Educational Technology

by BPT, Tompkinsville News

With more school choices than ever and the evolution of technology, students are redefining their own pathway to a successful K-12 education. More families are building complete, harmonious educational experiences for their children by choosing schools that meet their needs at a point in time – whether the school is traditional brick and mortar, private or charter. Over the past decade, families have added fully online and blended schools to their list of options – making online learning one of the fastest growing forms of education in the U.S. today. According to the national report, “Keeping Pace with K-12 Online & Blended Learning,” in the 2012-13 school year, roughly 310,000 American students in kindergarten through 12th grades attended fully online public schools.

http://www.tompkinsvillenews.com/40103/2153/onlinefeature/465739/education-pathways-k12-students-find-success-in-virtual-school

By jlevine, Edudemic

The benefits of teaching online? Simple: Flexible hours; work from almost anywhere; greater student diversity; growth industry; more control over what you teach; global network of colleagues; personalized instruction; larger pool of students; easier and cheaper to share content; small investment to get started. But what factors are most important to consider when teaching an online course? While more and more teachers are discovering the benefits of hosting such courses (in addition to teaching in traditional classrooms), many lack experience in online education and aren’t sure how to get the ball rolling.

http://www.edudemic.com/know-about-teaching-online/

by Udemy

Sixty-one percent of Americans believe that today’s workforce is plagued by a skills gap, but do not see themselves as part of the problem, according to new data released today. The Udemy Skills Gap Index, an independent survey commissioned by Udemy, the leading global marketplace for learning and teaching online, and conducted by ResearchNow, surveyed 1,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 65. The survey polled consumers to determine their thoughts, perceptions and attitudes toward not only the skills they believe they possess, but also how these skills impact their professional lives. The resulting data revealed that despite a perception among American workers that a skills gap exists, 95 percent consider themselves to be either qualified or overqualified for the positions that they personally hold.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-half-of-american-workers-believe-a-skills-gap-exists-but-does-not-apply-to-them-275426751.html

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

If you’re on the education technology fence, you probably can’t decide which device or app is the best one to really use. You aren’t sure if you want to jump into the edtech pool with Evernote, Moodle, an iPad, a Chromebook, or some other hot new product or service. That’s because there are an overwhelmingly large number of options out there. What if there was some sort of time-saving handy visual that could help you dream up nearly a dozen new ways to use technology in your classroom? That’s exactly what you’ve got with this fabulous graphic linked below.

http://www.edudemic.com/11-simple-ways-start-using-technology-classroom/

by Carl Straumsheim, Tomorrow’s Professor

It’s a concept known as modularity. Instead of reassembling a face-to-face course, lecture by lecture, institutions are urging faculty members creating online courses (and not just MOOCs) to split coursework into modules. For example, a 15-week course on Shakespeare could be transformed into modules on his poetry, comedies, tragedies and historical plays. “We’ve got to pick the greatest hits, as it were, of your course and find some of the material that you think, ‘Boy, if [students] only have one exposure to me or my course, here are four things I want them to know,’ ” said Joshua Morrill, a senior evaluator at UW-Madison.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/enewsletter.php?msgno=1351

by Bethany Croton, James E. Willis, III, and Jason Fish, EDUCAUSE Review Online

Quality communication between faculty and students in higher education is critical and considerably influences students’ intellectual growth, but it is not easy to achieve, particularly when faculty teach large lecture courses. A feedback tool that provides substantive message templates for instructors, PassNote also includes links to specific resources that might help students with various tasks. PassNote’s development focused on ease of use, openness (no login), and the ability to track usage to inform both tool improvement and future functionality.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/passnote-feedback-tool-improving-student-success

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Ed

Students in NYU’s Social Media in Politics class will be campaigning for mayor online rather than in traditional TV and radio forms of communication. Politics is in the air in NYU Land, and three candidates are planning the race of their lives to defeat the incumbent mayor this fall. While NYU Land only exists in social media, its presence there lays a foundation for real citizens to run for office. And adjunct professor Mike Fraietta hopes that his Social Media in Politics online course will shake up political campaigning. “Politics itself is way behind, and it hasn’t been disrupted as much as other industries have,” Fraietta said. “If I could help educate others so that politics in general can move forward, I’d be a much happier person.”

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/Social-Media-Class-Tackles-Political-Campaigning.html

By: Chris Nicholson, University Business

A recent report suggests that while new technologies enable adaptive learning to play a major role in the future of higher ed, most instructors have yet to use the philosophy to its full potential because they are not connecting it with other important innovations. In many cases those related innovations—such as blended learning, flipped classrooms and competency-based education—are integrated into instruction without much thought or discussion about the adaptive-learning base they were built upon, according to “Maximizing Investment in Adaptive Learning,” published this spring by the Eduventures.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/adaptive-learning-thrives-best-among-other-technologies

By Ray Ackerlund, eSchool News

Understanding data can improve student performance and lead to greater productivity for administrators and teachers; here’s how to protect this information.  Today, more than 90 percent of school districts electronically store data on everything from student demographics and course enrollment, to attendance and test scores on statewide assessments. As uses of student data continue to expand, districts must be prepared to protect this information and ensure it’s only used for its intended purpose: to help students succeed. Here are five things school districts can do to safeguard their student data.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/12/safeguarding-student-data-334/

By Laura Devaney, eSchool News

Instead of being dismissed as the class for low-achieving or behaviorally-challenged students, CTE has emerged as a way for students to develop practical skills while participating in rigorous and high-quality courses. In fact, 94 percent of high school students are part of CTE—and this doesn’t include the millions of postsecondary students who also are enrolled in CTE programs, according to the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). Students who focus on CTE programs have an average high school graduation rate of 90 percent, compared to an average national freshmen graduation rate of 75 percent, according to ACTE data.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/12/cte-sheds-stigma-834/

by News 1130

It might be a bit hard for students to pick up where they left, considering the amount of time the teachers have been on strike. But the Abbotsford School District is providing links to learning materials on its website to help keep children’s minds sharp during the labor dispute. Superintendent Kevin Godden says directing parents to LearnNowBC not only provides for children in all grades, but also helps the parents.

http://www.news1130.com/2014/09/12/abbotsford-school-district-directing-parents-to-online-learning-resources-for-kids/

By Christopher Piehler, THE Journal

Today, the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education released a report called “Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students’ Learning.” Written by Linda Darling-Hammond, Molly B. Zielezinski and Shelley Goldman, the report includes a review of the literature studying the impact of technology on at-risk students. Based on their research, the authors offer the following five recommendations.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/09/10/report-details-5-keys-to-using-technology-to-help-at-risk-students.aspx

By Roxann Riskin, eCampus News

The current trend of mobile app adoption has potential benefits in teaching and learning for students with cognitive impairment, like brain injury. Here’s how; some apps have the potential to help with memory and cognitive skills. Apps for students with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) include a well-respected application which is now in app form, named Dragon Dictation. Dragon has been available for many years, mainly in the medical and legal professions, however, in education, it is also known as one of the best voice recognition programs that allow students to speak and instantly see the words on the computer. “Features include, voice-to-text transcriptions that may be sent as SMS, email, or pasted into any application using the clipboard. Convenient editing feature that provides a list of suggested words.”

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/memory-apps-brain-323/

By Marc Fanaroff, eSchool News

Marc Fanaroff, a special education administrator for more than 30 years, shares his advice on successfully deploying tablets in schools. As schools start to mature in their use of technology, moving from the innovator phase into the early adopter stage, we’re getting increasingly wise about the necessary steps to achieve successful classroom implementation. After my experience implementing tablets into our school, I thought I’d share my advice for a successful

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/12/deploying-tablets-successfully-301/

By Adit Rupare, Filtered Blog

The term ‘e-learning’ has only been in existence since 1999. When the word was first utilized, other terms – such as ‘online learning’ and ‘virtual learning’ – also began to spring up in search of an accurate description of exactly was e-learning was. However, the principles behind e-learning have been well documented throughout history, and there is even evidence that suggests that early forms of e-learning existed as far back as the 19th century.

https://filtered.com/blog/post/articles/the-history-of-e-learning

By Peter West, eSchool News

Is your Learning Management System paradigm teacher- or student-centered? Building online courses with an effective paradigm as the guiding force is also vital. Without this, we are simply moving an old industrial model to a different medium.  An incorrect paradigm might appear to be subtly different, but the ramifications can be large and long lasting. Who you have placed at the center of your online course development is similar; it will affect the long-term success of your move to blended or online learning. There are two basic paradigms: teacher-centric and student-centric.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/11/blended-learning-teaching-420/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Instagram is a hugely popular social network for photo sharing. You can choose to have a single account for your class, which would be the ‘safest’ way of approaching these privacy concerns. The teacher should be the only one who can vet followers – and they should only be associated with the class (parents, students, other classes in your school). Using a group hashtag for a particular project or theme is a good way to keep track of what they’re doing. The handy linked infographic below takes a look at ten different ways you can put Instagram to use in your classroom.

http://www.edudemic.com/instagram-in-your-classroom/

By SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS, Wichita Eagle

Algebra and geometry in Wichita schools just got a little more real-world and a lot more online. The district launched a new online textbook this fall for middle- and high-school students that aims to reinforce standard math concepts with online videos, games, drag-and-drop puzzles and other activities geared toward more visual learners. “Everything is done within the context of the new (Kansas College and Career Ready) standards,” said Liz Peyser, a middle-school math coach for the Wichita district. The new standards are based primarily on Common Core State Standards, an outline of what students should learn in math and English in each grade through high school.

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/education/article2053127.html

by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, California Report

A proposal to make it easier for students to take online community college classes offered by any California campus is running into opposition from local faculty. As students seek classes to accommodate busy schedules and campuses look to expand without constructing new buildings, virtual courses have been multiplying in the state’s massive community college system. The latest idea from Sacramento would create one portal for community college online classes and establish phone and online support for students, regardless of which campus offers the courses.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201409090850/d

By Matt Rocheleau, Boston Globe

The online-learning collaborative edX, a partnership between Harvard University and MIT, is expanding its reach beyond higher education and will begin offering courses geared toward high school students. The 26 high school courses were created by 14 institutions — including MIT, Georgetown and Rice universities, the University of California Berkeley, Boston University, Wellesley College, and Weston Public High School. The online classes, available to anyone in the world, will cover such subjects as computer science, calculus, geometry, algebra, English, physics, biology, chemistry, Spanish, French, history, statistics, and psychology.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/09/09/online-education-company-edx-expanding-offer-free-courses-aimed-high-school-students/wWdR6XQakRKIxAhaH580ZP/story.html

By Kelly Maher, eSchool News

Information graphics, also known as infographics, provide a way to express complex data, ideas, or other information graphically. Human beings are visual and adept at identifying patterns and trends quickly. Therefore, infographics often aid our understanding of otherwise dense, multifaceted, or complicated material. Anyone can use infographics to further their understanding of a topic, and you can also create your own for use in teaching or presentations. Here are some infographics generators to consider the next time you need to teach a difficult concept or illustrate intricate information.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/08/tools-engaging-infographics-298/