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The Future of Digital Education

A collection of podcasts and blog posts discussing the role of technology in education

Matt

Matt

Podcast

Education & Industry, Working Together – Jim and Mark (Part 2)

Mark Schneider discusses how digital education can be used to prepare students for industry, in the second half of his discussion with host Jim Cooper.

At the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Mark Schneider is best known not only for his passion for delivering instruction but also for his ongoing commitment to educational technology research. Since 2011, Mark has delivered mathematics instruction geared toward Engineering Technologies as well as Academic Upgrading. Quite recently, he was seconded to a consulting role to lead a campus-wide initiative to phase out a legacy Learning Management System. As a polytechnic, NAIT provides career programs in diverse areas where Mark has become actively engaged by providing these areas with assistance in developing an online footprint and crafting computer-mediated assessments to improve both faculty and student experiences. Mark graduated with degrees in mathematics and education, with a strong interest in computation and assessment in each respective area. In part two of this podcast, Mark and Jim Cooper, President & CEO of Maplesoft, discuss how to use instructional technology to properly prepare students for industry.

Blog Post

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Assessing the Challenges of Digital Assets – Steven Furino

whatcouldgowrong
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6496

I first authored an online course in 2010 and offered that same course in Fall 2010. I have been involved with online education ever since in a number of capacities: author, teacher, encourager, funder, administrator, champion, and colleague of DigitalEd. The Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo now offers more than 60 degree credit courses online, a graduate degree online and has courseware available to roughly 120,000 high school students.

My experience has made me somewhat skeptical in general. Though I continue to be thrilled by the enthusiasm of those joining the move to digital assets, there has been a certain amount of naiveté in that enthusiasm. As a result, when people advocate for this or that particular digital initiative, it occasionally causes others to ask, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Podcast

Digital Assessment – Jim and Mark (Part 1)

Mark Schneider explores the topic of digital assessment tools this week with Jim Cooper, in the first part of their discussion about digital education.

At the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Mark Schneider is best known not only for his passion for delivering instruction but also for his ongoing commitment to educational technology research.   Since 2011, Mark has delivered mathematics instruction geared toward Engineering Technologies as well as Academic Upgrading.  Quite recently, he was seconded to a consulting role to lead a campus-wide initiative to phase out a legacy Learning Management System.  As a polytechnic, NAIT provides career programs in diverse areas where Mark has become actively engaged by providing these areas with assistance in developing an online footprint and crafting computer-mediated assessments to improve both faculty and student experiences.  Mark graduated with degrees in mathematics and education, with a strong interest in computation and assessment in each respective area. In this two part podcast, Mark talks with Jim Cooper, President and CEO of Maplesoft, to discuss how and why to implement digital assessment tools.

Blog Post

Humanity Should Guide Technology into the Future – Sunil Singh

Chalk
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6979

In my 20 years of teaching, I never used technology. I began my teaching career in 1994, where the gold standard for breakthrough technology was Geometer’s Sketchpad. It had just had its wide release three years earlier. While I saw the immense power of GSP many times, we never really crossed paths — I was ridiculously faithful to my chalk.

I have always loved chalk. I love the feel of it. I love the sound it makes on the chalkboard. I even love the chalk powder getting all over my clothes. All these things are minor, but the whole experience of teaching with chalk — especially the use of many colors — made the  whole teaching of mathematics feel more organic. The tips of my fingers were caked in different colors. Maybe it’s strange, but seeing those colored smudges of calcite made me feel like an artist, honoring the creativity/grit/tenacity that is mathematics.

So, it might seem ironic, perhaps even contradictory, that I work — quite happily — for a company that is fully immersed in creating an online/digital math platform. That is because the company sees itself as learners responding to the adapting needs of educators and teachers. That is an ethos that resonates with me because I always felt that my teaching was critically incumbent on my desire to learn.

Podcast

Looking Ahead – Jim and Greg (Part 2)

Greg Dick and Jim Cooper are looking ahead to the future of digital education in the second half of their discussion.

Gregory Allan Dick has 25+ years of experience leading and catalyzing change around the globe. He is a gifted educator, strategic thinker, communicator, and leadership expert. As the Director of Educational Outreach at the Perimeter Institute (PI), Greg has built a global education and advocacy network that spans more than 60 countries, driving STEM and scientific literacy around the globe. Greg and the Educational Outreach team at PI provide programs across Canada that share the power of theoretical physics with general audiences, develop high school age youth for the field, and support a network of educators with in-class resources. The Educational Outreach team also provides outreach expertise at major events around the world and through online resources. In this two part podcast, listen as Greg and Jim Cooper, President and CEO of Maplesoft, discuss the role of elearning in high school education and outreach.

Podcast

The Role of eLearning in High School Education and Outreach – Jim and Greg (Part 1)

Perimeter Institute’s Greg Dick breaks down the role of eLearning in high school education and outreach, in the first half of his discussion with host Jim Cooper.

Gregory Allan Dick has 25+ years of experience leading and catalyzing change around the globe. He is a gifted educator, strategic thinker, communicator, and leadership expert. As the Director of Educational Outreach at the Perimeter Institute (PI), Greg has built a global education and advocacy network that spans more than 60 countries, driving STEM and scientific literacy around the globe. Greg and the Educational Outreach team at PI provide programs across Canada that share the power of theoretical physics with general audiences, develop high school age youth for the field, and support a network of educators with in-class resources. The Educational Outreach team also provides outreach expertise at major events around the world and through online resources. In this two part podcast, listen as Greg and Jim Cooper, President and CEO of Maplesoft, discuss the role of elearning in high school education and outreach.

Podcast

Preparing For University with Online Courseware

This week, Alessandro Bogino discusses how secondary school students are preparing for university with online courseware, led by Dr. Steven Furino.

Alessandro Bogino holds a research grant at the University of Turin focused on the development of plugins needed for the automated management of thousands of users enrolled in and preparing for the TARM (Test for the Assessment of Minimum Requirements). In addition, he previously held a research grant at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Turin to collaborate on the realization of the project Orient@mente. The project involved the development of an open online platform focused on self-paced preparatory materials for use by secondary school students who intend to apply for scientific study at the University of Turin. In this podcast, led by Dr. Steve Furino, Assistant Dean of Online Studies at the University of Waterloo, he discusses his experiences creating preparatory materials using online courseware technology.

Podcast

Making STEM education accessible to all: eLearning in Indonesia

Dr. Maydison Ginting shares his goal of making STEM education accessible to all, and discusses his plans to implement eLearning in Indonesia with Dr. Steven Furino.

Dr. Maydison Ginting currently serves as a member of faculty as well as the Head of the Department of Business Mathematics in the School of Applied STEM at the Universitas Prasetiya Mulya in Indonesia. Listen as he and Dr. Steve Furino, Assistant Dean of Online Studies at the University of Waterloo, discuss plans to implement online learning at the Universitas Prasetiya Mulya with the goal of further enhancing STEM education across all of Indonesia.

Podcast

Supplementary Materials and Blended Learning

Dr. Matthias Kniebusch gives us his take on supplementary materials and blended learning in this week’s podcast, hosted by Dr. Steven Furino.

Dr. Matthias Kniebusch, Assistant Professor at the Hochschule Bremerhaven, a university of applied sciences in Germany, has been deeply focused on digital education for the past 5 years. He first introduced online assignments in mathematics as an initial step towards blended learning. Since then, he has developed online content in mathematics and in engineering mechanics and is now focused on bringing courses online as part of the Wind Energy Systems Program at Bremerhaven. In this podcast, he discusses his experience and future direction with Dr. Steve Furino, Assistant Dean of Online Studies at the University of Waterloo.

Podcast

Onwards and Upwards – Jim and Steve (Part 4)

Dr. Jim Cooper and Dr. Steven Furino conclude by discussing the onwards and upwards trajectory of digital education, in this final of this four part discussion.

The Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo (UW) has the largest concentration of mathematical and computer science talent in the world and has been offering online mathematics courses since 2003. Over 21,000 UW students per year enroll in online for-credit math courses and the number of unique users visiting UW’s open educational resources in the hundreds of thousands each year. UW understands the challenges that online math and other STEM development projects encounter, and has made great progress in overcoming many of them. Listen as Dr. Steve Furino, Assistant Dean of Online Studies at the University of Waterloo discusses the history and future of digital education with Dr. Jim Cooper, President and CEO of Maplesoft, a leading provider of STEM-focused solutions for online education.