Educational Technology

By Leila Meyer, THE Journal

The generic e-learning course market is projected to grow by 8 percent per year over the next four years, driven primarily by growth in general purpose learning applications, cost-effectiveness of generic e-learning courses and increased adoption of mobile learning, according to a new report from Technavio, a global technology research and advisory company. The company defines generic e-learning courses as standard courses on a subject offered by service providers, educational institutions and experts, and prepared according to the standard curriculum. The report, “Generic E-learning Course Market in the U.S. 2016–2020,” examines the current state of the generic e-learning course market in the United States and forecasts trends over the coming years.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/11/28/report-flipped-and-mobile-helping-to-drive-growing-momentum-in-elearning-content-and-courses.aspx

by ISTE

Newly released ISTE toolkit includes facilitator’s guide, surveys, presentation slides for participating. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) announced that it is seeking public comment on the first draft of the refreshed ISTE Standards for Teachers. More than 600 individuals from around the world provided insight into the contents of this initial draft and, by the time the second draft is released in early 2017, ISTE anticipates that thousands more will have participated in the process.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/12/01/iste-opinion-standards-teachers/

by Erin Schilling, Red and Black

Nationally in 2015, close to 28 percent of all enrolled students were taking at least one online course, a number that has been rising by a few percentage points each year. At the University of Georgia, there has been a far more drastic growth in online programs in recent years. Since summer 2013, total online summer enrollment is up 265 percent, with undergraduate enrollment up 351 percent, said Nancy Byron, marketing manager at the Office for Online Learning. Byron attributes the rise in enrollment to an emphasis on the idea online courses do not differ from in-person classes. Academic advisers treat the courses the same as they would face-to-face classes, she said. Advisers will sometimes recommend online classes when considering a student’s schedule and intended major.

http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-online-courses-see-dramatic-rise-in-popularity/article_f439e9e8-b769-11e6-80c3-cb389df18358.html

by Udacity

Two weeks ago, Udacity launched a program to connect graduates from its programs with short-term work from potential employers. Called Blitz, the service lets companies propose a project, and then Udacity provides a cost estimate and puts together a team of alumni engineers to complete it. Once the project is finished, companies have the option to hire “Blitzers” full-time.

http://distance-educator.com/what-universities-can-learn-from-udacitys-gig-economy-service/

By Dave Perozek, NWA Democrat-Gazette

One of the state’s newest charter schools highlights growing demand for online education in Arkansas and nationwide. Arkansas Connections Academy opened in August as an online, or virtual, charter school. It has 371 students in grades kindergarten through nine, including about 60 from Benton and Washington counties, according to academy officials. Principal Darla Gardner said she expects enrollment to rise at the start of the next semester. Teachers give lessons while seated in front of computers in cubicles. The students on the other end of their digital connection may be anywhere in Arkansas.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/dec/04/online-education-growing-in-arkansas-20/

By Alison DeNisco, TechRepublic

Nonprofit education platform edX recently announced a credential program to teach employees skills in AI, user interface design, and project management. Here’s what your company needs to know. As 40% of employers globally report experiencing difficulty filling jobs, more than half of businesses say they now train existing employees on skills needed to fill open positions, especially in tech, according to a recent ManPowerGroup survey. EdX, a nonprofit online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT, is looking to bridge the skills gap with MicroMasters, a new category of master’s-level online education meant to teach employees in-demand skills while still working full-time. A MicroMasters credential involves taking a series of courses from an accredited university that make up of 30% of a master’s degree. It’s aimed at full-time workers who can take the classes online. Each program takes about six to eight months to complete, and costs around $1,000.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/can-micromasters-credentials-help-fill-the-tech-skills-gap/

by Knowledge @ Wharton

For today’s social and video networks, the human network — you and me — is changing the entire business models of publishers, TV and radio broadcasters and even cable TV companies as well as content providers in entertainment, news and sports. The real question, then, is not whether broadcasters, advertisers and content providers will be disrupted by the power of us and what we produce and distribute — but how quickly? Today, we hold a lot more power as broadcasters using digital outlets like Facebook Live, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. And for good reason. The old definition of broadcast and entertainment was simplistic: Content mainly came from the establishment and sent in one direction, to us. But that reality is changing as the media and entertainment and industries are being turned upside down and outside in.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/platforms-will-disrupt-future-media-entertainment/

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Teaching is changing. What was once a solo pursuit has increasingly become a team sport. I’m not talking about co-faculty taught courses. Rather, the team that I’m thinking about includes a mix of faculty and non-faculty educators. My experience with building a team of faculty and non-faculty educators to design and run courses comes out of online learning. Recently, we have started to take the course team model developed (in my experience) for online learning to residential (and blended) courses. This team model may not be appropriate for every course – but for larger enrollment introductory courses this team model works really well. There are 3 immediate and obvious reasons that a librarian should be included on every faculty / non-faculty educator course development and teaching team.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/librarian-teaching-team

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

Edupoint Educational Systems has launched Synergy Community, a new online meeting place designed to offer educators peer-to-peer support. “Synergy Community adds another layer to Edupoint’s existing support offerings, enabling Synergy partner districts to work closely with one another anytime and anywhere to share thoughts, ideas, and solutions related to using the Synergy platform and achieving education goals,” according to a news release. Users of the new community can search existing conversations, ask and answer questions and otherwise exchange information and expertise with other users. Conversations can be favorited, rated and followed. Self-selected rolls for community members include classroom teacher, application developer and administrator. Districts can use the community on an ad hoc basis or build more formal professional learning networks within it.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/11/30/edupoint-launches-online-peer-to-peer-community-for-educators.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

The Classroom Technology Services (CTS) team at the University of Nevada Las Vegas Office of Information Technology had two primary motives for getting a better handle on tech usage on campus: 1) Combination VHS-DVD players weren’t exactly cutting edge, yet some faculty continued to rely on them; and 2) Some instructors tended to forget that electricity costs money, leaving equipment switched on when they walk out of the classroom. In the first case, noted Audio Video Specialist Frank Alaimo, “We were having trouble sourcing and finding these units, and we needed some concrete evidence to go back to our higher ups and say, ‘Look, this technology has died; it has long since been disabled. We need to get this out of our classrooms and move forward.'” As for the second case, said Alaimo, “Sometimes instructors forget to turn off the equipment after their Friday class and we’ll find it running on a Monday. That projector would have been running the entire weekend. Eventually, the equipment in their rooms fails prematurely.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/11/30/tracking-classroom-tech-use-to-save-time-and-money.aspx

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences has released 6 best practices and implementation guides for institutions seeking higher success outcomes for underprepared students. The most effective recommendations include intrusive advisement and monetary rewards for high academic performance, along with longterm support programs. Financial resources, poor communication and lack of buy-in from staff were listed among the challenges for implementation of most of the recommendations.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/ed-dept-releases-6-best-practices-for-at-risk-student-engagement/431361/

By Richard Chang, THE Journal

More girls are taking the annual AP computer science exam, but boys still outnumber girls when it comes to taking the test. In fact, fewer than 10 girls took the May 2016 exam in eight states, and not a single female took the test in Mississippi and Montana. These are some of the findings of a state-by-state analysis of newly released data from the College Board by Barbara Ericson, the director of computing outreach and senior research scientist at the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/11/29/eight-states-have-fewer-than-10-girls-take-ap-computer-science-exam.aspx

by eSchool News

Just in time for Computer Science Education Week and the Hour of Code, Microsoft Corp. and Code.org have unveiled the Minecraft Hour of Code Designer, a coding tutorial for students and educators. The Hour of Code is an annual global campaign held during Computer Science Education Week, which this year runs Dec. 5–11. The new web-based tutorial, available for free at http://code.org/minecraft, helps novice coders to create and share their own simple “Minecraft” game, and is designed to empower anyone to begin learning the problem-solving and critical thinking skills required in today’s tech-fueled world.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/12/02/kick-off-hour-code-minecrafts-help/

BY LAURA ASCIONE DEVANEY, eSchool Week

During Computer Science Education Week, tap into these tools to help students participate in the Hour of Code and other activities. Every year in December, students and teachers have a chance to participate in nationwide computer science and coding activities during Computer Science Education Week. Computer Science Education Week, running from Dec. 5-11, is sponsored by the Computing in the Core coalition and is organized by Code.org. This year, the event is even more significant–after intensive work, Code.org and partners launched the K-12 Computer Science Framework to help more students access programming opportunities. The need for increased attention to computer science learning frameworks and opportunities is evident–a two-year Google study exposed racial and gender disparities in computer science education.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/12/02/10-hour-code-resources/

by Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire, charter school proponent and active Republican, as his education secretary, prompting a range of predictions about what she might do in office. Business Insider reports DeVos has been an active opponent of charter school regulation and a proponent of vouchers in Michigan, which has led her critics to say she is intent to destroy the public education system. The New York Times, however, reports Trump’s $20 billion federal voucher program proposal would require billions of dollars of investment at the state level, where education funding is limited — and even where state governments might support such an initiative, local school boards would have to sign on.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/who-is-betsy-devos-trumps-pick-for-ed-secretary/431168/

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Ed Tech Magazine profiles a new survey from Adobe Education, which suggests that more than 9 out of 10 college students believe that classroom technology is an essential part of becoming career ready. Technology provides differing levels of engagement, which can help students in all majors discover passions and career opportunities they never thought possible through engineering and design, collaboration and artistic expression. More than 50% of students taking the survey believe they are part of a generation that is more creative than their predecessors.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/3-tech-tips-to-make-higher-education-ripe-for-creativity/431153/

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Inside Higher Ed recaps Educause’s annual conference held last month, in which one session asked participants to visualize the college library of the future. A recent MIT report suggests that libraries will transition from repositories of historical and research information, to open source hubs with information on best practices and real-time deployments to address intractable problems. The model follows a similar effort from the Georgia Institute of Technology, which will share book storage space with Emory University to make its library facility more conducive to studying and innovation.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/what-will-become-of-libraries/431163/

by Kathryn McNutt by Kathryn McNutt, News OK

In less time than it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree you might need one to get a job in Oklahoma. By 2020, 37 percent of the jobs in Oklahoma will require an associate’s or bachelor’s degree or higher, according to a Georgetown University study. “That’s on us. That’s an expectation that is clearly on our back,” said Glen Johnson, the state’s higher education chancellor. “It certainly requires our immediate attention because it’s critically important we prepare and have students in a position where they can graduate to meet the job needs in our state.”

http://newsok.com/more-jobs-will-require-bachelors-degrees-in-the-future-study-says/article/5527520

by NICHOLE DOBO, Hechinger Report

The text message is a powerful tool in an unconventional high school program in Idaho. The technology allows mentors working with Idaho PTECH to reach high school students in far-flung places in this sparsely populated state. The high-tech, one-on-one mentoring is part of a pilot program that aims to help students discover and prepare for a career that they can embark on right out of high school, or with minimal post-secondary training. “They don’t know what they want a lot of times,” said Alan Millar, executive director of Idaho PTECH, so the mentoring provides “a caring adult to talk about goals, reaffirm them, and make concrete steps how to get there.”

http://hechingerreport.org/how-text-messages-help-mentors-connect-with-students-in-idaho/

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eCampus News

Mixed reality combines virtual and augmented realities for enhanced learning experiences–and institutions are already implementing it. A new collaboration between Pearson and Microsoft is using a self-contained holographic computer to develop “mixed reality” learning experiences for students. The collaboration will explore how mixed reality can help solve real challenges in areas of learning, ranging from online tutoring and coaching, nursing education, and engineering to construction and surveyor training. Microsoft says its HoloLens is the world’s first self-contained holographic computer. Pearson is developing and piloting mixed reality content at colleges, universities and secondary schools in the United States and around the world.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/disruptions-and-innovations/institutions-mixed-reality/

BY RICK NATHANSON, ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL

Imagine getting an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a master’s of business administration in five years, and paying as little as $20,000 for the entire trio. That’s the crux of the 2+1+2 Program, created by University of New Mexico’s Innovation Academy in partnership with UNM and Central New Mexico Community College. The $20,000 cost applies to students who remain qualified on the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship program. Those who do not qualify for the lottery would pay just under $30,000 for the three degrees.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/news/3-degrees-just-5-years/