Educational Technology

by Kirsten Winkler, the Big Think

It’s all but a secret these days that online education has developed itself into a hot market as founders, developers and investors get attracted to the vertical and now take it more serious than some 2 years ago. What many people have criticized so far was a reluctance from most of the top universities to have serious ambitions and invest in innovative online programs both paid and free.  Whether it is going to be $6, $16, $60 million or a completely different number, in the end what really matters is that access to quality courses and teaching has finally started to become a reality for the masses.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/coursera-edx-khan-academy-uopeople-are-the-floodgates-for-free-education-finally-open?page=all

By John Martin CNN

Khan Academy took the top prize for education at this year’s Webby Awards, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday. TED Talks won the Webby People’s Voice Award. The academy will dole out the awards for Internet excellence on May 21. In contrast to the long speeches you see at award ceremonies like the Oscars, each winner will be allowed to say just five words — shorter than most tweets. And the nominees in the category of Education Websites are….

http://www.local10.com/news/Education-websites-awarded-Webbys/-/1717324/12562272/-/ralo0b/-/

by Scott Evans, KTVB

Now, we see how a student and family feel about the online tool. It’s a typical day at Riverstone International School. Sonya Terborg’s 5th grade class is hosting another class to learn about perimeter and area. “You’re going to follow that up today by thinking about your personal space,” said Terborg. You might have already noticed that this classroom is filled with, not only rulers, pencils and paper, but laptops and tablets as well. That technology helps the students access Khan Academy.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/How-one-family-has-been-helped-by-the-Khan-Academy-150251315.html

by Terry Heick, Edudemic

Change of all kinds depends on key episodes of disruption–even those that aren’t all roses at the time. For our May issue (which will also be available in our store for those iPad-less), we chose a handful (okay, 21) of the most recent initiatives in education and ranked them according to their potential for disruption–their ability to change education in powerful and even unpredictable ways. We’ll preview our content a bit more up until launch so you know what you’re getting, but to get started, let’s take a look the items below. Feel free to rank your own top 10 in the comments below and see how your list compares to ours when it releases next week.

http://edudemic.com/2012/05/edudemic-magazine-for-ipad-in-may-the-scale-of-disruption/

by Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Back in 2007, I gave my students an end-of-year survey asking them how they felt their year with me had gone. On it, one of my most quiet, thoughtful students left a comment I’ll never forget: “This year felt more real.” Since then, I’ve made that a very intentional goal: helping students to have a classroom experience that avoids “schooliness,” where my teaching and the students’ tasks are consistently designed to be as genuine as possible.

http://edudemic.com/2012/04/one-to-one-technology/

by Edudemic

I’ve spent many years analyzing, understanding, and deploying education technology. As Edudemic grows up into a more professional site (slowly but surely), I’ve noticed that I get pitched a lot of products in hopes that I write a review / share it with you. Terry, Edudemic’s editor, and I routinely go through pitches and submissions to see if they have some worth. We’ve been using a rubric that I thought teachers around the world might benefit from.

http://edudemic.com/2012/04/edtech-rubric/

By AMY GOLOD, US News

American university professors do not teach education students a universal, tried-and-true method for how to incorporate technology in their classroom instruction. That the digital revolution evolves at a rapid pace and that technology has become so subject-specific means universities cannot address these shifts and create a standard curriculum. As a result, educators have become more resourceful and ingenious in their teaching, professors say. “Large-scale studies show that the technology itself doesn’t necessarily make a difference. What does make a difference is well-designed technology coupled with well-prepared teachers,” says Prof. Steve Kerr, chair of curriculum and instruction at the University of Washington’s College of Education in Seattle.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/05/02/educators-work-to-better-integrate-technology-into-the-classroom

By Stephanie Hill, Washington Post

Stephanie Hill (Mike Rote/Lockheed Martin Corp.) “Are you sure you want to be a software engineer? You are such a people person. Won’t you be stuck working alone, staring at a computer for hours on end?” Those were the questions that my sister asked as I declared my intent to pursue a software engineering degree at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). She was right – I am a people person. But a college elective course – in COBOL programming – peaked my interest like nothing before. And with wonderful mentors who provided me a glimpse into various career opportunities, I shifted gears, full speed ahead into the world of engineering. I have not looked back since. As an African-American, female engineer, I’m certainly in the minority.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/why-the-nation-needs-more-female-engineers/2012/05/03/gIQAufuhwT_blog.html

By Lydia X. McCoy, KnoxNews

Jill Hobby, principal of Whittle Springs, said they wanted to show students what it’s like to be an engineer, see the robotics in action, and learn about some of the science and math classes they would need in high school to go into the career. “We want to open their eyes. I really hope the students leave today really inspired to achieve more and … I hope they go back to our school and talk about it and inspire more students to step up and work harder in class to achieve more,” she said. Chien-fei Chen, a research assistant professor and education co-director for the CURENT Center, said she hoped students realized that science and engineering are disciplines they can do and can be fun. “It could be related to their life and something they should consider for their future career,” she said.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/03/future-engineering-middle-school-students-get-on/

By OLIVIA B. WAXMAN, Time Techland

to the streets yesterday to protest the inequality of wealth, two computer scientists in Portland, Oregon are protesting the inequality of resources in schools. Tired of helping “unethical bankers” on Wall Street set up cloud data management systems, Russell Okamoto, 45, said he and co-worker Greg Passmore, 30, wanted to create a state-of-the-art cloud computing system that helps “the little people.” So they turned their attention to schools, and in September 2011, they rolled out Celly, a text-messaging service that teachers and students can use to make classwork more fun and engaging. In fact, the Occupy movement uses it to organize protesters. “I want our tool to help spread democracy and debate, so I was up all night trying to help [Occupy Portland],” Passmore said last month. Celly is part of a larger national trend in schools known as “Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT),” in which students are allowed to bring their mobile devices to class.

http://techland.time.com/2012/05/02/texting-1-2-3-schools-test-bring-your-own-technology-programs/

By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times

Harvard and MIT are donating $30 million each to develop education via the Internet. Online students will not earn credit, but the move is still seen as bringing prestige to the field. In a move that heightened competition in online education and brought more prestige to the still-fledgling field, Harvard University and MIT announced a partnership Wednesday to offer the public mainly free Internet classes. Harvard and MIT are each donating $30 million to create a nonprofit organization, to be called “edX” that will develop an Internet platform for the classes and design new ways to teach and learn with technology, according to the two Cambridge, Mass., schools. They will join an emerging arena in which other research universities, Stanford among them, and private ventures around the world are trying to stake out territory. The first five or so free classes are expected to be offered in the fall, and the number will expand in subsequent years from the Harvard-MIT partnership and other universities that may join it, officials said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0503-harvard-online-20120503,0,4584045.story

By DENISE LAVOIE, BUSINESSWEEK

Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have joined forces to offer free online courses in a project aimed at attracting millions of online learners around the world, the universities announced Wednesday. Beginning this fall, a variety of courses developed by faculty at both institutions will be available online through the new $60 million partnership, known as “edX.” “Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can have access,” Harvard President Drew Faust said during a news conference to announce the initiative.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-05/D9UGM8HO3.htm

by Angelisa Ross, Spartan Daily

Recent meetings with the Provost Ellen Junn have sparked discussions that some general education classes may soon be offered online. “What we have proposed is an innovative course on global challenges that will be offered in hybrid mode, partly online and partly in a large lecture in an auditorium with tutoring groups and online discussion groups to support it,” said Dennis Jaehne, associate vice president of undergraduate studies. “I would love it,” said Yesenia Solis, a junior interior design major. “I feel like general education courses take away from focusing on your careers. They have nothing to do with it. They feel like two different entities.”  There has been discussion of creating general education classes online in an effort to save the school approximately $1 million per semester.

http://spartandaily.com/74687/will-general-education-classes-really-be-on-line

by MIT

EdX is an organization established by MIT and Harvard University that will develop an open-source technology platform to deliver online courses. EdX will support Harvard and MIT faculty in conducting research on teaching and learning on campus through tools that enrich classroom and laboratory experiences. At the same time, edX will also reach learners around the world through online course materials. The edX website will begin by hosting MITx and Harvardx content, with the goal of adding content from other universities interested in joining the platform. edX will also support the Harvard and MIT faculty in conducting research on teaching and learning.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/edx-faq-050212.html

By Mary Carmichael and Johanna Kaiser, Boston Globe

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said today they will team up to launch a $60 million initiative to offer free, online, college-level courses under a joint superbrand known as edX. The announcement instantly makes the entity a preeminent player in the burgeoning worldwide online education sector, which has seen several major start-ups — including some affiliated with top-tier universities — in recent months. MIT already has a head start. But Harvard’s role in the project goes well beyond using MIT’s existing platform to deliver its own content. The two universities also plan to collaborate on research into how students learn online by monitoring the progress of the hundreds of thousands of people they hope will sign up for classes, which could range from high-level math and engineering to the humanities.

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/05/02/harvard-mit-partner-million-initiative-offer-free-online-classes-all/cejIeF0GFEB705YzK6urnI/story.html

By Dylan Scott, Converge

Imagine high school biology students logging onto a video game in which they play the role of a white blood cell traversing the human body, fighting bacteria and disease. Imagine middle school students performing old-fashioned frog dissections on a computer application. Imagine teachers and students engaging in a lively debate over the Revolutionary War on their class Facebook wall. That was the future on display Tuesday at the Brookings Institute’s discussion on social networking and education.

http://www.convergemag.com/policy/Social-Media-in-Education-Policy-Discussion.html

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

Teacher Ingrid Oyen doesn’t have to guess whether her students grasp a concept. She pulls out her mobile interactive whiteboard and posts a question from an assessment bank. The third-graders in her class use their student response pads and answer the questions that are projected on a classroom surface such as a regular whiteboard. Then Oyen watches as the third-graders’ names stream onto her device with their answers. These daily formative assessments and interactive tools have saved Oyen time. And they’ve also helped her classroom make significantly higher achievement gains compared to other classes in Salt Creek 48 School District, said Mark Hupp, technology director of the Illinois district. “It isn’t cheap to implement these tools, but this is one of the few technologies where I see definitive achievement gain,” Hupp said. “This is a technology that really drives achievement, and that to me is really why we’re here.” Since the beginning of the year, students scored higher on their daily formative assessments. They also scored higher on a predictive growth model developed by research and analytics consulting firm ECRA Group.

http://www.convergemag.com/classtech/Assessment-Tech-Results.html

By Nick DeSantis, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Pinterest, the social network on which users share collections of images inspired by their hobbies and design interests on digital pin boards, has exploded in popularity since coming online in 2010. The Association of College and Research Libraries hosted an online seminar this week dealing with Pinterest’s potential in academic settings, and some college libraries have already incorporated it into their social-media tool kits.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/3-ways-college-libraries-are-exploring-pinterest/36195

By Carl Hooker, CIO Advisor

Part of the benefit of jumping forward with a 1:1 iPad deployment like we have tried is that we get the opportunity to impart knowledge to other districts looking to do a similar initiative. While that might not seem like a benefit, it actually also means we can make some mistakes because there is not a long history of this type of deployment in the world. Many districts have had 1:1 laptop projects, which we have benefitted from and could easily be applied to this list I’m about to share. However, for the sake of our specific district and the questions I get from other districts on a daily basis, I’m going to break down the 10 things you SHOULD NOT do when implementing a 1:1 iPad program.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&EntryId=4121

By Carl Hooker, CIO Advisor

In my last post I stated how being out in front of an innovation has its advantages, namely that making some mistakes are to be expected. Since then, we’ve had more than 20 districts visit us and at least twice that amount contact us for ideas, answers, and opinions on how they should set up their 1:1 iPad programs. While every situation is different, here are 10 things you SHOULD NOT do when implementing a 1:1 iPad Program, with items 6-10 coming in this post (in no particular order):

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&EntryId=4183

by Mike Schmelder, PennLive

The educational field has many evangelists for technology. They are zealous in their claims and their calls for action are often immediate and total. At an education technology seminar I attended recently, the speaker called on schools to be innovators in technology, out in front of the pack. This is a scary position for teachers, who are already working so hard for our students. So I’m a tech guy advocating for the teachers. Let’s stop berating and scaring them with technology and show them why their roles are so important in a technological age. Here are five ways to help ease teachers’ concerns and help them be comfortable with technology.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2012/04/is_technology_replacing_the_te.html