Online Learning Update

June 24, 2017

The AI-First Student Experience

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

by Aric Cheston and Drew Stock, EDUCAUSE Review

Students dealing with the size and complexity of a college or university and trying to navigate its systems can become frustrated or even drop out if the barriers within its required processes hamper their progress. Thoughtful application of artificial intelligence can support advisors and faculty in guiding students to graduation and help students themselves stay on track and take full advantage of the resources available. Using AI technologies to mediate the interaction between the student and the institution will not only eliminate many obstacles to student success, but will empower the professionals who have made it their life’s work to help students succeed.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/6/the-ai-first-student-experience

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June 23, 2017

Going cross-curricular helps students develop solutions to real-world problems

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:05 am

by Linda Jacobson, Education Dive

Throughout rural Southern India, agricultural development is getting a boost from a line of irrigation and sprinkler products that was first developed far away in Minnesota. Called MyRain, the company was launched in 2012 by a business graduate and engineering graduate at the University of Minnesota (UMN) who were each participating in a social entrepreneurship program. Part of UMN’s Institute on the Environment (IonE), the program, Acara, demonstrates how faculty members and students from different disciplines are working together to find solutions to the world’s problems. “Real-world problems never sit in a discipline,” says Jessica Hellmann, the director of IonE, adding that the traditional university model of being organized into colleges and schools is a “great way of getting a basic education, but [they] are crappy at problem solving.”

http://www.educationdive.com/news/interdisciplinary-systems-promote-sustainability-in-higher-ed/444228/

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Best practices for digital marketing in 2017: How to take advantage of the latest trends

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

by Tereza Litsa, ClickZ

A successful digital marketing strategy needs to keep up with the latest marketing trends. The evolution of technology is changing the way we form a digital marketing strategy. This creates a growing challenge for industry professionals to keep up with evolving trends and find the best way to incorporate them into their marketing plan. This is an up-to-date look at best practices for digital marketing in 2017, and at how marketers can take advantage of cutting-edge technological developments to create their strategy.

https://www.clickz.com/best-practices-for-digital-marketing-in-2017-how-to-take-advantage-of-the-latest-trends/111441/

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Apple Just Unveiled A Breakthrough Artificial Intelligence System

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

by Futurism

Siri intelligence will automatically display information that is relevant to you on the face of the watch using advanced machine learning technologies that improve and “learn” over time. Ultimately, this means that the more you interact with the watch, the smarter it gets. The Mac will be called “High Sierra,” and he outlined that Safari will rank in as the world’s fastest desktop browser with High Sierra. Safari will also be able to block all autoplays on videos, and it will have “intelligent tracking prevention,” which is machine learning tech that allows it to identify trackers and, thus, protect your privacy. Just 7 inches tall, the HomePod is the first major Apple hardware product that has been unveiled since the Apple Watch.

https://futurism.com/apple-just-unveiled-a-breakthrough-artificial-intelligence-system/

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June 22, 2017

Students’ Rising Expectations Pose Challenge to Online Programs

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am
by Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher Ed
A new survey of students’ attitudes toward online education highlights their rising expectations of colleges in a market that is growing increasingly competitive. The students expect fast answers to their questions about financial aid and whether their credits will transfer; they expect to search for courses on their mobile devices and the chance to take the courses themselves on those devices too; and they expect access to colleges’ career-assistance services.
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Humanities Majors Drop

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:04 am

By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed

The number of bachelor’s degrees in the humanities conferred in 2015 — 212,512 — was down 5 percent from the year before and nearly 10 percent from 2012, the high point for such degrees. Those figures are from an analysis being published today by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences as part of the organization’s Humanities Indicators project. The trend is likely to alarm humanities professors and many others in academe. Many humanities departments have found themselves struggling to maintain tenure-track faculty lines and, in some cases, to continue departments. Humanities professors are quick to note that their departments play crucial roles in general education for students from a range of majors. But many colleges and universities have been allocating positions and deciding on departmental fates in large part based on numbers of majors.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/05/analysis-finds-significant-drop-humanities-majors-gains-liberal-arts-degrees

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IoT necessitates greater student understanding of cybersecurity

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:04 am

by Roger Riddell, Education Dive

The increasing presence of connected devices on college campuses necessitates that students have a greater understanding of cybersecurity risks. Campus Technology reports that a cyberattack last October that took down a large portion of the internet began with hackers gaining access to personal devices like cameras and DVRs, and another recent attack that began with connected slow cookers allowed hackers to access pictures, texts and emails on smartphones. To simplify cybersecurity risks among IoT to students, IT leaders can use an example provided by Campus Technology in which hackers gain access to webcams via their internet connections, infect the device with malware, and can then use it to spy, spread the malware, or seek a larger target like a server.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/iot-necessitates-greater-student-understanding-of-cybersecurity/444153/

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June 21, 2017

Steve Hargadon Wants Tech — and Individuals — to Revolutionize Education

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

By Richard Chang, Campus Technology

The Learning Revolution is an attempt to bridge the conversations on learning. I’m surprised at how we lost the ability to have those deep conversations. The whole concept of shifting from command and control to agency. Going from a read/write medium to user-produced content. We take those things for granted now. We’re not under the control of books by monolithic organizations. There’s the ability for individuals to contribute, and re-shape at a grassroots level. Social media plays a part in that. [Teachers] could get their professional development from other teachers. They have access to other teachers all over the country and the world. The free flow of information on the web — the ability to take control of their own learning. Khan Academy is a good example.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/05/31/steve-hargadon-wants-tech-and-individuals-to-revolutionize-education.aspx

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Udacity offers photographers the chance to be Virtual Reality pioneers

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:06 am

by British Journal of Photography

Virtual Reality is predicted to be worth £108bn by 2021. To a large extent, the emergent technology is rooted in basic photography skills. Udacity’s six-month long VR nanodegree offers students a certified qualification that, according to the company, is more rigorous and recognised for its practical usefulness than many other VR qualifications but without being as intensive and time-consuming as a full-time university degree. “People want to develop specific skills that allow them to land a job or start a company. Udacity teaches those skills in a highly focused manner and helps filter students directly into a great job at top-tier companies,” says Matt Sonic, the lead instructor on Udacity’s Virtual Reality nanodegree. “It’s like a university, but built by industry.”

http://www.bjp-online.com/2017/06/udacity/

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The best online learning gets personal

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

by JOHN PEMBROKE, CUES

Last month, a group of people got together to learn. The presenter shared her expertise about the topic. The participants broke out into small groups to tackle learning exercises. The speaker visited each breakout group to facilitate discussion. Attendees gave the session high marks, noting comments like “great speaker” and “the class and resources were very user friendly and easy to follow.” Many said they’d recommend the program to a friend. It all sounds familiar, right? But here’s the twist: All of this learning was hosted online. The session was “Women in Leadership: Finding Your Voice,” offered through CUES Elite Access™: Virtual Classroom. And it was quite different from what many of us think of as online learning—very unlike the “click for more graphics and text” courses or the webinars of the past.

https://www.cuinsight.com/best-online-learning-gets-personal.html

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June 20, 2017

Penn State aims to create research opportunities for online students

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:08 am

by Penn State

In an effort to create more research opportunities for Penn State World Campus students, Penn State is offering a new professional development course to encourage faculty to work with online students. The course, “Conducting Research with Your Online Students,” which starts June 11, was offered for the first time this spring. “The aim of the course is to give faculty the confidence that they can translate their face-to-face research into an online environment,” said Brian Redmond, the lead faculty member for organizational leadership at Penn State World Campus who helped create the course. Redmond said the ultimate goal is to create publishable research opportunities for students and faculty. “We want to translate Penn State’s reputation for research into the online world,” he said.

http://news.psu.edu/story/470190/2017/06/01/academics/penn-state-aims-create-research-opportunities-online-students

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3 Costs Online Education Saves Students

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:06 am

By Darwin Green, US News

When I went back to college as a bill-paying, responsible and supportive member of a family, I became aware of financial considerations I hadn’t paid much attention to as a teenager. I knew enrolling in an online bachelor’s program would require me to pay different fees than a traditional college would, but I couldn’t attend school on a physical campus given my status as a stay-at-home father. When comparing the costs of my different options, I realized I could avoid unnecessary costs by applying to an online college. Here are some costs that traditional students often must pay but that can be avoided by pursuing an online degree. Pursuing a degree online eliminates room and board fees and money spent commuting to campus.

https://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2017-06-02/3-costs-online-education-saves-students

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What next for blockchain?

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:03 am

by McKinsey&Company

Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger. It allows for the permanent and immutable transparent recording of data, essentially, and transactions specifically. That can be used to exchange any number of things that have value, whether that’s an actual item [or something else]. It could be tea leaves making their way to the final tea maker. Or it could be me sending you a payment person to person without the need for intermediaries. I think of Bitcoin as being the entry point to a digital future where everything of value can and likely will be exchanged in digital format. Central banks will look to the Bitcoin experience to build central-bank-backed digital assets.

http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/what-next-for-blockchain

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June 19, 2017

Facebook is letting Groups create online learning courses – what could possibly go wrong?

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by MATTHEW HUGHES, the Next Web

Facebook, a brand with an untarnished reputation and a pedigree for reliability, is getting into the e-learning game. The social media behemoth is quietly testing a feature that would let anyone running a group to create their own online classes, which would include units and discussions. I have no idea how this could possibly backfire in any way. This move puts Facebook in the same game as more established sites, like Udemy and Udacity. From what I can tell, there are some key features missing from this newest offering. There’s no way to monetize classes, for example. It’ll also be interesting to see how Facebook reconciles its light-touch approach with the moderation challenges inherent with running an e-learning platform.

https://thenextweb.com/facebook/2017/06/01/facebook-letting-groups-create-online-learning-courses-possibly-go-wrong/#.tnw_UJhmHdlq

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Experts Say AI Has a 50% Chance of Beating All Human Intelligence Within 45 Years

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:05 am

by Karla Lant, Futurism

Researcher Katja Grace at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute and a team surveyed 1,634 of the leading artificial intelligence researchers. 352 of the experts responded, and the team then calculated median responses. The experts predicted that within the next decade, AI will outperform humans in tasks like driving trucks (by 2027), translating languages (by 2024), and writing high school essays (by 2026). The consensus was that other tasks such as writing a bestseller (2049) or carrying out surgeries (2053) wouldn’t be quite so imminent. Interestingly, the experts (who answered in 2015) predicted that AI would not surpass humans at Go until 2027 — yet that’s already happened.

https://futurism.com/experts-say-ai-has-a-50-chance-of-beating-all-human-intelligence-within-45-years/

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5 ways to use predictive analytics in an ethical manner

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

Institutions are increasingly turning to predictive analytics to help determine if students will enroll, and if so, whether or not they’ll need support to stay on track for graduation. But this data use begs the question–are decision-makers using the data ethically? The pressure to recruit and retain students grows daily in higher education, where institutions strive to ensure students earn diplomas. Predictive analytics–analyzing past student data to predict various things about current and prospective students–can help institutions meed enrollment and financial goals, according to a new policy paper from New America. Because without ethical practices, the use of student data could end up hurting students’ academic progress instead of helping it.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/news/predictive-analytics-ethical/

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June 18, 2017

How Blockchains Can Transform Colleges in a Networked World

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:09 am

by Richard DeMillo, Evolllution

With rising third-party costs for colleges and universities as well as students’ “less traditional” educational trajectories (jumping between traditional university coursework, online and employer certifications, and other new alternatives to the “course unit”), it seems that the American system of transcripts is due for a digital overhaul. That’s where blockchains come in. Blockchain technology borrows from the infrastructure that was invented to enable cryptocurrencies like BitCoin™ to function independent of central authorities. What if universities ditched the traditional, musty transcript in favor of a single, secure, global, distributed “registrar” to record all educational achievements? Utilizing blockchain technology, it is now possible to create a decentralized transcript.

http://evolllution.com/programming/credentials/this-will-go-on-your-permanent-record-how-blockchains-can-transform-colleges-in-a-networked-world/

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Higher ed stepping in to fill cybersecurity gaps

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:04 am

by Pat Donachie, Education Dive

In recent weeks, a pervasive ransomware attack affected systems throughout the world, causing chaos in National Health System hospitals in Great Britain and continuing to cripple hundreds of thousands of computers. The increase in cyberattacks has led to an increase in demand for qualified cybersecurity employees in government and private industry. Colleges and universities throughout the country are responding by offering degrees, certificates and tutorials in the burgeoning field. Texas A&M University at College Station recently instituted a minor degree program, while other institutions continue to find increased support and interest in cybersecurity degrees.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/higher-ed-stepping-in-to-fill-cybersecurity-gaps/443370/

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Myth vs. Reality: Four Behaviors That Define Successful Leaders

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:03 am

by Knowledge@Wharton

The data was fascinating. We embarked on the research; we weren’t fishing for any particular hypothesis to prove or disprove it. We applied a multitude of analytical approaches. What we found in terms of what didn’t matter surprised us as much as what we found of what did matter. For example, [we found] that the stereotypical, larger-than-life, charismatic CEO who never makes mistakes and is probably the smartest person in the room and rides in and out on a white horse with a perfect, unblemished record only exists in urban legends. And I’ve since come to realize that the only perfect CEOs I know are the ones whom I don’t know.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/myth-vs-reality-four-behaviors-define-successful-leaders/

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June 17, 2017

Continuing education enhances business, brings its own rewards

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:11 am

by Eva Fedderly, Savannah Morning News

The “abilities” — availability, flexibility and affordability — are luring more business professionals than ever to pursue continuing education. And many are finding it the key to advancement, say educators who have made lifetime learning their business. “Continuing education has been around for well over 100 years,” said Dr. Tracey Wofford, Mercer University’s Director of Admissions for Adult Learning Programs and adjunct faculty member. The classic definition of continuing education, according to Wofford, is when adult learners, who have a college education, seek higher degrees. “That definition is shifting because of online courses. Online extends the accessibility of programs.”

http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2017-05-29/continuing-education-enhances-business-brings-its-own-rewards

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Support grows for public availability of student employment outcomes

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by Pat Donachie, Education Dive

There is an increased call for support of bipartisan legislation authorizing the federal government to release information regarding employment outcomes for students graduating from higher educational institutions, with supporters saying the data could help students and parents in the college selection process, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The “College Transportation Act” would reduce regulations on colleges and universities, enabling them to more easily submit information — and while its passage as seen as unlikely without a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, supporters say it is a matter of time before this bill or a similar one passes. Critics of the bill are concerned with privacy matters, arguing that the legislation would constitute a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, with an association representing private colleges saying it releases data without students’ permission — though supporters of the bill say the legislation mandates strict data protocols.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/support-grows-for-public-availability-of-student-employment-outcomes/443766/

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