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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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14353

Internet of Things devices will exceed 6 billion

By Laura Devaney, eCampus News

Gartner, Inc. estimates connected devices in 2016 will jump 30 percent internet-of-things. Estimates indicate that 6.4 billion “connected things” will be used across the globe in 2016–a 30 percent increase from 2015, according to IT research firm Gartner, Inc. In 2016, approximately 5.5 million new “things” will become connected each day. Gartner also forecasted that the number of connected things would jump to 20.8 billion in 2020.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/internet-of-things-587/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14321

Launch Video Classroom Observations With New Toolkit

by Ashley Cronin, Edutopia

For busy teachers, there are limited opportunities within the school day to be observed, to observe other teachers, to pause and reflect on the details of specific classroom moments, and to receive support from colleagues. Since in-person observations may be difficult to arrange, teachers may find themselves going it alone when trying out new learning, refining practice, or facing challenges in their classroom — at times without much feedback or support. A robust new video observation toolkit from Harvard helps address these challenges by suggesting ways of using video technology to rethink traditional approaches to teacher observation and professional development. Downloads from the toolkit include a variety of resources to help school leaders, teachers, teacher leaders, instructional coaches, and personal learning networks prepare for, launch, and evaluate the success of video observations in school communities.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-classroom-observations-new-toolkit-ashley-cronin

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14291

These Hands-On Classes Teach You HTML, CSS, Online Privacy, And More

by ALAN HENRY, Lifehacker AU

If you’re looking to learn HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, why online privacy is so important, how Creative Commons works, or the basics of good password and security hygiene, these great online workshops from the Mozilla Foundation (that’s right, the folks behind Firefox) are perfect for teaching you or someone you know. The classes run the gamut from programming-focused ones to more informative, web literacy courses. Their interactive “CSS Story Cards,” which will get you familiar with and building an interactive story using HTML and CSS, as well as their “Erase All Kittens” workshop, which has you sifting through and changing code to make visible changes in a game. “Quacking JavaScript” gets you started with one of the essential languages needed to build for the web.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/11/these-hands-on-classes-teach-you-html-css-online-privacy-and-more/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14254

Twitter 101: 5-Step Guide for Social Media in Education

By Sarah Muthler, Edudemic

If you aren’t using Twitter, chances are that you’re reluctant to adopt new technology. Or maybe you’ve used Twitter for years to keep up with friends but now want to use it in the classroom. Either way, you might be hesitant to ask colleagues for help. Fear not. We’ll guide you through the Twitter landscape and show you how to find the best educational resources for both yourself and your students.

http://www.edudemic.com/twitter-101-a-7-step-guide-for-teachers-newbies-and-everyone/

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

Tech helps UNOH teach in different ways

by David Trinko, Civitas Media

“We have a variety of ages in classes,” said Lynn Lease, the director of the Center for Educational Excellence and a senior instructional designer at UNOH. “We have people in their 40s and 50s, and some straight out of high school. We have digital natives and digital novices mixed in together.” Lease said one of her favorite online tools is MoveNote, which allows you to record a video or audio to accompany a more traditional slide of a presentation, as well as marking it up. Another is VoiceThread, which encourages more engagement in classes. “It’s like a discussion forum on steroids,” Lease said. It’s audio, video, information, crowd participation.”

http://www.limaohio.com/news/news-news_education/151996209/Tech-helps-UNOH-teach-in-different-ways

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/XS8eTeAs98s/

Favorite Feedback: Fact and Fiction

by Turnitin

A very interesting infographic, Exploring the Disconnect between Students and Educators, has been produced by Turnitin. Educators work hard to give their students thoughtful feedback on their work. But how helpful do students find that feedback? The infographic below explores the disconnect between their views, as shown in our study of over 2,000 students and educators (September 2014).

http://www.turnitin.com/assets/en_us/media/favorite-feedback/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/bVdq-B4hQns/

Identity and the Itinerant Online Learner

by Marguerite Koole, IRRODL

This paper outlines a preliminary study of the kinds of strategies that master students draw upon for interpreting and enacting their identities in online learning environments. Based primarily on the seminal works of Goffman (1959) and Foucault (1988), the Web of Identity Model (Koole, 2009; Koole and Parchoma, 2012) is used as an underlying theoretical framework for this research study. The WoI model suggests that there are five major categories of “dramaturgical” strategies: technical, political, structural, cultural, and personal-agential. In the data collection, five online master of education students participated in semi-structured, online interviews. Phenomenography guided the data collection and analysis resulting in an outcome space for each strategy of the WoI model. The study results indicate that online learners actively employ a variety of strategies in interpreting and enacting their identities. The outcome spaces provide insights into ways in which online learners can manage their identity performances and strategies for ontological re-alignment (reconceptualization of oneself). Further study has the potential to elucidate how learning designers and online instructors might facilitate such identity-work in order to shape productive online environments.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1748

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/741SDza9yl0/