Educational Technology

By Pat Phillips, EdSurge

Designing personalized learning experiences for ourselves not only kept us in touch with the needs of our students, but also allowed us the rare opportunity to put ourselves in their shoes as we tested our potential innovations on ourselves. We held ourselves accountable by sharing our individual goals and action steps in their formative stages through engaging in multiple peer feedback protocols and revision loops. Here again, the development of a robust asynchronous environment—which included interactive multimedia, online discussion forums, self-paced learning modules with automated feedback, and badges—was key. This allowed us opportunities to simulate how our teachers might go about developing flexible, personalized blended learning environments.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-01-04-personalizing-professional-development-for-teachers-by-teachers

by PARMINDER BAHRA, Wall Street Journal

In a business school classroom in Spain, a computer alerts the professor that one of her students is losing interest. This is no ordinary lecture hall. It’s the Instituto de Empresa’s “WOW” room, or the “Window on the World,” a place the Spanish business school believes is the future of the master’s in business administration. The room is a physical space where faculty members deliver course modules to an audiovisual mosaic wall of students watching via video camera. A software application scans the video streams and runs a sentiment analysis to gauge students’ reactions. It can, for example, alert a lecturer if someone is losing interest, or is angry.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/disrupting-business-school-m-b-a-classrooms-get-a-digital-upgrade-1483542001

by Roger Jones, American Genius

The launch of Find Lectures is a boon to the prospective student. In one place, you’ve got a searchable catalog of nearly 26,000 free lectures, many 60-minutes or less, from TED, the Library of Congress, Talks at Google, and more. For those who want more than just an exploratory conversation about a topic, there are multiple colleges and universities who have opened MOOCs, or massive open online courses. MOOCs, many of which are free, can be found for an almost unlimited number of courses, with some leading to degrees, while others allow you to get the knowledge, information, or skill, albeit with no degree path following.

https://theamericangenius.com/business-news/temp-test-see-masters-degree-really-right/

by EdSurge

Online learning company Springboard is launching its first data science bootcamp, the Data Science Career Track. The course, which costs between $4,800-$6,000 depending on payment method, promises graduates a job upon completion or a 100 percent refund. (According to Springboard, 50 out of 50 tracked graduates found jobs within six months at places including Amazon, Pandora and Boeing.) The self-paced course takes about 8 to 10 hours a week and runs for around five to six months. Through weekly mentor meetings and 24-7 teaching assistants, students learn skills such as statistics, Python, SQL and Hadoopfor. Springboard also pairs students with a career coach to help with interview prep, resume writing, and building connections to employers.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-01-05-new-coding-bootcamp-guarantees-jobs-for-gradates

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Can we get beyond the tired old discussion about if laptops should be banned from the classroom? The discussion that we should be having is about how we can harness the digital competencies – and the digitally inspired behaviors – that our students bring to their own learning. Have you ever observed a college student watching an online video? They are not passive video consumers. They actively control the in-video watching experience by speeding up and scrubbing through the video. They keep their cursor on the video controller and skip through the “slow” parts. Not only do students compress their video consumption by speeding and scrubbing, they also simultaneously interact with other content while watching. A video will share screen real estate with social media sites. They will chat, post, upload, compose, edit, scan, and scroll while also watching the video. How might we harness these digital video viewing behaviors to improve learning?

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/moving-beyond-tired-classroom-laptop-debate

by Audri Taylors, University Herald

If you want to continue your education but do not have time for it, online education might be excellent for you. Here are the online courses at very reasonable rates you need to grab fast. Are you already working and want to continue education? Or are you looking for a subject that is not being offered in nearby universities and colleges? Don’t have time to attend classes in campus but you wish to earn a degree? All of these worries can come to an end by taking advantage of the technology and taking online classes. Online education offers a lot of benefits for you when it comes to your individual schedule while getting relevant knowledge you need no matter where you are in the world.

http://www.universityherald.com/articles/62390/20170128/helpful-online-courses-don-t-want-miss-2017.htm

by eSchool News

The Learning Counsel released the results of its third annual Survey of school and district digital curriculum strategy and transformation, sponsored by Ruckus Wireless. A total of 708 U.S. schools and districts responded to the national Survey, which showed a primary point of attention by schools now is on teacher effectiveness in the implementation of digital curriculum. The survey found that 78 percent of students nationally have access to a computing device for a good portion of the school day or the full school day. It also forecasts that district spending on hardware, networks, and major system software will see a slight increase in 2017, rising to $16.2 billion. The top three digital device trends the survey found were the following: 1) tablets are losing popularity; 2) Chromebooks have had the most significant gain in popularity, a trend that is likely to continue; and 3) there is no agreement among schools about the best device based on the age of the student.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/01/02/digital-curriculum-survey/

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eSchool News

A free tool from nonprofit EducationSuperHighway is intended to help district technology leaders compare broadband and connectivity information with other districts nearby and across the nation. Compare & Connect K-12, which launched in beta in early 2016 and is now fully launched and available, displays public E-rate application data and lets users explore bandwidth speeds and compare broadband prices with school districts in a specific region or in any state across the country. The goal is simple: transparency regarding school district broadband and bandwidth pricing data in an effort to help school districts get more bandwidth for their broadband budgets.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/01/04/district-broadband-tool/

By Beth Anspach, Dayton Daily News

“We chose to go with K12 because we didn’t like the options given to us by Dayton Public,” Garriet said. “The first 10 years of my school career, I wasn’t the worst student in the world, but I wasn’t the best either. I was just one of those kids that didn’t want to do the work. When I finally got my stuff together, I was in my final year in Kettering.” As a high school junior, Garriet started taking classes through Insight and K12. “After about three months, I found I really liked it (online school),” Garriet said. “I really enjoyed that style of learning.” Garriet began to thrive in the online classroom setting, particularly benefiting from the video technology that the program utilizes.

http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/lifestyles/dayton-high-school-student-thrives-online-schools/7vic4qYdmuYMh0UQNUynnO/

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

Augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headset sales will see a compound annual growth rate of 108.3 percent from 2015 to 2020, according to a new report from International Data Corp. (IDC). That growth rate will lead to 76 million units shipped in 2020, if the forecast holds true. “2016 has been a defining year for AR as millions of consumers were introduced to Pokemon Go and, on the commercial side, developers and businesses finally got their hands on coveted headsets like Microsoft’s HoloLens,” said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC mobile device trackers, in a prepared statement. “AR may just be on track to create a shift in computing significant enough to rival the smartphone. However, the technology is still in its infancy and has a long runway ahead before reaching mass adoption.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/01/03/report-augmented-and-virtual-reality-shipments-to-double-each-year-through-2020.aspx

by SATESH BIDAISEE, Gilmore Mirror

The recent growth of online education has been astounding. Last year, 35 million people signed up for at least one online class. That’s more than double the previous year’s enrollment. The popularity of online learning is easy to understand. Today, students have access to well over 4,000 courses in a wide array of subjects, from chemistry to philosophy to graphic design. They participate at a time and place that suits their schedule. Many courses are free.

http://www.gilmermirror.com/view/full_story/27340507/article-How-Online-Education-Can-Fix-Its-Student-Retention-Problem?instance=lead_story_left_column

by Technavio

Global e-learning IT infrastructure market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 14% during the period 2017-2021. In this research report, Technavio covers the outlook and growth prospects of the global e-learning IT infrastructure market for 2017-2021. The report segments the global e-learning IT infrastructure market into three broad categories including hardware, software, and connectivity, of which the connectivity segment dominated the market with more than 56% of the market share in 2016.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170102005058/en/Government-Initiatives-Boost-Global-E-learning-Infrastructure-Market

By Jennifer Palmer, Oklahoma Watch

Participation in advanced-level math and science classes in high school is a strong predictor of success in college, regardless of the grade earned in the class or whether it results in college credit, studies show. Yet as many as two-thirds of Oklahoma high schools report they don’t offer calculus or physics, leaving swaths of the state devoid of these classroom opportunities, according to data for the 2014-15 school year, reported by schools to U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Calculus and physics aren’t needed for a high school diploma, and schools may offer other high-level math and science courses, such as statistics. But calculus and physics are regarded as key concepts used in many other disciplines. And the classes are essential for entry into well-paying careers in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, as well as medicine.

http://www.enidnews.com/news/state/many-parts-of-state-are-high-level-math-science-deserts/article_a358247a-69b0-5e1e-b0dc-516560ae0ae5.html

By Jason Hiner , Chris Duckett , Larry Dignan , and Steve Ranger, ZDNet

As we do each week, the editors of ZDNet will continue to put our heads together in 2017 and give you our weekly Monday Morning Opener–an editorial that zooms in on the most important topic in tech for the week. Now that we’re sailing into the new year, we’ve also put a few brain cycles into zooming out on the big issues that will shape the year ahead. So after giving you the 5 biggest tech trends of 2016, we’ve now got the four big ones that will dominate 2017. The real story behind AI is automation, the Internet of Things platform eludes us, the smartphone holds out for the big one, and virtual reality becomes less virtual and more reality.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-4-tech-trends-that-will-shape-2017/

by eSchool News

With every new year comes new ideas. To get a glimpse into what the next 12 months will hold for everything from professional development to digital learning, and from communication to virtual reality, 15 ed tech luminaries looked back on 2016 edtech trends to help predict what’s in store for 2017. Here’s what they said:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/01/02/hot-edtech-trends-2017/

By THE NEWNAN TIMES-HERALD

…. Bullying shall also include acts which occur on school property, on school vehicles, at designated school bus stops, or at school-related functions or activities or by use of data or software that is accessed through a computer, computer system, computer network, or other electronic technology of the district. The term also applies to acts of cyberbullying which occur through the use of electronic communication, whether or not such electronic act originated on school property or with school equipment, if the electronic communication (a) is directed specifically at students or school personnel, (b) is maliciously intended for the purpose of threatening the safety of those specified or substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school, and (c) creates a reasonable fear of harm to the students’ or school personnel’s person or property or has a high likelihood of succeeding in that purpose. Electronic communication includes, but is not limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo optical system.

http://times-herald.com/news/2017/01/coweta-schools-definition-of-bullying

By Craig Perrier, EdSurge

The most compelling way to teach for tomorrow is for teachers to avoid replicating their classroom experiences, and rather use practices that address global citizenship: a combination of knowledge, skills, and dispositions, all of which put the focus on students’ futures. Teaching for tomorrow is about providing the instructional structures, resources, assessments and technology to make global connections so students can explore topics for themselves to construct their own knowledge and form informed opinions and views.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-01-01-social-studies-should-teach-students-for-tomorrow-not-the-past

by Jennifer Rachel Baumer, Nevada Business

Online, on campus or a hybrid of the two, what these business programs share is the students are finished with school and working as leaders in their industries and in their particular business functions, said McCartin. That means, as well as sharing common goals, they can share knowledge from all the different industries they represent. The UNLV program is all on campus, with students attending every other Friday and Saturday for 18 months. “We believe strongly in the on-campus learning experience because so much of the learning that occurs is between the students,” said McCartin. “There’s 25 students to a cohort and they’re from all different industries and functions of business, so when you start talking about a particular subject, everybody is bringing their own real world experience into the classroom. They learn as much from each other as they do from the faculty.”

http://www.nevadabusiness.com/2017/01/36672/

by Mikhail Naumov, Forbes

The promise of artificial intelligence is ubiquitous and often portrayed in Hollywood as a calculating robo-nemesis, disguised as a friend or personal assistant (just see Her, exMachina, and Westworld). Yet, there are few areas better suited for an AI-powered transformation than enterprise & business functions. Thanks to “online learning”, the real time re-training of AI algorithms, the models which get trained first will grow faster and become stronger over time. This will propel early adopters towards producing more consistent results faster, enabling them to rapidly pull ahead of the pack.

forbes.com/sites/mikhailnaumov/2016/12/30/2017-guide-for-deep-learning-business-applications/#6e4e99a77bb8

By Young Entrepreneur Council29

If you building an tech company, it is important to acquire at some tech skills to understand the various processes of your business. With so many amazing resources available online and the growing reliance on technology, there has never been a better time to learn something new. Perhaps you want to widen your reach and turn your brick and mortar business into an e-commerce enterprise; maybe you need to develop new skills for your job or career goals; or, maybe you just want to use technology to make life more convenient and entertaining. Whatever the reason is, skills like programming, gaming, designing and other online applications and processes can be developed through your own self-guided education. As COO of a growing business, I wanted to become more tech savvy in order to help with our web design, social media pages and content creation. I set out to do just that, learning that anyone can develop skills to help them professionally and personally.

https://e27.co/5-ways-you-can-instantly-become-more-tech-savvy-20161229/