Abbie Brown

Professor of Instructional Technology at East Carolina University - specializing in instructional design, educational media production, and distance learning - http://www.ahbrown.com

Flips

Technology
27 incredibly useful things you didn’t know Google Sheets could do
Fast Company - JR Raphael
There’s much more to Google Sheets than meets the eye. Unlock these advanced options–and watch your productivity soar. I’ll admit it: For the majority of my adult life, spreadsheets have remained shrouded
Opinion | The Misguided Drive to Measure ‘Learning Outcomes’
The New York Times - By MOLLY WORTHEN
I teach at a big state university, and I often receive emails from software companies offering to help me do a basic part of my job: figuring out what my students have learned. If you thought this task
Higher Education
It's Sunday evening, where are online colleges' student services?
educationdive.com - Author
With college enrollment mostly flat and the number of adult learners taking online classes expected to increase, it doesn't take a business major to …
Artificial Intelligence
'Disastrous' lack of diversity in AI industry perpetuates bias, study finds
The Guardian - Kari Paul in San Francisco
The use of AI systems for the classification, detection, and prediction of race and gender is in urgent need of re-evaluation Kate Crawford, report author Lack of diversity in the artificial intelligence
Google Chrome
It’s taken a long time, but Google Chrome is finally getting a reading mode
Android Authority
Most major web browsers have had a reading mode for several years now, but Google Chrome is one major absentee from the list. Thankfully, it looks like the feature is well on its way to the browser. ZDNet
Mac App Store
Siri Shortcuts, Screen Time, and other iOS features coming to the Mac with 10.15
9to5Mac - Guilherme Rambo
Apple is working on bringing the Mac and iOS closer together with the introduction of macOS 10.15 and iOS 13. Siri Shortcuts, Screen Time, and more are expected to be unveiled for Mac during its Worldwide
M-learning
A Practical Tool to Enable Students to Create Short Printed Books
educatorstechnology.com
Empowering students with a voice in class means, among other things, providing them with an outlet where they can document, create, and share their …
Education
How to Be a Better Online Teacher
chronicle.com
Most of us don’t know how to teach online or how to get better at it — and we may not be motivated to learn. Show Up to Class Fundamentally, good …
Flipped Classroom
5 principles to guide online learning programs
ecampusnews.com - Laura Ascione
Faculty preparation for teaching online courses varies widely by institution and is far from consistent, according to a new report gauging how online …
Video Conferencing
Video Assignments Are the New Term Paper. How Does That Change Teaching and Learning?
edsurge.com - Bryan Alexander
This semester I’m teaching a graduate seminar on education and technology for Georgetown University. Over the next two months, I’ll share the …
Technology
Some internet outages predicted for the coming month as '768k Day' approaches
ZDNet - Catalin Cimpanu
768k Day expected within the month, reminiscent of 512k Day when AT&T, BT, Comcast, Sprint, and Verizon all went down. × world-map-cyber.png An internet …
Microsoft
Microsoft launches its Surface Hub 2S collaborative PC for $9,000
pcworld.com - Mark Hachman
Last year, Microsoft announced the successor to its Surface Hub—the Surface Hub 2S, a 50-inch whiteboarding PC that could be mounted on a wall or even rolled from room to room. On Wednesday, the company
Indiana University
Video walls move to the next level
universitybusiness.com - By: Sherrie Negrea | Issue: April/May, 2019 April 10, 2019
WINDOW DISPLAY—The video wall in the admissions office at New York Institute of Technology is meant to inspire people, whether it‘s a prospective …
College & University
Live Online Video Classes Are ‘The New Face-to-Face.’ So How Many Students Can They Handle at a Time?
edsurge.com - Jeffrey R. Young
An experimental university announced last week that its home-grown online teaching platform can now handle up to 400 students at a time via live …
Mathematics
What Is the 5 E Instructional Model?
thoughtco.com - Colette Bennett
Student Inquiry-Based Learning for All Classes In the 5 E model of instruction, students construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. This …
Twitter
Twitter says new tools automatically flag 38 percent of abusive tweets
Engadget - Amrita Khalid
The company announced several changes for a healthier Twitter. Twitter gave a status update on Tuesday on its plans to target online harassment, which, the company claims, appear to be working. The platform
Russia
Russian parliament adopts internet controls bill
ABC News - The Associated Press
Russia's lower chamber of parliament has adopted a bill that would expand government control over the internet, raising fears of widespread …
Apple Pencil
macOS 10.15 will reportedly turn iPads into external touchscreens
VentureBeat - Jeremy Horwitz
Following a tease earlier this year from Apple software chief Craig Federighi, it’s not entirely surprising that the next version of macOS will support the use of certain iPads as external displays. But
Internal Revenue Service
Five Lessons Online Faculty Can Learn from the IRS
facultyfocus.com - Miriam Bowers-Abbott
Another Tax Day is upon us. I’ll keep this post brief, just in case you haven’t yet filed.The Internal Revenue Service is good for lots of things, …
Kaspersky: 70 percent of attacks now target Office vulnerabilities
ZDNet - Catalin Cimpanu
That's more than four times the percentage the company was seeing two years before, in Q4 2016. × threat-landscape-2016-2018.png Microsoft Office …
Social Media
UK proposes banning social media 'likes' for children
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain's privacy regulator wants to stop kids from being able to "like" posts on Facebook and other social media sites as part of tough new rules it's proposing to protect children's online
Tech Industry
Israeli Researchers Print 3D Heart Using Patient’s Own Cells
Bloomberg - Michael Arnold
Israeli researchers have printed a 3D heart using a patient’s own cells, something they say could be used to patch diseased hearts -- and possibly, …
Microsoft
Microsoft admits hackers were able to access emails
The Verge - Tom Warren
The security breach was worse for some than others Microsoft has admitted that its Outlook.com security breach was worse than the company initially revealed. The software maker started notifying some users
Women in Tech
What Are The Most Interesting Things Happening In EdTech Right Now?
Forbes - Quora
What are the most interesting trends in Edtech right now, and where is the industry heading? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others
Google Voice
Google integrates Hangouts Chat with Gmail in G Suite, rolls out live captions in Hangouts Meet
VentureBeat - Kyle Wiggers
Google announced in March 2017 that it would split Hangouts, its cross-platform messaging service, into two core apps — Hangouts Chat, a Slack-like tool for teams, and Hangouts Meet, a Skype-like videoconferencing
Technology
Smart speaker recordings reviewed by humans
bbc.co.uk
Amazon, Apple and Google all employ staff who listen to customer voice recordings from their smart speakers and voice assistant apps.
Google Docs
You can now directly edit Microsoft Office files with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
TNW - Ivan Mehta
It’s a great week for productivity. First, Slack announced that it’ll let you view documents without leaving the app, and then Dropbox enabled editing Google Docs within its own cloud storage app. Now,
Technology
Nintendo Labo VR kit review
The Verge - Andrew Webster
Nintendo’s belated VR entry is as weird and fun as you’d expect For the last few years, it’s seemed like every major tech and gaming company has experimented with virtual reality to some degree, including
The City
Revenue From Online Ed Is On the Rise. So Is the Competition, Moody’s Says.
chronicle.com - Terry Nguyen
As universities continue to cope with the long-term financial fallout of the Great Recession, many of them are increasingly turning to online …
Technology
Democrats' net neutrality bill passes House
CNET - Marguerite Reardon
But Republicans in the Senate promise to shut it down before it gets a vote in that chamber.