Has President Obama caught MOOC fever?

“We want to encourage
more colleges to embrace
innovative new ways to
prepare our students for a
21st century economy,”
Obama said

President Obama, in outlining his new education plan this week, didn't utter the phrase “massive open online
courses” or its handy acronym, but one could think otherwise, looking at the news articles, blog posts and tweets declaring that Obama has caught “MOOC fever.”
by Jake New, eCampusNews, August 23rd
The president’s plan calls for tying federal aid into a college ranking system that would measure the average tuition, size of student debt, and amount of innovation on campuses.
“We want to encourage more colleges to embrace innovative new ways to prepare our students for a 21st century economy and maintain a high level of quality without breaking the bank,” Obama said, before listing some existing alternatives that included competency-based learning at Southern New Hampshire University, online courses at Arizona State University, and a certain online-only master’s degree program at Georgia Tech.
Competency-based learning and Georgia Tech’s master’s program are familiar concepts to MOOC supporters and detractors, and their inclusion in Obama’s plan, which he has promised will “shake up the current system,” has inspired both praise and criticism.
Differing opinions on MOOCs is nothing new, with fans of the online courses pointing to the ability for students and colleges to save money by utilizing them, and critics pointing out MOOCs’ low retention rates.
Some faculty have expressed concern that with widespread MOOC adoption, many of them could be out of a job. Others in higher education were encouraged by the president’s enthusiasm for experimental online classes.
“It’s part of a continuum, not the only solution,” said Ray Schroeder, director of the Center for Online Learning at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “Overall, I think it’s very positive to encourage ways in which we can lower the cost of education.” Read more at eCampus News: Technology News for Today's Higher-Ed Leader: details on how MOOCs are just one part of a larger push for innovation on campuses. Related articles: MOOC's: the future of higher education, ir a passing phase? 

Students’ use of laptops in class lowers grades

Laptops have replaced pen and paper for many post-secondary students but a Canadian study suggests

using computers during lectures could be hurting their grades and lowering their classmates’ marks. The Globe, Aug.14, 2013

For the study, published earlier this year in the journal Computers and Education, research subjects in two experiments were asked to attend a university-level lecture and then complete a multiple-choice quiz based on what they learned.
In the first experiment, which was designed to gauge how multitasking affects learning, all the participants used laptops to take notes during a lecture on meteorology. But half were also asked to complete a series of unrelated tasks on their computers when they felt they could spare some time. Those tasks — which included online searches for information — were meant to mimic what distracted students might do during class.
In the second experiment, some students were given pencils and paper to take notes during a lecture while others worked on laptops. Researchers wanted to observe if the students taking notes the old-fashioned way would be distracted by having computer screens around them.
Faria Sana, who co-authored the study with fellow doctoral student Tina Weston, said she expected lower test marks for students who were asked to multitask during the experiment, or were seated near other students using laptops. But the distraction effect was stronger than she hypothesized.
“We really tried to make it pretty close to what actually happens in the lectures, we found that lo and behold, the students who multitasked performed much worse on the final test and those who were seated around peers who were multitasking also performed much worse on the final test,” said Sana.
“So you might not be multitasking but if you have a clear view of someone else who is multitasking, your performance is still going to be impaired.”
The students in the first experiment who were asked to multitask averaged 11 per cent lower on their quiz. The students in the second experiment who were surrounded by laptops scored 17 per cent lower.
Read the rest of the article . . . 

Houzz: home remodeling and design - for homeowners and home professionals

Houzz is the leading online platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish - online or from a mobile device. From decorating a room to building a custom home, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world.
With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community powered by social tools, Houzz is the easiest way for people to get the design inspiration, project advice, product information and professional reviews they need to help turn ideas into reality.
Houzz has gotten plenty of great reviews - from the New York Times and

the Today show to  Architectural Digest - "This app will stoke your imagination. Houzz provides access to more than 100,000 photos of interiors, sortable by room, style or location. It also has contractor directories for over 50 metropolitan areas".
Another recent review from TechCrunch: "If you need a bout of house envy, there’s no better place to go than Houzz, the increasingly popular platform for finding ideas for your home remodeling projects and the professional that can realize them. Today, however, the service is adding a bit of a reality check to these dreams. The company, which currently sees 14 million users every month, recently surveyed 100,000 homeowners in the U.S. about their projects. It’s now surfacing this information on its site and in its mobile apps to give homeowners a better idea of what remodeling projects in their local areas typically cost.
For example, the tools show homeowners what a kitchen or media room remodel costs in their area. Besides the average, which wouldn’t be all that useful, it also highlights the stats for the lower, middle and top third. Using its existing database, Houzz can also draw upon its huge database of envy-inducing photographs and prices for specific items. This way, for example, you can see what a certain kind of countertop will do to your budget, as well as the pros and cons of the different options, thanks to the growing number of how-to and style guides on the service."
This is a fun site to browse, easy to navigate, and helpful search feature.

Media History Digital Library

Welcome to the Media History Digital Library "We are a non-profit initiative dedicated to digitizing
collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan them for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning. We have currently scanned over 800,000 pages, and that number is growing."

Online Access to the Histories of Cinema, Broadcasting and Sound.
"This archive mediahistoryproject.org/ preserves in a digital format classic media periodicals that are in the public domain. Various contributors have supplied the issues for this project, which is funded by major sponsorships and individual donations. Over 400,000 pages have been scanned so far. One may read articles on the website or freely download them to a personal device. Eleven serials have extensive runs (five years or more), and more than 100 others have scattered holdings. The earliest content is from 1903 issues of the New York Clipper, and the most recent is a 1995 report; however, the majority of the periodical runs cover the 1920s/1930s. In addition to appearing in one complete list, the magazine and trade titles are sorted into nine collections: Hollywood Studio System, Fan Magazine, Early Cinema, Year Book, Broadcasting, Non-Theatrical Film, Technical Journals, Global Cinema, and Government and Law. The latter collection features a small but intriguing assortment of reports, with titles including Censorship, and Communism and the Blacklist.

Minor complaints include the clunky searching capability and occasional loss of pictures and texts due to damaged copies having been

digitized. These should not discourage use. Whether scanning through the various tabloid movie magazines (e.g., Motion Picture Classic and Photoplay) or trade serials (e.g., Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers and The Radio Annual), one is actually learning about the history of the film industry and the evolution of the television industry at the expense of radio. In addition to cinema connoisseurs, students in such fields as marketing, design, or fashion will find these periodicals educational and entertaining. Using this website is so much easier than using microforms. One hopes the creators of this database will continue to receive the funds to expand its holdings. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audience. -- J. A. Badics, Eastern Michigan University." Reviewed in August  2013 issue of ACRL's  CHOICE

Study Finance: Fundamentals of Applied Finance.

Study Finance - an excellent website providing useful "Self-Paced Overviews" of the main topics covered in an introductory finance course. The site is divided into 13 topical areas, e.g., Time Value of Money, Capital Budgeting, Funds Type Statements,

Basic Financial Statements, Ratio Analysis, Sustainable Growth Measures, Types of Business Organization, Working Capital Management, Valuation of Corporate Securities, and Getting Started with Excel.
Subjects include basic double entry accounting principles, working capital, cash management, constructing and analyzing funds statements, computing simple and compound interest, capital budgeting techniques, operating leverage, and using a financial calculator (HP10bII+), with illustrated keystrokes for a series of sample problems.
Unlike Wachowicz's Web World: Web Sites for Discerning Finance Students (posted July 16, 2012) http://web.utk.edu/~jwachowi/
wacho_world.html , which is directly aligned with the topics of the author's finance textbook, Garrison's site is generic and, like similar sites, does not

lead easily to more in-depth coverage of the topics. Nevertheless, graphic design is excellent (the site works well with a variety of browsers and is free of pop-ups and advertisements; however, in selected browsers ads appear to pop up when scrolling over particular words or phrases).
Navigation is well planned and straightforward; the brief generic text and examples are well written. Cleverly designed solution grids for problems enable the site to be easily used as a supplementary resource and introductory reference for anyone with an interest in basic finance topics. Continuously updated tickers with statistical data on commodity prices and US debts are an interesting addition to the site's home page. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division and two-year program students; practitioners. -- S. R. Kahn, emeritus, University of Cincinnati. Reviewed in the August 2013 issue of ACRL's Choice.

College Scorecard, from the U.S. Department of Education.

As described on the site, "The College Scorecard has been designed by the U.S. Department of Education to provide better information to students and parents about college affordability and value." It is a very helpful and easy to navigate resource for those considering undergraduate study in the US.

Information on a college or university can easily be accessed from the home page. Users can search by institution name; location (ZIP code, state, region); type of institution (size of student body, distance education, campus setting); or area of interest (degree and major, occupation, awards offered). There is also a very helpful section titled About the Scorecard. For each institution, there is a scorecard with graphs/charts providing condensed information on five important criteria: Costs, Graduation Rate, Loan Default Rate, Median Borrowing, and Employment. Nicely formatted institutional profiles can be printed for future reference. In addition, more information on each of the five criteria is available with a simple click above the graphs/charts.

The site not only offers a wealth of financial information on most US colleges and universities, but also provides visitors with other information about education in the US in sections titled Early Childhood Learning, Education for K-12 Students, Support for Higher Ed, and Reform for the Future. The site is sponsored by the White House, and history and political science enthusiasts will appreciate the numerous links to White House and US government sites, including a White House blog. While students should take time to look at other resources for the institution they are considering attending, the information found here is worth accessing as it relates to one of the most important parts of one's educational experience--paying for it. Summing Up: Recommended. General users; students interested in undergraduate study; professionals. -- D. C. Martin, independent scholar. Reviewed in August 2013 issue of ACRL's CHOICE.