Online Learning Attitudes #Infographic

by EDUCAUSE

In 2017, our annual student technology survey coincides with our biennial faculty technology survey, giving us the opportunity to directly compare the technology attitudes, experiences, and preferences of these two groups. Although there is considerable overlap in student and faculty opinions about technology, the differences highlighted here reflect their respective roles and present the actionable opportunities for IT leaders. Tens of thousands of respondents participated in the EDUCAUSE student and faculty studies to shape the higher education IT community’s understanding of higher education technology use in 2017.

https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2017/9/studentst2017infog.pdf

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33171

Imagine how great universities could be without all those human teachers

BY Allison Schrager & Amy X. Wang, Quartz

Jill Watson is the best damn teaching assistant you could ever want. She fields hundreds of questions at a time from frantic 19-year-olds, always answering them in full and at record speed. She hardly makes mistakes. She is, above all, stunningly patient.
“I got comments like ‘Mind blown’ and ‘I want to nominate Jill for outstanding TA award’,” says Ashok Goel, a computer-science professor at Georgia Tech—and Jill Watson’s creator. Jill is an AI education tool. Her birth came about last year, when Goel was teaching an online class on artificial intelligence; his 300-odd students in the course were sending in thousands of questions at a time, and they piled up, disastrously.

Imagine how great universities could be without all those human teachers

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33161

Mississippi schools use online resources, technology to expand course offerings

by JACKIE MADER, Hechinger Report
A report released last month by EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit focused on improving internet access, found Mississippi has made progress in providing all students access to high-speed internet service. Although Mississippi is still ranked among the bottom five of all states when it comes to connectivity, more than 158,000 students have gained access to high-speed internet since 2015. The improvement comes as many districts are expanding or launching programs that give students access to a digital device each day. At the same time, some schools are using or seeking out technology to increase course offerings and improve access to subjects that have been given the short shrift in an era of standardized testing. Here’s a look at a few efforts to use technology to improve opportunity for students.

http://hechingerreport.org/mississippi-schools-use-online-resources-technology-expand-course-offerings/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33151

Teaching Multiple Online Sections/Courses: Tactics and Techniques

by Rodger Bates, Bryan LaBrecque, Emily Fortner, OJDLA

The challenge of teaching online increases as the number of sections or courses increase in a semester. The tactics and techniques which enrich online instruction in the tradition of quality matters can be modified and adapted to the demands of multiple instructional needs during a semester. This paper addresses time management and instructional design strategies as well as prior planning requirements. It also reviews the integration and management of multiple online courses and discusses recommendations.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall193/bates_labrecque_fortner193.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19844

Adjuncts Matter: A Qualitative Study of Adjuncts’ Job Satisfaction

by Telvis M. Rich, OJDLA

The extrinsic factors that influence the workplace experiences of 27 adjuncts teaching online were explored. In this qualitative research study, the adjuncts’ lived experiences were examined through in-depth interviews. The results indicated three emergent factors which influenced the participants’ workplace experiences, and the alternative methods adjuncts employed to ensure their professional well-being. The emergent extrinsic factors are 1) Professional Inclusion, 2) Work Schedule, and 3) Resources. In this article, the rich and thick descriptions of the results, implications for practice, and limitations are presented.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall193/rich193.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19836

Interview with a Cyber-Student: A Look Behind Online Cheating

by Julia Davis, OJDLA

This case study offers insights into the motivation and experiences of a cyber-student, an individual who completes all or portions of an online class for the registered student. The cyber-student shares information on the inner-workings of online companies specializing in matching cyber-students with potential clients. A portrait of both a cyber-student and his/her typical client is revealed.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall193/davis193.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19824

3 characteristics of successful next-gen online learning

By Kevin Gibbs and Claire Stuve, eCampus News

Two professors describe online learning platform features that can enable engaging online learning experiences—and why they’re critical to real success. High failure rates. Low retention. Disengaged students. These problems exist at many universities, but more and more institutions and instructors, like us, are leveraging online learning to turn that story around—but real success goes beyond just a format switch. Today, 82 percent of colleges and universities offer at least several courses online in order to try and provide a transformational opportunity for students who can’t spend six to eight hours a day in a lecture hall. For example, at The University of Toledo, we serve a large number of active duty military who are logging into class from around the world.

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14186

Online Learning in High School

By Nila Venkat, WQED

Youth Radio’s Nila Venkat weighs what’s lost and what’s gained when taking a course online instead of in the classroom. I’m a sophomore in high school and this semester, I started taking an online psychology course on top of my regular workload. There are assignments due every day by midnight — like reading an article by a psychologist, or watching a TED talk and then making a comment on the video. I participate in Skype chats, discussing lessons with the other 15 or so students, who live all around the globe — from Beijing to Pennsylvania. But in my online course, I can determine my own learning environment. I usually go home, have a snack, and then lock myself in my bedroom to seal out potential distractions. And it works. I’m not saying I would swap all my in-person classes for online ones. There’s something about the human connections I get at school. Like fist bumping my math teacher in the hallway.

http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201510220643

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14183

Start learning programming early

by Andrew Fraser, St. Cloud Times

Coding is an important skill for students of all ages, but, like other languages or disciplines, an early start can be a boon to a young mind. Coding teaches problem solving and analytical thinking. Programmers are often tasked with thinking about the “why”: Why does something happen here or why does this program have an error there? In addition to honing logic skills, thinking in the “why” can be helpful for students who need help focusing on how their actions (or any actions) affect other people or things. Programming is also a great skill for learners interested in creation. With programming, students can see the results of their code play out in front of them. Games like Minecraft with building or user-generated content are very popular with kids. Coding is a deeper version of that concept, with students able to see and experience the fruits of their mind’s labor.

http://www.sctimes.com/story/money/business/2015/10/24/start-learning-programming-early/74357136/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14180

A new pathway for job-seeking IT students

by Ron Bethke, eCampusNews

According to a report by McKinsey, freelance portals will create more than 150 million jobs globally by 2025. And a new education startup called CodersTrust is aiming to teach students new IT and coding skills in order to land those freelance and outsourcing jobs–a goal that CodersTrust believes will be critical for future economies. For example, Elance, one of the major online freelance job portals, has a whopping 54 percent of its listed jobs in the IT & Programming category, with those jobs going for over $2 billion dollars total.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/coderstrust-unique-it-826/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/Z2fWxJQSGxc/

Wanted: Immersive gaming in K-8 classrooms

By Laura Devaney, eSchool News

Seventy-four percent of K-8 teachers in a recent report said they use digital games for instruction, but few teachers reported engaging students with immersive games that offer in-depth exploration and 21st-century skill development. Teachers surveyed for a new report from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center said they believe using digital games in the classroom helps students improve math skills (71 percent), computer/technology content and skills (65 percent), executive function skills (59 percent), and 21st-century skills (52 percent).

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/10/22/wanted-immersive-gaming-673/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/NOkHRnoyqF4/

Free online aquarium resources foster science inquiry

By Alicia Archer, eSchool News

To reach more classrooms with its educational programs, the Aquarium of the Pacific has created free online curriculum materials based on live animal webcams. The Aquarium Webcam Resource Kits include lesson plans, activities, online resources, and educational videos. Aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), these inquiry-based kits encourage students to make observations using the aquarium’s live streaming webcams, such as Shark Lagoon, Tropical Pacific, and Penguin Habitat.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/10/22/online-aquarium-resources-235/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/Z2kqYeCQbOI/

Gaining Insights into Online Teacher Training through Essential Questions

by Justin Scoggin, Hybrid Pedagogy

My favorite pedagogical tool is the essential question. Briefly, these attempt to focus student attention on the broader implications and deeper meanings behind content. I had been using them in my own quaint way before reading Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe, and that reading both confirmed my intuition and pushed my use of this strategy to a higher level.

http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/Essential_Questions.html#unique-entry-id-176

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/xp3sI677YRg/

Obama Says Congress Must Keep Education as U.S. Budget Priority

By Juliann Francis, Business Week

President Barack Obama warned that other nations are pulling ahead of the U.S. in global economic competition as he campaigned for his budget goals at a high school and a Democratic fundraising event in New York. The president urged Congress to pass a budget that sets the “right priorities” by putting money into education and other programs that will help advance economic growth. The U.S. needs “some political courage in Washington,” Obama told students, faculty and elected officials at Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Brooklyn. “We need to work together to grow the economy, not shrink it”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-25/obama-says-congress-must-keep-priority-on-education-in-budget

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/iIzeBBLfF4w/

When Students Can’t Compute

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

As college courses migrate toward a variety of tech-enabled models–blended, flipped, online, and MOOC–students who lack basic computer skills pose significant challenges for instructors and institutions alike. How do you teach a class of students whose tech skills–and access to the technology itself–differ so widely? How do you keep students enrolled who are struggling to master the platform, let alone the course materials?

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/10/23/when-students-cant-compute.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/ZfBx2ks-JT4/