Educational Technology

January 31, 2014

10 Tips For Effective eLearning

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Teaching online involves all the difficulties of teaching in person, with a few extra wrenches thrown in. Navigating the path of online learning can sometimes be rough, so the makers of the handy infographic below put together ten ‘links’ that make the ‘chain of e-Learning’ to help guide you on the online teaching path. These ten ‘links’ are basically some step by step tips to ensure that your teaching time is well-planned, dynamic, efficient, and effective. Many of these carry over to the physical classroom as well, so don’t skip over them just because you’re not teaching online (for now!).

http://www.edudemic.com/elearning-tips/

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Flipped Classrooms: Old or New?

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Rick Reis, Tomorrow’s Professor Stanford

So is flipping the classroom a new or old teaching strategy? The principles are old and valuable, but they haven’t been usable because of constraints of time and effort on the parts of both students and teacher. It is the possibility of implementing these key principles that is new, and often enabled by technology’s ability to capture their essence. Now we have to reframe the mindsets of both instructor and student about the role of face-to-face class time. Is it a time to receive information or to use it? I vote for the latter. That would be the new part.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/enewsletterWithSurvey.php?msgno=1299

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30 Search Engines Perfect For Student Researchers

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:29 am

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

When you need to research something, where do you start? Most of us answer this question with “Google“, and “Wikipedia“. But if you’re researching online with Google and Wikipedia as your main tools, you’re only hitting the tip of the iceberg. While these offer some great basic information on a huge variety of subjects, if you want to delve deeper, you need a wider variety of sources to choose from. The handy infographic linked below takes a look at different methods of online research, and gives a flowchart flush with a number of different web search options for you to try out.

http://www.edudemic.com/research-search-engines/

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January 30, 2014

Peer Feedback to Facilitate Project-Based Learning in an Online Environment

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Yu-Hui Ching and Yu-Chang Hsu, IRRODL

There has been limited research examining the pedagogical benefits of peer feedback for facilitating project-based learning in an online environment. Using a mixed method approach, this paper examines graduate students’ participation and perceptions of peer feedback activity that supports project-based learning in an online instructional design course. Our findings indicate that peer feedback can be implemented in an online learning environment to effectively support project-based learning. Students actively participated in the peer feedback activity and responded positively about how the peer feedback activity facilitated their project-based learning experiences. The results of content analysis exploring the peer feedback reveal that learners were mostly supportive of peers’ work and they frequently asked questions to help advance their peers’ thinking. The implications and challenges of implementing peer feedback activity in an online learning environment are discussed.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1524/2655

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An Investigation of Practices and Tools that Enabled Technology-Mediated Caring in an Online High School

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Andrea Velasquez, Charles R Graham, and Richard E West, IRRODL

The ethic of care has been an important part of the dialogue related to learning in traditional K-12 learning environments particularly because emotional relationships and caring pedagogies have been shown to be particularly important for adolescent learners. However, as online learning has become increasingly popular, there are concerns about the perceived impersonal nature of the online medium, and how this might particularly affect adolescent learners. The purpose of this study was to examine technology choices when experiencing caring interactions in the online schooling context of Mountain Heights Academy (formerly Open High School of Utah). The caring experience of two teacher participants and four of their students was examined through interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results suggest that teacher choices regarding technology use are an integral part of creating caring relationships with students online. The ethics of caring is an essential model in understanding the communication of caring interactions in the online setting.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1465/2713

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The Teacher as Leader: Effect of Teaching Behaviors on Class Community and Agreement

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Beth Rubin and Ronald Fernandes, IRRODL

This article examines the effects of teaching behaviors in online university classes, focusing on the agreement among class members. Literature on group leaders’ effects on group agreement about workplace climate is reviewed. Hypotheses are generated about the effects that teachers of online courses, as class leaders, have on both the level and agreement about the community of inquiry. They are tested with a sample of 874 students in 126 online courses. The aggregate class level and strength of agreement about the teaching presence have significant effects on the level and agreement about cognitive presence and social presence. Although the aggregate levels and agreement about community of inquiry are related, different patterns emerge.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1510/2707

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January 29, 2014

The 10 Biggest Trends in Ed Tech

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

By David Raths, THE Journal

The one guaranteed constant in educational technology is change, and the pace of that change is definitely accelerating. So as we approach the new year, T.H.E. Journal pauses to survey the ed tech trends on the horizon. As in previous years, we have assembled a distinguished panel of five experts, including several from our advisory board. We asked them to consider 10 topics related to instructional technology and predict whether each topic will be HOT ⇧, LUKEWARM ⇔, or LOSING STEAM ⇓ in 2014. We compiled their responses to come up with an overall trend line. There was unanimous agreement on some topics and less consensus on others, but taken together, their responses paint a compelling picture of what to expect from ed tech in 2014.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/12/13/the-10-biggest-trends-in-ed-tech.aspx

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George Siemens to Lead New Lab for Ed Tech Research

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Mary Grush, Campus Technology

This spring, George Siemens will make the move stateside to the University of Texas-Arlington, where he will base his research on how technology and digital networks influence the knowledge development process within society, and related implications for the future of higher education institutions. Siemens is an internationally known and highly respected researcher, currently based at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada, an author of books on connectivism and knowledge processes, and a highly active collaborator with global research organizations. His work at the new LINK lab [Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge Research Lab] at UTA will include both local UTA initiatives and collaborations with other institutions and research organizations worldwide. Siemens also plans to create a global research network to evaluate online learning and digital learning and how they impact the role of the university in society.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/01/15/george-siemens-a-new-lab-for-research-on-technology-and-digital-networks.aspx

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Report: Most Teachers Use Social Media, Worry It Will Cause Conflict

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

Eighty percent of K-12 teachers use social media for personal or professional reasons, yet the same number worry about conflicts that may arise with their students or their parents as a result, according to a new survey from the University of Phoenix College of Education. “Students are engaged daily in social media, so it presents a great way to connect with them,” said Kathy Cook, director of educational technology for University of Phoenix College of Education, in a prepared statement. “Social media can also help tie classroom learning to real-world scenarios, which can enhance student learning. Many teachers see the value of using these tools in the classroom, but may be reluctant to engage without clear guidelines and training.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/01/15/report-most-teachers-use-social-media-worry-it-will-cause-conflict.aspx

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January 28, 2014

Did Yale just squash the next Facebook?

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:41 am

By Jonathan Anker, HLNTV

Students created popular site to compare courses, but Yale objected to many of its features and shut it down.  This scenario might sound a bit familiar. Peter Xu and Harry Yu had created an online course catalog for fellow students to shop for classes with the benefit of sortable ratings and evaluations for both classes and professors. Over three semesters, 2,094 of Yale’s roughly 5,000 undergrads used their site, called Yale BlueBook+. The name was a spin on Yale’s official online course selection program, Yale BlueBook. Students were again using the brothers’ site last week to help select their classes when it suddenly went down.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/01/17/yale-bluebook-shutdown-peter-xu-harry-yu-course-website

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Online Advanced Placement courses offer boost for students

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By SIOBHAN BARTON, Newsday

More than 200 Long Island high school students are taking newly available online Advanced Placement courses, with extra offerings to come in the fall. Eight online AP courses now are being offered in 15 districts, an initiative funded by a $2 million state grant to a Nassau BOCES-led consortium that includes both Eastern and Western Suffolk BOCES. Six new virtual Advanced Placement courses are in development and will be available in September, officials said. The new interactive courses, which use PowerPoint, video and other forms of multimedia, are the first to be designed by a team of 11 Long Island teachers. Each class, except AP studio art, will have two instructors.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/online-advanced-placement-courses-offer-boost-for-students-1.6828884

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How To Define Learning Objectives

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

In education, there are goals – often of the large scale and nebulous variety: “Learn English.” “Understand fractions”. “Learn to write (well)”. Achieving this type of goal is often difficult. There are many steps along the way, and the ‘finish’ is not necessarily a single, specific box you can check. The handy graphic linked below by Mia MacMeekin takes a look at “Making Stops On The Journey”, and how defining learning outcomes gives students a destination to reach for, and an expectation to achieve. Learning objectives are the stops on that journey.

http://www.edudemic.com/learning-objectives-graphic/

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January 27, 2014

A Simple Way Teachers Can Learn To Make iBooks

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

By Anthony DiLaura, Edudemic

If you wish to create a multi-touch iOS app for the iPhone or iPad, then you will need to know how to use xCode (Apple development software) and the programming language Objective-C. While this is a bold endeavor, it is a massive time and learning commitment that most teachers can’t make. The average teacher with a creative idea for an app that supports learning may never see it come to fruition due to lack of know-how or lack of resources to invest in its development. Enter iBooks Author. iBooks Author is Apple’s standard for e-publishing. It is free in the Mac app store and is everything but ‘standard’ when it comes to delivering a polished interactive iBook. The WYSIWYG interface makes it easy to drag and drop text, images, media, and interactive elements on to its pages and export a multi-touch book with a push of a button.

http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-make-apps/

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UIS professor honored for class that credits military experience

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Marie Ball, State Journal Register

Since the end of December, UIS clinical professor Kevin Beeson has received at least one phone call or email daily asking the same type of question. University of Illinois Springfield’s spring semester starts Tuesday, and students are eager to learn how to sign up for Beeson’s Credit for Prior Learning Military Studies course. “Usually the week before, and of, classes, it goes crazy,” said Beeson, 50, visiting clinical professor in UIS’ Internship and Prior Learning Program. He added that the week of classes, there would probably be students “out the door.” The course was first offered last summer with 14 students. Since an article was published in The State Journal-Register last spring, students and other universities have expressed interest in Beeson’s innovative course. And due to its online nature, the attention has extended well beyond Springfield.

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20140117/NEWS/140119416

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What You Should Know About Education In Finland

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:15 am

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Even if a trip to chilly Finland hasn’t topped your list of vacation spots, you’ve probably heard about one of Finland’s great accomplishments —its world- class (and world-leading!) education system. Students and schools in Finland are ranked as some of the best in the world – well ahead of many larger developed nations like the US and Canada. High school graduation rates are excellent, more students go on to earn college degrees than in other areas of the world, and Finnish students pretty much rock the pants off of standardized tests.

http://www.edudemic.com/education-in-finland/

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January 26, 2014

Computer Science education is critical knowledge

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:39 am

by ALBERTO M. CARVALHO, Miami Herald

Steve Jobs once said, “Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer…because it teaches you how to think.” Statistically speaking, Jobs had it right. Studies have shown that students who learn introductory computer science demonstrate improved math scores. But the reality is that computer science courses are fading from the national landscape.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/09/3808803/computer-science-education-is.html

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Adobe introduces support for 3D printing to Photoshop, brings a glut of new features to its Creative Cloud apps

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:34 am

By Ken Yeung, The Next Web

If you’re a subscriber to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, you’ll be happy to know that the platform has received some significant updates. Included in the latest release is support for 3D printing within Photoshop CC, the addition of Typekit integration in Illustrator CC and InDesign CC, and new intuitive and seamless tools for designers to take advantage of. With the popularity of 3D printing, Adobe sought to help make it more appealing to the mainstream so anyone can design and print their own creation. The new feature allows users to do is take objects they find online, from a 3D scanner, or from a modeling tool and import it directly into Photoshop. This will enables designers to implement automated mesh repair and support structure generation in order to protect the quality of the models so when it’s ultimately printed out, it’s exactly how its envisioned.

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/01/16/adobe-introduces-support-3d-printing-photoshop-brings-glut-new-features-creative-cloud-apps/#!smIUs

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From zero to working server in 10 minutes—trying out managed hosting

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Steve Young, CIO Advisor

In an earlier blog I mentioned my requirements for a great help desk for our organization. After a lengthy search, trial, and selection process, a winner was picked. As it turned out, while the help desk used standard software that we support, it used a database version that we did not yet have running in our organization. We were not able to upgrade our current databases, because other vendors’ systems required older database versions. We talked about options such as starting another database server, and our help desk vendor mentioned that they had a lot of customers starting to run their software in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. Like many districts, while we have had many cloud-based software applications, we had never tried managed hosting, which has gained a huge amount of traction in recent years, with a huge number of players , now increasingly dominated by heavyweights such as Rackspace, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Verizon, and IBM.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&entryid=6988

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January 25, 2014

New Guide to EdTech Procurement Released

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

by Curriculum Associates

Curriculum Associates joins co-authors from Digital Learning Now! (DLN), a national initiative under the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), Getting Smart, and The Learning Accelerator to release a new white paper titled “Smart Series Guide to EdTech Procurement.” The goal of the paper is to create a framework for EdTech purchasing by offering practical advice to guide key decisions, share lessons learned from districts that have already made the digital shift, discuss the implications for blended learning, and provide examples of best practices in education policy that support smart procurement. “Procurement policies and practices are one of the most overlooked areas needed to support innovative instructional models,” said John Bailey, Executive Director of Digital Learning Now! “We can’t transform our education system without transforming the way we procure services and products. Procurement needs to accelerate new approaches, not inhibit them.”

http://www.curriculumassociates.com/lp/smart-series-guide-edtech-procurement.aspx

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State university system offers online degree programs

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Wendy David-Gaines, Long Island College Prep Examiner

The State University of New York (SUNY) launched Open SUNY, the online public higher education learning platform that initially offers eight online degree programs through six campuses, according to SUNY’s website on Tuesday. The goal of this initiative is to “vastly increase access, speed degree completion, and increase success among students and graduates,” the website describes SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher’s program introduction. Open SUNY “is poised to lead the nation in offering public higher education to students worldwide,” Newsday reported on Tuesday.

http://www.examiner.com/article/state-university-system-offers-online-degree-programs

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iPhone 6 rumored to get 4.7 and 5.5-inch displays

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Jason D. O’Grady, The Apple Core

One of the most frequent criticisms of the iPhone is that its screen is too small and Apple might finally be addressing the iPhone’s puny screen size relative to other competing smartphones. The current iPhone 5s ships with a 4-inch display with 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 PPI. By comparison the Motorola Moto X ships with a 4.7-inch screen and the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Nexus 5 ship with 5-inch displays. And they’re getting even bigger. The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 is rumored to ship with a 5.25-inch display. The Galaxy Note 3 comes with a larger 5.7-inche screen pushing it into “phablet” territory.

http://www.zdnet.com/iphone-6-rumored-to-get-4-7-and-5-5-inch-displays-7000025210/

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