8 MOOCs for Better Technology-Enhanced Teaching - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

These free courses will help update your skills with blended, OER, Universal Design and more. Let 2016 be the year you revamp your understanding of technology-enhanced teaching or add a new skill for helping students learn. We've culled through hundreds of massive open online courses (MOOCs) that are starting in or after February 2016 to identify seven free courses for fine-tuning the instructional practices in your classrooms. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/02/10/8-moocs-for-better-technology-enhanced-teaching.aspx

Video Chat Your Way Into College: How Tech Is Changing The Admissions Process - Anya Kamenetz, NPR

Two new companies, Kira Academic and YouVisit, market novel applications of technology to colleges that want to find the best overseas students and vice versa. Kira Academic is a video-based real time admissions platform that works like a virtual interviewing tool. The company saw the potential market in higher education, and it now works with 140 universities around the world. Kira works with colleges to come up with a specific battery of questions. YouVisit produces video-based virtual reality "tours" of hotels, travel destinations and colleges, including Harvard and Yale. Shot in high-definition video, the VR tours give students the opportunity to explore a campus while feeling as if they're really there. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/02/10/465583808/video-chat-your-way-into-college-how-tech-is-changing-the-admissions-process

The major momentum behind micro-credentials - JENNIFER KABAKER, eSchool News

Over the past two years, Digital Promise has been building an ecosystem of micro-credentials to provide competency-based recognition for the skills educators develop throughout their careers in both formal and informal contexts. Supported by the Open Badge Standard (developed by Mozilla) and digital badging technology, these micro-credentials provide educators with concrete validation of their learning that can be used as a type of currency in professional learning. To earn a micro-credential, an educator can select either a single micro-credential or a stack that is aligned with his or her interests or students’ needs, collect the required evidence to demonstrate competency, and submit it online for assessment. An assessor will download the video, and evaluate it through the publicly available rubric. http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/02/16/the-major-momentum-behind-micro-credentials/

Chicago State University Sends Layoff Notices To All Employees - CBS Chicago News

With state funding cut off due to the ongoing budget impasse, Chicago State University has announced all 900 employees, including the university president, are receiving layoff notices. CSU President Thomas Calhoun Jr. said the university has reached a point where it can’t continue to function as it has since the school year began last fall, so layoff notices have been sent to all faculty, staff, and administrators. Chicago State and the other eight public universities in Illinois have not received any state funding for the past eight months, as Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois lawmakers have yet to agree on a budget for the current fiscal year. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/02/26/chicago-state-university-sends-layoff-notices-to-all-employees/

Is the Traditional College Education an Endangered Species? - Knowledge@Wharton

Would employers ever come to accept micro-credentials — individual certificates of digital accomplishment — in place of a bachelor’s or master’s degree? “Large employers are looking at these credentials as a way to either promote people or hire people,” Agarwal responded. He noted that edX has collaborated with organizations such as Aspiring Minds, an Indian company that connects learners to employment. Plus, he said, MIT is in discussion with a number of employers who are interested in the idea of a “micro-master’s” credential. He said that to truly alter the educational and employment ecosystem, edX would need to increase its successes, demonstrate that the course quality was good and show that learners were “learning about the same, or more, or close enough to what they would get in a campus education…. Once the press begins talking about it, and cost pressures continue beating up on everybody, I think there is a path forward.” http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-the-traditional-college-education-an-endangered-species/

Coursera Adds Mentors, Project-Based Courses to Online Offerings - EdSurge

Coursera began offering mentors for 10 of its courses, Class Central reports. For $248, students can receive 1:1 feedback, email and forum support, and live weekly “office hours" with mentors—professionals from industries relevant to each course. While companies including Udacity and General Assembly have offered mentor-guided courses for years, the space is mostly new for Coursera, whose other guided-course initiative (a peer-to-peer tutoring pilot in 2014) was short-lived. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-02-19-coursera-adds-mentors-project-based-courses-to-online-offerings

How to Make the Most of Online Learning - Demetra Katsifli, CMI

CMI chief executive Ann Francke said: “Many employers need to rethink how they go about helping their managers learn new skills. Just dumping textbooks onto smartphones is a dumb way to upskill managers. Managers want personalised bite-size content, to share knowledge and learn from connected peer networks, to ask questions and get feedback in real time. Why? Because it’s now part of how we work and live.” Today, online distance learning is no longer a poor cousin of the classroom. In fact, recent research has shown that people taking online courses are developing additional skills ¬– such as discipline, focus, accountability and troubleshooting – precisely because this method of learning requires them to be more organised and manage their own educational experience. A key feature of online distance learning is that the students are at the centre of the learning process and they have to take a more proactive role. http://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2016/february/how-to-make-the-most-of-online-learning

Thousands of Refugees to Receive College Credit Online through edX Partnership with Kiron - edX

As part of a joint effort to improve the lives of thousands of newly arrived Syrian and other refugees in Europe, edX today announced a partnership with Kiron that offers a pathway to earn free college credit. The collaboration, which begins April 2016, will provide online learning opportunities for thousands of current and new Kiron students who seek better lives after escaping Syria and other war-torn countries. Kiron, whose mission is to enable access to free higher education for refugees, independent of national and/or personal and financial situations, will integrate 300 edX courses into its learning platform. EdX will issue free verified certificates for specific courses, translating to college credit with Kiron's university campus partners. The full slate of offerings will include introductory as well as university-level specialty courses. http://news.sys-con.com/node/3684967

Columbia creates new administrative position for online education, expands online programming - JESSICA SPITZ, Columbia Spectator

Sandesh Tuladhar will work to centralize efforts to incorporate online education across the University as the new director of online education. Various forms of online education have been present at Columbia for years, including massive open online courses, certification programs, and “flipped” classrooms, which incorporate online resources into a course’s curriculum. However, with the recent creation of a new position for a Director of Online Education and the opening of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Columbia looks to expand the scale of online educational programming even further. http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2016/02/18/university-hires-first-director-online-education-online-education-efforts-rapidly

Students compare online, on-campus classes - Sophia Oswald, WASHBURN REVIEW

Whether or not you prefer online courses or taking a class in person depends on who you are and how you learn. There are many advantages to both types and the preference really depends on each individual student. When students decide to learn in the classroom, they are able to learn face-to-face and can ask questions as soon as they get stumped. These can be difficult for some people because you have to be on campus and are responsible for being there at a certain time. When students decide to enroll in an online course, they aren’t required to be in a class at a certain time and they don’t have to commute to be there. This type of course can help people who work a lot and have tight schedules. http://www.washburnreview.org/opinion/students-compare-online-on-campus-classes/article_e01c0d60-cec1-11e5-ba95-f391fa677f4c.html

Higher ed 'revolution' hard to predict, but on the way - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

While it’s hard to say when higher education will be on the other side of a major shift and what, exactly, it will look like then, Richard DeMillo, Georgia Tech computing professor and author of "Revolution in Higher Education: How a Small Band of Innovators Will Make College Accessible and Affordable," believes the ‘revolution’ is inevitable. Campus Technology reports that DeMillo sees a major shift toward online programming and digital technology to better serve students at colleges and universities across the country, both the well-known and more obscure. A reimagined Physics 101 course at Georgia Tech replaced overcrowded labs with videos, made by students who go out into the world to conduct experiments and then report back, creating an entirely new experience for students — not simply an online version that doesn’t have space limitations. http://www.educationdive.com/news/higher-ed-revolution-hard-to-predict-but-on-the-way/414114/

Explore the Pros, Cons of Gamification in Online Education - Jordan Friedman, US News

To keep students engaged, some faculty incorporate game-design elements into online classes. For gamification to be effective, students need to view it as a serious form of learning, experts say. In his online course on ethical decision-making, Greg Andres, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Waterloo in Canada, has students compete for the top spot on the class' leader board. As they answer questions about how they would respond to various ethical dilemmas, they receive a certain number of points depending on how Andres views their responses in a given context. The goal is "to make course concepts concrete – here's how it actually plays out in real life," Andres says. Andres' class is an example of gamification, a term that generally refers to the implementation of different game-design elements – such as competition or the earning of points or badges – into various settings. http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2016-02-17/explore-the-pros-cons-of-gamification-in-online-education

Collecting the right data isn't enough — colleges must know how to use it - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Data collection around student performance has exploded in recent years, and many schools have figured out how to use the data to improve retention rates, make advising more efficient, strengthen classroom pedagogy, and offer the right services to meet student needs. But still, Jeff Ralyea, senior vice president of product management at Ellucian, sees that many campuses are lost. “What we have found is that the schools, even if they have the data, they just don’t know where to start in terms of using the data,” Ralyea said. Ellucian has been working on a set of guided analytics solutions that use heuristics to “teach” the program to anticipate desired analyses based on prior searches and user profiles. The higher education software and services company sees a strong desire for data-driven decision-making among its client institutions. This software makes it possible for a wider range of people to interpret the data in ways that can be meaningful for the organization. http://www.educationdive.com/news/collecting-the-right-data-isnt-enough-colleges-must-know-how-to-use-it/414040/

Proposed Overtime Rules May Have Big Impact on Higher Ed - Ellen Wexler, Inside Higher Ed

The Obama administration's proposed rules would extend overtime protections to millions -- including many postdocs and other employees in higher ed. Would the plan provide overdue relief or be a financial disaster for colleges and universities? President Obama has announced a proposal that would raise the salary threshold to exemption from overtime $50,440. If the change goes through, white-collar workers making less than $50,440 will be guaranteed overtime pay if they put in more than 40 hours a week. In higher education, the change would reclassify thousands of workers across the country. Colleges would be required to pay these professionals for any time worked over 40 hours a week -- or else raise their salaries significantly to get over $50,440. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/25/what-does-department-labors-overtime-rule-mean-higher-education

Teaching and Learning and IT Issues: Exploring the Intersections - Veronica Diaz and Malcolm Brown, EDUCAUSE Review

Optimizing Educational Technology, #2 on the EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues list, closely aligns with several of the ELI Key Issues. Faculty development (ELI Key Issue #1) is about improving practice and enabling faculty members to support learning with the effective use of technology. Academic transformation (ELI Key Issue #2) is about using information technology creatively to support new teaching and learning models. Learning analytics (ELI Key Issue #5) refers to studying data about learners and their contexts in order to understand and optimize learning and the environments where it occurs. Finally, working with emerging technology (ELI Key Issue #3) is about having an ongoing awareness of innovations, developing an effective process by which to discover them, utilizing pilots, and considering full-scale implementation. http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/1/teaching-and-learning-and-it-issues-exploring-the-intersections

Finding Our Voice: Instructional Designers in Higher Education - Sandra L. Miller and Gayle K. Stein, EDUCAUSE Review

A New Jersey workshop on instructional design gave attendees the opportunity to learn about instructional designers' roles at different institutions and brainstorm good ideas, tips and tricks, important contributions to the field, and how to overcome shared challenges. Instructional technologists and video production coordinators also are involved in the instructional design process, helping faculty learn how to use instructional tools. A major challenge for instructional designers is faculty resistance to new pedagogies and deliveries — not just to hybrid and online courses. Institutional acknowledgement of skill acquisition in their professional development can lead faculty to place a higher value on technology integration in teaching and learning. http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/2/finding-our-voice-instructional-designers-in-higher-education

Study suggests acceptance of online education still lags among high school students - Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

Most college-bound high school students are concerned about the quality of online education, but many say they are open to the idea of taking some of their courses online, a new study shows. Russell Poulin, director of policy and analysis at the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), criticized the authors of the study for designing it around “preconceptions” about online education. Their analysis, he said in an email, reinforces the presumption that high school students aren’t interested in studying online. “Since when is 43 percent of the students equated with ‘almost no interest’?” Poulin wrote, referring to the surveyed students who said they were interested in taking a few, half or most of their courses online. The undecided students, he added, shouldn’t be assumed to be negative toward online education. “Perhaps they would be interested if they try it?” he wrote. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/17/study-suggests-high-school-students-hold-negative-views-online-education

National Student Clearninghouse Research Center Reports on College Completion

Nationally, the college completion rate for students who started in four-year public institutions declined from 2008 to 2009 by 1.7 percentage points, dropping to 61.2 percent from 62.9 percent. In 15 states, the direction of the change in the college completion rate was actually positive including four states (California, Connecticut, Iowa, and South Carolina) where the college completion rate for students who started in four-year public institutions increased by 1 to 2 percentage points. This report was supported by a grant from the Lumina Foundation. Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis-based private foundation, is committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college — especially 21st century students: low-income students, students of color, first-generation students and adult learners. (Much more detail at the link below) https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport10-statesupplement/

MIT, Boeing, NASA, and edX to launch online architecture and systems engineering program - MIT Office of Digital Learning

MIT is collaborating with Boeing and NASA to develop a four-part online, certificate-based program: “Architecture and Systems Engineering: Models and Methods to Manage Complex Systems.” The program aims to ensure that the engineering workforce has continual training and access to the latest knowledge and methods to design and develop products in a rapidly changing environment. The four courses, which will be delivered by MIT Professional Education via the edX platform, will marry the research and knowledge of MIT’s world-renowned faculty with lessons and case studies in industry and government from Boeing and NASA professionals. http://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-boeing-nasa-edx-launch-online-architecture-systems-engineering-program-0216

Online learning makes Brown accessible to all - Editorial Board, Brown Daily Herald

Brown’s decision this year to open up eight for-credit, online summer courses comes as general interest in online education — including the Massive Open Online Courses that Brown had previously heralded as the future of education — has begun to wane. While the public discourse surrounding Coursera and edX — sites that allow anyone to watch lectures, participate in chat room sections and access course readings — has given way to broader discussions of tuition, affordability and debt, the expansion of Brown’s online summer courses offers a new entry point to examine the technological developments taking place in higher education. http://www.browndailyherald.com/2016/02/16/editorial-online-learning-makes-brown-accessible-to-all/

Penn State to open Intellectual Property Clinic - Shawn Annarelli, Centre Daily Times

Penn State Law is tentatively scheduled to open the Intellectual Property Clinic in the fall of 2016. Students in the clinic will work with those in the Penn State Law Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic, which launched in the fall of 2015. The clinics, according to the university, are expected to play a large role in Invent Penn State, a $30-million economic development initiative aimed at turning ideas at Penn State into business ventures. The university sees clinics like the IPC as a key component of the initiative. http://www.ecampusnews.com/business-news/psu-intellectual-property-528/

WCET Distance Education Enrollment Report 2016 - WCET

Based on data accumulated by the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) surveys from the Fall of 2014, the WCET Distance Education Enrollment Report 2016 highlights differences by sector, graduate vs. undergraduate study, student location, and by the number of institutions educating students at a distance. Our aim is to enlighten readers about the current state of the industry through graphs, data tables, observations, and commentary based on our insights. http://wcet.wiche.edu/initiatives/research/WCET-Distance-Education-Enrollment-Report-2016

Coursera launches project-based courses - eCampus News

Students can create a business model, infographic, Android app, or comic book in applied project-based courses. In a Feb. 11 blog post, Coursera announced it is offering 12 new project-based courses in topics from persuasive writing to computer construction. The blog post references research showing that tackling real-life challenges is a powerful way to master new content, improve general problem-solving abilities, and prepare for increasingly difficult tasks. In a project-based course, students can master content efficiently by applying new concepts to a real-world project as they learn, the blog post explains. Students will receive guidance and suggestions from an instructor and a community of learners with similar goals, and when they complete the course, they’ll have a finished project to use and share. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/project-based-courses-476/

People who don't spend 5 hours a week online learning will make themselves obsolete, says AT&T CEO - Biz Carson, Business Insider

Faced with competition from not just from Verizon and Sprint, but also Google and Amazon, the telecommunications giant is working aggressively to make sure its employees catch up and get ahead of the changing technology of the times. Its CEO and Chairman, Randall Stephenson, isn't afraid to mince words about will happen if his employees don't. In an interview with the New York Times, Stephenson said those who don't spend five to 10 hours a week learning online "will obsolete themselves with technology." "There is a need to retool yourself, and you should not expect to stop," Stephenson told the Times. http://www.businessinsider.com/people-who-dont-spend-5-hours-a-week-online-learning-will-make-themselves-obsolete-says-att-ceo-2016-2

What should MOOC quality standards look like? - Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Research delves into issues when trying to gauge instructional and design quality in MOOCs for credit. As more institutions consider offering MOOCs for credit, often the MOOCs provided by third-party platforms, researchers say it’s imperative to gauge instructional and design effectiveness…but how, and with what quality standards? These are the main questions posited by Patrick Lowenthal, assistant professor at the Educational Technology College of Education at Boise State University; and Dr. Charles Hodges, associate professor of Leadership, Technology & Human Development at Georgia Southern University, in their research study on trying to measure the quality of MOOCs. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/mooc-quality-standards-716/

A religion course for the Internet age - Brett Milano, Harvard

Harvard Divinity School senior lecturer Diane Moore has modest goals for her upcoming online course, “World Religions Through Their Scripture.” The course, which launches this spring, will bring together Harvard’s leading scholars in the world’s major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. As a HarvardX MOOC (massive open online course), it was designed to attract an international, multicultural audience. Moore, a senior lecturer on religious studies and education, a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, and director of the Religious Literacy Project, has long been an advocate of “religious literacy,” meaning an understanding of how religion works in its cultural and political contexts. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/02/a-religion-course-for-the-internet-age/

UF's online-only students find early success - Gabrielle Russon, Orlando Sentinel

Emily Long refuses to stay in her apartment all day, even though she won't physically go to class until she is halfway through her bachelor's degree at the University of Florida. "I'm like never home," says Long, who rents an apartment 15 minutes from campus. "That's a good thing." Her friend Ethan Cassidy sometimes can't shake the notion that he is missing out as he takes his online courses. To combat that, he has found friends whose paths to UF are similar. Cassidy and Long are among the 235 students in the second semester of their freshmen year under a new UF program that was criticized when it was announced a year ago. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-uf-online-only-student-20160212-story.html

New Textbook Liberation Fund Will Help Faculty Ditch High-Priced Textbooks - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

A new Textbook Liberation Fund offers grants for "faculty members or departments who want to transition their courses away from high-priced textbooks." The $500,000 fund was launched today by Skyepack, the digital publishing platform for open educational resources (OER), with the goal of saving college students $1 billion. "We believe students deserve cost-effective and simple alternatives to the textbook ecosystem most of us are familiar with," said Skyepack Chief Executive Officer Brady Kalb in a press release. "Getting your books or course required reading shouldn't necessitate a student loan." https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/02/10/new-textbook-liberation-fund-will-help-faculty-ditch-high-priced-textbooks.aspx

Youngsters have changed, education system has not: Anant Agarwal, edX CEO - Noah DMello, CIO India

Technology has disrupted almost all sectors, but it has stayed away from education, said Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX on the third day of NASSCOM 2016. “Education has remained in our classrooms and it hasn’t evolved from there. Technology has not touched this space,” he said. edX, which is a not-for-profit massive open online course (MOOC) provider and runs on open source software, is one of the few companies that has disrupted the way education is being dealt with, he said. He also said that futuristic technologies such as artificial intelligence are bringing disruption to education. “From customizing courses for students to grading essays, technology is redefining education,” he said. http://www.cio.in/news/youngsters-have-changed-education-system-has-not-anant-agarwal-edx-ceo

Montgomery County Community College offers scholarship for online course - Donna Rovins, Times-Herald

Jobs in manufacturing are becoming more technology based — requiring more advanced skills for employees as well as an understanding of manufacturing processes. To help people who may be seeking first-time employment in manufacturing or who recently entered the industry, Montgomery County Community College’s Center for Workforce Development is offering scholarships for an online, non-credit Manufacturing Fundamentals course to help them gain a basic understanding of today’s manufacturing environment. The $100 scholarships, which are being provided through a gift from the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp., will cover the fee for the first 100 participants that register for the course. http://www.timesherald.com/article/JR/20160212/BUSINESS/160219939

Udemy Thinks It’s Cracked the Future of Online Education - Alex Fitzpatrick, Time

On Feb. 12, Udemy announced that more than 10 million students have taken one of its courses. In the U.S., there were about 13 million students working toward a four-year degree during fall 2015 semester, according to the Department of Education. It is another example of the rising popularity of online education as college costs have boomed in the United States. Americans hold $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, second only to mortgages in terms of consumer obligations. Entering the workforce deep in the red could be a handicap that follows graduates the rest of their careers, economists say. http://time.com/4215787/udemy-dennis-yang/

Making Our Teaching Efficient: Flipping the Classroom - Linda C. Hodges, Tomorrow's Professor

Faculty typically spend a lot of time teaching—over 20 hours of a 50-hour workweek in one study (Bentley and Kyvik 2012). Are we spending that time productively? Obviously, whether or not we feel productive depends on what we hope to accomplish as instructors. For example, virtually all the faculty surveyed in the 2013–14 Higher Education Research Institute Faculty Survey felt that two learning outcomes were particularly key: 
developing students’ abilities to think critically (99.1%) and promoting students’ abilities to write effectively (92.7%). If these are our top goals for student learning, how do we direct our time most efficiently to achieve them? As more data become available on how people learn, the answer to this question may lie in our use of the flipped classroom. https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1463

What I Learned Teaching a Course on Artificial Intelligence (and You Can, Too) - David Schatsky, Huffington Post

I recently finished teaching a free, eight-week online course on artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies. Over 7,000 students registered for the course. Many of them were active participants in rich discussions throughout the eight weeks. I'd like to tell you what I learned from my students during the course, and invite you to register for the next run of the course, which starts on March 14. Students were fascinated with the ways in which perceptual technologies like speech recognition and computer vision make possible natural interfaces between humans and computers. And they actively debated the implications of cognitive technologies for businesses, workers, and society. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-schatsky/what-i-learned-teaching-a_b_9212496.html

College-accrediting agency sends warning amid Illinois budget impasse - Associated Press

The state budget impasse could have "significant" consequences for the public colleges and universities in Illinois, according to a higher-education accrediting agency. In a letter sent Thursday, the Higher Learning Commission, the regional accrediting agency for 19 states including Illinois, issued a warning to Gov. Bruce Rauner and members of the General Assembly, the (Champaign) News-Gazette reported. Schools that have to suspend operations or close because of unavailable state funding could lose their accreditation if they don't come up with plans for their students to continue at another college, the commission warned lawmakers. "The lack of state funding is putting Illinois colleges and universities at serious risk and jeopardizing the future of students," commission President Barbara Gellman-Danley wrote in the letter. http://www.qconline.com/news/illinois/college-accrediting-agency-sends-warning-amid-illinois-budget-impasse/article_042b5a1e-cf42-11e5-80cc-bb1fb414f8a0.html

10 Ways to Fail When Creating an Online Program - Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

The best part of my job is the opportunity to work with folks at the beginning of planning an online learning program. Whether these colleagues are from my own institution, or from a peer institution, I always say the same 10 things. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/10-ways-fail-when-creating-online-program

Appearance and gender both matter in the classroom, new studies suggest - Eric Schulzke, Deseret News

Two new experiments seem to show that both college students and instructors carry biases when one rates the other. One study shows that better-looking female students have an advantage in the classroom, while another shows that male professors get better teaching evaluations than their female peers. In a large study at Metropolitan State University of Denver released in January, researchers found that attractive female students received measurably better grades than their less attractive peers — but only in traditional classrooms. That apppearance boost disappeared in online courses. The second study found that female instructors were consistently rated lower than male instructors. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865647235/Do-appearance-and-gender-really-matter-in-the-classroom.html

Students, librarians urge professors to use open-source textbooks - Katherine Long, The Seattle Times

In Washington state, pending legislation could promote the use of online textbooks and open-source materials. A student advocacy group, along with one of the University of Washington’s top librarians, is urging faculty members to take a good look at using more free online textbooks. And two bills in the state Legislature would promote and facilitate the use of such open-source textbooks and course materials. The problem is the high price of textbooks. U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and student affiliates of that nonprofit, including WashPIRG, say the cost of textbooks has gone up 73 percent in the last decade –four times the rate of inflation. http://www.ecampusnews.com/policy/legislation/open-source-textbooks-562/

Higher-ed leaders: 5 steps to a meaningful social media profile - Peter Sclafani, eCampus News

Some of the country’s most-followed CIOs on social media outline how others can get started, what to avoid. Being a higher-ed leader, like a Chief Information Officer (CIO), at an institution today also means being active on social networking sites. For example, CIOs at universities across the county are being asked to help their institution’s brand outreach and community growth by embracing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, like LinkedIn. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/social-media-profile-676/

Linguistics of foul language - Peter Rosen, KSL

You're not supposed to say them. We can't spell them out for you. But at the University of Utah, you can get credit for studying curse words. The university's Linguistics Department offers an online class titled "Bad Words and Taboo Terms," taught by Randy Eggert. "We started it really as a class that would attract non-majors," he said. "It's a fairly new area of research," Eggert said. "For years the topic itself was taboo. Few people were willing to research it seriously until the 1980s." Bad words, themselves, though, are nothing new. http://www.ksl.com/?sid=38431212&nid=148&fm=most_popular&s_cid=article_popular-10

Princeton's COS 126 ratings improve after switching to online lectures - JESSICA LI, Daily Princetonion

After traditional, in-class lectures were replaced by ones held online, lecture ratings for COS 126: General Computer Science improved from 3.3 to 3.8, according to Professor of Computer Science and COS 126 course head Robert Sedgewick. COS 126 is the largest course in the University by annual enrollment, with 318 students having completed it in the fall semester and 405 students currently enrolled for the spring semester, according to the Office of the Registrar. COS 126 lectures, coined as ‘flipped lectures,’ have been offered exclusively online since this past fall semester, according to Sedgewick. http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2016/02/cos-126-ratings-improve-after-switching-to-online-lectures/

Will the Internet remove traditional higher ed's prestige factor? - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Michael Kinsley writes for The Washington Post that the Internet may be higher education’s great disruptor, bringing down traditional institutions by taking away the power of prestige. The prestige factor that enshrines the nation’s most elite institutions comes with the selective admissions process, but when anyone can access the course content offered to the privileged few, Kinsley posits the $200,000 education may not seem so worth it. While online, for-profit universities have not yet posed much of a threat to the Harvards and Yales of the higher education sector, there is a chance that they'll get better 10 or 20 years down the line, or that MOOCs will get better, and information once reserved for the privileged few can be had by many more, for far less. http://www.educationdive.com/news/will-the-internet-remove-traditional-higher-eds-prestige-factor/413466/

Public universities in Ohio could face performance reviews by state auditor - Jim Siegel, Columbus Dispatch

A bill giving the state auditor the ability to peek under the curtain into the operations of Ohio’s public universities breezed through the House, but some worry that it could now face more opposition. The Ohio House unanimously approved the bill opening two- and four-year universities to performance audits that seek to identify potential savings through efficiencies and process changes. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/02/07/1-universities-could-face-performance-audits.html

Apollo Education Group to go private in $1.1B sale - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

A group of investors has agreed to purchase Apollo Education Group, owner of the for-profit college chain University of Phoenix, in a $1.1 billion cash deal. The New York Times reports that the buyers include Chicago-based investment firm Vistria Group, whose founder, Marty Nesbitt, has close ties to President Barack Obama and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, and whose COO, Tony Miller, served as deputy secretary of the Obama Department of Education from 2009 to 2013. While the investors hope to help clean up the for-profit industry with the purchase and plan to run the University of Phoenix with “the highest ethical standards,” critics of the sector and the purchase say the new team will have trouble doing so, given their obligations to shareholders — especially as they bought out Apollo Education Group shares for about 30% more than its stock was worth on the market. http://www.educationdive.com/news/apollo-education-group-to-go-private-in-11b-sale/413574/

2015 Online Report Card - Tracking Online Education in the United States - the Online Learning Consortium

Multi-year trend shows growth in online enrollments continues to outpace overall higher ed enrollments. Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the United States, is the 13th annual report of the state of online learning in U.S. Higher education. The 2015 Survey of Online Learning is conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and co-sponsored by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), Pearson, StudyPortals, WCET and Tyton Partners, is the leading barometer of online learning in the United States. Key report findings include: A year‐to‐year 3.9% increase in the number of distance education students, up from the 3.7% rate recorded last year. More than one in four students (28%) now take at least one distance education course (a total of 5,828,826 students, a year‐to‐year increase of 217,275). The total of 5.8 million fall 2014 distance education students is composed of 2.85 million taking all of their courses at a distance and 2.97 million taking some, but not all, distance courses. http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-report-card-tracking-online-education-united-states-2015/

Microsoft Donates $1 Billion in Cloud Services to Nonprofits, Universities - the Center for Digital Education

In what seems a waterfall release of free services, Microsoft Philanthropies has revealed intentions to donate $1 billion in cloud tools to universities and nonprofits. The word comes from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who on Jan. 19 lauded the action as a new and vital resource for social and economic change. The resources are calculated to touch more than 70,000 organizations in a swift three-year span, with as much as $350 million donated in 2016. The reasoning, Nadella writes in a company blog post, is to confront an emerging digital divide, one rooted in the ecosystem of advanced technologies like predictive analytics and big data. Many nonprofits and research groups struggle to afford the tools, and Nadella said an intervention was the only foreseeable remedy. http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/Microsoft-Donates-1-Billion-in-Cloud-Services-to-Nonprofits-Universities.html

The Struggle to Make Online Courses Accessible in Higher Ed - TANYA ROSCORLA, Center for Digital Education

Though the Americans with Disabilities Act has clear accessibility requirements, very rarely does anyone come knocking on college doors to find out whether they're abiding by the law. The University of Illinois Springfield also encourages faculty members to adopt the Universal Design for Learning framework, and gives them the option to collaborate with instructional designers and faculty developers as they create their courses. With this strategy, the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service can take care of most students' needs and work with the Office of Disability Services on technology accommodations for those who require extra support. "Sometimes we think, 'Well, if we create an office of accessibility, we've done all we need to do,' but it's so much more than that," said Vickie Cook, director of the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at University of Illinois Springfield. "It's really everyone's job to think about accessibility, and that work is never done. Accessibility is an ongoing role and responsibility for everyone across campus." http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/The-Struggle-to-Make-Online-Courses-Accessible-in-Higher-Ed.html

NMC Horizon Report Reveals Top Tech, Trends, Troubles in Higher Ed - TANYA ROSCORLA, Center for Digital Education

An annual report provides a snapshot of what could be in store for higher education leaders in the next five years. Sevices that detect and respond to human emotion could be coming to higher education in the next four to five years. The NMC Horizon Report 2016 Higher Education Edition looks ahead at important technology developments like this one, along with challenges and trends to accelerate technology adoption. In a report released Thursday, Feb. 4, NMC and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative give higher education leaders a big picture look at what could happen with technology in their field so they can use it to help inform their strategic planning. http://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2016-higher-education-edition/ http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/NMC-Horizon-Report-Reveals-Top-Tech-Trends-Troubles-in-Higher-Ed.html

Regents committee OKs new tenure policy - Associated Press

A University of Wisconsin System regents committee overwhelmingly approved policy changes Friday that would allow chancellors to lay off tenured professors if their programs are cut and fire them for poor performance. The full Board of Regents is expected to consider the policy changes at a meeting next month. Critics contend the revisions would allow chancellors and regents to shrink programs to save money. Campuses could use the revisions to start cutting liberal arts programs to appease Republicans, who see the system as simply a giant job trainer, according to David Vanness, an associate professor of population health sciences at UW-Madison and president of the Madison chapter of the American Association of University Professors. "(The policy changes) are carefully crafted to look good in some places and hide land mines in others," Vanness said. http://www.wtmj.com/news/regents-committee-oks-new-tenure-policy

PwC tells universities to adapt or perish - by Tim Dodd, Financial Review

There are clear signs that digital disruption is transforming universities and leaving behind those that can't adapt fast enough. Not surprisingly this seems to be more apparent to students, who come from the generation of digital natives, than to many university academics and administrators. Last week the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association, the registered employer organisation for higher education providers, published a report it commissioned from PwC titled Australian Higher Education Workforce of the Future. It explores what the employment model for universities is likely to be 10 or 20 years hence, when the full impact of digital disruption, as well as other change-makers like fee deregulation and increased competition, will have hit. http://www.afr.com/leadership/careers/pwc-tells-universities-to-adapt-or-perish-20160204-gmm2ek

New On-line Classes and Models - David, RealClimate

My free online class on Coursera.org entitled Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change has already served 45,000 people (started, not finished) in the four times that it’s run. Now it’s set up in a new format, called “on demand mode”, which allows people to start, progress, and finish on their own calendars. This would be an advantage if a teacher wanted to use the material to supplement a class; there are no longer any time constraints built into the Coursera system to prevent that. http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2016/02/new-on-line-classes-and-models/

You don’t need an Ivy League degree to make a lot of money in these fields - Jillian Berman, Market Watch

Graduates of top-tier schools who major in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) don’t earn much more than graduates of schools that are easier to get into, according to research from Michael Hilmer, an economist at San Diego State University, and Eric Eide and Mark Showalter, economists at Brigham Young University. But for students who major in business or liberal arts, where you go to school matters -- business majors from top schools make 12% more than those from midtier schools and 18% more than their colleagues from bottom tier schools, for example. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/you-dont-need-an-ivy-league-degree-to-make-a-lot-of-money-in-these-fields-2016-02-02

King’s College head: ignoring online education is big danger - John Elmes, Times Higher Education

Ed Byrne, president and principal of King’s College London, believes that any university not exploring the world of distance education will find itself in “real trouble” because no institution is “immune to disruption”. Speaking during a debate at education company Pearson about online learning’s impact on global higher education, Professor Byrne said: “If I look ahead and think of the range of things universities do, we’re going to have to have superb technological environments everywhere – whether it’s in e-education…or on-campus [education]. He said he hoped that “the need for accelerated, exponential change will be met by the sector”. But he added: “I think places that just ignore all this – business as usual, nothing changes – will be in real trouble in every aspect of what they do.” https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/kings-college-head-ignoring-online-education-big-danger

Penn State professor looks to incorporate virtual reality for online classes - Matthew Grillo, The Daily Collegian

Following Penn State’s continued advancements in online education, Conrad Tucker is hoping to blend virtual reality with online classes. Tucker, an assistant professor in engineering design and industrial engineering at Penn State, received a research grant from the Penn State Center for Online Innovation in Learning. “The importance of online and digital learning is only going to expand as we move toward a more connected world,” Tucker said. http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_3afd7250-cb84-11e5-91d8-bb9da8a079e0.html

5 Tips to Improve Writing in Online Classes - Bradley Fuster, US News

Online classes typically require more written communication and interaction than oral participation. Unlike face-to-face classes, which often credit oral participation, online courses generally rely more on written work for grading and assessment purposes. As students submit assignments from the same devices they use to communicate for instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Yik Yak and countless other social platforms, the trap exists to treat the weekly PHI 101 reflection or SOC 100 paper as an LOL, ROFL, SMH, GR8 hot mess. Consider these five tips to improve your performance when taking writing-intensive online classes. http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/2016/02/05/5-tips-to-improve-writing-for-online-classes

UC-Berkeley deals with backlash from secret monitoring - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

The University of California System is taking heat from faculty at UC Berkeley after a faculty member on the campus IT committee sent an email to his colleagues explaining the extent of a new computer network monitoring system. The Daily Bruin reports the new system was installed following an attack on UCLA Health in July 2015 and kept quiet until last week, secretly monitoring and possibly recording all traffic into and out of the campus network. While the university has said it is not reading faculty emails, privacy concerns have been raised, as well as concerns that the system acted without regard to proper shared governance procedures. http://www.educationdive.com/news/uc-berkeley-deals-with-backlash-from-secret-monitoring/413330/

In Israel, War Is No Excuse for Not Doing Your Homework - Judy Maltz, Haartz

In a forecast published last week, the Israeli army addressed the probability of an all-out confrontation with Hamas or Hezbollah sometime soon. Its conclusions were not particularly heartening. But whether or not Israel finds itself embroiled in another large-scale military operation in the near future, the country’s educational system intends to be prepared. At schools throughout the country this week, students participated in online learning drills designed to keep them on track with their studies in the event of war or any other national crisis that might keep them homebound. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.701472

Pearson to leave the LMS market within 2-3 years - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Pearson has announced it will phase out support for its learning management system Learning Studio in the coming years, following a similar announcement last fall about OpenClass, which will leave the educational testing and services giant without an LMS in its portfolio. Inside Higher Ed reports Pearson believes it can create the greatest value for its customers by investing in course materials and other products that directly impact students and faculty, leaving the crowded LMS market behind. http://www.educationdive.com/news/pearson-to-leave-the-lms-market-within-2-3-years/413333/

Gallup to give US News rankings more competition - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Gallup announced Thursday it has developed a certification process for colleges based on their efforts to improve the “well-being” of students and faculty. The certification process could take up to three years and is akin to the process builders go through to get LEED certification for environmentally friendly designs, offering a more results-based evaluation of colleges than U.S. News has offered for more than 20 years. http://www.educationdive.com/news/gallup-to-give-us-news-rankings-more-competition/413382/

Universities look to cybersecurity partnerships - Laura Devaney, eCampus News

Teaming up with industry cybersecurity providers, universities are hoping to produce more highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals. As the information technology industry grows, cybersecurity careers are projected to grow along with it–leading to an increased need for students to pursue cybersecurity at the higher-ed level. National defense leaders and experts at the fourth annual Cybersecurity Summit in October revealed that in 2014, cybersecurity crimes cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion in damage http://www.ecampusnews.com/safety-and-security/cybersecurity-education-partnerships-982/

6 influential technologies on the higher ed horizon - Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Annual Horizon Report details short-and long-term technologies, trends that will impact higher education in the next 5 years. The rise of robots is no longer science fiction; and any institution interested in remaining relevant in the next five years should start advancing “cultures of innovation.” These are just two of the revelations part of the New Media Consortium’s (NMC) and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) 2016 Higher Education Edition of the annual Horizon Report. http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/horizon-report-2016-278/

Discouraging Cheating in Online Tests - Megan Hamilton, MATC

In online courses, where a student completes a test off-campus without instructor supervision, online tests must be considered as open-book tests because students often have access to a wide variety of information resources. Furthermore, students with a mobile device would still be able to take pictures of the test questions as displayed on the computer monitor. Faculty concerned about cheating in online testing are encouraged to consider these countermeasures when creating their tests in Blackboard. http://tlc.matc.edu/index.php/discouraging-cheating-in-online-tests/

UI to departments: Get ready for more budget cuts - Julie Wurth, News Gazette

After absorbing budget cuts this year of $20 million or more, University of Illinois academic departments are drawing up plans for more cost-cutting in 2016-17. With no state budget in place halfway through the fiscal year, colleges and other academic units at the Urbana campus are now being asked to prepare three different fiscal scenarios for next year: cuts of 3 percent, 5 percent and 7 percent. http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-02-03/ui-departments-get-ready-more-budget-cuts.html

Report: Wearable Devices To Top $28 Billion in Sales in 2016 - Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

Wearable electronic device sales will increase 18.4 percent year over year to hit 274.6 million shipments in 2016, according to a new forecast from market research firm Gartner. Of the $28.7 billion the company predicts sales of the devices will generate in revenue, $11.5 billion will come from smartwatches alone. "From 2015 through 2017, smartwatch adoption will have 48 percent growth largely due to Apple popularizing wearables as a lifestyle trend. https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/02/03/research-wearable-devices-to-top-28-billion-in-sales-in-2016.aspx

Student Course Evaluations Are Biased Against Female Professors, Study Says - Marie Solis, identities.mic

After a semester of pop quizzes, all-nighters and 12-page research papers, college students have only one card to play against their professors: the course evaluation. While students may think they're dealing evenly, a new study shows most are harder on their female instructors. French economist Anne Boring led the study which resulted in two sets of results: one for French students and another for American students. According to NPR, male French students gave their male professors higher ratings overall after being randomly assigned male and female instructors across a range of different courses. In the study with American students, Boring and her colleagues built in an extra control: Students would never meet their professor. Instead, they took an online course in which they were only told their instructor's name. Half of the male professors who participated in the study were given female names. http://mic.com/articles/133460/student-course-evaluations-are-biased-against-female-professors-study-says#.AIiRWdLMY

Pricing Revolution: Texas Expands Its Affordable Bachelor's Degree Program - Tom Lindsay, Forbes

In his 2011 State of the State Address, then-Texas-Governor Rick Perry issued a bully-pulpit challenge to the Lone Star State’s public universities. He asked them to create bachelor’s degree programs that cost no more than $10,000 in tuition, fees, and books. He also asked that ten percent of Texas public university degrees awarded reach this price point. How would it be accomplished? Perry advised schools to reduce costs through offering some classes online as well as through awarding course credits based on competencies acquired outside the classroom, such as during military service and/or previous employment. http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomlindsay/2016/01/30/pricing-revolution-texas-expands-its-affordable-bachelors-degree-program/#11d4a4ff7e45

FACT SHEET: President Obama Announces Computer Science For All Initiative - the White House

President Obama is unveiling his plan to give all students across the country the chance to learn computer science (CS) in school. We’ve made real progress in education -- over the past seven years, 49 States and Washington, D.C. have raised expectations by adopting higher standards to prepare all students for success in college and careers. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/30/fact-sheet-president-obama-announces-computer-science-all-initiative-0

Low Income, High Graduation Rate - Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

Two new studies suggest many colleges may be too quick to write off low-income students and community college transfers. Money and extra support change the equation, at least for some. College completion rates have stagnated, and lower-income students in particular face long odds of getting to graduation. Two new studies, however, show that low-income students can graduate at high rates when they receive financial and academic supports from external groups. The research looked at success rates for students who were participants in the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society and, separately, in the Dell Scholars program. Graduation rates were substantially better for both groups than for their peers. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/08/programs-have-success-helping-low-income-students-graduate

There’s a lot we’re not learning when we try to learn online - Amy X. Wang, Quartz

Online learning, in 2016, is no longer the cautious experiment it once was. Universities all over the world are warming up to the idea of internet-based degree programs, while free online education—popularly offered in the form of massive open online courses, or MOOCs—remains a booming area. There are obvious benefits: Online courses are accessible to anyone with a computer, (usually) cheaper than a brick-and-mortar education, and can be helpful to those who are in the middle of their careers or have other full-time commitments. But e-learning is still lacking in certain key areas. One of its drawbacks is a heavy skew toward certain subjects—a problem that results not from uneven offerings, but from a lopsided modern mindset about the role of education, and the inherent pitfalls of trying to learn from the internet in the first place. http://qz.com/594710/turns-out-some-subjects-really-cant-be-taught-online/

Book Review: 'Your Online College Course Survival Guide' by Jacqueline Myers - the Examiner

In her eBook, Jacqueline Myers nails the top 10 success strategies for distance learning in a way that students can understand and implement immediately. As promised, the book is written for college students of all types by a legitimate online college educator. Students get the core strategies of successful online learning, all in one easy-to-read guide. To make implementation of the strategies even easier, action step checklists have been included at the end of each chapter. http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-your-online-college-course-survival-guide-by-jacqueline-myers

Build More Collaboration into Your Online Class -Travis Grandy, Inside Higher Ed

As I build my course in preparation for this summer, one of the challenges I anticipate is how I can create similar kinds of active learning experiences for students without the benefit of in-person meetings. This started my thought process about ways to foreground collaboration in an online class. Today, my post will discuss some approaches to designing online activities that promote active learning and team-building skills. Although I'll focus on some example activities intended for an online class, they can also be adapted for blended classes as well. What follows are a few activities that I’ll be working to adapt for my online class. Hopefully they’ll give you some ideas too! https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/build-more-collaboration-your-online-class

Rutgers Online - RU Online Conference Recap

The Rutgers Online Conference #RUOnline attracted some 300 attendees from the region to discover and discuss new approaches and trends in online learning. Co-sponsored by UPCEA, the conference featured national speakers. A summary recap video for Rutgers Online Learning Conference Mid-Atlantic Region 2016 is now available online. http://bit.ly/1nqY5Ei

Fresh Perspectives on Alternative Credentials - Richard Garrett, Eduventures

Sticker price may be soaring but net price, what students actually pay, is more modest and stable. The wage premium that comes with a degree has never been higher, calming fears about student debt. Still, it’s hard to feel good about these three data points: Graduation Rates. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, the six-year undergraduate completion rate is a mere 55%—and it’s declining. Employability. In 2012, the OECD ran its first international survey of adult skills. Only 8-16% of U.S. adults achieved literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving proficiency at a level judged to be equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, yet 34% had such a degree. Premium. Yes, the degree wage premium is higher than ever, 95% for those with a bachelor’s degree and 136% for those with a master’s degree when compared to high school graduates. http://www.eduventures.com/2015/12/alternative-credentials-fresh-perspectives/#img

Move Your Labs Online - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

As more classes go online, schools need a workable approach for giving students access to high-demand software. Virtual desktops provide the answer. Virtualized desktops now provide an experience for students comparable to walking into that physical computer lab. But approaches differ. In IU's case, the technologists have integrated components developed internally and externally to create a virtual desktop solution with "zero logistical overhead," as David Goodrum, director of teaching and learning technologies, put it. Capella, on the other hand, has outsourced the work to a service provider that specializes in delivering virtual environments for just about any purpose. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/28/move-your-labs-online.aspx

4 paths to gain buy-in for analytics projects - Georgia Mariani, eCampus News

Higher education analytics leaders speak out on building support. Have you ever had a great idea for an analytics project only to see it end up in approval purgatory? Or maybe you’ve had some initial successes with analytics and you’re ready to expand a program, but are struggling with new funding? I talked to four analytics leaders in higher education to get their advice on how to gain buy-in for analytics projects. http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/gain-buy-analytics-166/

Can students' online posts guide instructor intervention? - Laura Devaney, eCampusNews

A partnership between two universities seeks to predict where students will struggle academically to help better inform instructor strategies. A method of analyzing what students post in academic forums, and using those posts to help instructors identify where students are struggling most with reading materials, could help improve learning and instruction. Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and MIT are using a new method to analyze students’ online academic forum posts to predict questions so teachers can intervene. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/students-online-posts-682/

Big Data, Jobs, Mobile To Drive EdTech In 2016, Predict MOOC Company Chiefs - Seb Murray, Business Because

Business Because speaks to executives of edX, Coursera, Udacity, FutureLearn and ALISON to get their predictions for how online learning will be shaped in 2016. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, says that employers and universities will increasingly accept certificates for Mooc courses. Udacity is so confident it can find users jobs that it is guaranteeing them placement, or will refund their tuition. Vish Makhijani, COO of Udacity, says “For us, helping people learn so they can advance their careers is the cornerstone of online education.” Julia Stiglitz, director of business development and international at Coursera, which has 17 million users, anticipates rapid growth in mobile and tablet learning. http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/3751/five-edtech-trends-for-2016

Alternate Reality Gaming Spices Up Professional Development - Dennis Pierce, Campus Technology

Alternate Reality Learning Experience (ARLE) is a new type of alternate reality game in which participants weave in and out of a fictional story and reality as they learn. "In gaming, you fail 80 percent of the time, and you enjoy the experience and come back for more," Jeff Borden St. Leo University's chief innovation officer, said. "This lets you put students in situations where they fail, and learn from their failure, safely. At the same time, the authenticity of the learning experience is off the charts." https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/27/alternate-reality-gaming-spices-up-professional-development.aspx

New Blackboard CEO Bill Ballhaus Reflects on His First Weeks at the Helm - Dian Schaffhauser, eCampus News

Ballhaus likes what he sees at the company he now leads, especially the breadth of its offerings and its capabilities. Analytics is an exciting new space for us and for our clients. When we think about what our clients are really trying to accomplish, it's outcomes — and the ability to use analytics to help them improve those outcomes. For instance, I just met with one of our customers, which is one of the largest universities in the world in terms of student count. A big challenge is that they have hundreds of thousands of passive students. So getting through the heart of understanding why they're passive, what has happened, some of the trends that led them from being active to being passive and things they can do to bring those passive learners back into the active educational community to improve outcomes, is a great example of the role that analytics can play in improving our client's ability to achieve better outcomes .It's an area that we'll continue to invest in and continue to develop. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/27/new-blackboard-ceo-bill-ballhaus-reflects-on-his-first-weeks-at-the-helm.aspx

Six Steps to Building High-Quality Open Digital Badges - Gina Howard, Evolllution

Though it can be difficult to build high-quality, evidence-rich badges, there are certain affordances that can help streamline the process. Building on an earlier EvoLLLution article, “Recognizing, Supporting, and Attracting Adult Learners with Digital Badges,” which takes a “macro” approach to badging, we now propose a framework to work through the technical aspects of building and supporting badges in a thriving ecosystem. This includes information about the appearance of the badge, what information the badge should contain, and how the contents of the badge should be shared. http://evolllution.com/programming/credentials/six-steps-to-building-high-quality-open-digital-badges/

Ted Cruz and Higher Ed - Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed

Senator Ted Cruz’s victory in the Iowa caucuses this week elevates the candidacy of the presidential contender who is perhaps most at odds with colleges and universities on many policy issues. In particular, though, he’s clashed with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over its support for earth science research, including studies relating to climate change. Cruz has repeatedly promised he would get rid of the U.S. Department of Education as part of an effort to drastically shrink the size of the federal government. He said during his 2012 run for Senate that he would not completely eliminate federal student aid but would instead have individual states distribute that money. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/03/senator-ted-cruz%E2%80%99s-views-higher-education-and-scientific-research

Best FREE online course provider revealed - CATHERINE KNOWLES, Educators

According to MoocLab ranking, EdX comes top of the list of overall MOOC platforms. Khan Academy is ranked as number one of the free and low-cost online course providers, and the Open University's OpenLearn, comes first of the open courseware provider list. For those interested in learning to code, TheCodePlayer website tops the free online coding course providers, and Treehouse is ranked the best provider of low-cost online coding courses. Flatiron School's Learn-Verified Web Developer programme comes in first place among the online coding bootcamp providers. MoocLab says it ranks online course providers according to a number of factors relating to the type of offering, such as the number of courses on offer, the quality of the instruction and content, the standing of partner institutions, assessment, accreditation, practicality, social tools and interface usability. https://educators.co.nz/story/best-online-course-provider-revealed/

English majors' course connects skills to job market, could boost enrollment - Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

A professor at Southwestern University in Texas has struck a chord with a new course for English majors that helps them connect their skills with the demands in the job market. Helene Meyers writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education that students in her course, offered for the first time this past fall, analyze contemporary literature and learn how those skills can lead to fulfilling jobs that bring financial stability, contrary to the common refrain that English majors have no prospects outside of academia. Alumni English majors in a range of fields spoke to students, and the students completed projects throughout the semester that gave them a ch http://www.educationdive.com/news/english-majors-course-connects-skills-to-job-market-could-boost-enrollmen/412798/

What a Million Syllabuses Can Teach Us - JOE KARAGANIS and DAVID McCLURE, NY Times

Over the past two years, we and our partners at the Open Syllabus Project (based at the American Assembly at Columbia) have collected more than a million syllabuses from university websites. We have also begun to extract some of their key components — their metadata — starting with their dates, their schools, their fields of study and the texts that they assign. This past week, we made available online a beta version of our Syllabus Explorer, http://explorer.opensyllabusproject.org/, which allows this database to be searched. Our hope and expectation is that this tool will enable people to learn new things about teaching, publishing and intellectual history. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/opinion/sunday/what-a-million-syllabuses-can-teach-us.html

Research: College Students More Distracted Than Ever - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Students are more distracted than ever. They tend to check their digital devices, particularly, their smartphones, an average of 11.43 times during class for non-classroom activities. A solid 12 percent do texting, emailing, checking the time or other activities in class more than 30 times a day. A study published in the Journal of Media Education this week reported that students spend a fifth of their time in class doing things on their devices that have nothing to do with their school work. The research was undertaken by Associate Professor Barney McCoy, who teaches multimedia and news courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Two years ago McCoy ran a similar study that found similar results, but now the level of distraction has worsened. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/20/research-college-students-more-distracted-than-ever.aspx

The Online Classes That Help the Homebound Connect - Beth Baker, Next Avenue

Each week, the Virtual Senior Center offers some 30 online classes to homebound clients, from tai chi and exercise to contemporary history discussions and gallery talks with museum curators, as well as music appreciation and singing — even Mandarin. Participants use a simple touch-screen computer to join in, as well as to Skype, play games or use the Internet. Selfhelp partnered with Microsoft and the City of New York to develop the center. “The whole point is to marry technology with homebound seniors, to alleviate loneliness and depression,” explains Carmella Chessen, Selfhelp’s outreach/volunteer coordinator. “We want them to join four classes a week as a minimum. They have to want to be social and to learn the computer.” They also cannot have cognitive issues, she adds. http://www.nextavenue.org/the-online-classes-that-help-the-homebound-connect/

Higher Ed Overhaul Unlikely in 2016 - Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed

Higher education groups, some congressional staffers, and other observers say they don't expect to see a comprehensive rewrite of the Higher Education Act during this presidential election year. And because a new administration, regardless of party, is unlikely to quickly pursue the law’s reauthorization among its first legislative priorities, it may be a couple of years before Congress passes a new Higher Education Act, some said. “The odds in favor of a higher education reauthorization get longer with every passing day,” said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities in Washington. “Given the complexity of the task, the cost of some of the proposals and simply the time available, it’s hard to imagine them completing reauthorization this year.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/02/higher-education-act-overhaul-long-shot-election-year

College admissions now using social media like never before - Ron Bethke, eCampus News

A new survey reveals that college admissions officers’ use of resources like Facebook and Google to gather more information on applicants has reached an all-time high. According to the results of a new Kaplan Test Prep survey, a higher percentage of United States college admissions officers visit the social media pages of applicants in order to learn more about them.For the 2015 survey, 387 admissions officers from the nation’s top national, regional and liberal arts colleges and universities were polled by telephone between July and August 2015. It was found that 40 percent of admissions officers visit applicants’ social media profiles to research them more in depth, which represents a record high that is also quadruple the percentage of affirmative respondents from when Kaplan first explored the trend in 2008. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/admissions-social-media-554/

Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues for 2016 - Thomas L. Harnisch and Kati Lebioda, AASCU

As voters prepare to caucus and cast ballots for primary elections in the 2016 presidential race, higher education policy has emerged as a leading issue on the campaign trail. While higher education has traditionally received minimal attention, this race has witnessed sweeping proposals from the candidates aimed at increasing college affordability, restructuring federal student aid, and fostering innovation within higher education. This paper provides a summary of the higher education issues that are likely to generate the most attention in state capitals. While some of these issues are recurrent, others are emerging topics that may only see activity in a few legislatures. http://www.aascu.org/policy/publications/policy-matters/TopTen2016.pdf

Coursera Removes Free Track From Some MOOCs - Inside Higher Ed

Massive open online course platform Coursera is removing the option to complete some of the courses offered on its platform for free. Coursera has previously offered a free track and a paid track that awards an identity-verified certificate, but as of last week, learners will have to pay a fee in some courses to have their assignments graded. Learners in those courses who choose not to pay can still browse the course materials, including discussions and assignments. "We are on a mission to change the world by providing universal access to the best learning experience," Coursera said in a blog post. "To do this, we also need to have a business model that supports our platform, our partners, our content and everything we do for learners. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/01/25/coursera-removes-free-track-some-moocs

Engaging on Purpose in Higher Education - Mark Milliron, EDUCAUSE Review

In the world of higher education, the needs are great, possibilities powerful, and partners diverse. Students are facing a future that increasingly requires deeper learning and labor-market-valued credentials, along with relevant work experience and civic engagement opportunities to help them take meaningful steps on the path toward living well and actively participating in today's rowdy digital democracy. In the United States, state and federal governments, foundations, and associations are constantly calling for more—and more diverse—students to successfully complete higher education journeys to fuel the economy and brace us for a road ahead that promises innovation and uncertainty. http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/1/engaging-on-purpose-in-higher-education

Flipkart Hires Without Interviews Based on Nanodegree Projects and Udacity Profiles - Track.in

According to reports, Flipkart has started hiring fresh graduates based on the capabilities they have built through Udacity’s Nanodegree Programs. And yes, these graduates did not have to face any in-person interviews. This move clearly shows that Indian companies (especially startups) are open to move away from traditional hiring methods and are looking at people who are building their expertise through online education portals like Udacity! Peeyush Ranjan, CTO at Flipkart said, “The kind of disruptive work that we do at Flipkart demands a world-class talent pool and we are constantly on the lookout for experts who can solve the problems of Indian consumers. The conventional hiring process often comes down to the performance of the candidate on that specific day, which may not be a true reflection of their skills and temperament. This is where a partner like Udacity comes into the picture.” http://trak.in/tags/business/2016/01/28/flipkart-interview-hiring-nanodegree-udacity/

College class blends Game of Thrones and Medieval history - Lexi Kallis, Winter is Coming

In recent years, we’ve seen more and more Game of Thrones-themed college courses pop up. They’ve focused on everything from religion to historical figures to war to the more granular R+L=J theory. Virginia Tech University is the latest to join the pack with a Game of Thrones-themed class centered on medieval history. Virginia TV station WSLS-10 recently took a look at the online class and at professor Matthew Gabriele, who combined his passion for medieval studies with his love for the show. The course concentrates on three major themes: power and politics, the role of women, and the fantasy element of dragons. https://winteriscoming.net/2016/01/24/college-class-blends-game-of-thrones-and-medieval-history/