To catch a cheat: Best practices in online proctoring

BY MICHAEL LONDON, eSchool News

As online education expands, students are bringing old-fashioned cheating into the digital age.  According to the latest report from Babson Survey Research Group, nearly 6.5 million American undergraduates now take at least one course online—representing close to one-third of the postsecondary student body. The rise of online programs is enabling colleges and universities to support a growing population of nontraditional students, many of whom balance work or family commitments in addition to their studies.

To catch a cheat: Best practices in online proctoring

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=37380

Large District Websites Have ‘Extensive Accessibility Issues’

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) recently shared the results of automated tests it ran to check the accessibility of a handful of school websites and found that those tested had “extensive” issues related to accessibility. In a blog post about the tests, BoIA pointed to the fact that about 13 percent of all public school students receive special education services and nearly 500 investigations have started by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to look into the accessibility of school, district and college websites.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2018/02/23/large-district-websites-have-extensive-accessibility-issues.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=37370

Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizing Early Childhood Education

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Most scholars will agree that the early childhood years set the stage for future academic success in middle school, high school, and secondary learning institutions. These formative years are essential for creating an environment where children learn the foundational skills necessary for academic success. With modern classrooms making a subtle shift to artificial intelligence and edtech, these years are seeing revolutionary change.  Do you have a hard time believing that even our elementary-aged kids can benefit from exposure to this technology? Review a few of these compelling arguments for how the introduction of AI into the elementary school classroom could improve the quality of education everywhere.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/artificial-intelligence-revolutionizing-early-childhood-education/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=37360

Parent Alert! Your Child Just Skipped Class

by Anya Kamanetz and Cory Turner, NPR

Peter Bergman and Eric W. Chan of Teachers College, Columbia University: “In a field experiment across 22 middle and high schools, we [sent] automated text-message alerts to parents about their child’s missed assignments, grades and class absences. The intervention reduces course failures by 39% and increases class attendance by 17%.” That’s from a draft paper they’ve just released. They say the intervention was especially helpful for students who were struggling academically. The students’ GPAs improved by a quarter of a point on a four-point scale. And students were more likely to stay in school. Bergman told NPR Ed that he has been researching the power of texting parents for about six years. In a previous study in Los Angeles, he tapped out the texts by hand.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/02/517757199/parent-alert-your-child-just-skipped-class

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=24603

How Do Online Courses Work?

By Danni White, ULoop

Students unfamiliar with distance education may find themselves asking, “Well, how do online courses really work?” The truth is, online courses work much the same way as traditional courses. It is the same (in some cases, a higher) level of course requirements and high expectations. And why shouldn’t it be? Students who take courses online do not want to feel as if their education is inferior to those who take the traditional route. And down through the years, educators, lawmakers, and policy setters have worked hard to make that the case.

http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/228814/How-Do-Online-Courses-Work

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=24593

Proposed law: Minnesota schools could replace snow days with e-learning days

by KMSP

If there’s one thing Minnesota students look forward to each winter, it’s a snow day. No school and tons of fresh snow to play in – what could be better? Well, Minnesota lawmakers are now considering a bill that would keep school closed on days of inclement weather, but keep class in session. H.F. 1421 would give school districts the option to hold up to 5 “e-learning days” that would replace the typical no-school snow days and count as a day of instruction.

http://www.fox9.com/news/239154677-story

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=24578

iPad Shipments Plummet as Detachable Tablets Double

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

Shipments of Apple tablets, including iPad and iPad Pro, dropped nearly 25 percent in the last quarter of 2015, leading an overall decline in the tablet market. Meanwhile shipments of detachable tablets — devices that include removable keyboards — actually doubled in the same period. Overall, the fourth quarter of 2015 saw a decline of 13.7 percent in tablet shipments, according to preliminary data released by market research firm IDC. That represented 65.9 million units in the three-month period ended Dec. 31. Pure slate tablets (like the iPad) fared worse than the category as a whole, down 21.1 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. Overall tablet shipments for the year came in at 206.8 million, off 10.1 percent compared with the previous year. However, detachable tablets doubled in shipments to an all-time high of 8.1 million units.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/02/09/ipad-shipments-plummet-as-detachable-tablets-double.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15268

U Washington Researchers Develop Energy-Efficient Wi-Fi

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

A team of computer scientists and electrical engineers at the University of Washington has developed a passive Wi-Fi system that can generate 802.11b Wi-Fi signals using 10,000 times less power than present-day Wi-Fi and 1,000 times less power than Bluetooth Low Energy and ZigBee, according to a news release on UW’s site. Traditional Wi-Fi technology uses both digital and analog components. While the digital components are highly energy efficient, the analog ones are not. Passive Wi-Fi solves this problem by decoupling the digital and analog components of Wi-Fi transmissions, assigning the power-intensive analog functions to a single networked device that is plugged into a wall outlet. An array of sensors produces the information packets for transmission by reflecting and absorbing the signal with a digital switch, according to a news release from UW. The sensors are capable of communicating with any Wi-Fi enabled device.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/03/01/u-washington-researchers-develop-energy-efficient-wifi.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15265

Report: Game-Based Learning Helps Students Develop Writing Skills

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

According to initial results from recent pilot, digital game-based learning improved student engagement and self-efficacy in writing courses at 14 colleges and universities. Over the fall 2015 semester, a group of faculty piloted Toolwire’s Writing Games with more than 1,000 students, primarily in developmental and introductory composition courses. The resulting research report documents “faculty and student reactions based on over 530,000 minutes of student usage” of the technology. Participating institutions include several campuses in the Maricopa, Lone Star, and Colorado Community College systems, as well as the California State University and City University of New York systems. The study was authored by Douglas Beckwith, Toolwire’s senior fellow and a professor of practice at Arizona State University.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/03/03/report-game-based-learning-helps-students-develop-writing-skills.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15262

Nine Ways to Encourage Faculty Experimentation with New Online Teaching Technologies

By Vickie Cook, Evolllution

Creating an environment where faculty are excited about innovation is critical to institutional growth. Teaching online can be demanding. Faculty teaching online often spend their breaks between semesters refining and rethinking their classes. Because online classes can be developed from anywhere, they are developed everywhere—not just on campus. As such, faculty support to explore new technologies may not be at the top of the to-do list. Once faculty have developed a few tried and true tools that meet their specific teaching needs of online course delivery, instructional designers may find these faculty reluctant to try out new teaching technologies. When I attend professional conferences and talk with faculty, the number one comment I hear is that adequate support for new technologies is not available on their campuses.

http://www.evolllution.com/media_resources/ways-encourage-faculty-experimentation-online-teaching-technologies/

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SDSU online classes among the most affordable, study says

By PAT BOWDEN Reporter, the Collegian

In a rapidly increasing field of online education, SDSU is recognized as a remarkably affordable university for degrees earned over the web – ranking in the top 11 schools out of 46 picked in the country – with 499 online courses offered for over 37,561 Internet credit hours. With around 7,500 students (over half the student body) taking at least one online class, some believe that the quality of education gets diluted when a class is converted to online. However, others argue otherwise.“You get the same education and the review process is very stringent, so you’re getting that same caliber of education as you would in an online course,” director of international affairs and outreach Lindsey Hamlin said. “At SDSU we’re looking at a healthy balance of both online and in-person [classes].”

http://www.sdsucollegian.com/news/article_b48d595c-c2b9-11e4-9352-ab41dfa4c694.html

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New Partnership Aims To Facilitate Online Course Creation for Teachers

By Michael Hart, THE Journal

A new partnership between two companies is designed to make it easier for teachers to create their own online courses, tutorials and homework assignments with interactive elements. Versal, a company that has offered an interactive publishing platform for online learning since its founding in 2013, and Wolfram Research, which creates customizable interactive elements such as timelines, diagrams and quizzes, will join forces in three ways:Educators will now be able to directly embed content based on Wolfram technology into courses they create using Versal software — without any coding required; Stephen Wolfram, who founded Wolfram Research in 1987, will join Versal’s board of directors; and simultaneously, new “gadgets,” the building blocks of Wolfram’s interactive learning elements, have been released, bringing the number available to educators to 48.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/03/04/new-partnership-aims-to-facilitate-online-course-creation-for-teachers.aspx

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The Top 10 Free Web Tools (As Chosen By You)

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

There are a lot of web tools out there. Many of which are free or, at the very least, freemium. In other words, you can do a free trial to see if you like it. With so many to choose from, it’s tough to figure out which ones work best, are popular, are well supported, etc. Thanks to the Global Education Database, we can easily see which web tools are being used in classrooms around the world. We can check out how to use each tool, pros and cons, and a lot more. Below are just a handful of some of the many resources in the GEDB. If you have a web tool, app, device, or other favorite product that you think should be included in this list and the database, you can add it here. It’s all free and simple enough to add your own products – add as many as you like!

http://www.edudemic.com/top-10-free-web-tools-chosen/

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Microsoft’s new tack for cheap tablets: Windows 8.1 with Bing

by Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet

Windows leaker WZor revealed last month that there was some kind of new Windows 8.1 with Bing SKU in the works. It is expected be added to the SKU line-up alongside the Windows 8.1 Update 1 release, which Microsoft just released to manufacturing earlier this week. Newly leaked Windows 8.1 documentation revealed that the new Windows 8.1 with Bing SKU is targeted at new low-cost Windows devices, Neowin reported on March 5. Windows SuperSite’s Paul Thurrott also is reporting that the Windows 8.1 with Bing SKU will be focused on low-end devices, and, as Neowin noted, will set Bing as the default search engine. Users who purchase the devices with this SKU will be able to switch the default search engine from Bing if they want. The SKU is Windows 8.1 Core (both 32-bit or 64-bit, Intel-only) with Bing set as the default search engine.

http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-new-tack-for-cheap-tablets-windows-8-1-with-bing-7000027070/#ftag=RSS14dc6a9

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