Educational Technology

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eSchool News

Flipped learning pioneer Jon Bergmann outlined critical steps to building an effective flipped learning school. At ISTE 2017, flipped learning pioneer Jon Bergmann introduced session attendees to Flipped Learning 3.0, and described the 8 principles that are crucial to any school’s flipped learning journey. Bergmann referenced the Flipped Learning Network’s definition as a pretty solid explanation for educators who are unsure: “Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.”

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/07/27/flipped-learning-30/

BY ANDY PLEMMONS, eCampus News

A media specialist’s grade-wide interdisciplinary project shows students that their voices have power around the world.The Barrow Peace Prize is a cross-curricular project that allows 2nd-grade students to consider the character traits of peace and extend their voices to a global audience. Named for our school, David C. Barrow Elementary, the project begins with each student selecting one of six nominees from civil rights history to research. They then create a persuasive video essay as well as a watercolor painting showing why their chosen nominee best displays the qualities of peace. The videos are voted on by people from all over the world, and the nominee with the most votes (and the students who researched them) is awarded the Barrow Peace Prize.

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/07/28/library-project-peace-prize/

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

The right campus app can help support students’ academic success. A new survey reveals that while 38 percent of students are somewhat or very worried they will not graduate on time, students also say their campus app helps them stay on top of their academic responsibilities. The 2017 Student Life and Technology survey comes from DubLabs, a provider of personalized campus mobile applications focused on the student experience. The survey aims to understand today’s postsecondary student experience and it reveals potential barriers to graduation and how students are leveraging campus resources to stay on track.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/campus-administration/top-5-benefits-campus-app/

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

In January, CT asked a panel of higher education IT leaders to opine on 11 education technology trends to watch in 2017. Now that we’ve passed the halfway point of the year, how are those trends shaping up? We asked some of the original panelists to weigh in.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/07/26/2017-ed-tech-trends-the-halfway-point.aspx

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

A team of faculty at Stanford University has launched the Platform Lab, a new initiative that aims to develop infrastructure to control swarms of devices, such as drones or autonomous vehicles. “We think all these self-driving cars and drones will be controlled not individually, but centrally, in a coordinated fashion,” said John Ousterhout, faculty director of the lab, according to information released by the university. “This has the potential to change how society functions on a daily basis.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/07/27/stanford-launches-platform-lab-for-centralized-control-of-autonomous-cars-drones.aspx

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

Artificial intelligence will be in nearly all new software products by 2020 and a top five investment priority for more than 30 percent of chief information officers, according to a new report from Gartner. The company defines AI as “systems that change behaviors without being explicitly programmed, based on data collected, usage analysis and other observations,” according to a news release. “While there is a widely held fear that AI will replace humans, the reality is that today’s AI and machine learning technologies can and do greatly augment human capabilities.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/07/27/report-ai-will-be-in-nearly-all-new-software-by-2020.aspx

By Amy Scott, Marketplace

From the outside, it would be easy to mistake the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School for a place to get your taxes done or mail a package. The downtown Erie branch is tucked away in a strip mall, across from a Big Lots discount store and a U-Haul storage center. But inside, a dozen or so kids are gathered around tables, making colorful sun catchers to understand how a liquid becomes a solid. “We are a real school,” Hayden said. “I think sometimes that isn’t the perception that people have, that we have a bunch of kids sitting in a dark room in front of a computer, isolated from the world, and that’s not what this is.”

https://www.marketplace.org/2017/07/27/education/more-kids-are-logging-learn-cyber-schools

By DAVID ADLERSTEIN, Apalachicola Times

If you have three teachers, and you subtract all three, then how many are left after you add all the math curriculum requirements for middle and high school together with the total number of successful applicants willing and able to teach those courses? So far, the answer is zero. Faced with three vacancies in its math department, the district’s hopes are dwindling to fill them by the start of school August 8, particularly after a full-scale but unsuccessful effort in the spring and summer to recruit. Rather than put in the classroom another teacher unfamiliar with teaching math, or a substitute likely not certified as a teacher, Superintendent Traci Moses is moving forward with a plan she believes has the best chance of success – the instituting of a blended learning lab reliant on online technology.

http://www.apalachtimes.com/news/20170726/district-wrestles-with-math-teacher-shortage

By Sarah Zak Borgman, Skoll

Why should age be the key determent of where your brain is in its developmental journey? Short changing our students should not be an acceptable standard. We know children are naturally curious. They want to fully understand a topic, and have it presented in a 360 degree manner. Our education systems should follow their lead, not demand students conform to outdated and outmoded models of education. The world is a fundamentally different place now, and our education approaches need to reflect that. Khan Academy has disrupted the education paradigm by providing alternative learning opportunities that both augment what is being taught in the classroom, and allow a user to learn at his or her own pace to master a subject. Khan Academy also collects data on student performance to structure learning models according to student outcomes. Now doesn’t that sound reasonable? From learning to code and art history, to math and financial literacy, the Khan Academy platform continues to expand to meet the needs of learners at all ages and levels.

http://skoll.org/2017/07/27/future-of-ed-personalized-learning/