Educational Technology

by Jason B. Jones, Chronicle of Higher Ed Prof Hacker

We’ve written before about options for receiving papers electronically outside either e-mail or a campus-based learning management system. (For example, earlier this month I wrote about GoFileDrop, which lets you receive files of any type into your Google Docs account. Also see Send to Dropbox or Dropbox Forms.) The advantages of such a system are, basically, that it gets files out of your e-mail and directly into a location where you can start to work with them, that it eliminates uncertainty around e-mail receipt, and that it doesn’t get you locked into the LMS. Handy! A recent entry into the file-receipt market is FileStork (Via LifeHacker). FileStork makes it incredibly simple for Dropbox users to request files from people on either a one-time or more open-ended basis. (This is probably a little easier and safer than sharing a folder with an entire class.) Here’s how it works.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/receive-files-in-dropbox-with-filestork/35567?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

In recent years, the focus on digital has been eclipsed by a surge in print textbook rentals. Companies such as Chegg.com and BookRenter.com — along with thousands of campus bookstores — have captured students who would prefer to consolidate the process of buying and then reselling textbooks into a single exchange at the outset of the semester. According to Student Monitor, 24 percent of students at four-year institutions rented at least one print textbook last spring — three times as many as purchased an e-textbook. But recent search data from Google suggest that digital textbooks may prove to be a contender this year. According to the company, Web queries for “Kindle textbooks” are up 60 percent from this time last year. Same goes for “Nook textbooks.” Searches for “iPad textbooks” are up 40 percent. Whether or not students are buying e-textbooks this year, they seem to be shopping for them. So what happens when the digital and rental trends overlap?

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/08/26/experts_consider_whether_rise_of_e_textbooks_will_change_rental_market

By Ginny Mies, PCWorld

Flexible designs, augmented reality, quad-core processors, and even some artificial intelligence are just a few of the features you can expect smartphones to have in the next five to ten years. As you’re reading this article, developers, engineers, and product designers are working on the next great mobile technology. The mobile world is rapidly changing: Smartphones have gone from portable messaging and email devices to streaming-video machines that surf the Web at blazing speed and have cameras that rival point-and-shoots (and they also happen to make calls). What will smartphones look like in five years? Or ten? What sort of amazing things will they be able to do? Of course, we have no way to predict exactly how cell phones will evolve (unless some sort of magical crystal ball comes along), but looking at today’s trends and tracking what the geniuses at MIT and other academic institutions are up to can give us a pretty good idea of what’s to come.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/237610/smartphones_of_the_future_how_they_will_look_what_they_will_do.html

By Audrey Watters, Edutopia

One of the biggest ongoing concerns surrounding social networking continues to be questions of privacy — users’ private conversations or users’ personal data exposed, whether as a result of error, negligence, or intent. So when Google unveiled its new social network Google Plus, it wasn’t surprising to see the search engine position Google Plus as an antidote to the “sloppy,” “scary,” and “insensitive” sharing options — in other words, the lack of privacy — it pointed to on other social networks. Google actually never mentions “privacy” outright in its blog post introducing Google Plus, but that’s certainly the subtext, as it positions itself as an alternative to Facebook, the dominant social network, but a site that has had a long string of privacy snafus. And the promise of better privacy is one of many things that could make Google Plus an appealing site for educators. Circles will allow targeted sharing, for example, so updates and posts can be seen only by those in certain groups. But six weeks since the launch the Google Plus, it’s pretty clear that Google hasn’t solved the myriad of privacy concerns that can arise on the Internet.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/google-plus-privacy-audrey-watters

by Patti Zarling, Green Bay Press-Gazette

As the Internet continues to weave its way into our everyday lives, local students increasingly are turning to virtual classrooms to expand their school experience. Students log onto online classes for a variety of reasons. Some want to take accelerated or other courses not offered by their schools, some need to make up classes to graduate, and others can’t attend traditional classes for personal reasons. Most local school districts have offered some type of online classes for the past five or six years, and they work with third parties who develop and provide the coursework. Many educators want to increase participation in online classes, and some school leaders say they eventually may require students to take at least one online course during their academic career.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110822/GPG0101/108220486/Area-school-districts-offer-more-online-courses

By Jeff Young, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Several libraries today pledged to follow the University of Michigan’s lead in making available on their campuses digital copies of books whose copyright holders cannot be found to ask for permission. The libraries are all part of the HathiTrust consortium that places digital copies of books into a shared online repository. At least one publishing official has called the orphan works plan illegal, but the libraries clearly feel they are operating within copyright law.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-major-libraries-join-controversial-project-to-publish-orphan-books-online/32974?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD, New York Times

The “Textbook Rebel” battles it out with “Mr. $200 Textbook” as part of a campaign to raise awareness about escalating book prices and cheaper alternatives. Exorbitant college textbook prices have given rise to a “textbook rebellion,” which may be coming to a campus near you. A coalition of students, parents, professors and organizations including the Student Public Interest Research Groups, have banded together to promote more affordable alternatives to the $200 textbook — an amount that is not uncommon for science, economics, accounting and math students, among other pricey majors. The coalition also hopes to raise awareness about cheaper alternatives like “open textbooks,” which are offered under a license that allows you to read free online, or to obtain a print copy for a fraction of the cost of traditional hard-copy competitors.

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/the-bucks-guide-to-finding-cheap-textbooks-3rd-edition/

by Max Eddy, Geekosystem

Stanford University is now expanding computer science courses available online, for free, for any students who wish to join. It all began a few weeks ago with an introductory course on artificial intelligence (AI) taught by the award-winning professors Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig. Now, two new courses are available; the first, an Introduction to Databases taught by Professor Jennifer Widom; the second, Machine Learning with Professor Andrew Ng. Over 100,000 students have signed up since the courses were announced.Prospective students need only know one programming language well enough to complete the assignments. The most important requirement is that students commit the time for the class: A few hours of homework and two rounds of lectures running two and a half hours each per week. Professors will aggregate online student questions and answer the top rated ones, and students will receive feedback on all of their work.

http://www.geekosystem.com/free-stanford-courses/

BY Nidhi Subbaraman, Fast Company

Bridging the gap between traditional and online learning, Kno’s newest product pulls in the most relevant of the Khan Academy videos to enrich whatever you’re reading about. Long gone are the days when your otherwise drab textbook might be lightened up only by the occasional graphic or stock photo. Now, while perusing your electronic textbook, you’ll be able to get videos from the educational gurus at Khan Academy, which has teamed up with e-textbook startup Kno to launch a new platform for its video tutorials. “Smart Links,” a new set of tools in Kno’s e-textbook library, calls up appropriate videos, websites, images, and other related content that might enrich a student’s engagement with the text they’re reading. A batch of math videos from the Khan Academy is part of the first release.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1775386/khan-academy-joins-forces-with-kno-to-feature-tutorial-videos-in-e-textbooks

by eSchool News

As technology becomes an integral part of the workplace, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills are no longer just “good skills” to have; they are increasingly important to a 21st-century education. Training students for success in the STEM disciplines also is necessary if the U.S. is to remain globally competitive; recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment suggested the top-performing U.S. high school students were bested by students from at least 20 other nations in math and science. Attracting students to the STEM disciplines is the first hurdle, and retaining student interest in these areas is the second. Solving the STEM education crisis won’t be easy—but with the generous support of Learning.com, we’ve compiled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other resources, to help you answer this challenge in your own schools.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/12/13/igniting-and-sustaining-stem-education-2/

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

While many district IT departments focus mainly on obtaining technology, a Colorado district places equal weight on obtaining technology, training teachers and sustaining technology investments. “For far too long, education technologists in schools have been focused on obtaining technologies,” said Joe McBreen, CIO of St. Vrain Valley School District. “But they’re forgetting the other two pieces that are equally important.” Keep reading to find out how the District Technology Services team emphasizes three elements on its mission to help students learn.

http://www.convergemag.com/infrastructure/3-Pillars-for-Success-with-IT.html?elq=b2c1bc0885f34766841357de13cf2c0a

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

By the end of the year, members of the Mississippi Research Consortium will be able to transfer data from research projects faster on a new fiber-optic network. The consortium includes four universities: the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi and Jackson State University. Other consortium members include the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the Mississippi Department of Information Technology, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Stennis Space Center.

http://www.convergemag.com/infrastructure/Mississippi-Plans-Broadband-Network-for-4-Research-Universities.html?elq=b2c1bc0885f34766841357de13cf2c0a

By Dan Klamm, Mashable

Social media opens up all new avenues of communication for college students, their classmates and their professors. A typical class may only take a few hours a week, but now with social media, the classroom can be a lively, 24/7 experience. Professors are more accessible, often clarifying assignments via Twitter or sharing content on their blogs. Students benefit from these extra communication channels. They can process information and contribute to class discussions at their own pace. They can more easily ask questions of their peers and professors.

http://news.yahoo.com/3-tips-teachers-using-social-media-classroom-120542674.html

by eSchool News

The ACLU has no problems with schools blocking out sexually explicit content, but it says many schools are using filtering software to block sites that are purely educational. In the latest development in its national “Don’t Filter Me” campaign, which aims to stop schools from blocking students’ access to educational websites about gay, lesbian, and transgender issues, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Aug. 15 against a Missouri school district. The civil rights organization said in a news release that the lawsuit was filed in federal court in Jefferson City, Mo., against the Camdenton R-III School District in central Missouri on behalf of organizations whose websites are blocked by the filter. Those organizations include the Matthew Shepard Foundation and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays National, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/08/17/aclu-sues-missouri-school-district-over-internet-filtering/

By Jason Koebler, US News

Americans agree that the use of technology is important in the classroom, but a quarter of people polled said public schools should not invest more money in computer technology. Americans aren’t sure whether each high school student should have a dedicated computer at school: 51 percent say they should, while 49 percent say students should share computers.

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/08/22/americans-split-on-key-educational-issues

Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle

Dozens of school-age kids gathered at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose on Saturday for a day of hacking. Armed with laptop computers, the youngsters hunkered down around tables, and in bean-bag chairs on the floor, to learn from a team of veteran hackers, most of them young engineers at Silicon Valley startups.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/21/BAP31KPUP6.DTL

by James Goodman and Sean Lahman, Democrat & Chronicle

Nationwide, student borrowing is estimated to have mushroomed to $931 billion — for the first time eclipsing the estimated $798 billion in credit card debt.   We are going to hit the $1 trillion mark this year,” said Mark Kantrowitz, who publishes two websites focusing on financial assistance for college students.  Total student debt 15 years ago was about $72 billion, according to Kantrowitz’s estimates. More than half of first-year students now turn to federal loans to finance college and the average student debt, according to Kantrowitz, has grown to $27,200 for those earning a bachelor’s degree. Add in parent loans and the total debt is $34,400.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110821/GROUP01/308210005

by IES National Center for Educational Statistics

Approximately 57 percent of first-time students who sought a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and enrolled at a 4-year institution full time in fall 2002 completed a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent at that institution within 6 years. By comparison, 55 percent of students in an analogous cohort who began seeking a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in fall 1996 graduated within 6 years. The bachelor’s degree completion rates for students who began seeking a bachelor’s degree at 4-year institutions in fall 2002 varied by the control of institution. Graduation rates were highest at private not-for-profit institutions, followed by public institutions and private for-profit institutions. For example, the 6-year graduation rate at private not-for-profit institutions was 65 percent, compared with 55 percent at public institutions and 22 percent at private for-profit institutions. At both public and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions, the 6-year graduation rates for females who enrolled in fall 2002 were higher than the rates for males. At private for-profit institutions, however, the 6-year graduation rate was higher for males than females. Bachelor’s degree completion rates for students who sought a bachelor’s degree at 4-year institutions and enrolled in fall 2002 also varied by race/ethnicity. Asian/Pacific Islander students had the highest 6-year graduation rate, followed by White, Hispanic, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native students.

This begs the question, how can technology help?

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40

by MARCUS MARROW, Stawell Times

Stawell Secondary College Council has resolved that every student of the school will have access to a portable computer full time from the start of next year. Following the successful introduction and continuance of notebook computers leased by year 10 and 11 students over the past two years, all students in years seven to nine will be loaned a ‘netbook’ computer for their exclusive use at school and at home. These compact and highly portable devices are fully functional computers which will be preloaded with a comprehensive suite of educational software known as eduSTAR, which has been specifically developed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for Victorian schools. The netbooks will access an enhanced school network as well as the DEECD’s Ultranet, and can log on to the internet and Ultranet from home or other wireless access points.

http://www.stawelltimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/computer-for-every-student-at-college/2263656.aspx

By Jason Koebler, by US News

Nearly three quarters of American public high schools assess students online, but teachers have long had to trust that students were doing their own work. New technology from researchers at Pace University may help solve that problem. According to a 2008 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, 71 percent of high schools give at least some online assessments to students. As virtual education becomes more popular, entrepreneurs and researchers are trying to help teachers identify whether students are cheating on online tests.

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/08/19/technologies-may-curb-online-cheating

Official Google Blog

This week, we’re announcing a survey that will help us better understand computer usage and assistive technology patterns in the blind community. Over the past three months, we’ve worked closely with the ACB to develop a survey that would give us a greater understanding of how people choose and learn about the assistive technologies they use. This survey will help us design products and tools that interact more effectively with assistive technologies currently available to the blind community, as well as improve our ability to educate users about new features in our own assistive technologies, such as ChromeVox and TalkBack. The survey will be available through mid-September on the ACB’s website and by phone. We encourage anyone with a visual impairment who relies on assistive technologies to participate; your input will help us offer products that can better suit your needs. For details, visit http://www.acb.org/googlesurvey

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/accessibility-survey-for-blind-users.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29