by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Most educators who have attempted to infuse their instructional activities with edtech have learned the hard way that things do not always go according to plan. But wise educators will turn this into a learning opportunity: the inevitable challenges to getting technology to work properly can become a powerful lesson on adaptability and flexibility that will help students develop these soft skills. Another crucial soft skill is open-mindedness. Edtech tools that encourage students to think outside of the box can be very helpful in developing this key skill. There are many programs and platforms that make it easy for classrooms to be linked to other classrooms in other countries for collaborative projects, and this is exactly the kind of experience that will help students learn to think more broadly. In short, the need for soft skills isn’t going away—if anything, these skills will become more important in an increasingly-digital workspace.

Using Digital Tools to Teach Soft Skills

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

When budget woes threatened faculty reductions in the anthropology department at Kansas State University, one professor decided to address the shortfall by teaching differently. The professor, Michael Wesch, has a long track record of teaching innovation. He’s won a national teacher-of-the-year award and his viral videos about education earned him praise from Wired magazine. Throughout his career, Wesch has relentlessly refreshed his approach, at one point admitting that some of the tech he’s infused in his teaching wasn’t working and trying a reboot.One way he looks at the online course is as a competitor to commercial textbooks, but one that is updated and enhanced by a community of professors. For instructors who want to adopt it, he provides a password to a library of materials, and even plans to add the slides he uses for the in-person version of the course. And he encourages those professors to upload their own materials as well. So far about seven courses at other colleges have adopted the site so far for their courses.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-08-16-how-an-experimental-online-course-helped-one-anthropology-department-keep-a-professor-and-a-half

by Greg Toppo, Inside Higher Ed

AAUP releases a nondisclosure agreement professors must sign that appears to bar them from sharing much of anything or criticizing the program after they leave. Faculty leaders are sounding the alarm about what they call a highly restrictive employee agreement at Purdue University Global — one that requires academics to potentially waive their rights to course materials they create. It also prohibits ex-employees from hiring former Purdue colleagues for a year — or from bad-mouthing Purdue once they’re gone. The written agreement, critics say, allows the university to be the arbiter of who owns the rights to instructional materials. Such limitations are highly unusual for nonprofit higher education, but Purdue Global is unusual, the result of Purdue University’s purchase last year of the for-profit Kaplan University.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/23/aaup-purdue-global-gets-decide-who-owns-faculty-work

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

What do universities want from online program management providers? I have no idea. Ask me what I want in a potential OPM partner, and I’ll talk your ear off. But search for any research on how universities evaluate the decision to partner with a for-profit company to build, market, launch and run a new online degree program — and you will be mostly searching in vain. The growing phenomenon of nonprofit/for-profit partnerships in postsecondary online learning needs research attention. We need to move OPM analysis out of the world of for-profit consulting companies and higher ed blogs. We need to investigate the changing way in which higher education programs are financed, including the OPM partnership model, involving scholars who are committed to independent and sustained research.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/technology-and-learning/5-things-universities-want-opm-providers

by RUPENDRA JOSHI, Himalayan Times
By using cybergogy to heutagogy pedagogical approach, we can teach and prepare our students to survive and thrive in a global economy and help them become capable to apply skills and competence effectively.  The use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has created a new teaching and learning concept in education pedagogy known as cybergogy. Cybergogy concept/ strategy is a virtual learning environment for the advancement of cognitive, emotional and social learning of the students. Heutagogy is a student-centric teaching and learning strategy where the learning is determined by the learner. A heutagogical learning environment facilitates development of capable learners and emphasises both the development of learner competence as well as the development of the learner’s capability and capacity to learn. It is also a pedagogical approach that could be applied to emerging technologies in distance education.

Cybergogy to heutagogy: For engaged learning

by Nicci Fagan, EdTech

Speculation about the potential uses of blockchains in education has been building for some time, but we’ve now moved squarely into the era of implementation. Blockchains — digital records of individuals’ academic degrees, professional certifications and other official records — are an intriguing concept for institutions that have long relied on transcripts and diplomas to attest to academic achievement. The attraction? Blockchains are tamper-proof, easily accessible and convenient for prospective employers, graduate schools and others that need to verify credentials. Proponents argue that blockchains also put the ownership of credentials back into the hands of individuals, rather than institutions. Users can request their official records just once and then share them whenever and with whomever they choose.

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2018/08/universities-use-blockchain-streamline-student-services

BY YOKO ISHIKURA, Japan Times

The need to acquire new knowledge and develop new skills throughout life, i.e., lifelong learning, has been recognized and advocated around the world. As jobs undergo transformation and the way we learn and work is affected by new technologies, we cannot assume that the three-phase sequential approach to life — school, work and retirement — will remain efficient and effective in the future. We need to depart from the conventional thinking that a majority of learning takes place when we are young and mainly at school, with little additional learning and development of new skills during the work and retirement phases. With life expectancies increasing in the advanced economies, we need to constantly update and refresh ourselves, keeping up with the changes in the world, in order to have a meaningful life with purpose.

Start lifetime learning now

by James Paterson, Education Dive
A consortium for eight California community colleges is experimenting with virtual labs to train students remotely in the latest IT and cyber security skills. The South Central Coast Regional Consortium (SCCRC) Virtual Lab Project is being tested this academic year with hopes it will be made available broadly in 2019. An IT professor at one of the colleges participating in a trial of the project was able to increase his class capacity from 25 students to 40 without adding any lab space or hardware. He estimates that using the lab will eventually reduce his workload by half, though project designers note that instructors may find initially more time is involved. It will be linked to the Canvas learning management system already used by the eight colleges. The project has been backed by a collection or organizations including California Polytechnic State University Digital Transformation Hub, a venture between the university and Amazon intended to offer support for such initiatives.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/virtual-labs-to-teach-in-demand-tech-skills-take-shape/530208/

by James Paterson, Education Dive
Use of artificial intelligence has become more common in the college classroom, and advocates say it can help with everything from improved writing skills to understanding DNA theory, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Critics charge, however, that AI may be used to gloss over structural problems in higher education and result in formulaic teaching and potential threats to privacy. In a broad look at the use of AI at colleges and universities, the Chronicle of Higher Education notes that it can perhaps fine tune assignments, analyze student writing to see if it is on track and recommend prompts and organize lesson plans, adjusting them according to student understanding. AI systems allow some instructors more time for individual interaction with students giving them more information about their performance as a group and individually. Advanced systems might use machine learning to gather data and, for instance, design a better textbook or provide recommendations to medical students about the right procedure in certain circumstances.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/artificial-intelligence-gaining-ground-as-college-teaching-tool/530038/

By Ramona Schindelheim, Working Nation

“The July jobs report shows the magnitude of small businesses that are growing and hiring at record levels, creating new jobs and opportunities for the workforce,” says NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan in a statement. The survey also sees a record-high 37 percent of owners say they had an open position in July that they couldn’t fill. The openings were in construction, manufacturing and wholesale trades for both skilled and unskilled labor. New data from the Labor Department put the number of all open jobs in the country at 6.7 million. “Record job openings suggest that the economy can keep up its growth pace over the next few years if the labor shortage can be resolved or mitigated,” adds NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.

Small businesses say worker shortage is biggest challenge

by EDUCAUSE

For more than a decade, EDUCAUSE has partnered with the New Media Consortium (NMC) to publish the annual Horizon Report – Higher Education Edition. Earlier this year, EDUCAUSE acquired the rights to the NMC Horizon project, which identifies and describes the higher education trends, challenges, and developments in educational technology likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry. EDUCAUSE is publishing this 15th edition to both honor and work actively with the NMC’s Horizon legacy.

Key Trends Accelerating Higher Education Technology Adoption

Short Term—Driving technology adoption in Higher Education for the next one to two years

• Growing Focus on Measuring Learning
• Redesigning Learning Spaces

Mid-Term—Driving technology adoption in Higher Education for the next three to five years

• Proliferation of Open Educational Resources
• The Rise of New Forms of Interdisciplinary Studies

https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/8/2018-nmc-horizon-report

By TARA GARCÍA MATHEWSON, THE HECHINGER REPORT

Sophia Jones-Redmond, superintendent of the district, which serves students from ages 13 to 21, said that a blended-learning model has been a major factor in this success. While teachers still provide some instruction, students also get to take classes online, and they have the option of moving through the coursework at a faster pace than traditional school schedules allow. “The self-paced schedule has made a huge difference in the number of kids obtaining credits,” Jones-Redmond said. “Once they start, they really want to keep going.”

http://www.nprillinois.org/post/online-learning-can-open-doors-kids-juvenile-jails#stream/0

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

According to authors Elaine Beirne from Ireland’s Dublin City University and Matthew Romanoski from the University of Arizona, there is “no universal profile” for an instructional designer, and the path to the job may come through teaching in higher ed, working in technology, holding an academic research role or having a graphic design background. Even with this variety, the goal of the job is consistent across the board: to improve student success. In this, collaboration with faculty is the “top challenge.” Oftentimes, instructional designers have to overcome the idea that online learning works “crock pot style” (set it up and “forget it”), or they face instructor concern that a given course will become more mechanized and lose its personal touch in the design process, leaving students adrift as little more than an ID number.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/08/13/despite-increase-in-instructional-designers-there-is-no-universal-profile-for-the-role.aspx

A Q&A with Kalpana (Kal) Srinivas, Campus Technology

Student advising has always been considered the linchpin of retention, a critical area for higher education institutions. And our retention gurus have held for years that it’s important that a student’s advisor is one of the key people they build a relationship with. Data analytics may seem to be a more recent phenomenon, but it’s now over 10 years since EDUCAUSE began publishing articles suggesting that if colleges and universities can place more and better information into the hands of a greater number of people, this enables better decision making. These two factors together became the crux of our understanding of how important it is to get critical information into the hands of advisors, so that they can do the holistic student advising we are asking them to do.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/08/13/data-analytics-and-student-advising-creating-a-culture-shift-on-campus.aspx

By Sydney Johnson, EdSurge

A new report this week explores whether libraries can play a more proactive role in helping commAmong the report’s main findings: students and schools don’t always define “student success” by the same measures. Unlike metrics like transfer or completion rates, which colleges often use, students in the study pointed to intrinsic goals, such as career advancement and skill mastery, as stronger personal measures of success.unity college students succeed. Researchers started by first asking 37 students from seven community colleges what challenges they face, which will inform the next phase of the project: devising ways to test whether libraries can assist with barriers around, say, finances, childcare, transportation and other challenges.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-08-13-libraries-are-often-missing-from-student-success-initiatives-researchers-are-asking-how-to-change-that

By Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Robot tutors aren’t about to replicate the full array of teaching-and-learning behaviors that take place as a matter of course among people anytime soon. But artificial intelligence does raise a provocative question, one no doubt on the minds of educators worried about the decline in public higher-education funding: If administrators are willing to cut corners by paying low wages to adjuncts and giving them heavy courseloads, what’s to stop them from trimming their costs even further by offering students some adaptive courseware and a teaching assistant instead? Institutions inclined that way, says Baker, “are probably going to be willing to accept low-quality solutions.” He and other educator-advocates say AI can be of real value to learning. Algorithms can reveal patterns of student behavior not immediately noticeable to a professor. Adaptive courseware can nudge students toward effective learning strategies. Tools that can outsource lower-level tasks are worthy of consideration.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Artificial-Intelligence-Is/244231

by Leslie D’Monte, Live Mint

Andrew Yan-Tak Ng, regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on Artificial Intelligence (AI), firmly believes that despite the widespread mistrust of AI, it is good for governments, companies and individuals. Currently co-chairman and co-founder of the online learning platform Coursera and an adjunct professor at Stanford University’s computer science department, Ng served as chief scientist and vice-president at Chinese tech company Baidu and was founding lead of the Google Brain team. In a phone interview from the Coursera headquarters in Mountain View, California, Ng spoke about the need for the Indian government to invest in education. He also shared his perspective on the potential of AI and the fears surrounding it.

https://www.livemint.com/AI/Z4iukEGG8HXCGxebkrud7N/Courseras-Andrew-Ng-dreams-of-AI-powered-local-solutions.html

by Washington Post Editorial Board

Schools that have experimented with online learning to replace snow days, such as Pascack Valley Regional High School District in northern New Jersey, which does get its fair share of snow, say it has proved to be worthwhile. Far better, Pascack Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen told us, than tacking on makeup days to spring break (poorly attended) or the end of the school year (worthless). He also said the practice helps prepare students for life by showing them how to balance family life with work responsibilities.

To be sure, there are challenging issues of cost, logistics and accessibility that would need to be worked out by schools, particularly those with large districts. But the benefits — foremost, added learning for students — make this policy one worthy of study and debate. And while they are at it, school administrators might also want to consider why the school calendar is still based on a world in which children needed the summer free to work on the family farm.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-rain-on-the-idea-of-online-classes-for-snow-days/2018/08/12/2cea0b94-9740-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html

BY GEORGIA MARIANI, eCampus News

The success of higher education institutions depends on the ability to excel across the student life cycle. Regardless of the type, size, or focus of a college or university, they all strive to attract and enroll high-quality students, retain and graduate students, and maintain strong relationships with alumni. One of the keys to realizing these outcomes is using analytics to go beyond reporting on what has happened in the past, to providing a best assessment on what will happen in the future. By applying analytics to student life cycle data, universities can generate deeper insight into students before they arrive, while they are on campus, and after they leave.

10 ways colleges use analytics to increase student success

By Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

Despite lingering skepticism about the future of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the technology behind them is becoming a focus of university teaching and research.  Growing interest in blockchain by employers has presented them an opportunity to provide workers professional and continuing education. Peter McAliney, executive director for online and extended learning at Montclair State University’s center for continuing and professional education, recently spearheaded the launch of three professional blockchain certificates — one covering the basics, one for developers and one focusing on applications of blockchain in the financial sector.  The three certificate courses cost between $1,995 and $4,250 and are delivered in partnership with The Blockchain Academy — a company that offers corporate training and education in blockchain.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/13/rising-profile-blockchain-academe

by  Elizabeth Woyke, MIT Technology Review

Companies need an objective metric to evaluate proficiency.  A new AI-powered tool developed by Coursera aims to be that metric. The feature, which the Bay Area startup announced today, lets companies that subscribe to its training programs see which of their employees are earning top scores in Coursera classes; how their employees’ skills measure up to their competitors’; and what courses would help fill any knowledge gaps. Companies will be able to access the tool, which uses machine learning to derive insights, in the online dashboard of their Coursera profiles later this year.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611790/coursera-ai-skills/