Educational Technology

By Laura Bates, Fractus

There are all sorts of reasons why online learning can be immensely useful and why it is used by so many different students for all types of contexts and purposes. Sometimes it can be integrated into classroom learning, as in the Flipped Classroom model, where online learning is used to enable students to familiarize themselves with topics during homework time. This leaves them free to attempt the more challenging practical task of tackling questions or putting the theory into practice in the classroom with the teacher present to help them iron out any issues and perfect their techniques. In other cases, students may use online learning to gain long-distance qualifications, or to top up existing knowledge and learning.

http://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/09/06/resources-for-online-learning/

By Rob Kelly, Faculty Focus

As an instructional designer and online instructor at the Community College of Baltimore County Catonsville, Dionne Thorne has worked with many instructors as they develop their online courses. As an instructional designer, Thorne asks a lot of questions: What are the big ideas? What will students walk away with? What can you do online? What have you done face to face? What do you think will work online? What tools are you comfortable with? How much time do you have to invest in the course? “I’m here to look at the course from the student perspective,” Thorne says.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/nine-online-course-development-tips/

by Mike Maddock, Forbes

I strongly believe what the higher education system needs is more inspired entrepreneurs and less bureaucracy and/or government intervention. (I do think there is a role for government to fund university research in a slightly different way than it does now, but more on that later.) Here are three reasons why it’s time for more entrepreneurs to jump into the pool:

Entrepreneurs Drive Simplicity; Governments Drive Complexity

Entrepreneurs are Creators, Not Victims

Better Execution is Not the Opportunity

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/08/31/trump-aside-why-higher-ed-needs-entrepreneurs/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

STEM fields are slated to hold some of the most important jobs in the future. Unfortunately, these fields are also showing a huge shortage of qualified workers and students being trained in these subjects. The supply and demand gap for STEM workers is growing and is slated to continue to do so in the future. I’m sure we could all get into a nice tussle about the numerous reasons for this, instead we’re going to focus on what can be done about getting our students the best STEM education possible. Since getting awesome resources to teach some STEM subjects can be expensive – sometimes too expensive for schools to get great stuff – there are a lot of groups out there that are offering STEM grants for schools to help fill in the blanks for the funding of STEM education. So where can schools and teachers apply for these grants? We’ve collected a few good resources at the URL below.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/09/finding-stem-grands-for-your-school/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

We’ve shared a lot of different ideas here on how to integrate different forms of social media in the classroom. From Facebook to Twitter and Pinterest, there are a ton of educators out there who are harnessing their students’ existing interest and knowledge of these social media tools to engage them in learning activities in the classroom. The handy infographic below (Via: librariansonthefly.blogspot.com) shows a number of different ways to employ another popular social media tool in the classroom and library: Instagram. It does offer you more than just fun filters for your photos! Keep reading to learn more.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/09/instagram-in-the-classroom-infographic/

By Rachel Metz, Technology Review

Wave hello: Leap Motion enables 3-D gesture controls on your computer, but appears to have stagnated since its July launch. Hype surrounding Leap Motion, an $80 3-D gesture-control gadget touted for its exceptional finger-tracking accuracy, reached fever pitch in the weeks before its July launch. Hundreds of thousands of people ordered the device ahead of its release, and a flashy demo video on YouTube was viewed millions of times. Yet after one month and a raft of “meh” product reviews citing problems like difficulty controlling apps and tired arms, the sardine-can-sized gadget—which connects to a computer’s USB port and tracks the movement of your hands and fingers as they move above its sensor—seems to have lost its steam.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518721/leap-motions-struggles-reveal-problems-with-3-d-interfaces/

by Sarah Layton, Applied educational systems

Distance learning relies on online learning. That is true. But the concept is completely different. Merriam-webster.com defines distance learning as “education that takes place via electronic media linking instructors and students who are not together in a classroom.” Wikipedia makes the distinction that “distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason (including taking examinations) have been referred to as hybrid or blended courses of study.” The distinction? If any part of your course requires face time with a student, it’s NOT distance learning.

http://blog.aeseducation.com/2013/09/online-learning-distance-learning/

by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

Despite the talk about how massive open online courses, or MOOCs, will dramatically alter the landscape of higher education, the courses have in some ways taken academe back — to the days of huge gender gaps, when senior scholars overwhelmingly were men. An unofficial count by Inside Higher Ed shows 8 of the 63 courses listed on edX’s website are taught by women, and an additional 8 are taught by mixed-gender groups. Of Coursera’s 432 courses, 121 feature at least one female instructor and 71 taught exclusively by them. Udacity lists 29 courses on its website, and while only two are taught by women, many of them were created by female course developers.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/03/more-female-professors-experiment-moocs-men-still-dominate

By Cynthia Karena, Whyalla News

Remote students interacted with teachers and students in the physical classroom in a context similar to that of Second Life, the 3D virtual world in which people socialise and connect using voice and text chat. The Macquarie trial was conducted as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council project focusing on blended synchronous learning. The project emerged from collaboration between Macquarie’s Informatics, Department of Education, Learning and Teaching Centre, Sustainability and Audio Visual Technology teams. Remote students created their own avatars, cartoon-like online representations of themselves that engaged with the teacher and students in the classroom who could see and hear them through a video stream projection using AvayaLive Engage virtual world (running on Amazon Web Services infrastructure). It uses 3D visuals, high-definition video and spatial audio.

http://www.whyallanewsonline.com.au/story/1745881/remote-classes-enter-blended-reality/?cs=1298

by Rebecca McCarthy, Athens Patch

The University of Georgia Center for Teaching and Learning is looking at ways to save students money by offering free e-textbooks for introductory biology courses at UGA through a $25,000 University System of Georgia Incubator grant awarded this summer. UGA students who take the entry-level biology courses pay around $97 for a new biology textbook. This grant will collectively save students enrolled in these courses approximately $150,350 in the coming academic year as the project is being developed and $198,850 in subsequent years according to Eddie Watson, CTL director.

http://athens.patch.com/groups/university-of-georgia/p/etextbooks-coming-to-uga-biology-courses

By Arlene Wohlgemuth, the Statesman

Online and blended learning remains a bit of a wild frontier in the education world. The potential upsides — expanded access to high quality teachers, the removal of geography and even socioeconomic standing as barriers to any class a student might wish to take, among others — are numerous. Used properly, learning technologies are powerful tools to help all sorts of students, from high school students looking to gain college credit early to dropouts returning to complete their high school diplomas.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/wohlgemuth-riding-into-the-online-learning-frontie/nZgXD/

By LAUREN ZUMBACH, Peoria Journal Star

With a growing number of colleges offering or requiring online courses, several area high schools are providing more virtual options to prepare students while offering a broader curriculum. Three years ago, Dunlap started offering alternative versions of some courses. At first, students are at their desks five days a week, but they gradually cut in-class time to two days a week, working online the other three days. “We wanted a model that reflects where they are as high school students, but prepares them for expectations they’ll run into later,” said Principal Tom Welsh.

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1281953530/Area-high-schools-increase-online-classes-to-help-students-prepare-for-college

by Online Learning Insights

The beauty of engaging in PD online, in a MOOC format for instance, is that it’s driven by individuals’ learning goals, their contributions, and provides learning opportunities beyond what could be experienced solely in a face-to-face space. There’s also the added bonus of the opportunity to create a network of people to learn from and with, often referred to as a personal learning network. Yet learning this way should not be viewed as an extra activity on a to-do list. What makes PD successful is when learners choose to engage in experiences that inspire, that spark interest and motivation. Learning is not a chore when integrated within—with what you do, what you are passionate about.  I’ll provide an example here from my experience to illustrate the point.

http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/how-educators-can-make-time-for-professional-personal-development/

by Special-Education-Degree

Various applications are available for every student need. Some examples of these applications include:

• An application that translates symbols into speech
• An application that creates icons to represent objects or the student’s thoughts so they can be reproduced in sound or visuals
• A similar application records the student’s voice and associates it to images
• A way to help the students calm down when they become nervous or angry

See the infographic at the URL:

http://www.special-education-degree.net/technology/

By David F. Carr, InformationWeek

Pearson will offer more than 400,000 college students taking first-year courses in the sciences and business this fall access to online homework and tutorial software powered by Knewton’s adaptive learning data service, according to the publisher. Pearson and Knewton have been working together since late 2011, and in fall 2012 they introduced their joint product for math, economics, reading and writing. Now, they have expanded into college biology, anatomy/physiology, chemistry, physics, finance and accounting. For each of the new subjects, the focus is on the introductory college course that students must pass if they are serious about a subject; for example, the biology class is specifically for biology majors, including pre-med students, said Paul Corey, president of Pearson Higher Education’s science, business and technology unit.

http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/pearson-expands-online-adaptive-learning/240160618

by Greg Thompson, THE Journal

Howard Lurie works with partners around the world in what he calls an ongoing grand experiment. Part of that experiment may ultimately include offering portions of MOOCs to augment the high school advanced placement (AP) curriculum. “With edX, we could perhaps help to bring about a new breed of AP courses,” says Lurie, a former AP Humanities teacher. “That new breed would be in the form of a very significant and enhanced platform…and it all leads to ways in which we can use blended models to teach AP courses.” Other companies are jumping on the idea of MOOC-enhanced AP classes too: Tablet-maker Amplify recently announced that it will offer a free, two-semester AP Computer Science MOOC with in-school support.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/09/02/get-ready-moocs-are-coming-to-k-12.aspx

by Jon Xavier, Bizjournals

Just Delete Me is a new website that compiles the easiest way to delete your information from various websites into an easy-to-use, informative guide. Just Delete Me also ranks each site on how hard the process of unplugging is. But some sites, including a few that are extremely popular such as Pinterest, are just plain impossible. Want to know what web services make it nearly impossible to quit? Click through the slideshow at the URL to see the sites that don’t currently let you delete your account or your personal data.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/08/26/the-15-popular-web-services-that-hold.html

By Megan O’Neil, Chronicle of Higher Ed

A little more than one year after its debut, the digital-textbook program OpenStax College is set to expand by adding a sixth title to its slate of free online textbooks. OpenStax, a nonprofit group based at Rice University, will add an introductory-statistics text in October. Five additional titles will be available for download by 2015, according to officials. OpenStax doubled the number of professors adopting its textbooks during the past four months, bringing the total to 319 at 297 colleges and universities. The program is expected to save 40,000 students more than $3.7-million in textbook costs during the 2013-14 academic year.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/free-digital-textbook-venture-at-rice-u-adds-users-and-titles/45881

by JIMMY DALY, EdTech

What will education look like in the future? Considering that 10 years ago very few students carried smartphones, and tablets didn’t even exist, it’s impossible to look 20 or 30 years into the future. It is likely, however, that cloud-based technology will be the foundation for educational technology and that remote, online learning will continue to grow at a faster pace. See the URL below for a fascinating infographic on the future of educational technology.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2013/08/map-education-technology-through-2040-infographic

by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

The fall semester is upon us, and that means one thing: It’s pilot (project) season for textbooks and their e-alternatives. Most students are stepping into their first class either this week or the next, and many of them will find themselves participating in their institution’s latest cost-saving experiment. In the name of student savings, institutions are testing everything from all-tablet learning to textbook rentals to open educational resources (OER) — though similar projects delivered mixed results last year. This year’s experiments are not markedly different than those of previous years, but institutions are launching new pilot projects with “tremendous forward momentum,” said Nicole Allen, OER director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, which promotes open-source alternatives in scholarly research.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/28/cost-textbooks-focus-universities-launch-pilot-projects

by Doug Lederman and Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed

Online education arguably came of age in the last year, with the explosion of massive open online courses driving the public’s (and politicians’) interest in digitally delivered courses and contributing to the perception that they represent not only higher education’s future, but its present. Faculty members, by and large, still aren’t buying — and they are particularly skeptical about the value of MOOCs, Inside Higher Ed’s new Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology suggests. The survey of 2,251 professors, which, like Inside Higher Ed’s other surveys, was conducted by Gallup, finds significant skepticism among faculty members about the quality of online learning, with only one in five of them agreeing that online courses can achieve learning outcomes equivalent to those of in-person courses, and majorities considering online learning to be of lower quality than in-person courses on several key measures (but not in terms of delivering content to meet learning objectives).

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/survey-faculty-attitudes-technology