How Social Media Affect Your Life?

 

How It Affects My  Personal Life And Educational life?

        Social media is one of the factors where we are in a modernize world today. As a person who used social media, many factors of this can be good to me and it may be bad. Influence of social media greatly affect the life of an individual. It affects our personal neither our educational life.

Many students rely on the accessibility of information on social media specifically and alternative drugs for zyrtec the web in general to provide answers. That means a .The blister-packs are very convenient for taking along with you. Worked well for me.: since we opened our doors in 2004, our shop has filled over 5 million discount prescription orders through our Canadian pharmacy. reduced focus on learning and retaining information.

2. Students who attempt to multi-task, checking social media sites while studying, show reduced academic performance (http://viralms.com/blog/2011/04/how-social-media-affects-students/). Their ability to concentrate on the task at hand is significantly reduced by the distractions that are brought about nexium 200 mg by YouTube, stumbleupon, Facebook or Twitter.

3. The more time students order cialis online spend on social sites, the less time they spend socializing in person. Because meloxicam online canadian pharmacy of the lack of body signals and other nonverbal cues, like tone and inflection, social networking sites are not an adequate replacement for face-to-face communication. Students who spend a great deal of time on social networking are less able to effectively communicate in person.

4. The popularity of social media, and the speed at which information is published, has created a lax attitude towards proper spelling and grammar. The reduces a student’s ability to effectively write without relying on a computer’s spell check feature.

5. The degree to which private information is available online and the anonymity the internet seems to provide has made students forget the need to filter the information they post. Many colleges and potential employers investigate an applicant’s social networking profiles before granting acceptance or interviews. Most students don’t constantly evaluate the content they’re publishing online, which can bring about negative consequences months or years down the road.

1. Social networking has increased the rate and quality of collaboration for students. They are better able to communicate meeting times or share information quickly, which can increase productivity and help them learn how to work well in groups.

2. Social networking teaches students skills they’ll need to survive in the business world. Being able to create and maintain connections to many people in many industries is an integral part of developing a career or building a business.

By spending so much time working with new technologies, students develop more familiarity with computers and other electronic devices. With the increased focus on technology in education and business, this will help students build skills that will aid them throughout their lives.

4. The ease with which a student can customize their profile makes them more aware of basic aspects of design and layout that are not often taught in schools. Building resumes and personal websites, which are increasingly used as online portfolios, benefit greatly from the skills obtained by customizing the layout and designs of social networking profiles.

5. The ease and speed with which users can upload pictures, videos or stories has resulted in a greater amount of sharing of creative works. Being able to get instant feedback from friends and family on their creative outlets helps students refine and develop their artistic abilities and can provide much needed confidence or help them decide what career path they may want to pursue.
 The c onclusion - social media definitely impacts personal life.  How much is up to the individual person. And whether it's a good impact or bad impact depends on the situation, the time, and the reason.  Social media and the folks you connect with via social media channels do become part of your personal life, so it's a matter of balancing the live experiences with the virtual experiences and knowing when to disconnect.  Balance is the key and clearly I need to work on my balancing act!

Poem About Social Media

Just one click there you go

A spark of information will show

Any topic you want to know

In a fastest and complete information I show

A girl in uniform walking with pet

Smiling and teaching her dog to sit

Many people watch and they bet

On the you tube  you can meet

Selfie here,selfie there

Post it there, comment here

Like and share, joy we feel

To see your crush but friend is deal

Just tweet a twit that make it sweet

In a trending topic that trend

You ride to make it wide

On the talent you hide ,tweet what's on your mind

My Teacher My Hero

         “Step Out of the Way”

             By Pearl Marie Geva

          Teachers”, I know that all of us have its own experience on teacher. Teachers those are friendly, jolly and above all very strict. In line with it, I want you to know that I am very impressed that I encounter this experienced of a girl to her teacher. Lesson learned here where I realize that life is enjoyable but the important thing is you know how to control yourself and make your journey into succession. This teacher  was her teacher when she was in Grade 3, she is Ms. Candelaria Gelle. A very beautiful teacher with a kind hearted behavior. One thing of it was, she don’t have a husband because of loving her career. Until now, as she passed by the school, she got a smile on her face because she remember the innocent her doing something  that are not good but the teacher was there to correct her.

 
            When she was in elementary, she admits that she is a very stubborn child. She used to roam around the classroom, hiding some things of her classmates and talking loudly with her seatmates. Here her classmates are always reporting to her teacher, because of her behavior she was punished by of what we call “squat rust”. Arms facing upward with books over it while bending the knees. It’s nothing to her because she is fun of watching the teacher with a terror face when scolding her. She tends to laugh than to be depressed because of her fault while doing such punishment.

            In 2005, recognition day, that time she was on grade 2 where she encounters an unforgettable experience. Because of her undesirable behavior, she gather an award of nothing on that day, she see herself sitting on the chair and waiting for the program to start. She feels disappointed because of that situation after she watched the flow of a program and there she saw her name nothing on it. Until she heard a low voice, asking what is her name and her grade where she belongs. The teacher also asked her “Why she is alone sitting on the chairs of the honor students?”  There she paused and look mat the eye of the teacher. She feels frustrated that time because she realizes that having an award makes a student special to a teacher. Before she steps out of the way, the teacher said, “I think you can garner it next year and I will help you to do it. As she heard it, her hearts pumps faster with joy and excitement. That words strike her and it became a postcard to her mind.

            When she’s on grade three, she does her very own best to behave as well as to cooperate. And here she sees herself changing. As time goes by, its recognition day again, she is very happy to herself sitting in line with her classmates with honor too. To be true, since she was on Grade I, she doesn’t have any award but nice to think that she did it. She changes her path, path where she sees her real self. 

          Her teacher did to her was not only giving an award but she changed her student to be a student. Where the girl realizes that she only needs a teacher like a teacher she encountered. A teacher where she considered as her savior, her “Hero” As she continue her journey, she can’t forget that day where she realized a thing before she step out of the way. That thing is not only a thing, it is a thing that pushed her and it became her priority in her life. To changed her into her  real self and to help others too in changing their attitudes. That thing is the importance of education in life of a person, where school is for enjoying learning not a playing ground for us to enjoy.

Source of a picture: https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=my+teacher+my+hero&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&imgil=acRXAdeqQGOoDM%253A%253BuRSadd1v230kcM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fkatherinemauricepagaoa.blogspot.com%25252F2013%25252F09%25252Fmy-teacher-my-hero-essay.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=acRXAdeqQGOoDM%253A%252CuRSadd1v230kcM%252C_&ved=0CDEQyjdqFQoTCKf64aef9scCFYWOlAod9RACGQ&ei=v5f2VeeeCYWd0gT1oYjIAQ&usg=__a12icH7FzrGl7MUHA828A02hZVQ%3D#imgrc=acRXAdeqQGOoDM%3A&usg=__a12icH7FzrGl7MUHA828A02hZVQ%3D

The EdTech Trends To Look Out For In 2015

       For many educators, technology is now a key tool in their practice, and in some cases even shapes the way they teach. So I thought it would be useful to round up some of the key trends in educational technology to look out for in 2015.

PERSONALIZATION

       Greater availability of data and the use of classroom technology have opened up new possibilities for personalized learning, with teachers able to track the progress of students in individual lessons, find out what they spent most time on and which parts they found hardest, and tailor their approach accordingly.

      Instant feedback allows teachers to find out how much of the lessons students have understood. It also means they can provide one-to-one teaching without publicly singling out students or holding up the rest of the class.

WEARABLE TECH

     The jury is still out on whether Google Glass will become a useful classroom tool or end up gathering dust at the back of the cupboard, but whatever its fate wearable technology looks to have a promising future in schools.

    The potential for augmented reality and location-specific activities is clear, and a reduction in cost would bring it within reach of schools.

     In the short-term, the smart watch seems a better bet than glasses, with motion and pressure-sensors particularly useful for activity-based learning. If smart watches take off in the same way as smartphones, wearable tech could become an entrenched part of a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment.


ONLINE LEARNING
 
      Schools are only just beginning to tap the potential for online learning. MOOCs are becoming fairly well-established in higher education but are just dipping their toe into the high school arena. The next 12 months will see more widespread use of both traditional ‘courses’ and ad hoc ‘help-outs’.

      Alongside this we will see moves to recognize and measure – and ultimately accredit – what students are learning online, with a shift from ‘seat time’ to a competency-based framework.
 
       As online learning moves more mainstream, we can also expect to see providers looking to charge for their courses.

BLENDED AND FLIPPED LEARNING

      Both blended and flipped learning seem on the verge of breaking into the mainstream in 2015. Charter school operator Rocketship Education is pioneering blended learning – a combination of online and classroom teaching – in the U.S. and school sponsor Ark announced earlier this year that it is aiming to open a blended learning school in the U.K. Although this will not happen before 2016, some of its schools are already experimenting with blended learning.

          Flipped learning, where students typically learn content – perhaps through an instructional video – in their own time and spend the lesson on project work, is also gaining traction. This allows teachers to focus in class on areas the students find difficult, providing a more personalized approach.

Recommended by Forbes

 

       The ability to give different lessons to different groups of students in the same class opens up new possibilities for differentiation, as well as for mastery teaching, where students have to show competence in one area before moving onto the next one.

 

 SHARING

      Thanks to YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter and a host of other sites, sharing has never been easier. Learning will increasingly cross boundaries as teachers share their ideas and tips and students share their work online.

      Technology also provides greater opportunities for collaborative working, both within the class and between schools. Teachers and students will not just share their work, but will combine with others and demonstrate the power of collaboration.

AND FINALLY…

      While technology is undoubtedly a useful weapon in any teacher’s armoury, there is a lot of talk about the latest gizmo and not enough about what helps students learn. Not so much a trend as an aspiration is that 2015 will see more inquiry into how technology aids teaching and learning, with less emphasis on the technology and more on showing how it makes a difference. After all, technology in education is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2015/01/01/the-edtech-trends-to-look-out-for-in-2015/3/

2015 education tech trends require classroom management software

2015 education tech trends require classroom management software

Posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2015 by Suzannah Hastings

       Technology has been the cause of major changes in a variety of industries over the last few years, but no sector has experienced quite the rapid transition into the modern world as education. A variety of technological advances have recently provided teachers and students with dramatic benefits and there are a lot of changes o ccurring in educational institutions at the moment. Below are five of the biggest classroom tech trends in 2015:

 

Big data 

Whether the devices are provided by the schools or not, an increasing number of students are utilizing computers, smartphones and tablets to complete their assignments and study for tests. The majority of that work is being done online and each child is creating a massive amount of data that so far hasn’t been able to be effectively leveraged by teachers and schools.

However, with the advent of big data analytics, statistics on important matrixes like completion time and rates and average GPA can easily be tracked and used to make a positive impact. Teachers can also see how often students are accessing certain kinds of material and increase the use of popular mediums and discontinue those that aren’t connecting with the kids.

 

Personalization

        The enormous impact big data has had on education in the short amount of time it has been used is perhaps most deeply felt in the ability to create personalized learning strategies for each student. With the specifics of each child’s strengths and weaknesses recorded and analyzed, teachers can slightly tweak their curriculum for each pupil in order to give them the tools that best suit their learning styles.

Some students respond better to ebooks, while others appreciate traditional paperbacks. Some may find more success with a game that teaches the basics of algebra while others need to look at diagrams online. All of these styles can be accommodated with new technological tools that can help a greater number of students be successful in the classroom. Feedback can be provided to teachers in real time, letting them see instantly how well a child has understood the lesson and know which students need more individual attention without publicly singling them out or holding up the rest of the class.

 

Mobile learning

       This may be the trend that has gained traction in educational institutions the fastest. While not as popular in elementary schools, high schools and universities have found great success in offering applications and Web portals for students to use on their mobile devices. Not only can users access important educational information anywhere with Wi-Fi access, but things like GPS and QR codes can provide greater context when students are on field trips or working outside the classroom. Mobile learning also encourages teachers to break information up into smaller, more easily digested bits so material is more easily absorbed, resulting in improved comprehension.

 

Massive open online courses

       While these types of classes have been used by adults for continuing education for some years now, they are starting to become more popular in universities and schools in remote areas where it can be difficult for students to get to class everyday. According to Forbes contributor Nick Morrison, MOOCs will see more widespread attendance over the next 12 months, with students utilizing both traditional online courses and the more ad hoc ‘help-out’ classes that provide additional support on a topic.

 

Cloud learning management systems

      LMSs allow teachers to access courses and training programs in a software application, and cloud-based programs make these accessible from a mobile device both in the classroom and remotely. The use of cloud-based LMS by teachers grew last year and industry experts believe that trend will continue in 2015. This is due in most part to the fact that cloud-based platforms had the highest increase in use over the last two years as any other system.

 

Making the most of classroom tech

      For academic institutions interested in implementing the latest technology trends into their classrooms but concerned about managing all of the new machines and systems, Faronics’Insight Classroom Management software can help. Insight allows teachers to manage educational programs remotely to provide students with increased support and keep assignments and projects up to date. Web surfing can also be restricted to reduce distractions in the classroom and sharing features enables teachers and students to have one-on-one conversations without disrupting the rest of the class.

source: http://www.faronics.com/news/blog/2015-education-tech-trends-require-classroom-management-software/

3 Top Educational Technology Trends for 2015

by Tutors on Call | Jun 5, 2015

      Remember the days when our schools used chalkboards, basic visual aids and had one desktop computer for each classroom?  Now, we see more tablets  and smart  whiteboards being used in most schools.  Less hard-bound books are visible and there are more options at our fingertips today for learning – e-books, educational apps, software, and educational websites etc… The field of education is evidently keeping up with changes in technology.

 

      Despite the mounting pressure (for and against) increasing education budgets, educational technology trends continue to grow. According to a report by CB Insights, a venture capital database, ventures from ed tech companies soared up to nearly $1.87 billion last year (2014), up 55 percent from the year before. This is a clear indication that ed tech businesses are gearing up to invest in innovative ideas to improve education standards around the globe.

 

      It’s an exciting, fortunate time to be a teacher or a student.  Although we can expect much more new and innovative learning tools in the near future, here are the top examples of educational technology trends that are currently taking education to new heights.

Mobile Learning and Cloud Technology

      The majority of students now own a mobile phone, and everyone has internet access. Furthermore, tablets and phablets (kind of a cross between a phone and a tablet) are also becoming much more affordable, making it accessible to kids as young as 2 years. In 2015,  we anticipate more mobile learning apps and platforms to become available on iOS and Android, as our expectations around enhancing the learning process amplifies.

      At its best, mobile learning technology engages different types of individual learners and various groups of interconnected learners through cooperative and participative learning systems. With this integration, schools have placed their resources into the cloud to access classroom information anytime anywhere. Cloud computing and storage makes that possible.

Digital Textbooks

       Digital textbooks have become more popular again, together with the gush of mobile technology within the classroom. They are cheaper, more environmentally friendly, more convenient and portable than the traditional hefty print textbook. digital or e-textbooks are also more up-to-date and interactive.  Consequently, this makes it the most accessible educational technology trends these days.

       Google Canada launched Google Play Books App late last year to provide digital textbooks that are for sale or for rent. Once books have been rented or purchased, they are stored in the cloud and synced to your devices, giving you instant access to your textbooks on your Android, iOS device or the web. Additionally, digital books are readily available in other sources.

3D Printing

     3D printing is an emerging technology that has gained a lot of buzz since 2013, with Canada being at the forefront of the revolution. This incredible printer can make 3 dimensional solid objects that will make effective learning tools, allowing educators and students to create whatever they imagine. Unquestionably, this innovation soars to the top of educational technology trends this year.

      According to an article by CNet, printing company MakerBot wants to put a 3D printer in every school in the United States, and they are drumming up support from the industry and general public to make it happen. Thus, it won’t be long ‘til Canada follows suit.

     There’s no doubt, classrooms have come a long way from traditional ways. As a result, more people are keeping up with the latest trends and becoming better at adapting to  all the changes. The introduction of new educational technology trends is most exciting because it has increased creativity and participation among students. The future promises dynamic and thrilling learning experiences for students and teachers alike.

source: http://www.tutors-on-call.com/3-top-educational-technology-trends-for-2015/

5 Education Tech Trends For 2015

     Education is being flipped on its head by technology. Teachers see the promise -- and the pitfalls. J

      This is an exciting time to be in education technology. The global spend on edtech in classrooms is on the rise, fueling a market that is projected to reach $19 billion by 2018, according to a market study released by Futuresource Consulting earlier this year. As blended learning environments evolve, administrators and teachers continue to celebrate the promise of digital learning and experience the pitfalls of underwhelming edtech tools. Below are five edtech trends and opportunities for developers of these tools to consider.

Technology for flipped-learning

     The rationale behind the flipped class -- a form of blended learning in which students learn content online by watching video lectures, usually at home, and homework is done in class with teachers and students discussing and solving questions -- is to engage learners in and out of the classroom. The dynamic nature of this approach enables teachers to create effective and fun asynchronous and synchronous learning experiences.

     Experts agree that passive learning with video doesn't boost student achievement. As flipped learning becomes more prevalent, the distribution tools and video streaming that are central to this approach must be optimized for interactivity. The stakes are higher than ever, with next-generation, cloud-based solutions displacing older learning management systems (LMS). Features such as powerful analytics that measure student responses and mobile learning capabilities will become the hallmarks of the best flipped classrooms.

     Sponsor video, mouseover for sound

[Check out 8 STEM Websites To Excite Kids About Tech.]

Device agnostic learning

     While videos and websites are basically ubiquitous across all devices, many apps are native, even exclusive, to one device or mobile operating system. The pain points caused by multiple standards, multiple screen sizes, and multiple operating systems are not sustainable.

     Teachers and students shouldn't bear the burden of device management. Their priorities should be centered on learning. The most innovative edtech creators realize that the future is to develop device agnostic services. As more and more teachers integrate mobile learning, this flexibility will be a requirement.

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(Source: Wesley Fryer)

Assistive technologies in the classroom

    Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for designers of software systems and technology products is to deliver a uniform experience to a large and diverse human population. Creators of edtech stand to benefit from ensuring that their products and services are designed to allow differently-abled students the same access to learning.

     US federal accessibility standards pertaining to information technology, known as Section 508, should be a core design and development requirement, rather than an afterthought. A burgeoning industry continues to go beyond these baseline compliance standards, leading development of assistive technologies.

    Earlier this month, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking made headlines with his commentary about the role of assistive technologies that support him. The same Fortune article cited a Gartner report issued in late 2013, estimating that approximately 15% of the world's population could benefit directly from assistive technologies -- and the rest of us will also feel a positive impact from the innovation behind them. It's clear that assistive technologies, ranging from simple to complex, are playing an increasingly vital role in reducing barriers to learning for students with a variety of special needs and challenges.

Mobile learning

     Mobile learning apps were everywhere in 2014. This next year, we expect more mobile learning platforms and apps to be available on iOS and Android, along with heightened expectations related to enhanced learning experiences and outcomes. At its best, mobile learning technology can drive collaboration and engage different types of individual learners and various groups of interconnected learners.

     My company, WizIQ, is heavily focused on how such technologies enable sturdier scaffolding for student learning and broaden the virtual classroom experience. Features such as live participation, location-aware notification delivery, and ubiquitous access are paving the way for context-aware adaptive and personalized mobile learning systems -- functionality that has the potential to fuel lifelong learning in an unprecedented way.

Personalized blended learning

    Customization is king and the array of edtech tools that can meet the needs of students in a personalized, meaningful, and timely manner based on best practices stand to rule. But first, a word of advice to all creators of edtech tools: Technology isn't the driver. Your strong belief in your innovation is secondary to the needs of students, teachers, and administrators.

     Recognize that teachers are tasked with implementing, and often times, identifying, the best mix of digital learning tools for each student. Different approaches to learning, such as project-based learning, maker education, game-based learning, and more, will continue to be explored as part of personalized blended learning models. Accordingly, such innovations will push edtech vendors to deliver more than technology or content -- but will require them to demonstrate how their product or service improves learning outcomes.

source: http://www.informationweek.com/government/open-government/5-education-tech-trends-for-2015/a/d-id/1318396

2015’s Top Education Technology Trends

By Kristen Hicks on May 13, 2015@atxcopywriter

Image via Flickr by Alan Levine

       Each year, the New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE release the NMC Horizon Report, which looks at the technology most likely to shape education in the next five years. The 2015 report highlights a number of key changes that educators, those at the higher education level in particular, should be aware of.

6 Important Trends in Education Technology

       A number of experts weighed in on the six technology trends that are making the biggest impact on education. If you read the report itself, you’ll see not only a description of what the trend is (which we’ve summarized below), but also a few examples of institutions or organizations that have already embraced it.

1.    The Need to Develop Cultures of Innovation

       The world is changing and higher education must change with it. Many schools have recognized this fact and are working to change how things are done in order to better accommodate new tech and to encourage innovation. Some universities are borrowing ideas from the business world, and are adopting processes that resemble an agile startup model, which makes incorporating change as you go easier.

       Likewise, a number of universities have already embraced the idea that technology itself can and should be treated as a catalyst for improving how learning works. A fairly widespread example is the growing adoption of BYOD programs. Why not turn the tools everyone is already using into a means for making your courses better?

      A culture of innovation not only embraces the new technology and ideas re-shaping education, but also adapts to the changing ideas about what’s most valuable in the world outside of higher education. Policies that emphasize the high-level skills increasingly valued in the business world – creativity, risk-taking, collaboration, entrepreneurship – help make higher education both more meaningful to students in the moment, and more valuable to them in the future.

2.    Increasing Collaboration Between Institutions

     The number and importance of educational consortia is growing. Technology is one of the catalysts of this on two very different levels:

a.     Tech is expensive, but also increasingly important.

       Schools can’t just opt out of using technology, but with budgetary concerns and complaints about tuition already a huge issue for educators at all levels, purchasing the tech needed is a challenge. This is especially so considering that “the tech needed” has a frustrating tendency to change within a couple of years (or less).

     Consortia make it possible for colleges to band together and demand more affordable and sustainable tech solutions. One university alone has limited power, but many universities negotiating as one can make a difference in how tech deals work.

b.    Schools can share data and content.

     Technology makes it possible for a college to make a large number of lesson plans available to anyone who might benefit from them. It allows colleges to cull the large amounts of data they’ve each collected to gain greater insights from it all. We’ll address this one further in #4, but the takeaway here is that tech makes collaboration and sharing between institutions and their students possible on a large scale that benefits everyone.

3.    Possibilities of Assessment and Measurement

     Tech brings with it an increased access to data. Colleges can now collect extensive and detailed data on how students are learning, what teaching methods work the best, and which kinds of education and career paths lead to the greatest success. Basically, from day one of a student’s educational experience through their life after graduation, they’re producing a huge quantity of data that can be put toward improving the individual experience of students, as well as how higher education works as a whole.

      Data is playing a key role in adaptive learning, which empowers students to better understand their progress and take more control over their learning. Additionally, adaptive learning gives teachers insights into how students are doing and what they need most.  It can also help drive more informed curriculum decisions designed to help students perform better. Data-driven learning and assessment is becoming a big and influential field in the higher education space.

4.    Proliferation of Open Educational Resources

As mentioned earlier, technology makes it easier than ever for colleges or professors to make resources freely available to anyone they may benefit. Many educators are happy to jump on the bandwagon. The number of open educational resources (OER) available to anyone willing to do some digging to find them is growing.

OER can refer to any type of digital content, including:

• Courses

• Course materials

• Textbooks

• Research articles

• Presentations

• Videos

• Tests

• Software

     The movement to make more information free goes beyond just insisting that there be no cost to students. It extends to encouraging that the resources be free from any ownership and usage rights.

     While the cost of higher education remains one of the most consistently debated topics in the industry, making use of creative commons resources and open textbooks could be the key to bringing costs down in at least one area of higher ed. OER repositories and search tools already exist, but they could still use some work and are likely to improve if the trend continues in years to come.

5.    Increase in Blended Learning

     Online learning is growing at a rapid pace. As the report points out, one in ten students were taking courses exclusively online already by 2012, and even more were taking at least some of their classes online. The shift to online learning has been heavily aided by tech improvements in fields like learning analytics, adaptive learning, and asynchronous and synchronous tools.

      But blended learning may be the even bigger innovation to come of the shift to online learning, as it combine the benefits of the technology of online learning with the accessibility of working with teachers face-to-face. Access to more online resources in whatever format students learn from best, accessible wherever and whenever they want, enables better learning outside of the classroom. Add to that a greater availability of teachers once in the classroom and you have a powerful tool that provides students with the best of both worlds.

     The best practices for blended learning are still being developed, but as more colleges experiment with it and track what works best, it can only get better.

6.    Redesigning Learning Spaces

      If we’re bringing more tech into the classroom, the classroom must change to accommodate. The traditional model of a lecturer standing at the front of a classroom, talking to a room full of students seated in rows, ignores the possibilities of what tech can add to the equation.

    Some colleges are experimenting with re-designing the classroom space to encourage the integration of technology and more collaboration between students. A common example of this is a classroom in which the lecture’s podium is moved to the center and surrounded by round tables for students that integrate a key piece of technology like an interactive whiteboard or a computer.

    Other colleges are working to expand the idea to other spaces. Many libraries are being re-designed to enable more access to technology and comfortable learning spaces within them. Schools are adding more power outlets and comfortable seating to hallways and atriums so students can do their studying there.

    Learning can happen anywhere, just as long as students have access to the right tools. A few tweaks to what the common spaces on college campuses look like can help take that idea further.

     Still, while NMC report seeks to predict the tech trends that will influence education the most in the next five years, five years is a very long time in the tech world. These trends are all poised to change how the educational landscape looks, but may be taken over by newer technologies and the trends and issues they produce. We’re living in an exciting time for ed tech. The possibilities of new opportunities for schools and educators will only grow.

source: http://www.edudemic.com/education-trends-keep-tech-front-center/

5 Top Trends in Education Technology 2015

5 Top Trends in Education Technology 2015

By Aaron Skonnard

       Pressure continues to increase on education budgets around the globe. Yet despite this fact, the education sector is continuing to increase its investment in technology related to learning. Ed tech funding jumped 55 percent in 2014 with no signs of slowing down, according to CB Insights. A report from Global Industry Analysts (GIA) predicts that the global e-learning market will reach $107 billion in 2015, propelled by technological advancements and demand for additional skills.

With that in mind, here are five top trends in ed tech to keep on your radar screen in 2015 and beyond:

Online corporate learning

     The Clayton Christensen Institute predicts growing momentum for online corporate learning initiatives. Just how big will it get? Keeping in mind GIA's $107B estimate for this year, the corporate e-learning market is expected to increase about 13 percent annually until 2017, according to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. This is because an increasing number of companies are realizing that there's great value in furthering their employees' knowledge in ways that are flexible, cost-effective, and tailored to each individual's needs.

    In contrast to the academic Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that are still struggling to find the best path to a reliable revenue stream, businesses focused on corporate e-learning have found a business model that works--and works well. Online corporate learning allows employees in every industry and at any level to experience the power of customized training, 24/7, on any device. Unlike with classroom-based training, learners can train on their own time using customized formats. Everyone can move at their own pace, learning what they need to know and exploring their own interests. Though still a relatively young industry, corporate e-learning promises to deliver new models of teaching and a future of exciting breakthroughs.

Skills measurement. 

    In conjunction with the building momentum in online corporate learning, expect to see intensified focus in 2015 on identifying better ways to assess skills and measure individual progress, competency-based learning, and ultimately ROI. The Clayton Christensen Institute notes that when we provide customizable education, it becomes important to ensure that modular learning experiences are blended together in a way that fosters cohesion. To do so requires efficient ways to measure and track student learning to guarantee smooth interchanges between each learning experience.

    We've got this as a top priority at Pluralsight via our recent acquisition of Smarterer, which allows us to measure any skill set with as few as 10 questions in under two minutes based on an adaptive algorithm. This allows us to give learners an SAT-like score for any skill, which could provide the foundation for a new industry standard around skills measurement.Other online education companies have started experimenting in this area as well, including Udacity's Nanodegrees program and General Assembly's microcredentials. Any company that offers MOOCs needs to address better skills assessment if they want to survive.

Alternative learning styles. 
    Gone are the days when students have to rely only on text-based--or even video-based--tutorials. While those are still effective, new types of learning styles will continue to emerge in 2015, offering online learners more interactive experiences like writing code directly in the browser, or completing online challenges as part of the learning process. Pluralsight had this trend in sight with our latest acquisition of Code School.

    Code School offers a unique approach that relies on an alternative learning style that we believe is more fun, engaging, and effective than just plain videos. With Code School, users watch a short video, then stop and practice what they've learned through a series of interactive coding challenges and assessments--all in the browser--before continuing. As learners progress through the challenges, they earn points and badges, which guide each individual's progress and learning. There's also a mobile app so that users can watch and review videos on-the-go to complement the code challenges and online learning. This is the type of new, interactive learning style that you can expect to see much more of in the education segment.

Online competency-based training.  

     While competency-based training approaches and online learning are nothing new, the blend of the two is creating a revolutionary approach to education. Michelle R. Weise and Clayton M. Christensen write that online competency-based education has "great disruptive potential" because it incorporates not only the right learning model, but the right technologies, customers, and business model. Weise and Christensen go on to explain that providers of online competency-based training "can cost-effectively combine modules of learning into pathways that are agile and adaptable to the changing labor market." They do so by breaking down learning not by courses or even subject matter, but by competencies, thus releasing learning from the constraints of traditional institutions and methods.

       How can providers of these technologies create a diversity of stackable programs for a wide range of industries, scale them, and also keep costs down? By fusing modularization with assessments to effectively measure the competencies. Online competency-based learning opportunities--such as those offered by the online degree programs at Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University--help students through targeted learning outcomes, customized support, and portable skill sets that employers care about. Expect this trend to highlight the important role of employers to create a value network that helps students connect directly with potential job opportunities.

Flipped-learning tech. 

      Information Week identifies technology for flipped learning as another key ed-tech trend in 2015. A flipped class is a form of blended learning where students watch video lectures outside of class to learn content online, and then do their homework in class with the guidance of teachers in person. This approach helps to engage students outside of the classroom as well as in it.

    Harman Singh notes that designers of the online tools and video streaming that are central to this approach must prioritize optimizing them for interactivity. Look for next-generation cloud-based, mobile, and app solutions--with powerful analytics to measure student responses--to replace outdated learning management systems in 2015. Khan Academy is currently leading this type of disruption in the K-12 space.

     As the education sector continues to embrace the power and promise of digital learning and the best that ed tech has to offer, I leave you with one caveat: no matter how exciting the new technology, the tool itself must always be secondary to the goal that the student, teacher, or administrator is trying to achieve or the problem they are trying to solve. As Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker point out in their book Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, the most successful designers of education technology will keep the end in mind, rather than pushing tech innovations for technology's own sake.

Published on: Feb 3, 2015

source: http://www.inc.com/aaron-skonnard/5-top-trends-in-education-technology-2015.html