5 apps to innovate school libraries

BY MERIS STANSBURY, eSchool News

Convenient and creative apps to virtualize your school library program. Apps can bring technology, functionality, and creativity into your school library program. Since apps are a part of our everyday lives, especially those of students, they have the power to completely change the way students and teachers think about learning—especially in the library. In “Virtual Library Program Development,” Michelle Luhtala, library department chair, New Canaan High School, CT, reviewed an A to Z list of 50 apps to virtualize your school library program.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/07/21/ew-apps-school-libraries/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30017

Online class about upcoming solar eclipse offered to students this fall

By Kyle Hampel, the Collegian

Kansas State University is offering a new online math class for the fall semester focused on the upcoming total solar eclipse. The class will begin on the day of the eclipse, Aug. 21, and focus on the math and physics related to celestial events in our solar system. As previously reported by the Collegian, the solar eclipse will occur on the first day of the fall semester, and class attendance is optional for all students. The eclipse class will be offered in two sections of Math 199. The Solar Eclipse section, or section ZA, is a four-week class for one credit. The Hidden Figures section, or section ZB, is a 12-week class for three credits. Both sections are designed for students who want a better understanding of the upcoming eclipse.

http://www.kstatecollegian.com/2017/07/19/online-class-about-upcoming-solar-eclipse-offered-to-students-this-fall/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=30002

27 Assessment Tools, Apps and Resources

by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate

Assessment is at the crux of educational evaluation. It’s a major factor in designating student success, and it’s a vital skill that every educator needs to have firm hold of. Succinctly, grades represent the extent to which the learner has met the defined objectives. Teachers generally define these objectives at the beginning of the year, aided by benchmarks, such as statewide academic achievement standards. Assessment is an emotionally laden procedure that implies more than the degree of compliance with the goals. Before beginning a learning activity, teachers should think of and choose the assessment criteria; students appreciate a grading system that is fair, consistent, and easy to understand.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/tech-edvocates-list-27-assessment-apps-tools-resources/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=29992

Online literacy challenge excites students

by Brett Henebery, the Educator

Based on a gamified digital word building exercise, Word Mania tests various literacy skills, including phonemes, morphemes, spelling, word recognition, vocabulary and word knowledge. Players have three minutes and 15 randomly generated letters to create as many words as possible, with points based on word accuracy and complexity. A week after registrations opened students at more than 600 schools had started practising. Now, with one week to go until the competition rounds start on Monday, 1 August, more than 1,900 schools and 190,000 students have registered to participate. Students have spent more than one million minutes building more than nine million words, with up to 49,000 games played in a single day.

http://www.educatoronline.com.au/news/online-literacy-challenge-excites-students-220198.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16430

Grant aims to launch drone courses at community colleges

By Yann Ranaivo, Roanoke Times

Over the next two years, the faculty training workshops will extend to all community colleges in Virginia, including New River Community College in Dublin and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Carter said. The drone operation courses at those schools will likely launch a year after the faculty workshops, he said. While the exact curriculum is still far from being set, Carter said, he envisions something along the lines of 18 to 30 credit hours’ worth of courses that will most likely lead to a certificate program. “This is a job that is not very prevalent out there right now, and we’re gearing up to prepare,” he said. Drone operating itself is a job the consortium still needs to learn more about, Carter said. The program plans to meet soon with about a dozen technicians in the field and survey them about the occupation.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/education/higher_education/nrcc/grant-aims-to-launch-drone-courses-at-community-colleges/article_26e43560-3163-5a87-8e75-59590ef12ed3.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16428

Easy for online students to get off-track without parent supervision

by Maureen Downey, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Online classes in Georgia originally were designed to accommodate ambitious students in rural areas who lacked options for AP or accelerated classes. Now, many struggling students are flocking to virtual schools. Online learning is growing rapidly in Georgia, although it does not work for all students. The state’s largest online high school has a graduation rate of 66 percent, 13 percentage points below the state average. But students in online courses, unless self-directed and independent, will need motivated parents who will ensure they sit down every day at their computers, attend their classes and get their work done. Some parents don’t understand that critical role.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/easy-for-online-students-to-get-off-track-without-/nr4kw/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16425

Hackathons as a New Pedagogy

by Brandon Zoras, Edutopia

Hackathons have become a new way of doing business, creating products, advancing healthcare, and innovation. The energy is high, and so are the stakes. Can you turn an idea into a product over the course of a weekend? But let’s move beyond that. Let’s look at the teaching and learning within a hackathon. Hackathons are really the ultimate classroom. That is why Joe Romano and I (Brandon Zoras) thought it would be great to have a youth-focus hackathon across our school district. Hackathons usually take place over a set time frame such as a weekend, where different people with different skills and abilities work together to propose a solution to a problem. The solutions can be code based, wearable technology, analog, or any type of product imaginable.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/hackathons-as-a-new-pedagogy-brandon-zoras

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Cal State San Bernardino Powers Up With Wireless Charging

By Rhea Kelly. Campus Technology

Students at California State University, San Bernardino will soon be able to charge their mobile devices wirelessly all over campus. The school is installing the Powermat wireless charging platform in high-traffic common spaces, student union areas, study areas, and on-campus cafes and restaurants to help students stay connected to the information and learning resources they need. The next step will be a broader implementation in the university’s library and classrooms. “E-learning has become part of every student’s lifestyle with course materials, assignments and videos hosted online and accessible via mobile,” said Gerard Au, associate vice president, Information Technology Services at CSUSB, in a press release. “As mobile device usage increases, we need to extend our capability to keep up, and the Powermat platform is an important part of that infrastructure as it will allow our students to stay connected and learning all day long,”

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/07/14/cal-state-san-bernardino-powers-up-with-wireless-charging.aspx

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New Rubric-Based Scoring API Aims To Evaluate Student Performance in Digital Lessons

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

A new application programming interface (API) is designed to enable education developers to introduce scoring analytics into simulations, games and other open-ended assessment items and digital learning objects. The API toolkit, developed by metacog, is intended to be added to programs used by educators to examine the work and thought processes done by students as they interact with digital lessons and assessments. “Our goal with metacog’s scoring service API is to enable a new generation of instruction and assessment products where students create responses instead of merely picking them,” said Owen Lawlor, the company’s chief digital officer.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/07/21/new-rubric-based-scoring-api-evaluates-student-performance-in-digital-lessons.aspx

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The pros and cons of open technology

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Campuses are moving into the future…and professors may be rejoicing. It’s not just the high cost of textbooks that have libraries scrambling to provide open education (OER) resources. As professors look at alternative options to retain copyright on printed works, and campuses look to expand community partnerships while decreasing budget, going open has never looked so good. According to a new report, “Open Education Resources: The New Paradigm in Academic Libraries,” by Carmen Mitchell and Melanie Chu of California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) [published in the Journal of Library Innovation, Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2014], a combination of factors have converged to make the use of open resources integral to campuses across the country.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/pros-cons-open-813/

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Google and Udacity want you “thinking like a Developer”

by Nate Swanner, SlashGear

Google is practicing their own version of Inception. Three Developer Advocates from the company are using an app to teach you how to make apps. A new, free course on Udacity, called “Developing Android Apps: Android Fundamentals”, teaches you all you need to know in starting your path toward app development. Like any good tutorial, the aim is teaching you how to think like an Android Developer, not simply run you through coding exercises. The course will also school users on the history of Android, and give them insight on the current (and evolving) face of Android development.

http://www.slashgear.com/google-and-udacity-want-you-thinking-like-a-developer-15337395/

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EdX inks deal with Saudi Arabia and women are among those said to benefit

by Mary Moore, Boston Business Journal

The courses will start with a pilot program for Saudi women, youth, the disabled and citizens in rural areas, the press release said. These groups will be the ones likely to realize the greatest opportunity as a result of the new MOOC because they will have access to education, which can “advance their careers,” the release said. “Through extending educational opportunity to the people of Saudi Arabia, the initiative will help provide the skills necessary for economic empowerment,” said Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX, in a prepared statement.

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2014/07/15/edx-inks-deal-with-saudi-arabia-and-women-areamong.html

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