Sat.May 16, 2015 - Fri.May 22, 2015

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Words Mean More to Students When They're Personal

Ed Tech from the Ground Up

You can't memorize your way to a better vocabulary. Contextual learning is the key to word learning. But is context enough? Click the headline to read the full post. Questions? Email websupport@epe.org.

Learning 289
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Q&A: Principal Speaks Out on the Power YouTube Can Have on Schools

EdTech Magazine

By D. Frank Smith One of EdTech’ s Top 50 bloggers of 2015 has a powerful strategy for engaging kids with YouTube videos.

EdTech 315
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Episode 146: Mind Hacking: Missing Skills We’re Not Teaching Students

The CoolCatTeacher

Sir John Hargrave on the Every Classroom Matters Show Sir John Hargrave has taken the research on the mind and related it to current self-help practices to help us learn what works. In today’s episode, we learn about essential thought patterns we should understand to be successful educators. Metacognition is an essential skill of the most successful students.

How To 261
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A Time and Place For Buy-In

A Principal's Reflections

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t stand the term “buy-in” when it comes to change. It is one of these phrases that has outlived its usefulness, if in fact sustainable change leading to transformation is the ultimate goal. More often than not, this leadership tactic is put into play to get educators on board with specific mandates and directives that have been pushed down from either the state government or central office.

Outcomes 251
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Quickly Create Personalized Learning Experiences that Work

How can we actively engage learners 24/7, on their level and according to their interests, while respecting their learning styles? It’s not impossible. In this guide: Explore how to transform traditional, one-way videos into two-way interactive learning experiences Understand different types of artificial intelligence (AI), including - Generative vs.

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Are Schools Helpless, Hapless When it Comes to IT Privacy and Security?

Doug Levin

Advocates would have us believe that school districts are incapable of making responsible decisions about technology-related privacy and security issues affecting students. Even if they are correct about the current state of affairs – and they just might be – it doesn’t abdicate our responsibility to help schools and educators do better.

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Q&A: Looking to the Future of Classroom Tech with Tom Murray

EdTech Magazine

By D. Frank Smith One of EdTech's 2015 Top 50 K–12 IT bloggers talks about the technologies that are creating sweeping changes in the industry.

Industry 259

More Trending

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EduGems: Edtech Updates, Google Tools, & More

Teacher Reboot Camp

Vol 1:1, click here to read the other EduGems issues ! “The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.” – Charlie Munger. I’m so thankful you read my blog. You may not know that I regularly share my education discoveries, resources, education technology updates, free apps, web tools, and tips on Twitter (@ShellTerrell).

Tools 230
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Teachers As Researchers: The Power of Mindset

Digital Promise

Serena Hicks is an English and language arts teacher and professional development facilitator in West Ada School District , in Meridian, Idaho. Change is hard! In my experience, I’ve noticed that teachers are more likely to make positive changes when they get to decide when and how to change. I used to make changes in my classroom based on intuition - I just know what my students need - but found that intuition alone wasn’t enough to truly spark student learning.

Survey 235
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Alabama Schools Now Required to Offer Virtual Courses

EdTech Magazine

By D. Frank Smith State legislators are recognizing the potential for online coursework.

Course 294
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Option 3: Actually USE the smartphones

Dangerously Irrelevant

Murphy & Beland’s recent study is making the rounds online, particularly among those who are eager to find reasons to ban learning technologies in classrooms. The economists found that banning mobile phones helped improve student achievement on standardized test scores , with the biggest gains seen by low-achieving and at-risk students. Here are my thoughts on this… The outcome measure is standardized test score improvement.

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Can Brain Science Actually Help Make Your Training & Teaching Stick?

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.

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EduGems: STEM, Google Guide, Coding & More

Teacher Reboot Camp

Vol 1:2, click here to read the other EduGem issues ! These are today’s finds! Discover a Google Hangouts for Teachers guide, Chrome extensions, STEM resources, infographics, creativity activities, web tools to teach history, coding resources, and more in this second edition. I also regularly share these incredible resources on Twitter, @ShellTerrell.

STEM 223
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3 Ways Teachers Are Using Social Media to Engage Students

Brilliant or Insane

Brilliant or Insane. 3 Ways Teachers Are Using Social Media to Engage Students by Brittni Brown The battle between teachers and social media accounts for student attention has been one in which teachers seem quite likely to lose. High schools have banned phones, established site blocks, and multiple other strategies to reduce student abilities to gain access to […].

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How to Compare and Contrast Authentically

Ask a Tech Teacher

To students, knowing how to ‘compare and contrast’ sounds academic, not real world, but we teachers know most of life is choosing between options. The better adults are at this skill, the more they thrive in the world. Common Core Standards recognize the importance of this skill by addressing it in over 29 Standards, at every grade level from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade.

How To 215
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Making MAKEing More Inclusive

User Generated Education

The maker movement and maker education, in my perspective, are such great initiatives – really in line with what student-centric education should be in this era of formal and informal learning. Maker education (often referred to as “Maker Ed”) is a new school of educational thought [at least in terms of having an “official” educational label – JG] that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students.

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Reimagining Chickering & Gamson's Principles Post-Pandemic: Technology's Central Role in Modern Edu

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.

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10 useful tools for assessment with tech

Ditch That Textbook

We’re down to the final days of the school year at my school, and many students and teachers have turned their thoughts to assessment. Final exams. Final projects. End-of-course assessments. Quick review sessions. Plenty of options exist to gauge student understanding by using tech tools. The assessment process can be engaging for students and more [.].

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Don’t Stop. Make Whole School a Whole Community Approach

Battelle for Kids

May 18, 2015, Volume 2, Issue 6, Number 8. Driving Question: Whole School or Whole Community? We've spoken in the education community for a while now about whole school reform – which new initiatives and changes should not be restricted to a classroom or section of the school, but be implemented school-wide. This approach encompasses the decisions and actions that take place in the school environment and plays back into all school policies, functions, and pedagogy.

Policies 191
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5 Must-have tools for Ed Conferences

Ask a Tech Teacher

It’s summer, time for teachers to recharge their cerebral batteries. That could mean reading, going on field trips, spending time with online PLNs, or taking calls from family members who usually end up at voice mail. For many, it means attending conferences like ISTE and NEA to learn how the heck to integrate technology into their lesson plans.

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Schools, baseball teams, and casinos

Dangerously Irrelevant

Ramona Shelburne said: [Baseball] franchises that remain static will eventually regress and deteriorate. People, too. So the antidote is to be proactive. Change before you’re forced to. Keep putting yourself in the best positions to succeed. When things break the wrong way, break new ground. “The mindset in everything we do is to be the casino,” Friedman said. “We want to be the house.

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Behind the Bell: The Underlying Impact of Tardiness in K-12 Schools

Managing a K-12 campus with constant pressure to meet performance metrics is challenging. And tardiness can significantly limit a school from reaching these goals. Learn more about why chronic lateness matters, and key strategies to address the following impacts: Data errors caused by manual processes Low attendance and graduation rates that affect a school’s reputation Classroom disruption, which leads to poor academic performance High staff attrition and “The Teacher Exodus” Unmet LCAP goals t

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Three Problems with Directive Feedback and One Powerful Solution

Brilliant or Insane

Brilliant or Insane. Much has been written about the power of criteria-specific feedback, and I’ve witnessed what happens when teachers take the emphasis off of grades and devote more time and energy to improving the quality of the feedback that they provide to students. All great writing teachers know that grades don’t perpetuate learning. In fact, they compromise […].

Learning 189
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E-Rate Funding Applications Total $3.9B for 2015

EdTech Magazine

By D. Frank Smith 'These requests reflect long pent-up demand' says FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

E-rate 245
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15 Memorial Day Websites for Students

Ask a Tech Teacher

Memorial Day is the time we remember all of those soldiers (and anyone in the Armed Forces) who gave their lives in the defense of American freedom. In war and peace, they made the ultimate sacrifice, and because of them we are privileged to live the American Dream. Once a year, we honor them, their sacrifice, and those they left behind. Here are some activities to help students understand the import of this day: In Flanders Field- -poem.

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Test prep works

Dangerously Irrelevant

Sarah Blaine said: ten years into private practice, I don’t draw on my two months of intensive bar test prep to advise my clients or manage my work. I don’t rely on essay formulas to craft my briefs, and of course I have never encountered an MBE-style multiple choice question. But the thing is… PMBR and BAR/BRI worked. Test prep works. Test prep taught me to immerse myself in the logic of the test-makers, and how to effectively game the system to achieve my goal: a passing score. … The fac

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The Battle of the Authoring Tools: A 10-Point Comparison for Picking the Right One

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.

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EduGems: Edtech Updates, Google Tools, & More

Teacher Reboot Camp

Vol 1:1, click here to read the other EduGems issues ! “The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.” – Charlie Munger. I’m so thankful you read my blog. You may not know that I regularly share my education discoveries, resources, education technology updates, free apps, web tools, and tips on Twitter (@ShellTerrell).

Tools 185
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Online Attack Suspends Minnesota's State Tests

EdTech Magazine

By D. Frank Smith A third-party DDoS attack put online tests on hold in May.

Classroom 258
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21st Century School — How Technology Is Changing Education

Ask a Tech Teacher

The technological advances of the past two decades have changed the world, and education is no exception. Today’s students have access to far more knowledge than their parents once found in encyclopedias and on maps. With the click of a mouse and without leaving the classroom, they can access the collective knowledge of all mankind via the Internet.

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My feedback on the draft ISLLC standards

Dangerously Irrelevant

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is working on its latest draft of standards for school leaders. The ISLLC standards are intended to detail the knowledge and skills that effective district and school leaders need in order to build teams of teachers and leaders who improve student learning. CCSSO is seeking feedback on the draft standards.

Policies 186
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The Roses and Thorns of an LMS Strategy: How to Flourish with the Right LMS

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.

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The Future of Libraries - what does it look like?

Educational Technology Guy

Libraries, like schools, are changing with technology. The typical library full of books will be going away and be replaced with a space for accessing digital resources and getting help finding resources. Many libraries are struggling to change and even attract visitors. Here is an infographic with some interesting details about the library of the future: Future of Libraries Here is an article with more about this. https://www.webcheckout.net/blog/library-future/ -.

Libraries 177
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35 Things Every Teacher Should Do Before the School Year Ends

Brilliant or Insane

Brilliant or Insane. The school year is filled with testing, report cards, and many other hurdles that make it exceedingly difficult. Don’t allow another year to pass without some completely out-of-the-box behavior. You never know when crossing a few old-school boundaries may change a student’s or a colleague’s life, while bringing the joy back to your teaching. 35 things […].

Report 176
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Tech Tip #105: Create Shortkeys for Windows Tools

Ask a Tech Teacher

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy! Q: I love the Windows snipping tool, but it takes too long to get to. Is there a shortkey for it? A: Oddly, there isn’t, which is why I didn’t use it for a long time.

Tools 181
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The 3 Things Digital Classrooms Really Need

The Web20Classroom

My first experience with technology in the classroom was the good ol' Apple IIe and endless hours playing Oregon Trail and Math Blaster. That evolved to an after school coding club in high school where I learned how to make a square and a flower using BASIC. I got my first personal computer as a freshman in college (1998) and finally got Internet at home when I came home at the Holidays the same year.

Classroom 175
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Enhancing HyFlex Education through the PowerTeaching Framework

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.