Author Archive

K12 Immersive Technology

K–12 Teachers Use Augmented and Virtual Reality Platforms to Teach Biology

Immersive technology allows students to explore the world firsthand on a molecular level.

Eli Zimmerman

https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2019/03/k-12-teachers-use-augmented-and-virtual-reality-platforms-teach-biology-perfcon

t universities and medical schools, students are already using AR and VR

Originally, AR and VR lesson plans revolved around the virtual field trip.with the HTC Vive, for example, can take a detailed, 3D-rendered journey. 

In May 2018, Google announced a partnership with Labster, a virtual lab simulator, to develop immersive high school and college biology and anatomy courses.

by Intel last year, Middle Township High School in New Jersey embraced the idea of using Oculus Rift headsets to examine virtual frogs. In California, a new bill introduced in the state legislature would swap out real animals in schools for virtual replacements to teach biology more humanely.

 

 

Blurred Lines Between Security Surveillance and Privacy

Edtech’s Blurred Lines Between Security, Surveillance and Privacy

By Tony Wan     Mar 5, 2019

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-03-05-edtech-s-blurred-lines-between-security-surveillance-and-privacy

Tony Wan, Bill Fitzgerald, Courtney Goodsell, Doug Levin, Stephanie Cerda

SXSW EDU https://schedule.sxswedu.com/

privacy advocates joined a school administrator and a school safety software product manager to offer their perspectives.

Navigating that fine line between ensuring security and privacy is especially tricky, as it concerns newer surveillance technologies available to schools. Last year, RealNetworks, a Seattle-based company, offered its facial recognition software to schools, and a few have pioneered the tool. https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2019/02/02/facial-recognition-technology-in-schools/

The increasing availability of these kinds of tools raise concerns and questions for Doug Levin, founder of EdTech Strategies.acial-recognition police tools have been decried as “staggeringly inaccurate.”

acial-recognition police tools have been decried as “staggeringly inaccurate.”School web filters can also impact low-income families inequitably, he adds, especially those that use school-issued devices at home. #equity.

Social-Emotional Learning: The New Surveillance?

Using data to profile students—even in attempts to reinforce positive behaviors—has Cerda concerned, especially in schools serving diverse demographics. #equity.

As in the insurance industry, much of the impetus (and sales pitches) in the school and online safety market can be driven by fear. But voicing such concerns and red flags can also steer the stakeholders toward dialogue and collaboration.

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Empathy Important For Parents And Teens

How Empathy Is Important For Parents And Teens When Things Get Stressful

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/48036/how-empathy-is-important-for-parents-and-teens-when-things-get-stressful
It’s difficult to have a teenager’s mind. The brain develops rapidly during the adolescent years, which partially explains why teens experience anger, sadness and frustration so intensely.
2014 survey published by the American Psychological Association found that teens report feeling even more stressed than adults, and that this affects them in unhealthy ways.
Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler, a psychologist in Denver, Colo., explains, “When teens are overwhelmed, parents may try to connect with their kids’ feelings by drawing on their own childhood experiences.

In a 2016 longitudinal study of 497 Dutch teens between the ages of 13 and 18, researchers found that cognitive empathy skills help teens regulate their emotions, improve their listening skills and strengthen their ability to tolerate conflict. They also found that these skills can help kids work through disagreements with their parents more constructively.

Research on teen stress by David Yeager, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, shows that cognitive empathy skills can also help adolescents to realize that people and situations can change, which allows them to face social challenges more easily.

shifting reality of the online landscape

State Systems Plot Major Online Growth

Public universities across the country are adjusting to the shifting reality of the online landscape. Despite similar goals, approaches vary widely.

Mark Lieberman March 20, 2019

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/03/20/how-public-university-systems-missouri-louisiana-and-more-plan

interviewed administrators at systems across the United States for a wide look at how the landscape is shifting.

The University of Missouri System last year signaled plans to increase its total enrollment from 75,000 to 100,000 by 2023. Administrators pointed to online education as a key driver of future growth.

In other ways, the Missouri system’s approach could look similar to Massachusetts’. Administrators in Missouri are pondering the creation of a separate entity within the system that would offer online programs to adult learners.

Administrators have ruled out purchasing or merging with an existing online apparatus, as Purdue University did with the for-profit Kaplan University to enrollment-expanding but controversial effect.

Senior administrators and board members at Louisiana State University began looking at online education in the early 2010s.

From 2016 to 2018, Sasha Thackaberry served as assistant vice president of academic technology, course production and alternative learning models at Southern New Hampshire University. Louisiana State hired her in February 2018 to lead its online growth; three months later, she was promoted from associate vice provost to vice provost of digital and continuing education.

When Kristina Johnson became chancellor of the State University of New York system in 2017, she challenged administrators to consider a wide range of possibilities for growing online capabilities. According to Tod Laursen, SUNY’s senior vice chancellor and provost, the system has just wrapped up an information-gathering process that will inform a soon-to-be-released request for proposals. Johnson has slated for this fall a major online learning initiative, the details of which are still being ironed out.

Colorado State University Online serves as an online program manager for the state system — distinct from Colorado State University Global, which has a separate faculty and governance structure, and tends to serve adults at an average age in their 30s. CSU Online, by contrast, tends to serve “less seasoned” students between 24 and 34 years old, according to Amy Smith, senior director of CSU Online.

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https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=online+education

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