Lessons from the Digital Classroom

Follow on Twitter as @nanettebyrnes

Nanette Byrnes, Senior Editor writes, "Technologists and venture capitalists are betting that the data online learning generates will reshape education."

Photo: MIT Technology Review

In four small schools scattered across San Francisco, a data experiment is under way. That is where AltSchool is testing how technology can help teachers maximize their students’ learning.
 
Founded two years ago by Max ­Ventilla, a data expert and former head of personalization at Google, AltSchool runs schools filled with data-gathering technology.
Information is captured from the moment each student arrives at school and checks in on an attendance app. For part of the day, students work independently, using iPads and Chromebooks, on “playlists” of activities that teachers have selected to match their personal goals. Data about each student’s progress is captured for teachers’ later review. Classrooms are recorded, and teachers can flag important moments by pressing a button, as you might TiVo your favorite television show.
 
The idea is that all the data from this network of schools will be woven into a smart centralized operating system that teachers will be able to use to design effective and personalized instruction. There is even a recommendation engine built in.
 
While most schools don’t have the type of technology AltSchool is developing, classrooms are increasingly filled with laptops and other digital teaching aids. This year U.S. elementary, middle, and high schools are expected to spend $4.7 billion on information technology. What is new is that many of the technologies are capturing expansive amounts of data, enough of it to search for meaningful patterns and insight into how students learn. The potential for that to be turned into profit is a big reason investors have increased funding of educational technology startups worldwide, from $1.6 billion in 2013 to $2.4 billion in 2014; they invested over $1 billion more in the first quarter of 2015, much of that in China. What all that data is teaching us about how we learn and whether technology is actually making instruction better are the big questions at the heart of this Business Report.
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Source: MIT Technology Review

The Believer: Duke University Provost, Sally Kornbluth

Follow on Twitter as @GeorgeAnders

Here's is a discussion with MIT Technology Review contributing editor George Anders, based in Northern California and Sally Kornbluth, Duke University Provost. 
Sally Kornbluth says there’s no question that students are getting value from online learning.   

Photo: Sally Kornbluth, Ph.D., courtesy of Duke University.

Of all the U.S. universities offering free online courses to the world, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is among the most active. Its professors have filled Coursera’s distance-learning platform with 30 courses, in subjects ranging from astronomy to dog emotions. Since 2013, the university has assigned one administrator exclusively to digital and online education initiatives. 

There’s even a collection of sunny haikus about online education on Duke’s website.
“A few years ago, the question was ‘Should we be teaching online or shouldn’t we?’ says Duke provost Sally Kornbluth, a geneticist by training. “That conversation has passed. Now it’s a conversation about what kinds of innovative things we can do.” In a discussion with MIT Technology Review contributing editor George Anders, Kornbluth explained why Duke is bullish about online education—and what new opportunities lie ahead.

Universities have been relying on books, lectures, and seminars since the 1400s. Does online learning provide a fourth channel that can rival the others?
It’s supplementary. It hasn’t replaced in-person lectures or books. But there’s no question that students are finding it another avenue for getting the information they want. Frequently, that’s complementary to traditional settings. In other words, they’re looking for more background. Online learning actually enriches their in-person experience.
 
Tell me more about blended learning—where instructors use a mix of online tools and classroom settings. How much is that happening at Duke, and what are the results? 
We have a lot of “flipped classroom” education going on. It’s not in every corner of the university, but you will see plenty of situations where students do online exercises or watch material online ahead of class. Then faculty can use class time for experiential learning or discussions, rather than straight-on delivery of didactic material. Students still get in-person interactions with fellow students and the faculty. We create touch points that interface with the technology, rather than having the technology be stand-alone.
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Source: MIT Technology Review   

Does philosophy have a problem with women? by Mary Warnock and Julian Baggini

"Only 25% of philosophy posts in UK universities are occupied by women. So what, if anything, should be done to redress the balance?" according to Mary Warnock, crossbench life peer, moral philosopher and author of a number of books on philosophy and Julian Baggini, author of Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will.

A man's world: a marble statue of Plato at the Academy in Athens. Photograph: Alamy

Photo: Mary Warnock

Mary Warnock, philosopher and writer
This question has been debated by women and men in philosophy for years, and last week became the cover story in the Times Literary Supplement. Of all the humanities departments in British universities, only philosophy departments have a mere 25% women members. Why should this be? How can the balance be redressed? On the whole I am very much against intervention, by quotas or otherwise, to increase women’s chances of employment, whatever the field, and there is nothing intrinsically harmful about this imbalance. I certainly don’t believe it shows a conscious bias against women. Nor that it can be explained by the supposition that, philosophy being concerned above all with arguments, women are naturally less adept in the field...

Photo: Julian Baggini

Julian Baggini, philosopher and writer 
I agree there is little or no conscious discrimination against women in philosophy. But that is not to say there isn’t a great deal of unconscious bias. The puzzle is why this should be stronger in philosophy than in other disciplines. The answer, I think, is to be found in philosophy’s self-image. Philosophers have tended to have an inflated sense of their ability to “follow the argument wherever it leads”, as Plato’s old saw has it. What matters is the argument, not the arguer, which means there is no need even to think about gender or ethnicity. Philosophers have thus felt immune to the distorting effects of gender bias. Logic is gender-neutral, philosophy is logical, ergo philosophy is gender-neutral. I suspect this has led to complacency, a blindness towards all the ways in which, in fact, gender bias does creep in. It is a well-established finding in psychology that believing you are an objective judge actually makes your judgments less objective, and I’m sure philosophy suffers from this. I admit that this explanation for at least part of the under-representation of women in philosophy is somewhat speculative, but I would be interested to hear what you make of it.
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Critical Reflections on Ownership (Edward Elgar) by Mary Warnock and Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will (Granta) by Julian Baggini are both out now.

Source: The Guardian

Get with the program: the coders offering training for free

"It’s the must-have skill-set of the 21st century, yet unless you’re rich enough to afford the training, or fortunate enough to be attending the right school, the barriers to learning can be high. Now a movement of pioneering coders is challenging the stereotype by offering free training for all." writes Kit Buchan, freelance journalist.

Dan Sofer of Founders & Coders: ‘The bar is high, not in ability, but in commitment, enthusiasm, curiosity.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer

‘Why are we not doing more to have coding colleges and technical, vocational education alongside university education?” This question, raised by Labour’s Yvette Cooper during an interview with the Observer in May, reflects a wide concern about the availability and equality of software training, an area with a reputation for being elusive, exclusive, expensive and overwhelmingly male.
 
Calls to improve the state of digital education in the UK have become commonplace, with new coding initiatives appearing all the time. The international Hour of Code claims to have given millions of Britons a taste of programming, while the government declared 2014 the official Year of Code”. Female programmers can join Girls who Code’ or Ladies who Code’ programmes; the BBC recently launched its Make it Digital’ campaign; and even the online grocer Ocado has thrown its hat in the ring with a scheme called Code for Life’. But while the national curriculum now includes programming for children as young as five, there is still a dearth of affordable, vocational options in higher education, despite a rocketing number of well-rewarded jobs for software developers. A budding programmer can try to learn their trade online, tackling one of the hundreds of coding tutorials, or they can stump up the hefty tuition fees for one of the many private coding academies that have sprung up in the past decade.

Or, if they’re very lucky, they might be able to secure a place at a tiny, grassroots school with no funding and hardly any staff, housed in a cramped, concrete room in an east London backstreet. This is Founders & Coders, the first full-time adult programming school in the UK to offer its services completely free of charge.
 
Dan Sofer founded F&C almost by chance. Having worked for years as a developer on numerous major websites, including the Guardian’s in the late 90s, he found himself at a loose end and began enrolling in Moocs (massive open online courses) to sharpen his coding skills. Finding the solitary learning experience uninspiring, he began arranging casual meet-ups with fellow students, and these quickly snowballed into a series of popular workshops, from matrix algebra to game theory...

Natalia Baltazar, who took the F&C course last autumn. 
‘It’s daunting, but you end up loving that,’ she says. 
Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer

One such novice developer is Natalia Baltazar, who took the course last autumn. Unable to afford paid training, she read about F&C in an “obscure online publication” and six months later was enrolled. Baltazar compares the learning experience to solving a vast but satisfying puzzle, with numerous tiny pieces to be fitted in place. “It’s daunting, but you end up loving that,” she says, adding that she struggled more with the school’s social ethos. “During the first weeks, I would show off and say ‘Look, I learned this first.’” After a gentle pep-talk from a mentor, Baltazar came to realise “that’s not what this place is about. It’s about making sure that when you rise up you bring everyone else with you.”
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Source: The Guardian

COMING TO A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY NEAR YOU: AN UNPLEASANT ONLINE EDUCATION

Photo: Bob Roper

Bob Roper, retired bank executive reports, "Ever wonder what keeps those in charge of higher education awake at night?
Demographics, no doubt, are among the challenges on the minds of sleep-deprived administrators. Fewer high school graduates — for a while, at least — mean tough competition to fill the available seats."

The Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing

Funding is on the decease, including the value of grants by the state and the federal governments, and is likely to further erode in the near future, especially for public institutions. They have lately been losing out to Medicaid and K-12 education in the competition for state resources, and that is likely to get worse.

Declining middle class incomes make higher education more difficult for many to afford, especially as tuition and fees continue to climb — tuition grew 79.5 percent between 2003 and 2013.

A soft job market leaves potential students wondering whether a college education, purchased at an average loan amount of $33,000, is worth the cost. After all, institutions such as State Technical College of Missouri and others compete by nearly guaranteeing their graduates high-paying jobs.

Higher education has a costly delivery system — expensive buildings, considerable administrative bloat, and highly paid, tenured faculty who usually cannot be removed — that by its nature is suffused with stagnant productivity and is resistant to major cost-cutting.

The-End-College-University-Everywhere

The University of Missouri, Stephens College and Columbia College are not immune to the demographic and funding trends. And they certainly share with other traditional institutions of higher education a growing, overarching concern: the advent of the University of Everywhere. This looming threat to the status quo is named and described in detail in a book titled “The End of College,” written by Kevin Carey and published in 2015 by Riverhead Books.

In the early 20th century, buggy whip manufacturers were largely put out of business by the automobile. Today the Internet is doing the same thing to record labels, travel agencies and other industries. It is capitalism at work, what the brilliant economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction.” The old order falls victim to new entrants in the market that offer a new or better way of doing business.

Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School calls the process “disruptive innovation,” and it is much the same concept.

Higher education has, unlike other industries, avoided the Internet bullet so far. But that will soon end, Christensen predicts. He believes higher education is in the process of being disciplined by market forces and that a buyer’s market is developing. Unless higher education reinvents itself, he suggests, many such institutions will disappear during the next 15 years.

What is the University of Everywhere, and how does it work? Here are its hallmarks:

• Online learning will, in the words of Carey, “provide a personalized, individual education to large numbers of people at a reasonable price.” An education can come from a variety of organizations offering separate specialties. Students will unbundle the offerings of current higher education institutions and reassemble them into unique learning plans. The end product will be a better education at a lower price.
• Anything that can be digitized will be available to anyone in the world who has access to an Internet connection. Lecture videos can be downloaded or streamed. The student can pause and rewind the video to capture exactly what was said. Meanwhile, the text of the lecture will be displayed in real time.
• The digital learning environment can be customized and personalized for each student, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence. Also, a student’s progress and pace can constantly be assessed.
• Large numbers of students, both in the United States and around the world are getting their college education through so-called Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs. In May, Georgia Tech University announced it will offer a master’s degree in computer science online for a quarter of the cost of a customary on-campus degree. It will get even cheaper.
• Thanks to an improved credentialing system, a student can prove to a potential employer what he or she has actually learned and the details of how he or she did it. That information will likely all be linked to a website.
• All of this is nearly free, and roughly 5,000 quality courses are now or will soon be available online.

What about that valuable college campus experience? Will it be lost? Not necessarily. It is easy to imagine a building — or spaces in a building — devoted to distance learning. There educators could mentor students as needed, and students could work alone or form study groups, which could include students from around the world.
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Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

How MOOCs helped University of Hong Kong apply e-learning tools on campus

"E-learning has taken off since HKU launched its first online course last year, with benefits for on-campus education too." according to Victor Wang. 

Online courses have delivered a trove of data that's helped transform learning on campus. 
Photo: South China Morning Post

A year after launching its first online course, the University of Hong Kong is not only rapidly expanding its virtual programmes, but also reaping unexpected results for its on-campus teaching in the process.

HKUx, a subdivision of the international non-profit MOOC (massive open online course) provider Edx, opened registration for its first course in April 2014, following an invitation from Edx co-founders Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in 2013. HKUx has launched three more MOOCs in the past three months.

During the time between the first MOOC, an introductory public health course titled Epidemics, and the latter three, there has been a dramatic shift in the university's approach to the online platform. Professors have realised the applicability of online teaching for their on-campus classes.

Professor Ricky Kwok. Photo: Edmond So

According to associate vice-president of teaching and learning, Professor Ricky Kwok, who oversees many of the university's e-learning projects, HKUx's initial motivation was to promote the university's global brand. "We wanted to let people know what HKU is all about," he says. "Our strategy was to showcase our strength, so we did not really approach the venture from a purely academic point of view."

With this in mind, the Epidemics course featured "star professors", including eight from HKU and one from the Harvard School of Public Health.

The course was "hugely successful", with 10,000 to 12,000 registrations. The demographics were equally impressive, attracting students from 173 countries. More than 10 per cent were over 50 years old, and the median age was 29.

Using statistical software, educators were able to identify which of the material was especially difficult and what kind of assessment was the most effective. They also received qualitative comments from students of diverse backgrounds. Put simply, this was a statistical treasure trove for course development...

Masato Kajimoto. Photo: Dickson Lee

Masato Kajimoto, an assistant media studies professor who is teaching the course Making Sense of News, had a similarly positive experience with lecture videos and plans to draw heavily from his MOOC course for the coming school year. Having launched the MOOC in May, Kajimoto will debut his first flipped classroom lesson this autumn.

His videos are kept at three to five minutes long to cater to students' shorter attention spans. "The generation that has grown up watching YouTube videos cannot process information from long lectures, so these online videos and courses are catering to this generational difference," he says. He intends to flip his on-campus class of 130 students through these videos and online assessments. This will mean a much-reduced need for lectures and more small roundtable discussions, to be led by Kajimoto.
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Source: South China Morning Post

Students seek MOOCs as course add-ons

"Researchers at Duke University have found that students are using MOOCs to explore new subject areas and complement traditional learning." summarizes Beckie Smith, graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Japanese.

Duke University. Photo: Nan-Cheng Tsai.

A study entitled Fulfilling the promise: do MOOCs reach the educationally underserved? found that Duke’s 13 MOOCs on the Coursera platform provide students with access to content they might not encounter on their formal course of study, thus complementing existing courses.
 
The study analysed qualitative data from pre-course surveys issued to all of the MOOCs’ 9,000 enrolees in the autumn 2014 semester to identify the core demographics taking the courses and deepen understanding of their motivations for study.

Photo: Lorrie Schmid

“The theme that was most pronounced was that Coursera classes were supplementing or enhancing their education that they were getting from other either K-12 or higher education formal courses,” commented lead researcher Lorrie Schmid.
 
The 13 MOOCs were particularly popular among non-traditional student groups. The study identifies three groups that make up the core demographic of the courses: under-18s, over-65s and people without access to higher education.
 
Although some students felt that limited mobility and finances dictated that MOOCs were their only option for continuing study, many gave other reasons as their primary motivation for pursuing a course.
 
Many of the enrolees under the age of 18 reported taking MOOCs to learn about topics not taught at their school and to explore different subjects, offering them insight into options for their future academic or career paths.
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Source: The PIE News

Are MOOCs the ‘Digital Albums’ of Education?

"Once upon a time, there were physical CDs. The order of each song mattered, for the album was often played as an uninterrupted piece. Then came the computer and music became digital." continues Singularity Hub.

You could play all your songs in the order you wanted and easily create compilations based on your musical taste. Then came the Internet and it all became messy. Streamed, remixed, compiled, music was everywhere and listeners could seamlessly interact with it.

Once upon a time in a parallel world, there were physical classrooms and teachers. The latter had a standard curriculum to deliver to their classes and students’ interests couldn’t really be integrated. 

Then came the Internet. Whenever, students could also take classes online, thus joining worldwide cohorts through “Massive Open Online Courses” (MOOCs). Everything became possible.

The digitalization of education seems to be going the same way the music industry went a decade ago; as it gets further digitalized, content becomes more accessible, and subsequently, customizable.

To take this analysis one step further, are MOOCs the “digital albums” of education? How can we use them to find out “marginal learning”? Let’s tune in to see where this would take us as learners of tomorrow but also for instructors.

What is a MOOC? 

 
Unbundling the MOOC to make its components more relevant: the concept of “marginal learning.”

MOOCs provide a great opportunity for learning, for nearly no cost. Yet, they are still a monolithic learning system: MOOCs will let you access content you don’t necessarily need, in a way you don’t necessarily embrace, at a pace you don’t necessarily want. If you compare MOOC to a brick wall, they are perfect for breaking into smaller pieces and rearranging them to suit your desired learning path.'
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Related link
Singularity Hub joined Singularity University in 2012.

Source: Singularity Hub and dave cormier Channel (YouTube)

Celebrating 75 Years of Mathematical Reviews (1940–2015)

American Mathematical Society writes, "Mathematical Reviews was launched by the American Mathematical Society in 1940, with Otto Neugebauer as its first editor. Since its founding, Mathematical Reviews has been an important part of the AMS and the mathematical sciences community." 

The History of Mathematical Reviews

Mathematical Reviews was launched by the American Mathematical Society in 1940, with Otto Neugebauer as its first editor. Since its founding, Mathematical Reviews has been an important part of the AMS and the mathematical sciences community.

From its first issue of 32 pages and 176 reviews, the publication has grown into the MathSciNet® database, which contains over 3 million total publications, almost 9 million citations, and a reviewer community numbering nearly 17,000 researchers. Learn more about the history and people of MR and the Editorial Offices. The prezi below provides a brief summary of Mathematical Reviews history.

Celebrating 75 years of Mathematical Reviews (1940–2015)

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Additional resources
Mathematical Reviews (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Otto Neugebauer

Source: American Mathematical Society

Create graphs and complex math equations directly from the Google Docs sidebar with g(Math)

Photo: Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen, award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com summarizes, "If you're looking for the easiest method of inserting math equations and graphs into your Google Docs, here is the solution for you."

There are times when you simply need to add a bit of math into a document or graph a bit of data. By default, Google Drive doesn't offer either functionality. However, it only requires a bit of poking around the official add ons to find a tool ready to take on that task.
The tool in question is g(Math). Now before you dive into this, assuming it will create simple charts from your spreadsheet data, this particular extension is math-driven and used only for Google Docs. 

With it you can:

• Create graphs and complex math directly from the sidebar
• Use Speech to Math in Chrome
• Use Handwriting recognition for expression entryUse LaTex commands or prebuilt codes to create math beyond the built-in Equation Editor
• | Plot points

When you create with g(Math) and insert the equation or graph into the Doc, you are adding an image. That image (.png file) will include an associate link that you can open directly in a browser.

Using g(Math) does require an understanding of math. But anyone needing such a tool should have that prereq met.
Installing g(Math)

As you might expect, since this is a Google Docs add-on, the installation is quite simple. Here are the steps:

1. Open your Google Drive
2. Open a new Google Docs document
3. Click Add-ons | Get add-ons
4. Locate g(Math)
5. Hover your cursor over the listing until the +FREE button appears
6. Click +FREE
7. When prompted, click Accept

You are now ready to use g(Math).
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Source: TechRepublic