Education IT News For VARS — October 8, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week, Clayton Christensen addresses the role of disruptive innovation in education, Carnegie Mellon is investigating the science of education, and D2L has launched a Web accessibility MOOC (massive open online course).
What Is Disruptive Innovation In Higher Education?
This article from Education Dive presents three key takeaways from Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School’s Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration, regarding the role of disruptive innovation in higher education. Addressing the crowd at Educause 2014, Christensen defined the theory of disruptive innovation and explained its impact on higher education. He asserted disruption “competes with non-consumption,” “doesn’t target the core business,” and “demands modularity.”
Carnegie Mellon Leading $5 Million Project To Investigate The Science Of Education
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Carnegie Mellon will take the lead to engage in a $5 million project to study the science of education. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the institution will also partner with MIT, Stanford University, and the University of Memphis. The study will use grant money to establish LearnSphere, a system to store and analyze over 550 data sets captured from interactive tutoring systems, educational apps, and MOOCs, with the goal of determine how people learn best and inform new course creations.
D2L And Portland Community College Offer Web Accessibility MOOC
According to a press release on BroadwayWorld, D2L and Portland Community College have unveiled a new free MOOC for online educators to tackle web accessibility challenges. The launch was announced at Educause, and the course is designed to help online educators make their courses more accessible for students with disabilities. The MOOC launches October 20.
Education IT Talking Points
According to this article from TechCrunch, LinkedIn has introduced three different tools to assist in the college selection process. First is The Decision Boards, called a “social decision-making tool” by LinkedIn, which allows users to get advice and suggestions about colleges from LinkedIn connections. The second feature, University Outcome Rankings, provides big-data analysis pulled from all LinkedIn profiles ranking colleges based on the success of their graduates in particular career tracks. Finally, there is University Finder, allowing prospective students to find college matches based on career or location preferences or other criteria.
According to Ed Tech, two recent graduates have created a new startup that hopes to help college Freshmen navigate the new college landscape. Called NoteBowl, the hybrid social network and learning platform is designed to answer common first-year challenges, including learning about campus events and learning new online systems as part of their new coursework. The system joins “a student planner, the course catalog, and a friends list,” among other features.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Education IT Resource Center.