What are the consequences of fake news? Has it compromise the authority of journalism?
Davidson College is releasing this March 14 a free and open, 2-hour course titled “The Story of Fake News”.
The course will teach about the history of and effects of fake news as well as how to them and encourage credibility.
There is an opioid epidemic in America. In 2015 more than 15,000 died from overdoses involving prescription opioids.
Harvard University will launch a MOOC on March 27 that will help people learn about the multiple pathways to treatment, challenge preconceptions about addiction and about who can become addicted to opioids – that include the illegal drug heroin as well as powerful pain relievers, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and many others.
This free, open course on edX, created by Harvard Medical School, will contain seven lessons to be taught throughout seven weeks, with 1-2 hours per week.
UC Berkeley will suspend access to its iTunesU video community beginning on March 15, 2017.
On the same day the university will begin the process of moving the publicly offered YouTube content made from the current legacy channel — youtube.com/ucberkeley — to a new, authentication login-required channel. The entire process is expected to take three to five months.
“Instead of focusing on legacy content that is 3-10 years old, much of which sees very limited use, we will work to create new public content that includes accessible features. Our public legacy libraries on YouTube and iTunesU include over 20,000 publications. (…) Moving our content behind authentication allows us to better protect instructor intellectual property from “pirates” who have reused content for personal profit without consent,” explained Cathy Koshland, UC Berkeley vice chancellor, to the university community.
Additionally, “Berkeley will maintain its commitment to sharing content to the public through our partnership with EdX (edx.org). This free and accessible content includes a wide range of educational opportunities and topics from across higher ed.”
EdX.org has launched this month 16 new MicroMasters programs on business analytics, digital product management, cybersecurity and data science from 12 top universities, including Boston University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.
MicroMasters credit-elegible programs are intended to bridge the knowledge gap between higher education and the workplace by offering content and credentials in most in-demand. Some industry-leading companies such as IBM, PWC, Hootsuite, Bloomberg and Fidelity are recognizing these programs.
This is the offering:
Data Science and Analytics
Business Analytics, Columbia University
Data Science, The University of California, San Diego
Big Data, University of Adelaide
Analytics: Essential Tools and Methods, The Georgia Institute of Technology
Computer Science
Cybersecurity, Rochester Institute of Technology
Cloud Computing, University of Maryland University College
Software Development, The University of British Columbia
Software Testing and Verification, University of Maryland University College
Hybrid Jobs
Digital Product Management, Boston University
Digital Leadership, Boston University
Managing Technology & Innovation: How to deal with disruptive change, The RWTH Aachen University
Marketing in the Digital World, Curtin University
Bioinformatics, University of Maryland University College
Instructional Design and Technology, University of Maryland University College
Engineering
Robotics, University of Pennsylvania
Solar Energy Engineering, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
EdX has announced the availability of the first official Ficus release: Ficus 1.
This is the first Open edX release to run on Ubuntu 16.04 and the sixth Open edX release. Because of the switch from Ubuntu 12.04 to 16.04, there is no update procedure from Eucalyptus. A new machine with Ficus must be installed.
Installation options have been posted online.
This Ficus release, which is based on the January 10th version of the edX platform, includes dozens of updates to Studio, the LMS, accessibility and the platform. One of the changes allows developers to modify the LMS user interface via plugins instead of having to make changes to the platform’s code. This initial release of the web fragments library is found in the edx/web-fragments repository. For more information, see OEP-12: Pluggable User Interfaces.
IMPROVEMENTS
LMS:
STUDIO AND COURSE AUTHOR TOOLS:
ACCESSIBILITY
The seventh release of the Open edX platform will be called Ginkgo, and is scheduled for mid Summer, that is by the end of July.
Open edX Portal: Ficus, the winter 2016/2017 release of Open edX, is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iop0gF90TcY
More than 33,000 people from 192 countries have enrolled in the University of Oxford’s first MOOC “From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development”, according to the institution. This free, open course, scheduled to start on February 21, 2017, on edX.org, is led by Professor Paul Collier from the Blavatnik School of Government.
United States and UK have attracted the largest number of learners, followed by India, Mexico, and Thailand, respectively, with more than 1,000 students each. Other countries such as Peru, Turkey, Nigeria, Zambia, Mongolia and Iran also rank highly, each providing hundreds of learners.
Professor Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School has explained: “All societies need a critical mass of well-informed citizens who understand key issues. That so many people from around the world have enrolled in this course demonstrate the strong appetite for that understanding.”
Other interesting figures about the pool of learners so far:
(Watch some videos of the course below)
HarvardX has partnered with TutorGen to pilot on a MOOC an adaptive learning and assessment algorithm in order examine the effects on learning outcomes, engagement and course drop-out rates.
The pilot study has been applied on the redesigned Super-Earths and Life course. Specifically, this adaptivity functionality has been implemented in four out of 16 graded subsections. “The order is determined by a personalized learning progression, using learners’ real-time performance and statistical inferences on sub-topics they have mastered. The inferences are continuously updated based on each learner’s’ performance,” explains HarvardX.
TutorGen’s adaptive engine called SCALE (Student Centered Adaptive Learning Engine, providing a variety of the Bayesian Knowledge Tracing algorithm) decides which problem to serve next based on the list of learning objectives covered by the homework and course material and the student’s current mastery of those learning objectives.
HarvardX developed an LTI tool to integrate TutorGen’s SCALE into the edX platform (see the user interface above). Additionally, HarvardX tripled the existing content in the four adaptive subsections, investing around 200 hours.
The edX.org portal has reached the milestone of 10 million users. “We want to say a huge thank you for joining us in our mission to increase access to high-quality education,” said CEO Anant Agarwal.
Since edX was created in 2012, this educational platform has attracted 36 million enrollments, who tackled 119 million problem sets and watched 230 million videos.
Here are 5 courses out of the hundreds that changed the lives of people just like you. Start learning today.
Believe or not, Donald Trump is now the 45th President of the United States, and its 100 days in office will sample what we can expect for the full term.
The University of Pennsylvania has launch a free, open course to discuss the top 10 social issues during the President’s first 100 days. These ideas range from ending homelessness to transforming “work” to addressing child poverty. “Your participation in a national conversation will be what turns good policy into impactful practice,” has explained John L. Jackson, Dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.
The course, titled “Top 10 Social Issues for the President’s First 100 Days”, started on January 20 and runs through May 1. “Along the way, we will continually update the materials and make sure you know, in real time, what is unfolding on the national level on the issues presented here. We will post pertinent articles and thoughtful commentaries, and we hope you get involved.”
Harvard University will launch on February 28 a new, free online course on edX.org, intended to teach the fundamental principles of architecture.
“The Architectural Imagination” introductory course will be taught by Harvard’s Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory K. Michael Hays alongside Professor of Architectural History Erika Naginski and G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology Antoine Picon.
Over the course of ten modules, these professors will examine some of history’s most important examples that show how architecture engages, mediates, and expresses a culture’s complex aspirations. Video presentations and hands-on exercises will be featured to explore all of these issues. This is the course syllabus:
Part I: Form and History
Module 1: The Architectural Imagination: An Introduction
Module 2: Reading Architecture: Column and Wall
Module 3: Hegel and Architectural History
Module 4: Aldo Rossi and Typology
Part II: The Technology Effect
Module 5: The Crystal Palace: Infrastructure and Detail
Module 6: The Dialectics of Glass and Steel
Module 7: Technology Tamed: Le Corbusier’s Machines for Living
Part III: Representation and Context
Module 8: Drawing Utopia: Visionary Architecture of the 18th Century
Module 9: The Pompidou Center in the City of Paris
Module 10: Presenting the Unrepresentable
The course will join other architectural courses hosted on edX from institutions including MIT, ETH Zurich, and the University of Tokyo.