States Urged to Step Up Protections for Students at Online Colleges

By John Sandman, the Street

Distance learning, where students attend class while sitting in front of a computer, is higher ed’s fastest growing segment according to a 2014 Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee report. Some observers also fear that they operate in uncharted—and unregulated—waters, where students are vulnerable to scams. That’s because distance learning or online schools are allowed to set up shop in states, where they have no physical presence. Through deals made with state legislators, they avoid regulations that must be observed by schools that do teaching in a classroom, according to a December 14 report last month from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). 34 states have used these agreements, called State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, or SARAs, that exempt schools from complying with state consumer protections aimed at preventing for-profit college fraud.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13426057/1/states-urged-to-step-up-protections-for-students-at-online-colleges.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14829

TEENS: Online courses prepare you for the future

by Alana Harms, The Times: Youth

Even at my small school in Flanagan, the teachers and staff make sure students have whatever class options they need, including several dual credit courses through a community college. For me, a new experience I had this year was taking an online class. The schedule was flexible enough that I could keep up with my other classes, but I was still learning and being prepared for college courses. I could even talk with my classmates about the theories I had learned and how they affect us in everyday life. In addition to my next semester of calculus, my composition class is switching to an online version and I look forward to it. I know it will be challenging and time-consuming, but it feels great that schools are providing students with classes that prepare them for the future.

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/youth/teens-online-courses-prepare-you-for-the-future/article_4cb7bb54-b560-588e-a679-c484173ae283.html

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14826

Negotiating the Many Definitions of Hybrid, Online Classes

By Bradley Fuster, US News

Be proactive in understanding why a school classifies a course as one or the other. As online education evolves, the ways classes are taught aren’t as straightforward as they might have previously been. In course listings, university registrars generally include a column labeled “instructional type.” Historically, this column has contained basic terms such as “traditional,” “hybrid” or “online.” While traditional instruction requires no further explanation, increasingly the lines between hybrid and online courses have become blurred. For example, at some institutions, if a class meets in person just once, it is listed as hybrid.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/2016/01/15/negotiating-the-many-definitions-of-hybrid-online-classes

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14823

2016 Salary & Job Satisfaction Survey

By David Nagel, Dian Schaffhauser; THE Journal

The numbers are in for our first annual K-12 IT salary survey. While budgeting frustrations hamper much of IT’s work, there’s also a sense that the work they’re undertaking is important. $63,776. That’s the average annual pay for an IT professional of any rank, type of school or district or years of experience in this salary survey. Whether that sounds low to you or high, keep reading. As we’ve learned from hundreds of K-12 IT people who have shared details of their jobs, there’s more to your work than a single number.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/01/13/2016-salary-job-satisfaction-survey.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14821

What does the future hold for K-12 ed tech?

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

Technology is increasingly integrated in the fabric of K-12 education, but not all deployments are created equally. One-to-one rollouts of tablets or Chromebooks, for example, have shown great promise when handled with care, but for every success, critics are quick to point out a Los Angeles-style iPad nightmare. And don’t even get the U.S. Department of Education’s Richard Culatta started on smartboards. In an industry still waiting to see what a rewrite of its largest set of federal regulations holds for the future, what the coming years hold for tech in the classroom is often even more murky. What’s working for schools and districts right now? What are their concerns in the coming years? Are faculty, let alone Internet connections, ready to handle the digital workload? That’s what Education Dive set out to learn this summer from our survey of over 150 district officials, principals, and teachers.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/what-does-the-future-hold-for-k-12-ed-tech/408804/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14818

What’s most pressing for K-12 tech leaders in 2016?

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

Two tech leaders weigh in on the issues, developments, and trends confronting administrators. As cliché as it may sound, it’s an exciting time for K-12 education. On top of a year that saw a record $1.85 billion invested in educational technology, Congress finally passed a rewrite of the much-maligned No Child Left Behind in the form of the Every Student Succeeds Act. With the latest iteration of the nation’s top educational law set to take effect in the fall and money likely to continue flowing into ed tech, there’s sure to be plenty in store for schools and districts in 2016. With educators and students getting back into the grind for the latter half of the 2015-16 school year, we reached out to two tech leaders for their thoughts on the biggest ed tech issues, developments, and trends administrators will have to face this year.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/whats-most-pressing-for-k-12-tech-leaders-in-2016/411633/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14816

Dremel Launches 3D Printer for Classroom Use

By Michael Hart, Campus Technology

Dremel has debuted a 3D printer designed specifically for use in the classroom. The Dremel 3D Idea Builder is now available to the education market, complete with teaching tools and customer support and training. Available for about $1,000, the 3D Idea Builder is a 20-pound device roughly the size of a small microwave oven. Inside it is an extruder that heats and places the plastic on a left/right and front/back axis. Its movements are controlled by a 3D design digital file that can be downloaded to the printer. Its reduced noise quality minimizes classroom distractions while printing. Intended to enhanced science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) subjects, the printer comes with 10 curriculum-based lesson plans and 3D model kits. Customer support is available via phone, Skype, online chat and e-mail.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/13/dremel-debuts-3d-printer-for-classroom-use.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14812