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Start-Ups
Startup Spotlight: EDUonGo makes it easy for educators to create online academies (Geek Wire)
Technology has a way of breathing new life into institutions that can become bogged down by tradition. Education, for example, has experienced major upheavals thanks to new innovations. Learning is no longer restricted to the classroom and many educators are utilizing new online and mobile tools to modernize their curriculum. EDUonGo-logoThat�s where EDUonGo comes in. The Bellevue-based startup aims to be the default tool for educators who want to create an online teaching presence � think WordPress for eLearning. The cloud-based platform lets users launch an �online academy� and doesn�t require any software development or IT know-how.
Log on and learn: The tech geeks working to transform Africa's education (CNN)
Fresh faced and full of energy, five recent graduates sit around the conference room table. They all hail from a different African country, and they all have big dreams about revamping education in their continent for a digital era. These are the headquarters of Funda in Cape Town, an online training platform that's been partnering with universities in South Africa to provide short e-courses for users. Helped by a single private investor, the tech education portal is looking to harness a growing demand for online learning by allowing students to log into classes remotely.
Where are K-12 Edtech Venture Backed Startups Based? (edSurge)
Advantageous location of a startup is no substitute for a great product or entrepreneur, but it may increase the odds of success. In edtech, early success for a startup often hinges on access to talent, early-stage funding, high-quality accelerators, research partnerships and innovation-friendly school districts. According to year-to-date K-12 edtech venture funding data provided by EdSurge, the San Francisco Bay Area remains the most popular geography for both edtech entrepreneurs and investors alike.
DeVry Education Partners 1871 for EdTech Incubator - Analyst Blog (NASDAQ)
DeVry Education Group ( DV ) and 1871, a Chicago-based entrepreneurial hub for digital startups, recently launched the EdTech Incubator in order to help startups develop new educational technologies for teaching and learning in higher education. DeVry is the exclusive sponsor of the EdTech Incubator. Located in 1871's new 25,000-square-foot expansion space, EdTech Incubator will support startups interested in food technology, financial technology, real-estate technology, the Internet of Things, woman-owned and veteran-owned technology businesses. The startups, included in the EdTech Incubator, will create prototypes of new technologies according to various academic needs.
MOOCs
The MOOC Gender Gap (Slate.com)
To hear some ed tech enthusiasts tell it, online learning is sweeping aside the barriers that have in the past prevented access to education. But such pronouncements are premature. As it turns out, students often carry these barriers right along with them, from the real world into the virtual one. Female students, for example, are poorly represented in science, technology, engineering, and math courses offered online, just as they are scarce in STEM classes conducted in physical classrooms. Demographic analyses of the students enrolled in much-hyped �massive open online courses� show the depth of the gender gap. Circuits and Electronics, the first MOOC developed by the online consortium of universities known as edX, had a student body that was 12 percent female, according to a study published in 2013.
Coursera President Daphne Koller: 2014 Is The Year MOOCs Will Come Of Age (Tech Crunch)
This morning at Disrupt SF, Coursera�s president Daphne Koller pushed back against the notion that her company is a for-profit education company: In her view, Coursera is instead a for-profit technology company. TechCrunch�s Frederic Lardinois pressed Koller on the completion rates the average class on her platform sees � only 5 percent of people that enroll in a future class finish the course. Koller wasn�t perturbed. According to her numbers, of the people who actually want to finish the course, 70 percent do so, a number that she said was high for �an online activity.� The company does have the figures in mind, it seems, as it is moving towards more self-directed learning, and classes that have less rigid � and distant � start dates.
MOOC Provider Gets Into College Counseling (Chronicle)
The providers of massive open online courses mostly cater to adults who already went to college. Now one provider, edX, is setting its sights on high-school students who are trying to get in. The nonprofit organization just announced a raft of free, online courses for high-school students. Most of the new MOOCs cover material from Advanced Placement courses in traditional disciplines. But one course, called �The Road to Selective College Admissions,� will aim to counsel students on how to produce a successful college application.
In the Classroom
When Schools Can't Get Online (The Atlantic)
The community built a new barn, right next to their elementary school. They hung a sign over its red doorway, naming it Sunshine Farms. Inside, the children began conducting science lessons by collecting data on animals. The barn contained 11 hens, two lambs, and one laptop protected with plastic wrap. Until last year, the school in Maryland�s western Allegheny Mountains had Internet access through a molasses-slow dial-up connection; it crashed if too many students used it, and the slow speed made it frustrating for teachers. Now, for the first time, the school has reliable, high-speed Internet service.
Can Students �Go Deep� With Digital Reading? (Mind Shift)
Mark Pennington�s students often read on their laptops. Pennington, who�s a reading specialist in Elk Grove near Sacramento, Calif., sees a need to teach kids how to read digitally and stay engaged, and thinks that digital reading will eventually catch up to what kids can do reading print. When asked if his seventh-graders are more engaged when reading from digital readers or in print, he said it depends � motivation and environment play a big role. �Most of the digital reading that students �practice� is at home on Instagram, chat lines, Facebook and texting,� he said. �Since students are choosing to read and respond in these mediums, and since students have considerable prior knowledge and expertise in the subject matter, their engagement/comprehension is high.�
Apple
Apple Watch: Coming to a Classroom Near You? (Chronicle)
Wearable technology has entered the mainstream. The Apple Watch, announced on Tuesday, ushers in the possibility that, one day soon, campuses across the country will contend with students who are literally attached to their gadgets. �These wearable technologies will become like appendages,� said B.J. Fogg, a consulting professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab. �To remove those capabilities will be like tying one hand behind your back.� While the prospect of the new device may thrill technophiles, it may also make professors and administrators uneasy. After all, a classroom of students with miniature computers strapped to their wrists could seem like an instructor�s nightmare.
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New Study Reveals U.S. Students Believe Tablets Are Game Changers in Learning and Student Engagement
 Elementary, middle and high school students overwhelmingly believe that tablets will change the way they learn in the future (90 percent) and make learning more fun (89 percent), according to a new study conducted by Harris Poll and released September 8 by Pearson. The survey, conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Pearson, asked 2,252 students how they currently use mobile technology for learning, and how they would like to use it in the future. Survey respondents included 501 elementary school (4th-5th grade) students, 750 middle school (6th-8th grade) students, and 1001 high school (9th � 12th grade) students. The survey found that while mobile device use and ownership is growing among students of all ages, universal access to high speed Internet and 1:1 computing is still a challenge for schools around the country
Verizon Innovative App Challenge
 Student teams across the nation are now invited to create novel ideas for the mobile app marketplace in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge. The competition offers middle and high school students the opportunity to apply their STEM knowledge and submit an idea for a mobile technology application that can be used to solve a societal or community problem. Registration for this contest is now open, and eight teams will win �Best in Nation� honors, each earning a $20,000 cash grant for their school.
The Topplers Domino Award to Open Nationwide
 Do you believe that technology can make a positive difference in the world? So does Topplers. That�s why Topplers created the Domino Award in 2002, to encourage students to �think big� by seeing first-hand how computer scientists have significantly impacted modern society, and inspires the next generation of innovators to think about how their own work can make a positive impact on the world. For the first time, this competition is open to any undergraduate student studying computer science at a college or university in the United States. A 500-word essay, honoring the work of a computer scientist who has made a positive impact on the world, is all it takes to enter. Winners will be taken on an all-expenses paid trip to the South-by-Southwest Interactive Festival in March 2015.
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