Collection of items regarding E-Learning in Higher Ed

Any Questions or Comments, contact: Tom Dickinson (jtd@wsu.edu)

Washington State University

ARCHIVE OF EARLIER ITEMS CAN BE FOUND HERE:

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The primary interests of our group are:

· Applications of E-Learning to courses for enrolled, on-campus students. This includes use of material generated both on and off campus.

· Hybrid, Blended, and Flipped formats are of particular interest.

· Developing and improving all forms of E-Learning packages including Online Courses, Distance Learning, and MOOCs

In all cases, striving for quality of content and learning outcomes including critical reasoning and problem solving.

The items included should not be considered endorsed by Tom. Comments often indicate my opinions, positive and/or negative, about the material discussed.

7/7/15

1. Positive findings for MOOCs: survey-moocs-supplement-traditional-higher-ed

2. Maybe a problem – students switching schools (--“Cal Tech here I come!”): Despite-Hurdles-Students-Keep-Switching-Colleges

3. edX (UQx) MOOC (auditing free) on English Grammar and Style “…will help you to confidently respond to the unprecedented and accelerating demand for high levels of literacy” – (I know, you’re saying Tom should take it): english-grammar-style-uqx-write

4. I guess this is gossip -- UCSD sues USC ( “You stole my faculty member!” ): uc-san-diego-sues-u-southern-california

5. Moodle (Open Source) offers free cloud based LMS for classes 50 or less: moodle-launches-free-cloud-hosting-for-educators

7/6/15

1. Pings be damned – Banning “your own devices” (in my class-if it pings, you have to bring cookies for everybody): No-Phones-Please-This-is-a-communications-class

2. Student Critical Thinking Skills – (How’m I doing?) -- Business Perspective: graduates-higher-order-thinking

3. Kadenze -- Online Arts and Arts-Tech (a mix of courses; auditing is free): arts-education-online

4. Dropbox for Education (several people on campus already use it – for file sharing and collaboration): dropbox-hops-to-school-with-new-education-team

Not too insightful:

5. mLearning – [Do your Calculus on the Subway] – the trend is inevitable: mLearning-Myths

7/1/15

1. Penn State funds online experimental projects at ~$25K per project: penn-state-funds-projects-to-enhance-online-learning

2. Another teaching format - Cohort Model: teaching-and-learning/keep-calm-and-teach-best-practices-for-teaching-cohorts

“….Cohorts start and finish programs as collective groups and share instructors and experiences along the way. Productive learning environments and the temporary culture of a group encourage student productivity and enhance the overall academic experience.”

3. FIU College of Architecture and Design College hosts MakerLab: art-design-college-maker-lab

4. Industry Sponsored Report - Ed use of technology shows slow but steady growth: report-higher-ed-making-slow-steady-technological-progress

5. (For Code Nerds) Code Craze “Everyone should know how to write code” – a new browser based platform: codecon-coding-education

6/30/15

1. “Get a job!” Software to help students get jobs: Texas-State-Tech-College-SkillsEngine

(Chronicle –article locked - viewable on campus; to view off campus here is a workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet)

2. Use of Facebook – informal learning (What’s Facebook?): professor-says-facebook-can-help-informal-learning

3. Knewton Blog (Knewton is the big Adaptive Learning company) – alternatives to “Factory Model” of education (slightly biased): its-not-the-kids-its-the-system

4. MitX Online Course (free) on Implementation and Evaluation of Educational Technology; starts July 15^th; you can get a big brass badge for torturing yourself: implementation-evaluation-educational-mitx

5. U. Phoenix notches down big time: U-of-Phoenix-Looks-to-Shrink

6. Interesting Video Series on Personalized Learning from e-Literate. These are not dealing with computerized adaptive learning (my interest) but interaction/personalized models that improve instruction at three institutions. More and more personalized and adaptive learning are being differentiated.

(a) Middlebury – the videos are sort of a waste of time – with a price tag of $60K/year they provide small class sizes that fulfill any personalization you want. Also, we are not talking remedial work (if you need remedial work they send you to Harvard).

The next two are remedial (math):

(b) Essex County CC (New Jersey) and

(c) ASU

ASU comes closest to possible WSU applications but both of these are impressive.

Here is the whole video series: http://e-literate.tv/series/personalized-learning/

6/26/15

1. EducationDive interview with Sasi Pilly (offer has been made to him for the WSU CIO position) : uw-system-cio-sasi-pillay-talks-retention-transitioning-from-nasa

[Includes text + two videos (one while he was at NASA; the other Ad like at UWis).

Vocab alert: CRM = Customer Relationship Management (tips-for-selecting-a-campus-crm-tool)]

2. Commentary – Let industry train their own hires: Business-Can-Pay-to-Train-Its-Own-New-Hires

3. blended learning, competency-based education (from the “Disruptive” folks –Christensen Institute): change-education-to-attack-technology-driven-unemployment

4. Possible watering down of Engineers taking General Ed courses: faculty-members-criticize-proposed-changes-gen-ed-accreditation-standards-engineers

6/25/15

1. Fast Tracking Humanities PhD plus a postdoc-the good and the bad: uc-irvine-experiments-new-graduate-degree-and-postdoc-hybrid-program

2. Carnegie Mellon constructs a blended learning computer science course: carnegie-mellon-to-experiment-with-blended-learning-in-computer-science-course

(I hope the instructor has tenure)

3. Purdue – Learning Spaces: Purdue-designing-learning-spaces-for-both-online-and-on-campus-delivery

4. IBM – Higher Ed needs to teach Data Mining – IBM Whitepaper (Hardhat Required): ibm-smart-teaching

5. Flipping 101: A basic intro to flipping slide show—a small amount of commercial content (Mediasite) – Click here:

6. Bring Your Own Everything (BYOE) in Higher Ed– possible IT nightmare (does BYOE include Tin-Can Telephones?): tackling-byoe-in-higher-ed

6/22/15

1. Tossed out at Wooster: Todays-Fail-Safe-Students

[Article in Chronicle – can view on campus; locked out off campus. Work around: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet ]

2. Another version on Report linking Video and Flipping (Report contains some commercial interests); Oregon State’s use of video : video-driving-education-for-next-generation-of-learners

3. Gen Z – Employment? Business point of view: students-job-gen-Z-role-of-higher-ed

4. STEM retention: top-news/best-practices-stem

6/19/15

1. High Ed costs in U.S.? – why not go to school in Britain?: essay-possibility-american-undergraduates-enrolling-britain

2. Clayton Christensen (Mr. Disruption) Institute – several case studies of blended K-12 classrooms: http://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/proof-points/

3. Report on Online Student Opinions from Eduventures: report-clear-objectives-and-ease-of-use-key-to-successful-online-courses

4. Ohio Community College – gift to support humanities: ohios-largest-community-college-receives-unprecedented-gift-humanities-program

5. Anger Warning (UW related): university-washington-and-chinas-tsinghua-u-launch-institute-microsoft-millions

6. (posted related item earlier) - Lazy Rivers (“Green River”??) and Climbing Walls – Costly??: are-lazy-rivers-and-climbing-walls-driving-cost-college?

6/18/15

1. A very serious and thoughtful look at the meaning of “Learning How to Think” (in Chronicle – Off campus viewing locked - workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet)

“….But what does it mean to "know how to think"? Is there one right way to think? If so, what is it? Every educator wants students to learn how to think. But nobody really knows what that means. We have to do better. We have to specify in greater detail what "learning how to think" requires and then ask ourselves if colleges and universities are meeting this goal.”

2. Rapid Jump to Online Degrees – U. Arizona blinks (watching ASU clean up); also pressure from Regents: u-arizona-launch-online-degree-outlet-undergraduates

3. En pointe (I never could get the hang of it)– a woman who is an engineer, musician, and dancer briefly talks about the combination: synergism-engineering-music-dance

4. Video (vs. still shots) increase web viewing by potential applicants: video-spurs-deeper-interaction-with-college-websites

6/17/15

Hours spent ‘learning’- free online vs. other: students-in-free-courses-study-but-not-as-much-as-most-students-do

Student and Professor – who’s responsible for learning? One take -- the students: message-to-my-freshman

Critical response: what-is-teaching-without-learning

Western Governors University starts The Journal of Competency-Based Education: western-governors-u-to-launch-journal-of-competency-ed

Vociferous Teacher-Ed Critic Starts Competency Based Teacher-Ed Program – he recently purchased a helmet + body armor: After-Years-Lambasting-Teacher-Education

Virtual Art School (uses MOOCs): art-schools-go-mooc-new-online-platform-works-with-art-programs-at-18-colleges

Flipping (sort of rosy): flipping

6/15/15

1. BIG $$ for undergraduate science education from Howard Hughes: hhmi-announces-60-million-science-education-initiative

As far as I can tell this is not restricted to nor mentions Biomedical.

“….The goal of this initiative is to help institutions build their capacity to effectively engage all students in science throughout their undergraduate years, especially those who come to college via nontraditional pathways.”

2. Another Carl Wieman meta-study on “A Better Way to Evaluate Undergraduate Teaching” better-way-to-evaluate-undergrad-teaching

Here was the last one I recently posted on active learning by Carl Wieman (Nobel prize winner – we keep trying to get him to WSU for a visit)

Really big meta study of impact of “active learning methods” in STEM education (PNAS): Active Learning in STEM (works!)

His take home: “…This meta-analysis makes a powerful case that any college or university that is teaching its STEM courses by traditional lectures is providing an inferior education to its students. One hopes that it will inspire administrators to start paying attention to the teaching methods being used in their classrooms—monitoring them and establishing accountability for using active learning methods, something that is currently not done.”

Introduction to above: Intro to meta study_active learning

3. Some Bad Ideas in Higher Ed: 7-seriously-bad-ideas-rule-higher-education

Crisis?: “…What we do know is that every college and university is under strong pressure to improve, and that this competition will spur innovation and change. Rather than a crisis, the real story of higher education in the next 20 years will be non-incremental changes that result in improved student outcomes, better student learning, and (quite possibly) higher 6-year graduation rates. We should not confuse what is best for our institutions (a maintenance of the status quo), with what is best for the students that we serve (non-incremental changes).

4. New Endowed Chair at U. Cambridge – The Lego Professor (anyone over the age of 13 may not apply): u-cambridge-seeks-professor-lego

6/12/15

1. Intro to meta study (next item) by Carl Wieman (Nobel prize winner – we keep trying to get him to WSU for a visit) Intro to meta study on Active Learning: Intro to meta study_active learning

2. Really big meta study of impact of “active learning methods” in STEM education (PNAS): Active Learning in STEM (works!)

3. AAUP study of Student Evaluations – (validity? Yay-Boo): aaup-committee-survey-data-raise-questions-effectiveness-student-teaching

4. Posted a few weeks ago but very interesting – planned consortium involving Colgate University, Davidson College, Hamilton College and Wellesley College –

“…Together, the four colleges say they will share expertise and resources to produce high-quality online courses and content, including MOOCs, and explore how teaching online can benefit residential students.” four-liberal-arts-colleges-early-mooc-scene-form-online-education-consortium

ETC:

Lumina looks at Credentials – (e.g., finishing a MOOC) - the need for commonality: lumina-led-group-seeks-develop-common-framework-credentials

Google sponsored Webinar: Geoff Greene, IT Director of Services at Brown University shares Brown's current trends and activities around their successful rollout of Google Apps, and get an overview of the Google for Education solution for Higher Education institutions.

(I use Google Groups (as a class hub for assignments and discussion) and Google Forms (for simple self-grading quizzes)

UC-Berkeley Nearby Global Campus: university-of-california-berkeley-thinks-global-but-stays-local

6/11/15

1. Impact of giving credit for prior learning (…credit for passing driver’s test?) report-giving-credit-for-prior-learning-boosts-persistence

2. Blogs galore!: Why-Blogging-Is-Key-to-the-Future-of-Higher-Ed

3. U. Mich - $ 4M grant to train ed researchers: u-michigan-wins-grant-to-train-education-researchers

4. Obama’s post-secondary rating system opposed: alexander-opposed-to-gainful-employment-rule-federal-ratings-system

Summary of proposed rating system (look for “President Obama’s Higher Education Ratings Plan in a Nutshell”: Obam-Ratings-Plan

5. Discussing online impact on costs – a look at Latin America: online-learning-bending-the-cost-curve-in-higher-education?

6/9/15

1. Co-founder Coursera – Traditional model safe: daphne-koller-online-ed-wont-replace-the-traditional-model

Comment: I don’t think she means lectures in 400 seat classrooms – more likely a variety of on-campus learning formats.

2. Hey! -- Keep in touch! (e.g., fate of graduates/life-long learning): track-graduate-success

3. Online-Professional-Execs Concern – “where’s the beef?” EAB Survey: eab-tracking-outcomes-top-of-mind-in-online-professional-ed

4. College of Arts and Sciences Issues: colleges-arts-and-sciences-struggle-deficits-enrollment-declines

5. 'Netflix' Pluralsight - free courses to reservists, vets, and families: tech-learning-netflix-pluralsight-offering-free-courses-to-reservists

6. ASU interviews on some of their initiatives—this is part one out of three; 2 & 3 available at end of video: http://e-literate.tv/s3-e30/

7. You don’t want no badges? Badges for faculty: can-digital-badges-help-encourage-professors-to-take-teaching-workshops

8. Poll gives Higher Ed institutions poor grades (e.g., “truth in telling” – real costs and record of placement of graduates): national-poll-finds-overall-dissatisfaction-college-selection-process-while-parents

5/29/15

1. “Massive” MIT/Harvard MOOC study: harvard-u-massachusetts-institute-technology-release-updated-mooc-research

2. Online proctoring: bringing-integrity-to-online-credits

3. NYT essay—what to learn in college - pro-business arguments: what-to-learn-in-college-to-stay-one-step-ahead-of-computers

4. Support for Liberal Arts from Chancellor of UC Davis: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-katehi/liberal-arts-and-our-futu_b_7444758.html

5/28/15

5. Crystal ball look at higher ed future: 2040 Prognosis for Higher Education (Chronicle – Off campus viewing locked - workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet)

Perhaps a little too rosy.

6. Mt. Holyoke initiates an accredited hybrid instructed MA in Teacher Leadership (some design features described): mount-holyoke-college-kicks-off-hybrid-teacher-leader-development-program

“…..As schools perfect distance learning, access to educational opportunities increase. The master’s program at Mount Holyoke will give teachers an opportunity to build out leadership potential by capitalizing on the expertise of their predecessors, all without spending hours and hours on campus. The remote nature of the program likely will make it a viable option for more teachers.”

7. Video on Competency Based Learning: Video: Lessons From a Competency-Based Education Experiment

8. U. Florida Online Path to Campus – slow start (need to throw in the Rec Center): u-of-florida-gets-few-takers-for-online-path-to-campus

5/27/15

1. Ranku: a for-profit go-getter (in Seattle) for your online courses (example – Columbia): ed-tech-start-ranku-pitches-increased-online-enrollments-sans-marketing-dollars

2. “I’m losing my class!”: seasoned-educators-weigh-not-losing-control-class

3. College Unbound – helping adults finish their degree programs: rhode-island-approves-new-college-help-adults-finish-degrees

4. Anger Warning - The Rich get Richer: rich-universities-get-richer-are-poor-students-being-left-behind

5. Robots and DeepThought: UC-Berkeley-Develops-Deep-Learning-for-Robot

5/26/15

ASU’s President, Michael Crow, has been a very visible maker-shaker pushing many fronts in higher education.

He and William Dabars have a new book out entitled Designing the New American University. It’s aimed directly at schools like WSU.

Here is the very + publisher blurb: designing-new-american-university

Here is a + and a lot of – review and essay in LA Times by Christopher Newfield, Dept. of English, UCSB (mostly “…what they should have said…”) review/new-new-american-university

I think this book will have impact.

5/19/15

In case you missed it or were too busy procrastinating: Another posting of “Get to Work” - anti-procrastination software study: http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php

Ohio State Humanities $$ problems: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/05/18/arts-and-sciences-is-10m-in-red-but-why.html

Brits launch really big MOOC: biggest-ever-mooc-starts-on-futurelearn

edX + ASU initiatives for online credit courses: edx-ASU-online-credit

Crowd Sourcing a Stanford Law School Commencement Speech (State of the Union is next): in-a-silicon-valley-innovation-student-crowdsources-her-stanford-law-graduation-speech

Advice for Cluster Hiring: tips-for-bridging-disciplines-with-faculty-clusters

5/7/15

1. A.G. Rud sent this in (banning emails to prof) salem_college_professor_spring_serenity_duvall_banned_students_from_emailing

2. Summary of a Stanford President talk - "Technology in Teaching and Learning": stanford-prez-sees-distinct-role-for-online-ed-in-future

3. Robots will Rule (watch video – China is leading in a lot of this): robotica-cheaper-robots-fewer-workers

It’s already here and will continue to expand (see graph below – note Industrial jobs). BIG QUESTION – Role of Higher Ed?? The number of issues is huge (If I listed them I’d run out of room).

One of the Comments (off track but tempting) to above included this idea:

“When they (the robots) become more "human" like, in maybe a couple of years - we should order 435 of them from China and put them to work in Congress”.

4. U Ill offers iMBA at a bargain rate: uiuc-coursera-partner-to-offer-imba-a-20000-graduate-degree

5. So-So Blog piece BUT great video at end! -- “5 Minute University”: how-would-you-describe-college-in-5-words-the-question-is-burning-up-twitter

6. Teaching Science to Non–Science majors: Teaching-Science-So-It-Sticks

Off campus viewing locked – here is a workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet

5/4/15

1. Standing Desks for kids – stay on track better (I find my Lie-Down Desk works the best, although I fall asleep a lot): standing-desks-keep-kids-better-tuned-in

2. Sir Ken has a new book on encouraging creativity (pre-college): sir-ken-robinson-standardization-alienates-teachers-and-students

If you have never viewed his TED talks, be sure to do so -- go here and search for Ken Robinson: https://www.ted.com/talks

3. Instructor fails entire class (first it was humorous; after reading article – see some real problems): professor-fails-his-entire-class-and-his-university-intervenes

4. Ranking ROI (preparing students for big-buck jobs) – there goes the Peace Corps: new-ranking-system-links-colleges-and-students-characteristics-graduate-economic

5. University President learns from teaching a class: essay-about-importance-college-presidents-teaching-undergraduates

6. Chronicle’s Shark Tank grilling of 4 Ed-Tech + new products and/or ideas: 5-ed-tech-ideas-face-the-chronicles-version-of-shark-tank

7. UnCollege Founder (22 yrs old): high-school-dropout-wants-create-alternatives-traditional-education

4/28/15

1. Using the Apple Watch to Teach??? (Professor walks in to classroom and asks the first question: “What time is it?”: wearable-teaching-college-to-experiment-with-apple-watch-as-learning-tool

2. Engineering and Liberal Arts: Bringing-the-Liberal-Arts-to-Engineers

3. Robots and Liberal Arts?? (Actually - employment implications) Industry 4.0 - watch this video: German Industrial Initiative

4. Issues of Cheating at Stanford and elsewhere: http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/cheating-in-digital-age-Stanford

Extra:

Underground Tunnels (As an avid cross-country skier, I wish we needed them!): underground-tunnels-a-selling-point-for-northern-colleges

4/27/15

1. Last week I sent out an Inside Higher Ed piece on tools to minimize online distractions – Here is the Chronicle’s take – you must go to the comments and view the pictures!: tools-that-limit-distraction-may-raise-student-performance-in-online-classes

2. In case you missed it: research on flipped instruction: researchers-seeking-best-practices-for-flipping-classrooms

3. Wharton interview – online degrees: wharton-online-director-we-want-to-help-shape-the-future-of-learning

4/24/15

1. A blogger’s response to the ASU/edX Freshman Year Initiative: just-visiting/problem-asu-solving

Another issue raised – financial aid missing: The-Catch-in-Arizona-State-Freshman-Year

(In case you missed it: asu-edx-eye-gen-ed-with-for-credit-global-freshman-academy-moocs)

Lengthy article on the person behind all of this – Michael Crow, ASU President. The-Making-of-a-Higher-Ed-Agitator

2. Apprenticeships - more fun than taking classes?: apprenticeships-higher-education

3. Students want (better) ‘badges’ – easier to display: students-digital-credentials

4. Online Distractions - I was trying to get some work done but stopped to read this article:

study-shows-antidistraction-software-may-improve-online-student-performance

FYI:

Math Wars “….Our principal complaint with the calculus for life sciences is that it is a horrible and hideous instrument of torture to life sciences students…” -- What’s wrong with academic torture?? J just-how-much-math-and-what-kind-enough-life-sciences-majors

Inside HighEd Webinar on Accountability (sponsored by ETS)—Reason for including it here: Accountability in Higher Ed is increasing; I believe it is driving a lot of the changes at WSU that are coming down from “above”.

New Debates About Accountability

Inside Higher Ed has released "New Debates About Accountability," our latest print-on-demand compilation of articles.

As with other such booklets, the compilation curates news articles and opinion essays representing a range of views.

The booklet is free and a copy can be downloaded here.

WEBINAR -- We invite you to sign up here for a free webinar on Wednesday, April 29, at 2 p.m. Eastern, about the themes of the booklet.

4/23/15

1. There goes our freshman class! (ASU and edX -- Global Freshman Academy: all online first year): arizona-state-and-edx-will-offer-an-online-freshman-year-open-to-all

NYT’s take: arizona-state-university-to-offer-online-freshman-academy

2. Not to be outdone, U. Arizona’s Approach: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/16/u-arizona-girds-for-online-undergrads.aspx

3. $$ to Carnegie-Mellon to facilitate their work on technology-enhanced learning: carnegie-mellon-receives-1-million-grant-for-ed-tech-initiative

4. Discussion of Carnegie-Mellon hybrid MBA degree: tepper-online-hybrid-mba-equivalent-to-onsite

5. Online Classes – tools to limit distraction (I thought they meant High Voltage; my experience – it works): tools-that-limit-distraction-may-raise-student-performance-in-online-classes

6. Tips and Issues regarding Mini-MOOCs: 6-tips-for-creating-a-mini-mooc

4/20/15

Cal Community colleges - possible problems – online vs. face-to-face: study-finds-student-success-lags-online-california-community-college-students

UM Steve Yalisove (friend of mine) tweaking flipped classroom UM -Steve Yalisove

We’re off the hook for now (we’re too big to fail) – Gainful Employment Rule: gainful-employment-rule-to-take-effect-in-3-months

Social media and retention?: how-social-media-helps-students-adapt-to-college

The next two can be viewed on campus; otherwise locked. Work-around here: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet .

More on Maker Labs: The-Maker-Movement

Entrepreneurship: Now-Everyone-s-an-Entrep

4/15/15

Flipped Research: /where-flipped-learning-research-is-going

How about Extreme Active Learning?: engaging-students-with-active-learning

Online Instruction at ASU is Green: online-degrees-show-net-positive-campus-impact

U Mich Virtual University adds professional development courses: michigan-virtual-university-adds-professional-development-courses

4/14/15

1. Yale setback on accreditation of hybrid master’s in physician assistant program: accreditation-snag-delays-yale-us-hybrid-physician-assistant-program

2. This couldn’t really happen, could it??: north-carolina-higher-ed-bill-could-prove-disastrous-for-research

3. Evaluating our Teaching (“…gives out yummy doughnuts”): essay-meaning-teaching-excellence-higher-education

4. Class blogs vs. private journals: blogs-arent-better-than-journal-assignments-theyre-just-different

4/13/15

1. Another write-up on utilizing libraries for incubators: classrooms-library-as-pedagogical-incubator

cited in article: libraries-enablers-pedagogical-and-curricular-change

2. Academy Arts & Science Report on State of the Humanities (yays and boos): AA&S report-offers-mixed-picture-state-humanities-2015

4. Arizona State pushes gaming in online Environmental Science: asu-environmental-science-games

6. For Profits – what’s happening?: 3-trends-changing-the-face-of-for-profit-higher-ed

4/11/15

1. “Elite” (are we “Elite”?) Universities and Online Ed: How-Elite-Universities-Are-Using-Online

2. More on accreditation of non-institutional higher ed –my opinion – this could have significant impact: http://chronicle.com/article/Support-for-Overhauling/229237/

Off campus viewing locked – here is a workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet

3. Florida’s Performance Based Funding – Ouch! : some-gain-others-fall-floridas-performance-based-funding-system

5. LinkedIn.com acquires Lynda.com for $1.5 B (sounds like a big deal): linkedin-will-buy-online-learning-company-for-1-5-billion

LinkedIn is a professional online network to connect like-minded pros. Business use is probably dominant (i.e., no cat pictures). People willingly give LinkedIn data such as degrees, jobs, accomplishments – i.e., their resumes, which LI can mine. LinkedIn openly snoops for ‘useful’ data. One example is trying to get info on job trends to help people prepare for future jobs or just get them.

Lynda.com is a very commercially oriented, for-profit, high end organization designed for career training and providing up-the-ladder courses. Some predict that LinkedIn will combine all these interests – i.e., you go can into this door (online), make useful connections, come out and get a great job (they teach how to write your vita), and continue to learn what you need to climb the ladder.

4/9/15

Apple Director of Learning (William Rankin) speaking at the Campus Technology Forum; very stimulating:

"The brain wants an ecosystem," Rankin said. "Because that's what our brains were designed for. It's the kind of environment we were in for most of our history on this planet.... Our learning spaces are not designed for how our brains work." rankin-our-learning-spaces-are-not-designed-for-how-our-brains-work

Unrelated but: Essay on what we can learn from Apple: helping-students-make-better-decisions-can-improve-higher-ed-equality-essay

Suggest we put a watch on this! Alternative routes to accreditation-aid related: political-pressure-builds-new-accreditation-and-aid-pathway-upstart-providers

(Who needs a Campus?!)

4/7/15

1. Anna Deavere Smith discusses the importance of the humanities – Jefferson Lecture: anna-deavere-smith-delivers-jefferson-lecture

2. Starbucks/ASU expand their higher ed program for SB’s employees: starbucks-doubles-its-higher-education-program

3. Campus Technology April/May Issue (may have to register). Includes big section on Flipping: VIEW ISSUE HERE

Topics covered:

4/6/15

· Online test taking – you are being watched!: online-test-takers-feel-anti-cheating-softwares-uneasy-glare

· Opinion – Ed and Consumer Technologies: the-interplay-between-educational-and-consumer-technologies

· Comeback Kid – Ed Tech entrepreneur returns – his ideas are very intriguing: New-Startup-Interfaces-Institutions-and-Ed-Tech-Screening-Good-From-Bad

· A prisoner’s essay (NYT) on college courses: put-schools-back-in-prison

4/2/15

1. MOOC + Flipping: for-a-better-flip-try-moocs

2. MOOC enrollees: Teachers whos-taking-moocs-teachers

(I’m proud to say I’ve failed 5 of them)

3. Fairly complete look at MOOCs (includes above) by MIT and Harvard: http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/mit-harvard-study-moocs-0401

4. Stanford’s Look Ahead: future-campus-higher-education

[Don’t miss The Play at the end (better than the ol’ Statue of Liberty play)]

5. High School Graduations Rates Up; Bachelor Degree Rates Down: americas-high-school-graduation-rate-and-its-impact-on-higher-education

6. “The Internet of Things” (reaching students using the gizmos they own): connecting-the-classroom-with-the-internet-of-things

3/24/15

1. A Q&A with Kevin Carey about his book - The End of College: kevin-carey-talks-about-his-new-book-end-college

2. Writing – use of blogs for student writing assignments: blogs-and-essays-can-complement-not-replace-each-other-study-finds

3. OK, Some online, All online, None online: online-or-in-person-one-college-lets-students-switch-back-and-forth

4. Finland – who needs subjects?: finland-does-it-again-abolishing-content

5. U Arizona jumps in with 21 online undergrad programs: u-arizona-launches-online-campus-with-21-undergrad-programs

3/20/15

1. Graduating student opinions on Capella’s Competency Based degree programs: First graduating class lauds Capella's competency-based model

2. Shopping Mall, Texas Sized Remedial Math Lab: “…Kick your boots off before you come in….”: austin-community-colleges-promising-experiment-personalized-remedial-mathematics

3. Status of Tennessee’s Free Community College program: high-tenn-promise-participation-numbers-boost-fafsa-completion-rates-state

4. Berkeley efforts to help PhDs explore non-academic employment: Pushing for Culture Change, Ph.D.’s Explore Careers Beyond Academe

Off campus viewing locked - workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet

5. Recent NYT articles:

Skillshare – “Kind of educational YouTube”: anyone-can-be-a-teacher-in-this-online-school-NYT

Learning for Fun – Big Business: education/turning-to-education-for-fun-NYT

Related - Learning Art online: not-digital-art-but-art-learned-digitally-NYT

Related – Retirees use of online ed: free-online-courses-keep-retirees-in-the-know-NYT

3/18/15

1. New Republic Mag – “…We asked four former university presidents—of Clemson University, University of Florida, University of Wisconsin and Virginia Tech….” to address the role of Humanities in Higher Ed: what-purpose-do-humanities-serve

2. Using Cumulative Exams: teaching-professor-blog/using-cumulative-exams-help-students-revisit-review-retain-course-content

3. Interview with Kevin Carey (author of ) on Fresh Air (I just read the summary): prepare-for-the-end-of-college-heres-what-free-higher-ed-looks-like

4. Pep talk from edX’s Anant Agarwal: surprising-collaborations-charting-new-paths-it-professionals

Dump:

Who moved my domain?: new-college-domain-is-opportunity-for-some-colleges-worry-for-others

How to get Linkedin to annoy you even more: linkedin-tool-college

3/17/15

1. Mode of Delivery:

'No Significant Differences' in Student Outcomes by Mode of Delivery

Friday, March 13, 2015 - 3:00am

The nonprofit research organization Ithaka S+R is back with another look at the many studies that compare student outcomes from face-to-face and online or hybrid courses, and once again, the results show "no significant differences" between the two modes of delivery. Questions about the studies' methodology also remain. D. Derek Wu, an analyst at Ithaka, also noted that the "majority of studies still fall short in their efforts to fill in the gaps left by the prior literature -- particularly those related to the cost implications of online and hybrid delivery formats."

This year, Ithaka looked at 12 studies conducted in 2013 and 2014, but Wu found that many of them "are vulnerable to methodological limitations that endanger the robustness of their results." Wu suggested future research should focus on four areas: cost implications, individual features' impact on outcomes, online upper-level and humanities courses, and long-term results such as graduation and retention rates. Ithaka first began to track studies on student outcomes by delivery in 2012.

2. Feds inch towards supporting Open Educational Resources (OER): feds-hint-at-launch-of-oer-powered-online-skills-academy

OER explained (from article): “….OER, as it's called, consists of digital and printed curriculum and learning tools licensed in such a way that they can be used by anybody freely and in some cases modified by educators and experts. Courses in K-12 and higher education that use OER avoid the expense of buying textbooks and can offer materials that have been updated and customized by the instructors who wish to use them in classes.”

3. “MOOC Revolution just beginning” -- Interview with Coursera’s director of business and market development, Julia Stiglitz: courseras-stiglitz-mooc-revolution-is-just-beginning (Obvious shift to more emphasis on Life Long Learning and corporate training; recall that Sebastian Thrun leading Udacity's “pivot” toward corporate training)

4. More on MOOCs – Possible impact, so far: Cut-Through-the-Hype-and-look at-impact

Chronicle article -- Off campus viewing locked; workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet

3/12/15

1. Impact of “free or cheaper” community college on 4 year institutions (how we teach; univ. business models): the-days-of-giant-lecture-hall-courses-may-be-numbered

2. A year later – Note taking – by hand only!: The-Benefits-of-No-Tech-Note

(“….Interestingly, test scores in my visual-communication course have gone up since I gave laptops the boot a year ago.”)

3. NYT article -- Commercial Ed Software Security Risks (K-12 but relevant to us); can lead to baldness: learning-apps-outstrip-school-oversight-and-student-privacy-is-among-the-risks.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150312&nlid=1844996&tntemail0=y&_r=0

(“….chief technology officers responsible for safeguarding student data are tearing their hair out.”)

4. OK, this is a stretch – read this blurb and then think WSU -> High School Students; need not be 3.14 day: discovery-ed-hosting-virtual-field-trip-for-pi-day

Community College news:

A look at State of Georgia renaming proposal (2 year colleges): proposal-rename-technical-college-system-georgia-draws-opposition

Arizona cuts: arizona-unprecedented-defunding-community-colleges

3/11/15

· Fixed link from 3/10/15: Opinion column on Teaching and Research: dont-divide-teaching-and-research

· More on performance focused funding of higher ed: with-outcome-based-funding-on-the-rise-in-higher-ed-what-works

· Gates Foundation regroups higher ed goals: gates-foundation-announces-four-priority-policy-areas-college-completion-data-system

A lifted sentence (made my biceps ache): “…The goal is to 'create a national data infrastructure that enables consistent collection and reporting of key performance metrics for all students in all institutions that are essential for promoting the change needed to reform the higher education system to produce more career-relevant credentials,' the foundation said in its strategy paper."

· Keep your laser-focus with “Momentum”: stay-focused-with-the-momentum-extension

· Lose your laser-focus with smart phone usage: smartphone-use-linked-intelligence

· Virtual Reality (slightly fluffy): https://www.scad.edu/blog/virtual-reality

3/10/15

Boola-Boola! Yale adds a “blended” Master’s degree: yale-announces-blended-online-masters-degree

Off campus viewing locked - workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet

An upgrade on Career Competence: Career-competence-Students

Opinion column on Teaching and Research: dont-divide-teaching-and-research

McGraw-Hill survey (read: some self interest) on student use of mobiles in learning: report-new-mcgraw-hill-education-research-finds-more-than-80-percent-of-students-use-mobile-technology-to-study

3/9/15

1. Cost of a MOOC: calculate-costs-moocs

2. Important: Unbundling the University (Who needs organic chemistry…): College-la-Carte

(article is locked off campus – workaround: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet {Thanks to Lorena O’English} )

3. Some locked, some not – A huge look at higher ed shifts and trends chronicle-The-Trends-Report

4. TechHire Initiative announced: techhire-initiative

5. “Visit WSU virtually (with cardboard glasses)”: cardboard-goggles-help-potential-students-visit-campus

6. Another look at Versal – tool for developing online material: online-content-versal

7. Student cellphone usage and GPAs: smartphone-use-gpa

3.5.15

1. Dick Pratt sent this in – interesting online enrollment data: analysis-distance-education-enrollments-challenges-myths-about-medium

2. Some numbers on Tulsa Community Colleges Free Tuition Program: tulsa-community-colleges-free-tuition-program-has-paid-off-while-inspiring-others

3. A professor bans laptops/tablets in lecture – her findings (support my biased opinions): The-Benefits-of-No-Tech-Note-Taking

4. I try to avoid politics here but the Chronicle analyzes (mostly) Republican Governors $$ and Ed policy issues: Republican-Governors-Shared-Views; has link to large data base of State higher ed expenditures.

(article is locked off campus -- Lorena O’English sent me this workaround: The Libraries has a proxy bookmarklet – just install it in your browser, and when you are off campus and get a link to an article behind a paywall, just click the bookmarklet, log in with your Network ID. More info: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/help/proxy-bookmarklet ).

5. Interesting course development system (free version available) –Versal: versal-emerges-beta-design-gadgets

Link to Versal (I think you have to register – I’ve been playing with it-looking at the Wolfram generated gadgets): https://versal.com/

---------------------------

I found this blog post amusing: what-can-the-apple-watch-tells-us-future-ed-tech?

3/4/15

· I need to look at this more carefully BUT it is a study of a single class (Freshmen Biology) taught:

1. Flipped

2. Lecture with lots of active learning (this is where I am confused – what does the latter consist of?).

Conclusion – same learning outcomes: research-using-active-learning-more-important-than-flipping-the-classroom

Published article (“Flipped Classroom May Simply Be the Fruits of Active Learning”) available here: http://lifescied.org/content/14/1/ar5.full

· A solid small women’s college will shut down (Sweet Briar); causes concern: sweet-briar-college-will-shut-down

The Chronicle’s take: -Sweet-Briar-s-Closure

· Pressure for outcome-based-degrees and retention: with-outcome-based-funding-on-the-rise-in-higher-ed-what-works

· More on New York Times Education Plans: new-york-times-online-education-remains-branding-opportunity

3/3/15

1. U. Michigan “Instructional Greenhouse”; interesting ideas: michigan-invests-1.4-million-in-innovative-instructional-technologies

2. States pushing for higher/faster graduation rates, lots of other funding-tied metrics: research/education/performance-funding

3. Integrating Wiki into your courses: integrating-wikipedia-in-courses

4. NYU and Noodle Partnership – K-12 Tutoring: nyu-and-noodle-partner-on-tutoring-venture

We will continue to see these private sector ‘services’ appear at all levels - here’s one for higher ed from Brainfuse: higher-ed/helpnow

3/2/15

Do we need “badges”?J (locked but can be viewed on campus): BA degrees vs Badges

Competency-based education issues (there goes credit hours): competency-framework

“We gotta get organized!” – Working with Big Data (Analytics) on a campus: university-moves-past-the-myth-of-fits-all-analytics

Hard looks at higher ed reality; Reviews of:

How College Works by Daniel F. Chambliss and Christopher G. Takacs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. {for others}

How Universities Work John V. Lombardi. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. {for themselves}

Review: how college works_how universities work

A look at MOOCs: how-moocs-can-develop-good-and-bad-teaching-habits-essay

Same author (Marie Norman) Encouraging faculty to instruct online: how-universities-might-use-moocs-encourage-online-teaching-essay

2/26/15

1. Recommended -- Horizon Report “…(The) Horizon Project [is] an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in education. Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six important developments in educational technology are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years…”

Contains links to a summary and to the complete report: 2015-horizon-report/

2. 3D Printing on campus (relates to our Maker Lab discussions): 3d-printing-heats-up-on-campus

3. Switzerland looks good to me!; Digital Humanities Training Opportunities: digital-humanities-training-opportunities

4.

5. Opinions of academic leaders on three online issues: 3-things-academic-leaders-believe-about-online-education

6. Time-to-(Associates) Degree; CUNY steps on gas pedal: accelerated-associate-degree-track-cuny-pays-and-earns-fans

2/25/15

1. Pearson-UT Austin collaboration (online Math): pearson-ut-austin-join-forces-to-launch-online-math-resources

2. Robots for online students provide teleprescence in classroom (Hi! My name is Zorq!): michigan-state-tests-telepresence-robots-for-online-students

3. Andrew Mellon funding seeking innovation in academic online publishing: researchers-university-press-directors-emboldened-mellon-foundation-interest

4. Blog posting - opinions on inertia in higher ed instruction: world-view/will-professors-teach-differently-10-years

2/24/15

1. The Maker Movement is the offering of College/University programs dealing with hands-on design and construction of ‘stuff’ ranging from door handles to art. Cornell extends their efforts {Prototype Contest}: cornell-collaborates-on-contest-for-prototype-builders

I am sending out a quickly written Idea Paper about a possible Maker Lab for WSU meant to kick off some discussion. [This would not be the most important addition to our campus but should at least be considered.]

By the way, Engineering and Architecture have always stressed this idea and continues to expand on it. My guess is that the Arts community has and does likewise.

My interests are for students who normally are unexposed to hands-on experiences.

I asked a few people for comments which are included (no names).

Regarding going somewhere with this: so far, no takers.

Feel free to send in comments to post.

2. For the Hard Core Ed People: “"….A list of major ideas on college teaching that have been introduced by books on college-level teaching published since 1990. " http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1389

(IF this does not work and you are dying to read it, email me and I’ll send you hardcopy)

3. Repeat on a report on the Millennials -- their “lack of skills in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments”): report-american-millennials-fall-short-at-problem-solving-in-tech-rich-environments-other-skills

The problem? These are the products of our educational system.

2/23/15

GOOD NEWS: I was looking through some of last week’s mail and saw to my surprise that I just got accepted to grad school at Carnegie-Mellon! And I didn’t even apply! Where is C-M anyway?

Erica Austin sent this in regarding gender confidence issues in STEM: what-can-the-confidence-gap-tell-us-about-student-success

eCampus News article (more details): stem-engagement-gender

Report looks at what higher ed institutions are doing to survive (they call it research – nah!): emerging-research-universities

SUNY New Paltz 3D Printing Efforts (NY gave them $10M): sunys-3d-makerbot-innovation center

Copied From Inside Higher Ed (short take):

Poll: The British See Academic Careers as Desirable

British people see academic careers as desirable -- and as more desirable than careers that might strike many Americans as more attractive, according to a new poll from YouGov. The poll asked Britons whether they would like to do various jobs, and 51 percent said they would like to be an academic. That was the third most popular job (respondents could pick more than one), after author (60 percent) and librarian (54 percent). Among the jobs with lower rankings: doctor (39 percent), Olympic athlete (31 percent), member of Parliament (31 percent) and Hollywood movie star (31 percent).

Just for fun: “Take me to Krispy Crème!” NYT-technology/rivals-google-and-apple-fight-for-the-dashboard

2/19/15

1. New York Times jumps back into ed: the-new-york-times-to-offer-courses-as-part-of-new-education-effort

2. Bored? Here are the edX courses about to launch (audit free); you may need to order the list by clicking on “Starting Soon”: edX+Course+Announcements

3. Campus Tech White Paper (has ties to commercial interests {Panopto??} but has useful ideas) on technology and other issues in Flipping/Blending: utilizing tech tools to aid instruction

5. Mary Wack sent in this item: Syllabus [Syllabus is a peer-reviewed publication of course syllabi and other teaching materials]; Current issue is on courses and discussions on (or using) Gaming: http://www.syllabusjournal.org/index

2/18/15

1. True Touchy Feely-Stanford Hapkit: Stanfrd-hapkit-touch-online-learning

2. Adaptive Learning – Languages -- McCraw-Hill + Cerego K-12 efforts: mcgraw-hill-education-teams-with-cerego-to-power-adaptive-learning-experiences-to-help-k-12-students-learn-world-languages

(Cerego puts out LearnSmart and ALEKS)

3. Platform for Online Spanish: vista-higher-learning-launches-platform-for-online-spanish

4. Northern Arizona State – Student Opinions on their online courses (for credit in 3 degree programs): northern-arizona-u-students-satisfied-with-personalized-learning-program

2/17/15

Repeat of Tom’s earlier Disclaimer: I’m not promoting or criticizing the items I put up (well, not often!). Primarily I’m trying to make people aware of what is happening out there and encourage all of us to consider possible WSU initiatives.

1. Update on Washington Community Colleges Push for Competency Based Credentials: two-year-colleges-washington-state-expand-competency-based-project-business-degree

2. Update: Spokane Falls CC offering 4 year degree in Computer Science (other applied science degrees will likely follow): stem-bachelors-degree-coming-to-washington-state-community-college

Spokesman-Review article: spokane-falls-community-college-to-offer

3. U.S. Millennials require remedial learning: report-finds-us-millennial-generation-faring-poorly-educationally

4. Coursera’s managed capstone projects – university and company involvement:

Quote: “….That last detail should be of particular note to higher ed institutions. The playing field is rapidly changing and new forms of credentials are gaining steam — not just for students wishing to continue their education or pick up new skills, but for employers, as well. If traditional higher ed wants to maintain its appeal with some of those prospective continuing ed students, it will need to explore the idea of offering skill-specific learning opportunities that require less time and award credentials via a badge or certification….”

2/12/15

1. Smith and Holyoke program – Women in Data Science: new-program-to-support-women-in-data-science-field

2. Hot Ed Tech Trends: the-6-technologies-that-will-change-the-face-of-education

3. Grant given for Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP): 5-million-grant-expanding-vip

Lifted from article:

“…..The program follows a unique model for student involvement in research. Whereas it's common for students to work on semester- or year-long lab assignments as individuals, the VIP approach uses large teams — between 10 and 30 people — and runs across multiple years so that a student can be involved for at least two years and possibly longer. The kinds of research projects they're immersed in tend to be long-term and large-scale and continue for multiple years, even decades.

Among the other characteristics of successful VIP programs, they:

Combine education and research, which means that student involvement has the potential to expand the research portfolios of the faculty mentor as well as the student;
Are curricular, not co-curricular, allowing the student to gain both technical and professional skills while earning grades;
Often involve multi-disciplinary teams; and
Take dedicated classroom and meeting spaces. “

4. Lengthy (the Reports will give you LOTS MORE) description of Assessment of “What does the student/graduate know (~~and when did they know it~~)”: building-evidence-of-learning-structure-will-take-work-and-better-software

2/11/15

1. Gates funded survey/report on Adoption (or Not Adopting) innovative teaching methods: professors-know-about-high-tech-teaching-methods-but-few-use-them

2. In-house Online Course Development (USC) best-practices-for-moving-courses-online

3. Harvard Business School opens a cluster of online courses world-wide: harvard-business-school-expects-3000-online-students-this-summer

4. GWU – online degrees to boost enrollment: gwu-turns-to-online-degrees-for-enrollment-growth

5. MOOC providers tap Big Companies for designing specialized courses: meet-the-new-self-appointed-mooc-accreditors-google-and-instagram

6. Online game attracts students to science: online-game-woos-students-to-scientific-process

2/10/15

Go to College: pretty-soon-the-u-s-might-run-out-of-college-educated-workers

Code schools (mostly for profit) popular (should higher ed be concerned?): coding-schools-higher-ed-should-keep-an-eye-on

“Too Long, Didn’t Read” (plague of reading on the internet) Chronicle (Locked – can view on campus): The-Plague-of-tl-dr

[I personally found this article too long!]

Administrators: (Chronicle; Locked): Does Major Matter?: Does-the-College-Major-Really-Matter?

2/6/15

1. Dick Pratt sent in these direct links to the Babson Report on Online Ed. that I described earlier:

Report Title: Grade Level: Tracking Online Education in the United States

· PDF version: www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/gradelevel.pdf

Infographic: www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/gradelevelinfo.pdf

1. Replacing Foreign Language requirements with computer languages?: should-coding-replace-foreign-language-requirements

2. More on courses aloft (“…do you want ice with that?”) college-on-planes

2/5/16

1. How to use Social Media in Learning (Gasp! Poor Tom.): 7-Tips-for-Harnessing-the-Energy-of-Social-Media-in-Class

3. Babson 2014 survey on online ed (MOOCs waning; Online from non-profits up a small amount): babson-survey-online-learning

Summary (http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/survey-reports-2014/)

Chronicle Take: the-mooc-fades

Related: What-academic-leaders-believe-about-online-education: Chronicle: 3-things-academic-leaders-believe-about-online-education

4. Free webinar ((sponsored by Magnum – for profit) on getting started flipping (Robert Talbert, Math, at Grand Valley State U. (Michigan) is a Chronicle of Higher Ed blogger): strategies-for-getting-started-in-the-flipped-classroom

6. UCLA’s National Survey of Freshmen (desire for a good job up): College-Freshmen

2/4/15

· Investment in Coursmos: mobile micro-courses (“…for the attention-deficit generation”) aimed at corporate users: coursmos-seed-expansion

· Grinnell and U Iowa collaborative digital humanities project - (Andrew W. Mellon funded; to explore consequences of linking research universities and liberal arts colleges): grinnell-college-u-iowa-announce-mellon-funded-digital-humanities-partnership

· “Your history text awaits you”: amazon-makes-a-push-on-college-campuses; another take: amazon-campus-store

· OK-let’s get this over with! The topic of the Digital Skills Gap in Higher Education keeps coming up. I couldn’t figure out (confession: I didn’t try) what was meant – programming in C++?; reinstalling your operating system?; breaking into your iPhone??

So along comes a white paper (warning has a strong commercial conflict of interest - Gavos) that discusses what they see as what we and our students are missing.

There is no C++. (this link will get you to the white white paper on Digital gap).

2/3/15

· Investment in Coursmos: mobile micro-courses (“…for the attention-deficit generation”) aimed at corporate users: coursmos-seed-expansion

· “Your history text awaits you”: amazon-makes-a-push-on-college-campuses; another take: amazon-campus-store

So along comes a white paper (warning has a strong commercial conflict of interest - Gavos) that discusses what they see as what we and our students are missing.

There is no C++. I have copied their list to save you time (suggest speed reading). (this link will get you to the white white paper on Digital gap).

Is this it?:

Document Creation, Collaboration & Management

Learning how to create digital documents, share them with others, annotate them as

necessary, and then locate them at a later date are critically important skills. Being fluent in

creating and managing documents -- both for students and educators -- is at the core of

digital literacy.

Project Collaboration & Management

Learning in a college environment usually includes higher stakes project collaboration with

classmates and faculty members working together on projects, reports and research topics.

For students, as well as university educators, these skills often include time, course, and

schedule management with workflow best practices.

Focus and Attention Management

There is no shortage of distractions in today’s 24/7, ‘always on’ world. Attention spans have

shortened considerably over the past decade.24 Being able to filter out surrounding “noise”,

focus on a task at hand, and give a lesson, project or learning experience your full attention

has become more of an art than a science while prioritizing tasks has also become a critical

skill within the educational process.

Communication

Effective communication skills strike at the very core of the college campus experience.

Communications between professors and their colleagues, professors and students, students

and their classmates, and students and the outside world are vital. Increasingly, digital

communications -- including email, instant messaging, social media, and more -- have

become favored methods of communication. With such prominence, digital communication

skills can and must be mastered.

Digital Etiquette

Also known as “netiquette”, understanding the rules of the road for communicating in a

digital environment has become an imperative. This includes understanding the risks of

being on various social media platforms, watching for online stalkers, digital reputation

management and tackling the online rumor mill. Mistakes and poor judgment can have

negative, and sometimes lasting, implications for students, educators, administrators, as well

as university reputations.

Search & Research

With the sheer proliferation of online information, data, and databases comes the need to

effectively, efficiently and soundly tap into the information being sought, without falling into

online traps. Students and educators must have the critical skills necessary to access specific

information quickly and effectively and be able to determine whether an online item is fact,

fiction, or fantasy.

Platform Flexibility

The growing use of various digital devices has increased the need for students -- as well as

educators and other personnel -- to be able to competently navigate across a bevy of

platforms and operating systems. The ability to learn and utilize new technology as it goes

mainstream has become more important than ever.

Security & Privacy

Every day, news headlines report various breaches of individual and organizational privacy

and security. Consequently, it is crucial for students, educators, and institutions of higher

learning to know how to protect their personal information and their privacy. Security

breaches can expose many to undesirable consequences. Proper training in state-of-the-art

security measures is not only critical, but common sense.

1/31/15

· “Recruiting”: I wanted to see if there are others interested in joining our list. So I have just submitted to WSU Announcements an invitation to those interested to join us. (I assume it will get posted.) Since you are already on the list you can ignore it.

FYI: It says:

Invitation to join email list on Innovation in Higher Ed Instruction

If you are interested in the rapid changes that are occurring in Higher Ed Teaching and Learning, please join us. Our major focus is on educational issues impacting our on-campus students, however the various emerging forms of distance learning are also of interest. We are particularly interested in examining the use of technology in learning, both pros and cons, as well as current trends in online and blended learning.

If you would like to be added to the list, send an email to Tom Dickinson, jtd@wsu.edu.

If you have colleagues who might like to join us, perhaps you could contact them directly.

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· Love it or leave it – the Credit Hour (Carnegie Unit): report-highlights-higher-eds-need-for-credit-hour-alternative

· Another serious Digital Humanities Program: grinnell-college-u-iowa-announce-mellon-funded-digital-humanities-partnership

· Here come the drones: drone-stem-education

· Applying to College with a Video: video-admissions

1/29/15

1. Dick Pratt sent this in:

Compilation of Articles on Teaching With Technology

January 28, 2015

Inside Higher Ed is pleased to release today Teaching With Technology, our latest compilation of articles. As with other such print-on-demand booklets, the articles group together pieces that explore different strategies used by faculty members and institutions -- and efforts to track their success. The booklet is free and you may download a copy here. And you may sign up here for a free webinar on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. Eastern about the themes of the booklet.

2. Syracuse – Online Masters in Communication: syracuse-launches-online-masters-in-communication

3. Huge cuts to State funding of Wisconsin Higher Ed: wisconsin-to-cut-higher-ed-$300m-tries-to-give-something-in-return

4. Related: Wis. Governor suggests faculty should teach more classes: wisconsin-governor-faculty-should-teach-more-classes

5. For profit Walden University starts self-paced degree programs (called “Tempo Learning”); first one is a Competency Based M.S. in Early Childhood Development: Walden-U-Debuts-Online-Competency-Based-Masters-Program-in-Early-Childhood-Ed

1/28/15

· BlendKit20: MOOC “designed by faculty at University of Central Florida to explore the basis for blended learning and then guide participants with best practices and steps for constructing a successful blended experience” educause-reboots-popular-blended-learning-mooc-with-partners-instructure-university-of-central-florida

Free if you “don’t want no badges!”.

· A little strange. Funding for for-profits and non-profits from AT&T: att-seeks-ed-tech-ventures-for-new-funding-accelerator

· Serving Adult Online Learners: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/01/28/4-lessons-for-serving-adult-learners-online.aspx

1/27/15

Some thoughts on flipping: three-evolving-thoughts-about-flipped-learning

U Mich – Residential MOOC on Healthcare Policy: U Michigan Residential MOOC

$1M for generating Open eBooks of Great Books: humanities-open-book

Do Online courses reduce tuition costs?: maybe

1/22/15

This is a discussion we should be having on campus (wake up faculty!): what should higher ed be up to?

Lacking: role and support of liberal arts.

Facebook Anonymous?? Use vs. GPA (freshmen suffer): facebook-addiction-and-gpa

Apps and Learning – U. Wisconsin (video included shows some so-so examples but maybe it’s improving): university-wisconsin-developers-meld-classwork-and-apps

Hangin’ Ten -- I send this out primarily to show a top university’s willingness to take risks: uc-berkeley-proposes-global-educational-hub-its-own-backyard

1/21/15

1. I have made several grunts about adaptive learning – to me it’s one of the hottest trends out there – it potentially has universality but it’s easier to explain when applied to teaching in a STEM field.

ONE VERSION: A student is working on a problem at a computer; the computer is keeping track of the direction (or lack of direction) and progress the student is making. When errors are made or an obstacle arises that the student can’t get over, the computer takes the student to a site where targeted material is presented with perhaps targeted practice problems are worked on (here is where we get to ‘turtles all the way’); errors and obstacles in the tutored material can lead to another branch of tutoring à you get the picture. Nine hours later the student is brought back to the original task and it starts all over again.

As silly as I am making it sound, it has potential and there is a lot of effort currently trying to improve/launch various systems. The scale of this task is such that most efforts seem to be commercial. Knewton is one big name.

(I mentioned recently my experiences with a fairly simple adaptive learning system for (re)learning languages (in my case German): Duolingo)

OK – here is an announcement on a Network being formed tied to a company in Australia (Smart Sparrow); there’s a long way to go but it’s an interesting start: college-network-transforming-science-gains-momentum

2. Georgia Tech Commons – Space designed for ‘Anytime, Anywhere Learning: Setting-the-Stage-for-Anytime-Anywhere-Learning

3. I may have to replace my dumbphone: strategic-tech-list-for-2015-mobile-and-data-analytics-dominate

1/20/15

· “I can do anything….!” - student-employer gaps in opinions (on preparation) study-finds-big-gaps-between-student-and-employer-perceptions

· “Teach or Perish” Well written and provocative (locked (Chronicle) but assessible on campus) “The professoriate needs to refocus on students or face extinction” Teach-or-Perish

· Of possible interest - webinar on: Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education studentlearning-january-2015

(connected to a book with same name put out by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment)

· University of Texas at Austin wins funding for IBM Watson project: ibm-watson-group-awards-ut-austin-100k-bring-social-services-app-residents

1/16/15

1. This is very interesting – reasons for offering free online courses to alumni: Reasons-to-Offer-Free

2. Big Bucks for online tutor enterprise (Lynda.com): investors-put-186-million-into-lynda-com-an-online-tutorial-service

3. Creating courses, places, times to “Disconnect, Power Off and Unplug: The Lost Art of Solitude” saint-marys-college-calif-students-disconnect-power-and-unplug-interim-term-course

(Please finish reading this email first)

4. Conversation about Apple and higher ed (not flattering): signals-apples-coming-higher-ed-problems

1/15/15

1. Attention Span approaches microseconds; answer – microlearning: Microlearning white paper

This is a free but sponsored whitepaper (by Grovo – really into short presentations!) – nevertheless it has some interesting ideas.

NOTE: you have to register with Campus Technology if you want to log in.

2. As an example of what might be coming-a package (cluster) of MOOCs (IT related) with certification (“who needs a degree!”): http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/01/14/new-mooc-platform-provides-free-it-certification-courses.aspx. Currently these are free.

3. Report on State of Washington’s performance-funding model (Student Achievement Initiative) (article title - Funding Formula Fracas): questions-about-whether-washington-states-funding-formula-increases-student

[This initiative is aimed at our Community Colleges but basic aspects are more than likely showing up in Government – University Administration interactions; i.e., retention, lower time to graduation, etc].

1/14/15

· More from US News Top Online programs – Online Bachelor’s Degrees (Penn State tops): penn-state-leads-ranking-for-top-online-bachelors

More comments on Digital Humanities: millions-of-sources-the-disruption-of-history-and-the-humanities?

Growing commercial activity -

· Companies pulling in venture capital $$ - these-7-ed-tech-companies-were-among-2014s-biggest-funding-winners

One is Duolingo (language)-I’m relearning some German using it (so far it’s free) – it employs simple Adaptive Learning; when I make a ‘misteak’ it beats on me until I get it right.

Another interesting one we’ve been watching is Minerva – (here’s Wiki’s description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva_Schools_at_KGI)

· FlatWorld another one – Competency based learning related: flat-world-raises-5m-for-competency-based-programs

Off the wall comment: Edtech growth has to be watched and analyzed continuously. Higher Ed is already and will continue to be users of many of these products with potential benefit.

However, with time they could well replace various portions of the institutions.

Case by case we need to ask:

Is it an improvement and is it being introduced for good reasons?

Is it making irrelevant what some or most of us do?

1/12/15

1. Simon & Schuster online “courses” (e.g., “..how to lose friends and alienate everyone”….) NYT: simon-schuster-to-sell-online-courses-taught-by-popular-authors

2. Earlier we talked about the commercial sector ed-tech pursuits ($$$); a recent NYT article: silicon-valley-turns-its-eye-to-education

3. Gates Foundation funds analysis of degrees (with a broader point of view, are they worth anything): http://chronicle.com/article/Higher-Ed-Groups-Seek-a/151095/

4. Brief write up on encouraging critical thinking: using-fundamental-concepts-essential-questions-promote-critical-thinking

6. For the List Hungry:

Ed-tech: tech-trends-2015

US News ranking of online programs: online-program-rankings

1/9/15

1. College/University Outcome/Accountability Measures: Higher Ed Associations want to be involved: associations-weigh-how-gauge-post-college-outcomes

There are issues that could get buried and are difficult to measure.

These include increasing graduates

§ curiosity

§ desire and ability to keep learning (lifelong)

§ empathy

§ understanding and appreciating the many aspects of ethics and philosophy

§ ability in critical analysis

§ ability to engage in honest debate

§ appreciation of the humanities and nature

§ understanding and appreciation of the fundamental concepts of freedom and justice

§ knowledge of the past

There’s more; I am sure you could add to the list and/or state them more clearly.

1/8/15

1. UTEP (partnering with Pearson) going all online with several degree programs (VP interview): http://www.educationdive.com/news/utep-vp-institutions-should-think-strategically-about-online-programming/349370/

2. Badges for Competency: brandman-to-offer-online-badges-in-competency-based-programs

(I got a bunch of badges in Boy Scouts – can you tie (AND pronounce correctly) a Bowline?)

Stanford, Stanford– all you hear about is Stanford!

3. Online Writing Course: stanford-launches-online-writing-course-for-high-school-college-students

If you missed it:

4. Stanford’s Literature and Social Online Learning Class – “…brings together students from computer science and the humanities to collaborate on literature technology projects” stanford-launches-literature-and-social-online-learning-class

On the Side:

5. Those of you with children; of course they are all smart (for sure, all above average) – here’s how to raise them: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/?WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20150107

1/7/15

Chronicle Guide (very direct – gloves off! recommend it):

A Guide to the Flipped Classroom

Free; download it by clicking the link above

Stanford’s Literature and Social Online Learning Class – “…brings together students from computer science and the humanities to collaborate on literature technology projects” stanford-launches-literature-and-social-online-learning-class