Educational Technology

by Rebecca Alber, Edutopia

Do you have more students this year? Education budget cuts across the country are one cause of class-size increase in public schools. If you’ve found yourself with larger class sizes, or you’re a new teacher still grasping the often overwhelming experience of one of you and many of them, here are some helpful tips:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/managing-large-class-size-rebecca-alber

By Amanda Ronan, Edudemic

Thanks to the folks over at Khan Academy, alternative modes of delivering classroom instruction are all the rage. We’ve got face to face models, labs, rotations, online-only, self-blend, and of course, flipped. While there are numerous ways to implement a flipped classroom, the basic components include some form of prerecorded lectures that are then followed by in-class work. Flipped classrooms are heralded for many reasons. For one thing, students can learn at their own pace when they’re watching lectures at home. Viewing recorded lessons allows students to rewind and watch content again, fast forward through previously learned material, and pause and reflect on new material. During traditional face-to-face class lectures, students spend so much time trying to keep up while taking notes they often miss crucial information.

http://www.edudemic.com/10-resources-for-flipped-classroom/

by David Trinko, Civitas Media

“We have a variety of ages in classes,” said Lynn Lease, the director of the Center for Educational Excellence and a senior instructional designer at UNOH. “We have people in their 40s and 50s, and some straight out of high school. We have digital natives and digital novices mixed in together.” Lease said one of her favorite online tools is MoveNote, which allows you to record a video or audio to accompany a more traditional slide of a presentation, as well as marking it up. Another is VoiceThread, which encourages more engagement in classes. “It’s like a discussion forum on steroids,” Lease said. It’s audio, video, information, crowd participation.”

http://www.limaohio.com/news/news-news_education/151996209/Tech-helps-UNOH-teach-in-different-ways

by Henrietta Cook, Sydney Morning Herald

In a Victorian first, students at Nossal High School had been given what to many must have seemed the ultimate option – to stay home. The school has begun letting students choose to participate in a virtual classroom from the comfort of their bedroom. Last year, the selective state school held two “digital delivery days” for year 9 to 12 students. The initial trial was successful and will be expanded to three days this year. The school’s e-learning director, Stuart Fankhauser, said it was designed to prepare students for university, where digital learning was entrenched. “I went to a conference a few years ago and the universities were indicating that it was taking quite a while for students to adapt to the way universities have really embraced the digital world. We wanted to prepare our students a little more effectively for that environment,” he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/virtual-classroom-lets-students-stay-at-home-20150228-13qiuw.html

By Julie Davis, THE Journal

I wrote the following list for parents at my school to let them know what their kids need to know to be ready for upper school. This list is in no particular order and is definitely based on my humble opinion.  (below is a sample… to get the full list see the URL)

4) Device basics. All students should be able to do the following tasks on their device of choice:

Turn power on and off;

adjust volume up/down and mute;

select an appropriate WiFi network;

log in to a school e-mail account;

plug in headphones;

open Web browser to access the Internet;

take a picture;

take a video;

switch between front- and rear-facing cameras;

bookmark a website and add a shortcut to the home screen;

take a screenshot; and

access photos and videos.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/02/23/10-things-elementary-students-should-know-about-tech-by-fifth-grade.aspx

by Jeremy Sandow, Huffington Post

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon an online course my girlfriend bought on how to optimize your YouTube videos. I wasn’t particularly interested in the topic, but I was intrigued when I found out that the producer of this course was a normal guy that happened to be making well in to the six figures annually selling it on a platform called Udemy. I saw the potential to grow my own reach; not only would I be able to tap into Udemy’s customer base of over 5 million students, but it was an opportunity to get myself in front of an audience that I may not have been able to reach otherwise. Not to mention, it would enable me to add an income stream to my business that was semi-passive; I wouldn’t have to sacrifice too much of my time to add a decent amount of income. Fast forward to now, and in just under two months, I’ve released three marketing related courses on Udemy, added a couple thousand dollars to my monthly income, and teach over 4,000 students; all with very little time commitment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-sandow/give-yourself-a-raise-the_b_6765454.html

By Nicole Comforto, Edudemic

We often write about how technology can help teachers, but sometimes it’s useful to take a step back and consider how teachers influence technology. As with other subjects, the knowledge and enthusiasm that teachers show for technology in the classroom will have long-term effects on students, and the nation as a whole. A tech-savvy nation starts with tech-savvy teachers.

http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-will-change-the-future-of-tech/

by UC Berkeley

On March 4th the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Berkeley’s MOOCLab and EdX and will launch the first ever Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) focused on using solution-based journalism to drive social change. The seven-week course, Journalism for Social Change (J4SC), will train students how to create solution-based journalism on issues affecting vulnerable children and youth. Through video-lectures, interactive games and writing exercises, they will report and produce journalism that elevates public discourse and policy. Exemplary stories will be published in The Chronicle of Social Change, an online news website dedicated to solution-based journalism on issues affecting children and youth. Several past students have proceeded to write longer features as well, including an 8,000-word article on child exploitation that ran in the East Bay Express.

https://gspp.berkeley.edu/news/news-center/press-release-journalism-for-social-change

by Jessica Gourdon, Translated by Nina Fink; EducPros.fr

According to Michelle Weise, Senior Research Fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute, soon very few American students will receive a traditional four-year, on-campus college education. The majority of them will put together their own mix of trainings, internships, MOOCs and other alternative coursework. We met with Weise to discuss the digital revolution in education in preparation for EducPros’ East Coast Learning Expedition this April.

http://www.letudiant.fr/educpros/actualite/to-each-his-own-education.html

By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

Challenge-based learning lets students locate a problem and then unleash their creativity in search of a solution. By nature, these projects are collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and hands-on. And what better tool to use to help encourage community fitness or reduce environmental impact than the possibility-rich mobile device? The website APPitic.com, an app resource site with more than 6,000 apps in more than 300 subcategories, breaks down challenge-based learning projects into four steps: Finding & launching a challenge, moving from challenge to solution, implementing a solution, and sharing findings. Here, we’ve gathered a handful of apps for each of those stages, broken down further into substeps. You find the full range of suggested apps online.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/02/20/challenge-based-apps-828/

By JAMIE FORSYTHE, Belleville News-Democrat

Whether it’s learning a new language or how to do computer programming, students at Gibault Catholic High School had the opportunity this semester to take an online elective class through the Illinois Virtual School. And eight students at Gibault jumped at the chance, even though it meant more work, better time management and collaboration with teachers and classmates across the state. Sophomore Matthew Lock is taking Mandarin Chinese. “It like it,” he said. “It’s actually pretty hard, but I’m enjoying it.”

http://www.wral.com/exchange-students-adding-online-classes-to-schedules/14472970/

by Tomorrow’s Professor, Stanford

The posting below provides a very useful rubric for guiding team-based, inquiry-based projects. It is from Chapter 4, Direct Instruction, in the book, Teaching in Blended Learning Environments: Creating and Sustaining Communities of Inquiry. Team-based learning (TBL) involves sequencing individual tasks, group work, and immediate feedback to create an educational environment in which students increasingly hold each other accountable for each other’s learning and academic success. The Galileo Educational Network has developed an inquiry-based project rubric that consists of eight dimensions.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/enewsletter.php?msgno=1390

By Laura Devaney, eSchool News

A new study reveals that scoring systems and player progress dashboards are among common game traits that can help educators more effectively track student learning, but game design must improve to help inform teachers about the link between student play and academic gains. The study, the second in a series about games in the classroom, comes from the A-GAMES project, a collaboration between the University of Michigan and New York University that studies how teachers use digital games to support student learning and formative assessment.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/02/25/games-classroom-practice-032/

By John Carver, eSchool News

Choosing and buying the right technology can be a daunting process, especially if you don’t know where to begin technology-procurement. With marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Google Marketplace, AirBNB, and OpenTable, it’s quite conceivable to think purchasing educational technology for the 116,000 schools across the United States in a $12B market would be as easy as buying a toothbrush online. Point. Click. Buy. Rather the opposite is true. Ed tech procurement is a very analog process in a very digital world. I have seen this as Superintendent of the Howard-Winneshiek Community School District (Howard-Winn) in rural northeast Iowa. Investments in ed tech companies reached historic levels rising to $2 billion in 2014. The choice and innovation is great, but finding and buying even simple things can tax our resources.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/02/25/technology-purchasing-571/

by Laura Devaney, eCampus News

Study highlights IT’s necessary role in moving higher education to the cloud. A new report reveals that 39 percent of surveyed higher education IT services are delivered totally or partially by cloud, and of that 39 percent, 53 percent migrated from traditional delivery and 47 percent started in the cloud. The information comes from CDW’s “Cloud 401: Navigating Advanced Topics in Cloud Computing.” The report measures the successes and struggles that organizations across multiple industries experienced as they deployed data, storage or application services in the cloud. Higher education survey respondents said that of their individual institution’s current cloud resources, they have reserved 39 percent for storage, 33 percent for computing, and 28 percent for applications.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/higher-ed-cloud-034/

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

Google’s no stranger to the education space. Teachers have been benefiting from the tools they create for years. Every time Google adds a new product or tool to their offerings, teachers get to work figuring out creative ways their students can benefit from it. Whether or not you’ve been using Google tools in your classroom for years or are just now starting to consider their potential, a little inspiration never hurts. If you want to break outside of some of the obvious uses and give your students something fun and exciting to work on with Google, one of these ideas could do the trick.

http://www.edudemic.com/google-tools-make-education-exciting/

by Robert Carr, EDUCAUSE Review

The Web Accessibility in Higher Education Project works across 25 Oklahoma institutions of higher education to provide resources and help campuses meet technology accessibility goals. Decentralized campus technology environments combine with accessibility’s wide reach to create barriers to success. To successfully plan and implement a technology accessibility initiative, campuses need higher-level administrative support, subject matter expertise, a representative team of the appropriate size, and an understanding of how processes work.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/web-accessibility-higher-education-project

by Center for Digital Education

Creative workspaces for people to collaborate on computer-based projects. Shared databases among public school, municipal, state and academic libraries. Help for the unemployed in preparing job applications. Those services already are among the many you can find in libraries that are becoming a one-stop shop for people not only in need of information, but also seeking access to modern information technology. And they may represent just the tip of the iceberg in libraries’ continuing journey beyond the stacks. A panel with librarians, an archivist and an educator last Saturday at St. John’s College helped open audience members’ eyes to the many roles already filled by libraries – a reality, panel members said, that many policy-makers sadly are not that familiar with.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/GT-Libraries-in-the-Digital-Age-Yes-Theyre-Still-Crucial.html

by Jiby J Kattakayam, DNA India

Rather than an exclusive MOOCs model, why are you pitching for a blended model where the online learning experience and the advantages of having an instructor in the physical classroom are clubbed?

At edX, we are trying to revolutionise the world of education and improve both online and on-campus education. Our aim is to increase access to learning to people around the world who do not have access to a quality education. We partner with some of the best universities in the world, such as MIT, Harvard, Georgetown, Tsinghua from China, and many others, to offer high-quality courses that learners can take for free no matter where they are. Concurrently, our partner universities are using these courses on their own campuses to offer a blended model of learning where they combine the online content and tools with in-person education, thereby creating a better experience for on-campus students as well.

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/interview-combining-online-and-in-person-education-improves-learning-anant-agarwal-2063537

By MARK DUELL, Daily Mail

She spends her spare time in a similar way to many other ten-year-old girls – playing with Barbie dolls and making loom bands. But the key difference between Esther Okade and other children her age is that she has been accepted to study for a university maths degree – despite not going to school. Esther, from Walsall, West Midlands, has enrolled on an Open University course months after she passed her A-levels – and wants to study for a PhD before running her own bank. The girl, who gained a C grade in her maths GCSE aged six, has joined the course which started this month. Her younger brother Isiah is already studying for his A-levels – also aged six.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2965362/Is-Britain-s-cleverest-girl-Ten-year-old-accepted-university-course-study-maths-degree-despite-not-going-school.html

By Izzy Lyman, Watchdog Arena

Over 76,000 K-12 Michigan public school students elected to take one or more virtual courses during the 2013-14 school year, according to a new report from the Michigan Virtual Research Learning Institute, a Lansing-based center for online learning research. A report by the Michigan Virtual Research Learning Institute finds that virtual learning is expanding in the Great Lake State, and rural students are thriving. That’s an increase of 38 percent from the previous year, although only 2 percent of K-12 enrollment is currently delivered online. “The trends are clear that more and more K-12 students will be taking virtual courses in the coming years, and the need to be able to learn in this kind of environment has become an important part of being college and career ready,” states Jamey Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of Michigan Virtual University.

http://watchdog.org/201780/virtual-learning-michigan-report/