Posts by Guest Author
New Ideas On What Colleges Want to See Out of Prospects
We all remember the students from our own graduating classes who did it all. Their GPAs were at the top of the class, or very near to it. They might have played two or three different sports, and served as captain in one or two of them. They were members of two or three clubs, with a leadership position in student government or National Honor Society. They were the ones who we viewed as “well rounded,” likely to get into a highly selective college.
Q&A: Jenn Karson of Vermont Makers
SparkFun’s Department of Education engages in educational outreach all over the country, and we’re always impressed and excited when we run into people and organizations as enthusiastic about electronics as we are. Over the past few years we’ve met a lot of people involved in the maker movement on the east coast, and Vermont continues to stand out as a state invested in furthering STEAM and electronics education in new ways. (In fact, Vermont’s Department of Education recently instituted a grant structure that will give SparkFun Inventor Kits to Career and Technical Education Centers around the state to provide preliminary Arduino training for FIRST Robotics teams!)
Hype vs. Hope: San Jose State + Udacity vs. Linn State Technical College
While it would be a stupendous achievement if Udacity and other MOOC providers are able to develop and deploy a model that can successfully remediate math and reading at scale, we need to step back and look at the bigger picture: A more powerful (and much more realistic) achievement would be to put society’s needs and judgments ahead of those of higher education institutions, and focus on propagating proven programs that prepare students for profitable employment and a life of learning.
Classroom Management: The Advantage of Structured Learning in Entrepreneurship
Here’s a novel concept for you: Entrepreneurs can learn from other entrepreneurs in an accredited capacity. When striking out on one’s own, it’s an established practice to seek the advice of those who’ve been there before and have made a success of it. So it makes perfect sense that business students, paying and working hard for an education, would greatly benefit from the insight that successful businesspeople can bestow.
In Context: Connecting Classrooms to the Real-World
In one scene of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a classroom of glaze-eyed high schoolers stare into space while their teacher drones on in painfully boring monotone, Anyone? Anyone?
How Active, Digital Learning Fosters Business Skills in Students
The array of social technologies open a wide swath of possibilities for active learning, particularly in the online and blended teaching space.
Combating Cyberbullying in Schools, One Compliment at a Time
A lot of people walk around high school feeling all by themselves. They think that no one cares about them or that they are not one of the “cool kids.” Other kids walk around self-conscious, and under-appreciated, which leads them to the terrible world of cyber bullying. Here at West High Bros, we are doing everything that we possibly can to change that. It is a daunting task, but not one that is impossible. In fact, in our school the guidance counselors have reported that, since our group started, reports on bullying have gone down drastically.
Community Partnerships for the Digital Learning Revolution
I wasn’t surprised to learn that my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama –The Rocket City – has launched one of the largest school district transitions to digital learning in the nation. I recently visited Huntsville to learn from their experience, and my conversations there reinforced for me that community and family partnerships are essential for the success of digital learning. We have unprecedented investment in education technology, but we don’t yet have the corresponding developments in partnerships to help transitions to digital learning succeed.
Next Generation Science Standards: A Guide to the 2nd Draft
The second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is now available for public comment at http://www.nextgenscience.org/. This final public draft will be available online for everyone to review and provide feedback until January 29. Following this comment period, Achieve and the lead state partners will continue revising the draft, and expect to release the final standards for states to consider adopting in March.
Is There Still A Gender Gap in Education and Technology?
The stereotype of technology as a male-dominated interest and career path is slowly fading. We no longer associate computers just with geeky, pale boys in thick glasses poring over gaming screens. Technology in schools and in daily life has become much more accessible and user-friendly for everyone. But do males still have an edge when it comes to technology in the classroom? Are there still gender differences in how educational technology tools are used?