Educational Technology

March 31, 2021

A decade ago, students were already showing their preference for online classes

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

John Twomey, Boston Globe

More than 10 years ago, I was teaching a course that was required for all students enrolled at a Boston-area graduate school. At the request of the administration, I developed and taught an online version of the course. As enrollment at the school increased dramatically, we offered multiple sections of the online course….  Inevitably, on the first day of registration, all of the online sections would be totally populated. I would then field messages from students who didn’t get into those sections who stated unequivocally that they really didn’t want to come to campus and sit in those lecture rooms.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/15/opinion/decade-ago-students-were-already-showing-their-preference-online-classes/

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Local colleges learned the value of online learning

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

Lou Whitmire, Mansfield News Journal

Officials at the Ohio State University at Mansfield/North Central State College say they are looking forward to offering more in-person classes as soon as possible, but they have learned that many students seem to like the online learning formats that became the norm during the coronavirus pandemic. Norman Jones, dean and director of OSU-Mansfield, said, “I am deeply grateful to our faculty and staff for creating safe, virtual ways of doing so much of what we would normally do in person. We changed from having about 10% of our classes online to having 60% of classes online, and most of the remaining 40% had substantial online components in addition to meeting in person.

https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/2021/03/15/local-colleges-learned-value-online-learning/4575351001/

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Leading the eLearning Transformation of Higher Education: Leadership Strategies for the Next Generation

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

Reviewed by Ramona M. Cutri, Teachers College Record

The second edition historically contextualizes eLearning and provides needed attention to issues of diversity and equity. The majority of the book was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the authors eerily speak to issues that have only intensified as a result of the dramatic pivot to emergency remote teaching caused by the closure of universities worldwide in efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. A statement by Karen Swan sums up the gravity of the current state of academia and its modus apparatus: “[I]t isn’t clear that higher education will survive in its current form” (p. 293)…. An assertion by Raymond Schroeder further questions the centralized authority of institutions of higher education to not only quantify learning but also to keep track of what is learned.

https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=23639

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March 30, 2021

What Is Starlink? SpaceX’s Much-Hyped Satellite Internet Service Explained

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

Michael Kan, PC Mag

If you live in a city or a big suburb, you probably enjoy fast internet speeds, maybe at 1Gbps or beyond. But imagine enduring internet speeds at 20Mbps, or even as low as 0.8Mbps, every day. What’s worse, your home only has one or two internet service providers to choose from, leaving you stranded with crummy service. Unfortunately, millions of people across the US, and the globe, are stuck in this very situation. Installing fiber in a city, and bringing Gigabit broadband to million of customers is certainly lucrative, but not so much in a rural area home to only a few hundred people. Enter Starlink. The satellite internet system from SpaceX is capable of delivering 150Mbps internet speeds to theoretically any place on the planet. All the customer needs is a clear view of the sky. Last fall, the system began serving its first users, many of whom were based in remote or rural regions of America—and the response has so far been ecstatic.

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/what-is-starlink-spacex-satellite-internet-service-explained

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Students, Faculty and Staff Prepare for Summer and Reflect on Online Learning

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

Kaylee Raines, Wright State Guardian

Summer classes are right around the corner, and students, faculty, and staff at Wright State University (WSU) are preparing for their next semester. However, many people are wondering when classes will return to campus and reflecting on how online-learning has impacted them during the coronavirus pandemic.

https://wsuguardian.com/students-faculty-and-staff-prepare-for-summer-and-reflect-on-online-learning/

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This Chip for AI Works Using Light, Not Electrons

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:28 am

Will Knight, Wired

Lightmatter says the computing and power demands of complex neural networks need new technologies like these to keep up. As demand for artificial intelligence grows, so does hunger for the computer power needed to keep AI running. Lightmatter, a startup born at MIT, is betting that AI’s voracious hunger will spawn demand for a fundamentally different kind of computer chip—one that uses light to perform key calculations. “Either we invent new kinds of computers to continue,” says Lightmatter CEO Nick Harris, “or AI slows down.”

https://www.wired.com/story/chip-ai-works-using-light-not-electrons/

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March 29, 2021

AI now most favoured major at universities

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

China Daily

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the most popular new major at Chinese universities for the second year in a row amid the country’s drive to build a strong AI talent pool. The subject’s popularity is far above that of any other new major, writes Zou Shuo for China Daily. A list issued by the Ministry of Education on Monday 1 March said universities across the country applied to establish 2,046 new majors last year, with 130 universities receiving approval to establish four-year undergraduate AI-related majors. In 2019, 180 universities set up AI majors, making it the No 1 new major in that year, too.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210313122642808

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Gender inequality in higher education persists

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:36 am

Maria Elena Hurtado, University World News
Female enrolment in higher education has tripled globally between 1995 and 2018. However, recent research has provided evidence that the gender gap in higher education has declined very little in recent decades and closely matches the continued gender inequality in the labour market. Furthermore, the ‘equal access’ to an academic education and career that women have enjoyed for the past years has not thus far led to ‘equal outcome’ in terms of leadership and academic positions, pay, research and publications in a higher education setting, according to a new report.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210312130746862

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Google opens enrollment for career certification courses

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

Express Tribune

Google has opened enrollment for its Career Certificates program in the fields of Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design, the company announced on its blog. You can also enroll in the new Associate Android Developer Certification, a course that will prepare inexperienced learners for entry-level jobs in the field of Android development. The certificates cost $39 per month by subscription on Coursera, while the Google Associate Android Developer Certification training is free with an official exam fee of $149, the course is hosted on the Android Developers website.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2289141/google-opens-enrollment-for-career-certification-courses

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March 28, 2021

Over 3 Million People Took This Course on Happiness. Here’s What Some Learned.

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

Molly Oswaks, NY Times

The Yale happiness class, formally known as Psyc 157: Psychology and the Good Life, is one of the most popular classes to be offered in the university’s 320-year history. “Everyone knows what they need to do to protect their physical health: wash your hands, and social distance, and wear a mask,” she added. “People were struggling with what to do to protect their mental health.” The Coursera curriculum, adapted from the one Dr. Santos taught at Yale, asks students to, among other things, track their sleep patterns, keep a gratitude journal, perform random acts of kindness, and take note of whether, over time, these behaviors correlate with a positive change in their general mood.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/13/style/happiness-course.html

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Promoting Community in Your Online Classroom

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

Linda Dale Bloomberg, Teachers College Press

Instructors often fear that they will lose the interaction and sense of community they have when they teach face-to-face, but that doesn’t have to be the case! Developing learning communities has been at the heart of distance education since its inception, and the challenge of fostering community remains a focal issue. Below are my top 10 tips to optimize your teaching by encouraging a sense of community, resulting in a more effective and meaningful learning experience for you and your students right from the start.

https://www.tcpress.com/blog/promoting-community-online-classroom/

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Cautious Optimism About Teaching STEM Online

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

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

The shift to remote learning forced STEM instructors to increasingly accept online education. But concerns about how to give students meaningful lab experiences remain.  The findings of a new survey, STEM Education in the Time of COVID, suggest that hesitancy to embrace online education may be changing. Bay View Analytics, a statistical research firm, published the report with the Online Learning Consortium, a membership organization that promotes the use and quality of digital education. The report was supported by Every Learner Everywhere, a network of organizations that promotes online education with a focus on equity, as well as three companies involved in distance education in STEM: Digital Ed, Carolina Distance Learning and HHMI BioInteractive.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/11/faculty-still-harbor-concerns-about-teaching-stem-courses-online

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March 27, 2021

Student Perceptions of Data Use Within Higher Education

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

Jill Dunlap, Iris Palmer, Alexa Wesley; New America

The use of student data to inform decision-making and communication is still evolving in higher education. Often missing from campus conversations about use of student data are student voices about their preferences and needs. NASPA and New America engaged in a joint research effort to better understand student perceptions of data use within higher education. Insights from these discussions with students led to a set of recommendations for campus administrators about the uses of different types of data, the tools for collecting and sharing that data, the areas of data-related training for faculty and staff, and the framing and delivery of outreach messages informed by student data.

https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/keeping-student-trust/

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This trojan malware is now your biggest security headache

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

Danny Palmer, ZD Net

Trickbot malware has risen to fill the gap left by the takedown of the Emotet botnet, with a higher number of criminals shifting towards it to distribute malware attacks. Emotet was the world’s most prolific and dangerous malware botnet before it was disrupted by an international law enforcement operation in January this year. What initially emerged as a banking trojan in 2014 went on to become much more, establishing backdoors on compromised Windows machines which were leased out to other cyber-criminal groups to conduct their own malware or ransomware campaigns.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-trojan-malware-is-now-your-biggest-security-headache/

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Robots can use eye contact to draw out reluctant participants in groups

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

Science Daily, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology

Eye contact is a key to establishing a connection, and teachers use it often to encourage participation. But can a robot do this too? Can it draw a response simply by making “eye” contact, even with people who are less inclined to speak up. A recent study suggests that it can. Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology published results of experiments in which robots led a Swedish word game with individuals whose proficiency in the Nordic language was varied. They found that by redirecting its gaze to less proficient players, a robot can elicit involvement from even the most reluctant participants.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210310122608.htm

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March 26, 2021

New tool makes students better at detecting fake imagery and videos

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

Uppsala University, Science Daily

Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a digital self-test that trains users to assess news items, images and videos presented on social media. The self-test has also been evaluated in a scientific study, which confirmed the researchers’ hypothesis that the tool genuinely improved the students’ ability to apply critical thinking to digital sources.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210309132557.htm

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Artificial intelligence meets real friendship: College students are bonding with robots

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

Nina Agrawal, LA Times

Billy Chat is a robot that uses artificial intelligence to text. Billy and other “chatbots” were launched at California State University campuses in 2019 to help students stay on track to graduate. But after students were sent home last spring at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Billy evolved into more of a friend, blurring the line between artificial and real when the world turned away from human touch and connections. To Billy and other bots with names such as “CougarBot” and “Csunny,” students poured out feelings of loneliness, despair and worry for themselves and their families.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-09/college-students-pour-out-emotions-amid-pandemic-to-bots

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System Launches Missouri Online

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

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

The University of Missouri system has launched a new online arm: Missouri Online. Missouri Online will bring together all the online programs currently offered by the system’s four universities — the University of Missouri at Columbia, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and the University of Missouri at St. Louis. A total of 260 online degree and certificate programs are now available through Missouri Online, with 22 additional programs slated to launch later this year.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/03/10/system-launches-missouri-online

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March 25, 2021

Our New Digital Colleagues and Friends

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 9:50 am

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

There is an intriguing anthropomorphic trend underway to apply human attributes and attitudes to artificial intelligence-driven chat bots and assorted personal assistant tools.  How can we best utilize the infinite patience, the ever-enhancing deep learning knowledge bases and the multimode communication facility of intelligent applications to further advance our mission? Adaptive learning is but a first step. With the rapid deployment of these AI technologies, one wonders how different higher education might look in the near future. Will these machine abilities replace important aspects of human-delivered teaching, tutoring, student support, counseling and other roles in a more economical, responsive, reliable and effective way?

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/our-new-digital-colleagues-and-friends

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Study Finds Use of Video Boosts Learning

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

Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

A meta-study has found that the use of pre-recorded video can lead to “small improvements” in learning and replacing existing content with videos can result in “strong” learning benefits. The work, published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), was undertaken by a team of researchers from Australian Catholic University (ACU) and the University of Queensland. They analyzed 105 prior studies that covered a pool sample of 7,776 students.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/02/24/study-finds-use-of-video-boosts-learning.aspx

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Why Emergency Online Learning Got Low Grades From Many College Students

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:33 am

Robert Ubell, EdSurge

Nearly all of higher education moved online at the beginning of the pandemic. For longtime proponents of online education like myself, you might think it would be an accomplishment. Except that many students showed up resentful, taking digital courses only by force of circumstance, and the teaching they got did not always fit the medium.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-03-08-why-emergency-online-learning-got-low-grades-from-many-college-students

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