ClassDojo: Going Beyond Good Test Scores to Build Good People
What’s the single biggest indicator of lifetime outcomes and success, as early as age three? (I’ll give you a few hints. It’s not IQ. It’s not socioeconomic status. Give up yet?) It’s self control - and a whole slew of other behavioral management skills.
Math Web Apps
At the Oklahoma Digital Learning Summit last week, an Oklahoma STEM specialist asked me what math products I liked and I mentioned the following: Elementary Math i-Ready.com from Curriculum Associates, is a great K-8 adaptive assessment with engaging content. Dreambox.com is a K-3 game-based adaptive math product.
Q&A: The Future Textbook Will Merge With All Other Learning Content
David Bickford, the Vice President of Academic Affairs for University of Phoenix, joins us today to discuss the challenges, benefits, and method behind its digital textbook program.
Review: Philip Howard on Fixing Education
Philip Howard is a lawyer, author of Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America. In a recent Atlantic piece, Howard pitched a five part bureaucracy busting platform. We appreciate the effort, but it's got a lot of holes in it.
Iowa Limits Opportunity, Protects Status Quo
The Globe Gazette reported that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to sign a watered down ham-handed education bill “even though he and Department of Education Director Jason Glass agree it falls short of what they wanted.”
Good Work: A Grandmother’s Lesson on Integrity
There are three components to integrity on the job: honesty, delivery, and consistency. Integrity’s reward is the credibility that it fosters with others. It is the simple but important foundation for any meaningful relationship. It is the satisfaction of delivering as promised.
Staff Picks: Teaching, Testing, Gamification, Writing, & Cheaper Higher Ed
CCSSO and the K-12 Center at ETS hosted a conference on Tech Enhanced Assessment. In my lunch keynote I talked about profiles, playlists, projects, and progress based on demonstrated mastery.
Teaching & Testing the Common Core
“If we get this right, we’ll put our students on the path to a better future.” Gene Wilhoit, CCSSO, was talking about implementing Common Core assessments during closing panel of the Technology Enhanced Assessment conference. “Assessments are one element in the ecology of schools and school improvement,” David Conley said, “The whole system needs to be addressed.”
SmartTech Roundup
How’s it hanging? Google hosted its first EduOnAir Conference on Blended Learning using Google Hangout. Hangout OnAir allows users to broadcast, record and share its sessions. This is a great resource for educators teaching online courses or conducting professional development sessions.
College Completion: Still a Big Deal, So Let’s Make It Easier and Cheaper
The return on investment from American colleges is dropping. But disruptive alternatives—like free—will pop the bubble for third tier institutions. Declining subsidies will convert your favorite state U into a selective private institution. Let’s make sure the massive public subsidy is producing an ROI.