Teachers training: Workshop held on ‘Hybrid Course Design and Development’

by Express Tribune

There is a dire need to adopt modern and innovative teaching techniques in order to motivate students and polish their professional skills, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan. The workshop was organised by the UAF in collaboration with the US-Pakistan Centre of Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security University of Agriculture Faisalabad (USPCAS). “In the modern world it is imperative to adopt the technology for teaching in order to maintain the interest of students,” said Dr Iqrar, adding UAF has started several online courses and we also put lectures on the internet to help students. He said best practices in information design, presentation concepts and video production methods were imparted. Two professors from the University of California, James R Carey and Thomas L Rost, imparted the training to 50 teachers through lecture materials, demonstrations and exercises.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1205990/teachers-training-workshop-held-hybrid-course-design-development/

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3D Printer Shipments to Double This Year

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

Global sales of 3D printers will more than double from last year to this one, growing 108 percent from 219,168 shipments to 455,772, according to a new report from Gartner. 3D printing is experiencing widespread acceptance beyond specialist industries and is being used for prototyping, to augment manufacturing and to produce finished products. “Industries in a broad range employ 3D printing to a modest extent,” according to Gartner, and the company predicts wider and more diverse use as new providers and processes emerge. The 3D printing market comprises seven technologies, with material extrusion predicted to lead the market through the end of the forecast period in 2020. Stereolithography printers will also grow at a fast pace according to Gartner. Education will account a significant portion of that growth, at least for lower-cost units.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/19/3d-printer-shipments-to-double-in-2016.aspx

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3 ways to set students up for success in an online course

BY JARROD MORGAN, eCampus News

Getting creative can help enhance the learning experience for students in an online course. Online learning gives students more options and flexibility and a growing number of them are taking advantage of online courses in order to pursue their degree in a way that works for them. According to the 2015 Survey of Online Learning, there was an 3.9 percent increase in the number of higher education students taking at least one online course. Additionally, there are no signs that this upward trend is going to change any time soon. For colleges and universities, as well as for instructors, this means supporting students who aren’t attending a brick and mortar classroom on a regular basis, if at all. Having served as director of technology at an online university, I’ve seen firsthand how institutions have risen to this challenge by getting creative in order to enhance the online learning experience.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/online-learning/online-course-success/

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Survey: Adult learners fear new wave of workplace tech

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Pearson has released a survey showing the growing fear among adult learners who plan on or are currently enrolled in degree or credentialing programs about new trends in technology and labor. 72% of survey respondents say education will help them to keep pace with changes in their industry, with more than 65% of workers say technology will make their jobs dramatically different within 5 years. There is diminishing concern about outsourcing and being replaced by younger employees, but the new industrial changes are leading more than 60% of employees to enroll in online courses, while just 27% take classes in traditional settings.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/survey-adult-learners-fear-new-wave-of-workplace-tech/428717/

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How to Overcome Obstacles in Online Courses

By Danielle Wirsansky, ULoop

Love them or hate them, there comes a time when most of us have to take an online course. For some, they are life saving classes that are easy, convenient and time efficient. However for many students, taking online classes is a struggle and presents problems that many are not sure how to deal with. Read on to learn how to overcome obstacles in your online classes!

http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/217200/How-to-Overcome-Obstacles-in-Online-Courses

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President Obama Pushes Innovation ‘Frontiers’ in STEM

By Sri Ravipati, THE Journal

President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to speak on building up the United States’ capacity for STEM innovation at the White House Frontiers Conference, a one-day national convening co-hosted with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. The Frontiers Conference brought together global researchers, business leaders, technologists, philanthropists and local innovators to discuss how to keep Americans on the cutting edge of innovation with next-generation science and technology that will help improve lives. More than 700 innovators across academia, industry, government and civil society will participate in the conference, according to a White House fact sheet on the event.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/13/president-obama-pushes-innovation-frontiers-in-stem.aspx

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The Rise of Virtual Internships: Universities, Students and Companies Can Benefit From This New Form of Engagement

by Beth Golden, University Herald

Teleconferencing, chat messaging and emails transformed the way we do business a long time ago, in recent years, technology has also changed the way we learn with massive open online courses or MOOCs. It’s only natural for internships to be done virtually and remotely since most of our current working and learning environments are already online. Also, most companies are outsourcing some of their work to contact centers in China, India or Southeast Asia because it is most economical. Overlooking a great talent market in here that just need to be tapped to find the next best intern – junior and senior college students, those in the graduate programs and non-traditional learners, invested in learning and willing to undergo an internship, for free. It doesn’t get any cheaper than that.

http://www.universityherald.com/articles/44344/20161015/rise-virtual-internships-universities-students-companies-benefit-new-form-engagement.htm

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Pima County Library launches online high school program for adults

By Yoohyun Jung, Arizona Daily Star

Borrowing books isn’t the only thing one can do with a library card in Pima County. It also opens up a world of other media and resources available at the library branches and online. And now, it can also enable those who never finished high school to have another go at getting a diploma. The Pima County Public Library has launched a new program for county residents who are at least 22 years old to get their high school diplomas through an online high school program as part of the county’s larger plan for workforce development.

http://tucson.com/news/local/education/pima-county-library-launches-online-high-school-program-for-adults/article_a8d02628-59ba-5a19-a743-45e87f64b79e.html

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In the marketplace: New STEM courses and online resources

BY LAURA DEVANEY,eSchool News

Remaining a tech-savvy educator means keeping on top of the myriad changes and trends in education, how technology can support those trends, and how teaching and learning can best benefit from near-constant change. Below, we’ve gathered some of the latest and most relevant marketplace news to keep you up-to-date on product developments, teaching and learning initiatives, and new trends in education.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/news/marketplace-new-stem-courses-online-resources/

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The Virtual High School Celebrates 20th Anniversary

by VHS

This year, The Virtual High School (VHS, Inc.), a nonprofit empowering schools with the industry’s most comprehensive online learning programs, will reach its 20-year milestone. The past two decades have seen the organization grow from a small operation funded by a U.S. Department of Education technology challenge grant to an international, non-profit e-learning provider. Today VHS delivers online instruction to middle and high school students at 639 schools in 33 countries; there were more than 18,000 student enrollments in VHS courses in the 2015-2016 school year. “We’ve come a long way from the handful of schools that helped us pioneer our online learning program,” said Carol Ribeiro, President and CEO of VHS, referring to the 28 schools and 710 students who first partnered with the organization.

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/16/10/p8547266/the-virtual-high-school-celebrates-20th-anniversary

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8 things to know about Connected Educator Month

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eSchool News

For the past few years, October has meant a focus on helping educators form professional learning networks to improve teaching and learning outcomes. Connected Educator Month, led by the American Institutes for Research, intends to create a more global and evidence-based approach to education by fostering collaboration and innovation in professional learning. Some of the month’s key goals include increasing educator and partner participation, influencing the way professional learning occurs in and out of schools, and fostering collaboration and innovation within and between stakeholder groups and partners.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/10/07/8-things-to-know-about-connected-educator-month/

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When learning goals are clear, teachers get more out of PD

BY TOM DACCORD, eSchool News

Schools must articulate a vision to teachers before they see the merits of technology. As I look back on the summer, one of the things that strikes me is how often a workshop I’ve given has followed a “technology training” at a school. In other words, faculty had already received tech training on the particular platform, device or tool I was asked to address. Sometimes this training had been administered in-house, but often it had been delivered by a technology company who came in and explained how their product works. Often, the school administrator would explain the reason for my workshop like this: “Well, the company came in and showed us the product, but the teachers don’t understand how and why to teach with it.”

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/10/06/when-learning-goals-are-clear-teachers-get-more-out-of-pd/

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Are Educational Apps and Technology Nurturing or Killing Learning?

by Azzam Sheikh, Huffington Post

Learning through educational apps and digital environments can offer many more advantages than traditional learning styles, but personal factors such as a student’s familiarity with technology can have an impact upon learning preferences and effectiveness. The future for digital learning is certainly a trend that cannot be ignored, as the next generation who are native with digital technology will no doubt create more demand for it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azzam-sheikh/are-educational-apps-and-_b_12390480.html

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Forget everything you believe about online courses

by Jessica Whitesel, the Peak

I’ve never been one for classroom learning. I hate the concept of just sitting in a lecture hall that is either too hot or too cold, being talked at for what seems like forever. The worst is when the lecture content comes directly from the textbook that I had to buy for the class anyways. It just seems counterintuitive. That’s why online courses work for me: they cut out the middleman. I’ve had some good professors, but it seems like I’ve had more bad ones. I’ve realized the professors I think are bad might actually be good, but I can’t learn from them. Their teaching style just doesn’t match my learning style. Online courses are reading intensive, but that’s why I like them so much. I can just sit down, read, synthesize some information, and move on to the next thing. It makes the process of learning much more active, and there’s just something about being able to combine homework and lecture that makes learning feel that much more time-efficient.

http://www.the-peak.ca/2016/10/forget-everything-you-believe-about-online-courses/

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Annual list identifies educators pioneering, supporting the flipped learning movement

by eSchool News

Educators searching for flipped learning inspiration can now find it in a list of 100 people who are innovating and inspiring others in their pursuit of flipped instruction. The Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI), a worldwide coalition of educators, researchers, technologists, professional development providers and education leaders, published the FLGI 100, an annual list identifying the top 100 innovative people in education who are driving the adoption of the flipped classroom around the world. “The FLGI 100 list includes some of the most experienced and innovative flipped learning people on the planet,” Bergmann said. “The value of their collective insight into flipped learning is immeasurable and we’re excited to identify them as role models for those new to flipped learning.” The FLGI list will be updated annually and the complete FLGI 100 list can be seen at http://flglobal.org/the-flgi-100/.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/09/28/100-educators-driving-flipped-learning/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19153

How to Steal an AI

by Andy Greenberg, Wired

In the burgeoning field of computer science known as machine learning, engineers often refer to the artificial intelligences they create as “black box” systems: Once a machine learning engine has been trained from a collection of example data to perform anything from facial recognition to malware detection, it can take in queries—Whose face is that? Is this app safe?—and spit out answers without anyone, not even its creators, fully understanding the mechanics of the decision-making inside that box. But researchers are increasingly proving that even when the inner workings of those machine learning engines are inscrutable, they aren’t exactly secret. In fact, they’ve found that the guts of those black boxes can be reverse-engineered and even fully reproduced—stolen, as one group of researchers puts it—with the very same methods used to create them.

https://www.wired.com/2016/09/how-to-steal-an-ai/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19117

Reinventing Learning in the age of technology

By Debeshi Gooptu, eGov Innovation

Online Learning is not just offline learning taken online, by simply digitizing content. There is a lot of scope to use technology to make learning better & more effective. In an interview with Enterprise Innovation, Byju, Founder & CEO, BYJU’s, explains how his learning app helps make learning contextual and visual, and not just theoretical. BYJU’s is an Ed-tech company whose K12 learning app offers adaptive, engaging and effective learning programmes. Launched in 2015, the app makes use of original content, rich animations, interactive simulations and engaging video lessons from India’s best teachers.

http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/reinventing-learning-age-technology-1047738638

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Life in academic poverty as an underpaid university teacher

by Roslyn Fuller, Salon

As an adjunct, Ruth Wangerin is employed on a casual basis and earns somewhere between half and one-third of what a tenure-track professor would make for teaching the same courses. That is significant, because non-tenure track teaching staff – commonly referred to as adjuncts and contingent faculty – now make up approximately 70% of all teaching staff in American higher education. This means that roughly three out of every four courses a student takes are taught by someone without job security who is working on minimal pay. When Wangerin conducted a survey at the College of Staten Island, a CUNY-affiliated institution, she discovered that one-fifth of adjuncts had no health insurance and that half of all respondents were seeking full-time employment but were unable to attain it.

http://www.salon.com/2016/09/24/life-in-academic-poverty-as-an-underpaid-university-teacher-they-just-do-not-want-to-pay_partner/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=18983

Focus On Online Learning Can Help Boost Ontario Math Scores

by Doina Oncel, Huffington Post

With the recent news release, that Ontario students are doing poorly at math, it is imperative to focus on this issue now as it affects not only our current students and schools but our economy in the long run. While STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) focused professions are the future of our economy they require a high level of math knowledge. For example, to enter an engineering field one must have a high understanding of math and, if not learned early it may be a loss that the next generation will have to deal with when losing opportunities in the future. While the idea of having a one hour blocked time for math learning in classrooms is a great solution, I am personally not convinced when it comes to the online learning strategy. It is very interesting to see how many kids and their parents will actually have access to online resources considering that, although we live in one of the best nations in the world, many people do not have a computer and Internet access at home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/doina-oncel/online-learning-ontario_b_12121784.html

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Higher Ed Cloud Adoption on the Rise

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Cloud investment is mostly expected to grow next year in higher education; 81 percent of IT leaders or professionals said their institutions would be increasing spending on cloud computing in 2017. Sixty percent said they’re integrating cloud thinking into their IT strategies. But it will take a few more years before the majority of applications in colleges are running in the cloud. Today 39 percent of apps are cloud-based; by 2021 it could be closer to 62 percent. Those results came from a survey done among IT respondents who work in government or higher education by MeriTalk, a publishing company focused on government IT, on behalf of sponsors NetApp and Avnet, which are both technology providers. All of the participants that provided information for “Destination Cloud: The Federal and SLED Cloud Journey” work for agencies or institutions that have adopted cloud technology.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/09/22/higher-ed-cloud-adoption-on-the-rise.aspx

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