Technology and education coming together to make college students smarter, faster, better! I’m so excited I can barely keep my pants on!

CourseSmart announced today that they’ve launched some sweet techno wonderfulness for reading eTextbooks on mobile devices. It means carrying fewer of those spine-telescoping textbooks and saving reams of tree parts.

SAN MATEO, Calif., November 21, 2011 — CourseSmart®, the world’s largest provider of eTextbooks and digital course materials, today announced the launch of their new, industry first, mobile Web app that provides students and faculty access to a catalog of more than 20,000 eTextbooks andother digital course materials on a variety of mobile devices including the Kindle Fire and the iPad®. This breakthrough brings thousands of digital course materials to the most popular mobile reading devices furthering the company’s mission of anytime, anywhere access to course materials in higher education.

“Our mission is to connect students and faculty with affordable course materials that they need to become successful. With this new Web-based application, we are putting the world’s largest catalog of eTextbooks and digital course materials in the hands of an increasingly growing number of digitally-dependent students and faculty,” said Sean Devine, CEO at CourseSmart. “As mobile devices like the Kindle Fire and iPad continue to make their way onto college campuses and into the classroom, we are excited to offer yet another option for our users to not only access their digital textbooks but to improve their reading experiences with features such as page fidelity.”

The mobile Web app is optimized to best support multi-touch screens of today’s most popular mobile devices and it is designed to offer users the:

&bullConvenience to view all eTextbooks from a single location,
&bullAbility to search for a topic within your eTextbook including access to the Table of Contents,
&bullCapability to zoom in on text and graphs as well as to add and view notes, and
&bullSame page fidelity experience as found in a print textbook version equivalent.

There is no downloading process to access the free Web app. On supported browsers, CourseSmart users with an active eTextbook account will automatically be prompted to sign into the Web app when they begin reading their eTextbooks. Any future enhancements for the app are automatically updated, eliminating the need to visit an app store to obtain the latest app version.

The app is supported by Amazon Silk, Safari and Google Chrome browsers on the following devices: Kindle Fire, iPad and Androidâ„¢ 3.0 and higher OS tablets.

Further Reading:

CourseSmart Research Reveals College Students Lerve Their Digital Devices
College Students, eTextbooks, and Tablet Devices
Buying Textbooks: New, Used, Rented, or Digital
CourseSmart’s eTextbook App for the iPhone

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Further Reading:

Literacy: We’ve Still Got It
Another New and Exciting Way To Be Driven Over the Edge By Technology
New Essay Writing Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Is Technology Just A Tool?
CourseSmart Research Reveals College Students Lerve Their Digital Devices
Michael Wesch: TED Talk On Media and Teaching Students to Become Knowledge-Able

Posted by Alexa Harrington

The unfortunate phenomenon of elementary-aged girls becoming interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) subjects, going off to college intending to major in and then pursue a career in one of those fields, and ultimately veering off somewhat sharply into less science-and-math rich majors and careers is common.

Fortunately, it has not gone unnoticed by the chicks who have gone on to work in their dream STEM fields, and several entities have started working to foster girls’ education and career paths in STEM subjects.

Michelle Obama, not a STEM girl herself (what with being a lawyer and all), is all for supporting girls in math and science and gave a little talk about it recently. My favorite bits from the transcript:

And if we’re going to out-innovate and out-educate the rest of the world, then we have to open doors to everyone. We can’t afford to leave anyone out. We need all hands on deck. And that means clearing hurdles for women and girls as they navigate careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

And it starts with lighting the spark for science and math in elementary school and grade school. We talk about this all the time. I know for me, I’m a lawyer because I was bad at these subjects. (Laughter.) All lawyers in the room, you know it’s true. We can’t add and subtract, so we argue. (Laughter.)

And so encouraging girls early not to lose heart in those fields, and encouraging them through high school is important. But it also means making sure that these young women can keep pursuing their dreams in college and beyond.

Further Reading:

Why So Few Women In Science, Technology, Engineering and Math?
Dual Academic Careers
First Lady Michelle Obama Speaks to the Dept. of Education

Posted by Alexa Harrington

They always make you take history in school. I’m more of a math and science girl and will always choose a good chemistry lab over a history lecture. However, having been expected to complete several history courses (for the well-rounding of me and my education), I did pick up on the patterns we humans cycle through as decades and centuries go past. The technology we create for ourselves, ostensibly to make our lives easier/better/faster, seems always to impact more than just the job it was created for. I’m talking about wheels and looms, satellites and cotton gins, not Silly Putty and Flowbees.

Dean Shareski over at Ideas and Thoughts wrote a piece about technology in education and whether or not its just a tool. We’re in the midst of that changing moment, the one some hardcore science geek college girl will have to learn about a few centuries hence.

Further Reading:

Literacy: We’ve Still Got It
Another New and Exciting Way to Be Driven Over the Edge by Technology
New Essay Writing Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Implementing Different Tools
Launching the Emerging Media Major
“Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?”
The Future of Education
Digitizing Knowledge
21st Century Learners

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(technology)

Remember the Open Courseware Consortium folks? They’re awesome in their wielding of powers for good. They make online courseware available to educators and students everywhere. The newest project is partnering with community colleges.

Press release:

OCW CONSORTIUM PARTNERS WITH LEADING COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONSORTIUM, CCCOER, TO EXPAND ACCESS TO OPEN EDUCATION

Merger Will Bring Greater Attention to Benefits of OpenCourseWare Movement

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., (June 20, 2011) — The OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCW Consortium) has partnered with the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) to maximize and expand the impact of opencourseware to community college students, faculty and learners worldwide. CCCOER represents an important voice in higher education, having over 200 affiliated community colleges that are interested in the benefits of open sharing. Nearly 50 percent of all higher education students in the United States are enrolled in community colleges. The shared resources of CCCOER, combined with the OCW Consortium’s more than 250 universities and associated organizations worldwide, and its collective free online educational materials, provide access to high-quality educational and job-training materials that many users tap into on a local level.

Under the direction of then Chancellor Dr. Martha Kanter, now Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, California’s Foothill-De Anza Community College District established the CCCOER in July 2007 to identify, create, and/or repurpose existing open educational resources as open textbooks and make them available for use by community college students and faculty.

“Open educational resources and opencourseware can be leveraged to enhance the quality and delivery of courses, increase access for learners, and reduce the essential cost of curriculum materials. With the current global economic crisis, the need to minimize financial barriers to education has become increasingly salient,” said Dr. Judy Baker, dean of technology and innovation at the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and one of the founders of CCCOER. “Both CCCOER and the OCW Consortium serve to increase access to education for students with limited means, which makes this partnership powerful. When educators pool their expertise to foster a culture of shared knowledge, everyone benefits.”

As part of the partnership, the OCW Consortium will represent the full spectrum of four-year and two-year universities and colleges that are part of the organizations’ memberships. The CCCOER advisory board will effectively act as a voice for the two-year colleges within the Consortium’s organization. The Consortium will help raise global awareness of community colleges’ work with open educational resources, and provide resources and support to institutions interested in participating in the movement.
“The Consortium is excited to showcase the work of community colleges and share the incredible benefits of the OCW movement with community and technical colleges around the world,” said Mary Lou Forward, executive director of the OCW Consortium. “The partnership between CCCOER and the OCW Consortium allows us to raise awareness and broaden access to higher education with new audiences.”

ABOUT THE OPENCOURSEWARE CONSORTIUM: The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a community of more than 250 universities and associated organizations worldwide committed to advancing opencourseware sharing and its impact on global educational opportunity. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance formal and informal learning for educators and self-learners around the world through the sharing and use of free, open, high-quality education materials packaged as courses readily accessible on a digital platform. The Consortium showcases its members to a global audience and provides information and training through webinars, newsletters, and free and open opencourseware materials.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(Sacramento City College)

What do you get when you smash Bill Clinton, a UNLV grad, MTV, Bill and Melinda Gates, College Board, and Facebook? No, not that. (It was my first guess, too.) A Facebook App that matches college student with any financial aid they qualify for. The vast powers of social media being used for good, not evil. So relieving.

It’ll be out this fall. Have fun with it, and avoid all the student loans you can.

Further Reading:

Pres. Clinton Announces MTV and College Board Collaboration on First-Ever Social Media Tool for Financial Aid
“Get Schooled” College Affordability Challenge
The Gates Foundation Kicks Ass

Posted by Alexa Harrington

CourseSmart just released the results of a study by Wakefield Research. The study clears up any questions we all may have had with regard to how addicted college students are to their technological gadgetry. Students really, really need their Smartphones and their laptops and cannot go more than ten minutes without checking their devices for any updates from the outside world.

I would scoff and begin dishing out pen-and-paper snobbery if technology-is-for-sucks me didn’t also require her Smartphone, laptop, and iPod to get through the day. I mean, I don’t NEED my devices, and it goes without saying that I can stop anytime I want. But then I would be out of several social loops, I would have no idea what I should be doing or where I should be going, I would miss appointments and dinner parties and deadlines, and I would be unable to do my job or complete my coursework.

Which is to say I do not require technology in order to survive, but my life would deteriorate rather quickly if I were to unplug and stick with a pen-and-paper lifestyle. I choose life, people, and for that I prefer sexy, sleek little devices that connect me gracefully with my world. What a wretched thing to admit. I may have just rolled over in my future grave.

From the press release:

CourseSmart today announced the results of its “Digital Devices in Higher Education” survey, conducted by Wakefield Research. The new survey provides insight on the digital devices students are using, how often they use them and how these devices are changing the traditional college experience. The findings include:

“¢ Nearly all of the students surveyed (98%) own a digital device
“¢ 38% of students surveyed said that they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking in with their tech device
“¢ 63% have read an eTextbook on their device at least once
“¢ 46% reported they would be more likely to complete their reading if it was in a digital format
“¢ 85% of students reported that technology saves them time when studying—an average of two hours per day

Digital Dependence of Today’s College Students Revealed in New Study from CourseSmartâ„¢
Findings show college students feel helpless without technology—checking their devices at least every 10 minutes and foregoing face time for Facebook®

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 1, 2011 — CourseSmartâ„¢, the world’s largest provider of eTextbooks and digital course materials, and Wakefield Research, a consultancy specializing in strategic and tactical research, recently completed a survey of more than 500 currently enrolled college students, providing insight on how mobile devices and technology have changed the traditional college experience and the role technology plays in students’ academic abilities and success. Today’s students are truly carrying a digital backpack with nearly a quarter (27%) of students surveyed listing their laptop as the most important item in their bag—almost three times the number of students who chose textbooks (10%).

The findings further reveal that students are completely dependent on technologies—eReaders, Smartphones, laptops and more—to get through their daily college routine. Nearly all of the students surveyed (98%) own a digital device. And 38% of students surveyed said that they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking in with their tech device—about the same amount of time it takes to walk to class. Largely based on the fact that technology helps students learn more efficiently, 85% of students reported that technology saves them time when studying—an average of two hours per day.

Given this shift in behavior towards technological dependence, it’s unsurprising that almost three-quarters (73%) of students surveyed claim they would not be able to study without using some form of technology. Additionally, it is clear that laptops and Smartphones are two types of devices that students are using to further their academic potential. Nearly half (48%) of all students who own a tech device frequently read eTextbooks and 63% have read an eTextbook on their device at least once. In fact, of the 91% of students who said they failed to complete required reading before classes, about half (46%) reported they would be more likely to complete their reading if it was in a digital format.

According to the survey, eReaders and eTextbooks are some of the emerging technologies helping students save time while still being effective. While 69% said an eTextbook is easier to carry than a traditional textbook, 61% cited that eTextbooks make it far easier to search within a text (thus saving time), 60% mentioned that eTextbooks save them money, and 55% said that they are easier to read “on the go.”

Additionally, new media options are increasingly engaging students, who said they use tools such as CourseSmart (39%), videos and podcasts (24%) and iTunes® (12%) to access study materials from a professor — a far cry from the library card catalogues and encyclopedias of previous generations. Students are also spending their time using email (89%) and school Web sites (83%) for gathering course materials from their professors.

The library is not the only college campus fixture fading into the past; office hours are quickly becoming an antiquity as well. Students seem to prefer Facebook® to face time with the majority seeking extra help from their teachers via email (91%), cell phone (13%), or social networking sites (8%).

Furthermore, outside of everyday reading and studying, students also use digital devices for many of the tasks that previously required a pencil and paper to carry out—writing papers (82%), research (81%), taking class notes (70%) and making class presentations (65%).

Posted by Alexa Harrington

According to The Guardian, UK, Wikipedia has realized the lack of academic contributions to its massive heap of information and is making an effort to get smartypants specialists to contribute some well-informed knowledgey bits on the site.

Whether it’s a site-able source (it’s absolutely not, according to many professorial types) or not, everyone uses Wikipedia as a quick way to satisfy some burning question (what in the hell does “the whole nine yards” mean, anyway?*) or as a starting point on some quest for reams of information on almost any subject one can think of. It’s like a Twinkie or Oscar Meyer baloney: I don’t trust it, I would never serve it at a dinner party, but I’m still gonna eat it.

Wikipedia’s reputation as a less-than accurate source for information stems from the fact that any chucklehead with access to the Internet can edit and add information to the site. It’s funny that that trips people up, as the entire ethereal mass of binary perfection that is the online universe is all subject to bastards hosing down the suckers with false information. I’m just saying.

*Wikipedia is no help on this one. It gives a laundry list of what the phrase doesn’t refer to. I’d always thought it referred to the length of cloth required for a traditional kilt and the across-the-chest portion of said garment. See Braveheart if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

School kids need broadband, too! There’s a nearly infinite universe of information available on the Internet, a bazillion football stadiums’ worth of hard copy knowledge that would never fit into a school library or classroom. Students and teachers should have access to all of that brain-building, thought-provoking information. But how to give all schools decent broadband connections?

The U.S. Department of Education is on it. You can check out the interactive map showing the current status of broadband availability for U.S. schools, or you can read the hows and whys. Or both, if you’re really good.

With broadband, students and teachers can expand instruction beyond the confines of the physical classroom and traditional school day. Broadband can also provide more customized learning opportunities for students to access high-quality, low-cost and personally relevant educational material. Broadband can improve the flow of educational information, allowing teachers, parents and organizations to make better decisions tied to each student’s needs and abilities. Improved information flow can also make educational product and service markets more competitive by allowing school districts and other organizations to develop or purchase higher-quality educational products and services. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Bots High – High School Robotics Documentary – Official Trailer from Coffee and Celluloid on Vimeo.

Here’s the trailer for the new Bots High documentary. High school kids building robots and battling it out in fierce competitions? Violence in teen-hormone-fueled robotic nerdery? Name one thing that isn’t insanely cool about that. If you’re feeling like you can’t come up with a single non-cool entity, it’s because none exist. Just watch the new trailer and visit the Bots High site for more info about screenings.

Related:

Bots High: Smart Kids Building Combat Robots

Posted by Alexa Harrington