Is the digital divide entirely different from what we think it is?

BY JEFF RUBENSTEIN, eSchool News

Interestingly, closing the digital divide within classrooms may have more to do with digital citizenship than hardware. For a while now, there’s been a great deal of concern over the digital divide—the gap between students who have easy access to technology and those who don’t. Most debates center on choosing the best classroom hardware to bridge the gap: ‘Should we try to get a laptop on every desk? Tablets? Two-in-ones?’ However, the hardware debate obscures a deeper issue. It doesn’t matter what kind of technology a student uses, so much as what the student is encouraged to do with it. The subtler, but no less harmful, digital divide is between the students who are empowered to be creators and problem solvers with technology, and those who aren’t.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/04/27/digital-divide-different/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=27191

3 easy ways to get students future ready

BY MERIS STANSBURY, eSchool News

Expert recommends simple updates to regular classroom lessons to better prepare students for an uncertain future. Change is inevitable, and while it’s important to design lessons with an end result in mind, it’s difficult to prepare students for a future that doesn’t exist yet. In the recent edWebinar, “The Future Ready Challenge: Improve Student Outcomes in 18 Weeks,” hosted by edWeb.net, Dr. L. Robert Furman, Elementary Principal and author of The Future Ready Challenge, discussed some painless ways to help educators prepare students for an unknown future. “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…using technologies that haven’t been invented…in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet,” noted Furman’s presentation.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/04/28/ew-easy-ways-future-ready/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=27176

Study: Tech-Enabled Early Warning Systems Can Have Positive Impact on Chronic Absenteeism and Course Failure Rates

By David Nagel, THE Journal

A controlled study involving 73 schools and more than 37,000 students found that early warning systems can have a statistically significant positive impact on student outcomes in K–12 schools, even when those systems are not used to their full potential. The report, “Getting students on track for graduation: Impacts of the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System after one year,” was prepared by the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest for the United States Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. The study was administered by the American Institutes for Research.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/04/25/study-tech-enabled-early-warning-systems.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=27206

Over 50% of Pandora Listeners Consider Online Classes a Top Factor in Choosing a Graduate Program

BY TERRI WILLIAMS, Good Call

Research shows that obtaining the right graduate school degree can increase an applicant’s or employee’s level of competitiveness. In fact, a recent survey reveals that 27% of employers want a master’s degree for positions that previously required a bachelor’s degree. And, a graduate degree can also boost salaries by as much as $17,000 a year. Online program options appear to be a factor among would-be graduate students. According to a recent survey of Pandora listeners, 52% consider online classes a top enrollment influencer for graduate programs.

https://www.goodcall.com/news/50-pandora-listeners-consider-online-classes-top-factor-choosing-graduate-program-06795

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15841

New tech partnership targets competency-based learning and admissions

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Learning Machine, an ed tech company that offers data-driven software to help admissions officers shape their incoming classes, has partnered with Credly, which created a platform to give, receive and display digital badges and credentials. Campus Technology reports the partnership will give admissions officers the opportunity to consider competency-based learning experiences from prospective students. Dan Hughes, president and COO of Learning Machine says he expects digital credentials to become a standard part of the admissions process and “the common currency of a global job market.”

http://www.educationdive.com/news/new-tech-partnership-targets-competency-based-learning-and-admissions/418606/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15792

Mark Cuban disrupting ed tech ‘pain points’

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Mark Cuban, the Shark Tank regular and Dallas Mavericks owner, has become an ed-tech investor with stakes in four companies with which he maintains close contact. Cuban is also a vocal critic of the current state of higher education. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports Cuban has invested in Copley Systems, which helps colleges keep students on the path to graduation by tracking academic activities; Degreed, which developed a digital portfolio platform; Packback, which connects online communities of students and instructors who use the same books; and Ranku, which targets online student recruitment and enrollment. Cuban has helped the founders of each company get ahead faster, using his star power to recruit other investors. His key critiques of higher education are student debt, an over-reliance on adjuncts, and wasteful spending on buildings like stadiums, food courts and fitness centers that depreciate quickly and require continual maintenance.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/mark-cuban-disrupting-ed-tech-pain-points/418602/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15789

Fast Drivers Ed Online Puts Creative New Spin on an Aged Industry

by Fast Drivers Ed Online

In addition to providing online drivers ed in California, Texas, and Florida; the company is already working on providing students with the ability to procure their own auto insurance without being constrained by their parent’s current policy or the need to be placed on their father or mother’s current auto policy. Fast Drivers Ed Online also has goals to provide students with the opportunity to “obtain more direction” with the creation of sister websites pertaining to life purpose. More will be released on this subject in the upcoming months as the story and program develops, however it will be life changing for some. “The internet is so full of white noise and similar trends. If we can make waves in the online educational space and create an impact in young people’s lives, where it is most crucial, and create an impression that will positively affect the outcome of their lives, we will consider this movement a success,” further states Osterkamp and Orantes.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fast-drivers-ed-online-puts-creative-new-spin-on-an-aged-industry-300264645.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15786

Tuscaloosa City Schools to get online courses for some middle and high school students

by Jamon Smith, Tuscaloosa News

In April, system leaders signed a one-year $50,000 agreement with Edmentum Online Learning Programs for Educators to provide online courses for students. According to its website, Edmentum is a leading provider of online learning programs designed to drive student achievement for academic and career success. The agreement allows students to take online classes in core subject areas, advanced placement, electives, career technical, remedial courses and standardized test preparation. All online courses will be taught by Alabama-certified teachers. Though the selection of available courses are abundant, all students won’t be able to take online classes.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20150505/NEWS/150509843/1007?Title=Tuscaloosa-City-Schools-to-get-online-courses-for-some-middle-and-high-school-students

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3-D Fossil Scans, Virtual Visits To Archeological Sites And Simulated Excavations Are Highlights In Wellesley edX Course

by Wellesley College

Wellesley biological anthropologist Adam Van Arsdale, who instructs Anthropology 207X, said the virtual fossil library is a new course feature that excites him most. “Students will have access to a library of 3D fossil scans, giving them–and me–greater ability to examine and compare specimens we are discussing in the course of the class, as well as independently explore fossil morphological variability,” he said. Van Arsdale, associate professor of anthropology at Wellesley, developed the course and is teaching it for the second time. Anthropology 207X, which was first offered in September 2013 and has been available in the edX archive since, has welcomed over 22,000 learners. “One of the things that most amazed and surprised me about the course’s first run was the extent to which some students organized face-to-face meetings and events with other students in the course,” Van Arsdale said. “When people think of online learning they often associate it with one person sitting alone with their computer, but it does not have to be that way.”

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3-d-fossil-scans-virtual-visits-to-archeological-sites-and-simulated-excavations-are-highlights-in-wellesley-edx-course-300077274.html

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What’s The Secret To Effective Learning?

by Nick Morgan, Forbes

What’s the secret to effective learning? A recent study by a group of neuroscientists from the University of California, the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University found that the less you work your brain when learning, perhaps, the better. The researchers studied subjects learning a simple game over a six-week period. Those who used the part of the brain least associated with conscious planning, the frontal cortex, did the best. It’s better, it turns out, just to practice and not over-think what you’re doing. You learn faster. The results were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience recently, and one of the researchers noted, “It’s the people who can turn off the communication to these parts of their brain (the frontal cortex) the quickest who have the steepest drop-off in their completion times. It seems like those other parts are getting in the way for the slower learners. It’s almost like they’re trying too hard.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2015/05/05/whats-the-secret-to-effective-learning/

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K-12 Math Challenges Students to Create New Math Games

By Stephen Noonoo, THE Journal

Nonprofit Mind Research Institute is trying to get students to rethink how to express the math standards they learned this year through its new “game-a-thon,” a K-12 contest that challenges students to create a video describing a game featuring creative or unusual solutions to math problems. Per the challenge’s rules, teams of two or more students, along with a teacher or mentor, invent the game, then upload a nuts-and-bolts video explaining how it works to YouTube (and example video has been posted online). Students can create all manner of games–from card and board games to apps–tackling a wide range of mathematics. All participants will receive prizes, and winners will be honored at a national math fair.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/08/k12-math-challenges-students-to-create-new-math-games.aspx

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Adobe Releases Free Voice App for iPad

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

Adobe today released a free new app for iPad designed to give “voice” to educators and students who want to create engaging presentations, combining voice, video, motion graphics, still images and music. Adobe Voice, available now for iOS, is a storytelling app that lets users create video presentations without the need to shoot or edit footage. The software is built on technologies found in Adobe’s high-end professional creative tools but is designed to let users create and share their presentations with minimal fuss.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/05/08/adobe-releases-free-voice-app-for-ipad.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/WpoRpaO1uo4/

Microsoft Office Mix Turns PowerPoint Presentations into Online Interactive Lessons

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

Microsoft today released a preview version of Office Mix, a new PowerPoint addon that lets teachers create rich media presentations and interactive lessons and share them online. Office Mix includes two components: a plugin for PowerPoint and a site where teachers can share their work and view analytics. The plugin gives educators the ability to record lecture materials directly within PowerPoint and embed multimedia and interactive elements.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/05/08/microsoft-office-mix-turns-powerpoint-presentations-into-online-interactive-lessons.aspx

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