|
Industry
Research Shows Technology Has the Potential to Reshape Adult Education (Marketwatch)
Thirty-six million American adults lack the basic skills required for meaningful employment in today's workforce, and only a fraction are served by existing educational programs. New research finds a huge opportunity waiting to be tapped by providing technology that could dramatically improve and expand education opportunities for underprepared adults, and in the process meet critical U.S. workforce needs. Despite billions of dollars invested in edtech over the past decade, the impact on adult education has been limited at best. An extensive national survey of stakeholders from across the adult education ecosystem finds significant enthusiasm and desire for instructional technologies among those serving the nation's underprepared adult learners.
Not classy enough (The Economist)
WHEN MASSIVE OPEN online courses (MOOCs) took off three years ago, there was much concern that they would destroy traditional universities. That isnt happening. Were doing a better job of improving job skills than of transforming the university sector, says Rick Levin, a former president of Yale, who runs Coursera, the biggest of the MOOCs. At the margins, technology is making education cheaper, more convenient and more effective. University of the People, a non-profit American-accredited online university, offers degrees to students all over the world at a total cost of $4,000; if they are poor, they can get scholarships. It started teaching in 2009, was accredited last year, has produced 65 graduates so far and now has 1,500 students. The faculty is made up of academics who volunteer their services.
In The Classroom
Four Student Data Privacy Issues Adults Should Be Aware Of (Mind Shift)
Several efforts in Washington are converging on the sensitive question of how best to safeguard the information software programs are gathering on students. A proposed Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act of 2015 is circulating in draft form. It has bipartisan sponsorship from Democratic Rep. Jared S. Polis of Colorado and Republican Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana. Drafted with White House input, the bill joins a previous Senate proposal, plus much action on the state level, from regulators, and from industry and other sector leaders.
Schools Push Wi-Fi Accessibility to the Four Corners of Campus (EdTech Magazine)
For the Lamar County School District, connected classrooms arent enough. Ross Randall, director of technology for the southern Mississippi district wants connected courtyards, connected football fields and even connected parking lots. If somebody is on my campus I dont care where they are I want them to be able to have Internet access, he says. Lamar County upgraded its Wi-Fi network last spring, ripping out decade-old 802.11g access points and replacing them with 802.11ac equipment. The older network was originally built for convenience, not for capacity, Randall says, and the upgrade was necessary to accommodate initiatives such as the districts bring-your-own-device program.
Integration
Schools Enjoy Flexibility with SaaS (EdTech Magazine)
Not so long ago, school districts viewed Software as a Service as a great way to offload email from their servers or to run small pilots. But no more. Today, district technology chiefs increasingly see SaaS as a way to deliver services and apps via the cloud directly to the classroom and the front office. Killough Middle School, for example, has begun using Adobe Creative Cloud to get apps into the hands of students and teachers, says Dan Blevins, instructional technology specialist for Killough, which is part of Houstons Alief Independent School District. The suite of apps and services makes it easy for him to provide individualized tools to teachers, Blevins says.
The Barriers to Technology in Education (HuffPo)
Despite the apparent proliferation of technology in the education sector, education experts often bemoan the languidness of technology insertion especially into conventional K12 classrooms. Such complaints arise from comparing education to the industrial sector. In industry, the goals and effects of technology can be measured by quantifiable metrics such as productivity and net profit. In education, there are no such metrics. Is the goal of education reaching more children and teaching more existing material, or fostering creativity and independence among them? Any teacher would answer that it must be a mix of the two, but is there a golden ratio? Given the fuzziness of this ratio, how much technology insurgence will support this ratio, and how?
Startups
Did Socratic.org Raise $6 Million? (Tech Crunch)
What is integrity? How do you find a missing gas valve in a system? How do you find instantaneous rate of change? Dont ask me, ask Socratic. The e-learning company just raised a $6 million Series A from Shasta Ventures, Spark Capital, and the Omidyar Network and they are asking What is the meaning of all this money? Founded two years ago by tech veterans Chris Pedregal and Shreyans Bhansali, the company allows students to ask questions. These questions are fairly detailed and there is obvious a bit of homework help going on here but generally the goal is to connect students, teachers, and mentors together in one happy Socratic dialectic. Questions like What is DNA? are answered by helpful experts who supply a one sentence answer and then expound on it over the course of the post.
Code RED reaches distribution agreement with Ed Tech Partners (St. Louis Business Journal)
Code RED Education, the St. Louis-based education technology startup, has partnered with Education Technology Partners to distribute its products and services worldwide. The partnership will let Code RED distribute its curriculum to nearly 1,000 schools and school districts through Education Technology Partners network. Code RED produces a rigorous computer science and entrepreneurial curriculum for Kindergarten through 12th grade students at 115 schools or school districts including St. Louis Public Schools, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, a St. Louis magnet high school, and St. Roch School, a private Catholic school in the citys Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood.
Government
Cities Take Lead On App Development (Tech Crunch)
What kinds of apps do cities need? This is a key question that cities have been asking and answering in a range of ways in recent years. Before we even can truly answer that question, though, its key to understand the important role of cities in everyday life. We wake up in our home in a city, walk in a city, bike in a city, commute to work or school in a city, frequent local businesses for lunch in a city, and go out in the evenings in a city. All along the way local governments have a key role to play in how people experience cities. Public-sector leaders, much like their private-sector counterparts, want to develop the best user experience. City leaders nationwide want to create great places in which residents can live, work and play technology can elevate and expand these cities, with apps being a premier vehicle in which to do this.
|
 |
Stay Connected      
 STEMconnectorTM
STEMconnector®
Help make EdTech Weekly Report better by taking this short survey!
 In order to assess that EdTech Weekly Report is meeting your needs in providing you with the most up-to-date news in education technology, please take a minute to complete our short subscriber survey. EdTech Weekly Report comes out every Tuesday morning, and is an email newsletter curating the latest news on MOOCs, EdTech startups, classroom tech, testing, and more!
This for That App Series Utilizes Technology to Revolutionize Behavioral Therapy for Children with Autism
 PixelAtion Labs has released This for That, a series of behavioral therapy tools developed to assist children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In honor of Autism Awareness Month, through April, This for That apps will be free to download on the App Store and only $.10 on Google Play. Designed by experts in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA), This for That apps simplify elements of behavioral therapy for children with ASD. Behavioral therapy requires considerable preparation and organization of materials before treatment can even begin. This for That apps virtualize commonly used tools that behavioral therapists spend hours constructing by hand. While these apps were designed for use in therapy, they can easily be incorporated into a childs home and school routines to support task completion skills.
Schoology Selected By State of Delaware to Power Blended Learning Initiative
 The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) has selected Schoologys Learning Management System (LMS) to power online and blended learning across the entire state. The contract was awarded following a competitive review. Schoology will help drive innovation in teaching and blended learning for an estimated 40,000 students in the 2015-2016 school year with more districts signing on in subsequent years. Delawares goal for deploying an LMS to schools is to shift education from being teacher-driven to student-centered, making active, engaged learners with access to the best, most effective education technology. Schoology will also power professional development, empowering teachers with skills to successfully implement online and blended learning.
|
