Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Teen takes educators to Twitter school

Fifteen-year-old Adora Svitak knows students nowadays “live, work and play” social media, Mashable reports.

“We’re used to the characteristics of social media: participation, connection, instant gratification,” she tells Mashable, “and when school doesn’t offer the same, it’s easy to tune out.”

To help more educators learn about the benefits of using social media in the classroom, Adora recently taught nearly 3,000 teachers, principals and administrators how to implement Twitter and Facebook into their lives.…Read More

Watch: This Android phone is tailor-made for visually impaired people

Rather than downloading various apps and software to accommodate their needs, the visually impaired are getting an Android smartphone developed specifically for them, Mashable reports. Telecom-product manufacturer Qualcomm and Project Ray are partnering to create one do-it-all device for visually impaired consumers. The off-the-shelf Android device will be able to read your messages, navigation and audio books aloud. It also has object recognition and will adapt to users’ preferences and usage patterns. Users will navigate the touchscreen phone using vibration and sound. This phone will reach an entirely under-served market when it comes to smartphones. There are 285 million visually impaired people in the world, 39 million of which are blind. Currently, several smartphone apps help visually impaired people identify paper currency, navigate streets and read text messages out loud. These options might be preferable to some visually impaired people who are strictly iPhone users, as Qualcomm and Project Ray’s phone is Android-based…

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Watch: Twitter boosts college grades and class engagement

Twitter has been credited with — and blamed for — a lot of things. Supporters claim it fueled the Green Revolution in Iran and helped the Arab Spring, critics argue it’s hurting our ability to write and think, Mashable reports. There’s no consensus on the former, but a new study now argues that the second claim is wrong. Twitter may actually give students an educational boost. Christina Greenhow, an assistant professor of education at Michigan State University, discovered that students using the microblogging service as part of their education are more engaged and have higher grades. In fact, she considers it “a new literary practice,” as she explains in her study “Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New form of Literary Practice.” Greenhow taught a class that required each student to have a Twitter account that was used in different ways throughout the semester. She noticed students were more engaged than in the twitter-less past…

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Pay for one course, get a bunch with BenchPrep’s subscription model

Ask any college student and they’ll tell you a typical textbook costs far more than $30 — even used. But online learning site BenchPrep recently announced a $30 per month subscription-based service that lets users access a wide variety of courses and content, Mashable reports. The subscription unlocks prep courses from the site’s library, which you can access on your iPhone, Android, iPad or laptop. So for super ambitious learners, you can pay per month rather than per course and get more value for your dollar (with the exception of some courses, like the BAR and CFA that require payment per course). BenchPrep’s library also includes professional certification and civil service preparation courses, which are priced on a per-course basis…

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Students are choosing colleges with social media clout

Efforts by higher education institutes to gain Twitter followers, Facebook likes and YouTube views, while connecting with students on blogs and message boards, are paying off, Mashable reports. A recent survey of 7,000 high school students by Zinch, an online college resource, reveals university social media accounts are influential to students who are deciding between colleges and universities. Admissions counselors are actively recruiting students on the popular social networks. The survey reveals schools that are smart with social media — engaging students in video chats, Facebook contests and Twitter conversations — are most influential online. About two-thirds of survey participants said they actively scoped out perspective colleges on popular social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Tumblr…

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Watch: MIT uses Microsoft Kinect to design real-time mapping

With the help of a laser-range finder, a laptop and a Microsoft Kinect, researchers at MIT have created a wearable piece of equipment that can map out a building in real time, Mashable reports. The prototype, called SLAM (short for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), was announced today. Essentially, SLAM operates as a second pair of eyes by generating a virtual map of the user’s location (think: real-time strategy video games.) Creators of the device say they hope firefighters and emergency personnel will use the device to help them more easily navigate through thick smoke during fire emergencies…

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Survey: Back-to-college clothing is more important than tablets

If you’re a college student, it’s likely you’ve purchased some new fall wardrobe staples rather than a tablet this school year, Mashable reports. This latest inforgraphic from social media agency MRY titled, “Back-to-College 2012” shows us how today’s college students shop for back-to-school items and how they’ve prioritized their purchases. Students spend an average of $900 during this time of year (this figure comes from research conducted by shop.org which is the digital/e-commerce division of the National Retail Federation.) Students lean toward buying must-have items like laptops, software and books, but above all, fall clothing (61% of purchases). Only 13% of college students say they spent their back-to-school funds on tablets. According to the survey, college students prefer brick-and-mortar stores to online shops when buying their back-to-school items, especially big-box retailers like Target and Walmart where they can buy many types of items in one trip. But they welcome digital help for shopping advice. College students turn to Facebook when it comes to talking about back to school shopping (88%), only second to talking about desired purchases in-person (97%). More than half of students reached out to a brand directly on Facebook (55%)…

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Florida student punished for making online course selection easier

A Florida university punished student Tim Arnold after he built a service that aimed to make online course enrolment easier for his fellow classmates, Mashable reports.

“U Could Finish” immediately notifies students via text when a spot in their desired class has opened up. Arnold, a senior at University of Central Florida, said in a June Reddit post that it checks myUCF, the university’s online portal for course registration, every 60 seconds for free seats.

Arnold launched the service, which costs $0.99, via Facebook on June 2. U Could Finish had 500 users within six days, according to its official website, though university administrators blocked the service shortly after. Arnold is now facing three semesters of academic probation, among other punishments including essay writing and attending a coaching session on good decision making. A notice from the university’s Office of Student Conduct reveals that he was charged with “misuse of computing and telecommunications resources.”…Read More

76 percent of colleges struggle to meet bandwidth demands

At the start of the semester, students haul more than books, clothes and furniture to campus. They bring a slew of bandwidth-sucking devices with them, Mashable reports. The largest bandwidth-consuming devices used by students include tablets, smartphones, iPods, gaming consoles and e-readers. On campus, about 41% of students will have three or more devices connected to the Internet at one time. That’s a problem for the 76.4% of institutions looking to reinforce their networks to support more devices. As college-aged students rely on an expanded arsenal of web-connected gadgets, schools face an unprecedented growth of network bandwidth consumption. Will campuses be ready for incoming data-hungry residents?

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Study: What higher education will look like in 2020

In 2020, students may be able to travel to faraway continents, and attend a school halfway around the world, Mashable reports. Experts predict technology will facilitate distance learning outside of traditional classrooms, according to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In the study, 1,021 education experts and stakeholders including technology researchers, university directors, venture capitalists and Ivy League university professors, relayed their predictions about the future of higher education.  About 60% of respondents believe higher education will look completely different from the way it is today. While, 39% of participants think the traditional college structure will not change drastically aside from a deeper integration of in-classroom technology. For now, class attendance, in-person participation and on-campus commitment are key factors of college success. In the future, that may all change. Teleconferencing, online universities and distance learning will lead to hybrid campuses, experts said. Hybrid campuses will incorporate online learning plus in-person class meetings. The ballooning cost of a college degree is driving the need for a new school system. Outstanding student debt in the U.S. is upwards of $1 trillion…

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