Pew survey highlights need for K-12, university partnerships in STEM promotion

by Shalina Chatlani, Education Dive
Half of American adults believe students don’t pursue STEM degrees because the field is too difficult, according to the results of a Pew Research Center survey.  Pew reports only about a third of workers over the age of 25 have an undergraduate degree in a STEM field; but while only 13% of the U.S. workforce was employed in a STEM job in 2016, 40% of non-STEM workers said they were interested in the field at some point. When asked why they didn’t pursue a STEM career or degree, 27% of respondents said they thought it was too costly and time-intensive to pursue, while only 14% said it had to do with classes being too difficult — statistics that reflect how lack of opportunities of promotion at the K-12 level may be a greater barrier to STEM participation in college and career.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/pew-survey-highlights-need-for-k-12-university-partnerships-in-stem-promot/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=36147

If you really want to design useful edtech, start with the students

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

All instruction begins with students. Educators call this student-centered learning, and if you’re going to design a useful edtech product, you’ll start with students, too. This design approach isn’t too different from a business model in which you create a product that provides solutions for consumer problems. Begin at the grassroots level. Designing useful edtech is a lot less about creating what you like than it is about providing what students need. They need human-centered design, which is an approach that begins with people.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/really-want-design-useful-edtech-start-students/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=36137

How to engage digitally distracted students #edtech

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Students today are more distracted than ever before. Why is this happening? To explain it simply, they are immersed in their digital devices. In the classroom, this becomes an even larger problem. A recent Pew Research Study found, “87% say these technologies are creating an ‘easily distracted generation with short attention spans’ and 64% say today’s digital technologies ‘do more to distract students than to help them academically.’” While it is clear that digital technology is distracting students, the technology is here to stay. For example, while most teachers agree the best way to turn digital distraction is to not allow mobile devices in the classroom, these same teachers agree this is ineffective in the long run. Instead, educators must be proactive and teach proper digital device usage in the classroom. Therefore, teachers must find ways to engage digitally distracted students.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/engage-digitally-distracted-students/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=36127

More Chinese primary schools opt for digital learning

BY AMANDA YEAP, The Star

A fifth of the 1,298 Chinese vernacular primary schools in the country have remodeled themselves as digital schools to attract enrolment, says Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon (pix). He said the growing trend of modernising Chinese school education was due to stiff competition faced by the schools. “Starting from 2013 onward, this trend is especially prevalent among schools in the rural areas because they strive to rise to the same performance level as schools in the city. “Many parents too feel more confident in enrolling their children into a school equipped with contemporary teaching and learning equipment,” Chong told a press conference on Monday.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/01/16/fifth-of-chinese-primary-schools-opted-for-digital-learning/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=22977

7 e-learning trends for educational institutions in 2017

By Livia Mihai, IT Pro Portal

Here are seven e-learning trends that could shape the EdTech landscape in 2017. In an attempt to answer these questions, we could look around us, assess what has been working so far in terms of education technology, and take some educated guesses on what could be working in the near future. Without further ado, here are seven e-learning trends that could shape the EdTech landscape in 2017.

http://www.itproportal.com/features/7-e-learning-trends-for-educational-institutions-in-2017/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=22967

How to Prepare for an Online Degree Program

By PC Tech Magazine

We’ve covered various subjects about pursuing an online degree before. Whether you’re thinking about getting an MBA or pursuing a masters in nursing online, there are plenty of programs to choose from. Online degrees are the future of education for several reasons. By taking your next degree online, you can enroll in the best universities in the world while living or working in Uganda. Online degrees are also very flexible. You can complete the course at your own pace and study at your own time. While the extra flexibility really helps, it also means you have to take some extra steps to prepare for the course. Here are the things you need to do to get ready for an online degree program.

http://pctechmag.com/2017/01/how-to-prepare-for-an-online-degree-program/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=22957

How big is the edtech marketplace?

BY MATTHEW LYNCH, Tech Edvocate

Now nearly every young student has access to a computer or smartphone in some capacity. According to an article by Education World, the U.S. EdTech was an estimated $8.38 Billion in 2014, with no end in slowing down in sight. This is an industry that is growing at an accelerated rate to parallel the rate at which technology is now advancing. With the rate at which the tech market is growing, educators have to ask whether or not these ESo instead of the EdTech Marketplace providing students with useful tools for students, it can turn into a futile attempt for technology to help students engage with content in a meaningful and productive way. In effect, the EdTech Marketplace stands to lose by not giving their audience the tools they need.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-big-is-the-edtech-marketplace/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=22937

What a Million Syllabuses Can Teach Us

By JOE KARAGANIS and DAVID McCLURE, NY Times

Over the past two years, we and our partners at the Open Syllabus Project (based at the American Assembly at Columbia) have collected more than a million syllabuses from university websites. We have also begun to extract some of their key components — their metadata — starting with their dates, their schools, their fields of study and the texts that they assign. This past week, we made available online a beta version of our Syllabus Explorer,  http://explorer.opensyllabusproject.org/, which allows this database to be searched. Our hope and expectation is that this tool will enable people to learn new things about teaching, publishing and intellectual history.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/what-a-million-syllabuses-can-teach-us.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14929

Creating a Collaboration Hub

By Michael Hart, Campus Technology

It took some time as well as a lot of planning and discussion, but Ribble and his colleagues got what they wanted when the new Center for Sciences and Innovation opened in early 2015. The $127-million, five-story, 280,000-square foot building is home to eight academic departments, the McNair Scholars Program, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship — and “The Cube.” The official name of “The Cube” is the Innovation Center, an approximately 10,000-square-foot glass-enclosed space that ostensibly is the site of the university’s engineering science and computer teaching lab. However, it is best known as the hub of the entire building, a place that Chemistry professor Nancy Mills said offers students and faculty a rare opportunity.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/20/creating-a-collaboration-hub.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14926

College admissions now using social media like never before

by Ron Bethke, eCampus News

A new survey reveals that college admissions officers’ use of resources like Facebook and Google to gather more information on applicants has reached an all-time high. According to the results of a new Kaplan Test Prep survey, a higher percentage of United States college admissions officers visit the social media pages of applicants in order to learn more about them.For the 2015 survey, 387 admissions officers from the nation’s top national, regional and liberal arts colleges and universities were polled by telephone between July and August 2015. It was found that 40 percent of admissions officers visit applicants’ social media profiles to research them more in depth, which represents a record high that is also quadruple the percentage of affirmative respondents from when Kaplan first explored the trend in 2008.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/admissions-social-media-554/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14923

Pacific High School Speaks on How Emerging Tech Could Impact Students in 2015

by Globe Newswire

According to Pacific High School the most significant way to transfer education is MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). It is considered as the best practice for online students to succeed. With the right infrastructure and the right software system MOOCs can deliver education. These courses allow better understanding of information, basically permitting students to learn from anywhere at any time. In the year 2015 educational institutions can take advantage of these courses and make it more accessible with cloud-based innovation, adaptive education, information capture, analytics to support educational institutions in coordinating MOOCs and different sorts of instructive technologies into the learning environment.

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/01/25/699702/10116878/en/Pacific-High-School-Speaks-on-How-Emerging-Tech-Could-Impact-Students-in-2015.html

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/LNHnnzaJ37Q/

High school classes increasingly blend in technology

By MATTHEW SANTONI, Associated Press

As homeroom ended Thursday morning, students in Shaler Area High School’s Academy program sat down for math lessons at their laptop computers, watching video lectures or taking quizzes for one of four or five math courses. Teacher Nicole Kutzner watched on her laptop as sophomore Logan Pegher took a geometry quiz, seeing which questions took more time and stepping over to help. “If I need help, she helps us,” said ninth-grader Charlotte Zimmerman of Shaler, who was watching a video lecture at the desk next to Logan. “It helps a lot. Last year, I failed, and this year I’m getting mostly ‘B’s and ‘A’s.” The Academy, which blends one-on-one instruction with online lessons tailored to each student, is helping the district with students who otherwise would be at risk of dropping out of a regular class.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/25/high-school-classes-increasingly-blend-in-technolo/

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

New app developed identifying when students skip class

By Andrew Marshall, Vidette Online

A new phone application called Class 120 focuses on the problem of class attendance by letting parents or administrators know when students are skipping class. This application is developed by a new startup company Core Principle. “Our purpose is to promote and support student success in college,” CEO and Founder of Core Principle Jeff Whorley said. Studies show class attendance is the number one contributor to good grades in college courses, but is also a problem nationwide. According to National Student Clearinghouse, the total cost of unattended classes by college students nationwide is $31 billion in tuition alone. The application uses the student’s smartphone to monitor if they are in the class at the given time with geolocation technology.

http://www.videtteonline.com/index.php/2015/01/25/new-app-developed-identifying-when-students-skip-class/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/xWNaV-M8sgQ/

The World’s Top 50 LMS Platforms

by eLearning 24/7

Published by E-Learning 24/7, which not only publishes a regularly updated list of the top LMSs but also a list of the top rapid content authoring tools (comprising some 168 vendors), and the work of the internationally-known corporate online learning industry analyst, Craig Weiss, the current top ten LMSs in the world are:

1. ExpertusOne


2. Growth Engineering


3. Blackboard


4. Instructure


5. eLogic Learning


6. IMC-Clix


7. Docebo


8. Biz Library


9. Meridian Global


10. CM Group LTD

In addition, this latest report on the state of the learning management system (LMS) industry includes comments on LMS market trends and forces, as well as developing trends in LMS features. Craig Weiss also presents a continent-by-continent analysis of the LMS market.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1691998

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/XWfzzDVSKE8/

One Course, Three Flavors

By Carl Straumsheim, THE Journal

Harvard University will this spring offer three versions of its Introduction to Computer Science course, each with its own level of rigor and student-instructor interactivity. With a paid option that offers students a discount toward future studies at the university, the course represents yet another attempt to find a sustainable business model for massive open online courses. The course can be taken for no academic credit as a free, self-paced MOOC through HarvardX, the university’s branch of edX, and also as a credit-granting online course through the Harvard Extension School for $2,050. The school is also offering a third path that blends the flexibility of the HarvardX course with biweekly, online office hours with senior lecturer David J. Malan and a discussion forum moderated by teaching fellows. That hybrid option, which costs $350, can be completed for an official certificate, and the cost is returned in form of a discount on a future course through the Extension School or Summer School.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/21/harvard-u-experiments-three-versions-same-course

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/ktmhrM4LhDM/

Teen suspended for hug can take online classes

By Amanda Sloane, HLN TV

A Georgia high school senior who was suspended in December for hugging a teacher will be allowed back in school — but only to take online courses, according to HLN affiliate WGCL. “It’s a step forward that they gave him an alternative for him to finish his education online,” the teen’s mother, April McNair, told WGCL. “But you’re still stripping him of graduating with his class… going to prom, having the experience of a high school graduate.” Sam McNair told HLN in December that he had hugged the teacher numerous times before and that, “She was totally fine with it. That’s why I was so surprised when this situation happened.”

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/01/20/student-suspended-hugging-teacher-sam-mcnair-online-classes

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