Friday, December 29, 2017
I Tunes U
This interesting app created by Apple is a game changer for education. Please see more by following the link below
https://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
Thank you Bill Martin for sharing this!
Posted by Bill Martin
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Exploring children’s power of self-organized learning to reduce the achievement gap in education
An urgent issue in the U.S. is the wide and growing gap
between low and high achieving students(1). Young African Americans
are only about half as likely as white students to earn a bachelor’s degree by
age 29, and young Latinos are only one-third as likely as whites to earn a
college degree(2).
The achievement gap issue has been studied by various
authors and has been the reason behind a number of special education projects(3).
One additional strategy that could be explored and adapted to the American
situation is the Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) strategy. MIE was developed by Sugata Mitra of India as
part of his world renowned “Hole in the Wall Project.” Sugata’s strategy
focuses on creating a SOLE (Self Organizing Learning Environment) where
learning happens naturally.
The three main components of a SOLE are 1) computer/
broadband, 2) collaboration, and 3) encouragement/ admiration. SOLEs need a
computer with internet connection, a spirit of friendship and collaboration
among those involved, and a role model( not necessarily a teacher) to be there offering
encouragement and admiration to the students.
The “Hole in the Wall” Project found that when provided a computer to groups of children, they are able to
organize and teach themselves. Mitra has found this to be true in various parts
of India as well as Australia, England, Italy, South Africa, etc.
Mitra found that the children’s ability to teach
themselves seems to be independent of their educational background, literacy
level, social or economic status, ethnicity and place of origin. As well as
their gender, geographic location (i.e., city, town, or village) or
intelligence(4). If low American achievers are placed in a Self
Organizing Learning Environment from a young age, there is a possibility that
the current size of the achievement gap in schools could be significantly
reduced.
In an American experiment, students in a gang-ridden middle school were provided laptops. There was a concern that there would be “too
much play and not enough work.” However this was found not to be true(5). The laptops actually made the students more
“engaged” and “more attentive.”
HOLE-IN-THE-WALL
PROJECT
To watch “Sugata Mitra TED 2013 Winning Talk,” click here.
REFERENCES/
WEBSITES CITED
Posted by: Dr. Nat Tuivavalagi
Monday, December 11, 2017
Online Colleges
I read an article by US News
that spoke of online education and the degrees students were achieving. I found it amazing how far education has
come. No longer does one need to sit in a classroom to receive a college degree.
This article referred to all the different online degrees that can be achieved.
This being ideal for the working student,
full time mother or father, the college student working full time to
afford his/her education and others. These programs make it easier for older
students to go back to school and earn a degree which they may not have
otherwise earned in their earlier years.
Some of the programs offered
are:
·
Pursuing a bachelor’s degree
online is a great option for students who are returning to college but are
uninterested in more traditional campus life. An online undergraduate education
can also help students accelerate their career as they balance work and school.
- The bachelor's program offers courses in Accounting, Business Administration and Management, Computer Science and Health care administration plus others.
Graduate Programs
Earning a master's degree online can help professionals get ahead in their career – whether it's to change fields or advance into a management role.
- The Graduate program offers courses in Accounting, Business Administration and Management and many others. If you click on the full list of courses offered it sends you to another site that shows the user which universities offer these online programs. From Temple University to Carnegie Melon University not only does the student receive an online education but an education that one can be proud of.
MBA & Graduate Business Programs
An online master’s degree in business can equip students with
leadership skills that are vital to advancing careers. Many programs offer
opportunities to network with classmates and business leaders.
How wonderful that a professional student can expand their field
of expertise with this online program. Not only does this help enhance one's
career but it shows the student that you are never too old to pursue a degree.
There are many other programs offered for the online student. As
our society depends on technology more and more this becomes a simpler way to
receive an education and not have to leave the comfort of your home. The
student receives a full education on his/her schedule.
Please refer to this article for more information: https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education
Friday, December 1, 2017
THOMAS KELLER TEACHES COOKING TECHNIQUES COMING THIS WINTER
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830-998-1418
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Increasing college costs and the search for new education models
THE CURRENT,
BROKEN EDUCATION MODEL1
College tuition is continuously increasing. According to
Forbes, in 2017, private colleges planned to raise tuition to almost double the current inflation rate. For example, Massachusetts, recently
announced that tuition at their public universities will increase by three percent
this fall. This increase follows five percent or higher increases within the past two previous
years. In the last twenty years, tuition has increased more than 100 percent at public four-year institutions and more than 60 percent at private
four-year institutions after adjusting for inflation. During that same period
of time, family income has increased less than 20 percent. As a result, student
loan debt has skyrocketed. In 2016, the average debt per college student was
just over $37,000. In total, Americans owe over 1.4 trillion in student loan
debt , a number that’s larger than the annual GDP of Russia, Australia, and
Spain. Clearly, the current model is broken and unsustainable.
According to the MissionU website2, while the
cost of tuition continues to skyrocket, the value of a bachelor's degree is
plummeting. Only 18% of students who start a bachelor's degree graduate in 4
years, and less than half of those strongly agree that it was worth the cost.
AN EMERGING,
NEW EDUCATION MODEL
The emerging, new education model discussed here has
three key components:
·
It employs internet-based technologies 1
·
It involves a major shift in focus from
providing a 4-year on campus college education to simply acquiring the
necessary skills to begin rewarding careers1
·
It involves institutions investing in their
students, instead of vice versa3
SOME EXAMPLES
OF THE NEW MODEL
MissionU, San Francisco3
MissionU charges no monies up front. Instead, students
agree to pay 15 percent of their salary for three years after graduating from the program and securing a position that has a salary of at least $50,000 a year.
"We are in the midst of a national crisis around
student debt," said Adam Braun, CEO and co-founder. "We need to have
institutions investing in their students, instead of vice versa."
Learner’s Guild, Oakland4
At the California-based Learners Guild, students go
through a 10-month software development program. The school does not ask for any tuition unless they are able to acquire a job that pays at least $50,000 a
year. If they do so, the students share 12.5 percent of their salary with the
school for the next three years.
Holberton School, San Francisco4
Holberton School has a similar structure. Students attend school for nine months before participating in a six-month internship. After that,
students are encouraged to find a job while continuing to study online for the
next nine months. Holberton requires its students to pay 17 percent of their internship as well as 17 percent of the first three years of their salary, only
if they accept a position paying more than $50,000 a year.
Make School, San Francisco4
Make School conducts its program over a two-year period, in which students come to school for nine months, leave for a six month
internship, and return for another nine months. The students can use the final
nine months to focus their studies on specific areas of computer science that
intrigue them. The school collects 25 percent of students' internship salaries
as well as 25 percent of their first three years salary. If students earn
less than $60,000 a year following the program, the repayment is paused, the
school says.
ANCIENT CONCEPTS IN
NEW MODEL5
In this newly emerging education model, elements of ancient Chinese Medicine can be found. This helthcare system developed independently of Western
medicine 3,000 years ago. Historically,
a Chinese Medicine doctor was paid a retainer to keep their clients
healthy. If a client became sick, the
doctor would not be paid until the client’s health returned. In a similar vein, a doctor that resorted to
surgery was considered an inferior doctor. If doctors did their job correctly
and helped their clients stay healthy, there would be no need to perform
surgery.
REFERENCES
Posted by: Dr. Nat Tuivavalagi
Sunday, November 12, 2017
German Education Goes Digital
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), the German education system is a thing to be envied. In
particular, Germany has some of the highest rates of school enrollment and
youth employment in the world(1).
This record is surprising for two reasons. First of, Germany spends less (4.2% of GDP)
than the OECD average (4.8% of GDP) on education(1). Second, German schools seem to have been
reluctant to go digital(2).
Digital transformation has entered various sectors of the
economy in Germany. However, the education sector has remained largely
unaffected(3).
Smartphones, notebooks, and tablet computers are an
integral part of daily life for most young Germans these days. However, the use of
digital media in the classroom isn’t catching on as fast as one might expect(2).
It has been reported that interactive classes, bridging
the gap between traditional education and modern technology, are a scarce
commodity in Germany. This is a country that prides itself on its engineering prowess
and manufacturing skills(4).
Some reasons have been cited for lack of digital
transformation in the German education sector.
In some cases, students are not allowed to use their devices (especially
smartphones) in schools. In some cases, teachers lack confidence in using the latest technology. However, the biggest
issue is funding(2). And
other articles (e.g., 5) have emphasized the fact that digital
education in schools is indeed an expensive undertaking.
However, with hopes of making a ‘big leap’ in digital
learning, former German Education Minister Johanna Wanka promised to invest 5
billion Euros in 40,000 schools(1).
It has been stated that Germany’s education system
appears poorly prepared to equip its youngsters with the tech skills they’ll
need for the future labor market. Nevertheless, we are beginning to see signs
of the needed change in political will.
Also, companies and private initiatives are pushing for change(4).
REFERENCES
Posted by: Dr. Nat Tuivavalagi
Monday, October 30, 2017
HOW TO SELECT THE BEST MOOCs: Six Tips from an Expert
INTRODUCTION
·
This blog is based on an article by Ki Mae
Heussner(1)
The Expert
·
The tips are from MOOCs expert, Feynman Liang, a
"21-year-old ... pursuing a dual-degree program in engineering and
biophysics from Dartmouth and Amherst"
·
He has "also completed 36 massive open
online courses (MOOCs) on Coursera, Udacity and edX"
·
He took "10 courses simultaneously while completing
a summer internship at Google. When his friends go out for Thursday night
parties, he often stayed back to complete Coursera assignments due the next
day. On occasion, he spent 80 hours on a
single assignment. But he said the MOOCs have helped him pass lower-level classes in college and even prepped
him for his Google interviews,
·
Liang was one of Coursera’s ‘top 50’ students
based on the number of courses he has completed(2)
MOOCs
·
Massive, Open,
Online Courses (MOOCs) have attracted all kinds of interest from people inside
and outside education. The major MOOC
startups have teamed up with dozens of top-notch schools around the world for
classes in a range of disciplines,
·
Despite the buzz, student drop-out rates are still
very high. Some estimates say that as
many as 90 percent of online students never finish the classes they enroll in.
LIANG'S TIPS
FOR SELECTING THE BEST CLASSES
1. It’s not just about the certificates
·
You don’t need a certificate or official
recognition for what you take away from the class to be useful to you in other
areas of your life,
·
Liang took a class on algorithms and data
structures with a top Princeton professor that did not offer certificates of
any kind. However, when he walked into his technical interviews for a summer
internships, he realized that “being in that class gave him the answers to the
questions being asked in the interview.”
2. Don’t judge a course by its videos
·
Excellent online courses may offer highly
produced videos with graphics, animations and artfully shot sequences or they
may just have a professor in front of a camera,
·
But don’t dismiss a whole course just because
the videos don’t seem up to par. An electrical engineering course Liang took on
Coursera didn’t have great videos, but it was one of the best classes he’s
taken online,
·
To evaluate a class early on, test it out for a
couple of weeks to get a sense of the professor’s personality and commitment
level. Assignments and quizzes that just
ask you to recall material covered in the video might indicate the professor is
just doing the online course because of a university initiative, not a real
personal interest. More
thought-provoking questions and problem sets could show the teacher's investment.
3. Be prepared to complain about peer grading
·
Liang isn’t excited about Coursera's peer review
process. In a class of 30,000 the students depend on peer grading to get
feedback on papers and assignments that don’t lend themselves to automatic
computer grading. Students train using a grading rubric and then they are asked
to evaluate a certain number of their peers’ work,
·
The problem is the huge variables in the
feedback. Some students may be Ph.Ds in the topic of the course, while others
may be high-school students or non-native English speakers with limited vocabularies,
·
The upside is you get a chance to interact with
people from all kinds of backgrounds.
4. Don’t play it safe when you pick classes
·
In a competitive college environment, where
every final grade ends up on a transcript, students may be reluctant to branch
out beyond the courses they know they’ll do well in,
·
However, on Coursera, students are free to delve
into social psychology, behavioral economics, climate science and other topics,
without worrying about the outcome. The student can indulge in their curiosity.
The student can learn topics ranging from the history of humankind to the
history of rock, all from the comfort of your their home. Also, if the student
would like, they can ask unintelligent questions or test out half-baked
theories anonymously.
5. Don’t assume there’s consistency between classes
·
As Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng has said, his
startup isn’t a university , it’s “a humble hosting platform.” That means the
professors and schools design the curriculum, create the content and set the
class requirements,
·
Coursera obviously sets the framework and
provides support, but its classes run the gamut in terms of quality. Once
you’ve registered for a class, pay attention to its assignment policies. Some
classes may not ask you to submit anything until the very end of the course. Others will fail you if you miss more than 30
percent of a week's assignments,
·
Also, a lot of professors are trying out course
content for the first time. Be prepared
to feel a bit like a guinea pig as policies shift do to the professors learning
what works.
6. If you take just one class, make it this one
·
Potential Courserians obviously have a huge
range of interests and motivations, and there’s never going to be just one course that fits everyone's interests,
·
But, of the more than 50 classes Liang has taken,
the course he would most recommend to a
MOOC newcomer is“A beginner’s guide to
irrational behavior.” This class (taught
by a professor of behavioral economics and psychology from Duke), touches on
all kinds of lessons regarding human nature. “It’s one of the more accessible
and rock-your-world classes.”
CONCLUSION
To start selecting your first (or next) MOOC, please click here.
REFERENCES
(1)
https://gigaom.com/2013/08/09/how-to-pick-the-best-mooc-6-tips-from-a-coursera-junkie/
(2)
https://blog.coursera.org/30-coursera-classes-and-a-google-internship/
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