7 Must Have Apps and Tools for Students with Learning Disabilities

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Good edtech apps can make a real difference to any child’s learning, and they can be particularly helpful for students with learning disabilities.  Important: different apps are targeted at different learning needs and styles, and matching the app to the student will always be important. Happily, there are now apps available to help with challenges that simply weren’t available a generation ago, and a well-chosen app can have a wide-reaching impact on a student’s performance and enjoyment of school. Edtech is changing lives, and student-facing apps can do this in a way that is empowering and improves self-confidence. Here are 7 essential apps for students with learning disabilities:

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/7-must-app-andtools-students-learning-disabilities/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30556

Urgent: Today’s students need a digitally fluent college website-here’s how

BY LIZ SCHULTE, eCampus News
Students can no longer remember the world before the technology revolution. Digital fluency isn’t optional for schools; it’s a must. Across industries, companies are scrambling to keep up with the rapidly changing consumer tides — education isn’t immune to these changes. People are naturally gravitating toward businesses and schools whose brands speak to them in an innovative, clear way demonstrating the business understands the wants and needs of today’s students. Those who have held onto older ways of doing things feel the effects of change more than those who are listening and changing. What do students want from schools? Better digital access. They want to be able to use their phones or tablets take care of what they need to complete from class assignments to managing their student financial aid.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/eschool-media/students-digital-fluency-website/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30546

Techno-Tools For The Classroom | Khan Academy Offline Offers Wealth Of Knowledge

by Gen Clacken, the Gleaner

Khan Academy, created by educator Salman Khan in 2006, hosts one of the largest collections of instructional videos and related activities for the classroom. Their initiatives have now become invaluable assets to teaching and learning across many countries.  The platform is accessed by approximately 40 million students and 20 million teachers on a monthly basis. In 2012, they launched KA Lite, which is an offline version of Khan Academy.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/art-leisure/20170806/techno-tools-classroom-khan-academy-offline-offers-wealth-knowledge

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30531

MIT Software Greatly Simplifies Tough Database Querying

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

New software from researchers at MIT could make even the most complex databases easier for non-experts to use. The program’s home screen looks like a spreadsheet, and it allows users to create database queries and reports by combining functions familiar to spreadsheet users rather than forcing them to learn SQL or some other data scripting language. The research project, underway in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, lets people use drop-down menus to pull data into the tool from multiple sources; then they can sort and filter that data, perform integration and tuck away unneeded columns and rows. From those activities the program generates the database queries that deliver results.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/08/05/mit-software-greatly-simplifies-tough-database-querying.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16922

Qlik Expands Portfolio of Free Data Analytics Tools for Universities

By Michael Hart, Campus Technology

Qlik, a company that primarily makes data analytics tools for business, has added a new component to the free digital course materials it offers to universities. The company has added a new data analytics curriculum to its Qlik Academic Program. The program, which the company has offered to higher education institutions since 2012, offers digital tools that students and professors in all academic disciplines can use to visualize and analyze data and then share findings with one another.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/08/01/qlik-expands-portfolio-of-free-data-analytics-tools-for-universities.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16912

7 Best Practices for Deploying Lecture Capture Campuswide

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

Technology leaders from universities with large lecture capture implementations share their advice for rolling out the technology at scale. Today’s students increasingly expect ubiquitous lecture capture so they can review lectures to improve their understanding of the material or catch up on a class they missed. “Lecture capture in general is becoming very quickly an expectation of students,” said Chris Edwards, assistant vice president at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. To meet this demand, colleges and universities are scaling up their lecture capture deployments to more classrooms and providing faculty the option of recording lectures outside of the classroom.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/08/03/7-best-practices-for-deploying-lecture-capture-campuswide.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16902

How to Teach Students to Evaluate the Quality of Online Information

By Leigh Ann Whittle, Edudemic

The volume of information available on the Internet is astounding, and it just keeps growing. Business intelligence company DOMO estimates that 571 new websites are created every minute. With that amount of information, it can be difficult for students to separate the gems from the garbage. Julie Coiro, associate professor of education at the University of Rhode Island,says author and publication type are of limited importance to students, and if they do examine these elements, they can’t explain why they chose certain websites. Coiro suggests strategies to help students to effectively evaluate what they see on the Internet, practice refuting what is on the Internet, and cross-check claims. In other words, becoming critical consumers of online material means more than just viewing a website. It requires knowing what qualifies as quality content and how to judge what is good material and what is not.

http://www.edudemic.com/teach-students-evaluate-information/

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Blended Learning Leaders Are Over the Honeymoon—and Rolling Up Their Sleeves

by Alex Hernandez, EdSurge

This summer, I spoke to leaders at six public charter school networks who are now wily veterans in the art of blending teacher-led instruction with online learning–also known as “blended learning”. Their titles range from Innovation Manager to Director of Individualized Learning, meaning they work directly with teachers to effectively incorporate edtech in the classroom. I asked them one question: What has you jumping out of bed and rushing to work, in regards to blended learning? In short: finding out what learning software is working for students; making edtech tools usable for teachers; putting better data in the hands of teachers and students; and–now that they know enough to be dangerous–designing 2.0 versions of their school models.

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2015-08-03-blended-learning-leaders-are-over-the-honeymoon-and-rolling-up-their-sleeves

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/vxd2ViNeKDo/

The first 10 jobs that will be automated by AI and robots

By Conner Forrest, ZDNet

Robots have been working alongside human employees in industries such as manufacturing for a long time, helping accomplish tasks quicker or more efficiently. But, as the fields of cognitive computing and artificial intelligence continue to grow, we will see many more industries — from the food industry to customer service — affected by automation. A 2013 research paper out of the Oxford Martin School in the UK estimates that roughly 47 percent of the total US jobs are at risk of computerization or automation. Some of these are jobs for which we are offering college degrees and/or certificates.  That means almost half of the jobs in the US could end up being automated. But, which will be the first to go? Here are 10 jobs that will be at the top of the list.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-first-10-jobs-that-will-be-automated-by-ai-and-robots/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/fYq8zLe_eoU/

Software That Can “See” Will Change Privacy Forever

by Pete Warden, Technology Review

Image analysis algorithms used to be rare handcrafted Fabergé eggs, but now they’re cheap off-the-shelf components made on a production line. These advances have huge implications for our privacy, since we now document our lives with so many pictures. Facebook alone already has over 200 billion photos. So far this hasn’t had a massive impact on privacy because there’s been no good way to search and analyze those pictures, but advances in image recognition are changing all that. It’s now possible to not only reliably spot you in photos, but also tell what you’re doing. Creating an algorithm to spot common objects, whether they’re bikes or bongs, is now so easy. Imagine all your photos being processed into a data profile for advertisers or law enforcement, showing how much you party, who you’re with, and which demonstrations you attended.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/529396/software-that-can-see-will-change-privacy-forever/

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Meeting Connectivity Demands Of Tech-Centered Schools

By Chris Janson, Forbes

Thanks to recent news of the Federal Communications Commission approving changes to the E-Rate program, which provides discounted telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries. The move means Wi-Fi funding is set to increase $1 billion a year over the next two years, and will see an annual “funding target” for that amount for years after that. With evolving teaching techniques and education requirements causing greater connectivity demands at schools across the country — “Technology has changed, the needs of schools and libraries have changed,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said at the agency’s open meeting this month — the move is especially pertinent.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/08/01/meeting-connectivity-demands-of-tech-centered-schools/

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