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.
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https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=edpuzzle
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
U Arizona History Profs Turn Gaming into Credit-Bearing Learning Activity
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2022/03/31/u-arizona-history-profs-turn-gaming-into-credit-bearing-learning-activity.aspx
Milliman also plans to create a U Arizona course tailored to individuals who might come to the university via the Age of Empires IV experience. “It will help them transition from being gamers to being students,” he explained. “This will get online students familiar with doing historical research and being a university student. There won’t be any textbooks or tests. It will be project-focused and based on the experiences they had playing the game with our additional content.”
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more on gaming in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=gaming
EXCLUSIVE Pearson buys certification group Credly in deal valued at $200m
https://www.reuters.com/business/exclusive-pearson-buys-certification-group-credly-deal-valued-200m-2022-01-31/
The UK-listed firm, a major supplier of courseware and assessments in schools and colleges in the United States, Britain and around the world
Pearson CEO Andy Bird told Reuters that verified credentials were becoming more important as technology adapts, leaving many companies with a skills gap where staff need training on how to work with processes such as artificial intelligence.
Pearson, which has been buffeted by the shift from physical courseware to online learning, bought AI and analytics group Faethm in 2021, which spots skills gaps for organisations.
Credly partners with organisations such as IBM, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services to provide certifications, or digital credentials, to workers both inside their firms and out who have attained a certain level with their product. Based in the United States, half of the people earning credentials on the platform are outside America, with India one of its biggest markets.
Pearson will now be able to combine the diagnostic tools of Faethm with its own digital learning programmes and Credly’s certification capabilities to offer a full service to companies.
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more on microcredentials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredential
more on Pearson in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=pearson
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more on haptic in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=haptic