A Look Inside the Classroom of the Future

by Dana Mortenson, Edutopia

Over the next generation, whether they work for corporations, small businesses, government organizations, nonprofits, or other organizations, many U.S. employees will move from working primarily with American colleagues, bosses, and customers for American organizations in U.S. cities, to being part of global teams. As leaders, they will use technology to bridge geographic divides, build organizations that transcend borders, and work together with colleagues from around the world on issues such as climate change, food security, and population growth — issues that require multinational teams coming together to effect change. For those whose work is closer to home, the changing demographics of the U.S. will mean that their colleagues, customers, and neighbors may look a lot less like them, and have fewer shared histories than American colleagues, customers, and neighbors have shared in the past.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/look-inside-classroom-of-future-dana-mortenson

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Preferred Teaching Methods in Online Courses: Learners’ Views

by Mansureh Kebritchi, JOLT

Online learning platforms with asynchronous discussion boards provide such a different setting from traditional face-to-face classrooms that they urge educators to investigate online teaching methods. The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to identity the recommended online teaching methods in asynchronous discussion boards, and second, to explore learners’ perceptions about the identified teaching methods and correlate the learners’ perceptions with learners’ characteristics, including computer skills, experiences, and activity ratios in online discussions. Bruner’s classification of two modes of analytical and narrative thought was used as a theoretical framework. Accordingly, two teaching methods, narrative and episodic, were identified. Findings indicated that the narrative with a higher interactivity level, was the preferred method. The interactivity of online instructors and perceived success of courses were moderately correlated. Participants with stronger computer skills preferred teaching methods with lower interactivity. Some participants did not prefer a specific teaching method for performing various instructional tasks but rather preferred combining the narrative and episodic methods. Such findings inform educators about possible changes to improve the quality of online teaching.

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no3/Kebritchi_0914.pdf

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Keys schools try to keep online threats, bullying to a minimum but there are no guarantees

BY WILLIAM AXFORD, Florida Keynoter and Reporter

Mike Michaud, coordinator of safety and security at the Monroe County School District, said online threats and instances of bullying prompt action by administrators. “If there’s anything on social media that causes a disruption, it’s going to be handled like it took place at school,” Michaud said. “We teach kids whatever you put on social media is going to be out there whether you delete it or not. Anybody can go out there and access it, such as former colleagues and employers.” But completely stopping such things as online threats — the Coral Shores student said her message was a joke — isn’t easy.

http://www.keysnet.com/2014/12/13/500227/keys-schools-try-to-keep-online.html?sp=/99/106/

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3 Tech Tools That Boost Early Literacy

by Greg Thompson, THE Journal

It’s not written in stone, but educators agree that third grade represents a milestone in the race to establish literacy. As the saying goes, students are “learning to read” through third grade, and “reading to learn” after that. Realistically, the foundations of literacy are built well before children even enter the classroom. According to Rick Miller, superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District (CA), “Literacy probably starts from the womb. From the time my kids and grandkids were born, they had print awareness and heard adults reading aloud, all of which develops literacy skills and demonstrates that literacy is often connected to families.” Early-grade teachers acknowledge that it’s not easy to bridge the gap between students who have been exposed to lots of reading and those who haven’t, but the good news is that technology can help.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/11/19/3-tech-tools-that-boost-early-literacy.aspx

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Instructional Designers Must Create Effectual E-Learning Designs

by Training Zone UK

Instructional designers are the ones who create diverse styles of unique instructional courses that are meant for e-learning purposes. E-learning has become a reality in the present world, and the impact of the same can be witnessed in almost all principal arenas of human interests. The functional base of these e-learning processes is created by the instructional designers. They make use of the modern technological tools and formulate inventive instructional design to suit the varied requirements and the targeted audience. In our time, when the real relevance of e-learning and the constant development that occurs in the technological arena are taken into account, instructional designers have a significant role to play.

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/blogs-post/instructional-designers-must-create-effectual-e-learning-designs/188081

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

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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The average undergrad getting an online degree is older

by MARLENE HABIB, The Globe and Mail

As Jason Nixon watches his twin seven-year-olds kick their way through karate class, the dad, husband, politician and champion for the homeless can often be seen booting up his computer – to work toward earning his bachelor of commerce degree through Alberta’s Athabasca University. At 34, Mr. Nixon possesses many of the traits of the typical Canadian taking an undergrad program online – he’s older than the average early-20s student attending university in person, has been working for years, and has a growing family.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/the-average-undergrad-getting-an-online-degree-is-older/article21627226/

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Cognitive assessment leaps into the digital age

By Dean Delis, eSchool News

Used in conjunction with other data, cognitive testing is a valuable method for gathering reliable information about a child’s learning ability and cognitive strengths and weaknesses. This testing also is used to determine how these factors can potentially influence a child’s academic progress. School psychologists, in conjunction with educators, use information from cognitive assessments to help create personalized learning plans for students in need of remediation. Thanks to recent technological advancements, today’s cognitive assessments provide on-the-fly data that help determine whether a student’s academic progress is matching his or her ability level. This information, when considered along with other factors such as attention and motivation, can help educators develop appropriate learning plans for a student and advocate for individualized support based on specific needs.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/10/31/cognitive-assessment-digital-429/

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Use the Pomodoro Method to Engage Your Students

By Dustin Le, Edudemic

It is true that the first lapse of attention (or first break in attention) occurred at approximately the 10-18 minute mark, but after this initial break, the later attention lapses occurred more and more frequently. By the end of class, attention breaks were cycling every 3-4 minutes. In other words, in the last parts of class, students are only paying attention for 3-4 minutes at a time! So what does this mean for you? This means that introducing different elements into the routine may benefit both you and your students by helping them pay more attention so that you can be a more effective teacher. This is where the pomodoro method comes in. The pomodoro method, so named for the tomato kitchen timers used by the creator (pomodoro is the Italian word for “tomato”), is a time management technique.

http://www.edudemic.com/use-pomodoro-method/

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Digital Citizenship: Developing a Culture of Trust and Transparency

by Andrew Marcinek, Edutopia

An acceptable use policy is a document that is present in every school district around the country. The purpose of this policy is to provide safe parameters for exploring digital resources and using school-issued devices properly. It also ensures that schools do their very best to block out the darkest corners of the web. And while these policies are effective and required, they have not evolved in their semantics. Within the development of these school-wide policies, several shifts need to happen. My observation about the need for a semantic shift, probably one of the biggest shifts requited, reflects how acceptable use policies are interpreted by students. Essentially, these policies read more like a legal document rather than a document that students can understand and carry out. Additionally, we need to shift the focus from “you shouldn’t do that” to a sense of empowerment around technology. In short, schools should place a positive connotation around technology use.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-culture-trust-transparency-andrew-marcinek

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Free online AP courses debut on edX Web site

By Nick Anderson, Washington Post

Rice University launched a free Advanced Placement biology course Monday on a Web site overseen by two other elite schools, a potentially significant milestone for a movement that aims to bring college-level courses to high school students. The site, edX, was created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in 2012 as a nonprofit platform for those universities and selected others to offer massive open online courses, or MOOCs , to the world. AP Biology from Rice is the first MOOC on the site advertised as an AP course for high school students. It is divided into four content segments — the Cell; Genetics; Evolution and Diversity; and Ecology — followed by an exam in April.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/free-online-ap-courses-debut-on-edx-web-site/2014/10/20/6b16c204-5883-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html

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The Future of Education: It’s More Sci-Fi Than You Think

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

The equipment that will be available to students may soon be nearly unrecognizable. While laptops and tablets are in some classrooms now, in the future, each child could well have a wrist-mounted computer. More conveniently, students might have a computer chip implanted somewhere on their person that could communicate with whatever serves as the equivalent of the internet in their decade. In such an environment, teachers will need to figure out how to do more than merely direct students to websites for facts and then ask them to regurgitate them. Teachers will need to be able to teach kids how to think critically and apply the information that is available to them in solving problems. With any luck, and the right preparation, the kids of the future will go on to solve world problems such as hunger, environmental degradation, and geopolitical conflict.

http://www.edudemic.com/future-education-sci-fi-think/

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Making up class time online

by WHAM 13

It’s another way of learning: a virtual classroom that’s been set up by Stu Smith, a sixth-grade math teacher at Barker Road Middle School in Pittsford. “It gives them a lot of confidence knowing they can go home and review the lessons as many times as they need to,” said Smith, who started posting the lessons online last year. Around 80 percent of Smith’s 100 students use the videos that match each lesson they have in the classroom. “I really like them because in other grades in past years I had to ask my Dad for help if I didn’t get anything, and sometimes he’ll do like different methods and I’ll tell him, we didn’t learn that in class, that’s different,” said sixth grader Taylor Sampone. “But now this time we can actually use the videos and know that’s the way he taught us and still be able to learn.” Students also use the lessons to make up missed classroom time.

http://www.13wham.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/making-up-class-time-online-10199.shtml

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Virtual School Enrollment Increases by Double Digits

By David Nagel, THE Journal

Both the number of online virtual schools and the number of students enrolled in those schools grew substantially last year, according to a new report out of the University of Colorado Boulder. According to a new report from the National Education Policy Center, which operates out of U Colorado Boulder’s School of Education, there were 338 full-time virtual schools operating as part of a public education system in 30 states in the 2012-2013 academic year. That’s up from 311 the previous year. The report, Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2014: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence, found that total number of students enrolled at these schools hit about 243,000 in 2012-2013, up 21.7 percent from the previous year, according to the report.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/06/virtual-school-enrollment-increases-by-double-digits.aspx

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The Top 10 Free Web Tools (As Chosen By You)

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

There are a lot of web tools out there. Many of which are free or, at the very least, freemium. In other words, you can do a free trial to see if you like it. With so many to choose from, it’s tough to figure out which ones work best, are popular, are well supported, etc. Thanks to the Global Education Database, we can easily see which web tools are being used in classrooms around the world. We can check out how to use each tool, pros and cons, and a lot more. Below are just a handful of some of the many resources in the GEDB. If you have a web tool, app, device, or other favorite product that you think should be included in this list and the database, you can add it here. It’s all free and simple enough to add your own products – add as many as you like!

http://www.edudemic.com/top-10-free-web-tools-chosen/

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What Happens In An Internet Minute?

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Instantaneous is the speed that most of us expect, and mind-numbing amounts of data are crunched, sent, and received. But just how much stuff is happening on the internet in just one minute? The handy infographic linked below takes a look at a minute in the existence of the internet. Some of the statistics are mind boggling, but moreover, I can’t wait to see what these numbers look like and what additions have been made in five or ten years!

http://www.edudemic.com/internet-minute-infographic/

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Ed Tech Is Poised to Go Mainstream

By Sari Factor, Forbes

Six hours a day. That’s how much time the average teenager spends online, according to a June 2013 study by McAfee. These are “digital natives,” a generation that has grown up online and connected. Just think about it: students born in 2007, the year the iPhone was launched, are already in first grade. Students born during the dot-com boom of the late ’90s are in high school. These students have never known a world without the Internet. They’re communicating 140 characters at a time, establishing completely new ways of consuming news and information.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/schoolboard/2014/02/28/ed-tech-is-poised-to-go-mainstream/

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9 Tips for Creating a Sense of Community for Distance Learners

By Chris Riedel, THE Journal

With ever-increasing opportunities for online learning, educators must find new ways to engage their students and create a sense of community in a virtual world. But just how do you, as an educator, do that? “Whether it’s in the classroom or in the virtual space,” said Dean Shareski, community manager for Discovery Education Canada, “educators need to actively engage the question ‘how do we really create this notion of community?’… How do we engage our students [and inspire them to engage one another]?”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/02/12/9-tips-for-creating-a-sense-of-community-for-distance-learners.aspx

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Social Media Sparks Ed Tech Dialogue on State of the Union Address

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education

White House staff and tech executives talked about education in social media chats the day after the 2014 State of the Union address. In President Barack Obama’s address (transcript) on Tuesday, Jan. 28, he talked about high-speed broadband, high-tech manufacturing hubs, and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/Social-Media-Ed-Tech-Dialogue-State-of-the-Union.html

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Cullen High School Hosts First Ever Online Debate Competition

by Digital Journal

Cullen High School’s online debate competition is expected to reap productive results and students will welcome this new experience of online debating through E-Conferencing, where distance learning students will gather and take part in this competition. The school’s faculty will also take part and act as moderators to monitor the event and ensure the smooth running of the competition. The idea of an online debate competition was presented at an e-conference between departments on the subject of improving the online learning experience and making it more productive. Competition will take place between students of Cullen High School who will be notified of date of their competition via email.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1720379

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