Learning with Technology

Developer interfaces used by Security Research Labs researchers to turn digital home assistants into ‘Smart Spies’.

Researchers have found new ways that bad actors can exploit Alexa and Google Home smart speakers to spy on users. This time the hack not only includes eavesdroping, but also includes voice-phishing, or using people’s voice cues to determine passwords.

The vulnerability lies in small apps created by developers for the devices to extend their capability called Skills for Alexa and second app called Actions on Google Home, according to a report by Security Research Labs (SRLabs). These apps “can be abused to listen in on users or vish (voice phish) their passwords,” researchers said.

“The privacy implications of an internet-connected microphone listening in to what you say are further reaching than previously understood,” researchers wrote in their report. “Users need to be more aware of the potential of malicious voice apps that abuse their smart speakers.”

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=Privacy

https://www.scoop.it/topic/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=Alexa

Colorado State University has deployed a new VR lab; designed to accommodate up to 100 students simultaneously, the lab’s headsets run custom software which allow students to visualize life-sized virtual cadavers and medical imagery in a shared virtual space. The so-called Immersive Reality Training Lab lab is part of a new CSU facility called the Health …

Using Microsoft Teams and AI, Dr. David Kellermann, lecturer in the school of engineering at the University of New South Wales, has more than enhanced the experience of his students — he’s transformed the classroom and learning experience, while creating a community of learners.

Implementing a learning analytics system across all higher education institutions in Wales provides a model for the opportunities for such services at

Despite a well-documented gender imbalance within the tech industry, a survey suggests that when it comes to VR, women are starting to take up leadership roles in greater numbers

Case Western Reserve is using mixed reality in classes to produce students who are trained for the collaborative workforce.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Mixed+Reality

Research Guides: How to Create a Research Poster: Poster Basics

A UCLA study yielded promising results.

Reverting to paper tests should only be a stop-gap measure as keeping NAPLAN offline deprives students and teachers of the best data.

One of the keys to realizing student outcomes is using analytics to provide a best assessment on what will happen in the future.

Part of the challenge facing educationalists is that technological change will call for skills that fall outside of age-old approaches to curriculum design and teaching. Emotional intelligence, creative thinking, and collaboration are just three core aptitudes that will be needed, but which cannot easily be taught in a traditional classroom environment.

“Updating curriculum should always be on the agenda,” says Jaime Saavedra of the World Bank, quoted in the WEFFI report. “But it is incredibly urgent to invest in changing the behaviour of teachers and improving what happens inside the classroom.

People paid to take exams or write essays for university students in Australia could be jailed for up to two years under tough new laws. 

A newly funded project will enable faculty to work with students to develop, test and pilot virtual field trips on youth experience with sustainability.