by Sue Ann Rybak, Chestnut Hill Local
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) voted Feb. 15 to give roughly $20 million to outside vendors for virtual classes and data collection rather than allocating those funds to address and fix infrastructure-related environmental hazards district wide and hiring experienced certified teachers, counselors and librarians.
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by Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate
If you are looking for an easy learning management system for your classroom, then consider Google Classroom. As Google explains, “Classroom is a free web service for schools, non-profits, and anyone with a personal Google Account. Classroom makes it easy for learners and instructors to connect—inside and outside of schools.” This free platform makes it easy to store files, go paperless, and work with students throughout the learning process. Here is what you need to know to use Google Classroom.
http://www.thetechedvocate.org/use-google-classroom/
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by BusinessWire
The results of the ISHA Online Learning Program have far exceeded original expectations, and have helped provide humanitarians the skills needed to provide assistance to communities across Syria. Results to date include:
13,050 learners in five key countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey
4,912 learners in Syria
99,150 online course registrations
21,126 online course completions
ISHA will continue to provide support for all learners using DisasterReady, and will source new content, as well as explore opportunities to collaborate on new content development projects pending funding availability.
BY ALEX GONZALEZ, eSchool News
Learning how to effectively use and implement new classroom edtech requires educators to spend their most valuable currency: time. Time spent troubleshooting technology in the classroom is wasted, and it can make educators skeptical of new technology. Regardless of teaching philosophy, you must discover which edtech resources will provide an authentic learning experience for your students and make the most effective use of teachers’ time. The following is a three-step technology integration approach that you can follow to ensure you are prepared to discover and deploy new technology.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/03/01/tips-teacher-helpful-edtech/
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by Malcolm Brown and Veronica Diaz, EDUCAUSE Review
This article highlights the results of two EDUCAUSE community surveys—from the IT and the teaching and learning communities—and shows their complementary priorities, intersections, and synergies. As this year’s EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues list makes clear, student success has become a strategic focal point for many higher education institutions. The concept of student success is itself multidimensional: it includes success not only in academic coursework but also in degree planning, constructing next-generation digital learning environments and resources, and supporting a range of what the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) calls high-impact practices. Increasing student success requires institutional attention to all of these areas. Although challenging, improvements made in these areas, if done in tandem, can result in academic transformation: innovation and change that is multidimensional and strategic and that addresses campus culture.
http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/1/teaching-learning-and-it-issues-priorities-and-intersections
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By Liam Tung, ZD Net
Chinese smartphone maker claims breakthrough in charge times with new Super mCharge tech. Chinese smartphone maker Meizu has shown off its new Super mCharge tech fully charging a 3,000mAh battery in 20 minutes. Meizu unveiled the new battery tech on Tuesday at Mobile World Congress, offering a peek at the next generation of its mCharge quick-charging technology for lithium-ion batteries. That performance compares with Qualcomm’s recently announced Quick Charge 4.0 tech in the new Snapdragon 835 processor, which in tests with a 2 750mAh battery delivered a 50 percent charge in 15 minutes, or an estimated five-hour charge in five minutes.
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By Leila Meyer, THE Journal
Mobile apps, online platforms and other technologies are transforming world language education programs by “creating more dynamic, interactive experiences that expose students to the nuances of languages and cultures,” according to a new report from the New Media Consortium (NMC). The role of technology in innovating language education is being driven by pedagogical trends and challenges. The report, “Innovating Language Education: An NMC Horizon Project Strategic Brief,” was commissioned by the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center (LFTIC) at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. It identifies trends and challenges affecting language education as well as developments in technology for language education. It concludes with a list of five recommendations for improving language education through the use of technology and pedagogical approaches.
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By Leila Meyer, THE Journal
A virtual field trip is an opportunity for students to visit other places, talk to experts and participate in interactive learning activities without leaving the classroom. Dacia Jones, district science specialist at Durham Public Schools in Durham, NC, has been using virtual field trips in her classroom for 20 years. “My first year in the classroom, we took all of our kids to China by setting up our classroom as a plane, and when we got them out of the makeshift plane, they were in China, and we had passports,” she said. These days, virtual field trips are more high tech, with students experiencing other places on the globe in three-dimensional virtual reality, exploring outer space or under the ocean and video chatting with experts in real time.
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by JOEY YE, Yale News
“Music and Social Action” is the first massive open online course launched by the School of Music, but it also stands out in other ways. Taught by music lecturer and MacArthur Fellow Sebastian Ruth, the course explores the societal roles of musicians and how classical music can enact social change. Executive Director of the Office of Digital Dissemination and Online Education Lucas Swineford said Yale Broadcast Studios, a part of the Center for Teaching and Learning, was instrumental in constructing many elements of the class that set it apart from those produced in the past. In particular, the course includes many visual components and seminar-style discussions. It is also the only MOOC so far to have required traveling outside of the state of Connecticut for filming.
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/03/03/school-of-music-seminar-launches-online/
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By Nicole Comforto, Edudemic
We often write about how technology can help teachers, but sometimes it’s useful to take a step back and consider how teachers influence technology. As with other subjects, the knowledge and enthusiasm that teachers show for technology in the classroom will have long-term effects on students, and the nation as a whole. A tech-savvy nation starts with tech-savvy teachers.
http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-will-change-the-future-of-tech/
by UC Berkeley
On March 4th the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Berkeley’s MOOCLab and EdX and will launch the first ever Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) focused on using solution-based journalism to drive social change. The seven-week course, Journalism for Social Change (J4SC), will train students how to create solution-based journalism on issues affecting vulnerable children and youth. Through video-lectures, interactive games and writing exercises, they will report and produce journalism that elevates public discourse and policy. Exemplary stories will be published in The Chronicle of Social Change, an online news website dedicated to solution-based journalism on issues affecting children and youth. Several past students have proceeded to write longer features as well, including an 8,000-word article on child exploitation that ran in the East Bay Express.
https://gspp.berkeley.edu/news/news-center/press-release-journalism-for-social-change
by Jessica Gourdon, Translated by Nina Fink; EducPros.fr
According to Michelle Weise, Senior Research Fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute, soon very few American students will receive a traditional four-year, on-campus college education. The majority of them will put together their own mix of trainings, internships, MOOCs and other alternative coursework. We met with Weise to discuss the digital revolution in education in preparation for EducPros’ East Coast Learning Expedition this April.
http://www.letudiant.fr/educpros/actualite/to-each-his-own-education.html
By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology
The proposed Congressional Tax Reform Act of 2014, put forward this week by Dave Camp, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, would end deductions for tuition and student loan interest and eliminate certain deductions, such as classroom supplies purchased personally by teachers in an effort to simplify the tax code related to education. To soften the blow to education, promised the authors, taxpayers would see “more generous” standard deductions, which could offset specific ones no longer allowed.
By David Nagel, THE Journal
Within the next two years, IT organizations will need to master a slew of mobile-related skills — many of them new or unfamiliar. They’ll also need to have on hand the tools to execute and support increasingly important mobile technologies. In a post, Gartner Vice President Nick Jones identified several of these skills and tools that apply to organizations across sectors.
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/02/24/8-mobile-competencies-it-will-need-by-2016.aspx
by Edutopia, Mary Beth Hertz
I have met many edtech entrepreneurs through my work in teaching technology to kids, and through working with organizations that support innovation in the field of educational technology. As a co-organizer of the Philly EdTech Meetup, I also get to talk one-on-one to many entrepreneurs on a fairly regular basis. Through these conversations, it has become apparent that there are many things that edtech entrepreneurs can do to stay relevant and be successful.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-tips-for-edtech-entrepreneurs-mary-beth-hertz
