Educational Technology

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that markets such as the [United States] are reaching high levels of consumer saturation and while emerging markets continue to show strong growth this has not been enough to sustain the dramatic worldwide growth rates of years past,” said Tom Mainelli, IDC research director, Tablets, in a prepared statement. “We expect commercial purchases of tablets to continue to accelerate in mature markets, but softness in the consumer segment — brought about by high penetration rates and increased competition for the consumer dollar — point to a more challenging environment for tablets in 2014 and beyond.” In the fourth quarter, tablet sales grew 28.2 percent year over year, down significantly from a growth rate of 87.1 percent the year before.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/02/03/tablet-growth-slows-as-ipad-sees-below-average-performance.aspx

Editorial, Foster’s Daily Democrat

The “State of the University” speech by UNH President Mark Huddleston offered much food for thought. What is new, or at least newer, is the challenge of online learning. UNH is burdened with much brick and mortar that sucks up resources. There is always a building begging for repair. Meanwhile online learning, which needs limited brick and mortar, has taken off. This is, in part, due to lower cost as well as students born, not with silver spoons in their mouths, but computers at their fingertips. All this and more presents a complicated rubric for anyone looking to keep UNH competitive and attractive to students who are confronted with an in-state tuition rate among the highest for public schools in the country.

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140208/GJOPINION_01/140209320/-1/FOSOPINION

by Clayton Wukich, Author Stream

This narrated power point describes an approach to teaching decision making while under conditions of uncertainty. The presentation describes approaches to teaching decision-making in emergency management. In particular, it is designed to inform teaching in homeland security and data security areas.

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/wukich-2070578-teaching-decision-making-online-environment/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

If you read Edudemic regularly, you know that we share a lot of infographics here. There are a number of reasons for that: they’re popular, easy to understand, and quick to read – all important qualities for teachers who don’t have a ton of time on their hands. The combination of text and graphics helps many readers remember the information more easily. The handy infographic linked below takes a look at infographics.

http://www.edudemic.com/educational-infographics/

by Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Understanding how to code is a great skill to have. In fact, it is growing to be an important part of a well-rounded education – slowly but surely. With so many careers of the future slated to be STEM based, knowing how to code can be a huge bonus in the job market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, two of the fastest-growing occupations are in computer science and related fields – expected to grow 53.4% by 2018. There are so many different resources out there to help you learn how to code, and yet so many people still don’t know how, and don’t value the skill a whole lot. Luckily, there are big efforts being made to bring awareness to coding. The Hour Of Code is probably still the most well known at this point, but look out for more to come! The handy infographic linked below takes a look at how many lines of code it takes to create…stuff.

http://www.edudemic.com/how-many-lines-of-code-is-that/

By Amy Burkman, Edudemic

Most of today’s classroom teachers are digital immigrants, who need to not only learn the latest technologies but also help students learn skills for workplaces that don’t yet exist. This imperative, compounded by the advanced skills of their digital native students, creates a daunting task for the best of teachers. Most teachers work very hard to keep up with today’s technology and related jargon, with mixed success.

http://www.edudemic.com/next-gen-skills/

by PAUL W. BENNETT, Chronicle Herald

Now comes news from the American “snow belt” states that the storm day itself may be threatened by, of all things, the gradual advance of 21st century e-learning. lready, U.S. school districts from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Westerville City, Ohio, to Trimble County, Ky. are beginning to take full advantage of the Internet to convert snow days into cyber-learning days. Since August of 2011, the State of Ohio has authorized school districts to develop “e-day plans” for storm days, implementing them once five days have been lost in the school year. It’s a very ingenious response to the significant loss of student learning time.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1185467-let-s-take-a-byte-out-of-snow-days

by Paul Cooper, IT ProPortal

A New York-based team has suggested creating a network of free Wi-Fi beamed to earth from tiny satellites placed in low earth orbit. The planned network, which the organisation has dubbed the “Outernet,” would allow access to certain websites for free, from anywhere in the world. The websites chosen for the honour so far are Wikipedia, free learning sites the Khan Academy, Coursera, open-source maps site Open Streetmap, open-source operating system Ubuntu, and blockchains for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The project was founded and is currently led by Syed Karim, a University of Illinois graduate currently working for Digital News Ventures, part of the Media Developement Fund, which makes seed investments in news and information start-ups.

http://www.itproportal.com/2014/02/05/introducing-outernet-free-wi-fi-beamed-to-everywhere-on-earth-from-space/

By Alex Lippa, Eagle-Tribune

A snowstorm kept students out of school Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t busy with schoolwork. The Hampstead School District debuted its blizzard bag online learning program on Wednesday. Students were sent home with assignments on Tuesday afternoon, with instructions to complete the work instead of coming to school. If 80 percent of the students completed their assignments Wednesday, the day would not have to be made up at the end of the year. Metzler’s executive assistant Cathy Belcher said while they are still in collecting data, the district believes the day went well.

http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x1262676447/Blizzard-bags-make-debut-in-Hampstead

by Digital Journal

Cullen High School’s online debate competition is expected to reap productive results and students will welcome this new experience of online debating through E-Conferencing, where distance learning students will gather and take part in this competition. The school’s faculty will also take part and act as moderators to monitor the event and ensure the smooth running of the competition. The idea of an online debate competition was presented at an e-conference between departments on the subject of improving the online learning experience and making it more productive. Competition will take place between students of Cullen High School who will be notified of date of their competition via email.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1720379

By Steve Mistler, Morning Sentinal

As state policymakers review new performance and governance standards for virtual charter schools, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing a proposal that would create a state-run online academy. The proposal, L.D. 1736, is sponsored by Sen. Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth, and co-sponsored by several Democrats on the Education Committee. Langley said a state-run virtual school would afford students and school districts the benefits of online course learning while avoiding some of the risks inherent in turning over the administration of the schools to companies. The bill is supported by several education groups that have been vocal opponents of virtual charter schools, including the Maine Education Association, the union representing public school teachers. The proposal has bipartisan backing, but a provision to freeze approval of private virtual schools faces opposition from LePage administration.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/Lawmakers_to_hear_bill_creating_state-run_virtual_school_.html

By Jeff Dunn, edudemic

The current trend of education technology is nothing to sneeze at. There are iPads and Android devices popping up in classrooms around the world. From BYOD to 1:1 to flipped classrooms, there are a lot of trends that leveraging the power of technology in education. Aside from these few popular trends, there are other signs that technology is truly a key part of education. For example, technology makes it easy for teachers to create visually engaging images that illustrate a key concept. That’s the idea behind this handy chart linked below.

http://www.edudemic.com/technoogy-education-signs/

By mguerena, Edudemic

Here are some common myths about iPads that I come across regularly:

• Teachers will just sit and read the newspaper or play on their iPhone while students are babysat for six hours by their iPad
• Students will no longer interact with each other or their teacher
• Too much screen time is bad for kids
• iPads are not real computers
• Students will steal and or break them

Visit the URL below for the truth.

http://www.edudemic.com/demystifying-5-myths-ipads-classroom/

By Donna Iadipaolo, A2 Journal

Ann Arbor Public Schools is now offering 228 online courses for students this semester through its “A2 Virtual + Academy.” “Students in grades 5-12 are eligible to take up to two courses each semester through the A2 Virtual Academy,” said Merri Lynn Colligan, director of Instructional Technology for the district. Registration for the online courses for this semester began Dec. 16, said Colligan, and one algebra course will be offered to students in other districts. “The middle and high school course offerings can be viewed at www.A2virtual.org,” she said. “Disciplines include English, mathematics, science, social studies, world languages, and electives.”

http://www.heritage.com/articles/2014/02/03/ann_arbor_journal/news/doc52e93493198fc870968422.txt

by Andrew Wind, WCF Courier

This is the fifth year the online curriculum has also been available for core subjects and some electives at East and West high schools through their Performance Based Diploma Academies. Each school has about 130 students enrolled. And all three schools have been part of an ongoing process during the past four years to develop more of a career focus in the classroom. Students at East and West enroll in a career interest academy while Expo students can choose a career pathway.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/education/online-learning-career-focused-classes-helping-students-excel/article_b4765dc0-47f7-51df-846b-9475cc22385f.html

by the Telegram

The biggest challenge for the online student is the same as it has always been for distance education: Do you have the willpower to finish what you start? According to survey data released last year by nonpartisan, nonprofit Public Agenda, 61 percent of community college students said online classes require more discipline from students than traditional classes. What’s more, despite the recognition that online learning is quickly becoming mainstream in higher education, the survey data suggest that while employers and students recognize a role for online education, at this point at least, they do not trust it as much as they do traditional education. And many community college students currently taking online classes wish they took fewer of them.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20140202/COLUMN72/302029986

by Lawrence Biemiller, Chronicle of Higher Ed

As email and other information services migrate to the cloud, colleges’ information-technology employees are spending less of their time running complex in-house systems and more helping faculty members and administrative colleagues—as well as students—make the most of services provided by companies like Google. That shift puts a premium on the employees’ “soft skills” in communication, relationship building, and project management rather than on technical expertise. That’s one finding of a report, “Today’s Higher Education IT Workforce,” based on a survey of more than 2,000 people by Educause, the education-technology organization.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/college-it-employees-face-shifts-in-responsibilities/50073

By MATT WOOLBRIGHT, Juneau Empire

Over 1,160 teachers responded to the National Education Association-Alaska funded survey that was posted online for three weeks. About 78 percent of the teachers were from urban school districts, and that closely correlates to the 80 percent of the population that lives in urban areas. Questions covered a wide range of topics from teachers’ opinions of the schools to what is affecting students’ learning outside the classroom. “This info is incredibly valuable, and this is the first time it’s ever been developed — it should absolutely be included when they’re making decisions,” Halcro said of lawmakers weighing education reform during the ongoing Legislative session. “The education initiatives put on the table in Juneau would change education more than it has ever been changed in history of Alaska, and they’re doing it with no relevant data.”

http://juneauempire.com/state/2014-02-02/survey-outside-influences-inhibit-learning

By Kate Lewis, Edudemic

The phrase “using data to drive instruction” is showing up everywhere in education circles lately. Particularly with the incorporation of the Common Core State Standards, and new standardized tests and teacher evaluation systems, the way that teachers use data is becoming more and more important. But what exactly does it look like in the classroom? And how can technology help make the process more manageable?Using data in the classroom doesn’t have to be as intimidating as it sounds. My favorite way to use data in my eighth grade English Language Arts classroom is to use formative assessment data to drive instruction and for intervention. Here are three easy ways to start using data in the classroom:

http://www.edudemic.com/3-ways-use-data-classroom/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Today’s higher education landscape includes a substantial slot dedicated to online learning. With so much technology in our classrooms, and our technology sometimes functioning as our classroom, it should come as no surprise that there is a lot more data being collected pertaining to education these days. The handy infographic linked below takes a look at the world of online higher education and Big Data, including the benefits and drawbacks of online learning, some of the barriers, and how data can help drive improvement in education. Keep reading to learn more!

http://www.edudemic.com/big-data-education-2/

By Perry Chiaramonte, Fox

When Michael Conti learned a federal appeals court had ruled to lift so-called net neutrality regulations, he thought of his kids. Not his own children, but the more than 10,000 students who study at the online charter school he runs. “It is a concern,” said Conti, CEO of PA Cyber, a Pennsylvania-based virtual charter school. “Net neutrality was created to keep everything level, and [with the ruling], it seems we are going backward. The Internet was created to be a free and open exchange.”

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/01/27/educators-fear-net-neutrality-reversal-will-increase-cost-learning/