Educational Technology

by eSchool News

New analytics tools from uClass aim to give users a better picture of what instructional materials their teachers are using—and whether these resources are effective.  Learning analytics have become a key feature within many school software programs. These tools can help educators understand trends and patterns in student learning, helping them target their instruction more effectively to improve achievement. Most of these tools focus on analyzing student performance—but what if educators had tools that could measure the effectiveness of the instructional resources they’re using as well? That’s the idea behind new analytics tools developed by an ed-tech company called uClass.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/25/analytics-content-efficacy-283/

by eSchool News

An overwhelming majority of comments from education stakeholders pushed for stronger net neutrality rules. Letting broadband companies charge more for content providers to stream their services at faster speeds threatens ed-tech innovation, thousands of school stakeholders argue. The Federal Communications Commission’s latest “net neutrality” proposal has stirred controversy because it would allow companies like Google, Netflix, and Skype to pay extra to ensure faster transmission of their content online. But this proposal threatens the existence of smaller companies that can’t afford to pay these higher rates, many critics say—including ed-tech startups that don’t have the resources of larger, more established competitors.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/26/fcc-net-neutrality-534/

by the Democrat

With more school choices than ever and the evolution of technology, students are redefining their own pathway to a successful K-12 education. More families are building complete, harmonious educational experiences for their children by choosing schools that meet their needs at a point in time – whether the school is traditional brick and mortar, private or charter. Over the past decade, families have added fully online and blended schools to their list of options – making online learning one of the fastest growing forms of education in the U.S. today.

http://www.thedemocrat.com/71932/2368/onlinefeature/474656/education-pathways-k12-students-find-success-in-virtual-school

by Edutopia

Edutopia is one of the many organizations, companies, and communities participating in the third annual Connected Educator Month (CEM), a celebration of online communities of practice originally developed by the U.S. Department of Education with partners. As with previous years, October 2014 is sure to include an array of rich opportunities for informal professional development, both for educators with established professional learning networks (PLNs) and for those just getting started. Explore the resources below as a guide to connecting, sharing, and collaborating with your network during October and all year long.

http://www.edutopia.org/connected-educator-month-resources

by Monique Brand, Cove Herald

I noticed over the last few weeks one particular patron stuck out like a sore thumb whenever we come to the Cove library. This patron always had an overstuffed bookbag, tons of books on the table, and every once in a while, would step outside to take a few sips of coffee. His name was Owen, a Marine veteran who by day was on the computer taking online classes at the library, only to travel to Temple to his job where he worked in a warehouse at night. It sparked my curiosity incredibly. Per Kevin Marsh, the library’s director, the Cove library has aided in patrons who want to continue their education, even those who do not have a personal laptop or computer at home. “Not many people think we have the resources to cater to those patrons but we do,” said Marsh. From special library time limits for students to books that are used inside accredited institutions, patrons who want to continue their education, even if feel they don’t have the resources, can no longer make an excuse.

http://kdhnews.com/copperas_cove_herald/community/library-offers-extra-help-for-students-taking-online-courses/article_13559cf8-445a-11e4-912f-0017a43b2370.html

by Monica Von Dobeneck, PennLive

High school Principal Benjamin Ruby brought the issue to the school board Thursday night. He said some students are taking extra courses because they want to graduate early or just because they want the extra challenge. But the online courses cost $400, and some parents might be unwilling to spend that money. If the extra courses are calculated into GPA, that could boost a student’s class rank and help get college scholarships. But that might not be fair to those students who can’t afford the extra classes, Ruby said. Sometimes the GPAs of top students are separated by thousandths of a point, but the best scholarships only go to the top one or two in a class. School board members were divided between wanting to encourage students who have extra drive and being fair to those who can’t afford it.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/09/palmyra_school_district_tackli.html

by Jenny_Collins, Edudemic

Following the trend of mass mobile device adoption, educators increasingly contemplate possibilities of using iPads in classroom. State-of-the-art mobile technology is getting more and more popular in different settings and schools are no exception. Adoption of mobile devices is transforming traditional classrooms into a place that delivers real-world knowledge using efficient tech resources.

http://www.edudemic.com/learning-ipad/

by Keyana Stevens, Edutopia

The changing racial and cultural landscape of America is certainly a much-discussed topic — some researchers studying U.S. Census data and demographics even say that America could be a “minority majority” country as early as 2050. While the barriers between countries continue to come down, and globalization continues, how can teachers address the needs of students from a variety of cultural backgrounds and upbringings? This collection of videos introduces culturally responsive teaching (CRT), and includes some techniques that you can use to help students from diverse backgrounds succeed together.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-minute-film-festival-culturally-responsive-teaching

By KAY LU, Harvard Crimson

Andrew Y. Ng, co-founder of Coursera, talks in a crowded lecture hall on Thursday at Maxwell Dworkin about deep learning in computer programs, inspired by human neural networks. Deep learning, a subfield of computer science, is currently being developed by computer scientists to handle massive amounts of information and data, which can be applied to speech and image recognition. Ng, who is also the chief scientist at the Chinese search engine Baidu and an associate professor of computer science at Stanford University, said that the main goal of his presentation was to “share with [the audience] some strategic views about deep learning and give [them] some general ideas about whether to work on deep learning in the future.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/9/26/ng-deep-learning-talk/