Educational Technology

February 28, 2018

What is a hackathon?

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

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

Remember back in high school or college when you would drink a bunch of caffeine and stay up all night to prepare for a test? Now imagine a room full of programmers, coders, and creatives doing the same thing for an entire day or even a week. Instead of cramming, they are competing to create prototypes that innovate on a theme or improve upon an existing project. It’s called a hackathon, and it is has become a regular part of how technology companies and organizations do business. In fact, the power of the hackathon has extended beyond the tech industry into many other sectors.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/what-is-a-hackathon/

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Ontario Improving Access to High-Speed Internet for Over 250,000 Students Province Enabling Faster Access to High-Quality Online Learning Resources

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

by Ontario Ministry of Education
Ontario is connecting over 250,000 students at approximately 850 schools with high-speed internet as part of a commitment to improve internet access at all publicly funded schools across the province. Indira Naidoo-Harris, Minister of Education, was joined by Liz Sandals, MPP for Guelph, at Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School in Guelph this morning to announce the next wave of schools in Ontario’s broadband modernization program.

https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2018/02/ontario-improving-access-to-high-speed-internet-for-250000-students.html

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Ransomware: An executive guide to one of the biggest menaces on the web

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:25 am

by Danny Palmer, ZD Net

Cybercriminals didn’t used to be so obvious. If hackers infiltrated your corporate network, they would do everything possible to avoid detection. It was in their best interests not to alert a victim that they’d fallen victim to a cybercriminal. But now, if you are attacked with file-encrypting ransomware, criminals will brazenly announce they’re holding your corporate data hostage until you pay a ransom in order to get it back. It might sound too simple, but it’s working: cybercriminals pocketed over $1bn from ransomware attacks during 2016 alone and a Europol report describes it as having “eclipsed” most other global cybercriminal threats in 2017.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-an-executive-guide-to-one-of-the-biggest-menaces-on-the-web/

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February 27, 2018

Syracuse Law Gains Approval for (Mostly) Online J.D.

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:37 am

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed
Syracuse University College of Law has won approval from the American Bar Association’s accreditation division to offer a J.D. program in which roughly two-thirds of the course work will be completed online — although about half of the credits completed at a distance will be conducted live, in real time, school officials note. The ABA has been cautious in permitting law schools to educate students via the internet, and before Syracuse, the bar association had approved two institutions to offer more than 15 of their credits online, its current limit (though an increase is under review).

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/15/syracuse-law-gains-approval-mostly-online-jd

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Bill Gates Warns Sillicon Valley of Technology’s Dangerous Potential

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

by Chelsea Gohd, Futurism

“There’s always the question how much technology is empowering a small group of people to cause damage,” Gates said, his words primarily directed at the large technology companies currently dominating the market, such as Apple.  Gates continued, pointing out that such monopolies aren’t just about computers and smartphones. “A small group can have an impact — in the case of nuclear [weapons], on millions; and in the case of bio[terror], on billions. That is scary to me.” The warning was directed at those in Silicon Valley, as Gates worries the companies’ activities could hinder the ability of the government to do its job ( that is, “under appropriate review,” he was careful to note).

Bill Gates Warns Sillicon Valley of Technology’s Dangerous Potential

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What can data do for students?

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

by Jeremy House, Education Dive

Colleges in the online and digital learning space are building in-house data teams and working with software developers to craft big-data models that see relationships among various sets of data, allowing them to enhance aspects of curriculum, faculty instruction and a host of factors related to student success with growing precision. “For some time, we only had the learning management systems that would tell us when a student logged in, when they logged out and which pages they clicked on. But that click-through content still doesn’t give us a sense of how students are engaging the content, if they are actively learning from content and where we can help them if we see that there are gaps,” said Christi Ford, associate provost at the University of Maryland University College.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/what-can-data-do-for-students/514205/

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February 26, 2018

App of the Week: OER Commons

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

BY COMMON SENSE EDUCATION

OER Commons makes it easy for teachers to connect with other educators and find relevant materials. Teachers can search by subject area, standard, or keyword to find resources, or use the advanced search option. Those resources can then be saved within OER Commons or shared through Google Classroom or Schoology. Teachers can also use the lesson builder or module builder to compile resources into lesson plans or unit plans that can be shared publicly on the site or more privately within a hub or group.

App of the Week: OER Commons

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How to use social media in the classroom

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

BY JON ROEPKE, eSchool News
Here are three social education platforms teachers love.  Today’s educators have a love-hate relationship with social media. They recognize that five-year-olds know how to use tablets better than their parents and that many kids have smartphones by the time they are 12. Digital natives live and breathe on social media platforms, sending messages and posting pictures and videos almost constantly. In fact, a recent CNN study on social media and teens found that among the 8th-graders surveyed, the heaviest social media users check their feeds up to 100 times a day.

How to use social media in the classroom

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Online education important

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:27 am

by PEYTON CONNOR, the T&D

Statistically, the No. 1 reason as to why a kid would be doing online schooling instead of attending a brick-and-mortar school is because he or she had to go through bullying while the student was in traditional school and made the decision to not have to deal with it anymore. Solution to the problem: Get parents to put him or her into a public charter online schooling program and become an online student. Bam! Problem solved.

http://thetandd.com/news/opinion/columns/online-education-important/article_197140e6-c507-5058-a56a-fcdecfbde6be.html

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February 25, 2018

Flu outbreak empties MSSM dorm, classes continue

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

Christopher Bouchard, the County

Due to an influenza outbreak on campus, the Maine School of Science and Mathematics emptied out its dormitory on Sunday and sent all 143 students home.  About 20 percent of students from the residential magnet school were confirmed to have flu symptoms, so Executive Director Luke Shorty said he and MSSM staff sent all students home to make sure the “community as a whole was safe,” especially since they all live in one building.  Classes are continuing online, however, according to Shorty. “What’s exciting is our ability to continue our courses,” Shorty said. “We’ve been doing distance education in different avenues, and this lets us go full bore and deliver the curriculum online.”

Flu outbreak empties MSSM dorm, classes continue

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Online writing resource helps students in all areas of study

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

by Purdue University

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab provides students with a guide to help them successfully complete writing assignments not only in writing classes, but also in STEM coursework and multimedia presentations. “As more high school and college students participate in online courses, they are more likely to find OWL helpful,” says Tammy Conard-Salvo, associate director of the Writing Lab. “The same is also true as students are producing non-traditional writing projects.” OWL provides students of all ages with information on the basics of writing, grammar and mechanics, writer’s block, conducting research and more. It also provides students with many subject-specific resources. These resources include presentations on how to write an engineering report, how to write an experimental report in psychology and how to write as a professional nurse. One of the most popular features on the site is the style guides for how to write academic papers.

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2018/Q1/online-writing-resource-helps-students-in-all-areas-of-study.html

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Online Learning Wins Out Over Textbooks In Boosting Science Scores

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

by Nick Morrison, Forbes
Online lessons can enhance students’ understanding of science and help underachieving students close the gap with their peers, according to a new study. Students who took web-based units made significantly more progress than those who relied on textbooks, while the improvement was particularly marked for students with lower prior achievement. The results suggest that online learning can be an effective classroom tool, especially for students who have struggled to engage with traditional lessons.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2018/02/13/online-learning-wins-out-over-textbooks-in-boosting-science-scores/#4d0b9b441d95

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February 24, 2018

Chasing Gold Medals and Degrees: Olympians Benefit from eLearning

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

By Cait Etherington, e-Learning Inside

If you watched the Olympics, you have likely already wondered how all those young people keep up with their studies while training several hours per day and traveling around the world to attend competitions. In the past, many athletes had to put their studies on hold or count on the flexibility and kindness of their teachers and professors. Over the past decade, online education has made chasing gold medals and degrees simultaneously just a bit easier. Indeed, early gold medalists at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, including Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmand and the United States’ Red Gerard, are both currently enrolled in online programs.

Chasing Gold Medals and Degrees: Olympians Benefit from eLearning

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Web-Based, Interactive Learning Helps Middle Schoolers Excel in Science

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

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Middle schoolers did better with science lessons when they could learn online, watching videos, playing educational games, running virtual experiments and collaborating with classmates. Under-achievers did especially well, with access to pop-up vocabulary definitions, interactive diagrams, digital note-taking, watching videos with captions and access to text-to-speech that allowed them to hear information read aloud to them. That’s what a research project found when it introduced four interactive web-based science units to 2,303 students and 71 teachers who had access to computers or tablets in 13 middle schools in three school districts in Oregon and Georgia.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2018/02/12/web-based-interactive-learning-helps-middle-schoolers-excel-in-science.aspx

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Berklee College Expands Online, to Graduate Degrees

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

By Giovanni Russonello, NY Times
Berklee College of Music, already the world’s largest provider of online music degrees, will add graduate programs to its digital offerings this fall. It will begin with a master of music in music production and a master of arts in music business. The conservatory, whose main campus is in Boston, plans to add other degree programs in the future, and is already at work on an online graduate program in film scoring, though it has not announced when that will become available.

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February 23, 2018

Addressing the STEM skills gap with continuous online learning

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

by Pluralsight APAC director Fiona Sweeney, IT Brief

You’ve heard this before – technological change is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. We are approaching the fourth industrial revolution which involves exponential developments in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, and cybersecurity. According to Deloitte, the digital economy is forecasted to grow to $139 billion by 2020. In order to benefit from this, businesses need to be armed with STEM skills to be at the forefront of this disruption. STEM skills are fundamental for Australian businesses to ride the digital transformation wave. The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) estimated that almost five million jobs will face a high probability of being replaced in the next decade due to digital disruption.

https://itbrief.com.au/story/addressing-stem-skills-gap-continuous-online-learning/

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Education Groups Reject Trump Budget Proposal

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

by Public News Service

Some education advocates are criticizing President Donald Trump’s new 2019 budget proposal because it zeroes out funding for several programs that benefit students. The $4.4 trillion budget increases defense spending but envisions deep cuts in domestic spending. For example, it would eliminate the Gear Up program, which helps kids fill out college applications and access financial aid. Sylvia Lazos, policy director for the group, Educate Nevada Now and professor of law at UNLV, says the program targets kids who are the first in their family to go to college.

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2018-02-13/education/education-groups-reject-trump-budget-proposal/a61423-1

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Web-based teaching can improve science understanding for struggling pupils

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

by Phys.Org

Web-based learning tools can help deepen science knowledge among all middle school students, and ease the science literacy gap for underachieving students, according to a three-year study published today in the International Journal of Science Education. Researchers introduced four interactive online science units, which students and teachers accessed with computers or tablets, into 13 middle school in two US states. he online units were tested in a randomized, controlled trial with over 2,300 students and 71 teachers. While all participating students improved their science knowledge, the results were particularly notable for less able students.

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-web-based-science-struggling-pupils.html

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February 22, 2018

Learning in the digital age: What is the internet doing to our brains?

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:42 am

by Jennifer Long, WGME

The connection between teens and technology is obvious. According to a pew research poll, nearly 80 percent of American teenagers have cell phones, half of those are smart phones. What’s less clear is the effect the constant connection to the digital world has on kids and how they learn.  Educators at Poland Regional High School in RSU 16 are asking that very question. Ian’ Truman’s AP Literature and Language class is diving right into that discussion after reading “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.”

http://wgme.com/news/in-depth/learning-in-the-digital-age-what-is-the-internet-doing-to-our-brains

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Online High School Courses: Is It a Fad, or a Future?

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

by Say Campus Life

Before there was a formalized K-12 online learning process, parents were already seeing the noticeable benefits of homeschooling their children. While many may harbor concerns over homeschooling children, modern K-12 online school options have made this trend a stronger reality for many students—especially those students who are high-school-aged. Not only is the education, via an online course load, more focused, but it allows a child to be free of many of the classroom distractions that have commonly plagued a traditional public school setting. The focus tends to be more on learning and less on being bullied by other kids or subject to disruptions by the class clown.

Online High School Courses: Is It a Fad, or a Future?

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UNIVERSITY STUDENTS RUSH TO TAKE CRYPTOCURRENCY AND BLOCKCHAIN COURSES

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

by JULIO GIL-PULGAR , Bitcoinist.com

Student demand for courses on Bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, is putting elite U.S. universities under pressure. Students from all disciplines are rushing to sign up for courses that cover technical concepts underlying Bitcoin and Ethereum, such as decentralized consensus, append-only ledgers, smart contracts, and zero-knowledge proof systems. Students are also seeking to gain working familiarity with cryptocurrencies through practical assignments. Nathaniel Popper wrote in a New York Times an article entitled “Cryptocurrencies Come to Campus,” describing the extent to which courses on cryptocurrencies are attracting students across elite institutions such as Cornell, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Maryland and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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