Educational Technology

By Richard Chang, THE Journal

A website geared toward educating elementary, middle, high school and college students about voting and the United States electoral system aims to transform young people into tomorrow’s voters by using technology and fun lessons and exercises. GrowingVoters.org is a project designed by Jo-Anne Hart, an international relations and ed tech professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She’s also an adjunct professor of international and public affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University. The site contains nonpartisan classroom activities, lesson plans and resources designed to foster students’ interest and background in U.S. political and electoral processes — years before they actually get to the voting booth.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/14/growingvoters.org-offers-free-curricula-on-voting-and-us-electoral-system.aspx

By Sri Ravipati, THE Journal

President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to speak on building up the United States’ capacity for STEM innovation at the White House Frontiers Conference, a one-day national convening co-hosted with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. The Frontiers Conference brought together global researchers, business leaders, technologists, philanthropists and local innovators to discuss how to keep Americans on the cutting edge of innovation with next-generation science and technology that will help improve lives. More than 700 innovators across academia, industry, government and civil society will participate in the conference, according to a White House fact sheet on the event.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/13/president-obama-pushes-innovation-frontiers-in-stem.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Rhea Kelly – Campus Technology

Our first-ever Teaching with Technology survey gauged educators’ use of the flipped classroom model, blended/online teaching environments and more. The majority of higher education faculty today are flipping their courses or plan to in the near future, according to Campus Technology’s 2016 Teaching with Technology survey. The survey polled faculty members across the country about their use of technology for teaching and learning, their wish lists and gripes, their view of what the future holds and more. Fifty-five percent of the survey respondents said they are somewhere along the spectrum of flipping all or some of their courses, in which they ask their students to view videos or some other digital matter online before coming to school and then use class time for other activities, such as hands-on and team projects or discussions.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/12/55-percent-of-faculty-are-flipping-the-classroom.aspx

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

Global device shipments, including PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones, will drop by 3 percent this year, marking the second consecutive year of negative growth, according to a new report from market research firm Gartner. In 2015, the device market declined by .75 percent. The market will not return to even modest growth any time soon, according to the company, which projects device shipments to remain flat for the next five years.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/12/device-shipments-to-decline-for-second-consecutive-year.aspx

by Beth Golden, University Herald

Teleconferencing, chat messaging and emails transformed the way we do business a long time ago, in recent years, technology has also changed the way we learn with massive open online courses or MOOCs. It’s only natural for internships to be done virtually and remotely since most of our current working and learning environments are already online. Also, most companies are outsourcing some of their work to contact centers in China, India or Southeast Asia because it is most economical. Overlooking a great talent market in here that just need to be tapped to find the next best intern – junior and senior college students, those in the graduate programs and non-traditional learners, invested in learning and willing to undergo an internship, for free. It doesn’t get any cheaper than that.

http://www.universityherald.com/articles/44344/20161015/rise-virtual-internships-universities-students-companies-benefit-new-form-engagement.htm

by David Schneider, Google Blog

About four years ago we set an ambitious goal to enable each individual student to create an individualized learning pathway, and we determined the best way to meet that goal was through providing the right technology to our students and teachers. We selected Chromebooks and G Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps for Education) primarily because of their simplicity and collaborative capabilities. In order for the rollout to be a success, we knew we needed the support of students, teachers and parents. We had to teach everyone in the district how to get the most out of the new technology. Based on our experiences here are my tips to successfully introduce new technology in the classroom.

https://blog.google/topics/education/setting-teachers-students-and-parents-success-technology-5-tips-bethpage-union-free-school-district/

by Bliss Broyard, Time

Using the online fundraising site Donors Choose, parents from P.S. 87 are funding requests from teachers at various elementary schools (not including Jorge’s school to avoid any conflicts of interest) to purchase high-interest books for upper grade class libraries or educational STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) toys such as roller ramps and magnetic tiles for Pre-K classes—the kind of stuff routinely found in classrooms and family homes in more affluent communities. So far, School 2 School has raised almost $14,000 for 27 different projects at 11 different schools.

http://time.com/4516924/how-one-wealthy-manhattan-school-is-fighting-inequality/

by Liz Simon, Tech Crunch

Nearly 50 million adults in the U.S. have some kind of non-degree credential. And the relevance and number of non-degree credentials is only accelerating, as learners share what they know online and employers work to expand the talent pool and apply sophisticated analytics to find the right match. It is no surprise, then, that the Clinton campaign has made non-traditional education a focal point of its tech and innovation agenda. But while the campaign’s platform presents some exciting developments for accelerated learning providers, it also raises important questions as students and policymakers navigate an unfamiliar landscape of new educational offerings.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/14/five-considerations-about-accelerated-learning-for-the-next-administration/

by Haitian Times

We’re seeing a positive trend of Haitians pursuing better careers and higher educations in recent years. The economy is supporting this new trend. It is also among the reasons why there are more Haitian workers across the United States, filling important positions in various fields and corporations. This trend is also followed by an increase in distance learning program enrollments. More people than ever before are getting their bachelor’s and master’s degrees from top universities across the country; distance learning programs make it easy for you to pursue a degree of your choice without moving closer to the university or quitting your day job.

http://haitiantimes.com/distance-learning-and-how-it-helps-you-achieve-more-15442/

By Richard Chang, THE Journal

Microsoft’s education team is sponsoring five new online courses designed to help guide K–12 principals, headmasters, superintendents and school leaders through the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation. The courses have been developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan and the University of Queensland, offered in partnership with edX, the nonprofit online learning hub founded by Harvard and MIT. The massive open online courses (MOOCs) start in January.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/12/microsoft-unveils-5-moocs-on-k12-digital-pedagogy-and-leadership.aspx

By Yoohyun Jung, Arizona Daily Star

Borrowing books isn’t the only thing one can do with a library card in Pima County. It also opens up a world of other media and resources available at the library branches and online. And now, it can also enable those who never finished high school to have another go at getting a diploma. The Pima County Public Library has launched a new program for county residents who are at least 22 years old to get their high school diplomas through an online high school program as part of the county’s larger plan for workforce development.

http://tucson.com/news/local/education/pima-county-library-launches-online-high-school-program-for-adults/article_a8d02628-59ba-5a19-a743-45e87f64b79e.html

By Ashley Jost, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In an attempt to address college affordability, Missouri rolled out a new initiative Wednesday morning, flanked with the Legislature’s support. The “15 to Finish” initiative encourages college students to take 15 credit hours each semester, increasing their odds of graduating on time and leaving college with less debt. “Lots of our students are holding full-time jobs, making it more difficult to have students managing a workload of 40 to 50 hours per week and classes,” Byrd said. “But we’ve done this already. We’ll just work case-by-case, look at their work schedule and class schedule. In many cases, our students find they can pick up an online class to get them those extra three credit hours.”

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/missouri-pushes-initiative-for-students-to-take-more-classes-and/article_9f08feea-f859-58c6-a623-ebf35fc6be79.html

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eSchool News

New report forecasts that more than half a million students will be enrolled in competency-based education programs by 2020. The number of students enrolled in competency-based education programs is expected to reach more than 500,000 by 2020–meaning it will have more than doubled from the roughly 200,500 enrollments in 2015. By 2020, students age 25 and older will account for approximately 44 percent of the tertiary education student population, meaning the potential for the competency-based education market is huge, according to technology research and advisory company Technavio.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/alternative-pathways/competency-education-skyrocket/

BY LAURA DEVANEY,eSchool News

Remaining a tech-savvy educator means keeping on top of the myriad changes and trends in education, how technology can support those trends, and how teaching and learning can best benefit from near-constant change. Below, we’ve gathered some of the latest and most relevant marketplace news to keep you up-to-date on product developments, teaching and learning initiatives, and new trends in education.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/news/marketplace-new-stem-courses-online-resources/

by Babak Hodjat, Tech Crunch

Artificial intelligence is all around us, from searching on Google to what news you see on social media to using Siri. And with the momentum around AI growing every day, it’s not surprising that some of the most innovative retail sites have recently been experimenting with the use of AI, as well. Businesses that ignore this growing trend will find themselves playing catch-up for years.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/11/how-artificial-intelligence-is-changing-online-retail-forever/

By David Nagel, THE Journal

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the advantages of mobile computing, students in nearly one-third of classrooms do not have regular access to mobile devices in the classroom — this according to exclusive data released to THE Journal by the national education nonprofit Project Tomorrow. Project Tomorrow has been collecting data on the use of technology in American schools on a massive scale for more than a decade. Since 2003, the organization’s Speak Up Research Project has involved more than 4.5 million participants — teachers, parents, students, administrators and technology professionals — from more than 35,000 schools representing all 50 states.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/11/how-teachers-leverage-mobile-technology.aspx

by VHS

This year, The Virtual High School (VHS, Inc.), a nonprofit empowering schools with the industry’s most comprehensive online learning programs, will reach its 20-year milestone. The past two decades have seen the organization grow from a small operation funded by a U.S. Department of Education technology challenge grant to an international, non-profit e-learning provider. Today VHS delivers online instruction to middle and high school students at 639 schools in 33 countries; there were more than 18,000 student enrollments in VHS courses in the 2015-2016 school year. “We’ve come a long way from the handful of schools that helped us pioneer our online learning program,” said Carol Ribeiro, President and CEO of VHS, referring to the 28 schools and 710 students who first partnered with the organization.

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/16/10/p8547266/the-virtual-high-school-celebrates-20th-anniversary

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

The Copper River School District in rural Alaska has shifted to a nontraditional schedule for high school students, giving them core courses for four weeks online and then a two-week break for hands-on electives. Alaska Dispatch News reports the shift has allowed the district to maintain variety in its course offerings for schools that have as few as five high-schoolers — there are 350 online course options with more than a dozen others offered via videoconferencing. The district has three brick-and-mortar schools and also teaches students enrolled in a home-school program, and while it employs just eight full-time teachers, aids are present for in-school classes, giving students additional support beyond their remote instructors.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/students-in-rural-alaska-get-course-variety-through-online-options/427935/

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eSchool News

For the past few years, October has meant a focus on helping educators form professional learning networks to improve teaching and learning outcomes. Connected Educator Month, led by the American Institutes for Research, intends to create a more global and evidence-based approach to education by fostering collaboration and innovation in professional learning. Some of the month’s key goals include increasing educator and partner participation, influencing the way professional learning occurs in and out of schools, and fostering collaboration and innovation within and between stakeholder groups and partners.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/10/07/8-things-to-know-about-connected-educator-month/

BY ANTHONY JOHNSON, eSchool News

Think about the jobs in today’s economy — the ones we’re supposed to prepare students for after graduation. Are employees evaluated using bubble-in tests to prove they know the ins and outs of their job? Do they learn and use new skills one at a time in a vacuum? The questions sound a bit silly until you realize too often that’s what students take away from their education. Why is the culture to drill facts into students’ heads just to pass a test? Just like in the real world, my students show what they can do through projects, teamwork, and research. Is it working? Well, according to state science exams, my students consistently score higher than other science classes in my district.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/10/07/i-made-my-classroom-look-like-the-real-world-and-test-scores-soared/

BY GARETH EVANS, Wales Online

The passport will help school and college staff record, monitor and reflect on their professional learning and development. A “one-stop shop” for teachers, lecturers and support staff to record their progress and evaluate their experiences has been launched in Wales. The “professional learning passport” (PLP) is designed to help school and college staff record, monitor and reflect on their professional learning and development. Funded by the Welsh Government, it will be operated by the Education Workforce Council (EWC) – the body responsible for upholding classroom standards – and is available online via its website.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/new-online-learning-passport-one-12004160