Educational Technology

By Scott McLeod and Julie Graber, eSchool News

Trudacot is a new question-based model for using classroom technology in support of learning goals. We have a lot of technology floating around our classrooms these days. And while that can be, and is, a good thing given our digital age, we often find that our technology-related efforts aren’t paying off for us quite as we’d hoped. We still, for example, see a lot of replicative use—doing the same things that we used to do in analog classrooms, only with more expensive tools—and we see many teachers using technology simply for technology’s sake. There are many reasons why all of this is true, but a primary one is that we don’t have great ways to think about what is occurring when we see students and teachers using technology for learning and teaching purposes.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/05/26/questions-technology-410/

By Wendy Marshall, THE Journal

Last year, Savannah-Chatham County Schools (GA) launched a 1-to-1 laptop learning program that has spurred higher test scores among participating students. Along the path to this positive outcome, we learned many valuable lessons about what is critical to the success of such an initiative. The Laptops for Learning Program (L4LP) was piloted at two high schools and one middle school. Each school had 30 participants who took their core classes (English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Math) together, taught by four teachers trained in interactive teaching. While some teachers wanted to purchase online versions of textbooks, administrators wanted to explore other options. Ultimately, price and quality tipped the scale.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/05/26/7-lessons-learned-from-a-successful-1-to-1-laptop-program.aspx

by Nicole Gorman, Education World

Emily Mee, a recent graduate from the online K-12 school, Oklahoma Connections Academy, is speaking out in favor of online schools and programs and says the alternative option is nothing like what is thought to be traditional home schooling. According to an article on NormanTranscript.com, Mee became an advocate for computer-based learning as an education option for children early on as she found her passion for politics. In order to create a social element, Mee developed peer groups to facilitate meeting between students.

By Sara Shepherd, LJ World

The virtual town and its Jayhawkville United School District are complete with colorful maps including urban to rural schools, pictures of each building, profiles of their principals — foibles included — and graphs of demographics and test scores. You can also meet the school board members and executive team. With the click of a mouse, students “visit” Jayhawkville’s diverse schools, “meet” leaders and get a feel for each one’s unique circumstances. Joe Novak, a former principal and current coordinator of the KU School of Education’s master’s program in educational leadership, helped develop Jayhawkville and launched it in courses this spring. Each semester he expects Jayhawkville to get more in-depth and expand to be used in more classes.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/may/25/new-online-tool-sends-ku-education-masters-student/

By COLLIN BREAUX, News Herald

Along with everything else, education is going online. For students and families who feel they don’t fit in at a traditional brick-and-mortar school, enrollment in the Florida Virtual School is possible. The school is a free public K-12 institution which offers all instruction over the computer in the child’s home. The enrollment process, which can be done at the school’s website www.flvsft.com, is currently underway for the 2015-16 school year. For enrollment parents need the same documentation traditional schools require.

http://www.newsherald.com/news/education/online-schools-offer-flexibility-1.482326

By Jena McGregor, The Washington Post

It’s hard enough avoiding online distractions if you’re a working professional. The news alert about a favorite sports team, the insistent tug of social media sites, the seventh email from a group of co-workers chiming in about where to go for lunch. One study has shown that completion rates for such MOOCs are often less than 10 percent. It’s that concentration-challenged group of people that Cornell researcher Richard Patterson opted to study in a working paper recently published on the school’s Higher Education Research Institution Web site. (It has not yet been published in an academic journal.) Patterson, a PhD candidate in policy analysis and management at Cornell, saw an opportunity to apply behavioral economics research to online education.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/life/tech/the-secret-to-fighting-digital-distractions-may-be-all-about/article_29a9f4d6-ac80-5ba9-bcb0-21628068ee03.html