Posts by Guest Author

EdTech

Physical Education, Meet Gaming

One in three children are now considered overweight or obese, according to a study from USC Rossier School of Education. As a result, many schools are feeling pressure to ensure their students get adequate exercise and healthy meals, which has recently caused an innovative meshing of video games and the physical education curriculum.

Personalized Learning

Hall Davidson at TASA 2013: Tablet Device as Backpack

I had never heard Hall Davidson speak until I saw him at the Midwinter meeting of the Texas Association of Schools Administrators. If you have not heard his presentation, you are in for a treat: enthusiasm, energy, state-of-the-art information. As we say around here in Texas, it was the whole enchilada.

EdTech

Let’s Give Girls a Chance to Succeed in STEM

There is a digital divide threatening the future of girls in this country. Three of the top ten “Best Jobs of 2013” are in the computing field, according to U.S. News and World Report, yet women make up just 25% of the labor force in science, technology, engineering and math-based (STEM) jobs. With all projections pointing to STEM-sector jobs continuing to grow at a higher-than-average rate, today’s young women cannot occupy just the fringes of the field.

Personalized Learning

What an Educator Learned From Home Schooling Parents

When I started my blog about the new research on parenting and education, one of the first topics that I wrote about was home schooling. I came across new findings about the explosion in parents opting out of both private and public education, the ways that parents are using new technology and virtual learning to teach their own children, and about other trends in home schooling, such as un-schooling.

EdTech

50 Educational Podcasts You Should Check Out

Maybe you don’t have time to sit down and sift through the latest education blogs for ideas and inspiration. If the thought of trying to carve out more hours in your day leaves you feeling overwhelmed, this list is for you.

Personalized Learning

How Minecraft is Teaching a Generation About Teamwork & the Environment

Minecraft, as it stands, has sold around twenty million copies across multiple platforms. It's arguably one of the most successful games of all time, and a demonstration of the fact that videogames do not have to be sexually charged gore-fests in order to be accepted by gamers en masse. Summarily, it's a game in which you are placed in a natural, procedurally-generated environment, and you must cut down trees, mine stone and ore, and generally manipulate your environment to build a home for yourself or go on a journey.

Personalized Learning

3 Tech Tools for the Sped Classroom

Being a Special Education teacher is something that takes patience and a warm heart. These teachers are truly in it for the love of seeing a student develop as a person socially and mentally. However, they seem to be in need of and short of resources more than most other classrooms.

EdTech

What Role Does Social Media Have in Education?

Recently, Compass Learning interviewed about 30 educators, including teachers, principals, superintendents, directors of curriculum and learning, and consultants, at the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development conference held in Dallas. We wanted to know what role—if any—social media (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc.) plays in the classroom, in the school, or in the district. The answers were interesting.