Homeschool and online programs becoming a popular way to educate

By ARRIEL VINSON, Indianpolis Recorder

In 2012, 1,773 school-aged students were being homeschooled, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This was an increase from 2003, with 1,096 homeschooled students and 2007, with 1,520 home-schooled students. Some parents prefer their children not attend public or private schools, in fear of their child not learning at a quick enough pace, falling behind or maybe even being bullied. For these parents, homeschooling was an option they were willing to explore. Online programs and schools are growing in Indianapolis. Some programs are more online-based, while other programs have a blended-learning approach, using online and in-person courses to teach students. Following is a list of online programs in Indianapolis.

http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/article_6dfb84c7-8d04-5f4b-b396-fc79000e1637.html

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MIT looks to stay in vanguard of digital education

By Nick Anderson, Washington Post

One way to find the future of higher education is to track the brainstormers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who often seem to be a step ahead of the pack. So it matters when L. Rafael Reif, the MIT president, says that an idea for digital innovation is “on the table.” Reif, in a recent visit with The Washington Post, said the institute is pondering whether to launch new online education programs that would generate revenue. “All this is on the table,” he said, “and we’re exploring it.” Such programs, Reif said, could help subsidize the operation of the campus in Cambridge. “Yes, of course,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it.” Reif, a fervent believer in residential education as well as online innovation, said he is continually looking to generate revenue that can “support the mother ship.” Exactly what form these online programs would take remains to be seen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/07/23/mit-looks-to-stay-in-vanguard-of-digital-education/

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MIT Offering Free Poker Class Online

by Ed Scimia, Cards Chat

If you want to improve your poker game, there is an endless supply of books, videos, forums and online streams out there that can help you take your skills to a new level. But few of them have the kind of clout that comes from a class offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The new course, known as Poker Theory and Analytics, is taught by Kevin Desmond. Over the course of eight video lectures, viewers are introduced first to the basic strategies of poker and then to more complex decision making skills. As a graduate-level course, the material can get pretty advanced at times, but there’s plenty of guidance to help you follow along.

http://www.cardschat.com/news/mit-offering-free-poker-class-online-13971

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The new frontier for Advanced Placement: Online AP lessons, for free

By Nick Anderson, Washington Post

On Wednesday, a new sequence of lessons for high school Advanced Placement courses in calculus, physics and macroeconomics went live on a free Web site founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The lessons, developed by Davidson College for the site called edX, represent a new step in the evolution of ties between the popular AP college-level program and the “massive open online courses” known as MOOCs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/07/22/the-new-frontier-for-advanced-placement-online-ap-lessons-for-free/

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North Carolina rolls out online physical education classes

by Associated Press

North Carolina’s Virtual Public School will be launching an online high school physical education class this fall. Multiple media outlets report that the state’s Department of Public Instruction announced the plan for the pilot program on Tuesday. The state says students will watch an online video demonstration given by a teacher. Pupils will then be tasked with filming themselves practicing the physical activity or sport. The state says the course could be useful for students trying catching to up on credits or for others who are homebound.

http://www.greensboro.com/news/north-carolina-rolls-out-online-physical-education-classes/article_2f4d3846-3066-11e5-b178-abe7306c3dcb.html

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A Dialogical Approach to Learning Technology Success

by Leif Nelson and Daniel L Gold, EDUCAUSE Review Online

Key Takeaways: A dialogical approach to learning technology initiatives at Boise State University ensures transparency and buy-in from the campus community. Project management methodologies add value to academic initiatives — finding similarities among business and academic processes can help create a common understanding. An ongoing dialogue between business and academic cultures will lead to success in higher education institutions.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/dialogical-approach-learning-technology-success

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Hackathons as a New Pedagogy

by Brandon Zoras, Edutopia

Hackathons have become a new way of doing business, creating products, advancing healthcare, and innovation. The energy is high, and so are the stakes. Can you turn an idea into a product over the course of a weekend? But let’s move beyond that. Let’s look at the teaching and learning within a hackathon. Hackathons are really the ultimate classroom. That is why Joe Romano and I (Brandon Zoras) thought it would be great to have a youth-focus hackathon across our school district. Hackathons usually take place over a set time frame such as a weekend, where different people with different skills and abilities work together to propose a solution to a problem. The solutions can be code based, wearable technology, analog, or any type of product imaginable.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/hackathons-as-a-new-pedagogy-brandon-zoras

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Cal State San Bernardino Powers Up With Wireless Charging

By Rhea Kelly. Campus Technology

Students at California State University, San Bernardino will soon be able to charge their mobile devices wirelessly all over campus. The school is installing the Powermat wireless charging platform in high-traffic common spaces, student union areas, study areas, and on-campus cafes and restaurants to help students stay connected to the information and learning resources they need. The next step will be a broader implementation in the university’s library and classrooms. “E-learning has become part of every student’s lifestyle with course materials, assignments and videos hosted online and accessible via mobile,” said Gerard Au, associate vice president, Information Technology Services at CSUSB, in a press release. “As mobile device usage increases, we need to extend our capability to keep up, and the Powermat platform is an important part of that infrastructure as it will allow our students to stay connected and learning all day long,”

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/07/14/cal-state-san-bernardino-powers-up-with-wireless-charging.aspx

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New Rubric-Based Scoring API Aims To Evaluate Student Performance in Digital Lessons

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

A new application programming interface (API) is designed to enable education developers to introduce scoring analytics into simulations, games and other open-ended assessment items and digital learning objects. The API toolkit, developed by metacog, is intended to be added to programs used by educators to examine the work and thought processes done by students as they interact with digital lessons and assessments. “Our goal with metacog’s scoring service API is to enable a new generation of instruction and assessment products where students create responses instead of merely picking them,” said Owen Lawlor, the company’s chief digital officer.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/07/21/new-rubric-based-scoring-api-evaluates-student-performance-in-digital-lessons.aspx

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Summer Learning Apps

by WBNS

You can find some great resources online to make sure your kids keep learning year round. Many of them are free. Social media behavioral expert Michele Cuthbert with Baker Creative recommends these apps and websites that are not only educational, but fun: Timeforkids.com has a variety of tools to learn, for example, about Antarctica. It also has fast facts, printable items for various grades, a slide show of explorers and info about animals. WBU.com (wild birds unlimited.com): offers live video feeds of all types of birds in their natural habitat. It also teaches kids how to set up their own wildlife habitat. Thekidzpage.com has online color pages, math and number games, picture games and paint puzzles for younger kids.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2015/07/19/columbus-summer-learning-apps.html

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Online learning gets push

By Aziza Musa, Arkansas Daily

Colleges and universities statewide are rebuilding or reinvigorating online offerings in preparation for the fall term. The revisiting of online programs is helping the higher-education institutions to compete in an already crowded field for nontraditional students — students who don’t come directly from high school or who started college but then stopped before graduating. The Arkansas Department of Higher Education has allowed more than 120 distance education providers — both in-state and out-of-state institutions that have online offerings — to operate in the state, officials have said. “There has been a renewed emphasis on improving the college attainment rate, whether certificates or degrees, of adult Arkansans, and online education is an important component of that effort,” said Brett Powell, director of the state’s Department of Higher Education.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/jul/20/online-learning-gets-push-20150720/

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School saves 150 failing students with quickie online courses

By Susan Edelman, New York Post

Flushing HS put 150 flunking students in quickie online “credit recovery” courses and pressured teachers to reverse failing grades to boost a lower-than-50 percent graduation rate, a stunning internal ­e-mail shows. “Our benchmark of a 60 percent graduation rate in June is nonnegotiable,” ­Patricia Cuti, assistant principal for guidance, insisted in a June 1 missive to staff. With fewer than two weeks before the end of regular classes, all 150 students were enrolled in Apex Learning online courses, where they could get a quick and easy replacement for a semester or year’s work. “With 150 students failing a grad requirement, we are looking at a rate of less than 50 percent,” Cuti wrote. “Every effort to assist these students in reaching all the graduation requirements is necessary.

http://nypost.com/2015/07/19/school-saves-150-failing-students-with-quickie-online-courses/

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Arkansas invests $65 mil. in ultra high-speed internet for schools

By Chad Hunter, Times Record

Fort Smith schools are the first to connect to Arkansas’ improved high-speed Internet system designed to offer speeds 40 times faster than the current statewide average. The $65 million initiative for improved broadband service in Arkansas schools kicked off at a small ceremony held Wednesday afternoon at the Fort Smith School District’s Rogers Center. “This is a big day for Arkansas,” Arkansas Department of Information Systems Director Mark Myers said. “That equipment is expensive and that connection is expensive, but it’s what the students of Arkansas deserve.”

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/07/20/arkansas-internet-695/

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15 Online Resources That Help Improve Essay-Writing Skills

By Julie Petersen, THE Journal

Throughout the journey from kindergarten to 12th grade, students are supposed to gain appropriate vocabulary and grammar skills that need to be successfully implemented into essay writing. Here are some effective online tools that can help you make the art of essay writing more attractive for your students.

http://thejournal.com/Articles/2015/06/25/15-Online-Resources-That-Help-Improve-Essay-Writing-Skills.aspx

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Can Teachers Author Their Own Textbooks on the Fly?

By David Raths, THE Journal

What happens when a school throws out the textbooks and tells teachers that they are going to become authors themselves by creating curriculum in real time as the semester progresses? That’s what the String Theory School, a charter school in Philadelphia and one of only 37 Apple Distinguished schools in the country, is discovering. Why not eliminate those bulky backpacks full of books and instead send teachers straight to iTunes U to find, customize or create their own lessons aligned to standards as they go? “The teachers themselves could expertly design it, align it with standards and have it be personalized for the students,” said DiPaulo, speaking at an ISTE conference presentation in Philadelphia in late June.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/07/14/can-teachers-author-their-own-textbooks-on-the-fly.aspx

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This Is What Today’s Online Learning Content Tells Us About The Future Of School

by Jordan Shapiro, Forbes

Today’s children are extremely savvy. They’ve grown up in a world where information was always just a button away. Buttons? Soon, they won’t even need buttons. With Windows 10, they’ll simply say, “hey Cortana.” She’s more like the world’s greatest librarian than a personal assistant. She delivers content on command. In the future, after children have mastered reading, writing, and arithmetic, will more formal schooling still be necessary? Because of the unprecedented access we now have to information, some folks think that online self-directed learning will soon replace traditional education as we know it. They imagine that open, web-based solutions like Khan Academy, Lynda, EdX, and Coursera—perhaps paired with a system of certifications—can address most of society’s education needs. Professors, in a world where information is ubiquitous, could become more like curators than instructors.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/07/19/this-is-what-todays-online-learning-content-tells-us-about-the-future-of-school/

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The Maker Movement and the Classroom

By Dustin Le, Edudemic

The Maker Movement is a new trend based on old school traditions in which the philosophy of doing, building, and creating prevails over just simply buying. Instead of going to the toy store, people are learning how to design and 3D print their own toys. Instead of shopping for furniture, people are going to local community workshops like TechShop and building their own custom chairs and tables. The Maker Mentality creates a powerful paradigm shift by eliminating the separation between consumer and producer. By looking at the benefits and upsides of the Maker Movement and analyzing why it has reemerged, we can use it productively in the classroom by intertwining these new techniques with the classic methods such as lecture, reading, and so on.

http://www.edudemic.com/maker-movement-classroom/

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Baker sees gigabit Internet as important competitive edge

By Elvyn Jones, LJ World

All is on schedule for the Baldwin City campus to have fiber optic gigabit Internet access in the first or second week of August, said Bosch and Andy Jett, Baker’s chief information officer and vice president of strategic planning and academic resources. With that, gigabit access will be available in all university academic halls, sports venues, the Harter Student Union and residence halls, where 500 of the about 930 undergraduates on Baker’s Baldwin City campus reside. Faster Internet access will help improve Baker’s administrative efficiency and will have significant academic consequences going forward, but Jett said an important immediate factor for Baker administrators was the competitive edge it affords in recruiting high school graduates who grew up socializing, playing games, watching movies and TV shows and completing homework assignments on laptops, tablets and smartphones.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/jul/20/baker-sees-gigabit-internet-important-competitive-/

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On-line learning gets tryout at summer school

By Paul Schott, Greenwich Time

In the past, a lack of numbers would have meant those classes could not be run. Students would have to make up the courses another time, likely during the school year. For some, the delay in catching up could have meant having to spend another year in high school. Administrators did not want to see that scenario, so they came up with an alternative: The students would become their own teachers, by doing the coursework with Odysseyware, online academic software. “We’ve canceled these classes in the past, and the kids were out of luck,” said summer school co-coordinator Lori Mulligan, who is also a math teacher at Greenwich High School. “This is a first step in making sure they’re always offered. This is a way to keep the kids on track and moving forward.”

http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/On-line-learning-gets-tryout-at-summer-school-6392587.php

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Some midstate schools shifting to online summer classes

by Ben Allen, WITF

Online classes aren’t just a part of the usual school year; summer school is now online in some areas. In a handful of Lancaster County districts, some students are paying to take online summer school classes to get ahead. In the Susquehanna Township School District, the online courses are offered at the high school itself, says principal Keith Still. “If the student doesn’t understand their interactive teacher, he still has access to a live person to answer questions they may have on a content area. So they get the best of both worlds,” says Still.

http://www.witf.org/news/2015/07/some-midstate-schools-shifting-to-online-summer-classes.php

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CyberLink Launches State-of-the-Art Online Learning Center for Video and Photo Editing

By Business Wire

CyberLink Corp. today launched the CyberLink Learning Center to complement the use of its creativity software. The Learning Center provides educational and training materials in an easily accessible interface, with content searchable by subject, user skill level or software application. The CyberLink software covered in the new Learning Center includes PowerDirector, one of the most flexible and powerful video editing solutions available, and PhotoDirector, a professional quality photo editing and management solution. Additional tutorials are available for AudioDirector, ColorDirector, and CyberLink’s popular YouCam Makeup and YouCam Perfect apps for mobile devices.

http://news.sys-con.com/node/3372875

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Internet and Technology: Are digital natives really equipped?

by Jamil Ezzo, the Peninsula

Being born into the age of information and communications technology (ICT) does not certify today’s youth to be experts in digital technology. Today’s generation admittedly have exceptional proficiency in the use of computers and laptops along with mobile and social media technologies, possessing a good level of digital literacy. Nevertheless, they still need to be formally educated to use technology to advance society further; otherwise, they will become ‘digital orphans’ who lack the qualifications or experiences to get meaningful employment. Surveys suggest that the majority of young people do not possess the skills and abilities required by today’s job markets. It has become a challenge for companies to recruit somebody who is digitally literate and can make the most of the internet and what digital technology has to offer rather than just a digital native who has led an active virtual life but lacks the skills to use the medium to deal with the needs of the work environment.

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/life-style/techfile/347876/internet-and-technology-are-digital-natives-really-equipped

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How online training increases employee engagement

by Roz Bahrami, IT Business Canada

Engaged workers matter because they are the loyal ones who will go the extra mile, offer the innovative idea, and work with passion when needed to meet deadlines and keep a company going. Actively disengaged employees can harm a company, acting out their disgruntlement and unhappiness. Companies despair when they think that the price of engagement may be too high an investment for them to offer during tough and competitive times. But it doesn’t have to be. One highly effective way you can change the morale and engagement in your workplace is to offer training as part of your employee development activities. Even with a very small budget, you can offer online courses that send the message you believe and value to your employees as you want to tie your employees to you for the future.

http://www.itbusiness.ca/blog/how-online-training-increases-employee-engagement/56882

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New Waseca schools math curriculum shows greater focus on mastery, online learning

By JACOB STARK, Waseca County News

A new math curriculum coming to Waseca schools will offer a different approach for students from fourth through 12th grade, showing a shift toward more direct mastery of mathematical concepts. At the high school level, four different textbook series were examined. While the classes had online portions previously, Swanson said that they left room for improvement. “You really have to know the material and know the math to know what you’re looking at,” she said. The difference with the online portion for the new series is that the online lessons are aligned directly with lessons from the book, allowing students to have a lesson retaught if there was something they didn’t understand in class.

http://www.southernminn.com/waseca_county_news/news/article_9a879ef0-40ce-5e13-876f-ebe4d001354d.html

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How a policy for credit for prior learning can boost completion rates today

By Todd Hitchcock and Mary Beth Lakin, eCampus News

Seventy-five percent of today’s students (mostly adult learners) are juggling some combination of family commitment, job, and education, while commuting to campus, according to Complete College America. Credit for Prior Learning has emerged as an effective pathway to help more learners today, with busy lifestyles, to achieve their higher education goals. Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) is a term educators use to describe learning that a student acquires outside of a traditional academic environment. This learning may have been attained through work experience, professional development courses, military training or experience, independent study, noncredit courses, volunteer or community service, travel, non-college courses, or seminars, many of which are offered online, such as MOOCs. For too many people today, time is the barrier to college completion.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/credit-prior-policy-728/

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Millions from DoD go to this university’s STEM program

by eCampus News

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently awarded the STEMPREP Project at Southern Methodist University a $3.78 million grant to support its goal of increasing the number of minorities in STEM fields. The grant follows a $2.6 million grant in 2014. According to a report just released from the Executive Office of the President, 21 percent of Hispanic men and 28 percent of black men have a college degree by their late twenties compared to nearly half of white men. The 2013 U.S. Census Bureau reports that African Americans make up 11 percent of the U.S. workforce but only 6 percent of STEM workers. Hispanics make up 15 percent of the U.S. workforce, but just 7 percent of the STEM workforce.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/dod-universitys-stem-577/

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The old way of stopping cyber attacks is no longer working

By Jerish Papapurath, eSchool News

Firewalls alone may not be enough to stop cyber attacks. For that, there’s data science and cyber-science. Recently, KTVB evening news reported a denial-of-service (DoS) attack occurring on and off for over a week on Idaho’s largest school district Internet connection. It’s yet another example of a school district IT department having to wade through piles of system logs to find that the potential root cause was a student who hired someone to perpetrate the attack. The news report closed with the disclaimer that, “these attacks didn’t breach the network, so no student information was accessed.” The question is, when a network is breached, do school systems really have the tools they need to prevent data loss?

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/07/15/cyber-attacks-368/

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7 Tips for Being a Successful Online Student

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

Once upon a time, educators recoiled from the idea of online education. How could classes taken over a computer possibly provide the same benefit to students as those taken in person? As technology has improved and more reputable educational institutions have embraced online learning over the past few years, many of the early criticisms lobbied at online learning have been well challenged. Over a third of all higher education students are taking at least one of their courses online, and more than 12% are enrolled in online courses exclusively. Clearly students, professors, and colleges are all coming around to the idea of distance education.

http://www.edudemic.com/7-tips-successful-online-student/

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Informal survey suggests disconnect between teachers and data

by eSchool News

At this year’s ISTE conference Lexia Learning polled more than 200 educators in an informal survey, which suggests teachers are not using collected data to pinpoint skill deficiencies in a timely manner. According to the survey, only 35 percent of respondents felt that teachers at their schools had a high or very high level of comfort connecting data to instruction. The survey also found that fewer than half (48 percent) of respondents felt that their current screener assessments provide clear categorizations of which students were on track and which needed more attention.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/07/16/teachers-data-142/

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Lafayette’s full-time ‘virtual learning’ program expands to K-12

By MARSHA SILLS, the Advocate

More than 600 students in Lafayette Parish — enough to fill a school — don’t attend class in a traditional classroom and instead are being home-schooled. The Lafayette Parish School System hopes to attract those students and others who may want a nontraditional learning option with the expansion of its existing “virtual learning” program. Starting in August, the school system will launch the eCampus Academy, a virtual school for kindergarten through 12th grade that allows students to take classes online in real time with a teacher. The school system tested the full-time virtual class option with middle and high school students in the 2014-15 school year and enrolled 70 students, all of whom passed their end-of-course tests, said Jarrett Coutee, the school system’s virtual learning administrator.

http://theadvocate.com/news/12912202-123/lafayette-expanding-virtual-learning-program

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Penn State offers class on teaching veterans

BY LORI FALCE, Centre Daily

“At Penn State, and especially with the World Campus, the military population is growing,” said Drew Tatusko, assistant director of faculty development for World Campus, the university’s online arm. The World Campus’s enrollment has the highest concentration of military students across all of Penn State’s locations, with 17.2 percent of the student body being service members. From deployment to training to sudden and unexpected relocation, there are often extenuating circumstances that require adjustments or allowances from instructors. Joan Smeltzer, a Penn State York math instructor, has seen the impact firsthand with her students. She had one who was being deployed, and while she was encouraging and trying to be helpful, he was also insistent that he expected no special treatment.

http://www.centredaily.com/2015/07/14/4835275/penn-state-offers-class-on-teaching.html

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Keep Kids Learning This Summer with Google’s Free Online Science Program

by Melanie Pinola, Lifehacker

Google has partnered with NASA, National Geographic, Khan Academy and other major organizations to teach kids science over the summer. It’s called Camp Google and the first week takes kids underwater. Virtually, that is. Kids sign on at camp.withgoogle.com to watch videos, participate in activities, and earn badges. After this week’s Ocean Week, they’ll explore space, nature, and music to do things like create space food, grow crystals, and turn a smartphone into a booming stereo. It’s tough entertaining and educating kids when they’re home all day in the summer, so thank you Google.

http://lifehacker.com/keep-kids-learning-this-summer-with-googles-free-online-1717750067

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Surprise! This Career is One of the Happiest Around

BY Jeremy Goldman, INC

If you’re unhappy at work, don’t complain to your coder friends. Chances are they won’t be able to relate. The stereotype of web developers is that they don’t get up from their workstations except to grab another Red Bull. However, a new survey from education site SkilledUP (and conducted by market research firm ProvokeInsights) indicates that most developers are happier than you are, largely due to a high degree of freedom and rewarding salaries. Among the survey’s findings: Of the 303 developers surveyed, 88% indicated that they were completely satisfied with their career. Another 11% indicated they were somewhat satisfied. Perhaps surprisingly, only 1% of developers surveyed were not at all satisfied. Out of different specialties, the happiest developers on average worked in mobile/responsive programming.

http://www.inc.com/jeremy-goldman/surprise-this-career-is-one-of-the-happiest-around.html

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Making use of alternative credentials

by Sybil Pressprich, the State Journal

Credentials are as important as ever in applying for a job, but nowadays there are more kinds to choose from. Along with job experience and traditional education, today’s job-seekers have alternative methods of showing that they’ve mastered a skill. For example, they can earn a digital badge, enroll in a massive open online course or complete a certificate program. Do employers take these new-style credentials seriously? It may depend on how you present them in your application materials and interview. Given the right approach, they can help convince an employer that you’re the right person for the job. Here’s how three types of alternative credentials can be useful to a job-seeker:

http://host.madison.com/business/career-corner-making-use-of-alternative-credentials/article_e3237020-ca26-5026-bdd8-12d2ab4b51cd.html

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