Looking Back at the Year in Ed Tech

Concerns about Yik Yak and analysis of MOOCs and online teaching were among the most popular stories this past year on our Wired Campus blog. Each year we run the numbers to see which items drew the most reader attention, and this year’s list highlights a continuing interest in understanding how technology — and online education, in particular — might change college as we know it.

And while massive open online courses have largely fallen out of the national headlines, three of the top 10 articles in 2015 involved MOOCs (in one case, charting their fade from prominence).

But the big winner with readers this past year had nothing to do with the classroom. It tracked a popular online joke about what not to say to an academic on a date.

Here are the top 10 headlines from our tech blog:

1. How to Ruin a Date With an Academic in 5 Words

2. The MOOC Hype Fades, in 3 Charts

3. MIT Professor’s Blog Comment Sets Off Debate Over Nerds and Male Privilege

4. Professors Know About High-Tech Teaching Methods, but Few Use Them

5. App Gives Students an Incentive to Keep Their Phones Locked in Class

6. Another Use for Yik Yak on Campus? Cheating on Exams

7. As Coursera Evolves, Colleges Stay On and Investors Buy In

8. 3 Things Academic Leaders Believe About Online Education

9. Meet the New, Self-Appointed MOOC Accreditors: Google and Instagram

10. How an App Helps Low-Income Students by Turning College Life Into a Game

What else does this ranking say about tech trends at colleges? Share your thoughts in the comments.