This week, Coursera unveiled 12 new project-based courses, a move that complements existing offerings like its "Specialization" capstones. The move comes amid a larger project-based learning trend across higher education and K-12.
Also in higher ed, we took a look at the challenges of not only attracting students from underrepresented populations, but retaining and engaging them for completion.
Meanwhile in K-12, Google announced it will close the doors on Play for Education, a move that comes as Chromebooks are solidifying their market lead in classrooms but Android tablets haven't caught on as well. We also examined the need for schools to measure the costs and benefits of ed tech — though, of course, they should also make an effort to involve teachers, the end-users, in the decision-making process, as well.
Be sure to check out our look at the need for colleges to know how to use their data once they've collected it and more in this week's most-read Education Dive posts!
- Coursera launches 12 new project-based courses: The MOOC provider is offering new courses in business, computer science, and art and music that give students a chance to learn by doing.
- Attracting underrepresented students just the first challenge: New data from EAB reveals recruitment differences in student preferences by ethnicity, family income, and first generation status, but campuses can't forget their needs once they get to campus.
- Google to shut down Play for Education in March: The tech giant has quietly decided to end the service, effective March 14.
- Collecting the right data isn't enough — colleges must know how to use it: Following a call for a better national data framework for higher education, the senior vice president for product management at Ellucian says analytics still poses a key challenge.
- Measuring the costs and benefits of new ed tech: Schools and districts must consider a number of factors before taking leaps into the digital space.
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