Online Learning Update

January 31, 2019

Giving a nudge: How digital alerts can keep students on track

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

By Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive
Colleges are using student data to craft custom text messages and other prompts to boost retention, but experts warn they can backfire. Nudges, when done right, are proving up to that task. Nudging is a concept that has gained traction in higher ed ever since the 2008 release of the book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” brought the subject to the public’s attention. Put simply, nudges are interventions that steer someone toward a better decision without taking away their choice. In higher ed, they take the form of messages delivered through texts, emails or the learning management system that warn a student if they’ve fallen off track, alert them to important deadlines and make them aware of campus resources. Student data comes into play by helping colleges figure out who needs what kind of information most.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/giving-a-nudge-how-digital-alerts-can-keep-students-on-track/545993/

Share on Facebook

AI surveillance goes to school

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

Kaveh Waddell, Axios
A new breed of intelligent video surveillance is being installed in schools around the country — tech that follows people around campus and detects unusual behaviors. Why it matters: This new phase in campus surveillance responds to high-profile school shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida, last February. School administrators are now reaching for security tech that keeps a constant, increasingly sophisticated eye on halls and classrooms. One drawback: a major blow to student privacy.

https://www.axios.com/ai-video-surveillance-schools-a5845755-9c68-480a-a4d6-5e075a4d17b4.html

Share on Facebook

Doctors Are Confident That AI Won’t Replace Them

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

Adi Gaskell, Forbes
Companies such as DeepMind and IBM have been at the forefront of introducing AI into healthcare, with their smart algorithms proving adept at finding patterns in large quantities of data that enable the machines to make accurate predictions in the diagnosis of a range of conditions. There have been projects to provide more accurate and earlier diagnoses for mental health, dementia, Parkinson’s, skin cancer, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and, well, you get the picture. The reporting of many of these projects has been accompanied by breathless claims that doctors work will soon be automated, with these claims seeming to be supported by the growing number of AI-based triage systems on the market that claim to be able to accurately diagnose patients after hearing of their various symptoms.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2019/01/18/doctors-are-confident-that-ai-wont-replace-them/#f22e2bf74044

Share on Facebook

January 30, 2019

5 ways to help students feel connected to your campus

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

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

Are you doing all you can to support students’ mental health and success? Students who report a strong sense of belonging at their college or university typically do better in school, and a new survey points to five key steps schools can take to support students’ mental health and success. This sense of belonging is critical for students, especially students who are first-generation college students and students of color from low-income backgrounds. In fact, feeling a sense of belonging has been proven to have an effect on college completion rates.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2019/01/18/5-ways-to-help-students-feel-connected-to-your-campus/

Share on Facebook

13 Industries Soon To Be Revolutionized By Artificial Intelligence

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

Forbes Technology Council

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have a rapidly growing presence in today’s world, with applications ranging from heavy industry to education. From streamlining operations to informing better decision making, it has become clear that this technology has the potential to truly revolutionize how the everyday world works. While AI and ML can be applied to nearly every sector, once the technology advances enough, there are many fields that are either reaping the benefits of AI right now or that soon will be. According to a panel of Forbes Technology Council members, here are 13 industries that will soon be revolutionized by AI.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/01/16/13-industries-soon-to-be-revolutionized-by-artificial-intelligence/

Share on Facebook

How Colleges Can Support Faculty New to Teaching Online #DLNchat

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

By Michael Sano, EdSurge

“Online teaching is the joy, fun, and magic of bringing teaching and learning into the online environment,” Karen Costa tweeted last Tuesday, January 8, kicking off the #DLNchat. Many may agree with Costa, but for faculty who have spent their academic careers teaching face-to-face, the shift to online instruction can be daunting. So last week, the #DLNchat community shared ideas about how to best support instructors making the transition to the online classroom.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-15-how-colleges-can-support-faculty-new-to-teaching-online-dlnchat

Share on Facebook

January 29, 2019

Coursera Targets Health-Care Education Market

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

By Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

Online learning provider Coursera has traditionally focused on developing courses in business, data and tech, areas where there is clear employer demand for skills. But the company is now targeting the health-care industry, which is also experiencing worker shortages. Coursera yesterday announced the launch of 100 new courses related to health care, 30 specializations — which are a series of related courses on one broad topic — and two master’s degrees in public health. The well-known purveyor of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, was already offering health-care-related courses, like many other online providers, but this is the first time the company has made health care a deliberate focus of its content development, said Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/01/18/coursera-expands-online-courses-health-care-professionals

Share on Facebook

Online Education Rules Under the Microscope

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

Lindsay McKenzie and Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed
Definitions of innovative teaching models and expectations for accreditors of new programs are on the agenda as the Department of Education considers changing standards. As the Trump administration this week convenes a panel of experts to consider rewriting federal policies around digital learning and innovation, the eternal tension between fostering experimentation and protecting educational quality will be on prominent display. The process, known as negotiated rule making — or “neg reg,” for those in a rush — began Tuesday with a wide-ranging session on the role of accreditors in policing innovation.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/01/16/department-education-rule-making-process-puts-online-education

Share on Facebook

Massive Online Courses Find A New Audience With Continuing Medical Education

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

By Sydney Johnson, EdSurge
Applications are surging for New York University’s School of Medicine after the university announced last year that its medical program would be tuition-free for all students. But NYU isn’t the only school trying to offer free medical training. Dozens of colleges and universities are taking courses in healthcare and medicine online—and making them free or low-cost—with massive online course platforms. Coursera, a company that hosts massive online courses and degrees, is the latest entrant among a growing number of online education providers that are entering the medical space.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-17-massive-online-courses-find-a-new-audience-with-continuing-medical-education

Share on Facebook

January 28, 2019

Provosts Count More on Online Programs

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

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed
More say they will increase emphasis on and allocate “major funds” to online offerings. Survey also finds solid but not spectacular support for open educational resources, and that backing for competency-based programs is more philosophical than practical. Increasing numbers of college and university chief academic officers plan to expand their online offerings and make major allocations of funds to online programs, a new survey by Inside Higher Ed shows.  The 2019 Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers, published by Inside Higher Ed in conjunction with Gallup, finds that 83 percent of provosts say they will increase their emphasis on expanding online programs and offerings. That figure has edged up slightly in recent years, from 79 percent in 2016.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/01/23/provosts-aim-lean-more-heavily-online-programs

Share on Facebook

Survey: Online, Blended Dominate Today’s Learning Environments

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

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology
In our latest Teaching with Technology Survey, the vast majority of faculty members said they teach in either a fully online or blended format.  In a recent survey, nearly nine in 10 faculty members (87 percent) at colleges and universities across the country said they are using either fully online or a mix of online and face-to-face instruction in their courses. That leaves just 13 percent who are still teaching exclusively face-to-face. These findings come out of Campus Technology’s 2018 Teaching with Technology Survey, which asked higher education faculty about their work with online and blended courses and their plans for exploring those modes in the future. The blended model was the most common among our respondents, at 76 percent, up from 73 percent in 2017.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/01/16/survey-online-blended-dominate-todays-learning-environments.aspx

Share on Facebook

Experts Debate Merits of AI in Education

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

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Will artificial intelligence make most people better off over the next decade, or will it redefine what free will means or what a human being is? A new report by the Pew Research Center has weighed in on the topic by conferring with some 979 experts, who have, in summary, predicted that networked AI “will amplify human effectiveness but also threaten human autonomy, agency and capabilities.” the experts were asked whether AI and related technology will by the year 2030 enhance human capacities or allow them to deteriorate, the majority (63 percent) said most people will be better off.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/12/20/experts-debate-merits-of-ai-in-education.aspx

Share on Facebook

January 27, 2019

A country’s ambitious plan to teach anyone the basics of AI

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

 

Karen Hao – MIT Technology Review
In the era of AI superpowers, Finland is no match for the US and China. So the Scandinavian country is taking a different tack. It has embarked on an ambitious challenge to teach the basics of AI to 1% of its population, or 55,000 people. Once it reaches that goal, it plans to go further, increasing the share of the population with AI know-how. The scheme is all part of a greater effort to establish Finland as a leader in applying and using the technology. Citizens take an online course that is specifically designed for non–technology experts with no programming experience. The government is now rolling it out nationally. As of mid-December, more than 10,500 people, including at least 4,000 outside of Finland’s borders, had graduated from the course. More than 250 companies have also pledged to train part or all of their workforce.

https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/612762/a-countrys-ambitious-plan-to-teach-anyone-the-basics-of-ai/

Share on Facebook

Comparing and Contrasting Competency-Based Programs

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

By Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed
Three online or hybrid CBE programs reflect the diversity of approaches to offering instruction on a flexible timetable, and with a focus on acquiring skills. Competency-based education (CBE) has become an increasingly prevalent topic of conversation in higher ed circles in recent years — and 2019 could lead to more activity. New rules proposed by the U.S. Education Department last week appear designed to spur more growth in innovative CBE programs by easing the burden on accreditors to secure federal approval. But how does CBE work, exactly? We’ve picked three examples from different types of institutions in different parts of the country to offer a sense of the landscape’s diversity.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/01/16/competency-based-programs-offer-flexible-learning-variety-models

Share on Facebook

Looking to the Student-Centered Future of Higher Education

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

Louis Soares, Evolllution
As learning innovations move beyond traditional colleges and universities, higher education must consciously define its value and revise its structures accordingly to best accommodate learners’ needs.
In 2018, the postsecondary industry underwent a unique evolution in terms of student demographics and learning innovation. Students are no longer treated as a monolithic entity. Instead, colleges and universities are shifting towards a human-centered approach to change management—an evolution that will impact the industry in coming years. In this interview, Louis Soares reflects on some of the broad shifts that occurred across the postsecondary environment in 2018 and shares his insights on how this space will continue to evolve through 2019 and beyond.

https://evolllution.com/managing-institution/operations_efficiency/looking-to-the-student-centered-future-of-higher-education/

Share on Facebook

January 26, 2019

6 Things to Know About Textbooks for Online Courses

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

By Jordan Friedman, US News

Online students may consider purchasing rather than renting textbooks if they plan to keep course materials as career resources.  Certain professors may not assign any textbooks and will simply have students download a series of journal articles and other reading materials at no cost. Other online courses may utilize Open Educational Resources, or OERs, which are free materials on the internet that are often available to anyone and are produced through university, state or federally funded projects, says Tony Contento, program manager for the School of Professional Studies at Colorado State University—Global Campus. “What they represent is a free resource for students designed by active professors,” Contento says. “And sometimes these professors even design other materials – videos, interactives, assessments – for student and faculty use.”

https://www.usnews.com/higher-education/online-education/articles/2019-01-15/6-things-to-know-about-textbooks-for-online-courses

Share on Facebook

Seven Things to Consider Before Developing Your Online Course

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

By: Brian Udermann, Faculty Focus

As the number of online courses and degree programs in higher education continues to increase, more faculty are being asked to design and develop online courses. Sometimes this course design and development process is done somewhat reflexively, in a short time period, and with limited planning and preparation. This is not ideal as it can lead to a more stressful course development process for instructors and negatively impact the quality of online offerings. This article will explore seven things that instructors should consider prior to developing an online course

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/seven-things-to-consider-before-developing-your-online-course/

Share on Facebook

As OER Grows Up, Advocates Stress More Than Just Low Cost

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

By Jeffrey R. Young and Sydney Johnson, EdSurge

Open educational resources hit a turning point in 2018. For the first time ever, the federal government put forward funds to support initiatives around open educational resources, and recent studies show that faculty attitudes towards using and adapting these openly-licensed learning materials are steadily improving. But fans of OER are increasingly facing a problem. While OER started off as free online textbooks, it still costs money to produce these materials, and professors often need guidance finding which ones are high quality.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-15-as-oer-grows-up-advocates-stress-more-than-just-low-cost

Share on Facebook

January 25, 2019

MOOCs Will Evolve Into Online Degrees

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

By IBL News

The best use of MOOCs may be in providing instruction that leads to online master’s degrees for professionals, researchers stated in a forum titled “The MOOC Pivot” published on the January 11 issue of Science. Their prediction seems to strike a blow at the heart of edX’s mission: to ensure access to quality education for learners around the world. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, argued that the study misses the continuing growth in the edX platform overall, with 2,400 courses and 20 million learners. Today, edX addresses the professional degrees, and offers programs directly to businesses.

https://iblnews.org/2019/01/15/moocs/

Share on Facebook

IBM’s AI Machine Makes A Convincing Case That It’s Mastering The Human Art Of Persuasion

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

Carmine Gallo, Forbes
Project Debater is the latest AI technology in IBM’s series of grand challenges. The AI-generated speeches are remarkably convincing. IBM Research has built an AI system that can analyze 300 million articles, papers or records on a given topic and construct a persuasive speech about it. It would take a human—reading twenty-four hours a day—about 2,000 years to get through the same material. IBM Project Debater does it in 10 minutes.  Rest easy. It won’t replace humans for reasons I’ll explain below. It will, however, have profound implications for how we make decisions to solve complex challenges.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2019/01/13/ibms-ai-machine-makes-a-convincing-case-that-its-mastering-the-human-art-of-persuasion/#316da0e62a48

Share on Facebook

ASU Prep Digital partners to offer college-level courses to Argentinian high school students

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

ASU Prep Digital and Belgrano Day School in Buenos Aires, Argentina, have partnered to offer students enhanced educational opportunities on an international scale. ASU Prep Digital is a college prep option where online high school and university courses converge in a unique learning opportunity. The rigorous virtual school program prepares students for college acceptance and encourages them to start earning credit toward college majors and careers in an increasingly interconnected environment.  Belgrano Day School is a bilingual and coeducational school, offering a national and international curriculum for students ages 2 to 18 years old. Established in 1912, the school has a long-held tradition of academic excellence; achievements in art, drama and music production; and competitive sportsmanship. Currently, two students from Belgrano Day School are taking concurrent courses with ASU Prep Digital.

 

https://asunow.asu.edu/20190107-asu-prep-digital-partners-offer-college-level-courses-argentinian-high-school-students

Share on Facebook
Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress