How video cameras help improve classroom learning and campus safety

BY BOB NILSSON, eSchool News

The topic of video cameras in the classroom has been brewing for years. Schools that have deployed cameras in public areas have experienced dramatic safety benefits. For example, Fraser Public Schools in Michigan found that the incidents of fighting dropped to near zero. Police officers have found body cams provide an important defense against false accusations. College professors are also eager for the protection that video surveillance can provide. In The Case for Class Cams, Amir Azarvan argues that “In an age of narcissism, we need to protect professors by putting cameras in the classroom.” According to False Accusations: A Growing Fear in the Classroom, “one in seven male teachers has been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with students”.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/06/12/video-cameras-improve-classroom/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=29026

How diplomas based on skill acquisition, not credits earned, could change education

by LILLIAN MONGEAU, Hechinger Report

By 2021, students graduating from Maine high schools must show they have mastered specific skills to earn a high school diploma. Maine is the first state to pass such a law, though the idea of valuing skills over credits is increasingly popular around the country. When such a system works, it’s meant to offer students clarity about what they have to learn and how they are expected to demonstrate they’ve learned it. Students have more flexibility to learn at their own pace and teachers get time to provide extra help for students who need it. Ideally, every diploma in Maine would signify that students had mastered the state’s learning standards.

http://hechingerreport.org/how-diplomas-based-on-skill-acquisition-not-credits-earned-could-change-education/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=29014

How Do Low Income Parents Feel about Classroom Technology?

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

There’s no doubt that edtech is transforming education before our eyes. From the way teachers communicate with parents, to the way students are engaged in the classroom, edtech has a large impact on the modern world of education. Fully 80% of low income parents feel positive about classroom technology’s impact on their children. In order to provide you with data-driven info on the subject, we decided to share the infographic linked below.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/low-income-parents-feel-classroom-technology/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=29002

Online college courses for high school

by Carol Comegno, Courier Post

Rowan College at Burlington County will offer two new programs for high school students in the fall. High school students anywhere in New Jersey will be able to take a variety of online courses at a reduced price as part of the college’s new College Head Start in High School, or CH2, initiative aimed to reduce the time and cost required to attain a college degree. In a second initiative within the Head Start program, the college is partnering with the county technical high school to offer its students a different path to an engineering degree.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/2016/06/23/online-college-courses-high-school/86304994/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16192

Tech company’s tool tracks online learning; it’s also fun for kids

BY KENT ERDAHLA, Fox 31 Denver

A tech startup is helping students, teachers and parents track online learning thanks to a free extension to the Google Chrome Browser. It’s called StackUp and some of the students who are using it say it’s already changed the way they approach summer reading. “It’s really fun,” said Kailen Bryant, who is using StackUp as part of his Scholars Unlimited summer program in Denver. “You know how much progress you’ve gotten and how well you’re doing. How much better you’re doing at reading.” StackUp is a free plug-in that anyone can download to track their own productivity or prove the amount of research they’ve put in to a given topic.

http://kdvr.com/2016/06/23/tech-companys-tool-tracks-online-learning-its-also-fun-for-kids/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16189

Retaining the Higher Education IT Workforce

by Jeffrey Pomerantz, EDUCAUSE Review

According to one estimate, the median cost of employee turnover is 21 percent of the employee’s annual salary3; another estimate puts this even higher, at 50–60 percent.4 Furthermore, the higher the level of specialized training a job requires, the higher the turnover costs. Many information technology–related positions require substantial specialized training. Losing employees imposes a significant cost on IT operations, which is especially problematic in higher education, where budgets continue to shrink or remain flat. The hiring and retention of an IT workforce appeared on the EDUCAUSE list of Top 10 issues in IT the first time that list was compiled in 2000, and it has consistently appeared in the top five issues for the past five years.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/6/retaining-the-higher-education-it-workforce

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16186

Virtual Reality Helps Bridge the Gap Between Online and In-person Learning

by Noelle Phansalkar, Outer Places

Since the recent surge in virtual reality development, experts from all fields have been eager to study its potential impacts. Most recently, Conrad Tucker, Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Design at Penn State, conducted a study to test whether using virtual reality would have a significant impact on online learning. Tucker selected the Oculus Rift for his purposes, undoubtedly due to its relative inexpensiveness and accessibility. He also fitted participants with a haptic glove, which allows the wearer to simulate the feel of virtual objects. The participant sample consisted of 54 undergraduate engineering students who were tasked with assembling a virtual coffee pot from a number of disparate pieces. Half undertook this task with the help of the virtual reality hardware, while the other half used a simple computer program. The results were unsurprising; the mean completion time for the control group was 49.04 seconds, while the mean time for the group using V.R. was 23.21 seconds – less than half the time.

http://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/9154/virtual-reality-helps-bridge-the-gap-between-online-and-in-person-learning

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/t8B34fIpk_E/

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Market 2015-2020

by Marketwatch The MOOC’s market is exhibiting great potential to grow exponentially over the next few years. In 2015, the technology is poised to see substantial uptake due to the growing number of connected devices, high enrolment rates in MOOCs, the increasing acceptance of MOOCs based training in enterprises around the globe and the increasing demand for low cost, high quality and globalised education. Consumer devices such as smartphones, tablets, wearable gadgets and eReaders are currently enjoying high adoption rates across the globe. With the ever increasing number of connected devices, MOOCs has the potential to disrupt higher education through widespread uptake of distance learning. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/massive-open-online-course-mooc-market-2015-2020-meducation-distance-open-e-learning-in-higher-education-enterprise-2015-06-22

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

Creative Destruction in Teaching (and the Ongoing Relevance of Teachers)

by Don Wettrick, Edutopia

More technological tools exist in education today than at any time in history. We have great apps such as Skype and Google Hangouts for collaboration, literally hundreds of educational games for learning, and YouTube videos and blogs for gaining and sharing knowledge. In my class, students are encouraged to use all of these tools to explore their passions and test their ideas. Using technology, they learn independently and in small groups, very often without my guidance. For some educators, the fearful question is: “Could those apps and tools ever replace teachers?” The answer lies in how we define teaching. Or learning. Or innovation.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/creative-destruction-ongoing-relevance-teachers-don-wettrick

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

Some superintendents push schools into the digital age

by eSchool News

Educational technology, for all its potential, is riddled with glitches and startup pains, especially when you’re among the first to trade pencils for tablets. Yet some pioneering school leaders insist that thrusting schools into the digital Petri dish is imperative for students’ success. These leaders–from places such as Overland Park, Kan., and Middletown, N.Y.–risk upsetting staff and budget watchdogs by following their conviction that innovation with technology can help teachers target learning and help students master basic skills. They forge ahead, piloting programs, building digital curricula, enabling enthusiastic teachers and dragging the reluctant ones into the new age.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/06/19/schools-digital-age-903/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/-PPyb9GBrH8/

7 engaging video sites for teachers and students

By Laura Devaney, eSchool News

Teachers and students need access to interesting and thought-provoking videos. Students have different learning styles, and teachers strive to individualize instruction whenever possible. But videos often appeal to students of all learning styles when they are engaging, informative, and inspiring. Some of the world’s top experts in various academic areas have helped to create videos in which they explain complex concepts in ways that students are able to understand, which gives students real-world knowledge of how they might apply their classroom lessons after they leave school. Linked at this site are six engaging sites that might add something new to your classroom.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/06/19/engaging-video-resources-487/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/7xpJS3bUs6Y/

Embracing online learning in San Diego County schools

By Caroline Winn, Randy Ward & Bruce Braciszewski, U-T San Diego

As the 2013-2014 school year draws to a close, it is clear San Diego County’s schools stand at a threshold. A threshold that marks what is becoming a transformational shift from traditional, “four-wall education,” to one that embraces the digital future. Two-thirds of principals surveyed nationally say online education is critical to keeping our students engaged. Parents agree. Approximately 60 percent in the same survey want their students placed in classrooms where mobile devices are allowed.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/21/embracing-online-learning-in-san-diego-county/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/PQdGLfG1Tf4/