February+27,+2013

=Worthy of Note: February 27, 2013=



In this issue ...
SREB News Competency-based Education Project-based Learning Online Learning MOOCs NMC Horizon Report State Authorization Update Teacher Effectiveness Professional Development BYOT Internet2 K-20 Initiative Digital Textbooks Quality Matters Metadata and Browsers Rushing to the Future 3D Printing Reshaping Higher Ed Cloud Computing Career Technical Education EdReady Predictive Analytics and Data North Carolina e-Learning Commission Resources Just Interesting

SREB News
// K-20 Virtual Teaching and Learning Symposium: Every Cloud Has a Virtual Lining // March 6-8, 2013 Featuring the presentation of the 2013 SREB/iNACOL National Online Teacher of the Year Award
 * SREB Educational Technology Cooperative **

Trends in State-Run Virtual Schools in the SREB Region //Holly Lynde, Research and Policy Coordinator, SREB Educational Technology Cooperative, February 2013 // This report — SREB’s seventh on the region’s state-run virtual schools — describes five trends that have emerged in these schools in the past three years. SREB states have been leaders in establishing state-run virtual schools and now are taking the lead in ensuring that all students have access to online learning, that students experience online learning before graduating from high school, that course providers provide quality instruction, and that sufficient and stable funding is available.

K-12 Access to Online Learning Grows in SREB States //SREB, Press Release, February 25, 2013 //

Competency-based Education (Symposium topic)
Re-Engineering Information Technology: Design Considerations for Competency Education //Liz Glowa, CompetencyWorks (iNACOL), February 2013 // //Re-Engineering Information Technology: Design Considerations for Competency Education // analyzes and examines components and elements of effective competency-based information systems. Based on interviews and research, the ideas in //Re-Engineering Information Technology // build upon the lessons learned in analyzing information systems developed by competency education innovators, best practices of systemic approaches to information management, and emerging opportunities. The paper is designed for readers to find those issues that are of most interest to them in their role and be used to catalyze strategies, support new competency-based instructional models, and inform decision making for continuous improvement. You can find more resources on the Competency-Based Pathways Wiki.

CompetencyWorks released a new paper today — Re-Engineering Information Technology: Design Considerations for Competency Education by Liz Glowa with an introductory essay from Susan Patrick. It’s chock full of information — so you’ll want to pick and choose the sections that are most important to your work. ** We hope you can join us at the follow-up webinar planned for February 28th 3-4 ET on the topic. ** You can register here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHBFUDMydk9NUVo1SWdsaFRzYjFxVGc6MA#gid=0
 * Webinar Announcement: **

New Report Outlines IT Requirements for Competency-Based Education //Leila Meyer, THE Journal, February 20, 2013 // CompetencyWorks and the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) have released a new report, Re-Engineering Information Technology: Design Considerations for Competency Education//, // which identifies the technological requirements for a competency-based education model.

According to the report, K-12 educational institutions need to revamp their information technology (IT) systems "to focus and report competency-based information of each student's demonstrated, true progress in real time." The report, which was based on interviews and research, defines competency-based education and its ideal characteristics, describes design considerations for IT systems that support competency-based education, discusses current practices and information systems in the context of competency-based education, and addresses new and developing IT systems for education. The report outlines four key requirements of new student-centered educational technologies: The report outlines four key requirements of new student-centered educational technologies:
 * IT systems that support student profiles and standards-based, personalized learning plans;
 * Collection of student-level data to enable analysis of the effectiveness of instructional approaches;
 * School accountability systems focused on progress in learning; and
 * IT enterprise architecture that supports integration of different teaching and learning systems.

Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Nora Priest, Antonia Rodenstine, Ephraim Weinstein, Published by Competency Works, November, 2012 // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This paper // highlights the work of ten schools participating in the Proficiency-Based Pathways Project (PBP). Led by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and developed to build broad understanding of the implementation of mastery-based approaches to teaching and learning, the PBP schools profiled in the report are located in rural, suburban, and inner-city regions in New England. You can find out more about the eleven schools at the Competency-based Pathways wiki including resources, links and tools.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What is Competency Based Learning? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Nicholas Donahue, NBC News, Education Nation, February 13, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“Competency-based education” is characterized by a flexible use of time that allows students to progress at their own pace and advance upon demonstration of mastery. What does this really mean? Nellie Mae Education Foundation President and NBC News CEO Nicholas C. Donohue illustrate the benefits of competency education. Schools that advance students based on mastery of skills, rather than seat time, build a foundation for lifelong learning and participation in an increasingly global world, he says.

Check out these articles on competency education (includes badges): The Next Big Disruptor – Competency-based Learning // Online Learning Insights, June 12, 2012 //

Online Educational Delivery Models: A Descriptive View // Phil Hill, EDUCAUSE Review, November 1, 2012 //

Digital Badging for Veterans // Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed, December 7, 2012 // ( Note : Paul Fain will be a presenter at the SREB ETC Symposium on Virtual Teaching and Learning)

Accreditation in a Rapidly Changing World // Paul LeBlanc, Inside Higher Ed, January 31, 2013 //

Project-based Learning
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Smithsonian Launches Quests Program To Encourage Discovery and Collaboration //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Kevin Hudson, THE Journal, February 13, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies has launched Smithsonian Quests, a digital badge program designed to foster project-based learning and inspire students to explore their own ideas and interests.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">To earn digital badges, students complete a series of online activities and submit their work for review by Smithsonian education experts. All quests engage students in exploring a topic of interest, either as part of a formal standards-aligned school curriculum or as a student-driven after school activity.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Activities offered include subjects such as creative writing, photography, oral histories, and graph-making. The cross-curricular, standards-aligned programs are intended to prepare students for college and future careers by incorporating knowledge and skill building into the quests, according to a Smithsonian release. Read more….

Online Learning
Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas // Di Xu & Shanna Smith Jaggars, CCRC, February 2003 // The Community College Research Center recently released the research report: "Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas." Here is their abstract: // Using a dataset containing nearly 500,000 courses taken by over 40,000 community and technical college students in Washington State, this study examines how well students adapt to the online environment in terms of their ability to persist and earn strong grades in online courses relative to their ability to do so in face-to-face courses. While all types of students in the study suffered decrements in performance in online courses, some struggled more than others to adapt: males, younger students, Black students, and students with lower grade point averages. In particular, students struggled in subject areas such as English and social science, which was due in part to negative peer effects in these online courses. //

Read Russ Poulin’s comments about this paper on his WCET blog.

The working paper expands on work from 2011 that found that students who enrolled in online courses -- controlling for various factors that tend to predict success -- were more likely to fail or drop out of the courses than were those who took the same courses in person. Notably, there was not a gap in completion between those enrolled in hybrid and in-person courses.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">WCET offers this observation of the report: The Significance of CCRC’s New Research on Online Ed

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Who Benefits From Online Ed? (Reference study above) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">//Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed, February 25, 2013// New data from a long-term study by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College suggest that some of the students most often targeted in online learning's access mission are less likely than their peers to benefit from -- and may in fact be hurt by -- digital as opposed to face-to-face instruction.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Trouble With Online College //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Opinion, New York Times, February 16, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online classes are already common in colleges, and, on the whole, the record is not encouraging. According to Columbia University’s Community College Research Center, for example, about seven million students — about a third of all those enrolled in college — are enrolled in what the center describes as traditional online courses. These typically have about 25 students and are run by professors who often have little interaction with students. Over all, the center has produced nine studies covering hundreds of thousands of classes in two states, Washington and Virginia. The picture the studies offer of the online revolution is distressing.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">States Struggle To Keep Online Schools Accountable (K-12) // Ben Wieder, Stateline.org, Center for Digital Education, February 22, 2013 // Online classes have exploded in popularity, with more than six times as many students enrolled in electronic K-12 courses now as compared to a decade ago, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Advocates say online classes offer a more flexible and personalized form of education, allowing students to progress at their own pace and on their own time. Supporters also tout online education as a way to dramatically expand course offerings, particularly at rural schools.

But the rapid growth of online education is raising concerns—especially as more for-profit companies launch online programs. While unscrupulous or incompetent online educators may be rare, there are enough of them that many states are considering ratcheting up their oversight.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Online Courses Could Widen Achievement Gaps Among Students //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jake New, Chronicle of Higher Ed, February 21, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Low-cost online courses could allow a more-diverse group of students to try college, but a new study suggests that such courses could also widen achievement gaps among students in different demographic groups.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The study, which is described in a working paper titled “Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas,” was conducted by Columbia University’s Community College Research Center.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Trends in State-Run Virtual Schools in the SREB Region //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Holly Lynde, Research and Policy Coordinator, SREB Educational Technology Cooperative, February 2013 // This report — SREB’s seventh on the region’s state-run virtual schools — describes five trends that have emerged in these schools in the past three years. SREB states have been leaders in establishing state-run virtual schools and now are taking the lead in ensuring that all students have access to online learning, that students experience online learning before graduating from high school, that course providers provide quality instruction, and that sufficient and stable funding is available.

MOOCs
Five Coursera classes now approved for college credit // Christina Farr, Venture Beat, February 6, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The American Council on Education, the leading umbrella group for higher education, and Coursera, a Silicon Valley provider of online education, announced on Wednesday that five Coursera offerings were similar enough to traditional college courses to be eligible for credit. About 2000 colleges and universities in the U.S. currently accept this form of ACE approved credit. The five courses approved today are four undergraduate credit courses: Students that complete one of these classes can request a transcript with credit recommendations. Credit is granted at the discretion of the institution.
 * Pre-calculus from the University of California, Irvine.
 * Introduction to Genetics and Evolution from Duke University.
 * Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach from Duke University.
 * Calculus: Single Variable from the University of Pennsylvania.
 * Algebra from the University of California, Irvine (but only as a vocational credit).

Big (MOOC) Data // Dayna Catropa, Inside Higher Ed, February 24, 2013 // By now it seems clear that MOOCs can generate vast quantities of data, from course completion rates, to assessments, to student experiences.

Duke University recently shared comprehensive data about its first MOOC, //Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach.// This was one of the five courses deemed worthy of undergraduate credit by the ACE, announced earlier this month. Course completion rates have gotten a lot of attention and Duke reported those in various ways. Read more…

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">JOLT is a peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication addressing the scholarly use of multimedia resources in online higher education. JOLT is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Vol. 9, No. 2, the June 2013 issue, will be a themed special issue on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The guest editors for that special issue are George Siemens (Athabasca University), Valerie Irvine (University of Victoria), and Jillianne Code (University of Victoria).

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Of MOOCs and Mousetraps //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Karen Head, The Chronicle of Higher Ed, February 21, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Collaboration is an important element, and since my last post, the instructional designers of three other MOOCs devoted to introductory composition have joined us to create a consortium to discuss best practices. Those MOOCs will also be offered this spring. Our discussions have highlighted our biggest challenge—finding an experienced MOOC instructional designer, or at least a platform specialist. As instructors continue to take the necessary risks to test this new pedagogical environment, colleges may not be able to meet the growing need for sophisticated support systems. In our case, we cannot wait, so we continue to make adjustments day by day.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The big misunderstanding about MOOCs //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Valerie Strauss, (quoted Larry Cuban) Washington Post, February 22, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Larry Cuban: Hard as it is for me to keep up with the spread of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in higher education and the sizable issues accompanying how they are organized, taught, and what students take away from the experience, I have learned a few things from taking one course (although I dropped out), listening to a panel of professors who taught online courses, and reading extensively pro- and anti- MOOCs commentaries. Here is what I have learned thus far.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">At least three groups of academics and entrepreneurs have emerged in debating the merits of MOOCs: Advocates, Skeptics, and Agnostics. Read more…

NMC Horizon Report
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">6 Emerging Technologies in Higher Ed (NMC Horizon Report) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Tanya Roscoria, Center for Digital Education, February 4, 2023 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">These are emerging technologies are recounted from the NMC Horizon Report > 2013 Higher Education Edition

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">SHEEO State Authorization Survey and Reports <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This is a comprehensive look at State Authorization from background to survey responses and agency responses by state.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Following is the final draft report: // Commission on Regulation of Postsecondary Distance Education; Draft Findings, Principles, and Recommendations // (February 2013) Download here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Stay up-to-date with information posted on the SREB Electronic Campus. The Pending Implementation of the Federal Regulations Impacting Distance Education and State Authorization.

This WCET site will provide further information.

Teacher Effectiveness (Symposium topic)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Effective Faculty Development through Strategies for Engagement and Satisfaction //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Baiyun Chen, Amy Sugar, and Sue Bauer, EDUCAUSE Review, September 5, 2013 //
 * To address exponential growth in online learning, the University of Central Florida expanded its faculty development program, focusing on offering more effective and efficient training in online instruction.
 * This case study evaluates the results: a redesigned course that focuses on increasing use of communication tools, collaboration, and efficiency.
 * In addition to meeting practical goals, the formative and summative evaluation results during the summer and fall pilots indicated a high level of satisfaction among faculty participants with the interaction/collaboration opportunities, concept application, and hands-on activities.

Professional Development
Learning in the 21st Century: Digital Experiences and Expectations of Tomorrow’s Teachers // Project Tomorrow, Speak Up // Since 2007, Project Tomorrow has collaborated with Blackboard Inc. to create a series of annual reports that focus on key trends in the use of technology to increase student achievement, teacher productivity and parental engagement. This new report, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“Learning in the 21st Century: Digital Experiences and Expectations of Tomorrow’s Teachers,” //is the latest in the series and provides new insights that will inform college and university based teacher preparation programs as well as the induction and professional development processes within K-12 schools and districts. Download the report here.

Expert View of Specialty Classroom Technologies // Center for Digital Education, February 15, 2013 // This FREE Special Report on Specialty Classroom Technologies from the Center for Digital Education examines how technology is boosting student engagement and transforming training in areas like STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math), research and supercomputing, and special education — providing educators with valuable tools to ensure all students have the critical skills needed to enter the future workforce prepared. The Special Report explores current and emerging laws, learning and professional development impacts and highlights steps toward achieving best practices. Download Whitepaper

BYOT
Deeper Thinking and Differentiated Learning in Forsyth County’s BYOT Program // Forsyth County's (GA) Successful BYOT Program // Forsyth County School System’s instructional technology program, including its nationally acclaimed bring your own technology (BYOT) program, centers around accelerating student learning through higher order thinking. As the district advances its transition from textbooks to digital content and adopts Common Core standards, digital learning resources that support classroom instruction and independent learning have become a must have for success. Download Case Study Now

Internet2 K-20 Initiative (Symposium topic)
Internet2 K-20 Initiative The National Internet2 K20 Initiative brings together Internet2 member institutions and innovators from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, libraries, and museums to extend new technologies, applications, middleware, and content to all educational sectors, as quickly and connectedly as possible. Please contact James Werle, director of the Internet2 K20 Initiative, for more information. Learn more...

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Internet 2 Research & Education Networks <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Regional and state networks, as principal aggregators of network traffic for the U.S. research and education community, play a critical role in the future of the national advanced research and education network infrastructure. Internet2 has established a membership category to ensure that state and regional networking organizations have appropriate recognition and involvement in Internet2, including associated membership benefits and representation in Internet2's governance structure. For more information, contact Linda Roos.

Digital Textbooks
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Schools confront digital textbook challenges //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Laura Devaney, eSchool News, February 27, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The federal Education Department has called for schools to use digital textbooks within the next five years, but what does that mean for school leaders?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">For one thing, it means figuring out how to deal with a number of challenges, including—but not limited to—ensuring equitable access, overcoming budget constraints, choosing preferred device and textbook platforms, and building infrastructure and capability.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In Part 1 of our series on digital textbooks, we looked at what textbooks are available to K-12 schools in digital format. Part 2 examines how a few forward-thinking districts are using these new instructional tools—while overcoming many hurdles in the process.

Quality Matters
The Quality Matters Publisher Rubric 2013 Edition <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Quality Matters Publisher Rubric has been created to address the need for a set of standards to guide the evaluation of online and blended publisher courses.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Download the Publisher Rubric Flier PDF. For more details, download the PowerPoint Overview presentation.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">What is the QM Program? Quality Matters (QM) is a faculty-centered, peer review process that is designed to certify the quality of online and blended courses. QM is a leader in quality assurance for online education and has received national recognition for its peer-based approach and continuous improvement in online education and student learning. QM subscribers include community and technical colleges, colleges and universities, K-12 schools and systems, and other academic institutions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">There are three primary components in the Quality Matters Program: The QM Rubric, the Peer Review Process and QM Professional Development. (Fee-based)

Metadata and Browsers
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Making Search Engines Work for Education Resources //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">John K. Waters, THE Journal, February 12, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative has a complicated name but a simple purpose: to make web searches more useful for students and teachers. Try this for information overload: Open your favorite browser, and in the search box type "multiplying fractions." In about a quarter of a second, you'll find yourself buried in more than 4 million results.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">For everyone involved in K-12 education, "It's overwhelming and frustrating and causes a negative online experience," says Dave Gladney, project manager for the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP). "Students and teachers struggle with it, and the creators of educational content get lost in it. What's needed is a commonly agreed-upon vocabulary for describing content for education search."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Gladney says that finding "a common metadata specification for marking up online content that is educational in nature" is the aim of the project he is managing, the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI).

Rushing to the Future
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Confirmed: Google Glass arrives in 2013, and under $1,500 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Eric Mack, CNET, February 22, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Regular people will be able to purchase Google Glass eyewear by the end of 2013 for less than $1,500, sources have confirmed to CNET. Hoping to carve out a new type of personal computing, Google shows off how to use its computerized eyewear to search, navigate, chat, and take photos. Your world through Google Glass (pictures)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">On Wednesday, Google took two significant steps toward selling Google Glass to the public: It released the first video showing the augmented-reality headset’s user interface, and it launched an essay contest of sorts inviting people to apply for its Google Glass Explorers program.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Your Next Computer Will Live on Your Arm //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sarah Mitroff, WIRED, February 25, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Forget about robots rising up against humans for world domination. In the future we’re all going to be robot-human hybrids with the help of wearable computers. We’ve already seen Google Glass, the search giant’s augmented-reality glasses, and now the latest Y Combinator startup to come out of stealth, Thalmic Labs, is giving us a wrist cuff that will one day control computers, smartphones, gaming consoles, and remote-control devices with simple hand gestures.

3D Printing
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">3D Printing Is a Game Changer //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Hugh Evans, T. Rowe Price Vice President, in The Atlantic // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The ability to print physical objects from data is transforming industries like medicine and aerospace--and soon you might be doing it at home. This is a good look at the evolution of 3D printing.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">5 Ways Schools Are Already Using 3D Printing //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Katie Lepi, edudemic, February 19, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In an unplanned series of sorts, we’re showcasing a couple of posts about the 2013 NMC/EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Horizon Report for Higher Education. We’ve already talked about the key trends in the report and some challenges we face in implementing education technology, so we’re ready to take a look at the six technologies highlighted in the report as being game-changers for education. We’ve already looked at MOOCs, tablet computing, gamification, and learning analytics. For the first part of the ‘third horizon’, (or entering mainstream use in four to five years), 3D printing tops the list. The Horizon Report identified a few early-adopter institutions that are ahead of the game and already putting 3D printing to use. We’ve linked to each of them below (along with the description provided in the report) so you can check out some of what the investigators saw as great examples.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How 3D Printing Will Revolutionize the Classroom <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This is an Infographic that depicts how this will impact the classroom. Learn how they work and why they are important to education.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The future of higher education: reshaping universities through 3D printing //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jason Hidalgo, engadget, October 19, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This detailed article features many photographs of items created by 3D printers…. all related to higher education settings.

Reshaping Higher Education
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Obama’s Bold Plan to Reshape American Higher Education //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Kevin Cary, The Chronicle of Higher Ed, February 13, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The significant policy initiatives were left for the supplemental document released afterward, in which the Obama administration proposed the biggest change in federal higher-education policy since at least the Higher Education Amendments of 1972.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Those laws created what would become the Pell Grant program for low-income students, which has grown to a $40-billion pillar of government support for higher learning. The Pell Grant is a voucher system—any eligible student can use the grant to pay tuition at any accredited college.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The key words in that sentence are “accredited” and “college.” There are lots of ways to learn, but Pell Grants can be used only to purchase learning from organizations that fit the model of colleges as we know them today. And who decides, legally, what a “college” is? Accreditors, a group of independent nonprofit organizations run by … colleges. By controlling access to Pell Grants, student loans, and other forms of financial aid, existing colleges determine the price, structure, and character of higher learning. Read more…

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Winds of Change: Higher Productivity in Higher Education //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Brandt Reed, Of That (blog), February 21, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Higher education in the United States is sandwiched between twin pressures, increasing societal needs and expectations on one side with flat or declining funding on the other. To meet this challenge, institutions will have to dramatically increase productivity. But traditional productivity boosts like large lecture halls, weed-out courses or greater admissions selectivity won’t be enough this time around. What’s required is fundamental change to the way we support learning. We need a more personalized approach. He offers some sound observations about societal needs and expectations, the funding landscape and personalized learning.

Cloud Computing (Symposium topic)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Cloud Computing To Make Up 35% of K-12 IT Budgets in 4 Years //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">David Nagel, THE Journal, February 19, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Within one year, cloud computing in K-12 schools is expected to consume a quarter of the entire IT budget; four years from now, that figure will grow to 35 percent. What's driving that growth?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">2013 State of the Cloud Report //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">CDW, February 13, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">CDW’s 2013 State of the Cloud Report surveyed IT professionals to explore what factors drive the shift to the cloud, what types of applications organizations are taking to the cloud and what benefits (beyond cost savings) they are achieving.

Small Colleges Take Giant Steps into the Cloud // Alicia Brazington, Campus Technology, February 6, 2013 // Small schools with limited IT resources are discovering that cloud-based services can give them a competitive edge.

Career Tech Education (Symposium topic)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Career Tech Testing Center (OK) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The CareerTech Testing Center (CTTC) works closely with instructors, program administrators, industry representatives, and credentialing entities to ensure skills standards and assessments reflect national standards and local industry needs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">CTTC develops and maintains over 140 skills standards and offers competency assessments for more than 135 occupations. The CareerTech Testing Center’s online competency assessment system delivers approximately 90,000 assessments per year.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Contact Kerry Eades, SREB Cooperative Member, for further information. Follow him at [|Kerry Eades@CareerTechTest]

Preparation for Tomorrow (Repeat from 02.28; Symposium topic) // SREB, High Schools That Work // "This is what modern career-tech education looks like."

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Preparation for Tomorrow //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> is the culmination of years of work in states around the country through the nation’s largest school improvement network here at SREB. The result is a turnkey pathway that includes everything a school needs to be sure it works, from curriculum to assessments to extensive training and support for teachers.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The goal: Students to master complex academic //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">and //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">technical concepts and graduate ready for as many options as possible in the workplace, technical colleges or universities.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">CTE <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Nationwide, Career Technical Education (CTE) programs are changing, evolving and innovating to better serve the country’s needs. CTE is preparing students of all ages to help drive America’s success and vitality. Further, it is creating an educational environment that integrates core academics with real-world relevance. CTE is leading this change, transforming expectations and making a difference for students, for secondary and postsecondary schools, for businesses and industry—for America.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Legislative Update: House Democrats Introduce Workforce Investment Act of 2013 (H.R. 798); House Republicans Release Proposals to Reauthorize Workforce Investment Act ( <span class="rssdate" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">posted on February 25, 2013)

EdReady (Symposium topic)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">EdReady //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Beyond Content, Monterey Institute of Technology and Education, October 18, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">EdReady is a new application that is designed to use assessments and other relevant data to drive personalized search and discovery of educational resources, especially OER. This application is being built and distributed by the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (MITE), and the initial release for EdReady is planned for next year (2013) and will focus on developmental math, helping students returning to college to be able to take credit-bearing courses.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Read about the NROC pilot of EdReady in spring 2013.

Predictive Analytics and Data (K-20) (Symposium topic)
Several articles were reported in Worthy of Note, February 14, 2013.

[|What is Predictive Analytics?] // Predictive Analytics Guide, Predictive Analytics World //

Predictive Analytics Presents: A Typical Day in 2020 // Eric Segal, Smart Data Collective, February 26, 2013 // Good morning. It's January 2, 2020, the first workday of the year. As you drive to the office, the only thing predictive analytics //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">doesn't // do for you is steer the car (yet that's coming soon as well). Interesting read…..

North Carolina e-Learning Commission (Symposium topic)
North Carolina e-Learning Commission North Carolina is a leader in eLearning and eLearningNC.gov pulls all of the links to the information together into one convenient spot. Follow these categories:

K-12 - From elementary to high school; to preparing for college or getting a GED. College - Take courses and pursue degrees without going to a traditional campus. Career - Links to online certification, licensing, and executive education programs.

Resources
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Adobe Re-Launches Online Community for Educators //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Tim Sohn, THE Journal, February 21, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Following a site analysis and evaluation of user feedback, Adobe has re-launched Education Exchange, its free online community for educators with new design, features, and social media capabilities.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Adobe Education Exchange, which was originally launched in 2010, currently has more than 75,000 members. The Exchange includes more than 4,000 online resources that can be browsed by subject, grade level (early childhood to post-secondary), and Adobe product. Members can also share resources.

New features in Adobe Education Exchange include:
 * Revamped workflow, design, and navigation for searching, sharing, and launching discussion forums;
 * Browsing of resources without logging in;
 * Social media functionality, including receiving notifications, sharing content on social networks, earning badges and points, and following of other members; and
 * Application programming interfaces that allow Exchange to integrate with other platforms.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">ToolZeit – Google Earth for Educators Site //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Fred Deventhal, EdReach, February 25, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Google Earth For Educators site is the go-to site for educators that want to learn how integrate using Google Earth into their classroom. Google Earth For Educators site makes it so teachers don’t have to wait for a workshop in order to learn how to use Google Earth with their students. The resources cover a wide range subject matters and grade levels. A teacher who uses the tutorials and tips will quickly gain the skills and confidence needed to find new ways that they can use Google Earth for student learning. EdReach gives this a highest rating of 5, and it is free.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">50 Little-Known Ways Google Docs Can Help In Education <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">We’ve discovered 50+ great tips for getting the most out of Google Docs with awesome ideas and tricks for collaboration, sharing, and staying productive.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Busy Person’s Guide To Social Media //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jeff Dunn, edudemic, February 24, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This may very well be the best guide to social media I’ve ever seen. It’s an organized and genius take on how to best harness the various social networks without spending your entire day doing so. It’s by Ernie Smith, Editor of ShortFormBlog, one of the more entertaining takes on daily news and events. I’m a big fan of the blog and encourage you to check it out. They get social media and, lucky for everyone else, you can ‘get’ social media too! Even if you’re super busy!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This infographic / handout / sheet is filled with tips for all social networks.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">100+ Google Tricks for Teachers //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Amber Johnson, TeachHub.com // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">It's Google's world, we're just teaching in it. From super-effective search tricks to Google tools specifically for education to tricks and tips for using Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, these tricks will surely save you some precious time.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[|7 Must Read Blogs for Teachers] //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Laura Bates, Fractus Learning, February 22, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">With blogging websites designed specifically to host educational blogs now boasting tens of thousands of accounts, the web is full of e-learning blogs, written by teachers, students and education companies. Here are some of the best…

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">And, of course there are many “best blogs.” Check here for numerous other recommended blogs.

Just Interesting
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Ten facts about K-12 students’ technology use //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">eSchool News, February 25, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">More than half of students in grades 6-8 now have access to a tablet computer—a percentage that has doubled since last year. And Twitter use has grown three-fold among high school students in the last year, with a third of high schoolers now using the popular micro-blogging service.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">These are a few of the results that the nonprofit Project Tomorrow has released from its annual Speak Up survey of students’ and parents’ technology use, as well as their attitudes and opinions about ed tech.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Views of Technology Differ Among Elementary, High School Educators //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sean Cavanagh, Ed Week, Digital Education, February 22, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Teachers and principals in elementary schools are more likely to see school leaders' competence in using technology as important than high school educators are, according to a new nationwide survey.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">That finding is just one of the nuggets included in the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, which was released this week and dissects the views of teachers and principals on a variety of topics, from their workloads to their satisfaction on the job. The widely publicized annual survey revealed frustration among school principals with the increasing complexity and stress associated with their jobs.

“A Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked” Watch this YouTube video to see how Corning's highly engineered glass technologies, will shape education and our world. Take a journey with the narrator for details of these technologies that will impact teaching, learning, and workforce development. This information will provide you with insight regarding many of the upcoming innovations for higher education, your campus and programs. (Thanks to Robbie Melton, Tennessee Board of Regents, for passing this on to WCET.)