Tools | Education Technologies

Azure Research Engagements – Microsoft Research

The Windows Azure for Research project facilitates and accelerates scholarly and scientific research by enabling researchers to use the power of Windows Azure to perform big data computations in the cloud.

Windows Azure Research Award Program

Microsoft Research is soliciting proposals for the use of Windows Azure in research. We welcome research proposals from any branch of scholarly activity. To qualify, applicants must be affiliated with an academic institution or non-profit research laboratory. In addition to individual investigator projects, we are interested in projects that will support access to services and data of value to a collaboration or community. Winning proposals will be awarded large allocations of Windows Azure storage and compute resources for a period of one year.

We will periodically announce additional special-opportunity RFPs on specific cloud research topics. These topics will include community research data services, streaming instrument data to the cloud, machine learning in the cloud, large-scale image analysis, environmental science, astronomy, genomics, and urban science.

Your proposal should not exceed three pages in length. It should include resource requirement estimates (number of core, storage requirements, and so forth) for your project.

via Azure Research Engagements – Microsoft Research.

50+ powerful education apps for Android worth trying | Learn Egg

The official online color is: #A4C639 . 한국어: 공식 온라인 색은: #A4C639 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Android has overtaken Apple in the world of apps. Look for the same thing to potentially happen in the near future as well. You can’t talk about tablets in education, smartphones in the classroom, or really education technology in general without mentioning Android.

Whichever platform you prefer, it’s worth always knowing what’s out there. Don’t wall yourself into an Apple-only or Android-only environment. It’s hard to switch, for sure.

But it’s worth knowing what the competition is doing.

Remember, you are probably not an Apple or Google employee. You aren’t obligated to use one operating system over another. Both of the leading OSes are so darn hard to switch out of, however, that it can seem like an insurmountable task. The mere thought of having to re-purchase all your apps for a different platform is enough to make most never even consider switching.

So if you’re an Android user or perhaps an Apple user looking to stay in the know about education apps for Android, check out this useful list and stay informed.

via 50+ powerful education apps for Android worth trying | Learn Egg.

Node Hero – Getting Started With Node.js Tutorial | @RisingStack

If you’re interested in Node.js this is a helpful tutorial in its use from Rising Stack.

This is the first post of an upcoming Node.js tutorial series called Node Hero – in these chapters, you can learn how to get started with Node.js and deliver software products using it.

Update: as a sequel to Node Hero, we have started a new series called Node.js at Scale. Check it out if you are interested in more in-depth articles!

We are going to start with the basics – no prior Node.js knowledge is needed. The goal of this series is to get you started with Node.js and make sure you understand how to write an application using it, so don’t hesitate to ask us if anything is unclear!

Source: Node Hero – Getting Started With Node.js Tutorial | @RisingStack

How Google’s search algorithm spreads false information with a rightwing bias | Technology | The Guardian

There has always been an issue with data mining on the internet. The number of times I’ve heard the phrase “Well, Google told me so it must be true” is, to say the least, disheartening. It’s worth reminding students that Google is not infallible.

Embed from Getty Images

Search and autocomplete algorithms prioritize sites with rightwing bias, and far-right groups trick it to boost propaganda and misinformation in search rankings

Google’s search algorithm appears to be systematically promoting information that is either false or slanted with an extreme rightwing bias on subjects as varied as climate change and homosexuality.

Following a recent investigation by the Observer, which found that Google’s search engine prominently suggests neo-Nazi websites and antisemitic writing, the Guardian has uncovered a dozen additional examples of biased search results.

Google’s search algorithm and its autocomplete function prioritize websites that, for example, declare that climate change is a hoax, being gay is a sin, and the Sandy Hook mass shooting never happened.

Source: How Google’s search algorithm spreads false information with a rightwing bias | Technology | The Guardian

The Power of Concentration – Sherlock Holmes is the Key | The New York Times

Need to think? Sherlock Holmes provides the template.

MEDITATION and mindfulness: the words conjure images of yoga retreats and Buddhist monks. But perhaps they should evoke a very different picture: a man in a deerstalker, puffing away at a curved pipe, Mr. Sherlock Holmes himself. The world’s greatest fictional detective is someone who knows the value of concentration, of “throwing his brain out of action,” as Dr. Watson puts it. He is the quintessential unitasker in a multitasking world.

More often than not, when a new case is presented, Holmes does nothing more than sit back in his leather chair, close his eyes and put together his long-fingered hands in an attitude that begs silence. He may be the most inactive active detective out there. His approach to thought captures the very thing that cognitive psychologists mean when they say mindfulness.

Source: The Power of Concentration – The New York Times

The enterprise, and education, technologies to watch in 2016 | ZDNet

While enterprise technology has always been somewhat a breed apart from consumer tech, this year we see that consumer tech will definitively set the agenda for businesses like never before in this year’s list of tech to watch.

Source: The enterprise technologies to watch in 2016 | ZDNet

Using technology to improve curriculum design | @Jisc

It is sometimes easy to simply continue with a curriculum. While new programmes usually prompt a discussion on what should (or, sometimes more importantly, should not) be included, it is always useful to consider your existing curricula as well.

This article from Jisc is helpful in informing those discussions.

The process of curriculum design 1 combines educational design with many other areas including: information management, market research, marketing, quality enhancement, quality assurance and programme and course approval.

The curriculum must evolve to meet the changing needs of students and employers. It must change to reflect new needs, new audiences and new approaches to learning.

Source: Using technology to improve curriculum design | Jisc

What’s next for edtech? | @UB-UK @UniWestScotland

I wrote a piece for University Business on the future of education technology. You can read it here.

UK HE is placing a higher priority on attracting international students than ever before. Indeed, my own institution, the University of the West of Scotland, has recently been rated as amongst the top 5% of universities worldwide. While this is an exciting development it also comes with its own challenges including tailoring teaching, research and the university’s procedures to ensure a fulfilling experience. Enabling all of this is the underpinning technical infrastructure.

By Tony Gurney, Lecturer, School of Computing, University of the West of Scotland

Source: What’s next for edtech?

Beyond the National Student Survey – Student Experience Company @SXManagement

Our White Paper, “Beyond the National Student Survey” outlines key principles for improving student experience. It:

Summarises the changes and discontinuities that are shaping student experience expectations.

Overviews the changes contained in the Government White Paper, “Success as a Knowledge Economy“.

Outlines ten significant problems of the National Student Survey.

Defines six key principles for defining and managing student experience.

Source: Beyond the National Student Survey – Student Experience Company

Cortana to open up to new devices and developers with Cortana Skills Kit and Cortana Devices SDK – Building Apps for Windows

Fancy trying to create for a digital assistant? Microsoft have release a new Skills Kit and SDK for Cortana.

We believe that everyone deserves a personal assistant. One to help you cope as you battle to stay on top of everything, from work to your home life. Calendars, communications and commitments. An assistant that is available everywhere you need it, working in concert with the experts you rely on to get things done.

We’re at the beginning of a technological revolution in artificial intelligence. The personal digital assistant is the interface where all the powers of that intelligence can become an extension

Source: Cortana to open up to new devices and developers with Cortana Skills Kit and Cortana Devices SDK – Building Apps for WindowsBuilding Apps for Windows