Doug Levin

APRIL 30, 2016

Newly published, peer-reviewed research out of Michigan State University and the University of California, Irvine suggests that one-to-one laptop programs improve student academic achievement in K-12 classrooms. The primary author of the study ( Binbin Zheng, Ph.D. , Assistant Professor at the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Michigan State University) was kind enough to provide me a review copy and permission to blog about the findings.

Laptops 279

Laptops Study Learning Analysis 279

The Journal

APRIL 5, 2016

OER – Open Education Resources – are being touted by the Department of Education as the key to future of K-12 curriculum. While there is no question that OER are a component of the new digital curriculum, in this blog, we answer the question raised in the blog post’s title.

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OER Education Resources 276

Neo LMS

APRIL 7, 2016

“ The attention span of a goldfish is longer than a human’s. ” Seriously. The goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds, while humans only go to the limit of 8 seconds. Keep that in mind next time you create e-learning courses for kids. Each pupil in your class may just be like Dory from Finding Nemo: But it's not really their fault. Why the short attention span?

Learning 174

Learning E-rate Course Microsoft 174

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 19, 2016

I’m always looking for new music to play while my students are independently working. I find that if music is quietly played in the background, it creates a calm and ambient ‘working’ atmosphere. Below are 10 albums that I think are great: 1) Keith Kenniff – Branches. 2) Zero 7 – Simple Things. 3) Air – Moon Safari (Remove ‘Sexy Boy’). 4) Agnes Obel – Philharmonics. 5) The Theory of Everything Soundtrack – Johann Johannsson. 6) Eluvium

Classroom 186

Classroom Education Learning 186

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

APRIL 29, 2016

Many of you are familiar with the award-winning free app called Zap Zap Math. I first learned about it through an email about their newly updated platform– …addictive math games. kids fall in love with math. free, higher order thinking games… I have to admit, I was intrigued. Not a lot of math apps can fulfill these claims. Could Zap Zap Math, with that zippy name, beautiful visual graphics, lively music, and the space theme, come through?

Digital Citizenship 183

Digital Citizenship iPad Common Core Learning 183

Teacher Reboot Camp

APRIL 29, 2016

Welcome to Cycle 7 of The 30 Goals Challenge: Make it Meaningful ! If your actions in the classroom inspire children to achieve more, question more, and dream more, you are indeed worthy of the title “Teacher.” – Robert John Meehan. Goal: Share with a community of teachers why you teach. Accomplish this goal: We are revisiting this goal from 2013 , due to a new project by Teacher 2 Teacher where teachers share why they teach, using the hashtag, #WhyITeach.

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Classroom Twitter Facebook Learning 155

The Journal

APRIL 18, 2016

The term “blended learning” accurately describes the pedagogical practices that are taking place in 1-to-1 classrooms. This week’s screed (aka blog post) describes the following unfortunate fact: the term “blended learning” is being used by some to mean “adaptive, personalized learning.” Grrr! Join us in keeping “blended learning” to mean the teacher-friendly, common-sense definition.

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Blended Learning Learning Classroom Personalized Learning 207

Neo LMS

APRIL 21, 2016

Officially, any school’s purpose is to prepare its students for becoming highly accomplished members of the workforce. How do schools know how to do that, exactly? How could we know whether or not schools reach their purpose successfully? Before you jump in with all the reasonable arguments for this, hear me out. The 21st century student and learning to learn.

Learning 161

Learning Knowledge Base BYOD Laptops 161

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 19, 2016

I’m always looking for new music to play while my students are independently working. I find that if music is quietly played in the background, it creates a calm and ambient ‘working’ atmosphere. Below are 10 albums that I think are great: 1) Keith Kenniff – Branches. 2) Zero 7 – Simple Things. 3) Air – Moon Safari (Remove ‘Sexy Boy’). 4) Agnes Obel – Philharmonics. 5) The Theory of Everything Soundtrack – Johann Johannsson. 6) Eluvium

Classroom 186

Classroom Education Learning 186

More Verbs

APRIL 28, 2016

We have seen it happen too often. Too many schools are selecting a device for their students based mostly on either the ease of management by the tech lead or the one-time purchase price or both. We don’t believe that ease of management or one-time cost are the right prime criteria for selecting a device in schools, especially if your goal shifts from ensuring that every child has access to a device to ensuring that every child has quality learning experiences.

Learning 212

Learning Accessibility Education 212

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Classroom

Ask a Tech Teacher

APRIL 27, 2016

Summer is coming, and so is Summer Keyboarding for Students ! If your students are looking for a summer keyboarding class to smooth out their rough edges, prepare them for next year’s increased tech demands, or get them started, this is the program for them. It’s online, one hour a day M-F for three weeks, with a wide variety of activities that keep keyboarding fun and challenging.

Digital Citizenship 190

Digital Citizenship Resources Technology Learning 190

Education Elements

APRIL 27, 2016

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Being a teacher isn’t easy. The hours are long, the work is challenging, and sometimes the job can feel thankless. But teachers have an amazing impact, and if anybody deserves appreciation for the work they do, it’s teachers. At Education Elements, we have the privilege of working with exceptional teachers who strive to personalize learning for every student.

Education Elements 151

Education Elements Personalized Learning Education Learning 151

The Journal

APRIL 25, 2016

On the one hand, the role of the teacher in a 1-to-1 classroom is relatively unchanged from what a teacher has always done. Now for “the but”: but on the other hand, 1-to-1 introduces a huge change in what teachers have always done! This week’s blog post discusses this critically important and timely dilemma.

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Classroom 199

Neo LMS

APRIL 28, 2016

Raising a child is not the easiest thing to do. I’m sure every parent can agree that it is exactly the opposite of easy. If parents are like superheroes when they strive to meet all the needs of their one, two, seven or ten mini humans at home, then how should we call teachers, who do the same all day — but with 15 to 30 children? Super-superheroes?

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Classroom Video Elementary Course 158

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

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 24, 2016

Erase All Kittens is an absolutely fantastic website in which code and HTML are taught through gaming. My students absolutely LOVED it. *I must note that the full version is coming soon – for now, just use the demo. How do I use the website in a computing lesson? First go to https://eraseallkittens.com/ . Click on ‘Play The Demo’ Next you’ll see a funny introductory video – we watched it as a class and laughed a lot!

How To 185

How To Video Education Resources 185

EdTech Magazine

APRIL 28, 2016

By Meg Conlan With Microsoft pumping dollars into chatbots, the company’s founder discusses the technology’s implications for learning.

Education 220

Education Microsoft Learning Online Learning 220

Fidelis Education

APRIL 7, 2016

By Alan Greenberg. Ending the Expectation of Average while Getting Back to Basics. Many educational technological tools have been designed to solve a specific functional requirement, whether meant to support institution, educator / learner, or classroom needs. Some of these have been terrific point solutions that have enhanced teaching and learning and improved institutional efficiency and productivity.

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LMS Elementary Secondary Education 133

EdNews Daily

APRIL 1, 2016

Do you remember the days when a police officer came to your school to discuss stranger danger? Stranger danger today can have various meanings; including, but not limited to: people we know and believe we can trust, people we don’t know in real life, and the strangers who sit behind computer screens, faceless and nameless. All of these strangers pose great concern as parents.

Social Media 115

Social Media Education Technology Report 115

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

APRIL 13, 2016

It’s your goal to make your virtual school program successful. My goal is to help you identify the key factors that can make or break the success of that program. Here in part four of my virtual school blog series , I offer 25 things to consider for your virtual program’s success, grouped under 5 main categories: Strategy, Design, Curriculum, Support and Operations.

Personalized Learning 103

Personalized Learning Groups Strategy Learning 103

Neo LMS

APRIL 7, 2016

The attention span of a goldfish is longer than a human’s. Seriously. The goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds, while humans only go to the limit of 8 seconds. Keep that in mind next time you create e-learning courses for kids. Each student in your class may just be like Dory from Finding Nemo: But it’s not really their fault. Why the short attention span?

Learning 157

Learning E-rate Course Microsoft 157

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 24, 2016

Erase All Kittens is an absolutely fantastic website in which code and HTML are taught through gaming. My students absolutely LOVED it. *I must note that the full version is coming soon – for now, just use the demo. How do I use the website in a computing lesson? First go to https://eraseallkittens.com/ . Click on ‘Play The Demo’ Next you’ll see a funny introductory video – we watched it as a class and laughed a lot!

How To 185

How To Video Education Resources 185

EdTech Magazine

APRIL 27, 2016

By Meg Conlan The Star Trek™ Replicator Challenge asks students to design 3D printed objects for astronauts to use in space in 2050.

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179

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Classroom

Ditch That Textbook

APRIL 28, 2016

Sometimes, when I get ready to write a new blog post, I have this nervous excitement in my fingertips. When that happens, I know I have something really good to share with you. Today’s one of those days. The world is changing very quickly. Technology is changing. The workforce is changing. Our students are changing, and [.].

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Technology EdTech Education 171

EdNews Daily

APRIL 19, 2016

Edulastic, the next-generation online assessment platform for K-12 teachers and administrators, announced that they have become a Google for Education Partner. The Google for Education Partner Program recognizes Partner technologies that complement and extend Google for Education products. Now educators can use the technology-enhanced assessments and real-time data of Edulastic seamlessly with their Google Apps for Education.

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Google Education Online Assessments EdTech 104

Education Elements

APRIL 20, 2016

Writing—whether a persuasive essay, lab report, constructed response or research paper—is a consistent element of most performance tasks used by teachers to measure their students’ knowledge, understanding of concepts, and skills. The reasons are many, but perhaps the most important is that the very act of writing, which requires students to make sense of information and ideas and to express that understanding coherently, is itself a critical skill.

Education 102

Education Report Blended Learning Classroom 102

Neo LMS

APRIL 14, 2016

Higher education can be considered a luxury for many people worldwide. If we put it on a black to white spectrum, we can group countries into at least three shades: whitish, grayish, and blackish. Denmark, for example, would belong to the whitish part. Higher education in Denmark is free of charge and scholarships and student grants are very much available.

MOOC 154

MOOC Education Flipped Classroom Udemy 154

Speaker: Aaron Webb, Jamf

Apple empowers educators and students by design. Whether using Macs, iPads, or Apple TV, Apple devices encourage creativity and can simplify teaching with apps to make the classroom more flexible, collaborative and personalized for each student. To unleash the full potential of the technology and create the best learning environment, you need to understand the tools and resources available, and develop an education-focused, comprehensive plan, from equipment purchase to deployment, management an

Classroom

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 16, 2016

I recently did an interesting lesson which combined my student’s ICT and geographical skills. Challenging the students, I posed the problem, Can you map out the WIFI coverage of the school? My pupils got into teams and then picked a floor to work on. They then used their mapping knowledge to create a plan of all the rooms and corridors in the school.

EdTech 169

EdTech iPad Education Technology 169

EdTech Magazine

APRIL 29, 2016

By BizTech Staff Schools can overcome application-deployment challenges by t urning to experienced mobility architects for help.

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Mobility Tablets 155

Battelle for Kids

APRIL 27, 2016

Through this issue's posts, you have read about the big ideas and samples of STEM and STEAM exemplary practices. You have explored the many different ways teachers have created exemplary practices for students' engagement with the rich content of standards-aligned science, technology, engineering and mathematics instruction. Some of this information was new to you; other fit like familiar hats.

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Personalized Learning Student Engagement Learning STEM 100

EdNews Daily

APRIL 14, 2016

Written by Robyn D. Shulman, M.Ed. Do you remember walking into the school library during your elementary school years? For me, as an avid reader at a young age, I can easily recall various unique aspects about that magical room. On the left side, I could sense the aroma of old books, see yellow pages that were slightly torn, and was lucky to glance at newly returned books quietly waiting to be organized once again.

Libraries 101

Libraries Classroom Elementary iPad 101

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