Educational Technology

By Gavin Moodie, RMIT

Online learning experts Martin Weller and Tony Bates are rightly annoyed that the MOOC-hypers felt no need to inform themselves on 40 years’ expertise and experience of mediated learning and 20 years of online learning because their self-declared “disruption” somehow made all previous knowledge about teaching-learning redundant. While MOOCs have usefully woken elite universities to online learning, which they mostly ignored for two decades, they are unlikely to “disrupt” universities any more than Gutenberg’s information revolution disrupted early modern universities. Rather more likely is that, as with printing, informal, open and online learning will be absorbed within existing universities to augment and improve their practices.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/826445-technology-improves-higher-learning-it-doesnt-kill-it/

by Nate Sleeter, Inside Higher Ed

Critics of online education, especially in the humanities, often stress the importance of face-to-face interaction. It is face-to-face interaction, the reasoning goes, that makes traditional in-person courses superior to their online counterparts. Without rejecting the premise, it nevertheless seems counterproductive to think of in-person courses and online courses in strictly competitive terms. If online courses are here to stay and we in the humanities are expected to teach them, these vigorous defenses of the in-person course will not make us better online instructors. In other words if we want to make online courses better, then it seems crucial to think about how we can promote “interaction” when “face-to-face” is not an option.

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/meaningful-interaction-online-courses

By mrspepe, Edudemic

After finishing a unit about Newton’s Three Laws we decided to write a children’s book for the iTunes Store about the way that Newton’s Three Laws relate to the rides at Six Flags/Great Adventure Theme Park in Jackson, New Jersey. The students loved working on their books. Once the book was published my students were filled with pride about their work and they are constantly asking me to show them the metrics about how many copies have been downloaded and what is the geographic location of the people who downloaded them. There were so many learning opportunities that presented themselves throughout this process.

http://www.edudemic.com/technology-ownership-students/

By Katie Lepi, Edutopia

A lot of kids are using social media these days, and even if that isn’t surprising to you, it may be surprising to you just how many of them are using it and just how much. Leveraging these popular social media tools in the classroom is a no-brainer: everything from Twitter and Facebook all the way to Instagram have found their way into lesson plans across the globe. Whether you’re using all of the social media sites, some of them, or none of them at all, chances are that your students are using them. The handy infographic below takes a look at the social media use of teens and tweens

http://www.edudemic.com/teens-are-really-using-social-media/

by Suzie Boss, Edutopia

Until recently, only a small number of schools have had access to the high-powered geographical information system (GIS) software that enables detailed, layered mapping and analysis of data. Thanks to a recent $1 billion pledge from software developer Esri, free access to cloud-based mapping software is coming to 100,000 K-12 schools across the country. The donation of ArcGIS Online, the same software that governments and businesses use, has been pledged through ConnectED, a White House initiative to improve education in the STEM fields. This sets the stage for students to take learning and problem solving in new directions by developing their geospatial literacy. Being able to analyze data and present information visually are important skills, whether you are investigating global issues or trying to solve problems in your backyard. Adding GIS to the project-based learning toolkit opens all kinds of opportunities for rich inquiry.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/students-map-real-world-issues-free-geospatial-tools-suzie-boss

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

Jonathan Bergmann, who came up with the idea of the flipped class in the 2006-07 school year with fellow teacher Aaron Sams, said, “That’s a good place to start, but we want teachers to go beyond that.” Now the flipped class is giving way to flipped learning, which allows teachers to leave the front of the room and go deeper into learning with strategies such as project-based learning, inquiry and games, Bergmann said. As education leaders consider bringing flipped learning into their schools, flipped learning practitioners suggest at least six steps to go through with their staff to make sure everyone is equipped to implement it.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/6-Steps-to-Preparing-Schools-for-Flipped-Learning.html

By Thor Olavsrud, IT World

Teachers are an excellent example. They’ve always been data workers — assessing students’ understanding of the material based on test scores, classroom engagement, quality of homework, etc., with the goal of improving that understanding. Knowing that individual students learn in different ways, many schools today have adopted the idea of personalized learning as their pedagogical approach: They assess each student on their learning needs, interests, aspirations and cultural backgrounds to create a personalized education program designed to maximize education outcomes.

http://www.itworld.com/it-management/428921/can-data-analytics-make-teachers-better-educators

By Steven M. Baule, CIO Advisor

What does 1:1 mean? To many people outside of educational technology, a 1:1 classroom is envisioned as a place where students watch videos and work directly with their computer, tablet or iPad. They imagine a classroom without student-to-student or even student-to-teacher interactions. The vision some have is that 1:1 educational programming will stunt social and emotional growth and lead to a nerdocracy where interacting with a keyboard or touch screen will replace nearly all human interaction. Others simply see the automation of traditional classroom instruction where the device is simply an expensive spiral notebook. In reality, the best 1:1 classrooms are much more engaging.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&entryid=7929

By Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist

Corinthian Colleges — the operator of for-profit school chains Everest University, WyoTech, and Heald Colleges — is selling off or shutting down campuses as it faces lawsuits and investigations from multiple state and federal agencies. The allegations involve bogus job-placement stats, grade manipulation, and misleading marketing. We recently spoke to several current and former CCI teachers and admissions staffers who confirmed these bad practices and explained that it was all done in pursuit of billions of dollars in federal aid from taxpayers. As one current CCI staffer puts it, “We work for the biggest scam company in the world.” Like the Corinthian students we recently spoke to, the teachers and employees at CCI schools, despite dedicating themselves to helping students, will live in the failed company’s shadow for years to come.

http://consumerist.com/2014/07/24/corinthian-colleges-employee-we-work-for-the-biggest-scam-company-in-the-world/

Nancy Mann Jackson, University Business

Some colleges and universities take offering to the next level by tapping data to improve business processes and better serve students. A transcript highlighting the full student experience at Elon University—including study abroad, research and service learning participation—is offered. When an e-transcript request is made, both the traditional one and the Elon Experiences Transcript can be combined into a single PDF file. The process allows administrators to capture lots of valuable electronic data, but the majority of schools are not utilizing that information beyond sending or receiving the transcripts.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/e-transcripts-accelerate-higher-ed

By Sean Lords, Edudemic

Matching, out-of-date sweatsuits. The ability to recite lines from the Iliad in response to your peers’ discussion of a television show. Parroting your parents’ values. If you’ve paid attention to mainstream depictions of homeschooled children, these images are likely familiar. Homeschooled kids get a bad rap and are too frequently associated with social awkwardness due to a perceived lack of socialization with their peer group. However, with the dawn of social media, more homeschooled students—both those who are being schooled by more “traditional” methods and those who are students are virtual cyber charter schools—are able to better connect with their peers and other members of the homeschooling community.

http://www.edudemic.com/socially-awkward-social-media-educational-tool-homeschoolers/

by Maurice Elias, Edutopia

In the last blog, we took a look at the perspective of perspective of Irving Sigel on the importance of asking different kinds of questions as a way of deepening students’ social, emotional, and cognitive learning. Coming from a Piaget approach, Irv felt that students needed to go from understanding the material as presented to generating their own thoughts about it. He referred to this as “distancing” — not the clearest term, but a way of saying that questions could be sequenced toward leading to students’ higher order and constructivist thinking by having them take a range of perspectives about a given reading or topic.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-questions-promote-cognitive-social-and-emotional-learning-across-subject-areas-maurice-elias

BY ROANE STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Cantrell and faculty member Jessica Fain will live and teach from an underwater habitat for 72 days this fall. While they live in a space the size of a college dorm room submerged about 25 feet, Cantrell and Fain will host weekly shows titled “Classroom Under the Sea.” The shows, presented in partnership with the Marine Resources Development Foundation in Key Largo, Florida, will feature scientists and explorers and will cover topics such as underwater archeology and ocean exploration. In addition to the weekly programs, Cantrell will also teach his dream class online, BIOL 2600: Living and Working Under the Sea. Enrolled Roane State students can register for the class now, but only 30 spots are available.

http://oakridgetoday.com/2014/07/27/roane-state-professor-develops-online-course-will-teach-living-sea/

By Mary Grush, Campus Technology

The Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework (PAR, http://parframework.org) began in 2011 as a research project to investigate the potential of learning analytics for student success, and was administered by WCET under the auspices of the Western Interstate Commission of Higher Education (WICHE). Now in 2014 PAR is set to receive its 501.c.3 nonprofit status by the end of the year and is operating on its own as a member-supported, not-for-profit, analytics-as-a-service provider. PAR’s innovative work includes software and database development, but focuses more on community rather than developing new software tools. Joined by more than 20 member institutions to date, the organization is a growing collaborative venture that pools normalized (and anonymized) data to support research and create predictive models and strategies for intervention.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/23/a-collaborative-for-student-success-and-institutional-comparisons.aspx

By Ruth Campbell ~ Southeast Missourian

Depending on whom you ask or what you read, online programs mean easier access to higher education — or the end of brick-and-mortar colleges and universities, especially in these times of limited state funding. For Southeast Missouri State University, online education falls into the former category, and it’s helped the university reach students it might not otherwise. Provost Dr. Bill Eddleman said online courses and majors have become a key component of the school’s offerings.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/2104394.html

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math. Teach coding, get girls interested in all of these subjects. However you slice it, there’s a lot of focus on the logical and analytical brain functions these days. Many schools are cutting the ‘extras’ like art and music. While I firmly believe that students need to be well rounded and really need subjects like those to be considered more than ‘extra’, and while there are many people fighting to keep these programs in schools, you can’t deny that the international economy and jobs outlook is demanding more focus on STEM. But does that mean we should drop all focus on the other stuff? The handy infographic below takes a look at why focusing on the skills of half our brain is not enough.

http://www.edudemic.com/stem-vs-steam-graphic-need-sides-brain/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

When we ‘research’ things now, we generally aren’t referring to spending time in a library – or even referring to spending time online accessing specific library or school research databases. The word ‘research’ largely refers to the act of typing words into your internet search bar and seeing what the Wise Old Web tells you. There is so much information out there, and while a web search isn’t necessarily a bad thing (and we’d encourage you to head back to the ‘ol library to see what resources they have to offer you), there are definitely some things you can to do get the best search results possible out of a simple web search.

http://www.edudemic.com/better-online-researcher/

by Felix Esser, Imaging-Resource

MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known across the globe as a powerhouse of technological invention and home to some of the most incredible brains in the world. A little less known is the fact that the MIT also teaches a number of photography classes, some of which have now been made available to the public. Via the MIT’s OpenCourseWare website, select photography classes are now accessible for free. The classes available include both undergraduate and graduate level courses, such as “Introduction to Photography,” “Documentary Photography and Photojournalism,” or “Computational Camera and Photography.”

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2014/07/25/mit-offers-a-dozen-photography-classes-for-free-via-its-opencourseware-webs

By Pam Adams, Peoria Journal Star

Cindy Hamblin, director of Illinois Virtual School, wants enrollments to grow 20 percent in the coming school year, to about 3,600. She also wants to expand courses for middle school students. Illinois Virtual School’s main feature is almost 150 courses and 22 credit-recovery classes for high school students. Courses include core English, math and science classes; six languages, including Arabic and Latin; and electives such as meteorology, oceanography and Java programming. Like its students, the virtual school’s 62 part-time teachers live throughout the state. The school also reaches other teachers and school nurses through online professional development courses.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140724/NEWS/140729635

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Georgia teen says in a civil rights complaint that she should have been allowed to complete her schoolwork from home while pregnant and on doctor-ordered bed rest. According to the complaint filed Thursday, 18-year-old Mikelia Seals was a junior at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School when her doctor ordered bed rest seven months into her pregnancy. The complaint says a guidance counselor told Seals the school did not have a program letting her take classes from home. Wilkes County Schools Superintendent Rosemary Caddell says she has not seen the complaint yet.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2704657/Ga-teen-sues-home-classes-pregnancy.html

by Consumer Reports

College may be the best investment for the future, but it certainly doesn’t come cheap. To help stretch your budget, we combed our computer Ratings to find some of the best laptops in terms of price and performance in the $600 to $800 range. These budget laptops, all equipped with a 14-inch or larger screen, can handily surf the Web, run productivity software, and stream Netflix while maintaining a respectable battery life. Some of them even have enough power to do a decent job with computer games. The models we’ve chosen all use the Windows 8 operating system. (There are some great Apple MacBooks in our Ratings too, but a similarly equipped model costs considerably more.)

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/07/5-laptops-for-college-students-that-won-t-break-your-budget/index.htm