When instructional designers are involved in online course design, student-to-student interaction goes up, according to a new survey of online education leaders from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research. The survey compared reported student interaction levels at institutions where instructional design support is required for online course development vs. those where such support is absent or optional. Perhaps not surprisingly, respondents perceived interactivity to be significantly higher for the former.
Asynchronous discussions and group projects are the most important techniques currently used for online learning, according to a new survey of online education leaders from Quality Matters and Eduventures Research. When asked which online learning methods were most important at their institutions, respondents pointed to those two activities first, followed by problem-based learning, quizzes and research projects.
When asked what tools and technologies they would most like to adopt for their online programs, online education leaders cited adaptive learning and learning analytics as their most wanted tech, according to the latest Changing Landscape of Online Education report, a joint initiative of nonprofit Quality Matters and Eduventures Research.
John Wiley and Sons has launched Wiley Assessment Service, a new tool the company describes as an "assessment-as-a-service" offering. Wiley Assessment Services allows instructors to build assignments, quizzes or tests using more than 2 million assets and more than a dozen different question types. Students can access assignments made with the tool through WileyPlus or their school's learning management system and will receive immediate feedback as they answer questions.
Infusing online courses with a little fun can make a big difference in engaging and motivating students.
Nearly all, 85 percent, of educators and policymakers in the United States say they think creative problem solving is a very important skill for students to learn in school, according to a new survey. At the same time, 84 percent of educators and and 68 percent of policymakers surveyed said that there is not enough emphasis on creative problem solving in American education.
Next month, students at five U.S. universities will work on next-generation software concepts in an on-campus FutureMakers Challenge program designed to foster innovation and develop the next-generation digital engineering workforce. The competition is being hosted by Siemens in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Smart Technologies today introduced Smart InkScan, a mobile app that converts handwritten artifacts into a digital file that can be edited and shared. The app, currently available for iOS devices, allows users to take a photo of notes from any medium — paper, whiteboard, napkin, etc. — and then push the digitized content directly to a Smart Board with I.Q.
An active learning space at Dawson College in Canada has taken interactive display tech to the extreme. The classroom walls boast 56 feet of digital workspace where students can collaborate on coursework. The room is outfitted with eight Nureva Walls from Nureva, a Calgary-based maker of visual collaboration and audio conferencing technologies.
Researchers at Cornell University are working on software that will help math teachers understand what their students were thinking when making mistakes on their homework. The team is building an algorithm that reverse engineers the way students arrived at their answers.