Techno-News Blog

BY MATTHEW LYNCH, Tech Edvocate

Education and economic success have long been entwined. Those who improve their ability to think and reason also increase the likelihood of improving their economic situation. Economic success and upward social mobility begin in school. While getting a high school diploma is critical for initial success, real social mobility and sustainable economic strength are the result of obtaining a postsecondary degree. Incorporating artificial intelligence in instructional programs increases the likelihood of a successful education. AI is poised to change not only how learners advance their studies, but also how they can position themselves in social networks.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/3-ways-ai-augments-the-likelihood-of-social-mobility/

Hunt Lambert, The EvoLLLution
Sticking to the status quo will end in disaster for most postsecondary institutions. To stay relevant, institutions have to rethink all aspects of the higher Fast-changing labor demands, evolving learner expectations and transformed market realities are forcing college and university leaders to rethink the traditional postsecondary model and find ways to serve the growing numbers of lifelong learners. This idea has been broadly articulated as the 60-Year Curriculum (60YC), and executing on this vision demands a fundamental change in how higher education institutions must operate to serve students. In this interview, Hunt Lambert expands on the 60YC vision and shares his insights into how the organizational models of postsecondary institutions need to evolve to adapt to this approach.

https://evolllution.com/revenue-streams/market_opportunities/redefining-norms-critical-to-sustained-relevance-in-the-changing-postsecondary-environment/

By Rhett Power, inc

If artificial intelligence isn’t at the top of your priority list, it should be. Deloitte’s “Tech Trends 2019: Beyond the digital frontier” report shows AI topping the list of tech trends that CIOs are eager to invest in.  Terms like “cognitive technologies” and “machine learning” have become buzzwords, but these trends will strengthen–particularly as these systems begin to harness the scads of data available from which they can extract insights. But AI’s promise is more general than just data mining. Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner at Fusion Fund, describes the technology as applicable to a broad swath of commerce: “AI’s application space has developed. The AI market has great potential across various industry verticals such as manufacturing, retail, healthcare, agriculture, and education.”

https://www.inc.com/rhett-power/3-things-that-will-help-you-leverage-ai.html

MTN News

The demand for lucrative cybersecurity jobs is rising rapidly, but experts in the field say they’re having a hard time finding people to fill them. In fact, a 2017 report shows more than 300,000 open cybersecurity jobs in America.  There’s also a severe lack of women in cybersecurity. Data from 2017 shows women make up just 11% of the workforce. In Montana, there’s a push to bridge that gap by attracting more women to the field, starting with girls in high school. “If you’re wondering, you know, what career field can I go into and have job security, cybersecurity is a great field to go into,” said Andy Hanks, the state’s chief security officer. This is the first year Montana is participating in Girls Go CyberStart, according to Hanks.

https://kpax.com/news/montana-news/2019/03/15/montana-high-school-girls-encouraged-to-learn-cybersecurity-skills/

Morgan Smith, Washington Post

When students return from spring break Monday, they will find access to Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services blocked in academic buildings on the West Lafayette, Ind., campus if they’re using university WiFi. System updates to Apple devices will also be banned. The prohibition is the result of a pilot program run by Purdue during the fall that blocked student access to five streaming sites in four lecture halls. Since then, the program has been extended to other academic spaces on campus and the list of banned streaming services has grown. University officials said they are not aware of other schools with similar bans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/03/15/purdue-university-bans-netflix-other-streaming-services-students-academic-buildings/

China.org
China will launch a nationwide campaign to promote online learning, according to a circular released by the Ministry of Education A total of 10 million teachers and students will be encouraged to register with online learning platforms this year, the circular said. The country will select 40 excellent online learning platforms and 200 schools and universities for nationwide promotion and demonstration. The ministry said it would continue to work with China Telecom and China Mobile to train 2,000 headmasters and 4,000 teachers of primary and secondary schools to better use online learning platforms.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2019-03/16/content_74578776.htm

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology
The use of data analytics and artificial intelligence, the inevitability of data breaches and six other topical subjects made up the latest “State of Higher Education” report from consultancy firm Grant Thornton. The company, which provides audit, tax and advisory services to 200 public and private institutions, each year covers the trends and issues it sees emerging out of the sector to help higher ed leaders understand how to manage their schools through the changes.  In the area of data analytics, audit services experts Claire Esten and Natalie Wood pointed to “program costing” as one of the nontraditional areas where the use of data is helping to contain cost.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/03/14/higher-ed-uncovering-new-ways-to-apply-data-and-ai-across-campus.aspx

Brian Uzzi, Forbes

It’s about to get personal. Even more personal, that is. We’re already accustomed to AI-driven personalization of everything from book and movie recommendations to music playlists. But this year should bring what we could consider “hyper-personalization” to consumers through a range of applications focused on health, finances, shopping, and everything in between. This is due to the growing capabilities of AI applications to make cost-effective, more accurate predictions; the ever-larger pool of personal data from which such applications can draw; and our collective willingness to “opt-in” to customized suggestions and services. Here’s a quick look at four key areas in which we can expect AI-based hyper-personalization in this year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianuzzi/2019/03/15/you-can-expect-more-hyper-personal-ai-applications/#537f01dc659f

James Paterson, Education Dive
As Congress considers updating the law guiding federal policy on higher education, college officials across the country have offered a set of three dozen recommendations related to student loans and aid, access and accountability, and the collection of key data. The Higher Education Committee of 50’s ideas for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) include: streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; supporting expansion in online instruction; eliminating higher ed tax credits and using those funds to expand Pell Grant access; and reverting the 90/10 rule ratio to 85/15. It also wants to develop a broad Student Unit Record Data System that would collect and disseminate student-level data, stripped of personal details, to provide better information about national, regional and institutional outcomes.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/colleges-list-priorities-for-higher-education-act-reauthorization/550573/

Elissa Nadworny, NPR
Go to college, we tell students. It’s a ticket out of poverty; a place to grow and expand; a gateway to a good job. Or perhaps a better job. But just going to college doesn’t mean you’ll finish. To unlock those benefits — you’ll need a degree. And yet for millions of Americans, that’s not happening. On average, just 58 percent of students who started college in the fall of 2012 had earned any degree six years later, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/13/681621047/college-completion-rates-are-up-but-the-numbers-will-still-surprise-you

By Study International
Critical thinking skills involve identifying flaws in people’s arguments or reasoning by weighing evidence and identifying misuse of information. These skills enable students to differentiate fake news from real reports, differentiating fact from opinion and understanding that they cannot take everything they read or hear at face value. Despite being such as pivotal skill, there are employers that lament that students’ thinking abilities leave much to be desired, suggesting a disconnect between the skills students graduate with from university and those needed in the workplace. Meanwhile, an article on Psychology Today titled The Emerging Crisis in Critical Thinking noted that many university students struggle with real-world problem solving, highlighting a decline in thinking ability among students.

https://www.studyinternational.com/news/can-we-bridge-the-critical-thinking-skills-gap-with-online-learning/

BY ANDREW CIOFFI, Baltimore Post-Examiner

The reasons for the rise in popularity of e-learning are not difficult to arrive at. First, there is undeniable convenience that comes with being able to carry out your studies from the comfort of your own home or the environment you think suits you best. Second, it is incredibly cheap in comparison to booking a place in a learning institution. There are plenty of learning resources available online at the click of a button, which may not be made use of in a traditional learning setting. Finally, and perhaps not so obviously as the preceding reasons, is the fact that many education stakeholders find that e-learning is just as effective, if not more, as learning in traditional settings. Let’s take a look at the reasons many have come to think learning online may be just as good as the real world alternative.

https://baltimorepostexaminer.com/digital-classy-5-reasons-to-go-for-the-online-learning-alternative/2019/03/13

Modern Diplomacy EU

The Artificial Intelligence and Frontier Technologies for Open Educational Resources (OER) workshop was part of the ‘Learning and Skills sessions’ held during UNESCO’s Mobile Learning 2019 (5 March 2019, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris), which focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The workshop presented the latest developments on how AI and frontier technologies can be used to share, use and develop OER, within the framework of the Ljubljana OER Action Plan and the current Draft UNESCO OER Recommendation.

Artificial Intelligence and Frontier Technologies for Open Educational Resources

By Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed
The University of Maryland University College is going national. Since its founding in 1947, UMUC mostly has enrolled members of the U.S. military and working adults in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. But amid a broad military drawdown, the university wants to expand its reach across the U.S. With a new national focus comes a new name for UMUC, which is on track to become the University of Maryland Global Campus this summer.
The institution is already the nation’s largest online public university, enrolling around 90,000 students. But if UMUC wants to keep up with quickly expanding online players like Southern New Hampshire University and Western Governors University, it will need to spend some serious cash.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/03/13/university-maryland-university-college-will-change-name-and

Faye Lesht, David Schejbal , Roxanne Shiels  & Mark Mailloux, OJDLA

This multi-institutional study examined the giving patterns of alumni of online degree programs as compared to alumni of campus-based degree programs.  Results suggest that alumni of online degree programs tended to donate early after graduation. In the case of one institution, alumni of online programs donated up to 12 percent more than alumni of on-campus programs within the first three years of most recent degree earned at the institution. In contrast, alumni of on-campus degree programs tended to donate over a longer period time than did alumni of online programs.

https://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter214/lesht_schejbal_shiels_mailloux_214.html

BY REBECCA GRAETZ, eCampus News

While online learning has been around for many years, it really took a new twist when Coastline Community College launched the first “virtual college” with no physical campus. Over the past 40 years, online-course delivery has exploded in a positive sense. But there are a lot of myths that still are associated with online learning.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2019/03/12/7-myths-about-online-learning-higher-ed/

Daniel Araya, Brookings

At the research level, the United States remains highly invested in AI and other disruptive technologies. The National Science Foundation currently invests over $100 million each year in AI research. DARPA recently announced a $2 billion investment in an initiative called AI Next whose goal is advancing contextual and adaptive reasoning. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has created a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to oversee service and defense agency efforts. More recently, the Trump administration has introduced a new executive order for developing a national strategy around AI but has offered little in terms of effective coordination. By contrast, China’s government has made AI a top priority. Where the U.S. has established a strong lead in AI discovery, it is increasingly likely that China may dominate the industrial application of AI.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/02/26/who-will-lead-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/

Devashish Chakravarty, India Times
For structured, non-formal learning in your own time, go for online education. You can find relevant free or paid courses through MOOC/MOOV (Massive Open Online Courses/Varsity), such as Udemy, Coursera, Codecademy, Udacity, among others. For topical learning, you can opt for webinars, podcasts and live online events. Finally, polish your knowledge through social media by tracking industry thought leaders and latest advances in your domain.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/earn/upgrade-your-skills-constantly-to-keep-your-job-secure/articleshow/68331427.cms

EdExec Magazine

Edtech applications are increasingly being used in classrooms to enhance teaching and learning – however, do schools know what’s being used? What are the benefits, and are they GDPR-compliant? With technology becoming ever more prevalent in the classroom, it’s no surprise that this has evolved into the use of educational applications; teachers all over the country are utilising the benefits of apps within their classrooms. Why? Because apps are a language their pupils understand. The generation of children currently at school generally have easy access to mobile phones, tablets and laptops; as such, apps are often a great way to keep them engaged in the classroom and can provide a range of learning benefits. We spoke to the Association of Network Managers in Education (ANME) for comments from members on what they think about classroom apps and their impact.

https://edexec.co.uk/from-the-magazine-online-education-tools-whats-going-on-in-your-classrooms/

Kim Nilsson, Forbes

How can we make data more human, if as a human race we cannot even agree on what it is to be human? How do we ensure algorithms work fairly when we cannot agree on what fairness looks like? Role models are vitally important in showing girls and women that they too can work in data science and that this career choice is an option for them. I, like many others, struggle to answer this but what I do know is that giving up is not an option and that we need to make a concerted effort as an industry to make our technology work as well as it can for as many people as possible. There is an urgent need to ensure that AI systems do not discriminate inappropriately against any individual or group. If only certain groups of people build the technology then it is highly likely that discrimination will happen, even if the discrimination is not intentional.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimnilsson/2019/03/08/why-ai-needs-more-women/#4f7ae2a7f907

Jeremy Fain, Forbes

For better or worse, the term “artificial intelligence,” or AI, has become central to understanding the landscape of today’s technology and innovation. Despite that, its true definition and implications for the future remain misunderstood by many. Right now, we’re in an interesting moment in the evolution of AI. We’ve expanded the field to include new areas of inquiry, and the industry is teeming with intelligent and innovation-minded players. Whatever the next big breakthrough might be, it’s important to recognize how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/03/08/five-things-most-people-get-wrong-about-ai/#9fa57ff2ad87