5 Reasons Machine Learning Is the Future of Marketing

by Chidike Samuelson, Entrepreneur

It’s not just futuristic-looking products such as Siri and Amazon Echo. And it’s not limited to companies we typically think of as having huge research-and-development budgets — the Googles, Facebooks and Microsofts. In reality, machine learning already is helping nearly every Fortune 500 company run more efficiently and make more money. Here are five reasons companies on the up should start applying machine-learning marketing strategies on their respective scales.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300713

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33425

Online preschool: Does it work?

by Jackie Mader, Hechinger Report

Advocates say online preschool has the potential to address two serious problems with the current state of preschool: access and cost. In states like Mississippi, where state-funded pre-K only serves 4 percent of 4-year-olds, parents have to pay for preschool programs if their children do not get a pre-K seat. Nationally, less than a third of 4-year-olds are enrolled in state-funded pre-K programs. Advocates of online learning say programs like UPSTART, which is free for most families, may increase access to educational opportunities, which can be critical to ensuring the youngest learners don’t start behind and stay behind. “During those early years, it’s somewhat of a window of opportunity to close what’s known as the achievement gap and really have students begin kindergarten for a solid foundation for their learning,” said Shannon Riley-Ayers, an associate research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/online-programs-are-filling-a-preschool-gap-experts-warn-its-no-substitute-for-face-to-face-learning

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10 Twitter accounts every higher ed leader should follow

By Shalina Chatlani, Education Dive
To stay ahead, higher education leaders must constantly be aware of the latest trends and policies taking over the industry — and social media is often the perfect place to find this. Everything from general tips on improving an institution’s online presence to getting inspiration for innovation on the campus. Here we present ten twitter accounts all higher education leaders ought to follow, so that fresh ideas and quick industry news will rise to the top of their feeds.  [ed note:  Special Thanks for listing my @rayschroeder as #6]

https://www.educationdive.com/news/10-twitter-accounts-every-higher-ed-leader-should-follow/509800/

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Report: Device Type Proliferation Poses Problems

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Last year, when an MDR survey asked curriculum directors to rate the various factors that influenced their buying decisions for digital instruction, the one that surfaced above all others was compatibility with multiple computing devices, chosen by 62 percent of respondents. No wonder. A multiplicity of devices proliferates on the school campus, especially in an era of rising acceptance for bring-your-own-device. As a new report from MDR points out, students may show up with “smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops, desktops and Chromebooks.” Those devices may be running iOS, Android, Chrome and Windows. Even district-provided devices can run the gamut depending on which grade they’re being used in.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/26/device-type-proliferation-poses-problems.aspx

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Where Do Teachers Turn for Tech Help? Not the Help Desk (Much)

By David Nagel, Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Research shows that teachers prefer to rely on one another to get solutions to technology problems than they do on the IT department. By a margin of about five to one, teachers prefer to solve their own tech problems without the help of the IT department. According to a survey of more than 1,300 educators by THE Journal, educators’ top choice for solving their tech troubles is online searches, with 37 percent citing that as their preferred source for help with technology. Coming in second was peers, at 23 percent. The help desk/IT department ranked third at 17 percent, followed by the instructional technologist at 11 percent. Students rounded out the top 5 preferred sources of tech help at 4 percent.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/27/where-do-teachers-turn-for-tech-help.aspx

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New Report Advises States on How to Support Personalized Learning

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

A non-profit that promotes competency-based and blended and online learning in K-12 has begun turning its attention to states, where the coming era in education transformation is expected to play out. The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) released a new report with recommendations for state policymakers to support local and statewide efforts to improve student learning. “Meeting the Every Student Succeeds Act’s Promise: State Policy to Support Personalized Learning” points out that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), enacted in December 2015, places a heavier burden on states and local education agencies to enact and oversee systems for assessments, accountability, educator evaluation and use of federal funding.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/10/31/new-report-advises-states-on-how-to-support-personalized-learning.aspx

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2 things you should know about Google ed evangelist’s vision

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

When it comes to education, there is perhaps no chief evangelist more visible than Google’s Jaime Casap. A nine-year employee of the tech giant, he’s been with the company since its launch of Google Apps for Education at Arizona State University. “I was part of that original team that put all of that together here in Phoenix, AZ, where I actually live,” he said. “There’s a generation of students coming to college that are a little bit different from the ones that they’re used to, and they’re learning in a different way,” Casap said, adding that a lot of the innovation in education is occurring in K-12 and will likely have some impact on higher ed. And while he sees Google playing a role in facilitating that innovation, he says the tech giant will never be seen driving pedagogy or telling educators how to do their jobs.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/2-things-you-should-know-about-google-ed-evangelists-vision-educause-2015/408433/

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IT salary survey: Job satisfaction helps combat relatively low pay

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Campus Technology released its 2015 salary survey this week, showing job satisfaction helps combat the relatively low pay in campus IT departments. According to the findings, the average salary at nonprofit public and private institutions was $75,621, with top IT leaders making more than $120,000 and help desk staffers making about $50,000. Employees at private nonprofit colleges are most optimistic about the chance of a raise, though very few expect a promotion and 24% said they would probably change employers in the coming year.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/it-salary-survey-job-satisfaction-helps-combat-relatively-low-pay/408594/

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Wyoming proposes new model for online education

by Kristine Galloway, Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Tribune The Wyoming Department of Education is taking steps to improve students’ options in K-12 education. The department’s Distance Education Task Force is recommending new state distance education models that would provide greater support for both traditional students and students enrolled full time in online schools. If approved by the state Legislature, the new models would allow traditional students in brick-and-mortar schools to take single courses online if the courses are not offered within the student’s school.

http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2015/11/02/news/20local_11-02-15.txt

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14240

Making math personal

by Sarah Elms, Record-Eagle

Students at the Pathfinder School are adding and subtracting not only with paper and pencil — they’re clicking and typing, too. Teachers at the independent nonprofit school in Leelanau County are using an online learning tool called Khan Academy to help personalize math instruction in first through eighth grade. They piloted the program last year and decided to make it a permanent part of the school’s math curriculum, which already blends classroom instruction, textbooks and group problem-solving. “It’s had a profound impact on the engagement in mathematics,” said Rob Hansen, Pathfinder’s head of school. “It’s the new favorite subject around here.”

http://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/making-math-personal/article_1469ec5e-4d7e-54d4-a226-0522726c9ff5.html

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Putting web analytics data to use in higher education

by Karine Joly, University Business

With so much data now available, it is more challenging to choose what to present to decision-makers. In this context, benchmarking data can offer a welcomed reference frame to evaluate the overall performance of your school website. This is why new benchmarking reports, introduced in Google Analytics in September, are such a step forward for digital analytics. The three available reports let you compare the performance of your website with similar higher ed web properties.By selecting a geographic location and a range of average daily web sessions, you can access dashboards to compare your data on digital marketing channels driving traffic to your website, the location of your visitors and how they connected to your site. For a tutorial on accessing these benchmarking reports in Google Analytics, see my four-minute screencast.

http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/putting-web-analytics-data-use-higher-education

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/bsAR-EtX4eA/

Online learning at school ‘prepares students for university’

by CHRIS PARR Times Higher Ed

Some 78 per cent of those surveyed said they considered it important in university to be able to plan and coordinate group tasks using online tools such as calendars, scheduling tools and discussion applications, and 94 per cent said having the ability to find academic resources online was valuable. More than four out of five (84 per cent) said it was important to be able to set goals to help manage studying time for their university course, and those who had participated in online learning at school said that they had gained proficiency in a range of online learning tools that they were now using as part of their university working practice. The online learning experience had also helped them to develop confidence in using technology to source information and they were more likely to carry out their research online, the researchers found.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/online-learning-at-school-prepares-students-for-university/2016720.article

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/dbFXV0pfADo/

How To Publish A Class E-Book Using iTunes

By Dan Kemp, Edudemic

Often teachers want to share the ebooks their students have made with a wider audience, not least parents! It’s such a rewarding experience for the students and the teacher to see a book they’ve created being published and shared beyond the classroom. As the developers of Book Creator for iPad, a tool that’s often used in schools to create ebooks, we wanted to share a tutorial for teachers on how to publish a book to the iBookstore.

http://www.edudemic.com/class-e-book-itunes/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/g81M5LhWGFk/

Open Educational Resource university is launched

by Peta Lee, University World News

Free, credit-bearing online learning has become accessible for students worldwide. The Open Educational Resource university, or OERu – a project of the UNESCO-Commonwealth of Learning OER Chair network – was unveiled on 1 November, promising to “revolutionise tertiary learning”. The new initiative would appear to be the open educational resource movement’s answer to MOOCs, massive open online courses, offering somewhat more structured, credit-bearing learning in partnership with a university network and including mOOCs, or micro-open online courses. Coordinated by the New Zealand-based not-for-profit network Open Education Resource Foundation and launched by open learning guru Sir John Daniel, OERu will provide more affordable ways for students to gain academic credits towards qualifications from recognised institutions.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20131101093532252

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For online professors, a celebrity side effect; Wardrobe worries and groupies, too

By Beth Teitell, Boston Globe

Before Adam Van Arsdale began taping his anthropology course to show online, he was used to standing in front of perhaps 20 Wellesley College undergrads. Now when he talks about Australopithecus, he has to worry whether the 19,000 people who registered for his Massive Open Online Course — enough to fill TD Garden — think he should have shaved that morning, and what they will tweet. “It opens you up to a lot of complaining,” the assistant professor said, recalling the support one student enjoyed after he griped on Facebook about the way Van Arsdale phrased a question on natural selection. “Fifty people ‘liked’ that negative posting.” Massive open online courses — known as MOOCs — have been around for years, but recently they have taken off. Mostly free, on topics as wide-ranging as “The History of the World from the 1300s’’ to “Warhol’’ to “Diabetes,’’ the online courses are giving the common person access to elite professors.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2013/11/01/online-education-movement-grows-hollywood-style-concerns-wardrobe-social-media-buzz-are-coming-academia/AhvoFcAt30ovKS3MB7w9yL/story.html

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