Western Governors University Releases Open-Source Code to Facilitate Universal Skills Language
https://www.wgu.edu/newsroom/press-release/2021/11/wgu-releases-open-source-code-to-facilitate-universal-skills.html
he Open Skills Network (OSN), a community of practice focused on skills-based education and hiring that represents more than 1,200 employers, educational providers, and technology companies,
By launching OSMT as an open-source project, WGU has enabled any educational institution, training program, or employer to freely deploy and use OSMT to translate curriculum, training and development programs, and job profiles into real world skills statements to inform educational program and curriculum design, as well as job role and task definitions.
learner-workers are empowered to use their skills as currency. OSMT has been integrated into Concentric Sky’s Badgr micro-credentialing platform, facilitating the creation of digital credentials that align to Open Skills, creating the building blocks for the shift to skills-based education and hiring.
Edtech Is Looking to Build Tools to Foster Student Engagement. Can That Scale?
https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2022-04-11-edtech-is-looking-to-build-tools-to-foster-student-engagement-can-that-scale
With student disengagement and mental health problems on the rise, edtech solutions are trying to help rebuild that student connection.
Organizations like Flatiron School and Stack Overflow make particularly good use of this strategy. Focused on helping software developers build out their skill sets, these businesses facilitate collective learning through group problem-solving and community feedback. “It’s also just [having] people to vent with,” said Kate Cassino, CEO of Flatiron School. “How are you making your way through?”
Handshake, an early career exploration platform for college students, uses student-to-student messaging to help users reach out to others like them on the platform.
Ruben Harris, chief executive officer of Career Karma, a career navigation and mentorship platform, highlighted just how powerful audio rooms can be as a tool to drive meaningful conversation and community. “I can just organize everybody together, and they’ll give you the sauce that you’d never be able to find,” he said. “Someone that comes from an underestimated background that already broke in [to the tech industry] can give you insight.”
Jenn Hofmann is a graduate fellow working on student engagement issues for Stanford University’s Digital Education team.
There’s a way to delete the frightening amount of data Google has on you
We’ll walk you through how to delete the information Google collects about you, from what you search to your location.
https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/theres-a-way-to-delete-the-frightening-amount-of-data-google-has-on-you/
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more on privacy in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy
Forgot the Wi-Fi Password? Here’s How to Find it For Any Network You’ve Connected To
As long as you’ve logged into the network before, your computer should still have the password saved.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/forgot-the-wi-fi-password-heres-how-to-find-it-for-any-network-youve-connected-to/
https://medium.com/@allisonjaiodell/why-i-left-academic-libraries-26e2a63c8bf2
Why I Left Libraries
Data Architecture: I was an active member of the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee, the ARLIS/NA Artists’ Books Thesaurus project, and an OCLC initiative on Web archiving metadata. I used to contribute to development of international schemas, controlled vocabularies, and content standards for free, as a service activity. Meanwhile, I could have earned $134,677 as a data architect.
Web Development: I developed applications and customized discovery layers to help library patrons find resources. I learned several markup and scripting languages in order to take on this extra work for the library, in the hot-hot pursuit of grant funding to list on my CV. I could have earned $88,285 as a front-end developer (the folks who use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build the parts of a website that you see), or $101,021 as a back-end developer (the folks who work with APIs, and transfer data to/from databases).
Data Engineering: Libraries are constantly integrating data from publishers, digitization projects, legacy catalogs, union catalogs, and more. I became a whizz at data wrangling and transformation. I developed countless data pipelines and ETL processes to combine disparate data streams. I should have been earning $112,935 as a data engineer.
User Experience Research: To inform cataloging guidelines, and to better design catalogs and finding aids to meet user needs, I spent a lot of time in libraries researching information-seeking behaviors. I became intimately familiar with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. I ran focus groups, conducted usability tests, and led card-sorting exercises in order to gather insights on how to improve our discovery interfaces and their navigation. As a user experience researcher outside of libraries, I could have earned $140,985.
Fundraising: As a special collections professional, I was routinely asked to give tours and host events, with the goal of building relationships with donors. I cultivated skills in storytelling, and learned to quickly craft narratives about my projects’ efficacy and impact. As an academic and a gig worker, I helped develop numerous grant applications, and served as a principal investigator on several large-sum projects. Overall, I honed techniques that are crucial to fundraising and philanthropy. In the nonprofit sector, I could have earned between $98,765 as a development manager and $102,546 as a director of development.
Project Management: In libraries, I never had less than five major projects going at once. I oversaw several large-scale database and website migrations, making sure that each of my team members’ contributions were completed in sequence and on time, while I myself served as a project contributor. In the tech sector, I could have been working as a project manager — someone whose sole job is to hold others accountable to the development timeline — and earned $87,086.
Courseware Designed to Close Equity Gaps
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/04/13/building-courseware-close-racial-gaps-gateway-classes
Coalitions of companies, colleges and research groups, funded by Gates, will develop digital courses especially aimed at improving learning outcomes for underrepresented students in gateway statistics and chemistry courses.
Faculty members often tell students to seek help via email, a mode of communication that typically demands a professional tone. “So you’re telling me that in this moment I’m struggling, I need to craft an all-important email,” Thanos said. “Why not help them with some email templates? One of the solutions we’re planning is a tool that would populate the draft of an email message for various things, like seeking help from a professor, to reduce my anxiety about reaching out.”
faculty training in “practices that demonstrate caring, an element often left out of faculty support
VR therapy could help reduce agoraphobic avoidance and distress in people with psychosis
https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/vr-therapy-could-help-reduce-agoraphobic-avoidance-and-distress-people-psychosis
Virtual reality therapy could be a key to helping patients with psychosis reduce agoraphobic avoidance and distress, according to a recent study published in the Lancet.
