Educational Technology

by edSurge

Edtech is about the use of technology in education, but does it include technology education? Should it include computer science education? “Edtech” is an all-inclusive term, and computer science is thrown in along with iPad apps, blended learning, BYOD strategies and everything else. However, computer science education sometimes appears to be that distant cousin in the edtech family; it must be included in the party but no one really knows how to deal with it. Most of the edtech community is interested in “using technology” to improve student learning in what is already being taught in our schools–math, reading, science, etc. We are excited that our students now use a browser to do research, Google docs to write and online games for math drills. We are happy that our teachers use a cool app to create a spelling quiz, or a YouTube video to teach math.

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-02-13-where-does-tech-ed-belong-in-edtech

by the Smithsonian

A seven-year-old in Philadelphia just became the world’s youngest known person ever to code a computer game. What’s more, the young coder is female—a rarity in the programmer community. Zora Ball, the record-breaking first grader, came into contact with the code when exploring a program called “Bootstrap,” which one of her teachers brought into the classroom. The teacher explained to MyFoxPhilly.com, ”I just wanted to push the envelope and do something different and see if she got the concept.” Ahead of the game, Ball joined a special Saturday class with fifth- and sixth-grade upperclassmen to learn the foundations of code. After ten weeks of being introduced to the concept, Hall built her own video game. Her creation, called “Vampire Diamonds,” is currently password-protected by her school. But Hall is already looking ahead, thinking of turning the game into an app for mobile phones.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/02/first-grader-codes-her-own-computer-game/

by Lois Kazakoff, San Francisco Chronicle

Online education is either the next great new technological innovation or the end of universities as we know them. At least that’s how many in the education world feel, and there are very, very passionate views on every aspect of this topic. What the commentaries don’t talk about in depth is the conversation going on at the highest levels of California government about our public institutions of higher learning. The question: How do we do more with less? How do we produce the additional 20,000 or 30,000 University of California graduates our economy (and the future of our state) needs without building more campuses and raising tuition out of reach of the middle class? How do we expand classes and keep tuition low and access to students from every community high? How do we rethink spending and investment in public universities?

http://blog.sfgate.com/opinionshop/2013/02/14/the-university-of-the-future/

by Lyle Sylvander, edLab

Professors and researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s e-learning department see Coursera as a unique opportunity to experiment with the MOOC format while utilizing their own theories and insights into e-learning. According to the article, the current trend in MOOCs is to replicate the curricula of traditional campus-based courses. But as the article states, “some of the most interesting and innovative practices in online education have emerged by challenging these very ideas – loosening institutional control of learning outcomes and assessment criteria, shifting from a focus on content delivery to a foregrounding of process, community and learning networks, and working with more exploratory assessment methods – digital and multimodal assignments, peer assessment and group assignments, for example.”

http://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/index.php?q=node/8846

by Jeffrey Roth, Social Learning Blog

A common adage says, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This is especially true when it comes to eLearning. In fact, visual aids are essential to informing, explaining, and training students or employees. When utilizing a learning management system (LMS) for eLearning purposes, educators can equip students with visual aids that enhance the learning process. By including visual elements in a viable teaching plans and prepared digital content, your audience may benefit from having the opportunity to fully engage the eLearning process.

http://interactyx.com/social-learning-blog/visual-elements-enhance-elearning/

by Edudemic

With classrooms growing increasingly more technology-oriented, it makes sense that developers latch onto the education sector when creating inspired new applications. The past year (roughly speaking) saw many different launches aiming to keep students (and, in some cases, teachers) better prepared and informed for whatever academia hurls their way. Like these apps and tools!

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/edtech-apps-and-tools/

By Antony Savvas, Computerworld UK

Microsoft has called for a “radical shake up” in the way computer science is taught in schools in the UK. On the eve of the BETT education technology show in London, Redmond is warning that the UK risks falling behind other countries in the race to develop and nurture computing talent, if “we don’t ensure that all children learn about computer science in primary schools”. The government is already in the process of revamping computer science education in secondary schools with a new curriculum, but Microsoft wants to catch them younger.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/careers/3423383/microsoft-demands-primary-school-computer-science-training/

By Tom Kaneshige, CIO

The influx of younger workers and BYOD programs in 2013 will continue to shake up IT departments, according to new research reports. Should CIOs shift to a device-neutral service model? The “Bring Your Own Device” phenomenon, largely driven by Apple iPhones and iPads, is changing the face of IT departments, perhaps reaching a tipping point. If CIOs thought mobile devices presented challenges before, they haven’t seen anything yet.  “IT departments need to be service organizations,” says CTO Aaron Freimark at services firm Tekserve, which helps Fortune 1000 companies adopt Apple products. “The most conservative financial institutions are seeing all of these iPhones on their networks and accessing Exchange servers. We’re reaching a critical mass this year, when companies are forced to deal with it.”

http://www.cio.com/article/728487/BYOD_to_Change_the_Face_of_IT_in_2013

PBS LearningMedia™ is the go-to destination for instant access to tens of thousands of classroom-ready, digital resources including videos, games, audio clips, photos, lesson plans, and more! You can search, save, and share with ease. Best of all, PBS LearningMedia is free for educators.

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/

by Craig Chapple, Develop

Google has launched a new free HTML5 game development course on web education portal Udacity. The new program on the online learning site will focus on building a game in JavaScript, and is taught by Google Chrome developer relations duo Colt McAnlis and Peter Lubbers as well as Udacity architect Sean Bennett. The course is designed to walk developers through the major components of building a HTML5, using GRITS as an example. The course will also talk through standard development techniques to help create “high performance” applications.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/43260/Google-offers-HTML5-dev-course-on-Udacity

by Online Degree Programs

New infographic on ways in which online learning may benefit programs. Ranging from access, individualizing, engagement, personalizing, and time efficiencies; this graphic points to a number of ways in which online and blended learning can improve education.

http://www.onlinedegreeprograms.com/blog/2013/why-online-learning-is-vital-to-improving-education/

By Jake New, Chronicle of Higher Ed

In mid-March 2011, wet weather and finals week forced many Ohio University students indoors. Inside campus libraries and dormitory rooms, thousands of students connected to the Internet not only to study with online systems like Blackboard but also to watch movies and TV shows on Netflix. The second, more leisurely activity was soon eating up the network’s bandwidth, and slowed Blackboard to a crawl as students prepared for final examinations. Network technicians twice decided to restrict Netflix traffic, but both attempts unexpectedly backfired, causing Internet outages across the campus.

http://chronicle.com/article/Digital-Devices-Invade-Campus/137217/

By: Jonah Comstock, MobiHealthNews

In 2011, MobiHealthNews reported on an increasing number of medical schools instructing students to use mobile devices, including the University of California Irvine’s iMedEd program, where each of the 104 medical students in the class of 2014 received an iPad from the school when they started in 2010. Now the evidence is starting to come in that tablets as an educational tool really make a difference in the medical setting. UC Irvine reported this week that the first class to receive the iPads scored an average of 23 percent higher on national exams than previous classes, even though their incoming GPA and MCAT scores were comparable.

http://mobihealthnews.com/20311/ipad-equipped-medical-school-class-scores-23-percent-higher-on-exams/

David F. Carr, Information Week

Professors at top research universities are highly skeptical of the value of the instructional technologies being injected into their classrooms, which many see as making their job harder and doing little to improve teaching and learning. That’s the conclusion of “Technological Change and Professional Control in the Professoriate,” published in the January edition of Science, Technology & Human Values. Based on interviews with 42 faculty members at three research-intensive universities, the study was funded under a grant from the National Science Foundation and particularly focuses on professors in the sciences, including chemistry and biology, with anthropology thrown in as a point of comparison.

http://www.informationweek.com/education/instructional-it/classroom-technology-faces-skeptics-at-r/240148217

By Sharleen Nelson, THE Journal

Continuing its mission to turn around Los Angeles’ lowest performing schools, the non-profit organization Partnership for LA Schools will receive additional funding for its blended learning initiative, which supports science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in the Los Angeles Unified School District through online learning programs. DirecTV is investing $200,000 in the initiative to provide district-wide implementation of an online math learning program and a multi-tiered math incentive program. Nearly 3,000 students will have access to ST Math, an online program Developed by Mind Research Institute that provides self-paced, mastery-based objectives that integrate with core instruction.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/02/12/partnership-for-la-schools-receives-grant-for-los-angeles-usd-blended-learning.aspx

by Lynn Davis, Orange County Register

The Washington Post named 3D printing one of the tech trends to watch in 2013. These devices “print” objects designed on computers using plastic resin. Such new technologies may transform our futures as much as the microcomputer revolution did starting 35 years ago. Manufacturing may return to the United States, even to our personal garages with do-it-yourself tools unleashing untold creativity.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/technology-414032-school-students.html

by Joseph Baker, Edudemic

A lot of criticism has been leveled at social media and the effect it has on the way students process and retain information, as well as how distracting it can be. However, social media offers plenty of opportunities for learning and interactivity, and if you take a moment to think about it, it’s not too hard to see how students benefit from using social media. As younger generations use such technology in the classroom, they remake the educational landscape.

http://edudemic.com/2013/02/how-students-benefit-from-using-social-media/

by Eric Vo, Record Journal

As technology becomes more user-friendly, children are becoming adept with technology, including keyboarding. It isn’t unusual these days to see a 2- or 3-year-old child easily maneuvering an iPad. Recognizing that younger students are getting early exposure to technology, area school districts are changing their curriculums to remove basic computer classes, replacing them with more advanced courses. “Nowadays, there are elementary students coming in and typing already,” said Karen Smith, Southington assistant superintendent for instruction and learning. “Young children are coming in and they can maneuver around a keyboard very well.”

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/local/article_cc03ba80-7230-11e2-aa8b-001a4bcf887a.html

Eric Larson, Mashable

PBS Learning Media, in preparation for Digital Learning Day on Wednesday, Feb. 6, conducted a national survey of pre-K to 12th grade teachers to find out how many incorporate technology into their day-to-day classroom activities. According to a press release, close to 74% of all teachers surveyed said they use digital resources — tablets, computers — to expand and reinforce on content in their classrooms. Among the other highlights: 69% of those surveyed said educational technology helps them “do much more than ever before” for their students, with the most commonly used resources being online lesson plans, interactive web games and online articles. More than one-third said they use a tablet or e-reader in their classrooms — up from 20% last year.

http://mashable.com/2013/02/05/teachers-technology-infographic/

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Ed

Over the next five years, six technologies will continue to gain traction in colleges and universities, according to the 2013 NMC Horizon Project released Monday, Feb. 4. About 50 experts spent time narrowing down a list of 80 potential technologies to these six: In a year or less, massively open online courses and tablets could become mainstream. In two to three years, games and gamification, and learning analytics could follow suit. And four to five years down the line, 3D printing and wearable technology could see widespread use. The most surprising technology on the list is 3D printing, which made an appearance in the first Horizon Report in 2004, said Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium. The technology was too expensive back then, but as costs started coming down with the work of a company called MakerBot, it could have education applications soon.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/6-Emerging-Technologies-Higher-Ed-2013.html

by SARAH PEREZ, Tech Crunch

A new report from German researchers reveals the five main ways people are organizing the applications on their smartphones. Despite the somewhat esoteric focus of a study like this, the resulting analysis has a broader impact on our digital lives. The content found in mobile app stores is growing at an exponential rate. There are over 800,000 iOS applications, just under that on Android, and app downloads are nearing the point where they’re double that of songs. Songs! And yet, even though we’re heading into a world where we’ll soon have over a million applications at our fingertips, the methods for discovering applications, downloading them to our devices, and managing them once there, are holdovers from the desktop era.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/10/the-five-ways-users-organize-their-apps-and-what-app-designers-can-learn-from-this/