online learning

Coronavirus school cancellations lead to education tech surge –– from finance.yahoo.com by Reggie Wade

Excerpt:

Online learning tools like Zoom (ZM), Instructure’s (INST) Canvas, Cisco System’s (CSCO) WebEx and a host of other ed tech companies are coming to the aid of schools across the U.S. as they suspend or shift classes online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Columbia University, Amherst College, the University of Washington, and Harvard University are among the growing list of universities that have announced that they will provide online classes, as campuses temporarily shut down in response to the contagion. More than 500 K-12 schools have also made the shift.

Jamie Candee, CEO of Edmentum, tells Yahoo Finance that since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. in January, the company has seen a surge in interest in its online educational tools. On March 9, the company had over 140 districts register for its online platform in under an hour.

Top Learning Tools when School is Closed — from cyber-kap.blogspot.com
Here is a list of suggested tools that can be used to keep the learning happening when schools are closed…

From DSC:
Some of these tools might also useful for some homeschooling situations I would think.

What Katrina Taught Us About Online Delivery — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
In 2005, more than 120 U.S. universities came to the aid of some 20 colleges and universities that had been impacted by Hurricane Katrina through shared online classes.

Cisco, Google Hangouts follow Zoom’s lead in offering free video conferencing features amid coronavirus outbreak — from bizjournals.com

Coronavirus causes work-from-home technology use to skyrocket — from foxbusiness.com
Microsoft usage in China increasing because more people are working remotely, company VP says

For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in this new video regarding what’s called “cognitive load” [Christian]

On 03/10/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, attention, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, elearning, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, multimedia, online learning, pedagogy, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in a new video that I put together regarding cognitive load. It addresses at least two main questions:

What is cognitive load?
and
Why should I care about it?

Transcript here.

How do I put it into practice?

Simplify the explanations of what you’re presenting as much as possible and break down complex tasks into smaller parts
Don’t place a large amount of text on a slide and then talk about it at the same time — doing so requires much more processing than most people can deal with.
Consider creating two versions of your PowerPoint files:
- A text-light version that can be used for presenting that content to students
- A text-heavy version — which can be posted to your LMS for the learners to go through at their own pace — and without trying to process so much information (voice and text, for example) at one time.
Design-wise:
- Don’t use decorative graphics — everything on a slide should be there for a reason
- Don’t use too many fonts or colors — this can be distracting
- Don’t use background music when you are trying to explain something

How online education went from teaching reform to economic necessity for colleges — from edsurge.com by Robert Ubell

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

When online was first introduced as a pedagogical advance, faculty members often rose up against it—or more often, just ignored it, the most devastating form of resistance. If it weren’t for economic necessity, online might not have grown to the force it has today—these days a third of the nation’s higher ed students take courses online.
…
Millions of working adults must turn to digital degrees to improve their employability in a post-industrial economy that demands higher-level skills than on the assembly line. Corporations are being pressed to find agile, high-tech workers for their digital processes and products. Powerful new digital-recruitment techniques now make massive global markets open to any college with deep enough pockets.

From DSC:
The market will decide how colleges and universities will change — and which ones will survive. Presidents, provosts, members of administration, board members, and faculty members do not control this anymore (if they ever did).

How innovations in voice technology are reshaping education [Lee]

On 03/06/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, bots, Bring your own device (BYOD), career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, internet, languages and translation, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, podcasting, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, tools, trends, United States, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

How innovations in voice technology are reshaping education — from edsurge.com by Diana Lee
Voice is the most accessible form you can think of when you think about any interface. In education, it’s already started to take off.

It could be basic questions about, “Am I taking a class to become X?” or “How strong are my skills relative to other people?” An assistant can help with that. It could potentially be a coach, something that follows you the rest of your life for education. I’m excited about that. People that can’t normally get access to this kind of information will get access to it. That’s the future.

From DSC:
The use of voice will likely be a piece of a next-generation learning platform.

Getting Campuses Ready for the Coronavirus — from insidehighered.com by Chuck Staben
What should leaders be doing to prepare their colleges if the situation worsens? Chuck Staben offers suggestions.

Colleges Prepare for Coronavirus Outbreaks on Campus — from wsj-com by Melissa Korn
Task forces map out prospects for quarantines, class cancellations as schools brace for virus spread

Teaching during a campus closure…— from linkedin.com by Bill Knapp
Here are some suggestions on preparing your on-campus students in the event of an unexpected campus closure (#COVID-19).

Coronavirus Forces Universities Online — from .insidehighered.com by Lindsay McKenzie
Compelled to close their campuses to limit the spread of coronavirus, U.S. universities with Chinese branches move at lightning speed to take teaching online.

NYU Response to Coronavirus Accelerates Digital Tool Adoption — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Excerpt:

Instructors conducted some 700-plus sessions during the first week, using a multitude of tools to enable live feedback and interaction in both synchronous and asynchronous ways, including learning management system NYU Classes, media sharing service NYU Stream, web and audio conference tool NYU Zoom and commenting utility VoiceThread.

Keith Ross, dean of Engineering and Computer Science at NYU Shanghai, suggested that the health crisis has one silver lining: It’s bringing the faculty up to speed with online teaching tools in quick order. In a university article about the efforts, he mused that once the crisis has passed, faculty may choose to integrate the use of some of the tools into their traditional face-to-face courses.
…
NYU Stream and VoiceThread are letting students interact asynchronously. They can watch pre-recorded videos uploaded by instructors and then take quizzes, ask questions, make annotations and communicate with classmates using text, audio and video. Also available for use: NYU Web Publishing to publish and manage blogs; Slido and Piazza to conduct community voting and quizzes; Slack to support office hours; and Examity to proctor exams remotely.

How to Respond to Coronavirus: 6 Steps for Schools — from edweek.org by Mark Lieberman

Over 75 Purdue University students will attend their commencement ceremonies in VR [Melnick]

On 03/01/2020, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, IT in HE, online learning, online media, United States, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Over 75 Purdue University students will attend their commencement ceremonies in VR — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick
Viewers will “march down” the procession line alongside their peers via a mobile 360-degree camera.

Excerpt:

[Last] Thursday over 400 students at Purdue University Global participated in their final commencement ceremonies. Of those graduating, over 75 will have done so remotely over the internet, and therefore will not be there in-person to walk the stage.

This year, a new pilot program led by Purdue Global’s director of learning and leadership community, Patti Pelletier, is offering remote students the chance to “attend” their ceremonies in VR.

The Dangers of “Teaching the Way We Best Learn” [Zakrajsek]

On 02/27/2020, in active learning, adjunct faculty, blended learning, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, faculty, online learning, participation, pedagogy, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

The Dangers of “Teaching the Way We Best Learn” — from scholarlyteacher.com by Todd Zakrajsek

Excerpts:

Not everyone sees the world as I do, and not everyone learns the way I do. Thinking of the implications of implicit bias is scary, but there is freedom in knowledge. Using evidence-based teaching allows faculty to overcome the adverse effects of teaching as we were taught.

We, as faculty members, are not passive recipients who choose a pedagogical strategy because we have no choice. We may select teaching approaches that work for ourselves as learners, not because we are consciously deciding to ignore the needs of others, but more so because we fail to understand effective alternatives exist.
…
This need not be an admonishment on our professional responsibility to educate others. It is merely a recognition that when we look at the world, we tend to see it from our perspective, the one with which we are most familiar. It takes effort to consider other perspectives.
…

The challenge is that teaching is not about our learning; it is about our learners. It is not the job of the server in a restaurant to offer only the food they most prefer, but instead to help you to navigate the menu to identify what works best for you, food allergies, preferences, and all.
…
I should not always “teach the way I best learned.” To do so will disadvantage students who are least like me, and those students deserve an opportunity to be successful.

If I primarily use the lecture method of teaching, I should add a “think-pair-share” at times. Perhaps even a jigsaw and problem-based learning sprinkled throughout the semester. If I get bold, I might also try a role-play in class.

From DSC:
I appreciate Todd’s reflections and insights in the above posting. I’d like to sprinkle in a couple of graphics to it.

For those involved with creating/enhancing learning spaces as they relate to pedagogies

On 02/22/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, attention, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, expectations, face-to-face, faculty, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pedagogy, platforms, smart classrooms, student-related, teaching & learning, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, tools, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC — and with a shout out to Brad Sousa for this resource:
For those involved with creating/enhancing learning spaces as they relate to pedagogies:

How Has Technology Impacted Higher Education?
In part one of this three-part series, AVI Systems CTO Brad Sousa talks with Jeff Day, Founder of North of 10 Advisors, to discuss the key ways education and, specifically, pedagogy differs from 10, 5, even 3 years ago.

Discussion Topics

The impact of active learning and the introduction of the internet of things (IoT) in the classroom
Recommendations for deploying modern learning environments with technology partners
Classroom systems design, then and now

Some timestamps (roughly speaking)

5:15 — changes in pedagogy
7:15 or so — active learning
15:30 design needs around active learning
17:15 DE rooms and active learning — software-controlled platform
21:30 — advice; look to outcomes & expectations that want to achieve/meet; uses cases

Media controller w/ intuitive interface to mimic the way someone teaches / way a classroom goes:

“Class start” — chaotic; mics on everywhere
“Lecture” — gates /mics closed and focus shifts to the professor
“Class interaction” — presents roster of who’s there (20:00 mark roughly)

Also see this introductory posting re: the implications of active learning in the higher ed market.

Optimal Video Length for Student Engagement — from blog.edx.org by Candace Hazlett and Philip Guo

Excerpt:

In this first post, I’ll share some preliminary results about video usage, obtained from initial analyses of a few edX math and science courses. Unsurprisingly, students engaged more with shorter videos. Traditional in-person lectures usually last an hour, but students have much shorter attention spans when watching educational videos online. The graph below shows median engagement times versus video length, aggregated over several million video watching sessions:

From DSC:
If you have access to a tool like Canvas Studio, then you can probably extend the length of your videos if you are interspersing your videos with a healthy dose of interactivity — i.e., inserting quiz questions every few minutes.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy — from Iowa State University; with a shout out to Matt Miller for his blog posting entitled, “10 tips for lesson planning writer’s block” — where I saw this reference

A two-part series from Educause re: inclusive design/accessibility [Gonzalez & O’Neil]

On 02/10/2020, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, blended learning, colleges, community colleges, elearning, faculty, higher education, law schools, more voice more choice more control, online learning, participation, pedagogy, universities, by Daniel Christian

A two-part series from Educause regarding inclusive design/accessibility — with thanks to Ray Schroeder for his posting on this out on LinkedIn.

Part I: A Taxonomy of Inclusive Design: On Disclosure, Accessibility, and Inclusion — from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez and Kristi O’Neil
Part II: Moving a Taxonomy of Inclusive Design from Theory to Practice
— from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez and Kristi O’Neil

An excerpt from Part II:

The previous two definitions have tried to articulate the idea that students carry intersecting invisible circumstances with them into the classroom. Whether or not students disclose their circumstances—or whether faculty members invite students to disclose them—does not determine their existence. From this perspective, inclusion means designing and teaching for variability. Faculty can practice inclusive pedagogy by following universal design principles and offering multiple options for representation, engagement, and expression:

Options are essential to learning, because no single way of presenting information, no single way of responding to information, and no single way of engaging students will work across the diversity of students that populate our classrooms. Alternatives reduce barriers to learning for students with disabilities while enhancing learning opportunities for everyone.4

In a Nutshell …
Inclusive pedagogy can be an act of intention—something that is initiated before and during the course design process—rather than being an act of revision or omission.

DC: I wonder if this patent from Apple will enable remote learners to select/control more of their preferred viewing angles?!

On 02/09/2020, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital video, distance education, ideas, innovation, online learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I wonder if this patent — or these types of technologies — might enable remote learners to select/control more of their preferred viewing angles?!

Apple Seeks Patent For AR/VR Video Recording With Multi-angle Playback — from uploadvr.com by Jeremy Horwitz

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

If you’ve watched YouTube streams of conventional 2D videos — such as commentaries on games, TV shows, movies, or trailers — you know that the streams are visually flat: video of the content, sometimes with a person’s face superimposed in the corner for added discussion. But Apple appears set to change that paradigm for augmented and virtual reality streaming. A just-published patent application reveals that it’s been working on compositing multiple streams in a way that could let AR and VR viewers watch streamed content from their choice of angles.

The ins & outs of internal launch: Taking an online offering to market independently [Oster]

On 02/04/2020, in business side of he, communities of practice, law schools, learning ecosystem, online learning, strategy, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

The ins and outs of internal launch: Taking an online offering to market independently — from evolllution.com by Leslie Oster, Program Director in the Pritzker School of Law, Northwestern University
New online programs can be created without an OPM but need to be approached with caution and expertise.

Excerpt:

When designing a new program, some institutions turn to Online Program Management (OPM) companies for help. These companies launch programs from scratch and manage many of the administrative aspects required to make the offering a success. But using an OPM can come with a significant price tag. For some colleges and universities, it’s still worth finding ways to launch unique online programs on their own. With the right research and expertise, online programs can be created without the help of an OPM. In this interview, Leslie Oster discusses how Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law launched a new online offering without an OPM and reflects on how the school plans to expand its online presence.

Law isn’t a subject commonly taught in an online format, but pretty early on, we came to believe it was possible to create a high-quality online law program that included the essential aspects of the residential program.

2020 Top 10 IT Issues — from educause.edu
The Drive to Digital Transformation Begins | EDUCAUSE Review Special Report

Excerpt:

Colleges and universities are working to unmake old practices and structures that have become inefficient and are preparing to use technology and data to better understand and support students and to become more student-centric.

They are working to fund technology and to sustainably manage and secure data and privacy. Higher education institutions are applying data and technology to innovate student outcomes and experiences.

The role of the CIO is undergoing its own transformation in order to advance institutional priorities through the use of technology.

The focus in 2020, then, is to simplify, sustain, innovate, and drive to Dx in all of our institutions and places of higher learning.

From DSC:
To me, one of the key roles of today’s collegiate CIO should be to collaborate with the academic side of the house to identify ways to strategically use technologies to significantly lower the cost of obtaining a degree. Higher education affordability is listed as #8. That’s waaaaaay underestimating the issue and another key reason the backlash continues to build against traditional higher education. If things don’t change and a much cheaper — but still effective — means comes along, look out. Students and families are feeling the weight of the gorillas of debt on their back — weight that lasts for decades for many people today. Along these lines, issues involving privacy and data security — while also important to students — are mainly a CYA for colleges and universities. They don’t address the gorillas of debt as much as other solutions might.

Sorry if you don’t want to hear it, but one of the best solutions involves offering a significant amount of 100% online-based offerings. While this was mentioned, you can still get major pushback about this strategy. But you can’t tell me for one second that offering online-based classes is more expensive than offering traditional, face-to-face based classes. Why? What?! How could I possibly assert this?! The answer is quite simple. One just needs to request to review the budget of your Physical Plant Department. That’s why. Check it out if you can — you’ll see what I mean.

Also, though data is important, it won’t save colleges and universities from closing. What are some things that stand a better chance of doing that?! Here are some:

Vision
Developing a culture that supports innovation and a willingness to experiment/change
Finding ways to significantly lower the price of obtaining a degree
Scanning the horizons to see what’s coming down the pike and how that will impact our students’ futures. Then, develop the curriculum to best help our students prepare for their future.

“The CIO’s ‘role at the table’ has evolved to be one that is less about the mechanics of the IT organization and more about how IT can serve as a strategic partner in helping the institution execute its mission.”(source)

Learning Ecosystems

“Coronavirus school cancellations lead to education tech surge” + “Top learning tools when school is closed” + others

How online education went from teaching reform to economic necessity for colleges [Ubell]

Over 75 Purdue University students will attend their commencement ceremonies in VR [Melnick]

A two-part series from Educause re: inclusive design/accessibility [Gonzalez & O’Neil]

DC: I wonder if this patent from Apple will enable remote learners to select/control more of their preferred viewing angles?!

The ins & outs of internal launch: Taking an online offering to market independently [Oster]

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