EdTech 10: Quality & Quantity

Breaking news: Your news will now be breaking under Edtech 10. Check back here each Saturday and follow along on Twitter using #edtech10.
We’re two weeks into the New Year and the news has quickly snapped out of the holiday slow down. We’re full steam ahead into 2013! And our first myth to strike in the New Year: Who says you can’t have quality and quantity? This week, developments include both and the education market is getting bigger and better — fast. As always, we’ve pulled together the top 10 stories from the week, and now we’re calling it the Edtech 10.

Blended Schools & Tools

1. The Babson Survey Research Group and College Board released “Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States,” which reveals that the number of students taking at least one online course has now surpassed 6.7 million.
Bonus: Tom outlines the key elements of Next Gen HigherEd: affordability, flexibility, employability.

Keeping Tabs on Tablets

2. McGraw-Hill Companies unveiled its new adaptive ebook or “SmartBook,” which will break the linear tradition of the reading experience.

Digital Developments

3. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Closing the Gap, a project intended to offer school districts recommendations for the selection and implementation of student information and learning management systems.
4. Tom & Sarah recap all the edtech innovations in developing in Portland in the ongoing SmartCites series.
Bonus: Adam Renfro argues students shouldn’t turn it in, they should publish on Lulu.

The Science of Getting Smart

5. Annie Murphy Paul shared three big themes in 2013 learning this week, which included smart use of technology, advancement of the Common Core, and learning outside of school. Following her at @anniemurphypaul.

Getting to the Core

6.Chris Sturgis published a great article on resources around getting started with competency-based learning on CompetencyWorks. We’ll publish the next DLN Smart Series paper, co-authored by Chris, later this month.
Bonus: Tom argues that despite all the free content, there’s a case for Core-aligned engaging smart content.

Come On Get App-Y

7.New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg announced the Gap App Challenge, which will be the first district-led, prize-based challenge to generate new ideas to meet critical needs in schools. Tom is excited to be serving as a judge!
Bonus: Susan Oxnevad suggests it’s time to pick a platform, curate come content, and rethink homework.

Higher, Deeper, Further, Faster Learning

8. Coursera, a company that partners with universities to create and offer massive open online courses (MOOCs), announced plans to offer students verified certificates for the completion of select MOOCs for a slight fee.
9. MindShift published a case study on the ways that teachers are using technology to support learning in group work, games, play, student relationships, and more.
Bonus: See How Digital Learning Contributes to Deeper Learning.

The Big “D”

10. StudyBlue, a “digital backpack,” raised $9M to make it easier for students to collect and share study resources.
Bonus: Check out Digital Learning Now! Smart Series paper “Data Backpacks: Portable Records & Learner Profiles”.
 
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