Educational Technology

by Education World

A new report from CompetencyWorks called Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights from Local Leaders outlines effective ways districts have and can implement personalized learning models that meet individual student needs and teach competency-based skills. “This paper highlights strategies to engage, motivate, and teach all students to proficiency and mastery; depicts shifts in instruction toward deeper learning and meaningful assessments for learning; while exploring models of distributed leadership and educator empowerment,” according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/new-report-outlines-ways-implement-competency-based-learning-702222762

by Jessica Knight, KTOC

Beaufort County School students have the opportunity to accelerate their learning this summer through a virtual learning program. The online learning is not just for students trying to make up a class, but instead the online learning is individualized, based on the students MAP testing scores and can help students catch up or get a jump start on next year’s coursework. The students use the Compass Learning program online, customized to their level, and parents can track their progress at home.

http://www.wtoc.com/story/29251482/beaufort-county-schools-offering-online-summer-learning-program

BY MOLLY BLOOM, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Proponents of combining online and in-person teaching say it works for students who don’t learn by sitting through lectures, but critics say seniors at Atlanta’s Crim High School Googled their way to diplomas. Some seniors at Atlanta’s Crim High School Googled their way to diplomas this spring, looking up the answers to test questions on the internet while enrolled in a flawed online education pilot program, teachers told the Atlanta school board. Students in the pilot took classes in school computer labs supervised by teachers. The teachers were also available to help them with lessons, district accountability chief Bill Caritj said. Some of the seniors were catching up before graduation; others were taking courses for the first time, he said. But some teachers and parents said students cheated their way through the coursework in order to earn credit.

http://www.govtech.com/education/High-School-Seniors-Easily-Cheat-in-Flawed-Online-Education-Program.html

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

For many students, the words “math” and “fun” don’t seem to have much overlap. Math is often thought of as a dry subject – equations don’t get most people excited – but math lovers have been working to show the more interesting side of math to students in a number of different formats. Students who find math boring now may just need to be given a new way of looking at it. Naturally, the internet has come to the rescue with a wide range of math resources designed to help students see how math can be fun and useful. Here are some of the best ones out there.

http://www.edudemic.com/top-10-free-math-resources-web/

By Julie Davis, THE Journal

“The 4 Cs of Tech Implementation”: critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration. In other words, we will be looking at what can happen in the classroom when technology integration is implemented. I do not believe these things only happen in a tech-rich environment, I am just sharing firsthand with you what I have seen happen when technology is involved.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/06/04/the-4-cs-of-tech-implementation.aspx

By Stephen Noonoo, eSchool News

Each week, we feature a new App of the Week on our website and in our newsletters based on recommendations from Common Sense Learning’s Graphite service. These apps are for students or educators and offer a range of uses, and were highly-rated by the educator-reviewers at Graphite and then hand-selected by Graphite brass for eSchool News. But one thing is certain: educators and students are using apps now more than ever. Here’s a round-up of the apps we’ve featured in May and June.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/06/05/graphite-apps-023/

by eSchool News

A 30-minute live streaming event celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta–first signed on June 15, 1215–will bring together historians and other experts to explore the iconic document’s impact on the rule of law. The event is free for schools. Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives, Jeff James said, “The National Archives is a window on more than 1000 years of our nation’s history and our collection at Kew is open to everyone, for free. This is a new venture for us and we are delighted to partner with Discovery Education to allow children around the world access to see Magna Carta.” The free event will take place on June 15 at 9:30 a.m. EST. An archived version will also be available online.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/06/05/magna-carta-800/

By Amanda Wilcox, Times Warner Cable News

UNC system teachers from across the state are learning more about online teaching as the new education avenue continues to expand across the U.S. The National Center for Education Statistics reports more than 46,000 students took classes exclusively online through North Carolina universities in 2012. This week, 28 teachers from every UNC school are in Wilmington for the Instructional Innovation Incubator (i3) conference to learn more about teaching online. “Most of them have never taught online before. So they are brave and they are very motivated to learn more about teaching in online environments,” said Diana Ashe, with the UNCW Center for Teaching Excellence. The week-long conference is giving the instructors the opportunity to develop their own online courses. Thursday, they also learned about the tools available to them.

http://www.twcnews.com/nc/north-carolina/education/2015/06/4/educators-from-every-unc-university-expand-online-teaching-abilities.html

By Christina R. Garza, Brownsville Herald

A selfie -defense seminar will be held today at the Carlotta Kennedy Petrina Cultural Center for girls ages 12 and up interested in learning how to defend themselves against online predators. The class will be hosted by 15-year-old Alondra and 10-year-old Victoria Gonzalez, of Brownsville. Their mother, Franceli Villasenor , said the girls were looking for a way to help the community this summer. According to Villasenor , a special agent from the Department of Homeland Security Investigations will cover subjects such as safety tips and the permanence of photos on the Internet. “As parents, we might not see what goes on, but children need to know how to be safe on the Internet ,“ Villasenor said.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/article_1fff788e-0b33-11e5-8196-c3b96998dc73.html

by Rhea Kelly, CampusTechnology

In her keynote address at the CT Forum conference in April, Michelle Weise, senior research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, offered an insightful analysis of disruptive innovation — perhaps one of the most-used and least-understood buzzwords in higher education today. Weise gave an overview of what the term means and how it has played out in higher ed and other industries, but at the core of her talk were six defining characteristics of disruptive innovations — telltale signs worth posting on the wall of every IT leader’s office

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/06/02/6-telltale-signs-of-disruptive-innovation.aspx

By Dennis Pierce, Campus Technology

In colleges and universities from coast to coast, classroom learning environments are becoming more active and collaborative. Students are contributing to discussions and presentations, and the days of the “sage on the stage” are waning. This development is having a profound effect on the deployment of audiovisual technology in education. “Classroom AV technology plays a big part in facilitating active learning environments,” said Mike Tomei, an independent audiovisual consultant who designs and installs AV systems for classrooms. Makers of AV equipment have responded in kind, developing new products that support more active and collaborative learning. Here are three key trends that illustrate this concept.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/06/03/3-key-trends-in-campus-av-technology.aspx

by Bradley Shear, THE Journal

During the last five years, schools have deployed new digital learning tools such as apps and cloud-based computing services that have the ability to track and store every single keystroke and activity performed on their platforms. Adoption of these technologies has raised significant questions about student privacy because vendors are storing personal student data on servers located outside of a district’s physical jurisdiction. Some vendor agreements state that student data may be processed and stored in any location around the world where the vendor or any of its agents maintains a facility. Being able to store data anywhere may offer price flexibility by enabling a provider to build its data servers in a low-cost area, but it may also enable some providers to process and archive personal student information in locations with weak student-privacy protections.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/05/28/ed-tech-must-embrace-stronger-student-privacy-laws.aspx

by eSchool News

Performance Matters solution aims to help administrators identify struggling students. In Florida, all schools that include grades 6, 7 or 8 are now required to implement an early warning system to identify students who need additional support to improve academic performance and stay engaged in school. The early warning system must include the following indicators: attendance below 90 percent, suspensions, and course failure or a Level 1 score on state tests in English language arts or mathematics. When a student exhibits two or more of these early warning indicators, a school-based team must convene to determine appropriate intervention strategies.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/06/04/early-warning-indicators-652/

By Andrew Barbour, eCampus News

A recent cyberattack at Penn State by Chinese hackers may be part of a much broader attempt to steal intellectual property at universities nationwide. In May, the College of Engineering at Penn State shut down its network for several days in response to a cyberattack, making it the latest in a long line of higher education institutions to suffer network breaches in recent years. But this particular attack may not be over. In fact, the Penn State incident is likely just the tip of an ongoing espionage effort to infiltrate similar schools nationwide, according to Ken Westin, senior security analyst at Tripwire, an Oregon-based cybersecurity company.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/cyberattack-education-penn-176/

by Leah Lang, EDUCAUSE Review

To run their institutions efficiently and effectively, leaders at today’s colleges and universities must have a clear understanding of their own financial, staffing, and operational status. This information is critical to making informed decisions and optimizing the impact of information technology. Leaders can enhance their decision making by evaluating their financial, staffing, and operational status against comparable information for peers, aspirant peers, or even their own institution. For example, a metric on total central IT spending per institutional FTE (students, faculty, and staff) can be used to estimate the amount of IT support that individuals at an institution receive. Benchmarking this metric against peer institutions or an institution’s past performance can help leaders make the case for additional resources.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/benchmarking-inform-planning-educause-core-data-service

by the Linux Foundation

This is the second course from The Linux Foundation on EdX.  The Linux Foundation partnership with edX platform is expanding, and users will now get the Essentials of Linux Systems Administration (LFS201) online course, which should help prepare the SysAdmins of tomorrow. These courses are provided in different ways, but now they are also available on EdX, which is a nonprofit online learning platform launched in 2012 by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The fact that you take these targeted Linux courses online makes all the difference in the world.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Linux-Foundation-Offers-Course-for-SysAdmins-on-EdX-483192.shtml

by WVTM

Two nonprofit organizations have teamed up to make SAT preparation materials available free online. Khan Academy, an online education company, and the College Board, which manages the SAT, joined forces to create the Official SAT Practice, an interactive platform. The practice tools are hope to level the playing field for students who are interested in taking the SAT and preparing for college-level courses.

http://www.wvtm13.com/education/sat-prep-courses-now-free-online/33353784

by Vickie Davis, Edutopia

The 3D printing industry is expected to exceed $21 billion by 2020. Classrooms are joining in. Kelly Hines’ fifth-grade classroom is redesigning a prosthetic hand. Can’t buy a drone? Soon, you may be able to print one. You can print robots, math manipulatives, and even parts for a 3D printer. (In fact, Bryan Byer’s science classroom in Michigan built their own 3D printer.) What will happen when we can 3D print things from door stoppers to wind turbines to (wait for it) wedding dresses? This past year, my students and I began our journey after I saw the FabLab at Kentucky Country Day School last summer.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/year-one-with-3d-printer-vicki-davis

by eSchool News

Level Up Village, a provider of STEAM-related courses, is offering a 3D printer to schools that sign up for its Global Inventors after-school course, where students in grades 3-8 learn about developing prototype inventions. Specifically, the course pairs students one-on-one with peers at one of Level Up’s Global Partner schools in developing countries to collaboratively design, print, and test solar-powered flashlights that can be 3D printed and used in energy-poor areas. A Cube 3D printer is provided to participating schools through a partnership with 3D Systems. Teacher training is also provided.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/06/02/3d-printer-maker-120/

By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel

Student messages on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are now being monitored by the Orange County (Fla.) school district as part of a new program to curb cyberbullying, crime on campus and suicide. Central Florida’s largest school district announced that it had acquired new software that would allow it to grab and then analyze social media messages posted from its campuses, whether from students or staff. The software also would allow the district to search the thousands of messages posted on various sites for key words that might indicate trouble.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/06/02/social-media-monitoring-635/