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he purpose of this letter is to provide guidance to address potential fraud in the Federal student aid programs at institutions of higher education that offer distance education programs. This letter provides an overview of the fraud schemes that the Department's Inspector General (IG) detected, and recommends immediate steps that institutions can take to detect and prevent fraud. In this letter, we also describe further actions that institutions can take and that the Federal government is committed to taking, including increasing technical assistance to institutions of higher education, the convening of a Department-wide task force on distance education fraud, and plans for recommending legislative and regulatory changes to address the relevant issues.

enhance lecture learning in traditional classroom settings and in online education. This article provides a conceptual framework for thinking about attention and memory during video-recorded lectures, particularly as related to online learning, that builds on 3 key claims: (a) online learning can be conceived as a type of self-regulated learning, (b) mind wandering reflects a failure of executive control that can impair learning from lectures, and (c) providing intermittent tests or quizzes can benefit attention and learning. We then summarize recent studies based on this framework that examine the effects of interpolating brief quizzes in a video-recorded lecture. These studies reveal that interpolated quizzing during a video-recorded lecture reduces mind wandering, increases taskrelevant behaviors such as note taking, boosts learning, and also improves calibration between predicted and actual performance.

"As the nonprofit tech company operating Bookshare, the largest library of accessible books in the world, Benetech believes the time is right for the publishing world to seize this era of opportunity. We believe that all content born digital can-and should-be born accessible. We understand how to navigate this new world of opportunity-both by identifying the possibilities and working to resolve the challenges. Tremendous progress has been made when it comes to retro-fitting books, especially those that are primarily text, but as digital content becomes richer and more complex, the challenge of making it born accessible will require broader partnerships and technological innovation. The resources we've provided below are meant to help publishers and the myriad of other new, digital content creators understand the basics of how to make content born accessible. These resources highlight the challenges that images, interactivity, math equations and other complex features pose, but also demonstrate how they can be addressed. Working together, we know that accessibility can become a critical component in the creation of all content"

In light of the discovery that Google circumvents settings in Safari that block third-party cookies, it is discovered that Google is also circumventing privacy setting in IE.

A nifty web-based (with desktop option) writing tool that helps you edit by identifying sentences that may be hard to read. Also identifies use of adverbs, passive voice and words that can by simplified.

"The best way to understand learning tech people is to do a little thought experiment.   Pretend that through some Freaky Friday magic, (think Lindsay Lohan circa 2003), you wake up as a member of your campus IT organization.  (I'm assuming that you are a faculty member or future faculty member of some sort).  Everyone around you is talking about deliverables, assumptions, critical paths, constraints, dependencies and milestones.  There is a hierarchy. Demands are coming at you from all directions.  Budgets are tight and getting tighter. Those around you in IT are talented, dedicated, and often brilliant.  They are also constrained by the need to provide a 24/7/365 rock-solid infrastructure, and to so with budgets that have not grown to meet all the new demands."

Instructors have frequently found that some content, such as mathematical formulae, chemistry laboratory experiments, and business practices, are unusually difficult for students to comprehend through text-centered approaches, and that this is especially so for online students. In response, instructor-made videos (IMVs) of three to 10 minutes in length on problematic topics or subject matter areas were produced for business, chemistry, and mathematics courses. The IMVs were intended to scaffold student learning. Initial findings revealed that multimodal IMVs involving the demonstration, illustration, and presentation of key terms, knowledge, skills, and resources can help students understand important procedures, structures, or mechanisms in previously problematic content. Simply stated, IMVs can have a positive impact on student learning.

"You use Google Docs and Sheets to get all sorts of stuff done -- whether you're staying up late to finish that final paper or just getting started on a new project at the office. But to help take some of that work off your shoulders, try add-ons-new tools created by third-party developers that give you even more capabilities in your documents and spreadsheets."

"The backchannel is the conversation that goes on alongside the primary activity, presentation, or discussion. TodaysMeet helps harness the backchannel and turn it into a platform that can enable new activities and discussions, extend conversations beyond the classroom, and give all students a voice. Embracing the backchannel can turn it from distraction to engagement. Participants can learn from each other and share their insights, improving participation and deepening learning. TodaysMeet enables instant formative assessment, feedback, and much more."

Pretty cool laptop stand that elevates the screen to an ergonomic height. Requires the use of an external keyboard and mouse.... though could be useful when presenting in places that don't have lecterns.

A easy way to determine if you are running any apps that will stop working with Lion. I have several that are incompatible, one is the Microsoft Office Update utility. Another is the Media 100 Transcoder.