The Perfect Storm: 4 Conditions Align for a Revolution in Curriculum Development

By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway, THE Journal

For good economic and pedagogical reasons, by and large computers have been used in K-12 classrooms as supplemental, not as essential, elements of the curriculum. And research has shown that supplemental use of computers does not lead to increased student achievement. However, as we describe more fully below, four events are in the works that, taken together, provide the enabling condition for the creation of a new — revolutionary — generation of curricula, where the computer is an essential element, inextricably interwoven in the everyday activities of students. Truly, the opportunity to dramatically impact K-12 teaching and learning is at hand!

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/18/the-perfect-storm-4-conditions-align-for-a-revolution-in-curriculum-development.aspx

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7 fun apps to build student thinking skills

By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

Looking to give students — or your colleagues — a way to hone their thinking and problem-solving skills while having fun? These free puzzles and games might do the trick. The website APPitic.com, an app resource site with more than 6,000 apps in more than 300 subcategories, offers a number of apps to help build student thinking skills. Here, we’ve gathered a handful of those apps, and you can access more on the APPitic site. All apps were originally curated by Apple Distinguished Educators.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/20/student-thinking-skills-173/

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New Minecraft tutorial teaches kids coding

By Laura Devaney, eSchool News

A free Minecraft coding tutorial from Microsoft, created for the upcoming and third annual Hour of Code, introduces players ages 6 and older to basic coding contained within the popular “sandbox” game, so named because players have freedom to build and do anything they wish inside the world they create. The tutorial was unveiled on Nov. 16 by Microsoft, Mojang AB, and Code.org and was created especially for students and educators. Code.org‘s Hour of Code is a campaign intended to expand global participation in computer science activities. It is held during Computer Science Education Week, which this year runs from Dec. 7-13. The tutorial, now available for free online, doesn’t require you to have the game installed.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/18/minecraft-tutorial-059/

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ASCD launches digital resource for teachers

by eSchool News

ASCD has launched ASCD myTeachSource–a classroom-focused, teacher-driven digital subscription that delivers monthly topic packs on popular instructional strategies. The new product, which debuted at the 2015 ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership in San Diego, Calif., is designed for ease of use and is accessible from computers or mobile devices. Teachers can learn about all of the product’s features and sign up for a free trial at myteachsource.ascd.org. “At ASCD, we strive to provide professional learning solutions to meet the diverse needs of all educators, and the launch of ASCD myTeachSource is the next major step in that mission,” said Deborah S. Delisle, ASCD executive director and CEO. “This digital subscription product will empower teachers to take charge of their own professional learning by accessing the resources most relevant to them at the times when new tools, strategies, and ideas are needed the most.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/27/digital-resource-teachers-484/

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How to reduce admin tasks post-holidays with online tools

By Ran Oelgiesser, eCampus News

Student meetings, course requests and more can be streamlined with online tools to reduce time wastes for faculty and admin. Thanksgiving has just ended and faculty and academic staff will soon dive into a full spring course load post holiday season. Professionals in the education industry know that meetings, paperwork, and other administrative tasks can be just as important to ensure a successful school year. However, they can often take up too much of an educator’s time. A study conducted at Boise St University in 2014 estimated these administrative tasks are taking up 30 percent of an education professional’s weekly workload, taking away from their abilities to properly serve their students.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/admin-online-tools-910/

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Colleges begin to take virtual reality seriously

By Abi Mandelbaum, eCampus News

From recruitment to distance learning, and from alumni relations to more culturally diverse courses, virtual reality has mass appeal to today’s institutions. Virtual reality (VR) is emerging as a powerful technology, projected to grow into a $30 billion industry in the next 5 years. Major brands across various industries have already begun using VR as a marketing tool to get customers to try their product, service, or visit their location. But when it comes to higher education, has VR’s dramatic rise impacted colleges and universities?

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/colleges-virtual-reality-941/

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2 districts asking to go online

By Brenda Bernet, Arkansas Online

Two school districts are preparing to offer students free options for online instruction next fall, pending approval of the Arkansas Board of Education. A state Charter Authorizing Panel last week recommended the state board approve the Fayetteville School District’s plan to open Fayetteville Virtual Academy, as well as the Springdale School District’s plan to convert its School of Innovation into a charter school with options for online instruction. The state Board of Education is expected to consider the panel’s recommendations at its December meeting. The board can accept the panel’s decisions or conduct separate hearings on the applications. “This is very new for a traditional [kindergarten through 12th grade] school district to adopt this education system,” said Kim Garrett, Fayetteville associate superintendent for secondary education.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/nov/24/2-districts-asking-to-go-online-2015112/

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Stanford adds Cherokee Online Language class

By SCOTT MCKIE B.P., ONE FEATHER

EBCI tribal member Constance Owl might go to school across the country, but she still gets to speak and hear her native language. “There’s already interest in having the course offered next year,” said Owl who chairs the Stanford Cherokee Club. The joint project is a part of WCU’s Community Outreach programming, and Dr. Francis said the online classes have been beneficial to all. “Even Western Carolina University can be a bit far from the Boundary or from Snowbird, and so we have found our online classes to be one of the best ways to reach the community.” He said they post electronic lessons and short audiovisual pieces to the WCU Cherokee Language Facebook page. “The formal class structure that we share with Stanford and the very formal online class structure for credit through WCU is quite different from the informal Facebook posting,” said Dr. Francis, “but, all of these modes help us reach the community and further Cherokee language scholarship.”

http://theonefeather.com/2015/11/stanford-adds-cherokee-language-class/

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Blended Learning Is Making Teachers More Productive in the Classroom. Here’s How.

By Ellie Kaufman, Tech Mic

While the success of blended learning programs is debatable, incorporating technology more actively into any subject helps students learn basic tech skills they will need later in life. And it engages them with material in a completely new, potentially more effective, way. Tracy Rudzitis teaches technology and digital media classes at the Computer School, a public middle school in New York City’s Upper West Side neighborhood. She teaches computer programming and other courses in which students design and build real-world projects using PCs. “If they are using technology and computers, they are using them because those are really powerful tools that allow students to create and construct powerful ideas,” Rudzitis told Mic. “They can use a computer to create a program, which is much more powerful than drawing a picture.”

http://mic.com/articles/126856/blended-learning-is-making-teachers-more-productive-in-the-classroom-here-s-how#.K0nDTvIhJ

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Departments debate efficacy of online, paper course evaluations

BY CARLY NYMAN, Brown and White

The number of sheets of paper that the Office of Institutional Research consumed to conduct course evaluations last spring is 25,842. With only 22 percent of Lehigh faculty opting for the online evaluation form, Institutional Research is left with the lengthy and environmentally-unfriendly process of mass producing the forms and vibrant orange envelopes that land on professors’ podiums at the end of each semester. This process has created a debate between the use of online versus paper course evaluations. Faculty members that use paper generally believe they receive better response rates because they can administer the evaluation forms in person to students who are already sitting at a desk ready to fill them out. Students, however, are left feeling pressed for time and may not provide as thorough feedback as if they took it online at a different time.

http://thebrownandwhite.com/2015/11/23/departments-debate-efficacy-of-online-paper-course-evaluations/

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The advanced Google searches every student should know

By Alan November, eSchool News

Google has amazing tools for finding school-worthy sources. Too bad most kids don’t know they exist. When confronted with examples of using the advanced features of Google, the students who previously laughed at the question, “Do you know how to use Google?” are stunned, and in some cases even embarrassed or mad. They wonder why they have never been taught how to perform this type of search. They often are quick to ask: “What else don’t I know?” There is great news in this response. Students do not want to feel inadequate when they use the internet. Once you start to teach them the tricks of deep research they will often ask for more.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/23/how-search-google-592/

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A Digital Storytelling Playground

By Tonya Prewett, THE Journal

Lee-Scott Academy provided an all-day “Digital Storytelling Playground” for teachers to experience and “play” with technology tools for their classrooms. More than 20 iPad and laptop stations, featuring a variety of apps, were available for teachers to explore in the atrium. One highlight of the playground was the green screen area that allowed teachers to discover ways to incorporate green screen technology in their classrooms. The results of this playground have been very exciting. After several months, teachers continued to find new ways to incorporate what they learned.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/10/a-digital-storytelling-playground.aspx

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What role are mobile learning apps playing in the ed-tech revolution

by Ashok Subramanian P, Financial Express

E-education is commonplace now. A new trend we notice is edutainment, where companies have started blending education with entertainment to ensure that the process of learning doesn’t become boring after a point of time. E-education is a commonplace notion. A new trend that we notice in this space is that of edutainment, where companies have started blending education with entertaining environment to ensure that the process of learning doesn’t become boring after a point of time. In fact, we at ConveGenius recently launched Battle of Minds, a social edutainment network, which is aimed towards doing exactly this by ‘appifying’ the paradigms of learning and making it fun and rewarding, all at the same time. The benefits of such app-based, edutainment-driven learning are numerous.

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/jobs/what-role-are-mobile-learning-apps-playing-in-the-ed-tech-revolution/169125/

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Online learning is for the disciplined

by Erik Rédli, Slovak Spectator

The seismic spread of free online courses for life-long education in some countries has caused an outflow of students from institutionalised online education. However, in Slovakia online learning is still a product offered by universities. They offer courses in management, marketing, communication, finances, human resource management and accounting. All of these fields require an active approach and constant learning, which is reflected in the profile of the students. Indeed, online study is different from day-to-day school attendance and isn’t suitable for lazy students. “Interactive online programs of LIGS University are for students who want to work on their skills and at the same time they consider their time carefully,” Dagmar Makovská, executive director at LIGS, said.

http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20064319/online-learning-is-for-the-disciplined.html

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Students ‘flip’ over prof’s class, which blends online and in-class learning

by Julie Wurth, News-Gazette

Not everyone would show clips of the unfortunately named British game show “Golden Balls” to illustrate a microeconomics lesson, but Jose Vazquez is not a typical teacher. The UI professor no longer uses the centuries-old “chalk and talk” lecture style. Vazquez has chosen to “flip” his Principles of Microeconomics course — having students watch videos of his lectures online before coming to class in the cavernous Foellinger Auditorium.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-11-22/students-flip-over-profs-class-which-blends-online-and-class-learning.html

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7 fun apps to build student thinking skills

By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

Looking to give students — or your colleagues — a way to hone their thinking and problem-solving skills while having fun? These free puzzles and games might do the trick. The website APPitic.com, an app resource site with more than 6,000 apps in more than 300 subcategories, offers a number of apps to help build student thinking skills. Here, we’ve gathered a handful of those apps, and you can access more on the APPitic site. All apps were originally curated by Apple Distinguished Educators.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/20/student-thinking-skills-173/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14385

Whatever Happened to Course Management Systems?

By Amanda Ronan, Edudemic

Back in 2012, Jason Blanchard wrote an article for Edudemic about the problems with Course management systems (CMSs), such as Blackboard and Moodle. At that time, CMSs were centralized platforms that host software tools essential for online course instructors and students. Let’s be honest, 2010 was a long time ago, especially in the world of technology. So we’ve decided to update the Blanchard CMS article. Our goal was to revisit his concerns with the systems in use in 2010 and to see what, if anything has improved since then. What we found was that CMSs are really a platform of the past. They’ve all turned into larger, more powerful Learning Management Systems. (LMS). Let’s take a look at where CMSs started and how they morphed into LMSs.

http://www.edudemic.com/whatever-happened-course-management-systems/

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iNACOL Teacher Talk Webinar Features National Blended and Online Learning Teacher of the Year

by iNACOL

On Thursday, December 17, 2015, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is hosting a Teacher Talk Webinar featuring Paula Barr, recently honored as the 2015 Blended and Online Learning Teacher of the Year at the iNACOL Blended and Online Learning Symposium, held in Orlando, Florida. In this webinar, Paula will share her perspective on how blended and online teaching improves student engagement, provides for greater personalization of learning, and how a veteran classroom teacher has adapted to a new teaching and learning environment. Paula will share examples of successes and challenges she experienced in the journey of becoming an outstanding blended learning teacher.  This webinar is free to attend—participants are invited to register here for final details and login information.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inacol-teacher-talk-webinar-features-national-blended-and-online-learning-teacher-of-the-year-300182510.html

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Blended Learning Is the Future of K-12 Educational Technology

By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway, THE Journal

In our blog post of Oct. 6, 2014 we panned blended learning, and now, in what follows, we are about to say blended learning is the greatest thing since sliced bread. If we were politicians we would be labeled as flip-floppers, a derogatory term in the political argot. But, thank goodness we are not politicians, but an educator (C) and a technologist (E) coming to a new understanding of what the future holds, amongst higher-minded colleagues who eschew fallacious ad hominem arguments.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/17/blended-learning-is-the-future.aspx

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Decoding ADA Standards for Classroom AV

By Mike Tomei, Campus Technology

When designing audiovisual systems in higher education facilities, accessibility standards are often overlooked. Here are the latest ADA Standards to keep in mind for any classroom AV project. Classroom audiovisual systems can quickly turn into complex designs integrating a mix of technology, furniture and room design into one (hopefully) cohesive system. AV designers are not only tasked with determining the equipment needed in the system, but also the required infrastructure design specifications to make sure the system adheres to building, electrical, structural and life safety codes. In the midst of all those specifications, one often overlooked — but critical — aspect of AV system design is compliance with the ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/11/11/decoding-ada-standards-for-classroom-av.aspx

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Building for a Generation We’ll Never See: Technology Change is Not Deja Vu

By Mary Grush with Bernard Luskin, Campus Technology

Our institutional missions can be extended into the future and supported by the same vision and community values that originated them. But technology change, often spurred on by external markets, may come in waves of extreme and dramatic change, with steep learning curves for leadership and practitioners alike. To get some perspective on technology change for higher education, CT spoke with Ventura County Community College District’s chancellor, Bernard Luskin.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/11/17/building-technology-for-a-generation-we-will-never-see.aspx

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Can Online Exchange Programs Really Help Kids Learn About the World?

By Chris Berdik, Slate

This fall, after getting to know each other in online video exchanges, some Ugandan high school students told a group of students in New Orleans that most Ugandans have no reliable electricity and use candles or lanterns after dark. Over the following weeks, the students worked together to build solar-powered lights. An education technology startup called Level Up Village supplied both schools with solar cells, batteries, and LEDs, along with 3-D printers to fabricate the housings, tutorials on electricity and computer-aided design, and an online workspace for posting notes and swapping ideas. Global learning initiatives like this are booming, because the technologies that long made our world seem smaller are finally at the point where they can seamlessly make classrooms that much bigger.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/11/online_global_education_initiatives_are_expanding_the_classroom_and_connecting.html

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Why NASA is sending humanoids to college

by Kelsey Warner, Christian Science Monitor

The space agency announced Tuesday will award two Valkyrie robots, a 6-foot-tall, 290-pound humanoid, to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., and Northeastern University in Boston for intensive research and development into the robot’s applications in extreme environments. “Advances in robotics, including human-robotic collaboration, are critical to developing the capabilities required for our journey to Mars,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are excited to engage these university research groups to help NASA with this next big step in robotics technology development.” The space agency became urgently interested in robotics following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station incident in Japan, which the agency says “illustrated, rather candidly, how inadequate current robotic technologies are for use in highly unstructured human environments.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1118/Why-NASA-is-sending-humanoids-to-college

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Could “Nanodegrees” Be the Solution to the Student Debt Crisis?

BY GEORGE LORENZO, Fast Company

What if you could earn a technology-centric credential at a similar level to a postgraduate for less than $1,000? And what if earning that high-level credential took about six to nine months? What if, after earning this credential, you went into a job interview with solid evidence revealing your skills, backed by several relevant projects you created that very clearly disclosed your innovativeness and creativity, along with showing how advanced you were in relation to the latest developments in your field of study?

http://www.fastcompany.com/3053305/the-future-of-work/could-nanodegrees-be-the-solution-to-the-student-debt-crisis

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Students and teachers need to adapt to online classrooms

BY JASMINE ANTHONY, Sheridan Sun

Technology affects everything. It helps us communicate, travel, cook, clean, and shop more efficiently. In education, the emergence of online classes has introduced a plethora of opportunities to prospective students. With all the advantages technology brings, it’s no surprise our teaching system has shifted to include online learning options. That means students face the choice of whether online learning fits their needs. There are positive aspects of taking an online course. It can work well for people who may not be able to attend in-class lessons, whether they are too far away, have full-time jobs or children at home. It also allows students to enroll in classes at institutions outside their province. While some may think taking a course without having to attend class is easy, some students find the opposite is true.

http://thesheridansun.ca/blog/2015/11/17/students-and-teachers-need-to-adapt-as-the-classroom-moves-online/

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Responsive Web Design in Higher Ed

by: Karen A. Wetzel, EDUCAUSE Review

People interact daily with higher education institutions using mobile devices, often getting their first impressions from the resulting user experience. A responsive solution efficiently and proactively providing an effective user interface, regardless of device size and type, delivers an optimal experience for viewers. This excerpt explains responsive web design and how it works, with the original paper providing additional details and guidance.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/11/responsive-web-design-in-higher-ed

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Public-University Group Expands ‘Personalized Learning’ Efforts

by Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities is expanding its support of “personalized learning” with the help of a new $4.6-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Personalized learning” means different things to different people. It’s a buzzword, and it can be difficult to get past the hype. Depending on whom you ask, it can mean such things as data analytics, video games, or artificial-intelligence research. For the university association, it has to do with using technology to focus on students’ individual needs. “Personalized learning is all about putting that learner in the center of the process,” said Meaghan Duff, executive director of APLU’s Personalized Learning Consortium, which will manage the initiative.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/public-university-group-expands-personalized-learning-efforts/57616

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4 Steps to Providing More Access in Schools

By Mike Ribble, THE Journal

A frequent conflict that educators have with their IT departments is over access to content for students — content that’s often being blocked at the behest of administrators and parents. And many IT directors are becoming less interested in being stuck in the middle. But often IT directors who want more control are trying to protect educators and students from not only what can be seen on the Internet but often what is not seen (viruses, adware and malware). Is there a compromise that can address all the needs while still protecting everyone?

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/12/4-steps-to-providing-more-access-in-schools.aspx

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Students share advice for online class success

By Lauren Gordon, the Collegian

As part of National Distance Learning Week, faculty and staff involved in eLearning visited all five campuses to raise awareness for eLearning and dispel any myths that students and faculty have, moderator Christina Henley told students and professors on NW Campus Nov. 11. A student panel also shared strategies and ways to excel in online courses while a faculty panel shared techniques to improve the online courses they teach and explain what they have learned along the way. “My passion has to do with the ability that students can complete college with the flexibility of online courses,” TCC Connect president Carlos Morales said.

http://collegian.tccd.edu/?p=27943

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Udacity and Google team up for new Senior Web Developer Nanodegree program

by NATE SWANNER, The Next Web

Udacity has partnered with Google to bring another Nanodegree program to the fold: Senior Web Developer. The program builds on the Front End Web Developer Nanodegree curriculum, much like Udacity’s duo of iOS Developer degree programs do. Here’s how a Udacity spokesperson explained it to us: The Senior Web Developer Nanodegree program is a natural progression from the Front-End Web Developer Nanodegree program. Like all Nanodegree programs, The Senior Web Developer degree will cost $200 per month, which Udacity says can be achieved in 10-12 months’ time.

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/11/17/udacity-and-google-team-up-for-new-senior-web-developer-nanodegree-program/

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Are Learning Styles Useful?

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

Every teacher already knows that each student learn differently from his or her peers. In the last couple of decades a theory emerged that a few key learning styles could explain and define some of those differences in how children learn. We even published this infographic here a couple of years ago that explored the idea. The seven learning styles described are based on Howard Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences. In defense of his work, Gardner himself emphasizes that what he described in his original work weren’t learning styles, but rather different facets of how each mind works. Nonetheless, his ideas have gone on to inspire discussions, infographics, teaching theories and quizzes all based around trying to pin down a clearer understanding of the different ways people learn.

http://www.edudemic.com/learning-styles-useful/

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Even With Flipped Classrooms, Teachers Still at Head of The Class

by Jane Swift, Huffington Post

Digital learning–online or classroom-based–is not a revolution in education, it’s the evolution of education. For all the talk of the flipped classroom, digital tools have not turned education on its head. But it does provide teachers with more resources and tools to help students and applies learning in a way that helps these digital natives connect with the subject matter. However, we are seeing the strongest growth in the blended learning model, which keeps the teacher at the front of the classroom. That gives teachers a lot of say over which products succeed and fail. This reality should spur edtech providers to bring teachers into the development process. Even if you win a contract at the district level, you need to show value at the classroom level or you won’t see future growth or long relationships with customers. But if you can engage teachers and add value for them, they will embrace your product and provide advice to make it better.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-swift/even-with-flipped-classro_b_8546074.html

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Parents fire back at report critical of online charter schools

By Moriah Costa, Education Watchdog

The scathing report from CREDO found that students in online charter schools learn less in their first year than students in a traditional public school. It also found students had less one-on-one time with teachers. Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said she was “disheartened to learn of the large-scale underperformance of full-time virtual charter public schools.” While online charter schools “are meaningful and beneficial options for some students,” authorizers of these schools need to hold them accountable, she said. “While we know that this model works for some students, the CREDO report shows that too many students aren’t succeeding in a full-time online environment,” she said.

http://watchdog.org/247038/parents-fire-back-report-critical-online-charter-schools/

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HBCUs Developing Online Programs with the University of Phoenix to Survive

by Manny Otiko, Atlanta Black Star

Faced with a changing education landscape, some Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are looking at online education, reported BuzzFeed. Several HBCUs are partnering with the for-profit University of Phoenix, which seems to have developed a good track record for graduating Black students. According to BuzzFeed, almost a third of the students at the five largest for-profit colleges, who provide mainly online classes, are Black. In 2013, for-profit colleges had 275,000 black students out of a total of 877,000 enrollees. In that year, HBCUs enrolled 311,000 students. Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which supports most of the country’s public HBCUs, said Black schools have been slow to adopt online education, but it’s the future.

https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/11/12/hbcus-developing-online-programs-university-phoenix-survive-changing-education-landscape/

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