Personal Google accounts can now create classes in Google Classroom

by Abner Li, 9to5Google

Classroom allows teachers to post schedules online and give out assignments. In turn, students can submit work and collaborate, as well as take quizzes with Google Forms. Previously, personal Google accounts could only join classes already started by G Suite accounts. Now, any regular user can create classes and manage curriculum. Google cites online education classes, clubs, and other informal groups as being able to take advantage of this wider release. The free version of Classroom does not have integration with G Suite for Education and as such does not permit full administration of user accounts, email summaries of student work for guardians, and other paid features.

https://9to5google.com/2017/04/27/google-classroom-create/

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How our minds really DO meet: Scientists say pupils are on the same wavelength when they are enjoying their class

by Daily Mail

Now it seems pupils really are all on the same wavelength when they are enjoying their class. Using portable scanners, scientists found that the brainwaves of children synchronised with each other when they were engaged with the subject. The New York University study also discovered that pairs of students who were close to each other were more in synchrony. The phenomenon can also occur when two or more people have a good conversation, dance – or even carry a heavy piece of furniture, according to the research published in Current Biology.

\http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4453552/Pupils-wavelength-enjoying-class.html

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Reasons to Consider Online College After High School

By Joe Chapman, US News

Thousands of high school seniors will soon decide: What’s next for me? But what makes this question different from in years past is that more than ever, students have multiple avenues for earning a college degree. Students can choose a path that best fits their individual goals on their own terms. In the U.S., less than a third of undergraduates are considered “traditional” students, referring to those enrolled full time at a four-year residential college. Further, a recent study from the National Center for Education Statistics found that 62 percent of students work either full or part time, and 28 percent have at least one dependent. For many nontraditional students, pursuing a degree online is ideal, allowing them to achieve their goals and earn an undergraduate credential from anywhere in the world, even if life gets in the way.

https://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2017-04-28/reasons-to-consider-an-online-bachelors-program-after-high-school

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Hands on with STEM

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Just because you’re using a computing device to do something doesn’t make it STEM-friendly. Here’s how to know if your classroom technology is speaking the right language. When the students walk into one of the seven courses that Livesay oversees as a STEM teacher, they quickly learn one thing: What they do will be hands-on. And that makes the difference between a STEM lesson plan and a traditional lesson plan: the real-life component. As an example, he said, “If you were teaching a lesson on how to figure square footage of a room, it’s just length times width. To make that a STEM lesson, you could have tape measures in the room and after doing stuff on paper, the kids would pick up a tape measure and measure the room and do the calculations. It’s student-centered learning instead of teacher-centered.”

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/04/21/hands-on-with-stem.aspx

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Tablet Market Slides Worldwide, Though Detachables See Continued Growth

By Richard Chang, Campus Technology

Worldwide tablet shipments slumped 14.7 percent during the first quarter of 2016, according to preliminary data released today by the International Data Corp. (IDC), a market research firm. First-quarter seasonality, along with an overall unenthused customer base, were factors that caused the decline, IDC reported. Shipments of Apple tablets, including iPad and iPad Pro, dropped 18.8 percent in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the first quarter of 2015. Apple’s tablet market share also slipped from 27.2 percent in Q1 2015 to 25.9 percent in Q1 2016. Meanwhile, detachable tablets — devices that include removable keyboards — saw triple-digit year-over-year growth on shipments of more than 4.9 million units, an all-time high for the first quarter of a calendar year.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/04/28/tablet-market-slides-worldwide.aspx

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4 Benefits Of Online Summer School To Both Parents And Children

By Belle Smith, Parent Herald

It looks like online summer courses are beneficial to students, and it works for the parents as well! Most children are usually looking forward to summer to get away from school. However, it looks like more kids are now interested in taking online summer classes rather than just spending it doing nothing! But why is there a sudden surge in children and teens taking an interest in virtual learning? Online summer courses happen to have benefits to the students, and it works for their parents as well!

http://www.parentherald.com/articles/40344/20160430/4-benefits-of-online-summer-school-to-both-parents-and-children.htm

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How 3 prominent universities are becoming video trailblazers

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

How three institutions are championing collaboration through interactive and streaming video across the academic world. Integrate with your LMS, go mobile-friendly and, above all, make sure it’s user-friendly. These were just three common must-haves when implementing a video platform across campus, cited by three massive universities during Internet2’s 2015 Global Summit on the topic “Collaboration through interactive and streaming video across the academic world.” Purdue University, Arizona State University, and University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill all utilize different video platforms, but their basic requirements are the same: integrate with the university LMS, allow for all device, have a user-friendly structure, and allow for collaboration on campus and off-campus.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/university-video-internet2-281/

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South Carolina District Taps Partners To Launch Home Internet Access Pilot

By Joshua Bolkan, THE Journal

Spartanburg School District Seven has teamed with a local housing authority and two private partners in a project that will provide home Internet access for students living in public housing. For two years, the district has been providing students in grades 3-12 iPads or MacBook Airs. Following a survey, the district estimated that half its students didn’t have home Internet access and began partnering with local organizations such as businesses and churches to provide Wi-Fi access in the community for those students. Some students, however, were not even able to access those locations. As a result, Spartanburg School District Seven, Spartanburg Housing Authority, Novatel Wireless and Kajeet have partnered to launch a pilot project that will “provide students in public housing with filtered Internet connectivity to access online textbooks, apps, emails, documents and Web sites, as well as communicate with their teachers,” according to a news release.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/05/01/south-carolina-district-taps-partners-to-launch-home-internet-access-pilot.aspx

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WiFi on Wheels Puts Two Districts on the Fast Track to 24/7 Access

By Bridget McCrea, THE Journal

Internet-enabled school buses keep students connected on the road, in school parking lots and in their own neighborhoods. School buses used to serve one purpose: getting students to and from school. But driven by a mandate to provide Internet connectivity to all students, some creative districts have deployed mobile wireless technology to transform their buses into moving WiFi zones, stationary hotspots or both. Among the students at Coachella Valley Unified School District (CA), 24/7 Web access is not a given. According to Superintendent Darryl Adams, “Only about 60 percent of the student population has Internet access at home.” To solve the problem, he put his own spin on the concept of mobile learning. “They’re putting WiFi in cars now,” he said, “so I thought, ‘Why not put it on a school bus?’ ”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/04/30/wifi-on-wheels.aspx

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Community College Uses Student Tracking Software to Improve Completion Rates

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

Harper College, a two-year community college in Illinois, is using early warning and student tracking software as part of its Project Success initiative, which identifies and tracks students who are at risk of not completing their diploma or certificate programs and then intervenes to ensure those students have the guidance they need to help them complete their courses.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/05/07/community-college-uses-student-tracking-software-to-improve-completion-rates.aspx

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Google Developing Free LMS as Part of Apps for Education

By David Nagel, THE Journal

Google is now taking applications for a limited preview of a new app called Google Classroom — a tool that brings learning management functionality to the Google Apps for Education suite. According to Google Apps for Education Product Manager Zach Yeskel, Google Classroom is designed “to give teachers more time to teach [and to] give students more time to learn” by helping them avoid “some of the busywork” that’s part of the process of teaching. Yeskel said Classroom has been piloted in about a dozen schools around the country so far, including institutions in New York, California and Illinois.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/05/06/google-developing-free-lms-as-part-of-apps-for-education.aspx

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Khan Academy Founder: Online Education Can’t Replace Face-to-Face Learning

By Felicia Mello, Vegas 7

I never imagined that the virtual would be a replacement for the physical. If a student can get the lecture at their own pace, you don’t have to have lecture in the classroom anymore. It frees up class time for more interaction, more dialogue … more deep experiences. What I want for my children is a physical school where they have amazing teachers who mentor them, but where they’re able to learn at their own pace.

http://vegasseven.com/2014/05/05/khan-academy-founder-online-education-cant-replace-face-face-learning/

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