Educational Technology

Andrew Swadner, KNIA
The online learning center at the Indianola Community School District will open next fall, but preparations for the center are well underway. Superintendent Art Sathoff tells KNIA News several teachers are going through training to develop new online courses, and it will make learning much more efficient for the student. “We have instructors that will videotape lectures so the students can watch at home, go back and listen, rewind, do anything so they don’t miss any information. Then when they do get into the classroom and get face-to-face with the teacher’s it’s more problem solving and a lab-type environment.”

http://kniakrls.com/2018/11/new-teaching-techniques-explored-in-indianola-schools/

BY CNN WIRE

News anchors, beware. The robots are coming for your jobs, too. China’s state news agency has debuted a virtual anchor designed to be able to deliver the news 24 hours a day. Xinhua unveiled its “artificial intelligence news anchor” Wednesday at an internet conference in the eastern city of Wuzhen.  Developed by Xinhua and Chinese search engine company Sogou, the anchor was designed to simulate human voice, facial expressions and gestures. The AI news reader “learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor,” according to Xinhua. The news agency said the simulations can be used on its website and social media platforms and will “reduce news production costs and improve efficiency.”

https://wgntv.com/2018/11/10/china-introduces-worlds-first-ai-news-anchor/

Michele Goetz, Forrester

In 2019, Forrester predicts that firms will address the pragmatic side of AI now that they have a better understanding of the challenges and embrace the idea that “no pain means no AI gain.” The AI reality is here. Firms are starting to recognize what it is and isn’t, what it can do and what it cannot. And they are seeing the real challenges of AI versus what they assumed the challenges would be. Firms will focus their attention on the data foundations, take creative approaches to building and holding on to AI talent, weave intelligence into business processes, and begin to establish the mechanisms to understanding why AI is acting the way it is.

https://go.forrester.com/blogs/predictions-2019-ai-artificial-intelligence/

Ray Schmitt, Penn State
A worldwide collection of universities and colleges have joined together to explore technology’s potential to define the prospects of teaching and learning. With its debut, this collaboratory called the CoAction Learning Lab will create an online library of original and curated resources that will support higher education innovators.

https://news.psu.edu/story/546303/2018/11/06/academics/penn-state-leads-coaction-learning-lab

UN Environment

In September 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the UN Youth Strategy which seeks to engage 1.8 billion young people in driving global efforts to promote a peaceful, just and sustainable world. Education innovator Natalie Kyriacou from Australia is doing just that. She has developed Kids’ Corner, a digital classroom inspiring children and educators to participate in wildlife and environmental conservation and sciences through a range of curriculum-approved learning technologies, games and programmes.

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/blazing-trail-environmental-education-young

Jeff Parsons, Metro

The company says it has removed three million pieces of terrorism-related content from Facebook in the last quarter of 2018 alone. In total, it has stripped away more than 14 million ‘pieces of terrorist content’ from January to September this year. ‘We now use machine learning to assess Facebook posts that may signal support for ISIS or al-Qaeda,’ explained Monika Bickert, Global Head of Policy Management, and Brian Fishman Head of Counterterrorism Policy at the company.

https://metro.co.uk/2018/11/09/facebook-says-its-fighting-online-terrorist-propaganda-with-machine-learning-8121234/

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

It appears that the trend of incorporating digital devices and edtech products into the classroom is here to stay. Learning how to use technology in the classroom is quite a process for many educators, and they make some mistakes along the way. Without the proper training on how to handle their new devices and incorporate them into the classroom, teachers might be guilty of making these five common mistakes with their technology.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/5-mistakes-that-teachers-make-with-technology/

Stephen Somerville, Training Journal

Amidst all the talk of how artificial intelligence, automation and robotics are reshaping the workplace, it’s easy to overlook the humble ‘soft skill’. In way of definition, the English Cambridge dictionary says soft skills are: “people’s abilities to communicate with each other and work well together”. In practice this requires a multitude of qualities, including but not limited to: creative thinking and problem solving, analytical skills and critical thinking, ethics and integrity.

https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/opinion/growing-importance-soft-skills-and-role-technology-developing-them

by Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review

In the broadest sense, AI refers to machines that can learn, reason, and act for themselves. They can make their own decisions when faced with new situations, in the same way that humans and animals can. As it currently stands, the vast majority of the AI advancements and applications you hear about refer to a category of algorithms known as machine learning. These algorithms use statistics to find patterns in massive amounts of data. They then use those patterns to make predictions on things like what shows you might like on Netflix, what you’re saying when you speak to Alexa, or whether you have cancer based on your MRI. Machine learning, and its subset deep learning (basically machine learning on steroids), is incredibly powerful.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612404/is-this-ai-we-drew-you-a-flowchart-to-work-it-out/

Sarah Berger, CNBC

When you think of artificial intelligence, maybe you picture Dolores from “Westworld” or something out of “Black Mirror.” But if you ask AI what AI looks like, it’s nothing like that — in fact, AI thinks it looks like a multi-colored helping hand for humans. Recently, IBM Research asked AI to draw a picture of itself. The result is embedded in the link below.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/photo-what-ai-looks-like-according-to-imb-ai.html

By Cara Brennan Allamano, HR Dive

In our study, we found offering online learning as a resource during the onboarding phase can make a difference. For companies that were able to turn new hires into productive employees in less than 6 months, we noticed 67% offered online learning as the primary L&D resource at their organization. Our research also confirms a strong connection between engagement and learning. Offering a wide variety of on-demand online courses—from technical and leadership skills to personal development—can help keep employees engaged on the job. We discovered employees at high-engagement companies spend more time learning than people at low-engagement companies. 52% of high-engagement companies have employees who spend an average of 31–50 hours learning per year compared to only 20% of low-engagement companies.

https://www.hrdive.com/news/new-data-how-learning-impacts-engagement-and-productivity/541080/

By Study International Staff
There was once a time where technology was feared. Mobile devices were met with scrutiny and internet connections were linked to global doubt and security threats. Jumping forward to today and technology is everywhere. Yes, there are still security threats but there’s also a myriad of advantages surrounding its existence. One leading factor is the positive impact it has on the education sector. As Tech Wire Asia explains, some parts of China are bridging the educational resource gap with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). “The country has long had an issue with economic disparity in education. Often, the best academic resources and teachers have been snatched up by well-to-do families in major cities to nurture their children. This leaves students from smaller towns or lower-income families with little access to high-quality education. Online classrooms serve as a platform, allowing skilled educators to reach more people more efficiently,” the article explains.

https://www.studyinternational.com/news/how-is-technology-reprogramming-the-future-of-education/

By Natalie Schwartz , Education Dive
Penn State University announced this week that it is leading a group of 19 colleges in an effort to explore how emerging technology can be used to shape teaching and learning. The project, called the CoAction Learning Lab, involves a mix of public and private colleges including Arizona State University, the University of Central Florida and Western Governors University. The group’s first goal is to curate an online library of openly licensed resources to help institutions integrate new technology into their teaching. The collection could include sets of questions for colleges to ask vendors about learning analytics or how to implement more open-source materials in the classroom, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/penn-state-leads-19-colleges-exploring-uses-for-new-tech-in-higher-ed/541669/

ALLISON SANCHEZ, UProxx

Virtual reality doesn’t just have the capacity to transport us to new worlds, it has the ability to help us more fully understand our very existence. The futuristic medium is compelling, visceral, and deeply immersive. And while these are all words to describe VR, they’re also words we wish got used more often to describe education. Bringing lessons to life — that’s the dream for most teachers. But taking words on a page or in a lecture and helping students really feel them can be a challenge. Which is why incorporating Virtual Reality in schools has become a huge priority for many educators. VR allows learning to cross over into the emotional cores of students in new and exciting ways. It’s a groundbreaking time for education, where what is possible is constantly shifting.

https://uproxx.com/life/virtual-reality-education-potential/

JENNIFER LEWINGTON, Globe and Mail

Experts say the flexibility of online learning is especially attractive to women juggling work, family and personal demands. “It is really about fitting the learning pattern to the lifestyle,” says David Porter, chief executive officer of eCampusOntario, a non-profit, government-funded agency that publishes a directory of 16,000 online courses and 700 programs at colleges and universities across the province. According to Statistics Canada (which does not track gender splits in online learning), women accounted for 56 per cent of students on campus at colleges and universities in 2013-14, but the ratio is higher in distance learning, as reported by individual institutions and agencies. For example, women account for two-thirds of participants in online offerings, according to the Ontario College Application Centre.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/education/article-why-women-dominate-the-online-learning-space/

By Shera S. Avi-Yonah, Crimson

The Harvard Alumni Association sent an email to College seniors and alumni asking them to promote their Harvard experiences on social media this week, a move some experts say may help bolster the University’s image following the high-stakes and high-profile admissions trial. The program — dubbed “Crimson Connect” — formally launched Monday morning, three days after the trial concluded. A frequently asked questions page linked in a message sent to alumni details how, by posting suggested content, “generating traffic,” and recruiting other “Crimson Connectors,” Harvard affiliates can rack up points and earn the chance to collect school gear.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/11/7/crimson-connect-alumni-association/

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed
Are we at the leading edge of a trend that will see demand for master’s programs from regional institutions eroded by the emergence of nondegree/non-credit-bearing online programs from elite institutions? A drop in the demand for master’s degrees would have significant consequences for many colleges and universities. Over the last 45 years, the number of master’s degrees conferred annually by colleges and universities in the U.S. has more than tripled, from 236,000 in 1970 to 759,000 in 2015. Many schools rely on revenues from master’s programs to offset the costs associated with undergraduate degrees, and in particular, the growth of undergraduate tuition discounting. Whereas over 80 percent of undergraduates receive some institutional financial aid, less than 40 percent of master’s candidates have their tuition discounted. The average annual tuition for a master’s program is around $15,000 per year and over $20,000 at private institutions. At many regional universities, the tuition for master’s programs runs much higher.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/technology-and-learning/why-higher-eds-global-brands-are-starting-nondegree

Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

The Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, published Tuesday shows that while overall postsecondary enrollment dropped by almost 90,000 students, nearly half a percentage point, from fall 2016 to fall 2017 — confirming data previously published by the National Student Clearinghouse — the number of all students who took at least some of their courses online grew by more than 350,000, a healthy 5.7 percent. The proportion of all students who were enrolled exclusively online grew to 15.4 percent (up from 14.7 percent in 2016), or about one in six students. The share of all students who mixed online and in-person courses grew slightly faster, to 17.6 percent in 2017 from 16.4 percent in 2016. And the proportion of all students who took at least one course online grew to 33.1 percent, from 31.1 percent in 2016. That last data point represents a steady march in the normalization of online learning, as the proportion of all enrolled students who had studied online stood under a quarter in 2012. But while fans of online learning are likely to be heartened by that slow but sure rise in acceptance, the pure increase in online enrollments — at a time of overall dips in postsecondary attendance — may be just as noteworthy.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/11/07/new-data-online-enrollments-grow-and-share-overall-enrollment

BY MARIA TEMMING, Science News

Animated characters can learn from online tutorials, too. A new computer program teaches virtual avatars new skills, such as dances, acrobatic stunts and martial art moves, from YouTube videos. This kind of system, described in the November ACM Transactions on Graphics, could render more physically coordinated characters for movies and video games, or serve as a virtual training ground for robots. “I was really impressed” by the program, says Daniel Holden, a machine-learning researcher at Ubisoft La Forge in Montreal not involved in the work. Rendering accurate, natural-looking movements based on everyday video clips “has always been a goal for researchers in this field.”

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/virtual-avatars-learned-cartwheels-and-other-stunts-videos-people

by Jill Dyche, CIO

Recently in a risk management meeting, I watched a data scientist explain to a group of executives why convolutional neural networks were the algorithm of choice to help discover fraudulent transactions. The executives—all of whom agreed that the company needed to invest in artificial intelligence—seemed baffled by the need for so much detail. “How will we know if it’s working?” asked a senior director to the visible relief of his colleagues. Although they believe AI’s value, many executives are still wondering about its adoption. The following five questions are boardroom staples:

https://www.cio.com/article/3318639/artificial-intelligence/5-questions-ceos-are-asking-about-ai.html

By: Adán Rubio, Daily Toreador

Hateful comments, hacking or threats are just some forms of cyberbullying one may endure. With the use of technology on college campuses, students may be more susceptible to this issue. With college students consistently being plugged in, cyberbullying may be a problem they have to face, whether it be on social media or through email. Most people may associate any kind of bullying with student interactions in high school or middle school. But anyone, college student or not, could fall victim to cyberbullying.

http://www.dailytoreador.com/news/college-students-at-risk-of-cyberbullying/article_0c745e24-e087-11e8-aafa-07fda0fcc38a.html