Distance learning enrollment ticks up, though for-profits see declines

by Pat Donachie, Education Dive

Distance learning continues to grow, with more than six million higher ed students taking at least one distance education course in 2015, according to a report from Digital Learning Compass. The report found growth at non-profit institutions occurred at a rate of 11.4%, while private for-profit institutions, on the other hand, saw their distance enrollment numbers decline at a rate of 9.4%. Year-over-year, the number of students enrolled in a distance education class grew by 3.9%, and more than one in four students enrolled in higher ed took at least one distance education class.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/distance-learning-enrollment-ticks-up-though-for-profits-see-declines/441754/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=27321

IT skills that employers need in 2017

by CIO

Unemployment rates in the IT industry are still hovering around historic lows, and some roles — like network and security engineers and software developers — are showing unemployment rates of around 1 percent. A recent survey from Robert Half Technology showed that the majority of CIOs will either expand their IT teams or focus on filling out vacant roles, while the 2017 IT Forecast from TEKsystems shows that confidence is high and IT budgets are rebounding. Overall, it’s a fairly rosy outlook for IT professionals this year, especially those with specific skill sets. Here, our experts tell us which skills will be hottest in 2017.

http://www.cio.com/article/3164125/hiring/10-it-skills-that-employers-need-in-2017.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=27306

5 effective teaching tips for students with literacy challenges

BY MERIS STANSBURY, eSchool News

Expert discusses teachers’ successful techniques in helping students with literacy challenges—including dyslexia. As classrooms and teachers grow stronger in providing individualized and personalized instruction to every students, it’s never been more important to define and address the often-myriad literacy challenges within classrooms to ensure that all struggling students learn and improve—especially those students with dyslexia. In “Teaching Students with Literacy Problems—Including Dyslexia,” hosted by edWeb.net and sponsored by Brookes Publishing, Nickola Wolf Nelson, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Western Michigan University, reviewed techniques educators can use to teach their students with literacy problems.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/05/01/ew-teaching-literacy-challenges/

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U California Davis Brings Augmented Reality to Middle School

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

The ARsandbox combines an actual sandbox with a 3D camera, a digital projector and a computer to display a topographic map that adjusts as sand is moved around inside the box. The ARsandbox combines an actual sandbox with a 3D camera, a digital projector and a computer to display a topographic map that adjusts as sand is moved around inside the box. The University of California, Davis recently brought an augmented reality (AR) sandbox to students at Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science to help them learn about Earth science and watersheds. The sandbox combines an actual sandbox with a 3D camera, a digital projector and a computer to display a topographic map that adjusts as sand is moved around inside the box. When users hold their hands over the sandbox, it becomes a cloud and virtual water flows from it into the sandbox.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/05/02/u-california-davis-brings-augmented-reality-to-middle-school.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15818

U Denver To Launch ‘STEM for Grown-Ups’

By Michael Hart, Campus Technology

The University of Denver’s Center for Professional Development will partner with the Denver-based Silicon STEM Academy to offer “STEM for Grown-Ups,” a new curriculum of interactive courses involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) that teachers and others can take for continuing education unit (CEU) credit. The Silicon STEM Academy, which provides training programs in technology for both children and adults, will offer six courses at its facility in Denver while the University of Denver will offer the credentialing that could lead to both CEU credit and academic credit. “STEM for GrownUps” is a suite of immersive STEM education programs intended to give professionals interdisciplinary, collaborative training in critical thinking.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/05/04/u-denver-to-launch-stem-for-grown-ups.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15816

8 ways digital media will evolve for the future

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eSchool News

A new study evaluating the Ready To Learn initiative outlines how educational digital media will change to influence children and content producers.  While digital educational media can continue to have a substantial impact on children, the size of that impact is directly proportional to a commitment to equity, according to a study examining five years of the CPB-PBS Ready to Learn Initiative, which represents $72 million in taxpayer dollars. Interviews with 26 prominent children’s media researchers, producers, and thought leaders were conducted as part of the study. The study reflects on the initiative’s progress over time and offers examples of how digital educational media have influenced learning.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/05/06/8-ways-digital-media-will-evolve-for-the-future/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15813

5 Free (or Low-Cost) Tools for Flipped Learning

By Dennis Pierce, Campus Technology

From screencasting to interactive presentations, here are some resources to get a flipped class off the ground. Flipping the classroom typically requires the use of certain technology tools, whether for recording lecture content or for orchestrating classroom discussion. Jon Bergmann, a pioneer of the flipped classroom and co-creator of FlippedClass.com, categorizes these tools into four different groups: video creation tools, like screencasting software; video hosting tools; interactive tools that help professors check for understanding and foster discussion among students; and learning management systems for tying all of this together. Some products and services perform more than one of these functions — and a few do all four.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/05/06/5-free-or-low-cost-tools-for-flipped-learning.aspx

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6 Creative Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

The old adage that “you get what you pay for” seems increasingly outdated in the age of free technologies that provide real value. Like Google’s free tools and all the main social media platforms, Skype is one more free and infinitely useful tool that educators can add to their toolbox. You’re probably already familiar with Skype; the free service for calls and chat has become ubiquitous in recent years. It’s revolutionized how people around the world communicate with each other. Friends and families living far away now have an easy, affordable way to communicate. Businesses have used it to increase the possibilities of remote work and collaboration between offices. And teachers have started to explore the opportunities it brings to education as well.

http://www.edudemic.com/skype-in-classroom/

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5 Ways to Extend Tablets Beyond the Screen

By David Raths, THE Journal

As tablets move from novelty items to staples in the classroom, teachers are finding new ways to make them more than just another screen for students to look at. According to Sam Patterson, a technology integration specialist at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, a K-8 school in Palo Alto, CA, “What we are seeing is technology becoming more and more transparent.” Years ago, if you had a computer for every student in the class it would look like a computer lab. And then each student had a laptop, and it was a classroom full of screens, he noted. “Now students have the ability to connect to other things in the room, so that when we are collecting data we can do it directly and do observations,” he said. “It is amazing that in a seventh-grade science class, you can import data and it is in a spreadsheet already. You can start to work with that data without having to teach the students how to build a spreadsheet.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/05/06/5-ways-to-extend-tablets-beyond-the-screen.aspx

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Are generation Z internet junkies?

by Carey Lodge, Christian Today

2,000 young people between the ages of 11 and 17 were asked to share how often they connect to the internet, and their responses reveal a generation of online junkies. “The internet nearly always controls my actions. I have been told that I am addicted to the internet, and prefer its company rather than being with other people. I feel lost without the internet,” one Year 8 girl admitted. “I seriously have withdrawal if someone takes my tablet away. I walk around the house with it even though it’s not even turned on, I just like being with it!” said another girl currently in Year 9.

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/are.generation.z.internet.junkies/37328.htm

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Technology helps instructor teach Darby, Moore students

By Michelle McConnaha, Ravalli Republic

A classroom wired to support online learning allows a Darby teacher to simultaneously teach students in Darby and in Moore. “I teach Spanish to two classes in Montana,” said Karen Perlinger, foreign language teacher at Darby High. “It is a crazy schedule, but it works to provide an opportunity for the students in Moore to learn a foreign language.” Located on U.S. Highway 191 in Fergus County, near Lewistown, Moore has a population of 193, according to the 2010 census, and a school enrollment of 38, according to the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Jennifer Burdette, principal of Darby High School, explained how the cooperative classroom came about.

http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/d7c865be-d891-11e3-bd06-001a4bcf887a.html

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