Online Learning in the K-12 Classroom: Advantages & Disadvantages

by Kristilynn Turney, Study.com

The boom of online learning for K-12 began in the 1960’s. The University of Illinois began the movement by creating an Intranet where student could access course materials and listen to recorded lessons. By 1999, universities began offering online courses and in 2009 the number of online learners grew by 187%. Wow! During this time, online learning became commonplace for K-12 learning as well. In this lesson, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online learning. We’ll also go over some techniques for success with elementary and secondary students in online learning.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/online-learning-in-the-k-12-classroom-advantages-disadvantages.html

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Google Just Revealed How They’ll Build Quantum Computers

by Karla Lant, Futurism

Quantum computing: it’s the brass ring in the computing world, giving the ability to exponentially outperform and out-calculate conventional computers. A quantum computer with a mere 50 qubits would outclass the most powerful supercomputers in the world today. Surpassing the limits set by conventional computing, known as achieving quantum supremacy, has been a difficult road. Now, a team of physicists at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Google have demonstrated a proof-of-principle for a quantum computer that may mean quantum supremacy is only months away.

https://futurism.com/google-just-revealed-how-theyll-build-quantum-computers/

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Newly Published Data Highlights Fraud Complaints Against For-Profits

by Joseph Hong, Diverse Ed

For-profit colleges drew attention again this week after troves of newly public data showed the overwhelming impact the institutions have had on student borrowers. The Century Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, published data acquired through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, consisting of nearly 100,000 applications for loan relief filed by students who say they have been defrauded by their colleges or universities. The data collected includes all complaints filed as of August 15, 2017. According to the accompanying report, nearly 99 percent of these complaints were submitted against for-profit schools.

http://diverseeducation.com/article/104845/

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This district is using novel methods to teach familiar skills

BY DAVID SINGER, CENTRE DAILY TIMES

From gamifying popular works of literature, to pitching invention ideas in “Shark Tank” productions, school districts are rethinking how to get beyond homework and traditional lectures to engage students. Teachers in Pennsylvania’s Avella, Burgettstown, Canon-McMillan and Carmichaels districts have offered up how they’re reworking class time to help young pupils value their education and take it beyond the classroom. Though it all can’t be fun and games, even the nuts and bolts of mathematics can be made more captivating. Joelle Cooper is right at home teaching geometry and calculus at Avella. A district graduate, the math teacher has been facilitating innovative team-building lessons through a blended learning model the district is piloting this year through Carnegie Learning.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/11/07/this-district-is-using-novel-methods-to-teach-familiar-skills/

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Online Education Can Provide You With These Degrees And Certificates

By Emily Marks, University Herald

Online education is slowly changing the way students earn their degrees. It is definitely more convenient and, oftentimes, more affordable than traditional college. It has helped several working adults finish their degrees, whether graduate or post-graduate, and continue with their respective careers at the same time. Moreover, there are ree online fcourses that anyone can enroll in. This may be one of the best solutions to the ever-growing worry over college debt. U.S. News collated a list of the degrees and credentials that students can earn through online education. Students can plan their education according to what they want to achieve and what their career goals are.

http://www.universityherald.com/articles/47798/20161106/online-education-provide-degrees-certificates.htm

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Does your organisation have an agile learning strategy?

by L&D

Focusing on mentoring at the expense of authority is at the heart of what Kim Shepherd’s company Decision Toolbox does. L&D professionals can learn a lot from this approach. The one ingredient in e-learning that people often forget is agility in responding to emerging opportunities.  This includes ensuring employees can access support easily. Agility is creating a learning function with rapid development built in, to meet the demand of changes in the workforce. As such, providing up-to-date, relevant content for employees is a core mandate for L&D teams. However, there are many challenges that make this difficult, Rachel Kuftinoff, learning consultancy director at KnowledgePool told Training Journal.

http://www.ldphub.com/general-news/does-your-organisation-have-an-agile-learning-strategy-226267.aspx

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It’s Not the Device; It’s What the Device Can Do

By Daniel Owens, THE Journal

When choosing the right computer for your district, our expert suggests focusing on what you need rather than what you want. The potential for technology to improve K-12 education in the United States is immense, though this change can only happen at scale with a focus on the right priorities. Devices for eduction have become symbolic of the efforts to transform education through blended and personalized learning. Desktops, laptops and tablets are quickly becoming ubiquitous in education. They are tangible examples of change and, with the exception of few dazzling products, nearly indistinguishable. When we are shown images that are supposed to reflect how technology is enhancing education, they are rarely pictures of particular software or data systems. They are students smiling and holding devices. Devices are crucial as a conduit for content; however, they do not directly improve learning outcomes.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/10/27/its-not-the-device-its-what-the-device-can-do.aspx

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Google Just Open Sourced TensorFlow, Its Artificial Intelligence Engine

by Cade Metz, Wired

The app uses an increasingly powerful form of artificial intelligence called deep learning. By analyzing thousands of photos of gravestones, this AI technology can learn to identify a gravestone it has never seen before. The same goes for cats and dogs, trees and clouds, flowers and food. The Google Photos search engine isn’t perfect. But its accuracy is enormously impressive—so impressive that O’Reilly couldn’t understand why Google didn’t sell access to its AI engine via the Internet, cloud-computing style, letting others drive their apps with the same machine learning. That could be Google’s real money-maker, he said.

http://www.wired.com/2015/11/google-open-sources-its-artificial-intelligence-engine/

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Opinion: To online, or not to online? That is the question

by Rivka Saydman, Lariat

It really is a small world, after all. Technology has opened windows and doors connecting just about everyone, especially students. When it comes to learning about foreign languages and cultures, the Internet has helped a great deal. Statistics show that by 2018, one in four students will enroll in an online foreign-language class. In a quantitative study conducted in 2012 by the NEAD, it showed 80 percent of students achieved a B or higher and a concurrent qualitative study showed students felt confident in reading, writing and speaking the foreign-language. However, a recent survey by U.S. News of professors shows that “nearly half of those who had taught an online course felt that online students received an inferior education” compared to lecture-based courses.

http://lariatnews.com/opinion/to-online-or-not-to-online-that-is-the-question/

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Microsoft pushes ahead with its quest to make apps more intelligent

by Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet

Last year, one Microsoft exec showed off a prototype of what email could look like in the future if it were to embed contextual information supplied by Bing on the back-end. A “Bingified” version of Outlook could allow users to see entity information right inside their e-mail. The same way that Microsoft Office apps currently alert users with a squiggly line to a potentially misspelled word, a Bing-enriched mail app could show users information about entities embedded in their e-mail messages — things like bands, venues, nearby restaurants and more. It sounds like Microsoft is continuing its efforts on this front. Last week, at a private press event, Microsoft showed off a coming Windows phone app called “Revolve,” according to Fast Company. That app “melds aspects of a calendar and contact manager, and presents you with information about people you’re going to meet with that it’s collected from multiple sources.”

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-pushes-ahead-with-its-quest-to-make-apps-more-intelligent-7000035605/

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Flexible Option: A Direct-Assessment Competency-Based Education Model

by Aaron Brower, EDUCAUSE Review

Although the need for more college degrees among the U.S. population is widely acknowledged, meeting that demand in the face of dramatically increased higher education costs, decreased state funding, and increasingly varied student demographics is a huge challenge. To address this, the University of Wisconsin (UW) launched its Flexible Option (UW Flex) direct-assessment CBE model, through which students can earn degrees and certificates from UW institutions. UW Flex focuses on assessment rather than credit hours, letting students undertake academic work at their own pace and prove mastery of required knowledge and skills through rigorous assessments. To help ensure student success, UW Flex supports students through an optimal blend of materials, people, and technology.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/flexible-option-direct-assessment-competency-based-education-model

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Aurasma: Augmented Reality for Your Classroom

By Ann Elliott, Edudemic

After weeks of comparing reviews and conducting trials in my classroom, I can say unreservedly that Aurasma offers the best augmented reality (AR) experience for classrooms of any iOS or Android app. The Aurasma app is more versatile and classroom-friendly than any AR app; it enables teachers to bring curriculum to life, turning almost any environment into a classroom or object into a lesson.

http://www.edudemic.com/aurasma-for-your-classroom/

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Marshall University Professor’s texting research to be published

The Herald-Dispatch

Dr. Jeanne Widener, associate professor in the School of Nursing, said she chose to utilize text messaging in her medical-surgical nursing course because she believes the standard lecture is not keeping the attention of students in the classroom. “I’ve found that several students slept through all or part of the class, even though it was only 60 minutes of lecture beyond the announcements and discussion of assignments,” Widener said. “Informally, the students have stated they seem to feel the interaction (of texting) and immediate feedback does make them think more and several distant-site students have thanked me for using this approach because they can now participate in classroom activities.” Swartzwelder said she hopes her research generates awareness about the changing educational environment.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x1572731421/Professor-s-texting-research-to-be-published

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How will U of M change with the times? A chat with Pres. Eric Kaler

by: MAURA LERNER, Star Tribune

I think online will be an important part of what we do going forward. But I don’t see it, frankly, ever replacing the bricks-and-mortar institutions like the University of Minnesota. Online education is absolutely terrific for people who are placebound. It’s terrific for people who need to fill a specific gap. [But] the ability to learn from each other, to make new friends and to explore the intellectual world in front of them … that happens at bricks-and-mortar institutions. And I don’t think that transition is going to easily occur by somebody going down in the basement and taking online courses for four years. I think what will emerge, almost certainly, is that large classroom lectures will become less important, less common. Students will listen to the lecture online and then come to class and interact with students and faculty. With faculty being more of a coach and a mentor, a person who answers questions rather than just dispensing wisdom.

http://www.startribune.com/local/231306691.html

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500,000 person lumosity study examines optimizing cognitive training tasks to accelerate learning

by Science Codex

Lumosity, the online cognitive training and neuroscience research company, is presenting today at the annual 2013 Society for Neuroscience meeting showing that optimizing training tasks can accelerate and lengthen learning rates. The study, titled “Optimizing Cognitive Training Task Designs to Improve Learning Rates in a Large Online Population,” found that altering various psychophysical task parameters that make a task more challenging led to different learning rates of the tasks. Results showed that the altered training task group showed greater improvements in spatial recall and attention, and effects were dose-dependent. “These results are interesting because they show that small changes to a training task can lead to large differences in learning rates,” said Aaron Kaluszka, Ph.D. Candidate, Research Scientist at Lumosity, and lead author on the study. “Understanding the impact of these changes in training can inform our understanding of online game-based learning, and help us develop more targeted tasks that help people of all ages and skill levels learn faster and more efficiently.”

http://www.sciencecodex.com/500000_person_lumosity_study_examines_optimizing_cognitive_training_tasks_to_accelerate_learning-122707

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