August, 2019

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How Effective Is Your Edtech Tool? Five Questions to Ask

Digital Promise

We all want to help students learn. When it comes to education technology (edtech), school leaders and developers alike want to provide the best tools—ones that truly make a difference. This is especially critical for students who are not being served by current instruction. To support this goal, Digital Promise’s Marketplace initiative is dedicated to identifying “effective, engaging, tech-enabled learning environments.” But what does “effective” really mean?

EdTech 308
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Are Classrooms Becoming Too Dependent On Technology?

EdNews Daily

Many educators have asked the question, “Are today’s classrooms too dependent on technology?” The underlying assumptions involve several complex political and economic challenges. Some of these inquiries include where the money comes from for classroom technology, to using different equipment–and if we even need more technology in schools.

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Assessing Prior Knowledge: What Do Your Students Already Know?

Catlin Tucker

Designing a one-size-fits-all lesson assumes that every student is starting from the same point. The reality is that students enter our classrooms with varied skillsets and prior knowledge. If teachers assess their students’ knowledge before diving into an explanation, lesson, or unit, they might be surprised by the wealth of experience and information that students bring into the classroom.

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AR/VR in K–12: Schools Use Immersive Technology for Assistive Learning

EdTech Magazine

AR/VR in K–12: Schools Use Immersive Technology for Assistive Learning. eli.zimmerman_9856. Thu, 08/22/2019 - 08:25. In K–12, assistive learning can be a tricky beast to tackle. Schools have a duty to attend to all students’ needs, but it can be difficult to create a curriculum that addresses every student, especially as an increasing number of schools experience overcrowding. .

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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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If It's Easy Then it Probably Isn't Learning

A Principal's Reflections

What is the purpose of education? To many, this might seem like a ridiculous question with the answer being quite obvious. Or is it? For this post at least, let’s go with learning. Some might equate this with the successful ability to be able to recall or memorize facts and information. The casual observer might then anoint anyone who is able to do this effectively as smart or intelligent.

Learning 381
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Secrets for Fun, Engaging Computer Science that Changes Kids Lives

The CoolCatTeacher

Alfred Thompson on episode 547 From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Alfred Thompson has secrets that transform Computer Science classrooms. Yet, he shares them openly. Project-based learning. Passion-based learning. Problem-based learning. These three P’s of teaching perfection have been a mainstay in Alfred’s classroom for many years.

More Trending

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4 Reasons why an LMS is an excellent tool for your language classes

Neo LMS

In an ever more globalized and interconnected world, language classes are a must in higher education. As more and more students are exposed to linguistic and cultural diversity throughout their careers and their lives, language classes are an excellent environment to develop multilingual communication skills and intercultural awareness. Although conventional lessons that take place in a classroom are the norm and are probably here to stay, bringing an LMS into the learning process can definitely

LMS 302
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Creating Digital Notebooks with Google Slides

Catlin Tucker

In my role as a blended learning coach, I work with a lot of teachers who are intrigued by the idea of digital notebooks. They recognize the value of having student integrate text and media in an online notebook. They also like the idea of housing student work in a central location that is viewable to both the student and the teacher. Teachers working with younger kids or special needs groups may not want their students posting their work online for a global audience.

Google 419
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Artificial Intelligence, Authentic Impact: How Educational AI is Making the Grade

EdTech Magazine

Artificial Intelligence, Authentic Impact: How Educational AI is Making the Grade. eli.zimmerman_9856. Tue, 08/27/2019 - 11:25. Adoption of artificial intelligence is on the rise: According to research firm Gartner , 37 percent of organizations have now “implemented AI in some form,” and adoption is up 270 percent over the past four years. . Schools are following suit: Technavio’s “ Artificial Intelligence Market in the US Education Sector 2018-2022 ” report predicts a nearly 48 percent growth r

Education 408
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Buncee and Immersive Reader: A Winning Combination for Assistive Learning

A Principal's Reflections

I am a huge fan of Buncee. The following is a guest post by Rachelle Dene Poth ( @Rdene915 ), Spanish and STEAM Teacher at Riverview High School in PA. For several years, Buncee has been one of my favorite creation tools; both for personal use and for classroom instruction. While there are many digital tools to choose from when it comes to teaching and having our students create, Buncee’s versatility and ease-of-use make it a go-to tool for all creative needs.

Learning 339
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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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7 Ideas for Student Genius Hour and Passion Projects

The CoolCatTeacher

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Genius hour and passion projects are transformational. Now, I strive to have personal interest projects for just about everything. Whether you’re already having genius hour at your school or you want to get started, this blog post will give you ideas for getting started with genius hour, no matter the age or grade.

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Announcing 14 New League of Innovative Schools Members

Digital Promise

Digital Promise is excited to announce 14 new districts will join the ranks of the League of Innovative Schools for the 2019-2020 school year. The League is a powerful network of forward-thinking school district leaders. Across 114 districts and 34 states, administrators and educators are testing new programs, technologies, and strategies in an effort to support our mission to design, validate, champion, and scale effective, innovative learning opportunities to advance equity and excellence for

Mobility 283
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25 beginning of the year activities you can use right away!

Ditch That Textbook

The beginning of the school year is filled with teaching procedures and getting to know you activities. Most of us have our tried and true go-tos that we pull out year after year. But what if we want to shake things up a bit? What if there were tons of different and innovative activities out […].

Twitter 280
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Icebreaker Idea: Fun with the Frayer Model

Catlin Tucker

The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer that many teachers use to support vocabulary development. It can be easily adapted to facilitate fun icebreaker activities at the start of the school year. I created the template below using Google Slides then added a quirky, fun question to each section of the graphic organizer. I use Google Slides for this activity because students can answer the questions a combination of text, images, and videos.

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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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Today's CTE Investments Help Boost Students' Success

EdTech Magazine

Today's CTE Investments Help Boost Students' Success. Andrew.Steger_zKQu. Tue, 08/06/2019 - 12:12. In modern schools, vocational instruction — now career and technical education, or CTE — often takes students beyond the oil-stained floor beneath an automotive hoist or a shower of sparks in a welding lab. Today’s automotive repair classes likely use computers to quickly diagnose problems in vehicles that are fully loaded with cameras, monitors and other technology drivers expect.

Secondary 380
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Return on Instruction (ROI) Revisited

A Principal's Reflections

The pursuit to improve never ends and nor should it. With all of the disruption we see as a result of the 4th Industrial Revolution, changes to how we educate kids have to be considered. The result has been districts, schools, and educators making a great deal of investment in an array of ideas, strategies, and solutions with the goal of improving learning for all kids.

Outcomes 306
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4 Ways to Use Improv to Teach

The CoolCatTeacher

Mel Paradis on Episode 553 From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter Mel Paradis, author of Teaching Improv: The Essential Handbook , shares four ways to use Improv to teach in the classroom. Here are some fantastic ideas to share in your classroom. Sponsor: E4Effort is a tool built upon the research behind helping students improve.

Handbook 304
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How to Build Strong Relationships During the Edtech Purchasing Process

Digital Promise

This blog post is the first of a two-part series discussing relationship building in edtech selection and purchasing. In this first blog post, we’ll address how educators can build and maintain good working relationships with edtech developers. Part two will discuss how edtech vendors can return the favor to develop great working relationships with educators.

EdTech 285
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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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20 activities to “Bloom” with the new Flipgrid camera

Ditch That Textbook

Video is so easy to create in the classroom now. What used to take expensive equipment and advanced know-how can be created in seconds with devices we already have. Video is a rich medium for learning. Students can practice speaking skills, show their passion through their voice, and make learning visible. In summer 2019, Flipgrid […].

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Make Your “Summer Resolutions” a Reality This School Year

Catlin Tucker

As another school year approaches, teachers are scrambling to set up classrooms, make photocopies of syllabi, attend mandatory meetings, and prepare their curriculum. Amid the back-to-school frenzy, it is easy to focus on the minutia and lose sight of our “summer resolutions.” I know a lot of teachers who spend the summer reading, reflecting, and refocusing, but it is hard to take those resolutions we make in summer and put them into practice during the chaos of first few weeks of sc

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Is a Backpack the Key to Closing the Homework Gap?

EdTech Magazine

Is a Backpack the Key to Closing the Homework Gap? eli.zimmerman_9856. Thu, 08/15/2019 - 13:15. Millions of students lack the ability to access the internet from home — a problem compounded by increasing expectations from educators that students do so to complete homework and research. . Innovations in next-generation Internet of Things applications are helping to reduce those disparities, which characterize what’s known as the homework gap. .

Broadband 349
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Culture will tell you what it needs, but only if you ask it

Dangerously Irrelevant

We had the pleasure of having Zac Chase as a guest facilitator this past week in one of my principal licensure cohorts. Zac was amazing, which is no surprise to anyone who knows him. One of our activities with Zac was using the Question Formulation Technique to unpack teachers’ and students’ beliefs about school culture and climate. For instance, we can take an affirmative statement that represents a desired end goal such as “Nearly all of our students can be successful in a Tier 1 instructional

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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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Guest post: Biggest eLearning content trends of 2020 and beyond

EdTech4Beginners

If we go by Training Magazine’s prediction about the eLearning industry, it will be safe to say that Online learning is not a small industry anymore. In fact, expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5% between 2019 and 2024 and expected to cross the $200 billion mark by 2024. . Learning through a virtual medium has become highly popular over the last decade.

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Trailblazing the Path to Media Literacy Certification with Micro-credentials

Digital Promise

To thrive as content consumers and creators in an information age, media literacy is an essential skill set for both students and teachers. And the reality is that, from “fake news” to “deepfakes,” keeping up with the latest online apps, trends, and issues is an ongoing, ever-changing challenge. As co-directors of the Elk Grove Unified School District’s digital citizenship program , Kathleen Watt and I are excited to spread the word about the PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification by KQED.

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20 ways to Ditch That Textbook in K-2 (with templates!)

Ditch That Textbook

Are you a primary educator? Are you interested in Ditching but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! This post will walk you through template after template of rich learning experiences you can provide your students today! 20 activities to Ditch that Textbook in K-2 1. CVC Word Builder – Simply pull down either the […].

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Half of Teachers Have ‘Seriously Considered’ Quitting in Recent Years, Survey Finds

Edsurge

Some U.S. teachers have just about had enough. No, really. A new report from Phi Delta Kappan International, a professional association for educators, finds that half of teachers have “seriously considered” leaving teaching in the last few years. Their reasoning? Many say they’re working longer hours for less pay than ever before. They juggle high-stress classrooms and constant pressure from administrators and state officials to improve students’ standardized test scores.

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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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How Soft Skills Can Help You Pull Off a Schoolwide Tech Upgrade

EdTech Magazine

How Soft Skills Can Help You Pull Off a Schoolwide Tech Upgrade. eli.zimmerman_9856. Wed, 08/14/2019 - 10:09. K–12 schools must take many steps before they can install ambitious tech upgrades and enhancements. . While implementation may feel like the end of the mission, IT leaders face a significant challenge — ensuring these upgrades and enhancements stick.

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Podcast – Harnessing technology for deeper learning

Dangerously Irrelevant

Last week my interview with Tom Vander Ark went live on the Getting Smart podcast. Tom grilled me about my law degree(!) and then we got to the core of the interview. Podcast: Dr. Scott McLeod on harnessing technology for deeper learning. Tom and I talked about school transformation and instructional redesign, during which I uttered this immortal line : Hope you enjoy the discussion.

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Transforming Schools Into Vehicles for Decarceration [On Morris’ Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues]

The Jose Vilson

Recently, Gloria Ladson-Billings was asked whether the interpretation of her works has changed, to which she quipped: “I think that people don’t actually read the work.” In the last few years, people have interpreted culturally responsive education through mostly singular dimensions: implicit bias, diversity trainings, or recruitment and retention of staff and curriculum, all valid.

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Boosting Digital Literacies for a Purpose

Digital Promise

Digital Promise’s Adult Learning initiative recently launched Community Impact Stories, a new series of blog posts to highlight adult learner stories across the nation. The series explores the powerful impact of local nonprofits and community-based organizations that provide adult learning and workforce development opportunities to families and communities.

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Building the Foundation for a Modern K-12 Classroom

K-12 looks different these days. But one thing remains the same: you need a reliable learning platform that serves as the foundation for teaching and learning––for all students, in a variety of learning experiences. Discover how the Instructure Learning Platform supports today's K-12 classroom through: A central, consistent, connected hub of the digital learning environment.