Ten Habits of Tech-Savvy Schools

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Here are the ten habits of tech-savvy schools so you can see how yours measures up.

1. They make ongoing professional development a priority. When it comes to technology, last year’s hot new trend is this year’s old news. Successful schools provide ongoing, quality training to help educators keep up.
2. They invest in the right equipment. Tech-savvy schools make solid investments in equipment that meets their needs, whether it be interactive whiteboards, tablets, and/or a Chromebook for every student. Funds are allocated thoughtfully and wisely.
3. Technology use is frequent and widespread. When you visit the classrooms in a tech-savvy school, you see that almost everyone is using technology in some form, whether it be the middle-school Social Studies teacher giving a PowerPoint presentation or a third-grader using an app to predict the weather….. See the link below for the rest.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/10-habits-tech-savvy-schools/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=36640

Experts Answer: Who Is Actually Going to Suffer From Automation?

by Kristin Houser, Futurism

High-risk fields are retail, fast food, agriculture, customer service,  accounting, marketing, management consulting, investment management, finance, higher education, insurance, and architecture. Specific jobs include security guards, long-haul truck drivers, manual laborers, construction workers, paralegals, CPAs, radiologists, and administrative workers. Technology is going to continue to advance, and in reality, all of us are going to have become life-long learners, constantly upgrading our skills. The most important skills to have will be knowing how to be highly efficient at iterative learning — “unlearning and relearning” — and develop high emotional and social intelligence.

Experts Answer: Who Is Actually Going to Suffer From Automation?

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=36625

4 Steps to driving a successful digital transformation

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Digital transformation in our schools is no longer just something it would be nice to have in the future. The rapid changes in the world around us make it a necessity here in the present. If your school or district has not yet undertaken the task, there is a good chance your students are leaving school unprepared for the challenges they will face in the 21st century. But the process is far from easy. When you take into consideration concerns about the budget, infrastructure, and training, it can seem impossible.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/4-steps-driving-successful-digital-transformation/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=36619

The state of the campus IT professional

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Campus Technology released its annual earnings and job satisfaction survey of IT professionals at colleges and universities, revealing interesting trends about perceptions of job security and campus investment. The average annual IT salary was more than $77,800, but earnings among professionals at public institutions remained the same from the prior year, while private institution employee earnings increased by more than $8,000. An overwhelming majority of surveyed professionals reported satisfaction with their jobs and a positive outlook on the future of the industry, but 13% of professionals believe that IT is in slow decline at their institutions, and cite departmental budget constraints as the top area of dissatisfaction.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/the-state-of-the-campus-it-professional/435441/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=23669

The 4 Common Characteristics of Personalized Learning

by Leila Meyer, THE Journal

Over the last decade, technology has radically altered the way we live, work and communicate, yet many schools continue to follow the industrial age model of education established more than 100 years ago. Personalized learning presents the opportunity to shift education by tailoring the learning experience to an individual student’s needs and interests while helping them gain the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to succeed in college and career, according to a new report from iNACOL. The report, What’s Possible with Personalized Learning? An Overview of Personalized Learning for Schools, Families & Communities, aims to “inform schools, families and communities about the potential of personalized learning and empower them with ways to support the shift to student-centered learning.”

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/02/03/the-4-common-characteristics-of-personalized-learning.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=23659

New law aims to keep expelled students from falling behind

by SHARON SALYERKARI BRAY, Everett Herald-Net

Generally, students who have been suspended or expelled cannot be on campus during normal school hours. When possible, though, the district tries to get them on campus after school for instruction, Taylor said. This may be limited depending on the offense that got the student suspended. Teachers or administrators also can meet with students at public locations such as the library. Students in the Arlington School District can log on to an online system to get homework or parents can get the information from teachers. If students don’t have access to the internet at home, they can drop by their school to pick up assignments, said Kathy Ehman, assistant superintendent. “With the new law in place, we’re looking at alternatives,” she said. “You’ll probably see a lot more in-school interventions, but have some adult there to help support them.”

http://www.heraldnet.com/news/new-law-aims-to-keep-expelled-students-from-falling-behind/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=23644

New Textbook Liberation Fund Will Help Faculty Ditch High-Priced Textbooks

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

A new Textbook Liberation Fund offers grants for “faculty members or departments who want to transition their courses away from high-priced textbooks.” The $500,000 fund was launched today by Skyepack, the digital publishing platform for open educational resources (OER), with the goal of saving college students $1 billion. “We believe students deserve cost-effective and simple alternatives to the textbook ecosystem most of us are familiar with,” said Skyepack Chief Executive Officer Brady Kalb in a press release. “Getting your books or course required reading shouldn’t necessitate a student loan.”

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/02/10/new-textbook-liberation-fund-will-help-faculty-ditch-high-priced-textbooks.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15066

Tami Lenker: ‘Leveling Up’ Technology for Teaching

By Dan Gordon, THE Journal

We’ve had technology for a while now — we’ve been 1-to-1 for a few years — and we’ve been trying to raise the bar, or we call it level-up, and to get the teachers to share with one another and collaborate more. That’s started to happen, and it’s become contagious. We’ve had teacher-led professional development where you have an open mic, they get up and give a little elevator pitch about something they’re doing, and then afterwards people can choose to approach them for more details. We also did something like “speed dating” where we played music, everyone rotated and talked to a teacher for four minutes and then rotated again, so that they all got to see what other classes were doing, and it was less intimidating talking to a smaller group for a short time. We have an Innovation Incubator, where it’s like the Shark Tank television show — you go before people with a pitch, and they choose to buy in or reject your proposal.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/02/11/leveling-up-technology-for-teaching.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15064

Youngsters have changed, education system has not: Anant Agarwal, edX CEO

By Noah DMello, CIO India

Technology has disrupted almost all sectors, but it has stayed away from education, said Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX on the third day of NASSCOM 2016. “Education has remained in our classrooms and it hasn’t evolved from there. Technology has not touched this space,” he said. edX, which is a not-for-profit massive open online course (MOOC) provider and runs on open source software, is one of the few companies that has disrupted the way education is being dealt with, he said. He also said that futuristic technologies such as artificial intelligence are bringing disruption to education. “From customizing courses for students to grading essays, technology is redefining education,” he said.

http://www.cio.in/news/youngsters-have-changed-education-system-has-not-anant-agarwal-edx-ceo

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=15061

How Blended Learning and Gamification Increase Student Engagement

by Dan Gordon, THE Journal

Rob Schwartz, a teacher at a blended learning magnet school, says “I took a couple of online courses myself, and one thing I learned is not to just write things up and have the kids read; I’ll record a video. I trained in Adobe software (I’m an Adobe Education Leader) and I’ve created a lot of my own tutorials, because with the online classes I’ve taken, I can see when the professor is really excited about it, and that’s a lot more engaging for me. Nobody wants to engage with content; people want to engage with other people about content. When we learn, it’s a human experience. If we try to remove the humanity too much from it and turn it into just technology, we’re missing out on a really critical part of that experience of learning.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/01/27/how-blended-learning-and-gamification-increase-student-engagement.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/-C2LY8TlzWY/

Online Learning Helps Students Shift Career Goals

by iSchool Guide

A 2014 survey found that many students claimed they chose online learning because they wanted to change their career paths. According to an online instructor, an online study offers greater flexibility, especially for working individuals, as traditional schooling requires more sacrifice. A 2014 survey by the Aslanian Market Research and Learning House, a company helping higher education institutions create and provide online degree programs, revealed that 26 percent of undergraduates and 19 percent of graduate respondents said they chose online learning because they wanted a career shift.

http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/7475/20150210/online-learning-helps-students-shift-career-goals.htm

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/l2Yggo2aJHQ/

Unprecedented Opportunities: Online Learning Explosion Empowers GenDIY

by Michael B. Horn, Huffington Post

More modular, approachable experiences on Khan Academy provide further opportunities, and the promise of exciting announcements from other players loom on the horizon. Adaptive-learning company Knewton, for example, is preparing a free customer-facing portal that would help students learn from the best resource for them at any given time. Higher touch online courses from places like Udemy also provide an accessible education for anyone to learn just about anything. More offerings in the future will allow students to connect synchronously to experts around the world to build social capital and supplement their learning. These experiences will also invite curiosity in the immediate environment around them to prompt students to explore and learn through internships, projects, co-learning experiences, and more. Already co-learning spaces are popping up across the world–led by players like General Assembly and Dev Bootcamp. It’s a brave new world, and the opportunity to piece together each student’s unique lifelong education is already rich.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gendiy/unprecedented-opportuniti_b_6632494.html

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Video: Tech Tools Students Say They Can’t Live Without

by Megan O’Neil, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Students arrive on college campuses with multiple mobile electronic devices. And a quick scan of the Apple Apps store turns up hundreds of note-taking, assignment-sharing, and textbook applications. In this ocean of options, what education technologies are students actually using to help them navigate their studies? The Chronicle sat down with a trio of graduate students in the communication, culture, and technology program at Georgetown University, and quizzed them about the technology tools that keep their academic lives humming.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/video-tech-tools-students-say-they-cant-live-without/50343

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from Educational Technology http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uis/edtech/~3/-slqCh14G7c/

The 6 People Who Taught Us How To Teach

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Educators today often use a variety of pedagogical styles. Some are old, some are new(er), and some folks are out there innovating and trying new stuff of their own creation. While most teachers out there are probably piecing together a little bit of something with a touch of something else – different strokes for different folks, right? – There are some folks out there that we have to thank for some of the more common concrete pedagogical styles. So who are these folks? Many of us are familiar with the pedagogical concepts, but the people behind them are often less well-known. Take a look at the handy infographic linked below – it highlights six individuals that have made major contributions to what we modern folks know as pedagogy.

http://www.edudemic.com/how-to-teach/

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Are career accelerators the solution to the startup skills gap?

by Andrew Hoag, VentureVillage

Do university graduates lack the hands-on skills they need to succeed in the world of startups? Are MBAs too traditional to keep up with fast-paced technology companies? Is Berlin suffering from a talent drought? Andrew Hoag, managing director, Europe at career accelerator Startup Institute, tackles these questions and more.As startups in Berlin continue to thrive, demand for jobs in the city’s startups is projected to soar over the coming years. According to a recent study by McKinsey, 100,000 jobs will be created in the city by 2020. Without the right talent, however, the lifeblood of these exciting startups will dry up.

http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/11/are-career-accelerators-the-solution-to-the-startup-skills-gap/

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