Why Career & Technical Education Should be a Priority for the U.S.

via Mashable “For today’s students, the experience of going to school can feel like flying in an airplane, minus the excitement of travel. Students enter a world cut off from their own where they are asked to turn off all electronic devices. They can feel trapped, simply staring straight ahead for hours. Without a clear sense of where they are going, many U.S. students simply opt to get off the plane.

In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama said, “… If we want to win the future — if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas — then we also have to win the race to educate our kids.” However, the United States now graduates less than 75% of its students. Worse, in sixteen of the biggest cities, the graduation rate is less than 50%.

To win the future, the United States needs a well-educated workforce that will drive tomorrow’s innovation. We need students who graduate ready to take skilled positions in high-growth sectors of the economy. At all levels, businesses need employees that are more creative, more technical, and more connected than ever. This means that technical literacy is no longer “nice to have,” but a requirement for success.” [Continue reading at Mashable.com]

How Can Cloud Computing Help in Education?

Via Cloud Tweaks – For support staff, a distributed management system can substantially reduce their load, leveraging efficiencies across the nationwide or statewide school network. The problem of tiny classrooms can be surmounted through virtual classrooms, with students attending class in their own homes on their own computers, with the teacher being present hundreds, even thousands of miles away. This can also help address the issue of inadequate number of teachers. With computers getting cheaper by the day, this does not seem unfeasible. And why stop only in America? With cloud-based education tools, the whole world can learn from the best. READ FULL POST at Cloud Tweaks

5 Higher Ed Tech Trends To Watch in 2011

Via Campus Technology – 1. The Cloud Computing Movement Will Continue. Investing in purchase-and-install software is falling by the wayside as institutions catch onto the value of using “cloud” applications that are housed (and accessed) online. Not only are these options more affordable and easier to implement, but they also include vast storage capacity that can be used for, say, portfolio assessments. “Using cloud computing, schools can create large collections of loosely-sorted data (such as school records, written documents and even video recordings),” said Bob Spielvogel, CTO at EDC, a Newton, MA-based nonprofit that creates programs to address educational challenges, “and then utilize that information to track project activity and conduct portfolio assessments across the student’s entire college career.” With these and other uses gaining ground in the higher education space, expect cloud computing’s popularity to grow in 2011. READ FULL POST at Campus Technology

How SaaS and Cloud Computing are Transforming Education

Via IT Management – One of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. is how to strengthen our schools in order to maintain our competitiveness in the global marketplace. And to do so in an increasingly tough economic climate. Fortunately, a growing array of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing vendors are demonstrating that they can significantly improve the effectiveness of our schools and the quality of education being provided. READ FULL POST at IT Management

Can Tech Transcend the Textbook?

Via Campus Technology – “Our notion is that technology has been under-leveraged to develop more compelling and engaging learning experiences,” McGraw-Hill’s Madan says. “As we look at evolving our products, it’s really about how we deliver more engaging experiences that drive better teaching and learning outcomes. We’re all being pushed increasingly into the business of providing outcomes, but we’re still exploring how we can best accomplish that.” READ FULL POST at Campus Technology

Survey Shows College Students Overwhelmed, Underprepared

Via Campus Technology – “Students today face new challenges and are increasingly spread thin, whether it’s [because they are] working full time, balancing finances or caring for families. Instructors feel the pressure, too, as they try to do more with fewer resources and teach students who are either ill-prepared for their day’s lesson or distracted by other issues,” said William Rieders, executive vice president of new media for Cengage Learning. “Companies need to develop innovative technologies that make it easier to keep today’s students more engaged and better equipped for future educational success.” READ FULL POST at Campus Technology