Educational Technology

BY MARSHA SILLS, the Advocate

The school system launched the virtual summer school program in 2012 after years without a summer academic option for students because of low enrollment in the past. As part of the program, students take online courses taught via lessons recorded by certified teachers. Students can pause and rewind the lessons as they need and move through the content at their own pace. The program began May 26, and during the first week, the students were required to report to the virtual learning center for their coursework. For the remainder of the program, only middle school students are required to report to the center, while high school students may complete their coursework at home or wherever they want to do their lessons, said Kellie LeBlanc, program supervisor. Students must return to the center to take tests, she said.

http://theadvocate.com/news/9317305-123/virtual-summer-school-lets-students

By Dennis Pierce, eSchool News

Student app development is on the rise, and ed-tech companies have tapped into this trend by launching programs that teach kids how to build their own apps. With mobile apps soaring in popularity, companies such as Crescerance and Treehouse have created programs that help teach kids how to build their own apps. Each month, tens of thousands of mobile apps are added to the app stores for Apple iOS, Google Android, and Microsoft Windows 8—and a growing number of these are from K-12 students.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/05/30/students-create-apps-521/

By Jason Hiner, ZDNet

At Apple’s WWDC 2014 event this week, most of the attention will be focused on new product updates. The real moves you should keep an eye on are three big ecosystem plays. As you follow the updates coming from WWDC 2014 this week, keep an eye out for developments in the following three ecosystems where Apple is poised to make a huge impact.

1. Digital Health
2. Smart Home
3. Retail Experience

http://www.zdnet.com/apples-next-big-move-capture-three-new-ecosystems-7000030074/

by the University of Kentucky

In How to Succeed in College, students interact and plan their transition to higher education and beyond. This multimedia course incorporates presentations, videos, and social media while focusing on strategies for student success. Various perspectives are introduced through interviews with faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and current students to provide a holistic view of the college experience. Students in the course interact with each other via discussion forums, social media, and peer-review assignments. Topics include instructor expectations, social interaction, acclimating to new environments, strategies for studying, student resources, and basic issues in psychology. The course is designed for incoming college students of all backgrounds and interests. Join Dr. Jonathan Golding and Dr. Phil Kraemer in exploring the challenges and opportunities of the college experience.

https://www.coursera.org/course/succeedincollege

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

These days, digital literacy is often cited as being “the fourth literacy”, but there are many other literacies out there that our students need if they’re going to be successful, functional adults in a connected, challenging, global world. The video linked below addresses the idea of financial literacy as a subject that should be taught in schools. It uses data from the Council for Economic Education’s 2014 Survey of the States. As a teacher, do you feel fit to teach students about personal finance? Do you think students should be required to learn/be evaluated on personal finance at either the secondary or post-secondary level?

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/may/15/ten-reasons-we-should-ditch-university-lectures?CMP=twt_gu

By Nikolaos Chatzopoulos, Edudemic

There is an explosion of EdTech tools destined to gamify the classroom, most of which are web-based, while others come in the form of an app. Understandably, a teacher might wonder what is the best way to navigate through this sea of new, and subsequently, not thoroughly tested activities and tools. Throughout the school year I tried several game-based platforms with my students. Here are three game-based classroom solutions that helped me transform my fourth grade classroom into a dynamic learning environment. All three tools are completely free. Each platform is particularly strong in specific areas, therefore, depending on their needs, teachers can utilize one of the tools, or use a combination of two (or three), to maximize the impact on student learning.

http://www.edudemic.com/gamify-your-classroom-2/

by Vanessa Murphy, 8 News

Students are being educated without leaving the comfort of their homes as more families turn to online schools or what’s also known as “distance education.” Clark County school leaders say charter schools offering online classes were full during the last school year with around 11,000 students, both full-time and part-time, taking courses.

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/25655407/popularity-of-clark-county-online-schools-growing

By Bridget McCrea, THE Journal

It has been nearly five years since President Obama launched Educate to Innovate in an effort to push American students from the middle to the top of the heap in science and math achievement. Through this effort, the federal government, companies, and nonprofits have moved into the K-12 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) arena in an attempt to broadening the nation’s tech-minded talent pool. The goals of these groups go beyond just ensuring that today’s kids are exposed to STEM subjects in school. They’re also helping students select careers in growing industries that pay well.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/29/helping-stem-take-root.aspx

by Stacey Goodman, Edutopia

Online digital technology has empowered users in ways that were unimaginable twenty years ago. Social media sites have given us the ability to reach a global audience, and have increased the average user’s means to persuade and influence. We are no longer just consumers of media, but content creators and distributors, as well as editors, opinion makers, and journalists. How does media literacy fit into this new media landscape? How do we ensure that we are not perpetuating harmful ideas and messages through our online social network? Perhaps with an increase in our power to influence and persuade should come the critical frameworks that we can apply to the media we create, and not just the media we consume.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-media-five-key-concepts-stacey-goodman

By Holly Clark, Edudemic

Helping kids show what they understand by making their thinking visible should be at the heart of most pedagogically sound technology integration. Chrome apps can help you do just that if you choose the right ones. Here are some of my top picks for achieving this in the Chromebook classroom.

http://www.edudemic.com/5-robust-apps-chromebook-classroom/

By CIO

Many business users say they’re fed up with what they perceive as sluggish IT departments, but cringe at the thought of outsourcing to a managed services provider. However, the rise of BYOD, consumer tech and cloud computing may be clearing a path for change. The idea that the formal IT department would melt away either piece-by-piece or wholesale, replaced by managed services providers (MSPs), has been hanging over the heads of CIOs for nearly a decade. While the option — or threat, depending on how you look at it — is a legitimate and viable one, it hasn’t come to pass yet for many companies, according to a new study from CompTIA.

http://www.cio.com/article/751767/IT_Departments_Not_Losing_Ground_to_Managed_Service_Providers_Yet_

by ROBERTO BALDWIN, The Next Web

The Solid conference in San Francisco is a two-day hardware event showcasing what’s new and exciting in the world of tangible items. After years of worshiping at the feet of software, hardware development is making a come back. Some of the reasons that hardware development is on the upswing is the wider acceptance of 3D printing and the ability to quickly prototype items with hardware from Littlebits, Arduino and Raspberry Pi. A nice byproduct is the resurgence of robots at events. We found five robots that could potentially make our lives not only easier, but also safer. And of course, none of these robots would ever rise up against us.

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/05/23/4-robots-solid-thatll-make-lives-easier-definitely-wont-kill-us/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Wearable technology is a pretty cool concept to me, though I’d still probably classify most of it as less “now”, more “future“. While there is a wide array of products currently on the market, the most well known wearable gadgets (which I try to distinguish in my mind from the more generalized “wearable technology”, which most of us wear in our clothing and shoes on the regular) are probably activity trackers (like Fitbit or the Nike Fuel Band) and Google Glass – and clearly the latter is much less widespread in use. So how can you use wearable technologies in the classroom? Unless you’re a PE teacher, having activity trackers in class probably isn’t at the top of your wish list. The handy infographic linked below takes a look at wearable technology in the classroom, and what the future might bring to our current classroom reality.

http://www.edudemic.com/wearable-tech-in-the-classroom/

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

A senior chemistry lecturer sees potential for deeper discussions and a greater focus on the scientific method with the flipped classroom. A senior chemistry lecturer at Ohio State University has been flipping his classroom for the past two and a half years, but is looking for ways to make teaching and learning even better with this blended learning model. The flipped classroom allows students to learn online and then come to campus to work on projects and practice problems with teachers, according to the Clayton Christensen Institute. As a leader in the university’s Digital First initiative to bring more technology into the classroom, Matthew Stoltzfus started his foray into flipped teaching when a student in a journalism class offered to videotape his lectures. After receiving feedback from students, he cut down the video lectures until they were three to five minutes each.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/The-Promise-of-the-Flipped-Classroom-in-Higher-Education.html

by NASA

NASA and Khan Academy, a non-profit educational website has launched a series of online tutorials designed to increase student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM. The announcement of the new collaborative effort was made today at the 6th annual White House Science Fair. The interactive education lessons invite users to become actively engaged in the scientific and mathematical protocols that NASA uses everyday to measure our universe, to explore the exciting engineering challenges involved in launching and landing spacecraft on Mars, and to learn about other space exploration endeavors and destinations. Exciting and realistic simulations, challenges and games transport students deep into STEM subjects, blending NASA’s space exploration expertise with Khan Academy’s compelling approach to online self-paced learning.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113156196/nasa-khan-academy-bring-stem-opportunities-to-online-learners-052814/

By Leila Meyer, THE Journal

Brigham Young University (BYU) researchers have developed a system to project sign language interpreters onto Google Glass and other similar types of glasses. The “Signglasses” project was developed to improve the planetarium experience for deaf students. Typically, when deaf students visit the planetarium, they can’t see the sign language interpreter and the overhead projections at the same time because the lights have to be on to see the interpreter and off to see the projection. With Signglasses, deaf students can watch the planetarium projection at the same time as they watch the interpreter projected onto their glasses. The research team has field tested the system with students from Jean Massieu School for the Deaf. The researchers were surprised to discover that students preferred the interpreter to be projected in the center of one lens, so they could look straight through the signer when focusing on the planetarium show. The team had assumed students would prefer to see the projection at the top of the lens, as Google Glass normally does.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/28/brigham-young-researchers-develop-google-glass-system-to-assist-deaf-students.aspx

By Ellen Zimmerman, The Journal

3D Printer3D fabricators are an exciting new technology, but students can also get the experience of creating three-dimensional objects using two-dimensional cutters. Two-dimensional cutters are those nifty, artsy-craftsy tools that scrapbooking people use to create those really awesome, totally-time consuming, decorative photo albums we all would love but don’t have time to do ourselves! The cutter cuts out shapes with a moving blade using a motion like a printer. The blade is protected and retracts into a casing when it is not in use. It can also create fold lines that are not cut all of the way through. How do 2D cutters relate to education? They provide students with the opportunity to create 3D objects from flat, 2D media. Think of math classes where you have a “net” or “unfolded” shape such as a cube or a pyramid. These often appear on standardized tests, where students have to visualize what flat shapes will look like folded or what the folded version will look like flat.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/27/cheap-and-free-2d-and-3d-fabrication-tools.aspx

By Dan Gordon, THE Journal

JD Ferries-Rowe is the Chief Information Officer and debate coach at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. Here, he recounts how embracing BYOT has changed everything from how the school approaches PD to what classrooms look like. The joke we always tell is that when I came here 10 years ago, the T1 line was being used as a doorstop in the library and teachers had just started using e-mail. Since then our school has gone through a major renovation. Now we are a 1-to-1 BYOT school, the 30 percent of our kids who are on financial aid receive technology grants to buy their own technology and we’ve completely revamped how we do professional development. It’s a very different environment.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/28/leadership-for-the-mobile-classroom.aspx

by Vicki Davis, Edutopia

Students are what we do. They are the center of our classroom, not us. However, as a teacher, I am the most impactful single person in the classroom. Honest feedback from our students will help me level up. I’ve been doing this for more than ten years. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry — and sometimes I’m mortified. But I can honestly say that every single piece of feedback I’ve received has made me a better teacher. And great teachers are never afraid of having or inviting hard conversations. This is one of best practices that has helped me to be a better, more excited teacher every year.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-feedback-improves-your-teaching-vicki-davis

By Tom Daccord, Edudemic

Many teachers I encounter have decided that they need to crack down on — if not entirely eradicate — screen distractions in their classrooms. (A minority of teachers accept it as a form of 21st century doodling.) So, I regularly get questions from teachers asking if they can lock students into apps (yes, that’s possible) or watch student laptop screens remotely (yes, that’s possible, too). Yet, I rarely indulge in discussions of “Big Brother” tools and strategies. Instead, I ask teachers to consider the most important truism regarding screen distractions: The best classroom management tool is a good lesson. If the activity is engaging and challenging, there is an authentic audience, and prescribed time limits, students won’t mess around.

http://www.edudemic.com/distracted-by-screens/

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Schools and districts are increasingly urging teachers to use digital content for instruction, with many teachers taking innovative steps by creating their own digital content. But when it comes to copyright, ownership, and sharing, that’s where it gets tricky. “In the era of digital publishing, which includes teacher-created, -refined, and –remixed materials, an important question has arisen: who owns this digital content?” asks a policy brief from the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), titled “Clarifying ownership of teacher-created digital content empowers educators to personalize education, address individual student needs.”

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/05/28/teachers-copyright-digital-951/