Asia University Rankings 2017: launch date announced | Times Higher Education

Follow on Twitter as @elliebothwell

Ellie Bothwell, International and rankings reporter at Times Higher Education and THE World University Rankings inform, "The ranking will be released during the THE Young Universities Summit in Australia."

Photo: iStock

The fifth annual list of Asia’s best universities will be published at 16:01 GMT 15 March (00:01 Beijing time 16 March) during the THE Asia Universities Summit at the University of Ulsan in South Korea.

Summit delegates will be given exclusive access to the rankings results several hours before the global release time.

The ranking, which will include at least 200 universities, uses the same 13 performance indicators as the flagship World University Rankings but these are recalibrated to reflect the development priorities of Asian universities.

The event will also include a Hyundai Motors & Hyundai Heavy Industries tour.

Doh-Yeon Kim, president of Pohang University of Science and Technology, will deliver a keynote speech, while vice-chancellors and deputy leaders at Queensland University of Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Shiv Nadar University will discuss whether rankings have any impact on university research partnership strategies.

The THE Asia Universities Summit, which will be held between 14 and 16 March 2017 and hear from university vice-chancellors, scholars, government officials and industry figures, will be on the theme “Forging the future – building stronger alliances between university and industry”.
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Source: Times Higher Education (THE)

A Closer Look at the Education Marketplace | Education Week (blog)

Walt Gardner's Reality Check

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Photo: Walt Gardner

Walt Gardner, taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education argues, "Critics of public education invariably urge the establishment of an open marketplace as a solution ("Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don't Buy It," The New York Times, Jan. 1).  But the idea of running schools like a business is a contradiction in terms."

Photo: GraphicStock.com

Here's why:  Public schools have to admit all who show up at their doors regardless of ability or motivation.  Businesses do not.  Public schools cannot fire those who are late, perform poorly or are disruptive. Businesses can.  Public schools rarely fire failing teachers.  Businesses can, but those executives walk away with lucrative compensation packages that teachers do not. 

In short, if public schools were truly allowed to operate like businesses, then perhaps a case could be made. I know what critics are going to say.  What about the success of charter schools? Although they are publicly funded, charters are exempt from most of the rules governing traditional public schools.  As a result, comparing the two is an exercise in futility. 

Source: Education Week (blog)

Commentary: Good math skills begin at home | Philly.com

Photo: Melissa E. Libertus

Photo: Roberta 
Michnick 
Golinkoff

Melissa E. Libertus, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology Research Scientist, Learning Research & Development Center and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair and Professor of Education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware argues, Educators and parents alike are alarmed over the persistent gaps between 15-year-olds in the United States and their international peers on science and math outcomes.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

According to the latest results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released on Dec. 6, American adolescents rank a paltry 31st out of the 35 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries in math, and math scores have significantly declined since the last PISA in 2012.

To combat this trend, forces have mobilized around STEM education - stressing the experiences needed to build a foundation for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Fostering strong STEM education will safeguard our place in the world and ensure our children a place in tomorrow's workforce.

Yet our lagging international PISA scores highlight how we continue to miss an essential element in preparing our students for the future: Evidence suggests that the road to strong STEM education starts not in elementary or middle school, but at home and in preschool with very young children.

Some parents and teachers talk about numbers and math frequently so that their children are hearing words such as two, twelve, more, less, count, and add repeatedly in various contexts. Other parents and teachers, however, rarely use number and math words or engage children in meaningful math-learning activities.

Failing to talk to our kids about math and introducing them to mathematical ideas and activities is what we call "The Great Shortchange" because it stunts children's math growth and their future success. This is precisely where we need to act: We must bring math into our homes and preschools.

To be specific, research indicates that some parents of toddlers use an average of more than 30 number words every hour (e.g., "Where are the three girls in the picture?"). Other parents, however, use only one number word every two hours, on average. This creates close to a 6,000 percent difference in math input at home. The results are even more worrisome when we look at preschool teachers. Some preschool teachers use more than 100 math words per hour, but others use only one - almost a 10,000 percent difference.

Given these differences in children's experience, it is no surprise that children who are exposed to more activities and talk related to math acquire new math concepts faster and enter kindergarten better prepared for learning math. Although some children can barely count to 10, others are already doing basic arithmetic.

Crucially, math abilities at the start of school are among the strongest predictors of later math achievement. Researchers in early mathematics, among them Douglas Clements from the University of Denver, Herbert Ginsburg from Teachers College at Columbia University, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek from Temple University, Nancy Jordan from the University of Delaware, Susan C. Levine from the University of Chicago, and Robert S. Siegler from Carnegie Mellon University, share our concern and contribute to the inquiry that speaks to these issues.

So what can we do?
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Source: Philly.com

Iowa City students finding math in music | The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines

Photo: Liz Zabel

"Artist in Residence Henry Cardenas helping kids see numbers differently" according to Liz Zabel, The Gazette. 

When thinking of music, the first thing that comes to mind likely isn’t math — but as this year’s M.C. Ginsberg Artist in Residence, Henry Cardenas has combined the two in his curriculum for Iowa City fifth-graders.

Henry Cardenas (right), M.C. Ginsberg Artist in Residence, helps Manny Medina (left), 10, create music at Hills Elementary on Dec. 13, 2016. Cardenas, a musician originally from New York now studying elementary education at the University of Iowa, is this year’s M.C. Ginsberg Artist in Residence, a program that has supported artists to incorporate art into the Iowa City school district’s curriculum since 1991. Cardenas will tour through the district from November to early May, teaching basic math concepts through music production.
(Liz Zabel/The Gazette)

From November through early May, Cardenas — a musician originally from New York studying elementary education at the University of Iowa — is spending two hours each week at elementary schools in the Iowa City Community School District teaching math concepts through music production.

Earlier this month, Cardenas visited Hills Elementary, where students equipped with headphones and personal laptops created tracks of electronic music using a free online program called Audiotool. Students compiled drum beats with vocal tracks and other instrumentals, resulting in a unique track of their own.

Students may not have noticed, but while making music, they were also learning about math through topics such as rhythm and tempo.

“Music has a strong relationship with math,” Cardenas said. “You can distill it down to patterns and numbers — keeping rhythm requires understanding of fractions and decimals, for example — it’s just rewiring them to understand it in a different way. ... It helps them see numbers differently.”

At the end of the class, Cardenas asked if any of the students wanted to share their work. Hands shot up in excitement.

“They had a lot of fun,” said Michelle Harbison, their teacher. “They loved his lesson and are very proud of what they have put together.”

Harbison said that even after class, students continued to work on their projects at home and were excited to come back to class two days later to show Cardenas what they’d created.

“I think it’s wonderful that we have these types of opportunities for students and that their interests could lead to a career,” Harbison said.

Cardenas’ curriculum is modeled after another program he worked with in New York City called Building Beats, a nonprofit that provides DJ and music programs to undeserved youth in Brooklyn. The idea is to teach entrepreneurial, leadership and life skills and to make the music creating process accessible and fun for students. Cardenas wanted to take a similar approach to teaching music in Iowa, but unlike Building Beats, which has several weeks to teach students, Cardenas has only two sessions, usually about an hour or so each.
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Source: The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines

Taraji P. Henson On the Math of Hidden Figures and Trying to Keep Her Cool Around the Obamas | The Mary Sue

Photo: Charline Jao

"Hidden Figures made a huge splash this year as a movie that paid due to the real-life women who worked for NASA in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center in the 1960s, pushing forward the message that STEM is, and has always been, an area for women of color–no matter how much men have historically tried to erase and keep them out." inform Charline Jao.

Taraji P. Henson on Her Math Skills and Meeting the Obamas

Taraji talks about the complicated math she had to learn for her new film Hidden Figures and the screening that the Obamas had of the movie at The White House.

In the film, Taraji P. Henson plays mathematics genius Katherine Johnson, who Henson considers to be a personal hero. The intense memorization the role called for, she says in this clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live, was essentially choreography with the supervision of a mathematician. We can see how Henson really nailed the math in the opening scene. I’m reminded a bit of Rami Malek talking about how he had to take typing lessons for Mr. Robot.
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Source: The Mary Sue and Jimmy Kimmel Live Channel (YouTube)

For and against: Does technology increase equality? | Open Education Europa

"Digital advocates believe education technology will increase equality. Most educators are not so sure. What are the arguments we’re hearing for and against?" continues Open Education Europa.

Photo: Open Education Europa

TECHNOLOGY INCREASES EQUALITY
“Technology can play a role in increasing equality if and only if kids have access to technology, there are enabling conditions (trained teachers) and technology is put to good use (kids have a purpose).” Javier Rogla, Fundación Empieza Por Educar

Technology can make up for a lack of resources, if everyone has free and open access
Sugata Mitra’s famous hole in the wall project is the most famous example of this. Other examples such as the Open University or Khan Academy seem to favour equality. Anyone can now watch the greatest Harvard lecturers. However, accessing these resources depends on having a computer, and having the motivation to log on. If we don’t want to favour the rich and well-educated, we should give hardware and software for free. This is more than low cost, this is no cost.

Technology can lead to great outcomes by individualizing learning and opening up new fields
We’re continually reminded that we’re preparing kids for a future that we cannot yet imagine. Learning in the digital era embraces this unknown. Schools like High Tech High are leading the way in teaching robotics and coding, pursuing 21st curriculums, using project-based learning and flipped classrooms. These approaches are available to all. For example, in Bulgaria I recently came across the Vratsa Software Community, who are running free coding classes in Europe’s poorest region with the long-term aim of staffing a sustainable software company.

Technology supports new paradigms of teaching, provided that there is good training
Since Gary Kasparov played Deep Blue, games of chess have been staged between humans and computers. Today the winners are not humans or computers, but humans and computers working together. Technology can undoubtedly catalyse teacher capacity. Eneza Education has created a virtual teacher development and coaching tool that can be deployed via simple mobile technology across the whole of Africa. But we’ll need to think differently about the role of the teacher, and radically new models of teacher training.

Technology combats inequality by enabling lifelong learning
Digitisation and open access to online content have democratised education in significant ways. As long as you can get online, you can access a world of learning. It doesn’t matter what your background is or where you live. And it doesn’t matter how old you are. Lifelong, self-directed learning pushes education beyond the temporal boundary of our ‘school years’, and gives us a whole lifetime to master the competences and skills that put us all on an equal footing.
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Source: Open Education Europa

Report Outlines How to Bridge the 'Computer Science Education Gap' | Education Week

"A new report by the Southern Regional Education Board, or SREB, provides states with a roadmap to improving computer science education." notes Marva Hinton.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The report entitled, "Bridging the Computer Science Education Gap: Five Actions States Can Take," was published in November.

The SREB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group based in Atlanta that was created in 1948 to improve education in the South from preschool through doctoral programs. Its members include: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

But this recent computer science report has lessons for every state. It focuses particularly on how states can help students who are traditionally underrepresented in the field, such as girls, black and Hispanic students, and students from low-income families.

Here's a brief summary of the five recommended actions:

Action 1: Develop computer science standards for K-12.

•  The report encourages states to work with experts from postsecondary education and the business world to develop these standards, to require computer science courses in high school, and to provide funding for expanded learning opportunities in the field.

Action 2: Lay the groundwork for learning computer science.

•  The report recommends that throughout K-12, schools should teach the necessary literacy and math skills needed to master grade-appropriate computer science standards and that students be required to take four years of math in high school.

Action 3: Create clear pathways to computing careers.

•  The report recommends that states include computer science career pathways in state accountability and funding systems, allow seniors to earn college credit, and design four high school courses that would seamlessly connect to postsecondary programs in high-demand fields such as software development.

Action 4: Prepare great computer science teachers.

• The report encourages the hiring of teachers with content knowledge and interest in learning computer science alongside their students and the use of government and private funds to support ongoing, intensive professional development.

Action 5: Educate communities about computer science and computing careers.

• The report encourages states to make career advisement a part of education across K-12 and to pass legislation that recognizes communities for advancement in computer science education and for meeting workforce needs in computing.

The report's recommendations came from the SREB's Commission on Computer Science and Information Technology, a group of state legislators, secondary and postsecondary educators, and industry experts the board brought together this school year. The group was charged with addressing the question of how to make sure all students have an opportunity to learn computer science.
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Source: Education Week

Will Artificial Intelligence Eliminate Spam Emails? | Email Marketing Daily

Photo: Jess Nelson

"Eight out of ten B2B marketing executives predict artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize marketing by 2020, according to a December report by Demandbase -- but is it the key to unlocking a future without email spam?" says Jess Nelson, writer and editor for MediaPost. 

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Demandbase, an account-based marketing (ABM) platform, partnered with Wakefield Research to poll 500 B2B marketers from the manager level to c-level executives, at companies with at least 250 employees, about AI-driven marketing. The results of the study suggest that marketers are eager to embrace artificial intelligence, yet only 10% of respondents are currently using AI and only 26% of marketers are confident that they understand how artificial intelligence can be applied to marketing.

Education and integration concerns are the largest hurdles obstructing marketers with regard to artificial intelligence. Integrating AI into an existing marketing stack was the top-ranking challenge expressed by marketers when they considered incorporating AI into their marketing campaigns, with 60% of marketers selecting it as their top concern. Training employees followed in second place with 54% of respondents, while 46% of marketers said that interpreting the results of AI could be difficult.

One integral component of integrating artificial intelligence into a marketing technology stack is data quality. Darian Shirazi, CEO and co-founder at Radius, calls data quality “foundational” and a “prerequisite” to delivering AI predictions.

“Many companies have not addressed how they will ensure that the data their AI models are built on is high quality,” says Shirazi. “Data quality is key to pulling accurate insights and actions and in 2017, we will see more companies focus on solving the challenge of maintaining accurate, valuable data, so that AI technology lives up to its promise of driving change and improvement for businesses.”
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Source: MediaPost Communications

14 hot higher ed trends for 2017 | eCampus News

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"Educators and tech leaders look back on 2016; predict where higher ed trends in teaching and learning will head this new year." inform Meris Stansbury, editorial Director, Content Services. 

Photo: eCampus News

With every new year comes new ideas. To get a glimpse into what the next 12 months will hold for everything from micro-credentialing to energy savings, and the rise of nontraditional students to focusing more on outcomes, 14 higher ed luminaries looked back on 2016 higher ed trends to help predict what’s in store for 2017. Here’s what they said:
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Source: eCampus News

On Campus or Online: Opportunities for Executive Education in Nevada | Nevada Business Magazine

"Ask the administrator of an executive education program why an individual would spend the money and take the time to earn an advanced degree in business, and the answer comes back threefold." reports Jennifer Rachel Baumer, Author at Nevada Business Magazine.

Photo: Nevada Business Magazine

“People are coming into the program because they are looking to move up the corporate ladder,” said Nikkole McCartin, director, EMBA program, Lee Business School, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). “Sometimes it’s a choice, sometimes it’s a requirement to get those people up to the next rung. There are people coming into the program because they do want to make a change in their career. They might want to move out of the industry they’re in or they might want to move into a totally new function [in that industry], so they’re coming to gain the skills, the knowledge and the competence to make a move like that.”

The executive master’s of business administration (EMBA) available from UNLV is just one of the executive education choices available to Nevada’s working professionals.

Online, on campus or a hybrid of the two, what these programs share is the students are finished with school and working as leaders in their industries and in their particular business functions, said McCartin. That means, as well as sharing common goals, they can share knowledge from all the different industries they represent.

The UNLV program is all on campus, with students attending every other Friday and Saturday for 18 months.

“We believe strongly in the on-campus learning experience because so much of the learning that occurs is between the students,” said McCartin. “There’s 25 students to a cohort and they’re from all different industries and functions of business, so when you start talking about a particular subject, everybody is bringing their own real world experience into the classroom. They learn as much from each other as they do from the faculty.”

The EMBA is a generalist degree with a focus on leadership, strategy, organizational management and entrepreneurship. Students focus on technical aspects of business and application of what they’re learning.

“What our students are learning on Friday and Saturday, they’re taking back to use on Monday morning,” said McCartin.

“The key skills we’re looking to get out of the business program, the MBA, are critical thinking, problem solving, communications, information utilization and collaboration, and so those are the key areas that we develop our course curriculum around,” said Paul Green, campus vice president, Las Vegas campus, University of Phoenix.

So for those executives who are looking to upgrade their competencies, just what kind of executive education is available in Nevada?
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Source: Nevada Business Magazine