Where will STEM education be in 5 years?

BY JOACHIM HORN, eSchool News

Worryingly, only 16 percent of students graduating high school are proficient in STEM and also interested in a STEM career. The natural response to such a low percentage would be to prioritize improving STEM education efforts in the classroom. However, this is unfortunately easier said than done. The economic climate in the US has seen both budget cuts and increasingly diverse opinions among educators and administrators about where to spend the money made available to them. We must work to find ways of blending STEM education into all elements of the classroom, inspiring student interest at a young age.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/10/24/will-stem-education-5-years/

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33071

Chromebooks are at the head of the class in Canada’s K-12 schools

by Bram Bout, Google for Education
Around the world, education has undergone a technological revolution. Cloud-connected devices and learning applications are shaping new ways of teaching and learning. Across Canada, school districts are using Chromebooks and G Suite for Education to expand learning opportunities for students from diverse communities and backgrounds. And now, Futuresource has reported that Chromebooks are the number-one-selling educational device for Canadian K12 schools. With this news, Canada joins the U.S., Sweden, and New Zealand, where Chromebooks are also the top devices used in classrooms.

https://www.blog.google/topics/education/chromebooks-are-head-class-canadas-k-12-schools/

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33061

Report: 2 in 5 Kids 8 and Under Have Their Own Tablets

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal
Nearly half — 42 percent — of children eight years old or younger have their own tablet, according to a new report from Common Sense. That number is up from just 1 percent in 2011. Dubbed the Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight, the report is based on a survey of 1,454 parents and is the third in a series, the first two installments of which were published in 2011 and 2013.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/10/23/report-2-in-5-kids-8-and-under-have-their-own-tablets.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=33051

3D Scanners and Printers, Virtual Reality Gear Top Faculty Wish Lists

By Dian Schaffhauser, Rhea Kelly; Campus Technology

According to Campus Technology’s 2016 Teaching with Technology survey, the top hardware on instructors’ wish lists: user-engaging 3D and virtual reality gear, big displays and tech-enabled student furnishings. The survey polled faculty members across the country about their use of technology for teaching and learning, their wish lists and gripes, their view of what the future holds and more. On the software front, animation software leads the faculty wish list, referenced by 17 percent of respondents; followed by adaptive learning (13 percent); games and e-portfolios (each with 12 percent); 3D modeling (11 percent); and collaboration/whiteboard software (10 percent). Everything else received single-digit mention.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/19/3d-scanners-and-printers-virtual-reality-gear-top-faculty-wish-lists.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19749

3D Printer Shipments to Double This Year

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

Global sales of 3D printers will more than double from last year to this one, growing 108 percent from 219,168 shipments to 455,772, according to a new report from Gartner. 3D printing is experiencing widespread acceptance beyond specialist industries and is being used for prototyping, to augment manufacturing and to produce finished products. “Industries in a broad range employ 3D printing to a modest extent,” according to Gartner, and the company predicts wider and more diverse use as new providers and processes emerge. The 3D printing market comprises seven technologies, with material extrusion predicted to lead the market through the end of the forecast period in 2020. Stereolithography printers will also grow at a fast pace according to Gartner. Education will account a significant portion of that growth, at least for lower-cost units.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/19/3d-printer-shipments-to-double-in-2016.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19741

Texas A&M Prof Develops AI for Adaptive Online Learning

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

A professor at Texas A&M University is developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology for creating adaptive online courses. Noboru Matsuda, an associate professor of cyber STEM education in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture at Texas A&M is currently the principal investigator on three related research projects funded by National Science Foundation grants. In September 2016, Matsuda received his latest grant for a project that aims to develop a browser-based development environment to let teachers author their own adaptive online courses without specialized training. The technology will also enable researchers to gather data about how students learn from adaptive online courses.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/11/texas-am-prof-develops-ai-for-adaptive-online-learning.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=19729

Report: Research & Education Networks Make Sense for K-12 as Bandwidth Demands Increase

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Tremendous pressure for broadband access is being placed on schools, stemming in part from educational needs, in part from the demands of online testing and in part from the motivation to provide equitable access for all students. To alleviate that pressure, advised a group of education technology experts, it’s high time those schools considered tapping into the massive capacity and high speeds of research and education (R&E) networks. That’s the overall suggestion of a research project jointly produced by the New Media Consortium (NMC), a global community of institutions of higher education and research centers, and Internet2, a similar organization that runs one such network for academic and research institutions in the United States.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/10/23/report-research-education-networks-make-sense-for-k12-as-bandwidth-demands-increase.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14163

Penn State Technology Allows Faculty and Students to Build Their Own Textbooks from OER

By David Nagel, Campus Technology

Penn State researchers have been piloting a technology that allows faculty (and students) to build e-textbooks algorithmically using keywords to gather together materials from open resources. The tool, called BBookX, lets users generate textbooks chapter by chapter, adding materials by using keywords to find relevant resources, which can then be culled and organized, even edited by the user. Keywords are used to find an initial set of resources; adding the most relevant resources to a chapter then allows the algorithm to refine results for additional materials. Users can rearrange the materials within a chapter or reorganize entire chapters on the fly through a click-and-drag interface.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/22/penn-state-technology-allows-faculty-and-students-to-build-their-own-textbooks-from-oer.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14160

8 CIO Tips for Leading Change in Higher Education

By David Raths, Campus Technology

In a recent Educause Review essay, Joshua Kim noted that campus CIOs must have one foot in daily technology operations, one foot in strategic decision-making and one foot in the larger discussion of how higher education is evolving. “You will notice the CIO needs three feet — an indication of why the role seems so impossible,” wrote Kim, director of digital learning initiatives for the Dartmouth (NH) Center for the Advancement of Learning. Indeed, being a three-footed CIO increasingly requires more communication skills than technical knowledge. In an April 2015 CT interview, Mark Askren, CIO of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said having a technology background helps in the CIO role — but communication skills are the most important to have. “Beyond just speaking skills, you need emotional intelligence, the ability to listen, be authentic and earn trust,” he said. “We are change agents. You have to embrace change and reduce the fear level.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/22/8-cio-tips-for-leading-change-in-higher-education.aspx

Share on Facebook

from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14157

Digital Citizenship: Developing a Culture of Trust and Transparency

by Andrew Marcinek, Edutopia

An acceptable use policy is a document that is present in every school district around the country. The purpose of this policy is to provide safe parameters for exploring digital resources and using school-issued devices properly. It also ensures that schools do their very best to block out the darkest corners of the web. And while these policies are effective and required, they have not evolved in their semantics. Within the development of these school-wide policies, several shifts need to happen. My observation about the need for a semantic shift, probably one of the biggest shifts requited, reflects how acceptable use policies are interpreted by students. Essentially, these policies read more like a legal document rather than a document that students can understand and carry out. Additionally, we need to shift the focus from “you shouldn’t do that” to a sense of empowerment around technology. In short, schools should place a positive connotation around technology use.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-culture-trust-transparency-andrew-marcinek

Share on Facebook



from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/dyYNIcS6q-M/

EdX To Offer Free Advanced Placement Courses For High Schoolers

by Lisa Winter, IFL Science

EdX is a non-profit website that offers over 300 massive online open courses (MOOCs), providing access to a world-class education to anyone with an internet connection at little or no cost. Initially started as a joint venture between MIT and Harvard, edX has expanded to include partnerships with top universities around the globe including Caltech, Dartmouth, Columbia, University of Queensland, and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. EdX is now embarking on courses for teenagers by offering high school-level options, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/edx-offer-free-advanced-placement-courses-high-schoolers

Share on Facebook



from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/iJLp7VVIomk/

Build Student E-Portfolios Using Evernote

By Edudemic

Although Evernote already is a fairly well-known app, very few educators realize its potential building and sharing student portfolios. Having a well-organized e-portfolio is important: It can follow students from one grade to the next and prepare them to record their future accomplishments. There are plenty of ways to create an e-portfolio, and we feel Evernote is the best. Not only is it a feature-rich platform, but its free price tag also makes it a cost-effective solution for even the most frugal classrooms.

http://www.edudemic.com/the-best-way-to-build-student-e-portfolios/

Share on Facebook



from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/tUPV8KgTniM/