Educational Technology

By Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press

The state’s largest bricks-and-mortar college wants to make it easier for students to earn degrees without leaving home. The University of Missouri’s flagship campus in Columbia on Friday announced a $2.5 million expansion of its online degree programs, including master’s degrees in public health and public affairs and a bachelor’s degree in educational studies. Mizzou has long offered classes to those unable to come to Columbia. Its distance learning program is more than a century old, and MU High School, created in 1999, has become a nationally known online option for self-paced homeschoolers, child actors and precocious athletes such as world champion skier Lindsey Vonn. But the demand for more options from working adults, far-flung professionals and even traditional undergraduates living on campus calls for increased online offerings, according to university administrators.

http://www.examiner.net/news/x766864983/Mizzou-expands-online-degrees-with-2-5-million-boost

by Tony Glover, the National

Internet-based university-level education such as that being offered by western universities like Stanford and Yale is now quickly spreading across the world. England’s Liverpool University, for example, is one of those partnering Laureate Education, a global network of accredited campus-based and online postsecondary institutions offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 740,000 students around the world.

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/technology/alma-mater-in-cyberspace-as-web-courses-take-off

by Lisa Fingeroot, The Tennessean

Tennessee is a long way from putting a laptop in the hands of every one of its nearly 1 million public school students, but it is embarking on a technology plan that might change the classroom as much as the Internet changed the workplace. Officials want parents, who will ultimately foot the bill for millions of dollars in computers, infrastructure, ongoing Internet access and staff, to focus on the touted benefits of technology — personalized learning and immediate feedback.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130209/NEWS04/302090067/TN-schools-make-technology-push?nclick_check=1

BY JANE DARBY MENTON, Yale Daily

The MOOC system is one of many ways the field of online education continues to grow and change. Yale Teaching Center Director Bill Rando called the field of online education a “moving target” as new technologies and discoveries continuously push the field in new directions. In response to recent advances in the field, Yale College Dean Mary Miller convened an ad hoc Yale College Committee on Online Education in September to recommend ways the University can evaluate and expand its online presence. The committee’s report recommends Yale College continue increasing its existing online programs — including its for-credit online summer program — and suggests that the University “investigate” new vehicles for online dissemination of knowledge, including Massive Open Online Course platforms, though it does not recommend adopting a specific platform immediately.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/02/07/cautiously-yale-moves-online/

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Khan Academy has inspired both unconditional love and virulent criticism. But the controversy around the videos has sparked something truly valuable: a national conversation about math instruction and the role of technology, data, and teachers in helping students learn.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/02/07/the-math-of-khan.aspx

by Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Too often do we get dazzled by the shiny objects coming out of Cupertino, Mountain View, and the rest of the technology companies we’ve all come to know and love / hate. We get deluged with technology that we’re told is the most important thing to happen to education since chalk.But it’s not about the technology. We write just about every day about interesting bits of technology, tools, tips, and whatnot to offer resources to the world of education. Just because we write a post that offers a couple dozen apps to do XYZ doesn’t mean we think you should start using every single one of them (or even bother downloading them all.) Instead, we share resources so you, the reader, can have the options presented in a concise and simple manner before making a decision. You can decide to do whatever you want with what we present on Edudemic.

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/when-choosing-edtech-keep-students-front-and-center/

by Katie Lepi, Edudemic

It’s old news that simply getting devices for your classroom is not enough. But to many teachers, figuring out how to use the devices they have (or will have) can be overwhelming. This great infographic from Always Prepped outlines 7 lessons from teachers who use technology that we can all learn from, regardless of how much or little technology usage is happening in your classroom or school. What is so incredible about the habits listed below is that they’re so wonderfully simple. #1 in particular can help a lot of people – don’t just use technology for the sake of using it – make sure you have a good reason and positive outcome in mind, otherwise you’re wasting your time!

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/effective-teachers-who-use-technology/

BY: ROB MANNING, OPB

The fundraiser in Portland Tuesday night drew three Oregon governors – John Kitzhaber, Ted Kulongoski, and Vic Atiyeh. But they weren’t the marquee attraction. The star of the night was Salman Khan – the creator of the world-renowned online classroom, the Khan Academy. And education officials here anticipate growth in online learning. The Oregon University System’s departing chancellor, George Pernsteiner says the state’s education goals mean adding nearly 40 percent more students over the next 12 years. “My guess is that not all of them will be served in a traditional classroom mode all the time. Darn near 10 percent of our credit hours are delivered via technology now. When you stop to think about it, that has crept by about a percentage point a year for the last several years. My suspicion is that will continue to be the case,” Pernsteiner says. That question of how online learning will evolve was the center of discussion at an education event last night, hosted by Concordia University.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/solving-the-equation-of-online-learning/

By David Talbot, Technology Review

By combining data from multiple antennas and frequencies, ultrafast wireless technology is poised to turbocharge 4G. In the latest test of future wireless bandwidth, Chinese handset maker ZTE and carrier China Mobile last week described achieving a peak download speed of 223 megabits per second in experiments involving a network technology known as LTE Advanced. Users’ appetite for mobile bandwidth seems insatiable. Cisco Systems estimates that mobile data traffic will grow by a factor of 18 by 2016, and Bell Labs predicts it will increase by a factor of 25. “Data traffic has been growing,” says Michel Peruyero, senior director of product evolution strategy at Alcatel-Lucent, which is developing small base stations, called small cells, that include the new LTE Advanced features. “If you stay with only LTE, you can only support a certain number of users. With LTE Advanced, you have significant increase in data rates, or the same data for many more users.”

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/509936/lte-advanced-is-poised-to-turbocharge-smartphone-data/

by Natasha Loma, Tech Crunch

The affordable Raspberry Pi microcomputer just got even more affordable: the slated $25 Model A Raspberry Pi board has now gone on sale in Europe. The Raspberry Pi Foundation, which created the Pi with the mission to get more kids learning to code, said sales are being restricted to Europe initially but will be opened up to the rest of the world “very soon”. The Foundation’s Pi distributors, RS Components and Premier Farnell/element14, are both selling the board. The Model A pie is $10 cheaper than the $35 Model B, which has sold more than a million to date (including 15,000 bought by Google to give away to U.K. schoolkids). Being cheaper, Model A is slightly stripped back — there’s no Ethernet, only one USB port and just 256MB RAM (rather than 512MB). Model A also consumes around a third less power than Model B — making it suited to projects powered by a battery or solar cells. The board will still run XBMC, according to the Foundation — so can also be used to make a $25 media centre.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/04/25-model-a-raspberry-pi-on-sale-in-europe/

by Dean Putney, Boing Boing

Khan Academy has a short series of videos featuring LeBron James asking science and statistics questions, with his “good friend Sal” answering them. They cover stuff like the odds of LeBron making three free throws versus one three pointer and what muscles you use when you shoot a basket. They’re an engaging introduction to Khan Academy’s videos.

http://boingboing.net/2013/02/04/lebron-asks-khan-academy.html

by William Cohen, Technology+Games

The solution being given increasing attention is Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). BYOD has been popular in the business world for several years as activities ranging from email and calendar management to word processing and graphic design has migrated to hardware owned by employees. Ivan (not his real name) remembers the first year of the laptop roll-out well – he was in Year 12 at a school in Sydney’s western suburbs. “This was a whole new concept – a free laptop. There was definitely a bit of jealousy amongst the older years (who missed out)”. However, as it quickly became clear how many limitations had been placed on the device in terms of internet access and admin privileges, the mood soon turned to “let’s see how we can break (hack) this.” Ivan is now one of an army of people working in technical support roles at public high schools across Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/02/04/3682334.htm

By David Kapuler, School CIO

Through blogging and working with ed tech companies, I come across a large number of educational tools. To help make things easier for myself and others, I have created top 10 lists, curated lists on Pinterest and Edshelf, and also created digital books. However, I always wanted to create a bucket list if I were starting in a new district/school etc. Hopefully, people will find this list useful and perhaps a nice way to save districts money.

http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&entryid=5300

By David Andrade, CIO Advisor

This November I started a new chapter in my career and became CIO for the district I was a teacher in for 10 years. It combines my experience as a teacher and educational technology specialist, as well as my 10 years as an engineer and project manager, into one very exciting, busy, crazy, rewarding job. I am responsible for the IT department as well as coordinating with the data teams and all technology issues and projects. In the past, I wrote about the tech I used as a teacher. Today, I want to write about the technology I’m using as a CIO and how it helps keep me organized, informed, and communicating with others. Some of it is the same, some different, and some just used differently.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&entryid=5241

By David Andrade, School CIO

Technology changes rapidly and it seems like something you just bought last week is already outdated and replaced by something new. Some people and companies are always buying the latest and greatest technology, but schools, and most people, can’t afford to do that. So, what can we do? One thing is to reuse old technology for new purposes. I use an old Palm PDA as my backup alarm clock. I can set repeating alarms for each day and when it goes off, the screen turns on, adding a visual alarm along with the sound. I use my old Palm Centro phone as a backup remote control for the TV, DVD, and VCR. It has an IR transmitter and an app that has all of the programs in it. I also have an old netbook that I still use. It is my remote back up system. It has Dropbox and Sugarsync on it and backs up those accounts, along with my Google Drive and Google Accounts and Evernote. This means that all of my data is on my main computer, this netbook, those systems, and my mobile devices. Great way to reuse an old device.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&entryid=5296

by Dawn Casey-Rowe, Edudemic

This week’s Top Ten Learnist boards are dedicated to the theme of coding, web design, and all things technical. There is a conversation ensuing between educators, policy makers, and industry leaders about the importance of teaching students coding and web design to prepare them for 21st century careers and entrepreneurship. Some are saying this is part of the Common Core Standards in technology, while others insist it’s actually another literacy, and should be treated as such.

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/tech-savvy-teacher/

by Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Students, teachers, and administrators are some of the biggest users of school printers I know of. As someone who tries to avoid printers at all costs, it’s painfully obvious when I have to use one. Basically, I use it as the absolute last resort. I may soon be in luck as printers in schools (and most everywhere else) may soon be a thing of the past. That’s according to recent data that shows how printing as we know it is on the decline … textbooks are going digital … and students are opting for tablets over pens and papers. The times, they are a-changing. This infographic from Education News makes that abundantly clear. What do you think of the future of printers? How many more years will they be a big part of your school?

http://edudemic.com/2013/01/will-school-printers-soon-be-a-thing-of-the-past/

by Colleen Lee, Edudemic

As I began to build my personal learning network (PLN) I didn’t know a hashtag from a MT. But I knew something exciting was happening for educators on Twitter. The road to a robust PLN begins with the signing up for Twitter – then the journey begins…

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/6-steps-to-becoming-a-better-twitter-user/

by Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Libraries are in the middle of a massive disruption right now. That much is known by pretty much everyone. Like the newspaper industry, they’re looking to technology and other methods to enhance their offerings and resources while feeling the pinch of smaller budgets. (Sound similar to schools and pretty much every other industry?) So what are libraries actually doing right now to turn themselves into the perpetually useful spot to dig up the best research, find help with your education, and the many other activities they’re so well known for? For one, the general public is relying on the free services offered by libraries more than ever before. Whether that’s due to the economy or not, it’s a good sign that the future of libraries is bright as long as they’re accurately steered in the right direction.

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/how-technology-is-shaping-the-future-of-libraries/

by FREDERIC LARDINOIS, Tech Crunch

When Google launched its Linux-based Chrome OS in early 2010 and its Chromebook pilot program later that year, most pundits didn’t quite agree with our own MG Siegler’s premise that Google had dropped a “nuclear bomb on Microsoft.” A few years later, it sure doesn’t look like Microsoft has much to fear from Chrome OS. But despite its slow start, it looks as if the Chrome OS momentum is slowly picking up. Google has traditionally been very quiet about Chromebook sales and mostly focused on very large enterprise and educational installs. That’s clearly also the target market for the Chrome OS ecosystem right now, but when Acer says that its $199 C7 Chromebook now accounts for 5-10 percent of its U.S. shipments, it’s clear that some of those devices must have gone to regular users, too.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/03/maybe-those-chromebooks-werent-such-a-crazy-idea-after-all/

By Rachel Metz, Technology Review

Some Web searches are easy to think of and describe, but complicated to conduct. If, for instance, you want to find “a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to San Diego next week on JetBlue,” you have to fill out a bevy of fields on a travel site. SkyPhrase, a startup created by Nick Cassimatis, an associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will soon offer software that lets companies turn natural language questions like the one above into a format that their databases can handle.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/510056/startup-brings-better-understanding-of-tricky-questions-to-the-web/