Educational Technology

February 28, 2019

Sources for Professional Development in Online Learning

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

By guest blogger, Ray Schroeder, Virtually Inspired Drexel

UPCEA, in partnership with its outstanding volunteer leaders, has developed what I consider two of the most remarkable aspirational guideline for institutions, the Hallmarks of Excellence in Professional and Continuing Education and the Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership.  https://upcea.edu/hallmarks  I encourage you to take advantage of this Creative Commons open licensed document to share the Online Hallmarks on your campus. In the Professional Continuing and Online Education Update by UPCEA, http://continuingedupdate.blogspot.com/ which is freely available, we are now closing in on a million views.

https://virtuallyinspired.org/sources-for-professional-development-in-online-learning/

Share on Facebook

So You Want to Offer an Income-Share Agreement? Here’s How 5 Colleges Are Doing It.

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

By Sydney Johnson, EdSurge
As the cost of college continues to feel out of reach for many students, schools and startups are beginning to think of new ways to finance the cost of tuition. Income-share agreements, or ISAs, are one method winning the attention of investors and education providers alike. Here’s the idea: rather than paying tuition up front, students pay back a portion of their income after graduating and landing a job. And if students don’t land a job, they pay back nothing. Coding bootcamps have taken to the model by storm, with many relying on ISA arrangements as their most popular tuition-financing option.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-02-15-so-you-want-to-offer-an-income-share-agreement-here-s-how-5-colleges-are-doing-it

Share on Facebook

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

Scouts up with the times
By Christopher Morrical, Danville Commercial-News

One local Scout leader, Parker Arnholt, wants everyone to know that even though the group is changing with the times, it’s also still the same old Scouts. One of the things he’s seen change since his childhood days is an adaptation of the merit badge program to be able to give kids an opportunity to learn about new technologies that are happening. This now includes programs in robotics, chemistry and video game design. The Scouts now also have online training to help with adult leadership — who usually have work and kids in their lives — to be able to more easily learn the tools they need to provide a quality program. There’s also now a website called Scoutbook and a Scouting app to help see where the individual stands in earning badges.

https://www.commercial-news.com/news/local_news/with-the-times/article_7448dcda-2125-5fff-a717-4342fb5471c5.html

Share on Facebook

February 27, 2019

Survey: Faculty Development Most Important Teaching and Learning Issue for 2019

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

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

For the sixth year in a row, the topic of faculty development has turned up among the top three “teaching and learning issues” in an annual survey done by Educause. This year that same issue was also No. 1, getting 25 percent more votes than the next top choice: online and blended learning. As the survey explained, faculty development refers to the work of helping instructors produce active learning activities that will engage students and help them achieve learning objectives; online and blended learning refers to the creation of courses that will serve students both on campus and remotely.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/02/14/survey-faculty-development-most-important-teaching-and-learning-issue-for-2019.aspx?admgarea=news

Share on Facebook

2019 Key Issues in Teaching and Learning

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

EDUCAUSE ELI
Each year, ELI surveys the higher education community to determine key issues and opportunities in postsecondary teaching and learning. These key issues serve as the framework, or focal points, for our discussions and programming throughout the coming year. More than 1,400 community members voted, and the following were identified as the 2019 Key Issues. Higher education leaders and decision makers use the annual Issues, Technologies, and Trends resources—the Top 10 IT Issues, the Strategic Technologies and Trends, the ELI Key Issues in Teaching and Learning, and the Horizon Report—to know what’s important and where to focus in their IT planning and management activities. When viewed together these resources provide more complete and nuanced guidance on institutional IT priorities.

https://www.educause.edu/eli/initiatives/key-issues-in-teaching-and-learning

Share on Facebook

Making it easier to discover datasets – Google releases Google Dataset Search

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

Natasha Noy, Google Blog

In today’s world, scientists in many disciplines and a growing number of journalists live and breathe data. There are many thousands of data repositories on the web, providing access to millions of datasets; and local and national governments around the world publish their data as well. To enable easy access to this data, we launched Dataset Search, so that scientists, data journalists, data geeks, or anyone else can find the data required for their work and their stories, or simply to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.

https://www.blog.google/products/search/making-it-easier-discover-datasets/

Share on Facebook

February 26, 2019

Silencing Malware with AI

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

Robert Vamosi, Forbes
Stuart McClure is on a personal mission. After more than two decades in the anti-malware industry, he firmly believes that ninety percent of malware attacks today can be prevented by not clicking on this, not clicking on that, and not opening that attachment either. While he’s not the first nor alone in suggesting the user bears at least some responsibility, the anti-malware industry up until now hasn’t yet produced an effective alternative to signature-based solutions based on known attacks. McClure’s company, Cylance, thinks it has the answer with its first-generation AI-driven anti-malware products for both enterprises and consumers.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612975/ai-natural-language-processing-explained/

Share on Facebook

Tutoring apps change pupils’ study habits

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

Sandhya D’Mello, Khaleej Times

Those who are pressed for time in preparing for standardised tests and admission exams turn to apps like Khan Academy or Magoosh, among other programmes. Others who would like to explore new subjects often browse through the offerings of platforms like Coursera and edX. Kuwait-based Darisni – which was launched in 2017 as the region’s first smart platform that instantly connects students with tutors – is all set to run its operations in the UAE. Noor Boodai, CEO of Darisni, said. “This has been largely driven by three factors: the tremendous success of online education globally, the fast-paced advancement in technology, and the recent growth in the adoption of digital service apps in the region. This has paved the way for increased confidence in trying new ideas and greater on-boarding into the world of mobile learning.”

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/education/tutoring-apps-change-pupils-study-habits

Share on Facebook

E-learning could forecast ‘working’ snow days

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

By KELSEY RETTKE, Daily Chronicle

Between the recent polar vortex knocking out five days of school in DeKalb School District 428, and snow days in abundance already, less than two months in to 2019, districts are looking to legislators in Springfield as they indicate the definition of a “traditional school day” is changing. DeKalb District 428 Superintendent Jamie Craven said nothing can replace the one-to-one relationship between a student and teacher in a classroom setting. “There’s no substitute for a student’s teachers,” Craven said. “And the best education, in my opinion, is with their teachers in a classroom. However, we’re in an age now where we have remote learning opportunities.”

https://www.daily-chronicle.com/2019/02/15/e-learning-could-forecast-working-snow-days/aunifvx/

Share on Facebook

February 25, 2019

Survey: Faculty Confident in Their Own Tech Skills, but Say Student Skills Lag

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

Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

In our latest Teaching with Technology Survey, most faculty said they are comfortable using tech in the classroom, but many reported low-to-average tech skills among their students. Nearly all faculty in a recent survey believe they have adequate skills (or better) to get the job done when it comes to teaching with technology. And a full 77 percent said they are “absolutely confident” or “very confident” with tech use. These findings come out of Campus Technology’s 2018 Teaching with Technology Survey, which asked higher education faculty at colleges and universities across the country about their use of tech in the classroom, students’ tech skills, the availability of tech support and more.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/02/13/survey-faculty-confident-in-their-own-tech-skills-but-say-student-skills-lag.aspx

Share on Facebook

This AI is Too Powerful to Release to The Public

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

Michael Kan, PCMag

The AI system from OpenAI can pump out fiction. It can also write fake news or divisive social media posts. All you have to do is serve up the topic or the beginning first sentence, and the AI will do the rest by trying to write human-like text. Researchers have developed an AI that is so good at writing text they’ve decided to keep the technology behind it secret over fears it’ll be exploited to write high-quality fake news. “Due to our concerns about malicious applications of the technology, we are not releasing the trained model,” the research company OpenAI wrote in a blog post on Thursday. The AI, called GPT-2, can produce text of “unprecedented quality” when compared with other computing systems by simply giving it a short writing prompt. For instance, the AI can pump out fiction. It can also finish a homework assignment. All you have to do is serve up the topic or the beginning first sentence, and the AI will do the rest.  [Ray notes: Image students using this to complete creative writing assignments and more]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/366572/this-ai-is-too-powerful-to-release-to-the-public?

Share on Facebook

Top Five Ed-tech Trends to Look Forward to in 2019

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

Michal Borkowski, Entrepreneur
Homework, tests and exams are all synonymous with education. The aim is usually to get the work done, but to get it done with quality content has often been a task. Here’s where ed-tech has stepped in, as an interesting and efficient way to get solutions and promote discussions via peer-to-peer learning. This is steering students toward being more motivated to learn, and parents toward better resources to help their kids out. While answers to most of the questions are readily available online, the chaotic nature of the inter-web makes the process hard. The advent of crowd learning platforms has emerged as a solution to this by facilitating the process through an aggregation of all such information under a single domain, making the sources more reliable.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/328134

Share on Facebook

February 24, 2019

Developing Robotic Kids

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

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Robotics programs across the country are appealing to non-STEM-oriented students too, even as they learn science, tech, engineering and math (along with a whole bunch of soft skills) on the side. FIRST provides all kinds of support to simplify the job of an all-volunteer corps delivering robotics education to students. For example, Krispen, who called herself “the coordinator of coordinators,” couldn’t do her job with FIRST’s help. “Because I’m coordinating for 70 teams, I’m constantly calling FIRST and asking questions.” The organization provides videos, tutorials, posters, logos, flyers and replacement pieces when something goes missing in the kits, she said. When a principal calls to say she needs to make a speech to new parents and wants to introduce them to the robotics program, Krispen can head to the FIRST website and “usually it’s already there.”

 

https://thejournal.com/articles/2019/01/31/developing-robotic-kids.aspx

Share on Facebook

A new era of microcredentials and experiential learning

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

by Sean Gallagher, University World News

At Northeastern University’s Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy in the United States, we recently conducted a survey of 750 hiring leaders in the United States – across all sectors and organisational sizes. One of the foundational findings was that a majority – 64% – of executives felt that the need for continuous lifelong learning will demand more credential attainment from job seekers and higher levels of education in the future.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190213103113978

Share on Facebook

Ed Dept. backpedals its proposed distance learning stance with latest revision

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

By Ben Unglesbee , Education Dive
The Education Department has revised its proposed rules around distance education to clarify the role of subject-matter experts and their interaction with students, Inside Higher Ed reported. The changes are part of the department’s ongoing negotiated rulemaking on accreditation.  The latest proposal nixes language letting accreditors define distance education. The revision also calls for a subject matter expert to lead, rather than simply be included in, an instructional team. It also ensures subject-matter experts are responsible for assessing student learning, and it includes academic credentials in addition to work experience as criteria for a subject-matter expert. The revisions also add specificity to the definition of “regular and substantive” interaction between students and instructors. Regular is now defined as once-per-week interaction for courses worth three or more credit hours and every two weeks for courses less than three credit hours. Some subcommittee members proposed an alternative definition that accounted more for academic progress than duration, which favor emerging models of online learning.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/ed-dept-backpedals-its-proposed-distance-learning-stance-with-latest-revis/548435/

Share on Facebook

February 23, 2019

Extending the Conversation on Online Course Length

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:41 am

Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed

Two weeks ago, “Inside Digital Learning” published an article exploring the decision-making process for institutions tweaking the length of their online courses. If you missed that piece, catch up before reading this one. A significant volley of Twitter mentions of the article — and a few email messages in our in-box — left us thinking about additional angles to explore on this topic. Teaching a short online course can be a learning experience for instructors. Penelope Moon is the former director of online programs in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University and is currently responsible for elearning planning and design with the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus. For eight years at Arizona State, she taught 7.5-week-long online courses, and she continues to do so as an associate clinical professor. At another institution, she previously taught the same course online in a semester-length format. In a shorter course, she’s more focused on outcomes — how to ensure that students leave the class having learned a set of knowledge and skills. “It really forces faculty to identify what’s essential in a course, and to trim the fat,” Moon said.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/02/13/shorter-online-courses-offer-flexible-alternatives-students-pose

Share on Facebook

Trump’s Plan to Keep America First in AI

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

Tom Simonite, Wired

“AI has really become a transformative technology that’s changing industries, markets, and society,” says Lynne Parker, who leads work on AI in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “There are a number of actions that are needed to help us harness AI for the good of the American people.” Parker previously contributed to work by the Obama administration that, a month prior to Trump’s election, led to reports on AI’s potential and societal implications, and a plan for future research. She is also working on a new national AI research strategy, slated for release soon.

https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-plan-keep-america-first-ai/

Share on Facebook

Report: Why Tech for Adult Learning So Often Misses the Mark

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:26 am

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

When deploying new education technology for adult learners, is there such a thing as an ideal adoption pathway? Some “key actions,” such as administrators using research and data on adult ed tech to inform their purchase decisions, can make the difference, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Education-funded LINCS system. “From Creation to Adoption: How to Develop and Deploy Successful Edtech,” written by consultancy Luminary Labs, is the third in a series to look at the state of the tech market specifically for adult learners. The first report examined the many problems that tech faces in serving the unique needs of this user. The second report made the case for further investment in tech to transform the segment. The third report explored why so many ed tech products generate “suboptimal outcomes” in terms of efficacy and use; it also proposed solutions.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/02/12/report-why-tech-for-adult-learning-so-often-misses-the-mark.aspx

Share on Facebook

February 22, 2019

Bill and Melinda Gates: Online learning makes textbooks obsolete

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

Xinhua

Online learning with software has made textbooks obsolete, and digital tools are a better choice for today’s students, said Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In their 2019 annual letter released Tuesday, Bill Gates said even the best textbook can’t figure out which concepts you understand and which ones you need more help with. It certainly can’t tell your teacher how well you grasped last night’s assigned reading. But now, thanks to software, the stand-alone textbook is becoming a thing of the past. He gives algebra as an example. Instead of just reading a chapter on solving equations, you can look at the text online, watch a super engaging video that shows you how it’s done, and play a game that reinforces the concepts. Then you solve a few problems online, and the software creates new quiz questions to zero in on the ideas you’re not quite getting.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-02/12/c_137816237.htm

Share on Facebook

Five ways professionals will experience 5G, and when

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:34 am

James Sanders, ZDNet

As mobile network operators sprint to deploy 5G in more localities around the world, interest in and hype around the benefits of 5G is accelerating to Autobahn speeds. With the advent of a mobile network capable of effectively supplanting a wireline internet connection, this can serve to benefit people who rely exclusively on a smartphone for internet connectivity. According to a report from the Brookings Institution, 35 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of African-Americans “have no other online connection except through their smartphones or other mobile devices,” while the same is true of only 14 percent of whites. The economic effects of this disparity can be observed in education, as the report notes that internet use for homework is lowest among Hispanic and African-American students. For families without the means to pay for wired and wireless internet access, 5G levels the field in terms of connection quality. In addition to supplemental educational resources for homework, students in distance and online education courses that rely on streaming video instruction will not require a dedicated wired connection to participate.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/five-ways-professionals-will-experience-5g-and-when/

Share on Facebook

A New Way to Motivate Faculty Adoption of OER

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

By Chuck Staben, Inside Higher Ed
To drive professors’ embrace of open educational resources, college leaders should offer incentives — a share of the financial savings — to academic departments, teaching centers and libraries, Chuck Staben suggests. We propose a different motivation structure for OER adoption. Our plan is to give some of the estimated yearly savings from OER use to the department, our teaching and learning center, and our library (5 percent/2.5 percent/2.5 percent, respectively). As an example, if a biology course enrolls 1,000 students per year, and the typical text savings would be $100 per student, adoption might save students $100,000 per year. Providing even 5 percent of the projected savings from OER adoption directly to the department as flexible money would be highly motivating to many departments; the teaching center and library are incentivized to support adoption and access. Although the savings from such a plan would accrue to the students, the retention of even one or two additional students due to better textbook usage by the students would, from an institutional perspective, pay for such an initiative. And, particularly for public universities, controlling cost, increasing access and enhancing success align with our mission.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2019/02/13/encourage-faculty-adoption-oer-share-savings-departments-and

Share on Facebook
Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress