Archive: 2012
EdTech
Rise Above Classroom Walls On the Wings of a Bird
Ronald Reagan once said, “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.” This quotation has huge educational implications. I remembered these inspirational words the other night when participating with my students in our first-ever tweetup, a Twitter chatroom using a specific hashtag to discuss rhetorical strategies witnessed during the second presidential debate. Although a small minority of my students chose to attend the virtual classroom, I was overwhelmingly struck by the enormous potential.
Leadership
Good Work: Sector Advance People
Association leaders don't just serve their members, they try to advance the sector by deliver value while leading them to a better place. It requires understanding and corralling lots of different views, building and maintaining a Rolodex of connections, and developing and executing multi-faceted change strategy. These folks travel constantly and don’t make as much as they could in the private sector. Their commitment to advancing the field and improving outcomes for kids is inspiring.
Personalized Learning
Use Google Drive as a “Stepping Stone” to 3D Learning
Craig Roberts, assistant director of education at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, believes his students learn better when they explain things visually. So, he has them build fruit fly brains out of Play-Doh, and construct human brain cells out of miscellany from The Scrap Exchange, a local nonprofit creative reuse center. More often, he sends them to the whiteboard to illustrate core concepts using a splash of color and lots of lines.
EdTech
11 Essential Tools For Better Project-Based Learning
The rise of technology used in classrooms has made learning much more interactive. The emergence of iPads to browser-based tools in project-based learning, take teaching to a new level in the 21st century. Even the current trends in education include the use of new technology, from collaborative projects to blending traditional textbook teaching with innovative tools.
Personalized Learning
Innovation In the Face of Dated Modalities
The charter school movement that began 20 years ago in Minnesota has provided an unprecedented opportunity for educators to implement innovative change. This kind of change invokes a variety of emotions.
EdTech
Pacific Metrics Acquires Prize-Winning Automated Scoring Software
Pacific Metrics announced this week that it has acquired the prize-winning Automated Student Assessment Prize (ASAP), which means that states will now have access to a new era of automated scoring that will in turn improve student writing outcomes.
Personalized Learning
The Shift Is On: iNACOL Conference Attendees Inventing the Future of Learning
When I joined the iNACOL board three years ago, I was hoping to see a shift in emphasis from virtual schools to a focus on helping all schools incorporate online and personal digital learning. That shift was evident in the name, Inventing the Future of Learning, and content of the Virtual School Symposium program this week in New Orleans.
Personalized Learning
Internships to Entrepreneurships
It’s great to be alive today! I don’t mean today specifically, but today in general. If you don’t like today or don’t find today particularly pleasing, don’t worry, it will be different tomorrow. I mean that both specifically and generally. Not only will the calendar be +1, but some amazing, forward-thinking, edgy entrepreneur will change the way we live, demonstrating our mercurial existence.