TIPS FOR TEACHING WITH APPS

By Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Teaching with apps is not new. We have compiled lists of apps and tech resources that can be used in the classroom and for education outside the classroom. However, we haven’t necessarily offered any tips for successfully using apps for teaching. Finding, downloading, and having students use apps for learning is one thing. Teaching with apps effectively and making use of the data they track is another task entirely. The goal of using an app in education is not simply to use it because it’s available but to enhance learning and individualized teaching approaches. We’ve listed some tips as to how you as an educator, or even parent, can optimally teach with apps in an effective way.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/tips-teaching-apps/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=35259

Best Online Classes for Job Skills

by Elizabeth Woyke, MIT Technology Review

In 2017, people flocked to online classes about artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and data analytics. In 2018, expect more of the same, say leading online-education providers Codecademy, Coursera, edX, and Udacity. In response to a request from MIT Technology Review, they calculated their most popular courses of the past year and revealed which topics they think will lure the most students in the next.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609636/best-online-classes-for-job-skills/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=35269

HOW EARLY SHOULD KIDS BEGIN STEM EDUCATION?

by Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Current research results are in favor of early childhood experiences for students, especially those who are disadvantaged. This education is the great equalizer because it provides a rich, common foundation for children who may have diverse backgrounds and experiences.  Students are capable of learning far more than you think they can. Most teachers will tell you that children will rise up to the standard you set, so you may as well elevate the bar for learning. And that brings us to STEM education in early childhood. That’s right – early childhood is the perfect time to begin science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/early-kids-begin-stem-education/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=35249

Discovery Ed Adds Virtual Reality to Civil War Lessons

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Although Discovery Education is known for hosting virtual field trips, the company has now begun to build virtual reality (VR) experiences into its digital content. Recently, the company announced the addition of three new VR components to its social studies products. Both Discovery Education Streaming Plus and Techbook will use content from a new, six-part American Heroes Channel series, “Blood and Fury: America’s Civil War” to enable students to explore Civil War themes through the eyes of soldiers. In “Desertion,” students will learn why soldiers deserted before they reached the battle and what could happen to them when they abandoned their posts.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/12/22/discovery-ed-adds-virtual-reality-to-civil-war-lessons.aspx

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=22023

What does a flipped classroom look like at each grade level?

by AARON SAMS AND JUSTIN AGLIO, eSchool News

Although the term “flipped learning” is almost universally recognized, teachers apply it in many forms, in all grades levels, and in various school environments. If you are a teacher using flipped learning, the chances are that you share some similarities with other teachers who flip—as well as some differences. However, the major commonality among all flipped learning teachers is that every one of them is creating personal learning experiences for each student. We asked three flipped teachers — one from an elementary school, one from a junior high, and one from a high school — to describe what learning looks like in their world.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/12/19/10-flipped-classroom/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=22015

New partnerships are helping support women as they pursue STEM careers

BY LAURA ASCIONE DEVANEY,eCampus News

Women are sorely lacking in the IT industry, and universities are taking notice and taking action with an influx of trending partnership-based programs designed to help get women in STEM–and help them stay there. When it comes to STEM, many women report experiencing negative stereotypes in class, and many say they lack female role models. Two-thirds of women in a recent CDW-G survey said they struggled with confidence. The survey included 300 women who are current STEM college students, recent graduates, and those who chose to leave technology, science and math programs. Forty-eight percent of survey respondents said being a woman in STEM made their higher education experience harder, and 46 percent said they considered switching fields in college.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/stem/trend-women-university-stem/

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The Most Popular Online Course Teaches You to Learn

By JOHN MARKOFF, NY Times

The world’s most popular online course is a general introduction to the art of learning, taught jointly by an educator and a neuroscientist. “Learning How To Learn,” which was created by Barbara Oakley, an electrical engineer, and Terry Sejnowski, a neuroscientist, has been ranked as the leading class by enrollment in a survey of the 50 largest online courses released earlier this month by the Online Course Report website. The course is “aimed at a broad audience of learners who wanted to improve their learning performance based on what we know about how brains learn,” said Dr. Sejnowski, the director of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/the-most-popular-online-course-teaches-you-to-learn/?_r=0

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The space for social media in structured online learning

by Gilly Salmon, et al; Distance Educator

In this paper, we explore the benefits of using social media in an online educational setting, with a particular focus on the use of Facebook and Twitter by participants in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed to enable educators to learn about the Carpe Diem learning design process. We define social media as digital social tools and environments located outside of the provision of a formal university-provided Learning Management System. We use data collected via interviews and surveys with the MOOC participants as well as social media postings made by the participants throughout the MOOC to offer insights into how participants’ usage and perception of social media in their online learning experiences differed and why. We identified that, although some participants benefitted from social media by crediting it, for example, with networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities, others objected or refused to engage with social media, perceiving it as a waste of their time.

http://elearningfeeds.com/the-space-for-social-media-in-structured-online-learning/

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14708

Online Learning Connects Pupils With The World

by Neville Lazarus, Sky News

Students in India are working online with 200 “grannies” across the globe as part of an education initiative aimed at helping children learn. The School in the Cloud project sees women from Britain, France and other countries volunteer an hour each day to talk to students in India via Skype. The students – many from underprivileged backgrounds – say it helps them learn English while familiarising them with computers and the internet. The project was established in Newcastle by Professor Sugata Mitra.

http://news.sky.com/story/1615732/online-learning-connects-pupils-with-the-world

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from Educational Technology http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/?p=14704

Technology moves faster than ethics

By Frank Kaufmann, Washington Times

Tech changes out-pace spiritual foundations for their ethical use. Tech changes affect three areas. Individuals acquire greater independence and reach. The locus of power shifts accordingly. And traditional buffers between discordant groups dissolve. These developments call for new structures for moral development, and the radical reassessment of human organization. Science fiction writers are doing far better reflecting on change and what is needed than those presumably responsible to govern or lead for the sake of positive human welfare. Virtually all current systems have been rendered obsolete by tech developments of the last 15 years. We race with these obsolete systems down the path toward a truly broken world with each passing day; politics, media and entertainment, education, security, and economics and finance, and more. All of these in their current form arose in the past era marking the rise of the nation state, and of “modern” industrial technology. They simply no longer correspond to the world in which we now live.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/31/technology-moves-faster-ethics/

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5 Time-Saving Ways Teachers Can Use Google Forms

By Jennifer Carey, Edudemic

One of my favorite features of Google Drive is Google Forms. If you’re unfamiliar with this, think of it as a way to create quick surveys that can be used for a number of applications. Google automatically aggregates this data into a Google Spreadsheet, making forms a great way to quickly collect and share information. I have seen educators and administrators use Google Forms in the most creative and inventive ways. If you’re just starting with Google Forms, here are five ways that you can use them to streamline your classroom!

http://www.edudemic.com/5-great-ways-use-google-forms/

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Schools look for creative ways to make e-textbooks a possibility

by Heather Mullinix, Crossville-Chronicle

“If it never starts, there is never going to be a shift. To me, let’s take that money that we were going to buy new math textbooks and let’s do something creative and culture shifting with that money instead of continuing to replicate the past,” he added. The school system will be considering adoption of new math textbooks this year and possible purchase of new books for the next school year at an estimated cost of $500,000. However, the school system has also been exploring possibilities for reducing the reliance on printed textbooks with laptops or tablets for each student to access digital learning content in school and at home. “The only way we’ll ever be able to go in this direction is if we have a culture change, we have the professional development to back it up, and we have the ability to utilize textbooks that are free or extremely reduced in cost.”

http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/schools-look-for-creative-ways-to-make-e-textbooks-a/article_8fa73806-8f83-11e4-9c0a-6b50e52c1c75.html

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How To Determine A Student’s Prior Knowledge

By Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

When you first step into a classroom, poised and ready to launch into a new discussion or lesson, you probably feel a sense of excitement. You’re about to embark on a journey with your class and every student is along for the ride. The problem, however, is that many students are not on the same page. Some are more prepared than others. Some are light years ahead, in fact. Then there are many students who have no prior knowledge and it’ll take a little extra time to get up to speed. This chart from the always wonderful Mia MacMeekin lays out the 27 ways to test the prior knowledge of students. This is a useful chart for any classroom teacher or student who wants to quickly test and think about a particular topic that is about to be discussed. Follow these couple dozen tips and you’ll get the entire classroom on the same page.

http://www.edudemic.com/a-students-prior-knowledge/

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3 Creative Tools to Encourage Student Feedback and Improve Teaching Skill

By Laura Iancu, Edudemic

At the end of each course, every educator tries to harvest the efforts allotted through good results. Student achievements give purpose to all the hard work and every hour spent to find new activities. But sometimes it is not enough. To be able to properly comprehend the bad and the good, to develop your teaching skills and manage to provide a better learning environment, it is necessary to request feedback from your students. Choosing the best tools to gather this kind of information can be difficult.

http://www.edudemic.com/3-creative-tools-encourage-student-feedback-improve-teaching-skills/

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Is Putting Expensive Technology In Classrooms A Recipe For Disaster?

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Damage is one of the biggest concerns from teachers and adminstrators when planning to deploy iPads in the classroom. We often talk about the importance of teaching your students how to handle their class devices carefully, having a clear and reasonable acceptable use policy, and the best super tough iPad cases to protect the investment. That said, it turns out that kids and teenagers don’t break as many devices as adults to. The handy infographic below takes a look at some statistics surrounding broken devices. It was created by a company that fixes devices and wants to encourage you to repair them rather than replace, but it is pretty interesting all the same! Keep reading to learn more.

http://www.edudemic.com/putting-expensive-technology-classrooms-recipe-disaster/

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