Archive: 2012
Leadership
World Teachers’ Day
Today Getting Smart is excited to celebrate World Teachers’ Day. We are firm believers that even as technology increases and classrooms as we know them transform, teachers will remain the most significant change agent in student success. “On this day, we call for teachers to receive supportive…
EdTech
SMARTtech Roundup: Common Core and More
Blended Schools & Tools Duncan on Digital. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Tuesday for the nation to move rapidly from printed textbooks and toward digital ones, citing global competition among the chief reasons for doing so. The New Frontier. The Center for Digital Education and Converge released…
Personalized Learning
Tomorrow’s College Tackles Higher Ed’s Greatest Challenges: Grit, Funding & Tech
As career fields increasingly require four-year degrees, it’s more necessary than ever before to be educated. The demand is driving many to endure debt, work excessive hours, and find alternative solutions to get ahead. Yet, the landscape of higher ed is changing. You can’t just check it off your list, you have to prove how college transformed your skills, attitude, and abilities.
EdTech
Hewlett Foundation Awards $100K to Winners of Short Answer Scoring Competition
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation awarded $100,000 today in a competition to develop innovative software to help teachers score student written responses to test questions. The prize was divided among five (5) teams. The competition compared the ability of software to score short-answer student essays in a way that was similar to human graders. The results showed that the software is not yet able to achieve the same scores as human graders.
EdTech
JFF Sponsors Team Teaching For Rapid Credentialing
"What's new and different is bringing in an adult ed instructor and teaching elements within the [vocational] program," said Dr Jay Box, Chancellor of Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) where eight colleges are involved in Accelerating Opportunity. "All of the general education type of teaching is contextualized to the technical program."
Personalized Learning
The Flipped Classroom Turns Around an At-Risk, Failing School
As a principal of Clintondale High School, I’ve witnessed firsthand the struggles that a school must endure to educate at-risk students. Many of the students at Clintondale are faced with obstacles that hinder their education: 74 percent of our 570 students qualify for the free or reduced lunch program, 38 percent receive special education services and 70 percent are a racial minority. Like many schools around the country, our students were failing their classes. In fact, two years ago our failure rate was 61 percent in some cases.
EdTech
Game Change: How Game-based Learning Helps Common Core
One of the exciting things that leaps out to me when reading the new Common Core standards for Mathematics is that the spirit of inquiry and curiosity is back, hardwired into a document that will likely form the basis for mathematics teaching and learning for a long time. My attention is drawn for example to the Standards for Mathematical practice where it emphasizes that students need to become persistent problem solvers, plan solution pathways, and ask themselves, “does this make mathematical sense?”
EdTech
36 of Our Favorite #Education Hashtags
Terry Heick at TeachThought recently published "The 20 Top #Hashtags in Education." We liked it so much that we decided to compile our own list of favorites.
Leadership
It’s All About Culture at Acton Academy
From the moment you arrive at Acton Academy in Austin, Texas you can tell this school is different. Culture oozes from every ounce of the staff and students. By 8:00am students are lining up to run into their classrooms even though school does not start until 8:30am.
Personalized Learning
Flipped Classroom Personalizes Education for Students
Long gone are the days of asking little Jimmy to walk to the blackboard and complete question three from last night’s homework. Jimmy, who is panicked because he didn’t fully understand the lesson, is about to give an incorrect answer in front of his peers and become unengaged in the class. Today’s students want customized options and a learning plan that works for their unique abilities. Hilliard City Schools is using the flipped classroom to not only meet that desire for more personal attention, but to empower students to thrive in the 21st century.