Educational Technology

July 25, 2014

Decoding the hidden messages in Satya Nadella’s letter to Microsoft employees

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:36 am

by Ed Bott, ZD Net

When the CEO makes a big speech, even if it’s delivered on a Snowfall-style web page, it’s carefully vetted by the company’s brain trust (and by its lawyers). And you don’t have to play Kremlinologist to discern major themes for the next year or two. Just as it pays to read annual reports carefully, it’s also worth picking out the substance buried beneath the yadda-yadda in a presentation like this one. Here are five small but meaningful details that caught my attention.

http://www.zdnet.com/decoding-the-hidden-messages-in-satya-nadellas-letter-to-microsoft-employees-7000031472

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Alternative programs show signs of success

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by CHERYL BURKE, Carteret County News-Times

Nearly 200 county students were served through public school alternative learning programs last year, and results are paying off, according to County Schools Assistant Superintendent Mat Bottoms. “Results are very positive,” said Mr. Bottoms during the County Board of Education meeting Tuesday in the school system’s central services office on Safrit Drive. Mr. Bottoms said high schools focus mainly on students with high incidents of attendance issues and students who lack enough credits to graduate with their peer group. The high schools use a combination of online learning, computer-based learning and small group settings to assist students.

http://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/article_f50fa266-090d-11e4-86a8-001a4bcf887a.html

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July 24, 2014

5 anti-bully apps you should know about

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:39 am

By Gaby Arancibia, eSchool News

With proper use, these five apps can help educators and parents combat cyberbullying in schools. No matter what generation you’re from, it’s evident that bullying has consistently played a role in the educational system. In movies, it’s usually the stereotypical intimidating character going for children’s lunch money, or in some cases, it’s the popular kids bullying less-popular students. But for today’s generation, bullies have become more of an unstoppable obstacle for students. While mobile phones have improved communication, they also have heightened the lengths of what being bullied can entail. With social media and smartphones, everything is open. Regardless of what teenagers believe, getting rid of a digital footprint is hard. Often, apps are used for the wrong purpose.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/07/11/bully-apps-education-329/

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What everybody should know about Google’s new initiative

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Molly Schulson, eCampus News

After analyzing its own gender problem, Google launches code initiative to expose young girls to coding. Usually when someone visualizes coding, they think of a male doing it — a la the movie “Social Network.” Rarely does a woman’s face pop up in one’s imagination when thinking of a computer scientist. When Google recently looked at their company’s composition and realized that women only accounted for 17 percent of its tech employees, they wondered why. After much research, Google then decided to create an initiative called “Made with Code” to attempt to balance the gender scale.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/google-code-girls-268/

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3 cheap ways to amp up campus A/V

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Denny Carter, eCampus News

Budgets for A/V equipment aren’t falling, campus officials say, but they’re not rising either. It’s that budgetary stagnation that leaves many in higher education at a loss for how to approach A/V upgrades that modernize school facilities and make the college or university more appealing to prospective students. Up-to-date — or even cutting edge — A/V systems can be a powerful recruitment tool as prospective students tour campuses before making their final decisions. In other words, good audio and video can be an effective money maker for colleges and universities of every size.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/av-campus-cheap-298/

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July 23, 2014

Managing Anytime, Anywhere Access to Windows and Mac Apps at USC Engineering

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

Students in the University of Southern California’s School of Engineering no longer need to crowd into busy computer labs to access the specialized software they need. The school has implemented remote access to both Windows and Mac software, so students can do their work from anywhere using their own laptops. And they can access both platforms with a single user account, so the school’s IT team doesn’t have to manage separate Windows and Mac user profiles for thousands of engineering students.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/10/managing-anytime-anywhere-access-to-windows-and-mac-apps-at-usc-engineering.aspx

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2 Tactics for 1-to-1- and BYOD-Ready WiFi

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Miami-Dade County Public Schools — the fourth-largest district in the country — is working through its ABCDs as it pursues a voluminous infusion of technology into learning. That’s how Superintendent Alberto Carvalho described the digital convergence taking place in the district he oversees. That’s also roughly the order in which each phase of the plan is unfolding. As CIO Debbie Karcher explained, the “A” stands for applications and content that can be accessed at any time on any machine. “B” is for broadband that would deliver a good access experience at every school. “C” — for connectivity — called for a massive implementation of wireless in all of the schools. “Every school, every square foot of our district has wireless in every room,” she said.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/07/10/2-tactics-for-1-to-1-and-byod-ready-wifi.aspx

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Report: Teacher Evaluations Meaningless Without Supporting PD

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Leila Meyer, THE Journal

Many states have been implementing new teacher evaluation systems in an effort to improve teacher effectiveness, but those evaluations have little meaning unless they are accompanied by individualized professional development and support, according to a new report from the School Improvement Network, a provider of professional learning and training resources for educators. The report, “Beyond Teacher Evaluation: Prioritizing Teacher Instructional Effectiveness with Meaningful Professional Development,” examines state policies on teacher professional development related to evaluations, with the goal of helping state and district leaders implement teacher evaluation and support policies that have a meaningful effect on teacher effectiveness. “For evaluations and observations to have a meaningful impact on educators and the students they teach, educators must have the personalized resources and support they need to improve practice and spur professional growth,” said Chet D. Linton, CEO and president of School Improvement Network, in a prepared statement.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/07/10/report-teacher-evaluations-meaningless-without-supporting-pd.aspx

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July 22, 2014

School-Wide Twitter Chats

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

by Stephen Baker, Edutopia

Kidsedchatnz is a weekly Twitter chat between New Zealand classes and students, every Thursday at 2:00-3:00PM. It is organised by seven New Zealand teachers via Twitter, each taking a turn to run the chats. Each week, a topic is chosen, and 5-10 discussion questions are generated on that topic. All topics and questions are posted on the Kidsedchatnz blog prior to the chat so that students can prepare beforehand. The teacher in charge is responsible for picking the topics, generating the questions and moderating the chats on the day. Moderating involves posting the questions and encouraging conversation between the students.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/school-wide-twitter-chats-stephen-baker

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Wi-Fi technology paves road for spread of e-learning

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:36 am

BY SAMUEL MUNGADZE, Business Day

With Wi-Fi becoming more high-speed and reliable in South Africa, it is paving a new road for e-learning . As the traditional model of education evolves , educational institutions are facing the increasing challenge of providing Wi-Fi services to their students and staff, industry experts say. The institutions are now looking beyond 3G and fixed-line services to the new generation of Wi-Fi technology to support more users and diverse applications.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/education/2014/07/10/wi-fi-technology-paves-road-for-spread-of-e-learning

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The Beginner’s Guide To Competitive Gaming In Schools

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:31 am

By Jason Cross, Edudemic

If you are thinking I am joking, the United States recently recognized League of Legends as an official sport so they could issue visas to players, just as they do for sports like the NBA. And yes, there are even fantasy leagues where you can put together teams of your favorite League of Legends competitors and earn points for your virtual team online. And with millions in prize money and sponsorships for players, more and more people are pursuing competitive gaming careers. You no longer need to be a programmer to get a job in games. You can now select from hundreds of related careers like announcer, PR representative or business development director.

http://www.edudemic.com/competitive-gaming-school-sports-programs/

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July 21, 2014

What Do Teachers Think About EdTech?

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:39 am

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

We know there are a lot of teachers out there using technology in their classrooms. We also know there are a lot of teachers who aren’t – whether they can’t due to financial constraints or just flat out don’t want to (or some combination thereof). The handy infographic linked below draws on information from the Pew Internet and American Life survey and addresses teacher’s attitudes on technology in the classroom.

http://www.edudemic.com/tech-attitudes-infographic/

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Unbundling And Re-bundling In Higher Education

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Michael Horn, Forbes

With the explosion of online learning, a disruptive innovation, there has been significant attention paid to the likely unbundling of higher education (see Michael Staton’s AEI piece and this University Ventures Fund piece, for example). We’ve written about unbundling ourselves. In every industry, the early successful products and services often have an interdependent architecture—meaning that they tend to be proprietary and bundled. The reason for this is that when a technology is immature, in order to make the products reliable or powerful enough so that they will gain traction, an entity has to wrap its hands around the whole system architecture so that it can wring out every ounce of performance.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2014/07/10/unbundling-and-re-bundling-in-higher-education/

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3 Ways to Prepare Teachers for a Digital Transition

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:29 am

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

Roughly half of teachers lack professional development for the technology that’s coming into their schools, according to the latest Speak Up survey data from Project Tomorrow. And that’s unacceptable, said Joseph South, deputy director of the Office of Education Technology at the U.S. Education Department. In a Congressional briefing on Monday, June 2, South said we can’t move forward with a digital transition if our teachers aren’t prepared. “We need our teachers and our leaders to have the right sort of support so that they can be effective,” South said. In a North Carolina focus group, about 20 science and math teachers debated how to prepare teachers best for the digital transition so that schools can move forward. That’s an age old question, but CEO Julie Evans of Project Tomorrow has at least three ideas to prepare teachers.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/3-Ways-to-Prepare-Teachers-for-a-Digital-Transition.html

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July 20, 2014

Python bumps off Java as top learning language

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

by Joab Jackson, PC World

Python has surpassed Java as the top language used to introduce U.S. students to programming and computer science, according to a recent survey posted by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Eight of the top 10 computer science departments now use Python to teach coding, as well as 27 of the top 39 schools, indicating that it is the most popular language for teaching introductory computer science courses, according to Philip Guo, a computer science researcher who compiled the survey for ACM. The three largest, most popular online class providers—Coursera, edX and Udacity—also offer introductory programming courses in Python, Guo found.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2451880/python-bumps-off-java-as-top-learning-language.html

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Students More Motivated in Online Learning Environments

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Mark Belles, Blackboard Blog

At ISTE this year, we released a report along with Project Tomorrow that reflected the views of over 400,000 K-12 students, educators, administrators and parents on digital learning. And we found some very interesting results:

Students in digital learning environments are more interested in what they are learning in school, more motivated to do well, and feel a stronger connection to their school than students in traditional, face-to-face classes.

Nearly 50% of virtual high school students say they are interested in what they were learning in school, while only 32% of traditional high school students said the same.

More than one-third of virtual school students said they are motivated because they like school. While only a quarter of traditional school students say the same.

While only 24% of traditional high school students say their school cares about them as a person, nearly 40% of students who have had some type of school-based digital learning experience believe that their school cares about them.

http://blog.blackboard.com/students-more-motivated-in-online-learning-environments/

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Report: 10 Security Functions Recommended to Info Security Officers

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:29 am

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Information security in the education segment is becoming more demanding, and as a result the tools and tactics necessary for securing schools is churning. A recent presentation at Gartner’s Security & Risk Management Summit laid out 10 “top” technologies and approaches security professionals should consider adding to their security portfolios.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/08/report-10-security-functions-coming-to-the-forefront.aspx

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July 19, 2014

Research: Multi-Tasking in Class Reduces Test Scores

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Susan Ravizza, an associate professor of psychology and director of the Cognitive Control Neurolab at Michigan State studied non-academic Internet use in an introductory psychology class with 500 students. Their working theory was that heavy Internet users with lower intellectual abilities (defined by ACT scores) would do worse on exams. They found that to be true; these students did do worse. But the same was true for those with higher ACT scores. Both groups had lower test scores. The results have impact beyond the idea of imposing policies on classroom device usage (an idea Ravizza is opposed to). Eventually, the researchers may come up with strategies for helping people ignore screen-oriented distractions by educating them on the impact, comparable to on-going efforts to remind people not to text while driving.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/08/research-the-proof-is-in-multi-tasking-in-class-reduces-test-scores.aspx

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Report: Smartphone Surge Continues as PC Decline Slows

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:34 am

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

Worldwide device shipments, including mobile phones, PCs, tablets and unltramobiles, are on pace to increase 4.2 percent this year over last to reach 2.4 billion units, according to the latest forecast from market research firm Gartner. That growth will be enabled, in part, “by a relative revival of the global PC market,” according to Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. PC shipments, which include desktop, notebook and premium ultramobile devices, declined 9.5 percent in 2013, but are on pace to contract by only 2.9 percent this year, according to the company. Traditional PCs, which include desktops and notebooks, will continue to drop more quickly, declining 6.7 percent this year and 5.3 percent in 2015, according to the company.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/07/report-smartphones-continue-to-surge-as-pc-decline-slows.aspx

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5 Epiphanies on Learning in a 1:1 iPad Classroom

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Alyssa Tormala, Edutopia

I joined a cross-curricular group of my colleagues who were focusing on action research in their classrooms. Questions permeate good action research — mine was: “What does learning look like in a fully-committed 1:1 iPad high school classroom?” I gathered data from my three freshman English classes throughout the year while we engaged in a rich, ongoing cycle of experimentation, feedback, and discussion. As an English teacher, I use the word “epiphany” all the time. But this year I came to understand that term on a more personal level — not just once, but again and again. The following are a few of the most meaningful epiphanies that I experienced.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/epiphanies-learning-ipad-classroom-alyssa-tormala

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July 18, 2014

Coding for Kindergarteners

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:39 am

by Sam Patterson, Edutopia

There are many ways to get pre-reading students to engage in meaningful coding challenges that develop computational thinking. My short list includes Kodable, LEGO MINDSTORMS Fix the Factory, and Bee Bots. With Tynker and the planned release of Scratch Jr, it seems like there are new platforms to support young coding all the time. As a critical and reflective teacher, I know that any of these tools is only as good as the lesson it supports. As a push-in tech teacher, I work closely with the classroom teachers to create lessons that dovetail with and support their lessons. Real-world programming with students or with robots can create great opportunities for content integration. My first graders program a robot to fly to the planets in order (see the video below). I use the content as the surface on which the robot operates. This format also creates social learning opportunities.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/coding-for-kindergarteners-sam-patterson

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