Archive: 2012
EdTech
HMH & Knewton Partner With DOE to Educate Youth at Correctional Facilities
Today at the U.S.Department of Education, global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and leading educational technology company Knewton announced the launch of an adaptive learning solution designed to improve educational outcomes in correctional facilities. SkillsTutor Powered by Knewton is one of a set of highlighted innovations aimed at providing the country’s millions of court-involved youth and adults with the academic and life skills needed to transition successfully to traditional education or employment.
EdTech
Q&A: Teacher Turned Game Designer Shares Lessons From The Biggest Story Problem
The Biggest Story Problem, a independent documentary film aimed at examining the decline in math proficiency in the U.S. with global solutions, releases this year. The team at Imagine Education, a multimedia group capturing stories in education, dove into the decline of math learning in schools across the country.
Personalized Learning
Blended Learning: Disrupting Tradition with Innovation
Over the last decade the growth of online learning in American schools has been unprecedented, and school leaders are enthusiastically embracing new technologies and new models of instruction. The shift from print to digital text has been swift by educational standards, and the move to blended-learning environments focused on differentiated instruction and personalized learning is rapidly becoming the norm.
Ed Policy
Addressing the Placement Gateway With Diagnostics & Instruction
For many young people, placement exams are a hidden gateway in the system. Students often assume that with a high school diploma they can walk on to a community college campus and start working on a degree but they flunk the placement exam and end up in non-credit developmental education courses. That spells the beginning of the end of college for many young people. But that placement trap is beginning to close as states make the exams and preparation available in high school.
Personalized Learning
Authentic Learning At Tech Forum-Austin 2012
Recently, I posted an entry here on authentic learning. In that post I defined authentic learning as learning that involves real-world tasks and problems as opposed to school-specific tasks or problems, such as learning how to put a heading on a paper or how to outguess a test writer. Students seem to enjoy work that is authentic.
Innov8
SMARTtech Top 10: Bringing You the Good Stuff
For a long time, we’ve been rounding up the news from every corner of the edtech market. Today, we’re serving up a new approach. We know you’re busy. It’s a Saturday. You’ve got other things to do than to read every story headline out there. Afterall, that’s what Twitter’s…
Personalized Learning
Free College Courses, Cheap Credits, Flexible Pathways
Contributions to free post-secondary learning opportunities have been breathtaking this year. Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been around for a while but the number and variety of courses, the investment, and aggregate enrollment exploded this year.
EdTech
The Classroom Evolution: What Technology Means for 21st Century Teaching
Digital media use in the classroom has been proven to expand students’ critical and creative thinking skills, to increase motivation and self-esteem, and to develop skills needed for the modern world. As schools increasingly incorporate technology into their curricula, it’s time for teaching to evolve to better serve the needs of the 21st century learner.
Ed Policy
Revising Federal Rules Would Promote Innovation, Improve Performance
In times of scarce resources and limited dollars, finding cost-effective ways to promote innovations in education is imperative. If federal education officials really want to help improve student performance, they should be doing all they can to promote technology-driven innovations in public schools.
Ed Policy
Data Quality Campaign Releases Annual Report On Data to Improve Achievement
Data Quality Campaign (DQC) today released its annual state analysis, Data for Action 2012, which highlights states' progress in supporting effective education data use to improve student achievement.