Techno-News Blog

by Sue Pelletier, MeetingsNet

If intuition tells you that an online learning portal that prompts learners with notes and reminders at strategic spots, includes interactive polls and links to resources, and allows learners to take notes and send themselves reminders would be more effective than one that just entails watching the traditional video with periodic polls, you’d be right—times four. At least, that’s what data from a recent comparative effectiveness trial indicates.

http://meetingsnet.com/cme-design/data-show-interactivity-quadruples-effectiveness-e-learning

by University Business

The White House today announced that Arizona State University will lead the National STEM Collaborative, a consortium of 19 institutions of higher education and postsecondary and non-profit partners committed to supporting girls and women of color in STEM fields. The announcement by the White House Council for Women and Girls reflects the national recognition earned by ASU’s Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology (CGEST) and the Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Kimberly A. Scott, in encouraging greater access to STEM for women and girls of color. Among other achievements, Dr. Scott founded the nationally lauded CompuGirls program.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/white-house-taps-asu-lead-national-stem-collaborative

by University of Kansas

A new study based on longitudinal data confirms a college degree provides an advantage in lifetimes earnings, but a related decision once students make it to college could prove to be even more crucial. The study that includes a University of Kansas researcher found large lifetime earnings gaps depending on a student’s field of study. For examples, men who major in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM fields, and earning a bachelor’s degree achieved roughly $700,000 to $800,000 higher 40-year lifetime earnings from ages 20 to 59 than social science or liberal arts majors. Related to gender, college degrees no matter the field of study seem to benefit women with higher earnings compared with women who only graduated high school. For men in some fields of study, the earnings return would not be as high as a woman over her high school counterparts. “This is not because college-educated women earn more than equally educated men,” Kim said, “but because labor market opportunities for less educated women are so scarce.”

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uok-coc091115.php

by Christopher Ly, elPaisano

If you’re the type of student who doesn’t mind being an individual learner and loves to study by yourself and you usually don’t tend to have issues with reading and understanding what is given to you, then the online classes may suit you. But if you’re very weak in the area of math for example, I’d recommend taking the course in person, in a classroom setting instead of online because the online course limits the amount of help you’ll receive from the professor. I am not very great at math and had issues with learning the subject when I took it online, and as a result ended up dropping the course due to my ability not to understand the problems and finding it difficult to communicate with the professor to help me with the problem that I had. If you are a responsible, self-disciplined student that is computer literate then you should do just fine in an online course.

http://elpaisanoonline.com/opinion/2015/09/13/are-online-college-courses-the-way-to-go/

By Dennis Pierce, THE Journal

From the outside, Barrow Elementary School in Athens, GA, looks like any traditional school building built in the 1920s. Inside, it looks completely different. Instead of desks arranged in tidy rows, the classrooms have tables that can be reconfigured in seconds by the students themselves, depending on what an assignment calls for. There are spaces where students can work together in teams, and comfortable chairs for individual study. Nooks tucked off hallways enable teachers and students to gather in small groups, and wireless access points allow them to use portable digital devices anywhere in the building. According to Philip Lanoue, the superintendent of Clarke County School District, where Barrow is located, “Our goal is that, when you walk into our buildings, you’re inspired to learn.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/08/25/3-ways-mobile-technology-is-transforming-learning-spaces.aspx

By Beth Luberecki, Washington Post

If you’re considering getting a graduate degree, a MOOC (massive open online course) can be one way to check out a university or program. Completing a MOOC can give you an indication of whether you want to enroll in a traditional master’s program. “They can be a great way to find out in a short period of time if that subject interests you or not,” says Elaine Shuck, president of the U.S. Distance Learning Association. These free online courses help give you an indication of a professor’s teaching style and expertise. “You could get a good sense of what a particular faculty member is like and whether or not it’s someone you want to work with,” says Edward Maloney, executive director of the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship at Georgetown University.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2015/09/14/massive-open-online-courses-moocs-can-help-you-achieve-the-next-step-in-your-career/

By The Texas Tribune

The Texas State University System has an idea for future students busy with families and jobs: Don’t even show up on campus freshman year. Starting next fall, the system plans to encourage nontraditional students to take free massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, before arriving on campus. If they take 10 courses and pass tests for college credit, students could show up at school with a year’s work complete before paying a single tuition bill. The courses will be run by the New York-based nonprofit the Modern States Education Alliance through a program called Freshman Year for Free. The group plans to launch a free online portal providing access to about three dozen free online courses next fall.

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-09-13/texas-try-free-freshman-online-courses

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times

Students around the country — and often their parents — have racked up so much college debt since the recession that it now threatens the nation’s economic growth. The debt weighs down millions of Americans who might otherwise buy homes or start businesses. And the financial horror stories of debt-saddled students, combined with continued increases in tuition, could deter others from attending college and could produce a less-educated workforce. “The impact on future (economic) growth could be quite significant,” said Cristian deRitis, who analyzes consumer credit economics for Moody’s Analytics. The amount of outstanding student loans has skyrocketed 76 percent to almost $1.2 trillion since 2009 as college costs have shot up and graduates have had difficulty finding good-paying jobs.

http://swtimes.com/nationworld/soaring-student-loan-burden-poses-risk-economic-growth

by Seth Slabaugh, Star-Press

On-campus enrollment at Ball State University has dropped for the fourth consecutive year, but overall enrollment is up as the number of online students grows. The school has 16,602 on-campus students this fall, down from 18,241 in the fall of 2011. That means 1,639 fewer students are taking classes on the main campus this fall than four years ago, a decrease of 9 percent. One faculty member is calling the trend “pretty worrisome,” another says it is typical for schools such as Ball State and a third attributes the decline to the high cost of a college education and concerns over student debt.

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2015/09/12/bsu-campus-enrollment-total/72157660/

by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

Modern States Education Alliance, an organization initially billed as an accreditor for nontraditional providers of education, is changing its focus and taking a more direct route to increasing access to higher education, its founders say. Last week, the organization recruited another set of institutions to join in that effort: the Texas State University System. Freshman Year for Free is one step toward Modern States’ goal. Starting next year, the initiative will offer about 30 massive open online courses designed to help students pass standardized placement tests for which many colleges award credit. “We want to be an on-ramp to college education for students of varying backgrounds and ages,” Vise said, adding that the courses could benefit high school students, members of the military, adult learners and students looking to complete degrees.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/14/modern-states-education-alliance-shifts-focus-away-accreditation

By Denver Fowler, John Riley, THE Journal

Today, more and more school leaders and educators are creating Twitter accounts in order to access the overwhelming amount of free professional development that Twitter has to offer. For this article, we are going to focus on using Twitter chats to interact with your Professional Learning Network (PLN) and to take advantage of all that free PD. A great way to start building your PLN is to search for hashtags of Twitter chats that might be of interest to you. You can do this by searching in the Twitter search box. An example search for an assistant principal might be #apchat (an assistant principals’ chat), whereas an example search for an educator might be #edchat (a chat on all education subjects). Other examples of searches could include #scichat (a science teachers’ chat) and #artsed (an art teachers’ chat). Searching for these hashtags and others allows you to find individuals on Twitter who are interested in the Twitter chats that you are interested in. You can find a detailed list of Twitter chat hashtags listed by time zone and day of the week at EduChatCalendar.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/09/11/how-to-build-your-pln-on-twitter.aspx

By Meg Lloyd, Campus Technology

Tying together timelines, note-taking, geolocation and multimedia, The Traveler provides a cutting-edge mobile journaling experience for students working in the field, starting with the ability to record and visualize their pathways. In order to analyze field experiences effectively, students needed to make more detailed records of their in-the-field observations. They needed a way to collect thoughts and discussions in the field and be able to link them to photographs, notes, sketches and other documentation. Recognizing that mobile technology could provide a useful tool to meet those needs, Ball State’s Information Technology team developed The Traveler, an Android app that allows students to create a record and visualization of their pathways, based on timelines, effective note-taking, geolocation and annotated multimedia curation.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/08/mobile-journaling-app-helps-students-document-field-learning.aspx

By Ron Bethke, eCampus News

A new report examines learner activities during MOOCs, and the importance of integrating certain tools. Course design may take a back seat to personal and environmental factors, and notetaking is just as critical during MOOCs as in face-to-face courses. These are just a few of the findings of new qualitative research that examines the experiences and practices of students who participate in MOOCs. Published by Dr. George Veletsianos and two other colleagues in the British Journal of Educational Technology in May this year, the study aims to provide an understanding of how people experience MOOCs and why they engage in particular activities in the ways that they do.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/mooc-learner-experiences-769/

by Kristyna Zapletalova, TIME

Forget overpriced schools, long days in a crowded classroom, and pitifully poor results. These websites and apps cover myriads of science, art, and technology topics. They will teach you practically anything, from making hummus to building apps in node.js, most of them for free. There is absolutely no excuse for you not to master a new skill, expand your knowledge, or eventually boost your career. You can learn interactively at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home. It’s hard to imagine how much easier it can possibly be.

http://time.com/4032036/best-websites-learn-something-new/

by John LaMar, US News

A full-time job and a full-time course load aren’t workable for every online student. After closing five tabs on my Chrome Web browser and another eight course documents, I looked at my schedule for the upcoming week: three and a half hours of free time left – not for a day, but for the entire week. My typical day as an online bachelor’s student was looking like this: wake up at 5:45 a.m., get to work by 7 a.m. at the latest, do an hour of class work before starting my job at 8 a.m., work eight hours while taking an hour lunch break to study, go home, take a 20-minute power nap before eating, then do another three to four hours of studying before falling asleep. The next day, the routine began again.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/2015/09/11/know-your-time-management-limits-as-an-online-student

By Troy Williams, eCampus News

Slimming down the big data discussion to what really matters. The era of big data in higher education has arrived. However, it’s important for campuses to figure out how to properly capture, manage, and use this data wisely in order to improve student outcomes and retention at their institution. If the data is not properly utilized, the institution runs the risk of wasting both time and money. It’s imperative that this data is properly gathered and assessed in order to turn the results into useful information that will help enhance the institution for both current and future students.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/big-data-higher-265/

by Sue Gee, i-programmer

Two new courses from Microsoft, one on XAML, the other on jQuery, start next week on edX. Other of the edX/Microsoft courses are now self-paced so you can begin them whenever you want. Microsoft partnered with edX earlier this year to run MOOCs taught by Microsoft trainers and taking advantage of the edX delivery platform. Both the new courses are relatively short. DEV206.1x: Introduction to XAML and Application Development, which starts on September 14th lasts 4 weeks with an estimated workload of 3-5 hours per week. Its prerequisites are: Experience developing .NET applications with C# and Experience using Visual Studio and its intended audience is people interested in developing Universal Windows apps.

http://i-programmer.info/news/150-training-a-education/8978-more-microsoft-courses-on-edx.html

by Campus Technology

Beginning in January, students who take select courses in Harvard Business School’s online digital education initiative, also known as HBX, will receive college credit for them. Students who receive the HBX Certificate of Readiness (CORe) after passing three business fundamentals courses — business analytics, economics for managers and financial accounting — will receive eight undergraduate credits from the Harvard Extension School. Previously, those who took the courses, conceived a year and a half ago as an online counterpart to the on-campus Harvard Business School experience, received only the credential but no college credit. The eight units can count toward an undergraduate degree from the extension school and, if transferable, used toward a degree at another university.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/10/harvard-business-school-begins-offering-credit-for-some-online-extension-courses.aspx?admgarea=news

By Toni Fuhrman, Campus Technology

Using an app he created, in classes he has configured around mobile technology, Ronald Yaros is preparing his students for a future that will revolve around their technological skills. “Today’s students are tomorrow’s information producers and consumers,” said Yaros, who is an associate professor at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. “In the past five years, we have seen tectonic changes in how younger people adopt, adapt, and utilize mobile technology for virtually every aspect of their lives. For the next five years, I’m interested in how evolving technology will continue to change the ways in which users interact with information.” According to Yaros, without a systemic change in how we engage students in and outside of class, technology can be — and often is — viewed as getting in the way of learning.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/08/why-we-should-build-classes-around-mobile-tech.aspx

By David Weldon, Campus Technology

Jane LeClair, chief operating officer at the National Cybersecurity Institute at Excelsior College in Washington, DC, recently stressed the need for higher education to step up its game around IT security. And she urged colleges and universities that haven’t already done so to embrace the role of the chief information security officer, or CISO. LeClair appeared at the Campus Technology 2015 conference in Boston speaking on the topic “Cybersecurity at the C-Level: Preparing Future Leaders.’ While she discussed the need for more cybersecurity professionals at all levels of the organization, she stressed the growing demand for a single accountable IT security individual that can hold his or her own with other top executives in the organization.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/10/why-higher-ed-needs-to-step-up-its-it-security-game.aspx