student-related

High-stakes testing: Is it removing the enjoyment of teaching….and learning? If it is, I vote to lessen it’s importance.

On 09/22/2012, in assessment, career development, lifelong learning, love of learning, student-related, teachers, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
High-stakes testing: Is it removing the enjoyment ot teaching….and learning? I reflected on that question after I saw the item below:

From DSC:
I wonder:

How such high-stakes assessment systems are impacting incentive systems and funding? Are they changing the field of teaching?
How much standardized testing — and having to teach to such tests — is impacting teachers’ enjoyment of their careers?
How much standardized testing is impacting learners’ enjoyment of their educational experiences? If it’s killing the love of learning, I say we significantly lessen the importance that we place upon such standardized tests. One of the key deliverables that I think we need to strive for right now in education is that people enjoy learning and appreciate it — because the reality in today’s workplace is that they’ll need to be doing it for the rest of their lives:

Mind the (Skills) Gap –– from HBR by William D. Eggers, John Hagel and Owen Sanderson

Excerpt:

A bachelor’s degree used to provide enough basic training to last a career. Yet today, the skills college graduates acquire during college have an expected shelf life of only five years according to extensive work we’ve done in conjunction with Deloitte’s Shift Index. The key takeaway? The lessons learned in school can become outdated long before student loans are paid off.

And it’s not only white-collar, college-driven careers that will suffer rapid skills obsolescence. Think of how new metering systems and motion sensors suddenly require highly technical skills from contractors, plumbers and electricians. Or how welders working on wind turbines now need specialized degrees and the ability to read CAD blueprints or LEED certification requirements.

…

Tagged with: assessment • career development • Lifelong learning • love of learning • standardized testing • student-related • teachers • workplace

Latitude looking to kids for technology innovation [Doyle]

On 09/20/2012, in change, education technology, emerging technologies, expectations, future, generational differences, innovation, K-12 related, participation, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Latitude looking to kids for technology innovation — from technapex.com by Caity Doyle

Excerpt:

On their website, Latitude explains why they made the interesting choice to reach out to children for new ideas in technology:

Young people shouldn’t be merely passive recipients of media and technology, as they’re often thought to be — rather, they should be active participants in imagining and creating the future of the Web. Why? Because “digital natives” have a more intuitive relationship with new technologies than many adults have, and because they have different expectations about technology. They instinctively expect it to respond to them in very human-like ways — to motivate and empower them, often serving as a sort of companion, rather than merely a tool for solving specific problems.

Tagged with: change • educational technology • engagement • generational differences • innovation • K-12 • participation • student expectations • student-related

Swift: A player to speed up, slow down, or download video and audio from your favorite websites

On 09/20/2012, in digital audio, digital learning, digital video, student-related, tools, by Daniel Christian

— Again, with thanks going out to
Mr. Joseph Byerwalter for this resource/find

Tagged with: digital audio • digital learning • digital video • lecture recording • student-related • tools

Should the owners of the “WEtakeyourclass.com” website go to jail? And other questions that come to my mind.

On 09/18/2012, in ethics, face-to-face, hearts -- matters of the heart, online learning, policy, strategy, student-related, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The wetakeyourclass.com website below is very disturbing in terms of the questions it raises — though such questions and activities are certainly not limited to what occurs in the online classroom, as evidenced by The Shadow Scholar (from The Chronicle by Ed Dante) where a man confessed to writing ~5,000 scholarly papers for students, including grad students.

Questions:

Should the owners of this site go to jail? Or is this just capitalism gone awry?
Does this business make a profit? If so, why and what does that say?
Is this type of thing happening for just a handful of people out there? How would we know? Can the turnitin.com’s of the world detect/stop this?
If their services are in demand, should that inform or influence any differences in the strategies or pedagogies we utilize within higher education? Do we need to re-evaluate what’s really being achieved and not achieved? That is, if employers didn’t look to a college degree, would students come to learn anyway or would they be gone by morning?
What, if anything, does it say about students’ ethics? Matters of the heart?

Look at some of the “services,” “benefits,” and messages being offered therein:

We take your online classes for you and you get an A
Underlying message: We’ll help you get that piece of paper so you can move on to what really counts. (Don’t worry about not knowing anything…you won’t have to prove yourself later on…and never mind about your work ethic, this is a one-time-cutting-the-corners type of decision, right? Isn’t it? Isn’t it?!)
Life is too short to spend on classes you have no interest in
Give us a deadline and we will meet it!
Underlying message: Corporations outsource many things, why shouldn’t you? (Never mind that learning should be your core business and should not be outsourced.)

How about you all, what are some questions that this type of thing raises in your minds?

Tagged with: ethics • face-to-face • hearts -- matters of the heart • higher education • online learning • plagiarism • policy • strategy • student-related

Tagged with: career development • strategy • student-related

Debt collectors cashing in on student loans [Martin]

On 09/10/2012, in budgets, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

Debt collectors cashing in on student loans — from the New York Times by Andrew Martin

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

…many borrowers are struggling to pay off their student loans, and the debt collection industry is cashing in.

As the number of people taking out government-backed student loans has exploded, so has the number who have fallen at least 12 months behind in making payments — about 5.9 million people nationwide, up about a third in the last five years.

In all, nearly one in every six borrowers with a loan balance is in default. The amount of defaulted loans — $76 billion — is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities, according to a survey of state education officials.

In an attempt to recover money on the defaulted loans, the Education Department paid more than $1.4 billion last fiscal year to collection agencies and other groups to hunt down defaulters.

From DSC:
Administrators throughout the country need to ask, how can we cut the price of our degrees by 50% or more? No kidding! I realize that sounds crazy, but if we don’t do this, cheaper — and increasingly attractive/convenient — alternatives will continue to develop. The conversation is not moving in a positive direction folks. There is a limit to people’s incomes and patience here.

Tagged with: budgetary • cost of getting an education • dangers of the status quo • Daniel S. Christian • future of higher education • game-changing environment • reinvent • society • staying relevant • student-related • United States • Walmart of Education

Transform education by measuring what matters. Hint: It’s not test scores. [Nielsen]

On 08/31/2012, in assessment, change, education reform, K-12 related, passions, personalized/customized learning, student-related, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Transform education by measuring what matters. Hint: It’s not test scores. — from the Innovative Educator by Lisa Nielsen

Excerpts:

What if instead we measured success in things that really mattered to students, parents and teachers. For example…

Students have:

A plan to find and develop their passion(s).

A team of mentors, guidance, and/or advisors to help guide them in discovery and development of their passions.

Customized success plans that they help design.

Advisors who are deeply involved in and responsible for their lives and their success.

An opportunity to learn about what they are interested in the world with real world experts.

Reported they are satisfied with support they receive from the school.

An authentic portfolio that can be used for career, academic, or civic pursuits.

…

If we work to move the conversation to measuring success by meeting our student’s personal goals in college, career, and/or life experiences we accomplish these goals:

Instead of teaching to the test we teach to the student.

Billions of dollars are restored toward resources for students.

Schools are held accountable, not for test scores, but for placement in what matters: college, career, and/or civic duty.

Tagged with: assessment • civics • customized learning • K-12 • passions • personalized learning • student-related • Using teams

The Siege of Academe [Carey]

On 08/30/2012, in corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, entrepreneurship, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

The ongoing carnage in the newspaper industry provides an object lesson of what can happen when a long-established, information-focused industry’s business model is challenged by low-price competitors online. The disruptive power of information technology may be our best hope for curing the chronic college cost disease that is driving a growing number of students into ruinous debt or out of higher education altogether. It may also be an existential threat to institutions that have long played a crucial role in American life.

From DSC:
If higher ed doesn’t respond more forcefully/significantly to the perfect storm it finds itself in, people will find other ways of getting employed and staying employed. The conversation continues to move away from institutions of traditional higher education (here’s but one example). Control is an illusion.

Tagged with: corporate / business world • cost of getting an education • dangers of the status quo • Daniel S. Christian • disruption • educational technology • entrepreneurship • future of higher education • game-changing environment • higher education • innovation • new business models in he • perfect storm • reinvent • staying relevant • student-related • vendors • Walmart of Education

Come again? Do you still assert that higher ed isn’t a business?

On 08/28/2012, in business side of he, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, higher education, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Universities report $1.4-billion in earnings on inventions in 2011 — from The Chronicle by Goldie Blumenstyk

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Universities and their inventors earned more than $1.4-billion from commercializing their academic research in the 2011 fiscal year, collecting royalties from new breeds of wheat, from a new drug for the treatment of HIV, and from longstanding arrangements over enduring products like Gatorade.

Northwestern University earned the most of any institution reporting, with more than $191-million in licensing income.

From DSC:
That sounds about right…my alma mater (NU) going for the cash — rewarding research(ers), while not putting enough resources and consideration towards whether these researchers can actually teach. I wonder how much these researchers are being paid per year…? Probably some serious paychecks are involved here. How do those high salaries impact the cost of tuition? BTW, NU currently charges ~$65,000 a year. Are students’ interests really being served here? But who really cares, right? As long as the NU brand buys them access to high-paying careers…

Tagged with: business side of he • cost of getting an education • Daniel S. Christian • higher education • student-related

What students want to do vs. the jobs the economy has to offer [anniemurphypaul.com]

On 08/27/2012, in career development, higher education, K-12 related, student-related, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What students want to do vs. the jobs the economy has to offer — froom anniemurphypaul.com

Excerpt:

What happens when students want to learn is different from what the economy wants them to do? Should students (and their parents) even pay attention to such projections, since the needs of the workplace seem to be changing so fast?

Tagged with: career development • higher education • K-12 • student-related • workplace

An open letter to students: You’re the game changer in next-generation learning [Milliron]

On 08/16/2012, in 21st century, education reform, game-changing environment, reinvent, student-related, by Daniel Christian

An open letter to students: You’re the game changer in next-generation learning — from educause by Mark David Milliron

Excerpt:

I say that because the most-needed voice in this conversation is not ours. We in the ed-tech world have been talking, visioning, and showcasing innovation for decades. Based on the results to date, I don’t think our voice is enough. I’ve come to the conclusion that the voice that will push real change is yours. Indeed, if you—the students—are willing to accept a set of key educational responsibilities as you stand up for your core educational rights, you might be the real game changer we need in catalyzing next-generation learning.

Tagged with: 21st century • education reform • game-changing environment • reinvent • student-related

Tagged with: higher education • online learning • student-related

Tagged with: career development • student-related • workplace

Bonjour gateways — from Aerohive, Cisco, and Aruba Networks [regards AirPlay mirroring situation for classrooms, boardrooms]

On 07/24/2012, in Apple, Bring your own device (BYOD), corporate / business world, expectations, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning spaces, smart classrooms, student-related, tablets, by Daniel Christian

Aerohive ships Bonjour Gateway, an Apple mobile device management enrollment solution and 2 new 802.11n Access Points — from marketwatch.com

Excerpt:

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jul 23, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Aerohive Networks, the pioneer in controller-less Wi-Fi and cloud-enabled enterprise networking, today announced the general availability of its HiveOS 5.1 and HiveManager 5.1. These new upgraded systems provide several significant enhancements including Bonjour Gateway and recently announced JAMF Software Mobile Device Management (MDM) integration for more granular control and management of customers’ BYOD dilemma and advanced reporting dashboards to help reduce troubleshooting.
In addition to the release of 5.1, Aerohive is delivering two new 802.11n access points (APs): AP121 and AP141. Designed to provide greater throughput and coverage, these two new APs are offered at a cost-effective price point ideal for education, healthcare, retail and distributed enterprise environments.

Cisco to unveil Apple Bonjour gateway for enterprise WiFi networks — from techworld.com by John Cox
Cisco joins rivals in giving Apple’s discovery protocol enterprise behaviours

Excerpt:

[July 24] Cisco plans to add code to its wireless LAN controllers to make Apple’s Bonjour-based technologies like AirPlay and AirPrint better behaved on enterprise networks. The code will turn the controller into a Bonjour gateway, and couple this with policy-based end user privileges. For users, this will mean that Apple clients will be able to find and access network-attached AirPrint printers, Apple TVs and the like on different subnets, so everything will just work as it does on their own home networks. A second expected result will be a big decrease in the amount of Bonjour-based discovery traffic that today is putting a heavy load on enterprise nets teeming with Apples MacBook laptops, iPhones, iPads and more.

ARUBA AIRGROUP™: Get your Wi-FI ready for AirPrint and AirPlay

Making AirPlay, AirPrint work in large scale WLANs — from community.arubanetworks.com by genieki
.

Screen Shot 2012-03-22 at 5.13.34 AM.png

From DSC:
I hope to use these sorts of tools to enable students to seamless contribute content to the classroom-based discussions. However, this IT-related item is not just relevant to the K-12 and higher ed worlds, but also to the corporate world as well.
.

Tagged with: Apple • Bring your own device (BYOD) • corporate / business world • interactivity • iPad • iPhone • IT • K-12 • learning spaces • smart classrooms • student expectations • student-related • tablets • vendors • Wireless

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