Schools are also closed — but that doesn’t mean learning has stopped. During this period, educators are doing what they do best: making use of the time and resources available. Public schools across China have been ordered by the Ministry of Education to suspend the spring semester, but, as they put it, tíngkè bù tíngxué 停课不停学 — stop classes but don’t stop learning.

https://supchina.com/2020/02/20/china-online-learning-during-coronavirus-has-changed-status-quo/