So much for that bipartisan Senate bid to prevent the FBI from gaining expanded hacking powers. Senators Ron Wyden, Chris Coons and Steve Daines have failed to block changes to the US’ criminal procedure rules (specifically, Rule 41) that would let the FBI hack computers in any jurisdiction provided they have a search warrant. Texas Senator John Cornyn and other Republican leaders thwarted the measure. The rule change should take effect on December 1st, barring surprises.
The study, conducted by adaptive learning provider Front Row Education, found that 75 percent of teachers use technology with students on a daily basis and that a bit more than half have a 1-to-1 ratio of devices to students in their classrooms (up 10 points from last year’s survey). That increase in student devices is helping to drive an increase in the use of technology, with about 60 percent of teachers surveyed saying they expect to increase the use of technology in the 2016–2017 school year.
60 percent of teachers have access to Chromebooks, up 15 percent from last year; 64 percent have access to iPads, down 5 percent from last year. iPads tend to be the tool of choice in lower grades (75 percent in K–2), while Chromebooks dominate the middle school years (66 percent). Interestingly,
Film isn’t the only medium that gets the virtual reality treatment. The best-selling author Wally Lamb has a new book called “I’ll Take You There” that’ll launch as part of the Metabook line — a series of works that include extras like 360 degree videos and photos.
The Oregon State University Ecampus Research Unit conducted the national study in collaboration with 3Play Media. The researchers surveyed 2,124 students across 15 public and private universities throughout the United States. Of all respondents, 19 percent reported hearing difficulties, and 37 reported vision difficulties. However, only 13 percent had registered with an office of disability services, and less than 12 percent reported they require academic accommodations.
The study revealed that students find closed captions and video transcripts helpful, whether the student is deaf or hard of hearing or not.
Key findings from the study:
Almost 100 percent of survey respondents had at least one course — either face-to-face or online — that included some video content;
75 percent of students use captions as a learning aid in face-to-face and online classrooms;
98.6 percent of students who use captions say they are helpful;
71 percent of students without hearing difficulties use captions at least some of the time;
Students reference video transcripts as a learning aid 85 percent of the time;
66 percent of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students find captions extremely or very helpful;
61 percent of students with learning disabilities find captions helpful;
More than one quarter of students were unsure about the availability of closed captions for video content in their course; and
Almost one-in-five students were unsure about the availability of video transcripts for their course.
Further details about the study and a link to the full report can be found on 3Play Media’s site.
“Hybrid learning gives us the advantage of having technology available to learn in the way that we’ve grown used to,” says Ms. Pillwein, who is also a Brock University graduate. “In the abnormal psychology course, the online component is mainly tests and quizzes that you can do in your own time. I’ve found that suits my learning style more, as opposed to doing a test in class where you’d have to memorize a lot of terms and concepts.”
Ms. Pillwein also likes that the professor uploads all of her PowerPoint presentations for students to access and review. She feels that helps get the material embedded in her brain more than writing things down word for word during the lecture.
Ms. Hotham finds that the combination of two hours of classroom lecture and then one hour of online activity for the week is an effective way of teaching the material, particularly because it gives students time to take away what has been said and digest it.
After two years of teaching the course with the online component and one year before that of teaching without it, she says the student grades are higher than when she taught only in the classroom.
Ms. Hotham also finds students are more engaged in the discussion the week after doing the online activities because they have more to talk about. Sometimes she posts a video, which then becomes an online discussion.
Patrick Lyons, director of teaching and learning services at Carleton University in Ottawa, visualizes online learning taking many different forms, presenting all kinds of opportunities that could not be delivered any other way. Carleton has a long history offering distance learning, first broadcasting courses on a local cable TV channel in 1978 and then offering the world’s first video podcast of a university credit course in 2006.
