Has the higher-ed revolution begun? — from mindingthecampus.com by Charlotte Allen

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

It’s happening, almost overnight: what could be the collapse of the near-monopoly that traditional brick-and-mortar colleges and universities currently enjoy as respected credentialing institutions whose degrees and grades mean something to employers.

The most dramatic development, just a few days ago, was the decision of robotics-expert Sebastian Thrun to resign from his position as a tenured professor of computer science at Stanford in order to start an online university he calls Udacity that he hopes will reach hundreds of thousands of students who either can’t afford Stanford’s $40,000-a-year tuition or who can’t travel thousands of miles to one of the bricks-and-mortar classes he used to teach.

Besides threatening to up-end universities’ traditional control of educational credentials, Thrun may also drastically change the shape of for-profit education. Udacity is being operated by Know Labs, a Thrun-founded for-profit enterprise funded by the venture-capital firm Charles River Ventures. Know Labs’ ultimate aim, according to Thrun, is to offer high-quality online courses that will be either free or cheap (the company is in the process of developing a business model). Thrun has estimated, for example, that if he and Norvik had charged only $1 apiece to all 160,000 enrollees in their artificial-intelligence course last fall, they could have easily recouped their costs. By contrast, the majority of existing for-profit colleges charge relatively high tuition that has made those institutions highly dependent upon their students’ federal grants and loans. It’s unlikely that anyone would have to borrow in order to take an Udacity course.

Also see:


Some tools to consider:


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Blackboard Collaborate has real-time polling features

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Poll Everywhere -- real-time polling

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From DSC:
By the way, faith-based organizations might want to consider using this tool as well.  Also, my thanks to Professor Randall Pruim, in the Mathematics Department at Calvin College, for bringing the options below to my attention. Note: Professor Pruim doesn’t necessarily recommend these tools — as both SMS Poll and Lecturetools.com require that students pay a subscription. However, I list these tools here in case you want to compare functionality/pricing/etc.

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smspoll.net -- real time polling of your students

 

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http://www.lecturetools.com/

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Addendum on 2/2/12:

 

socrative.com -- engage the class using any device

NOTE:  Randy mentioned that Socrative requires access to the Internet (laptop or smart phone); there is no cell phone interface at this time. So you must have a web-enabled device.

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Addendum on 2/21/12:

 

Addendum on 7/18/12:

TopHatMonocle.com
A web based clicker and online homework tool; polls and quizzes

No clickers to buy! Students can use any device to participate in class

  • For in-class and homework use
  • Questions, open ended discussions and interactive demos
  • Use with any presentation software, such as PowerPoint
  • Amazingly simple! Takes minutes to setup

 

Addendum on 11/15/12:

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Free courses, elite colleges — from InsideHigherEd.com by Steve Kolowich

Excerpt:

Robert Garland, a professor of classics at Colgate University, is not accustomed to discussing Greek religion with the lifeless lens of his MacBook’s built-in video camera. But that was how Garland spent Wednesday afternoon: in his home study, recording lectures on his laptop in 20-minute chunks.

Garland, a novice to online teaching, says it is difficult to think of these solitary sessions as lectures. “I think of them more as chats,” he says.

Garland’s gear is lo-fi: just the laptop, which he owns, and a microphone mailed to him by Udemy, the company that roped him into this.

The Faculty Project

The Faculty Project - January 2012

From DSC:
I originally saw this at:

Tagged with:  

Obama wants lower college costs, higher dropout age — from edweek.org by Alyson Klein

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SOTU_Blog.jpg

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

President Obama gave college affordability a prominent place in his domestic agenda during his annual State of the Union address, calling directly on universities to hold down costs in order to make higher education more accessible to the middle class. He outlined a set of proposals that include threatening universities with a loss of federal money if they are unable to tamp down tuition.

“Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down,” Obama said in his hour-long address. He didn’t offer specifics, however, and the blueprint document the White House sent out to accompany the speech didn’t get specific either. But advocates expect him to lay out more concrete details in the coming days.

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State higher education spending sees big decline — from HuffingtonPost.com by Christine Armario

Excerpt:

MIAMI — State funding for higher education has declined because of a slow recovery from the recession and the end of federal stimulus money, according to a study released Monday.

Overall, spending declined by some $6 billion, or nearly 8 percent, over the past year, according to the annual Grapevine study by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. The reduction was slightly lower, at 4 percent, when money lost from the end of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was not taken into account.

The funding reductions, seen across nearly every state, have resulted in larger class sizes and fewer course offerings at many universities and come as enrollment continues to rise.

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Beware: Alternative certification is coming — from The Chronicle by Richard Vedder

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

As college costs rise, however, people are asking: Aren’t there cheaper ways of certifying competence and skills to employers? Employers like the current system, because the huge (often over $100,000) cost of demonstrating competency is borne by the student, not by them. Employers seemingly have little incentive to look for alternative certification. That is why reformers like me cannot get employer organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to take alternative certification seriously. But if companies can find good employees with high-school diplomas who have demonstrated necessary skills and competency via some cheaper (to society) means, they might be able to hire workers more cheaply than before–paying wages that are high by high-school-graduate standards, but low relative to college-graduate norms. Employers can capture the huge savings of reduced certification costs. And students avoid huge debt, get four years more time in the labor force, and do not face the risks of not getting through college. Since millions of college grads have jobs which really do not use skills developed in college anyhow, alternative certification is more attractive than ever.

Addendums on 1/26:

  • President Obama: ‘Higher education can’t be a luxury – it is an economic imperative’ — from annarbor.com by Ryan Stanton
  • Survey finds that dwindling financial aid contributes to fewer college options — from the NYT by Daniel Slotnik
    Excerpt:
    College freshmen entering school last fall were less likely to attend their first choice of college, a function of both competition and cost, than at any other time since 1974, and fewer received financial aid through grants or scholarships, according to an annual survey of nearly 204,000 high school students.
  • Pressure remains for higher education: Moody’s — from Reuters
    The financial conditions of many U.S. colleges and universities will likely not improve much this year, as states continue cutting funding for public schools, students become more price sensitive, and areas for other revenue remain stretched, a lead rating agency said on Monday.  “During the past year, public and political scrutiny of colleges and universities, both not-for-profit and for-profit, has escalated and we expect that the sector will remain under the microscope in 2012 and beyond,” said Moody’s Investors Services in a report outlining why it is maintaining a “mixed outlook for U.S. not-for-profit private and public colleges and universities, mirroring our 2011 outlook.”

How iBooks Author Stacks Up to the Competition [CHART] — from Mashable.com by Chelsea Stark

Author, Author! Apple, Apple! — from The Journal by Therese Mageau
Apple’s new interactive textbook authoring system might just revolutionize the way districts develop their own curriculum. 

iTunes U vs. Blackboard – A Look at Apple’s New Online System — from padgadget.com

Thanks to iPads and Kindles, E-Book Lending at Libraries Explodes — from ReadWriteWeb.com by John Paul Titlow

Why textbooks of the future are not books — from gigaom.com by Erica Ogg

Apple Jumps Into Textbooks — from the WSJ
With More iPads in Classrooms, Education Push Would Help Fend Off Android-Device Competition

Apple’s iTunes U Morphs Into a Tool for Full Online Classes — from Mashable.com by Sarah Kessler

Reinventing Textbooks: A Hard Course — from the New York Times by David Streitfeld

 

Also see:

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Donald Chan/Reuters
People flooded Foxconn Technology with résumés at a 2010 job fair in Henan Province, China.

 

Tagged with:  

From DSC:
Some items that caught my eye (so far) from CES 2012:

  • CES 2012: The convergence of TV and mobile platforms — from readwriteweb.com by Dan Rowinski
    …mobile operating systems are on a path to fundamentally change how content is delivered.
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  • Prepare yourself: Kinect is coming to Windows Feb. 1 — from Mashable.com by Sarah Kessler
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  • LG unveils giant 84″ TV with voice, gesture control — from Mashable.com by Samantha Murphy

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  • Introducing The MakerBot Replicator™
    January 10, 2012 (Brooklyn, NY) – MakerBot Industries is excited to announce the launch of its latest product, The MakerBot Replicator™, which will debut at CES in Las Vegas, NV on Tuesday, January 10th.  The MakerBot Replicator™ is the ultimate personal 3D printer, with MakerBot Dualstrusion™ (2-color printing) and a bigger printing footprint, giving you the superpower to print things BIG! Assembled in Brooklyn by skilled technicians, the MakerBot Replicator™ is ready within minutes to start printing right out of the box. Starting at $1749, The MakerBot Replicator™ is an affordable, open source 3D printer that is compact enough to sit on your desktop. Want to print in two colors? Choose the Dualstrusion™ option!
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  • USA Network taps Yap.tv for branded social TV app
    Yap.tv said the deal will make it the first independent social TV developer to create a custom-branded version of its app for the iPad and iPhone for a major network.??
    NEW YORK – NBCUniversal’s USA Network has partnered with Yap.tv, a maker of a social TV guide app for mobile devices, to launch a USA-branded app for its shows and fans as it and other channels continue to expand the use of social media to reach and engage viewers.
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  • Samsung unveils a motion-controlled TV and the U.S. Galaxy Note [PICS]— from Mashable.com by Sarah Kessler
    During its keynote address at CES on Monday, Samsung unveiled a connected TV with voice and gesture recognition, WiFi-enabled cameras and its thinnest ultrabook yet. It also introduced its Galaxy Note smartphone to the U.S. for the first time.

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  • Coincident announces ScreenSync TV Technology — from marketwatch.com
    New solution allows companies to create interactive experiences for viewers that synchronize their tablets with shows they are watching on their televisions
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    Also see:
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The Evolving Digital Ecosystem - from Moxie's Trends for 2012

  • The Always On Web
  • Web of Things
  • Big Data
  • Next Gen Search
  • Mobile Sharing
  • Mobile Social Activism
  • Impulse Commerce
  • Brands As Partners
  • The New Living Room  <– From DSC: This is one of those key areas that I’m trying to keep a pulse check on for re: our learning ecosystems of the future 
  • Personal Data Security

 

Also see:

 


From DSC:

  • Why do I post things like this? Because the infographic below relates to an emerging future and some developing trends whereby we’ll also be able to “Learn from the Living Room” at extremely affordable prices (if not free).

 


INFOGRAPHIC: Welcome to the Digital Living Room: How is the TV Landscape Changing?

 

 


Also see:

 

treehouse.com -- learn web design, web development, and iOS development

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Some colleges slow to prep education majors for how to teach online — by Jennifer Reeger

Excerpt:

“They’ve all grown up in the face-to-face classroom, and they come into teaching thinking that’s what they’re going to do,” said Ent, chairwoman of the education department. “When you say to them there’s a chance you’ll be doing online delivery, they’re shocked.”

A somewhat-related item:

  • Online classroom support pre-service teacher education from Learning in vivo by Thomas Groenewald
    Excerpt:

    Teaching is complex, requiring in excess of 3000 decisions each day in the classroom, reports Ferry and Kervin (2007). This poses serious challenges to pre-service teacher education, aggravated by the theoretical education often fail to prepare students for the practicalities of the classroom. Simulated (virtual) classrooms are seen as a means to prepare students for their future role as teachers.
    .
    Ferry and Kervin (2007: 190) reports that a team of five University of Wollongong lecturers and two research students work together for a year to produce a funding proposal. A further six months got devoted to plan the development of the simulation. The development of the simulation comprises a number of stages/processes:

TVs to become ‘communications hub’ expert claims — from t3.com by Luke Johnson
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Also see:

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Also see:

  • Smart TV is ready for the Apple television moment — from ComputerWorld.com by Jonny Evans
  • Voice Control Will Disrupt Living Room Electronics — from techpinions.com by Patrick Moorhead
    Excerpt:
    In what seems to be a routine in high-tech journalism and social media now is to speculate on what Apple will do next. The latest and greatest rumor is that Apple will develop an HDTV set. I wrote back in September that Apple should build a TV given the lousy experience and Apple’s ability to fix big user challenges. What hasn’t been talked about a lot is why voice command and control makes so much sense in home electronics and why it will dominate the living room. Its all about the content.

MIT launches online learning initiative –from MIT
‘MITx’ will offer courses online and make online learning tools freely available.

Excerpt:

MIT [on 12/19/11] announced the launch of an online learning initiative internally called “MITx.” MITx will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will:

  • organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
  • feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
  • allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by MITx
  • operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

Advancing the open front — from InsideHigherEd.com by Steve Kolowich

Excerpt:

Forget free content repositories; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wants to deliver “interactive” elite education to the masses, complete with credentials certifying “mastery” of MIT-grade coursework.

In the latest boon for the “open education” movement, the engineering mecca on Monday announced a new online learning initiative, called MITx, that will give anyone the opportunity to work through MIT course material and earn a certificate of achievement.

M.I.T. expands its free online courses — from the New York Times by Tamar Lewin

Excerpt:

While students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pay thousands of dollars for courses, the university will announce a new program on Monday allowing anyone anywhere to take M.I.T. courses online free of charge — and for the first time earn official certificates for demonstrating mastery of the subjects taught.

M.I.T. led the way to an era of online learning 10 years ago by posting course materials from almost all its classes. Its free OpenCourseWare now includes nearly 2,100 courses and has been used by more than 100 million people.

But the new “M.I.T.x” interactive online learning platform will go further, giving students access to online laboratories, self-assessments and student-to-student discussions.

 

© 2025 | Daniel Christian