Educational Technology

by Bill Powers, Edudemic

Many educators refer to the connections made via Twitter as their PLN or Professional Learning Network. I have recently decided my PLN is now my PPLN – Powerful Personal Learning Network. When you connect with the right people your learning network can become the most powerful part of your learning 24/7/365. I came to this conclusion just a few weeks ago. While preparing for a local presentation on how to personalize your learning I tweeted a simple question, Why Twitter?, out to my PLN with a Google Form for tweeps to respond. Some 200 responses later, from all across the globe, I have decided PLN’s are powerful!

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/07/ppln-powerful-personal-learning-network/

BY SARAH LACY, PanoDaily

PandoDaily reports that the “first millionaire online teacher,” Scott Allen, has earned over $1.8 million from teaching computer programming at Pluralsight.com over the past five years. Others aren’t far behind, though. Online course marketplace, Udemy, recently shared its list of top ten earners on its platform, led by Victor Bastos, who’s made over $450K teaching web development since November 2011.

http://pandodaily.com/2013/07/08/lessons-from-the-first-millionaire-online-teacher/

by Debra Donston-Miller, Information Week

E-portfolios are “dynamic, developmental spaces representing your professional ‘self’ on the Web,” says a Penn State website that offers help and services to students, alumni and faculty looking to build an e-portfolio. “They are becoming standard practice for academics, students, and professionals and typically include examples of skills and achievements, as well as a reflective blog element.” E-portfolios can be developed in a variety of ways, from simple (and free) blogging platforms, to modules in learning management systems, to dedicated software programs and services. Many colleges and universities offer their own e-portfolio services to students, be they proprietary or licensed through an outside provider.

http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/7-ways-to-create-e-portfolios/240157957

by Jacqui Cheng, ars technica

If you’ve ever had a hankering to try out a 3D printer, a laser cutter, or a milling machine without dropping thousands of your own hard-earned dollars, the Harold Washington Library in Chicago is the place to be. The Harold Washington has become the first major urban library to open a pop-up “maker lab,” allowing members of the general public the opportunity to experiment with the cutting-edge technologies. And while there are still a few wrinkles to iron out before the public can use all the machines, the Chicago Public Library (CPL) system is already looking forward to where this project will go next. “There’s more buzz about this on social media than anything we’ve ever done,” CPL’s First Deputy Commissioner Andrea Sáenz told Ars.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/3d-printing-for-all-inside-chicago-librarys-new-pop-up-maker-lab/

By Associated Press

The state department of education wants to develop an online game as part of an Alaska studies course for high school students. Vendors have until Wednesday to submit proposals. The project budget is $150,000. Kelly Sorensen, educational technology coordinator with the department, says the game currently is being looked at as a tool to further engage students in their coursework. She says a teacher would manage the class, monitor student progress and use the game as he or she saw fit. The plan is to offer the game through the Alaska Learning Network, which provides distance online courses. Officials will decide later whether to expand it.

http://www.ktoo.org/2013/07/15/state-seeking-online-game-for-history-studies/

By Lana Neuman, Philly

Today at Congreso, the well-regarded North Philadelphia nonprofit that has served its Latino community for 40 years, digital literacy is part of just about every adult education course. Whether students are learning how to use Google Maps or to use the SEPTA website or to study for the GED online, since technology touches nearly every part of daily life, it can’t be separated from learning, said Michael Thompson, adult education coordinator at Congreso. “It’s not just about teaching the technology,” Thompson said. “It’s about learning how to use the technology to support other learning goals.”

http://technical.ly/philly/2013/07/09/congreso-digital-literacy/

BY TOM SNEE, Iowa Now

The College of Law is venturing into new forms of electronic legal education for the first time this year, with two professors teaching classes that expand the college’s educational reach and experiments that include joint distance education with Ohio State University. Professor Marcella David is teaching the class “The Legal Profession” online this summer to University of Iowa law students. Then this fall, professor Herb Hovenkamp will open his antitrust law class to students at the Moritz College of Law at OSU, which will participate remotely in a pilot project that may expand to other law schools in the Big Ten. In return, UI law students will participate remotely in an election law class offered at OSU in spring 2014.

http://now.uiowa.edu/2013/07/teaching-law-technology

by RICHARD SOLASHJUL, The Atlantic

Massive online courses known as MOOCs are opening up elite education opportunities for those who wouldn’t otherwise have them.  It’s more than 11,000 kilometers from Shakargarh, a city in northeastern Pakistan, to the venerated halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the top universities in the United States. Twenty-five-year-old Khalid Raza lives in Shakargarh but is taking “The Challenges of Global Poverty,” a course taught by a former adviser to the World Bank and a professor of international economics at MIT. Recently, while on the bus, he pulled out his laptop and submitted one of his first assignments. “It was an amazing experience when I was submitting my assignment,” he said. “I was traveling and my friend was sitting with me. When I submitted my assignment, after some time he asked me a question, ‘What are you doing?’ So I told him the whole story, that I am taking a course from the U.S.A. He was so surprised and shocked.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/what-happens-when-people-in-pakistan-start-taking-mit-classes/277580/

By Harry McCracken, Technologizer

In certain respects, Versal reminds me a little bit of Curious. Both aim to help anybody teach anything to everybody who’d like to learn it. But while Curious emphasizes video lessons above all else, Versal allows its teachers to create courses and classes that meld words, images and video with interactive web gadgets. The text, pictures and videos let teachers do the teaching; the gadgets let students teach themselves by doing. Versal provides a web-based editor that lets users piece everything together in a straightforward manner reminiscent of a blogging platform such as WordPress, then hosts completed courses on its own servers. Among the gadgets debuting in Versal’s first courses are one that lets 3D modelers manipulate a skeleton; another allows color-theory students to tap on paintings to see which colors they use; and a third (shown above) provides a simulation of how epidemics spread. They all worked well on both my PC and iPad, and hint at how all sorts of gadgets could enhance all sorts of lessons.

http://techland.time.com/2013/07/09/versal-aims-to-make-teaching-as-easy-as-blogging/

by Maggie Summers, Edudemic

Google’s Samsung Chromebook is still relatively new to the tech scene, but it’s made quite a splash since its launch in October 2012. Aptly billed “a laptop for everyone,” its $249 price tag and straightforward interface makes it a device worth considering for both students and teachers. Between the wild news that Malaysia is adopting 10 million and the new Google Play Store for Education, there’s a few reasons try Google Chromebooks in the classroom.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/07/3-reasons-to-try-google-chromebooks-in-the-classroom/

by Anna Frazetto, Huffington Post

When it comes to women in U.S. CIO roles, the number has remained relatively unchanged. Eight percent of CIOs in the U.S. are women, a slight improvement from seven percent last year, according to the latest CIO survey from Harvey Nash. While this figure isn’t too surprising, as women make up a relatively small percentage of the C-suite, (only 10 percent of CFOs and 4 percent of CEOs in the Fortune 500 are women) what is surprising is that so few women make up the talent pool in IT for many companies. According to the report, 75% of U.S. CIOs polled stated that there are a lack of qualified female candidates for IT leadership rolls. In addition, 40% believed that the current percentage of CIOs being women (8%) is satisfactory.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cassie-slane/women-cio_b_3561842.html

by Kris Hilgedick, News-Tribune

Humans have relied on books for learning ever since some enterprising Mesopotamian pressed a reed into a lump of wet clay. But in April 2010 — a mere 39 months ago — Apple Inc. introduced the iPad tablet. Ever since, educators have been learning how to used the devices to enrich classroom learning. Will the iPad, and devices similar to it, someday replace the book in America’s classrooms?

It’s possible.

http://www.newstribune.com/news/2013/jul/07/textbooks-vs-tablets-schools-begin-exploring-trans/

by Courtney Buell, edcetera

Online courses are here to stay, but they present real challenges for today’s learners. In a traditional classroom, distraction is a significant problem, but it’s difficult to sit through an entire lecture without absorbing at least part of the lesson. Online, it’s easy for a student to sit down with the intention of completing a course module or assignment and realize two hours (and ten YouTube videos) later that they didn’t get anything done. Students raised in the fast-paced, multi-tasking, distraction-prone digital age have more access to learning than ever before — but when education is conducted online, next to entertainment and 24-hour updates, students often have a hard time focusing long enough to really learn.

http://edcetera.rafter.com/fighting-distraction-in-online-courses/

By Mackenzie Mays, WVGazette

In a recent survey conducted by the National Summer Learning Association, more than 65 percent of teachers polled reported that it takes them up to four weeks to re-teach the previous year’s skills at the beginning of a new school year. In addition, the survey — which questioned 500 teachers across the country — revealed that for about 25 percent of them, it takes more than five weeks to get students caught up after a summer off. The West Virginia Department of Education recently launched an online initiative to help prevent students from suffering from that summer learning loss.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201307060019

by Phyllis Coulter, Pantagraph

The students in Lexington’s virtual summer school aren’t high schoolers getting credits for fall or adults earning college credits to advance careers. They are kindergarten students to second- graders. “I like rhyming,” said Belle Payne, 6, one of 30 students using an online program to help her with language skills. She prefers rhyming words to word endings, but worked carefully on her new lesson Thursday. Her mom would take her swimming as soon as she was done. “Mornings are best,” said Cathy Payne, saying her daughter asks for lessons after breakfast and happily works toward her 60-minute weekly goal.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/education/virtual-learning-program-geared-for-younger-students/article_0c449288-e6ab-11e2-8d9a-0019bb2963f4.html

by Computing Education Blog

These are really exciting results. Done well, on-line professional development is as effective as face-to-face professional development as published in ACM Transactions on Computing Education. These results are promising for our CSLearning4U project. In particular, the benefit that Barry Fishman saw is what we were most hoping for, based on our studies with Klara Benda — it’s all about fitting into the teachers’ lives. Of course, the devil is in how the teacher training is designed and executed. ”There are no shortcuts in professional development,” Fishman stressed. In the study, teachers who received the online professional development weren’t just plopped in front of YouTube. Instead, the group took a series of self-paced “short courses” via computer. They also interacted online with facilitators who helped them through the units and answered their questions.

http://computinged.wordpress.com/2013/07/05/benefits-of-online-face-to-face-professional-development-similar-study-finds/

by Jasper Visser, Museum of the Future

The biggest eye-opener for me is that although online communication is often one to one (one organisation talking to one individual in the audience), in many of my webinars the ‘one’ on the receiving end actually was a group of participants sharing the same laptop. I’ve heard of MOOC study groups where people watch the videos together. People online are not necessarily (physically) alone. When thinking about digital engagement this means the people at the receiving end will talk, discuss and exchange ideas outside of the scope of the digital environment and maybe only report some key words back. This provides huge opportunities for facilitators in webinars and other online processes.

http://themuseumofthefuture.com/2013/07/04/what-moocs-and-webinars-can-teach-us-about-digital-engagement

By ANASTASIA DAWSON, Tampa Tribune

A new law aims to offer more online classes to Florida students than ever before, but making sure it works as intended will take lots of time and planning, school officials say. Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill into law July 1, allowing more out-of-state digital learning companies to partner with developing Florida online classes and requiring the Department of Education to research the effects. Now, the state has to figure out how to hold online teachers and curricula accountable. The goal is to improve education for all Florida students, said Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, one of the bill’s sponsors.

http://staugustine.com/news/florida-news/2013-07-04/online-education-expanding-state#.UdcbjvnVCuY

by Katie Lepi, Edudemic

While online learning is nothing new, traditional education is being disrupted by online education. With so many colleges and universities now say that online courses are a critical part of their long-term strategy, it is clear that this trend is affecting the mainstream population higher education students. New technology is fueling online education adoption and enabling it to be very effective. Check out the handy infographic at the URL below to learn more about some of the current statistics and trends in online learning.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/07/a-visual-guide-to-online-learning/

by GREGORY FERENSTEIN, Tech Crunch

Now, some diversity may be heading the Valley’s way thanks to Former New York Schools Chancellor and Amplify CEO, Joel Klein, who is giving away a free Massively Open Online Course in Advanced Placement Computer Science. “There’s very few really good computer science teachers in America”, Klein tells me, at the The Atlantic’s Aspen Ideas Festival. “There are lots of kids who are prepared and could do well in these programs.” Starting this Fall, Amplify will provide an interactive online course to students around the country. More than 3,000 schools will offer students 2 semesters worth of credit hours. While details are scant on the curriculum, it will hopefully open up a path to a more colorful technology sector. Hispanics and blacks make up 30 and 13% of the American population, respectively, but they only account for 6.7 and 5% of Computer Science degrees, according to a report by the Anita Borg Institute For Women In Technology.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/03/how-a-new-free-online-computer-science-course-could-bring-college-prep-to-everyone/

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

New tricks will enable a life-logging app called Saga to figure out not only where you are, but what you’re doing. Having mobile devices closely monitoring our behavior could make them more useful, and open up new business opportunities. Many of us already record the places we go and things we do by using our smartphone to diligently snap photos and videos, and to update social media accounts. A company called ARO is building technology that automatically collects a more comprehensive, automatic record of your life. ARO is behind an app called Saga that automatically records every place that a person goes. Now ARO’s engineers are testing ways to use the barometer, cameras, and microphones in a device, along with a phone’s location sensors, to figure out where someone is and what they are up to. That approach should debut in the Saga app in late summer or early fall.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516566/using-a-smartphones-eyes-and-ears-to-log-your-every-move/