Educational Technology

by John McCarthy, Edutopia

Can you recall a time when student interests like skateboarding or video were never used as part of learning curriculum because the tools needed were either too expensive or not yet conceptualized? Do you remember a time when non-traditional learners struggled, and absenteeism meant a high likelihood of students doing poorly in school, and possibly having to retake the course? If you experienced none of these scenarios, then you live in a world of possibility because you grew up with the many social media tools available to support all learners. If any of these scenarios bring back memories as a teacher or student, then you understand that we have many more tools today to ensure that learners succeed despite struggles, because students and teachers have so much more available to meet every learner’s needs.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-social-media-tools-john-mccarthy

by Bill Selak, Edutopia

The rapid adoption of devices in the classroom has fundamentally changed the way we can create video. Every part of the creation process — writing, recording, editing, and distributing — is possible on the devices that can fit in our pocket. Vision is the most dominant of the five senses. Research shows that concepts are better remembered if they are taught visually. This is called the pictorial superiority effect, and it’s why video is such a powerful learning tool. Curating content is another significant way to incorporate video into your classroom. If you don’t have the time or software to make a fancy video, odds are someone has already made it and shared it on YouTube. This Film Festival is equal parts curation and creation.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-minute-film-festival-video-boot-camp

By Meris Stansbury, eSchool News

3D printers, digital signage, educational video games—there’s just some technology that, while not vital to day-to-day campus operation, helps boost student engagement and communication, and ultimately makes your campus stand out from the competition. Enter the GoPro camera. Often reserved for cool YouTube videos about extreme sports or creepy videos of cheerleaders hula-hooping, innovative institutions looking to technology as a branding and marketing tool are now using GoPro cameras to highlight campus life, build international brand awareness, enhance student campus activities, and even enrich lab work.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/gopro-education-campus-889/

by Peter Bright, Ars Technica

Microsoft claims this will replace the computer screen – and they may well be right. HoloLens is an engaging and effective augmented reality system. With HoloLens I saw virtual objects—Minecraft castles, Skype windows, even the surface of Mars—presented over, and spatially integrated with, the real world. It looked for every bit like the holographic projection we saw depicted in Star Wars and Total Recall. Except that’s shortchanging Microsoft’s work, because these virtual objects were in fact far more convincing than the washed out, translucent message R2D2 projected, and much better than Sharon Stone’s virtual tennis coach. The images were bright, saturated, and reasonably opaque, giving the virtual objects a real feeling of solidity.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/hands-on-with-hololens-making-the-virtual-real/1/

Imagine the education potential as you check out the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAKfdeOX3-o

By Bruce P. Burrell, eCampus News

What went very wrong in 2014; what are concerns for 2015? According to various reports, including those from BreachLevelIndex.com, PrivacyRights.org, and Secure Computing, there were at least 154 data breaches in the U.S., .edu realm in 2014, and another 36 in .edu-related healthcare facilities. It may not sound like a shocking number at first blush, but within those breaches, there were ultimately 2,608,038 known records exposed with the number of records compromised ranging from a single record to over 309,000. These records were compromised in a variety of ways; some were accidentally released, others the result of malicious insiders or outsiders.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/safety-and-security/2015-cybersecurity-data-288/

By Phillip Britt, eCampus News

From extremes like robot teachers to soon-to-be ubiquitous technologies like wearable devices, CES 2015 did not disappoint. The annual International Consumer Electronics Show is the showcase for newer technologies already in the marketplace and those soon to debut. “What is popular in the consumer market is becoming more of the backbone of education, because that’d what students bring in,” said Kerry Goldstein, producer of TransformingEDU, the show’s education track. “There’s no place better than CES to look at what is going on with technology.”

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/ces-highlights-education-377/

By Lynn Paul, eSchool News

My school didn’t know what to do with them so I decided to fix them up and make them useful. Then I started thinking, “What else can I do?” I read something about Arduino and soon I was tinkering with parts, building, and programming anything I could get my hands on. It became a hobby. When I moved to Plaquemine High School, near Baton Rouge, our principal had just written a big grant for the Dow Corp. to create a STEM program featuring elective classes in robotics and game design for 9-12th graders. When we got it, he asked me to design the curriculum, attend trainings, and teach the courses. It was a dream come true. Now I get to help students develop the creativity, logic, critical thinking, and career skills they need for the future. Here are seven reasons why every school should consider doing the same.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/01/13/robotics-stem-166/

By Jason Shueh, eSchool News

Federal agency voices support for tech industry to help create engaging and innovative teaching material.  On the heels of its Dec. 19 decision to raise internet connectivity funding for schools by $1.5 billion, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urged Silicon Valley to couple funding with innovative educational material. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel spoke to the audience of tech entrepreneurs at Airbnb’s San Francisco headquarters on Jan. 8, highlighting the FCC’s recent efforts and encouraging the digital disruption within teaching and the textbook industry. The event was hosted by the tech advocacy group CALinnovates.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/01/15/fcc-reinvent-textbooks-546/

by eSchool News

Google Classroom users have another way to access the tool with the Jan. 14 launch of the Classroom app for both Android and iOS. Teachers also have two new tools at their disposal–a teacher assignments page and the ability to archive classes, according to a Google for Education blog post by Jorge Lugo, a software engineer for Google Classroom. Google Classroom launched 6 months ago, and in that time, students and teachers have turned in more than 30 million assignments–enough to stretch from New York to Los Angeles if they were paper assignments laid end-to-end, Lugo noted.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/01/15/google-classroom-app-237/

By Jim Dutcher, Campus Technology

In the early days of piloting Google Glass for hands-on, experiential learning, SUNY Cobleskill’s CIO shares what IT and faculty are learning from the project. Our Project WAVE-ExSEL pilot began with an initial baseline project plan as per the grant requirements (and more importantly as needed in any proper IT management capacity). But once any project starts, it inevitably needs to be changed as circumstances and environmental factors dictate. So far we are in the implementation stages of the project, before we go live with Google Glass in academic labs this semester. We have to go through a number of technology iterations during these initial sprints. With each iteration, we want to be able to reflect on what went right and what could be improved. Plus, just being reminded of the lessons learned/re-learned helps establish good long-term habits.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/01/14/google-glass-pilot-lessons-learned-so-far.aspx

by eLearning Marketplace

In last couple of years we have seen significant growth in the number of teachers who are using the flipped model of blended learning. This shouldn’t really be a surprise as the majority of teachers using this model give very positive feedback about the impact on learners and results. What is interesting though is the fact that the flipped learning model is not generally driven by leaders of schools, colleges or businesses, but initiated by the teachers themselves. In the infographic below 93% of the 2,358 teachers surveyed said they started the flipped model using their own initiative. This contradicts what we would always advise that learning and development strategy driven by leaders is the most effective way of achieving change within an organisation. In the case of the flipped model it appears that teachers themselves are driving the change.

http://www.elearningmarketplace.co.uk/growth-in-flipped-blended-learning/

by Nick Anderson, Washington Post

A New York philanthropist announced a $1 million donation Wednesday that aims to make that possible through an online venture overseen by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Steven B. Klinsky’s idea is for students to take foundational courses through the online venture edX that would prepare them for College Board examinations in various subjects. Those who pass enough Advanced Placement or College-Level Examination Program tests conceivably would be able to enter college as sophomores. That would cut the price of a bachelor’s degree by a quarter. Klinsky’s vision — “freshman year for free” — echoes in spirit what Obama proposed last week. The president wants Congress to approve $60 billion over the next decade for a partnership with states that would eliminate community college tuition for “responsible students” who get adequate grades and make academic progress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/donor-seeks-to-offer-freshman-year-for-free-through-online-college-courses/2015/01/14/e4599b38-9c11-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html

by Turnitin

A very interesting infographic, Exploring the Disconnect between Students and Educators, has been produced by Turnitin. Educators work hard to give their students thoughtful feedback on their work. But how helpful do students find that feedback? The infographic below explores the disconnect between their views, as shown in our study of over 2,000 students and educators (September 2014).

http://www.turnitin.com/assets/en_us/media/favorite-feedback/

By Alan November, eSchool News

Think your school is innovative with tech? Answer these 6 questions and prepare to reassess innovation. questions. At the start of a webinar I recently conducted for school leaders, I asked attendees if they felt they were leading an innovative school as a result of the implementation of technology. More than 90 percent responded that they were. At the end of the webinar, when polled again, only one leader claimed to be leading an innovative school. The complete reversal was due to a presentation on the six questions that you will read about in this article—a list of questions that were developed to help clarify for educators the unique added value of a digital learning environment, and whether their assignments were making the best use of this environment. Want to test your own level of innovation? The questions we ask to evaluate implementation and define innovation are critical.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/01/13/questions-innovation-303/

By Edudemic

After I tested Lightbot for a week in my classroom and analyzed other online reviews, I can unreservedly endorse it as the best educational programming game for iOS and Android. Relative to competitors, Lightbot has a stronger educational orientation and simpler explanations of complex concepts. With Lightbot, educators can not only familiarize students with basic programming, but can also hone students’ problem-solving and logical-reasoning skills. Lightbot is a cut above similar apps, thanks to its simple design and pedagogical focus. Read on to learn how Lightbot works and what makes it the preferred programming education tool.

http://www.edudemic.com/lightbot-teaching-rudimentary-coding-concepts-to-students/

by Training Zone

It’s the beginning of a new year and 2015 looks set to be an exciting one for E-Learning! Just before Christmas, we brought you 10 Key E-Learning Trends for 2015 and today we’ve compiled for you a handy infographic with the fifteen E-Learning statistics you need to know for 2015. The digital learning scene changes and expands so fast, it can hard to keep up sometimes. We hope our statistics will help give you an idea of the power of E-Learning and the traits of leading learning organisations!

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/blogs-post/15-e-learning-statistics-you-need-know-2015/188198

By Katy Murphy, The Oakland Tribune

San Jose State got a steep discount on Cisco products for a $28 million technology upgrade it launched in 2012, but there was a catch: The deal was good for only six months. In the first four weeks alone — for a project expected to span five years — San Jose State ordered more than $16 million worth of products and services from Cisco reseller Nexus IS and later stashed the gear in storage areas across the campus. An investigation by this newspaper reveals how that acquisition spree set the stage for what happened next: a theft that cost the campus roughly $800,000.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/San-Jose-State-Cisco-Problem.html

by Marguerite Koole, IRRODL

This paper outlines a preliminary study of the kinds of strategies that master students draw upon for interpreting and enacting their identities in online learning environments. Based primarily on the seminal works of Goffman (1959) and Foucault (1988), the Web of Identity Model (Koole, 2009; Koole and Parchoma, 2012) is used as an underlying theoretical framework for this research study. The WoI model suggests that there are five major categories of “dramaturgical” strategies: technical, political, structural, cultural, and personal-agential. In the data collection, five online master of education students participated in semi-structured, online interviews. Phenomenography guided the data collection and analysis resulting in an outcome space for each strategy of the WoI model. The study results indicate that online learners actively employ a variety of strategies in interpreting and enacting their identities. The outcome spaces provide insights into ways in which online learners can manage their identity performances and strategies for ontological re-alignment (reconceptualization of oneself). Further study has the potential to elucidate how learning designers and online instructors might facilitate such identity-work in order to shape productive online environments.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1748

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

Picture this: A world flooded with a sea of data from every connected device on the planet — devices found in and on human bodies, in homes, around communities, in products, and in the natural environment. And these devices on the Internet of Things are sharing information constantly with the promise of making people’s lives better. But the government, corporations and criminals can all tap into these data streams and use what they find for evil, if they so choose. And that tension comes through loud and clear in a report on the Internet of Things that includes opinions from more than 1,600 experts.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/Where-the-Internet-of-Things-Could-Take-Society-by-2025-.html

By Joan Garrett McClane and Tim Omarzu, Chattanooga Times Free Press

Replacing some Hamilton County students’ textbooks with iPads was a move intended to boost faltering public education performance. Tablets were more engaging that their printed predecessors, and they opened up a world wide web of opportunity. Have a question? Just Google it. Plus, they prepared students for the ever-changing work world, in which even jobs flipping hamburgers require an application online. But school officials say there is one big problem. Many of the students, once home with their brand-new devices, don’t have internet access and likely won’t get it.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/01/12/schools-students-access-783/

By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

Ed tech policymakers and experts weigh in on the year ahead.   Last year, in addition to the tremendous attention on Common Core’s ups and downs, educators also found time to weigh the merits of greater access to broadband in (and out of) the classroom, as well as gaming and learning, the use of Google tools, and the power of data to make decisions. The changes—both political and technological—had a great impact on educators everywhere. Likewise, this year, with the recent expansion of the federal E-rate program and impending switch to online testing, we can certainly expect more of the same. But where else will educators turn their gaze in the coming months?

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/01/12/ed-tech-predictions-201/