Personalized Learning

Prize Means More Writing, Deeper Learning for American Students

With the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Open Education Solutions announced the winners of the $100,000 Automated Student Assessment Prize (ASAP) this morning in Washington DC. The top three teams, made up of international data scientists, developed predictive algorithms that were able to score thousands of essays very quickly with remarkable accuracy compared to expert graders.

Personalized Learning

Hewlett Foundation Announces Winners of Essay Scoring Technology Competition

A British particle physicist and sports enthusiast, a data analyst for the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., and a graduate student from Germany won the $60,000 first prize in a competition to design innovative software to help teachers and school systems assess their students’ writing. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation sponsored the contest and awarded $100,000 to the top three research teams – none of whom have a background in education.

Personalized Learning

Thank You Teachers!

In honor of Teacher Appreciate Week, Getting Smart would like to thank its teacher bloggers, readers and more who actively help us spread the word around innovations in learning.

EdTech

Infographic: Are eBook Readers Reading More?

eReaders allow you to carry your latest interests around on one small device, which often also houses your email, documents, photos and more especially if you're working off a device like the Kindle Fire or iPad. So if you can carry around all your books and pick up the latest bestseller with a few taps and swipes, will you be inclined to - read more?

Personalized Learning

An Odd Couple of Measuring 21st Century Skills

The morning session at the Technology Enhanced Assessments conference hosted by the K12 Center at ETS and CCSSO featured what Michael Russell, Measured Progress, called a formative assessment odd couple—a messy science virtual world and a math homework helper.

Personalized Learning

Improve School Safety Training With Online Flexibility

In many of today’s schools, staff safety training and management of the process is handled with in-service workshops and pen and paper sign-offs. Besides the frustration associated with manually keeping track of all those who attended, it also requires that administrators hold follow-up sessions to ensure everyone who did not attend receives training.

Personalized Learning

5 Characteristics Connecting Montessori Ed & the Personalized Learning Movement

At first glance, the intersections between Montessori education and high-quality digital learning are not immediately apparent. To those of us with some knowledge about Montessori methods—based on formal training, general awareness or, as in my case, the observations of a parent whose children attend a Montessori school—its natural materials and deep traditions seem to stand in opposition to the vision of a futuristic, technology-rich digital or blended learning environment.