Research: People Ignore Security Warnings through Habit

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Don’t be so sure that you pay sufficient attention to messages delivered by your computer warning you about unsafe surfing activities. An experiment at Brigham Young University in Provo found that users “routinely ignore security warnings.” One reason we do that is because we tend to get “habituated” to certain common messages on the screen and overlook them to our peril. Researchers Bonnie Anderson, Brock Kirwan and Anthony Vance conducted the project to explore how people deal with online security risks. While users declared that they “care” about keeping their computers secure, their behavior suggests otherwise.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/20/research-people-ignore-security-warnings-through-habit.aspx

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5 tips to create strong learning environments with iPads

By Tom Daccord, eSchool News

Putting iPads in the service of learning, in our view, means putting technology in the service of preparing students to solve unstructured problems and communicate persuasively and with deep understanding. That’s our vision of what great schools do. As we approach the challenge of creating powerful learning environments with iPads, we use five bedrock principles to keep us grounded:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/11/26/5-tips-ipads-023/

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11 coding resources for the Hour of Code

By Laura Devaney, eSchool News

As December’s Hour of Code approaches, coding skills are in the spotlight. Computer science skills are becoming more and more important to success in today’s economy, and this importance is highlighted during the annual Hour of Code. A number of resources on Code.org and other sites can help students of all ages and skill levels develop coding skills. The Hour of Code, which can occur at any time during Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 8-14), is a one-hour coding activity during which students choose from self-guided tutorials that work on browsers, smartphones, tablets, or even work without computers at all.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/11/25/coding-resources-students-392/

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Programs allow students to take college classes

by Phillip Bock, HTR News

Lincoln High School senior Tyler Kazda is on track to have 30 college credits when he graduates next spring — well on his way toward a technical diploma. Mary Mikeal, a senior at Two Rivers High School in a similar situation, is set to graduate with 30 Lakeshore Technical College credits toward a nursing associates degree program. The two students took full advantage of dual credit partnerships between local high schools and colleges, mainly the youth options and youth apprenticeship programs. Silver Lake College, LTC, and University of Wisconsin – Manitowoc participate in the programs. “The program allows students to take college credit while they are still high school students,” George Henze, assistant campus dean for student affairs at UW-Manitowoc, said. “The program is growing and I think a lot of students are looking to get ahead on their college education if it seems right for them.”

http://www.htrnews.com/story/news/education/2014/11/23/youth-options/19449253/

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‘Blended-learning’ programs grow in D.C., with students relying more on computers

By Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post

When Ketcham Elementary School was selected to roll out a schoolwide computer-based learning initiative, Principal Maisha Riddlesprigger was skeptical about “putting kids in front of computers.” Less than two years later, the effort has brought her school a kind of celebrity status. Superintendents and state lawmakers from across the country have begun stopping by this well-wired school in a poor pocket of Southeast Washington — where nearly a third of the students are homeless — to see how they are learning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/blended-learning-programs-grow-in-dc-with-students-relying-more-on-computers/2014/11/23/e7b84ce2-7197-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html

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Personalized learning encourages creativity

by Adithya Venkatesan, the Tartan

With so many new technologies available today, from robots to responsive spaces, we have a great opportunity to make better systems for personalized learning, intelligent creativity support, and open health innovation. “Some knowledge is sticky and hard to acquire and often you can understand that knowledge in one of two ways: A self-discovery, and a toolkit that brings about that discovery,” said Winslow Burleson, an associate professor at New York University’s College of Nursing, during a Human-Computer Interaction seminar lecture last Wednesday titled “Motivational Environments: Strategies for Personalized Learning, Intelligent Creativity Support, and Open Health Innovation.”

http://thetartan.org/2014/11/24/scitech/hci

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6 Trends Improving K-12 Learning Experiences

by Matthew Lynch, Huffington Post

It is no longer enough for American students to just get by in comparison to each other in STEM subjects; global competition is proving that students in the U.S. need more focus in these subjects to lead the worldwide marketplace as adults. As you can see, K-12 classrooms are not at all static, but will continue to incorporate cutting-edge technology and socially relevant practices into the curriculum. Understanding and supporting this technology is vital to advancing K-12 students to the next level of their educational success.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/6-trends-improving-k-12-l_b_6207228.html

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Extension courses meet family needs

by JULIE BIRKEDAL, Globe Gazette

A recent class presented by Nancy Clark, human sciences nutrition and health program specialist, showing how the freezer can be a best friend during the holiday season was recorded. Iowa State Extension offers interactive online classes throughout the year on everything from holiday meal preparation to home finances, healthy eating, as well as for childcare providers. “We’re trying to tear down a lot of barriers,” said Brenda Schmitt, human sciences specialist, family finance. “Some people can’t make it to the office and some people don’t want to.” Being able to take an interactive course online provides the convenience of being at home, Schmitt said. All that is needed is a computer or tablet and an Internet connection. Going to a public library or local extension office to participate is another option.

http://globegazette.com/features/extension-courses-meet-family-needs/article_dc58a163-7ea6-50fb-a360-728eea4fd61e.html

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Absurd Creatures of the Week: Nature’s Weirdest Eaters Will Make You Feel Better About Your Gluttony

I can’t help you with that post-Thanksgiving lethargy, or the hangover for that matter, or with that thing you shouldn’t have said to your grandmother, but I can assure you that you’re not alone. I’m not talking your fellow Americans, I mean your fellow creatures of Earth. All around us, you see, there are animals […]

The post Absurd Creatures of the Week: Nature’s Weirdest Eaters Will Make You Feel Better About Your Gluttony appeared first on WIRED.

from WIRED » Science http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661470/s/40ed994f/sc/36/l/0L0Swired0N0C20A140C110Cabsurd0Ecreatures0Eweek0Enatures0Eweirdest0Eeaters0Ewill0Emake0Efeel0Ebetter0Egluttony0C/story01.htm

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Wearables In the Enterprise – Beyond Fitness Bands

by Amisha Gandhi, SAP

As mobile apps increasingly become a fixture in the enterprise and at home, they must be simpler, smarter, more contextual, and more powerful. For example, look at Nest, recently acquired by Google – you can easily adjust temp, lights and even monitor your smoke alarms from a mobile device. Context-aware mobility is the information intersection where the physical and digital worlds meet, and mobility lies at the heart of cloud and big data context awareness. Context also filters out the noise so you can simply get things done!

http://www.news-sap.com/wearables-enterprise-beyond-fitness-bands/

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Schools avoid snow days through e-learning

by Kristine Guerra, Star Press

At least one Central Indiana school district wants to make sure that does not happen again this year. At Northwestern Consolidated School District of Shelby County, there will no longer be snow days. Students will instead use their school-issued iPads and Chrome books to do their homework, take lessons and talk to their teachers from home on days that schools are closed because of the weather. “The main thing that we noticed last year is that those days we had to miss due to the weather were really important to us,” said Bobby Thompson, principal at Triton Central Middle School, the first school in the district to try the program. “Those were the crucial time to prepare students for standardized assessments.” This year, teachers are asked to create virtual lesson plans or “e-learning bundles” designed to address critical ISTEP standards and for students to do independently at home, said Shane Robbins, superintendent for the school district. Students use Google chat and Google hangout to talk to their teachers online.

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2014/11/21/schools-avoid-snow-days-learning/19384375/

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The Weirdest Incidents Involving Wild Turkeys This Week

Wild turkeys were “everywhere” on Cape Cod, despite having once been extinct in Massachusetts. The birds were also booming again in Ohio, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and New Jersey, where turkey numbers had increased a thousand-fold since 1977, when 22 wild turkeys were brought in from New York and Vermont to restock what was then a virtually turkey-less state. A New Jersey biologist now assured the public: “I think that they are here to stay,” and a local Op-Ed writer attributed the turkey’s success, in part, to polygamy.

The post The Weirdest Incidents Involving Wild Turkeys This Week appeared first on WIRED.

from WIRED » Science http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661470/s/40e51938/sc/10/l/0L0Swired0N0C20A140C110Cweirdest0Eincidents0Ewild0Eturkeys0C/story01.htm

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Science Graphic of the Week: Rising Sea Levels Show Strange Patterns

Two ocean systems that once rose and fell out of synch with each other are now rising in tandem.

The post Science Graphic of the Week: Rising Sea Levels Show Strange Patterns appeared first on WIRED.

from WIRED » Science http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661470/s/40e50285/sc/38/l/0L0Swired0N0C20A140C110Cscience0Egraphic0Eweek0Estrange0Epatterns0Eemerge0Erising0Esea0Elevels0C/story01.htm

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10 steps to promoting diversity in gaming

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

The key to successfully using games for education is in promoting a diverse “ecosystem” of gameplay complete with codes of conduct. In part one of this story, “#Gamergate—and what it means for gaming in education,” which discussed the cultural context of Gamergate and how it applies to education, MIT’s Education Arcade emphasized that “the key to fashioning the gaming world as a safe place for women and others is not necessarily censorship or making all games appeal to all potential players, but rather to create an ecosystem of games designed to appeal to players of different play styles, values, and backgrounds,” and nowhere is this ecosystem more important than education. “Games are one of the best learning mediums in education because it forces the learner to interact with information,” explained Sherry Jones—a Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Game Studies instructor at the University of Colorado, Denver.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/11/21/diversity-education-gaming-398/

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EdX Hosts First Open edX Conference

By MEG P. BERNHARD and MICHAEL V. ROTHBERG, Harvard Crimson

EdX held its inaugural Open edX conference to bring together nearly 200 of the platform’s collaborators, who hail from as nearby as Cambridge to as far away as Japan. The conference comes a year and a half after edX launched the open-source initiative, which allows third-party groups to install, use, and develop the edX platform for their own educational purposes. “We open-sourced our platform in June of 2013 and since then we’ve seen a lot of adoption,” said Sarina Canelake, a software engineer for the company. “What’s cool about this conference is that we’ve seen a lot of people, from France and from Japan, who we’ve never had a chance to meet.” According to Canelake, more than 400 courses are offered through Open edX worldwide. Contributors to the platform include Google, the University of Queensland, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/11/20/EdX-hosts-open-conference/

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EdX Launching MOOCs with Free Certificates for Teacher Training and AP Prep

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

The teacher certificates will be issued for one year to all U.S. teachers who pass one of the teacher training courses. That will be extended for an additional four years for Title I teachers and others in high-need districts. Classes will train teachers on the use of technology in the classroom, teaching in a blended environment, and learning theory and leadership. Those classes will be available from Boston University, Davidson College, Teachers College at Columbia University and six other universities. The organization is also pursuing students in high-need and rural school districts around the country to take courses to help them prepare for advanced placement exams. Over the next five years students will be able to earn free, verified certificates in 40 different courses. AP prep MOOCs will be made available by the Cooper Union, Tennessee Board of Regents, Rice University and five other institutions.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/20/edx-launching-moocs-with-free-certificates-for-teacher-training-and-ap-prep.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/vPScMkzdE54/

What’s Up With That: The Real Causes of the Thanksgiving Sleepies

Is turkey to blame for your food coma, or could there be another reason Thanksgiving always leaves you as a crumpled mess on the couch?

The post What’s Up With That: The Real Causes of the Thanksgiving Sleepies appeared first on WIRED.

from WIRED » Science http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661470/s/40db9bb8/sc/14/l/0L0Swired0N0C20A140C110Cwhats0Eup0Ewith0Ethat0Ethanksgiving0Esleepy0C/story01.htm

via Science News

Fantastically Wrong: Why Is the Sky Blue? It’s Packed With Sexy Energy, of Course

I know of a simple box that can radically improve your health, a device so powerful that the FDA once banned it and condemned its inventor to prison. But luckily, and quite graciously, its design has been left unpatented, free for all who might care to harness the mysterious “orgone energy” that pervades our universe. […]

The post Fantastically Wrong: Why Is the Sky Blue? It’s Packed With Sexy Energy, of Course appeared first on WIRED.

from WIRED » Science http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661470/s/40db92fb/sc/28/l/0L0Swired0N0C20A140C110Cfantastically0Ewrong0Ewilhelm0Ereich0C/story01.htm

via Science News

Don’t Let Kids’ Brains Go on Vacation During the Holiday Season

by WSSB

You may have heard of “summer slide” – when those summer months cause kids to lose all that glorious information and knowledge they acquired during the school year. But even shorter breaks can cause education rifts for students, too. Whether your children pair up with just one friend or an entire crowd, consider making studying a social event. Add some festivity to the affair by serving snacks and desserts. Around the holidays, you might even include a themed gift exchange for added appeal. If you are in between semesters, there may not be any official studying to do, but kids can keep their minds moving with supplemental learning. For example, if your child studied “As I Lay Dying” in school, make a movie night of it. Pop some popcorn and invite his or her friends over to watch the film version of the novel.

http://www.mysuncoast.com/online_features/education/don-t-let-kids-brains-go-on-vacation-during-the/article_87ad9d50-abc2-5ab0-b907-3ff017ef1b00.html

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West Michigan school leaders talk online lessons when classes are canceled

by Monica Scott, MLive

“It was just a very logical next step for us,” Cathedral President Michael Mullin, told USA Today about the Google software allowing teachers to upload taped lesson plans for students to view, but also to conduct real-time discussions with students. Public schools are embracing the idea, with more than 2,000 New Jersey students at Pascack Valley Regional High School logging on for their lessons during a February snowstorm. While some West Michigan school districts say they lack the technological capacity to implement a virtual program like Cathedral now, others are already doing it on a limited basis or are in the planning stages.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/11/ending_snow_days_west_michigan.html

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