Educational Technology

By Paula Harris and Ruthe Farmer, Houston Chronicle

There is a critical shortage of qualified job seekers in the computer science field. Yes, even in this time of high unemployment, thousands of jobs, many of them right here in Houston, go unfilled simply because not enough individuals with the skill set companies need exist to fill these positions. The problem is deep rooted: In the United States, fewer than 25 percent of students have rigorous computer science courses available to them. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of students participating in computer science training has decreased from 25 percent to 19 percent over the last 20 years. And those who do show an interest in the field find that most public schools simply do not offer an up-to-date, rigorous computer science curriculum.

http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Time-to-make-computer-science-part-of-schools-4100712.php

by edsurge

Technology is amazing, revolutionary, and beautiful…when it works. When it doesn’t, there are a lot of four-letter words that better describe it. At many schools, there aren’t nearly enough IT support staff to deal with all the problems that can pop up. Fear that something will go awry stops many great projects before they even begin. So how can you triage the easy problems, seek help on the medium ones, and get your IT guy’s attention on the really bad ones? The advice below comprises troubleshooting steps from a digital colonist for digital immigrants and digital natives. For different reasons, digital immigrants and natives are poor troubleshooters. If digital natives would be more patient and digital immigrants more confident, we might see technology used more effectively. Both can become power users in no time.

http://edsurge.com/n/2012-12-24-troubleshooting-advice-from-a-digital-colonist

by The Next Web

Latin Americans spend 56% more time on social networking sites than the worldwide average, research firm comScore reports. It also released interesting data on the most popular networks across the region. According to the findings, Argentina is Latin America’s most “social addicted” country, with an average of 9.8 hours on social networking sites in November, closely followed by Brazil, which ranked second at 9.7 hours. Peru, Chile and Mexico also appear within the top ten global markets in that respect.

http://thenextweb.com/la/2012/12/24/comscore-latin-americans-spend-56-more-time-on-social-networks-linkedin-passes-twitter/

By Bridget McCrea, Campus Technology

Blended learning programs are booming in higher education as a growing number of institutions adopt this model to meet the unique needs and learning styles of an increasingly diverse student population. But blended learning programs are not without their hurdles. Building an effective program means knowing–and addressing–the challenges that can impede learning and instruction. Here’s a look at what institutions should know as they consider implementing a hybrid learning approach.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2012/12/19/overcoming-blended-learning-obstacles.aspx

by Christopher Pappas, eLearning Industry

Would you like to provide audio of online text? What about running a PowerPoint presentation and have a narration of the text on your slides? Would you be interested in a list of 19 Free Text to Speech tools? In the following list you will find 19 Free Text to Speech tools that your students’ will appreciate if you use. The most of them are user friendly. Some of them must be installed and others plug into your browser. All are free!

http://elearningindustry.com/subjects/tools/item/420-19-free-text-to-speech-tools-educators-tts-teachers

Dan Lyons, ReadWrite

The company is called Leap Motion, and if you want to get an idea of how much everyone in San Francisco is buzzing about them, consider this: A few weeks ago I was visiting a different hot new startup in San Francisco, and in the middle of their demo the executives said, “By the way, have you heard about Leap Motion?” Then they interrupted their own demo to show me a video showing what Leap Motion’s software does. That mindblowing video has been viewed more than 7 million times since Leap Motion put it on YouTube last May. Basically the engineers at Leap Motion have invented the 3D user interface of the future. You don’t use a keyboard and mouse; you don’t even use a touch screen. You just move your fingers in the air, and, as if by magic, with zero latency and pinpoint accuracy, stuff happens on your screen. Think of Microsoft’s Kinect controller, but way better. Leap Motion claims its device is 200 times more accurate than anything on the market and can track your finger movements down to 1/100th of a millimeter.

http://readwrite.com/2012/12/24/is-this-the-hottest-tech-company-of-2013

by BRAD SPIRRISON, TechCrunch

Nearly six years after the debut of the iPhone, mobile applications are beginning to mature. The best mobile apps of 2012 – with a few notable exceptions – are more about refined practicality rather than anything revolutionary. So while this year’s list lacks medium-defining breakthroughs like Instagram and Shazam, it showcases new and meaningfully updated apps that simply work better than their competitors. In this age of algorithmic aggregation, we also salute titles that have a decidedly human touch.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/23/the-20-best-ios-and-android-apps-of-2012/

BY Scott Brave, Baynote

Virtually any article today about big data inevitably turns to the notion that the country is suffering from a crucial shortage of data scientists. A much-talked-about 2011 McKinsey & Co. survey pointed out that many organizations lack both the skilled personnel needed to mine big data for insights and the structures and incentives required to use big data to make informed decisions and act on them. What seems to be missing from all of these discussions, though, is a dialogue about how to steer around this bottleneck and make big data directly accessible to business leaders. We have done it before in the software industry, and we can do it again.

http://gigaom.com/2012/12/22/we-dont-need-more-data-scientists-just-simpler-ways-to-use-big-data/

by Ted S. Warren, Associated Press

It used to be that a new version of the Windows operating system was enough to get people excited about buying a new computer, giving sales a nice pop. Earlier versions of Windows all came out during periods when the PC’s status as the center of computing seemed far more secure. Not this time. Windows 8, the latest edition of Microsoft’s software, failed to pack shoppers into a Microsoft store in a mall here last week, at a time when parking lots in the area were overflowing. The trickle of shopping bags leaving the store with merchandise was nothing like the steady stream at a bustling Apple store upstairs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/technology/tepid-sales-of-microsofts-windows-8-point-to-shaky-market.html

By Celia Baker, Deseret News

The next school icon to be tossed on the education bone heap may be the hardcover textbook. Slide rules and typewriters have long been extinct, and chalkboards have become an endangered species threatened by interactive whiteboards. Someday soon, students might carry a single digital tablet instead of lugging around a backpack full of books. Along with reducing backaches, the shift to e-textbooks holds bright promise for decreasing education costs and improving learning. The United States spends more than $7 billion a year on textbooks, but many students are still stuck with old texts full of outdated material.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865569352/Goodbye-to-heavy-backpacks-Hello-e-textbooks.html

 by Melodika.net

Just like many other things, online education has been changing. Observers and experts opine that online education, among many other gains, will be gaining a lot of stature. Employers will more seriously consider applicants with an online degree than before. More people will start, or have started already, to include online education programs into their career plans. Other than this, the way online learning is delivered will undergo a lot of change. In fact, it has been changing in a lot of places already. Here are the top trends in online learning for the near future.

http://www.melodika.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537554&Item =54

by Whitefish Bay Patch

A Whitefish Bay woman is leading an initiative between Alverno College and the Milwaukee School of Engineering to provide computers to students in Cameroon. Tracy Stockwell, Associate Professor of Professional Communication and Chair of the Communication & Technology Department at Alverno College, leads the initiative with colleague, professor Jill Moore, and MSOE students. Members of MSOE’S Community Computers work with Alverno as well as non-profit organizations to provide computers to families, and organizations in need. Community Computers has also worked across several continents and within the Milwaukee area to provide computers to schools. The joint venture works on taking computers, refurbishing them, installing open-source (free) software, and donating them to schools in Cameroon that would otherwise not be able to afford them.

http://whitefishbay.patch.com/articles/computer-donation-drive-benefits-students-in-africa

by Antone Gonsalves, ReadWrite

In 2012, IT growth and innovation centered around mobile devices, cloud services, social networking and Big Data. 2013 is likely to see accelerated adoption in all those areas, as many companies move from experimenting and testing to deployment. What follows are 2013 predictions for some of the fastest growing next-generation technologies in enterprise IT. If 2012 seemed like a tumultuous year, then hold on to your hats. Next year is going to be another bumpy ride.

http://readwrite.com/2012/12/21/six-tech-trends-that-will-rock-enterprise-it-in-2013

by Singularity Hub

The Khan Academy has had quite a year and to end 2012 on an even higher note, the organization recently introduced Khan Academy Lite, or KA Lite, which provides a version of the service’s popular educational lessons using wireless peer-to-peer sharing. That means that the nonprofit organization’s lessons can be accessed by offline users who, for one reason or the other, do not have an Internet connection.

http://singularityhub.com/2012/12/21/now-learners-dont-need-an-internet-connection-to-watch-khan-academy-lessons/

by Kelly Voll, The Citizen

Students in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES are one step closer to having better access to virtual Advanced Placement courses. A group of four area BOCES, including the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES, are tentative grant recipients of $1.3 million to aid in forming infrastructure and curriculum for virtual AP courses. “This is a huge direction for schools,” said Bill Speck, superintendent of the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES. “(Virtual courses) are efficient, there’s cost savings, they can be enriching.” Many factors can make access to AP courses a challenge for students, such as a student’s schedule or the lack of certain courses at a student’s school. Another issue is the lack of reliable high-speed internet access in sections of Cayuga County; even if a student had access to a virtual AP course, the internet connection at home wouldn’t be fast enough or reliable enough to do the program effectively, Speck said.

http://auburnpub.com/news/local/boces-has-plans-to-run-virtual-advanced-placement-courses/article_6136b32a-8ca9-58af-9035-6cb1cd76dbdd.html

By Rachel M. Zahorsky, ABA Journal

The LawMeets platform offers online courses to anyone, and they can be adopted in whole or modeled by professors. A recent program on mergers and acquisitions drew 800 students from 75 different law schools, plus associates at two BigLaw firms and others from the Law Library of Congress. Mystyc Metrik, a 3L at Cornell Law School, found the M&A class she took “really excellent.” “Law school is a very individualized setting where you are rarely privy to the work of others,” Metrik says, “so getting the chance to actually see some of your peers’ work is really beneficial.” So far, 38 faculty members across the country have used LawMeets exercises, and profs at 48 schools asked to test some after Okamoto presented the model to the Association of American Law Schools last year.

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/drexel_universitys_law_school_takes_practical_training_online_with_lawmeets/

By LENITA POWERS, Reno Gazette-Journal

Students in Judy Strauss’ marketing classes at the University of Nevada, Reno are as likely to use Facebook as they are textbooks to complete their assignments. They use e-portfolios — a collection of the student’s work captured digitally — to grab the attention of potential employers instead of submitting online resumes or paper resumes. And for their final exam for Strauss’ Internet Marketing class, the students organized a flash mob performance last May at Reno Tahoe International Airport to raise awareness for Rett Syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes mental and physical developmental problems. Welcome to higher education in the tech-savvy 21st century.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/9264b7176c3d4dd19729d48ee24678a9/NV–High-Tech-College-Classes

by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

Here are the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012 – the results of the 6th Annual Learning Tools Survey – as voted for by 582 learning professionals worldwide. A learning tool is a tool to create or deliver learning content/solutions for others, or a tool for your own personal or professional learning. Below is a summary of the Top 100 Tools 2012 and where the Top 100 Tools are mainly being used – ie for Personal/Professional learning/productivity, in Education and/or in the Enterprise (for training, performance support and/or team collaboration). (Please note that the absence of a checkmark in a column does not mean that the tool is not, cannot or should not be used for that purpose!)

http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/

By Bulldog Drummond, B2C

Budget cuts and inefficiencies are just a few of the problems U.S. schools have faced for some time, however some educational institutions are coping with these issues by integrating technology into their learning goals, and one online educational specialist takes notice. Classrooms have greatly evolved in recent years, thanks to the rise of digital technology, increased emphasis on diversity, and widespread use of social media. While some schools have slowly adapted to these trends, others have embraced the changes and essentially redefined the educational experience—not just in terms of learning, but also the way students interact with teachers and one another.

http://www.business2community.com/trends-news/the-modern-student-the-rise-of-online-schools-social-media-and-institutionalized-understanding-0356321

BY CYNTHIA NEEDLES FLETCHER, ERIN FOSSELMAN, Iowa State University

Across the state of Iowa, 18 rural libraries are getting ready to welcome the Smart investing@your library® project beginning in January 2013. This program is made possible by a grant from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation through Smart investing@your library, a partnership with the American Library Association. This special grant program funds public library efforts to provide library patrons with access to effective, non-commercial investor educational resources. The Iowa project is a collaboration among Iowa Library Services, the Ames Public Library and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. “This is a win-win situation for the libraries and for Extension,” said Cynthia Fletcher, Iowa State professor and extension family resource management specialist. “It is a great opportunity for ISU Extension and Outreach to work with local libraries to educate Iowans about wise saving and investing.”

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/article/18-libraries-begin-smart-investing-program

BY CRAIG WEISS, eLearningInfo247

The year kicked off with lots of potential, lots of excitement in the air and lots of customers gearing up to purchase new systems, despite global economic woes.

LMSs – Finally vendors took notice. Sadly though many still are in the dark on true mobile learning – i.e. not accessing their platform via a mobile web browser

Authoring Tools – With only a small sample of vendors that are SaaS based, pickings are slim. Sure there were exceptions on the desktop side – most notably Articulate Storyline, but overall until desktop vendors see the advantages of SaaS, especially with real time collaboration and peer review, tablets will be slow going

Web Conferencing – You would think that all these services would have a native app for tablets. You would think that they would maximize the power of the iPad 2 and iPad 3? You would be wrong. Frankly a few deserve coal in their stockings.

http://elearninfo247.com/2012/12/19/lookbackin2012/