Where Do Big Data and Higher Education Intersect?

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Today’s higher education landscape includes a substantial slot dedicated to online learning. With so much technology in our classrooms, and our technology sometimes functioning as our classroom, it should come as no surprise that there is a lot more data being collected pertaining to education these days. The handy infographic linked below takes a look at the world of online higher education and Big Data, including the benefits and drawbacks of online learning, some of the barriers, and how data can help drive improvement in education. Keep reading to learn more!

http://www.edudemic.com/big-data-education-2/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/AXU6ju30Dkg/

How Google Is Changing Your Memory

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Memorization sometimes gets a bad rap in the education world. Yes, education IS way more than just memorizing facts, dates, formulas, spellings, and pronunciations. But you do have to get information into the brain somehow, right? Technology has brought more information to our fingertips, but does it also make us forget things more easily? The handy infographic linked below takes a look at how Google and its tools have changed how we find and retain information. Pretty interesting stuff – and if you can’t remember it later to tell your colleagues about what you read, you can always refer back to this page!

http://www.edudemic.com/google-memory/

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/WSus9cYfFQ8/

Open SUNY Unites Online Ed Offerings Across 64 Institutions

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

The State University of New York (SUNY) has formally introduced a new online program that allows students to access courses, degrees, professors and academic resources from any of SUNY’s 64 campuses. Open SUNY, as it’s called, is a mix-and-match service that offers access to 400 “online-enabled” degrees, 12,000 course sections and eight full degrees. The system’s expectation is that people from inside and outside the state will attend courses, including international students. Students can use the program to start a degree, finish a degree or just take a single course

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/01/21/open-suny-unites-online-ed-offerings-across-64-institutions.aspx?admgarea=news

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Yale Concedes Error in Banning Student Course-Evaluation Website

By Oliver Staley, Bloomberg

Yale University said it was wrong to block an online course guide built by students that competed with the college’s own website. Mary Miller, dean of students, said the university objected to the way student feedback about the courses was presented as a numerical score without the context of their comments. That violated the school’s policy about modifying data without permission and encouraged students to select courses with incomplete information, Miller said in a Jan. 20 letter to students and staff. “Although the University acted in keeping with its policies and principles, I see now that it erred in trying to compel students to have as a reference the superior set of data that the complete course evaluations provide,” Miller said. “Students can and will decide for themselves how much effort to invest in selecting their courses.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-22/yale-concedes-error-in-banning-student-course-evaluation-website.html

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Concerns over Student Data Privacy Widespread Among Americans

By David Nagel, THE Journal

A new national poll shows that the vast majority of Americans have concerns about student data privacy and the potential use of such data for commercial purposes. In a survey of 800 adults conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group for nonprofit Common Sense Media, 89 percent of respondents indicated the are “very or somewhat concerned about advertisers using kids’ personal data to market to them.” “What we are hearing from American families is that students’ personal and private information must not be used for advertising, period,” said Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. “Privacy in general is a major concern for Americans, and what we are clearly seeing from this poll is that schools should be completely off limits when it comes to collecting the personal information of students for marketing purposes.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/01/22/concerns-over-student-data-privacy-widespread-among-americans.aspx

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Coursera announces ten certificates

by George Anders, Forbes

Coursera has been pushing to offer a more formalized, paid version of its MOOC experience. The site now invites students to take Signature-track classes, in which final exams are digitally proctored and students pay $100 or so for a completion certificate. Currently more than 200 of Coursera’s total 584 classes are offered in Signature format. Topics range from calculus to Roman architecture. Coursera has set up the Specialization label to cover a series of interlocking courses that are meant to provide students with full mastery of a subject. See the graphic linked below shared by George Anders.

http://b-i.forbesimg.com/georgeanders/files/2014/01/Coursera.Specializations.jpg

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/_5qhD8SJupc/

More Competition for Online Certificate Students

by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

An online course provider will this spring introduce bundles of courses created by top-tier universities that can be completed for certificates. That description fits both Academic Partnerships and Coursera, and both programs are called “Specializations.” The similarities are more than mere coincidence, as​ the two companies have since last summer discussed a partnership proposed by Academic Partnerships for its platform to use Coursera’s university course offerings. Yet Coursera’s Specializations, announced Tuesday morning, took Academic Partnerships CEO Randy Best by surprise. When the parties spoke recently, Best said Coursera “expressed that they were going to defer for now the idea of Specializations.”

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/22/after-failed-talks-academic-partnerships-and-coursera-both-introduce-online-course

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