Educational Technology

AACC 21ST CENTURY CENTER
Since hitting a peak in 2010, the total community college enrollment has decreased each fall after the Great Recession, declining by more than 1 million students nationally between 2010 and 2017…. one of the most striking findings is the dramatic and continuing rise in enrollment for the less-than-18-year-old students. That’s according to an a recent report from the American Association of Community Colleges. The number of part-time students younger than 18 dramatically increased, going from 287,000 in 2001 to more than 773,000 by 2017—an increase of 170 percent. This age group also saw an increase – though much less dramatic – in the number of students attending community college full time.

http://www.aacc21stcenturycenter.org/article/enrollment-and-age/

By: Jeremiah E. Shipp, Faculty Focus

Our role as faculty must extend beyond grading assignments but include verbal and written encouragement, which is vital for the academic and personal development of students (Lowe, 2005). Encouragement can come in many forms such as positive feedback on assignments, emails, phone calls, and video messages. To encourage online learners, faculty can utilize a video technique called “Midweek Motivation,” which consists of creating short videos that can be used to help students persevere through any academic and personal challenge they may be experiencing. The video topics are unlimited, but in my experience I have shared professional challenges I have overcome and funny stories.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-course-encouragement/

Julian Torres & Sabine Gerdon, World Economic Forum

Widespread adoption of AI has been slower in government than in the private sector. Given the magnitude of the impact that AI could have on public entities, it is important to understand the roadblocks that stand in the way of systemic government adoption of AI. Through extensive stakeholder consultation we have identified five key barriers to AI adoption in government:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/artificial-intelligence-government-public-sector/

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed
Asked to explain how they balance financial and academic considerations, administrators and professors say quality is key but struggle to define it.  Justin Ortagus’ new study “‘Like Having a Tiger by the Tail’: A Qualitative Analysis of the Provision of Online Education in Higher Education,” published in Teachers College Record, examines (and tries to make sense of) the complicated and often conflicting perspectives of 22 administrators, professors and instructional designers at three research universities with significant online offerings.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/09/04/researcher-seeks-clarify-messy-conversation-around-online-cost

BY ADAM HUGHES AND STEFAN WOJCIK, Pew Fact Tank

Today, millions of Americans use Twitter to break and comment on news, disseminate official pronouncements, organize campaigns and protests or just let their friends know what’s on their minds. Here are 10 facts about Americans and Twitter, based on recent Pew Research Center surveys and other studies:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/02/10-facts-about-americans-and-twitter/

By Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive
Three prominent higher education associations serving almost 2,500 institutions have issued a joint statement calling on colleges to commit to using data and analytics “to make better strategic decisions.”  The Association for Institutional Research (AIR), Educause and the National Association of College and University Business Officers say data can be used to improve recruitment, student outcomes, institutional efficiency and cost-cutting efforts.  They urge quick action. “[T]he incremental approach used so often in higher education won’t be enough,” they write. “Tweaks won’t deliver the change we need in time to make a difference in the lives of the students enrolled in our institutions today.”

https://www.educationdive.com/news/3-higher-ed-groups-urge-colleges-to-speed-up-data-analytics-adoption/561694/

By: Danielle Lerner

Digital citizenship is exactly like it sounds. Different districts may have different versions of it but the goal is the same, to make sure kids understand what it means to be a good citizen in the digital world. “It’s not just anymore about just the use of technology but rather what do we need to do to be responsible and respectful and safe at the same time,” said Villa de Paz Elementary School Principal Belinda Quezada.

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/west-phoenix/teaching-students-digital-citizenship

By: Nicole Webber and Stephanie Wiegand, Faculty Focus
A common practice at many colleges and universities involves course faculty inviting librarians into their classrooms to teach research and information literacy skills and concepts customized to disciplinary or course needs. Library instruction varies in format but often manifests in the librarian teaching a single, isolated class session—what librarians refer to as a “one-shot.” Flipped Learning methods can help counter these challenges even when the overall course is not based on a flipped model. They liberate librarians and faculty from the one-shot model and expand opportunities for library instruction to occur at multiple times in a course, to be delivered virtually or in person, and to invoke a broader range of educational tools.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/blended-flipped-learning/flipped-library-sessions/

By ELIZABETH HERNANDEZ, Denver Post

Student, staff and faculty can keep updated on the situation through a new website and text message alerts.  The “external data security threat” prompted Regis to yank down its technology services — including its website and all phone lines, email services and online programs that students use to submit work and professors grade it. The Denver institution has been dealing with this disruption in the throes of wrapping up summer semester and welcoming fall students back to campus. The university has since created a supplementary web page, regisupdates.com, to communicate to its community about the ongoing inconvenience.

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/08/23/regis-university-cyber-attack/

EdScoop

“Many Wake Tech students take at least one online course, and it’s continuing to grow more and more all the time,” Shahid-El says. “That’s something that we’re thinking will really start to shape more and more how students experience not just their campus but the college community.” An introductory business course, which used OER developed by the class’ lead instructor and college’s instructional support team, saved students money on traditional textbook costs, she says. During the 2015-2016 grant cycle, Wake Tech received a $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address the “achievement, success and withdrawal gaps for students of color and in online courses.”

https://edscoop.com/video/oer-cost-savings-wake-tech-community-college/

Michael Norton, Vail Daily

“In times of change, the learners will inherit the earth, as the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” — Eric Hoffer.  And since it seems like the world is changing at the speed of thought, we will all do well to focus on the way we grow, evolve, and learn. One of the mantras that we hear with greater frequency these days is around the term continuous improvement. Typically, we hear the term continuous improvement when it comes to our efforts to continually strive to improve our products, services, and processes. However, we are now seeing the concept played out when it comes to people as well. The push to be better, faster, smarter, and stronger has many top achievers placing a focus on their own continuous improvement.

https://www.vaildaily.com/opinion/columns/norton-looking-for-continuous-improvement-focus-on-continuous-learning/

Marguerite Dennis, University World News

Africa has the fastest-growing middle class in the world. Despite recent revised forecasts, the African economy is predicted to grow at a faster rate than many other regions. More than 1.2 billion people currently live in Africa. By 2030, the continent’s population is estimated to be 1.7 billion and 2.2 billion in 2050. Sixty per cent of the African population (250 million people) are under the age of 25. Despite these statistics, less than 10% of Sub-Saharan African youth are enrolled in post-secondary education.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190816144515896

Leighsa Sharoff, Journal of Educators Online
Facilitating an online course in today’s student population requires an educator to be innovative and creative and to have an impactful online presence. In the current online learning environment (also known as e-learning), keeping students’ thoughtfully engaged and motivated while dispensing the required course content necessitates faculty enabling a safe, nonjudgmental environment whereby views, perspectives, and personal and professional experiences are encouraged. The educator must exhibit an educator-facilitated active, student-centered learning process, whereby students are held accountable for their active participation and self-directed learning while balancing a facilitator role to further enhance the learning process. This article explores one educator’s reflective practice process that has been developed over numerous years as a very early adopter of online education. It will explore the organizational aspect of teaching-facilitating a dynamic robust online course.

https://www.thejeo.com/archive/2019_16_2~2/sharoff

KURT SNIBBE, Orange County Register

Other than mortgages, the highest amount of debt is in student loans. According to the Federal Reserve Bank in 2018, the average monthly payment of students loans was $200-$300. More than 44 million Americans owed about $1.5 trillion on student loans at the end of March 2019, more than twice what they owed a decade earlier. The increase has come as historically high shares of kids go to college and the cost of higher education increases. In 1985, annual tuition and fees for University of California schools were about $1,295 for residents, which is about $3,087 in 2019 dollars. In 2011, the average tuition and fees for UC students were $14,460.https://www.ocregister.com/2019/08/23/americans-have-1-5-trillion-in-student-loans-is-it-worth-it/

Karen Gilchrist, CNBC
Artificial intelligence and cloud computing are terms once reserved for the realms of science fiction. But, today, they’ve become an increasingly important — and lucrative — fixture of the employment landscape. “Some of the top skills we’re seeing that are in great demand are artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing,” Feon Ang, vice president for talent and learning solutions in Asia Pacific at professional networking site LinkedIn. The demand applies globally. However, it especially pertains to the most sought-after skills in Asia Pacific, which is currently suffering a “brain drain,” whereby talented workers are relocating overseas for better socio-economic prospects, Ang told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” Tuesday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/22/linkedin-ai-big-data-cloud-computing-among-top-future-tech-skills.html

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

To customize learning for each of 30 or 40 students in a class, monitor their individual progress and provide meaningful feedback has been just too time-consuming. Now, machine learning can synthesize the huge volume of data needed to more fully deliver student-centered learning. It can assemble the background, take input from the individual learner regarding their self-determined needs and expectations, identify learning deficits and needs, and produce and present the learning path to best accomplish those goals. In this case, the role of the faculty member shifts from directly delivering materials and grading based on a single syllabus to advising, assisting and assessing personalized learning that meets the needs of both the individual and the prescribed outcomes of the program.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/adaptive-learning-personalized-learning

By Dimitra Giannouplaki, Thrive Global

The main question is whether video games can be used in our learning process. Can they transform the ways we learn and make us enjoy the process and simultaneously help us develop as personalities through the acquisition of skills like critical thinking, collaboration, and empathy? My answer could be only positive, and I will mention just three examples coming from the digital world that can make us reconsider the potential of video games in education. When students are exposed for so many hours to their digital devices, what if we use this new lifestyle to channel and inspire a new kind of education to both kids and adults?

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/video-games-a-highway-to-learning-and-personal-growth/

By Riia O’Donnell, HR Dive
In today’s talent market, employees are looking for real-time development, continuous feedback and open dialogue. Businesses are looking to accommodate workers but may struggle to keep pace with what employees want and what they can deliver. The challenge for employers is to create development programming that addresses immediate needs without overwhelming employees. The rise of online learning has made that easier, but often employees worry their remote access means learning has to happen off the clock. Accessing learning when needed — rather than when convenient — is a major trend largely enabled by new learning tech.

https://www.hrdive.com/news/how-to-build-a-real-time-development-program/561132/

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

There’s an old rhetorical question that asks, “If you could keep only the alphabet or numbers, which would you choose and why?” The answer is numbers, of course, because in addition to describing quantities, numbers can do double duty as language. In fact, numbers have already become the language of education, in the form of algorithms. Long thought by many high school students to be a suspicious word, algorithms are a simple term for the steps taken in solving a problem. Algorithms are the efficiency experts in getting things done, especially when it comes to computers, and education relies on efficient systems.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/the-prevalence-of-algortihms-in-education/

By Jamie Merisotis, Inside Indiana Business

The worlds of work and learning are merging in powerful ways, driven by the exponential growth in human knowledge. This means the abilities needed in the workplace go beyond simple “job skills” that can be learned quickly through a short-term training program.

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/40947808/states-can-foster-job-growth-if-lifelong-learning-is-at-play

By Sean Gallagher, EdSurge

There’s a growing consensus that today’s economy is increasingly defined by the need for continuous learning. What hasn’t been worked out is who should bear the responsibility for this ongoing re-training—the employee or the employer, or some mix of the two? And what role should higher education play? The reality in the tech sector is that skills have a short shelf-life. Software engineers must re-develop their skills every 12 to 18 months.