For years Kenyan officials in education have focused on investing in primary and secondary education. Like many developing countries, education has shown to be one of the most important factors in driving an economy upwards and restoring its community. Of course, primary and secondary education is a great place to start, where children can begin to read, write, and learn to create a moral grounding in how to interact with others. The Education Cabinet in Kenya, however, is looking to broaden its reach in educating its citizens and to grant access to what many young adult Kenyans do not have access to: higher education. However, with great intentions and important goals, come great barriers in gaining access to college. Higher education is quite possibly the most expensive luxury existing today, and very few are so privileged to acquire that gift. From the the Daily Nation reported in the All Africa Global Media website on acquiring higher education in Kenya, “Restoring order and sanity in higher education requires a comprehensive and well-crafted strategy that takes into account funding, staffing, infrastructure, admission, courses, teaching and learning resources, management, and quality of graduates.” In the U.S, where an economic crisis has made it […]
The 2008 Economic recession is known as one of America’s biggest financial crisis’ since the Great Depression. Millions of jobs were lost, families lost their homes, and inflation skyrocketed. Nearly everyone was affected by this giant financial crisis and are familiar with the affects it had on employment. However, what is less commonly known and recognized is the dramatic effect the 2008 recession had on higher education. This, however, could be one of the most important outcomes of the great recession, as our millenials are now suffering from some of the highest inflated tuition rates of all time. As Jeffrey Brown, the author of How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, describes these effects, “The recent financial crisis had a profound effect on both public and private universities, which faced shrinking endowments, declining charitable contributions, and reductions in government support.” Of course, what happens when universities face a bleeding income? Tuition and other education costs must be increased. For the first time, young adults heading to college can no longer view higher education as an option, despite financial aid, scholarships, and grants combined. The inflation rate of universities has accelerated so much faster than that of the […]
Where does education technology fit in beyond the classroom? Beyond graduation? Some of the biggest issues in higher education today isn’t always the education itself, but establishing good employment fits for the recently graduated. It’s not new news that more and more college graduates are having trouble finding employment, no matter how qualified they may be. Recently TechCrunch magazine describes a world in which education technology can be incorporated, quite appropriately, into job-searching (and employee searching). Here’s three ways that technology is transforming employment: 1. Competency data is more available for the recently graduated. With online education, technology is more able to gauge the skills and qualifications of students, making this information more readily available for employers. Techcrunch describes, “Online psychometric assessments, e-portfolios and micro-credentials are surfacing student competencies beneath the level of the terminal credential (i.e. degree).” 2. There are also clear pathways, as described, for employers to use this information for hiring. ATS, or Applicant Tracking Systems, are one way in which students can use their own information (which they have built up over the years) and easily make it available to employers for applications. This not only reduces the time for students to apply for jobs, but […]
Aaron Skonnard is the CEO of Pluralsight, an online education company that offers a variety of video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and creative professionals through its website. Skonnard shared with us 5 industry trends that are rising in the world of education technology, collecting his data from sources dedicated to following technology trends, such as the Global Industry Analysis, edTech, and the Clayton Christensen Institute. Here are the top five education trends in 2015: 1) Online corporate learning: According to the Clayton Christensen Institute, the corporate e-learning market is expected to increase about 13 percent annually until 2017. What is causing this sudden increase? Companies have now started initiating online training and education for their employees. Just like the sudden increase in popularity for online higher education, corporations have now taken advantage for what our world of education technology has to offer. 2) Skills Measurement. Keeping up with your student’s progress is the key to to track learning. In order to track progress, consistent testing, or “skills measurement testing” allows employers and educators to help their students succeed. But what changes are being made? According to Skonnard, “In conjunction with the building momentum in online corporate learning, […]
The resistance to change for many educators has been strong, and understandably so. For centuries, the education system has remained in the traditional classroom, mostly absent from most modern technology. For the K-12 classrooms, only the most simplified technology, such as laptops and computers have made it into the lives of young students. Why? Research has shown over and over again that communication between students and teachers will consistently improve learning for students. Quality collaboration for students allows them to more deeply understand the material as well as teach the material to others. This traditional way of education has remained the same for a reason. However, with tuition on the rise and a broader population with lack of access to higher education, traditional classrooms are no longer a plausible option. In fact, the rapidly paced advancements in technology, there are many pressures from the world that simply demand the education system to “get with the times”. With the ever-increasing progressions in technology, there are solutions for unaffordable college tuition, and the populations who cannot reach education institutions. The world is now pressuring education systems to meet the demands of the world, including technological advancements and more globalized students. It’s time […]
As the technological revolution ensues, more and more college students rely on technology to thrive in school. In fact, nearly 75% of college students (from a sample of 500, research carried out by Pew Research Institute) say that they rely on technology to complete school work. These numbers are just from students enrolled in traditional classrooms, and where we find even more technology centered students are on e-learning campuses. As of currently, over 12 million students take one or more online classes, and in 2014, nearly 3.5 million students took entirely online classes. With the vast amount of millennials taking a shift towards technology education, we have to ask ourselves, what about technology is appealing for students? The answer is simple. Technology brings upon an entirely new set of tools that students are now able to utilize. Technology creates an incredible convenience for students as well as gaining them access to an entire world of information at their fingertips. Students are now able to excel in school more than ever before, now contributing to new discoveries and research, instead of just reading about it in textbooks. One popular technology source is the mobile application for smartphones. Mobile applications allow for […]
Traditional classrooms are based on a synchronous learning platform, in which students all learn the same material together, all at once. Traditional education has laid its grounds on this same foundation for centuries. For the most part, this style of education has worked for our young learning generation. However, as college becomes increasingly expensive and as students from all ages become busier with work, time restraints, and even children, this traditional classroom has proven to be inadequate. Instead, more and more college students have looked towards virtual classrooms for their higher education. However, being that online education platforms are for asynchronous learning, there are many questions as to how this very different style of learning works. According to several studies by Virtual Classroom, there are several proven advantages of a non-traditional classroom, and students have proven to be satisfied. Learning when convenient for you One of the obvious advantages of asynchronous learning is that the classroom is built around a student’s schedule. Students who have busy schedules, whether it be working full-time, or having to raise a family, have the ability to learn when it is convenient for them. Time conflictions are no longer a barrier for student’s learning. In […]
The new year brings on new goals for everyone, especially for college students balancing grades, money, and time. Often a new year means a chance to start over; and college students often try to fill their new year with more accomplishments, and more opportunities. Here are some new year’s resolutions for those college co-eds: Better Grades: Seems simple, right? College students almost always set this goal, but rarely know what works to make it happen. Communicate with Teachers: With big lectures, six-hundred students, and busy professors, this nearly seems impossible in the typical college settings. Perhaps, this is maybe why students struggle communicating with their own professors, and may find themselves falling behind in class. However, it has been proven time and time again that communication with teachers (ie. asking critical questions, clarifying material) escalates student learning and leads to high academic achievements. The solution? iQ Technologies offers what college students need to communicate effectively with teachers. With real-time technology, students can set up video conferencing with teachers, and send direct quick messages to professors, and gets answers within minutes. Find mentors/tutors: Sometimes students need that extra help to more comprehensively understand the teacher. But, students often find that tutors […]
The U.S. is flooded with an abundance of opportunities to further our education. Even more so, higher education degrees, such as a PhD, open up countless high paying jobs and can make a world of difference for those seeking a better future. Although the U.S. make offer these opportunities, for those living in underdeveloped countries, the pathway to obtaining any sort of higher education degree seems impossible. The European University Association’s Third Global Strategic Forum on Doctoral Education is looking for a way to change this. They have found that investments into research in developing countries have the potential to significantly improve the number of students graduation with doctorates. For example, Brazil had a 100% increase in PhD graduates between 2000 and 2009, and China had a 400% increase between 1998 and 2008. The Secretary General of the association, Lesley Wilson, claimed that what they are looking for a “move towards a more multi-polar research landscape”. Of course, investing into the education of multiple countries means there may be some barriers, both lingual and cultural. However, the association believes that through new knowledge and the presence of new technology, those barriers can be broken. Wilson continues, “the language of knowledge […]
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been one of the largest private foundations in the world and has influenced the world globally for the last 15 years. The foundation is dedicated to supporting countries that have suffered from extreme poverty and innovated new ways to provide quality healthcare for those in need around the world. However, in the United States, the Gates Foundation is focused on something entirely different. The foundation has realized the increasing education fallback in young students and their inability to compete with the rest of the world in almost all subjects. Even more importantly, the foundation wants to support struggling students and find relevant ways to allow them to receive quality higher education. The foundation, in addition, knows that times have changed for young students, and older education systems are just not working anymore. Similar to the beliefs of iQ technology, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation states, “We live in a globally connected, information saturated world. To thrive, our students need to learn in and out of school, in person and online, together and independently.” From this belief, the Gates Foundation has created two new programs that are built for to support and inspire […]