Learning to learn: a class on rewiring your brain

BY JOHN SCHWARTZ, NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Barbara Oakley, a professor at Oakland University in Michigan, in her basement studio in Rochester, Michigan, where she and her husband created “Learning How to Learn,” the most popular course of all time on Coursera There are lessons to be learned from the engineering professor who “flunked” high school math and science — and created what is arguably the world’s most popular massively open online course, or MOOC.   “Learning How to Learn,” has been taken by more than 1.8 million students from 200 countries, the most ever on Coursera. The course provides practical advice on tackling daunting subjects and on beating procrastination, and the lessons engagingly blend neuroscience and common sense.

http://www.bendbulletin.com/nation/5499227-151/learning-to-learn-a-class-on-rewiring-your

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Professional Learning Communities Expand Across Arkansas

By Sri Ravipati, THE Journal
The Arkansas Department of Education (DOE) has teamed up with professional development provider Solution Tree to expand professional learning communities (PLCs) within schools. One school district and 11 schools were chosen to serve as working laboratory schools that will pilot Solution Tree’s PLC at Work Process model, which emphasizes learning for all and fostering collaborative culture at its core. The DOE’s project page explains that selected participants will gain 50 days of training, on-site and virtual coaching and other job-embedded staff development from Solution Tree, the state legislature and agencies.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/08/03/professional-learning-communities-expand-across-arkansas.aspx

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L.A. Teacher Creates Catchy Math Videos That Teach Complicated Concepts

By Richard Chang, THE Journal
Did you ever wish you could watch a music video to learn and memorize important math concepts? Like the origins and applications of pi? Or what about the tricky quadratic formula? Or the differences between mean, median and mode? Los Angeles math teacher and tutor Huzefa Kapadia has done just that. He has created eight catchy music videos that explain fundamental and sometimes complicated math concepts, such as permutations and combinations, slope intercepts and special right triangles. The lyrics are educational and rhythmic, and the melodies sound like they could have been recorded by the Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync or Justin Bieber.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/07/28/l.a.-teacher-creates-catchy-math-videos-that-teach-complicated-concepts.aspx

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Hey, super-achiever, you need more exercise, not another AP class

by ELIZA DEWEY, Miami Herald

Miami-Dade has made efforts to make its real world phys ed classes more enticing, adding a variety of options more fun than jumping jacks. There is a learn to swim program for middle schoolers and up that includes a water sports component such as sailing, kayaking or snorkeling. There is a new “geocaching” unit for middle schoolers that resembles a scavenger hunt in public parks with various fitness challenges along the way. There are “wellness centers” in all but three middle- and high-schools that have a mix of traditional fitness equipment like treadmills and outside-the-box offerings like Dance Dance Revolution.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article94121427.html

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Cook to coder: How low-income youth are writing a better future

by Shobita Dhar, the Times of India

Thanks to online courses and the initiatives of a few individuals, youngsters from underprivileged backgrounds are learning to crack the code. Helping some of them do so is Francesco Stasi, an Italian national who heads India operations for CodersTrust, a Danish learn-and-earn platform for freelance coders. “Coding doesn’t need formal education. Anyone can learn it. This makes it attractive to students from poorer backgrounds who often haven’t completed their formal education,” says Stasi. “A cook in urban India earns up to $50 (about Rs 3,000) a month while a coder can earn around $15 (Rs1,000) an hour,” points out Stasi, who set up the trust’s India arm in Gurugram in March. It has enrolled more than 1,000 students from both privileged and underprivileged backgrounds and subsidizes education for bright students from poor families.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Cook-to-coder-How-low-income-youth-are-writing-a-better-future/articleshow/53575603.cms

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3 ways to improve online charter schools

By Amelia Hamilton, Education Watchdog

As the popularity of online charter schools continues to grow, so do concerns over their efficacy. The Fordham Institute has three recommendations to improve online charter schools. First, policymakers should fund e-schools based on performance metrics. Second, Fordham recommends the fit between students and e-schools be improved. Finally, policymakers should allow students to take online courses without enrolling full-time in e-learning.

http://watchdog.org/272748/3-ways-improve-online-charter-schools/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=16857

University of Connecticut says hit by hackers from China

BY RICHARD WEIZEL, Reuters

The social security numbers and credit card details of up to 6,000 University of Connecticut students, faculty and others may have been stolen by cyberhackers from China, the university said on Friday. Officials detected a potential breach of the School of Engineering’s network in March and an investigation uncovered that hackers may have gained access to it as early as September, 2013, spokesman Tom Breen said. He said 6,000 students, faculty, alumni and research partners of the school were notified that their personal information may have been compromised.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/31/us-usa-connecticut-cyberattack-idUSKCN0Q52I320150731

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Online courses offer students an education option

by Atlanta 11 Alive

Online classes are skyrocketing in popularity as high school kids take advantage of technology, but do they really work? Cobb County was the first school district to offer online classes in Georgia all the way back in 2001. However, that doesn’t mean some kids are not having a little trouble getting the hang of it. “I had to work really hard to make sure I didn’t procrastinate,” sophomore Garrett Davis said. Now that he’s taken three, he says he’s gotten the swing of it. Senior Grace Arnold has been taking them her entire high school career – and she’s got it down. “It’s a lot of knowing yourself, knowing your schedule, planning beforehand,” Arnold said

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/2015/08/03/online-courses-offer-students-a-education-option/30929891/

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More than half of PRCC classes to use e-books

By Karrie Leggett-Brown, WDAM

Students enrolling at Pearl River Community College this fall will have fewer expensive, heavy textbooks to carry to class. Approximately 60 percent of academic classes will be using eBooks. “We are not requiring it of the teachers but we strongly encourage it,” said Dr. Martha Lou Smith, vice president for general education and technology. “It provides a great opportunity for our students and is a way for us to move forward.” Most students will pay significantly less for an eBook than for a new textbook, said Candace Harper, PRCC director of bookstore services. Harper calculated a savings of $307 for eBooks instead of new textbooks for a student taking English composition, psychology, anatomy and physiology, human growth and development and world civilization.

http://www.wdam.com/story/29682566/more-than-half-of-prcc-classes-will-use-e-books

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5 great ed-tech faculty resources on YouTube

By Michael Sharnoff, eCampus News

These YouTube resources can help college faculty deliver instruction more effectively and enhance the student experience. Educators, administrators, and students are using social media for marketing purposes and to improve learning and deliver instruction more effectively. Embracing mobile technology and social media in the proper, academic setting can prove productive for learning and growth. Videos are some of the best teaching tools available to teachers and students, and YouTube offers a seemingly infinite number of educational channels on varying topics.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/faculty-resources-youtube-492/

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50 top ed-tech products, straight from educators

by eSchool News

This past spring, we asked readers to give us their top picks for school hardware, software, websites, and services—and more than 1,300 readers responded online. In nominating their favorite products, we asked readers to tell us how they’re using these products to improve teaching, learning, or school administration—and to what effect. We then those the 50 best responses, which appear alphabetically by product name. The results is a list of ed-tech products and services that have proven to be effective, as noted by your colleagues in K-12 schools and districts nationwide.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/08/01/top-edtech-products-093/

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8 Printable Classroom Posters For Device Best Practices

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

When you bring devices of any kind into your classroom, there need to be some rules to go along with them. Establishing guidelines for your students when they’re using technology is best done early on and reinforced often – with students of all ages! This doesn’t mean just setting out rules about not eating and drinking around the devices – it includes all types of guidelines including what is and is not appropriate to use the device for.

http://www.edudemic.com/device-best-practices/

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