October, 2017

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Announcing the New Members of the League of Innovative Schools

Digital Promise

The League of Innovative Schools, Digital Promise’s flagship network of forward-thinking leaders of our nation’s school districts, is honored to welcome 13 districts into the 2017-2018 cohort, bringing the League’s membership to 93 districts in 33 states. The League seeks districts who are developing and sharing promising innovations that advance excellent, equitable learning opportunities for students.

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Minecraft in the Classroom

The CoolCatTeacher

Jeff Gearhart on episode 162 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Are you studying Mars? Why not let students go live there? Jeff Gearhart is working with teachers in traditional subjects to let students immerse in the subject in Minecraft. In today’s show, learn about Minecraft EDU and how it is being used to teach.

Classroom 373
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Visible Learning and John Hattie

Ask a Tech Teacher

Over the years, I’ve struggled to teach in ways my students would understand. Standing at the front of the classroom stopped working so I researched (and tried in some cases) Whole Brain Teaching (WBT), Socratic Method , Understanding by Design , Mindfulness , and a lot more options that colleagues mentioned as helpful with their differentiated student groups.

Learning 374
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My Story: Fire, Loss, and Rebuilding

Catlin Tucker

On Sunday, October 8th I went to bed early. I had been waking up between 4-5 AM all week to do work for my doctoral program. We had also hosted my husband’s family for the weekend, and I was exhausted. Normally, we go to be at 11 PM, but that evening I crawled under the covers at 9:30 PM. It was a warm and windy night. I could hear the wind whistling through the trees outside my window.

Education 419
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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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How Tech Can Help Students with Disabilities Thrive in STEM Education

EdTech Magazine

By Calvin Hennick Tools give students with special needs the same access to science and math activities as other schoolchildren.

STEM 419
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Efficacy in Digital Learning

A Principal's Reflections

As a principal, the buck stopped with me. I was reminded of this by numerous superintendents during my tenure as a school leader. However, when we began moving forward with our digital transformation one particular superintendent asked me point blank what evidence I had that actually supported our claims that new equated to better. This not only stopped me in my tracks, but that moment in time provided the grounding that my school and I really needed.

More Trending

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6 Tech Treasures for Special Ed Teachers (K-6)

The CoolCatTeacher

Melissa Mann on episode 167 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter. Special ed teacher Melissa Mann shares six of her favorite edtech tools for the special education classroom. From collecting data to parent communications to taking care of yourself, Melissa has something for every classroom (as well as a pretty cool pep talk!).

Google 295
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Should You Unschool?

Ask a Tech Teacher

The first time I read about Unschooling, I ignored it. Surely, it was a fad that would go away. When that didn’t happen and I read about it a thousand more times, I dug into it. Inspired by the teachings of John Holt (1923–1985), this free range branch of homeschooling promotes learning through nonstructured, child-led exploration. There’s no set curriculum or schedule; students learn what interests them with guidance from involved adults.

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Panel Presentations: Connect Students with a Real Audience

Catlin Tucker

When I spoke at Californa’s Better Together Teachers Summit , I talked about the power of connecting students to an authentic audience online. I emphasized the role technology can play in helping teachers to get more eyes on student work and, as a result, motivate students to do their best work. In addition to connecting students to an online audience, I also invite community members, parents, and other students into our classroom regularly.

Secondary 419
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Google Champions Teacher Tech Training with New Program

EdTech Magazine

By Wendy McMahon The partnership between Google, Digital Promise and EdTechTeam seeks to solve the digital divide around professional development.

Training 367
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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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Measuring Impact with the Digital Practice Assessment (DPA)

A Principal's Reflections

Note: This post is directly related to my work at the International Center for Leadership in Education Efficacy has been on my mind a great deal as of late, and as a result, it has been reflected in my writing. When I think back to the successful digital transformation and implementation of innovative practices at my former school when I was a principal the key driver for us was the ability to show, not just talk about, evidence of improvement.

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Learning by Design: How Design Tech High School Uses Research

Digital Promise

According to Ken Montgomery, Executive Director of Design Tech High School (“d.tech”), a charter school in Northern California, “The world is going to change quickly and unpredictably, so the best thing that we can do for kids is give them a mindset and skillset that whatever the world is like, they can succeed and find their path.”. To meet this goal, Montgomery and his team created a design thinking curriculum, where students learn how to first understand a problem and end-user, then brainstor

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Do You Know the Edtech Adoption Rules in Your State? SETDA’s New Guide May Help.

Edsurge

What’s the difference between selling an education product to California versus Indiana—or any other state, for that matter? A new report from the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) aims to clear up the murky waters surrounding the adoption of digital learning materials, a process that varies wildly between states. The report defines several different procurement models, including so-called “adoption states,” where decisions are made at the state level, and “local contro

EdTech 262
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What is the Missing Step in Your District’s Strategic Plan?

Education Elements

All districts have strategic plans. For many districts, they are the most expensive document created in a given year. Getting to a final draft usually takes several months or more and requires the time of many staff and community members. There are committees, meetings, surveys, reviews, discussions and multiple rounds of revision.

Survey 206
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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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FlipGrid: Connect with Other Classrooms

Catlin Tucker

This year, my students are learning about the design thinking process: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. My teaching team decided to begin the year with a low stakes high-interest challenge: design a water park for our community. The first step in the design thinking process is empathy. Too often my students want to jump right to a solution without really understanding the problem.

Classroom 350
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How to Increase Confidence About Digital Learning in Schools

EdTech Magazine

By Laura Williams Ray Technology can make teachers’ lives easier, but only if they feel capable of using it effectively.

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8 Math and Science Simulation Resources For Any Classroom

The Web20Classroom

"Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in." -Sally Ride I was a Middle School Science and Math teacher. When I started in college I didn't set out to teach those subjects but found myself there after discovering my love for both.

Resources 235
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When Reading Gets Harder

Digital Promise

This article originally appeared on Usable Knowledge from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Read the original version here. For years, we’ve thought that the answer to boosting adolescent reading comprehension lay in building students’ vocabulary. Teens often struggle with the jargon and advanced terminology they encounter as they move into middle and high school, so educators have designed curricula and interventions that explicitly teach these complex words.

Strategy 257
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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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What Bill Gates Learned About U.S. Education in 17 Years—and Why He’s Investing $1.7B More

Edsurge

Bill and Melinda Gates have poured billions of dollars into efforts to shape U.S. K-12 education over the past 17 years. So what’s $1.7 billion more? In his keynote address at the Council of the Great City Schools conference in Cleveland this week, the Microsoft co-founder reflected on some lessons learned about education reform, along with plans to “invest close to $1.7 billion in U.S. public education over the next five years.

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Stress, The Silent Killer In Education

EdNews Daily

Written by Dr. Jared Scherz, TeacherCoach. When I was eleven, I went on a rock climbing expedition in Boulder Colorado. I paced nervously before the first climb, as the instructors readied the equipment. From a sharp reprimand, I was jolted out of my nervous daydream. “Don’t step on the rope.” the instructor shouted. Befuddled by this command, I wondered how a rope that was nearly as thick as my leg, could be effected by a barely 80-pound kid.

Education 225
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Free photos, icons, magic and more with Google Slides add-ons

Ditch That Textbook

Imagine, for a second, that Google Slides is a Shop Vac. (You know, one of those short, wide wet/dry vacuum cleaners with a hose.) Go with me on this … You can use that vacuum cleaner to do a lot with just a hose. Cheerios and Cheetos all over your minivan? (If you’re a parent, […].

Google 218
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5 Apps to Help All Students with Math

EdTech Magazine

By Calvin Hennick Mobile apps are a great way to offer personalized instruction to students with disabilities.

Mobility 386
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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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Bring poetry to life by using a ‘green screen’

EdTech4Beginners

I recently did a lesson in my school’s STEAM centre. It went really well, so I thought I’d share. And don’t worry, you don’t need any specialist equipment! In the prior lesson, the children had rehearsed poems and learnt them off by heart. They went into the ‘green screen’ room and performed their poems. You no longer have to be a Hollywood film director to make film with special effects!

STEM 203
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New Cyberlearning Community Report: Five Great Reasons to Read It

Digital Promise

Over the past five years, I’ve led the Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning (CIRCL), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF uses the term “cyberlearning” for its portfolio of research projects that investigate emerging technology and emerging learning sciences. The projects seek bold new designs for learning, contrasting with today’s typical laptop- or tablet-based apps.

Report 240
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?Engineers, Recruiters and Professors Weigh In: Future Programmers Need Writing Skills, Too

Edsurge

Coding and computer science have yet to make their way into every school curriculum in the U.S. But the country isn’t short on initiatives—such as Google’s Code Next program or the White House’s Obama era Computer Science For All campaign—which aim to change that. And while these programs attempt to arm students will the ability to code, they sometimes overlook a critical skill that developers, computer science scholars and tech recruiters say is key to landing a job in their field: writing.

Company 227
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How AI Can Compliment Educators, Not Replace Them

EdNews Daily

Over the last weekend of July, some of the world’s education leaders gathered at the Ed T ech Asia Summit in Ho Chi Minh to discuss where education is headed in the 21st century. 51Talk (or “China Online Education Group”), China’s leading online education platform and the first from China listed on the NYSE (NYSE: COE), was invited to attend the summit alongside education industry leaders such as Pearson, Amazon, and YouTube.

MOOC 216
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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.

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Classroom video calls. You can do this. Here’s how

Ditch That Textbook

Christian talked about how the flood waters were up to his waist in his house. His classmate described how his dogs cowered under the bed during the hurricane. An articulate fifth grader with tight braids laid out her family’s plan to stock up on food in case of the worst. We got to visit with these […].

Video 209
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4 Organizations that Support Technology Integration

EdTech Magazine

By EdTech Staff To make the most of classroom tech, educators need training and professional development. These four organizations can help.

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The Curiosity Challenge… full STEAM ahead!

EdTech4Beginners

My school is encouraging inquisitive learners and has taken on a project inspired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT. It has huge links with our new STEAM curriculum and will guide the students through this new approach. The project is called the ‘Curiosity Challenge’ Have a look at what it entails in the video below: How did it go?

STEM 203
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Should K-12 schools teach financial literacy? The answer is yes-here’s how

eSchool News

Financial literacy, and the role of K-12 schools in promoting it, is getting lots of attention these days. To date, some states have developed standards for teaching financial literacy, but where do schools turn for resources to implement those standards and who do they turn to for advice on what aspects of money management they should teach and when?

Survey 210
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Transform Your Classroom with Apple

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