Educational Technology

November 30, 2014

Programs allow students to take college classes

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

by Phillip Bock, HTR News

Lincoln High School senior Tyler Kazda is on track to have 30 college credits when he graduates next spring — well on his way toward a technical diploma. Mary Mikeal, a senior at Two Rivers High School in a similar situation, is set to graduate with 30 Lakeshore Technical College credits toward a nursing associates degree program. The two students took full advantage of dual credit partnerships between local high schools and colleges, mainly the youth options and youth apprenticeship programs. Silver Lake College, LTC, and University of Wisconsin – Manitowoc participate in the programs. “The program allows students to take college credit while they are still high school students,” George Henze, assistant campus dean for student affairs at UW-Manitowoc, said. “The program is growing and I think a lot of students are looking to get ahead on their college education if it seems right for them.”

http://www.htrnews.com/story/news/education/2014/11/23/youth-options/19449253/

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‘Blended-learning’ programs grow in D.C., with students relying more on computers

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

By Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post

When Ketcham Elementary School was selected to roll out a schoolwide computer-based learning initiative, Principal Maisha Riddlesprigger was skeptical about “putting kids in front of computers.” Less than two years later, the effort has brought her school a kind of celebrity status. Superintendents and state lawmakers from across the country have begun stopping by this well-wired school in a poor pocket of Southeast Washington — where nearly a third of the students are homeless — to see how they are learning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/blended-learning-programs-grow-in-dc-with-students-relying-more-on-computers/2014/11/23/e7b84ce2-7197-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html

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Personalized learning encourages creativity

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

by Adithya Venkatesan, the Tartan

With so many new technologies available today, from robots to responsive spaces, we have a great opportunity to make better systems for personalized learning, intelligent creativity support, and open health innovation. “Some knowledge is sticky and hard to acquire and often you can understand that knowledge in one of two ways: A self-discovery, and a toolkit that brings about that discovery,” said Winslow Burleson, an associate professor at New York University’s College of Nursing, during a Human-Computer Interaction seminar lecture last Wednesday titled “Motivational Environments: Strategies for Personalized Learning, Intelligent Creativity Support, and Open Health Innovation.”

http://thetartan.org/2014/11/24/scitech/hci

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November 29, 2014

What it takes for cloud tech to become FERPA-compliant

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

by eCampus News

Cloud solution industry giant discusses its new software’s features needed to meet applicable FERPA requirements.  In the recent wake of Apple’s Cloud security breach, as well as multiple security hacks into campuses across the country, cloud solutions providers are saying that the next step in cybersecurity means becoming independently-verified FERPA compliant.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/business-news/ferpa-cloud-turningpoint-279/

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6 Trends Improving K-12 Learning Experiences

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

by Matthew Lynch, Huffington Post

It is no longer enough for American students to just get by in comparison to each other in STEM subjects; global competition is proving that students in the U.S. need more focus in these subjects to lead the worldwide marketplace as adults. As you can see, K-12 classrooms are not at all static, but will continue to incorporate cutting-edge technology and socially relevant practices into the curriculum. Understanding and supporting this technology is vital to advancing K-12 students to the next level of their educational success.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/6-trends-improving-k-12-l_b_6207228.html

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Extension courses meet family needs

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

by JULIE BIRKEDAL, Globe Gazette

A recent class presented by Nancy Clark, human sciences nutrition and health program specialist, showing how the freezer can be a best friend during the holiday season was recorded. Iowa State Extension offers interactive online classes throughout the year on everything from holiday meal preparation to home finances, healthy eating, as well as for childcare providers. “We’re trying to tear down a lot of barriers,” said Brenda Schmitt, human sciences specialist, family finance. “Some people can’t make it to the office and some people don’t want to.” Being able to take an interactive course online provides the convenience of being at home, Schmitt said. All that is needed is a computer or tablet and an Internet connection. Going to a public library or local extension office to participate is another option.

http://globegazette.com/features/extension-courses-meet-family-needs/article_dc58a163-7ea6-50fb-a360-728eea4fd61e.html

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November 28, 2014

Wearables In the Enterprise – Beyond Fitness Bands

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:38 am

by Amisha Gandhi, SAP

As mobile apps increasingly become a fixture in the enterprise and at home, they must be simpler, smarter, more contextual, and more powerful. For example, look at Nest, recently acquired by Google – you can easily adjust temp, lights and even monitor your smoke alarms from a mobile device. Context-aware mobility is the information intersection where the physical and digital worlds meet, and mobility lies at the heart of cloud and big data context awareness. Context also filters out the noise so you can simply get things done!

http://www.news-sap.com/wearables-enterprise-beyond-fitness-bands/

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Teen excels in online education

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

BY MELANIE C. JOHNSON, Corona Press Enterprise

Most students walk to school or get a ride to campus from parents, friends or bus drivers. Katriel Cho comes downstairs, clicks on her computer, and by 7:30 a.m. is transported to a campus of the virtual variety. The 15-year-old Corona resident is a sophomore at California Connections Academy at Capistrano. The academy is an online, tuition-free, public school serving kindergarten through 12th-grade students in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles counties.  When asked for one word to describe it, Cho said she picked “freedom.” While she doesn’t sit next to classmates, they have virtual rooms where she can see the other students’ names and they can chat.  “It’s really interactive that way,” she said.

http://www.pe.com/articles/cho-754741-school-online.html

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Schools avoid snow days through e-learning

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:28 am

by Kristine Guerra, Star Press

At least one Central Indiana school district wants to make sure that does not happen again this year. At Northwestern Consolidated School District of Shelby County, there will no longer be snow days. Students will instead use their school-issued iPads and Chrome books to do their homework, take lessons and talk to their teachers from home on days that schools are closed because of the weather. “The main thing that we noticed last year is that those days we had to miss due to the weather were really important to us,” said Bobby Thompson, principal at Triton Central Middle School, the first school in the district to try the program. “Those were the crucial time to prepare students for standardized assessments.” This year, teachers are asked to create virtual lesson plans or “e-learning bundles” designed to address critical ISTEP standards and for students to do independently at home, said Shane Robbins, superintendent for the school district. Students use Google chat and Google hangout to talk to their teachers online.

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2014/11/21/schools-avoid-snow-days-learning/19384375/

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November 27, 2014

10 steps to promoting diversity in gaming

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:43 am

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

The key to successfully using games for education is in promoting a diverse “ecosystem” of gameplay complete with codes of conduct. In part one of this story, “#Gamergate—and what it means for gaming in education,” which discussed the cultural context of Gamergate and how it applies to education, MIT’s Education Arcade emphasized that “the key to fashioning the gaming world as a safe place for women and others is not necessarily censorship or making all games appeal to all potential players, but rather to create an ecosystem of games designed to appeal to players of different play styles, values, and backgrounds,” and nowhere is this ecosystem more important than education. “Games are one of the best learning mediums in education because it forces the learner to interact with information,” explained Sherry Jones—a Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Game Studies instructor at the University of Colorado, Denver.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/11/21/diversity-education-gaming-398/

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EdX Hosts First Open edX Conference

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

By MEG P. BERNHARD and MICHAEL V. ROTHBERG, Harvard Crimson

EdX held its inaugural Open edX conference to bring together nearly 200 of the platform’s collaborators, who hail from as nearby as Cambridge to as far away as Japan. The conference comes a year and a half after edX launched the open-source initiative, which allows third-party groups to install, use, and develop the edX platform for their own educational purposes. “We open-sourced our platform in June of 2013 and since then we’ve seen a lot of adoption,” said Sarina Canelake, a software engineer for the company. “What’s cool about this conference is that we’ve seen a lot of people, from France and from Japan, who we’ve never had a chance to meet.” According to Canelake, more than 400 courses are offered through Open edX worldwide. Contributors to the platform include Google, the University of Queensland, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/11/20/EdX-hosts-open-conference/

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EdX Launching MOOCs with Free Certificates for Teacher Training and AP Prep

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

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

The teacher certificates will be issued for one year to all U.S. teachers who pass one of the teacher training courses. That will be extended for an additional four years for Title I teachers and others in high-need districts. Classes will train teachers on the use of technology in the classroom, teaching in a blended environment, and learning theory and leadership. Those classes will be available from Boston University, Davidson College, Teachers College at Columbia University and six other universities. The organization is also pursuing students in high-need and rural school districts around the country to take courses to help them prepare for advanced placement exams. Over the next five years students will be able to earn free, verified certificates in 40 different courses. AP prep MOOCs will be made available by the Cooper Union, Tennessee Board of Regents, Rice University and five other institutions.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/20/edx-launching-moocs-with-free-certificates-for-teacher-training-and-ap-prep.aspx

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November 26, 2014

Don’t Let Kids’ Brains Go on Vacation During the Holiday Season

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

by WSSB

You may have heard of “summer slide” – when those summer months cause kids to lose all that glorious information and knowledge they acquired during the school year. But even shorter breaks can cause education rifts for students, too. Whether your children pair up with just one friend or an entire crowd, consider making studying a social event. Add some festivity to the affair by serving snacks and desserts. Around the holidays, you might even include a themed gift exchange for added appeal. If you are in between semesters, there may not be any official studying to do, but kids can keep their minds moving with supplemental learning. For example, if your child studied “As I Lay Dying” in school, make a movie night of it. Pop some popcorn and invite his or her friends over to watch the film version of the novel.

http://www.mysuncoast.com/online_features/education/don-t-let-kids-brains-go-on-vacation-during-the/article_87ad9d50-abc2-5ab0-b907-3ff017ef1b00.html

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West Michigan school leaders talk online lessons when classes are canceled

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:32 am

by Monica Scott, MLive

“It was just a very logical next step for us,” Cathedral President Michael Mullin, told USA Today about the Google software allowing teachers to upload taped lesson plans for students to view, but also to conduct real-time discussions with students. Public schools are embracing the idea, with more than 2,000 New Jersey students at Pascack Valley Regional High School logging on for their lessons during a February snowstorm. While some West Michigan school districts say they lack the technological capacity to implement a virtual program like Cathedral now, others are already doing it on a limited basis or are in the planning stages.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/11/ending_snow_days_west_michigan.html

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Winnipeg school uses technology to record classes, upload lessons online to help students learn

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

by Rahim Ladhani, CTV Winnipeg

John Taylor Collegiate is using technology to help students get the most out of every lesson. The device is called “The Juno.” Math teacher Keith Goetz wears it around his neck during class and it records everything he says. It also syncs with his lesson on the classroom smartboard. After each class, Goetz uploads the lesson online and students can review what they just learned as many times they like. It’s a virtual classroom. Goetz was the first teacher to use the device at the school but the results have been so positive, the entire math department and some French and chemistry classes have also followed suit. Each device costs about $1,200.

http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg-school-uses-technology-to-record-classes-upload-lessons-online-to-help-students-learn-1.2109959

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November 25, 2014

The 23 Best Game-Based Education Resources for 2014

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

By Edudemic

Edudemic has covered game-based learning and gamification in the classroom on numerous occasions in the past. When learning becomes a game, it’s an enjoyable, effective experience for students and teachers alike. We’ve curated 23 of the best game-based education resources for 2014. If your class hasn’t gotten its game on yet, then now is the time.

http://www.edudemic.com/23-best-game-based-resources-2014/

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8 Ways to Help Introverts Brainstorm for Creative Projects

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

By Leah Levy, Edudemic

Here’s a little scenario that will be familiar to most teachers. There you are leading a brainstorm for a creative project, when you notice several students haven’t contributed a single word. Despite your best attempts to moderate and encourage all voices, you just can’t seem to catch the eyes of the quiet ones. But you know they’ve got great ideas; in fact, their written work is often the best in the class. And yet, you know they’ll be mortified if you call them by name — red cheeks and stammering is almost a guarantee. How can you help your introverted students brainstorm great ideas without this level of stress?

http://www.edudemic.com/8-ways-introverts-brainstorm/

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How to Turn a Classroom Research Project into an Infographic

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

By Ann Elliott, Edudemic

Conveying information in a striking, concise way has never been more important, and infographics are the perfect pedagogical tool with which to do so. Linked below, you’ll find my experience with designing an infographic-friendly classroom research project, explained in a step-by-step process you can implement in your own classroom.

http://www.edudemic.com/how-classroom-project-infographic/

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November 24, 2014

Blended Learning: It’s Not the Tech, It’s How the Tech is Used

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

by Preston Smith, Huffington Post

Since the 1970s we’ve known of Moore’s Law, which states the processing power of computers will double every two years. Forty years later, computers are presumably a million times more powerful. The education world is finally beginning to harness this power, taking us far beyond the origins of computer labs where students clicked away at the Oregon Trail and practiced word processing. Finally, we’re starting to reach a point where adaptive online programs engage students with rigorous academic content at their exact level while providing teachers with detailed data, allowing us to better group students and meet their unique needs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/preston-smith-/blended-learning-its-not-_b_6165398.html

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Online gym class offered for Rock Bridge and Hickman High School students

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

BY MEGAN BEDFORD, Columbia Missourian

High school students in Columbia can now take gym class from their computers. Columbia Public Schools is allowing high schoolers to take physical education online through a program called Online PE, said Christi Hopper, one of the district’s physical education and health coordinators. With an online physical education class, students check out fitness kits that include a stability ball, a heart rate monitor, a resistance band, jump ropes and dumbbells. Based on a video they watch, students follow an exercise regimen while using the heart rate monitor. They videotape themselves doing stretches, lifts with weights and other aerobic workouts and then post the videos online for their teachers to view and grade.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/181747/online-gym-class-offered-for-rock-bridge-and-hickman-high-school-students/

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How to get more girls to code: Use Frozen’s Elsa

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

by Laura Mandaro, USA Today

If you want to lure young girls into computer coding, go straight to the heart — which these days is likely to inhabit the magical snowy landscape of Frozen. Code.org announced Wednesday that it had teamed up with Disney Interactive on a tutorial that lets young programmers help Frozen sisters Anna and Elsa make ice fractals and skating patterns using basic coding skills.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/11/19/disney-codeorg-frozen-girls-computer-programming/19260097/

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