Educational Technology

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

A consortium of 10 colleges and universities and nine non-profits is aiming to get more women and girls of color involved in science, technology, engineering and math fields. The new National STEM Collaborative will develop tools and online workshops, train hiring managers and others in addressing bias, build a database of programs to support women of color in STEM majors and highlight research to derive best practices. The work will be led by Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology (CGEST), based at Arizona State University. The center’s executive director, Kimberly Scott, will run the program. Scott founded CompuGirls, a technology program for girls in grades 8-12 to learn about digital media, game development and other technical areas.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/23/collaborative-to-plot-pathways-for-women-of-color-in-stem.aspx

by Seb Murray, Business Because

A growing number of online and flexible MBA programs have reported year-on-year growth in applications, more than traditional part-time and executive courses — highlighting the swelling appeal of digital degrees among business students. The surge in application volume for business schools’ online MBA programs is reported in the annual Application Trends Survey by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), owners of the GMAT entry test. GMAC said the trend for students to opt for digital MBAs is related to survey findings that indicate a shift in employer tuition assistance. This year, both part-time and executive MBA programs expect fewer students to have financial backing from their bosses.

http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/3473/edtech-online-mba-applications-outstrip-traditional-formats

by Rebecca Burn-Callander, the Telegraph

Brits are heading online to brush up on digital skills.  Brits are signing up for online courses in web development, app making and coding games in a bid to stay ahead of the job market, according to new industry figures. Workers are looking to brush up on digital skills, which are increasingly in demand by employers; 48% of course enrolments are in the technology field. Some 75% of courses are related to work, and many job-seekers are signing up for self-improvement courses in subjects such as speed reading, mindfulness, influence and confidence-building to give themselves an edge over the competition.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11882369/Brits-turn-to-courses-in-coding-speed-reading-and-influence-to-boost-career-prospects.html

By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

Of interest to both lawmakers and educators, the DLP makes recommendations around providing flexible professional development for district-level staff and principals, as well as the creation of a larger network of PD facilitators devoted to helping teachers adjust to digital learning concepts, such as blended instruction. It also suggests beefing up regional and statewide collaborations to support local educators and developing sustainable funding models. Of course, many of these initiatives will require new funding, and the report takes pains to spell out where federal money can step in and what, exactly, the state might be on the hook for. “It’s been quite a budgetary fight,” Corn said about working with legislators to secure those funds. “But we did get an increase in textbook allotment and school connectivity. We didn’t get everything we asked for but because of the Digital Learning Plan and the conversations we’ve been having, at a time when our state budgets have been fiscally conservative, they did give increases in those two areas.”

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/09/23/digital-learning-plan-749/

By Melissa Gedney, eSchool News

Forward-thinking practices focus on college and career readiness. As the skills expected of today’s graduates change rapidly, school districts have to overhaul their thinking on what it means to be “college and career ready.” Conventional wisdom around when and where students learn, what knowledge they need to be successful, and who they are as learners is all rapidly changing, especially as technology becomes more prevalent in classrooms. This is all top of mind for members of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, a coalition of around 57 forward-thinking districts and leaders across the country, who are committed to improving the opportunity to learn for all of their students through technology and research. We rounded up some best practices League members use to ensure students stay in school, get their degrees, and are prepared for success in their post-secondary endeavors.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/09/22/districts-graduation-rates-395/

by eCampus News

Users can take Versal courses directly on iOS and Android devices. Smartphones and tablets have become a day-to-day part of our lives. And the opportunity to learn on-the-go is not only a huge benefit, it’s a requirement. Versal is launching its new mobile player, which enables students to take interactive Versal courses via iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. In the corporate environment, employees can learn something new while commuting to work or while staffing a remote office that doesn’t have broad computer access (for example, in a retail environment).

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/versal-mobile-player-093/

by Artem Kureev, Russia Direct

Last week, during the second EdCrunch international conference on new educational technologies, Open Education, a new Russian online educational platform, launched. It is the first site in Russia to offer students massive open online courses (MOOCs) equal in weight to more traditional modes of study. The new resource is expected to raise higher education to the next level and improve overall quality in regional universities and affiliated structures. However, there are some drawbacks. For example, some claim that Open Education represents the latest step by the Russian authorities to isolate the country from Western knowledge and information resources. Moreover, not all representatives of Russian higher education are in favor of virtual learning.

http://www.russia-direct.org/analysis/will-moocs-open-or-close-russias-universities-world

By Anand Murali, ET

India today is the second-largest traffic source for Udacity, which saw a five fold growth in enrollment for Nanodegree courses in the past eleven months. “The education system in India is very strong. The IIT’s are fantastic, they date back to the 19th century, but we now live in the 21st century; so it’s time to bring the modern technology into modern people’s lives and allow people to get educated even if they can’t go to campus,” Thrun observes. Udacity currently offers all 7 of its Nanodegree programmes in India.The platform in partnership with Google and Tata Trusts is also offering 1,000 scholarships for the Android Nanodegree to students in the country. The programmes take an average of 6-9 months and costs . 9,800 per month with the company ` refunding 50% of the tuition upon completion.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/google-vp-and-fellow-sebastian-thrun-has-the-udacity-to-disrupt-education-space/articleshow/49056826.cms

By Laura Devaney, eSchoolNews

Using computers and other learning technology too often can be detrimental to student performance, OECD says. Students who use computers and learning technology at moderate levels tend to have better learning outcomes than students who use computers and learning technology rarely, according to new research from the OECD. A more startling find, however, is the fact that students who use computers very frequently at school perform much worse.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/09/21/too-much-technology-837/

by eSchoolNews

Online case studies highlight OER implementation in schools. SETDA has published a series of case studies focused on the implementation of Open Educational Resources (OER) at the school level. The online resource, OER in Action: Implementation Highlights, examines the definitions and parameters of OER, includes a variety of resources, and provides an in-depth look at the implementation of OER in New York, Utah and Washington.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/09/22/setda-oer-studies-634/

by eCampusNews

Stanford, Harvard, MIT top inaugural list focusing on innovative policies and practices. Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University top the inaugural Reuters Top 100 ranking of the world’s most innovative universities. The Reuters Top 100 ranking aims to identify which institutions contribute the most to science and technology, and have the greatest impact on the global economy.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/most-innovative-universities-742/

by eCampusNews

“Share your insights, change our world” live-streamed on EdCast mobile app. Social knowledge network EdCast has launched a “10 Minute Insight Series” offering an interactive setting for global influencers to share their specialized insights to help better the world. The series’ mission is focused on letting knowledge seekers and lifelong learners interact and gain bite-sized pieces of knowledge from a wide range of specialists to help understand and answer global issues. Participants who join the series can ask questions and connect with influencers in real time—for free.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/edcast-global-insight-490/

by eCampusNews

Coding contest challenges and rewards students who develop innovative learning applications that help to improve student achievement. Pearson is partnering with the Hour of Code to launch the third annual Student Coding Contest. The 2015 contest places an emphasis on recruiting college students and teams to develop original groundbreaking learning applications that integrate with Pearson Application Programming Interfaces or APIs. The contest offers students a chance to win cash prizes and a potential opportunity for a Pearson internship. Students are challenged to focus and integrate efficacy, a positive, measurable impact on learning, into the development of their applications.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/pearson-coding-contest-465/

By Cory Turner, NPR

Calling this a scorecard is like calling Mt. Vesuvius a hill; at best, it’s an understatement. It’s also technically wrong. What the government released today isn’t a scorecard at all — it’s a data dump of epic proportions. Here’s how it works: You can type in the name of a college here, and the site will tell you lots of old basics, including average annual cost and graduation rate. But there’s also lots of useful, new information. You can now see how much students earn 10 years after entering a school (thanks to a joint effort between the departments of Education and the Treasury). Also accessible for the first time are the percentage of first-generation students at a given school and the percentage of students who repay at least a dollar of principal on their federal loans within three years.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/09/12/439742485/president-obamas-new-college-scorecard-is-a-torrent-of-data

by Seb Murray, Business Because

The explosion of online learning has been a double edged sword for universities. Most are focused on providing the latest digital advances to their students and investing in whizzy new technology, such as analytics dashboards and high-definition video studios. But digital has also given rise to disruptive new players. The announcement by LinkedIn that it intends to host business courses on its site by acquiring online learning platform Lydna.com for $1.5 billion is one of the latest signs that tech groups are encroaching into the world of education. For many industry executives, the notion of a professional leaving the workforce for years on end to earn a degree is a doomed model.

http://www.businessbecause.com/news/connected-classroom/3465/connected-classroom-business-schools-partner-mooc-disruptors

by NANCY COOK, the Atlantic

West­ern Gov­ernors Uni­versity is one of nearly three dozen col­leges and pro­grams—non­profit and for-profit alike—that are try­ing a fledgling mod­el of school­ing known as com­pet­ency-based edu­ca­tion. Its core idea: Stu­dents fare bet­ter if they earn de­grees based on their demon­strated know­ledge of a sub­ject in­stead of simply on face-time or per­form­ance in a tra­di­tion­al classroom. “It ba­sic­ally means that we will meas­ure learn­ing rather than time,” says Robert W. Mend­en­hall, pres­id­ent of West­ern Gov­ernors Uni­versity. “Com­pet­ency-based learn­ing means stu­dents can learn at their own pace.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/the-online-college-that-credits-life-experience/406252/

by Casey Dreier, the Planetary Society

Here’s a great opportunity to brush up on (or generate) your knowledge of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos. NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is sponsoring a free, online course on the science and exploration potential of Phobos and Deimos, featuring a series of lectures by experts in planetary science. I’m particularly interested in this, of course, because of our forthcoming workshop report highlighting a human mission to explore Phobos in 2033. But these will be great for any space fan who wants to bring their understanding of the Mars system to the next level.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2015/a-free-online-course.html

by University Spot

Along with their university partners, online course platforms Coursera and edX are offering 300+ great courses this fall. UniversitySpot.com provides easy access to thousands of the best online higher-education resources for students, counselors, teachers, parents and lifetime learners, and is pleased to present its third annual list of the most current course offerings for the fall. Quickly scan through course titles from top U.S. and global universities to find the ones best suited to your interests.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/09/prweb12968644.htm

By Lindsay Fitzpatrick, eSchool News

A new math course is boosting collaboration and learning and may be key to getting more students college ready. In Texas, 51% of two-year and 12 percent of four-year students required remediation upon entry to college.i Complete College America found that, of two year college students who took developmental classes, only 5.8% earned a degree in three years. As an effort to address these challenges, in 2013 Texas passed House Bill 5, an innovative education legislation that included a College Prep Mathematics course as one means to increase the number of college-ready students. This course provides high school seniors who are still struggling with mathematics concepts needed for college an opportunity to complete their preparation for college mathematics.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/09/18/texas-college-math-185/

by eSchool News

A new approach helps districts achieve continuity in teaching coding, programming and computer sciencecurriculum. Imparting 21st century skills means starting young learners with a proper foundation and thoughtfully advancing students with age-appropriate offerings at each grade and level. For its new 2015-2016 portfolio of curriculum solutions, Sunburst has been working with three partners–StudioWeb, Tynker and Wonder Workshop–that are passionate about introducing programming, coding and computer science to students spanning K-12.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/09/18/integrated-curriculum-986/

by Jennifer Bett Communications