Educational Technology

November 16, 2015

Continuously Improving Online Course Design using the Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle

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by Elizabeth A. Gazza, JOLT

Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) is a continuous improvement process that can be used to inform practice in online education. This article describes how the PDSA cycle was used to enhance a new online health policy course in an accelerated online Registered Nurse to-Bachelor of Science (RN-BS) program at one Southeastern University. A goal of course development and delivery was to ensure that students could access and understand all directions and guidelines included in the new online course.  Recommendations for course enhancement are useful to individuals who design and/or teach online courses and reflect use of data in the decision-making process.

http://jolt.merlot.org/Vol11no2/Gazza_0615.pdf

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Universal Design in Online Education: Employing Organization Change

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Katherine J. Kirkpatrick, JOLT

With the rise in online education, universal design is an emerging trend aimed at providing available education opportunities to all students, accommodating for all disabilities. However, universal design in online education remains an ambiguous and lofty goal for an academic organization to undertake. This case analysis employs an organization change theoretical framework via archival document analysis to examine a failed universal design change initiative at a 1,500-student college. This analysis unpacks the complications inherent in the failed initiative via elucidation of the college’s actions comparatively with foundational tenets of organization change, particularly the diffusion of innovations model. Elicitations from this analysis include possibilities for future universal design change initiatives, as well as an overarching call for academic organizations to consider organization change tenets in organizational decision-making.

http://jolt.merlot.org/Vol11no2/Kirkpatrick_0615.pdf

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What Do Current College Students Think about MOOCs?

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Andrew W. Cole and C. Erik Timmerman, JOLT

Faculty, administrators, and media outlets express a range of opinions about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As any adoption of MOOCs should ultimately be done to benefit students, this study examines current college students’ understandings of MOOCs. Thematic analysis on qualitative data reveal a pattern of student perceptions that MOOCs can contribute to lifelong learning but are inferior to traditional “for credit” college courses. Student attitudes toward MOOCs revolve around 6 primary themes: reliability, accessibility, content, learning, communication, and outcomes. As the themes identified in the current data mirror previously published MOOC commentaries in many ways, pedagogical discussion of MOOCs should move beyond polarized evaluations and incorporate student perspectives in further empirical investigation of MOOCs as a learning environment.

http://jolt.merlot.org/Vol11no2/Cole_0615.pdf

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November 15, 2015

Saint Xavier U Transforms Classrooms Into Learning Studios

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Saint Xavier University is reimagining the classroom with “learning studios” designed for collaboration. Three learning spaces at the institution’s Chicago campus have been outfitted with café-style furniture, flat-panel displays and the Christie Brio content sharing platform. A key requirement for the university was the ability for students to connect their mobile devices to the classroom displays. “We started off looking at other products and all of them had their limitations of whether they could connect with Mac, iOS, Android or PC,” explained Chris Zakrzewski, assistant provost for technology and instructional innovation at Saint Xavier, in a statement. “Brio was the product that had the most breadth in its ability to connect these and other devices wirelessly to monitors that are in our rooms.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/11/04/saint-xavier-u-transforms-classrooms-into-learning-studios.aspx

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Launch Video Classroom Observations With New Toolkit

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:31 am

by Ashley Cronin, Edutopia

For busy teachers, there are limited opportunities within the school day to be observed, to observe other teachers, to pause and reflect on the details of specific classroom moments, and to receive support from colleagues. Since in-person observations may be difficult to arrange, teachers may find themselves going it alone when trying out new learning, refining practice, or facing challenges in their classroom — at times without much feedback or support. A robust new video observation toolkit from Harvard helps address these challenges by suggesting ways of using video technology to rethink traditional approaches to teacher observation and professional development. Downloads from the toolkit include a variety of resources to help school leaders, teachers, teacher leaders, instructional coaches, and personal learning networks prepare for, launch, and evaluate the success of video observations in school communities.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-classroom-observations-new-toolkit-ashley-cronin

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High Stakes Computer Testing Reaches Tipping Point

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:29 am

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

For the first time ever, most states will be giving their end-of-year, high-stakes tests in elementary and middle school via technology other than pencil and paper. According to a new report by EdTech Strategies, only 15 percent of the 800-plus tests being offered to students in grades 3-8 this year will be available in printed format. Douglas Levin, president of EdTech and author of the report, “Pencils Down: The Shift to Online & Computer-Based Testing,” noted that while the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and its “associated tests” from PARCC and Smarter Balanced contributed to the shift to digital testing, that was “neither the root cause of the shift nor even the dominant driver.” The more likely reasons are the “compelling advantages” of computer-based testing: efficiency of test delivery, faster turnaround of scores, better security, enhanced accessibility, increased student engagement and more opportunities to gauge student understanding of the content.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/05/high-stakes-computer-testing-reaches-tipping-point.aspx

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November 14, 2015

The Promise (and Perils) of Digital Textbooks

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:39 am

By David Raths, THE Journal

The New Media Consortium’s 2014 Horizon Report K-12 Edition noted that although digital textbooks have become a mainstay in higher education, they have been slower to infiltrate K-12. The report’s authors added, however, that the “financial and educational benefits of digital learning materials will eventually outweigh the outdated paper textbook dependence in K-12 education, and gradual adoption of digital textbooks is expected.” THE Journal recently spoke with teachers and administrators in several districts that are experimenting with digital versions of textbooks from traditional publishers as well as those curating digital material to compose new, more personalized texts for their students.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/10/28/the-promise-and-perils-of-digital-textbooks.aspx

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What Drone Technology Can Teach Students

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Edudemic

12 Creative Ways to Use Drones for Learning

1. Make Your Own Drone

First and foremost, one of the best ways to use drones in the classroom is to have students design and build their own, whether in a robotics club, in shop class, or as a class project. There aren’t a lot of options for buying cheap kits at the moment, but keep your eyes peeled, as the cost of such kits will inevitably come down over time. Making drones in a school club or even just studying models online will teach key lessons about:

http://www.edudemic.com/drones-classroom-can-happen/

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Dropouts: innovative online schools attract Santa Clara Co. youth

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By Sharon Noguchi, Mercury News

Three Opportunity Youth Academies that opened this fall offer free online classes, guidance and a path to young people like Schmeing who dropped out of school but want to earn their diploma. Organizers hope to reel in some of what they estimate to be 8,000 dropouts ages 16 to 24 in Santa Clara County. The Santa Clara County Office of Education held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday at the newest of its three academies, this one tucked into a Gilroy strip mall. The innovative academies allow students to work at their own pace wherever they want. Furnished with couches, tables and computers, the sites deliberately don’t fit the image of a traditional school.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_29081764/dropouts-innovative-online-schools-attract-santa-clara-co

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November 13, 2015

Program helps adults go back to class

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By Nathan Thompson, Examiner-Enterprise

Madison Million is your typical 17-year-old dealing with an atypical situation. Million dropped out of Tulsa Public Schools because of the family issues. She said she attempted to take online classes. The adult education program in Bartlesville uses a blended curriculum format. “This is a better environment for me to learn than where I was at,” Million said. “This has been an amazing experience because I didn’t know what to expect. I thought this was going to be just like high school where there were a whole bunch of people in a class and there was no room for anyone else and not being able to get any one-on-one help. That is not the case here. The staff and teachers are great and they take the time to get me the help I need to pass the tests.” After starting the program last year, Million has taken three of the four required tests to get her GED. Her next test over math is scheduled for next week. To get to that point, she attends GED classes four times a week at Will Rogers.

http://examiner-enterprise.com/news/local-news/program-helps-adults-go-back-class

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Do Online Students Cheat More on Tests?

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By: Maryellen Weimer, Faculty Focus

“Based on the results in this study, students in online courses, with unmonitored testing, are no more likely to cheat on an examination than students in hybrid and F2F courses using monitored testing, nor are students with low GPAs more likely to enroll in online courses.” (p. 72) Some had suggested that because students who had not taken an online course reported that they thought it would be easier to cheat in online courses, students with lower GPAs might be motivated to take online courses. There were only 19 students in the online course in this study, but across these three sections, GPA did not differ significantly. Using this interesting model to predict cheating, there was no evidence that it occurred to a greater degree in the unmonitored tests given in the online course. That’s the good news. The bad news: “There is ample opportunity for cheating across all types of course delivery modes, which has been demonstrated through decades of research.” (p. 73) In other words, we still have a problem, it just isn’t more serious in online courses, based on these results.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/do-online-students-cheat-more-on-tests/

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Online Research Repository Adds Finer Access Control

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:29 am

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

An online digital repository for academic researchers is being updated. The newest version of Figshare from Digital Science puts an emphasis on controls for more granular management of data. This repository allows users to make their research available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner. People can upload any file format — figures, datasets, media, papers, posters, presentations and filesets — to be made viewable in a browser. According to the company, increasingly, researchers must develop a data management plan as a requirement of their funding or must address data sharing in interdisciplinary or cross-institutional projects. To address these changes and other areas of usage, the new release focuses on three areas: control, discoverability and usability.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/11/05/online-research-repository-adds-finer-access-control.aspx

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November 12, 2015

Making Lectures More Interactive

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:38 am

By Dennis Pierce, Campus Technology

Produced by Su-Kam Intelligent Education Systems (SKIES), named after co-founders Julius Su and Victor Kam, the app enables students to construct an interconnected web of knowledge around a topic as the professor is teaching — turning a traditional lecture format into a shared, interactive learning experience. “Students learn best not when they are passive recipients of content, but when they are actively involved in their own learning,” Su said. With the SKIES app, he said, “teachers and students can be creating and constructing knowledge together. That makes the classroom more lively, engaging and democratic — and just a great place to be. It turns into a better environment for learning.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/11/04/making-lectures-more-interactive.aspx

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18-Year-Old Switches To Online Classes To Better Pursue Art

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:36 am

By REBECCA THIELE, WMUK

Geoffrey Simmons is only 18, but he’s already well on his way to becoming a full-time artist. It all started about three years ago when he began collecting glass art. That led to glass blowing classes, which led to spray paint, body paint, digital art, and just about everything else. “I just found all these other mediums and just decided if I’m going to be an artist, I want to be creative in every single area I possibly can,” he says. Eventually Simmons was doing so many art projects that going to school all day was just getting in the way. So he stopped going to class and enrolled in online classes. “I’m definitely not the normal learner – we could just put it that way. So normal school in general wasn’t working out the best anyhow. So once I made that switch and I had found that new passion, I just took off,” he says.

http://wmuk.org/post/18-year-old-switches-online-classes-better-pursue-art

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Young Adults More Likely to Own Smartphone Than PC

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by eMarketer

There is a proliferation of devices in the marketplace. When it comes to ownership, young adults ages 18 to 29 are more likely to own a mobile phone or smartphone than a desktop or laptop, pointing to how mobile is becoming an all-purpose device that users are increasingly relying on. According to a July 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center, ownership of desktop and laptops, game consoles and MP3 players among US young adults has dropped since 2010. Alternatively, smartphone ownership among these respondents has grown from 52% in 2011 to 86% in 2015.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Young-Adults-More-Likely-Own-Smartphone-Than-PC/1013202

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November 11, 2015

Students with disabilities enrol online ‘to avoid stigmatisation’

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By Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education

Many students with disabilities are attracted to online learning because they feel less stigmatised than they do in the classroom, a study suggests. Researchers at two US universities interviewed students with a range of disabilities taking online or blended programmes and found that more than half said that avoiding stigmatisation was a key reason for signing up. Many of the interviewees, who were enrolled with higher education institutions across the US, highlighted how digital learning made their disabilities “invisible” and “offered the freedom to be viewed as a student without limitations”.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/students-with-disabilities-enrol-online-to-avoid-stigmatisation

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These Hands-On Classes Teach You HTML, CSS, Online Privacy, And More

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by ALAN HENRY, Lifehacker AU

If you’re looking to learn HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, why online privacy is so important, how Creative Commons works, or the basics of good password and security hygiene, these great online workshops from the Mozilla Foundation (that’s right, the folks behind Firefox) are perfect for teaching you or someone you know. The classes run the gamut from programming-focused ones to more informative, web literacy courses. Their interactive “CSS Story Cards,” which will get you familiar with and building an interactive story using HTML and CSS, as well as their “Erase All Kittens” workshop, which has you sifting through and changing code to make visible changes in a game. “Quacking JavaScript” gets you started with one of the essential languages needed to build for the web.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/11/these-hands-on-classes-teach-you-html-css-online-privacy-and-more/

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November 10, 2015

Is this model the future of college and career readiness?

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By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

North of Los Angeles, not far from the city of Ventura, the brand new Rancho Campana High School sits on a California campus fit for the set of a teen movie, where spacious, airy classrooms open — via retractable glass-paneled garage doors — onto sun soaked courtyards and outdoor learning spaces with sweeping views of the neighboring Camarillo Hills. It’s a place where all the furniture is on casters, to be reconfigured with ease, and where every building boasts a computer lab and a media commons. If the $77 million campus, completed earlier this summer, is stunning, it’s nothing compared to what’s going on inside. Following a novel college and career readiness model, Rancho Campana divides itself into separate learning academies, designed to immerse students in one of three distinct career fields: arts and entertainment, health services, and applied engineering.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/03/college-career-readiness-382/

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Tablet Shipments Decline for Fourth Straight Quarter

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By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

Global tablet shipments declined in the third quarter of this year, marking a full year of contracting sales for the devices, according to a new report form International Data Corp. (IDC). The quarter saw a year-over-year decline of 12.6 percent to move just 48.7 million units in the most recent quarter. Apple continued to hold the top spot with a market share of 20.3 percent, though it also saw the second-largest largest year-over-year decline, 19.7 percent, of the top five tablet providers. That market share is down from 22.1 percent in the same period last year and total devices shipped is similarly down, from 12.3 million in last year’s third quarter to 9.9 million in the most recent quarter.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/04/tablet-shipments-decline-for-fourth-straight-quarter.aspx

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Digital Badges Offer Students Opportunity To Show What They Know

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BY RACHEL MORELLO, Indiana Public Media

More Indiana schools are awarding these badges to supplement – or even replace – traditional class credit. including pilot programs at universities in the state such as IU, Notre Dame and Purdue. “They’re a way of recognizing accomplishment or learning, and it’s digital, which means it can be shared on the Internet easily, like you can post it on Facebook,” says learning sciences professor Daniel Hickey. He has studied and developed digital badges for students in his own classes at Indiana University. In most cases, students are earning badges to show they’ve completed online courses, or certain sections of those courses. They’re then able to display them on their LinkedIn page or online portfolio to present to admissions counselors or potential employers.

http://indianapublicmedia.org/stateimpact/2015/10/30/digital-badges-offer-students-opportunity-show/

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November 9, 2015

2 things you should know about Google ed evangelist’s vision

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:39 am

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

When it comes to education, there is perhaps no chief evangelist more visible than Google’s Jaime Casap. A nine-year employee of the tech giant, he’s been with the company since its launch of Google Apps for Education at Arizona State University. “I was part of that original team that put all of that together here in Phoenix, AZ, where I actually live,” he said. “There’s a generation of students coming to college that are a little bit different from the ones that they’re used to, and they’re learning in a different way,” Casap said, adding that a lot of the innovation in education is occurring in K-12 and will likely have some impact on higher ed. And while he sees Google playing a role in facilitating that innovation, he says the tech giant will never be seen driving pedagogy or telling educators how to do their jobs.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/2-things-you-should-know-about-google-ed-evangelists-vision-educause-2015/408433/

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