The Changing Framework of Online Learning

By Janet Burns, PSFK

Regardless, perhaps, of which platform an educator chooses, the question of how effective online learning strategies are remains pivotal to both educators and platform suppliers. Addressing the online learning industry as a whole, recent studies do indicate growing student success rates with online platforms, whether used as supplementary tools or self-contained courses. Earlier this year, MIT physicist David Pritchard and a team of researchers released their findings from a study of Pritchard’s online Mechanics ReView course, which he taught parallel to a traditional, in-person version. As Pope noted, the study concluded that the MOOC version was effective at communicating such difficult material as Newtonian mechanics, “even to students who weren’t MIT caliber,” and that progress from online students mirrored the curve of in-person learners.

http://www.psfk.com/2014/12/changing-framework-online-learning.html

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FHSU joins other institutions in alternative-credit consortium

by The Hays Daily News

Fort Hays State University has signed an agreement with ACE, the American Council on Education, to join 24 other colleges and universities in an alternative credit consortium as part of an innovative initiative to create a more flexible pathway toward a college degree for millions of nontraditional learners. The 25 institutions serving in this pilot project have agreed to identify the criteria, quality and sources of potential alternative credit courses sought by students who successfully complete courses that are part of a selected pool of approximately 100 low-cost or no-cost lower division general education online courses.

http://hdnews.net/society/community/fhsuweb122114

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A tool in hand is worth… nothing without proper PD

by Wendy Drexler, eSchool News

Imagine what would happen if hospital leaders announced to surgeons late on a Friday afternoon that when they came to work on Monday they would no longer be doing surgery using the tools they have always used—such as scalpels, scissors and clamps—and all procedures would be done using new high-tech laser tools, with which they may or may not have familiarity. Of course, a change of this magnitude would never be implemented in such a haphazard way in medicine–lives are at stake! I would argue that lives are also at stake in education, and the scenario described above is analogous to the transition to mobile learning in schools. Oftentimes, school leaders announce that the school community is making the switch to mobile learning, pass out devices to everyone, and expect not only that will things continue as they have been, but that the learning environment will be transformed and student achievement will soar.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/12/16/tool-hand-pd-372/

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When letter grades won’t work, there’s an app for that

By Trevor Shaw, eSchool News

Educators need a way to track traditionally “hard-to-measure” skills–an app might be the solution. In my eighth grade physical computing class, I have a grade problem. The things that are most important to me–things like creativity, curiosity, persistence, critical thinking–are nearly impossible to quantify. I’m sure that I could come up with ways to measure these things indirectly and incorporate them into a mathematical formula, but I don’t believe such a formula would be accurate. Many of these skills and traits are neither linear nor hierarchical. For example, many of us are persistent and curious, but not about everything and not all the time. Furthermore, there is substantial research that indicates that the minute we place extrinsic motivators like grades on something like creativity or critical thinking, we end up reducing the thing we are trying to incentivize.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/12/01/letter-grades-app-873/

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edX joins ConnectED efforts with PD courses for teachers

by eSchool News

Answering President Obama’s call to help schools embrace technology and digital learning in U.S. classrooms, edX will offer professional development courses for teachers. As part of ConnectEd, edX partner universities and colleges will offer teacher professional development courses, along with courses to prepare students for AP exams. “EdX and our university partners are pleased to stand with President Obama to offer U.S. teachers and school districts free, innovative resources to improve teaching and learning outcomes,” said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO. “These courses will empower teachers to use technology in the classroom in creative and personalized ways.”

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/11/21/edx-connected-pd-632/

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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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Professor’s online course delves into all things ‘Doctor Who’

by Anthony Domanico, CNet

A new MOOC, short for massive open online course, from a Syracuse University professor will take “Doctor Who” fans on an epic journey. The course, titled “Doctor Who in the Digital Age,” will be taught by Professor Anthony Rotolo, director of the online masters in communications program at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It will run from January through April and will explore the history, evolution and cultural impact of the long-running BBC series, Rotolo tells the Daily Orange. The free course will be offered both in-person to Syracuse students as an independent study class and online for Whovians across the universe.

http://www.cnet.com/news/a-new-mooc-dives-into-the-timey-wimey-world-of-doctor-who/

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Tips to help online degree-seekers balance family, fun and education during the holidays

by NWTN Today

For anyone juggling parental duties, work and online learning, relaxing and enjoying the holidays can be a challenge. For working parents pursing an online education, constant motivation is a great first step in achieving your career goals. Here are some other best practices to keep in mind that will allow you to balance schoolwork, family and holiday preparations while still enjoying the most festive time of the year.

http://www.nwtntoday.com/47811/2220/onlinefeature/514564/tips-to-help-online-degreeseekers-balance-family-fun-and-education-during-the-holidays

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Homestead students give flex days good grade

By Kevin Kilbane, The News-Sentinel

Several Homestead High School students were nearly unanimous in describing one big benefit of the school’s e-learning flex days — they get to sleep in. But students interviewed said they feel they learn as much as during a regular school day, just in a more time-efficient manner. “It’s actually very, very relaxing,” senior Ethan Snead, 17, said Tuesday morning during break from the online classwork he was doing during Homestead’s second e-learning flex day. Southwest Allen County Schools was one of 12 school districts in Indiana granted state approval to hold e-learning flex days this school year. The district chose to implement the program at Homestead, which has 2,300 students.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20141022/NEWS/141029900

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Change the Homework, Improve Student Achievement

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

A new study from Rice University and Duke University researchers identified a relatively non-invasive approach to improving student achievement — one that doesn’t involve gutting the curriculum or reinventing pedagogy. The researchers found that implementing subtle, technology-based changes to homework resulted in improvements in student performance on tests. The changes included the adoption of a software tool developed at Rice called OpenStax Tutor. According to the researchers, the software is similar to other tools on the market that fall into the broad category of cognitive science-based digital tutors, tools that are designed to differentiate instruction based on the needs of individual students.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/03/20/change-the-homework-improve-student-achievement.aspx

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Technology to change role of teachers worldwide

By Elly Wamari, Daily Nation (Kenya)

Demonstrations and announcements made at the Microsoft in Education Global Forum in Barcelona, Spain, from March 11 to 14, suggest that teachers around the world have to ultimately brace themselves for drastic shifts in the way they play their role. Inevitably, technology is rapidly penetrating classrooms, with teachers in the more developed learning institutions taking to innovative use of ICT to facilitate learning. Many are adopting new applications that software makers are specifically developing for the learning environment. According to school leaders, educators, and Microsoft Corporation officials and techies attending the conference, the reason this drive is considered inevitable is the reality that it is more demand driven than propelled by supply.

http://www.nation.co.ke/business/Tech/Technology-to-change-role-of-teachers-worldwide/-/1017288/2242592/-/j8599az/-/index.html

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5 Tips for EdTech Entrepreneurs

by Edutopia, Mary Beth Hertz

I have met many edtech entrepreneurs through my work in teaching technology to kids, and through working with organizations that support innovation in the field of educational technology. As a co-organizer of the Philly EdTech Meetup, I also get to talk one-on-one to many entrepreneurs on a fairly regular basis. Through these conversations, it has become apparent that there are many things that edtech entrepreneurs can do to stay relevant and be successful.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-tips-for-edtech-entrepreneurs-mary-beth-hertz

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A Tablet App from Invention Labs Helps Kids with Speech Disabilities

by Sramana Mitra, Huffington Post

Working with a team of 25 speech therapists and nearly 300 children, the Invention Labs team initially developed a tablet and then an application called Avaz that helped children with autism communicate by replacing words with pictures. FreeSpeech, on the other hand, represents information in a pictorial ‘map’ that captures meaning in a language-independent structure. A FreeSpeech sentence can be fed into a software algorithm called the “FreeSpeech Engine” to convert it into grammatical, well-formed, and meaningful English sentences. It could well revolutionize how language is taught to children with special needs. When Avaz is integrated with FreeSpeech, it addresses the problems not just of children with autism but also those with dyslexia or even aphasia.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sramana-mitra/a-tablet-app-from-inventi_b_4816237.html

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Massachusetts Law ensures suspensions don’t stop the learning

By Grant Welker, Lowell Sun

Thanks to a new law, public schools, including charter schools, will be required to ensure that students who are suspended or expelled from school are able to continue learning. Schools will be obligated to provide educational services to those students, and are encouraged to seek disciplinary alternatives to suspension or expulsion. North Adams, a district less than one-fifth the size of Fall River’s, offers students an online “learning lab” in the high school that is mostly self-directed and operates year-round. In Springfield, one of the state’s largest districts, offers two school settings during typical school hours, one for in-school suspensions and the other for out-of-school suspensions. In each of those three districts, students other than those who are suspended take part, including special-education students and those missing class for medical reasons.

http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_25098167/law-ensures-suspensions-dont-stop-learning

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Online learning, career focused classes helping students excel

by Andrew Wind, WCF Courier

This is the fifth year the online curriculum has also been available for core subjects and some electives at East and West high schools through their Performance Based Diploma Academies. Each school has about 130 students enrolled. And all three schools have been part of an ongoing process during the past four years to develop more of a career focus in the classroom. Students at East and West enroll in a career interest academy while Expo students can choose a career pathway.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/education/online-learning-career-focused-classes-helping-students-excel/article_b4765dc0-47f7-51df-846b-9475cc22385f.html

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Survey: Outside influences inhibit learning Leading factors include lack of parental involvement

By MATT WOOLBRIGHT, Juneau Empire

Over 1,160 teachers responded to the National Education Association-Alaska funded survey that was posted online for three weeks. About 78 percent of the teachers were from urban school districts, and that closely correlates to the 80 percent of the population that lives in urban areas. Questions covered a wide range of topics from teachers’ opinions of the schools to what is affecting students’ learning outside the classroom. “This info is incredibly valuable, and this is the first time it’s ever been developed — it should absolutely be included when they’re making decisions,” Halcro said of lawmakers weighing education reform during the ongoing Legislative session. “The education initiatives put on the table in Juneau would change education more than it has ever been changed in history of Alaska, and they’re doing it with no relevant data.”

http://juneauempire.com/state/2014-02-02/survey-outside-influences-inhibit-learning

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4 Key Considerations For Student Tablets

By Heather Brigs, Edudemic

When going shopping for a tablet PC, there are several things that you would have to consider. You can narrow down the search with the help of these guidelines. College students would definitely welcome this as most schools allow gadgets to be brought inside classrooms. It’s normal to see students propping up their gadgets during class. For high school students however, it is better to check with the school’s administration if personal gadgets are allowed inside the classroom.

http://www.edudemic.com/student-tablets/

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