Best Practices for Integrating Chromebooks into Teaching and Learning

by eSchool News

Chromebooks—the lightweight laptops that run software from the Internet instead of a local hard drive—have skyrocketed in popularity within the last few years. In the second half of 2014, Chromebooks surpassed iPads as the most popular devices sold to U.S. schools. Why have Chromebooks become so popular in education? What do you need to know before adopting chromebooks in your institution? Explore the information below to learn the greatest benefits and challenges to implementing Chromebooks in education—as well as best practices and keys to success.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/ercs/best-practices-for-chromebook-adoption/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14637

How ESSA will boost ed-tech funding

By Dennis Pierce, eSchool News

The Every Student Succeeds Act includes block grants intended for technology, among other uses. Eight years after the No Child Left Behind Act was supposed to expire, Congress finally passed a bill to replace it—the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)—that gives states more latitude in deciding how to close achievement gaps. The legislation also includes a sizeable state block-grant program intended for technology, among other uses. Although it’s not the program that ed-tech advocates had hoped for, many expressed cautious optimism that a section of ESSA under Title IV (“21st Century Schools”) could help schools use technology tools to transform teaching and learning.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/12/10/essa-ed-tech-561/

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Tech-Focused Conferences for Educators

By Amanda Ronan, Edudemic

Professional development opportunities aren’t just a great time to learn and grow; they’re a wonderful way to network with other educators. During conferences, you can gather lots of great ideas to be used in your classroom as soon as you return. You also may hear about initiatives and programs that have been successfully implemented in other schools, and which sound like they might work for your own school. At educator conferences, teachers get to come out from behind their closed doors and mingle with other educators to discuss issues impacting education and to brainstorm and begin to implement measures of necessary reform.

http://www.edudemic.com/tech-focused-conferences-educators/

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Lifelong Personal Teachers The Next Step in Educations Evolution

by Steve Downey, THE Journal

The progression from lifelong digital companions to lifelong personal teachers is only another series of algorithms away. The technology underlying those algorithms already is being developed. In March 2013, the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced a new initiative to “decisively reduce the current barriers to machine learning and foster a boom in innovation, productivity and effectiveness.” In January 2014, Google paid $400 million to acquire London-based DeepMind Technologies, a small startup focused on deep learning research. Prior to this acquisition, Google’s director of research, Peter Novig, acknowledged that Google already employed more than five percent of world’s leading minds in machine learning. Google isn’t the only tech firm investing heavily into machine learning.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/12/02/lifelong-personal-teachers-the-next-step-in-educations-evolution.aspx

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The blended learning model every district can try

By Lauren Angelone, eSchool News

For public schools where remediation is not the only goal, putting part of the curricula online offers something else: flexibility. This is personalizing to make room for a type of growth not possible in a one-size-fits-all classroom. If some of the more rote sorts of lessons (think lectures, reviewing math facts, etc.) can be offloaded to the computer, which happily repeats, what else can happen in a school day? What other experiences can students have? And when the teacher can provide more options than one large group activity, what sorts of deep, authentic learning can occur? Parents remember bells ringing, textbooks, and the teacher as ultimate authority. Public education won’t become flexible overnight, nor should it. There’s a history that must be valued as much as it is questioned. The community must come along on a journey to change a culture that can be prohibitive with regard to the very thing it is meant to promote: learning.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/12/03/blended-learning-model-950/

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The Perfect Storm: 4 Conditions Align for a Revolution in Curriculum Development

By Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway, THE Journal

For good economic and pedagogical reasons, by and large computers have been used in K-12 classrooms as supplemental, not as essential, elements of the curriculum. And research has shown that supplemental use of computers does not lead to increased student achievement. However, as we describe more fully below, four events are in the works that, taken together, provide the enabling condition for the creation of a new — revolutionary — generation of curricula, where the computer is an essential element, inextricably interwoven in the everyday activities of students. Truly, the opportunity to dramatically impact K-12 teaching and learning is at hand!

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/11/18/the-perfect-storm-4-conditions-align-for-a-revolution-in-curriculum-development.aspx

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ASCD launches digital resource for teachers

by eSchool News

ASCD has launched ASCD myTeachSource–a classroom-focused, teacher-driven digital subscription that delivers monthly topic packs on popular instructional strategies. The new product, which debuted at the 2015 ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership in San Diego, Calif., is designed for ease of use and is accessible from computers or mobile devices. Teachers can learn about all of the product’s features and sign up for a free trial at myteachsource.ascd.org. “At ASCD, we strive to provide professional learning solutions to meet the diverse needs of all educators, and the launch of ASCD myTeachSource is the next major step in that mission,” said Deborah S. Delisle, ASCD executive director and CEO. “This digital subscription product will empower teachers to take charge of their own professional learning by accessing the resources most relevant to them at the times when new tools, strategies, and ideas are needed the most.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/27/digital-resource-teachers-484/

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The Promise (and Perils) of Digital Textbooks

By David Raths, THE Journal

The New Media Consortium’s 2014 Horizon Report K-12 Edition noted that although digital textbooks have become a mainstay in higher education, they have been slower to infiltrate K-12. The report’s authors added, however, that the “financial and educational benefits of digital learning materials will eventually outweigh the outdated paper textbook dependence in K-12 education, and gradual adoption of digital textbooks is expected.” THE Journal recently spoke with teachers and administrators in several districts that are experimenting with digital versions of textbooks from traditional publishers as well as those curating digital material to compose new, more personalized texts for their students.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/10/28/the-promise-and-perils-of-digital-textbooks.aspx

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2 things you should know about Google ed evangelist’s vision

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

When it comes to education, there is perhaps no chief evangelist more visible than Google’s Jaime Casap. A nine-year employee of the tech giant, he’s been with the company since its launch of Google Apps for Education at Arizona State University. “I was part of that original team that put all of that together here in Phoenix, AZ, where I actually live,” he said. “There’s a generation of students coming to college that are a little bit different from the ones that they’re used to, and they’re learning in a different way,” Casap said, adding that a lot of the innovation in education is occurring in K-12 and will likely have some impact on higher ed. And while he sees Google playing a role in facilitating that innovation, he says the tech giant will never be seen driving pedagogy or telling educators how to do their jobs.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/2-things-you-should-know-about-google-ed-evangelists-vision-educause-2015/408433/

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Hall County students learn other languages in online set-up System

By Kristen Oliver, The Gainesville Times

Blended learning Spanish instructor Wes Vonier discusses his course with the Hall County school board. A handful of students sit in their bedrooms, headphones plugged into their ears, as they listen to their Spanish teacher talk. Hall County students in middle and high school have access to Blended Learning Academy courses that combine a live teacher and online lessons. Students are able to connect to their virtual classroom and interact live with their teachers, all from home.

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/113037/

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3 characteristics of successful next-gen online learning

By Kevin Gibbs and Claire Stuve, eCampus News

Two professors describe online learning platform features that can enable engaging online learning experiences—and why they’re critical to real success. High failure rates. Low retention. Disengaged students. These problems exist at many universities, but more and more institutions and instructors, like us, are leveraging online learning to turn that story around—but real success goes beyond just a format switch. Today, 82 percent of colleges and universities offer at least several courses online in order to try and provide a transformational opportunity for students who can’t spend six to eight hours a day in a lecture hall. For example, at The University of Toledo, we serve a large number of active duty military who are logging into class from around the world.

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Gamifying Learning in My Classroom

by Liz Kolb, Edutopia

Every week for 17 years, I’ve heard my students ask, “What do I need to do to get an A?” Historically, many have focused on their grade rather than on fundamental skills. My attempt to change this mindset started two years ago when I gamified learning in my classes. After researching gamification and its potential to help students master skills and processes, I used the 3DGameLab and then Gradecraft to develop and implement game-based learning. In each class, students could choose “quests” that, if completed successfully, earned them badges and experience points. Each open-source badge was developed using Badg.us so that students could take them into the digital universe (e.g. attach to resumes, ePortfolios, etc.) and — unlike grades on a transcript — document skills they’ve mastered.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/epic-fail-win-gamifying-learning-liz-kolb

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K-12 Digital Curriculum Growing; Print Shrinking

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Curriculum publishers in K-12 have been shifting their product development to digital and away from print, according to Education Market Research, which surveyed around 100 publishers and manufacturers. The most common medium mentioned for delivering supplemental products was “online/digital” delivery; 82 percent of respondents cited that. Print followed with 65 percent. Over the course of 2013, the entire population of digital products grew by 43 percent; non-digital offerings dropped by 8 percent.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/03/16/digital-curriculum-growing.aspx

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5 Tech Implementation Challenges for Teachers

By Kristen Hicks, Edudemic

In all the excitement around what technology can do for education, the frustrations of the teachers faced with using it often get drowned out. Even educators who embrace the idea of using more technology with their students have found that it brings its share of challenges. And many of them feel powerless to address those challenges on their own. The most common complaints teachers have about bringing more tech into the classroom can be boiled down to the five categories below. To fix them, teachers and administrators will have to work together. Obviously, that’s easier said than done, but we’ve got a few ideas to help.

http://www.edudemic.com/5-tech-implementation-challenges-for-teachers/

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Google launches digital training classes

By Tereza Pultarova, Engineering and Technology

Internet giant Google has launched a six month scheme offering digital skills training to businesses and educators. The multimillion-pound project will see Google opening several ‘pop-up garages’, starting in Leeds this month, running workshops and classes. “While the majority of UK small businesses recognise the importance of having a website and using basic digital tools, less than 30 per cent of small to medium-sized enterprises have an effective online presence,” said Eileen Naughton, Google’s managing director for UK & Ireland. “We want to help jumpstart the other 70 per cent.

http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2015/mar/google-digital-skills-training.cfm

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Cutting-Edge Student-Centric Classrooms Handle Many Pedagogies at Drexel

By Michael Scheuermann, Campus Technology

Two reconfigured classrooms are facilitating student collaboration and providing flexible options for teaching and learning. Over the past year, the Information Resources and Technology (IRT) department at Drexel University (PA) has reconfigured two classrooms in its Korman Computing Center, Korman-111 and Korman-110, for these key reasons: to facilitate student collaboration, and to provide professors with pedagogical choices, as well as a multitude of teaching and student-engagement options.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/03/11/cutting-edge-student-centric-classrooms-handle-many-pedagogies-at-drexel.aspx

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Trust Challenge Awards $1.2M to Digital Projects Building

by US Dept of Education

Thirteen projects have been awarded a total of $1.2 million, as part of the Digital Media and Learning Competition’s “Trust Challenge,” to foster trust in online learning environments. The winners are tech developers, youth-serving institutions, collaborative networks, school systems and universities that will develop innovative digital badge systems, data management platforms, digital learning environments, online learning content and related digital tools to promote trust in connected learning experiences. The awards were announced today by educational innovator Richard Culatta, acting director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, at the South by Southwest EDU Conference. The Trust Challenge is supported by the MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC.

http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2015/03/10/trust-challenge-awards-12m-digital-projects-building-trust-online-learning-environments#axzz3U6fMMZdx

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5 Ways Google Tools Can Make Education More Exciting

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/

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Competency-Based Education Network announces new cohort of member institutions

by C-BEN

Thirteen institutions and two public systems representing 40 campuses join colleges and universities addressing shared challenges to designing, developing, and scaling high-quality competency-based degree programs. The Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) on Tuesday announced 15 new members. This cohort will join the network, supported by Lumina Foundation and managed by Public Agenda, on March 3 when the national group comprising a total of 30 institutions and four public systems with 82 campuses meets for a three-day working session in Austin. Competency-based degree programs are promising approaches to helping educate more Americans, because they hold potential as a better way to plan, organize, deliver, and support education for students who are not well served by traditional academic instruction. C-BEN was formed a year ago in response to clear demand from colleges and universities that had been building competency-based models in isolation. Today, these leading institutions are working collaboratively to accelerate progress on shared challenges around program design and integrity, business processes and systems, and vendor relations to build models capable of scaling to serve many more students from all backgrounds.

http://www.cbenetwork.org/sites/457/uploaded/files/CBEN_Announces_New_Members.pdf

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ONE way districts are negotiating cheap, reliable internet for themselves

By Bridget McCrea, eSchool News

“The state used an E-rate bid for internet… and wound up saving money across the state,” says Jeff Mozdzierz, Pontiac’s director of field services for Oakland Schools (of which Pontiac is one of 28 districts that together serve 200,000 students in 425 connected buildings). Through ONE, the internet is provided over consortium-owned private fiber into a connection with telecom providers, with all consortium members sharing two 10 Gigabit connections. According to Tammy Evans, chief technology officer for Oakland Schools, the county was an early adopter of the concept of “shared internet” across multiple, geographically-dispersed schools. In 2000, the county rolled out a 36-connection network that links all local public school districts and its technical campus sites.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/02/18/one-internet-418/

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