Educational Technology

by Matt Davis, Edutopia

With the abundance of media messages in our society, it’s important to ensure students are media literate. The Oscars provide a great opportunity to use the year’s best films to teach students about media and film literacy. Not to mention, films can also be an engaging teaching tool for piquing interest in a variety of subjects and issues. In this compilation, you’ll find classroom resources from around the web that cover many of this year’s nominated films, as well as general resources for using film as a teaching tool.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/academy-awards-film-literacy-resources-matthew-davis

By Edudemic

Do you remember the joy that you felt as a student when you saw the teacher roll the TV into the classroom? Your students can experience the same joy when you show a film in your own classroom – and it won’t be because it’s a perceived distraction. In her recent Guardian.com blog post, Sarah Marsh outlines 12 ways to use film creatively in the classroom. Building on concepts from that piece, we’ll focus on three key themes here: film immersion, cultural immersion, and student activity.

http://www.edudemic.com/ways-film-enhances-classroom-experience/

by Justin Franz, Flathead Becon

Distinguished colleges and universities across the country, including Notre Dame, Columbia, Stamford and now Flathead Valley Community College, are adopting a new technology called Lightboard that is improving online learning. And while FVCC may seem like an outlier in that distinguished list, the Kalispell-based college is no less excited about offering classes using the new video system. The technology is part chalkboard and part projection screen that creates an online learning environment that simulates face-to-face teaching, according to Assistant Chemistry Professor David Long, who helped bring the system to FVCC. Prior to coming to college three years ago, Long taught at the University of Colorado and Montana State University.

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2015/02/14/fvcc-introduces-new-technology-improve-online-learning/

by eSchool News

Educators say they want integrated digital learning tools, assessments to drive literacy growth. A new survey of 475 educators indicates that schools and districts see their use of classroom materials transitioning substantially from paper books to digital books over the next two years, according to LightSail Education. An overwhelming majority of schools and administrators indicate a desire to build digital libraries rather than experiment with book rental and subscription models, but the market is still in its early stages. The report, “State of the Digital Book Market,” is the first to analyze K-12 decision makers’ views on the transition from paper books to digital books and literacy platforms.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/02/13/e-book-growth-934/

By Leigh Ann Whittle, Edudemic

In 2011, Edutopia published an article discussing how to combat plagiarism. Four years later, we are still looking for ways to fix this problem. In this article, we’ll look at how to identify plagiarism and how to prevent it. The Edutopia post indicated that 55 percent of college presidents believe plagiarism has increased since 2000. Another Edutopia post indicated that papers submitted to the Turn It In software, which determines whether or not papers have been plagiarized from online content, averages 3.7 content matches per paper, typically from sites such as Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers. Paper mills, common sources for plagiarized work, accounted for less than 20 percent of plagiarism instances. So, if you’re like me, you’ve probably seen a rise in plagiarism. Like the 89 percent of college presidents who blame the Internet, I believe the Web makes plagiarism too easy. But let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Though the internet is often a big source for plagiarism, it is also offers solutions, such as Turnitin or SafeAssign (these aren’t foolproof).

http://www.edudemic.com/fight-plagiarism-in-your-classroom/

By Michael Levenson and Steve Annear, Boston Globe

The class-action suits accuse the universities of violating the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1973 Rehabilitation Act by denying people who are deaf and hard of hearing access to thousands of videos and audio recordings that the universities make available free to the public. The association is targeting Harvard and MIT because both are globally recognized leaders in offering massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, that provide educational content to the public that was traditionally available only to enrolled students. In 2013, both Harvard and MIT launched edX, a pioneering nonprofit partnership that offers online classes.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/02/12/advocates-for-deaf-sue-harvard-mit-over-lack-captioning-free-online-courses/kRyh3K7VNje9vhOSvjro6N/story.html

by: SIRI ANDERSON, SEAN BEAVERSON and TONI SCHWARTZ, Star Tribune

We have evidence from various projects around the Twin Cities that low-income and racially diverse students achieve improved results when given the same (increased) digital access commonly afforded white and/or economically privileged students. This is especially true when teachers individualize instruction so that students have access to learning at the appropriate level and when parents are actively involved. Pinker does acknowledge that exceptional teachers may inspire improved outcomes from the new teaching strategies made possible when every child has access to online resources both in and out of school.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/291774391.html

by Suren Ramasubbu, Huffington Post

Blended learning, which once referred to use of computer and web-based training in class, has now evolved into a mammoth education program that merges traditional classroom-based instruction with technology enhancements such as electronic whiteboards, Internet devices, multimedia assistance, digital textbooks and online lesson plans.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suren-ramasubbu/the-evolution-of-blended-learning_b_6666284.html

By Adi Robertson, the Verge

In an interview with The Verge, Gates pointed to the highly successful Khan Academy — which doesn’t consider itself a MOOC, but operates similarly to one — as a sign of how far the technology of remote education has come, from an age when “we were just sticking cameras in front of people and putting them online.” In 15 years, he speculates, “that type of material will be wildly better than even the best is today, and it will be available through phones and tablets in a free form to anyone that’s got that internet connection.” But right now, which students are really benefiting from MOOCs and the boom in online education? And will these services reach those who need education most?

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/11/8014563/bill-gates-education-future-of-online-courses-third-world

by Michael Cowling, the Conversation

Education has always embraced technology. From the humble overhead projector, to the TV with VCR that was pushed into the classroom on a trolley, to the computer labs full of Commodore 64s, new technology in the consumer space has always found its way into the classroom. What’s changing, though, is the availability of that technology. As a middle-class student growing up on the North Shore of Sydney in the 1980s, I remember clearly how computer time worked. The classroom I sat in every day had no computers, but once a week we would all queue up and march down to the computer room to spend an hour using them.

https://theconversation.com/the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword-but-the-computer-is-mightier-than-both-37211

by THORIN KLOSOWSKI, LifeHacker

Littlebits make designing little electronics super easy, but that doesn’t mean everyone can make anything instantly. If you’d like a little more guidance, Littlebits and P2Pu teamed up for the Invent Anything online course, and you can sign up for it right now for free. The course features several track options, including the basics, the internet of things, science, art and design, hardware, and music. Beyond that, you’ll also get to chat with a few special guests, including Eric Rosenbaum from Makey Makey, Ariel Waldman from Spacehack, and Dr. Mitch Resnick from MIT.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/02/the-invent-anything-course-gets-you-started-with-hardware-hacking/

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

The rapid rate of growth of online learning enrollment is slowing down to only three times the overall growth of higher education. At the same time, student preferences and demands for online courses and degrees are changing. And this is all due to increasing online learning options provided by colleges and universities. Those are the big takeaways from two distinctive reports released by higher education industry powerhouses, utilizing the vast amount of data available from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) as a foundation for further analysis. According to “Grade Level: Tracking Online Education in the United States,” a report released the Babson Survey Research Group, the Online Learning Consortium, Pearson and Tyton Partners—that surveyed more than 2,800 colleges and universities and IPEDS data for 4,891 responses—though online education enrollment growth continues, it’s at the “slowest rate ever.”

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/online-demands-students-447/

by Dan Gordon, THE Journal

Rob Schwartz, a teacher at a blended learning magnet school, says “I took a couple of online courses myself, and one thing I learned is not to just write things up and have the kids read; I’ll record a video. I trained in Adobe software (I’m an Adobe Education Leader) and I’ve created a lot of my own tutorials, because with the online classes I’ve taken, I can see when the professor is really excited about it, and that’s a lot more engaging for me. Nobody wants to engage with content; people want to engage with other people about content. When we learn, it’s a human experience. If we try to remove the humanity too much from it and turn it into just technology, we’re missing out on a really critical part of that experience of learning.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/01/27/how-blended-learning-and-gamification-increase-student-engagement.aspx

by iSchool Guide

A 2014 survey found that many students claimed they chose online learning because they wanted to change their career paths. According to an online instructor, an online study offers greater flexibility, especially for working individuals, as traditional schooling requires more sacrifice. A 2014 survey by the Aslanian Market Research and Learning House, a company helping higher education institutions create and provide online degree programs, revealed that 26 percent of undergraduates and 19 percent of graduate respondents said they chose online learning because they wanted a career shift.

http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/7475/20150210/online-learning-helps-students-shift-career-goals.htm

by Michael B. Horn, Huffington Post

More modular, approachable experiences on Khan Academy provide further opportunities, and the promise of exciting announcements from other players loom on the horizon. Adaptive-learning company Knewton, for example, is preparing a free customer-facing portal that would help students learn from the best resource for them at any given time. Higher touch online courses from places like Udemy also provide an accessible education for anyone to learn just about anything. More offerings in the future will allow students to connect synchronously to experts around the world to build social capital and supplement their learning. These experiences will also invite curiosity in the immediate environment around them to prompt students to explore and learn through internships, projects, co-learning experiences, and more. Already co-learning spaces are popping up across the world–led by players like General Assembly and Dev Bootcamp. It’s a brave new world, and the opportunity to piece together each student’s unique lifelong education is already rich.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gendiy/unprecedented-opportuniti_b_6632494.html

by Irvin Weathersby, Jr, Edutopia

In today’s classroom, it’s important to embrace diversity and technology. Teaching Black History Month this February with rich activities will help you accomplish these goals. You can teach Black History as American History and World History simultaneously. This will enable you to cross multiple disciplines and meet Common Core standards. Here are some suggestions to help you engage all of your learners with differentiated instruction. Most importantly, these suggestions are all technology-based so that you can keep pace with the demands of the 21st-century student.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/edtech-tools-black-history-month-irvin-weathersby

By Keith Button, Education Dive

Coding schools — programs that teach short courses aimed at professionals in programming and developing online and mobile applications — are growing more popular because of their stripped-down approach to teaching high-demand skills that appeal to employers. Regardless, given the popularity of these programs and the competition they present to traditional continuing education, here are nine of the most popular coding schools higher ed should be aware of.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/9-coding-schools-higher-ed-should-keep-an-eye-on/361796/

By Keith Button, Education Dive

Carnegie Mellon University is partnering with Uber to create a new advanced technology center. The center, near Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Pittsburgh, will look to develop driverless vehicle technology, Campus Technology reports. By funding Uber Technologies Center, Uber is setting itself against an investor, Google, which has been a pioneer in driverless vehicle research.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/carnegie-mellon-and-uber-partner-on-self-driving-car-research/362588/

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

NMC and EDUCUASE release the 2015 Horizon Report, outlining 18 trends in higher-ed technology over the next 1 to 5 years. “Makerspaces” will gain traction long before adaptive learning; and improving digital literacy is a breeze compared to determining how to reward educators for teaching. These are just two of the findings released as part of the New Media Consortium’s (NMC) 2015 Higher Education Horizon Report, jointly conducted with the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. The Report charts the five-year horizon for the impact of emerging technology in learning around the world.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/horizon-report-trends-215/

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

Students create a truly outstanding amount of work over the course of a year. Back when everything was done on paper, most of that work was either thrown in the trash, stuffed in a drawer somewhere, or stuck in a box in the garage. How many essays, stories, you labor over during your years as a student that you’ll never see again? Now that so much of what students create in school (and in life) is in the digital realm, teachers have an opportunity to help students value their work more and for longer. Digital portfolios allow students to collect the work they’re most proud of and see their progress over time in a tangible way.

http://www.edudemic.com/tools-for-digital-portfolios/

BY JAMIE FORSYTHE, BND.com

Whether it’s learning a new language or how to do computer programming, students at Gibault Catholic High School had the opportunity this semester to take an online elective class through the Illinois Virtual School. And eight students at Gibault jumped at the chance, even though it meant more work, better time management and collaboration with teachers and classmates across the state. Sophomore Matthew Lock is taking Mandarin Chinese. “It like it,” he said. “It’s actually pretty hard, but I’m enjoying it.”

http://www.bnd.com/2015/02/09/3651429/its-worth-it-gibault-students.html