Posts Tagged ‘edtech. teched’
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-04-29-can-the-metaverse-improve-learning-new-research-finds-some-promise
A new study co-authored by Richard Mayer,
The study took place with about 100 middle school students taking a brief “virtual field trip” to learn about climate science. Some students experienced the field trip while wearing a VR headset, while others watched the same material in standard video on a computer screen.
“higher ratings of presence, interest, and enjoyment,”
The paper noted an obvious logistical benefit to virtual field trips over getting on a bus for an in-person outing. “Virtual field trips make it possible to experience things that are too expensive, dangerous, or impossible in the real world,” it says. The experiment did not address the difference in educational value between a real-world field trip and a virtual one.
for programs like nursing, pharmacy and medicine, VR seems promising for teaching some skills, as a piece of a broader curriculum that includes in-person hands-on learning as well.
https://www.iste.org/explore/education-leadership/3-questions-ask-choosing-new-edtech-tool
- What is your learning goal?
- What’s your teaching and learning philosophy?
- What’s your context?
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-05-10-why-tech-companies-view-the-job-search-as-big-business
“jobtech”—to be approximately $40 billion in size, and growing rapidly.
These emerging companies bridge the gap between people and jobs by matching, training, and often literally placing candidates into positions. That’s different from edtech, which focuses on the learning but not the workforce connection; and from HR tech, which prioritizes recruiting but not training or skills development. It’s more than the professional networks and digital job boards that put all the pressure and responsibility on the worker. And it has the potential to address the pain points of both students and workers who are underemployed, or newly unemployed due to the pandemic, by translating skills and experiences into positive labor market outcomes.
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more on employment in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=employment
| Maria is the principal consultant at Edge of Learning and the CEO and Cofounder of Coursetune, an edtech company that builds curriculum design, management, visualization, and collaboration software.
Previously, Maria has been the Director of Learning and Research for Instructure. For ten years she taught mathematics as well as chemistry and social media full-time at Muskegon Community College. She was also the Learning Futurist for the LIFT Institute. |
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| I plan on asking Maria about how campuses are using new and emerging technology to improve online or blended learning this fall. Which technologies have moved to the forefront in this pandemic semester?
And, as always, you will have the chance to ask your own questions. After all, the way the Forum works is that all attendees can ask our guests questions, engage and collaborate with other leaders in education technology, and also invite friends and colleagues to join.
To RSVP ahead of time, or to jump straight in at 2 pm EDT this Thursday, click here:
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my notes from the meeting:
CMS do not cut it anymore
class sections are obsolete in online environment
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more on future trends in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=future+trends
Investment continues to flow to ed tech, with $803 million injected during the first six months of the year, according to the industry news website EdSurge. But half of that went to just six companies, including the celebrity tutorial provider MasterClass, the online learning platform Udemy and the school and college review site Niche.
From the outside, the ed-tech sector may appear as if “there’s a bonanza and it’s like the dot-com boom again and everybody’s printing money,” said Michael Hansen, CEO of the K-12 and higher education digital learning provider Cengage. “That is not the case.”
Even if they want to buy more ed-tech tools, meanwhile, schools and colleges are short on cash. Expenses for measures to deal with Covid-19 are up, while budgets are expected to be down.
Analysts and industry insiders now expect a wave of acquisitions as already-dominant brands like these seek to corner even more of the market by snatching up smaller players that provide services they don’t.
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Tech-based contact tracing could put schools in murky privacy territory
https://www.educationdive.com/news/tech-based-contact-tracing-could-put-schools-in-murky-privacy-territory/584881/
- A white paper from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) suggests the use of contact tracing technology by schools could erode student privacy and may not be effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
Despite the pandemic, schools still must conform to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other laws governing student privacy. Districts can disclose information to public health officials, for example, but information can’t be released to the general public without written consent from parents.
The Safely Reopen Schools mobile app is one tool available for automating contact tracing. The idea is that if two mobile phones are close enough to connect via Bluetooth, the phone owners are close enough to transmit the virus. The app includes daily health check-ins and educational notifications, but no personal information is exchanged between the phones, and the app won’t disclose who tested positive.
Colleges are also using apps to help trace and track students’ exposure to coronavirus. In August, 20,000 participants from the University of Alabama at Birmingham were asked to test the GuideSafe mobile app, which will alert them if they’ve been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The app determines the proximity of two people through cell phone signal strength. If someone reports they contracted the virus, an alert will be sent to anyone who has been within six feet of them for at least 15 minutes over the previous two weeks.
Critics of the technology claim these apps aren’t actually capable of contract tracing and could undermine manual efforts to do so.
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more on ed tech in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=educational+technology
3 Key Questions to Ask About Your Edtech Investments [Infographic]
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-02-10-3-key-questions-to-ask-about-your-edtech-investments-infographic
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-02-teaching-with-technology-in-higher-ed-start-with-relationship-building
Pivoting one’s pedagogical focus to relationship-building thus demands a learning process about the self and the students, and there are practical steps an instructor can consider when embarking on this paradigm shift.
1. Provide opportunities for students to reflect.
2. Prepare to learn about yourself and your students.
3. Leverage partners.
4. Provide opportunities for yourself to reflect.
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more on ed technology in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=educational+technology
5 All-Too-Common Ways Edtech Implementations Fail
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-04-06-5-all-too-common-ways-edtech-implementations-fail
On the surface, adopting technology to support teacher needs or student challenges isn’t terribly complex: define the problem you’re trying to solve, identify the right tools for the job, and implement the tools effectively and with fidelity.
challenges. End users are too often removed from the decision-making process during procurement. Educators argue that too many products don’t actually meet the needs of teachers or students. Still others worry that it is too easy to implement new and popular technology without considering whether it is research-based and effective.
Only 33 percent of parents surveyed by the Learning Assembly said their child’s school did an excellent job using technology to tailor instruction.
Technology is just a tool, not a means in and of itself. Any school or teacher that sets out to use technology for its sake alone, and not in the service of personalizing learning or addressing specific needs, is on a mission to fail.
- Insufficient Modeling of Best Practices
A survey from Samsung found that 37 percent of teachers say they would love to use technology but don’t know how, and 76 percent say they would like a professional development day dedicated to technology.
ideos that focus on scaling and modeling best practices (produced by places like the Teaching Channel and The Learning Accelerator) can help teachers and schools do this.
Teachers face initiative fatigue: They are constantly being asked to implement new programs, integrate new technologies, and add on layers of responsibility. In one Wisconsin district, nearly half of teachers felt ongoing district initiatives were a “significant area of concern.”
Forward-thinking schools take the time to learn from the challenges of other schools, and recruit a coalition of the willing.
- Real-World Usability Challenges
Relying on multiple devices (remote, clicker, iPad, computer mouse) to launch or navigate technology can be difficult. Additionally, teachers may start to use a tool, only to realize it is not flexible enough to meet their original needs, fit into the constraints of their particular school or classroom, or allow them to integrate their own content or supplemental resources.
- The Right Data to Track Progress
Lack of useful data, problem definition, weak teacher buy-in, first impressions, and usability challenges all have the potential to torpedo smart technology products.
