Archive: 2012
EdTech
20 Schools Innovating With Digital Tools
Hans Renman in Stockholm (@tankom_hans) asked on Twitter, "Do you know any US schools that are REALLY using digital tools in an INTERESTING way for communication, marketing, or learning?" That tweet kicked off a few days of snooping around. Here is the list of 20 we came up with. We look forward to your additions!
EdTech
3 Free Cool Tools to Curate Content
Content curation is a great way to find, organize and share useful knowledge efficiently. There are many free digital tools available to help manage web content in flexible ways allowing us to quickly share resources that are accessible online. Use of curation tools is social and will connect us to the ideas of others and help build our professional learning networks. Here are three efficient and effective content curation tools that can help educators manage web content and embrace technology.
Personalized Learning
Smart Searching Just Got Smarter with instaGrok
Content used to be difficult to find, behind closed doors, and very proprietary. Those days are long over. Now it’s just the opposite. We now have so much content, we don’t know where or even how to start. We went from trying to find a needle in a haystack to trying to find a needle in a needle stack. instaGrok lets users keep journals of their searches that they can curate and share with their teachers.
EdTech
ClassDojo Lands $1.6M to Improve Student Character & Behavior
Today ClassDojo, the first free digital character building and behavior management service for teachers, is officially launching out of beta and announcing $1.6 million in seed funding from some of the most well known start-up investors in the world. The company is also announcing exciting milestones including viral growth to more than 3.5 million teachers and students in more than 30 countries in just 10 months, solidifying its place as the fastest growing education company ever.
Personalized Learning
Pearson’s 1:1 Learning Framework Furthers Personalized Learning & Common Core
"The Huntsville City School district is ditching textbooks and passing out laptops instead," reported a Huntsville TV station. Huntsville Alabama is one of many districts making the shift to digital learning this fall. Students from fourth to twelfth grade will receive laptops starting this week.
EdTech
Q&A: Visualize Learning Concepts
Conceptboard, a German-based technology company, hit the market in early 2011 and has caught the attention of high school educators and students in the U.S. Taking a few cues from the popular social media platform Pinterst, Conceptboard has harnessed the creation of visual boards for learning and productivity.
Personalized Learning
Escalating Tuition Costs Aren’t in Anyone’s Best Interest
Colleges and universities provide a critical service to our society. However, institutions of higher education are also businesses. In our current economy, our attention is increasingly drawn to the business side of education. Rising costs, and a scarcity of funds to help those students who cannot afford them, are hurting our bottom lines – and those of many families across the country.
Personalized Learning
DIY: Building a Team
Recently, folks at the Pearson Foundation asked me to write about " Five Things I've Learned About Startups" and I listed building a great team as a key to success. Whether launching a startup or leading a school district change initiative, building a team is important but difficult work. As I noted, "When you get the talent, trust and focus right, the results are extraordinary."
Personalized Learning
Texas Welcomes a New Disruptive Innovation & Vision: Prime Prep Academy
In a recent blog post titled “A Hope for Future Irrelevance,” Michael Horn reflects on a book which discusses the tenets of American teaching technique – including ensuring every student answers the critical questions of a lesson plan, answering the question of “What exactly do I want my students to master?” and choosing challenging curriculum. He posits the challenges a blended-learning environment, particularly infused with technology, will cause for these traditional techniques.
EdTech
Q&A: Students Take a Social Science Stance & Leverage Tech
This July and August, educators and students from around the U.S. participated in the Microsoft Partners in Learning 2012 U.S. Forum, which showcases and celebrates innovative teaching. Ericha Anderson and Alicia Cast from Chinook Elementary in Vancouver, Wash. participated in the forum and shared their "Snake River Dam Removal? You Decide!" project, which required students to research, track, and develop opinions around the local Snake River Damn Proposal.