Catlin Tucker

AUGUST 8, 2016

In spring, I wrote a blog titled “ Classroom Furniture: Does it impede or improve learning? ” to explore how the design of a classroom impacts learning. I’ve been frustrated by my own bulky furniture, which stifles movement and makes collaboration challenging. Determined to redesign my own classroom, I researched furniture options, toured a retailer in Oakland, visited classrooms with alternative furniture, and presented a proposal to my school board.

Classroom 251

Classroom Learning Education 251

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 7, 2016

“ No two makerspaces should be exactly alike, because no two school communities are exactly alike. Properly planning your makerspace will ensure that you uncover themes that are unique and meaningful to your school. It will ensure that your space is vibrant and relevant, as well as one that is sustainable into the future. “ – Laura Fleming , author of Worlds of Making When we created our makerspace at New Milford High School many years ago we never fully realized the positive impact it would hav

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Maker Movement BYOD Common Core Outcomes 204

EdTech Magazine

AUGUST 12, 2016

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez Microsoft Surface Pen can facilitate a better learning experience for students.

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Microsoft Classroom Tablets Learning 232

The Journal

AUGUST 8, 2016

Seymour Papert passed away on July 31. He was 88. We share with you, in this week’s blog, what we learned from him: why children should learn to program.

Learning 190

Learning 190

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User Generated Education

AUGUST 6, 2016

Too often teachers are passive recipients of professional development rather than being active agents of their own development and change. Several recent reports have indicated that teacher professional development, as it is being implemented in most schools, is ineffective and a waste of time and money. Several studies over the past few years that have found professional development to be largely ineffective or unhelpful for teachers.

Professional Learning 174

Professional Learning Report Training Strategy 174

Digital Promise

AUGUST 9, 2016

With more and more educational technology tools on the market, schools and universities , the government , and parents all want to know, Which products are effective for which teachers and students? In response, ed-tech developers are using research to inform the early stages of product design and development, and to conduct evaluations of their products’ effectiveness.

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Industry Company Examples Accessibility 170

Neo LMS

AUGUST 9, 2016

The combination of students and mobile devices in the classroom has long been a debate topic among education professionals. The use of mobile devices during classes is often regarded as an element of distraction for students. But with today’s smartphones, can this still be the case? In the pre-smartphone era, when traditional mobile phones – or “dumb phones”, how I like to call them – ruled the world, students simply couldn’t use their phones for learning.

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Smartphone Classroom Mobility Gamification 169

Ditch That Textbook

AUGUST 11, 2016

Attention economy is a term that many in business are paying attention to. There’s lots of noise in media and in our everyday lives. Organizations are doing whatever they can to get people’s attention. Social media marketing. Billboards. Emails. Advertising in unique locations. (The ads they stick above urinals in the men’s room are a [.].

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Social Media Classroom 165

Teacher Reboot Camp

AUGUST 7, 2016

Welcome to Cycle 7 of The 30 Goals Challenge: Make it Meaningful ! “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” – John Dewey. Goal: Improve a lesson plan or activity to create a meaningful learning experience for your students. This can be a previous lesson you feel students have struggled with in the past or you can adapt a lesson plan you find on a website.

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Facebook Twitter Resources Technology 165

Ask a Tech Teacher

AUGUST 8, 2016

Here are eight of the top Digital Storytelling articles according to Ask a Tech Teacher readers: 9 Best-in-Class Digital Storytelling Tools. Storyboard That–Digital Storyteller, Graphic Organizer, and more. Digital Storytelling Apps. Digital Storytelling Websites. Common Core Writing–Digital Quick Writes. 42 Great Story Websites You’ll Love. Monday Freebies #28: My Storybook.

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Common Core Digital Citizenship Resources Technology 163

Speaker: Andrew Cohen, Founder & CEO of Brainscape

The instructor’s PPT slides are brilliant. You’ve splurged on the expensive interactive courseware. Student engagement is stellar. So… why are half of your students still forgetting everything they learned in just a matter of weeks? It's likely a matter of cognitive science! With so much material to "teach" these days, we often forget to incorporate key proven principles into our curricula — namely active recall, metacognition, spaced repetition, and interleaving practice.

Training

Neo LMS

AUGUST 11, 2016

When I started school, there were seven first-grade classes, and about 30 students in each one. We were all about the same age, some shy, some way too active, some nervous, but in our minds we were all the same: classmates, equal. By the time I started second grade, my class was missing a few students. Where did they go? Apparently, the school decided to create a special, eighth class, by selecting a few students with the lowest academic results from the other seven.

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Meeting Learning LMS Video 167

Ditch That Textbook

AUGUST 8, 2016

For me, my Genius Hour project was learning BASIC. I was in middle school, and this programming code intrigued me. We didn’t have any computer science classes except for a six-week “Introduction to Computers” rotation class. So I started tinkering with it on my computer at home. I found books to learn new commands. Then [.].

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Learning 164

EdTech Magazine

AUGUST 10, 2016

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez As more classrooms get tech-savvy, it’s important to keep IT security top of mind.

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Chromebook Classroom Data 202

Dangerously Irrelevant

AUGUST 6, 2016

Three days after the launch of Pokemon Go here in the United States, a central office administrator told me that his superintendent had emailed the entire district leadership team, warning them about the game because “six teenagers already had been killed by wandering into traffic while playing the game.” The administrator with whom I spoke said that he was concerned and also curious about what I thought.

Course 0

Course Technology Google Learning 0

This white paper examines and proposes revisions to the "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" introduced by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson in 1987 for today's technology-driven world.

Technology

Ask a Tech Teacher

AUGUST 10, 2016

C-STEM Studio is a California A-G approved curriculum and turn-key solution for teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics through computing and robotics. This web-based scalable program is available for elementary through high school students and can last anywhere from four weeks to a year. As Calvin Chen, Assistant Director of the UC Davis Center for Computing and STEM Education who offers this program, states simply: “O ur goal is to get kids interested in math and robot

Robotics 152

Robotics STEM Common Core Software 152

Battelle for Kids

AUGUST 8, 2016

Volume 3, Issue 7, Number 5. Driving Question: How can we use digital tools to create a culture which empowers students? "If all instructors were to realize that the quality of mental process, not the production of correct answers, is the measure of educative growth, something hardly less than a revolution in teaching would be worked." ― John Dewey, Democracy and Education.

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Tools Classroom Education 152

More Verbs

AUGUST 9, 2016

What’s all the fuss about micro-credentials and digital badging? What are they and how do I earn them? What do they have to do with professional development? What’s this new iLearnMaine Educator Micro-credentials program from ACTEM and the DOE? Attend this session and not only discover answers to these questions, but get a head start on figuring out which micro-credentials you might like to earn!

Digital Badges 150

Digital Badges Resources Data Classroom 150

EdTech4Beginners

AUGUST 8, 2016

When I see children hooked on Candy Crush and Minecraft, hardly engaging with their friends during social times, I feel worried for them. What is this doing to their social and emotional skills and wellbeing? However, there are so many ways tech is used positively. I really don’t know what to think! I do however know that it is vital that we educate children about technology – including both the positive points and the negatives.

Technology 149

Technology Education 149

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Ask a Tech Teacher

AUGUST 9, 2016

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m taking a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, w

Resources 151

Resources Digital Citizenship Common Core Flipped Classroom 151

Securly

AUGUST 10, 2016

We’re not only the leading cloud-based provider of Internet security for K-12 schools, but also the industry’s first self-servable web filter. “With our self-serve update, Securly is realizing its long-held vision of giving IT Admins a product that can be set up in minutes,” says Paul Katcher, UI developer at Securly. Since the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in 2000, web filtering has been required for schools that seek e-rate funding.

E-rate 145

E-rate EdTech Industry Policies 145

EdTech Magazine

AUGUST 9, 2016

By Meghan Bogardus Cortez New PowerPoint tool has the potential to make slideshow presentations interactive and engaging.

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Microsoft Classroom Tools Software 169

Digital Promise

AUGUST 10, 2016

Going back to school is an exciting and busy time for teachers and school administrators. There’s a ton of work to be done, from creating lesson plans, to preparing classrooms, to welcoming new students. Kicking off a new school year is a challenge in itself, but what happens when a school is also starting a new technology initiative that provides always available access to all students and teachers?

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Tablets Video Meeting Technology 138

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

Comparison

Ask a Tech Teacher

AUGUST 12, 2016

Start date for the 2016-17 online school year: August, 8, 2016. Curriculum Companion Wikis (K-5 only) follow a tech professional as s/he teaches each lesson in the SL K-5 curriculum textbooks. Presented via video (10-15 minutes each), you can ask questions, start a discussion with other teachers using the curriculum, and access additional resources.

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Wiki Digital Citizenship Accessibility Resources 151

Edsurge

AUGUST 6, 2016

In my last EdSurge article, “Computer Science Goes Beyond Coding ,” I wrote about the difference between coding and computer science, to help us understand what we mean by phrases like “Teach kids to code” and “Computer science for all.” In that article and in many other articles, there is another term that appears often: “Computational thinking.” Well, what is Computational Thinking (CT), and how does it differ from Coding and Computer Science—especially when it comes to classroom practice and

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Data Google Strategy Resources 131

EdTech4Beginners

AUGUST 11, 2016

Procrastination is something we all battle with. It stops us getting the things done that we want to get done and it stops us achieving the things we want to achieve. It is particularly pervasive in college students with 80%-95% engaging in procrastination. In a wider context, 15% to 20% of the general public are also chronically affected by procrastination.

Technology 130

Technology Facebook EdTech Examples 130

Digital Promise

AUGUST 10, 2016

After many weeks away from their traditional school schedule, students across the country are starting to re-enter their classrooms and share stories of their summer vacations. Whether or not they know it yet, the way students spent their vacation days can play an enormous role in their future academic success as compared to their peers. The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) defines summer learning loss as “the phenomenon where young people lose academic skills over the summer.

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Strategy Dropout Robotics Learning 128

Speaker: Amanda Davis, Chief Experience Officer and Liam O'Malley, VP of Association Solutions

The "new normal" is now a little less new, a little more normal. Does that mean your current LMS strategy is in need of a refresh? Is your organization or association leaning into the always-evolving eLearning environment to ensure you have the tools and content to remain relevant through all this change? There are many complex decision-making processes within your learning & development strategy and LMS lifecycle management, including: Selection.

LMS

Education Elements

AUGUST 10, 2016

Recently, I had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop with our partners at Loudoun County Public Schools and the Buck Institute for Education to do some deep thinking about the connections between project-based learning (PBL) and personalized learning (PL). I am very passionate about these two pillars of instruction, and I'm doubly passionate about their intersection.

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Learning Personalized Learning Education 127

Edsurge

AUGUST 11, 2016

What does it mean to be human in a digital age? Some people researching education technology might not spend their days wondering how their work fits into this existential question—but George Siemens isn’t "some people." “Maybe my mama hugged me extra when I was a baby.” That’s his explanation for how he thinks about the role of education in the 21st century.

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Digital Learning Technology MOOC Learning Analytics 109

The Jose Vilson

AUGUST 9, 2016

“How do you show students you care and love them?” Someone asked me that this afternoon. And every other week. Shout-out to the other eighth grade math teacher who asked it. I’m not about the touchy-feely stuff; I prefer to discuss techniques, strategies, and content where possible. I prefer to talk about race, class, gender, and take long walks in the city.

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Strategy Classroom Education 112

Digital Promise

AUGUST 12, 2016

Over the past few months, Digital Promise has traveled the country capturing the stories of educators who have earned Deeper Learning micro-credentials to transform teaching and learning. These 40 Deeper Learning micro-credentials were developed by Digital Promise to recognize educators who have shifted their classroom practice to encourage student success in our increasingly complex world.

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Video Case Study Learning Study 127

This whitepaper explores integrating the PowerTeaching pedagogical approach within a HyFlex (Hybrid Flexible) educational model, focusing on employing cooperative learning strategies and efficient classroom management techniques.

Education