Mizzou K-12 Online recruits tigers from around the world

by EDWARD MCKINLEY, Missourian

MU High School, and its Mizzou K-12 Online program, turns international, high school-age students from around the world into Missouri Tigers. “We feel like we are at home,” Luciana Calixto, the coordinator of Mizzou K-12 Online programs at two Brazilian schools, said about being with her students in Columbia. Students in 135 countries participate in MU’s online high school program, Mizzou K-12 Online, run by the College of Education. Other American universities offer online high school programs, but MU’s program is unusual because it is conducted through the education college. For students, the tuition for Mizzou K-12 is a few hundred dollars each month. The price differs depending on the partnerships between MU and different schools. It provides access to classes that international students wouldn’t receive in their home countries, and courses are assigned, completed and graded completely online.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/mizzou-k–online-recruits-tigers-from-around-the-world/article_5b2bd57a-72f0-11e7-8c01-932451053c47.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30290

Textbooks in the Digital World

BY MATTHEW LYNCH, Tech Edvocate

For decades, textbooks were seen as the foundation for instruction in American schools. These discipline-specific tomes were a fundamental part of the educational infrastructure, assigned to students for each subject and carried in heavy backpacks every day – from home to school and back again. The experience of students is much different today. As a scholar of learning technologies and a director for outreach and engagement at Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology, we’ve seen how technological advances and an increase in digital curriculum materials have hastened the move away from textbooks. Does all of this technology spell the end of traditional textbooks? And if so, is that actually a good thing for students and teachers?

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/textbooks-digital-world/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30275

Is it time for a QR code comeback?

by Rebecca Sentance, ZD Net

Remember QR codes? Those blocky, black-and-white graphics that take you to a URL when scanned with your phone were everywhere from about 2011 to 2013. Brands splashed them across posters, put them in shop windows and integrated them into creative advertising. But despite the ostensible usefulness of QR codes in linking the offline and online worlds, QR codes have since mostly died out, due to a combination of poor implementation, subpar technology, and a lack of native support for QR codes in smartphones. In the meantime, QR codes have taken off in China in a way they never achieved in the west, where they’re used for everything from payments to exchanging personal details, proving that it’s possible to make a success of QR codes when they’re approached with a truly mobile-first mindset.

https://www.clickz.com/is-it-time-for-a-qr-code-comeback/112196/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30260

Virtual school and learning programs analyzed in new reports

by WhaTech Channel: Market Research Reports

According to the Virtual Schools Market in the US 2015-2019 report by MarketResearchReports.biz, the U.S. virtual schools market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.02% through 2019. Virtual schools scrutinized in the report are categorized in one of three categories: primary schools, high schools, and K-12 schools. So, what’s contributing to the virtual schools market’s growth? You’ll have to read the full report for a complete list of market drivers, although one of the drivers cited is the customized learning experienced offered by virtual schools.

https://www.whatech.com/market-research/news/189257-virtual-school-and-learning-programs-analyzed-in-new-reports

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16677

Pearson Collaborates With Red Clay Consolidated School District to Offer GradPoint Online Courses to Hospitalized Students

By Pearson

Pearson announced a three-year collaboration with Red Clay Consolidated School District in Wilmington, Delaware, to provide GradPoint® online and blended learning courses to hospitalized students. The new collaboration gives students in grades 6-12 who are hospitalized and homebound with diabetes, sickle-cell anemia, severe asthma, cancer and other illnesses that preclude attendance at traditional school an opportunity to attend First State School with their peers at Wilmington Hospital while receiving the medical treatment they need. First State School is co-sponsored by Christiana Care and the Delaware Department of Education through Red Clay Consolidated School District.

http://www.pressreleaserocket.net/pearson-collaborates-with-red-clay-consolidated-school-district-to-offer-gradpoint-online-courses-to-hospitalized-students/477298/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16669

Higher ed prepares for the Internet of Things

by Kylie Lacey, University Business

Devices will talk to other devices on campus. Here’s how to get ready. While little pockets of IoT are springing up in higher ed—both in the form of institution- and student-owned devices—campuswide installations are predicted to be a few years away. That’s not an excuse for sitting back and waiting for smart coffee makers to pop up in every residence hall, however. Enough bandwidth needs to be purchased. Data storage and usage policies, including around security, need to be developed. Processes for managing more expansive networks need to be defined. The potential of IoT could touch every aspect of campus life. Student traffic patterns could be tracked by networked wearables such as Fitbits, mobile phones and maybe even the next generation of access cards.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/higher-prepares-internet-things

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16657

NC online charter school talking enrollment and mission

By Ali Weatherton, WNCT

School is one month out for many counties in North Carolina and one of the state’s new free online charter schools talked to parents about still getting their children into online courses. It’s all through one of the state’s two new public virtual charter schools some of your tax dollars are going to help open this fall. It’s focusing on giving students a free education in six core courses including English, Math, Art and Music.

http://wnct.com/2015/07/27/new-online-charter-school-comes-to-north-carolina/

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Study: Prospective Students See Online Education As Career Booster

by iSchool Guide

A new report revealed prospective students prefer blended programs, schools with nearby campuses, and see online programs as career booster. The growth of online education, in which enrollment increases at 1 percent annually, is fueled by factors like flexibility and the credentials that help students earn more. The Aslanian Market Research and The Learning House, Inc. have released a new report on online learning, which revealed that students find such as a pathway for boosting their career prospects. It further showed that college students prefer blended programs and find schools with nearby campuses, as well. The fourth annual survey also found that fewer students are attending college in recent years, which it attributed to the still-recovering economy and the declining unemployment rate.

http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/19762/20150727/prospective-students-see-online-education-career-booster.htm

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The new era of the $400 college textbook, which is part of the unsustainable higher education bubble

by Mark J. Perry, AEI

A new milestone must have been established recently – we’re now officially in a new era of the $400 new college textbook and the $300 used college textbook, see graphic in this article showing the top 15 most expensive textbooks at the University of Michigan-Flint based on a new unpublished report by Matthew Wolverton, an electronic resource management librarian at the Thompson Library (UM-Flint’s library). The graphic below shows the most expensive college textbooks by discipline at UM-Flint, based on the average price of new textbooks for each discipline in winter 2015 semester. As far as college textbooks, the new era of $400 textbooks seems to be clearly unsustainable in the face of a growing number of competitive, low-cost alternatives like free online textbooks from Open Stax College (about $40 for a printed version) and Boundless ($30 online textbooks in 25 subjects).

https://www.aei.org/publication/the-new-era-of-the-400-college-textbook-which-is-part-of-the-unsustainable-higher-education-bubble/

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Roane State professor develops online course he will teach while living under the sea

BY ROANE STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Cantrell and faculty member Jessica Fain will live and teach from an underwater habitat for 72 days this fall. While they live in a space the size of a college dorm room submerged about 25 feet, Cantrell and Fain will host weekly shows titled “Classroom Under the Sea.” The shows, presented in partnership with the Marine Resources Development Foundation in Key Largo, Florida, will feature scientists and explorers and will cover topics such as underwater archeology and ocean exploration. In addition to the weekly programs, Cantrell will also teach his dream class online, BIOL 2600: Living and Working Under the Sea. Enrolled Roane State students can register for the class now, but only 30 spots are available.

http://oakridgetoday.com/2014/07/27/roane-state-professor-develops-online-course-will-teach-living-sea/

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A Collaborative for Student Success and Institutional Comparisons

By Mary Grush, Campus Technology

The Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework (PAR, http://parframework.org) began in 2011 as a research project to investigate the potential of learning analytics for student success, and was administered by WCET under the auspices of the Western Interstate Commission of Higher Education (WICHE). Now in 2014 PAR is set to receive its 501.c.3 nonprofit status by the end of the year and is operating on its own as a member-supported, not-for-profit, analytics-as-a-service provider. PAR’s innovative work includes software and database development, but focuses more on community rather than developing new software tools. Joined by more than 20 member institutions to date, the organization is a growing collaborative venture that pools normalized (and anonymized) data to support research and create predictive models and strategies for intervention.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/23/a-collaborative-for-student-success-and-institutional-comparisons.aspx

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SEMO: Online courses enhance class offering

By Ruth Campbell ~ Southeast Missourian

Depending on whom you ask or what you read, online programs mean easier access to higher education — or the end of brick-and-mortar colleges and universities, especially in these times of limited state funding. For Southeast Missouri State University, online education falls into the former category, and it’s helped the university reach students it might not otherwise. Provost Dr. Bill Eddleman said online courses and majors have become a key component of the school’s offerings.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/2104394.html

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