Growing trend: A new way of looking at courses gains traction

BY GIL GRUBER, eCampus News

The decentralized comprehensive liberal arts and sciences research university struggled to find a “perfect” solution that would help overcome all of the challenges being faced by its different schools. Within each unit, there are administrators who organize and run the course evaluation process. They manage faculty, students and deans. They specify which questions should be asked, what courses are evaluated and when these evaluations take place – total autonomy for each individual unit. The role of the central Institutional Research and Assessment department is to be the first line of support for the units and to manage the process during implementation. The switch was a huge undertaking as UNC identified internal data issues and spent valuable time cleansing their data before shifting to the new solution. The decentralized implementation across the campus was well accepted. UNC attributes the success of their implementation to three main factors.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/curriculum/trend-courses-gains-traction/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30586

I’m a woman in computer science. Let me ladysplain the Google memo to you.

by Cynthia Lee, Vox

In the end, focusing the conversation on the minutiae of the scientific claims in the manifesto is a red herring. Regardless of whether biological differences exist, there is no shortage of glaring evidence, in individual stories and in scientific studies, that women in tech experience bias and a general lack of a welcoming environment, as do underrepresented minorities. Until these problems are resolved, our focus should be on remedying that injustice. After that work is complete, we can reassess whether small effect size biological components have anything to do with lingering imbalances. For today — given what women in tech have had to deal with over the past week — try pouring a cup of coffee for a female coder in your office, and asking her about the most interesting bug she’s seen lately.

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/11/16130452/google-memo-women-tech-biology-sexism

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30576

Children aren’t learning ‘resilience and grit’ because health and safety-obsessed teachers are wrapping them in cotton wool warns Ofsted chief

By Gareth Davies, Daily Mail
Children are not learning resilience and grit because health an safety-obsessed teachers are wrapping them in cotton wool, according to the Ofsted chief. Amanda Spielman, the top inspector of schools, has said schools putting too much of an emphasis on safeguarding pupils is leading to them being ill-equipped to deal with challenges they face after leaving school. She wants headteachers to be able to distinguish between ‘real and imagined risk’, even though safeguarding is given the same weight as quality of teaching, management and pupils’ attainment when inspectors visit schools.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4765474/Children-not-learning-resilience-safeguarding.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30566

Competency-Based Education: The Importance of Metrics and Data Collection

by Carlos Rivers, Evolllution

A major issue that we have seen for current innovative educational models, particularly for Competency-Based Education, is that we have not agreed upon a common framework to measure the effectiveness of these programs. At the Institute for Competency-Based Education, we are currently building a Metrics Framework for our CBE program in Organizational Leadership at Texas A&M-Commerce (TAMU-C). Our framework analyzes three key components since program inception: 1. Student Demographics 2. Program Performance 3. Program Efficiency. The landscape of higher education comes with immense complexity. There can be no one-size-fits-all approach, and therefore we believe this is the perfect starting point to which you can then adjust your parameters to meet the specific needs of your program(s).

http://evolllution.com/programming/program_planning/competency-based-education-the-importance-of-metrics-and-data-collection/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16962

Five Steps to Building an Academic Innovation Engine

by Christina Sax, Evolllution

The number of unique professional job postings in the higher education sector with “innovation” in the title or description rose 211 percent from 2010 to 2015 (from 75 postings in 2010, to 233 in 2015, according to Burning Glass Labor InsightTM). In addition, it appears that a new interdisciplinary field of academic innovation is also emerging within higher education.[2,3] As a provost or dean, is your institution ready to take on an innovation agenda?[4] And if so, where do you start when it comes to building an innovation engine? This article provides a set of five first steps to establish, nurture and sustain an engine of academic innovation.

http://evolllution.com/managing-institution/operations_efficiency/five-steps-to-building-an-academic-innovation-engine/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16947

Learning Analytics: Is data collection of students’ learning habits Orwellian or simply helpful?

by Study International

Dr. Bart Rienties, director of the learning analytics program at the Open University, told The Guardian: “We’re trying to use data to improve our understanding of how students learn. We want to understand the story behind that data.” Rienties added that with the use of learning analytics, universities are able to “provide a more personal learning experience, rather than a one-size-fit-all solution”. In a recent study involving data collated from more than 113,000 students at the Open University, a student’s usage patterns of online learning resources can help predict their overall academic performance. Despite the potential advantages of learning analytics, experts are also wary of its potential abuses, especially when it comes to students’ privacy. The Higher Education Policy Institute’s director, Nick Hillman, said it was still too early to say what effect this approach would have in the long run.

https://www.studyinternational.com/news/learning-analytics-orwellian-or-helpful

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16932

7 mobile learning myths no educator should believe

By Meris Stansbury, eSchool News

By now, educators are familiar with the term mobile learning — or mLearning — having experienced its rush in classroom popularity starting as early as 2000. But two researchers say it’s now imperative that educators slough off the myths from the reality to avoid ineffective classroom practice moving forward. “In recent years, many projects have assisted in the maturation of mLearning and much has already been done to integrate mLearning into mainstream education. However, mLearning is still in its infancy and we are merely seeing the tip of the iceberg,” notes Tom Brown, a former associate professor of research and development in tech-enhanced learning at the University of South Africa. Most of the myths identified by Brown and Mbati focus on mobile learning’s oft-described “techno-centric” characteristics, which the researchers say may do a disservice to those educators either interested in implementing mLearning, or have already done so.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/08/05/7-myths-mobile-402/

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Should there be a “driver’s license” for online programs?

By Ron Bethke, eCampus News

Utilizing the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement could be the key to reaching a national standard on recognizing online degree programs. The American Council on Education (ACE) has released a new paper on the importance of implementing a standardized approach to recognizing online degree programs across different states. The paper, titled “A More Uniform Way of Recognizing Online Degree Programs Across State Lines, with SARA as a Focus,” is the sixth in a series of Quick Hit briefs about current and emerging topics in higher education attainment and innovation released by ACE’s Center for Education Attainment and Innovation and funded by the Lumina Foundation.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/online-program-success-085/

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Survey: Professors and Employers Find High School Grads Unready for College or Work

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Neither university faculty nor employers believe that American public high schools are preparing students for the expectations they’ll face in college and career. In fact, compared to 2004, the assessment is even more dismal. More than a decade ago, for example, only 28 percent of college instructors stated that schools were doing an adequate job of readying students for what came next after high school. That count is down to 14 percent in 2015. Among employers, 49 percent in 2004 said that schools were adequately preparing students for what they would need for work; in 2015, the count was 29 percent. Part of the challenge, say students themselves, is that their high schools don’t set academic expectations high enough. Fifty-four percent said that they were only “somewhat challenged”; 20 percent said it was “easy to slide by.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/07/27/survey-most-profs-find-hs-grads-unready-for-college-or-work.aspx

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Online Ed Leaders Named to 2014 OLC Class of Fellows

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Seven new higher ed leaders have joined the ranks of the Fellows of the Online Learning Consortium (formerly the Sloan Consortium). The annual OLC Fellows program recognizes exceptional professional excellence in the field of online learning. The OLC Board of Directors “confers the distinction upon individual members of the Consortium who have: outstanding and extraordinary qualifications in the field of online learning; significant experience in online learning or an allied field; a record of distinguished service to OLC or the field; and extraordinary

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/08/04/online-ed-leaders-named-to-2014-olc-class-of-fellows.aspx?admgarea=news

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Online education push continues at CSUs

By Isabelle Taft, Sacramento Bee

Assembly Bill 46, authored by Richard Pan D-Sacramento, seeks to ensure that the answers to those questions are shaped in part by data about student achievement in online courses. The bill, which bypassed the Senate Appropriations Committee because it was found to have a low cost, could be voted on in the Senate as early as Wednesday. The legislation would require providers of online courses to share information about course enrollment and completion rates, grades, student demographics and the use of university resources such as libraries with the CSU Academic Senate, the body that represents faculty from the 23 CSU campuses. Pan said he wrote the bill in response to concern that the faculty group lacked sufficient access to data during the SJSU Plus pilot program. Though the partnership with Udacity has ended, Pan wants to be certain that any companies the CSU works with in the future will be accountable for providing positive outcomes for students.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/08/04/6605333/online-education-push-continues.html

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Learning Lessons: Net Neutrality and the Future of Online Education

by McNeal Maddox, ClickZ

The end of net neutrality would inevitably lead to online education providers paying more to deliver video course content – which would mean an increase in operating costs that would be bundled into millions of students’ fees. The increased cost would stifle enrollments at a critical moment in the growth of the online education sector. A requirement to pay ISPs for increased bandwidth to stream video to millions of students is an added expense that many online schools may not be willing to pay. Brands like Udemy, Khan Academy, Udacity, Codecademy, and General Assembly have already made significant investments in process and infrastructure to deliver streaming video course content.

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2358039/learning-lessons-net-neutrality-and-the-future-of-online-education

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