By Sean Scarpiello
One of the newest technologies to keep an eye on in 2015 is a creative education platform called ForClass. Teachers and professors are already extremely busy and find it increasingly difficult to prepare for class. ForClass is a platform geared towards easing the difficulties in preparing for classes while engaging students.
ForClass enables teachers to assign questions to students for homework. These questions may be a guided reading, pop quiz, or a list of key concepts. As students answer these questions, teachers get an understanding of how each question is answered. This enables teachers to structure their lecture on the areas were students struggled. Further, ForClass gives teachers the statistical breakdown of how each student did on the assignment. Therefore, teachers can see where individual students are having difficulties and offer them help. This provides an easier education for each student individually. Over the course of a semester, ForClass can track a student’s progress, thereby enabling teachers to determine each student’s reasoning in answering questions.
One of the most important benefits of ForClass is how simple it is for the user. Teachers are able to quickly and effortlessly post questions and assignments for students to complete. The class results of each question for each individual student show up in real time for the teacher, in a simple format. Plus, teachers have an archive of all of their students’ responses at their fingertips. Students have also described ForClass as a straightforward platform that encourages them to become more engaged in class. Students can log on and view each assignment for each class and answer each question at their own pace. As ForClass is web-based, any student with a laptop, tablet, or even a smart phone with a wireless connection can complete their assignments from almost anywhere.
ForClass also affords the opportunity for teachers to use this innovative platform in a creative manner. Teachers can use ForClass to assign take home quizzes or post lecture questions to see which topics confuse students. Plus, teachers can come up with their own creative ways to implement the software in their classrooms that fit their students needs best.
Overall, ForClass has additional benefits by being a low cost or in some cases a free program for teachers and students. Plus, it is easy to use for both teachers and students.In addition, its ability to enable students to critically think and have fun with class instruction is a great benefit. Most of all, ForClass keeps students actively engaged in class material and also benefits teachers by having a clear understanding of their student’s grasp of the material. It is clear that ForClass is an excellent addition to any classroom as it is easy to implement into classrooms where students can utilize technology to improve the quality of their education.
Source: http://www.forclass.com/
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
The Effectiveness of Online Writing Labs (OWLs)
By Sean Scarpiello
As the year 2015 quickly approaches, one interesting educational technology tool to keep an eye is Online Writing Labs or OWLs. These writing tools are designed to engage high school and college students in improving their writing skills to fit what college professors are looking for in essays and reports. More importantly, OWLs focus on improving writing in general, an important skill to have in all careers, regardless of the exact field of study in college. Different colleges such as Purdue University and Excelsior College offer their versions of OWLs online at no cost to users.
As OWLs are an online based technology, they can be accessed 24/7 from any laptop, tablet, or other device from any place with an internet connection.
Within the OWLs offered by Excelsior College, there are 8 different modules for improving college level writing. There are modules that focus on the actual process of writing. These processes help students think about how they should go about brainstorming, developing arguments, looking at opposing viewpoints, and more. From there, students can find modules that help lay the foundations of what to include in their introductions and main content. In a series of fun to read and interactive instructional pages, students can also learn how to write without plagiarizing, control their voice, develop concise yet effective thesis statements and more. Plus, these pages include tips on how to revise and edit their papers so students can easily understand what areas their professors are focusing on during the grading process. One study showed that, on average, students using OWLs raised their final grade in a course by 6.6 points. While this is great for students’ transcripts in the short term, the long term benefit is improved writing styles which they will inevitably take with them beyond their educational career.
In addition to OWLs pages of content for improving writing, Excelsior College’s OWL includes modules on how to craft writing for different audiences. There is an essay module and a grammar module which guides students on how to write in the type of rhetoric that professors look for while retaining the proper grammar and format in their college essays. Another module that is especially useful is the digital writing module which instructs students on how to write for readers in the 21st Century. This includes information on writing blogs, discussion boards, online journals, social media, and more. To help pull all of these skills together, there is an interactive game called Paper Capers, which helps students apply what they have learned in the OWL. The game is designed to teach students how to understand the writing process and apply their knowledge by answering questions and judging if aspects of writing, such as different thesis statements and research methods, are effective.
Overall, regardless of the field of study in college, writing is an important skill which will follow students for the rest of their lives. Therefore, OWLs are a great resource for students as they contain a wealth of knowledge and interactive media for improving writing skills and style at no cost. Plus, the programs online format enables them to be accessible from anywhere with any device at anytime. OWLs will no doubt go on to improve the quality of education as more students can utilize technology towards improving their education.
Excelsior College's OWL: http://owl.excelsior.edu/
As the year 2015 quickly approaches, one interesting educational technology tool to keep an eye is Online Writing Labs or OWLs. These writing tools are designed to engage high school and college students in improving their writing skills to fit what college professors are looking for in essays and reports. More importantly, OWLs focus on improving writing in general, an important skill to have in all careers, regardless of the exact field of study in college. Different colleges such as Purdue University and Excelsior College offer their versions of OWLs online at no cost to users.
As OWLs are an online based technology, they can be accessed 24/7 from any laptop, tablet, or other device from any place with an internet connection.
Within the OWLs offered by Excelsior College, there are 8 different modules for improving college level writing. There are modules that focus on the actual process of writing. These processes help students think about how they should go about brainstorming, developing arguments, looking at opposing viewpoints, and more. From there, students can find modules that help lay the foundations of what to include in their introductions and main content. In a series of fun to read and interactive instructional pages, students can also learn how to write without plagiarizing, control their voice, develop concise yet effective thesis statements and more. Plus, these pages include tips on how to revise and edit their papers so students can easily understand what areas their professors are focusing on during the grading process. One study showed that, on average, students using OWLs raised their final grade in a course by 6.6 points. While this is great for students’ transcripts in the short term, the long term benefit is improved writing styles which they will inevitably take with them beyond their educational career.
In addition to OWLs pages of content for improving writing, Excelsior College’s OWL includes modules on how to craft writing for different audiences. There is an essay module and a grammar module which guides students on how to write in the type of rhetoric that professors look for while retaining the proper grammar and format in their college essays. Another module that is especially useful is the digital writing module which instructs students on how to write for readers in the 21st Century. This includes information on writing blogs, discussion boards, online journals, social media, and more. To help pull all of these skills together, there is an interactive game called Paper Capers, which helps students apply what they have learned in the OWL. The game is designed to teach students how to understand the writing process and apply their knowledge by answering questions and judging if aspects of writing, such as different thesis statements and research methods, are effective.
Overall, regardless of the field of study in college, writing is an important skill which will follow students for the rest of their lives. Therefore, OWLs are a great resource for students as they contain a wealth of knowledge and interactive media for improving writing skills and style at no cost. Plus, the programs online format enables them to be accessible from anywhere with any device at anytime. OWLs will no doubt go on to improve the quality of education as more students can utilize technology towards improving their education.
Excelsior College's OWL: http://owl.excelsior.edu/
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Sunday, November 30, 2014
How Evernote Improves Organization In and Out of the Classroom
By Sean Scarpiello
Over the past few years, Evernote, an educational app designed to improve organization and collaboration in the classroom has continued to thrive and grow. Originally it started as an app with the ability to easily archive notes, Evernote has expanded to ease the jobs of both teachers and students. Evernote has now given students and teachers more benefits by adding additional utilities. The best part of all is this free app is available to students on all different devices such as: smart phones, tablets, and laptops for Windows, Mac and Android. While there is a free version of Evernote, students and teachers may pay a small amount to gain access to more memory and utilities for education.
When you sign up for Evernote, users have access to really helpful programs. StudyBlue allows students to easily create flash cards, which can be used for studying large amounts of information quickly. Also, RefMe enables students to cite literature easily as well as bibliographies and other assignments. Biscuit is another interesting program that allows students to improve their use of language while increasing their vocabulary, through word lists and dictionary tools.
One of the most interesting apps of Evernote is called eHighlighter, which truly improves the organization of students in and out of the classroom. Students can simply take a photo of their notes or the class blackboard and upload their photo to eHighlighter. The app will then archive the students notes. Essentially, the notes within the photo are translated into text as if it were typed into a computer. eHighlighter then enables students to go back and review their notes by running searches of specific key words within the notes. This allows students to easily find and review specific parts of their notes relating to specific class topics. As these notes are available in a digital media, students have full access to clearly written notes on their phone, tablet, or laptop. Furthermore, eHighlighter's features are not limited to class notes. Students can take pictures of textbook passages, figures, graphs, homework assignments, and even confusing math problems worked out on a blackboard. eHighlighter then organizes all of these notes and rewrites the notes clearly to be easily accessible. Another program in Evernote called Azendoo, allows students to take a photo of class notes or a worksheet which is also converted into a digital file. Then, students can complete the worksheet on any of their devices and email the completed document to their teacher. This allows students to not only easily complete and turn in their homework, but also save a copy if there is a problem later on or for review when studying for a test.
Evernote even has an app that improves the educational experience of difficult math concepts which can often be awkward to learn on a computer. Through a program called Scalar, students have access to a digital notebook which helps map out and store the entire process of solving lengthy math equations. Scalar even includes a calculator for crunching numbers and other features where numbers can be color coded or crossed out to help students visualize solving math problems. Later, students can return to their account on any tablet, phone, or laptop and review all of the steps required to solve long and abstract math equations. Further, they have a copy of the math notes that are clear and easy to read.
Overall, Evernote has a number of innovative and extremely useful programs that improve the organization and collaboration of students in the classroom. In addition to Evernotes programs such as StudyBlue, RefMe, eHighlighter, Azendoo, and Scalar, have even more programs that student and teachers can benefit from in and out of the classroom. Plus, all of the data in a student’s account can be accessed from any device using the internet in a clear and easy to read format. Most of all, Evernote is fantastic because it's technology is available at no cost and helps more students through the implementation of technology in education.
Evernote: https://appcenter.evernote.com/collection/education
Over the past few years, Evernote, an educational app designed to improve organization and collaboration in the classroom has continued to thrive and grow. Originally it started as an app with the ability to easily archive notes, Evernote has expanded to ease the jobs of both teachers and students. Evernote has now given students and teachers more benefits by adding additional utilities. The best part of all is this free app is available to students on all different devices such as: smart phones, tablets, and laptops for Windows, Mac and Android. While there is a free version of Evernote, students and teachers may pay a small amount to gain access to more memory and utilities for education.
When you sign up for Evernote, users have access to really helpful programs. StudyBlue allows students to easily create flash cards, which can be used for studying large amounts of information quickly. Also, RefMe enables students to cite literature easily as well as bibliographies and other assignments. Biscuit is another interesting program that allows students to improve their use of language while increasing their vocabulary, through word lists and dictionary tools.
One of the most interesting apps of Evernote is called eHighlighter, which truly improves the organization of students in and out of the classroom. Students can simply take a photo of their notes or the class blackboard and upload their photo to eHighlighter. The app will then archive the students notes. Essentially, the notes within the photo are translated into text as if it were typed into a computer. eHighlighter then enables students to go back and review their notes by running searches of specific key words within the notes. This allows students to easily find and review specific parts of their notes relating to specific class topics. As these notes are available in a digital media, students have full access to clearly written notes on their phone, tablet, or laptop. Furthermore, eHighlighter's features are not limited to class notes. Students can take pictures of textbook passages, figures, graphs, homework assignments, and even confusing math problems worked out on a blackboard. eHighlighter then organizes all of these notes and rewrites the notes clearly to be easily accessible. Another program in Evernote called Azendoo, allows students to take a photo of class notes or a worksheet which is also converted into a digital file. Then, students can complete the worksheet on any of their devices and email the completed document to their teacher. This allows students to not only easily complete and turn in their homework, but also save a copy if there is a problem later on or for review when studying for a test.
Evernote even has an app that improves the educational experience of difficult math concepts which can often be awkward to learn on a computer. Through a program called Scalar, students have access to a digital notebook which helps map out and store the entire process of solving lengthy math equations. Scalar even includes a calculator for crunching numbers and other features where numbers can be color coded or crossed out to help students visualize solving math problems. Later, students can return to their account on any tablet, phone, or laptop and review all of the steps required to solve long and abstract math equations. Further, they have a copy of the math notes that are clear and easy to read.
Overall, Evernote has a number of innovative and extremely useful programs that improve the organization and collaboration of students in the classroom. In addition to Evernotes programs such as StudyBlue, RefMe, eHighlighter, Azendoo, and Scalar, have even more programs that student and teachers can benefit from in and out of the classroom. Plus, all of the data in a student’s account can be accessed from any device using the internet in a clear and easy to read format. Most of all, Evernote is fantastic because it's technology is available at no cost and helps more students through the implementation of technology in education.
Evernote: https://appcenter.evernote.com/collection/education
Thursday, November 20, 2014
An Old Fashioned Alternative to Education Apps
By Sean Scarpiello
These days, young students have easy access to all kinds of technology. Some schools have tablets and laptops for their students, while many students have access to a tablet or computer at home. With so much technology at their fingertips, students are always on their device. Yet while there is a growing availability of educational apps and programs on these devices, there are so many other apps that draw in young minds. For many grade school students, games like Angry Birds or Candy Crush are seconds away. For high school and college students, these games along with social media apps are available with the tap of their finger.
Looking back to when I was a child, video games were only accessible on a TV or desktop computer and socializing with friends meant meeting up in the neighborhood. Since there are so many other activities to take part in on their devices, many young students flock to games and social media when they are both at home, on the go, or relaxing. One way that this is a concern is all of this technology takes away from one of the best ways to learn- reading a book. In the past, a lot of my peers in school would read for fun. If we were on a bus, in a car, at home, or on a beach we would relax by reading. When I look around now, it seems like people are too plugged into the internet and do not relax by reading a book. While it now seems like an old fashioned way to learn, reading is proven to increase vocabulary, develop writing skills, improve critical thinking, and so much more.
This lack of reading is already a huge problem. Some surveys now show that around 80% of college students change their major. When I was recently talking to a friend who was facing difficulty settling on a major, I asked him what he enjoys reading. His response was that he doesn’t really read anything. He never sat down to read a book for leisure or to learn about something that interests him. And while this is just one example, this lack of reading among young students is pervasive. The reason for this could be traced back to such easy availability to technology. Instead of curling up with a book on a rainy day, young students are relaxing by staring at their phones, playing the latest version of mindless games or viewing social media.
How can this be changed? Teachers in schools should get students to read more about individual interests. I had a reading teacher in middle school that had a huge bookshelf with books on all kinds of topics. We were required to read 20 minutes each day, but we were able to choose what we wanted to read. He had everything from science fiction to biographies. If at any point we became bored or uninterested in a book, it was perfectly acceptable to pick out a new book. In other classes, I observed many of my classmates hating to read the assigned pages from the book the teacher chose in the beginning of the year. Therefore, when we were able to choose what we wanted to read about, there was much less resistance to reading and more emphasis on learning.
Overall, while it is important to introduce the latest technologies into the classroom to improve education, sometimes the old fashioned ways still work the best. By having students put their phones down to read a book, students can develop their own interests. In addition reading will improve their thinking, writing, and so much more.
These days, young students have easy access to all kinds of technology. Some schools have tablets and laptops for their students, while many students have access to a tablet or computer at home. With so much technology at their fingertips, students are always on their device. Yet while there is a growing availability of educational apps and programs on these devices, there are so many other apps that draw in young minds. For many grade school students, games like Angry Birds or Candy Crush are seconds away. For high school and college students, these games along with social media apps are available with the tap of their finger.
Looking back to when I was a child, video games were only accessible on a TV or desktop computer and socializing with friends meant meeting up in the neighborhood. Since there are so many other activities to take part in on their devices, many young students flock to games and social media when they are both at home, on the go, or relaxing. One way that this is a concern is all of this technology takes away from one of the best ways to learn- reading a book. In the past, a lot of my peers in school would read for fun. If we were on a bus, in a car, at home, or on a beach we would relax by reading. When I look around now, it seems like people are too plugged into the internet and do not relax by reading a book. While it now seems like an old fashioned way to learn, reading is proven to increase vocabulary, develop writing skills, improve critical thinking, and so much more.
This lack of reading is already a huge problem. Some surveys now show that around 80% of college students change their major. When I was recently talking to a friend who was facing difficulty settling on a major, I asked him what he enjoys reading. His response was that he doesn’t really read anything. He never sat down to read a book for leisure or to learn about something that interests him. And while this is just one example, this lack of reading among young students is pervasive. The reason for this could be traced back to such easy availability to technology. Instead of curling up with a book on a rainy day, young students are relaxing by staring at their phones, playing the latest version of mindless games or viewing social media.
How can this be changed? Teachers in schools should get students to read more about individual interests. I had a reading teacher in middle school that had a huge bookshelf with books on all kinds of topics. We were required to read 20 minutes each day, but we were able to choose what we wanted to read. He had everything from science fiction to biographies. If at any point we became bored or uninterested in a book, it was perfectly acceptable to pick out a new book. In other classes, I observed many of my classmates hating to read the assigned pages from the book the teacher chose in the beginning of the year. Therefore, when we were able to choose what we wanted to read about, there was much less resistance to reading and more emphasis on learning.
Overall, while it is important to introduce the latest technologies into the classroom to improve education, sometimes the old fashioned ways still work the best. By having students put their phones down to read a book, students can develop their own interests. In addition reading will improve their thinking, writing, and so much more.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
MOOCs can be a Significant Factor in Opening Doors to Opportunity
By Daphne Koller
2013 has been a year of incredible growth for MOOCs, and Coursera has evolved more rapidly than we could ever have expected. We hit (and surpassed) a triple milestone of 100 partner institutions, 500 courses, and 5 million students. The demand for quality online education resources is simply staggering.
As is typical for developments in technology that force us to rethink the status quo of an industry, this growth has been met with some pushback among skeptics. Within online education, we’ve seen this manifest in criticism of student retention rates and demographic biases. Its natural for early results to be judged against old guidelines and metrics of success for traditional education, but at Coursera we see the outlook for retention and demographic diversity differently.
Among our priorities in the coming year, we hope to shift the conversation around these two dimensions of the learning experience, redefine what it means to be successful, and lay the groundwork for products, offerings, and features that can help students navigate this new medium of learning to meet their own goals, whether that means completing dozens of courses or simply checking out a new subject.
Across all Coursera courses, average retention measured overall is approximately 4%. We can all agree that this would be incredibly low for a 50-seat, on-campus lecture.
However, considering that class enrollment on our platform is completely open, free, and requires no commitment (not unlike reading a book while browsing at the library, or marking a course in a university catalog), we need to reconsider whether it is a failure for thousands of students to complete a course while tens of thousands are browsing (as recently argued very convincingly by Kevin Carey).
When we’ve looked deeper into the intent of users, we find a much more promising picture: One early study of Coursera students found that of those students who said at the outset of a course that they intended to earn a Statement of Accomplishment, roughly 24% successfully completed the course. Surveys of students one month into a course are an even better indicator: Of the “committed” students in these surveys, 64% end up completing all the coursework. (Take a look at figure 4 here. We’ll also be publishing more comprehensive and up-to-date data soon in ACM Ubiquity.) And in our Signature Track option, which offers students the option to pay a fee of around $50 to receive a verified certificate upon successful completion of a course, retention averages around 63% overall, 88% among the committed students and can be as high as 99%.
Clearly, there is more to the retention story than just the baseline numbers.
Beyond retention, we’ve heard questioning of the extent to which MOOCs are living up to their goals of democratizing learning. Recent studies, including a few run by our university partners, indicate that, within certain classes and areas of study, some 80% of students have already earned some kind of degree. This observation is entirely unsurprising, given the significant bias in many of the early courses to the more specialized topics, and the overall phenomenon that early adopters of technology tend to skew toward the educated.
Additional context might be gained from the fact that 40% of Coursera learners are in the developing world. In many of these countries, the few top-quality institutions have very limited capacity relative to the overall demand, and many students are relegated to institutions that are significantly understaffed, where the quality of instruction is highly variable. In such cases, the achievement of a university degree is far from guaranteeing employment, and the high-quality education provided by MOOCs can be a significant factor in opening doors to opportunity--even among the college-educated.
Still, we are deeply committed to expanding our impact on populations that have been traditionally underserved by higher education, and are actively working to broaden access for students in less-developed countries through a range of initiatives, including: working with our Translation Partners to provide translated subtitles for videos, to enable non-native English speakers to learn; localizing our website, so as to make non-English-language students feel “at home” on the site; working with multiple partners, including the US State Department, to host physical “Learning Hubs” in locations around the world where internet access is limited; and launching a mobile app to enable students to download course materials for offline viewing in places where connectivity is an issue. As another example, when Coursera first launched, we had very low student enrollment in China. This fall, we began working with a Chinese internet company, NetEase, to help improve the delivery of video content across the internet firewall. Now, China is our second fastest growing country in terms of daily student sign-ups, just behind the US.
MOOCs have come so far in just two years, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. As we tackle existing challenges and face new ones in 2014, we are humbled by the response that we have seen at Coursera in these early stages and encouraged by the potential to expand, improve, and innovate to bring our vision for the future of education to life.
2013 has been a year of incredible growth for MOOCs, and Coursera has evolved more rapidly than we could ever have expected. We hit (and surpassed) a triple milestone of 100 partner institutions, 500 courses, and 5 million students. The demand for quality online education resources is simply staggering.
As is typical for developments in technology that force us to rethink the status quo of an industry, this growth has been met with some pushback among skeptics. Within online education, we’ve seen this manifest in criticism of student retention rates and demographic biases. Its natural for early results to be judged against old guidelines and metrics of success for traditional education, but at Coursera we see the outlook for retention and demographic diversity differently.
Among our priorities in the coming year, we hope to shift the conversation around these two dimensions of the learning experience, redefine what it means to be successful, and lay the groundwork for products, offerings, and features that can help students navigate this new medium of learning to meet their own goals, whether that means completing dozens of courses or simply checking out a new subject.
Across all Coursera courses, average retention measured overall is approximately 4%. We can all agree that this would be incredibly low for a 50-seat, on-campus lecture.
However, considering that class enrollment on our platform is completely open, free, and requires no commitment (not unlike reading a book while browsing at the library, or marking a course in a university catalog), we need to reconsider whether it is a failure for thousands of students to complete a course while tens of thousands are browsing (as recently argued very convincingly by Kevin Carey).
When we’ve looked deeper into the intent of users, we find a much more promising picture: One early study of Coursera students found that of those students who said at the outset of a course that they intended to earn a Statement of Accomplishment, roughly 24% successfully completed the course. Surveys of students one month into a course are an even better indicator: Of the “committed” students in these surveys, 64% end up completing all the coursework. (Take a look at figure 4 here. We’ll also be publishing more comprehensive and up-to-date data soon in ACM Ubiquity.) And in our Signature Track option, which offers students the option to pay a fee of around $50 to receive a verified certificate upon successful completion of a course, retention averages around 63% overall, 88% among the committed students and can be as high as 99%.
Clearly, there is more to the retention story than just the baseline numbers.
Beyond retention, we’ve heard questioning of the extent to which MOOCs are living up to their goals of democratizing learning. Recent studies, including a few run by our university partners, indicate that, within certain classes and areas of study, some 80% of students have already earned some kind of degree. This observation is entirely unsurprising, given the significant bias in many of the early courses to the more specialized topics, and the overall phenomenon that early adopters of technology tend to skew toward the educated.
Additional context might be gained from the fact that 40% of Coursera learners are in the developing world. In many of these countries, the few top-quality institutions have very limited capacity relative to the overall demand, and many students are relegated to institutions that are significantly understaffed, where the quality of instruction is highly variable. In such cases, the achievement of a university degree is far from guaranteeing employment, and the high-quality education provided by MOOCs can be a significant factor in opening doors to opportunity--even among the college-educated.
Still, we are deeply committed to expanding our impact on populations that have been traditionally underserved by higher education, and are actively working to broaden access for students in less-developed countries through a range of initiatives, including: working with our Translation Partners to provide translated subtitles for videos, to enable non-native English speakers to learn; localizing our website, so as to make non-English-language students feel “at home” on the site; working with multiple partners, including the US State Department, to host physical “Learning Hubs” in locations around the world where internet access is limited; and launching a mobile app to enable students to download course materials for offline viewing in places where connectivity is an issue. As another example, when Coursera first launched, we had very low student enrollment in China. This fall, we began working with a Chinese internet company, NetEase, to help improve the delivery of video content across the internet firewall. Now, China is our second fastest growing country in terms of daily student sign-ups, just behind the US.
MOOCs have come so far in just two years, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. As we tackle existing challenges and face new ones in 2014, we are humbled by the response that we have seen at Coursera in these early stages and encouraged by the potential to expand, improve, and innovate to bring our vision for the future of education to life.
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