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Worthy of Note: April 2017
This issue of Worthy of Note focuses on seven of the 10 Critical Issues in Educational Technology — data privacy, predictive analytics, emerging technologies, new learning models, student digital literacy, accessibility and policy.
Data Privacy
- “Breach of Financial-Aid Tool May Have Compromised Data on 100,000 Taxpayers”
- The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 6, 2017, Adam Harris
- A security breach of the IRS FAFSA tool (a tool to make completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid much easier) may have compromised financial information for more than 100,000 taxpayers. More than 35,000 taxpayers have already been notified by letter that their information was compromised. The tool went offline in March and will not be available again until October, but before it was taken down, more than 8,000 fraudulent refunds were issued at a cost of more than $30 million.
Predictive Analytics
- “Students Worry Predictive Analytics Will Restrict Their Choices”
- Education Advisory Board, March 3, 2017
- Predictive analytics in education can reveal insights into the educational experiences of students that allow for early intervention and identification of students at risk of falling behind or failing, but some students worry that it might be detrimental. In a panel at the international EduCon conference, students identified concerns that predictive analytics: would write them off as failures; would let one bad grade haunt them; would restrict their academic choices; or would make their teachers view them as numbers from an algorithm, not as people. Students were also skeptical about data they couldn’t view and algorithms that don’t include external contexts.
Emerging Technologies
- “Faculty OER Use Could Triple in the Next Five Years”
- eCampus News, October 18, 2016, Laura Devaney
- Affordability of higher education is driving the adoption of free and sharable open educational resources (OER). A Cengage Learning survey of over 500 faculty shows that use of OER as primary courseware could grow from 4 percent to 12 percent over the next five years. It also showed that supplemental use of OER could quadruple from 5 percent to 19 percent. A related survey by Babson Research Group found that only 34 percent of faculty have some level of awareness of OER textbooks. Cengage states that to reach higher adoption levels, “OER will have to be integrated with personalized and adaptive learning technologies, including assessment and analytics, that help improve student performance by mapping objectives to outcomes.”
- “Which Is Better? Campus Degrees or Online Degrees”
- eCampus News, April 6, 2016, Emily Walters
- People still ask this question, and advisors need to know the pros and cons of online versus traditional on-campus programs in order to find the best fit for the student. There is no definitive answer on which is better, only the pros and cons of each and determining whether the student would benefit from one more than the other. Advisors should determine whether the traditional college experience, such as Greek life, dorm living, sports, and student government, outweigh the flexibility of anytime, anywhere learning, and the similarities an online environment shares with the digital work world where online team collaboration and communication are vital skills. Some students who are more extroverted may benefit from the interactive in-class discussions, and those who are introverted may prefer the more obscure online identity when drawn into discussions. Advisors can guide students to the right decision by knowing the pros and cons of the different deliveries and the personal preferences for student interaction both in and out of the classroom.
New Learning Models
- “It's Time to Build a GPS for Credentialing”
- Lumina Foundation, March 29, 2017, Holly Zanville
- Just as global positioning information is used indirectly through Google Maps, Waze, and MapQuest, Lumina is working on a plan for microcredentials to be simplified by working with credential providers to help shape the flow of information. The Credential Transparency Initiative has built a prototype called the Credential Registry. Credential Engine, a nonprofit organization, will maintain and scale up the prototype following these requirements:
- An easy-to-understand language (Credential Transparency Description Language) to drive the GPS. The CTDL enables all types of credential providers to describe their credentials using common descriptors.
- An open-source platform (Credential Registry), which has been created and is being tested by nearly 100 credential providers that have published a few hundred credentials to the registry.
- Apps that deliver tailor-made information from the registry to diverse users. The first such app (Workit) has been developed and is being tested. It lets a user learn about credentials and compare their many features.
- The next step is to make credentials discoverable (rather than locked inside an LMS), much like the way the transportation/travel industry makes hotel, airline and rental car information discoverable by Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz.
- “Creative Course Finder: Let The Blood, Urine, and Bile Flow”
- Inside Higher Education, April 19, 2017, Jennifer Goodman
- Health care students at the University of Rochester, New York, can enroll in a master’s level course that uses technology innovation to simulate real life experiences. EDU 581 focuses on instructional methods, including the use of 3-D printed organs that are made to look and act like human organs during simulated surgery. Unlike practicing on a cadaver, the 3-D organs can spew fake blood or other bodily fluids such as urine or bile if the student makes an incorrect incision. The 3-D body segments, made of hydrogel and polymer, are cheaper, so far, than implementation of virtual reality simulations. In the future, this technique could be used to create practice surgery models specific to a patient’s medical scans. This would allow a surgeon to rehearse a difficult surgical procedure before doing the actual surgery, based on conditions of a particular patient, determined by his or her medical scans.
Student Digital Literacy
- To Build Computational Thinking Skills, Harness the Power of Play”
- Education Week, March 30, 2017, Beth Holland
- Instead of trying to fit technology tools into traditional practices, education reform could better serve students by letting them harness the power of playing and exploring through gaming, according to conversations at a session at the South by Southwest Conference (SXSW.edu). The CEO of Tynker learning systems had his own children in mind when he created a fun computer programming system for kids to learn programming with visual blocks before they progress to JavaScript and Python programming languages. Panelists from Tynker, Google and Minecraft said these types of experiences help students develop broader computational thinking and technology literacy skills.
Digital Accessibility
- “Diagram Center Provides Guidance on Accessible Images”
- The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 11, 2017, George Williams
- If you’ve ever struggled with how to write descriptive alternate text for a complicated image, the Diagram Center (Digital Image and Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials) is the place to go for help. From creating accessible math equations, graphs and notations, to describing Venn diagrams, flow charts, bar graphs, and maps – the image description guidelines and the “Poet image description tool” can walk you through it. The DIAGRAM Center is a Benetech Global Literacy initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs.
Policy
- Gates Foundation Launches Higher Ed Podcast “To A Degree””
- eCampus News, April 7, 2017
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has launched a new podcast series focused on the ways higher education must evolve in order to better serve students. Driving the need for innovation are several facts: more than half of college students drop out before getting a degree; two-thirds of all jobs by 2025 will require a college degree; more students work while attending college; and the need to reach older students, first time college-goers, low income students, and students of color has increased. The podcast series will focus on policies and practices that will address these needs.
- “6 Improvement Trends Spreading Like Fire Across All Colleges and Universities”
- eCampus News, April 11, 2017, Meris Stansbury
- Hanover Research annual trends report for 2017 includes six trends in higher education institutions. 1. Expanding and aligning program portfolios. 2. Exploring alternative delivery formats. 3. Increasing marketing and recruiting at law schools. 4. Driving student success and retention improvements at community colleges. 5. Improving academic program management, recruiting, and marketing. 6. Increasing use of secondary research. This year the report also highlights several degree programs expected to see high growth in 2017, such as Homeland Security, Cognitive Science, Environmental Health Engineering, Human Biology and Petroleum Engineering.
Editor: Wanda Barker, director of SREB’s Educational Technology Cooperative, Wanda.Barker@SREB.org
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